Ignavus : City of Blood

Act 14 : On the Way to Brathe

The two beast were mounting uphill for entering the main area of Brathe. Hundreds of bullets has been unleashed towards the beast up to this extent, yet the pair swallowed them all without throwing off their own composure before the cliff they have climbed. The two creatures seemed static and howling against their adversaries with no further reactions against them at the moment.

“Should we enter the city, sister? I think it’s dangerous.”

Gads Gilmore bites his own fingers before the two Caedes as they were getting closer to the main entrance. A few stretches remaining for the group to walk past the perimeter of Brathe. From merely a silhouette at the moment of brawl against the other skull-headed beast, the two creatures have grown larger on their vision once reaching less than two kilometers in distance.

His sister perceives the struggling beast closer and pondering about such atrocity in utter silence. Gads Gilmore glances at her for laying on another suggestion as the curly-haired woman fell quiet, but then cancelled his own intention after capturing her humorless-looking demeanor at the moment,” I’m not rushing you, sis. Isn’t that right, John?” the bearded man tapped on the shoulder of their driver next.

“Yeah. We have an alternative route should you take another choice.” John responded cheekily.

Shanice laid no immediate response against awaiting query from her brother. She turned her attention towards the main entrance this time around, beholding their impending destination and contemplating consequences they will take upon passing into the border. John Straverman has read their situation and pedalling the gas in lesser fashion for providing a comfortable space in-between. He pushes the brake a number of times for giving lenience towards their leader, even shifted the gear to the second for slowing down in speed.

On the other hand, Natasha Gastano smirks a little against the picture of her former residence that were fallen as a victim of their own secret. The Auburn-haired woman felt satisfaction upon herself after chomping a bunch of chocolates along the way. Her ever-lasting distress was dampening down under intakes of dopamine taken from the sweetness of brown,” Go Caedes! You can murder them all for me.” Mumbled Natasha over the rearmost side of their ride.

Looking at her delight, Elisa puckered,”There’s innocent woman and children that beast will murder inside. How could you enjoyed it?” she moped. Her protest were seemingly useless to contain Natasha’s happiness in entirety. Instead of changing her expression, the auburn-haired woman sneers.

“Yeah, I’m one of those innocent woman. What say you, punk?”

Elisa could reply no longer against such reaction. She lowered herself a little, looking upon the woman and her contentment in humiliation,”I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to say that.” She apologized afterwards. Natasha Gastano ogled upon the expression of regret deriving from her interaction against her own reason over the violence,” Nah, we’re on the same boat, now. I’m just a bit agitated.” She said in return.

“We have to enter the city no matter what. Our supplies would never be enough for another trip to Darte.”

Shanice finally speaks aloud and muttered her own decision regarding their travel. Listening over her decree, the black-haired man pressed the gas pedal to the maximum speed it could attain,”As you wished, ma’am. I’m also thinking the same way.” Uttered John in subsequent manner. Gads Gilmore laid a sigh before such resolution but unable to defy her consensus anyhow. Akin to the bearded man’s response, the two other women besides him laid a frown upon their face.

“Why would we approach death when we can escape it, Shanice?” asked Natasha Gastano towards her leader. Beyond the spark of delight that the auburn-haired woman has applied, she had worrisome feeling to come up against the forthcoming bane,”I was banished, too, so I can’t-“

“Then we’ll leave you here. Sounds good for you, huh?”

The curly-haired woman barked before her disapproval and laid a menacing stare against Natasha at the same time. Her displease was swelling to the peak by tone of unbearable distress. Ahead of her response, however, the leader started speaking down another yapping sequence to her excuse,”For anyone else who wanted to say on the matter, please use your brain. We can’t drive across the main street without supplies.” Shanice laid another aggressive tone on her speech.

Gads Gilmore raised his hands before her impending notions,”We’ll have to get out from the city before sundown. I don’t like their curfew system, after all.” He proposed, then scans around the seat for peeking at their gloomy faces up front,” By the way, what my sister said back there was correct. But, we shouldn’t let ourselves resting on their territory in some ways, especially during the Caedes raid like this.” He continued.

On the other way around, Elisa gazes towards the back-and-forth discussion that emerged. She looked upon the lamp on their car’s ceiling and contemplated around many options available during their coercive talks that occurred,” We’ll gonna need food for that, too, I think.” She flustered a bit.

“Yes, that’s the cue, babe. I can’t drive my thing without something bite-able.” John added, “ So that’s settled. I’ll drive past the guards and then we take nourishments and guns for our next trip.”

~vroom~

John Straverman throttled the gas pedal in maximum pace. No glimpse of deterring obstacles near the end of the main street,” We’ll close to missing the alternative road for Darte. It’s one kilometer left.” The driver notified,” I won’t take a turn-around over our final decision. So, please mull it over carefully and do the math before muttering another sort of plea.”

“ We’ll have it covered already, John. Press the attack into the core of Brathe straight away.” Ordered Shanice towards John,’ I don’t want to mess around with no beast without supply. It’s too much a gamble.”

The black-haired man nodded before her robust conclusion,“Affirmative. Buckle to your seat, ladies and gentleman, for we would have a rough-ass ride.”

~vroom~

In front of the pacing car beyond the border, most unsuspected guardsmen of Brathe were queueing up for taking a shot over the pair of beast. Their arsenal were more or less absorbed for beating down the current threat than to defend the city against another group of human nearby. In fact, none of them realised of a fast-approaching vehicle across the south as they were engaged.

