Chương 21: Humanity
Laid on the roof overlooking the general area were rested the flyover, the sun soon turned somber. Rainclouds covered its glow; the weather took a turn for the worse. The temperature dropped; footsteps scurried down below.
'Cess, plot the quickest and safest route to the Point A.'
[Commanded inputted…] [Processing…] [Complete].
'I see,' paused to think, the wind carried tiny droplets. The three paths across the town were displayed, each with percentage risk. The latter compiled data to conclude how likely an attacker would be present. 'Path Two seems to be covered from the rooftops, if we go across and sneak in the buildings, should let out onto the escape.' The varying radius of water droplets had the dusty roof turned moist, '-can't feel anything through the suit,' silently peering the sky, '-I wonder what kind of person I was before.'
"Sir Hero," whispered a child, "-why are you in the rain?"
'The injured girl,' he turned, 'Cess, is it possible to have her scanned for injuries?'
[Command Recognized], a green-light soon came out the shoulder to sweep from head to feet. [Fracture detected], a diagram of her body fully x-rayed was shown. [Minor injury to the leg.]
"Sir Hero?" she called again with a whimper.
"Don't strain yourself," giving a helping hand to climb down the stairs, "-why did you come up, its still crawling with danger."
"N-nothing, I wanted to see the Hero that Rusty called," giving a smile with a few missing teeth, he patted her head affectionately. Moved to another room since Rusty's body underwent decomposition, the smell was repugnant, burning, and itchy, a small whiff had tears coming out the eyes.
"Alright," stood facing the children, '-Cess, do a full scan.' Cowered behind the elders of the group, the kids were reluctant to approach except for the little girl.
[Command Recognized…] [Full-Body Scan engaged…] [Complete].
[Minor Injuries].
'Can they move?'
[Affirmative, injuries aren't of concern], wrote itself on the bottom left.
'I guess this one won't be able to run?'
[Affirmative].
'Cess, the children are still scared of my suit. Release the helmet lock.'
[Command accepted], breathing a tsst, using both hands, the helmet was removed. Held underneath the right arm, it showed the face of a young boy with medium-sized hair. Ones that would constantly fall onto the eye. "Alright," he knelt and smiled, "-we're going to go join with the Allied Nation," holding out a hand, "-I need you safe so that I can rescue the others." Warm eyes with a slightly tilted head had the children feel more at ease. As proof, the constant glances showed interest.
"We'll do as you say," said the elder girl, "-if you can get us to safety then we'll listen."
"Good," helmet back on, [Rebooting…] [Complete], "-carry her on piggyback," pointing at the elder boy, "-stay behind me at all times. Make sure to not stray away, and if you see someone, don't make noise or scream, calmly tap my back and point, ok?"
"Um-hm," they nodded.
'Cess, raise the spacial awareness, I want a constant stream of information. Don't bother filtering, have the thermal running at all times. Disable the Wire-frame, we don't need to see inside buildings, it will throw off my range.'
[Command Recognized…] [Optimizing per host's orders…] [Complete].
'A map that constantly pings for any footstep, thermal vision when I scope using the rifle, this feels so familiar.' Scurried down to an alley, the kids followed behind without trouble. The injured girl rode on the boy's back. Kept close to the buildings and moving from cover to cover, the path taken was one narrow without any open space. Carefully checking corners, using sensors, the distance to safety was 2.5 Kilometers. At a normal pace, it would take on average less than an hour. Sadly, with kids in tow, the time taken increased.
Meanwhile, the remainder of Parker's men joined with Miles who guarded point B. Reports of gunfire out in enemy territory had them on edge. Taking turns, the ladies returned to take a break inside a vacant building. Sat around a radio relaying information, the soldier in charge of intelligence worked tirelessly.
"Keira, Julia," spoke Miles with a less than comforting tone, "-I won't apologize for leaving you behind. The best course of action was to have people guard our retreat."
"There's no need for justification, Sergeant," laid back on a chair with an opened can, "-we know what we sign up when entering the war."
"Good," he stood arms crossed glaring the survivor, "-how?" he asked.
"Simple," Julia pointed to her arm, "-Keira and I trained to be in the special-ops. Not to brag, we took out two squads on our own."
"Yeah," sighed Keira, "-that's before we ran out of ammo. A strange voice reached out into our channel. In a blink, the enemy was wiped, that's how we retreated."
"Are you sure you didn't just run away?" skeptical, Miles turned to the intelligence officer.
"What they say is true sir. We have reports of an unknown figure walking across Point B and into the enemy territory. Ever since then, there's been no sign of attack, movement is minimal."
"A mysterious figure," he turned with a frown, "-whatever the case, get ready to move out, we're heading to point A as assigned." News about a mysterious figure reached Rashford as well, perplex and not incline in believing rumors, the attention was turned to the clean-up operation at 18:00.
"Are we there yet?" asked the children after a full two-hour walk.
"Yes, we'll be there soon," stopped around 300 meters away from the destination, "-we'll take a break here." Guarding the door to a small convenience store, they were allowed snacks, food from a can, and drinks. Eyes lit brightly at the sight of something to eat. A can of sardine, normally uninteresting to kids their age, seemed as if a delicacy.
[Time: 18:23], '-we're there, can't afford to lower my guard.'
"Hero Sir?"
"GET DOWN," *PANG," pushed to the floor, a bullet grazed past the helmet and onto the ground.
"A-ARE WE GOING TO D-DIE?" mumbled a girl who had limped her way to his side.
"Keep your head down," [Calculating Trajectory…]
"EVERYONE, DON'T MOVE, STAY BEHIND THE COUNTER."
