She opened her eyes to darkness. Rubble blocked out the sky and blood pooled in her mouth. Her name was Adeladia and she was afraid.
She did not call out. She pushed and clawed at the stony sky until she felt the setting sun warm her face. The grit snapped her nails and her clothes snagged and tore on exposed steel poles. Her hand slipped on the fresh frost that had formed on the surface of the crumbled building. She was pained but she had made it. Her breath clouded in the open air and her sweat felt like ice under the winter winds.
Around her lay corpses. A dozen, a dozen more and a dozen after that. An arm poked out from beneath the rubble but no body was attached, just the arm. A mound of bodies, bloodied and mangled, lay cast before her. They hadn't began to rot yet, she hadn't been buried for long.
"Otets!" She called out. "Otets!" Her voice failed as she tried to call again.
She walked forth. Down the collapsed building and past the corpse mounds. Children cried and mothers gasped for air through punctured lungs but she didn't hear them. She didn't hear the father calling out to his dying son. She didn't hear the young woman pinned beneath a boulder inches from her. She didn't see the birds starting to pick at corpses nor did she see the blood that had started to gush from her abdomen.
"Otets?" She breathlessly called out. She went light headed for a moment and tumbled to her knees. That's when she noticed. The shard of metal, ten centimetres long, dug deep within her belly. She didn't panic, she couldn't. She was so drained of energy and will that fear and pain were simply too much exertion for her to handle.
A droplet of blood landed on her hand and she was grateful for the warmth. There was no shelter as the harsh eastern winds whipped her short brown hair into her eyes. "Otets... I'm- I'm tired. Can I... Just rest here for a moment?" She mumbled as she sank to the floor. She curled into a ball and shifted around the metal shard. "I'm cold, Otets. I'm just going to lie here for a moment. Gath- Gather myself." She continued as her eyes grew heavy.
----------------------------------------
The whistle was innocuous. It could have been the wind through the rubble or a singing bird in flight, it wasn't . It grew louder and louder. Closer and closer until the whistle was a whistle no longer. It was flame and explosion and the chaos of battle. A bomb had settled a few hundred meters from her. The explosion was near deafening but it managed to rouse her. She realised the fighting wasn't over... There was more to come.
She rose to her feet with a great, and bloody, effort. She had to find her father. 'where could he be? ' She considered. His office! She knew he would still be at work. The building wasn't far, she could make it and they could flee the stacks together. She just had to move.
----------------------------------------
The rubble spanned for miles. Buildings she grew up in, played in, laughed and cried in lay level across what used to be pathways and roads. The route was easier than normal. If this had been a day earlier, she would need to make her way through winding streets and darkened alleys. Now? A near straight line had been carved through the skyline. She climbed through the holes that used to be houses and surmounted the towers turned ashy mounds. She was near halfway there before the bombs started again. Further away now. No major threat to her. She sheltered for a moment all the same just in case they began landing closer.
She, Adeladia, had nearly made it. She could see her father's building on the horizon. Her heart sank and jumped as she noticed the armed men surrounding the building. Soldiers! Were they here to evacuate the city? She walked closer, clutching her wound as the pain started to set in. The soldiers were scouring the area, searching for something; or someone. They belonged to the ministry however, still surely they had to be there to help. She clambered over a fallen column and called out for a nearby soldier.
"Soldier! Please... Help me." She breathlessly called. The nearby young man ran to her in an instant. He called out for a medic and the two treated the young girl's wound as best they could. "What is your name, girl?" The much older medic asked.
"Adeladia, sir." She answered before wincing in pain. The medic had pulled out the metal shard, though with very little grace. "My- my father works here. Have you seen him? Is he okay?" The adrenaline of the day wore off as she was helped onto a bench. The pain and cold took her much more violently than they had before and all sense left her for a moment. "What is your father's name, Adeladia?" The medic asked as he gave her a shot of morphine.
"Vasily... Sir. His name is Vasily Tempish." She answered, half in a daze. The soldiers flinched at hearing the name. The medic looked to the younger soldier and shrugged him away. He left in a hurry. "Your father, Adeladia, is the reason the stacks were destroyed." The medic began. Adeladia didn't respond. If she wasn't already in shock from her injuries than she certainly was upon hearing her father supposedly destroyed the city she grew up in. Her eyes danced along the rubble, half dazed from the news; half dazed from the morphine. "Adeladia, look at me." The medic commanded, clicking his fingers. She tried. Her head swayed to meet the soldier's gaze.
"Adeladia, you need to-"
The medic stopped. Stopped speaking, stopped looking... Stopped breathing. She was still too dazed to fully comprehend what had happened but she understood that the fresh blood covering her face and clothes was not her own. She understood that the hole where his thoughts used to go meant one thing: danger.
