Chapter 4: The Fall of the Betas

Carolina Blighted Zone

“Lieutenant, what are your orders?” Comes the call over the radio.

“Bordraab, what do we do?” Calls his number 2 tank. The commander of the infantry platoon slides down off the crest and runs over to his tank, hand on his helmet, meaning to get orders. Bordraab knows that guy is another Sergeant, just like the guy on the radio.

Oh shit, oh shit… He thinks, his mind scrambling. For a few numbing seconds he can’t think at all. Shit shitshit!

“Time to step up, son.” The words just pop into his head in his father’s voice.

It was a bright, sunny day on the baseball field. Bordraab can remember it plain as day. It was the ninth inning and the game was all tied up. His father was the coach and he was the pitcher, but now, it was him going to bat. There were two outs already and a man on third just waiting to get a run. “Time to step up, son.” His father says, smiling down onto him and patting his shoulder. “I know you’re feeling pressure right now, pressure to knock it out of the park and that everyone is relying upon you.” He looks out over the diamond where all the players are watching him. “These are the kinds of situations that shows what a man is made of. Clear your mind, son. Focus on what you need to do, block everything else out.” He had walked forward, looking back and seeing his father give him a thumbs up and a smile. He believed in him.

Bordraab draws in a deep breath and looks around. He has some time, ten to fifteen minutes, before the slow moving enemy gets into firing range. Their air looks like its staying back with their main force. “Ok, ok! Everyone calm the fuck down.” He says, then looks up and pops his hatch, getting up and looking around. “Cobra five, that you up there?” He asks.

“Negative Lieutenant. This is Cobra Six.” Comes the reply.

“Roger, tell me what we’re lookin’ at.”

“LT, I see a shit ton of bad guys ahead of us. The initial group is pretty much gone. There’s another group about five miles back, advancing slowly. I’d say you have about a half hour to hour till contact. I don’t see many units remaining around us.” He says.

Bordraab nods. Not many units around them. The advance had been a difficult one. “All units this net, all units this net. Report in. I want troop count and equipment.”

“Sergeant Bardock here. I have two full fireteams.” Comes the voice from earlier.

“Sergeant Brody here, I’ve got two M60A3 tanks.”

“Corporal Dixie here, I’ve got 6 riflemen with me and two fully loaded AA vehicles.”

“Private First Class Malone of Rolling Thunder here. I got all our guild’s supplies.”

As the radio calls come in, the sergeant in charge of the 1^st MEU men jumps up onto his tank. He grins, a canine. More than that, a grey wolf with silver fur. “Sergeant Silver here sir.” He says. Bordraab nods to him.

“Private Spacer here. I’ve got a section of eight M107 175 millimeter self propelled artillery, at your disposal, SIR.” The guy is speaking with obvious pride, as if he just pulled out a secret way to pull their collective asses out of the fire. In many ways, he just had.

Bordraab blinks at that and grins. That artillery will be helpful. “Where have you been all day, Arty?” He asks.

“Been too busy keeping up with the units to fire, sir. We’re ready to go now, just tell me where.”

Bordraab nods, a plan coming to mind. “All units, I am unable to reach command or any higher authority. I don’t give a rat’s ass which guild you belong to, I am taking command.” There were no complaints about this. “Do all of you have my location on the map?” He asks, setting his player marker to blink. Five messages of various affirmatives come in. “Good, I want all units over here except the Arty. We appear to be the only units in place and I want a line of defense. Cobra Six, see if you can find anymore helicopters and bring them here. We’ll make our stand, smash these guys, and fall back.”

“Fall back, sir?!” Brody calls over the net.

“You heard me, fall back. We have no idea if we’re surrounded or not and us not being able to contact command has me VERY nervous.”

“Roger that sir.” Calls Bardock. “We’re mounting up. We’ll be there soon as we can.”

“What about us, sir?” Calls Spacer.

“Arty, you have my position. The enemy is about five miles ahead of us. Relay with Cobra Six and put some fire on those bastards, buy us time.” Bordraab radios to him, his gaze once again falling on the advancing enemy.

“Roger that!”

“Alright everyone, you have your orders. I’ll see you all when you get here. Bordraab out.” He gets off the net. With that done, there’s one last thing to do. He brings up his menu and flicks over to the private message system.

