I put my uniform on, set the cameras to the best shooting mode and rushed down towards the first deck that was going to take me out. My eyelids were still half-closed, but the total flurry that was raging in the ship’s corridors and the run down the stairs helped me wake up fully. I still had no idea what was happening, but since everyone who wore a uniform was going downstairs and all the civilians were headed towards the upper decks, the safer ones, there was only one possible reason I could think of. We were expecting a new mass attack, but this time I had the feeling that everything was coming to an end that very day. It was going to be either us or them, that was the last hope of the human settlers on Menoetius! Everyone had to help with whatever they could because every little thing could tip the scales in our favor. My heart was beating faster, my hairs were standing on end, my stomach turned and the closer I got to the exit, the more I remembered the grand battle; as for the one that was about to unfold, I sensed it was going to be absolutely mind-blowing. The last escalator took me to the megabarn at level one, the last tanks and weapons were being carried out if it through the enormous gates. I headed in that direction at a fast pace and once I found myself outside the ship, my eyes landed on an incredible scene. The companies were drawn up, the machines were ready to defend us and the tanks and the PCAs were waiting at the front line in the distance right behind the newly rebuilt fence. I could not believe it that after the losses we suffered the day before we were up for yet another counterstrike and were determined to fight until the very end. I was stunned at the discipline that reigned that place; 138 Infantry Division which was most impressively represented in terms of numbers stood to attention. It formed the defense line right behind the tanks, armed with even more of the electric shotguns than we had the day before. The ranks in front of them were comprised of all other mercenaries who were in no way less brave than the infantry officers; last came the group of the civilians whose task was to supply the soldiers in need with ammunitions and projectiles and, if it came to that, they were also supposed to cover the inner defense line. I marched ahead and saw the last mine launchers which were calibrated for short-range fire a few dozen feet outside the panel fences which were already charged with electricity. The trench was still in place and little by little they were filling it in with the rainwater they had collected from the shower that fell the night before–it was not at all an inconsiderable amount.
Our entire defense was in position and the order was similar to that of the previous day. I hoped that the outcome would also be similar and even a shade more favourable for us. Amidst the entire commotion of soldiers and machines, right in the middle, I spotted something else. It was the drone we had used the day before–it was to attempt and send another wave of bullets over the black mount. That time, though, there was a large crowd of people gathered around it and I decided to go and see what exactly they were planning to do. With every step I took, the silhouettes became more distinguishable. The group comprised the six members of Iris 1 in their exoskeletons, Milev and a forklift that loaded on the drone something that resembled a lot the mass destruction weapon they used the previous day. But the Lieutenant looked different. It was easy to see from afar that he was wearing a different uniform. It was snow white and ironed. It got me wondering why he would put on such a suit, but it seemed to be a parade outfit. He had white shoes and a white peaked cap to match. His tunic had golden buttons, his shoulders were all covered with gold epaulettes and had a tricolor of white, green and red stitched underneath. There was also something like a long officer’s sabre, tucked in a tasteful scabbard. He looked so majestic that those who were standing behind him could not take their eyes off of him.
´Are you ready, Colonel?’ was the first thing I heard the Balkan say.
‘No one can ever be ready for something like this, one has to just go and do it,’ Thomas smiled, nodding in agreement. The engines were warming up, emitting a loud noise and smoke that made the communication between the crew members more difficult.
‘It’s on in autopilot mode, I wish you a safe landing!’ Dimitar shouted. ‘And one more thing. The bomb is different than the one we dropped yesterday. It’s a prototype we stole from a military warehouse in Germany. It’s light and easy to carry, but be careful. All I know is that it has a large scope of destruction. Do what you can to wedge it inside the mountain so it has as great an impact as it can. Good luck, you’ll need it!’ Milev wished, saluting the Colonel who looked ferociously in his multimillion dollar suit. The Lieutenant could now only move out of his way. He went over to Rogers who was waiting a dozen feet behind, holding in one hand the same flag he waved yesterday and Alice’s hand in the other. I had not noticed their presence at first, but they, too, were there, although they were keeping their distance from the rest.
