The Sixth Line of Defense

by Shiva Winters

Chapter Six: The Storm Breaks

  In the darkness with horrible images still burning in the back of her mind as a panicked sound that was never uttered sent her racing up from her terrifying dreams, Shiva's mind woke just in time to feel the bones clutched in her wrist snap under pressure. Her eyes flew open to find the scene spread out before her as a slim light flowed into the once dark bedroom through the half open bedroom door. There was no other sound besides the cracking of bones, there was no scream of pain, no yells, not even the sounds of shifting feet or a grunt to signified what had happened. Even as her mind desperately trying to decide if she was still trapped in the nightmare the glimmer of nearby light reflected off of the cold metal sides of the object now dangling from useless fingers and she knew without words that this could be nothing else besides a weapon. Instinct was what made her throw her head to the side and avoid the blow of a black gloved hand, it was the sudden surge of anger that made her slam downward against the bed throwing her body upward and out from under the covers as the strike missed her by millimeters. Aided and not hindered by that sudden surge of rage, her free hand slammed upward in a vicious punch of her own, aimed for the soft part of the much larger man's neck. His wind pipe was crushed silencing him instantly as the unleashed telekinetic force of the blow snapped his spine at the base of the neck.

  His body went limp and he collapsed slowly downward on knees no longer capable of supporting him, dying slowly as he asphyxiated unable to let air enter his lungs. His collapse bounced him off the side of the bed as he landed with a mild thump against the carpeted floor. His weight and her strong grip on his shattered limb yanked her out and away from the bed to land on her feet. She threw his arm away even as she knew that this danger was real and reached for the ten inch blackened titanium blade at his hip, yanking the lethal edge free as her eyes swept the space for more of them. With her mind already ablaze with the rage that would only make her stronger her eyes cast over the bed and towards the lit hallway beyond.

  "Shiva?" Vala stirred slowly from sleep calling out for a presence that was no longer curled up with her in the bed. Shiva wanted very much to silence her, to tell her to be quiet but thought of no way to do that without making even more noise. Even as that word struck the air there was a shifting out in the hallway, and the sound of feet thumping softly against the carpet. "Shiva?" This call was much louder now as her form shifted from under the covers quickening the steps of the approaching figure. Vala was just sitting up and opening her eyes when Shiva launched the knife across the space. The armed man stepped right into its' path and clutched at it desperately as it embedded itself in his throat. He collapsed silently to the floor just inside the door as a spray of high pressure blood spewed out from behind his fingers. Shiva instantly tossed her weight up onto the bed, covering Vala's mouth and catching her hand desperate to keep her from screaming.

  "Vala, baby.. don't scream.." Shiva told her desperately. Her eyes were wide with fear and her body seemed frozen even as Shiva crawled over top of her and pulled the other girl from the bed. She acted as if she were numb in both body and mind with only instinct keeping her on her feet as Shiva half dragged her across the room towards the door. With a vicious yank, Shiva ripped the blade free of the second soldier’s neck send a warm spray of blood over both of as he quickly bled out and died at their feet. With her mind screaming about the danger she knew was all around them, with her heart racing faster than at any other time, and knowing without question all of them were in danger she peered out into the barely lit hallway to see one of the General's guards laying in the middle of the floor with a knife wound in the back of his neck. She only just had enough time to take in this scene before another man appeared from the other direction. Knowing it would be too late this time Shiva launched the knife away to cross that distance in a fraction of a heartbeat. Shiva shoved Vala backwards and away from the doorway just ahead of a spray of gunfire that ripped into the wood door frame and splattered across the wall. It ended in less than a moment as the blade struck its' target, when Shiva pulled the two of them into the hallway the third man was already dead with a knife hilt protruding through his protective face mask and embedded in his left eye.

