by Kyle Perkins
“I’m not trying to give you extra stress, Velar, or make you choose between us. I simply wanted to know where I stood, and if anything was possible in the future once this whole mess is over. You have made your point, and it was foolish of me to assume. I’m sorry I asked you to come here. I see now that it was selfish,” he pouted.
“Please don’t be like that. Don’t make me feel like a bad guy, here. I’ve never denied how I feel about Alerik. It was stupid of us to kiss, and even worse to have any expectations of the future when there is a war on the horizon. Sure, we thought he had turned to The Union’s side, and might’ve been involved with his partner… but it was still too soon to move on.”
“I don’t think it was stupid. Just bad timing, perhaps,” He said as he rested his head on his hands.
“I don’t know what the future holds for any of us, Thorin… I am sure we were meant to meet. Let’s just stay focused on tomorrow, and after that we will talk again, okay?” Velar stood from her chair and began making her way over to the door.
“You’re right,” he looked up, a faint smile on his lips, “I probably sound like a child right now. Thanks for talking to me.”
“Keep your chin up, boss,” she said, smiling back at him before leaving the room.
***
The next morning, Velar opened her eyes to the sound of a siren blaring. She could hear people scrambling in the halls, just outside her door. She jolted up and moved at a brisk pace over to where Liberty’s Razor was leaning against the wall. Picking it up, she secured it onto her back and headed out the door.
Countless footsteps echoed through the halls as people made their final preparations before reporting to the launch zones, the sound was nearly as loud as the siren. People seemed to stare right past her as they went by, oblivious to everything outside of their tasks. It was clear that everyone’s mind was on the war at this point, determined and focused on victory. Velar wondered where Thorin was, or if he had already left. She decided to head out to the launch zones and see for herself. As she moved briskly through the halls, she noticed that the air felt different, it felt colder. She realized it was probably just in her head.
She almost made it to the launch zones when a man barreled past her, screaming something unintelligible. She thought he might’ve said something about water, but she wasn’t sure. The puzzled looks on the faces of everyone around her showed that they had about as much information as she did on the matter. Briefly subdued by the man’s excited outburst, the cold feeling returned as she passed through the threshold of the hangar.
She looked on with wonder as she watched the armored vehicles getting in formation. Men were lined up at the hangar doors, pulling large chains down to pull the massive doors open. Off in the distance, Thorin was waving his hands wildly, ordering the men into position. A smile formed on her face when she saw the respect he commanded. He reminded her of the legendary warriors from the books she had read. The light from outside reflected off of his armor, and the wind from outside licked at his cape and beautiful blonde hair. He was a stunning sight, and involuntarily her mind went to dark places, again.
She shook the thought off quickly as she started towards him, determined to not let him see her smile. She couldn’t let on that he still affected her like that, he had a way of blowing things out of proportion and she couldn’t risk a marriage proposal over a flirty smile. As she got closer, a small crowd began forming around him so that he could speak before the launch.
“Men, gather around!” He shouted as he unsheathed his sword and started a deliberate pace across the elevated platform. “This is it. I will not be giving a long speech. There is nothing left to say. We have made it this far because of the sacrifices we have all made to be here. Some of us will not return from this. Some of us will die and not be around to see the world we created. That is the cost of a revolution. Revolutions are funded with the blood of good men. Songs will be written about what we do here. Make sure those songs speak of brave men. Make sure those songs tell a story of men without fear, men who risked and sacrificed everything to fight against oppressors of free will, against oppressors of humanity. Today, we ensure that our children are the song writers, instead of the fighters. We ensure a world where we are no longer forced into hiding from a system meant to keep us safe. Today, your swords will be our pens, writing history the way we want to have lived it,” he yelled and thrust his sword into the air as the crowd erupted into wild cheers.
Velar couldn’t help be enamored with him in that moment. He was a natural leader, a protector, self-assured, and gorgeous. Just about everything a girl could want in a man. But still, he wasn’t Alerik. Alerik was her guy. Or, she hoped he still was… that is, if he could forgive her for the kiss. It took a will of steel to turn someone like Thorin down, a weaker woman would’ve succumbed to him instantly. At least, that is how she saw it, though Alerik might see it all a bit differently. She tried not to worry too much on it, there wasn’t anything she could do about it at that moment, anyway.
Finally, Thorin’s gaze met hers as he found her in the crowd. He grinned and stepped down from the platform, cutting through the crowd to reach her.
“Great speech,” Velar said once he was within earshot.
“I appreciate that, hopefully it got you as motivated as everyone else,” he smiled.
“I have been motivated from day one, but I can’t say that watching your speech didn’t do something to me,” she blurted before thinking, “Damn it!” she thought out loud.
“Okay, Velar, you have to turn down the charm if you want me to try and forget about you,” he winked.
She decided to change the subject, “A man ran by me screaming something about water… what’s up with that?”
