It had been decided that it would be better to stay a night before heading into the city. Though they were expecting to be attacked anytime during the march and at night, there was nothing aside from the natural wildlife in the forest. A feeling of tranquility around them as they walked through the forest.
Looking at the map on her HUD, Aurora saw that they were less than a mile from entering the city. If it weren't for the trees, they would've been able to see the city. Just like when they had first arrived, the indicator light was still blinking intermittently. No one could figure out what was the issue, but Lexi had decided to investigate and see if they could make contact with any survivors.
Her grip tightened around the handle of the rifle. She made sure to keep her finger off of the trigger just as she was trained. "Don't you think it's weird that the indicator is behaving in such a manner?" She asked Yazmin.
Putting a hand up and grabbing a low hanging branch, Yazmin held it up so Aurora could duck underneath it. Continuing with the march, Yazmin thought for several moments. "The main issue is how an indicator light that's provided by Star and Moon is acting up. Those things were designed for emergency situations, meaning that a slight error is our best case scenario."
"I'm just confused at the lack of danger in this place after we were informed about the potential dangers," Aurora said.
Yazmin looked at the Knights, checking to see that they were walking in formation. Turning to look forward, Yazmin suggested, "There were some reports over The Wire about how these creatures were trap type predators, though they would occasionally come out to forage for people to consume."
"We have eyes on the city, so get ready to leave the forest," Lexi informed them.
Slowly the trees began to thin out and in front of them was a tall reinforced concrete wall. It appeared to be around twenty-five feet tall and ran either side of them.
"I thought this was supposed to be a city?" Aurora commented.
When Yazmin saw that Aurora was looking at her, she signed, "Look at towers."
Aurora slowly moved her gaze to the massive security towers lining the wall periodically. The splattered material on the windows gave her an understanding of what happened.
"Keep your eyes peeled. The suit isn't picking up any artificial sounds, which means that this city was overrun." Lexi ordered them on the gen com.
Aurora could see the team leaders, Ashley and Jill, directing several of the Knights towards the wall. With a simple boosted jump, the four Knights were on top of the wall. Instead of entirely leaving the sight of the rest of them, they were used to keep an eye out for signs of life or enemies.
The process of moving the teams over the wall took only several minutes without any issues. Aurora and the remaining blades ran towards the wall and lept to the other side. The two teams created a perimeter fifty feet away from the wall.
Ashley waved her hand, and the Knights standing on top of the wall hopped down, joining the rest of them.
"This appears to have been a military base of some type and likely attached to the city. Even though the beacon looks to be inside of the city, there are chances that people have made it through this nightmare. We'll be combing through this area on the off chance of such an occurrence." Lexi said. "Team A will be going with Ellis and Pearl, and Ida and I, while Team B will be with Yazmin and Aurora, and Macy and Opal. We won't be that far from one another in case of trouble, but it's going to be vital to get through this efficiently." Lexi turned to Aurora and said, "Aurora, have Jill coordinate with you since you'll be leading Team B."
"What?" Aurora signed at Lexi.
"You can do this," was what Lexi signed back with.
Aurora was going to continue to argue with Lexi, but Jill was already heading towards her. The way Lexi walked away from her, Aurora had a suspicion that Lexi sent Jill her way as a means to end the discussion.
"Fifth Blade, I would like for you to know how much of an honor it is to serve under you! I have been following your career, and you were an inspiration to me, and the main reason I dared to try out to become a player!" Jill chirped excitedly.
"Um... I'm happy that you feel that way," Aurora responded feeling awkward about interacting with a Knight in such a formal capacity. "How is the duty of being team leader treating you?"
A short silence passed before Jill said, "Is it possible for me to speak to you about that?"
Hearing the seriousness in Jill's voice, Aurora reached to her belt and pulled out a Private Communication Wire. When the head of the cable came close to Jill's suit, it automatically snapped onto the material. On the HUD, there was an indicator that showed the PCW was synching with Jill's armor and quickly confirmed that a secure channel was established. "What's the matter, Knight?"
"Fifth Blade, may I be completely candid with you?" Jill's voice slightly trembled.
"Speak your mind," Aurora said.
