Unstable Serenity - Chapter 3, Broken Silence
Max's POV cont'd
I had this massive headache, and quite frankly, it hurt a lot.
"How about some aspirin?" Viktor offered.
"What then hell just happened?" I asked.
"We had to knock you out, we can't have you knowing where our highly classified facilities are, now can we?" The fox replied.
"You could have blind folded me! I don't like surprizes remember!?" I exclaimed.
"Surprize!" The fox said with that smile again. "Just take the aspirin, and you'll feel better soon."
Viktor then handed me the aspirin and without even hesitating, I took it with water. It didn't matter how far I went with these guys anymore, I was already too involved with them to go back.
"Follow me, I will take you to where we need to be" Viktor explained.
It looked like I was in an underground bunker, the ceiling had open wires running down it with lightbulbs hanging from it, the floor was concrete and the walls were rocks. By the looks of it, they used TNT to blow holes into this place.
I was then escorted over to a big room which was an overhead projector facing a giant white screen, off to the side were computers and furs working on them.
Viktor and I then stood in the middle of the room facing towards the screen.
"So, what is this thing that you need to show me?" I asked.
"Well, terrorism and security have been a big problem lately with many countries' governments" Viktor began.
"...And?" I questioned.
"America has been prone to terrorism and hostile activity for many years, but you see, here's where we share common ground: Russia is also prone to terrorist attacks, and that's what I specialize in; counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency" Viktor explained. "There's an organization called the Cevenda, they seek to rule their territory by their own tenates, and not have any influence by soverign states and their laws."
"You're telling me that you want my help to takedown the Cevenda?" I asked.
"We understand the relationship between us isn't all that stable, but this situation also seems to concern you aswell" he stated.
"Me? How!?" I asked.
"More so your country, all we're asking is that you help us with this, just like we did in World War II. We don't need your help operating in Russia, we just want what you want" Viktor told me.
"...And what's that?" I asked curiously.
"Peace and Serenity" The fox said.
"So far, the Cevenda is only operating anywhere from the Black Sea to the Caspain Sea" He went on. "There have been multiple attacks in Sochi, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Eastern Turkey."
"So, what does this have anything do to with the United States?" I asked.
"Well, we found out that this terror group wants to go from local to global, and they've pinpointed a few starting places on their map. They probably want to start small, and then work onto larger areas when they have the resources" Viktor inquired.
"Here are a few target locations: Nice, France; Tel-Aviv, Israel; Monticello, United States; Mexico City, Mexico... This goes on for quite a bit" Viktor elaborated. I then took a look at some of the other target locations, mainly focusing on the United States: Portland, Oregon; Payson, Arizona; Barrow, Alaska...
"Most of these cities and towns aren't ideal places for terrorist attacks, normally you would think that these guys would want to go for something big like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Washington D.C., New York, Chicago and such" I stated.
"We don't understand either, but that's the part that scares us the most" Viktor said.
"There's a lot more plans for other countries on here aswell, so why don't you warn their governments?" I asked.
"None of them believe us, they think that it's a hoax and we're making up this entire ordeal just to get others to work with us against a false organization, which is not true" The fox explained.
"So, how am I supposed to believe you if half the world won't?" I said.
"We're trying our hardest to get this information out there, but everyone thinks it's a joke! Can you not understand that we're trying to help you not hurt you!?" Viktor shot back.
"Where's the proof?" I asked.
"Come with me" Viktor said.
We then walked down the long, narrow tunnel, made a few turns along the way, and then proceeded towards a locked door with two armed Russian soldiers guarding it.
"Your identification, sir?" One of the armed guards asked. Viktor then handed over an identification card to the guard, he took a look at it, and then confirmed that it was him.
"Alright sir, is he with you?" The guard asked as he pointed at me.
"Yes" Viktor said. "He is with me."
The soldier then nodded and unlocked the door with an old-fashioned key. He then pushed the door open and let the two of us walk in. This was a holding cell, and inside it was a mean-looking obsidian black dragon who was chained to the wall in every possible manner. His feet, arms, torso and even his neck was chained to the wall.
"Who is this?" I asked.
"He goes by the nickname of Sky Master, but his real name is Zarith Quilz" Vikor said. That's a pretty strange name I thought.
"He's the leader of the Cevenda, and we've managed to capture him. We can use him as bait and stop these guys before they do any serious damage" Viktor explained.
"It's too late" the dark dragon said in his extremely deep and chilling voice. "It has already begun. There's no going back, they do not need me anymore, you're wasting your time!"
Viktor and I made eye contact for a few moments. Neither one of us knew what to say. But Viktor then turned to face the dragon and spoke: "You will never succeed!"
"But they will never believe you! You fool!" Shouted the dragon.
Viktor then faced me, "do you believe me now?"
"I need to get some air" I said.
"Unfortunately we cannot let you leave this facility unattended" Viktor said.
"What!? So now I am also a prisoner here!? This is obscure!" I yelled.
"There's no need to yell Max! Just come with me and I can get you some fresh air" Viktor said and then gestured me to follow him.
We then walked through the tunnels once again until we reached a staircase that went upwards. At the top, I could see two more armed guards guarding the front entrance. Viktor then ordered them to open the door and so we took a step outside. I could only see thick dense trees and a parking lot parallel to a road that led out into the forest.
"Are we still in Siberia?" I asked.
"Russia is quite a large country, but no, we are in the Ural Mountains, but that is all I can tell you" Viktor told me.
Viktor then pulled out a pack of smokes and began to light one up, he offered one to me but I respectfully rejected.
"I never knew you smoked" I said.
"I will have one every once in a while, when my wife is not looking" Viktor replied. "She hates it when I smoke, she says that it will kill me one day."
"It just might" I said.
"Well, it'll be an interesting death" Viktor smiled.
"And a painful one too" I smiled back.
"Not as painful as getting shot at tons of times" Viktor said.
We both had a good laugh and shared some quality time together, completely taking our minds off of what horrors this world had to offer. I needed this.
But just then, an alarm in the facility went off.
"Wait here!" Viktor said as he pulled his pistol from his holster and began moving into the building once again.
I was stubborn and curious, so I followed him inside anyways.
"What the hell is going on?" I whispered.
"I told you to stay outside! - Nevermind!" Viktor shook his head, "just stay close and don't jump ahead of me, okay?"
"Alright" I acknowledged.
Just then I heard gunfire and yelling, but I couldn't make out the words as they were probably in Russian.
"What's happeneing?" I asked eagerly.
"It's Zarith, I think he's escaped!" Viktor said.
Viktor then ran into the middle of the tunnel and began firing at the dragon, he was only able to get a couple of shots before Viktor then got shot three times in the chest and twice in his left arm. Viktor then fell to the ground... Hard!
I tried to carefully take a look of what was going on, all I saw was the dragon running away in the opposite direction.
"Viktor!" I cried out. "You're hurt, you need medical attention!"
"Don't worry about me! Just get Zarith! You're gun and knife is in the safe inside the briefing room that we were in previously! It should be unlocked! Go! Quickly!" Viktor demanded.
I then raced into the room, only to see three dead Russian soldiers and two dead computer technicians. I then grabbed my gun along with it's extra clips and my knife and then bolted out the room into the direction of the terrorist leader.
The chase was on.