Blaze (The High-Born Epic)

by Jason Woodham

  “They really want these two dead, huh?” D-Con said as he pointed toward Harold and Gabby. “They’re keepin’ it too hot for a clean extract.”

  D-Con turned around to face them, and a panel on his chest suddenly opened. A mechanical ball floated out from the housing. It rose slightly above the barrier, and two panels on his shoulders opened, and four missiles shot straight up into the air, and suddenly streaked back down and explosions sounded from the other side of the barrier.

  “That got two of those tanks,” D-Con shouted as the ball returned to his chest piece.

  Harold looked behind them, toward the open space. No High-Born could get them that way. The explosions had slowed down considerably, but hundreds of soldiers like Rat-Trap and D-Con were literally swarming the sky above the battlefield, rapidly destroying what remained of the High-Born that had been caught in the open space.

  Beyond all of that fighting, he could see three of the fighter jets circling the city, just below the tops of the skyscrapers, disappearing and reappearing as they passed behind the burning buildings. The white eagles’ eyes glowed as their rail guns blistered the ground and air while they twisted in between incoming friction trails. There was also some kind of bright pieces of light that resembled sparks coming out of them that destroyed missiles that were being launched at them.

  In the city in front of them, many High-Born grunts were firing from the corners of the buildings now, making their customary amazing leaps across points of cover. Tanks and mechanoids were zigzagging back and forth, firing as they moved ever forward. Several gunships buzzed toward them with their cannons blazing, but friction trails and missiles streaked above the buildings, and three of the fighter jets screamed overhead as more explosions echoed from within the city.

  As the thunder from the jets’ most recent attack run passed over Harold, he felt that he had nearly regained all of his faculties. Movement to his right caught his attention, and in between some buildings he saw another gunship firing at them. Its rail spikes pelted Stone’s barriers, and it looked like it was about to launch rockets. A massive rush of water erupted from the ground beneath it and hit its wing with such force that it began flipping and twisting and then crashed into a building before tumbling to the ground in a heap. Another gunship turned to face something just out of his field of vision, and he saw a surge of water splash over it, and the water froze almost instantly. It too, crashed to the ground, but it was encased in a craggy piece of ice.

  Harold saw Stone cast a glance in that direction and smile.

  Then, something that looked like massive spikes of ice slammed into a tank so hard that it toppled over. He noticed something swirling in the air. At first, he couldn’t tell what it was, just that it was beautiful. Several tentacles of silvery water were spiraling through the air toward them. They grew in number and size quickly, and then seemed to meld together to become a wall of water that was somehow suspended by an invisible power. Suddenly, it all flash froze, and a girl with olive skin and dark hair flowing behind her dashed around the corner of a building sprinting towards them. Harold was amazed at how fast she could run, and he immediately knew that she was like him, Gabby, and Stone, but somehow different too.

  Rail spikes slammed into the wall of ice, and though it cracked, it stopped a few rounds. Harold could see the girl’s palm facing the ground as she ran, and water droplets were appearing in the air and falling to the ground, flash freezing into something that resembled a slide. The ice wall shattered, and Harold thought she was about to be pulverized by rail spikes, but she dove feet first on the ground and slid the rest of the way to them, rail spikes streaking above her. She nimbly popped up to her feet when she was behind Stone’s wall.

  Stone pointed toward Harold and Gabby, and Harold could see that the girl was nearly crying with happiness.

  “I was afraid we wouldn’t make it in time,” she said to Harold and smiled widely. “I’m River, and we’re going to get you two out of here!”

  She turned toward the besieging High-Born force, and twirled her hands around, spiraling and twisting them as if she were sculpting a piece of art. Water droplets began collecting and quickly became silvery runnels that formed themselves into a ball of water in between her hands. Harold noticed that she moved and looked exactly like he did when he was learning to form fireballs from nothingness. She released the water toward the High-Born and it instantly became icicles that shot out into the city. But they were not ordinary icicles because they actually penetrated the armor of the grunts, but the tanks weathered her blasts better.

  Harold heard something zipping above his head, and he looked up. A couple of friction trails were passing above him, and he followed them back to the open space. The shots were coming from a soldier like Rat-Trap and D-Con who was standing atop a pile of rubble about 150 yards away. Harold looked at the various piles of wreckage and could see other soldiers climbing and landing on top of them and training their weapons on the city beyond. One by one, they also began firing into the High-Born force, and in just a few moments the air above Harold was full of friction trails.

  Movement caught his attention and Harold looked at the ground below and in front of those soldiers. They were covering the advance of dozens of more armored warriors who were storming towards him. Wakes of dust and ash kicked up behind them as the sun reflected in their dark-tinted visors.

  About twenty yards to his left, two more like Rat-Trap and D-Con landed behind some tank rubble, both firing into the city. Just over thirty yards to his right, three more landed and used some building rubble for cover. Two opened up with their rail cannons and one released some missiles. Several sprinted up behind them, all taking up position behind Stone’s barriers, and began firing. Then, the sky began raining with the warriors, armor clanking and the ground thudding as they landed.

  Harold felt something around his neck.

