‘It can’t be this bad even in real life.’
‘Get a grip for god’s sake,’ said Van. ‘Now I want to see what this General’s doing to our VIP. So if you turn off that cheat I’ll come down and shoot you myself.’
Zak didn’t reply. He remained there, absorbing Van’s rebuke.
There was the rattle of machine guns over the communication channel. Van had returned to business.
Zak stood upright. It was not the respite he had hoped for, but the conversation had enabled him to get his brain in gear.
He realised what he had done.
Why had he tried to quit? When they reviewed the mission later, they would all see it. So much for his ambition. He’d cried off within the first five minutes. How would he live that down.
So, lucky for him he couldn’t turn the cheat off – it meant he had a second chance. A chance to regain some respect before facing the others again. Either he completed the mission or experienced death.
And he wasn’t the type to commit suicide.
He took a deep breath, which helped to ease the fire raging within him, and lifted up his gun ready for action.
*
Zak stepped out of the Communications room into the corridor outside. The battle had created quite a mess. The bullets had torn into the windows and walls, leaving the floor covered in broken glass and masonry, with dust drifting in the air. He tried to move quietly, stepping over the fallen soldiers, but debris on the floor crunched beneath his feet.
He stumbled as he stepped on a chunk of masonry. The bullet wound in his side reacted worst, and a blob of blood oozed out of the hole in his suit. He wiped it with his gloved right hand, and held up his palm to take a closer look at the blood. He’d never had much more than a dribble from a cut in real life, so he was fascinated to see a handful. But his glove had been showered with dust and grit, congealing the blood into a kind of paste. He wiped it off on the front of his suit.
