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Dee was finishing putting the bomb’s timer. It was a simple job but he had to be careful, after all this was the biggest bomb he’d made and it had taken months to collect all the materials to make it.
“It’s ready,” he whispered to himself, putting the soldering iron aside and taking off his goggles. “Now I just have to confirm the position,” he was about to open the drawer where he marked possible locations, when a rhythmic knock warned him of someone’s entry. He covered the table as fast as he could and turned to the door in time to see his father’s head peak out the door. “What the hell are you knocking for if you’re gonna enter without permission anyway?”
“Courtesy,” he replied with that calm tone that put his nerves on edge. “The material for Ches is ready. Could you deliver it for me?” he asked, showing him the cassette in his hand.
“It's not like I really have a choice, is it?” he replied annoyed, he took the tape. He immediately turned his back to his father and started looking for his vest and jacket.
Perhaps he was moving more things than necessary, but he didn’t want to risk the other seeing his plans in his face. In his nineteen years of life he’d never been able to hide something when his father looked him in the eye. He knew Glam did not approve of his methods and he would try to convince him to wait a little longer. He did not understand that every minute they waited was a minute too long.
“Dee,” his father called him softly. Dee tensed immediately, had he been discovered? It’s been a long time since his father used that tone with him. “Don’t forget to keep your boots tight,” he relaxed a little, “and take my gun.” Without another word Glam withdrew. Although he closed the door softly the sound it made seemed to echo throughout the room.
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Dee had never made it so fast to Ches’ station. He was just probing how fast he could drive the bike, he said to himself, it had nothing to do with the anxiety pooling in his stomach.
When he finally arrived at the little radio station in the middle of the desert, Ches was already waiting for him outside.
“Looks like someone was anxious to deliver the traffic report.” Welcomed him the brunette.
“You know well that it’s not for that,” he replied, taking off his helmet. “You got that information I asked you for?” He asked curtly, handing over the cassette.
Ches’ gaze locked on him, serious and inquisitive for a moment, Dee held it without flinching. The blond had no idea what the other was looking for, but he seemed to find it, since after a few seconds the older man’s eyes softened and with a sad smile he indicated him to enter.
“I have to admit it, you made my job easier. You reduced the search range very well.” Told him the brunette, searching through the mess in his desk.
“It wasn’t that hard,” he replied, seemingly uninterested.
While Ches was looking for what he needs, Dee began to look around. The place looked messy as always, papers everywhere, dirty mugs in odd places, mountains of old vinyls, tapes and CD’s in every surface. He knew that some of those were his father’s, same for one of the guitars in the back wall.
Dee tried to not pay much attention to the walls, since amid the posters and post-its with remainders that were forgotten, there were dozens of photographs, each one a memory of happier days.
While Dee wasn’t born before the world went to shit thanks to BLI , his childhood had not been a bad one. He fondly remembered how his father tried to make them forget that outside of their house the world was on fire. Survival lessons disguised as bedtime stories and messages of resilience that he produced with his guitar. Those memories only made the silence of the past six months even more unbearable.
He could still remember like it was yesterday the day his mother teached him how to drive a bike. The pride in her face the first time Dee hotwired a car by himself. The warmth of her hand in his shoulder, when he managed to hit the center of all the targets with his gun. He had not felt that warmth in over a year.
The only thing Dee not dared to think about was the long bike rides after handing in the traffic reports to Ches. In the plans to get more resources, in the midnight escapades to the roof to see the stars and remember the stories his father had told him when he was little. The afternoons he’d spended in the city’s entrance with his gaze locked to the horizon, waiting to hear the sound of the bikes getting close. More than anything, Dee refused to think about the person he’d done all of these things.
“Very well, here it is,” Ches’ voice got him out of his thoughts. He turned to look at the older one, but his eyes immediately focused on the paper in his right hand. “But before I give this to you, I have the obligation to tell you that I think this is a bad idea and that you should wait till your mother comes back.” Ches told him with seriousness.
“You and I know that I’ve waited long enough.”
Ches simply sighed and handed him the map.
“Keep your mask on.”
Dee took that map and without saying another word, he adjusted his mask over his nose before leaving.
