by S J Taylor
“Won’t that just trap us inside?” another of the Freemen asked.
“No choice,” Carline pointed out. “Our first priority is to stay alive. Now, everyone, move it back—”
Two bright points of red light blazed slantways along the street in front of us, bigger than I was tall, screaming with the sound of steam escaping a pinched valve. It took less time than an eye blink for them to strike the street. In that split second, I saw the bodies of two of the Children explode in a mess of torn flesh and limbs.
Missile strikes. Close range. Low yield. Meant to kill without razing an area to the ground. Enforcers used them to clear out enemy troops from a place they planned on occupying. Just death. No destruction.
More of the missiles blasted through the night, taking out targets that we had only just glimpsed. The missiles kept coming, and kept coming.
How many monsters had there been out there?
Jadran grabbed my arm. “Look.”
He pointed off to our right. There, above the city, two HoverHawks had glided in silently. The ships were flat, black rectangles against the night sky. Four rotating cylinders were attached at each corner, radiating blue waves of power. Antigrav engines. Big enough to hold equipment and troops, the HoverHawks were aerial cover for the ground troops.
The Enforcers were here.
“They must have seen the lights!” I shouted over the explosions that continued pounding into the mass of twisted, mutated bodies out there. “The ground soldiers won’t be far behind. Once the area is clear, they’ll move in! We need to get to the Freeman camp!”
Jadran agreed. Looking at the dumbstruck faces around us, he found Carline. She was standing frozen in place like the others, awed by the intense firepower the Restored Society could dispense. Death rained down around us. This was why the Freemen had lost their battles with the Enforcers. This was why Refuge hadn’t stood a single chance in Hell.
That’s why we needed to get out of here.
“Carline,” Jadran said to her, shaking her by her shoulder to get her attention. “Get your people. We need to get to your camp. You can lead us, yes?”
“So many of them…” she said, her voice trailing off. She hadn’t heard anything Jadran had said.
“Carline!” he shook her again, harder, and this time she focused on him, and set her jaw, and nodded. She would do what had to be done.
As the HoverHawks fired off a few last shots at things that screeched and reared their shaggy heads up in the smoky darkness, we gathered up the remaining Freemen, grabbed whatever weapons we could, and ran. I found the supply bag that we’d carried out of Refuge and checked inside it quickly. I sighed in relief when I found my journal still inside. With everything going on, I didn’t know why that little book was so important to me, but it was. Maybe I just didn’t want to lose anything else. I’d lost my home. Lost my friends.
Lost Saskia.
Now here we were, Jadran and me, running hand in hand into the dark. In the back of my mind I dared to hope the HoverHawks hadn’t seen us. I was hoping they were so intent on the Children of the Event that a few scrambling humans wouldn’t even register on their sensors.
I’d been wrong.
One of the ships broke off from the attack to follow us. They shot at us with laser cannons, the bolts a full meter long and crackling with blue and yellow energy. They melted holes into the pavement. They cut through vehicles we tried to use for cover. Two Freemen went down when they turned to return fire with their rifles. I could have told them to save their ammunition. Nothing we had was going to bring down a HoverHawk, and as long as it was up there, it could follow us.
I wondered again why the Restored Society had sent such a force out here into the Outlands. This wasn’t just an incursion force. They weren’t trying to trample a few villages like Refuge. This was something more.
This was war.
War with… who?
Jadran pulled me away from the others into a low, squat building, through an opening created from a massive crack in the wall. We scrambled over broken bricks and debris until we were inside, and then we flattened ourselves against the floor, and watched the world outside.
The HoverHawk floated past our position, trailing after the Freemen. It fired off two more shots, and I was sure I heard a woman scream.
“They’ll die if we don’t help them,” I whispered to Jadran.
“What would you have me do, Era Rae? Throw rocks at the ship?”
He was right, of course. We just didn’t have the firepower to do anything. For now all we could do was hide. If we didn’t hide, we’d be dead too. Still, thermal imaging would find us before long. There had to be something we could do.
If there was, I couldn’t see what it was.
Jadran’s hand snaked out and found mine. I held on, knowing this might be the last chance we had to show each other our feelings.
I had let myself love this man. Here, on the edge of death, I could admit that.
If we died, what difference would it make?
The HoverHawk rotated on its axis, turning our way. Its spotlights swept over the building until they found the opening we had slipped into. They’d found our hiding spot.
