"GIVE THE ORDER, SOUND THE BELLS, EVERYONE RETREET, GET THE INJURED AND CHILDREN OUT! GET THEM OUTTT!" Scarlet demands.

In an instant, soldiers release yellow flares, and one by one the church bells across the city begin to ring out sounding the retreat.

'The city is lost, tell command we're pulling out' she informs the person at the other end of her radio as a chinook lifts her to safety.

At ground level a medic carrying oxygen tanks is struck by machine gun fire and immediately erupts into flames, screaming to the ground until they are dead.

Everyone is getting out of the city in whatever way they can.

Michael, Daniel and Thomas, are running alongside a small canal that seems to be rubble free from all the fighting.

"Come on let's go" Thomas yells in a state of panic.

A chinook flies overhead of them and they begin waving and calling at it in an attempt to be rescued.

Luckily the pilot sees them and opens the bay door lowering the chinook as safely as he can for them.

"Fancy seeing you three here" Angel tells them, offering his hand out to help them onto the chopper.

As they are lifted upwards, they all let out a sigh of relief, and watch out of the open door as they leave the city.

The Arce Caelos have reached the city as they continue to fly up the hill.

The bombardment begins, and for the final time, the city is lightened up in flames, within a few minutes, there is nothing left of the mega city which had once stood here.

The Arce Caelos don't stop over the city continuing straight over the hill.

"Can't you call your friend?" Thomas asks Angel.

"They wouldn't make it" he replies glumly.

They all watch as the hill and surrounding landscape becomes engulfed with explosions, the unlucky few still on the ground running for their lives.

"They're killing unarmed civilians" Angel snarls angrily.

The bombers turn their attention to all the vehicles and aircraft attempting to escape, and open fire.

"Shit" Angel states as he witnesses a chinook colliding into another.

Daniel holds Michaels hand tightly, breathing heavily, clearly terrified.

'Hey Angel, you still alive?' The same female voice can be heard through the radio in his rucksack.

'Caelum Timore, how nice of you to check in on me' he replies through the radio.

'How are things going down at your end?' She asks.

He looks around at all of the soldiers and civilians that look incredibly disheartened, frightened, and ready to give up.

'Full retreat, Silverpeak is lost, too many casualties to count' he replies solemnly.

'The king and queen have ordered all refugees to be taken back to Haven' she informs him.

Everyone around him immediately perks up and start to mutter excitedly to one another.

'I'll get as many to you as I can' he replies with a smile seeing how reassured everyone now looks.

He puts the radio away and sits down on the opposite side to the three of them.

"You're from Haven?" Michael asks inquisitively.

"Yep" Angel replies.

"What's it like there?" He continues to ask.

Angel is going to shrug the question off, as he usually does so when asked, not wanting to give any false hope to anyone.

To his dismay, some of the younger people sat near them have moved in closer to hear the conversation.

"The sky is crystal clear, and the oceans are blue" he begins to explain.

"You don't have all the smoke blocking out the sky?" Michael asks.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"Nope, we have made sure to keep the fighting away from the mainland" Angel replies.

"We have many different types of fruit trees, and the flowers are beautiful" he continues.

"Is it true the palace is made from white stone?" A little girl asks.

"Only the purest of white stones" he tells her seeing how intrigued she is.

"Is it true you can visit the king and queen there?" A young lad asks.

"On Wednesday afternoons and on some of the weekends yes" he replies.

"I hope I get to see it" the young lad mumbles.

"There are mountains aren't there?" Daniel asks joining in on the conversation.

"White mountains to the back, with a crater to the front that is an extinct volcano, covered in trees and greenery, lovely sandy beaches" Angel replies and appears to be daydreaming at the mention of the beach.

"Hey kid, I'm sure you'll get to see it" he tells the young lad who had asked about the king and queen, the poor boy has tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Have you meet the king and queen?" The little girl asks.

"I'm friends with them" he tells her enthusiastically.

"What are they like?" She asks excitedly.

"Well, the queen is lovely, she is a very strong lady, and the king, he's a bit of an odd ball like me" he explains with a little wink at the end.

"It's getting dark" Daniel points out as he looks outside the window, noticing all the devastation still occurring.

"Let's get some sleep" Michael tells him with a kiss to the cheek.

Thomas walks over to Angel, who is now looking outside through one of the windows at the back of the chopper, as everyone attempts to get settled hoping to find some rest.

"How many of us are actually going to make it to Haven?" He asks in a matter of fact sort of way.

"Hardly any of you at this rate" he replies.