But something dramatic, though, unfolded before my eyes. The members of the research team wished their leader luck one by one. The last one, however, halted right in front of him, but did not offer a hand as a greeting. The robot-like thing pressed the helmet of the suit at the side and the mechanism released the head-part of the suit. We could then see who was inside. It was Mila. Her eyes quickly filled up with sorrow. Tears were brimming in her eyes and the contours of her color liner were flaking as she stood there staring at him. At once she sprang at Ivanov and started hitting him in the chest, pleading with him.
‘Take me with you, I’m not going to leave you alone, I’m nooot!’ The Colonel did not say a thing, he just let her vent her anger on him. Five or six more blows followed, but he did not budge and because of the power of the suit they felt like a rumble playing in synchrony with the tumult caused by the plane.
‘Don’t,’ the Russian whispered barely perceptibly and then pulled her into a tight embrace. At first she tried to break out of his hold, but his strong arms worked their calming effect on her. She squeezed her eyes shut as though she was trying to blink back her tears. Maybe she had lost a lot and she did not want to be left without the person she felt closest to her heart on this planet, too. Mila finally responded to his embrace and cuddled up in him. They stayed like this for about a minute, clutching into each other, their eyes closed and their hair blowing madly in the wind. I kept my place and the sidelines, happy for them. Perhaps late the previous night after they met on the balcony they had finally revealed their feelings for each other or it was now that they realized what was happening between them. I was astounded, Ivanov was not alone after all. In spite of the audience, they were a heart- wrenching sight to watch and everyone who surrounded them, myself included, prayed for his mission to be a success. But we also wanted him to come back alive, otherwise the joy of the victory was never going to taste the way we would like it to because we would know that a woman’s heart would forever drown in sorrow, gaze turned to the horizon with no desire or hope to live.
Ivanov stepped away from her, holding her by the palm of her right hand which was covered by the almost impenetrable armor-plating of the suit. He looked her straight in the eyes for a few seconds, I had no idea why, maybe he wanted to keep her beautiful image in his memory forever. But did he have to do that and if it was necessary, how long was forever? It felt like Thomas wanted to stay and be her pillar in the final combat. He wanted to protect her from direct dangers, but he just could not stay.
‘Promise me you’ll come back!’ the lady said through tears. The Colonel’s gaze dropped to her feet, he did not have it in him to lie to her. He did not dare to give her any answer, but instead he pulled her close to him and kissed her so passionately as though it was the first and last kiss in his life. Then he let go of her and headed towards the plane, eyes fixed on what was in front of him; he did not say a word to anyone. He had a chance to put an end to the war and he knew it. Maybe that was what made him so unyielding in his decisions.
‘Do svidaniya!’ he turned and cried in his mother tongue, eyes filled with tears, hanging at the door of the plane as it soared up into the sky. We could not figure out whether he was bidding u
s farewell or whether he was trying to prepare us for the worst possible outcome. Just the thought of the last happening gave me goosebumps as I watched Thomas and the cargo slowly go on their way up and ahead, veiled by a curtain of smoke and deafening noise. The pilotless plane drifted in the direction of the black mountain whose peak we could barely make out in the distance as a thin needle sticking out over the forest massifs, ready to thrust itself into the sky and give it a deadly sting.
In that very same direction something too interesting and odd started taking shape. A thick mist began descending from the black colossus at the area of the sloping slope straght at us while the plane with the dangerous cargo gradually got lost inside a low-level cloud. Ten minutes later, despite all the sounds and noises acompanying the battlefield and the inessant buzzing, we heard something too disconcerting for me to ignore. I turned around and saw the people moan with fright, some were yelling while others were simply staring at the gigantic screen in barn one. But what was that? What were they looking at ? I wished to join them so I could find out, but I knew that the main event was about to start within a few moments’ time, moreover I did not want to abandon my spot since we had already been assigned our positions. The news got to my ears very fast, like a tsunami wave that swept away every glimmer of hope for victory that we clung to.