It was now or never.
Then, as we tensed to run, a huge shadow swept up from the street and launched itself at the HoverHawk, covering its cockpit, spinning it on the antigrav engines until they whined with the effort to stay in the air. The weight of the shadowy mass started to drag the ship down.
One of the Children hung off the side of the ship, its oversized hands clawing at the transparent metal dome at the front where the Enforcer pilots tried in vain to keep the ship from teetering and crashing. The laser cannons fired a few times, but the weapons were fixed forward and they couldn’t get at the beast attacking them.
It was help from the most unexpected source. If I wasn’t worried that whoever won this battle would come after us next, I would have taken the time to appreciate the irony.
Then it happened. Claws tore into metal, and the canopy of the ship ripped away, and then HoverHawk and monster were both sent hurtling down to the street.
The explosion was spectacular.
“Now,” Jadran said, pulling me to my feet even as the HoverHawk and the creature burned together. “This is our chance.”
We were up and running through the night. Jadran’s hand was still in mine.
I never let go.
Era’s Journal, Entry #3056
We found Carline and two other Freemen still alive, running from building to building, making their way to the Freemen camp. We let them know that the HoverHawk was down. We skipped over the details. For now, we were safe.
Although ‘safe’ was a relative term in this case. We were safe, as long as you didn’t count the entire three columns of Enforcers still marching our way somewhere behind us.
What would we do when they caught us?
I still had to believe they were after something bigger than the Freemen camp. I couldn’t figure what that was, but it had to be something the likes of which I couldn’t even imagine if it brought that kind of response from the Restored Society.
It didn’t matter. The Freemen camp was in their way. Whatever the Enforcers were after they would be going through the Freemen to get there. Just like Refuge had been in their way. Just like I had been in their way.
I saw what happened in Refuge. The people killed or taken away. The buildings levelled to the ground. Fire, and death.
Things were different here with the Freemen. We had firepower and people willing to fight. We weren’t going to just lay down and die like Refuge had. We had power, and vehicles, and weapons, and luxuries like running water and fresh food.
And none of that would be enough to stop the Enforcers.
That was the thought on everyone’s mind when we got to the Freemen. Laria was in the camp when we got there. She ran up to Jadran as soon as she saw him, and threw her arms around him, and cried while she explained ov
er and over that she had to tell them about me. She had to keep everyone safe from me.
Jadran waited until she was done. Then he told her she was wrong. Just those few words. “You are wrong.” Then he took me by the hand, and we walked away.
From the expression on Laria’s face, he may as well have slapped her.
Ever since then, Laria hasn’t spoken more than two words to me. Which is strange because I get the feeling she actually has a lot to say. I’m sure it will come out soon. That’s fine with me. I’ve got a lot to say to her, too.
That’s for later. My main concern right now is staying alive. So we’re going to see the leader of the Freemen. Commander Ross. We need to let him know what we’ve seen, and let him know we’ll stand and fight with him.
Little Era Rae has come a long way from that girl I was back in Colony 41. Who knows. I might just be the one thing that gives these people a chance of surviving the coming attack.
Or I might just die alongside them.
Hellfire.
I finally let myself love, here on the edge of death, in the middle of a broken city.
Why did I wait so long?
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About the Author
S.J. Taylor (Steven James) is a dedicated, 40-something Science Fiction Author who was born and currently resides in the beautiful Adelaide (also known as South Australia’s cosmopolitan coastal capital).
Passionate about all-things creativity, S.J. Taylor also delves in the art of photography. He is the proud owner of a brand new go pro hero 4 camera and even has a harness for his wonderful dog, Jack (Jackson when he’s being mischievous), so he can join in on the fun. Additionally, S.J. Taylor has an avid interest in technology (drones in particular).
When he isn’t writing or taking pictures, S.J. Taylor likes to immerse himself in books and movies—sci fi, thriller, and mystery being his all-time favourite genres. He also is an Italian food and occasional champagne aficionado and plans to travel to the United Kingdom, France, and Italy someday.
One of S.J. Taylor’s favourite early morning activities is taking long, meditative walks along the South Australian shoreline with his best friend in German Shepard form.
To find out more, visit his official website: http://www.stevenjtaylor.com. Also be sure to follow him on Facebook for updates: https://www.facebook.com/sjtaylorauthor