There was a frantic banging at the door. The knights reached for their swords, but the President raised a hand to calm them and nodded to the major. Hartswell opened the door to reveal Rebecca, the barista from the Starbucks on 5th Street, but instead of the usual cap and apron, she was wearing army fatigues.
“The Empire’s reached the capital! They’re all headed for this building!”
“Well, that’s it, then,” said the President, rising to his feet. “We have to split up. I’ll take my helicopter, draw them away. Hartswell, Rebecca, get Todd to the trains and get him to Citadel. He’s the only hope we have now at turning the tide.” Hartswell nodded, and saluted as the President exited the room and walked down the hall to the elevator, the knights clanking behind him.
“Wait,” said Todd. “What’s really going on here? This is just a dream, right?”
“No time for that, lad,” said Hartswell. “You’ve got to go. Rebecca, let’s take the stairs.”
“But I don’t get it,” said Todd, suddenly finding himself hurtling down increasingly steep flights of steps in a narrow stairwell. “If I know I’m dreaming, shouldn’t I wake up now? Or can’t I change any of this? Because I really like that one where I’m fighting a dragon with Urkel-“
“Quiet,” whispered Rebecca, halting on a landing. She peered over the railing. “They’re coming up.” The sound of heavy boots slamming on stone echoed up the stairwell. Rebecca readied her assault rifle and aimed it down the stairwell, holding her breath. Soon enough, the boots stopped far below them, followed by the bang of a door slamming open and the unmistakable sound of blaster fire.
“They’re clearing each floor,” said Rebecca.
“Then we’ll move now, before they come back into the stairwell,” said Hartswell. “We can’t attract any attention.” The three of them rushed down the stairs, managing to evade the patrol. Todd tried his best not to look in the open door where the enemies were busy clearing the floor, but he couldn’t help himself. Once he caught a glimpse, it was all he could do not to stare transfixed.
The first thing he recognized were the distinctive black trenchcoats and the gasmasks with glowing yellow eyes that marked their wearers as Helghast soldiers. The second thing he noticed was what they were doing to the inhabitants of the floor. The bodies on the ground were clutching weapons, but the people running in terror from the man wielding the flamethrower definitely weren’t soldiers. The worst part was that it wasn’t really a flamethrower. Though the tanks on the man’s back and the nozzle resembled the weapon, what it fired was a stream of spiders, hundreds of them, which quickly set to work on devouring anyone they touched. Todd stood and watched as this grisly work was carried out, and he still couldn’t bring himself to move as the soldiers turned and their piercing yellow gazes fell squarely on him.
“Todd!” Rebecca’s shout brought him back to his senses, but it was too late. The soldiers had seen him. The spiderthrower operator turned and leveled his weapon as he trudged back down the hallway. Todd took off, practically leaping off the landing and down the stairs. He passed Rebecca, who leveled her rifle and shot the first soldier to poke his head out of the doorway, but the two who followed him opened up with their blasters as soon as they stepped into the stairwell, forcing Rebecca to move.
She, the major, and Todd were now running at a dead sprint, and the more steps they took, the more stairs seemed to separate them from the ground floor. The stomping of the boots seemed to get louder and louder, and Todd was getting tired.
“They’re gaining,” he wheezed. The major looked over the railing.
“We’ll have to jump,” he declared. Rebecca nodded. Todd didn’t.
“Jump? Are you crazy? That must be five stories!”
“Does it look like you can make it?”
“What?”
“Does it look like you can make it?” the Major asked again.
“Well…well, yeah, I guess.”
“Then focus on that!” And with that, both the Major and Rebecca vaulted over the railing and plummeted down the center of the stairwell. Todd paused and tried to look over to see if they’d landed, but the laser that singed his hair prompted him to throw caution to the wind. He hurled himself over the edge and braced for a hard landing. When he hit the floor, though, rather than a sickening crack, he merely felt a slight twinge, like a dulled version of when he stepped off the curb yesterday at an odd angle and twisted his foot. The major and Rebecca were waiting for him at the door, the latter holding an extra MA5B rifle.
“Good show,” said the major. “Now buck up. We’ll have to cross the terminal to the train platforms on the lower level. You any good with a rifle?”
“I’ve never fired one before.”
“But…” offered Rebecca.
“…I think I know how?” finished Todd. Rebecca nodded and threw him the rifle.
“They’ve breached the main entrance,” she said. “We’ll have to fight our way out. Stick behind us and do exactly as we say. No questions. Got it?” Todd nodded hesitantly, then said, “Wait-“
“Good enough. Let’s get moving.” Rebecca opened the door and led the way, the three of them keeping their heads low as they sprinted for the cover of the escalators. The hall itself was filled with a cacophony of machine gun fire and lasers, along with the occasional odd squawking. More Helghast soldiers were pushing forward from the entrance, and the Superego soldiers (clad in the uniform of the Rebels from the opening of A New Hope, along with a few more WWI British infantrymen) were doing their best to hold them off.
At last, the trio made it to the escalator, where more Alliance soldiers had taken shelter. Hartswell made his way to the one in charge.
“Sergeant, what’s the situation?”
“We’re losing ground fast, major,” he replied in a vaguely southern accent. “We can’t hold this building much longer, and we aren’t getting any reinforcements. Everyone else is either helping the civilians evacuate or dead.”
“Listen carefully, sergeant. This man here is Todd Phillips.” The sergeant’s mouth dropped open as he looked at Todd.
“The Todd Phillips?”
“The one and only, sergeant,” said Hartswell. “And right now, he has a train to catch. Can you give us an opening to the stairs down to the platform?”
“Hell, for you, Mr. Phillips, we’ll throw in the red carpet free of charge.”
“Good lad. Wait for my signal, then give them hell,” said Hartswell, then he turned to Rebecca and Todd. “As soon as I sound the vuvuzela, we’ll break for the stairs. There should be a train waiting, but it can’t stay long. Todd, even if either Rebecca or I go down, you must board that train, do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” he replied, almost automatically. Hartswell nodded his approval, gave a general good luck to all assembled, then unslung the vuvuzela from his back.
“Ready, sergeant?” The soldier finished up the transmission he was giving on the radio, then gave an “affirmative”. Hartswell reared up and inflated his cheeks. As soon as the “BRRZZZZZZ” reached his ears, Todd sprung into action, following Rebecca in a dead sprint as all along the mall the Alliance soldiers opened up as one. They brought down a few Helghast, and the rest took shelter as Todd made it to the broken escalator down to the trains. He took them as quickly as he could, miraculously not slipping on anything, and made it to the bottom.
“All aboard!” shouted a man in a conductor’s uniform. He was leaning out the side of a New York subway car that apparently ran on the Z line. Aside from him, Todd, Rebecca, and Hartswell, the platform was deserted. Todd ran for the train, and just as the announcement about standing clear of the doors rang out, a blaster fired from behind him. He ducked instinctively, and the conductor on the train lifted up a revolver and returned fire. The three of them managed to squeeze onboard just as the doors shut, and as another volley of blaster fire slammed into the side of the car. The sound receded as the train rumbled off into the tunnel, and Todd was finally able to catch his breath.
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