Red to Fade (14 page)

There are four giant HD TVs the size of cinema projection screens on either side of the steel pillars, showing TV advertisements with no sound. There are a group of steel pillars and HD TVs in different parts of the mall. There are stairs and elevators to take beings up to different floors, and concrete pillars attached from the ground surface to the roof on each floor.

A morphian worker runs over to Connor, Gabrielle and Gragon and says, “You beings can't be in here.”

Gragon pulls out his badge and ID and says, “R1 law enforcement, we need to speak with your supervisor.”

The worker says, “Very well.”

The worker walks over to a morphian dressed in a business suit. He tells the supervisor, “Drakkis, there are some law enforcement officers who would like to speak with you.”

Drakkis walks over to Connor, Gabrielle and Gragon and says, “My name is Drakkis, I'm the owner of this mall. How can I help you?”

Gragon says, “I'm an R1 law enforcement officer and we have received information that there is going to be an armed robbery taking place at this mall.”

Drakkis replies, “Can I see some ID?”

Gragon says, “Absolutely.”

Gragon gives Drakkis his ID and badge. Drakkis looks at them and believes what Gragon is saying. Drakkis believes Gragon because he knows that in the past there have been robberies that have taken place in malls in the Glass Tomb just before the malls opened for the very first time.

Drakkis asks, “When is this robbery going to happen?”

Gragon answers, “It's going to happen soon; you and you're crew should get out of here.”

Drakkis says, “I'll do that right away, Officer, thanks for your help.”

Gragon says, “You're welcome.”

Drakkis gets his workers out of the mall and tells them they can have the day off. Before he exits the mall he hands Gragon the keys. Drakkis also gives Gragon his cell phone number and tells him to give him a call after the situation has been dealt with.

Drakkis and his workers have exited the mall. Connor, Gabrielle and Gragon have the mall to themselves.

Connor says with a smile, “Heh, nice one.”

Connor, Gabrielle and Gragon sit up against a wall away from the entrance doors of the mall so that nobody will see them.

Gragon says, “I don't think the agents will look for us in a mall.”

Connor says, “We need to tell everyone in the CSB-R1 base what's going to happen.”

Gabrielle says, “We don't know where the base is, and we don't have Clandarian government clearance to enter it. We don't have any hard evidence to show them; we don't even have a phone number for the CSB-R1 base. Gragon, do you know where the base is?”

Gragon responds, “No.”

Connor says, “We need to find the location and phone number of the CSB-R1 base.”

Gabrielle says, “Gragon, use your phone to find it.”

Gragon is searching the internet on his Balaxian cell phone for the location and contact number for the CSB-R1 base. Minutes later, he says, “I can't find a number or the location. I'm going to contact someone I know in our precinct and I'll tell him to find the number and location of the CSB-R1 base.”

Gabrielle says, “Who are you going to call?”

Gragon says, “Sytron.”

Gabrielle says, “Are you sure you can trust him?”

Gragon says, “It's a risk we're going to have to take.”

Gragon uses his phone and calls Sytron. Sytron is an IT expert who works in Gragon's precinct. Sytron hears his phone ring in his office. When Sytron answers the phone, Gragon says, “Sytron, it's Gragon. Did any FBI agents come into the station today looking for me and Gabrielle?”

Sytron says, “No.”

Gragon tells Sytron that he needs a number for and the location of the CSB-R1 base.

Sytron tells Gragon, “As soon as I get what you need, I'll give you a call.”

Gragon says, “Don't tell anyone that you're doing this for me. Also, if anybody asks where Gabrielle and I are, you know nothing; you don't know where we are and this phone call didn't happen.”

Sytron says, “Affirmative.”

Gragon and Sytron say goodbye to each other and hang up the call. Gragon tells Connor what he told Sytron to do.

Connor says, “OK, we're going to wait for Dylan, but if we get a contact number and a location for the CSB-R1 base we'll go to the base and tell Dylan to meet us there.”