Guild Base Zone 4

Kthla sighs as he sits down. Production is going just fine, he and the other industrialists will have restocked all the used ammunition by the end of the day. Things are great and now he’s sitting down to relax, enjoying a nice Pepsi when he notices his message indicator blink on. He flicks up his menu and brings up the message. From Bordraab? Hmmm, this ought to be good. He had been watching the news and according to them, the Beta testers were still slugging it out with the enemy. On second thought, it better be DAMN good to interrupt his relaxation. He pushes ‘play message’, his tail slightly swaying as he starts thinking up possible responses.

“Hey K, things have gone to shit out here. I have less than a company with me now, no other officers and no contact with command at all. I want you to get the fuck outta the base area and get into DC. Code Black.”

Kthla’s tail goes dead still and his ears perk up as he hears their old code word of ‘code black’. It was a code they had picked up from XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It was the code that was given when the entire squad was wiped out. He puts his Pepsi aside and whips out his CEO controller. “All staff, leave the complex and head to DC at once.” He calls to all his NPC staff, painstakingly leveled up over the entire beta test. It will be bad losing his industrial complex, but it would be far worse if he lost the complex with the staff included.

With that done, he heads out of his office, taking the pistol that was given to him as a beta tester and putting it in his own private holster. He then gets in his Jeep and takes off, heading straight for DC. It isn’t until he’s halfway there that he notices that Bordraab hadn’t said ‘see you later’ at the end of his message. That means he doesn’t think he’ll make it out alive.

Dallas, Texas

The day had been full of the images of conflict and now it was late into the night. Stella had only gotten up a few times, the first to go to the bathroom and to cry. The second time was just to cry. She had watched as players had died in the combat. Major sectors of battle started to dwindle until now there was only one left. The video screen had gotten stable in its perspective now. Stella, hardly able to control herself, watches the screen. Four tanks, 2 APCs. A few seconds earlier, a figure had slid down the crest that the infantry had set up on and ran back to one of the tanks. That figure had just run forward. A Cobra helicopter had settled in just thirty feet over the heads of the person who was looking out from a hatch on top of the lead tank.

Suddenly the view shifts forward towards the enemy and low whispers are heard around her living room. The enemy had reached the remains of the last attacking force and that force’s survivors rise up to join it in its advance. “That formation won’t last long.” Says one man to his wife, trying to keep his voice down. “Is that the last one? Look at all those enemies.” The woman whispers back.A cold stare from Mrs. Hersom quiets them down. Stella is struggling to hold back tears. How will they hold? Her son has to be in that formation, he wasn’t dead yet, she would certainly have heard Emily cry out if he had died.

The field in the screen is suddenly blanketed with fire, four large explosions. There’s a gasp and one of the men cheers. Hope blossoms in Stella’s heart as she sees those explosions. They still had some fight in them! There was still hope they could get out alive. “That’s artillery fire!” The man says. It had landed short, but now the second volley was landing amongst the enemy. It appeared to be eight units firing on them. The first four had been ranging shots. Now the entire two mile long enemy formation iss facing steady artillery fire that is evenly divided.

Carolina Blight Zone

“Arty, target! Fire for effect.” Radios Cobra Six.

“Roger, firing for effect.” Spacer calls back. The artillery shifts into rapid fire, the troops doing their best to rapidly load up the large 175mm shells. They were heavy, the standard shell used by modern troops is 155mm, but the men and women who hump the shells into the barrel all know their jobs and had specked as much for strength and endurance as they could. That, and they are ALL horses, getting a species buff on strength and endurance. The only thing that makes it bearable is that they were all getting assist experience for the bombardment they were unleashing.

Bordraab watches in amazement as the artillery impacts in the enemy group just as they were about to charge, sending them back into disarray once more. The entire horizon seems to be filled with explosions. They ARE only a few miles away after all! The shadowed humans all drop to the ground, trying to take cover from the incoming artillery. The beasts hunker down, buffing up their defense. As he watches, one artillery shell impacts right on a beast, blowing it into bits. A few shells detonate in the sky, raining shrapnel down on the infantry and further adding to the carnage. One of the gryphons takes a direct hit from one of the ground shells, slamming into the ground and exploding as the shell detonates. All the others fall from the air bursting rounds. With the artillery on target, Cobra Six turns and starts to head off in search of other helicopters.

