“So how did you get sent out here?” Freya asked curiously.
“I’m a trainer. I have a bunch of skills related to opposition force-multiplication. Basically, I can go behind enemy lines and train rebels on guerrilla warfare. Mother sent me out once she found out that there were a bunch of people taking up arms here. The objective was for me to train up the militia so that they can aid us on our mission. I just got here too late. One of their squads got caught in the open by what we think was a spy construct. Once I realized what had happened, I reported the situation to Mother and here you are.” Cannon explained.
“Look, this is off topic, but why are you so nice to me now?” Freya asked, not being able to hold it in now.
“I’m good at reading people. Very good.” Cannon replied. “Before I knew you were a psychic you read like a hacker or something. Everything about you screamed new and too good to be true. You never had any military training before you joined up. No camps. No academy. No history of family members in the service. Nothing.
“On top of that, I knew you were hiding something. I thought it must have been on your last real world mission. It only got worse when I learned it was classified. That made me think something happened on your last mission which you got credit for which you didn’t deserve. I thought it was written all over your face. I know it’s not, now, but you were hiding something and it was all I could think that would fit. It didn’t get better when I saw the records of your sim missions. I know hacking in sim missions is all but impossible, but every time I looked, it seemed like it was the only answer. Then I learned that you’re a psychic. Everything made sense then. I’m sorry about how I acted, but without that info you looked guilty. I almost never get it this wrong, but I did. I’m sorry.” She finished, looking guilty herself.
“Okay.” Freya replied.
“That’s it?” Cannon replied, sounding surprised. “I treated you like Tom’s butthole, and all you say is, okay?”
“Yeah, we're cool.” Freya said, enjoying messing with her old team leader.
“Okay, then.” Cannon replied, turning her head sideways to look at Freya.
“Okay.” Freya replied with a nod, trying not to smile. She really was ok, she realized. Looking at it from Cannon’s perspective, it made sense. She didn’t like Cannon all that much, but she didn’t think the woman was all that bad anymore, now that she realized why her old team leader acted the way she did. She didn’t think she would ever be close friends with Cannon, but she hoped that some day she would somehow get over it and be at least a little friendly with the woman.
“I should probably meet your militia before all this kicks off.” Freya said, looking away from her old team leader.
“Right.” Cannon said, looking more professional. “Let's get you introduced.”
Cannon called a meeting with all the militia, except the ones who were down in the basement learning how to send people up the pipe. Cannon introduced Freya and let Freya outline the plan. Freya took center stage and, thanks to what seemed like years of training in the training facility on how to speak in front of people in a public setting, she outlined what was going to happen, and what they were currently doing, before she explained what she wanted them to do. She left Cannon in charge of the mitia, but told them she was splitting them up into six groups. Her plan was to have five groups cover the doors that her team couldn’t while leaving one group as a reserve. She also explained how she wanted the retreat to work, when it came time for them to go up the pipe.
“Wounded first. Then we go by the numbers.” Freya said to the sixty-odd people in front of her. “My team will be last out. Any questions, see Cannon.” Freya said with a smile, before moving away. She wasn’t being mean to Cannon. It was just that Cannon was in charge of the militia. It was her job to organize them and answer all their questions. Freya just told them what her plan was. It was up to Cannon how to split the militia up and where to put them. In this situation, Freya, while being lower ranking than Cannon, was in charge of the overall mission. Or at least that was how Cannon was allowing it to play out. Freya was dead sure that her old team leader would step in if she screwed up too much.
“Lurch, how long until the enemy comes a-knocking?” Freya asked over the radio, as she stepped away from the militia.
“Ten minutes at their current speed.” He replied. “Maybe a bit sooner if they start to move faster.”
“BT, how’s that training going?” She asked over the radio.
“They’ve got the hang of it, but I wanna stick around to make sure.” He replied. “They have the first group away. Shouldn’t be too long before they send the cocoons back.”
“We have about ten minutes or so before the enemy turns up.” Freya reminded him. “I need you at your post before that happens.”
“Understood.” He replied.
“Monkeyman, how's the minelaying?” She asked him.
“Just about done. I didn’t bring an auto turret. There was no room, but I have a few ideas on what I can do with the ammonia and the nitrate that is here. It will be fun.” He replied without his normal accent. She didn’t have time to wonder, but she did make a mental note to ask later.
“How long do you need?” She asked him.
“A couple of minutes for the mines. I’m going to set the doors the militia are covering with IEDs. Should keep them busy for a bit. If you want, I can set the whole place to go up as well.” He told her.
“Can you collapse some of the buildings, so they have to go through us?” Freya asked, looking at the map of the plant.
“Not really, but I can delay them.” He replied. “I can sort of make a maze out of what I blow up. Shouldn’t take me all that long.”
“Do both, if you can.” Freya replied, thinking about how the militia would retreat. “Focus on the delaying thing first, though.”
“Understood.” He reported back.
“What else can I do to make this better?” She asked herself, looking at the schematic of the building.
“Hey boss, I have an idea.” Monkeyman offered over the radio.
“What’s your idea, Monkeyman?” Freya replied, still looking for other opportunities for the defence of the building.
Monkeyman explained that he was going to put some nitrates in sealed packages on strings with a few other chemicals plus an electrical detonator each. Then he wanted to put them into the incoming ammonia pipes to create a very large IED. That meant that he had to go outside, dig down to where the pipes were and cut into the pipes to place his packages, then seal up the pipes again.
“What do you think, Bosswoman?” Monkeyman asked.
“Just make sure to shut the cut-off valves to the plant before you light them off.” Freya replied, smiling. That last thing she wanted was the explosion entering the building.
“Will do.” Monkeyman replied.
Freya sent BT out to help him. She didn’t expect much from that idea, as the enemy was only about five or so minutes out when she checked the feeds from Lurch’s drones. The other pack of constructs were about fifteen minutes or so behind them. She started towards the ladder to the roof when she spotted a sudden shift in the first pack of constructs. She froze with her hands on the metal ladder as she watched the first pack of constructs slow down and then stop roughly six miles from the plant.
“Magic, you seeing this?” Lurch asked over the radio.
“Yeah.” Freya replied, struggling to figure out what they were doing. “I think they’re waiting on the second group. Anyone have any other ideas?”
“I think you’re right.” Cannon replied. “They are not circling around to flank us, which I’m a bit worried about.”
“Me too.” Freya replied.
“Gives us more time to set up defences.” Monkeyman returned. “Never let the stupidity of the enemy go unpunished.”
“Unless it’s a trap.” Freya replied, as she started up the ladder.
‘You see something?” Cannon asked.
“No, it doesn’t work that way.” Freya replied, rolling her eyes. “Just hurry up, Monkeyman. I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Will do.” Monkeyman returned.
“Second group is increasing their speed.” Lurch said over the radio, as Freya pulled the hatch to the roof open.
She paused just inside the plant to look at the feed. She cursed as she spotted the numbers that he had put down on the right-hand side that gave a rough estimate of when they would arrive. According to his math, the second group would join the first group in five or so minutes, which meant that both groups could be on them in ten minutes. They gained an additional five minutes at the expense of getting hit by both groups at the same time.
She looked up at the roof and cursed how thin it was. She knew that it wouldn’t hold up to the charge of the six-legged large elephant things. They looked heavily armored, unlike the wolf/T-rex looking things. Those things just looked like a fast-moving nightmare. She also didn’t like the new, bigger, mortar lizards getting anywhere near them. The last thing she wanted was them to stand off in the distance and rain down mortars until there was nothing left of the plant. She climbed out onto the roof and laid down, still trying to think of a better way to fight.
Laying her rifle down beside her on the flat roof, she paused to check her mini map. She spotted both Monkeyman and BT digging a hole in the ground. Cannon was wandering around between militia groups. Lurch was directly below her, climbing up towards the roof. The militia groups were mostly in the correct places, getting ready. She did note that the group in the basement had closed the pipe. She hoped that meant that they were either turning on, or had already turned on, the flow in the pipe. Once that happened, she knew, then the cocoons would be sent back to them.
“Who's going out with the next group?” She asked Cannon, on her private channel.
“I’ve got the rest of the civilians, plus some of the more useless militia, going out at the same time.” Cannon replied.
“More useless?” Freya asked, amused.
“The ones with the attitude problems, and the ones who, by Tom’s thumb, can’t fight worth a damn.” Cannon said, sounding annoyed.
