Relias: Uprising (20 page)

 Trey, still panting, swallowed hard and nodded. Hendrick’s eyes ignited. His consciousness seemed to run off somewhere else for a moment as countless scenarios poured through his head. Trey couldn’t tell but he could’ve sworn he saw Hendrick suppressing a smile. Hendrick turned around towards the Ditrinity which had formed up behind him.

 “You know what we have to do. Finding and protecting Tess is our first priority.”

 They nodded.  Hendrick went on.

 “We’ll split up into groups of two. Morlo and Vyvyr, Trey and Pontious, and Sable you come with me. We’ll take the lower city, Morlo and Vyvyr take the west gate and Trey, Pontious, You take the east gate. Comb the areas, keep an eye  open for Tess and we’ll meet up at Command. Help anybody that needs it and if you see a tactical advantage that will set the Legionnaire back at all you sure as hell better take it. Got it?”

 There was no verbal response. They were ready to fight.

 “Then let’s do this.” Hendrick growled. He pulled the wolf skull over his face and disappeared behind its black, empty eyes and took off.

 The Ditrinity sprinted through the door towards the stairs. Flames spewed from between the partially opened elevator doors. Screaming could be heard from inside. They tore down the stairs and rounded the next corner. There were three Legionnaires: a Berserker, a Skirmisher and a Helldog. With a stream of bullets Morlo tore a hole through the Berserker’s chest. Sable dodged the Skirmisher’s razor flail and stabbed him through the neck. Hendrick opened up his flamethrower and consumed the entire bunch.

 They continued down the stairs leaving the crackling flames in their wake. Twisted and bloodied bodies were everywhere, stretched over the banisters, curled in the corners, some still moaning in agony. The Ditrinity couldn’t help. Sable apologized remorsefully to every person they passed.

 They made it to the street. It was complete chaos. Panicked people ran in every direction, some carrying what they could while others were content with escaping with their lives. Dark smoke and hellish flames billowed towards the sky. Holes were blown in the sides of the buildings. Craters destroyed entire streets. Bodies littered the sidewalks. The First Legionnaire was everywhere and what Dark soldiers remained cowered and died. They provided no deterrent to their destroyers.

 “We meet at Command!” Hendrick yelled above the screaming tank rounds and deafening furor. “And give these pinpricks a fight to remember!”

 The different pairs already had targets set aside. The Ditrinity immediately jumped into the battle. From beneath his cloak Vyvyr drew a long scythe and went after a group of knights. Morlo roared and took an entire squad by surprise. Trey tackled a Skirmisher and slit his throat. Pontious had transformed into a wolf and was tearing at a Helldog’s jugular.

 Hendrick took a deep breath and broke into a sprint. “Let’s go!”

 They dodged between fleeing people, coming across swarms of Legionnaires as they did. Hendrick tackled one into a broken fence post and skewered him through the chest. Sable cleaved the arms of a Berserker about to crush a person with a small car. His arms flopped to the ground and the car fell backward onto his head.

 They came to the peak of the hill. All of Praemon could be seen. The city below was in even more chaos then the upper regions. They couldn’t see much detail; just a marauding, glowing hot inferno. The tanks on the ridge were no longer aimed at the city; they were concentrating on those trying to escape outside. The flames and carnage reflected in their eyes, the pair lingered for a moment, the scale of the attack reaching its full reality.

 “We’re not going to make it, are we.” Sable said.

 Hendrick looked down at her with a half-smile. “Don’t be a drama queen.” He said, forcing happiness into his voice.  “And we’re going to find Luke. Imagine how pissed off he’ll be now.”

 The thought of Luke was a comfort to Sable. “You think he’ll come?”

 Hendrick took a deep breath and started walking some more. “Not a chance.”

 The two sprinted down the hill in the direction of Command. Hendrick and Sable battled their way through the massacre. Everywhere it seemed that the First Legionnaire was being met with no resistance. Even the largest, toughest Darks were getting shredded by mere Knights. The pain and misery thickened the air so that it pressed against Hendrick’s and Sable’s chests. Their breathing felt constricted by everything around them. It was something they were prepared for but it wasn’t something they had ever thought would actually happen. They had seen dire situations before but this felt different. This felt final. The sickness in Sable’s stomach told her that there wouldn’t be any coming back from this. This invasion was the end of the Darks.

