Rewired: Project Insula

Chapter 15

The guttural screech filled the already eerie night and hung in the air for a while. Brian's heart stopped for what seemed like forever, whilst every hair on his body stood up on end, sending horrifying shivers down his spine.

“D-did you hear that?” Brian said shakily, still staring down the empty dark and clouded road.

“Eh?” Tony replied, still fiddling with the comms device.

Brian rolled his shoulders in an effort to regain his composure and attempted to ignore the noise.

Within a few seconds, he was panicking again, just from sheer memory of that noise, now amplified and distorted from his memory's version.

“You really didn't hear that?” He said, now turning to Tony.

Tony looked up frustrated.

“Hear what?” Tony replied.

Brian hurriedly walked over to Tony, resembling that of a child having to take out the trash on a dark and foggy night.

“The scream? You didn't hear it?” He said, panic becoming more and more apparent.

Tony frowned dismissively and shook his head.

“What? No!” He barked back.

Brian nodded his head skittishly and walked back over to his post. This time he raised his rifle and aimed it down the street. Holding this empowering piece of equipment calmed his nerves slightly as he stared into the mystic thickness of the smoke, waving along under the checkpoint's spotlights.

“Yes you little fucker!” Tony suddenly shouted, standing up with the comms device now flashing its screen brightly.

“This is Tony Raymond of the SCO19 CT-SFO unit. We are at Checkpoint red and awaiting a sitrep on the attackers inside the Tower Block. Over.”

Tony looked up from the device and smiled at Brian.

“f*****g working!” He mouthed excitedly.

Brian rolled his eyes slightly and nodded, returning his gaze to the street.

As he did, he noticed something. A shadow perhaps, stood behind a thin layer of the smoke. The dark figure would move along with the smoke but would be still at the same time.

Although he noticed it, Brian found it difficult to express any kind of reaction in the first few seconds of seeing it. His breath left him momentarily and his heart once again skipped a beat.

“Tony” Brian said in a quiet exhale of breath.

“Yeah what is it?” He said, turning around still beaming.

“There's something in the smoke” Brian replied, eyes locked on the shadow, rifle pointing forward.

Tony frowned suspiciously and walked over behind Brian, looking over his shoulder.

“I don't see anything?” Tony said, squinting.

“There” Brian replied, nodding his head. “Where the light is shining.”

Tony began to peer further, his face now alongside Brian's.

“It's probably just your eyes playing tricks on ya.” He said.

Brian lowered his gun, Tony's words causing the apparition to disappear from his view.

…

The scream came again, Daniel was sure of it this time.

“You hear that?” Daniel said quietly, peering out the rear window of the police van.

Kirsty stayed quiet, staring blankly at Daniel as he tried to make sense of what he could hear, through the window.

“Eh?” Daniel remarked, turning slightly to encourage a response.

“Oh. yes, it's great!” Kirsty replied, snapping back into reality.

Daniel frowned and paused for a few seconds.

“What?” He said, turning around and still frowning.

“What?” She replied, her eyes widening to show a plea of innocence.

“It's great, you said?” Daniel continued, still looking perplexed.

Kirsty bit her lip slightly and looked away in the distance.

“You didn't hear what I said did you?” Daniel asked, smiling playfully.

“I'm sorry.” She replied, looking down.

“Ha ha. It's fine.” He said, standing up.

“Listen, Kirsty. I am going to see if I can get a word in with my guard friends over there.”

Kirsty sat with her hands in her lap and looked up at Daniel with her warming, but eerily naïve smile. She did seem worryingly content, given the situation. Daniel figured it would be all over social media and the news by now, so there would be nothing hidden from the public. Well nothing hidden that couldn't be seen by the eye or spread by word of mouth.

There was a lot hidden sure, hidden to Daniel and Kirsty; probably to the two guards too. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if the military only knew what the public knew for once.

He had ensured to use Kirsty as a method of finding out just how much information had been spread around the public. She had told him that she had seen articles all over f*******: and Twitter, some including videos, of armed police arriving at the tower block, followed by gunfire; and disturbing shouts and screams. It was then broadcasted all over the news regarding the evacuation of their current position, in preparation for the checkpoint that they were currently at.

This was good so far, as it meant that Daniel and the Police/Military were the only ones who knew of the true threat coming from the Tower Block.

The large back door to the van swung open and out stepped Daniel. His usual, classy elegance followed him kindly, from the van over to where Tony and Brian were stood.

Daniel noticed that the two men looked on edge, Brian was pointing his rifle down the street, whilst Tony was impatiently shouting on a device of some kind.

“Why cant I f*****g hear them!!” Tony shouted at the small device.

Daniel began to approach Tony, his hand stretched out as a peace offering.

“Excuse me?” Daniel asked carefully, almost looking through one eye.

“You again?!” Tony asked angrily.

“Hey, hey, hey…” Daniel said calmly, now stretching out both hands in surrender.

At this point, Brian turned around, now aiming his gun at Daniel.

“Ahh look, it's mister shufflebutt himself!” He said.

“Let's calm down okay? I know we didn't get off to the best start, but…”

“Why are you still talkin?!” Tony burst out, interrupting Daniel.

