Emergency. All able-bodied personnel are required to report for duty at the HQ's courtyard immediately. I repeat, all able-bodied personnel…
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Echoes of gunfire reached her as Olivia beelined through the forest with a soft buzz. Erratic explosions thundered in the distant plain, where the thick of the battle was happening. She glanced down.
Smoke flares strapped to her waist.
They pushed this front further, as she'd predicted. But as Paris warned—it wasn't that simple. The HQ was throwing everything they had on this assault, including scouts like her.
Poor Paris himself, on the other hand…
He wouldn't be seeing combat anytime soon. The mutants got him good.
The end of the forest drew close. Beyond it, she caught a glimpse of hide tents. Figures shifted among them.
A drop of sweat ran down her face. This mission was far riskier than what she was used to.
In fact, it seemed almost suicidal in a way.
But if her sacrifice could lower the cost in human lives, then…
Olivia glanced down to check at the flares one last time.
She froze upon hearing a rustle coming from above.
Like wings batting in the air, getting louder and louder.
Her eyes rolled up.
She hadn't noticed them before, as they were obscured by the wide canopies above her. But as they dove into the forest, like arrows guided by the sound of her bike, the winged mutants became clear as day.
That was some rookie mistake. Olivia blinked, slowing down her bike.
There was nothing she could do now.
Spear tips glinted against the sun, diving towards her.
She closed her eyes.
I'm sorry, Marcus…
Buzzing coming from behind. Nearby gunshots made her open her eyes again.
The pair of mutants plummeted lifelessly from the sky.
She looked around her, confused.
Armed scouts riding electric bikes.
"Let's go, Olivia!" The one at the head of the squad said. "We got your back!"
Olivia snapped back to herself.
"Alright!"
She lowered the goggles to her eyes and twisted the throttle, falling in formation behind them.
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"You must fight, Kai! We've been through this already!"
Panicked footsteps outside the tent.
"I am, Orion. Someone needs to stay here to protect them. The people haven't evacuated entirely."
"It's just one settlement against a whole frontline. We'll lose this region—one of the few fertile ones left."
Kai looked around him.
Mira and the kids had almost finished gathering their belongings.
"And I am just one man. How would I change the course of this war?" He turned to the boy, taking his shoulder and softening his voice. "It's time to go."
The kid nodded.
"You know the effect you have on men, Kai. A hundred men under you fight like a thousand."
Kai did his best to ignore him.
Mira stood up, a large burlap sack on her strong back.
"Meet us later, Kai."
He nodded.
"I will."
"Kai!" Orion said.
Mira and the kids ran past them. As they left through the flap, a not-so-distant boom thundered outside, making him whip around at the noise. Screams.
Kai dashed out of the tent.
Smoke and fire rising at the edge of the settlement. It grew closer by the second, as if someone was carving a path of destruction through the tents, trying to get to the center for some reason.
"Impossible," he muttered under his breath. "What happened to the spotters?"
Was that…
Buzzing?
Gunfire and more screams. Silhouettes among the tents.
Humans approached, driving thin, agile bikes. They torched tents with incendiary bombs, shooting and hacking at people.
Mira and the kids were paralyzed in fear beside him.
He looked at them and shouted, to break their stupor.
"GO!"
They snapped back to themselves and ran away.
Kai reached inside the tent for his glaive.
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Her heart pounded in her chest, strange tents ablaze all around her. These scouts were far more used to battle than she was; in fact, Olivia had never been so close to actual fighting before.
They used their guns, and even melee weapons, with deadly precision. Although these mutants did not try to fight back for some strange reason, and most ended up dying with their back turned as they fled. Some were smaller too, almost like…
Olivia shook her head.
This must have been a labor colony of sorts. But it was supplying the mutant's frontline, so the HQ wanted it gone. They seemed to be getting closer to the center.
"Take your time and throw as many flares as you need, Olivia. We're not afraid to die!" The squad leader, a graying man with a bushy beard, cried out from the head of the formation.
The other scouts let out a war cry in response. They were…
Smiling.
They seemed to be all veterans, gray hairs like their squad leader.
Would she become like this in the future? Would she smile as world burned around her as well? It was a chilling prospect. Fear made us human.
The squad leader spoke up again.
"Welcome to the club, Oli—"
Olivia's eyes widened as a massive blade flashed around his neck like silver necklace.
His head hovered in the air; his headless body continued to drive the bike for a while, before it collapsed.
What was that? She hadn't see anything other than a red shadow crossing in front of them. Olivia thought it was just the flames playing with her sight.
But then the squad leader…
"Shit!" The long-haired biker beside her said, gritting his teeth. "It's now or never, girl!"
Her hand was shaking.
"Got it!" She said and grabbed a flare.
"Keep your eyes open—"
These were the man's last words before his head jumped from his torso as well. His bike smashed against the one to his left, taking his fellow scout down with him.
Olivia could hear herself hyperventilating. She grabbed the wire and yanked it.
Red smoke spilled from it.
She tossed it. Then another one. And a third.
Her belt was empty, and the squad reduced to a handful of scouts, when another biker in front of her spoke up, claiming the lead.
"T-that's it! Time to—"
Beheaded by a red ghost. His bike staggered, then smashed against her own, sending Olivia flying.
She hit her head hard against the ground, her sight darkening.
What is this place?
Once she opened her eyes again, a muscular figure stood before her amidst the smoke, red spikes protruding from his limbs. A long glaive in his left hand.
He was staring down at his right one, with every single one of her flares between his fingers.
"So that's what you do," he said.
Strangely enough, the creature's voice seemed to be laced with sadness.
But thankfully, there was no way to turn off the flares. They would burn out until the end. And he appeared to have discovered that already.
Olivia couldn't speak, but she smiled, as her sacrifice wouldn't have been in vain.
"What if I run away with them?" he asked. "What will happen?"
Her heart skipped a beat. She tried to crawl, but with little success. Her body wouldn't obey her.
"No…" she muttered. "No…"
He glanced down at her, like a demon covered in blood, with pity in his eyes.
Before he turned and flashed away with her red smoke.