24

The lull has come for a long time.

Maybe an hour has already passed.

— Adrianna, you're taking Kirby, Lukasz, Ryan, and Darek to a safe place.—Cornelius said.

— I'm not leaving!—I said.— And if I leave, I'll come back!—

— Oh, how stubborn you are...— my beloved said softly.

Ryan raised his hand, followed by Kirby, Darek, and even Lukas.

— Hm... There are no normal people here, right?—Cornelius said with a grin.

He smiled, not as maliciously as before.

— I'm glad you all want to finish this... But I'm afraid for you... You don't have the protection that shields me from bullets...—Cornelius looked at us sadly.— Which of you is ready to risk your life? —

— All of us, as you have already understood, are ready....—I said.— If someone doesn't want to, they would have said so long ago...—

— I support it.—Ryan said.— If there was anyone against it, they would have voted long ago.—

— He's right as never before...—Kirby said.— I rarely agree with Ryan, but there's simply nothing to argue with...—

— Well, that's for sure... So we're all going crazy...—Cornelius said, looking at us with pity as if we were the last psychopaths.—What's wrong with this world?—

He laughed, but it smacked a little of hysteria.

— But I don't think Ryan should go there. Ryan, you have a bad leg.—Cornelius said.— Don't look at me like that, don't think that I'm writing you off, just your leg...—

— My leg, damn it! Anyone is always judging me by my cons...— Ryan exhales noisily through his nose.—Cornelius, don't be like everyone who underestimates me! Otherwise

You'll be disappointed...—

— Okay, I'm not your father, so I'm not going to boss you around...——Cornelius sighed sadly.— Then we act ... —

***

We screwed several machine guns on both doors of the car - a long cord with a button controls such a machine gun.

Darek said that he had once assembled them precisely for the offensive and for this particular machine.

— I've always been preparing for this.— he spoke strangely.

— Are you sure the bullet won't penetrate this?—Lukasz asked, knocking on the car door.

— But you shouldn't do that anymore.—Dariusz said gloomily.— These wonderful babies are tuned to the beats.He suddenly smiled grimly.— If you bump into someone on this beauty here...—

— Is there going to be an explosion?—Cornelius asked.

— No, it's better...—Dariusz tapped the fender of the car and jumped back.

A loud burst of gunfire went through the tree, splitting it in two.

— Darek... How clever you are, it turns out!——Lukasz gasped.

We each took our own place in the car - Ryan, Kirby and Lukasz controlled the joysticks of the machine guns, Cornelius took the wheel and controlled the main weapon from the front - with a grenade launcher, I sat next to him, and Dariusz sat on the roof, there was a machine gun of simply gigantic size.

— Did you leave the best for yourself, as always?—Cornelius asked, starting the engine.

— Don't talk, start!—Dariusz shouted.— If we're lucky, we'll get rid of Mariusz today...—

The car took off at all speeds.

We jumped over several rocks and the firearms started working all as one.

— Ryan, turn the joystick, then all the shots will disperse around—!I shouted. I shoved a small hatch in the window with a rifle and threw a grenade towards the gate.— Dariusz, hide!—

The explosion shook the car slightly.

— Can't you be more careful?—Darek shouted from somewhere above.

— I'm sorry, I'm sorry!—I smiled.

Dariusz just snorts softly.

We break through the burning gap and shoot at everyone we come across.

The car skids on steep turns.

Ryan hit the back of his head against the wall and gasped softly.

— Be careful!—I said loudly.

We shoot down several of Mariusz's soldiers and drive down a long moving ribbon. The railing flew under the bottom and remained somewhere behind.

— Where are we going?—I asked.

— To the basements!—Cornelius said.— Mariusz often conducts experiments on people like me! Over those who received the same strange gift!—

Sparks scorch the car door - our car scratches the wall on a sharp turn.

— Are you stupid?—Dariusz shouts angrily from the roof.

I already knew by the sound that we had lost one of the gun.