Connor pulls out his planet communicator and uses a GPS application to find out the location of where he is. Connor finds the address and texts it to Dylan. Dylan receives the text from Connor and now knows where Connor is. Connor, Gabrielle and Gragon take their weapons out of the sports bag and carry them. Gragon takes the grenade shell belt with grenade shells out of the sports bag and wears it around his torso.

Several hours later, Dylan's space flight has landed. Agents are inside the planet transport station near the Red 1 arrival gate, and there are also agents in a car parked in the busy car park outside. All agents are wearing Balaxian earpiece mics. The planet transport station of the Big Rock is busy as usual with beings arriving in vehicles, citizens and immigrants in a hurry to catch a flight and individuals from Earth and Balaxia getting a lift in vehicles to the glacitone domes. Agents see Dylan at the arrival gate.

One of the agents inside the planet transport station says, “We've spotted Dylan; he's exiting the transport station now.” The agents in the car park see Dylan getting into a taxi. A morphian man is driving.

The morphian taxi driver says, “Where to, Dark Human?”

Dylan responds angrily, “Dark Human? Who the fuck are you calling dark human, you
Mac and Me
-looking motherfucker?!”

The morphian taxi driver asks, “Where do you wish to go?”

Dylan tells the taxi driver where he has to go. The taxi drives off. One of the agents starts the car and follows Dylan from a distance.

Dylan phones Connor and tells him that he is on his way to meet up with him. The agent who is following Dylan tells all of the other agents that he is following Dylan, and gives them the names of the roads and streets he is driving on by looking at the GPS on the dashboard of his vehicle. Joel and his men have been driving around in the first built glacitone dome for hours looking for Connor.

Joel and the other agents can hear the agent who is following Dylan on their Clandarian earpiece mics. Joel tells all agents driving the R1LEVs to follow the roads and streets that are given by the agent who is following Dylan. Minutes later Dylan arrives at the shopping mall, pays the driver and exits the taxi. Dylan phones Connor to let him know that he's outside the mall.

Dylan walks up to the shopping mall entrance. Connor exits the mall to meet him. Dylan is coming close to the entrance of the shopping mall. All of a sudden Connor sees a lot of R1LEVs in the car park.

Connor shouts, with adrenaline pumping in his veins, “
Dylan, look out behind you!
”

Dylan turns around and looks behind him. He sees the agents in the R1LEVs. He also sees Joel. Dylan pulls out his handgun and fires. None of the agents get out of any of the R1LEVs while Dylan opens fire. Connor opens fire with a ZX-53 machine gun. Both Dylan and Connor are walking backwards and firing at the R1LEVs. Dylan and Connor realise they're right at the entrance doors of the shopping mall now. They stop firing, run inside the mall and hide behind a wall that's beside the entrance doors.

Connor gives Dylan a ZX-53 machine gun out of the sports bag. Some agents get out of the R1LEVs and open fire with their GD-7 machine guns on the shopping mall doors. The small metallic missiles fired from the agents' guns smash the windows of the entrance doors and create small bursts of ruins as they hit the wall surrounding them. Joel sends some of his men to the back of the shopping mall.

The agents have stopped firing because they need to reload their guns. Connor sees that the agents are reloading. Gabrielle, Dylan, Connor and Gragon open fire at the agents with their machine guns. The weapon rounds blow the tyre covers off the R1LEVs and create small sparks as they hit the law enforcement vehicles. Most of the agents hide behind the R1LEVs. A couple are hit and killed.

Gabrielle, Dylan, Connor and Gragon hide behind the walls to reload their weapons with magazine clips from the sports bag. The agents have reloaded their machine guns and return fire.

Connor says, “We've got to get out of here.”

The agents need to reload their guns again.

Connor says, “They're reloading, right, now let's move!”

Connor runs up a flight of steps that leads to the first floor of the shopping mall. Gabrielle, Dylan and Gragon follow. The agents can't see that their targets have run up a flight of stairs; they still think that they are hiding behind the wall beside the entrance doors. The agents crouch and walk at a crawling speed, firing short-burst rounds with their machine guns at the entrance doors and the walls surrounding them.

