The Harmony Divide- Never Alone

by Dominick Gerard

  As a Praetorian Guard member, these soldiers were no match for Natalie, but what she had done in this room was beyond what she had been capable of before she met Jenn. There was no way she should have been able to defeat four soldiers and an Interrogator with no armor equipped and a couple knives she picked up from random infantrymen. She did things she’d never thought of before and attacked with a ferocity she’d never had. Why were things different now? Whatever the answer, she didn’t know. She’d have to save her questions for Jenn.

  Satisfied there were no more threats, she walked around the room and searched for supplies. First, she found a relatively clean lab coat to use as binding for her bullet wound. She cut a strip of cloth away and tied it around her arm, using her teeth to hold one end of the knot while the other hand pulled it tight. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do for now. She added another binding to the place where a bullet had grazed her leg.

  Her hands were still burnt and raw, but she didn’t find any suitable gloves in the room. She recalled seeing a first aid kit in the kitchen. It was as good a place as any to clean up and treat her injuries as best she could. There would be water there as well. She made the decision to head toward the kitchen around the back of the facility instead of going straight in. There would likely be other soldiers near the entrance of the facility and the vault at this point, so she would avoid it for now.

  Natalie stripped the soldiers of their weapons and supplies. She didn’t have a good way to store the knives. They were too dangerous to carry exposed inside her belt without sheaths, which were useless to her as they were permanently attached to the soldiers’ armor. She shrugged. Two would do. One for each hand, just the way she liked it.

  There were a few useful items inside the soldiers’ pockets and supply pouches. Regular Infantry in the Legions weren’t given much other than extra magazines. She did find one Shock Disc in the Interrogator’s pouch, which would come in handy when attacking a group or taking people by surprise, and three full MedKits. It was a Shock Disc she’d used to attack the caravan with Christine and the other poor person inside. Natalie felt disgusted that she didn’t even know the name of the other person in the vehicle. Shame and regret colored her cheeks and she hung her head. Jenn had told her it wasn’t entirely her fault, but it didn’t matter. Whether she’d been in control or not, it was a horrible act, and always would be.

  The MedKits were a lucky find. They were extremely powerful and quite rare. The Interrogator wouldn’t have used them on himself even if he were dying. It was for the person he was interrogating, to be kept alive long enough to extract more information if needed, but only in extreme cases. Natalie had seen one used during an interrogation and the results were stunning, but relatively short lived. They didn’t heal a person permanently, just kept the body functioning and stabilized until they could get treatment. The worse the injury or wound the less amount of time the MedKit would work. It varied from minutes to hours depending on the severity of the injury and how well the body received it.

  Shame roiled in her gut again at the memories. The things she’d stood by for, the things she’d done. How was she ever going to live with herself when this was all over? Orders or not, right and wrong were clear, and she should have fought harder to do right.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the muffled sound of what could only be explosions. She closed her eyes to focus and figure out where they were coming from. After a few more bursts, she determined that they must be coming from the surface outside the main entrance to the facility. That likely meant the military reinforcements had arrived to secure the facility from attackers. By now she was sure the rest of the soldiers from the drop ship would have deployed and set up a defensive perimeter, so she and the Interrogator could get out safely. Not much help now, she through wryly.

  The situation had escalated greatly. There was now a battle raging outside which meant the soldiers in the facility would be working quickly to try and breach the vault. They would end up taking Jenn if Natalie didn’t hurry. The Legion forces would now be divided with the vast majority likely stationed outside to secure the entrance. It was Natalie’s chance. The Shock Disc could prove an effective tool for taking out a group before they realized she was at large.

  She took one more look around the room for anything useful and spotted a half-full bottle of water, which she opened and drank in hurried gulps. Crushing the empty plastic between her hands, she tossed it to the side and picked up her knives. Weapons raised, she eased out the door, looking left and right for any danger down the hall.