  He looked down to see Gabby hugging him and weeping with joy and relief as she buried her head in his chest. He returned her hug as he kissed her on top of her head, and he felt her squeeze him tighter.

  Harold looked around.

  Stone’s eyes were glowing fiercely as he raised rock formation after rock formation for the eagle-wearing soldiers to take cover behind. River’s eyes were flashing blue as she stood defiantly, slinging ice spikes into the city. And there was a solid line of the armored warriors who all wore the same red, white, and blue symbol, blasting away. The intensity of the bombardment they were unleashing was as powerful as anything he had ever seen the High-Born bring to battle.

  The barrage continued for several seconds, and then the soldiers began ceasing fire, and some squatted while others sat with their back against their cover. Stone and River looked at each other, confused, and Harold noticed Rat-Trap and D-Con motioning for everyone to get down while pointing to the open space behind them.

  Harold followed his finger tips to the northwestern part of the city. At first, he did not see anything. Then, he saw movement just below the building tops. The fighter jets were disappearing and reappearing in between the buildings of the city skyline, and they almost seemed to be flying on their sides. As they came into full view, Harold felt and heard the thunder coming from where they had just been. They banked and sped towards the fighting, then leveled off and Harold noticed that they were flying in a V formation. One was leading, and three were down either side.

  They dipped just below the building tops as they hit the open space, and their engines seemed to burn brighter. A panel opened on the bottom of each of them, and a large missile fell for about a half-second and then each of their thrusters ignited. The seven missiles streaked towards what remained of the High-Born battle group as the jets themselves rocketed skyward, spinning and twisting in an unpredictable pattern.

  The large missiles passed directly above Harold just as the air split with the thunder created by the jets. About three dozen friction trails streaked from within the city toward them. Explosions sounded and smaller missiles sc
reeched in every direction throughout the city. The burning buildings swayed as multiple detonations sounded, and tremors ran through the earth as dust and ash kicked up in the streets.

  Rat-Trap stood up and shouted, “Screaming Eagles! To The Sky! Fighting Eagles! Push! All Units Stand By For Termination Sweep!”

  Many of the armored soldiers began blasting off into the air toward the buildings. Most of them got extremely close to the buildings and then began flying straight up. Harold realized that they got so close to the buildings before they ascended in order to give themselves some cover from the units still potentially in the city. More than half of the armored soldiers took up positions on the building tops while the others ran toward the corners of buildings. Some even seemed to hover at about mid-level of the buildings just around the corners. After a few more seconds, they all seemed to be waiting on something.

  “Sanitize this rat nest!” Rat-Trap yelled.

  Friction trails then streaked into the city. The pattern of the shooters was methodical and almost casual. There would have been almost no place in the immediate area that something could have survived without taking a hit. Harold felt Gabby relax, but she still held him closely, her head resting on his shoulder.

  “Cease Fire!” Rat-Trap called.

  All of the soldiers quickly stopped firing.

  Rat-Trap shouted, “Who– Are– We!”

  The armored warriors each raised a fist, “WE– ARE– ATLAS!”

  Rat-Trap shouted again, “What Is Our Mission?”

  All replied, “WE HOLD– THE SKY!”

  Rat-Trap shouted again, “What Do Our Enemies See?’

  “THE SKY FALLING!” they replied.

  “What Weight Rests Upon Our Shoulders?” Rat-Trap shouted.

  “THE FATE OF THE WORLD ITSELF!” they replied together.

  Rat-Trap then walked to Harold and extended his hand.

  Harold took it and said, “Thank you. Who are you people?”

  Rat-Trap’s helmet nodded, “You’re welcome. I’ll be happy to answer your questions once we’re aboard ship, but right now we just don’t have time, son. Put these on.” Rat-Trap handed him a pair of goggles, and Harold quickly slid them on. “We have an inbound enemy force twice the size of this one. And they’ve dispatched flying rats. I know you probably don’t know what that means, but just know that we probably won’t survive if we don’t leave soon. I’m actually surprised that they haven’t already launched nukes at us.”

  Harold started to say something, but Rat-Trap just held up his hand and stepped behind him. He felt something around his waist, and he looked down and saw that a belt-like piece of metal had wrapped around his mid-section. Then he saw Rat-Trap’s large metallic arms close in front of him. He had time to notice that D-Con was doing the same to Gabby, and that two more ATLAS units were walking toward Stone and River.

  Then, he heard rocket engines, and felt a rush of wind. His stomach dropped, and he realized that he was flying. Harold took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a few moments. When he re-opened them, he was flying above the fiery battlefield. He took only a moment to look at all of the High-Born wreckage strewn across the blasted out area, and it was significant. He also noticed that there were many ATLAS units walking through the littered remains. Many of them were either checking on or helping their damaged companions to their feet.

  As he and Rat-Trap flew, Harold looked to his left and he could see Gabby cradled in D-Con’s arms. She turned and looked his way. Her hair danced wildly, yet beautifully around her dirty face, and she gave him a weak smile.