After about ten minutes of bombardment the pace starts to slacken off. Fortunately, Bordraab sees the other units come racing in, including the logistics units. The trucks park next to the tanks, repairs starting up on the vehicles and also ammo resupply. The AA vehicles, one Hawk anti-aircraft missile launcher, two Vulcans, and one Chaparral, park behind the lead tank. Bordraab doesn’t waste any time. “AA, spread out to get clear lines of fire. If you get a shot, take it, but try to spread your fire. You can start shooting once you’re in range!” He says. The commanders of the anti aircraft vehicles nod and spread out. The Hawk simply stays put, the sleek white missiles on the back raising up vertically and one immediately leaps off the rack and races skyward. A second later there’s an explosion and a roar. A dragon falls out of the sky and slams down in the space between the two opposing forces, shattering into a million fragments.

“Sir!” Yells a man as an M113 rolls up. A sergeant jumps out of the gunner’s copula and walks over to him. “I’m Sergeant Bardock.” He even looks like the Saiyan himself. Another fine job at replicating an anime character…well, all except for the eyes. Those were normal human size, but have a gruff, no nonsense look about them. “Where do you want us?” He asks. Bordraab smiles. “Get with Sergeant Silver over there and plan your dispositions as well as leaving a spot for the other fireteam coming in.” He says.

“Lieutenant! We got movement in the rear!” Comes a call from the logistics man, Malone. “Looks like friendlies!” A few minutes later, panting and exhausted, three soldiers come running up, two riflemen and one airman. “Who are you guys?” Bordraab asks. “I’m Kenichi, this is Miu! We heard your call but couldn’t reply, too many bad guys at the time. We found Air Force on the way here!” The man, Kenichi, says. Bordraab was, by now, getting used to near spot on replicas. The ‘Miu’ standing next to him was spot on for Miu from the anime. The flier, however, wasn’t from any anime.

“Airman Phoenix, sir!” She says, saluting. She was an avian alright, even had the coloration of a phoenix. “I’m surprised you got away with that name.” He says. She shrugs. “No one took the name yet, sir.” She says. Bordraab shrugs. “What happened to all our air?”

“Downed because they were a bunch of greedy asshats…sir.” She says, seeming disgusted, upset and sad all at the same time.

“What do you mean?” Bordraab asks.

“Well, while we were dogfighting, the bastards were no match for us. They had maneuverability, but the Phantoms would swoop in, strafe and fire missiles, then bug out and climb high. Us Super Sabers would dogfight since we could keep up with their turns and had the speed advantage. Everything was going great till one of the pilots ‘stole someone’s loot.’ After the guy complained about it over the squadron frequency, all the pilots started going after their loot after getting kills. This made openings the drakes took advantage of. They’d wait till one of them died, then swoop down on the fighter as it flew straight and level and kill it.”

Bordraab stares up at the sky as she relays the story. He could very easily imagine gamers doing that. Upon realizing she wasn’t talking anymore, he looks at her. “What got you?” He asks.

“After most of the squadron was down, a Phantom and I started to break contact. We were gonna come farther into the Blight to evade pursuit, then head back. That’s when we ran into a trio of drakes and a dragon. He got a drake and went for his loot. The second drake slammed into his cockpit, killed him instantly. I got the pilot of the dragon which went crazy and slapped the third drake down a couple hundred feet. I swooped low and killed it before it could recover but blundered into the dragon’s shot. I had to eject.”

Bordraab strokes his chin and nods. “You good to drive an M113?” He asks. As he does. The Cobra returns, flanked by four Huey helicopters. They don’t have any troops in them, but Bordraab is thankful just the same. “Thank God.” Bordraab says. Each one of the Huey helicopters could hold 14 troops in them. That would be enough to evacuate every single one of them. The Hawk fires another missile into the sky. A second later a fireball falls out of the clouds and strikes the ground. Two more gryphons appear in the distance, closing to engage the helicopters. The two Vulcans, now fully loaded, aim and cycle up. As Bordraab watches, they fire with that characteristic ripping sound. Two streams of tracers race out, seeming to connect each Vulcan to the gryphons for a second until they fall to the ground.

“Huey flight, this is Lieutenant Bordraab. Hang back from the main engagement and be ready to evac us after the battle is over.” He says over the radio. The four helicopters duck down low and settle on the ground behind the combat line.

“Sir, I’ve been meaning to ask about that.” Says his number 2 tank. “How are we going to get the vehicles out?”

“We won’t, Vlad. We’ll abandon them and leave. Lives are more important than machinery.” Bordraab responds. Vlad doesn’t reply back.

Bordraab hears the sound he was waiting for. Looking to his left, he sees two M60A3 tanks rolling up, each has three infantry riding on the turret. “There’s the last of our force.” He says to himself. As soon as they arrive, the infantry jumps down and runs forward to link up with the rest of the infantry. “Brody, get your tanks spread out along the line. We have this one force closing on us and that’s it.”

