Part 23
That night outside of the military base Jorgen, Vivekan, and Claudia hid behind a series of bushes. Behind the chain link fence were a series of buildings, several of them with guards stationed outside. Jorgen and Claudia stood to the front with Viveka sitting cross-legged behind them seemingly uninterested in the guards and the base itself.
"So what's the plan?" Claudia asked as she hunched down behind the bushes, lighting her cigarette.
Jorgen sat down on the grass and stroked his chin.
"I could start a fire somewhere as a distraction," she suggested.
"Or just set them on fire," Jorgen said, speaking for Viveka.
"No, that's mean, we don't has to do that," he argued.
"Yeah," Claudia said preceding a lengthy pause. "That's kind of a last resort sorta thing."
"Maybe I can sneaks in and takes some uniform then we dress up and walks in the front?" Jorgen asked.
"Are you gonna bust out some ninja skills and jump the fence?" Claudia asked.
Behind them Viveka adjusted the black feathers in her hair and pulled the dagger from her hip. As Claudia went back and forth discussing plans Viveka carved a large circle into the dirt around herself.
"But you is smaller they might spots me," Jorgen argued.
"You're taller, you could get over the fence easier. I have farther to drop!" Claudia shot back.
Viveka began mouthing words while she reached into a pouch attached to her belt. Inside she drew out a pocket of sand and cast it in front of her, out of the circle. She cinched the pouch shut and opened another pouch with a small glass bottle inside was a purple combination of liquids, herbs, and spices.
"Viveka what the fuck are you doing?" Claudia asked, looking back, her attention drawn by the smell of the liquid Viveka had poured over the sand.
"She says she is fixing the problem," Jorgen said.
"No, come on," Claudia said. "There's an easier way to do this, we just gotta figure out what it is. Can't you like, summon zombies to just grab them and hold them while we make off with the goods?"
"We doesn't have no disguise, Claudia," Jorgen spoke, echoing the words in his mind. "I can't stops them from instinct."
"Well come on, you're a fucking necromancer, you can come up with something other than 'Let's kill 'em all!'," she said.
"Oh I knows!" Jorgen exclaimed. "I can enskrankle them. So they can't stops us."
"Enskrankle?" Claudia asked.
"Ja, you knows, with vines?" He asked, somewhat unsure.
"Yeah, see THAT'S what I'm talking about!" Claudia said.
"Viveka says she nots for heavy lifting," he said.
,
"I know, you're the back up in case they get loose or something," Claudia explained.
Viveka rolled her eyes and slipped her dagger into the sheath at her hip.
Claudia hunched down and began creeping around the bushes, Jorgen followed after her. Viveka stepped quietly behind Jorgen as they approached the chain link fence, obscured by a large windowless building.
Jorgen was the first to scale the fence, snipping the three rows of barbed wire at the top with a small pair of wire cutters. He brushed the wire aside and dropped down to the other side of the fence.
Claudia was the next to climb and she scrambled wildly up the chain links with seemingly little effort. She turned around upon reaching the top and slid down the inside of the fence.
Viveka stepped forward and gripped the fence, shaking it with her hand.
"She says she isn't much for climbings," Jorgen said.
Claudia rolled her eyes, "Come on, it's not that tall. I made it over."
Viveka sighed, pulled the dagger from her hip and hurled it high into the air. It soared over the fence and landed, burying its tip in the earth a few feet behind Jorgen and Claudia. Viveka mouthed words and made a few motions with her hands. With a puff of black smoke she vanished and reappeared behind them with the dagger between her feet.
Claudia turned around a chuckled, "Nice trick."
"You has your tricks," Jorgen said as Viveka hid away the knife.
Jorgen faced the building and moved in close to it. He slowly crept alongside the building and soon Viveka and Claudia followed behind him. Once he reached the edge of the building he peered around to the two guards in front of the building beside their hiding spot.
He outstretched his hand towards them and lush, green roots sprang up from cracks beneath their feet growing upwards, twisting around their legs and up their torsos. Small flowers budded from the vines and bloomed. Finally the vines fully entangled both soldiers, rendering them incapable of speech or movement.
He stepped forward, entangling two more soldiers stationed at the gates, then two more near the building beside it. Claudia followed behind him, igniting the inside of the camera over the gates causing them to explode in a shower of sparks.
Viveka followed behind innocently with both hands clasped behind her back.
Jorgen entangled a few more soldiers throughout the base and they met together at the armory. Jorgen approached waving enthusiastically.
"Hey guys! USA! How is it went?" He asked with matching enthusiasm.
"Um, Jorgen, it's probably best we not get buddy-buddy with them. We're just here to get the weapons and we're out," Claudia said.
Viveka sighed loudly.
Jorgen began to answer but was interrupted by a burst of jagged black bolts. They tore through the air in a flash coursing an erratic path to the two soldiers. Once the bolts struck them their bodies went limp, held up by Jorgen's vines.
"What the fuck was that?!" Claudia shrieked.