Connor and Dylan are at the top of the flight of stairs. Gabrielle and Gragon are still running up the stairs. Agents are at the entrance doors, trying to get into the mall. Connor and Dylan open fire on the agents with their machine guns. They take out a couple of agents with their guns. Some of the agents who are being fired at by Connor and Dylan hide behind the wall.

Gragon and Gabrielle are at the top of the stairs now. Dylan keeps on firing and Connor stops. Connor takes out a hand grenade from the sports bag; he pulls the pin from the grenade and sets it down on the flight of stairs.

Connor shouts, “EVERYBODY MOVE!”

He runs down the hallway of the first floor. Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan run after him. From the first floor you can look down at the ground floor. An estimated distance in height between the first and ground floors is about the height of a two-storey house. To the left of Connor there are concrete pillars attached from the ground to the roof. In front of the pillars are railings with glass. They are there to prevent shoppers from falling onto the ground floor.

To the right of Connor are shops. An agent called Leo peeps his head around the wall that is beside the entrance doors. Leo sees that his targets aren't at the top of the stairs, and that they are on the move on the first floor.

Leo shouts, “THEY'RE ON THE MOVE, LET'S GO!”

Leo and the rest of the agents run inside the mall and up the flight of stairs to the first floor. None of them saw Connor planting the hand grenade on the stairs. All of a sudden,
KABOOM!
The hand grenade explodes, turning the stairs and some of the agents into little fragments. The blast makes other agents fly into the air and land on the ground floor of the mall.

Some lucky agents are still alive. Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan are running down the hallway of the first floor in between concrete pillars and shops. The agents who were ordered to go around the back of the shopping mall by Joel are now on the ground floor inside the mall. They see Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan running. The width of a road with six vehicle lanes is an estimated distance between the agents and the ground floor surface underneath the balcony railing and base level of the first floor. The agents on the ground floor open fire at their targets with their GD-7 machine guns and run in the same direction as their targets. As the agents fire on Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan, the shots fired from their machine guns smash the glass of the railings, blow holes and create small sparks on the railings, smash lights, create small blasts of rubble on the concrete pillars and smash the glass windows of shops. An agent fires a grenade from his machine gun/grenade launcher.

KABOOM!
The grenade blows up a shop in front of Connor, making him fall to the ground. When Connor falls to the ground Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan stop running and hide behind concrete pillars.

Gragon shouts over the loud gunfire, “CONNOR, ARE YOU WOUNDED?”

Connor gets up, hides behind a concrete pillar and shouts, “I'M ALL RIGHT.”

Dylan sees the agent who is loading a grenade shell into his machine gun/grenade launcher. He opens fire and attacks the agent with shots. Before the agent falls to his death he fires a grenade into the air and it hits one of the giant HD TVs.
KABOOM!
The TV explodes into miniature parts.

Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan open fire on the agents from an elevated position. Some run for cover behind the concrete pillars and some are assaulted to death by gun shells. Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon, Dylan and the agents are firing their weapons at each other. Debris rains down on them. The ammunition fired from Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan's guns create small eruptions of wreckage on the concrete pillars and smash the glass windows of shops on the ground floor.

The agents are using concrete pillars for cover, just like Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan. Joel and more agents have entered the shopping mall on the ground floor. Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan stop firing and reload their weapons. Joel and his agents run behind the concrete pillars. They run to where the shootout is taking place. Using the concrete pillars for cover they open fire with their machine guns at Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan.

Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan have reloaded their weapons and continue to fire at the agents. Connor throws hand grenades and Gragon fires grenades from his machine gun/grenade launcher.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Shops, agents, a shop stand and concrete pillars on the ground floor are destroyed by explosions. A hydraulic elevator with glass windows, filled with agents, has arrived on the
first floor.

Gabrielle looks behind her; she fires at the agents in the elevator. Gragon notices that Gabrielle is firing at the elevator so he turns around and opens fire on the elevator as well. The firearm projectiles fired from Gabrielle and Gragon's weapons smash the glass windows, pierce through the agents and perforate the elevator with bullet holes. Gragon fires a grenade shell at the elevator.
BOOM!
The elevator and the agents inside it explode into mini chunks.

