Dawn Is Coming

Chapter 19

Grant

My fingers are a vice around the steering wheel, gripping it to the point where the leather creaks beneath them. The scenery hasn't changed at all for the past hour that I've been driving; it feels as though I'm staring at a picture with a moving road. Smoky, cloudy sky, dead grass, dirt road; a depressing void that echoes my feelings. Unfortunately, that, and my two companions that have gone to sleep, leaves me alone with my thoughts. My conversation with Crane haunts me, along with the conversation I had with Akira before she left.

My fingers fidget with the worn leather on the back of the steering wheel as I stare ahead, barely conscious enough to keep the MV straight on the road. I haven't slept in days, but the incessant adrenaline keeps me going. I feel like moving, running, fighting, but I'm confined to this truck, feeling too far away and too close to Akira at the same time. I glance at the projected map on the large dashboard for the tenth time in the past few minutes, again feeling frustration when I remember there's no ETA. When we go to the battlefield, the MV drives itself. Neorexa, however, is another few good hundred kilometers away from the battlefield. It's not on the map since we've never went there and have never felt the need to go there, so I have to manually drive there using the mini projected map next to the one that's built into the MV. It's rusty, since it hasn't been used in decades. The distance left is insignificant, just a few kilometres. Just a few minutes.

I'll have her out of there before she even realizes how dangerous it is.

Akira was definitely not the type to act on impulse and charge in blind, which is exactly what we're doing right now. But there is no other way to get into Neorexa, and no plan would help, since we have no idea what goes on inside the country. That's why our struggle is limited to the battlefield.

Neorexa is incapable of infiltrating Ruinexus. We can infiltrate them, yes, but there's no way anyone who does would make it out alive.

That's what I used to think, at least. Now, I force myself to think that I'll have Akira in my arms and in the MV in no time, on our way to safety. Akira is smart; she has what it takes to survive in there. I'm just praying that she won't try to escape, at least not until I get there – not that she knows that I'm coming, but that doesn't stop me from hoping.

A loud snore comes from somewhere behind me, probably from Crane. That bastard's snoring can get louder than an explosion. The next sound, however, definitely didn't come from him.

A deafening boom echoes in the MV as it's rocked to the side, quaking barely managing to straighten out after the shot. I shoot up from my seat, my head whipping to the right as I see what looks like a grenade shell scattering away from the vehicle. In an instant, Crane is on his feet, unlatching and opening the door of the MV.

"Careful!" I yell, steering the MV to the right, trying to regain control of the damaged vehicle. I see Crane swing back inside and close the door, relieved that the next bomb wasn't targeted at him.

"There are fucking drones in the sky!" He yells back, a stupefied expression on his face. My own brows rise to my hairline in shock.

Neorexa has drones?

"I didn't see any!" I exclaim. Although I wasn't paying all that much attention to the road, I definitely would've noticed the now soot-covered drones loitering in the sky. They look damaged, probably having been impacted by their own attack. I wasn't paying attention to the road because there was nothing to see.

"I think they're made out of... mirror?!" He gasps out after having grabbed a pair of binoculars from the dashboard, staring up at the drones through them. My brows furrow, my head already hurting from this unexpected information.

Not good.

Not good at all.

"What do you mean, made out of mirror?" I grab Crane, stabilizing him as I swerve the MV to the side, narrowly avoiding another large and loud explosion.

"It's – I don't know how to explain it. Look!" He shoves the binoculars into the hand that was clutching his jacket, taking over the wheel. I bring the binoculars up to my eyes, craning my head up, focusing on the soot-covered drones. My eyes widen against the glass when I realize what Crane meant. Aside from the light layer of soot, they blend in perfectly with the sky. Judging by the fact that the soot on them reflects on their surface, they made the shell of the drones out of mirror. Although it's still different, it hits too close to home with Ruinexan signature camouflage technology. They're too damaged to cause much damage themselves, meaning that they're probably just prototypes. But...

How did they find out about our technology?

"Fucking copycats." Crane curses, swerving to avoid yet another grenade. "Stay here. I'll go upstairs and shoot them down." Crane says, grabbing wind-resistant goggles from a side compartment and opening the door again, disappearing from sight. I busy myself behind the wheel, steering and swerving as the drones continue to pelt us with bombs.

Thankfully, only a minute passes before all the explosions cease, the drones annihilated. Milo's already scurrying about, checking damage reports at the emergency panel at the rear end of the MV. Crane climbs back in the car, closing the door. He gives me a verifying nod, easing the weight on my shoulders.

"Milo?" I call out, anxious to know if the MV is in good enough condition to keep speeding away. Milo nods as well, confirming that it's fine. I allow some tension to leave my body, before feeling my heart constrict in a sudden, spine-chilling realization. These drones are here in case of intruders, being able to discern between Neorexan vehicles and outsiders. They started bombing us, meaning that they detected us as intruders. Which means that...

Neorexa had been alerted the moment the first bomb was fired. They'll be on the lookout for intruders now.

Akira is in danger.

Because of me.