"I don't think I'm the right person to lead my team and I keep having this vision of my entire team being slaughtered by those things due to my inexperience," Jill said with overflowing emotions.
Hearing the Knight show so much vulnerability, Aurora was slightly taken aback. She instantly thought, "What the hell am I supposed to say?"
"With your skills, I know that I look unprofessional and not worthy of having the title of Knight. Even if it causes me to be demoted to Soldier, I just felt like it was my responsibility to let you know my mindset. If my silence were also to cause my idol harm, I... would be devastated." Jill said slowly.
"Knight, you coming to tell me this doesn't make you unprofessional but instead lets me know how much of a leader you can be. Instead of thinking your concerns are a weakness, think of your fears as being signs of you taking caution in your actions. At the same time, there are times when you'll likely have to make difficult choices. In these moments, you must not allow your sense of caution to hamper decisions that need to be shaped decisively." It was a weird feeling conveying similar words that Zara had told her when Aurora didn't feel that she qualified to become a Blade.
"Thank you, Fifth Blade. I'll make sure to build myself into a stronger leader and not let you down." Jill said in a confident voice, though there were still hints of doubt which was natural for someone so new to being a leader.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Aurora nodded her head. "Make sure to inform your team that I want them to pair up but maintain a spread out line. We'll use the suits to detect anything artificial in the hopes of finding people. While we are here, it'll be essential to maintain a line of sight."
Saluting, Jill said, "As you command, Fifth Blade."
Retracting the PCW, Aurora watched Jill heading back to her team. Her movement spoke of greater confidence and gave an appearance of someone in command.
"What was that about?" Yazmin asked walking towards Aurora.
"Leadership doubts," Aurora signed.
Looking around for Macy and Opal, Aurora saw the two of them looking at the base. "Opal," Aurora said.
Opal looked back, not spotting Aurora immediately.
Aurora waved her arm to help Opal spot her. When she saw that Opal had noticed her, Aurora motioned for them to come over.
When Opal was close enough, she signed, "What's up, Princess?"
Aurora pulled out her PCW and flung it at Opal. "Group meeting," Aurora signed.
Macy attached her cable to Opal and Yazmin to Aurora.
"I figured that going into the base and potentially into the city, we needed to talk about how we'd proceed."
"It's a good idea," Macy said. "This is the first time we've been in an active combat situation where messing up could lead to a loss of life. What're your thoughts and plans?"
"Couldn't we think about this together?" Aurora asked, her voice getting a little whiney.
Opal shook her head. "Princess, you're the leader of Team B and the three of us. Lexi put you in charge for a reason. Out of all the Blades, you have the most potential after Zara, which is why it's important for you to gain these experiences with leading people."
"She's right, Aurora," Yazmin agreed. "You can no longer run away from this, and need to start taking the lead."
Aurora sighed at how all of them were ganging up on her. She felt like things were changing too quickly, making her feel anxious. Eventually, she nodded her head and agreed with their words begrudgingly.
"Vera, is there a map of the city and base on record?" She asked.
"Yes. With the help of satellites, we have a relatively detailed map of the area. It's only updated once a day but should be sufficient for our purposes. Your new leadership role has allowed you access to this information." Vera explained.
"Could you bring up the map of the city?" Aurora asked.
On her HUD and everyone else's, the base and city were seen on a three-dimensional layout. She took a moment to glance through the diagram that was highlighted in different colors, to give a quick overview of the base's functions.
"This is what we know of from city and military records in our database combined with aerial views that are updated once a day. To increase our chances of running into people, I believe we should head into the residential area particularly where shopping areas are close by." She said to the group. A section of the map was highlighted in blue and raised up to give a better view.
"If they were able to survive for this long, it would mean that they needed a place which could provide nourishment?" Macy asked.
"Exactly. If we don't find anyone, we'll have to comb through the base, but I want to locate any survivors quickly. The residential area will also be the most open, giving us enough time to react to any threats." Aurora answered.
"How are we going to handle finding survivors?" Opal asked.
"With non-students, it'll take some time for us to extract them to a safe location. There are already transport units heading to our location and will be on standby. Due to concerns, extraction can only take place at set times as you all are aware. This means that we'll be forced to watch over any survivors until such times." Aurora said.