Connor looks inside the sports bag and sees that there's no ammo left. He drops the bag and leaves it lying on the floor.

Connor looks at Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan. Connor shouts, “WE'VE NO AMMO LEFT, EVERYONE FOLLOW ME!”

Connor makes another run for it; Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan follow. From the ground floor, Joel sees Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan running.

He shouts, “THEY'RE MAKING A RUN FOR IT; GO AFTER THEM!”

Joel and his agents run and open fire at their targets at the same time. Just like before, the agents run and fire their machine guns at the same time, and their bullets smash the glass and create small sparks on the railings, create booms of waste on the concrete pillars and smash windows and lights inside shops.

Connor stops running and comes to a complete stop at the last concrete pillar. Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan also stop when they see Connor stop. Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan open fire on the agents and use the concrete pillars for cover. Connor sees that in front of him there is an elevator. The elevator is their only chance of escape; there are no doors leading anywhere, just walls and an elevator.

He sees the elevator and says to himself,
That's my exit, that's how I'm going to get out of here.
The problem is that there is a distance between the last concrete pillar and the elevator. If Connor runs to the elevator and presses the button, he is a sitting duck because he has no pillars to use as a bulletproof shield. The agents will also see him calling for an elevator and they'll shoot him down with their guns. Connor doesn't want to backtrack with his group because they don't have enough ammo left in their weapons to protect themselves.

Connor shouts over to Gragon, “GRAGON, GET OVER HERE!”

Gragon runs over to Connor. “WHAT?”

Connor shouts, “GIVE ME YOUR GUN.”

Gragon gives Connor his machine gun/grenade launcher. Connor points the machine gun/grenade launcher at the huge steel pillar that's holding up four giant HD TVs. Connor fires a grenade shell at the steel pillar.
BOOM!
A chunk of steel is blown away. Another chunk of steel is still holding up the four TVs. Connor grabs another grenade shell from Gragon's belt and reloads the machine gun/grenade launcher.

Connor fires again at the steel pillar.
BOOM!
The other chunk of steel is blown away. The pillar with the four giant HD TVs falls straight down; it's going to hit the ground in front of the agents.
BOOM!
The pillar and the TVs hit the ground surface, smashing some of the floor and creating a giant explosion of sparks and glass.

The agents scream in pain as they're stabbed with chunks of glass. Connor hands back the machine gun/grenade launcher and shouts, “COVER ME!”

Connor runs to the elevator and presses the button to call for the elevator. Gragon, Gabrielle and Dylan are firing short-burst rounds at the agents with their guns, covering Connor. None of the agents are firing back because most of them are injured or dead from multiple stab wounds from the chunks of broken glass. A lot of injured agents are screaming in pain.

The elevator makes a dinging sound and has arrived on the first floor. The doors open.

Connor shouts at Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan, “LET'S GO!”

All four of them get in the elevator. There are three buttons. One button is for the first floor, one is for the ground floor and another is for the indoor car park floor. Connor presses the button for the car park.

Joel is very lucky he wasn't hurt in the glass explosion. He says to Charles and the other agents who aren't badly injured, “Let's get the fuck out of here.”

Moments later, the elevator arrives at the indoor car park floor. There are lights inside the car park, but no vehicles around. Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan look for an exit. Dylan sees sunlight shining from the indoor car park entrance.

He points to where the sunlight is shining and says, “That's where the exit is.”

All four of them run to the exit. All of a sudden two R1LEVs arrive and stop close to the exit. Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan open fire with their machine guns at the R1LEVs. Gragon loads his machine gun/grenade launcher with the last grenade shell and fires at one of the R1LEVs.
KABOOM!
The R1LEV explodes into pieces. The force of the explosion makes the other R1LEV fly into the air and land upside down.

Connor, Gabrielle, Gragon and Dylan run up a hill out of the car park. The indoor car park is an underground car park, and the entrance is located at the back of the shopping mall. The indoor car park is underneath another large outdoor car park. The outdoor car park surrounds the entrance of the indoor car park. In front of the large outdoor car park at the back of the shopping mall is a footpath and a main road with busy traffic.