[b] Daniel Crowe - The Raiding Party[/b]

One might say that Daniel was pleased with how well the Haywood soldiers followed his move. Robert trained them well, that was for certain. Each hallway brought the same maneuver; Daniel dropped to one knee; Henry, the sharpshooter, kept stand with his rifle pointed forward; and finally, Amelia would whisper, "Cleared." The group moved with precision, and precision is what Daniel wanted. He had one suspicion though; Where was everyone? Had Robert's diversion been effective enough to draw every Raider to the gates? 

Daniel must have jinxed himself; as the second they rounded the next corner, they came face to face with three men. The loud bang of Henry's rifle sounded and the leftmost man fell dead. Daniel and Amy quickly tapped their triggers, sending several rounds into both men; dead. As they passed the bodies, Daniel stopped and fired three shots, one into each man's head. They couldn't afford to kill their enemies twice. "Combat Position, all eyes forward. The shots were heard somewhere, trust me." The squad moved forward, and two halls down, Daniel's theory was proven right. This hallway was a long line of cells. It was so long, Daniel could barely see the end. Near one of the cells, four armed raiders were walking their way. With startled eyes Daniel slid to the ground and lay prone, firing shots quickly into the first raider. Three shouts whizzed past Daniel and he heard a cry from his group. In moments, everyone had jumped into a cell. Henry and Amy were with him. "In three, two, one." Amy dove to the floor, Daniel fell crouched, and Henry stood level. All three of them fired at a different raider. The last three fell heavy to the ground.

The silence hung in the air for a moment, when a shout came from one of the far cells. "Hey! What's going on?" Immediately Daniel registered the voice. [i]Emma.[/i] Daniel sprang to his feet, much to the objection of Amy. Right before he could reach the cell, a raider came around the corner. The man skidded to a halt, but then charged Daniel, swinging a knife toward him. He was to close for Daniel to shoot him, so he dropped his gun and ripped his axe from it's strap. Adrenaline kicked in, and Daniel felt alive as he clashed with the man. First, he caught the knife hand by the wrist, swiveled 180 degrees, and then used the man's momentum to throw him the ground. The man jumped to his feet, taking a jab towards Daniel's liver. Barely missing the attack, Daniel turned his torso to doge and quickly gave a furious kick to knock the knife away. With one swing of his tomohawk, Daniel had put a large gash in the man's skull. Breathing hard, he watched as his team came toward him. His eyes turned to a cell a few yards away as he heard the voice of his sister. "Daniel..." 

"Oh, my God." He heard Audrey murmured. "You move like Robert." Daniel payed no attention to these words and gave Audrey no recognition, as he hurried to Emma's cell. He saw the that bars were very rusted and somewhat corroded. Daniel reared back and put all his weight in his leg as he forcefully kicked the rusted lock as hard as he could. With a loud pang, the lock broke with another kick. Instantly, he had Emma in his arms, and she wound hers around his waist.

"Look at me; we're gonna get out of here-"

"Daniel, we've got to hurry!" Amelia said urgently. 

"I can't walk." Emma protested as Daniel pulled her along. Daniel turned to one of the men in his team. "James, I need you to help her; take her back to the hatch and get her to the trucks." James came forward, said a few words to Emma, who nodded. 

"We'll get through this, and then I'll be back with you." Daniel said to Emma, who nodded hastily. He clapped James on the shoulder and stepped out of the cell, giving way. James carefully pick Emma up and hurried off towards the hidden entrance. Daniel turned back to face his team, his hope renewed. "Lets go!"