  The fire extinguisher from before her interrogation lay on the floor ahead. She picked it up and walked back to the still burning pile of bodies, spraying the fire. Once only smoke and white foam remained, she eyed the pile, bile rising in her throat. At last she looked at the Interrogator and the other dead soldiers, shaking her head in disgust. Too horrible for words.

  She dropped the extinguisher, turned, and picked up her knives. Off to see Jenn, I go. She exited the room without looking back.

  Natalie

  Natalie walked quickly and silently on her bare feet away from the nightmarish room. Images of the dead circled endlessly in her mind. She had seen horror before, but not like this. The emotional upheaval that came along with it was new territory. She had never had to think about the death and destruction surrounding her before, never had to feel anything about it. A pang of guilt hit her as she realized she’d caused much of the death and destruction she was thinking of.

  Now, however, she felt everything. She thought back to what happened to Charles, the sense of loss and sadness still fresh. She knew there were dozens - if not hundreds - of people who would be feeling the same way soon due to all the innocent people slaughtered at this facility. The feelings were overwhelming. Sadness, anger, regret, loss, grief… Natalie didn’t know how to make sense of it all. She wanted nothing more than to lay on the ground and cry, but Jenn needed her, and, by extension, Leah.

  Thinking about them brought her mind into sharper focus. All of this pain will be there waiting if I get out of here, she thought, and I’ll deal with it then. There was a mission to be completed, different from the original, but, still, she would not fail. Natalie lifted her chin and continued on down the hall. I will not fail. I do not fail.

  The rumbling sounds of explosions thundered in the distance as she neared the main room. Pops of rapid gunfire dotted the loud booms. She was surprised to hear the heavy continued efforts to break the shield. She assumed they had taken it down completely, but by the sounds of the heavy weaponry they were using to attempt a breach, the wall seemed to be holding up well. They must have only created a temporary hole and some soldiers ran through before it closed again, otherwise the place would be crawling with soldiers.

  Natalie smiled. All the better for her. Not to mention, that meant Jenn must still be alive. Still fighting in her own way. Hang on!

  On her approach to the main hallway, she crouched and peered around the corner. Four soldiers headed directly for her in fighting formation. The lead soldier carried massive square shield in front. Two soldiers behind the shield were armed with automatic rifles and the fourth followed behind with a second shield. Heavy Infantry in a mobile phalanx formation, she thought. There were no heavies on her ship. That meant there were more soldiers deployed from the larger Cruiser in orbit above the planet.

  Natalie scowled. Fantastic. This just gets better and better.

  She didn’t know the full complement of the Cruiser, but it was certainly several hundred soldiers. Maybe five full Centuries and Auxiliary troops along with the ship’s crew by Natalie’s calculations, a sizable army for the leadership to commit to the mission. There would, indeed, be heavy fighting above her. While the Legion troops were far better equipped than the local military, they couldn’t match their numbers in the middle of enemy homeland. It would be an extremely bloody fight on both sides.

  The soldiers kept a deliberate pace, not bothering to hide their
sound. Heavies were well armed and deadly, but they weren’t trained for stealth. Luckily, they hadn’t spotted her yet.

  Natalie receded around the corner and looked around, trying to think of a plan. It would be impossible to attack them head on. That’s what they wanted and expected. She didn’t have enough time to run back the way she came to avoid them, either. She swung her head left and right again, then suddenly stopped and looked up.

  Above her were a series of pipes and a large, round air duct running down the length of the hallway. She quickly spotted the perfect hiding spot. It was atop the set of pipes and a smaller air duct splitting off the main duct.

  Standing just below her target hiding place, she tossed the knife in her right hand straight up and it flew between two large pipes, sticking into the ceiling above them. She held the other knife in her left hand, unwilling to be without protection even for a moment, and jumped straight up, grabbing a thick pipe with her right hand. Straining heavily, she pulled herself up with her right arm and wrapped her legs around several pipes at once to secure herself. She pulled herself over and on top of the set of pipes and ducts.

