Spectator

Chapter Six: Then

They came looking for her pretty quickly, but they hadn't known exactly where she had crawled away to; when two of them popped into view, it was further down the bank. They didn't see her. Yet. She fired first at the tall boy she had hit already. It missed, but the flash of light and sound emitted from her blaster was enough to draw their attention. Throwing herself flat on her back was all that saved her, coupled with a twist and spring onto her knee as her handheld beeped ready. She fired again, this time at his chest; she heard him curse, a shock being emitted through his plating to ensure he was down and would stay down, without trying to cheat off another hit.

Behind his falling body was his companion, a stocky girl with hair cut short to her cheeks and flat across her forehead. She looked incensed, and Kali was wide open. Well, at least she got one first.

Then the girl's orange shoulder pad lit up, followed seconds later by her hip. She froze before she hit the ground, crumpling into a heap.

Kali's confusion was solved by the flash of purple. Ainsley had brought in the team to save her. Risky, considering they hadn't reached a single waypoint yet, but Kali wasn't going to argue. She threw herself back into cover, popping up to provide covering fire. It took seconds to see one more of the Lotuses fall, and the last tear off into the darkness, the disc under his arm. Kali heard no orders of pursuit, so she stayed where she was, until seconds later, the rest of her squad came from behind two structured trees they had been using to hide.

"I thought I said don't be reckless," Ainsley's brow was gleaning with sweat.

"Sorry boss," Kali said, and meant it. Ainsley had been fair with her so far. But the squad leader didn't seem too disappointed, only focused.

"Well, we got three of them, didn't we?" Her bright grin flashed for a second. "But you've already taken one hit, Kali. No more scouting for you. Kadent, are you up for it?"

The slim teen shrugged, and without saying anything one way or another, slipped into the darkness until even the soft purple glow was gone.

Ainsley helped Kali up, the two of them falling on either side of Archie.

"Almost there?" Ainsley prompted.

"Yes. One hundred meters."

Kadent came back into view just before they reached the waypoint, a low dip in the ground that had no grass on it, just a barely visible blinking light. Kadent had her arms crossed under her chest. "No-one close."

"I wonder where the fourth Lotus ran off to," Ainsley mused, chewing her lip. "Go ahead and mark it, Arch. Let's see where we're going."

It took only a minute, though they all stood nervously, waiting.

"Your designated west," Archie said, pointing. "Seven hundred meters."

Kadent was gone in a blink, and they followed after.

"A much better scout, I think," Kali commented.

Ainsley gave her a wry smile. "Maybe. You did well, though. We got the drop on them because of you."

"Thanks for not abandoning me," Kali said. This place was dark, and the ground was strange and swampy instead of flat and hard. There were more built trees clustered together, and the holographic grass reached her hips. On Archie it was even higher, but he barely took his eyes off his screen. Kali could see why - he kept having to input something, otherwise the blip would disappear, like they were navigating some horrible interference. A test within a test.

Kadent reappeared so silently and quickly that Kali felt Ainsley jump. "Two squads fighting ahead."

They all stopped, crouching in the fake grass.