----------------------------------------
The medic's lifeless, and faceless, corpse slumped to the ground and Adeladia knew she had to run. She clumsily rose to her feet and stumbled away from her father's office. Rifles blared and banged. They were louder than anything Adeladia had ever heard. "Sniper!" She heard a soldier call out before being promptly shot. She managed to find a small gap in the rubble where she could hide from the fighting but in climbing down, she snagged her fresh bandages and exposed her wound.
"They're flanking left!" The young soldier that originally found her called out. Adeladia peeked out from her hole to get a view of the skirmish. There were more soldiers than she had realised in her dazed state. At least thirty ministry troops had bunkered down in her father's building. She couldn't see who they were fighting but there must have been a small army. Bullets hailed by the hundred and whizzed past her head. Every now and then, a noticeably louder shot would ring out and every time a soldier would fall. The same bang that had killed the medic. Bang! Bang! Bang! Rang out from beneath the other gun fire and for each bang, a new life was lost. Few remained now. Maybe ten or eleven huddled within the office.
"Vasily!" A voice rang out after the torrent of bullets ceased. It was a woman's voice. "Vasily! You still alive in there?" The woman called out.
The air was far from still in the fresh silence. Adeladia's breath was shallow. She dared not move while she listened out for her father. Could he really still be inside? What did the Alliance want with him?
"We have him here, come near and we will kill him!" Called out a ministry soldier from within the office.
"Well, far be it for me to doubt the honesty of a cornered dog; but I'm gonna need some proof!" The woman responded. Her voice was loud but she was nowhere to be seen. Another moment passed where the soldiers were no doubt discussing some kind of plan of escape. "Come on, trooper! Hop to! Not got all day." The woman called again in an inappropriately light tone.
"If we hand him over, how do we know you won't just blow us up?" The soldier answered.
"Look... Buddy, pal. This ends in one of three ways: One, we fight - you die - and I've got to find another scientist; two, you take too long making up your mind, we break in and kill you all; or three, You surrender Mr. Tempish and we all go home. I give you my personal guarantee of safe passage - If you give us the scientist, and I mean... Who's ever doubted the integrity of a hidden sniper's word? Not that you've got much choice either way." The woman called out.
"Fuck- Fuck you!" The soldier responded. A bullet rang out to answer him and he fell silent.
"Wrong answer, next!" The woman said.
"Okay, Fuck- Okay! I'm sending him out! Just, don't shoot." A younger voice shouted.
"Thank you kindly, sweetie!" The woman said.
She saw him and her heart sank. Vasily, her father, limping on a stump that was once his leg; supported by a crutch beneath his single arm. Half a face and half seared flesh. One eye, no lips, a hole in his cheek; but most definitely him.
She couldn't help herself. He was alive! Before she knew it, she was running straight at him. "Otets!" She cried as her eyes welled up.
"Ade, moye serdtse! No!" He called. He was too late. She saw it, just behind her father. A ball. Green and lumpy. The ministry troop must have thrown it when everyone was distracted. He probably threw it to the Alliance soldier walking to meet her father, but - regardless of its intended target - it landed behind her father.
----------------------------------------
She did not hear the man running. She did not see him dive out. Whether it was the morphine, the shock or just tunnel vision from seeing her father didn't matter for the result was all the same. He saved her instead of her father. He pushed her to the dirt and held her beneath him.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
The explosion wasn't as loud this time, perhaps she was getting used to them. The man atop of her took the brunt of the hit, though it seemed not to bother him all too much. All Ade took was a small fragment of metal to the thigh. Maybe the ball wasn't very powerful? Maybe it didn't do as much damage as she thought it would?
"You alive?" The man asked as he dragged Ade away.
"I- Yes... Alive. I'm alive." Ade whispered in a daze. The man wasn't looking at her. He was looking above her. Into the office building. He was shooting?
"That's good, kiddo. Do me a favour: keep your head down." He said with a wink. He was scarily calm, Ade thought. He was shooting relentlessly at men no more than five meters away from him but he was cool, confident. He looked back at her while he loaded a new magazine into his rifle. "I'm going to sort these guys out. Are you going to be ok out here?" He asked. Ade nodded, still dazed. He put his hand in front of her eyes and clicked his fingers a couple of times. She focused in on his fingers and drew herself back from her daze. "Wait... Otets!" She shouted as she tried to stand.
"No, stay here!" The soldier ordered, pushing her back down with one hand. "I'll get your father when it's safe."
"But-"
"For fucks sake, Tempish! Do you not understand that they are shooting at you? Stay here and wait until I, or any of my squad, tell you it is safe. Understood?" He interrupted. Ade wanted to argue but his tone was final and he had already moved into the office by the time she could open her mouth.
