Black Branches

Chapter Two: Part Two

Although I slept, my dreams where plagued by horrific visions.

Violence, hatred and burning fires were all I could see.

I awoke with a start, screaming and fell to the floor; I lay there for a moment almost hyperventilating

It was then that I noticed Alicia stood next to me.

Her face was deeply cut with worry,

“Are you okay bub? You were talking in your sleep” she said

“I, I…. where am I?” I replied.

“The roof” she said, moving towards me.

“You must be frozen, why did you come up here?” she continued.

I sat in silence for a moment, looking at my surroundings.

“No reason, I like to come up here to clear my head” I said.

She started to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of a huge explosion,

“Holy shit! What the fuck was that?!” I said, looking in the direction of the noise. It was about half a mile away from us and sounded like it was in what we now referred to as the ‘Pirate Bay’ it was the black market of sorts where we got our food and other supplies.

“Go downstairs now.” I said to Alicia, not once removing my gaze from the billowing smoke rising above the buildings in the distance.

“But…” she started to reply.

“Look, we don’t have time to sit around right now. Go down stairs and tell Jim to get dressed for a sortie” I said

She turned and left without any further argument.

I crouched down and walked to the edge of the roof, looking around for the binoculars we kept up here. I saw them on the table and grabbed them then got onto my stomach and looked through them into the distance.

A group of men, dressed in combat clothing were stood around watching another man beat somebody to pulp.

I could tell by the colour of their clothing exactly who they were.

I stood up and ran towards the roof hatch, my heart beating so hard that it was almost ripping through my chest.

I slammed down the ladder and across the warehouse, going over in my head what I need to get from my foot locker.

I got down stairs and shouted “Jim!? Where are you man? Come to my room ASAP!”

I unlocked my door, ran into my room and stripped down to my underwear.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I said aloud.

I grabbed my trousers and slid them on, grabbed some socks from a box, pulled them on and did the same with my boots, slamming my fist against the sides after tying them to make sure they were tight enough.

Jim came into the room; I looked up at him and saw he was confused.

“The pirate bay has been hit” I said

“What... By who?!” he replied

“Black Branches” I said

I saw the colour drain from his face,

“We’ll be okay, no one knows we’re here” I said to try and calm him,

“Get my rifle, shotgun, a couple of mags and a box of shells ready for me” I continued.

He said nothing and left the room.

I continued to get dressed, and put on my T-shirt and grabbed my chest rig from my foot locker.

I checked it over quickly to make sure everything was in place and added my push to talk walkie talkie in its slot and threaded the wire for the headset through the rig.

After putting it on and tightening everything up, I put my baseball cap on and slid my goggles over the top.

I pulled my pistol from my foot locker and checked it over. I then grabbed a couple of magazines; put one in the pistol and the other in its holster.

I chambered a round, pulled the pistol up to my eye line then put the pistol in it holster on my chest.

I walked out in to the hallway to be greeted by Jim who had done as I’d asked, he handed me the Benelli Shotgun in its scabbard which I promptly slung over my shoulder and my ever trusty Sa80.

“How much ammo are we looking at?” I asked whilst adjusting the red dot sight on the rifle.

“We’ve got just over a hundred bullets each for the rifles, about ten shotgun shells for you, and 60 pistol rounds each” he said.

“Ok, if it comes down to force, place your shots.” I replied.

“I’ve just got to adjust my rig and I’m good to go, boots on ground in ten?” he asked.

I nodded and he walked away.

I walked into the living room and found Alicia looking confused.

“Who or what is Black Branches?” she asked

“They’re a bunch of soldiers who went rogue and decided to start fucking people over whenever they could” I replied.

“What’re you going to do?” she asked

“We’re going to see if anyone is alive down at the Pirate Bay, and help them out of there until everything blows over” I replied.

She stood up and hugged me tightly,

“You’d better make sure you come back unhurt mister” she said softly.

I nodded.