 “What’re we going to do, Nate?” Sable said leaping over a pile of bodies. “There’s no place for us to go anymore. The Legionnaire have-“

 “The Legionnaire’s destroyed the Darks.” Hendrick stopped her. “But they haven’t stopped the Ditrinity.”

 “How can this not scare you!” Sable demanded.

 Hendrick laughed and kept running. “Hold on a second.” 

 A pack of Nightwolves tore hungrily at a Dark soldier who pushed feebly against their hungry snouts, begging in weakened whispers for them to stop. Hendrick adjusted the temperature on his Blazers, raised both hands and ignited them.

 “Suck
this
down!”

 The air exploded in a blast of incinerating light. The Nightwolves howled. The flames were white hot; the animals burned on the spot and fell over the shredded body.

 A Skirmisher came at Sable from behind. He flung his razor flail which wrapped around her forearm. She screamed as the blades on the whip dug into her flesh. The Skirmisher tightened it and dug the blades deeper. Gritting through the pain Sable pulled as hard as she could, forcing the Skirmisher to stumble towards her. With three lightning fast strikes she hewed him.

 A squad of Legionnaires saw the action. They formed up and rushed them. The razor flail still embedded in her arm Sable crouched into an attack stance. Hendrick adjusted the spread on his flamethrower and laid down a wall of fire. The Nightwolves in the squad shrieked and died. The Skirmishers didn’t make it through but the heavily armored Berserker and two Knights plunged through without injury. With a leaping stab Sable engaged the Knights. The Berserker roared and charged Hendrick with his axe held aloft. Hendrick moved his feet in place as the behemoth bore down on him.  The Berserker swung. Hendrick rolled beneath it, got on his side and kicked the side of the Berserker’s armor where the knee cap should’ve been . The shin plate dislodged and there was a violent crack. The Berserker yelled, grunted through the pain and swung his axe down at Hendrick. He rolled and the axe grazed his pants. Hendrick spun to his knees, adjusted his weight and tackled the unsteady warrior around the neck. The Berserker’s armor clattered as he fell to his back. Hendrick jumped to his head, put his foot in the Berserker’s throat and ripped his helmet off. Hendrick put one of his Blazers just above the Berserker’s nose and looked him in his fearful eyes. Hendrick shrugged casually.

 “Checkmate.”

 The flames engulfed the Berserker’s head. His body arched violently in pain but immediately went limp. Hendrick got to his feet, spit on the ashen corpse and found Sable jamming her sword through the last surviving Knight’s sternum. They acknowledged each other and continued on.

 Command was only a few blocks away. Sable moaned as she dug the razor flail out of her arm and tossed it to the ground.

 “How bad is it?” Hendrick asked.

 “Bone deep.” Sable replied amidst a jolt of pain. Immediately, though gradually, the wound began to close. “I’ll live.”

 They continued on, slashing and burning any Legionnaire that came close enough. There were countless fights they could have picked but they didn’t have time. They had to find Tess and the more they ran the more apprehensive Hendrick became of her survival. Trey was right; this wasn’t a simple conquest. The Legionnaire had taken Luke’s tactics to heart and now took those methods on a larger scale. They were running through a part of town that had already been decimated and was now void of the First Legionnaire. All that remained was the bloody remains of the dead civilians and Darks that were unable to escape still dressed in their pajamas. Bodies with their arms and legs ripped from their bodies. People stuck messily on the frames of broken windows, bodies stretched across the pavement with their heads smashed and broken jaws biting the curb.

 A radio voice caught Hendrick’s attention. Slumped in the entrance of a nearby house a Legionnaire commander’s radio buzzed. Hendrick went over, snatched it up and held the radio to his ear. Sable went about checking for any survivors, her spirits falling as she realize that there were none. Hendrick motioned for her to start running again. They both did and kept pace with one another.

 Hendrick’s face was getting more and more frustrated as he listened to the radio chatter. Not wanting to interrupt but anxiously waiting for a response Sable continued running. Seeing the dramatic change in his expression though Sable had to interrupt.

 “What is it?” She asked.

 “Only a few sections of the city are still in Dark control.” Hendrick said. “We aren’t winning this one.”

 “We knew that though.”

 Hendrick kept listening. “And… Wait a minute.”

