"S.S.D.D." (Nature)

=Chapter 6: S.S.D.D.= Elliot slowly began to wake up – still in the back of the pickup truck. The thunderstorm had lifted, leaving a lush smell behind. As Elliot pulled his leg up, he immediately stretched it back out again. His wound had been bandaged up, but it still hurt like hell. There was a Reaper drone in front of him – not active fortunately. Looking at the front of the truck, he noticed two people: a driver and a passenger.

“So, where are we taking him?” Asked Roger, still driving the truck. “We could turn him in to anyone for a high bounty, but I know someone who will take him for the highest amount… We’re going to Vienna. We’re going to the British embassy to see Robert Monday…”

Despite the situation he was in, Elliot couldn’t help but admire the scenery around him. The horizon was endless, there were beautiful natural landscapes everywhere.

Abruptly, the truck stopped. Elliot tried to see what was happening, but his leg prevented him from doing so.

Sonia and Roger hopped out the front of the truck with SMGs. Sonia turned back, noticing Elliot had woken up, “Don’t move, or we’ll kill them…” She headed in front of the truck, as did Roger. Elliot was curious as to who she was referring to by ‘them’. He saw that below the passenger’s seat in the front section, there was a sniper rifle – he had an idea. But first, Elliot tried leaning out the side of the truck. He noticed a vehicle blocking the path, with three people in front of it. He didn’t recognise one of the women, but immediately knew the other two – it was Zach and Celeste with Agnes, still on their supply run…

“Alright, listen up guys. I highly suggest you clear off of this road right now…” Sonia made sure her firearm was clearly visible. Despite her attempt at intimidation, the three supply runners stood their ground.

Sonia sighed, “Alright then, I’ll bite. What do you guys want? Wait, no, no, let me guess… Elliot, right? Just like everyone else on this frigging continent, you want the man with the big bounty over his head.”

All of three them glared sternly at Sonia.

“If you want him,” She raised her SMG to body level, “Come and get him…” She maintained a fierce stare with Celeste. Roger gripped his SMG tighter. Zach’s hand hovered over his handgun, as Celeste and Agnes’ hands were already on their weapons.

The stand-off was tense; everyone was waiting for their opponent to flinch.

“Stop!” Elliot called out from behind as he rolled off of the truck. “Elliot!” Zach began running over to him, but Sonia aimed her firearm at him again. “Stay the hell back kid. Just because you’re a child doesn’t mean I won’t kill you…” She gravely stared him down.

Roger grabbed Elliot, and launched him back over the side of the truck and into the back. He winced in pain as the majority of his weight was centred on his wound.

With Sonia distracted by Elliot’s cry, Zach drew out his pistol. He wildly shot at Sonia, but completely missed, instead the bullet ricocheted off the truck.

“You little shit!” Sonia sent one bullet through Zach’s shoulder before he could fire off another shot. “Zach!” Celeste cried out distressfully. “Am I gonna have to shoot you as well?” Sonia aimed her weapon a little higher for Celeste. “Let me go to him! Please!” Celeste pleaded, but Sonia sadistically shook her head, glancing over at Zach, clenching his injured shoulder while gasping for air with widened eyes.

Roger also appeared to be shocked by Sonia’s actions. “Are you crazy?” He pushed her SMG down. “You just shot a kid Sonia!” Even for Roger, this was too far. “Oh, kids, adults, what does it matter anymore? You seemed to have no problem with sending half of our crew out the airlock each time we had to!” She scolded him.

Roger solemnly stared down at her, tilting his head slightly. “Up there, we had no choice… Down here however, we do.” Roger looked over at Celeste, “Go to him… That’s all I’m giving you.” He grumpily told her, as Celeste nodded gratefully at him, rushing down to Zach’s side.

“Roger, you’ve only survived this long because of the calls which I made. Now, you dare to defy me… What a shame. I had always planned on making a skewered kebab or two out of you,” With her SMG still lowered, Sonia mercilessly shot Roger in the knee, as he dropped the ground. She whacked him over the head with the butt of her weapon.

“From Seth,” She shot him once again. “For Gus,” She shot him a second time. “For Neil,” And a third time. “For Julian,” Then a fourth time. “For Amanda,” Followed by a fifth shot. “For Byron,” A sixth bullet ripped through his kidney. “For Nadia,” the seventh punctured one of his lungs. “For Wells and Rosie,” The eighth and ninth bullets went through his left and right forearms, respectively. “Most importantly of all however, for me…” After listening everyone Roger had helped sacrifice on board the Gemini, she listed her own name as an excuse to shot him one last time. The tenth and final bullet ripped through his neck, ricocheting up and out through his brain.

She dropped the clip from the weapon, producing one from behind her and loading it. “You next,” She twisted her entire body to face Celeste, aiming the weapon at her.