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Placing the bombs had been relatively easy, at least easier than waiting for the evening to fall to set his plan in motion.
Of all the options he’d given Ches, this was one with the least security, it was far away from the other centers and was considerably smaller than the others. With some luck they would get out of there alive.
The sunset was about to end. Dee forced himself to stop fidgeting with the detonator. He looked to the horizon and found it deserted as usual, the last glimpses of the sun dying on it. He took a deep breath and pressed the button.
The seconds before the first detonation were agonizing, but after the first explosion an unknown force invaded him.
He took advantage of the chaos to go unnoticed by the first security post of the building. He still had some minor range bombs with him, but he didn’t want to use them before finding him.
The map Ches had given him had been extremely useful for placing the bombs outside, but it didn’t say much about the internal layout, so Dee was alone in this.
He discarded rapidly the first floor, it seems that there were only offices and cleaning closets. He decided to take the stairs to the floor below, avoiding the security cameras was a challenge but it seemed that he had made it.
Coming out the stairwell, he found himself face to face with a man in a white lab coat. Before he could scream Dee dragged him back to the stairwell. Not giving a shit about the security cameras he held him by the neck and slammed him against the wall.
“If you want to live, you're gonna tell me where you keep the prisoners.” He said in a threatening voice.
“Th-ere are n-o pri-iso-neres he-re,” he answered with difficulty. Dee had no time for this shit, he drew out his gun and pointed it to the man’s neck.
“I’m looking for someone. Redhead, green eyes and a little shorter than me. If you don’t tell me where he is, I’m blowing your fucking head right this second.” To make sure his threat was understood, he pushed the barrel of the gun against the other’s skin.
“In th-e…” Dee released the grip on the man’s neck a little. “In the experiment room in the floor below, to the left last door on the right.” Dee smirked at him and pulled the trigger.
Before continuing on his way, he threw a bomb into the hallway to cause a distraction.
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As he raced down the stairs, Dee could hear how the frantic footsteps that had previously concentrated on the first floor began to get closer to where he was. It no longer mattered to go unnoticed, he’d to be fast. They soon would notice he was not on the previous floor.
Going out the stairwell he found a bunch of people in lab coats, everyone running around trying to save documents. Dee kept on running evading them.
Surely upstairs the second round of explosions had already started, and the reaction of these people let him know that his plan was working. They still didn’t realize that this was a one-man mission. To stir everything a little bit more he dropped one of the smaller bombs he was carrying, the blast made everyone scream and move faster.
He arrived at the right place, but when he approached to open the door he noticed the panel next to the handle, he tried to force it but clearly no one had left it open. He let out a frustrated grunt, he had brought his decoder with him but he knew that would take too long. He decided to try his luck and shut directly at the panel. The door opened.
“HEAVY!” He came in shouting. He frantically scanned the room, and there seated in a corner with his hands covering his head was his brother.
“Dee?” his voice was fragile and there was a note of doubt in it. “Is it really you?” Green eyes met his and in less than a second his brother’s arms were surrounding him.
“It is me, I told you I would come.” He returned the hug for a few seconds. He could feel the ragged breath against his chest, the minor had started to cry. “Hey, there’s no time for tears, we have to go.” He said in a serious but not annoyed tone.
“Mom came with you?” he asked, letting go.
“No, it’s just you and me.” he answered, handing his father’s gun. Heavy took it without asking any more questions.
Outside, the hallway was deserted, the white coats seemed to have finished evacuating. Ahead could still be seen a little fire provoked by the bomb he’d dropped. At a brisk pace he began to guide his brother to the exit, he could still hear the frantic footsteps upstairs. Maybe they managed to escape after all.
Before he could go on his way he felt Heavy’s hand tug at his jacket.
“Wait, there’s someone else in here. We can’t leave her behind.”
“Heavy, I didn’t bring the car because it was too risky. There’s no space for another person on the bike.” He explained, trying to reason with the younger one.
“I’ve been here longer than her, I know what they’re gonna do to her if we leave her here.” The younger one’s eyes looked completely determined. Dee knew he’d already taken a decision and the gods were witnesses that his brother was as strong headed as their mother.