“Roger that sir.” Brody says, his tanks driving past Bordraab and his left most tank to get along the line and ready to fight.

“Last salvo.” Comes the call over the radio. The artillery was out of shells. Bordraab looks back at the helicopters. “Huey flight, can you send someone back to pick up our artillery crews?”

In response, one of the helicopter begins spooling up. “Roger that sir, I’ll do it myself.” Calls a voice on the radio. In the distance, the last of the artillery shells detonates in the enemy formation. “Alright everyone, get ready!” Bordraab calls over the radio, going back down into his tank and buttoning up. Time to see if they’d live or die.

Alaria, Fantasy Faction Territory

Rias and her group are still seated around the table, but no one is eating or drinking. Even Elias had settled down. The Fantasy forces had fought hard and fought long, but now, they were in a disorganized retreat. Pockets of survivors were being picked off by groups of dragons that had appeared out of the inner zones of the Blighted zone. The Fantasy faction had mages who had anti air spells, but they were targeted first, and the mages, out of energy and exhausted from the day’s marching and fighting, then marching forward and fighting more, were unable to effectively defend themselves when the dragons struck. Fantasy faction generals had counted on having breaks between combat, not having the enemy come charging at them all at once.

That final attack had happened in late afternoon. Now most of their numbers were devastated. They had underestimated how the AI would react to the invasion of its lands. Hell, most of them hadn’t even known there WAS an AI controlling the enemy bots. Now most of the command staffs were dead, having died with their troops in the field. The survivors were just barely getting out of the Blight. The news was already going crazy about it. 90% casualties or higher in the beta testing community. The cream of the crop in the game had just been wiped out by a day’s worth of fighting. Instead of being a morale booster, the day had turned into one of those days that crushes the spirit.

Miya points. “Look, the combat is about to start.” She says. Her finger was pointed at the screen, where the last of the human faction’s formations was about to engage in combat against the enemy. A helicopter lifts off and heads backwards. “Where do you think that one’s going?” Asks Akeno. Rias sighs. “Probably to pick up their artillerymen.” She says. If the enemy was advancing, that means the artillery barrage that was buying them time had finally ended. Time to watch another slaughter.

Carolina Blight Zone

“Enemy is advancing. Range is less than a mile.” Cobra Six reports. The Cobra unloads with the last of its rockets, shredding infantry wherever the rockets impact. It then starts to pick beasts and fire TOWs at them. As the pilot and gunner are distracted, another drake swoops down out of the sky, hoping to repeat the victory the first drake had managed. The Chaparral has different plans. One of its heat seaking missiles streaks off its rack, intercepting the drake and detonating, sending the beast down into the ground where it drags out a skid mark in the ground about ten feet long before shattering and fading away.

“Last TOW.” Cobra Six calls, firing its last missile. The weapon races out, killing a forth enemy gunbeast.

“Cobra Six, fall back a little bit and provide fire in support of the infantry.” Bordraab calls. Cobra Six responds in the affirmative and backs off. “Tank platoon, fire when in range. Priority is gunbeasts, then move down to infantry.” He says.

At half a mile, the tank platoon opens fire, shells racing downrange. Most of the shots miss, but two hit their targets. Six seconds later the guns fire again, this time with more accuracy. Gunbeasts start to fall. Others hunker down and aim their guns, the fire starting to be returned. Bordraab focuses on firing at any gunbeast looking his way. An explosion to his left announces the death of one of his tanks. “UP!” Yells his gunner. Bordraab fires again, the AP round racing downrange and slamming into a gunbeast. It falls over dead, not shattering but not moving. Another explosion. Bordraab looks to his left. Brody’s tank was hit and is burning all over. No one appears to have gotten out.

As the tanks exchange fire with the beasts straight out of hell Bordraab keeps an eye on his platoon health bars between reloads. Two tanks had exploded and most of them had been hit. The tanks fire again, and two more of the beasts fall over dead. The beasts return fire, and two more tanks explode brightly. There were only two tanks left now, and two beasts. The infantry was running forward, seeming to yell. Red closes his eyes. His number 3 tank had been the next one to go. Now it was him and Vlad.

