Three figures crouch on a hotel balcony in the downtown French Quarter section of New Orleans, patiently observing the surrounding city. They wear dark cloaks to blend in with the night, appearing only as shadows as they swiftly traverse the roads. Two men and one woman. Sent from The Haven, Squad One of the Hunters represents their best warriors and assassins. One of them had to recover at the base from injury, but three of them in one place is still a force to be reckoned with.
"If the reports are correct then their hideout should be just up ahead." The hooded woman whispers, pulling down the sleek dark grey bandana tied around the lower half of her face, revealing her light, chestnut skin. Piercing grey eyes flit around the area, surveying carefully. Downtown New Orleans is still swarming with hordes of undead. In the dead of night however, it's much easier to move around without attracting attention. The moon shines through wisps of clouds, providing faint, natural light.
"Hey Jade, don't you think we would've seen signs of activity by now? Guards, patrols and such?" A man crouching next to her asks, his identity also concealed thanks to his outfit.
"Patience, Rowan," she mutters,"They'll mess up eventually. With so many in one location we're bound to see something."
"I'll admit," Rowan says,"I'd never think the French Quarter would make a safe location for a base. In the middle of downtown? They'd have to have a lot of manpower to---."
"There!" the Jade hisses, pointing to a weak, flickering light coming from within the entrance of the of the Harrah's Casino. One of the landmarks of downtown New Orleans. The massive, luxurious building looms like an enticing beast over the surrounding plaza.
"I figured that would be the target," Rowan laughs. "Why not survive the apocalypse in style right?"
"I don't know," the other man in the group shrugs, "This area has too many infected crawling around for my taste."
"To each his own I suppose," the woman states as she tightens a sheath to her back, containing a wicked blade. A normal machete augmented into a shredding monstrosity, a curved blade with multiple sets of razor sharp ridges. The two men fasten differing weapons to their bodies, daggers, hand axes and the like. No firearms, as that would attract too much attention. Jade pulls out a small hand radio and activates it.
"We're in range now. Going silent."
"Excellent," the voice of Caesar crackles through a few seconds later. "Godspeed Hunters. Don't let us down."
The woman turns the radio off and attaches it to her belt. She stands up and looks to the others, pulling her bandana back up to rest on the bridge of her nose and gives a slight nod.
"We have our target. Let's move out."
The three travel silently towards the casino, quickly covering ground and quietly dispatching any infected that come too close. Instead of moving in through the multiple spinning doorways at the front of the building, they travel along the side and use a ladder to climb to one of the upper levels. Jade carefully opens one of the windows on the exterior and they move inside. There's laughter and talking. Sounds of fighting reach their eyes, with cheering and shouting erupting from the same area. On a balcony overlooking the main hall of the casino they survey the area. Multiple armed guards patrol the floor. Dozens of burly looking men fill the area, some talking around tables and playing cards, while others gather around what looks to be a makeshift arena in the center of the room. Two men battle it out, beating each other to a pulp. Blood stains the floor.
"There's a lot of them," the third man mutters, sounding a bit nervous.
"Don't worry Jackson," Rowan whispers,"Remember, we're trained for this kind of stuff. And we're not here to fight all of them."
The man nods and takes out a sharpened hunting knife. Rowan equips a small hatchet in each hand and Jade unsheathes her machete. They stalk along the balcony, staying close to the ground. A small room juts off from the walkway, a barracks of sorts. Jade peeks her head in the room, staying hidden in the shadows. Only three men. All gathered around a dimly lit table, quietly discussing something. Jade motions her hand towards the room and three sprint in, the sound of their running on the marble floor almost inaudible.
Rowan hurls a hatchet into the man sitting farthest from the Hunters. He notices it and tries to stand but the weapon strikes him right in the skull and his body and crashes back in his chair. Jackson plunges his hunting blade into the heart of another man, a strong hand placed over his mouth to dampen the scream. The last one manages to stand to his feet before Jade can reach him and throws a desperate punch towards her. She ducks under it and slices his arm, severing it at the elbow. Before the man can call out she quickly runs the blade through his chest. All three men lay dead on the floor. The whole thing went smoothly, and no one was alerted to their position. Perfect.
"This'll send a message all right," Rowan mutters, cleaning blood off his hatchet.
