Exitus: Fragile Alliance

''The Man in the Gas Mask surveyed the chaos and smiled. It was amusing to see the foolish humans' intelligence toyed around, see how they reacted to a crisis such as this.''

As He found out, they did not react smartly.

''He shook His head. It was a pitiful sight, those humans, seeing them scrambling around holding scrawny rifles operating under the illusion of power.''

''The Man in the Gas Mask snorted. He breathed out smoky fumes from the nozzle and slowly disappeared from sight. As He evaporated, He could only dream of the day when He was to show them what real power is.''

"YOU BRAIN-DEAD MORONS, MOVE FASTER!"

This command, blurted out by the head officer, only accelerated Jerry's adrenaline cycle. He and his squad unit was to secure Dr. Kondri and prevent him from creating any more trouble. The doctor shouted and bit and tried to kick the Overseers, which was like trying to shout at a wall, bite a wall, kick a wall.

Suddenly, another explosion was heard. The loudspeakers blared again:

"ANOMALY FH-4785 AND DF-6103 HAS JUST BREACHED CONTAINMENT.  ANOMALY TB-5638 AND XJ-9041 STILL AT LARGE.  STAY ALERT."

This made the more amateur Overseers drop their crap and run, and Jerry sure felt like he wanted to crawl under a hole and hide.

"ANOMALY VN-1520, JD-9836, AND JF-6395 BREACHED CONTAINMENT.  STAY ALERT."

"WHAT THE HELL?  WHAT.  THE.  HELL?"

Amongst this panic Dr. Kondri managed to slip out from the loosened grasps of the Overseers and disappeared into the turmoil and smoke. More explosions rang out, and the sound of crumbling bricks resonated throughout the area. The Overseers were all dashing for their lives. So what did Jerry do?

Like any reasonable man, he ran for his life as well.

Whatever XJ-9041 had done, he had somehow completely damaged the foundations of the cell storage sector and weakened the security, just the opportunity the other anomalies needed to breach containment. Everything was happening so fast. This was overwhelming.

A ghastly screech was emitted behind Jerry and echoed throughout the remaining walls. No one was in sight. He froze in place and slowly turned his head around.

And God Almighty, XJ-9041's impish, crimson body sprang at him...

only to be blasted to the left by a radium bullet.

"What did I just do?" said the man from the right, confused.

"Hi, Joe," Jerry said.

Dr. Kondri limped over to XJ-9041 and kicked him. He then threw a grey, burnt brick at him which the anomaly deftly avoided. He stood up.

"You done now?"

"I would kill you had I had the liberty to, but as much as I despise you I need you for something."

"Aww, you need my help, Friend?  Go put a dick in your mouth or something."

"I didn't destroy this sector for nothing.  I released you, and I plan to get some recompense for it."

"You're not getting anything."

Dr. Kondri clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. XJ seemed to take some satisfaction from pissing him off.

"You're like some denizen from Hell, right?  "Tzoah Rotachat"?  You can transverse between all the realms of the afterlife, right?  You don't have all that power for nothing."

"I personally can't.  However, I have relations with someone who can."

"Well, bring him to me then.  You owe me."

"I owe you nothing."

The doctor picked up and threw another filthy brick at XJ. He dodged this and it slammed onto the opposite wall with a sickening crunch.

"What do you want?" XJ inquired in the midst of tense silence.

"I want you to bring me to the afterlife.  Alive, mind you.  I want to pick up my son - the son you killed."

"Ohhhh, you mean the one I ran over with a steamroller?  I loved the sound." XJ cackled, a hideous, childish giggle. Dr. Kondri winced then glared at the anomaly, barely keeping his anger in control.

"Bring me to the afterlife.  In return for my dead son, I'll release you and keep you out of the matter."

XJ mockingly pretended to ponder this, tapping his chin with his finger. He at last then nodded a tacit agreement. A fragile alliance. Between enemy and enemy.

Dr. Kondri finally smiled a legit smile. "Now we're talking."

The cell storage sector was completely mauled beyond any quick fixage. It would require a massive reconstruction. Dr. Kondri and all the anomalies except the caught FH-4785 and JF-6395 were at large. The remaining squadrons had been grouped up outside the wreckage and the head officer was now ranting all Hell onto them.

"-'shamed of yo'selves, fools, IMBECILES!  I put you motha'fackas on one DAMN SIMPLE JOB and you blow it!  God, I swear..." and so on.

Jerry thought, I'd rather die from XJ than having to listen to this shitstorm any longer. He looked over at his long-time friend, Joe. His face was contorted into a tight grimace.

"-skin every last one of you morons!  GOD!" the head officer finished his tirade, not noticing the shower of spit and saliva he had just rained down onto the squadrons. They all squirmed, trying to inconspicuously remove the enzyme droplets on their faces.

"We shall see what the Marshal has to say about this," he concludes, with an air of hissing menace to his voice. The head officer strutted away.

Soon after the Marshal appeared before the squadrons. He was an ironically slim but quick man of a tall height, complete with a dignified bushy white mustache not unlike that of Stalin's. He walked over to the peanut gallery and addressed them in a more controlled, fluent manner than that of the head officer's.

People were scared of the Marshal. There were legends surrounding him. He was the highest ranking official of the Compound and rarely appeared in public.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to began off by saying that this is not completely your faults.  Dr. Kondri's inexcusable, brash actions have led to such a turmoil.

"However, all of you do take full responsibility in failing to prevent the containment breaches of the anomalies, now let loose and wreaking havoc across the nation.  Had you all acted faster, we could have reduced the mortality and breach rate." the Marshal took a break to emphasize his point.

"I will not produce a long lecture.  I will instead leave a punishment.  A mission.  A chance for redemption." he cleared his throat, before saying, "All of you in the span of one month will hunt down and recapture, or kill, all anomalies safely.  There will be no excuse, no tolerance for failure.  Be warned - if this is not accomplished in the given time, you all will take direct consequences of your misconduct.  I'm sure you know the consequences."

The Marshal then left without so much as a glance.

Jerry could make out Joe mouthing two words to him:

"We're fucked."