FORESIGHT and SCOPE: BOOK TWO

C H A P T E R T H I R T Y-S I X

THIRD PERSON POV

"Bad news," Athena sighed into her comm link. "I can't seem to locate where the other officers are being held. I don't know if they erased that information or the entire system was reset when the emergency power rebooted — either way, you are on your own on finding them."

"Copy that." Crosshair responded. "Are there any signs of the other insurgents?"

"Negative," The bounty hunter began pressing buttons across the control console, straining her dark eyes to make out the small screens in the crimson-red lighting. "It's possible they escaped earlier when I shut down the power. All doors were unlocked, so it's plausible, but I'll keep looking. Stand by." She switched consoles on the opposite, hiking over the bodies of both soldiers and officers piled up in the center. Her slender fingers scattered across the monitor, searching for anything useful. Well, if there are no other officers, at least half of the mission has been successful...After all, they reclaimed the base.

Her fingers continued to swipe through each tab in the computer system, until...

"Oh, scrag..." she cursed, biting her bottom lip as her fingers trembled over the screen. Her heart rate tripled in an instant. She fumbled for her comm link, activated it, and spoke urgently, "Crosshair, we need to get out here now. Have you found the Imps?"

"No. This half of the base is completely deserted. What's going on?"

"A bomb has been triggered somewhere in the base. We have less than two minutes." Athena ripped open her pack and dug out the holo-projector with the facility layout. "There is an egress not two corridors down from the brig. Get out. We'll find each other later." There was no response from her partner, but there was no more time to wait for one — the bounty hunter darted through the same passage where they'd first entered. Besides the echoed clicking of her heels sprinting down the halls, the air was deadly silent — in addition to the dimmed, eery red illumination and the knowledge this whole facility was going to detonate, it motivated Athena exceedingly to get the hell out.

Her pupils were blinded by the sheer natural light the moment she burst through the egress. She misstepped where the base ended and the ground began, twisting her ankle and tumbling into the grass. There was no time; she scrambled to her feet, kicking up chunks of sod, and charged for the cover of the dense forest. She had barely passed its border when —

KABLOOOOOOM!!!!!

The aftershock thrusted Athena mid-air and propelled her spiralling body until she smashed perpendicular into a thick tree trunk. The roaring heatwave produced vaporous fumes that consumed her lungs. The sonic boom that shattered the sound barrier pierced her eardrums, inducing a disoriented, high-pitch ringing. The brilliant white-orange light of the inferno irritated her blurry vision. She cried out a strained groan as adrenaline drove her to crawl deeper into the forest and roll herself behind another large timber, curling up into a fetal position and tucking her head in her arms to shield herself from scattered shrapnel. She hacked up several coughs when black smoke funneled into the woods.

I have to keep moving. I have to get deeper into the woods. Athena ripped off her bomber jacket and shrouded her head before staggering to her wobbling legs. As her frantic steps teetered in zig-zags, several repercussive outbursts occurred, but they only muffled in Athena's throbbing ears.

BOOM!!! KAPOP!!! HISSSSPOP!!!

Chunks of debris dispersed in all directions. The ground beneath Athena's feet vibrated violently, crumbing her to her knees. Get up. You have to keep going! Clenching her jacket in both fists, she dragged her body on her arms and stomach, craning her sore neck over her shoulder. When the explosions ceased and the smoke thinned out and began ascending, the bounty hunter finally stopped and flipped herself on her side to see fire blazing beyond the treeline fifty yards away. She heaved deep breaths to clear out her lungs as she watched the woods on the edge become engulfed with flames.