 A Legionnaire was panicking. He cried into the radio for help. Amidst his cries a deep, booming voice could be heard:
You can’t crawl from me ya scrawny bastard!

 Hendrick smiled proudly just before another voice came over the radio.

 “We’ve lost the west gate!” Said the radio. “A Berserker and a vampire have taken control of it! Requesting reinforcements now!” 

 Hendrick looked at Sable who was already smiling back at him. He shrugged. “We won’t hear the end of that one.”

 They came around a corner and Command came into sight. It was crawling with Legionnaires; battering rams had been fashioned and every weapon they had was being used to create some sort of an entrance. Hendrick and Sable ran to the next street to find an alternate way in.

 “Still holding strong.” Sable said of the fortress.

 The next street contained a regiment of Legionnaires similar to if not larger than the one on the previous street. And more Legionnaires were coming. Entire companies ran down the street, soldiers that hadn’t even entered the battle yet set aside for the sole purpose of taking down Command. Hendrick began looking around for an old timey corner bread shop by the name of ‘Burnie’s’.

 “Where…” He trailed off as he looked for it. “It was somewhere around…”

 “Right there.” Sable said, pointing across the street. Hendrick gave her a pat on the back.

 “Good girl.” He said, pressing his back to the wall and watching more Legionnaires march past. “After this company passes by, run. Don’t ask, just run.”

 Sable nodded.

 “Alright then.” Hendrick said. The company was almost past, marching in formation, line after line moving into and leaving view. Hendrick’s eyes followed them as they passed, finding the exact right moment.. “And… go!”

 Sable sprinted through the gap between companies. Immediately she went under heavy fire. Hendrick burst around the corner and lit the next company up like a gasoline soaked cigarette. They yelled while their commanders ordered immediate attack.  The soldiers tried to scatter. The company that had passed turned around and took aim at Hendrick. Hendrick raised his other arm and opened up.

 He was invisible behind his walls of flame. Glowing bullets shot through and barely missed him every time, grazing his armor, buzzing arms and legs. With both arms outstretched Hendrick walked calmly towards the bread shop. Through the window he could see Sable opening up a cellar and climbing inside. Hendrick reached the door and stopped flaming. He grimaced with satisfaction and turned around towards the Legionnaires.

 There was an entire mess of charred soldiers, some screaming with burns that caused their extremities to crumble and fall off while others were merely piles of smoldering flesh. Hendrick raised his arms and yelled.

 “Ladies, it’s been a pleasure!”

 The fire of over three hundred high-powered rifles nailed the store. Hendrick was quick to duck inside and hop into the cellar while the shop was shredded by the whistling onslaught of hot metal. He closed the door behind him and it was pitch black. In the corner, though, he could see two blue brightly glowing eyes looking at him. He grinned at her.

 “So can you see in the dark with those things or is it just something pretty to look at?”

 “Yeah, it’s like I’m wearing a pair of blue nods.” Sable said playfully. “And everybody thinks my eyes are beautiful, you jerk.”

 “So you found it?” Hendrick asked.

 “Right here.” Sable replied. “It’s a little crawlspace beyond this heating grate.”

 “You sure that it isn’t just a heating duct?” Hendrick said with a chuckle.

 Sable removed the grating and climbed in. “I’m sure.”

 Hendrick smiled, got to his knees and crawled in after her, pulling the grating back into place behind him.

 It was a long squared tunnel. The ceiling sloped upward until they were able to stand up and walk fully erect. Most importantly was that there was light at the end of the tunnel. With smug satisfaction on her face Sable looked at Hendrick.

 “Who was right?”

 Conceding his defeat, Hendrick grinned and they reached the end of the tunnel.

 Inside the complex was chaos, though this chaos was different than it was outside the base. Dark soldiers ran everywhere, loading everything that they could into Battlecrafts to be whisked off before the Legionnaire battle cruisers made it into place. Machbikes were taking off and every piece of Dark military equipment was being deployed. The only problem was that the First Legionnaire had the compound surrounded.  They wouldn’t be able to get anything out into a position to make use of it.

 Nobody regarded the two. Everybody was too preoccupied with the escape that they no longer cared if friends of Luke Semprys were walking in their midst. Hendrick and Sable didn’t pay anybody any mind. They didn’t have time to organize the retreat; they had to find Tess.