slowly dying down.
“When Burne gets close, we're going to head out there and help them mop up,” Greg said.
The others agreed and gathered by the door. Several more moments passed, and then Burne let them know via the radio that he and his men were near. Greg opened the door and went out guns blazing. The others joined him, blasting away the surviving members of the Undead and the Augmented. Caught between Greg and his squad and Burne and his squad, both groups of enemies were quickly reduced to a heap of corpses.
Burne crossed the field of bodies and joined Greg and the others.
“ Get to it,” he growled, still clearly pissed about the whole metal-arm, infection situation.
Greg tried not to hold it against him. Greg and the others moved into the second generator room, cleared it and then fired it up. After a sharp click , followed by a loud pop , the lights flickered to life and the soothing sound of white noise whispered through the area. Greg felt an immense relief flow through him.
“ Come on, let's get back topside,” Linda said.
Greg listened to Burne ordering his men to hang around down in the tunnel and guard the generators with their lives.
As they made their way back up, Lynch came onto the radio.
“ We've got another problem.”
Chapter 08
– Apprehension –
By the time they'd reemerged from beneath the dead surface of the moon, Lynch had managed to paint the whole grim picture for them. Greg found the whole thing mind-boggling. How could so many things possibly go wrong? It seemed as though there would be some kind of natural law, something intrinsic about the universe that would give you a break, a short reprieve, even for an hour or two.
Of course, Greg knew that there was no such rule. In fact, if anything, it seemed to go the other way: if something could fuck up, it would, given enough time. He brooded over this as he hustled down a central corridor with Kyra, Campbell, and Linda. Mike had gone back to headquarters. They were currently making for an airlock.
Lynch had informed them that after going through all that trouble to get the power back on, the oxygen systems had failed, and since they still kind of needed oxygen to stay alive, Greg needed to lead a small team onto the dead surface and make repairs. It was to be expected that Augmented would be waiting for them, as it was obvious by now that the half-machine, half-flesh nightmares were intent on fucking over the survivors.
They came to the end of the corridor, turned, and made their way down another. Greg glanced back at Linda.
“ Tell me you've got something better than basic pressure suits.”
Linda nodded. “Yeah, don't worry.”
“Where is this place, anyway?” Campbell asked.
“ They hit an exterior piece of equipment that helps route oxygen flow. It's about a hundred meters away from the airlock we're going to,” Linda replied.
They reached the end of the second corridor and passed through a small antechamber, which led them to an abandoned locker room. Linda led them over to a row of large lockers and pried one of them open.
A small, but sturdy-looking suit resided within. Linda pulled it out, opened it up, and pulled it on.
“ This is the same model suit the miners use. It's very durable and can stand up to explosions and gunfire, for the most part. It's a good idea not to try and test it. Go grab one, pull it on, we're heading out onto the surface.”
They split up, each of them taking a locker. Greg held up his suit and gave it a once over. It was like a bulky jumpsuit. The material felt thin, but at the same time very strong. He frowned; still studying the black-gray material, then shrugged and pulled it on. He found a helmet and pulled it into place.
While the others suited up, Greg activated the small screen mounted on his left wrist, and when the option arrived, booted up the suit-check function. A few seconds passed and confirmed that all systems were working, he had an hour of oxygen and
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