Freya chuckled, glad she wasn’t a trainer. She adjusted her rifle into a better position and looked out at the horizon. The enemy was beyond it, so she saw nothing, but she still scanned the area looking for anything that was out of place. She knew there were spy constructs out there. If she was the enemy commander, she would have them try to get into the buildings and tell her what was going on.
“Hey Cannon, you know about the new spy constructs? The ones you have to see with your unmodded eye?” Freya asked, wondering if they had kept her in the loop.
“Yeah, got a whole intel briefing on them downloaded last night.” Cannon replied. “Haven't seen them around here, yet.”
“I bet you a round at Pop’s that they’re out there.” Freya replied. “Just make sure that your people are looking out for them.”
“I won’t take that sucker’s bet, but my people are already looking for them.” Cannon replied. “Just be aware they are militia that I had about a day to work with. They might miss things.”
“Understood.” Freya replied, as she scanned the area around them for the constructs.
“Ahh, can anyone hear me?” A strange person asked over the command channel.
“We can hear you, David.” Cannon replied which, Freya reasoned, made the person who was talking over the command channel a militia member.
“The white bags are here.” David said, after a second’s delay. “Is it ok to start loading the rest of the people in them?”
“Yes.” Cannon replied, in a tired voice. “Get the first group of militia out as well.”
“Ok. I mean;, yes, sir.” David the militiaman replied.
Freya was still smiling at Cannon's tone of voice when she thought she saw something move through her scope. It moved so fast she didn’t know if she saw it or not, but she lowered her scope so that she could look closer at the dirt near the plant. She scanned the area about fifty feet from the plant, but didn’t see anything for a couple of seconds. Then she thought she saw a shifting in the sand.
Without thinking she pulled the trigger. Less than a second later the sand shifted again, but this time it was the death spasm of a spy construct. She fired a second time just to make sure, but, even though it hit, the thing didn’t stop spasming for a good couple of seconds. The spasms did slow down after the shot and kept on slowing down until the thing stopped moving altogether.
“Spy construct about fifty feet from the plant.” Freya said, as she pulled herself up to her knees and slowly turned around, looking for more - this time without looking through her scope, trying to get a larger view of the area. She spotted a black rock about ten feet from the plant, behind her. She brought her scope up and quickly fired another round. She lowered her rifle when it started its death spasms.
“All units, scan the area.” Freya said over the command channel, as she got up in a crouch to get closer to the left side of the plant. She wanted a better look in that direction. She noted that Lurch, who had made it to the top of the roof, went in the other direction.
“Spy constructs have been spotted near the plant. That last one was about ten feet away from the building.” Freya continued on the command channel. As she got close to the edge of the roof she heard gunfire from behind her. From the sound of it, Freya guessed it came from Lurch. She didn’t bother turning around, trusting her teammate to do his job.
Freya spotted another black-looking rock that had made it about five feet from the building when someone below her fired at it on full auto. Their trigger discipline was horrible, as whoever was shooting didn’t stop pulling the trigger until Cannon started screaming for him to stop shooting. Freya sighed as looked on.
“At least he got it.” She thought to herself as she looked on at the construct’s death spasms. “Too bad it probably took a third of an ammo rod to do it.” She listened on as the guy cheered over the command channel bragging that he got one.
“Stay off the command channel.” Freya commanded on the same channel, annoyed. “If you have to brag, then do it out loud. Stay off the radio.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Came the meek reply.
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“Magic, the two groups are about to come together.” Lurch told her over the command channel.
“How much time?” Freya asked in turn.
“About a minute until the second group reaches the first. Then maybe two to three to weapons’ range.” Lurch replied.
“All units, enemy inbound in four minutes. Remember your trigger discipline. Three round bursts only. Save your ammo. Keep your lanes clear. Friendly fire isn’t friendly. Stay under cover and …” Freya started to say, channelling her inner sergeant, when Lurch interrupted her.
“We’ve got incoming enemy mortar fire.” He yelled over the radio. “Take immediate cover.”
There was no cover on the roof by Freya and she didn’t have time to try and get off it. With no other options, she just put her arms over her head and closed her eyes. Her armor’s speakers picked up a loud whistle and then the very loud explosions as they landed. The roof shook like she was on a blanket and a bunch of people were trying to throw her off. She bounced around, desperately holding onto her rifle, as the mortars fell all around her, punching through the thin roof like it was made of paper. The only reason Freya survived the first few mortar rounds was that they punched through the metal roof to explode somewhere inside the plant.
