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The Battle Princess
Chapter 2 - Sacrifice

Chapter 2 - Sacrifice

The two humvees traveled down the road when a giant creature with search lights for eyes came bounding out the trees that lined the road.

"We've got a sentry bot on our six boss." Grayson shouted over the radio.

"How Far? Can we outrun it?' Cj asked.

"It's 12 klicks away but we're stll at least 25 klicks out from command. We'd have to punch it to stand a chance. It's trying to close the distance quick." Grayson answered observing the massive beast that had the form of a honey badger with glowing green metallic eyes and a giant spikes tortoise shell on it's back. It was barely lit in the street lights that lined the road and looked like it was flying toward them with how quickly it moved.

Cj contemplated her next move for a brief moment before responding. "We can't handle a fight with that thing right now. Speed up and let's try to outrun it."

"Commander, I don't think that's the best course of action, we need to circumvent it and attack while we still have the lead. If it manages to catch us we won't have any kind of advantage. A precision strike from the front could take it down or at least slow it down." Sara said beside her.

"We're already running low on ammo, we don't have the kind of weaponry needed to take down a sentry. Laser weapons won't work against it's shielding, the best thing for it is bullets and explosives which we don't have much of." Cj responded

"We still have two missiles left!" Sara shouted.

"We do, and if we miss even a single shot then we're screwed. That thing ups its threat level and we're definitely not getting out of this alive." Cj shot back. "Right now it's just on incapacitate but if we attack it'll go into kill mode."

Sara didn't respond, just sat back in her seat in growing annoyance. Cj ignored her and focused on the road ahead.

"Commander, we're coming onto the loop. I'm not sure we can take it at full speed without tipping." Carter said from behind the wheel.

"Can you pull anything off?" Cj asked. "If not, play it safe."

"I'll see what I can do but I'm not sure Ryan will be able to follow."

"They can handle it. Go!"

The humvee rolled to the edge of the road adn the left 2 wheels hitched up onto the concrete railing. The force of their speed barely keeping them level and everyone in the humvee leaned lightly to the right to try to balance the weight without rolling it. It managd to take the ramp and webt back onto four wheels. A sigh of relief half escaped Cj before it caught in her throat as she looked back just in time to see the sentry bot barrel into the other humvee shell first nearly tearing straight through the middle of it. They both go rolling through the concrete rail into the forest.

Cj found herself breathless and in a panic. "Grayson?" she asked over her radio. No response. "Grayson come in!" she shouted. Static. "Fuck!" she repeatedly yelled while beating the door of the humvee.

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"Happy now Commander?" Sara asked her eyes drowned in unshed tears. Cj was tempted to stare daggers her way but guilt caused her to avoid her gaze.

She wasn't able to live with her guilt for long though as the sentry had returned to the road.

"Commander, we're in trouble. The sentry bot is back and we're still klicks out," Jason said from the front passenger seat.

"What's your next move commander" Sara spat. No response; instead Cj checks her guns.

"Everyone fill up your mags and give me whatever extra ammo you have." She reached in the back and takes the missiles and the missile launcher.

"What are you doing?" Sara asked suspiciously; Cj didn't bother to respond.

The humvee approached the offramp.

"Slow down." Cj said

"What?" Carter askd confused

"Slow down!" Cj shouted louder. The humvee breaks speed and takes the offramp at a more a mangeable speed than the onramp. At the beginning of the turn Cj pushed the door open wide.

"What are you doing?" Sara yells over the sound of the wind from the open door. Instead of answering, at the arc of the turn CJ leaped from the humvee rolling into the brush below and sliding onto a knee, aiming her gun at the sentryand taking fire. The sentry bot's eyes turned from green to red.

"Keep going, I'm going to lure it away. Get back to command. I'll radio if I manage to escape. Be safe." Cj said into her radio.

"Commander." Sara said pausing before continuinung. "Be Safe."

Cj began to run, the sentry bot loaded its guns and opened fire just barely missing Cj as she dove behind a large boulder. She waited for the guns to click empty and slipped out to aim the rocket launcher. She fired and just managed to get the sentry bot in its right eye causing it to explode and pieces of it to shatter.

"Hell yeah!" she shouted before diving back behind the boulder under another cascade of gunfire. The sentry bot tried to flank her running to her right side but she had already moved and left it a little suprise. The moment it moved to the behind the rock she triggered the c-4. The blast wave was strong enough to knock her off her feet sending her flying into a tree. The sentry bot was hindered for only a moment as it walked up to Cjm not wanting to waste its bullets, watching her every move. Cj shook off the daze and scrambled to prepare her rocket launcher load it and attempting to aim it. Her arms were heavy, her hands shook and her heart raced. The glowing red eyes bot bored through her. SHe couldn't catch her breath, so she decided to stop breathing. It helped, her body stilled enough for her to feel confident enough to squeeze the trigger. With heavy recoil the rocket flew through the air, only for the sentry bot to move itself to block it with the tortoise shell. The explosion was huge and force of the blast wave made Cj delirious. When her head stopped spinning, she realized that beisdes a black burn spot on its shell, the rocket seemed to do absolutely nothing.

That's when it set in. I'm going to die she thought. No. No I'm not

She looked around for her gun and when she found it on the ground she quickly aimed it at the damaged right eye of the sentry bot. She fired elicitiing sparks and increasing the damage to it but the sentry shrugged it off and continued stalking toward her teeth bared. Click!

"Shit!" Cj swore, throwing her now empty weapon to the side. She pressed a button on her palm a small detonator popped out of her sleeve. She took the detonator in her hand and let out a long exasperated sigh.

Last resort. She thought to herself. I'll see you soon, Gray

"Come on you son of a bitch! If I"m going, you're coming with me!" she shouted. If she didn't know better, she'd think the damned beast was laughing at her. She smiled at it maniacally, her finger circling the detonator button. Suddenly the sentry bot stopped in its tracks. A claw rose to scratch at the hole where its right eye used to be. Then came an explosion that knocked it on its side a fume of smoke rising out of it's eye socket. It was dark and extremely hard to see; Cj could just barely make out flashes of light. Then another explosion rang out and fire illuminated the night.