  Knowing that the gunfire would warn the others that were most surely there, and knowing that their chances of survival had become that much slimmer, the fact that Vala was in danger only made that rage grow within her. Heading directly towards the bedroom that her parents shared, she was almost not surprised when the door slammed open and two men launched out through it. Pissed beyond belief Shiva lunged forward as they opened fire but the bullets seemed to curve in front of them as they were deflected away to spray across the wall. A marble statue along the path was tossed away from it's pedestal strike one man in the chest with enough forced to break all of his ribs and puncture both of his lungs. The pedestal swept away a heart beat later to collide horizontally with the legs of the other man breaking both of his legs and sending him folding at impossible angle forward to strike the floor face first. Shiva's angry onrushing steps carried them right up to the door as he tried to force his body to flip over so he could keep firing. Shiva slammed one foot down across the back of his neck shattering his spine. But before they could get inside a third man stepped into the doorway striking out with a tremendous telekinetic force that would have crushed both of them. But Shiva's instincts were sharper, her rage was already burning, and her ability was greater, his strike ripped through the walls and floor as Shiva's instincts simply brushed the strike aside. He lunged forward to try and strike her with his blade but Shiva abilities were many times faster and with an anger that was nearly out of control she grabbed him bodily and clamped down hard with a tremendous force. This time she was able to extract a far too short scream of pain as she collapsed his skull with a wet and horrible sound and dropped his lifeless body out in the hall as she pulled Vala inside.

  The scene that greeted them was no less horrible than the one she had just created. The General had been dragged from the bed and thrown to the floor before he had been shot three times in the back of the head. Rei was still in the bed and looked as if she might have at put up some small fight before her body had gone limp. Releasing Vala's hand Shiva knew that nothing could be done to help her father and went to Rei in a rush, looking for some sign of what had been done to her. Her pulse was weak and growing slower by the second, her color was bad, and it might be already too late to save her as Shiva found the puncture mark along the side of her neck, exactly the kind they would have found in Shiva's neck if she hadn't woken up. It was intensely painful for Rei and required every bit of Shiva's skill to reach inside the of the older woman and tried to extract the poison pulling it back from her blood stream and expelling it in a sickly warm spray across the bed.

  "Daddy.." Vala gave one half numb sob as her eyes stared down at the prone figure. Shiva quickly crossed the distance even as quickly moving sounds of pounding feet rippled through the house nearby. Shiva grabbed her arms and spun her away from the scene.

  "I NEED you to focus!" Shiva told her urgently no longer trying to contain her voice. "NO matter what happens you need to stay right behind me!" Vala's eyes grew wide with fear even as she was just barely able to nod and followed as Shiva returned to the bed. Shiva heaved Rei's unconscious body off the bed and draped it over her back as the sounds of booted feet grew closer. No longer harboring any hopes about finding any other survivors, Shiva's temper was unleashed at long last as without a second's thought she lashed out to one side and threw the entire bedroom wall out into the hallway crushing two more men into the far side and sending a mixture of blood and guts dribbling down to the floor as Shiva pulled Rei out through the new doorway wasting only enough time to insure that Vala was indeed following close behind her. The next two stepped around the corner and brought their weapons up only to be tossed backwards and through the wall behind them with enough force that splinters and nails from the wall embedded de
eply into their body armor. They had almost reached the far end of the hall when sharp strike sounds broke through the chaotic sounds inside Shiva's head and high velocity rounds began to lunge upwards from the landing of the stairs below them. Given a target her rage did not hesitate as it lunged towards the source of the bullets crushing the figure responsible for them. The landing was slippery with his splattered blood as Vala was too numb to do anything but follow even as she slipped in the gore and nearly fell. The contents of the kitchen meant that she was well armed when they made the turn towards the garage. One man looked like a porcupine made of knives, the other was bludgeoned to death by pots and pans even as they three of them rushed past.

