part 465: River of Blood

6:37 pm

A soft wind blew from the ocean breezes. Most locals always said it was the Santa Anna winds from upstate. Almost like the spirit of California blanketed it’s children every night. The sun had gone down in the past 30 minutes, and the city was lit up as it always way. The Hanso foundation had the majority of it’s lights on, so there was no way to tell who was working and who wasn’t. Across the near empty street was the three story parking deck. Under it’s wing, rested the survivors before they were to begin their assault.

McKay walked around to all the street lights under the parking deck and unscrew the light bulbs; giving them the cover of darkness. John gently screwed on the explosive arrowheads onto appropriate sized arrow stalks. He even marked them with different grooves to make sure he pulled the right ones when needed. The archer then looked over to his wife, who was resting in the back of an SUV with Shanna. Tony gently tied a tourniquet onto her arm, and then started slapping it for a vein. The moment he found one, the doctor then administered 20 MG of epinephrine. Mia then started to blink wildly, already feeling the effects.

She then got out of the car, and was able to walk of her own accord. She then allowed Tony to remove the tourniquet and then she proceeded over to her husband. John shifted his quiver around his back as she approached him. “We’re going to get through this.” She smiled, rubbing his arm.

“I know we will.” He said, trying to sound confident.

“John?”

“Yeah?” he looked down at her.

“There was an old story about a Lakota warrior who lost his family.” She sighed as the night wind blew her hair a little, “He knew it was a bear who had taken his family from him. He fought every single bear in the region till he found the one that caused it. When he was done with a bear’s carcass, he would toss the remains in the river.”

“Why . . .why are you telling me this now?”

“They said he killed so many the river was red. He made a River of Blood.” Mia sighed, “Something tells me . . ..we’ll make one tonight.”

“Let’s hope we kill the right bears then.” John put his arm around her.

“Yes,” she sighed, “The right bears.”

Hal then helped Chance to the back end of his truck. Arizona and Libby pulled down the tailgate, while the gunslinger sat down on it. The Texan then looked across the street, and held up his hand; making it form a pistol. He looked at the lobby with one closed eye. He then smiled. “Yeah, it’s good distance and wind.” He agreed, “I can certainly hit something from this distance.”

“I’ll keep his guns reloaded.” Arizona said, pulling out the assortment of weapons in the duffle bag.

“I’m sorry I can’t go in there with you, Hal.” Chance told his best friend.

“Don’t worry about it. You can participate in the NEXT raid.” The cop joked.

“All right, look alive, people!” Tony said, walking forward and arming his gun, “Let’s get our family back and put this behind us once and for all.”

The group then made their maneuver to get to the end of the street. John pulled out his binoculars from his pouch and looked across the street. The front outside lobby was devoid of people, just a pond and a bunch of branches sticking out of concrete pots. Ana-Lucia then coughed as she placed on her tact-radio she got some SWAT. She squeezed the radio access around her neck. “Can you hear me?” she looked to Kellye.

“Loud and clear, boss.” The younger officer said, holding the ear piece.

“All right, I’ll go see what’s in the front lobby and we’ll go from there.”

“Be careful, Ana.” Sawyer told her.

“You be careful, redneck,” she winked at him.

The survivors watched her jog across the street and enter the front outside lobby. She proceeded up toward the front door. The soft trickling of the nearby pond could be easily heard through the neck radio. Kellye watched her friend as she got closer and closer. The young officer looked to the juggernaut standing by her side, his eyes glowing a soft blue. She gently stroked Raven’s arm, a silent way of telling him how much she was happy to see him alive and well. The Jaeger Unit just gently patted her hand for assurance. Kellye and Raven were never really friends but they did have one thing in common. They were both best friends with Jenny. And the young officer knew now that Raven was with them, their chances of getting their friends out alive had increased incredibly.


Ana-Lucia walked up to the front glass door and looked in. There was one guard sitting a front desk. The officer then rapped on the glass door to get his attention. After a few seconds, he started walking toward her. “There is one guard and he’s coming toward me.” She whispered into her neck mic so her friends could hear.

“Can I help you?” the guard asked her.

“Yeah, Lt. Detective Cortez,” she smiled holing up her badge, “May I come in?”

“You got a warrant?” he immediately asked.

“I don’t need a warrant, with an anonymous tip.”

“Anonymous tip about what?”

“About there are children here being held against their will,” She smiled with sarcasim.

“Sorry, lady. Ain’t no kids here. Now get lost and come back with a warrant.”

“Fine,.” Ana-Lucia grunted as she turned around and began to walk back toward her friends.


John kept his eyes on her with the binoculars. The Latina cop started to move and then gave a signal from her on her chest, saying she didn’t see anyone. The archer then looked into the distance at where the guard was. He was quickly listening to a radio. After he got whatever message was sent to him, he immediately started walking out of the door toward Ana-Lucia. He then calmly pulled out his side arm and behind him the main lobby was filling up with Liberators. “OH, MY GOD!” John exclaimed, “You were right, Tony! The building is filling up with soldiers, they knew we were coming.”

“Get Ana-Lucia out of there!” the one eye doctor yelled.

Kellye quickly switched the relay on her raid to send but by the time she did that, she heard a gun shot ring out. John jolted as he saw the Latina fall down after getting shot by the guard. “He shot her in the back!” the archer grunted.

“GO, RAVEN!” McKay ordered.