“I think not!” Agnes tackled Sonia from the side, pinning her to the ground. “You shot a teenager you bitch!” Agnes punched Sonia several times, before Sonia pushed and rolled her over, now pinning Agnes down instead. “You’re telling me that you’ve never harmed a single young person?” She took her turn with the punches.

Agnes kicked Sonia’s leg apart, head-butting her. “Not a poor kid!” She threw Sonia against the truck, slamming her head against it several times.

“I’m bored of this,” Sonia pulled out her knife. As Agnes moved in to attack, Sonia’s knife went directly in to her leg. “Dammit! I was aiming higher!” Sonia desperately tried to pull the knife out to go for a more fatal strike, but it was wedged in.

Sonia pushed Agnes back as she fell to the ground. “Screw this!” Giving up on the knife, she grabbed her SMG and jumped back inside the truck, driving off with Elliot still on the back.

Leaning over the side of the truck, Elliot watched as Celeste struggled to treat Zach, as Agnes tried removing the knife from her leg, and as Roger’s corpse continued to spill endless amounts of blood…

“This is Eva… For those of you who don’t know, I’m just some crazy American woman who still believes that it’s possible to travel the world,” Gwen did another radio broadcast the following day. This time, she was in a ruined town in Western Austria, not too far from the Border.

“Currently, I’m in an old Austrian town… Sure, the whole place is ruined, abandoned and destroyed, but… It still looks beautiful, strangely. You might be thinking I’m a bit of a nutcase for saying that, but when you really admire Earth without acknowledging the chaos which has engulfed it, you can see beauty in just about anything. Even the ruins of what this place once was. I see a dusty motorbike on the other side of the road. It must’ve been used at some point after Day Zero. I’d guess within the past year even. Otherwise, it’d be far rustier. It just… doesn’t blend in. It sticks out from the rest of the town. Oh, for those of you thinking that maybe the bike owner is still here and that I’m in danger, well don’t worry about me. Why? Because there’s no one there… Because no one is listening in to my broadcast.” She clenched her free fist, then loosened it again after taking a deep breath despite the irritating response of static.

“But nonetheless, I said it yesterday, and I’ll say it again today. Hope is an important thing. Just like food. Just like water. Just like shelter. If you haven’t gotten hope, then you won’t survive in this world. Every now and again, find something to give you hope. Find something to give you that little boost. Be open-minded, and be magnificent… This is Eva, over and out for today.” She tuned out of all frequencies, throwing the radio back into the car, dropping her head into her hands.

“Just one, God…” She looked up to the sky, “Is it too much to ask to hear from just one human being? Just one little sign that I’m sane? Or maybe I really am going mad… Crikey, I must. I’m talking to some omnipotent being which doesn’t even exist. Been an Atheist my entire life. Must be going insane if I’m changing that now, geez…”

She rose to her feet, brushing and patting herself down. “Still, S.S.D.D. I say. Oh… that reminds me,” She picked up the radio again, tuning in to all frequencies.

“By the way my non-existent slash impossibly silent listeners, always remember that every day you’re gonna have to deal with S.S.D.D. Always! What does that mean I hear – sorry, I mean, I don’t hear – you ask? Well, it’s a funny little thing really: Same Shit, Different Day. This is Eva, over and out!”

In his office in the embassy, Monday had been listening in on ‘Eva’s’ broadcast the entire time. He could tell by the bad American accent that something wasn’t right. He adjusted the frequency of the radio.

“Sullivan… You there?” Monday smirked.

In his cell over at Camp Hackley, Sullivan had a walkie talkie hidden in a small vent at the bottom of one of the walls. He opened the grate, pulling the radio out. “Robert? I’m here. What’s going on?” Sullivan relayed. “Listen to me, the time has come. I need you to get in contact with the spy at that camp. Tell him, It’s on. Over and out.” Sullivan returned the radio to the vent, with an extremely happy and excited smirk on his face, like a mad scientist.

The cell door opened, as the guard walked in with a tray. “Dinner time already is it?” Sullivan couldn’t help but taunt the guard. As he lowered the tray, the guard pointed to a folded up piece of paper on the tray. He poured some of the water from the jug into the glass slowly. Sullivan noticed a second guard at the open door, watching with keen eyes.

Using the guard in front of him as cover, Sullivan discretely unfolded the paper. The message inside read; ‘IS IT ON?’

Sullivan crumpled the paper up in his hand, sticking only his thumb out while doing so, secretly giving the ‘guard’ a thumbs up gesture.

As soon as the guard finished pouring the water, he spun around and drew his suppressed pistol, killing the guard waiting outside…

-Death of Roger. -"SSDD" is an acronym for "Same Shit Different Day".
 * Roger is the sixth main character to die. He was only a main character due to being the deuteragonist of the miniseries 'Gemini'.
 * He is the second shortest-living main character at just 6 chapters, in front of only Steven (who lasted for 2 chapters).