District 42-Chapter 101: How many?

Casper remained for a long time waiting in there, behind those large devices. So much that his heart didn’t stop beating each time faster due to the anticipation.

His throat seemed to be closing because he couldn’t breathe in and out properly. However, his lungs felt like being two times the size they were before, his body needed more oxygen.

He was willing to go take a look at the corridor leading to the individual rooms, but he did not. He kept staring at the entrance, without moving an inch, always aiming his gun there. He didn’t afford himself even to blink, his eyes were getting dried, but remained always gazed there.

Outside, a strange silence took place, which was the more disturbing due to the noise they were doing before.

Even the steps ceased. Whispers could not be heard, even though Casper was concentrating as he could to listen to something.

The situation stayed like that for plenty of time, until he heard a single step outside, then some mumblings.

"They are right beside the entrance. They didn’t leave the place yet. They are waiting for me to make my movement since they can’t do their’s."

The soldier aimed right at the edge of the entrance. The bullet hit there and ricocheted. He did not strike anyone, but he was not counting on this luck.

At the moment he did it, someone probably got frightened, and ended up doing some noise.

Casper shot again, and his firing triggered some sudden movements.

"Hmm, it seems that they are ready for any approach. I don’t know what kind of traps they settled here, and these devices are always an unpleasant surprise, I don’t even know what they can possibly be thinking on use right now..." Casper took note of that matter. When he escaped from there, proved his innocence, and returned to the Main Laboratory, he would start to research more about those things. It was a hassle to always be unaware of what they could and couldn’t do.

"What can I do for now? Just wait surely is a good option... But I think that’s the most predictable as well. I don’t have any clue if this is exactly what they want..." He started to look around, but there was nothing too much useful in there instead of medicines, tools, and clinic devices. Nothing there could help him in that situation.

"I have a rifle, a pistol, a grenade... And nothing more. What can I do with this? Keep firing blankly isn’t an option. These guns need both: energy and ammunition, although they have incredible ammunition clips."

Casper kept pondering regarding that matter, but something ended up appearing in his mind.

"There is also the master key... Yeah..." He briefly ran his hand over his lab coat pocket and felt the cube inside there. "However, is it okay to avoid my eyes from the entrance? I mean, they didn’t try anything until now. Do they know that I am still looking...? Damn! I am starting to be paranoid here. I need to act, not be a pessimist!"

He gritted his teeth with frustration, breath in and out sometimes, keeping his cool.

Slowly, he reached his pocket again, as if sudden movements could trigger something dangerous.

The soldier picked up the cube, activating it. The keyboard appeared as always, and he browsed the Halden’s Network. After several hours practicing and doing it, even though he was self-taught, Casper could catch a good grasp on it. Now it was easy for him.

"Maybe, it can do something... If not, it’s my win." The soldier knew that the entrance of the infirmary wasn’t exactly opened all the time. It had an automatic retractable door. And he could access that door through the Network.

Typing a keyword at the keyboard and waiting for some seconds was enough. The door began to shut at a slow pace.

The White warrior heard a ruckus outside, people started to move.

Before the door could close, some Ridires jumped inside the infirmary, somersaulting and hiding everywhere in the place. Casper knew that it would be pointless to just shot desperately, so instead of doing this, he just waited calmly and memorized their positions.

"Two Ridires behind the balcony. Two in the opposite corner of the room, behind devices just like as mine. Another one sneaking between the beds. Five in total. It can be easy if I handle them properly." Keeping the cube in his pocket again and fixing the grip on the rifle, he prepared himself.

"I will just wait to know if the Ridires out there will do something. If they break in through the door I am done for sure. There will be nothing I can do instead of fight back until they take me down."

Casper waited for some more minutes. He kept paying attention to the movements that the Ridires infiltrated made, but also on what was happening outside there.

After some moments, he found that it was enough. If he delayed for longer, they would have time to organize themselves to take the initiative.

"This action needs to be quick. I can’t fail here. I need to finish it as fast as I can and head to the room where the nurses are. If the Ridires outside there break-in, I will stand no chance against them. Not here."

Casper entered into action. He grabbed the grenade and tossed it perfectly on another side of the balcony.

The grenade drew a bow in the air and fell right in front of the Ridires behind there. It exploded in a strong shock wave that even made the lights of the room flash sometimes.

When the lamps stopped flashing, he pointed to the opposite corner of his. The soldier pulled the trigger, but those warriors remained unshakable in their places, just getting out in the perfect timing to counterattack.

He needed to hid himself again to prevent being shot. At the same time, he noticed that the Ridire walking between the beds could approach him even more.

"I can’t fight back with this guy for now. I will need to let him approach me. If I show myself in front of those guys at the other corner, they will cover me with holes."

He fired against that corner again and received payback. His objective was to maintain those guys there, while he waited for the sneaky Ridire to get closer enough.

As he expected, that man was willing to surrender him or kill with a shot in point-blank range.

He wouldn’t let it happen, though.

When the man appeared from another side, which was in an apparent blind spot for Casper, he raised his gun, aiming at his neck.

The White warrior swiftly pulled his rifle back, jabbing the barrel of the warrior’s gun with its butt. He charged the gun again, then launched the butt against his head this time, knocking him out in a matter of seconds.

"Good. Now, more two." He controlled his breath, they did a bold movement.

He got out of his cover while aiming the gun, but not shooting yet. The Ridires noticed his approach and didn’t lose any time, they peeked out of their cover, just enough to be able to shot.

They opened fire, and Casper did the same, crouching between the beds to difficult their aim.

A bullet slightly touched his cheek, opening a considerably deep cut on it. He felt the warm blood running from the wound down his face.

Two bullets reached his chest, being barred by the bulletproof vest. The impact nearly threw him back, but he steadied his feet on the ground and did not let himself lose balance.

Gripping the rifle tightly he pointed and fired. Now that they had their faces out of the cover, he could easily aim at them.

The first got a bullet right in his head. The other was left scratched only, managing to hide behind the devices before Casper could target him.

The soldier was feeling a lot of pain in his chest. Receive shots in the bulletproof vest was painful, but particularly with those guns. He was with difficulty even to breathe properly.

Casper used his specialty. He sneaked through the room just as the other Ridire did, rounding the cover where that last enemy was. He kept crouching to make it hard to spot him.

Just as he was on the right side of that warrior, hiding between the beds, he picked his pistol and threw it at the opposite side.

It worked better than he thought. In the adrenaline of the moment, being the only Ridire remaining of a total of 5, the man couldn’t think well and jumped off his cover, to the left side.

The only thing he spotted was a pistol. And behind him, he heard a firing, then a feeling in his back. His vision went blurry, then darkened slowly, and when he realized he was already on the verge of death.

Casper stood in that room for some while, even though he should be in a hurry.

"How many people... did I kill today?" That painful question remained without answer.