Battle of Harlett

Chapter 14:

November 8th, 10am. Day of Invasion.

  Dianne walked past ruins of buildings and vehicles. Moments earlier, a patrolling phantom steered her partially off course. It sounded like it found a new target. The gunfire had mostly died down. Dianne decided to take shelter in a store called "Ultras Clothing". The front door was shattered, and an alien ship had crashed in front of it, but it had rows and rows of clothing that could provide an easy hiding spot. Dianne found a lounge area in the employees area, and checked a map that was hanging on the wall.

  The Evac site was located past the school. It was set up in an old golf ball course. Dianne took a granola bar out of her backpack and ate it while studying the map. She took the map off the wall and stuffed it into her jacket pocket. Since she knew the Covenant was looking for survivors, she decided to exit through the alleyway. She checked the map again. The alleyways only lead on for another 3 blocks, so she would have to soon change her route.

  Dianne began walking. She was still weary. And tired. The events of the day had already had her rather winded. Walking through the alleyway, Dianne noticed the sounds of gunfire that was rather close. In fact, it was a few blocks ahead of her. Just as soon as the gunfire started, it ended. Dianne continued. She exited the last alleyway and came across the corpses of several aliens. She covered her mouth. She felt bile rising in her throat. The only good thing is knowing that it was the aliens that had been defeated, not other humans.

  Dianne began walking again. She was close to the evac site. Just about another 30 to 45 minutes. More gunfire. It was the sound of mostly human weapons. Dianne ducked behind the door of a local shop until the gunfire died down again. Then she set off once more. This time, she made sure to avoid the area where the sounds of the fighting originated. Just a bit farther...

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10:03am

  The group heard at least two firefights ensuing a mere couple blocks behind them. The group kept a fast pace to ensure that they didn't get caught in any of the fighting. But it wouldn't take long.

  A familiar whirring could be heard. But it was different. Maybe lower in pitch. And it wasn't just one. It was coming from two or three sources. A large, sleek dark blue colored tank, alien in origin, was rounding the corner directly in front of the group. Terror filled them all. Brutes and Grunts accompanied the tanks, aka Wraiths. They saw the group.

"Into the building!" Shouted Reese as she pointed to the building closest to them.

  They ran. They ran for their lives. Plasma and metallic spikes filled the air. They charged straight into the doors, and shut them. Looking through the windows, the groups could see the tanks began mobilizing down the street. They drove through anything in their path. The infantry aimed their weapons into the building. It was a hardware store. One of the tanks moved right in front of the store. For a minute, it sat there, aimed right at the group. The group, frightened, hid behind a stone wall further into the back of the store.

  The tank fired. A large tear shaped ball of plasma curved through the air, and landed on top of the building, caving in half the roof, the explosion shaking the ground intensely to the point that Castro, Reese, and Eric fell off their feet. If they hadn't, they could have been crushed by the collapsing roof. The building was in ruin. The group got lucky that the plasma hit the store closer to the front. The structure didn't take as much damage in the back. Eric, who had closed his eyes when he was knocked off his feet, opened his eyes to see a piece of rebar was inches from his face. Part of the wall they had been hiding behind partially collapsed, revealing the rebar.

  Castro crawled back unto his feet, almost hitting his head on the lowered roof. Eric got on his hands and feet and crawled out from beneath the partially collapsed roof.