‘The Colonel…, in the mist…., the weird birds crashed his plane.’ These broken phrases began circulating insistently around me and I flew into terror mode. Was that really happening? Were the people around me proclaiming the worst case scenario possible?
‘Hey you, what’s going on?’ I asked one of the mobilized men who happened to pass by me, unloading one of the last boxes with ammunitions from a truck that came from barn one, who probably knew the answer.
‘There are flying creatures in the mist. They’re coming towards us,’ he informed me and went on doing his job faster and faster, maybe he did it was out of fear.
‘What? How did you get to see them?’
‘Frames from the camera of the pilotless drone were broadcasted onto the screens. That flock of vermin attacked the plane and the last thing we saw was the Colonel getting near the landing spot on the mountain, but he lost control and crashed into the colossus a dozen feet away below the mountain top. They did not transmit anything else,’ he briefed me on the appalling tragedy that was soon to befall us, too. My legs started shaking and I was at a loss as to what to do. The man continued unloading, but it was clear the he, too, was shocked by the course of events. At that moment I was already sure that we were to expect an assault by air. The cameras were on, they recorded everything as the mist was coming fast from the direction of the forest. The curious thing about it was that it was floating at the level of the trees without falling closer to the ground. The foray was about to start in a matter of minutes and I heard Milev’s voice somewhere behind my back.
‘Have no fear, brothers! Grab the arms!’ he yelled at the top of his lungs from the roof of one of the heavy weight trucks. He pulled out his sabre, raising it high up and pointing it at the sky. ‘Soldiers, hold the sky at gunpoint!’ he cried so powerfully that the entire plateau heard his booming voice. Everyone who carried a gun pointed it skyward, ready to meet the mist and the unholy adversary that was cloaked by it. At once we felt a light fresh current of air and right after it had passed, the cloud began to cover everything overhead. We heard multiple bizarre blood-curdling cries. At first we saw vague silhouettes and over the next few seconds when the nebulosity had already enveloped us, they flew lower and lower.
‘Readyyyy!’ the Officer’s voice dominated the field, he brandished his sabre in the air and took out his gun with his free hand, ready to meet and destroy our attackers. ‘Fire !’ he cried and shots hissed in the air. The sky got illuminated by the bullets that travelled like flashes, by the electric projectiles and the bombs which were set to detonate at a close range. And then real bodies began to rain from the sky. The bird-like creatures, the size of an adult golden eagle, dropped in flocks all around us.
‘Steer clear of the bodies!’ someone in front of us shouted. They were beautiful and colorful, but they also looked dangerous and perfidious. We hit them first and avoided the element of surprise; yet we still had no clue what was to bechance us next. The flock launched its attack on us. They descended and zeroed in on out battalions in well-formed lines which made smooth turns. They swooped down on us at a high speed, picking random victims, and their destructive power showed right through. They bit and tore off pieces of the uniforms of our military men, successfully inducing avulsions, but that was not the worst part. Those flying critters flapped hard with their wings, thus striking their victims to the ground; the sound could be heard from dozens of feet away. The blows were deadly–their limbs had spikes which we suspected injected poison in their victims. It was a real massacre. Birds fell from the sky struck by projectiles, soldiers were bitten to death, then they got dragged along the ground before they were finally killed by getting stung multiple times. Not knowing how to react, all I could do was film the carnage. I pointed my gun at the sky a few times and even managed to take down one of those creatures, but they seemed to have no end. A few of them dropped down near me, I even got walloped by a falling carcass which grazed my palms and caused them to bleed. I ran to the side in an attempt to find some sort of shelter that could allow me to both record and open fire on our attackers. Unexpectedly, a thick line of birds dove down near me, but flew past me and attacked two of the soldiers that were passing near my little safe haven–they got ripped apart and killed in an instant. Their corpses went blue in a matter of seconds and their faces froze into such terrified grimaces that I could never be able to erase those images of pain-struck horror from my mind.