Daniel went to talk but stopped before the words came out. He let out a sigh and lowered his hands back down to his side. He knew there was no point in trying to befriend these idiots.

“I just wanted to know what that weird noise was about.” He said quickly.

Brian lowered his gun after hearing this, frowning at Daniel and then looking over at Tony.

“Tony, he said-.”

Tony held a hand out in front of Brian's face, hushing him in the process.

“What did you hear taxwipe?” he said, hand still out in front of Brian.

“I don't know? A scream? A shout?” Daniel replied.

Brian's face lit up.

“See Tony! I knew I wasn-.”

“You shut the f**k up!” Tony shouted.

“Well we aint heard anything.” He continued calmly towards Daniel.

Daniel let out a defeated sigh. He knew that these guys weren't going to play ball, even if they clearly knew what sounds he was talking about. It seemed they were more focused on seeming important and scary with their guns, than protecting anybody.

“Alright” Daniel admitted, as he turned to walk back. At least he could try and ensure the safety of Kirsty and the other three officers, if he didn't completely piss off the two meat heads and end up with a bullet in his skull.

He began his return to the van, this time with a slightly wounded swagger than before. The feeling of uselessness was turning into a new desperate desire to save any one he could. This was not a desire that he had explored very often, he was normally the skinny, young invalid who only had to use his mind, but now, life had cruelly placed him under the clutches of morally challenged soldiers, in already fatal circumstances.

“Should I fire?” Daniel heard a voice say, behind him.

He turned with his hands up again, praying that the answer to that question would be no. Especially so soon after this new feeling of courage.

Instead, Daniel turned to see Brian, once again aiming his gun down the street, but Tony this time, was frozen in place next to Brian, staring down the street too.

Following their gaze, Daniel saw 8 or 9 figures, stood just behind the closest layer of smoke. Thanks to the street lighting, the shadows were clear in the smoke, distorting as the smoke passed across the street.

“Guys!” Daniel called across in a harsh whisper.

To Daniel's surprise, Tony turned around.

“Let's get in the van and get out of here” Daniel messaged with the combination of mouthing and gestures.

Once again to Daniel's utter shock, Tony nodded shakily and began to move over to Daniel.

The figures had increased in number. Now around 11-12 stood in formation, just watching, facing forwards.

With a loud crack and an icy chill through Daniel's body, a bullet fired from Brian's gun. There was a moment that lasted a lifetime between the first and second shot. The echoing bang cracked through the street, ending the silence that Daniel had been trying to preserve.

The second shot followed with a less intense crack, probably because it was expected. This also allowed Daniel to follow the bullet as it whipped through the smoke around one of the shadows, distorting the shape even moreso.

The third and fourth bullet came after two of the figures appeared through the smoke. Two men, wearing hooded jumpers and dirty jeans. They had clearly been agitated by the sudden shooting, as they began mindlessly sprinting towards the checkpoint, disgusting and awful screeches coming from them as they ran. Bullet number three hit the first in the upper arm, causing him to flinch back slightly, before screeching and resuming his run. The fourth bullet came very soon after the third and whizzed past the head of the same attacker.

As the fourth bullet had just left the barrel, Daniel had already decided on getting back to the van and getting it started. He had returned to the back door, just as bullet five and six came firing out of Brian's gun.

Bullet 5 hit the same runner in the knee, causing him to fall and roll over from his momentum, just before bullet 6 came and pierced through the top of the man's head as he fell.

Brian paused for a second after seeing the first attacker get put down, he aimed to the left at the second man, sprinting down the road. Bullets seven, eight and nine, soon followed, peppering the man in the chest and head, stopping him for good.

As Daniel opened the back door, he noticed that it was now empty. This was around the same time that bullets eight and nine were leaving the barrel.

“Kirsty?!” He shouted.

“I'm here! In the front!” Shouted a muffled voice.

Daniel began making his way up the side of the van, when he heard the engine start running. This is when 5 more attackers appeared from the smoke, to a barrage of bullets from Brian's gun.

Tony at this point had grabbed his gun and was running back to Daniel.

“Hey! Wait!” Daniel shouted, tapping on the side of the van.

He turned to see Tony approaching and Brian falling back, beginning to be overcome with these attackers.

Amongst the horrifying noises that were littering the evening, the loud gunfire, the awful inhuman screaming; the worst noise of them all was that of the police van driving away.

“f**k!” Daniel shouted, falling to his knees.

“No, no, no, no!!” Shouted Tony, who began to chase after it slightly.

Daniel, still on his knees, looked around. Brian had walked back a significant amount and had to be getting down to his last few rounds before having to reload. It also seemed that there were around seven or eight attackers still fast approaching.

“Oi! Pretty boy!” Shouted Tony.

Daniel looked over to Tony who was now stood where the van had been parked.

“Go hide in that shop just there!” He said, pointing his gun at a convenience store just behind him.

Without thinking, Daniel got up and sprinted over to the shop.

Thanks to some well needed luck, the front door to the store was open. After an unsuccessful push, Daniel swung the door nearly off its hinges with a desperate pull.

He ran to the furthest point of the shop he could find, before vaulting a pharmacy counter and hiding underneath. He was accompanied by some cardboard boxes full of paperwork and a couple of beauty magazines.

Daniel sat, underneath the wooden counter and waited.