“The water has been shut off across the settlement. We knew The Union were evil, but we never dreamed they would stoop this low. Now, time is a critical factor in our assault. If we can’t end this quickly, so many people will die of dehydration. The Union can hole up forever with their supply while we are all left out here in the wind. I can only keep my men together for so long. Starvation and lack of water can break any man’s resolve,” he said, shaking his head as he started to walk towards one of the armored vehicles.
“Fuck! How could they do that? I would have never expected The Union to endanger their work supply,” Velar followed closely behind.
As Thorin reached the vehicle, he opened the passenger side door and smiled at Velar, prompting her to get in.
She smiled back, knowing that may be the last peaceful moment they’d have for a while. In that moment, the two were frozen in time. A still image of hope and resilience as they both stood proudly for their cause.
Suddenly, a blast of hot air knocked them back, onto to the ground as a bright white flash filled the room. Velar didn’t even hear the sound. She was just smiling at Thorin, and then the next moment molten shrapnel was flying overhead as sparks rained down onto them. Disoriented, she laid back, staring straight at the ceiling as particles of dust washed over her and the vehicle she was next to. All that she could hear was a loud ringing in her ears as she felt her stomach contracting. A sharp, burning pain hit her all at once and she brought her hand down to the source at her hip. She felt a warm dampness. She had been hit.
“Thorin!” she screamed out loud, but couldn’t hear her own voice.
She scrambled to get up off of the cold floor, but her legs weren’t cooperating, they were shaking and she couldn’t find the balance she needed. She felt warmth envelope her face and her eyes darted around wildly until a worried looking Thorin came into focus. He was all she could see, everything behind him was a blur. His lips were moving but no sound came out.
Thorin didn’t waste any time and pulled her up to her feet. Muffled sounds started to register, it sounded like the world was underwater. Somehow, she managed to get into the vehicle. Or rather, Thorin put her there. She looked on through the front visor as the vehicle began to move. People were walking around like
they were in a dream, slowly and without purpose. Some were holding bits of other people, and some were trying to hold bits of themselves in. Their once shiny armor was covered in dust and spattered with debris. Bodies littered the area, it seemed every square foot had a body, or part of one, thrown onto it.
“This isn’t real. This is just a bad dream. Pre-battle fears just manifested into this ghoulish nightmare. You’ve been reading too many books. Just wake up,” she told herself. Deep down, she knew she wouldn’t wake up, because she was already awake, and it was all real. She was in denial.
Finally, Thorin’s voice came above water, “The Union has found us! DRIVE!” he shouted.
The vehicle accelerated and Velar’s head jerked back as they blasted past the hangar archway. A handful of Union soldiers were outside, waiting with their weapons drawn. The driver didn’t wait for orders from Thorin, he just barreled a path through three of the men. Their bodies made sickening thuds and crunches as the vehicle drove over them.
Velar turned in her seat as they passed the soldiers and saw that their entire fleet was behind them. The Union soldiers didn’t even have time to fire their weapons, the smoke and debris that blinded the people inside the hangar also worked against them, the soldier were oblivious to the torrents of armored vehicles pouring out of the hangar until it was too late for them. Velar cringed and closed her eyes just before one of the soldiers, who had a gun aimed at their vehicle, was crushed under a tire.
“THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!” Thorin yelled as they finally reached the road.
Velar felt her stomach twisting as she opened her eyes. She hoped she would have what it takes when her time to be brave came. She wasn’t expecting her body to respond physically to the sight of death up-close. She thought she could handle it mentally, but her body disagreed with her. She threw up into her mouth a little before hanging her head out of the window to spit.
“You alright Velar?” Thorin asked, a condescending look on his face as he glanced back in the mirror.
“I’ll be fine,” she replied as she gave her wound a closer inspection.
A small piece of metal was sticking out of her hip. From what she could tell, it had not hit bone and was mostly in the fleshy area. It would leave a mark, but she’d live. She cursed The Union for cutting off the water, without it, the wound would likely get infected. Then she realized that the events of the day would resolve that issue. If they won, they could just turn the water back on. If they lost, well… infection doesn’t matter to a corpse.
Directly ahead of them, The Union tower jutted out of the city like a brooding symbol of disparity. The convoy had a straight and clear path to the tower. The only thing standing in their way was a couple of miles, and possibly thousands of Union soldiers and guards.
“So, what is the plan?” Velar asked as the wind hit her face, causing her dark hair to dance across her face. She wasn’t sure if the attack on The Forge had changed their course.
“Most of our forces will meet the resistance, that is surely gathering in front of the building, and cause a distraction,” he replied.
“A distraction?”
“Yes, a distraction to draw the bulk of their attention. That should allow a small group of us to sneak in from the side. We will take the fight directly to Aldain in his control room, while you sneak off to the roof. Once you get there, use this,” he handed her the device he had shown her when he first disclosed the plan.
“So it’s finally complete,” she remarked.
“Yes, this will override the tower’s fail-safes and give us complete access in the control room, without wasting precious time. Once this is in place, we can broadcast across the settlement and get our reinforcements,” he said, smiling back at her in the mirror.