"Remember, we only eliminate those who get in our way. Let's try and make this quick." Jade reminds him. The main office is located on the second floor overlooking the balcony. They move up a side staircase and onto the next level. The balcony towards the office only has one guard stationed there. Rowan silently hurls another hatchet and Jade runs up to catch the man’s gun as it almost falls over the edge and onto the casino floor below.
As they near the door Jackson accidentally crunches some glass with his foot. Jade and Rowan brace themselves, but there’s no sound from within the office. That was close.
“It’s just up ahead,” Jade starts, “Rowan you take point and we’ll follow you in. Once we’re inside we—.”
A faint click can be heard from the other side of the door. Her eyes go wide. Jade recognizes that sound all too well.
The loading of a magazine.
“Get away from the door,” she shouts quietly but it’s too late.
A spray of bullets shatters the glass door and rains towards them on the balcony. Jade quickly throws herself in a side room, a bullet ripping through the flesh of her shoulder as she falls. She grunts in pain but looks out to see Rowan in an adjacent room. She breathes a sigh of relief. Then Jackson’s body falls backwards onto the walkway, lifeless and full of lead. Unseeing eyes staring at the ceiling.
Bullets still fly down the walkway, and more voices can be heard shouting from the casino floor. If they weren't detected before they sure were now. Jade mutters a string of curses under her breath and unclips her radio from her belt.
"They know we're here!" she shouts over gunfire. "Jackson's dead. We need backup or we will be too!"
"Negative." the voice on the other side responds. "We don't have reinforcements ready at this time of night."
"But we'll die here!" Jade cries out, anger rising in her voice, heart beating faster.
"Then you shouldn't have gotten caught. You're on your own." The radio clicks off.
Jade shouts with pure rage and chucks the radio across the room, shattering a window. She looks up and has an idea. They need to get out of here, and fast. She stumbles over to the window and gazes down at the street below. A small metal staircase descends from outside the window, but it doesn't go down the whole way. It's better than nothing. She staggers back to the doorway to look for Rowan. He's still holed up in the room, trying to find a way out.
"Rowan, over here!" She waves her hand. "I found us a way out!"
He nods and waits for a lull in the gunfire before taking a deep breath and sprinting across the hallway towards her room. More bullets fly past him but none hit. They quickly make it over to the window and Jade climbs out first, Rowan following close behind. They descend the staircase until it stops, putting them around twenty feet off the ground. Zombies shamble around the street below.
"Is there another way down without jumping?" Rowan pants.
Jade scans the area and notices another staircase, this one making it down to street level. It's level with them, but the opening is about eight feet away.
"There!" she points, turning back to him. "We may not have to jump down, but we have to jump across. I'll go first." 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0PFDGOwjqS
Rowan moves out of her way and she takes a few steps back. Breathing in and out a few times, she sprints to the edge of their staircase and jumps over the gap. She barely makes it to the edge of the other one, losing her balance and almost falling down to the street before she catches herself on a pole. She moves to the far end and turns around to Rowan as he's getting ready to jump. He pauses a moment and begins running before he leaps over the gap. He'll make it easily. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQuraCxgHIc
A gunshot rings out from above.883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqy2BdICWz
A bullet rips through Rowan's leg as he lands, causing him to shout in pain and fall backwards, losing his balance
"Rowan!" Jade shouts, practically flinging herself towards him while reaching out her hands to grab him. Her fingers graze his, but it was too late. He plummets twenty feet to the ground and crashes onto the road. The infected around him all converge, beginning to attack. Jade sprints down the staircase to the street level, drawing her machete in one hand. As she reaches the street her heart drops. There's too many of them. In between her and Rowan. In the surrounding area. Even if she tried to save him he won't be able to run with his leg. They'd both die here.883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0NGahxcKY
Tears streaming down her face, she turns around and begins running. Away from her dying boyfriend. Away from the casino.
And towards her new goal.
She ducks into an empty building about five minutes later and climbs up to a floor with no infected. Collapsing in a chair, she rips off her cloak and begins to sob. The one person who she'd truly cared about after the world ended was gone. She glances at the blade in her hand and clutches it tightly, eyes fiery with resolve, pain, and rage. She'll stay here for the night. But in a few hours she'll return to the Haven. 883Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86xw73VD3V
And after she's done there they'll wish she had died in that casino.
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