“Alright,” he conceded, annoyed. Then he fired at the security panel of the door that Heavy indicated.
He saw his brother enter the room and heard him say something in an urgent tone. Seconds later he came out next to a girl about their age, long black hair and big dark eyes. Dee was speechless for a moment, then he reminded himself there were more pressing things at the moment and began to walk again.
“Well, hurry up.”
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Before going into the stairway landing of the next floor Dee waved them to stop, looked at his watch, one minute till the third round of explosions. He looked apprehensively to the exit that led to the floor, clearly there were still vampires checking every corner. Maybe if they got closer slowly they would not be heard...
The stairwell door was slammed open. From his position Dee could see the vampires going through it. He made visual contact with one of them and immediately knew what he’d to do. He pushed Heavy and the girl back and threw one of the larger bombs.
The blast left them confused and it was hard to breathe in the smoke, but the path had been cleared.
“Come on, Heavy you go first. There shouldn't be that much security left upstairs, but we’re not taking any risks. I’ll cover you”
They moved quickly, stepping on the corpses in white uniforms. Heavy and the girls were already moving into the next flight of stairs when Dee saw the next group of masked men. Without much thought he kept moving without turning his back on them and firing towards them, a couple fell but were immediately followed by two others.
Climbing the stairs backwards was being more difficult than he anticipated, so to give himself time he dropped the last small bomb he had left and ran at full speed to catch up with the others.
Upstairs the things were not looking better. Heavy was on the threshold of the door resisting, but it was clear that outside the bastards outnumbered and outgunned them.
“Shit,” he muttered angrily. He’d definitely underestimated the number of guards in the center. He could hear how more of them were coming from the lower floor, there was no other option. “Heavy we have to get out here, the main door is about 50 meters on the right, you two must run as fast as possible towards it. I’m going to cover you.” He took the bike keys out of his pocket and handed the to the younger one. “The bike is behind the old spectacular, shouldn't be more than 200 meters up there, run fast and don’t look back.”
“But Dee…” started his brother.
“No buts Heavy, if we all want to make it out here alive you must listen to me.” He said, his tone leaving no room for arguing.
Heavy looked at him like he wanted to say something else, but at the end he shut his mouth and nodded.
“Okay, let’s go.”
His brother got out shooting, leaving enough space for him and the girl to start running, Dee followed the close and kept on shooting. When he saw the get out of the door he hid in the security post on the entrance. and got out the bomb he finished that day. He knew it had a very big range, that’s why he didn't want to use it. Because if he wanted it to be effective he had to give it a short time for it to explode, and maybe it would not be enough for him to escape the explosion.
He could feel the vampires’ footsteps getting closer. Estimating that Heavy and the gitl were out of the explosion range, he stood up and activated the timer.
He started to run and kept on shooting till his gun ran out of charge, he turned around completely focused on running, and dropped it along with his bag, to hell with it, he would be able to replace everything inside. He didn’t need the extra weight.
He could feel the shoots around him, one scratched his left shoulder, but he didn’t allow the pain to distract him and kept running. If his calculations were right he was about to leave the range zne. He could almost feel the relief of being safe.
¡BOOM!
The shockwave stunned him, sending him flying several meters through the air and landing face down on the ground. He could not gather the force to get up, his whole body hurt and he was disoriented. He knew he had to keep on walking before more vampires show up, he knew he had to bring Heavy home and run away as fast as possible. He knew all of that and yet his body did not want to move.
In the distance he could see several lights approaching in the horizon. The sound that accompanied them was undoubtedly from a group of bikes. One of them broke away from the others and was approaching at a dangerous speed. Dee recognized the cadence of that motor, he fought with all of his forces to stay awake and see if his suspicion was true.
The bike braked loudly and the driver got down rapidly, dropping their helmet on the sand.
“Dee! Dee! Can you hear me?” his mother’s worried voice made him smile slightly. “Dee stay with me. Hold on a little longer, I’m taking you to your father.”
Dee felt a pair of strong arms lift him off the ground, like when he was a child. He felt safe.
“Hi mom,” he said in a whisper before losing consciousness.