Chapter Thirteen: The Journey

‘Come on! Get those weapons and ammunition to the Rovers. We leave in twenty minutes’ Lieutenant Williams said.

‘Jason, all four of us should go with you’ Celeste said, as she helped him carry a variety of weapons to the South Gate where two heavily armoured rovers and military truck were waiting.

‘I already said no. you’re coming with me. Claire and Sarah will go with Lieutenant Williams. We need them there, to push him if we don’t get an answer’ Jason said, looking around to make sure there were no eavesdroppers.

‘Fine. We also need to talk about-‘

‘I know, but not now ok?’ Jason interrupted.

‘Yes ok’ Celeste said, as they threw the bag full if weapons in the back of a Rover. Slowly the other civilians piled into the truck with a small squad of soldiers. Jason got behind the wheel of the second Rover and Celeste got in next to him. Four civilians and two soldiers took the remaining seats in the back. Jason watched Williams get into his Rover and they left the Barracks. Celeste nodded at Jason as she held the radio in front of his mouth.

‘Williams, I was thinking. Wouldn’t it be easier to order an airstrike on the Nexus headquarters? That would finish them, leaving the Tallentiri to fight us’ Jason said.

‘We could except the Nexus control the airfields. Even if we did have control of the airfields, we have no idea where the Nexus headquarters is’ Williams replied. Jason and Celeste looked at each other.

‘Ok. It was just an idea, Jason out’ Jason said. They drove a little longer through devastated, suburban streets. Eventually they stopped and Williams signalled for Jason to pull up along side them.

‘Can you sense them?’ he asked.

‘Yeah. This place is crawling with them’ Jason replied.

‘Crawling with what?’ Celeste asked.

‘Nexus forces. They’re expecting us’ one of the soldiers behind Celeste said.

‘Someone must’ve tipped them off’ another soldier said.

‘Regardless of how they know about our presence we have to deal with them now. Someone has to lead to a scout, find a safe passage for the other group to pass through’ Williams said.

‘I’ll do it’ Jason said. Williams chuckled a little.

‘I appreciate the enthusiasm, but you’re not trained for this. Plus I have more soldiers-‘

‘Which is exactly why it should be us and not you; less soldiers to draw attention. Plus, should we fail to protect you, you stand a better chance of defending yourselves’ Jason told him.

‘Fine. Stay on radio. Engage them only when necessary’ Williams told him.

‘Got it. Wait for my call. We’ll cover you from buildings’ Jason said.

‘We have a long range weapon. Once we’re out of the area, we’ll set it up on that hill about a kilometre from here. It won’t kill many of them, but it should distract them long enough to allow you to get out and join us’ Williams said.

‘Alright. Everyone out’ Jason said. They all piled out and Williams drove his rover to the other side of the street and waited.

‘Alright,’ Jason said, opening the bag full of weapons. ‘Take one rifle and one pistol each. Fire only when you have to, once that ammo’s gone, it is gone’ Jason said.

‘Got it Jason, just go. The faster we get them out of here, the faster we get out of here’ Celeste said,

‘Alright. You and you,’ Jason said, pointing at two soldiers. ‘You’re with me. The rest of you stay here, guard the Rover’ he added. Jason and the two soldiers crept around the corner and moved up the street. The houses in this area looked relatively in tact. Jason concluded that the Tallentiri mustn’t have bombed this far out.

‘We’re never going to see anything from ground level, sir’ One of the soldiers said.

‘I’m a civilian. You don’t have to call me sir’ Jason said.

‘Actually, sir we do. You are effectively our commanding officer’ The other one said.

‘Ok, here’s what I’m going to do. I order both of you, to not refer to me as “sir”. Understand?’ Jason said.

‘Yes sir, I mean no sir, I mean… yes’ they both stammered.

‘Good. Now as soon as we find a decent vantage point we’ll do what we need to do to get out of here’

‘Jason, we need guidance here’ Williams said.

‘We’re in the process of…’ Jason stopped talking. There was a huge ship approaching them from the north. It was like a large, ovular, brown house.

‘In, get in’ Jason said, kicking in the door to a house.

‘Say again Jason, you were cut off’ Williams said.

‘Williams, the situation has changed. We’ve got Tallentiri out here.

‘Understood. Williams out’

‘Barricade the door!’ Jason yelled. The soldiers began moving furniture in front of the doors.

‘How do you know they’re Tallentiri?’ one of the soldiers asked.

‘It’s an educated guess. The ship obviously wasn’t Human’ Jason replied. A Tallentiri swiped at the door, cutting a huge chunk out of it.

‘Open fire’ Jason ordered. The sound of bullets filled the confined space of the house. Three more tried to enter, destroying the door and breaking the barricade. They were killed before they even made it halfway across the room.

‘Jason I’m coming to get you, just hold on’ Williams said.

‘Copy that’ Jason replied. ‘Alright, let’s move. Stay under cover’ Jason said to the soldiers. The house exploded behind them as soon as they reached the veranda of the house, pushing them out, onto the road. The Tallentiri ship had fired on the house. Jason rolled onto his back and saw the ship floating there.

‘Don’t move,’ he said. ‘It’s watching us. If we remain still enough, it might think we’re dead and move on’ he added. Seconds seemed to meld into minutes, then stretch into what felt like hours.

‘How did it know we were in there?’ one of the soldiers asked.

‘They must be tracing the radio signals. If it saw us go in, it would’ve fired as soon as we entered’ Jason answered. The ship eventually turned and left and Williams arrived seconds later.

‘Get in’ he said, stopping the Rover in the middle of the street. They all got up and climbed into the Rover.

‘Where’s everyone else?’ Jason asked.

‘As soon as the Tallentiri arrived, the Nexus bolted. I led everyone out of the area, and told them to go to the Showgrounds while came back to get you. They should be there by now’ Williams replied. They took off the street. They reached the showgrounds, undisturbed, an hour later.