Bab 7: Unstoppable (END)
"Cough! Cough! Cough! Ahem!" Chege woke up with a start. There was dust all over. He couldn't even see properly. Even if he could, he couldn't even get his eyes open due to all the dust all over the place.
Staggering to get up, Chege struggled to understand where he was. The dust had started to settle. To his amazement, he found himself in a deep crater that was more than 10 meters in diameter. Looking up, he realized that whatever had caused the crater had dug at least 3 meters deep.
The last thing Chege could remember was eating a beautiful breakfast. He didn't even remember finishing it before... "Those damn bastards, they poisoned such a good meal?" The realization came to Chege, but that memory did little to answer the questions in his head.
How did he end up in a pit? Had they killed him and buried him? Chege knew this feeling all too well, and right now, he was more alarmed than most. He wasn't even sure to which reality he was waking up to.
For a brief moment, he thought that somehow, he had returned to the reality he had grown up to. He'd get to see the city once again. Every time he came back from a hunt, he had a feeling. Not that he loved the place, but for some reason, he felt safe there. Now he felt like he'd finally get to have that feeling.
Excited, he raced to the top of the crater, but the only sheer shock that waited.
To his right, the creatures were engaged in a death match with the base soldiers, who were to the left. The creatures had bows and arrows, spears, swords, and clubs. The soldiers were in their mech suits firing laser beams at the creatures. There were even hovercrafts and other machinery that Chege didn't recognize it.
The moment he poked his head out, the war stopped fighting, as if someone had pressed the pause button. Everyone looked at the crater as though a ghost had just poked its head. In truth, a ghost had poked its head out of the grave.
One of the creatures recovered first. A spear was sent spiraling into a mech suit, sending it on the ground. The spear throw was so incredible that it broke through the mech suit, but given how powerful the armor was, it barely made a dent.
This sent the battlefield back into chaos. Chege was not waiting for an invite. He fled like a bolt that had been fired from a high powered crossbow, leaving nothing but dust.
"IT'S ALIVE?" Sir Anyang couldn't believe what he just heard. "HOW?"
Shortly after the massive plasma cannon blast, the Golden Globe was struck in such an angle that it thrust it across the fields, landing 18.342 miles away.
Confirmation had to be made, so hovercrafts had been deployed in the area to ascertain that the threat was indeed neutralized. Little did they know that the creatures too had the same idea. The moment they met each other, a violent fight broke out.
After Chege ran off, there was no need to remain fighting. For the moment, the creatures were not the primary target, Chege was. Since he had run off, they naturally had to pursue. The mech suits folded up and rose to the hovercrafts. They were ground units, for pursuit across the forest, they needed aerial superiority.
Chege ran like a wild beast, giving little thought about where he was going. He had no destination anyway, just away from the enemy. He had suffered at the hands of the base, no way he was going back again. Not if he had any say on the matter.
A powerful blast hit the ground, missing Chege by inches. The massive shockwave resulting caused Chege to stumble and fall, but he quickly got up and continued running, without even bothering to dust himself off.
One blast followed another blast as they continued to hit the ground, missing Chege with every attack. Chege struggled to keep running, but with every step, he kept getting disoriented. The shockwaves made it impossible to run straight.
The soldiers wouldn't dare fire the laser beams at Chege. They had tried before and failed, and they didn't want to give Chege the initiative once more. In their minds, lasers were power-ups, and no one would power up their foe when they have him dead to rights.
Chege knew that this wouldn't last. He didn't know what to do or how to getaway. In his mind, he felt that those misses could just hit him at any time. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a way to lose his tail. Once they had him locked on, they weren't going to let him out of their sight.
Lady luck does love me! Chege thought as he saw a cave that looked more like the tunnel. No time to waste. The man tunneled in without a second thought.
"Sir, he's gone underground."
"I can see that! Track his energy signature. Ground teams, you're up!" Major Kenji barked and he scrambled to his mech suit. As a combat leader, he wanted to be there on the ground, fighting in the trenches. No way he was missing this fight.
In a fluid motion, all the mech suits engaged all over the hovercrafts. They fell to the ground, and before long, they too were in the tunnel, racing after him.
Chege was like a beacon of light displayed through the HUD of the mech suit. Even though he was far into the tunnel, the mech suits had very penetrative data collection. Moreover, the heat signature he was emitting was extremely powerful.
The tunnels were extremely well detailed, with several sub-tunnels. Running across them, it was as though one was running in a labyrinth. Every turn he made assured Chege, but the mech suits still kept pace, beginning to catch up.
