Elias

“Just got to make it four blocks,” I muttered to myself as we stepped out of the building. “How hard could that be?”

The soldier I was with gave me a look of anger. “You better keep that fuckin’ mouth shut if you don’t want to jinx us. Now listen to me, stay low and stay close. If I say run, you run. If I say hide, you fucking hide, you got that?”

I nodded as another explosion rocked the ship. How the hell we were going to get out of this one was far beyond me, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to get the hell out of this warzone and into somewhere marginally safer. We couldn’t do that yet, though, we still had an APC to steal. I followed the soldier as close as I could, and I saw him start to grip the stock of his rifle with more intensity until I heard the material creak. Or at least it would have if this wasn’t an active warzone. As I followed him, I couldn’t help but think about what my family would think of my situation, if they’re alright and not a – I wouldn’t let myself think any further than that. They had to be alright, they had to be safe.

I was knocked out of my whirlwind of thoughts as I heard an explosion come from behind us. I turned to look as the apartment building that we were just in started to crumble and topple over like a wooden tower with the supporting block taken away. For a moment, I just stood there, taking it all in. The home that I had bought with my wife, started raising two children in, gone in an instant. I felt a tug on my arm as the soldier I was with started pulling me along. “We don’t have time for you to mourn the loss of a fucking building you dumbass, let’s move!”

I jogged quickly after him, and not a moment too soon, as one of the Yalayans started to rummage through the rubble, presumably in search of us. We rushed into an alleyway just as we heard the clicking and hissing noise that I had come to fear since those xenos made beachheads on the ship. The soldier waited for the chittering to die down before poking his head out of the alleyway and motioned for me to follow him. Under any normal circumstances this place would be impossible to hide in, the streets were clean and not very crowded, and the security in this hab zone was top notch. Not anymore. I looked at the collection of partially destroyed buildings and piles of rubble that now permeated the once prosperous hab zone. Through the gaps in the buildings, I could see Yalayans and Terran mechs duking it out, some of them even in hand-to-hand combat as they furiously fought for territory. It was all too easy to hide in the rubble, especially when the xenos barely bothered to look anywhere other than the mechs that hounded them on every turn.

Before long, we had traversed three and a half blocks and ducked into a partially destroyed coffee shop and saw as there were a group of four Yalayans all standing around the APC looking at it. Speaking of the APC, with the shape that it was in it looked more like a halftrack from the second world war than a modern-day APC. It was hard to focus on anything else as the loud chittering of the Yalayans standing there kept distracting me.

“What are they saying?” I asked.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The soldier gave me a look. “The fuck do you mean, what are they saying? Don’t you have an implant?”

I shook my head. “I could never get one for medical reasons.”

The soldier just looked at me before fishing into a pouch on his vest and pulled out a small earpiece and motioned for me to put it in. I took it, put it into my ear, and cringed slightly from the slight feedback loop from it going through the boot up process. And then I heard it. In my right ear, in plain English, was the words that the Yalayans were saying. It was a bit daunting however, as it still sounded like angry clicking and chittering in my left.

“-why this bit of Terran tech is so important to command is completely beyond me, I mean, what can they even teach us that we don’t already know?” one asked.

“Their armor plating is some of the best in the galaxy, sure we got some when that Terran merchant vessel was raided, but that wasn’t even military grade, any armor that we can find out here is vital to replicate it,” another explained, nudging it with one of their many legs. “Even if it’s completely destroyed.

“Shit!” whispered the soldier. “That’s our fucking ride that they’re stealing right there! I’ll see if I can’t get a distraction going, you keep an eye on them.”

I nodded and continued to listen in to the conversation as the soldier frantically whispered into the mic, desperate to not have to walk the rest of the way back to our lines. Suddenly, an explosion rang out from a block or two away, followed by an ancient Terran song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1tj2zJ2Wvg&pp=ygUVd2VsY29tZSB0byB0aGUganVuZ2xl) being blasted from the emergency PA system for the block. All the aliens looked in that direction, some even raised their weapons and pointed them down the street.

“What in the name of the ancestors was that?” one of them asked, still clutching their plasma gun.

“Maby it’s those Terrans trying to lure us into a trap,” suggested another.

“We still have to check it out,” said the one that must be in charge. “Skiv, check it out.”

The one that I assumed was Skiv said something that didn’t translate as they moved carefully away from the APC and down the street. There was another explosion as Skiv’s head turned from a head to a piñata of gore. I looked up to try and find the shooter, only hearing the ancient Terran song. The aliens looked around in fear, trying desperately to find the shooter, as another head exploded. Then another, and another, until it was finally over. With no more aliens in sight, the song quickly shut off, and was replaced with the sound of a gruff sounding man.

“Get the hell out of here before more come!”

Not wanting to waste any time, I jumped up from my hiding spot and ran to the APC with the soldier following quickly behind me. “I hope you know how to drive this thing,” I said over my shoulder as I inspected more closely the damage to the armor. It was torn to shreds, and the entire roof of the thing was completely gone, likely destroyed by whatever explosion caused it to be abandoned in the first place.

“Bitch, please. They don’t even let you out of basic if you can’t fuckin’ drive. Get in and we’ll get you back to your family,” he said as he climbed into the cab. I could hear him mutter a few more choice words about me and my intelligence, but I paid them no mind as I climbed into the passenger seat. The inside of it looked no better than the outside did, with spent ammo casings littered everywhere and still drying blood that had collected in the footrest on my side. Fighting the urge not to throw up, I looked into the back of the vehicle and saw a group of Yalayans making their way straight towards us.

“Hey,” I said as I started rapidly tapping his shoulder. “GET US THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!”