The Ice Warrior

Chapter 54

There was a moment of hesitation, of fear, that went through Silv's heart the moment she stepped out of the ship's protection. Yet, she wasn't worried about her own safety. She was a soldier, used to going into danger, she worried about Evanescence.

Though she was anxious about everyone else safety, for Evanescence, it was different. Silv worried how her death might crush the very soul of the ship. Evanescence was just starting to heal from the emotional wounds caused by the demise of her Ice Warrior. Losing another person would be devastating.

How would she deal with another loss? Could she?

Silv found those thoughts quite odd, but she knew that if a human was injured, the other humans would help, the aliens would help each other. However, if Evanescence's heart was broken, the humans wouldn't care, and the aliens wouldn't be able to help in any way.

It was a staggering thought to have, and Silv was convinced that the connection she had with Evanescence was much deeper than just a telepathic link. It was a familial bond. Evanescence was family, and Silv was ready to do whatever it took not to cause her pain.

"Silv, are you okay?" Joe asked, coming closer to her so that the others couldn't hear him.

"I'm fine. I just wasn't sure if Evanescence would keep her promise. If she would allow me to leave the ship." Silv said.

"Well, she did," Joe said, pointing a few meters behind them where more people were still pouring out from the ship on to the snowy ground.

Silv knew that the moment they were out, the ship would disappear. It would go to hover over the battlefield or distract the air forces, providing them the best chance of victory.

"I guess so. I just hope she doesn't regret it." Silv mumbled under her breath.

Finally, they went around the large pile of snow that was once a hill and came face to face with their enemy.

The fighters seemed stunned by their sudden appearance, but it took them only seconds to come to their senses and start shooting at Silv and the others.

"Are you sure we can't just kill them? They sure seem determined to kill us," someone mumbled to Joe.

"No, kill them only if you have to. If we are no better than our enemies, what's the point of all this?" Joe said.

Silv stopped listening and focused all her attention on finding the best cover and efficiently incapacitating the enemy.

The soldiers, on the other hand, seemed ill-prepared for the combat. They appeared to be on a reconnaissance mission, and the fact that they ended up falling into an ambush didn't seem to sit well for them.

Though no one was ever prepared for a trap, Silv thought that the people they were fighting against were even less prepared. It felt as if they weren't really soldiers though they wore the Government uniforms.

"They are regular people. The Government must have ordered them to take up weapons." Silv yelled to Joe as loud as possible so that everyone could hear her.

She wanted her people to know that those they were fighting against weren't the real enemy. They weren't even the Government puppets. They were regular people who were forced into the whole mess that the Government caused, and it pained Silv's heart to cause them any harm.

"It doesn't change the deadliness of their bullets," a voice said as the man started shooting at the people opposite them.

"Maybe they don't have a choice. We all know what Government is ready to do to maintain control," Silv said.

As the fighting continued, Silv did her best to aim for the weapons in their hands or their extremities, doing her best to avoid any vital areas.

However, it soon became clear that fighting that way put them at a disadvantage, and Silv wasn't sure how they could change that. She didn't want her or her team to be the monsters, and yet she didn't want them to end up dead either.

That was when she saw a figure hiding behind a low hill, a familiar figure which had her seeing red, as rage consumed all that she was.

Among the regular people with guns hid the real monster, their leader. He was the reason they couldn't do anything but attack Silv and the others. There stood the cold-blooded murderer, Denis.

On instinct, Silv rushed towards him, barely dodging the bullets of his people, with a single-minded determination to murder her former friend.

There was nothing else on her mind. She didn't consider her own death nor Evanescence's potential pain. All there was in her heart and mind was revenge.

"You!" Denis said as they suddenly came face to face, aiming for each other's heads.

Silv gave him a look of pure hatred as she tried to fire her weapon, but to her great annoyance, nothing happened. Instead of being scared as most would have been, Silv threw her gun at Denis' gun, effectively knocking it out of his hand.

"You little..." Denis screamed in pain as his old injury flared up.

Before he had the chance to finish his sentence, Silv slammed into him with all her force knocking them both to the white blanket of snow below them.

They both struggled to get the upper hand as neither one of them was as comfortable with the hand to hand combat, having spent most of their time on weapons training.

However, with the fire of vengeance burning brightly through her whole body Silv was a far more dangerous enemy than Denis thought she could ever be.

Thus, when he managed to punch her in the face, drawing blood, he believed that she would stay down, that she would be defeated. As he proceeded to search the cold snow for his weapon, wanting to finish her off, he didn't notice the determination in her eyes.

He couldn't even begin to comprehend how much Silv wanted to win, how much she needed to see him taken down.

Thus, as he searched snow on his hands and knees, Silv silently rose behind him. Before he even noticed that she was up, she kicked him with all her might causing him to fall face down into the blinding whiteness of the snow.

Then as he grumbled in pain, she proceeded to turn him around so that he was looking her in the eyes.

"You are a horrible person," Silv growled through her teeth, punching him in the face with all her might.

"A horrible friend," Silv went on, hitting him again.

Blood spurted out, coloring the snow red, but Silv didn't care. All she wanted to do was destroy Denis, make him pay for each and every wound on her heart. And though her hands hurt, Silv didn't stop. She kept punching the guy who was supposed to be her friend but turned out to be her worst enemy.

"Silv, stop. You'll kill him," Joe said, catching her hand.

She could barely hear him from the buzzing in her head, from the blood boiling in every fiber of her being.

"Yes. The same way he killed grandma and murdered my ability to trust," Silv said, her voice colder than the ice-covered world.

"This isn't the way. If your grandmother was here, she would've told you that revenge doesn't solve anything. It doesn't erase the pain. The only thing it does is put you on the same level as the person who wronged you. You don't want that, do you?" Joe asked.

"And why not?" Silv asked.

"Because Rose raised you better than that," Joe said.

Hearing those words was a wake-up call for Silv. It made her see reason, understand who she was. Thus, she rolled off of Denis and allowed Joe to take him.

Only then did she realize that the ground fighting was over. Most of Denis' people had either been injured, retreated, or switched sides the moment Silv took Denis down.

Though she knew that things were far from over, Silv felt relief that she no longer needed to fight as most of her energy was burned out in the feat of anger that overwhelmed her. Thus, she laid down on the soft snow doing her best to catch her breath, knowing that things were far from over.