Lanna's War

81

The Lang soldiers opened fire. The Lunar soldier with the handheld dropped to his side and didn't move. The truck was hit multiple times as the sergeant, Lanna and Bryce ducked for cover.

Three loyalists snuck to their rear. Lanna could hear the sergeant cursing and frantically pleading with his radio for reinforcements.

"We're under attack! Repeat. We're under attack!"

"They're not coming!" Lanna snapped. She saw their situation had become impossible. The Langs had superior numbers and took advantage of the high ground. Lanna, however, couldn't surrender. She knew she and Bryce would not survive their captivity. They were as good as dead the moment they stopped fighting, and the particle of Element Zero would be in Narcene's hands.

But then the sergeant yelled, "Cease fire!" He placed his rifle on the ground and raised his hands.

"No!" Lanna shouted.

Two loyalists had already scaled the cliffs. The sergeant stood in the open with his hands still raised. The other Lunar soldier was crippled on the ground, but tried to crawl nonetheless.

As the loyalists drew closer, Lanna looked down at her glove, and then to Bryce.

Meanwhile, the crippled soldier looked up at a loyalists and pleaded for help. The loyalist raised his rifle and shot him instead. Then another looked straight at Lanna and smiled. He let out a cheer and said,

"Well look what we found, boys!"

Lanna turned to Bryce. This time she really had no option.

"Back away." She said to him.

"What?"

"Back away! Now!"

Bryce finally clued in and moved away from her while still crouching. Lanna looked at the loyalist and said,

"See you on the other side."

"Don't talk. Raise your hands." He replied.

Lanna slammed her hand on her wrist. Light distorted while the air around her sucked inward. She vanished in a blink. The loyalists approaching froze on the spot, stunned. Bryce was amazed and looked up at the confused loyalist ahead of him.

Lanna reappeared behind the man who shot the crippled soldier. She raised her weapon and fired at him. She vanished again and reappeared on top of the cliff behind another. She shot him too and vanished again.

As this happened, the sergeant lowered his hands in amazement. In the ensuing confusion, Bryce raised his rifle and shot a loyalists on the cliff. He fell to the ground with a thump. Then the sergeant refocused and quickly picked up his weapon and fired.

One by one, five of the six loyalists fell. Lanna reappeared in front of the last loyalist near Bryce. She raised her handgun and shot him in the cheek. He keeled over.

Lanna turned to the sergeant.

The sergeant was startled and temporarily paralyzed. She raised her weapon at him, too. Bryce noticed that she looked terrible, like she just crawled out of a crashed ship. She was covered in small burns, her clothing was ripped and her hair was a mess.

"You look like you've seen a ghost, sergeant." She said while panting. He was too stunned to speak so he merely gulped. "Listen to me." She began. "I am not a threat to the Lunar Army, and neither is he. I also just saved your life. Make no doubt about it, the loyalists would have tortured you and buried you alive. You have no idea the rain of shit I just spared you from. Therefore, we will repair the truck tires, and then as payment, you will drive us to the twin cities. You will respond to all check stops and verify that we approached you confused and shell-shocked from the battle yesterday. Once we get there you will stop at an army outpost, base, whatever. Then we'll take the truck from you and be out of your life." The sergeant found his voice.

"I can't leave my post." He said.

"Well you were about to surrender your post a minute ago. And if you stay here, you're probably going to die anyway. The Atrayeans are coming. They're maybe an hour from swarming this whole area. If your duty is so damned important to you then radio H.Q. and tell them you've spotted the Atrayean army. Then say you're pulling back."

"How can I trust what you're telling me?" He said. Lanna laughed.

"I know they're coming. Trust me. Call it in and you'll look like a hero. Tell H.Q. the Atrayeans are coming." The sergeant seemed like he would be compliant. Lanna lowered her weapon.

"We'll repair the truck and then you can radio H.Q." The sergeant stared at her and then nodded. He began repairing the tires. Bryce turned to help as Lanna paced over to him. He noticed she was masking her exhaustion.

"Let's get this truck moving." She said to him panting.

"Lanna, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said. But, when she reached the side of the truck her knees buckled. Bryce quickly helped her lean against it.

"Lanna, what's wrong?" Bryce asked.

"Grab me a ration." Bryce quickly rummaged around the back seat and found a ration pack. He gave it to her. She ate on the ground for five minutes and then said,

"I did three jumps. It's instantaneous to you, but it took me hours to get all three positions correct. During that time the higher dimension ripped at me. I spent hours being whipped, scrapped and burned. Plus I had no food or water. Just give me a few minutes and I'll be fine."

"That glove. Everything you said about it is true." Bryce said, astounded. Lanna let out an exhausted laugh.

"I wouldn't lie to you." Bryce watched her calmly as she rested her eyes.

Thirty minutes later the truck tires were repaired. Bryce helped the sergeant after tending to Lanna's needs. Lanna tried to help but her strength took time to return. After they finished, the sergeant radioed Lunar headquarters in Kaikos.

"We've spotted heavy enemy activity, currently moving from the," The sergeant glanced at Lanna, who was on her feet now.

"Northwest." She whispered.

"The Northwest. Thousands of soldiers, artillery, and tanks."

Once the Lunar Army had been properly informed, they hopped into the truck. The sergeant took the front seat while Bryce and Lanna took the back. The sergeant then sped off. As they drove, Lanna fell asleep.

She didn't wake until they reached the frontier line just outside of Kaikos. She opened her eyes and listened as the sergeant did exactly as she ordered and claimed she and Bryce where stragglers from the battle. The sergeant had little difficulty convincing the soldiers at the check points of the story. Soon after they drove past hundreds of Dragon Spear cannons, Hedgehog spires, heavily armoured vehicles, and thousands of soldiers. Bryce's gaze was fixated on the view as they entered the city.

The road into Kaikos sloped gently. They entered the hexagonal city blocks and could see several kilometres of dense streetscape without interruption. As they drove over the wide Kaiter River Lanna stared at the high rises. She soon realized her memories of the battle to take the cities were still fresh, and now they were about to fall under siege again.

The sergeant stopped at one of the army camps in the city. He exited the truck while Bryce and Lanna took the front seats. Lanna looked at him.

"Sergeant Eastland, if you could find a way to keep what you saw me do a secret, I'd greatly appreciate it." The sergeant looked conflicted.

"I have so many questions, but I believe you did save my life. And there is no way I can explain what you did truthfully without explaining that I had already surrendered. I think I can somehow keep this a secret." Lanna smiled at him.

"Thank you." She said. She knew the likelihood of him eventually telling someone was high, but it was a risk she had to take. She activated the truck and drove away.

"Time to find you a flight out of Grasslands." She said to Bryce.