Episode 264: The Raid
“Is everyone ready?”
Felix’s words were met with replies from the weapon-wielding men: “Yeah!” “Ready when you are!”
They were in a dimly lit plaza in the Underground City.
Felix sat on a circular bench, surrounded by about thirty men and women.
Everyone was armed, looking at Felix with excitement.
Living in the Underground City of Kreuzberg, they formed a community of about a hundred people, with Felix as their leader.
“We’re going to raid Tzore! Those guys are taking everything from us. We have no choice but to settle this here!!”
The men around him cheered, “Ooooh!!” and the women raised their weapons, shouting.
Felix smiled with satisfaction, took a swig from a liquor bottle, and sighed, “Aah.”
He pulled a gun from his hip holster and stared at it intently.
A German H&K pistol, a ‘VP9’. It was an automatic he used when he was a police officer.
A smile crept across his face as he looked at the gun. It felt like a long time ago that he worked as a police officer.
Now, his job was to protect the people here. Thinking so, he returned the gun to its holster.
“Alright, let’s go!”
Felix stood up and led his companions toward the exit of the Underground City.
Now, only Felix’s community and the community based at Tzore Station existed in Berlin.
All the other people had been killed by Monsters.
Felix was lost in thought as he walked. Ideally, the two communities should cooperate and live together.
It was obvious, but they continued to fight. How stupid could they be?
Thinking about this, Felix smiled wryly. In the end, he was just a stupid person who could only fight.
“Felix!”
It was Rui, running up to him. A boy who had become an orphan after his parents were killed by Monsters.
Felix stopped and said, “What’s wrong?”
“Let me come with you! I can help everyone.”
Felix scratched his cheek with a troubled look, squatted down, and patted Rui’s head.
“You stay here. This is our job.”
“But, but I have a gun too, and I can fight properly!”
“That’s why. If you come with us, who will protect the children and the old folks here? We won’t be back anytime soon.”
“That’s…”
Rui looked down and fell silent.
Seeing this, Felix stood up and tapped Rui’s head.
“I’m counting on you, Rui! I believe in you.”
Rui nodded reluctantly.
The group of thirty, including Felix, climbed the stairs and exited the Underground City. Bright sunlight shone on their faces.
Felix shielded his eyes with his hand and smiled, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen the sun.”
They walked along the cracked road, climbed over piles of rubble, and looked around. Tzore Station was only a few tens of minutes away on foot.
It wasn’t that far, but the thing to watch out for was encountering Monsters.
However, Monsters had become less frequent lately. They couldn’t leave the city, but they could manage to live.
That’s what he thought, but—
“M, Marionettes!!”
Felix reacted immediately to the man’s scream.
“Tch! They showed up. Everyone, run!”
“Got it!”
The thirty men and women immediately started running. When Felix looked back, a slender Monster was standing in the distance.
It was a common Monster in this area. They knew how to deal with it.
“Don’t fight them! Guns don’t work on those things.”
Felix shouted, and voices replied, “Yeah!” “We know!”
Marionettes weren’t fast-moving Monsters. They could escape like this. The moment Felix thought so—
“Aah!!”
A woman screamed, looking ahead. What!? When Felix turned his gaze, there were five Marionettes standing there.
“What!?”
Felix stopped and looked around. Then, three more Marionettes were coming from the left and right.
—We’re surrounded!
Everyone stopped and pointed their guns at the Monsters.
“This is the first time so many have appeared! What do we do, Felix!?”
Felix’s face twisted at the words of a large man. Even if they encountered Marionettes, it was only two or three at most.
They had never been surrounded by such a group.
What is it? Is something changing in this city? As Felix was thinking about this, the large man, Werner, called out to him.
“Felix! I’ll hold back the Marionettes behind us. Take everyone back underground while I do!”
“Don’t be stupid! You’ll definitely die if you do that!! We’re not Seekers.”
Felix tried desperately to stop him, but Werner shook his head.
“We’ll all be wiped out if we stay like this. It’s fine if it ends with just me.”
“Werner…”
Felix gritted his teeth. Certainly, there might be no other way. But there was no guarantee it would work.
While they were doing this, the surrounding Marionettes were coming toward them.
“There’s no time to think! Felix, I’m counting on you for the rest!”
Seeing Werner’s back as he ran off, Felix spat out, “Damn it!” He shook his head and followed after him.
“Everyone, let’s go! We have to escape no matter what!!”
Responding to Felix, his companions also raised their voices. Everyone ran toward the Marionettes behind them.
Werner, running at the front, fired his rifle like crazy. But it had no effect on the Marionette’s steel body, and all the bullets were deflected.
“Damn it!” Werner said, gripping the gun barrel with both hands. If bullets didn’t work, then guns were just blunt instruments.
Thinking so, Werner raised the gun high.
“Uooooooo!!”
Werner slammed the butt of the gun into the Marionette’s head. The Monster staggered slightly, but didn’t take much damage.
The Monster, made entirely of iron, swayed its sword-like arm.
Werner sensed danger and instinctively pulled back, but it was too late. His abdomen was slashed by the sweeping sword, and bright red blood spurted out.
“Gah!”
“Werner!!”
Felix ran with all his might to help Werner.
He fired several shots at the Marionette, but they had no effect on its iron body and were easily deflected.
Werner’s face twisted in pain, and he knelt on the spot.
—Damn it! What should I do…?
A desperate situation. Just when he thought he couldn’t save him, something flew past Felix’s face.
—What!?
It was fire. The rising flames took the shape of a bird and headed straight for the Marionette.
The moment it passed over Werner and hit the Monster, it caused an explosion.
The Marionette was blown to pieces, and Werner was blown away by the impact.
Felix ran to Werner, who had fallen face down, and immediately picked him up.
“Are you okay!? Werner!”
“A, ah… I’m okay. More importantly, what happened?”
“I want to know that too.”
When Felix turned around and looked around, two men were standing on the rubble a little distance away.
Faces he had never seen before. One was holding a Longsword, and the other had a Hammer-like weapon.
“Did they… do it?”