Bordraab takes careful aim and fires, just as the gunbeast he’s aiming at fires. He fired first and he immediately traverses his turret. BOOM! The tank rocks with a massive impact and in his HUD Bordraab sees the ‘FIRE’ indicator. He traverses his turret and sees the remaining gunbeast. As his tank reloads, he looks at the health bars. Vlad was gone. “UP!” His loader yells. He fires, the shot racing downrange and hitting the last gunbeast square in the head. ‘Critical’ appears above the gunbeast and it falls over dead. Bordraab quickly starts moving, popping open his hatch and scrambling out. He jumps off the top of the turret, hits the ground, and rolls quickly. He spares a second on the ground to look at his tank. His turret was burning, as was the side of his tank. It would reach the fuel in a few seconds. He jumps up and runs forward as fast as he can towards the infantry line. “Come on boss!” Yells his number two driver. Vlad was alive! Thoughts about that are cut short as the tank explodes.

Dallas, Texas

Stella is up almost as fast as Bordraab was and RUNS back to his room, flinging the door open. She looks around for a panicked second and then sees the heart monitor. Thank goodness, her son’s heart rate is steady! She sighs out gustily and then turns and walks calmly back to the main room. When she had seen that tank battle her heart had skipped a beat. Her SON was in a tank! The last tank had exploded but she saw someone running away from both of the final two tanks. She HAD to know, then and there, if her son was alive or dead and had immediately raced back to find out. She walks calmly back into the living room and sits down, everyone looking at her sympathetically. It’s not every day a parent has their child in the back room and was waiting to see if that child lived or died, after all.

Alaria, Fantasy Faction Territory

“That guy got pretty lucky.” Elias comments, drinking some of his beer. “The other tank driver got out before the fire really spread. That one though, he took that last shot before his tank went. If he’d have missed, he’d be dead.” Rias nods in agreement. Everyone had turned on the regular news by now and was watching the death toll being counted, the RL news having long since given up covering the bloody battle. Rias had turned over to the in game broadcast focused on the human faction.

“Yeah, he did.” Akeno says. “It was a pretty gutsy move. Guy must have balls made out of pure steel.”

Elias snorts at that. “Yeah…Kinda guy people like having in charge, willin’ to risk his life to make sure his people have the best shot.”

“Words of experience, Elias?” Miya asks, grinning at him.

Elias nods. “Yeah. I spent a few years in the US Marines before an IED in Afghanistan took my leg. That guy…” He points at the screen, “That guy is a good leader. Look at him. He managed to collect these scattered forces, get them in a defensive position, and is using them well.”

The focus goes back to the screen, Rias wondering if she’ll ever get to meet the guy. Probably not. It’s not hard to guess where the Endarkened will be heading next, and all that’s left to meet them are the regular players who are mostly half the level count of the beta testers.

Carolina Blight Zone

“Dammit LT! Don’t you fuckin do that again!” Silver yells at Bordraab, swatting him on the shoulder. Bordraab simply grins. “I got him, didn’t I?” He asks, chuckling a little bit, giddy with the adrenaline rush of a near death experience.

“Yeah, you got him, with a tank that was on fire! I was waiting to see the last officer in the entire fucking Human faction go up in a fireball the entire time.”

“Alright you guys, settle down.” Bardock says, taking up position next to Silver. “Everyone’s in place and ready as they can be. We’ve even got the ‘60s from the cabs.” He says, meaning the M60 medium machine guns that were mounted on the M113s. “Alright guys! We’ve got to hold back this infantry and smash them.” Calls out Bardock. “Get ready! Remember your sectors of fire!”

“Hey, sergeant, do you have another M16?” Bordraab asks. Bardock looks at him and blinks, then looks at his gunner nearby. He sees one of his men, a Mustang, behind an M60, his M16 across his back. “Hey, Spirit, gimme your M16.” He says. Spirit comes off his gun and quickly takes off his M16. Bordraab takes it, the supply vehicle in range of him automatically starting to load him up with 5.56 ammunition. “You know how to use that, sir?” Bardock asks with shock plain on his face. Bordraab grins. “In game I haven’t shot one yet. In real life, I own an AR-15 and practiced with it every weekend.

Bardock nods. “Well, if you go full auto with the M16…on second thought, don’t go full auto until they’re up close and personal. You haven’t trained with it full auto and I don’t want to see you lose control of it. Three round bursts or single shots are the key here. Aim for the center of mass.” Bordraab nods, drinking in what the sergeant tells him.

“Enemy is almost in range.” Silver says back to them, prompting both Bordraab and Bardock up to the line. “Steady!” Calls out Bardock. “Wait five more seconds, then fire!”