Suddenly, Chege ended up in a huge room, more like a hall, yet this was not even the biggest shock. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of creatures were in that room. An entire hall was full of them. Big and small, young and old, it was an entire community down there.
Talk about being out of the fire and into the frying pan. Chege couldn't decide which side posed more danger. The decision was taken away from him since he heard the mech suits coming. Freaked out, he continued running, pushing through the people.
The creatures had been moving about, going about their business, before the rude interruption. Now, they too were on the run. Unlike Chege, who was an unknown, they knew just how destructive those mech suits were. They scrambled to find a hole to hide into.
Chege didn't even know where he was going, but he ended up in another room. Much smaller than the last one, this room had lesser creatures, about 28 or so. Looking around, Chege almost jumped up and down in pleasure following what he saw.
A big metallic-looking bow next to a quiver of arrows. Of course, Chege would run after it. This time, the creatures reacted differently. Instead of running out of the way, they moved to intercept Chege, prevent him from getting to the bow.
They tried. The first was tossed effortlessly across the room, the second broke their arms. By the time he as getting through the 7th, most creatures had cleared out, but the mech suits had finally caught up.
Chege finally managed to grab the bow, but to his shock, the creatures went down on their hands and knees, wailing. Deciding to ignore them, Chege's hands on the bow felt ecstatic. This was a weapon he knew well. Back home, in his squad, he was known as one-shot wonder. His skills with the bow were unparalleled, and now, here he was again.
Precious moments passed. Man and machine aimed.
***
"Alpha Company, report! Over." Major Kenji shouted through the comms.
"Sir, we have the target cornered and surr-"
"Alpha Company, report! Over." The major checked his HUD. Three mech suit units were destroyed. An eerie feeling welded in his heart.
"All teams, proceed to Alpha Company's last known location. Over."
"Roger. Bravo Company proceeding. Over."
"Roger. Charlie Company proceeding. Over."
"..."
"Delta Company, report! Over."
"..."
"Delta Company, report! Over."
Something was happening. Delta Company icons on the HUD were all greyed out, indicating they were gone.
"All teams, greenlight your location, we need to be in constant communication. Over." Major Kenji said, trying to reassure the teams. The soldiers did as told, except...
"Bravo Company, did you read my last, comply, Over!"
"..."
"Bravo Company, come in! Over."
"..."
"Alright, all teams, fall back, I want a hardline back to Hummingbird, Move Now! Over."
Chege continued running, though right now he was no longer fleeing. He'd had enough of it, and once he learned that he could deal some damage to his pursuers, well, let's just say it felt like Christmas. Too bad he didn't know what Christmas is.
Right now, he still had 14 more arrows in his quiver, having collected 2 from fallen soldiers. Also, one time, he had taken out 2 units with one arrow earlier, conserving his ammo. His heart was racing yet his mind was clear.
He knew this feeling well, now that he was used to being a hunter, not the hunted. His opponents were tough but he was tougher. With his massive bow, he could take them out before they knew where he was. The advantage had switched to him.
Mech suits had plenty of advantages, but stealth was not one of them. Due to the loud sound of metal swirling and gears turning, Chege could pick out where his enemy was and easily take them out. His approach of using stealth to mask his approach had worked wonders, but for a different kind of reason.
Since they were underground in a nest, the mech suits couldn't go around wantonly killing. While they had the infrared detectors, it couldn't differentiate between Chege and the other creatures. Hence, they had to be sure of who they were attacking before firing.
The tunnels may have been poorly illuminated, but with the mech suits, that was of little concern. Of course, they had automatic night vision installed, switching from night mode to day mode automatically. To their misfortune, they didn't count on Chege being faster on the draw.
Chege didn't use light to target his opponents. The loud noises they made could clearly show the direction they were making. Luckily, the mechs had such a large surface area that Chege could hit them blindfolded.
As he searched for them, he heard the remaining mechs running back to the tunnel opening. 'Let us see how many will get back,' Chege had an evil smile thinking this.
***
The teams were on the move, but only 2 made it back, 4 had gone out, each consisting of 5 units. That was 8 soldiers lost. One unit had lost 2 soldiers, and this time they saw what had hit them. A golden arrow. Too bad they couldn't stick around to investigate.
"What the hell happened in there sir." The soldier who asked that wished he hadn't. If looks could kill, he'd be killed by every Mech suit soldier that made it back to the hovercraft. It was a silent journey back to base.
However, Chege wasn't done with them yet. As they rose in the air, trying to gain optimum altitude to cruise back, something flashed across the windshield. The screen was cracked, and blood was flowing. Turning to the cockpit, Major Kenji was shocked to see one of the pilots shot dead!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone