The House Part 11

Chapter Three in which people die
Margret drew her side arm and loaded it as John explained the plan.
“Ok,” John said, “Here is how this is going to go: Platinum Squadron will lead the way and go directly to the center of the floor. They will open fire on and attempt to destroy the Foremen outpost. Meanwhile Gold squadron will attack the right of the floor while Silver Squadron attacks the left of the floor. When Copper Squadron arrives they will assist Platinum Squadron in their attack on the Foremen outpost. Everyone understand?”
The assembled squadrons nodded.
“Ok then,” John said, “Let's go.”
The gathered troops let out a cheer and drew their weapons. Josh led the way up the stairs, followed by his squadron. John walked over to Matthew who was standing next to Margret and spoke to him so quietly that Margret had to strain to hear. Some people called her an eavesdropper but she always said that if you hold a conversation where other people can hear you then the other people have a right to listen to you.
“Things are going to be very bad up there.” He said to Matthew, “You will have to do things that you will almost certainly not want to do.”
“I understand.” Matthew said.
“Now this is something you need to keep to yourself,” John continued and Margret strained even more, “I didn't tell everyone the whole mission. You see, I believe that Brien May might be on Floor 51 and if that is the case.........We need kill him. That man is single handily running the show with the Foremen and if we kill him then the whole house of cards comes tumbling down and we win with few causalities.”
“So if I see Brien May....” Mathew began.
“You kill him.” John said nodding, “We must kill that man.”
“But why didn't you just tell everybody that?” Matthew asked.
“Because a lot of people think that this uprising is just about changing the balance of power in the House.” John explained, “Putting us on top of the proverbial heap if you will.”
“But in reality,” Matthew said, “It's about a permanent over hall of the social order of the House.”
“Yes,” John said, “and the intentional assassination of the Head Foreman would kind of expose the true nature of the revolution, wouldn't it?”
“True.” Matthew said, “So, kill Brien May but make it look like an accident.”
“Or like a necessary causality, yes.” John agreed, “Now let's go and start the attack.”
“Ok.” Matthew said and turned to Margret who quickly looked away and pretended like she hadn't been listening.
“Margret are you ready?” Matthew asked.
“Yeah.” Margret said, “I'm as ready as I am probably ever going to be.”
“Good.” John said, his voice raising a to shout “Now let's go and take Floor 51!”
The troops surrounding them cheered and began to run up the stairs. Margret fell into place next to Janet and they both turned and smiled at each other. Adrenalin was running through their veins and they took the stairs two at a time until they reached a door that read “Welcome to Floor 51: The Beginning of the Government Floors.” The door had been propped open by members of the Platinum Squadron. The squadrons roared through the doors and split into two groups with John's group going right and Matthew's going left. Margret followed close behind Matthew as he led his troops around the floor. Things were fairly peaceful until they came upon a squad of Foremen running towards their outpost. Matthew opened fire on them and his squad followed suit.
Margret raised her gun to fire but she could not bring herself to actually pull the trigger. She was going to, she had aimed the gun and had done all the things she needed to to but at the very moment she was going to pull the trigger and let the bullets rip out she saw Philip's face right after he had been shot, pale and unmoving. She gasped and almost dropped her gun. By the time she had got her emotions back in check the foremen had all been shot down. Matthew gestured everyone forward and they began to run again.
Occasionally Margret saw Matthew glance around, clearly looking for Brien May. She also looked around, but didn't see anyone. Apparently everyone was fighting at the outpost. The rest of the floor was taken up with offices and they were all deserted. Just as Margret was about to suggest turning back Josh's raised voice started coming out of Matthew's walkie talkie.
“They're on the run!!' Josh yelled through Matthew's walkie talkie “I repeat, They are on the run. We have routed them and they are running for the stairs. Cut them off and we've got them beat! I repeat, stop them from getting to the stairs.”
Matthew grabbed his walkie talkie and yelled into it.
“Silver Squadron is going to go and cut the Foremen off, I repeat Silver Squadron is on top of this! “ He dropped the walkie talkie and turned to face his troops.
“Alright guys!” He yelled, “We have to go and stop the Foremen from reaching the stairs. Let's go!!” He took off at a run followed closely by Margret and Janet. They ran through the offices until they finally reached the entrance to the stairwell. Matthew stopped and turned around, drawing his side arm.
Margret did the same and they waited for a moment and then they saw the Foremen running towards them. Matthew opened fire and yelled for everyone to do the same. Margret fumbled with her gun while everyone else began to shoot. She hoped that by the time she was ready to shoot the battle was over like their other fights. This time was different however because this time the Foremen were firing back.
As soon as bullets began to fly the Foremen took cover and began to return fire. Bullets blazed through the air and ripped into members of the Silver Squadron. Margret looked up from her gun just in time to see Janet(who had been standing next to her) fall backwards, blood pouring from her forehead. She had been killed by the Foremen. At that moment, standing over the bloody body of her roommate, something inside Margret snapped and she was up, shooting left and right. Death blazed from her gun as a fierce smile came to her face. She was hurting them, the people who killed Philip and Madeline and Janet. She was hurting them! Yes, yes, yes!!
Margret ran forward, shooting and shooting and shooting until, finally, her gun clicked. She was out of amo. She stopped and looked around. She was standing in the middle of a circle of dead bodies. The Foremen were all dead, and Brien May wasn't among them. Matthew came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Margret,” He said, calmly, “The battle's over. We won, you can, you know, lower your gun now.”
“Ok,” Margret said, in a daze, “Ok.” She hung the strap of her gun over her shoulder and walked off. She wanted to be alone, she needed to come to terms with what she had just done. John walked up, his eyebrows raised.
“That was mighty fine shooting.” He said, jokingly but she shoved right past him. She didn't want to be rude, but she really wanted to be alone right now. But before she walked off she turned back to look John in the eyes.
“Brien wasn't one of them.” She said and walked off leaving John and Matthew standing behind shocked.