District 42-Chapter 99: Despair
Casper had already positioned himself in the entrance of the infirmary. It was in a corridor where people could come from both sides, so he needed to be even more insightful and perceptive.
"Be focused. Don’t fail. Now, it’s up to you. You need to do this." He animated himself, closing his eyes strongly as if it could help somehow.
Seeing Casper struggling to keep his cool and protect the place, Amelia knew that she could not just stay still there and do nothing. She had two patients that needed her entire focus. The head nurse should act as such and start making important decisions.
She raised her head once again, looking intently at every nurse standing there, some biting their nails, others looking at nothing, some even crying.
"They aren’t used to this type of scenario. I don’t know how will be the outcome of this situation if I keep pushing them so hard..." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
The most difficult thing was to work with the pressure of losing an important patient, but also fear on the inside that at any time they could die in an exchange of bullets.
For a moment, Amelia sighed. The sigh didn’t help in anything, it wouldn’t change anything. Amelia knew this, she felt, and believe this. But she felt like those tiny and idiotic actions made her more human and made her be more at ease.
"Ok..." She apologized internally for all those nurses. "We will do a lot of things now, so be prepared for everything. I will split you all into groups. Some take care of Olaf, others of Alfar. I need more people assisting the last, though." The nurses didn’t seem too happy to hear that, but the leadership spirit of Amelia got the better of them and they kept pushing forward as much as they could.
Seeing that their shock had vanished, Casper could pay attention to what really mattered.
"I know that it is a pain for you, but you will hurt a lot of people, and can even kill some of them, soldier. But you need to do this! Your fate will be decided here and now! Your place is not in jail! It hurts to kill people, but will hurt even more if you keep here like this!"
At each step that the multiple Ridires gave through the corridors, approaching more and more each time, Casper’s heart raced hardly, seeming to be about to jump from his chest.
"Don’t be scared. Don’t lose hope. Remember... Remember that you need to... to..."
"SURVIVE!" The shout came.
The sight of that woman in the house being targeted by an arrow came.
The sight of the imposing figure of Sionnach came as well.
"Be stronger, Casper... Use everything that you got!" His eyes opened suddenly when his sharpened senses showed that someone had finally appeared on the right side of the corridor.
He put his body outside from the cover of the entrance and aimed his gun at the height of an average man’s chest level.
The first shot was right on the target, and a single bullet pierced the Ridire’s chest and he fell to the ground in the middle of his run.
It lowered the morale and raised the despair in the hearts of the enemies, and Casper knew it. Now he didn’t need to hold anymore, it was just pull the trigger.
"Two on the left, one on the middle, three behind, none on the right side of the corridor." His mind processed quickly before he opened fire again, this time pulling the trigger and shooting with more confidence, without even aim.
"No need to aim perfectly in a corridor not so many meters wide. What I need is to keep the barrel at human’s chest level. Speed here is important, I must shot before they can even aim their guns, otherwise, I will surely die."
The song of shots echoed in long bursts, ending with dead silence in the corridor except the steps of other Ridires arriving.
Casper guarded himself inside the infirmary again, still crouched and catching his breath.
But the enemy wouldn’t let it end, more Ridires were approaching there, and at a high pace.
"6 enemies, 5 knocked down, one ran away. He has a bullet in his shoulder and arm. The other Ridires know that I am here. Besides, they already know that I have a gun." He calculated.
He needed to take a deep breath, closing his eyes again before go ahead.
This time, there would be people coming from both sides. They would not commit such a failure to come in a single group from just one of the sides.
They knew what they did. Those people Casper killed were just disposable pawns. They were used to gather information. Now they knew that Casper had a gun, that he would be waiting for them to show up advancing boldly, to finally show his own face and end with them.
It was easy to define how dangerous someone was, and what were his habits and way of act when in a battle. Anyone could notice it if they try to understand another individual.
"They are trying to assault this place. I know from their behavior. I need to be even more clever... No, better, I must be relentless. If not, it will be dominated." He could notice that the Ridires had arrived at the corridor, both sides as he predicted.
If he went to attack one side, he would receive a rain of bullets onto his back. If he did not go there, the Ridires would take the infirmary, and it was a complicated zone to start a fight since there were other people in there, and he could not afford them to get in the way of the procedure.
"You need to protect all of this. Accept your destiny. You have someone’s life in your shoulders, keep going.",
He waited more, having faith. The steps approached slowly and making less noise, they were being careful this time. However, Casper kept just hearing, still behind that cover, letting them get closer and closer.
Who saw him doing these things would suspect that he was going crazy, or that he just gave up on it.
Casper just acted when the Ridires from the left, the most hurried ones, were about to reach the entrance.
He jumped off the infirmary, getting in front of them with his rifle already raised, and pointed at a Ridire in blank range. One shot was enough, right on the heart, without fail.
The second and third ones had time to pull their triggers, but not to aim at the White warrior, who finished them with more accurate shots at close range.
The enemies had gained too much confidence with Casper’s wait, and it was what he had planned.
However, the Ridires from another side were already there, in the corridor.
Swiftly, Casper rotated his body positioning himself in one knee.
There were five of them and the soldier had his doubts if he would be capable to knock all of them down.
He picked up the body of one Ridire and put him in front, using as a shield.
The five warriors didn’t falter and started to aim at the uncovered parts of Casper’s body.
Some bullets scratched his skin, others pierced his flesh. His legs and arms were the main targets. If that kept like this, they would get into a range where the meat shield wouldn’t work anymore.
The soldier, though, wasn’t intending to make him just as a shield. He pulled each pin of the flashbangs, the explosives, and even smoke grenades in his belt and pockets rapidly. Then, with a powerful push, he threw the body against the Ridires advancing.
The corpse had not even the time to touch them, and it exploded, in a mix of fire, light, and a cloud of dense smoke, even destroying the corridor’s walls and floor.
Casper did not know if it killed all the Ridires, so he couldn’t stay at the same place waiting to confirm it. He jumped back to the safety of the infirmary’s entrance.
Casper was trying to maintain his breath steady, but he could not spend much time doing this. Soon, more steps could be heard.
"Hey, Amelia! We need to hurry! Now!" Casper shouted, almost begging.
The head nurse looked at him with furious eyes.
"We are doing our best, you bastard! Why you don’t come here and do our job!?" She snapped, seeming about to go kill Casper herself.
"Then come here and try to stop dozens of warriors alone, you..." An explosion happened near the entrance, making Casper fall back, losing his balance.
The White warrior pointed his gun through the smoke and opened fire, spending all the gun’s energy in that assault.
The Ridires fired back, and he hid again, drawing the pistol and preparing to shot once they stop.
"Amelia, if they don’t wake up in some minutes, nothing will change!"
"I know! I know! But I don’t control the drug’s effect, it will last for more than ten minutes at least! They are still suffering here!"
Casper ran towards the commandant knocked down inside the infirmary, searching for grenades and also stealing his bulletproof vest.
"Then, do something about this! I am doing my part now, right?" He ran back to the entrance and tossed a grenade outside.
The head nurse looked to the shaken Alfar on the bed.
"Argh... What do I do...?"
