Hum kicked away one of the Council soldiers who backed up into them while in a fight of his own. Ethan tried to stab at the enemy, but stumbled as he tried to reach the falling form. Hum caught him and kept him moving towards Tera, Gauge, and the others.
Betsy stopped and turned around as the sound of their approach came to her ears. A look of relief crossed her face.
“There you are!” she cried. She waved at them, gesturing to keep running. “Go on! Don’t stop until you’re on the gunships!”
As they passed the Clevingers, Ethan and Hum heard — and felt — thundering footfalls approaching them. Before they could turn and identify the source, a deafening roar filled their ears. Ethan’s eyes grew wide with terror as the cyborg monstrosity charged straight at them, barreling through Council and rebel soldiers alike. It ran like a roided-up linebacker with ten times the ferocity. Just as it was within arm’s reach of their group, it lifted its enormous blade arm until it practically scraped the ceiling.
Betsy could only look up at the hulk and its grotesque sword before the monster brought it down on her head. Ethan and Human looked away as the old woman’s body fell to the floor in two separate clumps.
Tera and the others turned around just as the creature roared over the Clevingers’ corpse. Anger and fright filled their eyes as those with weapons aimed at the monster. They didn’t hesitate before unloading their ammunition into the horrible giant. It screamed a little as the bullets sunk into its pale flesh, rearing back a little on its robotic spider legs, but it only seemed annoyed. It came back down on all eight legs with a thud, locking its dead eyes onto Tera and Gauge.
It roared again before scuttling towards the rebels, its blade arm trailing behind. Tera tried to shoot at the creature, but her weapon was depleted. Before it could swipe her head off, she and everyone around her ducked out of the way.
“We have to blow the Furnace!” Tera heard Gauge shout from beside her. He was reloading his own weapon while trying to sprint backward at the same time. A handful of rebel soldiers who were fleeing in the same direction swarmed the monster when they saw their leaders fall. They were being smote down left and right, but they still managed to cut the behemoth off from Tera and Ethan’s group.
“But — ” Tera started to say.
“It’s the only way! Get on the ships!”
They kept moving. They were within a hundred feet of the loading bay. The rebel pilots were already firing up the engines and extending the loading ramps. People poured in like chum into a whale’s mouth and the attackers closed in from behind. One of the ships just managed to open its door as Gauge led Ethan, Tera, and Hum aboard. Other rebels flooded in from behind them. A scream bled in through the door and a ripple of motion worked its way through the crowd. The attackers were upon them, and people were being pushed every which way by each other as they tried to flee danger.
The hulking monster cut its way to the ship opposite them, slicing down rebels as they fled like it was going for some sort of high score. When it reached the actual gunship, it started hacking at the aircraft’s engine while the low flames the vehicle emitted singed its flesh. With one last huge cleave, it sundered the engine and the gunship exploded.
Ethan could feel the shockwave through the walls of his own aircraft. Panicked cries came from all around him as the other gunship crumpled to the floor, spurting flames all over the loading bay.
The doors started to close while people were still trying to climb aboard. Tera locked eyes with a human woman just as the entrance left her out in the slaughter.
“We have to go!” Gauge shouted up to the cockpit. “Now!”
Ethan stumbled a little as people pushed into him, moved by the sudden shift in momentum. He felt the ship angle upward as gravity started to tug him backward. It rocked with each blast that came from the soldiers down below.
“Come on, come on!” Gauge yelled. “We need to get out of range!”
Tera stood still, the woman’s face still imprinted in her mind. She swayed with the force of acceleration, but didn’t look around. Ethan trembled beside her.
“Punch it!” a shout came from the cockpit.
“We’re not far enough yet!” Gauge yelled back.
“Just punch it!”
With an anxious sigh, Gauge activated some sort of control on the side of his neck. There was a moment’s pause before the loudest explosion yet shook the air they flew through.
Ethan looked out the rear viewport just as they exited the geothermal ducts and flew out into the open air outside the city. An enormous fireball followed them out, tossing up clumps of debris as it destroyed the tunnels. He couldn’t see anyone; he couldn’t make out any of the fight below. All he could see was fire.
“Get us outta here!” Gauge shouted to the cockpit.
“To where?”
“Anywhere else!”
Vigil
They were one of only five gunships that landed in the barren field just outside of Opes. There had been eight aircraft in the Furnace’s loading bay, but they were all that made it. The engines made a whine as they were deactivated.
Once the doors opened and the loading ramp was extended, people started to trickle out. They had been packed like sardines, but they didn’t walk with the free air of someone glad to be outside. Instead, they shuffled into the city with broken expressions. Like they were marching out of a freezer and only just beginning the thawing process.
King Hum walked out with Adviser