  Holding herself tightly to the lattice work of metal, she yanked her second knife out of the ceiling. The pipes were sturdy and made little noise, but the air duct had a loose support and squeaked when she moved. Even her slight breathing was making the support squeak lightly. She held her breath.

  The sound of the soldiers boots grew louder as they rounded the corner. They stopped briefly to look down the hallway, then continued on. Natalie thought close to a minute had passed since she started to hold her breath. Anxiety began to creep in. She misjudged how long she could hold her breath in her current state. After another twenty seconds or so the soldiers finally passed directly below her. She had to breathe. She let out her breath slowly and took in a sharp gasp of air. The support squeaked and the soldiers stopped moving right below her.

  She heaved her legs over the side of the pipes and crossed her arms with her knives pointed away from her. She fell over the side, feet first, right into the troop formation, landing in between the two riflemen. As her feet hit the floor she lashed out with both of her knives. The blades sliced both soldier’s necks. Blood sprayed from their wounds as Natalie pulled the knives free. She thrust the blood-stained knives into the spine of the soldier in front of her. Trained to guard forward no matter what, the soldier was dead before he’d even begun to turn around.

  The full force of the second shield smashed into her from behind. She tumbled forward and tripped over the body in front of her. She landed hard on her left shoulder and heard something pop inside it. She gritted her teeth against the pain. There was no choice but to keep going.

  The remaining soldier pointed her firearm directly at Natalie’s head. Despite the pain, she pushed herself up and ran across the hallway at an angle to avoid the bullets. She took two quick steps up the wall and launched herself into a roundhouse kick, connecting with her attacker’s helmet. The soldier’s head whipped back with a crack. Natalie landed and rushed forward, hacking and stabbing the exposed sides of the soldier. The soldier finally fell in a pool of blood, twitching a few more times before laying still. The soldier died without a sound. Just as her squad had done.

  Natalie looked back to make sure the others were down just as a bullet ripped through her left side. She dropped the knife in her left hand and grabbed at the wound, falling backward.

  The soldier on her right was on his knees with his rifle drawn. Blood flowed from his neck like a waterfall, but he stayed up long enough to get one shot off. After the shot he collapsed forward and died.

  Natalie stayed laying on the ground for a few more seconds. She pushed down on the wound to try and stop the bleeding. Closing her eyes, she took several deep breaths and rolled over to her feet. Pain was nothing new to her. Pain she could deal with. It was only weakness leaving the body.

  While the pain wouldn’t stop her, the bleeding would. She felt in her back pocket for the MedKits she had placed there and found nothing. They were gone. “Shit! Shit! Shit!”

  She looked around, frantic. She found nothing on any of the dead soldiers. Panic rose like a tidal wave in her gut until she finally spotted the two kits tucked between the wall and a potted plant. She picked them up and inspected them. One appeared unharmed, but the other had a large crack down the side of the thin black cylinder. She tucked the intact MedKit into her back pocket. That would be for Jenn, no matter what.

  Unsure if the broken canister would still function, she pulled off the cap and exposed the tiny needles on its head. They, at least, were undamaged. She jabbed it into her arm where she could see a web of veins. The needles stung as they dug into her skin. She pushed the button on to release the medications and nothing happened. She tried again and again. It didn’t do anything.

  “Yeah. That’s about right. That would be too easy.” Her shoulders slumped.

  She held the device in front of her face and examined it, shrugging. I don’t have much choice, she thought, slicing the can in half. She stuck the two pieces in her mouth and tried to suck out whatever was left. She didn’t know if this would work, but she had to try something. Some extremely foul tasting liquid seeped out of the device and Natalie swallowed it with a grimace.

  She sat with her back against the wall, closed her eyes, and listened carefully for any approaching soldiers. The only sounds came from the battle outside and the drips of blood falling from her side to the floor.