Viveka's eyes widened and Jorgen spoke sternly, "Will you shut the fucks up?!"
Claudia was startled into silence.
Jorgen turned his attention to the armory door and the roots began to grow, seperating the door from the frame until a long arm of vines tore the door from the face of the building. Claudia's hand clasped onto Viveka's bicep as the three of them pushed through the climbing roots along the doorway. Inside were crates and boxes stacked along the walls and in the middle of the room.
Finally Claudia spoke up, "So, what the fuck was that about?!"
Viveka shook her head and pulled away from Claudia.
"You both has been acting like fucking amateurs!" Jorgen said sternly, his face mirroring his sister's. "Lettings them look at our faces, lettings them know our names, it stupid! Does you wants to get caught? Goes to jail? Does you thinks Eleven will save you? This is FEDERAL CRIME."
Claudia put her hands on her hips, "I don't see you trying to stop us or coming up with plans! You haven't lifted a finger since we got here!"
"I tried!" Jorgen said.
"Yeah, with your BAD PLAN," Claudia argued.
"Yes, letting them sees us and know our name is a much better plan! I knows you is rusty, that's fine, buts this is basic stuffs!" Jorgen's words matching Viveka's thoughts.
"Cans we just get the stuffs and go please?" Jorgen asked innocently.
Claudia huffed and outstretched her hands, they flickered with gentle flames just along the surface of her skin.
"Yeah, we should do that," she said quietly.
"How's would be best to does that, Claudia?" Viveka asked through Jorgen.
The flames on Claudia's hands died out and she said, "Um . . . Jorgen could get a forklift and load them onto a truck?"
"That's one I can do," Jorgen said.
Viveka hesitated for a moment. She was not accustomed to others willfully standing against her. Claudia seemed to simply shout down her argument with 'bad plan' and that was all there was to it. Perhaps Claudia's way was the better way.
Viveka acquiesced and Jorgen said, "Then its look like I'm out-voted."
Jorgen nodded and stepped out of the armory. Claudia and Viveka quickly changed into a pair of uniforms that hung with the others along the wall. Jorgen returned with the forklift and began the task of loading the boxes onto a cargo truck. Meanwhile Claudia patrolled the base and Viveka watched after Jorgen who seemed to thoroughly enjoy working the forklift.
While Claudia was out of sight and Jorgen was occupied, Viveka prepared the bodies of the two soldiers she had killed guarding the armory. She first searches their pockets of valuables, then removed their boots and searched them. She knelt down beside the younger of the two victims and pinched his mouth open, searching his teeth for fillings.
She huffed when she found nothing of value.
She found two gold fillings in the mouth of the other soldier and expertly pried them and cracked them from his jaw with her dagger.
Once she was satisfied she propped them up against a wall and out of the way of Jorgen's forklift. She pulled the money and credit cards from the two wallets and shoved them into her bra.
Finally Claudia returned, she caught Viveka's gaze and shrugged.
She came closer and stood beside her and said, "I didn't see anyone. I got a few cameras but no people. This place is deader than I expected."
Viveka nodded.
"I'm sorry about earlier, I just, got stuff on my mind, you know? It's been a long time since I've been away from Theresa for this long. I hope she's okay," Claudia mumbled as she stared at the floor.
Viveka opened her arms and Claudia hesitantly hugged back. Viveka rubbed her back in small circles.
"I don't care what she says about you, I think you're pretty cool," Claudia said softly.
Viveka smiled and seemed to chuckle.
Claudia pulled away and asked, "What's the problem between you two anyway?"
Viveka's eyes shifted to the door, Jorgen was nowhere in sight. She started to sign but Claudia interrupted.
"I don't know sign language," she said.
Viveka looked to the two bodies slumped against the wall. She pointed at one of them. Then to herself. She held her hands flat out in the air with her fingers spread apart. She wiggled her fingers. Then she pointed at Claudia, then back to the bodies. Again she held her hands out and wiggled her fingers.
Claudia's eyebrow raised and she said, "Um . . I have no idea what you're saying."
Jorgen came driving into the building with the forklift to pick up another box and Claudia grabbed him by the collar.
"Jorgen! Tell me what she's saying!" Claudia said over the purring of the forklift engine.
"Oh, okay!" He said with a smile.
A moment passed and he began to speak again, "She's says Seven don't likes her 'cause she can makes her do stuff. Viveka says she's abominations."
"Abomination?" Claudia asked. "Why?"
"Because she's nots like you," he said. "She mades from dead people. She don't supposed to be here."
"Oh . . ." Claudia said softly before trailing off.
Jorgen slid the forks under the box in front of him and lifted them out of place. He backed out of the building and deposited the crate on the back of a large cargo truck with several crates already stacked on its bed.
After a few more crates Claudia and Viveka climbed into the cab of the truck. Claudia drove casually through the front gate and waited. Meanwhile Jorgen quickly parked the forklift and jumped the fence. He ran across the street and down a block to his car that was parked behind some buildings.
Once the three reunited in their cars they began the drive back home.