Chapter 21: The French Connection
The tunnels were just as scare as the last time we entered. There was very little open ground and too many nooks and turns that something could hide behind. The shadows themselves were alive...things were constantly moving just out sight of us. The fact that we had the latest in body armor and weaponry was of cold comfort to me.
Taking point, as always, was Jimmy. I always wished he did not do that, but he craved adventure as much as I did. Kai, the TC guy and only trained infantry man among us, took the second position. He was ready to immediately assist Jimmy should any trouble occur. The Doctor took up the middle position, ready to help out the group wherever an ambush occurred. Robert was the next person in line, staying out of the way as knew little about firing a gun. I took up the rear of the group, much out of fear of whatever monsters are down here as much as to protect the group anything sneaking up on us.
We traveled through the tunnels for quite a distance. Despite everything against us, things were going well…too well. We eventually got to a T in the tunnels. As we turned to head down a corner, we heard a low growl. Directly ahead of us was a pair of red eyes. We hesitated for just a brief a second, but that was all it took for them to attack.
Dead ahead came one of those mechanical Cougars the Invid had. Two more came from the only other unoccupied entrance to the T. One immediately took a single swat at Jimmy and cut him in half. The second Cougar jumped on Kai and pinned him to the ground. The third Cougar took a swipe at me but I managed to get out of the way.
The Doctor fired on the Cougar that killed Jimmy, and disintegrated it. It turned to dust in front of our eyes. Kai tried firing into the Cougar on him, but it kept him from getting a good shot. The Cougar on top of Kai bit, Kai for his effort and killed him. I was in a rage over the death of Jimmy, so I called upon Charles and Joan they lit up one of the two surviving Cougars until they ran dry. I do not even remember reloading the two as I continued firing. As they fired, I could also here Robert firing his revolver into the one of the Cougar. Augusta managed to cripple one of the Cougar with a shot to the leg.
One of the Cougars turned and killed the Doctor with a swipe while another took out Robert. I began backing up all the while Charles and Joan were firing hot death into the Cougars. A few bullets penetrated the Cougar it sounded like it bounced around inside the Cougar like it was hallow. I had little time to comprehend it as one of the Cougars was upon on me. It took a swipe at my face, and the world went green…
I woke up in a cold sweat. It was just a dream, a horrible dream. But I had to make sure, I had to check on Jimmy.
It had been three months since we tried to blow up that hive on the Eiffel Tower. Diego turned out to be a collaborator with the Invid, and tried to set up an ambush. He managed to kill my fellow Frenchmen in the Comrade’s group, but the Comrade managed to finish him off. The Comrade said his organs was all bionic and his blood all green. I shutter and what that must have looked like.
My team survived a bit better, but Jimmy was badly injured in escape. We managed to hook up with the Comrade and begin one of the wildest chases I been in. We barely managed to stay a few steps ahead of the Invid. We went through one of our Hummers and managed to barely keep the second Hummer working thanks to some quick thinking by the Doctor. We escaped through Spain, across the Mediterranean Sea, to Algeria. We decided to split the group into two groups. Annika, Jelovich, Robert, and Kai took the boat we used to get to Algeria and took around the coast of Africa. The rest of us took the remaining Hummer into Sahara Desert to ensure that the Invid couldn’t catch all of us. We planned to meet again in Fort Hope.
It had been a long three months, but we think we had finally lost the Invid. We finally were able to get a good night sleep, well until that nightmare woke me up. The Doctor and the Comrade just woke up as well. The nightmare scared me, it was so real I had to go and confirm Jimmy was okay. He was still asleep in the back of Hummer.
I checked his injuries while he sleeping. Not being trained in medical expertise like Jimmy is, there was little I could do but make sure he was bleeding anywhere. I also took away the remains of the rations I gave him a little while ago. The Comrade has enforced strict rationing of food, since we had so little of it. While it was just enough to sustain us, Jimmy was going to need more if he going to get healthy. I had, for the last few weeks, been giving a little of my food to help supplement his own rations. The Comrade caught me doing it a few times, and scolded me for it. However, I didn’t care as long as Jimmy got better.
While I was checking on Jimmy, the Comrade and the Doctor had gotten into another argument. This time it was over where we should go. The Doctor wanted to go to an E.B.S.I.S. base known to be located on the Nile river. Her argument was that it may have some equipment, some aircraft, and some nukes.
The Comrade was against the idea. We would have to travel more desert and we were having enough trouble gathering enough food. Also, the Comrade pointed out that the base is most likely looted. And if there was anybody still there would not be happy to see us. The Comrade favored us going straight to Fort Hope and hit any abandoned old RDF bases on the way.
However, the Doctor pointed out that the Defense Forces bases were abandoned a long time ago even before the Masters came. The Defense Forces probably have taken anything of value with them to Tirol. Looters probably took anything else.
Still Fort Hope was our best chance, so it was decided to go to directly there. Having lost this round, the Doctor went to go check on the truck. As she headed over to the truck, I saw her pull her knife out and cut herself. She looked at the wound and then bandaged it up. That made no sense to me. I made a note to ask her why she did that.
I went to the oasis to get some water for Jimmy, it was there I noticed there were animal and people tracks. I alerted the others. We could tell we were being watched but we couldn’t tell by whom.
We waited until that night, when it was cooler and safer to travel. However as we traveled we noticed we were being followed. We tried to get a better look, but everytime we got close to whoever was following us, they disappeared. After a few hours of it, I realized he was deliberately leading us somewhere. The Comrade asked if there was a way we could lead whoever it was in a direction of our way.
We began doing that, but the people following us broke away. The Doctor managed to use her Ferret to listen in on their radio frequencies. She said she heard them say that the Captain would have to handle us. Don’t know what to make about that, the “Captain” could be anybody.
The next morning we stopped at a sand dune and bedded down for the day. At some point during the day, somebody snuck up to our camp and left food for us. The Doctor was impressed and decided to cook up some of the food and leave it for our hidden benefactors. We still did not see any sign of them, but we knew they were there.
That night we headed south again. Again our mysterious pursuers were following us and playing their little game. This time the Comrade decided we should just let them lead us to wherever they are intending to send us. After awhile, the while they showed themselves to us. It appeared to be a couple of men on ATVs. At least that explained how they kept up with us. Still they kept their distance and only allowed a couple of glimpses of our mysterious pursuers. We followed them over the next sand dune, and were surprised to see the lights of a town off in the distance…
Tags: Memoirs Robotech Mekton