  Natalie thought about Jenn as she waited for the MedKit to start working. She wished Jenn were here, for many reasons. Jenn couldn’t heal people, but she could keep them alive. What troubled her the most was that she had stabbed Jenn and caused her so much pain. Of everything that had happened, she was most ashamed of that. She knew Jenn had forgiven her for it, but she would never forgive herself.

  Natalie didn’t want to admit it, but, most of all, she wanted Jenn there because she was desperately afraid to be alone again. She thought of the time she spent with Jenn and how it made her feel. At first it was confusing. She remembered when she first woke up and how disoriented she was. She thought of the dreams the two women had together and what happened. She focused on the image of Jenn holding her baby girl on her shoulder as she gave Charles a hard time about something. The thought made her smile.

  Her thoughts drifting, she started to sway unsteadily. Something was making her extremely drowsy and light-headed. She wondered if the MedKit was working in some strange way since she ingested it. It was getting harder to keep her balance, so she decided to lay down before she fell over. She fought back against the dimming light in her mind, remaining conscious as she heard the sound of footsteps coming toward her.

  Natalie

  Natalie remained still as a pair of hands rolled her over onto her back. She kept her eyes closed and her body completely limp.

  The wound in her side still burned, but there was now a strange tingling sensation along with the persistent pain. The bullet graze wound on her leg had stopped hurting and the burns on her hands felt far less painful. Her dislocated shoulder was still throbbing, but the pain had dulled. The MedKit must be working, then.

  She kept her breathing as shallow as possible as the gloved hands searched around her body and pockets in her clothes. They found the Shock Disc in one of her pockets and pulled it out. The hands lifted off her and armor pieces gently rubbed together as the soldier got to their feet.

  Natalie cracked an eye open to see what was happening. There were at least six black armored soldiers around her, as well as the bodies of the dead Heavy Infantry. Natalie’s heart sank as she saw a large sword blade strapped to one of the soldier’s backs. A Centurion.

  This was going to be tricky. As one of the most skilled fighters in the ranks, a Centurion being present really complicated things. Commanders of a Century a piece of up to one hundred soldiers, they were only outranked by the Senior Centurion of the Cohort, who commanded several Centuries in the Legion.


  Natalie closed her eye, formulating a plan of attack. Just as she was about to spring up, the soldier standing over her crouched and placed the Shock Disk in Natalie’s open hand, closing her fingers around the device and squeezing her hand gently. Natalie’s stomach lurched with surprise. She opened her eyes, looking up at the soldier in complete shock.

  The soldier let go of Natalie’s hand, reached up, and disengaged her helmet. A smiling, dark-skinned woman with short black hair stared back at her. She looked to be about twice Natalie’s age. She had a kind face and looked at Natalie like a mother gazing upon her child.

  She bent down so she could whisper in Natalie’s ear. “Tell the Senior Centurion I died a free woman. Temet Nosce! Now grab those blades and run, girl!” Natalie hesitated for a moment. “Go!” The older woman screamed at her, then turned toward the other soldiers.

  Natalie wasted no more time. She arched her back, pushed off the ground with her good arm, and flipped herself onto her feet. She tucked the Shock Disc in her pocket, , grabbed her knives, and darted away from the soldiers. Confused, distorted voices and shouts welled up behind her followed by the sound of gunfire. Natalie ran until she reached the end of the hallway which would lead around the back side of the facility to the main vault room.

  Before rounding the corner, she looked back. Three new bodies littered the ground and the woman was surrounded by the remaining soldiers. Natalie skidded to a stop and watched one final moment. There were two more soldiers and the Centurion. The woman faced them all with defiance in every line of her posture, knife at the ready. She yelled something Natalie couldn’t hear and charged the Centurion. He stepped to the side in a blur, made one swift swing of his sword, and put it back in its sheath behind his back. He started walking toward Natalie as the head of the woman separated from her body and toppled to the floor. Her body landed in a heap beside it.