Dawn Of The Day - ONC 2022

Chapter 30. Through Robert's Eyes - The Water Tanks

Edgar fished out a tiny remote control from his pocket. "Ready?" he asked.

"Hit it," I nodded while lifting the metal cover.

Edgar pressed the only red button on the remote, and the whole lot lit up like Nova Aria Square on New Year's Eve. A million alarms blared at once, destroying everyone's sense of hearing and sanity. The guards scrambled to check what happened, leaving only three guys standing by the line of trucks.

I threw the metal grid aside and flew out of the drain hole toward the closest stack of pressed carton boxes. Edgar followed. His front shin smashed on the drain hole's hard edge on the way out, resulting in a chain of curses.

"Holy sweet mother of God! Fuck! Fucking shit!" Edgar gritted through his teeth while dragging his pained leg. All colors drained from his face.

"Come on, Edgar! Almost there! You can do it!" I reached out to grab his shirt and pull him toward me.

"It hurts. Like a bitch!" Edgar closed his eyes and panted. Sweat gleamed on his forehead, "But I can. Of course, I can! I have to!"

I patted his shoulder and pointed to the fire exit. It was right in front of us. We exchanged one look and made a run for it. Edgar, mainly on his left leg.

I reached for the door handle. It was locked, but I had expected this much. I swung my backpack over my shoulder and sat it on the ground. The red QuietStrike drill poked out after I unzipped. It was the best, most quiet drill money could buy, but I realized now that it was quite an overkill.

"Hurry up!" Edgar urged as the screeching madness continued across the yard.

I aligned the drill tip a bit south of where the key would go in and pressed the power button. Its soft drilling noise was almost inaudible. Using a small screwdriver, I scraped all the destroyed pins out of the lock and swept them to the corner with my feet. A familiar stale air hit my face as soon as the door opened. Flickering lines of LEDs drowned the hallway in a cold, sterile atmosphere. This space was quieter than I had remembered. Limited colors and sounds contrasted starkly with the now-muffled chaos outside, resulting in a surreal experience. This hallway had appeared in my dream a thousand times. Always the kind where I would run for hours from an invisible threat, but no matter how hard I ran, everything would stay the same, and I would never escape.

"No place like home, ain't it?" Edgar exhaled.

***

My hands jerked. The gun Charlie had lent me felt like a piece of burning charcoal, but I couldn't stop. Wouldn't. And so would Edgar. His semi-auto kept firing.

I knew some of the security guards. I had walked past them and exchanged greetings with them before. Feeling nauseous was an understatement. A bullet missed me by a hair, and someone tackled Edgar to the ground. I didn't think anymore.

My aim was mediocre at best. The last shot echoed through the vast chamber before digging a hole in one guard's chest. Charlie had tried to teach me everything he knew in the short few days we were at Edgar's cabin, but he couldn't prepare me for this. No one could. I wasn't ready. I was never ready to kill someone.

Edgar seemed much more natural than I at this even on his back. He elbowed the guard who held him down in the ribs and jumped back up. Then, he dodged a bullet and shot back at whoever had just shot him with pinpoint accuracy.

Edgar didn't flinch, I marveled.

There were always things we didn't know about our friends. I couldn't even look back and register what I had done. Adrenaline carried me. I headbutted another guard on my way and squeezed the trigger one more time. It all happened so fast. The man went over the handrail like a sack of wet cement. The surprised look on his face would haunt me for a long time. I knew. I watched the water break and slosh up in a daze. We had no choice, I told myself, but it only made me sicker. I had no choice. I was scared. I wanted to survive this.