Five seconds later, the line of infantry erupts with gunfire. The advancing enemy infantry was caught out in the open and immediately drops, but the infantrymen were experienced by now in the tactics their foe would employ. The gunfire was aimed at their knees and feet, so when the infantry drops to its belly, the rounds start hitting shoulders and heads. Bordraab was the only one who aimed high and he missed clearly. His second burst, aimed at the prone enemies, has two solid hits, one saying ‘CRITICAL’. His target bursts and fades.

The attack is perfect. The enemy infantry, with no heavy backup, is caught flat footed and starts taking casualties. However, they rally quickly, the first rank opening fire on the humans as the second picks up and runs from cover to cover, small boulders, stumps, craters from the battle before. Just as the fire starts to slack off from the humans as they reload, the second surprise of the day happens to the enemy and humans both. The Vulcans open up on the infantry, causing many of the human infantry to duck down under the lip of the bank and look back. The two Vulcans sweep their rounds back and forth across the battle zone in a steady stream of hot lead and tracer rounds, destroying the remains of the trees, chipping boulders down to nothing. They do this for two minutes.

At that point, the human infantry pokes its heads back up, spots targets, and starts to fire. The enemy fires back and the gunfight becomes brutal. For Bordraab, the whole world narrows into his little section of the firefight. Gone are all thoughts of the men around him, the only thing occupying his mind are the targets he must destroy. Dully, he is aware of some of those on the line falling. There’s not much room for flesh wounds with only shoulders and heads visible above the crest they are shooting over. Suddenly, there are no more targets.

“Did we win?” Silver asks, wide eyed. They all look around the wrecked battlefield, then a ragged cheer starts to go up. “We won!” Silver shouts in pleasure! Men and women all around them are cheering. “Quiet QUIET!” Yells out Bardock. “We have about an hour until the next wave hits. Gather up any nearby loot, then meet for the helicopters!”

The infantry all surge forward quickly, heading towards the nearer corpses. Bordraab forgoes this, turning around and looking back. “Sergeant Bardock, got your radio?” He asks, expecting Bardock to be among the looters. “Here ya go.” Bardock says, having stayed next to him. Bordraab nods and smiles. “Thanks.” He says, then gets on the radio. “Cobra Six, bring in the Hueys, we’re ready for extraction!”

“Roger that sir, we’re inbound.” Says Cobra Six.

Five minutes later, the Cobras have landed. Thirty minutes later, the troops have gotten all the loot they can and are loading up into the helicopters. They could all fit into one helicopter. Another two helicopters had Spacer and his artillery people. Seventeen men there. All the logistics people had died, having stayed in their vehicles to make sure the ammo kept being distributed. Brody and his tanks had died. Out of the infantry who had engaged in the initial firefight, Bardock, Silver, Spirit, Kenichi, Miu, Vlad, Kaniu, and he had survived. The downed aviator Phoenix had also managed to survive the fight and was sitting across from him in the helicopter. Dixie had died, but the three people who controlled the AA vehicles had lived and were in the helicopter as well.

The Hueys lift up into the air and immediately turn north, heading up just barely over tree top level and cranking on the speed, eager to get out of the Blight. They pass over the spent M107s on their way out, Bordraab smiling. Those arty pieces had given them time to get setup. Without them staying with the group, they would have all died. As that thought crosses his mind, another one does. “Everyone, since we have the time, send an email to your families. This battle was televised, they’ll all be worried sick.” He says, and brings up his own menu.

Dallas, Texas

Stella’s heart had once again been in her throat during the infantry engagement as she saw people dieing. However, with the intervention of those gatling guns on tracks, they had kept themselves from being overrun. The last bit of the firefight was brutal, yes, and she had her attention half on the TV and half listening for her daughter to cry out over her son’s death, but it had never came. Then the firefight ended and the troops were cheering. Why were they cheering in that hellish place, with another wave coming at them? Then they had gotten out and started looting? Again, in a place like that? Why?! Shouldn’t they be running away?! Then the helicopters had come in, the ones she had forgotten about. The troops had loaded up and the helicopters started flying away. The screen had cut out a few minutes later.

Then her phone beeps at her and vibrates on the table. Everyone looks at it. She picks it up and has a bust of tears as she sees who it’s from. She wipes those tears away and collects herself as best as she can. Even though she has tears streaming down her cheeks as she reads the email out loud to everyone in the room through them. “Hey mom, it’s me. I know you saw the fighting on the TV so I won’t sugar coat anything. I’m alive and well. I told K to get his butt back into DC, so if you see Mrs. Hersom, tell her that K is safe. We’re evacuating the Blight right now on helicopters. I’ll email you when we get back. Love you.”