The Jaeger Unit then began to run toward the outside lobby, which was filling up with soldiers. The Liberators peered into the darkness, looking for the rest of the survivors. All they could hear was the sound of a slamming boots hitting the concrete. Then out of the darkness appeared Raven, with a stream of blue light flinging from his eyes. The soldiers opened fire on him as some of the bullet hit him and some bounced off. The Jaeger Unit grabbed the nearest man by the arm and then flung him toward another. They continued to fire but all they did was hit their own man, as Raven continued to use him as a sling.

Raven then kicked another man, sending him flying through the air and landing in the pond. He then grabbed another Liberator, and ripped his arm clean off. Another one then started to assemble a bazooka. By the time he got it up, a bullet ripped through his head; exploding into sauce out the back. The soldiers then saw the remaining survivors running toward them. Tony pulled out both his pistols and fired a barrage, sending two men down. John then pulled his arrow and watched it soar through the air; slamming into a man’s chest. McKay and Sawyer ran toward the fallen man with the bazooka. The redneck almost laughed as he grabbed the weapon. The Australian helped him to turn it correctly, then slapped him on the head. “YEEEEHAAAWWW!!!” Sawyer screamed as he fired the bazooka toward the glass walls of the Hanso building.

The rocket ripped into the glass, shattering it. When it struck the inner wall, it then exploded into sparks and fire; the momentum of force shattering the rest of the glass. Raven grabbed two more men and then slammed them together, hearing their heads crack from the blows. Kellye fired on one man and then stopped to take his rifle. Then she ran back toward the body of Ana-Lucia. “ANA!!” she screamed.

“What?” the officer said as she forced herself up.

“Oh, my God!” the younger officer exclaimed, “Are you okay?”

“My back is going to be sore for days,” she said, removing her jacket to reveal her bullet proof vest. “Aw, man that hurts.”

“Wore your vest,” she exclaimed, “Oh, thank God.”

“Haven’t you heard, Kellye?” the Latina said, using her friend to stand up, “I’m crazy, not stupid.”

After dispatching the remaining men, John then reached into his quiver and pulled out a flare. The archer ignited it and then wave it around for his companions to see. This told the second group it was safe to move in. Seth ran in front with his sword by his side. Mia ran behind him, followed by Shanna, Sayid, Locke, Mandy and Alexander. They quickly jumped over all the bodies of the Liberators and followed their friends who were already in the front lobby. Tristan felt a surge of adrenaline pumping through his system. He had never been on a breaking and entering assault but judging from what’s happening; it was necessary. He never imaged himself fighting terrorists in a gorilla warfare raid either. But he knew he owed it to Eddie and Bonnie to get them out safely.

Seth looked ahead as his friends were in another firefight. Before they disappeared out of the distance, McKay quickly looked back at them. The Australian then pointed toward a door behind him and then ran off, firing his weapon. “I guess it’s a safe bet those stairs lead up.” Seth looked back at them.

“Then lets get our children,” Mia said.

Seth then ran in, hearing his sneakers crash against the broken glass on the floor. The group followed behind him as far as they could run. They saw their friends in the another gun fire in the deeper lobby. Raven was running up walls, striking as many people as he could. The Lakota woman saw her husband firing arrow after arrow into as many people as he could. She hoped that she would be alive to tell him how proud she was of him. Locke paused to shoot a man who was about to shoot Tony in the back. The second tier group then burst through the stairs and immediately began to run upward. Mia then stopped when she saw a small fire-axe inside a breakaway case. She quickly rammed her elbow into, shattering the glass. Shanna stayed with her as the Lakota pulled the axe out of the case and ran to join their friends.

By the time they got to the third floor, Seth peered down the hallway. He had no idea where they were, no any idea where the children were. Locke then reloaded his gun and looked to the singer. “See anything?” he asked.

“Just a bunch of offices. How far do we need to go?” Seth asked.

“Sadly, we do not know.” Sayid concluded.

“Then we should split up. We can cover more ground.” Mia told them.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave each other-“

“WE DON’T HAVE TIME TO DEBATE!” Mia yelled shoving past them.

Seth quickly followed her as did Shanna. Locke then motioned for the rest to go up the next level as they followed her into the hallway. Mia began walking down the hallway, noticing that the majority of the employees were surprisingly vacant. Then one soldier ran out and fired at Mia’s head. The bullet whizzed past her and made a nearby computer monitor explode. The Lakota girl screamed as she threw the axe at the man, hearing it sing as it flew through the air. The bladed weapon rammed into the man’s head, like a axe against a wet chunk of wood.

Mia walked over and planted her foot into the man’s chest; using it as leverage as she ripped out her axe from her forehead. Shanna and Seth witnessed the whole thing. “Damn, she’s bad ass with that thing.” Seth smirked.

Mia smiled briefly back at them, then she stopped when she caught a whiff of something. She was certain she had smelled it before. The Lakota then began to walk down an adjacent hallway. Seth patted his redheaded best friend on the shoulder. “Stay with her, Shanna, “ he told her, “I’ll check down this other hallway.”

The redhead quickly scooted toward her friend who was talking toward an office with an open door. The Lakota peered in and saw a very classy office. It was adorned with various artifacts from Japanese culture, ranging from tapestries to wooden shields to a full set of samurai armor. There was a man who was kneeling down at a shrine of something, moving a stick of incense over a plaque. It was the incense on his clothes that Mia smelled that morning which what dragged her to this office.

“Kamiyama.” She whispered, with a tinge of hatred.