  Shiva picked the fastest looking of the three vehicles heaved Rei into the front seat before half shoving and half pulling Vala away from her stunned staring state looking at the two men directly behind them. Shiva pushed her inside before crawling over both of them to get behind the wheel. Knowing that moment was no time for subtlety, Shiva simply ripped the entire ignition out of the dash as the passenger door slammed shut on the far side of the car and she cross connected wires by telekinetic 'feel' until the engine roared into life. Slamming forward the mass of armored metal plates that formed the garage door was ripped from the tracks and took out three more men as the squad prepared to fill the interior with rocket propelled grenades. Slamming the accelerator down, the tires spun as she ripped the wheel around and clipped two more before the car gained traction and they were launched into motion. A massive black troop carrier lunged out into the driveway before they could reach the gates and Shiva was in no mood to be polite as her gifts slammed up like a barrier around the car and they struck at the truck's mid point even as their car slid under it. Her rage was slammed upward heaving the massive vehicle skyward in something akin to a slow motion barrel roll over atop of the vehicles as they shot down the driveway. Behind them it exploded into a fireball on impact as it's hydrogen fuel-cells ruptured among all the sparking metal.

  Shiva spun the wheel and skidded the car out onto the snow covered road and nearly clipped a second armored truck speeding towards the scene. It spun around in their wake and disappeared for just a moment as Shiva took the next turn. It appeared behind them along the long descending slope of snow covered roadway and a moment later explosive shells impacted against her instinctive barrier walls. Shiva took the next turn as Vala clutched desperately to her mother's body and all Shiva could do was hope that the older woman was still breathing. The next moment one of the cars parked on the street ahead of them exploded and was thrown into the street. Shiva dodged the flaming wreckage as two more vehicles did the same even further out ahead.

  "Hold onto to her!!" Shiva ordered before she slammed on the brakes and she spun the wheel around the burning vehicles. They were all thrown forward as the car nearly flipped over against with the sudden stop on the steep slope. Even as Shiva turned around in the seat the massive vehicle behind them was barreling down at them slamming through the burning wreckage leaving the driver and gunner temporarily blinded by the thick black smoke pouring off of it. Rage gave her all the strength she needed to rip up the massive concrete slabs of the road way creating a short lived ramp, it launched the fast moving troop transport out over top of them. Shiva's eyes snapped upward through the sun roof as the exposed under belly of the vehicle came into view. The glass portal blew outward and the metal plating of the roof buckled away from her as Shiva's gifts surged dangerous with the effort to strike at that exposed spot. The armored truck exploded in a burning white hot fireball directly above them, launching it off to one side and crushing three other parked vehicles and making a mess of someone's front yard.

  Shiva was slammed the car into motion to go racing through the now quiet streets. With the cold wind and snow rushing in through the top of the car and one flat tire it was damn near a miracle that Shiva managed to keep them on the road, much less moving at all possible speed towards the bottom of the mountain. Only desperation, and great need kept her rage filled emotions in check. There was no time to think, as each passing minute brought them closer and closer to utter disaster as she raced past other traffic at a pace that would have been reckless on clear roads. She barely managed the turn at the hospital but was unable to keep the car from spinning around on the slick surface. However she did manage to control the skid and slow the motion in time to avoid hitting the nurses who were outside in the cold falling snow smoking out front in the cold. The passenger door was ripped off it's hinges and went skidding across the wet salted concrete as the side tires blew out as they collided at speed against the curb.

  "Move." Shiva ordered Vala as she crawled across the seat. The numb frightened girl barely managed to get to her feet as Shiva heaved Rei up on her shoulders and lunged towards the glass doors of the emergency room. She followed only out of instinct, and it was a small wonder that the stunned people outside came racing in behind them.

  "Get me a stretcher!!" Someone yelled as another person came around to check Rei's pulse. Within a dozen heartbeats half the medical staff was there in a chaotic tangle. Shiva grabbed the first person who even looked like a doctor by the arm and spun him around to face her.