Then, like someone flipped a switch, the mortars stopped falling. Freya took a quick peek at her mini map. Monkeyman and BT were alive and running towards the plant. They had been outside still, setting Monkeyman’s surprise, when the mortars started falling. Lurch was still beside her, crawling towards the hatch in the roof.
Then the news got bad. Cannon’s icon was black as well as one of the groups of militia. The other groups also had casualties, but nowhere as bad as the first group. She did note that the group in the basement had gotten off the rest of the civilians and a few of the militia. The plant itself was wrecked. Most of the side the constructs were approaching was open to air. Most of the wall that had been there was now gone. The roof had huge holes in it, but, to her surprise, it was mostly intact except by the area where the wall had been. Inside, all of the tanks were ruptured and the ammonia that had been in them was now pouring into the building.
“Get the wounded to the basement, they go next.” Freya commanded. “Lurch, get those pipes shut off. We're being flooded. Monkeyman, I’m dropping a waypoint for you and BT to set up. We’re wide open and exposed. I need some kind of cover on the A side wall. Who is in charge of the militia?” She asked them over the radio.
“Chris.” Someone said, after a brief pause.
“Chris is dead, and so is Cannon.” Someone else said, sounding just this side of hysterical.
“Ok. Listen up.” Freya nearly yelled into her armor’s mic. “We are getting out of here, but we need to hold out until the cocoons come back. We can do this, but only if you pay attention and do as I tell you. Understood?”
Not waiting for them to reply, Freya again spoke into her mic loudly and as clearly as she could. “We cannot protect all sides of this place, so we are going to focus, for now, on the A side of the building. That is the side where the constructs will be coming at us. We need to hold out for twenty minutes, then we can go home. That is all. Twenty minutes. Can y’all do that?”
“I want groups two and three to group up by the left side of the last tank near A wall.”Freya ordered. She paused a second but noted they didn’t move. “Get your asses moving!”
This time, they moved towards where she wanted them. She wished she could drop a waypoint, but civilians didn’t have HUDs like the military did. “Group four, move to where group six’s position used to be.” She ordered the largest remaining group. “Everyone else stay where you're at, and prepare for the attack.”
“Both groups have joined up.” Lurch suddenly said after Freya got done talking. “We have the elephants in front with the wolves mixed in behind them. The lizards are coming along in the back.”
Freya changed her mind about leaving the roof and moved forwards a bit, testing every few feet to make sure it wasn’t going to collapse on her. Her initial plan was to abandon the roof, but if she could take out a few elephants before she had to switch her position she was going to do that. She found a nice stable part of the roof and brought her head down to lay on her rifle butt. She took a deep breath as she looked through her scope then let it out as she saw the enemy just coming over the horizon.
She maxed her zoom and targeted an elephant in the lead. She took a deep breath as she prepared to fire. She waited until her heart slowed down, and the world became just her and the elephant. In that eternal moment, she pulled the trigger. It would take a couple of seconds to see the results of her shot, but she didn’t wait and tracked another target. She heard Lurch call “hit”, over her private radio channel as she pulled her trigger once more, before moving to another target.
She was on her fourth target when she got her first miss. Lurch simply said “Miss. One mark to the left.” She ignored what he said as she was already tracking her next target. She pulled the trigger, but instead of looking for the next target she had to adjust her scope as the horde got closer. It only took a second, but in the back of her mind she was well aware of how much distance the constructs could travel in that time. She also took the time to replace the battery in her gun. She noted she still had more than enough of the ammo rod left in her gun. She quickly found her next target as Lurch called her last shot a hit.
She was lining up yet another shot when Monkeyman ordered the militia to open fire. She cursed herself for forgetting to do that, but didn’t let it slow her down. She fired and hit her next target. The enemy had gotten too close now for Lurch to bother calling her hits or misses. She lined up yet another shot, but paused to watch the entire front row of constructs fall to the humans’ fire. The elephants held up a bit under the withering fire, but they eventually went down. She was optimistic about their chances when the wolves suddenly increased their speed.