‘Aaagr!’ I yelled and fell on the ground face down, ready to be ripped apart by the beasts. I covered my head in an attempt to protect myself, but some of them flew so close by me that I felt the powerful flaps of their wings in the air around me. Others even perched nearby for a few seconds, then they flew away, squawking and ready for another attack.
I raised my head up and saw that the assault was concentrated on the front lines and I found myself in the middle of a pool of dead bodies–both of my own species and of the alien one. I got scared. We were outnumbered by the enemy and they seemed to be gradually taking the upper hand. I saw something like a makeshift shelter which was guarded by a few soldiers standing outside of it who had dug holes and had hid themselves inside them, engaged in incessant fire; a familiar face, tough, showed up from inside that shelter. Milev, well cloaked in there, was talking over the radio. Without a second thought, I ran up to him. Perhaps I had decided I could find salvation at that place despite the fact that the circumstances so far showed no sign of existing salvation at all. The large birds were still soaring over, dashing in different directions and, some fifteen feet away from the shelter, one of them swooped down on me. It bit into my sleeve and started drawing me closer. Then it struck me in the torso with its wing, but failed to penetrate my vest and that actually saved me. Consequently, I suffered a second blow, this time aimed at my helmet and had it hit me two inches lower, I would have been killed right on spot. It kept bashing me as if it was a matter of life and death. I was going to give it exactly what it yearned for the most. I reached for the scabbard strapped around my thigh, pulled out my knife and stabbed it several times in the bird’s body. It was squealing with pain, but neither tried to fly away, nor did it quit its fierce attack on me. Obviously it wanted to die in combat. It made to bite me again a few times and then I fed it the blade of my knife. It swallowed the sharp-pointed end and I pulled it to one side, twisting it and tearing the head and the throat of the creature apart. Its carcass dropped in my feet, giving powerful convulsions and dripping light blue blood-like liquid. I looked at my hands and saw that my body was sprinkled with that nasty thing. I felt sick, never before had I taken away the life of animal of such enormous size . . . I felt like a murderer . . . Bu
t there was no time for that feeling because my life was more valuable than that of the hundreds of thousands of birds that were circling us in the air. Once again I dashed for my target, and the ship, our only fortress, started emitting bizarre roaring sounds which grew louder by the second. What the hell was that? Eventually I got to the Officer who was still talking over the radio.
‘At full power!’ he yelled and looked at the gigantic machine. Those were obviously the secondary auxiliary engines which served to enable the horizontal maneuvering. They were pointing in the direction of the oncoming mist. ‘Go! Do it, otherwise we’ll lose the battle!’ Milev roared once again and I was still unable to wrap my head over why they were doing that. Was that a preparation for taking off or for evacuation or was it some sort of a brilliant military tactic?
The rumbling sound caused by the accelerators was so mighty that it left the entire plateau deaf for a while as their horse-power gradually increased. At first there was just a whirlpool and a minute later large masses of air were thrust out towards the forest and the gigantic earth-bedded machine vibrated insanely, ready to move up due to the tractive force. And then another twist in the course of events happened. The flock of killers was incinerated and blasted back right to the place it had come from. The critters scattered all over the place at a breakneck speed that killed them on the spot or tossed them around as their bodies hit the trees or the ground. My ears were ringing and began hurting, the power of the engines increased more and more and although the jet was well over three hundred feet above us, it felt like a hurricane to us. Carcasses of birds, trunks, bags, soil and grass were flying around and I felt like our flying beast of a ship was trying to sweep the plateau away from the forest. In the last moment when even the earth started quaking I was beginning to think that were not about to get murdered by the creatures, but by the vibration; I saw the low-level clouds drift away completely, the birds disappeared, and the red giant broke over the horizon again, scowling down at us. I could not believe it–the accelerators were going down and the victory was ours thanks to our commander. We managed to withstand the charge of those strange and exceptionally dangerous organisms. A small ray of hope? We were left with no other choice but to regroup and to wait for news from the Russian whose signal we could still get intermittently coming from the direction of the mountain despite the disturbances.
Dawn of Hope- Exodus Page 52
