She could hear footsteps grow nearer and turned to see a dozen men and women stroll up to her, throwing down their luggage at the side of the road. They looked up at the huge job before them and stood proud and ready. She nodded in gratitude and turned back to the troops.
“This barrier mocks us all and all the friends we have lost, let’s tear it down!”
A few cheers rang out, but they were far from enthusiastic as they stepped up to the rubble and began their work. The Reitech suits provided an immense boost in strength and stamina for such labour, but it was still gruelling and mind numbing work. The troops slogged for hours, long after the civilians had lain down to rest. Finally, as the sun began to lower in the sky and cast long shadows, and the temperatures began to plummet, Chandra called them all to a halt.
She and Taylor peered around to see the results of their work. They had cut a noticeable path to the west, but the mound of rubble appeared to have altered little.
“We need some heavy gear in here, diggers and trucks. All this crap has to go somewhere,” stated Taylor.
“I am promised that the engineers are on their way, and that we will have everything we need.”
They took up refuge in the nearby empty buildings for the night, alongside the growing number of civilians who were arriving to assist them. There was no alcohol that night. No parties and brawls. They were all growing tired of such activities and appreciated a quiet night of rest.
In the morning, Taylor and Chandra climbed to the top of one of the nearest intact buildings, along with several others of the Company who chose to join them. It was a vantage point no one had seen since the war had ended. There were few aerial craft available to them and just as few tall structures still standing and stable to get a viewpoint.
“My God, can this even be called a city any longer?” asked Eli.
“Makes you wonder if they’d be better off leaving this place be and build afresh.”
“No, we rebuild, like humanity always has done after such times,” replied Chandra.
She looked out past the vast debris they had been clearing and sighed as she squinted to see where it ended.
“We could be months clearing this,” spat Taylor.
“Not once we’ve got the gear we need,” she replied. “I want you to take a look ahead wherever this road continues. We’re getting more help all the time, and we’ll soon be stepping on each other’s toes. See if you can find a way through. If we can get teams to the other side and perhaps air lift a few vehicles over there, with the right help, we could halve the time this’ll take.”
Taylor turned back to Eli.
“Sergeant, I want you and three volunteers ready to move in ten.”
She acknowledged and quickly rushed off to assemble the others down at the ground. He turned back to Chandra as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
“And be careful. We’ve got unstable structures, maybe unexploded ordnance, as well as the potential for remaining enemy forces, looters and all sorts. Don’t forget Amiens.”
He sighed as he thought back to the betrayal that still remained as a bitter experience that caused a bitter hatred of the civilian population; it would not soon be forgotten.
“I’ve got it, we’ll find a way through. How long till you can get that air support?”
“I’m still working on it, but by the end of the day or morning at the latest.”
“Great, nice of them to rush.”
“This isn’t a unique scene. Most of the French towns and cities that were fought over are reduced to rubble. We’ll be slogging through them for months.”
She went silent as they both looked out once more at the desolate and apocalyptic looking landscape.
“Enough, we have work to do. Remember to keep in radio contact.”
Taylor smiled.
“Yeah, nice to have that back. I’d almost forgotten what it was like to have personal radios.”
“Our equipment developers must find a way to get around that jamming for when this war continues. For now, let’s just be thankful to have it all back.”
They turned and left the rooftop, taking just a last glance at the shocking sight as they trooped down towards the mountain of work which lay before them. Chandra was pleased to see that the rest of the Company and the civilians who had joined them had already begun work. They were running rubble out of the area in the troop transports that had taken them there.
“Count yourself lucky, Major. You go exploring while we slave on.”
Taylor smiled, and she couldn’t have been more accurate. He was aching to get ahead onto something more interesting. The fact that what waited for them the other side was the same work was something he tried to ignore and forget. He turned to see that Parker was waiting with three marines at a side alley that was still in tact.
“Alright, let’s get moving.”
He paced forwards to lead them and looked back just once to see Chandra step forward and get stuck in with the manual labour they had been reduced to.
“You know where this leads, Sergeant?” he asked.
“I’ve got maps of the area, but they are only part of the puzzle. This should be a good start for us.”
“We could just use our boosters and go across the rooftops,” shouted Williams.
Taylor nodded and sighed at the same time.
“It’s appealing certainly, but if only we can make it, that doesn’t help.”
“If we just had some damn birds in the air, we could sort this problem in no time,” replied Clark.
Taylor stopped and turned back to them with a stern face.
“We’re using old tech and tactics, I get it. Look around you. Maybe last year we had access to whatever we wanted and needed, but that just ain’t the case anymore. It’s not exactly glamorous work, but at least nobody is shooting at us. Now, can we carry on with a little less bitching?”
A large aircraft burst across the sky, sending vibrations through the ground. For a moment they all flinched. They had become accustomed to expecting anything above them to be enemy craft. They relaxed as they saw a friendly transport plane rush over the city at remarkably low altitude. Taylor relaxed and righted himself. As he began to speak, Lam leapt forward and pushed him aside, and the others scattered. A chunk of concrete almost the size of a car crashed down between them.
Taylor pushed Lam off him and looked around with a panic to see if Parker was okay. They had all scattered with just a metre or two between them, and a crushing and immediate death. He patted Lam on the shoulder.
“Thanks,” he snarled.
“Bloody flyboys!” yelled Parker.
Taylor tapped his intercom. “Chandra, this is Taylor, over.”
“Already on it, Major. We have a few light injuries here, but everyone is okay. What is your status, over?”
“Near miss, but we’re all okay, over.”
“Time for someone to get a grilling. Good luck, over and out.”
Taylor turned back to the other four marines who looked distinctly unimpressed.
“Fucking idiots,” snapped Lam.
“As if it wasn’t enough that we had an advanced alien race trying to make us extinct, our own bloody people are trying to kill us,” replied Taylor.
“I’m sure they were on an urgent mission to bring General Schulz his afternoon snack,” Parker grinned.
“Alright, let’s get moving.”
They wandered for hours through side streets and derelict buildings, trying to find a safe route through, and marking their waypoints as they went.
“Can’t we just use the city ring road?” asked Lam.
“No, it’s bumper to bumper with abandoned cars, and a hell of a way to have to walk it. The civilians who fled in a panic clogged the roads solid and had to leave on foot. First thing we have to do is establish a straight route through towards Paris.”
They continued on through the blown windows of a shop front and into another alleyway. They reached a mound of bricks that had collapsed in from a small explosion. Mitch lifted his Mappad and studied it carefully.