Freya cursed as they raced ahead of the elephants and started leaping towards them. Some died as they came down to the planet's surface while a few died to the minefield that Monkeyman had planted, but most of them avoided death by taking giant, leaping jumps toward them. They raced towards them, eating up the last mile in less than thirty seconds, before jumping into the hole in the building left by the mortar attack. Freya cursed and pulled her Irish Nester off her shoulder, wishing she had her smaller rifle, the Asy-Minor, instead. It was much better for close combat than her Nester was.
She raised herself to her knee as one of the wolves leaped onto the roof. Without pause the construct charged at her, it’s little arms angling the thing’s body right towards her. Freya lit the incoming monster up, pulling the trigger as many times as she could. She guessed she fired about eight rounds as the thing charged at her. All eight rounds hit the thing.
It didn’t stop it though. She deliberately fell backwards bringing up her feet just as the thing jumped at her. It was a move that she had trained on in the training facility, during her martial arts mastery. As she flung the really heavy beast over her with her feet she was never more glad that she used her skill points to get it.
She used the momentum of tossing the wolf over her to roll onto her feet again. She spun around and let herself drop to her knees. She raised her rifle again, but the beast landed hard and hit a soft patch of the roof. She watched its weight collapse a small part of the roof as it fell into the plant. She moved forward slowly, checking for more soft patches with her rifle at the ready. She got as close as she could, feeling the instability of the roof under her feet, and looked down.
The wolf, to her surprise, was still alive. It had fallen all the way to the bottom of the plant. She watched it struggle to get up on its two, huge, back legs, using its smaller front arm to push from the side. She quickly pulled the trigger and kept shooting until her battery ran out. She first aimed at the smaller arm which it was using to try and push itself up to the point where the back legs could help it stand. It took two rounds to break the weak-looking thing. Then, when she was sure it was unable to get up, she focused her fire on its head. It took several rounds to break through the tough skull to send the explosive rounds into its head. Even then, it took her entire battery to kill the thing.
Once she was sure it was dead, she made her way towards the hatch in the roof as sounds of fighting came from below her. She took a second at the top of the ladder to note that the elephants were about to hit the plant. She looked away and, holding the sides of the ladder, let herself slide all the way to the bottom floor of the plant. As she slid, she looked around at the battle inside the building.
They were having much better luck with the wolves than she had. She noted that the militia had grouped up way too close, but it worked out to save them. This decreased the area where the wolves had to attack, and at the same time increased the amount of fire they could bring onto the wolves. It went against every conventional tactic she had ever read about, but it worked.
She was running to get into position to help them when there was a huge explosion. “That didn’t come from inside.” Freya thought to herself, as she started running again. “Was it artillery from the dropship?”
She checked Lurch's feed and saw a huge, odd-looking crater in front of the plant, with a lot of dead constructs laying all around it. It took her a second to realize it was Monkeyman’s special surprise. He had waited to set it off until the elephants were deep inside the kill zone. Freya had no idea how many he had killed, but she knew that if they got out of this alive it would be because of him.
“Focus!” She ordered herself, as she ran up next to a jagged bit that was sticking out of a destroyed tank. She did note, as she brought her rifle up to fire on the wolf that was the militia’s current target, that she was currently knee-deep in ammonia and other chemicals.
She fired as fast as she could at the dying wolf in front of her. The overpowering fire from both her and the militia knocking the wolf back. She was still walking forward when her armor’s speakers picked up something from above her. She quickly took a step into a hole in the huge tank that, before the battle, had been filled with ammonia as she brought her gun upwards.
She just barely dodged the wolf as it jumped down from what was left of the top of the huge tank. She fired the rest of her rounds into the ugly thing’s belly as it dropped down before her. She quickly dropped her Nester while the thing recovered and pulled out her Wingols 90-90 pistol. The wolf leaped at her, but she dropped down to her knees and pulled the trigger of her pistol over and over again, aiming at the thing's neck. She watched her bullets tear into the ugly construct as it flew over her. As soon as it was too far behind her to fire at, she dove forward out of the huge tank and quickly rolled to her feet.