“How do you know they will come?” she asked.
“Because you can only kick a man so many times before he kicks back,” Thorin said as a massive formation of men appeared on the horizon like a thick blanket of fog.
“That’s not good,” Velar thought out loud.
“This is what we trained for!” he shouted as he stuck his sword out of the side window and extended it forward in a symbolic gesture.
The armored vehicles with their mounted guns went around him, speeding up and heading towards the hoard of men.
Thorin turned in his seat and looked straight at her, “Are you absolutely ready?”
“This is what we trained for,” she parroted back with a smile.
“Good, glad to hear it,” he said before he tapped the driver. They all veered off to the left.
Four other Liberty’s Hammer vehicles followed as the rest of the fleet went straight towards the tower. Velar looked in the mirror at Thorin’s face and frowned.
“A lot of those guys aren’t coming back, are they?” she asked.
“Probably not. This is their choice, though. They are all volunteers,” he reassured her.
“Still don’t feel great about them being fodder,” she hung her head.
“Don’t worry about them. They have a job to do, just like we do. Let’s focus on one thing at a time, okay?” he urged.
“Just get us there. Let’s be done with this,” she said as she pulled her sword off her back and laid it on her lap.
“We should arrive shortly. There might be a bit of resistance, but I am expecting most of them to be concentrated in the front, and in the control room,” he said as the building approached quickly.
Velar peered out of the side of the vehicle as they pulled up to The Union building. It was completely unguarded with a single, steel door marked Service Entrance. As soon as the vehicle stopped, Thorin and the driver stepped out. The other vehicles arrived just behind them. Velar climbed out and scanned the area nervously as the rest of the soldiers were unloading. It was too quiet. For Aldain to put his entire force in the front seemed foolish, even to her. Aldain was notorious for many things, being foolish was not one of them.
“Get the door, quietly,” Thorin said to his driver as he motioned for Velar to get close.
She moved in at his side, and watched the large man move forward with two metal bars. The bars were attached to the back of the vehicle with chains, and he stuck them behind the hinges of the door before hopping back into the vehicle. Thorin motioned for the group to move out of the ejection path while the driver slowly accelerated. After a couple of quick tugs, the door flew off its hinges. Immediately, the group hurried inside, sticking to the walls.
The building was empty. There was no large force inside, not a single sign of life. Had they evacuated?
Velar had a peculiar feeling as the group took their backs off of the walls and walked out into the center of the floor in a tentative fashion. There were platforms rising and falling through a vast column of empty space in the middle of the room. Just a pillar of nothingness that stretched on forever in either direction.
She moved to the railing at the perimeter of the void and gazed over the edge. “None of this strikes you as odd?” she asked Thorin, who stood beside her with his massive sword out. He looked ready for action.
“Very odd. This doesn’t make sense. Once we hop onto one of these platforms, they take us straight to the top. It seems too good to be true, the building being empty like this. But, we have come too far, we can’t very well turn back,” he said as he started making his way to the platform.
She nodded as he walked away and began to follow with the rest of the group. She was worried, but these men that Thorin chose to bring with him were the best of the best. They had substantial armor and colossal shields. There were only around thirty men as far as she could tell, but she didn’t actually take the time to count. What they lacked in numbers, these guys made up for in nerve and skill. She stepped onto the platform, and her stomach twisted at the sounds from the battle outside that were bleeding into the building. Guns were firing nonstop and a series of explosions caused the ground to tremble.
Once everyone was onboard, the platform ascended with
a quick pull of the lever. Velar worried the weight of the men and all of their gear might cause the surface to collapse, but it didn’t seem like it was struggling in the slightest.
“Everyone, keep your eyes open. I think they are up to something here…” Thorin said as he looked up into the hollow space above them.
The group scrutinized everything around them, looking for any signs of life as they continued their ascent. Velar moved in close to the large driver since he appeared to be the biggest guy of the bunch. She couldn’t believe how tall the man was compared to everyone else. He stuck out like a sore thumb. She wondered how they planned to be stealthy with this guy lurching around, but her thoughts were cut short as a bolt ripped through the man’s throat, spraying blood onto the front of her armor.
“Shield wall!” Thorin yelled and the men all slung their shields over their heads, locking them in formation as a flurry of metal bolts rained down onto them.
“I fucking knew it!” Velar hissed to herself.
“Protect Velar!” Thorin yelled as he pulled her to the center of the group.
She watched as the large man who had driven them there slid off of the platform, leaving behind a crimson trail. They were too high up at this point to jump and find cover, so she knew they would just have to weather the barrage. The shields seemed to be impenetrable, holding up well against the swarm of bolts smashing against them, but the sound was deafening.
“When we get to the top, you veer off and head for the service elevator to the roof. Their forces should be almost entirely guarding the control room. You will have a free path there, just stay smart about it,” Thorin yelled over the sound.
“Got it!” She yelled back as the platform finally came to a stop and the men charged forward, slashing their swords wildly at The Union soldiers waiting for them.