It looks like Dariusz almost fell himself - his sneaker flashed through the window.

After he climbed back in, a burst of machine gun fire went through the walls.

It seems that the loss of the gun and the failed, but still frightening fall, greatly enraged him.

— Darek, don't shoot at the door! The test subjects may be nearby, but I don't want to hurt them!—Cornelius shouts, banging on the roof.

— I see!— Darek riddled the soldier aiming at us with bullets.

— Let's go to the bottom! There are many more floors underground here than on earth, but the strange thing is that to go lower, you need to go through the entire floor.—

And we need to clean up all these floors from even the tiniest trace of this oppressive disease named Mariusz. I want to kill him now a lot more than I thought about it before.

Mariusz took away my time, took away Darek's childhood, and almost took Cornelius away from us.

He owes us and we will take all the time until the very last second.

Ryan suddenly kicked the door open.

— Cornelius, slow down for a minute or two, I'll take the fallen machine gun!— He said.

— You? Besides, you can't even take a step without a stick, and besides, how are you going to get it? The machine gun has long since fallen off, most likely!— says Cornelius, but he slowed down anyway.

— I can hear him dragging on the floor. His wires are very strong...—Ryan leaned in.—Somebody hold my legs, I'm in serious danger of falling out!—

Kirby grabbed our foster father's legs.

— Horror, how heavy you are!— He panted.

Ryan began to pull up the machine gun by the wires. Indeed, the weapon was not significantly damaged, only the paint was badly scratched.

Cornelius looked at Ryan again with a kind of intensity.

What did he notice about our guardian?

Meanwhile, Ryan, quite briskly for his age, pulled a weapon into the car, took a knife from Lukash and unscrewed the mounting bolts with it. Then, just as deftly, he fitted the machine gun to the car door.

— You have a clever old man!—Cornelius told me.

— I know, he's the best!—I replied.

We stopped where there were almost no people and our car could not pass.

Dariusz threw a couple of knives at the guards.

— It's clean now!— He said.

Cornelius pushed open the door with a shotgun he had taken from our car.

— There is no one. Let's go in! Lukasz, would you like to sit in the car?—Corey asked jokingly.

— Well, you'll get to me soon, old friend! — Lukasz took one of the pistols from Darek.— You don't mind if I use it a little? —

— Use it as much as you want, but if you touch my belt again, you will definitely be left without hands!—Darek snorted.

He has something strange about his belt...

it seems that the room we entered was a laboratory.

— Should all the test subjects be here?—I asked Cornelius, but Darek answered me.:

— I escaped from here and there were a lot of people here when I left this place...—He suddenly hesitated.— Here... My friend and a strange man were here...—

He walked over to the table and began throwing papers in different directions. He put some of them under his T-shirt, covering himself with papers from all sides.

Suddenly, his gaze lingered on the folder on which "Enrique Mirabal" was written in marker.

Dariusz leaned across the table when he saw this name on the folder and, grabbing it, hurriedly began to leaf through it.

I don't know what he saw there, but it made him smile.

I wouldn't have had much trouble looking over his shoulder if he hadn't been on the opposite side of the table.

Darek hid these documents under his T-shirt.

Cornelius even turned a little pale when he saw something behind my back.

— Mariusz... Monster!— He said softly.

I turned around. I think if Cornelius hadn't been there, behind my back, I would have fallen.

We took each other's hands, trying to support each other.

The body parts that hung on the walls and were stacked in an uneven pile in the corner were probably what was left of the test subjects.

Thick black, purple, and golden liquid dripped from the slices of flesh instead of blood. The most absurd thing was the golden one - as if there was liquid instead of blood

gold.

— It all needs to be blown up.—Cornelius said in a kind of hollow voice.—If we bring enough explosives in here, all the floors could collapse inwards like a tower of cards falling!—

— That is, a house of cards?—Ryan asked.— I built a lot of houses from cards, but I didn't see the tower.—