"Figured as much" he mutters, and sits down folding his arms shivering slightly.

"You can lean on me if you like" Angel reassures him as he sits down beside him.

"Thank you" Thomas replies gratefully, and leans into him whilst placing his arm around Angel's stomach.

The pair of them like most of the people around them, fall to sleep.

The following morning, they are woken by the chinook shuttering in the wind, with a bit of a jolt.

"Back to hell" Daniel mutters.

They are passing over the city that everyone had originally been making their way through, and the pilot is preparing to land.

"Why are we stopping?" Michael yells down to the cockpit.

"We need to refuel" one of the pilots reply.

Gently landing on what presumably would have been a school playground, the pilots immediately rush about the place to get some fuel for the chopper.

Angel takes this opportunity to stretch his legs outside.

"There's so many of them" Thomas mutters looking around at all the refugees.

Everyone is walking or taking whatever method of transport they can, all heading in the same direction.

"Good morning general" Angel waves over at Scarlet who is clearly overseeing the evacuation.

"I don't suppose you have any support to give us?" She asks glumly as he approaches.

"I might do" he replies looking off into the distance.

"We're about half a day ahead of those damn planes" she explains.

"Luckily for us they are pretty slow" he responds.

"Unfortunately for us the capital is still at least four hours away" she informs him.

"Do you have any idea where this is?" He asks showing her a picture.

"A Sky Scraper, that thing went down years ago" Scarlet replies.

"I'm aware of that, I have an idea of where it is, but not an exact location" he points out.

"General, word from the capital, they are declaring the west a lost cause" a soldier informs her.

"If we can evacuate everyone east, will Haven help us?" She asks turning back to Angel.

"We will help as many as we can, as far as I am aware, the next lot of rescue ships will be heading to the eastern docks in around five days" he replies.

"That's not enough time, ok, we'll work with what we've got, what will you be doing now?" She continues to ask.

"I'm going to look for the damn Sky Scraper" he replies and waves goodbye.

"Having a Sky Scraper, could seriously turn the tide in this battle" her subordinate hints as she watches Angel walk away.

"We're heading off again" Daniel comes over to let him know.

Angel gives him a smile and a pat to the shoulder in a friendly gesture.

"Hey so um, thanks for helping us" Daniel mutters bashfully.

"No problem" he replies with a smile as they make their way to the chopper.

"Last night you said you are friends with the king and queen, is that true?" He asks.

"I grew up with the king" Angel explains, much to Daniels surprise.

"Lets go, lets go, lets go, our next stop is when we run out of fuel or make it to the capital" the pilot informs them as she taps the side of the chopper loudly.

The engines start back up again, and quickly, but carefully they are lifted into the skies.

"The fucking planes will catch up to us in less than half a day" Thomas interjects.

"I don't care as long as we get as far away as possible" Daniel points out.

"I wouldn't worry so much about those Arce Caelos, they aren't our biggest concern now" Angel remarks.

"Your friend that you keep speaking to on the radio, they were able to take one out like it was nothing" Daniel points out.

"That is a Ferrum war machine named Caelum Timore, which means 'Sky Terror', they flew in from the south and then went back" he replies.

"Why aren't they helping us up here?" Daniel asks.

"They are trying to save the influx of refugees from the south" Angel replies.

"I'm tired of all this fighting" Thomas mutters, rubbing his face with the sleeve of his uniform.

"Me too" Daniel states in agreement.

"Me three" Michael joins in.

"So, you two, been together long?" Angel asks pointing between them as he does so.

"About two years? Something like that" Michael replies.

"Lucky gits, the only chance of a love life I've ever had got shot down right in front of me" Thomas mutters begrudgingly.

"I told you to speak to Lucy beforehand" Daniel reminds him.

"Whatever" he replies in a huff.

"How long have you been away from Haven for?" Michael asks.

"Must be coming on around, two years now, I would imagine" he replies.

"That's a long time just for reconnaissance" Daniel points out.

"Tell me about it" Angel replies with a huff.

"How long will we been flying for?" Michael asks.

"About four hours give or take" Daniel replies.

"Might as well get some shut eye" Thomas mumbles in a yawn.

"He's got a point, try and get some rest" Angel instructs them as he pulls a blanket around himself and Thomas.

After sleeping for the majority of the journey, they are again woken up by the chinook jolting about.

It is now late afternoon.

"Everyone, prepare for landing" the pilot informs them.

"Hey, is that what I think it is?" Thomas asks.

"The capital" Daniel mutters as they look out of the window.