Ori and the Stranger

Chapter 21

     Blitz's body was tossed around by the water. Though it wasn't nearly as violent as the escape from the Ginso Tree, it was still quite difficult to figure out which way was up. He flailed his limbs around, trying to get above the surface. He felt his helmet pierce the surface for a moment, and he caught a glimpse of gray trees passing by, before he was pulled back under. Luckily, drowning was not likely due to his suit. However, if the gauze covering the gash on his chest came off, his suit's integrity would be compromised.

     A dark shape came into view through the foam and bubbles. A large boulder in the river. Blitz felt a jolt of panic, trying to maneuver out of the way, or at least orient his body into a more favorable position. But he was moving too fast. His head slammed straight into the rock, and he blacked out.

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     Another shell pounds nearby, spraying soot and dirt over Ryker's body. His body flinches instinctively, but he ultimately gains control of his nerves. The Volkers are pushing towards his platoon's position. He swerves his head around, his heavy breathing echoing in his helmet. A gloomy gray blanket of soot has covered everything in the battlefield. The deafening sound of artillery pounding, graybeards roaring, and unimaginable amounts of gunfire fills his ears.

     He stumbles out of a foxhole, darting his way toward a collapsed building. He hears bullets whizzing past his head as he ducks his way across the destroyed road. As he passes, he sees a pair of Greybeards, the MWSC's main battle tank, rolling past, before immediately being struck by artillery, and being reduced to flaming piles of twisted metal. His heart sinks. They are losing ground fast.

     Ryker quickly dives behind a piece of standing foundation. He pants, sweat dripping down his face. His helmet's radio is buzzing with panicked voices trying to communicate their situation. He peaks out from his cover, aiming his rifle out and pulling the trigger. Nothing happens. Ryker looks down at his rifle, and sees it bent and twisted from debris. He curses his luck, dropping the rifle and returning to cover. As tracers fly past his position, he hears a groan from the rubble to his left. He immediately turns his head to the rubble, and sees a head poking out. He springs into action, running towards the rubble and clearing it out of the way. His heart sinks even further as he sees the blue accents on the soldier's armor that mark him as Ryker's sergeant, Koli.

     "Sarge!" Ryker shouts, pulling the sergeant out of the rubble. Koli groans in pain as Ryker hoists him over his shoulder. Ryker's mind panics. He has to get his sergeant help as fast as possible. He dashes out of the collapsed house, sprinting up the road as fast as possible away from the fighting. He's significantly slowed by Koli's body, but his adrenaline allows him to move at a fast enough pace to avoid being an easy target.

     As he runs, he sees a hopeful sight: a red cross on a soldier's pauldron, marking him as a medic. The medic is hiding in a small trench, treating a wounded soldier with his trauma kit. Ryker hops into the trench, laying Koli down in front of the medic. He takes one look at Koli, and immediately understands without Ryker having to say anything. Ryker grabs Koli's rifle and props it up onto the edge of the trench, firing it at the advancing Volkers.

     He watches as the Volkers advance behind the cover of their Tyrant, a massive bunker on treads. Several of Ryker's fellow marines hide in their own cover, but are slowly cut down by the advancing force. Without their Graybeards, Ryker's platoon has no way to counter the Tyrant, and can only delay its advance. Its massive treads crush any debris and soldiers in its way, and its massive main cannon absolutely shreds any cover that the marines can find.

     Ryker gets out of the trench, diving for the rubble of a destroyed Graybeard to get a better shot at the enemy. As he dives out of the trench, he feels a powerful blast behind him that knocks him to the ground. He looks over at the trench, and sees it reduced to dirt and broken wood. The broken, burned bodies of the medic, wounded soldier, and Koli lay sprawled in the dirt. Ryker feels like he wants to vomit. Then, he hears the ground rumble as the Tyrant rolls closer and closer to him. The last of the marines had fallen, and the Volkers were advancing unimpeded. Not knowing what to do, Ryker decides to simply lay as still as possible, hoping that the Volkers will simply walk past him.

     He holds his breath, not daring to move a muscle. Even his heart seems to stop beating for fear of being noticed by the Volkers. He lays still, feeling the rumbling grow more powerful and the sounds of the advancing Volkers growing louder. The rumbling reaches a climax, and Ryker sees the belly of the Tyrant passing over him. Luckily, the massive tank is wide enough that Ryker is able to avoid being crushed by its treads. He stares at the belly of the Tyrant as it passes over him, feeling anger and hatred towards the Volkers for what they did to his comrades.

     Finally, the Viking fully rolls over him. But something's wrong. The Volkers are all looking in the sky, some shouting in confusion, others barking orders. Ryker's eyes gently follow their gaze, and he spots a single dropship. It's a Hawk, a light infantry transport, with strange red accents on it. It's moving at a high speed towards them, and the Volkers are scrambling to get into cover as the Tyrant's anti-air guns aim at it and open fire. The Hawk dodges the fire, and flies over their position, and four shapes seem to leap out of the Hawk.

     Ryker watches with confusion as the troopers plummet. Instead of parachutes as Ryker had expected, he sees the shapes suddenly maneuver in the air, short, small trails of exhaust billowing from their jetpacks to dodge the Volkers' fire. The four soldiers land on the ground nearby, out of sight from the Volkers. Everything and everyone goes silent. The Volkers all sit, pointing their guns every which way and muttering nervously.

     A shot rings out. One Volker's helmet bursts, and it drops to the ground. The Volkers fire everywhere. Another shot, another Volker down. Then, three soldiers pop out of a nearby building. Their gear is far more advanced and diverse than standard soldier composite armor. They sprint into the fray. One with particularly heavy armor and armed with a huge minigun, cutting down Volkers who could not manage to find cover. Another with a rifle and a red commander's pauldron, dodging gun fire and flanking the remaining hiding Volkers. The third, armed with a pair of pistols, dashes up fearlessly to the Tyrant, using his jetpack to leap onto the top hatch. He draws a blade from his back, and stabs it into the hatch. He cuts the hatch open, leaping into the Tyrant. After a few moments, he leaps back out, and the Tyrant explodes mere moments later, turning into a heap of rubble. Despite clearly taking a few shots from the enemy, the soldiers simply do not die. They fight with lethal efficiency.

     The rest of the Volkers are all laying, dead. From a nearby building, another soldier leaps to the ground, holding a sniper rifle in one hand. The four soldiers gather together in the middle of the road, looking around. The one with the commander pauldron barks an order, and the four soldiers disperse and begin searching through the rubble. Ryker sits in amazement. A small team had done in a minute what an entire platoon could not do in an hour.

     There was no doubt in Ryker's mind: these were the Minutemen.

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     Blitz awoke, with a groan. He gently lifted his head from the wet rocks below him, his lower half still dipped in the river, which had become noticeably gentle. There was a fresh crack on his visor, but other than that, he didn't have any injuries. He hauled himself out of the river, before getting to his feet. His head was dizzy, and his limbs were tingly. He leaned on a nearby boulder to steady himself, and looked around at his surroundings.

     He found himself in a massive canyon, a hundred feet wide, the rock walls on either side towering at least 5,000 feet tall. The vegetation was once again all but gone, a gloomy gray atmosphere hanging over the canyon. Blitz already missed the greenery. He tried to analyze what was above the canyon walls, but looking almost straight up made his dizziness spike.

     He sat down against the rock, waiting for his dizziness to clear. As he sat, he could've sworn he heard the sound of a rock hitting the ground nearby.