  Harold looked ahead of them, and he could see another plane coming towards them. It was different than the jet fighters, but it actually looked faster. Then it began turning, and then it just hovered there, not moving. Harold could see light coming from its side, and he could see two people standing at its door.

  He looked around the sky.

  Dozens of ATLAS units were hovering in a spherical formation at various heights and distances around the plane, and they looked as though they had not been fighting. They appeared to be standing guard. Circling around them were other fighter jets that he had never seen before, and they were different than the Angry Angels, but looked no less formidable. He looked in the distance, toward the horizon. He could see an ocean there, and he breathed a deep sigh of relief.

  The passenger plane just sat there, waiting on them and in just a few moments they were slowing down to come to rest just beside it. A mechanical arm reached for Harold and pulled him inside, and two people in white uniforms helped him to a padded bed with white sheets. It was surrounded with all manner of data-panes and computer screens covered with blinking lights, and wavy lines moving across them. As they were attaching devices to his arms and head, he saw another group of people helping Gabby through the door.

  They ushered her to a table, and Harold noticed that she was having trouble walking and seemed to be in tremendous pain. After they laid her down, they began removing her armor and clothes. They were careful to keep her modest, and they laid her on her side. Harold could see blisters across her upper back and on the back of both her knees. The burns seemed to be bleeding as well. Harold suddenly felt horribly guilty.

  The two people in white suits attended to him, talking back and forth as they looked at the computer screens that had numbers and wavy lines bouncing up and down. It almost sounded like another language, but Harold realized it was English, he simply did not know the words they were using. He figured they were talking about his health, and to his relief, they did not seem overly concerned. In just a moment, Stone entered the plane, and the people in white looked at his chest and tried to get him to lie down in a bed. He refused and walked to Harold and stopped at the foot of his bed and smiled.

  “My man, Fire,” Stone said. “That was some show you and Wind put on for us.”

  “Y’all could see it?” Harold asked.

  “Me, River, Rat-Trap, and D-Con were pretty far out, but yeah, we could see it, and so could the rest of the attack force. The four of us got to see it for real, and, man! That was one of the most awesome things I’ve ever seen! But the others watched on screens.”

  “How?” Harold asked.

  “Well, I’ve only been with these people for a few days, but they have things called satellites that they were watching the battle with.”

  Harold noticed River enter the plane, and the door shut behind her. Harold felt the plane starting to turn, and then it began accelerating. River walked toward Gabby, but the people in white held up their hands and motioned her to stay away. As they pulled a white curtain around Gabby, Harold noticed that she was groaning and seemed to be going in and out of consciousness. But the voices of the people in white seemed very calm as they cleaned her wounds while watching the monitors to which she was attached.

  River then walked toward Harold.

  He couldn’t help noticing how pretty she was, and she seemed to be roughly his age, but maybe just a little younger. She had a bright smile on her face and she seemed very emotional, and was very near crying. Stone stepped out of her way as she stopped beside Harold.

  “I thought I was crazy, but you two are real,” she said as she grabbed Harold’s hand and stroked his hair. Her dark hair was slightly curly and ran down to about the center of her back, and her olive-colored skin accentuated her brown eyes. She tried to say something else, but tears just ran down her face and she kissed Harold on the forehead.

  Stone turned his attention to the front of the airplane where three people sat. The one in the center seemed to be piloting the plane while the other two monitored various screens.

  “How’s the fight going?” Stone asked.

  The co-pilot on the right pressed a lit symbol on the screen in front of him, and a speaker clicked.

  “...–linging it now,” a voice coming from the speaker said, apparently in mid-sentence. “Angel Four, this is Angel Two,” the voice continued. “I took out another one, and I have a visual
on the last nuke. I couldn’t come around on it in time, but something about it looked funny. It’s headed your way.”

  “Roger that, Angel Two. I have it on my scope,” another voice said, and then multiple reports of a rail cannon could be heard. “It dodged my rounds. Looks like it’s headed for the main group. It’s closing fast enough to detonate in about thirty seconds.”

  “ATLAS Corps, this is Archangel,” another voice called, speaking rapidly but calmly, “Roll and backstroke to a horizontal phalanx, and yaw guns... to bearing one-eight-six, I repeat, bearing one-eight-six. Pitch guns... forty two degrees up. Execute attack pattern theta two on my command.”

  Everyone in the plane was deadly silent. Only the slight sound of wind could be heard for several seconds.

  “Open fire,” crackled across the radio, and the speaker erupted with the sound of rail gun reports that lasted for several seconds. Then, there was several more seconds of unbearable silence.

  “All units, this is Archangel. Good job ATLAS Corps, you guys pushed them right to me. It was actually two smart nukes flying very close together, but we got them.”

  The pilots began hitting each other’s hands, and cheers echoed across the radio.

  “Air Artillery, this is Angel Five, the flying rats look like they want to engage. Prepare SWARM’s. These bats look like the Black Dragon Fighter Wing, ladies and gentlemen. This is as real as it gets. It’s what we’ve trained all these years for... Get ready... They’ll clear the first LAMPP’s illumination radius in about sixty seconds. I’m deploying another LAMPP. Targets will be visible.”