ALICE

Chapter 74: BROKEN

Chapter 74: BROKEN

 Alice stood her ground at the playground, with every last member of Team A with her. Angel looked close to death but he was fighting valiantly with a submachine gun, Krew mowing down soldier after soldier with a huge belt-fed machine gun. Nine even was there, leaning against the wooden block they were behind but selecting targets quickly and taking them out faster. Redd had a sniper rifle, a bolt action beauty that he was operating so quickly he made it look automatic.

 Alice herself was firing the VoidGun into the LSF that were spilling in through a hole in the wall of the base. When the advances stopped for even a moment Alice looked for any other Resistance, and while some still fired into the LSF, many were dead, and others were fleeing towards the medical tent, for reasons Alice wasn’t sure of.

 When it looked like the first wave of LSF were done with, Alice got behind the block and began to re-equip the rifle’s magazines with bullets that were in a crate Angel had carried from the armoury. Angel took care of any wounds that the team or other Resistance members –Who had in some cases flocked to the team- had sustained. The worst so far was a graze to the side of a man’s head, and although he said he was okay it looked pretty nasty.

 The second wave was started off by three missiles flying towards the playground. Everyone instinctively ducked, and many were killed instantly. The rockets had hit behind the team, a few punching straight through the high wall behind them.

 Redd took one good look at the charred bodies and the compromised wall, and then spat an order to scatter out of the playground.

 Alice ran towards the command tent, hoping to use the platform Nine had first kissed her on as a vantage point. No one followed her.

 She went for the door, but it was blocked by a smouldering wooden beam Alice didn’t want to be on the wrong side of. She opted to slice through the canvas and then started to run up the ramp. She carefully avoided large holes in the floor as she spotted Kendo’s charred arm and a blackened, bent wheel that was all that was left of Glass.

 Alice got to the centre of the three rooms and climbed the ladder up to the railed platform. A lot of the canvas was burnt away and so the platform was somewhat suspended in the air. Alice looked at the expanse in front of her and saw it almost covered with LSF. Black uniforms covered the plains, and there were so many helicopters the sky almost went dark. Alice knew she couldn’t stay up here, the invasion was much larger than she thought. Alice attempted to climb down, but suddenly the large post the platform balanced on was enveloped in an explosion and Alice found herself falling quite quickly.

 Alice thought fast, and as the platform fell slowly, she jumped over the railing and hit the canvas roof on the side of the tent that hadn’t caught fire quite the same as the other side. She intended to punch through it and maybe sprain an ankle in the loft, but apparently the canvas was tougher here. She hit the fabric, did a roll, and then was sliding head-first towards the edge at an uncomfortably high speed.

 Alice thought quick again, and grabbed the knife from her vest, jamming it at the very least through the canvas. Alice kept sliding but the knife helped slow her down.

 When she reached the edge, which Alice knew was lined by a circular bar of steel, Alice’s knife stopped dead on the bar. Alice herself, however, slid in a circular motion until she fell off of the tent, only kept in the air by the knife that would very quickly fall out if she didn’t keep her wrist at the right angle.

 Alice, using every ounce of her strength, was able to pull herself up enough to get her other arm to the bar, holding onto it with her bare palm. Alice now slid the knife back into her vest and got that hand back onto the bar. She looked at the canvas that was on the side of the tent she leaned against.

 Swinging as hard as she could backwards, she stuck her shoes out in front of her and punched through the material, letting go with her hands and landing in a crouch on the wooden floor of the loft.

 She looked up, ensuring the VoidGun was still strapped to her back where she had left it. She felt like she should say something heroic and profound to herself and the tent, but the only thing she could say was;

 “Oh god.”