The Kingdom

Chapter Nine

 Reilious lead the two others back to the bunkhouse, where they sat in their corner. Reilious pulled out a deck of cards from the stand next to his bunk, opening it. He took out the cards, shuffling them and then dealing them out to Deryle and Talia.

Talia looked at her cards, then up at Reilious.

"What are we playing, anyway?"

Reilious stopped dealing his own cards, looking at her.

"I never thought that out..." he replied.

"Good job, Mr. Johnstone!" Deryle said, clapping.

"Ah shut it Deryle-" Reilious started.

A flicker in the lights interrupted him as the alarms began to go off. Soldiers ran across the doorway as a low rumble was heard.

Lillian entered the room.

"Alright, you three, come with me," she ordered, the trio dropping their cards and getting up.

"What's going on?" Deryle asked.

"We are under attack by the Royals," Lillian responded, the lights flickering again. "This base is compromised."

"Sounds fun..." Talia muttered as they entered the armory.

Lillian pointed to three cabinets, which the trio walked over to. They opened the doors, a full suit of metal riot armor sitting inside.

Reilious picked up the helmet, a skull painted on the side. He looked inside the cabinet, taking out the suit and putting it on. Two pistols sat inside, along with a machete, two daggers and a shotgun. He holstered the pistols, putting the daggers in their sheaths. He took out the shotgun, swinging it over his back and taking out the machete. He shut the cabinet door, picking up the helmet in his free hand.

He looked over, Talia and Deryle in their suits as well. He nodded to them, putting on the helmet and walking out of the room.

Talia looked at Reilious, smiling in her helmet, the smile not seen by others other than her. She picked up the pistols she had, running out after.

Deryle followed, shotgun in hand. He looked beside him as the lights flickered again, then went out entirely, dim red alarm lights replacing the bright LED lights from before. The alarms didn't stop, the soldiers silenced as they readied themselves at the door.

Reilious stood in the middle, explosions heard outside, slowly getting closer. Sparks flew from around the door before it was blown inside, Reilious ducking to avoid it.

He stood back up, staring the Royals in the eyes as they ran inside.

"CHARGE!" Reilious yelled, aiming the machete at the Royals, the Night soldiers shooting and running at them.

Reilious ran forward, Talia and Deryle not far behind. He grabbed a Royal by the neck, slamming him into the floor and stabbing the machete through his heart before turning around and snapping another's neck. A third Royal hit Reilious in the back of the helmet, Reilious slowly turning around. The Royal had a look of "I'm gonna die" on his face as Reilious grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, forcing open his mouth and pushing the machete down his throat. Reilious sliced upwards, cutting him open on the inside, dropping him and leaving him to internally bleed to death. He took out a dagger, throwing it at another about to kill a Night soldier, snapping the Royal's neck in the process and forcing it into a wall.

Talia's eyes widened, seeing this. She shook her head to focus, taking out her daggers and stabbing another Royal before uppercutting them in the jaw, kicking them backwards and onto the floor. She turned, stabbing another in the neck, watching them as they fell to the ground.

Deryle aimed his shotgun, shooting and killing three at once before reloading his ammo. He shot another clip, realizing he was out. A Royal ran up to him, machete in hand. Deryle held the shotgun like a baseball bat, knocking out the Royal.

"You're out," Deryle said, chuckling at his joke as another Royal ran up.

He took out the pistols, shooting the Royal in both arms before shooting them in the head, the body collapsing onto the floor on top of another. A grenade landed next to him, exploding and blowing him through a wall.

"DERYLE!" Talia screamed, running across the entrance hall and jumping through the hole.

"I'm fine..." Deryle said, groaning and getting back up.

He shook his head, looking at Talia. He looked behind her, seeing somebody with a rocket launcher aimed at her. His eyes widened, running up to her and pushing her out of the way as the rocket fired. In the split second in between, he caught the rocket, it still trying to blast forward. He struggled, but succeeded at turning it back around and blowing up the rocket launcher attacker.

Talia just watched in surprise, not moving from her spot next to him.

Deryle looked at his hands, trying to piece together what had happened. He looked at Talia, then back out at the warzone as another explosion lit up the hall. He nodded, jumping back out the hole in the wall, Talia following suit. He took out his pistols, shooting Royal after Royal around him.

Talia followed, stabbing the Royals Deryle didn't kill, soon catching up with Reilious.

Reilious was covered in blood, the skull on the side of his helmet now half covered in it. He watched as the Royals retreated, shooting one last one in the back of the head, watching them fall to the ground and body go limp.

"Reilious...?" Talia asked, slowly walking up to him.

He slowly looked at her, the helmet nor his face showing any emotion.