Records in the Killing Ground

The Strange Man reaches the edge of New York City beneath a gray, windblown sky. A collapsed building sprawls across the avenue, its buried lower levels exposed like broken teeth.

Below the rubble, mercenaries wrench open a sealed prewar cache. Crates marked for weapons, medicine, and records pass hand to hand toward a battered convoy coughing smoke.

A damaged support groans overhead. Dust sifts through the fractured ceiling, pattering across helmets and wooden crates as one truck lurches into gear.

The Strange Man advances beneath the broken facade, using slabs of concrete as cover. Each careful step brings him closer to the mercenaries and the exposed cache.

The convoy blocks most of the avenue. Smoke rolls low around its tires while the failing support creaks above, hiding smaller sounds beneath its groan.

The lookout raises his rifle and squints through drifting dust. Several mercenaries pause, crates braced against their legs, while the foreman turns toward the avenue.

The closer position reveals a narrow route above the loading area, reached by fractured masonry and a tilted steel beam. The cache, convoy, and armed crew lie below.

The Strange Man settles behind the fractured masonry and fires once. The lookout drops out of sight, his rifle clattering across the tilted beam.

Panic breaks the loading line. Crates slam into the pavement as mercenaries scatter for cover, leaving the convoy idling beneath the failing support.

The Strange Man advances along the broken route, boots testing the steel beam before his weight follows. Dust thickens around him, masking his approach.

From the higher position, the cache lies directly below. Two mercenaries drag a sealed records crate toward the convoy while others search the rubble with raised weapons.

The Strange Man shifts from fractured slab to tilted beam, keeping the broken masonry between himself and the searching rifles. The Barrett erupts once, its muzzle flash whitening the dust.

The exposed mercenary beside the records crate collapses behind the truck’s rear wheel. The report rolls through the avenue, unmistakable beneath the failing structure’s groan.

He crosses to a higher slab while the mercenaries break for cover. Another fires blindly toward the rubble, revealing his position with every muzzle flash.

The Barrett answers from a new angle. The shooter drops beside a shattered column, and the remaining crew abandon the loading line, scrambling toward the trucks.

From above the cache, The Strange Man commands the avenue through smoke and broken concrete. The records crate sits exposed beneath him, while Horizon’s survivors recoil from his position.

The Strange Man advances along the broken slab and fires in controlled bursts. Mercenaries sprint for the convoy, but impacts drive them back into cover and scatter their formation.

A .50 round tears through the nearest engine block. Steam and smoke burst from beneath the hood as the truck lurches sideways, its driver abandoning the controls.

The Barrett fires again. Armor buckles, glass bursts inward, and the second vehicle grinds forward with a wounded transmission, dragging the sealed crate toward a narrow side street.

A fresh volley forces the remaining mercenaries flat, but the failing support shifts underfoot. Dust surges across the firing position, obscuring the truck and spoiling the clear angle.

The Strange Man follows the side street along broken storefronts, keeping pace with the wounded truck as smoke trails behind its failing transmission.

He climbs onto a tilted slab for a clearer angle and fires. The shot destroys the truck’s front wheel assembly, forcing the vehicle into a grinding turn.

The truck clips a concrete divider and stalls across the narrow street. The sealed records crate remains secured in its rear compartment, now within reach.

A mercenary fires back through the smoke, and chips of masonry strike The Strange Man’s covered shoulder. The return shot burns through the radiator.

Steam floods the street as the engine dies. The remaining mercenaries abandon the cab and scatter behind the stalled vehicle, leaving the records convoy immobilized.

The Strange Man rushes through the steam and smoke as the mercenaries scramble behind the stalled truck. He reaches the rear compartment before they can regroup.

He tears the sealed records crate free, hoists it over his left shoulder, and keeps the M107A1 balanced in his right hand, its weight barely slowing him.

The Strange Man moves closer beneath the truck’s rear frame, taking the higher ground beside a collapsed storefront. The mercenaries lose their clean angle.

One lookout rises through the haze and fires. The Strange Man answers with a single shot, and the lookout vanishes from view behind the vehicle.

Escape the mercenaries