UNTOUCHABLE - FREENBECKY

JEOSWA

"This isn't looking good." Nam stopped in her tracks. Ahead of them are Evens walking around lazily.

Freen looked up at the sky and sighed. "Draw out your swords. But let's try to avoid contact as much as we can. Our objective is to get the kid and go to the nearest Sanctuary before it rains."

Noey, Nam, and Mind drew out their Retter swords. The troop continued walking as stealth as they can until they reached the first Sanctuary. Their faces fell.

"I-it's wrecked..." said Mind.

Nam walked towards one of the broken Retter barriers and touched it. "Tsk. This tells us how messy the attack was."

Freen motioned to the radio on her suit. "Control Room, how far is the next Sanctuary?"

There were about five seconds of silence until a male voice responded, "About three kilometres, Captain."

"What is the nearest sanctuary near the target?"

"It's the fourth Sanctuary, Cap. Nine kilometres away from there."

"And the kid?"

"About seven hundred metres away from the fourth Sanctuary."

"Is the fourth Sanctuary still functional?"

"Yes, Captain, along with the other two remaining Sanctuaries."

Realising the situation, the troops looked at each other. "Since this one's wrecked, it means that once we got the kid, we'd have to run from the second Sanctuary to the exit of the village," said Noey.

"That's going to be dangerous if it rains along the way. That's a long run," said Nam.

"That's why we brought Mind. We'll handle the Evens while she makes sure the child is safe," said Freen.

"Maybe we can use one of the cars here from the second Sanctuary to the exit?" suggested Mind.

"We could, but it might get messy," said Noey. "They'll be able to track our movement and will surely target us."

Freen was about to say something, but there was a sudden movement on the ground. It lasted for about ten seconds.

"W-was that an earthquake?" asked Mind.

"Control Room, what was that just now?" asked Freen.

"There's a movement underground, Cap. Probably Evens. It's not an earthquake."

"Thank you. Could you please instruct the mother of the kid to call her daughter and make sure she's staying in the car?"

"Will do, Cap."

"Thanks. Over and out." Freen looked at her team members. "We have better chances of defending ourselves outside than inside a car. After retrieving the kid, we'll stay in the Fourth Sanctuary until the sky is clear. From there, we'll run to the gates as fast as we could. Let's move now."

---

"Thank you. Could you please instruct the mother of the kid to call her daughter and make sure she's staying in the car?"

Becky stiffened upon hearing that. Kade looked at her.

"The mother of the kid." Kade shook her head. "I wonder if I'll be able to hear her say your name again."

Becky quickly glanced at Kade, then to the AEF personnel who approached her. "Her batteries are out. But I think she's still sleeping. I asked her to take a nap on our last call." She pointed at the big screen showing the car with Emily in. "There's been no movement in the car for about thirty minutes now."