  "It was probably some kind of neural toxin." She told him before he was shoved back towards the stretcher. Shiva turned back in time to see another armored truck make the turn down the driveway. There was no time to think about if they had tracked the car or merely guessed where she would have gone. Grabbing Vala's hand she dragged the girl towards one of the on-looking people in charge and grabbed another man by the tie.

  "You have to hide her!" Shiva yelled into his stunned face as his head was heaved down, around, and forced to look into her eyes. "Tell them I came in here with a gun shot wound! You have to hide her because they will kill her if they find her!!"

  "Get her in the back!" The man ordered thinking quick on his feet, with that done Shiva hauled his head back around.

  "I'll draw them away... Lt. Devin Hornton, Huris military base in Jandar province. Talk only to him! Tell him Rei Lunara was brought in here, don't tell anyone else! Understand me!?!" He gave one single nod before Shiva let him go and was pulling Vala deeper into the hospital corridor even as heavy tires were screeching under a sudden stop. Vala followed numbly behind her as Shiva raced through the maze of corridors and past surprised stunned people. Two armed men in black appeared at the far end of the and brought their weapons up, Shiva quickly changed direction and shoved into the cafeteria exit. The many gathered people looked up in surprise as they came running through even as the doors on the far side burst inward.

  "I'VE GOT A GUN!!!" Shiva screamed and let off a few telekinetic pops that sounded like gun shots and the massive crowd gave a combined scream before there was a panicked rush towards the halls. Shiva pulled them into the pack of people as they emptied into the corridors and rushed towards the nearest outside exit. The armed and armored man outside was nearly taken out by the growing wave of screaming people and therefore never saw her approach. One blow to the base of his spine made him collapse as he legs went numb and another to the back of the head killed him silently before Shiva turned on the waiting driver of yet another armored truck. Releasing Vala's hand she jumped up against the door punched through the window and snapped his neck with one hand before ripping the door clean off and throwing the body off to the side. She pulled Vala inside the cabin through the idling vehicle into gear and slammed the gas peddle to the floor to peel out before jerking the wheel to go racing through the parking lot and out onto the road. Once clear of the people she ripped out all the electronics and hopefully disabled any tracking signals as she heaved the massive vehicles through the streets. She drove only far enough to find another full parking lot so she could steal another vehicle and send them racing out of the city on an empty back country road.

  After nearly an hour, when some part of her mind realized what had just happened Vala gave o
ne bone wrenching sob as she simply broke down under the things she had just seen. With a firm telekinetic grip on the wheel Shiva shifted across the seats and gathered her up as best as she could and held her until she cried herself into an exhausted sleep. Watching the road with one eye Shiva's thoughts swirled around what all of it could mean, what it was that had just happened. Those had been no green troops, she had known their tactics, she knew their weaponry, she knew they had a telekinetic and all that together said one and only thing, those had been the soldiers of Series 5. What that could mean for her only got worse as the hours ticked by and Vala collapsed into an exhausted restless sleep. There was no way they could know what it meant for Rei, and Shiva didn't want to think about what it already meant for Vala.

  Only sheer stubborn will kept them on the road as the rage faded and when the burning adrenaline went cold in her veins. Shiva was barely able to focus her eyes in the darkness when she checked Vala for wounds and bandaged a shallow cut on her arm with the cleanest piece of fabric she could rip from their bloodied pajamas. The snow was coming down in a near white-out conditions, so it was by sheer chance that it lifted enough to let her see the rotted and ruined abandoned farm hours off to one side of the graveled street she had turned onto sometime earlier. The vehicle heaved about and threatened to come to a halt as she gunned over a snow back and sent it slipping and sliding toward a thick pocket of pine trees to pull into the deep snowy hollow formed by the trunks. The last of her strength poured out in the effort to sweep the billowing snow displaced by the transit across the distance erasing their tracks as best as she could before her mind spun with an exhaustion so complete that she struggled to reach the blankets in the back seat and just barely managed to wrap the two of them up before she collapsed into unconsciousness.