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| Chapter Eight | |||||||||||||||||||
| Crossfire | |||||||||||||||||||
| After the chaos that occurred at the construction yard, Raymond was wondering what could possibly happen next. After carefully studying the position of all of the pieces remotely near his location, he sighed. Several of the surviving pieces were converging on the square that he was heading towards. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "One rook, two white knights, two black knights, and one white bishop sitting in the distance...this whole affair has been messy, but this is going to be a blood bath." Raymond said to himself. He put the computer away and cautiously walked forward. The area here was even more desolate than anything he had already seen. The earth was burned. Trees were nothing but burned cinders and stumps. Deep craters littered the ground like rabbit holes in a farmer's garden and the water was pitch black due to what looked like an oil spill. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "If ever there was a place for Armageddon to take place - I guess this would be the ideal place..." he muttered to himself. As he walked through the desolate wasteland, he heard the sound of a familiar vehicle. He didn't have to turn around to recognize it as a rook's transport, but he decided it wise to check. Sure enough, a black rook was driving straight for his location. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Great - this is just what I need." He muttered. The rook pulled up beside him and hopped out. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "You've surprised a lot of people today. Some of us didn't think you'd make it this far." She said politely. Raymond rolled his eyes in disbelief. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Yeah no doubt. I'm sure a lot of you had plans to get me killed." He retorted. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "If memory serves me, you are Wendy, right?" he asked. The rook smiled and nodded. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Then why don't we cut to the chase - Wendy - we both know that you don't give a rat's ass about my progress." Raymond stated seriously. Wendy laughed at the display of aggression. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "My, my. Aren't we getting a little big for our role. Let us not forget which of us is the pawn - and which is a rook." She retorted rationally. Raymond shook his head and looked in the direction that the trouble was going to come from. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "What is supposed to be out there?" she asked curiously. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "You can't be that stupid. We both know that is where the bloodiest fight in this game is going to take place." He stated. Wendy clapped her hands. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Bravo. You are well informed." She stated sarcastically. Raymond turned around, but lost his balance. Wendy caught him before he knocked her over. Angrily, Wendy through the clumsy pawn aside. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Watch where you are going oaf!" she hissed. Raymond shook his head and slowly got up. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "I'm sorry. I must have slipped on some oil. So, out of curiosity, who is going to initiate this carnage?" he asked curiously. Wendy laughed at the innocence of the question. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "It's funny you should ask. I was thinking, maybe a pawn." She retorted. Raymond looked shocked at the suggestion but mildly shrugged off the idea. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "That sounds good on paper, but it just doesn't work for me. I was thinking maybe a rook." He replied. Wendy laughed for a moment but stopped when she saw that he wasn't joking. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Oh, you plan on forcing me? That is interesting. How about I just kill you here and now?" she asked seriously. Raymond didn't seem remotely moved by the threat. Wendy took out her SMG and aimed it at him. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Move pawn! I won't ask twice!" she ordered. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "I've only been here a short while, but I've learned a few things. For example, high-ranking pieces can only move or attack. But more importantly, when the king said that our access cards are our lives, he wasn't joking. For lowly pawns that doesn't mean much - but to higher-ranking pieces such as yourself, it would be life or death." He stated calmly. He turned his back to her to look at the oil-polluted waters. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "What are you babbling about?" she asked impatiently. Raymond looked over his shoulder and sighed. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Nothing I suppose. You want me to walk that way right?" he asked. Wendy pointed her gun at him and gestured for him to walk. For a short while the two said nothing. But then Raymond stopped walking. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Keep going!" she ordered. Raymond turned around and smiled. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "I just remembered what the point of what I was saying earlier - actually, there were two points. One, Black pieces can not legally attack black pieces. It would make the game so much more interesting if you could, but it just doesn't work like that." He pointed out. Wendy silently fumed. She was being quoted rules from a pawn. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Technically. But I can still mortally wound you and leave you for dead." She pointed out. Raymond thought for a moment and nodded his head. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "True, but how would you do that?" he asked curiously. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Are you that dense? I will shoot you with my gun." She explained. Raymond pulled out an access card and held it in front of his face. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "I don't think you can. From what all I was told, you need your access card to use your vehicles - or your weapons." He retorted seriously. Wendy thought him to be bluffing at first, but when she reached into her pocket for her card - all color drained from her face. She then remembered when the wretched pawn had slipped and fell on her. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Give me that back now!" she ordered. Raymond smiled and slowly extended the card towards her. Slowly, with a shaking hand, the black rook reached for the card. Just before she could touch it, Raymond quickly spun around and threw the card away from them. Without even thinking, she raced after where it soared. To her horror it fell into a pool of oily water several meters away. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "I have to find it!" she exclaimed. In a panic she waded through the knee-deep water and felt around for her card. It was then that she heard a familiar voice laughing. Slowly she looked over her shoulder to see Raymond taking a few steps back. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Thank you for taking the first move Wendy...enjoy the show." He muttered. She watched in horror as Raymond hid amongst some rubble. She quickly checked her map - he was right! She was in the square that was about to be attacked. Wendy slowly stood up and looked around. There was nothing around her that she could see - nothing that made a sound. Just then, a vehicle exploded up from the water below her and knocked her onto dry land. Wendy tried to jump out of the way, but the vehicle landed on her leg. The White knight shot her five times before looking at her with confusion. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Odd. I thought for sure they would send a pawn to lead this attack." The white knight stated. She carefully looked around, but saw no one there but the rook under the tires of his cycle. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "This is Robyn. I've made my strike - but they didn't use the pawn. Are they setting up some larger trap?" She reported into her radio. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Get the rook's card and get out! The other pieces are converging!" the white king ordered. Before she could react to the king's order, a black knight sped over and shot her. Now it was the black knight's turn to be puzzled. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "This is Jason...I've taken out a knight...but I don't see the pawn anywhere. By the look of things, I'd say that Wendy led this fight." The black knight stated hesitantly. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Get out of there! It's a trap!" the king warned. But as before, another white knight drove up from the ground beneath the black knight. Several shots were fired, but when the smoke cleared, the white knight remained. She had heard the earlier transmissions between Robyn and the king. She wasn't going to make the other knight's mistake. She could always come back for the access cards - right now she had to get out of the danger zone. But before she could drive away, Trevor sped up and shot the white knight off of her cycle. It was a bloody battle, but it seemed as though Black had seized power in that zone. Trevor took a moment to collect the assorted access cards from the dead people. Once they were safely in his possession he went back to his cycle. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "This is Trevor. I have secured the area. Jason was right. The pawn wasn't in this battle. Wendy did start it. The strange thing is she did so without her vehicle or her weapons." He explained. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "She was sacrificed like a pawn." The king stated. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "That was my thinking. According to the map he is still in this area. Do you want me to flush him out?" Trevor asked curiously. Before the king could respond, Raymond leaped out from his hiding place and ran in the direction the battle had come from. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "I've got him in my sight's sire. Do you want me to kill him?" Trevor asked. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Yes! Do it before he gets away!" the king replied. Before the knight could shoot, a white rook's vehicle charged towards the knight and rammed the knight from his bike. Before Trevor could get up to shoot at his attacked, the remaining white rook shot him. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "This is Greggory. The area is secure." He said calmly. He looked around for the pawn that was just there, but the only people he saw were the dead knights and dead rook. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Did you get the pawn?" the white king asked. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "No...he must have slipped away in the confusion." He replied. | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Then report back at once! The black queen attacked me! I need some cover!" the white king ordered. The rook got in his vehicle and drove off to save his king. | |||||||||||||||||||
| To be Continued... | |||||||||||||||||||