"S-sir h-hero," soft to faint sobs, "-m-my f-foot."
"Don't move," turned away and searching for where the shot came, trembling hands held onto his back.
"What do you want?" giving an over the shoulder glance, '-oh no,' blood flowed out her right foot. The bullet ricocheted against the helmet. 'This is bad,' from trembling, the girl passed out due to shock. 'This is very bad,' bullets were shot randomly. Landing all around, 05 pulled on her arm to then hold her body tightly. Sat so as the back faced the shooters, any stray bullet would hit him instead of the girl. 'CESS, WHERE'S THE ANALYSIS?'
[Error…]
[Visual Sensors: Offline]
[Auto-Repair Engaged]
[Completion: 23%]
'Thermal and X-ray is out, I can't use Wire-frame to track them through walls. I'm pinned down, the backdoor might save us, it's covered from their line-of-sight. Getting there is the issue, if I take one step away from this wall, it's going to hurt. Wait,' an idea popped into mind, '-there's a clear line of sight from the Flyover to here. The report said that Platoon 039, would move to Point B at 17:00. They should be there, which means,' taking a deep breath, 'Cess, get into the general AN-C frequency channel, never mind that, get in every single channel. I want this broadcasted.'
[Command Recognized] [Cancelling Trajectory calculation]
[Multiple Frequencies detected…]
[Error – Encrypted] [Beginning Decoding]
[Successfully decoded] [Infiltration Complete]
"Anyone in the vicinity of Point A," spoken into all the AN-C channels, even the ones that were private, a deep, muffled voice had everyone startled, "-I have children who need to be taken to the refuge. However, I'm pinned 300 meters off of the Flyover. There should be a straight line to the point of Ambush. Sent help, there's one injured as well."
"What was that?" chaos raged over headquarters, "-were we hacked?" asked the intelligence officers with Rashford at the center.
"That's him, Sergeant Miles," said Keira, "-that's the man who saved us at Point B."
"The mysterious figure exists?" he laughed. Hidden behind cover without support from snipers, Rashford's unit moved to Point B an hour ago. Left in charge of Point A, Miles sat with the regret of having let his comrades die. "Where are you going?" he screamed seeing the girls move.
"Didn't you hear, he has civilians and children no less," argued Keira.
"Yes, what of it."
"What do you mean, what of it, sir?" Julia's face turned gloomy.
"The figure hacked everything around, don't you think he might be an enemy? Besides, what if its a trap, what if he wants us to walk into his hand, I'm not going to risk losing Point A on a distress signal."
"Sergeant Miles," in came a call from the Lieutenant, "-give me a status report."
"Gun-fire in the distance, we received a call for help from a mysterious individual."
"It's what I feared," paused, "-detonate the charges. Cut off access to Point B, I'll handle the rest," the call ended.
"Roger…" shaking the head, "-have the charges readied, we're blowing up the flyover."
"SERGEANT, ARE WE GOING TO CUT OFF THEIR ACCESS?" screamed Julia in defiance.
"Are you going to defy the command of a superior officer?" despite the glasses, they could feel the anger in his eyes.
"If it means saving potential civilians, then," stood Julia, "-I'm going to defy orders. Our superior officer was Parker, a man you foolishly let die on the whims of the Second Lieutenant."
"I second her judgment," stood Keira with a gun in hand, the situation grew into a rebellious mess.
"Private First-Class Keira and Corporal Julia, do you wish to be court marshaled?"
"Do as you see fit, Sergeant," they walked out the building, "-Parker's squad died in protecting Point B."
"Pull the charge, DO IT NOW," screamed, meters away from the bridge, six well-placed explosives blew the support which had it all crumbling down. Stopped in their tracks, the destruction shook the ground all around as if an earthquake.
"Julia and Keira," stood with a squad behind, "-what will you do now?" asked Miles with his man aimed at the ladies. "Are you going to continue down the path of anarchy or will you return inside," strict, "-I don't want Parker's men to die a senseless death."
"SENSELESS, WHERE'S YOUR HUMANITY, DON'T YOU HAVE A DUTY?"
"SILENCE," the safety unlocked, "-humanity, are you serious, searching for humanity in a war. Stop dreaming and get back, we're awaiting orders from the Lieutenant," calling off their aim, he left the Private and Corporal. Hopeless, they could but stare where bullets were still being fired.
[Point A, Flyover Destroyed], flashed across the screen. 'They cut off the point of access, what is wrong with them?' ducked, bullets flew rampantly. "Cess, Status on the repair?"
[Completion 40%] [Estimated Time: 32 Minutes]
'Are you kidding, the child isn't going to last 32 minutes, her blood isn't clotting. What a fucking mess.'
*Peek out and shoot, it's easy. Use your reaction time, don't be afraid – you'll be fine.*
"Disable the assists," said a composed voice, [Command Recognized…] [Confirmation: Yes or No], "-yes."
[Auto Assist: Disabled]
[Visual Guide: Disabled]
[Control swapping to Host]
[Automatic à Manual]
'Give me a moment,' placing the girl gently on the side, '-desperate times call for desperate measures.' Assault Rifle in hand, he stood facing a firing-squad of more than ten. *BANG,* faster than a blink, ten consecutive shots hit their mark. *BANG,* a survivor was able to land a direct hit on the shoulder. The momentum had him crash against an aisle, '-you got me,' aimed, *BANG,* the last shot hit just before falling.
[Damage Report: -30% Shoulder armor]
[Auto-Regeneration: Enabled] [Priority: Armor Repair].
'Give me a break,' he sighed, '-30% from a single-bullet. In no way will the protection last if I take more than five-bullets.'
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