The wolf got back up, but she could see it was feeling the damage she had inflicted. The wolf stumbled as its smaller arms pushed against the floor to turn its body around to face her. Freya quickly targeted the small arms and, four rounds later, the arms were bloody messes. It was still standing though, so she backed up, pulled a grenade from her vest and tossed it into the tank. She dropped behind a pipe as the grenade went off. She popped her head up and looked at what was left of the wolf.
“God, that thing is ugly.” She thought to herself as she took in its corpse. Shaking her head, she forced herself to look away from the ugly sight and turn back to the battle.
She paused to take in what was going on around her. The feeds were showing that, while Monkeyman’s surprise had stalled the initial elephants’ charge, they were getting organized again. She guessed they were seconds away from another charge. About half the militia were down or dead. Her team was still alive and fighting. Monkeyman and BT were with a couple of militia members, fighting off the last of the wolves that were inside the building. Lurch was by their pipe, which was quickly turning out to be their only exit.
“Everyone, fall back to the pipe.” Freya called out on the command channel. “Collect the wounded as you go. Monkeyman, you have anything left to stop another charge?”
“I have some high explosives that I can place around the hole, but I’ll have to manually detonate them.” He told her.
“That's fine.” Freya replied. “BT, help him. I’ll cover you.”
“On it.” BT replied, as both he and Monkeyman started towards the hole in the wall.
“Collect the wounded!” Freya shouted, as she noted several militia members run towards the pipe, past their downed comrades. She watched all but two turn back around and start picking up their wounded. She made a mental note to make sure the two who ignored her order would be the last militia out.
She, on the other hand, collected her small-barrel rifle from the floor and ran up a bunch of broken stairs that swayed under her. She switched out her rifle with her bigger ASO and, on her knees, looked through her scope. The horde was still in the process of organizing, but she noted that some were already working their way towards the building she and her team were in. She cursed as she realized that the mortar lizards looked like they were getting ready to fire again.
“In coming mortars!” She yelled over the radio as she targeted them with her rifle. She dropped two and was firing on a third when they spat wet-looking, green, glowing balls the size of basketballs into the air. The one she just fired on hadn’t released its ball yet and, when her round hit it, the lizard exploded - sending parts of its body into the surrounding horde. She absently noted that the explosion from the failed mortar killed a nearby elephant along with two other lizards. Unfortunately, they had already fired their payloads.
Freya ducked behind a thick metal pole as her armor’s speakers picked up the whistle of the falling mortars. Then the world around her shook as they landed. Freya ducked her head under her arms and she hugged the pole. She wasn’t inactive though. She watched her mini map as the mortars hit. Most of the militia were under cover, but there were a few here and there that were out of position. Their icons turned black one after another. Then a lucky round hit where a small group of militia were hiding near the exit pipe. The group of four icons on her mini map turned black.
Then, as suddenly as it started, the mortars stopped. Freya quickly popped her head around the pole and cursed out loud as the elephants and a few surviving wolves arrived. The elephants crashed into the hole in the wall like tanks, crushing everything in their path. In between them the wolves bounced into the building, hiding just behind the first wave of elephants.
She was just about to order Monkeyman to blow his explosives when he did it on his own. The world rocked again when the explosives went off, killing a large swath of elephants as they charged into the building. It also sent what was left of the tanks and pipes in the area flying as shrapnel. Freya ducked back behind the pole as the inside of the building turned into a charnel house. When Freya turned to look again, all she saw were dead and dying constructs. She quickly checked her feed and noted that the second explosion had once more stalled out the charge.
She quickly ran out from her cover and towards the pipe that they were going to use for their exit. She looked at the surviving people, both her teammates and the militia, and noted that there were less than ten people still alive. That included the wounded. In fact she noted that none of the militia were without wounds. The worst of the wounded was a man who lost his legs, and his chest was all cut up.
“That’s all I’ve got, boss.” Monkeyman said, as he walked up to her.
Freya absently nodded in reply. She was too busy to really hear him. The constructs were massing their lizards again. She knew what that meant. They were going to get hit with mortars again. This time she had a very bad feeling that the enemy was done trying to take them with their horde. She knew if, no: when, they started shelling them again, they wouldn’t stop until there was nothing left.
“We need to get out of here.” She told them. “Now.”
“The cocoons are not back yet.” Lurch replied.
“Screw the cocoons.” Freya replied. “Open the pipe and crawl down them to safety.”
“You heard the lady. Get those pipes open if you want to live.” Monkeyman yelled over his armor's speakers. Freya ignored him as she watched the lizards bend down in preparation to fire.
“It’s open!” Someone yelled. Freya looked behind her where the pipes were. BT was by the pipe, organizing the militia as they all tried to rush at it at once. He pushed and shoved people until they had a good line going. She watched them dive into the pipe yelling at each other to move faster.
Then Freya heard the whistling of the falling mortars. She took cover near the pipe as the last militia member dove into the pipe. The world started exploding all around them again. Freya reached up and pulled Lurch who had dived to the ground beside her. She pushed him towards the pipe. She watched him disappear into the pipe, then BT followed after him.
“Monkeyman!” She screamed and pointed at the pipe. She saw him nod, run the five feet to where the hole in the pipe was and dive in. She ran after him, barely able to see the pipe as everything was shaking and dust from explosions was obscuring it. She felt something hit her in her leg and she fell to the ground. Screaming in pain, she used her other leg and her arms to push her closer to the pipe. She was almost there when an arm reached out and grabbed her from the pipe. It yanked her forward into the pipe.
She fell into the pipe, but the hand didn’t stop pulling her forward. She got her uninjured leg to help push as the arm pulled her deeper into the darkness. There was a loud bang behind her and what light there had been was cut off. She felt something extremely hot hit her already injured leg, striking the bottom of her foot. She screamed in pain and tried to reach down and pull the burning thing out of her foot, but the arm kept on pulling her onwards.
She beat on the arm trying to get whoever was helping her to let go so she could pull the burning piece of metal out of her foot, but whoever it was ignored her. She begged and screamed at the person, but the person kept on pulling deeper into the darkness. Freya finally gave up on punishing the person who was trying to save her life as reason returned to her. She reached into her vest, pulled out a medi pen and inserted it into the slot in her armor.
She felt the icy goodness flow into her veins and take the edge off. It still hurt a lot, but it was enough that she could think again. She was able to help the person who was dragging her by pushing herself forward with her uninjured leg and arms. They kept on going for what felt like forever to Freya, but then the person who was pulling her finally stopped.
“How bad are you hurt?” Monkeyman asked.
“Left leg and foot.” Freya replied, as she reached down to check on her leg and foot. The burning had stopped. She was not sure if it was because of the medi pen or if the hot piece of metal had burnt all of the nerves in the area out. Her HUD was showing that her health was sixty percent and her entire leg was blinking red. The odd thing though was her foot was black. She had never seen that before.
Her hand came upon a deep gash in her calf. It was very deep and really wide. It hurt to touch, but the medi pen really dialed down the pain, so she ignored it for now and reached down further. She reached down to her ankle and felt a deep cut just above it. She reached further and felt a hard but smooth surface. She froze when she touched it, because not only did it hurt to touch it she also felt it all the way up her calf when she moved it. Her medi pen was taking away most of the pain, but she still could feel it as she gently pushed on it. As she did, something deeper in her leg moved. It was only then that she realized that she was pushing on her bone.
She froze again as dread started to fill her body. She felt further down the bone, trying not to move it, but still using it to travel further down her leg. She got a couple more inches, then there was nothing. There was just nothing. Nothing past the part where the bone ended. Her fingers circled around the bone, but there was nothing on the other side either.
“Magic?” Monkeyman asked.
“I don’t have a left foot.” Freya said, feeling funny. She looked up where she knew Monkeyman had to be, but all she could see was darkness.
“Here, use this.” Monkeyman said, handing her something. She took it in her hand and realized he had just handed her another medi pen. She didn’t bother questioning it and just injected it into the port. She had to remove the empty one, but she still felt better as the medicine rushed through her system. She felt light-headed as the medicine took effect, but she still felt it when Monkeyman started pulling her up the pipe again.
She tried to use her uninjured leg, but she felt clumsy. She knew from her training that she needed to put a medi patch on the stump of her foot, but she couldn’t reach her backpack. The pipe was too small for her to maneuver to get it. She tried to stay awake to help Monkeyman pull her, but the drugs pulled her deeper and deeper into unconsciousness. The last thing she remembered before she fell asleep was Monkeyman babbling in his weird prisoner language. She couldn’t make heads or tails of what he was saying.