Being forced to maintain position in such a place was concerning, but Zara had informed her that the Administration was worried that constant units on standby would've caused the creatures to adapt. As of now, there were no reports of those things having flight capabilities, and the Administration didn't want to escalate things unnecessarily.
"I'm getting the feeling that this is either going to go well or turn bad really quickly," Macy murmured.
"Why would you think that? If things go south, then we can just go the same way we came." Aurora said.
There was an awkward pause as the three helmets turned to look at Aurora.
"Princess, you do remember how that system works, right? Zara went over it during right after the meeting." Yazmin cautiously said.
"Yeah. Just like in our simulations, we'll be sent to the location, and when we finish the mission, then we get sent back." Aurora said, her voice sounding confused as if she was no longer sure of her words.
"Except, the simulations are enclosed which is why we can't die in them. It's not an actual world, the system generates the reality with us in the middle of it making us feel like it's an actual place. We're always in the designated area. They just send the info to our brain, tricking us into seeing and feeling our injuries." Opal sounded like she was patiently explaining advanced concepts to a teenager.
"Yeah, Aurora. They only say we're being sent here like in the simulation since we're familiar with what we already used." Yazmin said. Her voice sounded concerned since this was something that was already understood after the first couple of times students used the simulation rooms.
"It just never seemed that way," Aurora began to say sounding confused. She questioned what had gone through her mind and wonder if this entire time her experiences were off and it was just her thinking this.
"Aurora, this is something that was told to us numerous times by professors and the administration," Yazmin said gently.
"Okay," Aurora signed. "Now I feel even less confident and agree with Macy about things going south," she said.
They spent several more moments hashing out the details of their plan of action before Aurora explained what was going to happen to Jill, afterward.
-------
Using one of the roads inside of the military base, they followed it in hopes of it leading them towards the housing area. Aurora tried not to let the situation overwhelm her as she slowly turned her head making sure to keep an out for any of the creatures or survivors. The current road they were using had them moving away from the wall and towards a series of buildings that looked to be used for housing vehicles.
Some of the buildings had vehicles that were being worked on, raised up with wheels removed. Seeing cars in mid-repair was unnerving, waiting to see if a person would appear to finish their task while also showing the reality of the world.
Her screen flashed an alert that a secure connection was made, startling Aurora as she focused hard on her surroundings.
"Have you noticed something wrong about this?" Yazmin said.
Aurora calmed herself down and looked at the PCW on her arm and Yazmin next to her. "Warn me before you suddenly do that," Aurora criticized her friend.
"Sorry about that," Yazmin laughed though it didn't sound authentic.
"What's wrong?" Aurora asked worriedly.
"Everything about this place is weird, but even more weird is the lack of bodies," Yazmin said.
"What do you mean...," Aurora began to ask, but as she looked around, she realized that was what was making her so anxious.
"Yeah," Yazmin said picking up on Aurora's silence.
Aurora was going to ask a follow-up question but stopped when she noticed something. "Everyone, stop now!" She quickly said to both groups.
The team of Knights and her fellow Blades halted in their steps as soon as she gave her order, their professionalism kicking in. Hearing the urgency in Aurora's voice, the Knights knelt in a defensive formation and prepared for contact with the creatures.
"What did you see?" Yazmin asked.
"What happened?" Opal came over to where Aurora and Yazmin were standing. Close behind her was Macy.
As Aurora concentrated on what she thought she saw, their questions sounded like muffled droning and didn't register with her. "What is that?" She asked herself. When they came closer to the buildings, she happened to see something in one of the garages. Looking carefully, she asked her teammates, "Do you see that inside of the garage over there?" Using her HUD, Aurora marked what she was looking at so the others could know what she was talking about.
The three of them turned to face what Aurora was staring intently at, while the Knights continued to keep their eyes open to any incoming threats.
"I don't see...," Macy began to say.
"What the hell is that?" Opal voiced. There was confusion in her voice.
Inside of the garage, there was something that appeared to look like webbing, but larger. In the center of the web were bundles of ovoid objects. It was only thanks to the suits enhanced vision that Aurora was able to notice the sight.
"Are those eggs?" Yazmin wondered out loud.