----------------------------------------
The door came off its hinges with an explosion and the bottom floor filled with smoke. The ministry troops shot wildly into open air, hoping a stray shot might find it's mark. The Alliance soldier waited outside until they stopped shooting. "Mark em' kid." He said into the air. Then, suddenly, six laser lines appeared all tracing back to the same spot away in the distance. "Going in." He said as he silently stepped into the smoke filled room. The laser closest to the door flickered off. Then the next, and the next. Shouting erupted from the ministry soldiers. "Where the fuck is he? Report in!" One called out as two more lasers went dark. "Report in!" He repeated.
The Alliance soldier said nothing. He didn't make a quip, he didn't try to scare the enemy, he didn't draw it out. He placed his blade within the soldier and pulled it out. He didn't even wait for him to fall to the ground or choke on his own blood; he was already moving on to the next target.
The next four, on the second floor, didn't go as easy. He breached the room through the front door and straight away pulled a soldier to himself as a shield. Through their panic, the ministry troops didn't notice the grenade he had thrown to the far wall. The explosion ripped the whole wall down and exposed the soldiers to the open air. It was seconds before the sniper picked them all off and just like that, thirty men had been killed. Men who patched Ade up when she was injured. The same men who said her father was responsible for the destruction of everything she had ever known.
Her father!
"Otets! Where are you?" She called out.
His voice was faint, but it was there. He was alive.
"Ade, moye serdtse, I'm here" He said, gasping for air.
"Papa, are you okay?" She asked as she slid to his side.
"I'm okay, child; are you hurt?" He asked. He was not okay, it was plain to see. He would have struggled to survive his previous injuries but after the grenade went off, it was a miracle he wasn't already dead.
"No, papa. I'm okay. The Alliance is here papa. What do they want with you?" She asked with tears welling up in her eyes. He didn't answer at first. He just placed a bloody palm against her cheek before wincing with pain. "Der'mo. Ade... The soldiers... Garrison... He is my friend... Trust him. I- I love you, my daughter. They are good people. They will protect you." He mumbled, seemingly accepting his coming fate.
"Papa, no. Please." She pled. "Soldiers! Help him, please!" She called out. The soldier from earlier ran up behind her. He pressed down on an exposed wound on Vasily's neck. "Iris! Get here now!" He called out over his radio.
"Shit. Reese, grab the big one. I'll get her." Ordered a light haired Irish woman. She helped Ade to her feet while the soldier, Reese, slung Vasily over his shoulder. "Ade, right?" The woman asked.
"Y- yes, ma'am." She responded, struggling to stay awake. "Is he going to be okay?"
"I'll do everything I can, Ade. I'm Warrant officer Iris Commons. Can you tell me how old you are?" The light haired Irish woman asked as she inspected Ade's wound and checked for more.
"Sixteen, ma'am." Ade responded. Iris had started helping her walk forward but she was stumbling and tripping every other step.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. You're just a baby." Iris noted. Her tone seemed genuinely distraught but she didn't look at Ade; she kept her eyes high looking for hidden soldiers.
"I have a PHD ma'am. I'm not a child." She retorted while being all but carried by Iris. She laughed as she struggled to help Ade over a ledge.
"Reese?" She called out.
"Thirty seconds!" He called back from a distance. "Kid, regroup!"
Ade's head lifted. She tried to move forward but Iris held her back. "He doesn't mean you. Stay here." She said. The two had stopped under an overhanging building. "Go on then, I'm curious. What does a sixteen year old get a PHD in?" Iris asked. She still didn't look at Ade. Her emerald eyes darted across the horizon. Ade finally got a real look at her, beyond her haze. She was beautiful. Not at all what she imagined a soldier would look like. Her golden hair reached to her neck and covered the left side of her head. The right side was held back and tucked behind her ear. She wore a black jacket rimmed in gold. The jacket was gorgeous but ill suited to a battlefield. She wasn't even wearing a helmet. She looked closer to a model than veteran. Ade sat there in torn, bloodied and dirty clothes, somebody fresh from a disaster zone. Iris sat there with immaculate make-up, perfect fashion sense and not a trace of body armour. She wore a slim strip of light pink lipstick down the centre of her lips and shimmering golden blush that was styled to look like camouflage face paint.
"Hello? Can you hear me, Ade?" Iris asked with a radiant smile.
"Yes, I'm sorry. My PHD... Genetic engineering." Ade responded, frazzled in her admiration of Iris' looks.
"Oh, like your father then?" Iris asked. The voice of Reese rang out again from over a mound. He was counting down. Iris waved her hand dismissively and turned her attention back to Ade.
"Yes, ma'am. He taught me everything I know." Ade said.
"You aren't a soldier, Ade. You don't need to call me ma'am." Iris said with a wink. "Do you know what your father has been working on?" She asked. Ade held her tongue. She looked at Iris, appraisingly. They wanted her father, they must have wanted his work. Would he want this woman to know?
