The body started to leak out some sort of acid through the helmet. Isabella got up and stood against the wall scared at what might have happened.
"Too…too…too many…" the corpse had said. It jittered a little bit. Yellow liquid started to seep through the skin where cracks were opened up. A small mist of smoke came out of the cracks and floated through the air leaving a strong smell that was unpleasant.
"What do we do about this?" Isabella said nervously. I put on a brave face and tried to think of what we could do with this. There was no other place that we could put him, but just in that moment I looked towards the light through the window.
I stuttered, "Help me quickly," I reached down to grab both legs of the corpse. I looked back up to Isabella, pale faced, looking uneasy. Ready to vomit at either the sight or smell of the corpse. "Cmon we don't have much time. It's already started processing." She shook her head quickly in disagreement. There was no time for convincing her.
"Is this really the right thing to do?" She asked wearily.
"It's better than dying to a blip. So I would think so, yes."
A moment passed until she finally came to her senses. "Fine, I'll help you." She got to the other side grabbing both the arms lifting the body up. The corpse was heavier than I had imagined. My arms strained holding him up and my legs almost buckled beneath me.
As we lifted the body and put it in position, I looked out the window to see no one was around waiting for us. I gave Isabella a quick nod but she didn't respond back. Only a blank face. With the body hanging off the edge it was ready to be dropped.
The impact it made was loud. Only a couple of seconds of airborne. The corpse exploded everywhere on the ground painting parts of the building with the acid that was stored in its body. My heart thumped harder and harder. They definitely noticed that sound. "Okay, let's go."
We moved through the hallway where I could see two rangers going through the rooms one by one holding weapons at the ready. We hid around a corner. I turned and whispered to Isabella, "Recognise any of them?".
She shook her head, "Not really, I can't see their faces that well through their masks." Isabella said.
"What about the guy we threw outside?"
"No. He's never shown up with a group like this before, especially with this amount of firepower." Her face was a little red. I checked back around the corner before deciding our next move.
"They're not looking, follow me." Me and Isabella moved through the hallway and towards the staircase that was unoccupied. We dashed quickly and through to the ground floor.
There were no rangers here. The coast was clear. The entrance was empty so it should be fine. As we ran through the double doors of the building we were then met with someone. A ranger who had his back turned to us. He was inspecting the body on the ground.
His head craned backwards to look at us. Without hesitation,I pointed the Y Bracket at his face but this time he didn't seem to fight back. His hands were raised in the air as if scared that I might turn him into his friend behind him. "D-d-dont shoot. P-please!" He stuttered.
My eyebrows furrowed on him. He tossed his gun to the side showing he was no harm. The anxiety and adrenaline inside me was starting to cool down. Why was this person not as hostile as the others, I wondered.
"Do you have a vehicle?" I asked.
His eyes darted around as if an answer was somewhere else. "W-what?" I shot the ground next to him. His legs buckled and were shaking in place ready to fall.
"I said, do you have a vehicle? And preferably could we use it now?"
"Uh- n-n…no, I mean! Yes! Yes! We have a vehicle around the corner." He was shitting himself.
"You don't seem like a ranger? Why are you so nervous?" I asked the man.
"If I tell you will you please not shoot me, please." Through his visor I could see his face was crunched up. I gave Isabella a glance then back at him. The weapon slowly dropped to my side now. He wasn't any sort of threat.
"We don't have much time here, let's go to your vehicle right now." As soon as I said that he reached towards the gun on the floor but missed it when Isabella kicked it away from him. The gun in my hand was now pointed at him again. He was mid crawl as if he was a baby looking for a toy.
"Alright buddy, get up." I said. His head dropped in disappointment and slowly got back up. "Make it fast, we need to get out of here."
–
We moved around a couple of buildings to find that there was a PVU nearby. The ranger stopped in his tracks to point at it. "That right there." He turned to us, confused.
"Hand it over. The keys." I said.
"I-i can't do that. It's only registered to rangers in the area."
"Well I guess you'll be the one driving us." His face was a mix of unease and hesitation. My eyebrows raised waiting for him to make a move. I sighed trying to pretend I was bored of his antics.
He reached into his pocket and showed me a pyramid. I've never seen something like this before. "T-this is the key…"
Isabella didn't say anything. I gave him a nod to signal to go ahead and start up the vehicle.
The short trip to the PVU was brief and quiet until someone broke that silence. "What's your name?". Isabella suddenly asked. He turned slowly to her.
His nervousness was lower but still looked like he would have a heart attack at any minute now. "I-I…I-..."
"You have a hard time speaking?" I said. His eyes furrowed in embarrassment.
"No…Ill do whatever you say, just can you stop pointing that gun in my face?" He said. I dropped it back down. I knew he wouldn't try and reach towards his gun again because I wasn't taking another chance. He did get very close last time. But it won't slide by next time.
"Let's go." I said.
–
We were now in the PVU riding towards the other end of the Bliptic City. I didn't know much of the landmarks or anywhere specific within the area so I had to rely on Isabella's knowledge. Nobody spoke much while we were travelling. Isabella decided to break the silence.
"So, whats your name?" She asked.
He looked in the rear view mirror and took a quick glance, still frightened. "729."
What? Me and Isabella looked back and forth from one another confused as to what he meant. Seven two nine?. He noticed our confusion in the mirror. "It's our code. Our actual names are never used or stated. I honestly can't remember my birth name." He said.
I jumped in, "Right, and how long have you been in the rangers for?"
He sighed and said, "About fourteen years now. Probably 15 or 16, lost track of time while working." The air around us felt a lot cooler and less tense than before.
I did wonder what happened in the world of rangers who had worked for over a decade. Maybe they couldn't leave or something worse.
"Ever thought about leaving?" Isabella asked the question that was on my mind.
There was a brief pause with his answer. Hesitant. "All the time." He replied dryly. "The ranger unit pays well and it's better than nothing. I didn't want to spend my time in the villages any longer. So now I'm here."
"Havent you made enough money to just leave and live in the capital?"
"Well I could but I need a job, and this is the only job I can get. I'm lucky that I've even been able to use one of their PVUs let alone hold a weapon of theirs as well."
"You say 'theirs' as if they're different from you. Almost as if you're separating yourself from them. Whoever they are." I interjected.
"Well, it's us and them honestly. Even after so long being in the rangers, I still feel far from being a close family with them. When I started out, we were friendly. Tight bunch. But death came all too soon. And…you know? You kind of just have to stay focused on the mission at hand. The people who led us or had control of us were very strict. It was scary."
A second passed until a huge explosion sounded behind us. Everyone turned in their seats to look at where the sound came from. My heart sunk into a cloud of emptiness. An orange ball of flames rose from the buildings we were previously in. Things were getting weirder by the second.