~din-din-din~

John Straverman sounded the horn from afar. He was never a cruel person to let any henchmen die in vain, so much that the black-haired man has signalled them with headlights for about some time by this time,” Move away! Move away!” He shouted towards the guards, which eventually picked up his warning and leapt over to the bed-side of Brathe’s main entrance for evading the crash.

~swoosh~

“Fuh, that was a close one. I don’t want to add roadkill into my tally.”

John rubbed the chest with his left hand to ease off the pressure for awhile. Yet, their travel is far from over. A secluded community of Brathe has been in constant amok due to the looming assault on top of the wall. Pedestrians wandered across the road for means to escape. Life within the massive fortification has fabricated an unspeakable terror and resounding their inevitable fate. Dying inside the wall without commanding themselves away from the forthcoming hazard determines no value for their spirits.

The chief says otherwise, however unpleasant it seemed to be. They have to make headway against their fellow Police Officer who were subdued under the restraining order by their top-ranked officer. Under the influence of the main headquarters, none of them objected against such degrading order and pursued the m******e when someone tried to get away.

“Watch out!”

~brak~

No matter how proficient he is, someone should become victim on the road. Three persons have been killed in an instant after hitting the street in careless manner. They carried a backpack and several firearms for shooting the guards, but someone has hit them back to their unholy demise after nonsensical cross-by attempt of the three personalities to get past,” Damn it! I have to...”

~brak-brak~

At least ten person have been flattened against the face of their speeding vehicle by now. John Straverman prompted to break the speed and hitting the brake as much as he could. Yet, a hundred-forty worth of pace would be way too difficult to appease without any sacrifice on its palate. It is a lucky strike for them to have no one under the trunk. If so, their destiny would never be smooth and slippery like what they have earned at present.

“Do the left, then right.”

Otherwise, Shanice was still lingering into her focus despite the amount of blood smeared on the front window. John has cleaned them away with the front wiper straight after the last person has committed suicide in front of their ride. For some reason, a number of blood were still tainted across the edge and out of range to be mopped off, bringing a gruesome layout over their purview as the driver followed the direction tasked by his leader.

“This left?”

John Straverman verified. There are two more intersections that they have to get past. Shanice herself has mentioned of no precise position of the left turn, so the black-haired man has no idea over which one would be correct, “ Yes, that’s the one. Do the right at the first junction we met after this.” She deftly replied.

“Roger that.”

Despicable sight of chaos ensued all over the city. Chant of murder solidified the crowd to annihilate each other in the name of survival. To execute anyone whom blocked their freedom, that is the revolutionary thoughts of the masses that were materialised at the city of law enforcer,’One for all! For our freedom!’ shouted a stranger who stands at the stage.

For the others, such empowering sentence proliferate their courage to confront brutality possessed by their current leader. He wanted to subside the turmoil by maintaining order behind the desk. The citizen would never wanted to have a chieftain whose family were protected by law and having guardsmen on his tail, all of them without consideration of the citizen’s pitiful state across the street.

“Freedom for you all!”

Natasha Gastano shoves herself to the middle. She was calm and collected after being hushed-up by Shanice, back then, but somehow returned to her former self when their car goes hovering down across the city road,” I thought you’re dead, Natasha. What took you so long to come out?” Shanice teased a little. The auburn-haired woman gruntled a bit against her gentle nod and looked away,” It’s none of your business, mrs. Leader.” She replied in concise manner.

The impact of Aldo Meridic’s announcement eventually arrived to the impenetrable fortress of Brathe. For them to amass themselves with weapon supply translates to their commitment to escape rather than getting ahold of the promise conveyed. Death was lurking behind anyone who wanted to garner the money. A person’s Luck would obsolete before its respective party knowing about it, so most people in the area deemed breakout to be one formidable answer at the moment.

“Here we are. One of Gads’ colleagues lives here to trade guns. Right, Gads?”

Gads Gilmore’s eyes went round before her statement,” It’s my friends, sis, not yours.” He beefed. In order to contain his wrath, Shanice flashes forward a number of winks to the bearded man for sealing away his rage,”It’s not working that much, Shanice. I’m furious right now.”

“I can see it. You’re using my name makes everything sounds serious.” She nodded,”Now, where’s your friend that we supposed to gather?”

Gads Gilmore goes in front of their mob for showing the path frontward. She lets her brother to take the lead towards the place that they were aimed to achieve. Full-armed and ready, the leader has advised them to prepare their weapon at the front to scare off and intimidate.

” Eyes opened, guys. We don’t know which one to trust in this joint.” Shanice murmured,”Take some time to peek behind your back. Someone could stab you from your blank spot.” Said the curly-haired woman in whisper afterwards. John Straverman seemed a little annoyed with her sudden thrill. For such reason, the black-haired man brought himself to the rearmost of their formation and watching their back from recurring threat.

That is why John himself felt ill towards her vigilance. His half-lidded eyes speaks the most of discomfort taken by the breeze of command from the leader’s mumble,”Could you try to be less tense, Shanice? I’m doing my job over here.” He rattled.

“No way. These two women has no military treatment like you and I do.”

John goes infuriated against her reply, but the sudden stoppage intercepted his motions forward. The bearded man looked bland in the face. At the forefront of a blood-smeared doorway, Gads Gilmore preached.

” Whoever done this have to die.”