Iris smiled at Ade. She seemed to understand what Ade was thinking. "Okay. You shouldn't trust me yet. Your father and I are friends. We have worked together for some years now. Has he told you of our work on Apotheosis?" She asked. Ade had heard of Apotheosis. The ascension to godhood. It was the project her father had been working for years now. He had asked her help several times but never let her in on the full picture. She simply shook her head. "No? He must have his reasons not to tell you. Come on, Archi will be here soon." Iris said as she stood, helping Ade rise.
They left their small perch and walked to an open clearing in the rubble. Reese, the soldier that saved Ade from the grenade, stood guard over Vasily. His rifle was pointed out to the horizon. He was more of what a soldier ought to look like, Ade thought. He was rugged and unkempt. His stubble had grown beyond a five o'clock shadow. His hair was short, dark and slicked back on top. He was east Asian but beyond that, Ade had no guess at his origins. He too, didn't wear armour - A theme with this squad, it seemed. He wore a tan harness with dozens of pouches attached, each filled with ammunition and equipment for battle. All the angles and extremities of his face were covered in a pitch black camouflage paint which barely covered his numerous scars. Blood dripped from his cheek but he didn't seem to notice. He was large, six foot one and broadly built. His black synthetic shirt peaked out from beneath a much bulkier combat jacket. His sleeves were rolled just below his elbows exposing a full sleeve of colourful tattoos on his left arm. His right was covered in a black glove with a strange device attached.
"Otets!" Ade called out as she slipped Iris' grasp and ran out to her father. His hand limply raised to hold her. "Otets... Can you hear me?" She asked, tears filling her face. He didn't respond. He couldn't. He had been stabilised from the bomb that damaged his office and took his limbs, but it seemed there was little to be done for the grenade.
Her head fell onto his chest as she silently sobbed. His pain was hers and hers, his. It was too much. Too much noise, too much fear, too much blood. She felt her father's pulse against her head. It was faint and slowing. He hadn't much time. He would be dead soon and she would be all alone. No mother, no father, no home. "Otets, please." She mumbled. Her breath grew steady as she felt the calmness overtake her father. She winced in pain as the adrenaline wore off. The burning, searing pain overtook her and for a moment she wanted nothing more than to scream. She fell backwards away from her father and slacked her jaw; only, what came out wasn't a scream but a torrent of bile and day-old-dinner. She began gagging and vomiting with violent vigour.
"It's okay, sweetie. You're just getting rid of all the fear." A woman's voice softly whispered as Ade felt a pair of hands stroke back the hair from her face. She couldn't look up to see the woman but knew it wasn't Iris. This woman was English, or near enough. It was the voice of the sniper from earlier. She continued to throw up and all thoughts ceased.
"Load her up, kid. Archi's here." Reese ordered. Ade felt the woman raise her up to her feet. She continued spitting up as the woman rubbed her back. "Come on, it's nearly over now." She said.
She had imagined a medical helicopter or maybe a gunship. What landed before her was closer to a box on legs. It flew almost silently, had she not been looking at it, she never would have noticed it. There was no jet or rotor. Just four struts beneath it and a strange blue and purple energy. The side wall opened and she climbed in. It was roomy. The roof was tall enough for Reese to stand straight up. They lay Vasily in a stretcher on the floor and Iris sat beside him to check on his vitals. Ade sat in a chair looking straight at him.
What came from his lips was closer to sputtering and choking than words but she knew what he was trying to say. "Adeladia, my little rabbit. My heart. I love you."
"I love you too, papa." She mumbled, knowing he couldn't hear her. Fatigue and blood loss hit her harder than the bombs dropped over her. The day caught her in an instant as she sat there and warmed herself within the flying shelter. Her eyes grew heavy and her breath shallow.
----------------------------------------
She opened her eyes to darkness. Fabric blocked out the sky and cotton sheets warmed her broken body. She tried to rise, to remove her sheets, but quickly changed her mind upon feeling the bite of winter outside her covers. She moved to sit up straight but collapsed down as the breath was ripped from her lungs. "Your ribs are broken. You've lost a near lethal amount of blood and you've a nasty cold by the sounds of things." A gentle Irish voice spoke. Iris. she was sat at a desk with her back to Ade, writing some notes and reports.
"My father?" Ade whispered. Iris did not respond. She sat looking to her notes for a moment. "Where is he?" She insisted.
Iris turned to face Ade. She looked at her warmly but sadly. "Later, Ade. Right now you need to go back to sleep. Rest." She softly, yet firmly, told Ade. Iris watched Ade fight off sleep. Her eyes fluttered and sank as she tried to keep her head up. "You've been through so much, Ade; and much worse is yet to come. For now, rest."