The Kingdom

Chapter Twelve

Reilious woke up that night, looking around the darkened barracks. The other soldiers who had agreed to join Deryle, Talia and him were already up, sitting in their beds. He made eye contact with all of them, each one nodding in response. Reilious then looked at Deryle and Talia, who were asleep still. He got up and walked over to their beds, waking them up. He nodded to the other soldiers as he put on his jacket, the other soldiers beginning to walk out the door. Reilious looked at Deryle and Talia, who nodded and followed as he walked out of the room and down the hallway. He looked down into the large center of the base, the dim lights casting shadows on the surrounding area.

The soldiers walked into the armory, quietly getting into their lockers and suiting up. Reilious opened his locker, grabbing his stuff and putting the suit on, stuffing his jacket in his bag. He looked at the helmet, the skull shining in the dim red light, casting an almost hellish glow onto it. Reilious put it on and grabbed the weapons, attaching them to his belt and swinging the machine gun over his back. He hurried down the hall, the soldiers following, and up to the entrance. One by one they climbed up the ladder and to the hatch. He opened it and climbed out, running down the forest path and into the field. He stood in front of the van, waiting for the others to catch up.

Talia and Deryle ran up, standing on either side of him as they watched the soldiers, which all stood in a loose formation around the three in front of the van. There were around fifty soldiers with them of all sizes.

Reilious took off his helmet. "Alright, Talia, Deryle and I will take the van, since it's actually mine. I can take one other soldier with me. The rest of you will have to use Night vehicles. We need to get back to New Heaven, the king won't have anybody there by now, nothing there is of use. We might be able to make a base of sorts there out of the remains. From there, we plan out the rest. Alright? Alright, let's get going," he announced.

He put his helmet back on and climbed into the van, Talia hopping into the passenger seat. Deryle and one of the soldiers climbed into the back, climbing up to the back two seats in front of the weapons. Reilious started up the van as other soldiers got in their vehicles, which were made up of various muscle cars, trucks with machine gun turrets attached to the back, and a few humvees. The vehicles began moving, following Reilious out of the field and down the road, headlights off until they had made it past the cameras.

Once they got on the main roads, Reilious turned on his headlights, the rest of the vehicles following. He slammed down on the gas and sped down the road, the roaring of the engines heard from the around 30 cars and trucks behind him.

The group drove onto the highway mere minutes later, which to the few civilians driving at this hour looked very weird, a full unmarked convoy driving down the highway from the middle of the forest. Reilious ignored them and watched for any Royal vehicles. When the convoy reached towns and cities, they turned off their headlights as they had planned before they left.

A couple hours later, the convoy turned off the battered exit of New Heaven, which was pitch black compared to its bright lights only a few months earlier. Reilious turned on his headlights, flashing the warning lights to signal the other vehicles to scatter. The vehicles turned onto side roads to scout out the area as they looked for a fitting building to use as a base and to watch for any royals. Reilious and a couple other vehicles drove down Main Street and to the mansion, parking out front.

Reilious, Talia, Deryle, and the other soldier got out of the van, walking up to the front gate. Reilious took out his axe and chopped at the padlock, breaking it and pushing the gate open. He walked up the war-torn path and to the front door, or where it would've been if it wasn't ripped off its hinges.

"Alright, let's see if there's anything salvageable here anymore..." Reilious muttered to himself.

"I've never been inside here before," Deryle pointed out, looking around. "Looked a lot better a while ago."

"Yeah, I only went inside once," Reilious replied.

He walked into the mansion, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. The mansion was dark, covered in soot in some places, but other than that undamaged. The only light came from the boarded up windows, casting beams of light into the remains. Where soot didn't cover the walls, splattered blood took its place.

The stairs to the second floor were mostly intact, except for the remains of the crashed helicopter, which was still wedged in through the door. A burned skeleton was hanging from the windshield, its clothes singed beyond recognition. On its head was a melted headset, the one the pilot was wearing when they died.

As his eyes adjusted, he walked further. The four split up, searching through the mansion for anything salvageable. Reilious walked up the stairs, a creaking echoing through the front room. As he walked up the steps, he left footprints behind in the soot. Before long, he was up at the top. He looked at the charred skeleton, and noticed that the side door of the helicopter was open. It wasn't entirely through the doorway, and had a hole large enough to fit a person through, such as himself.

Reilious climbed through the broken windshield without the skeleton in it, climbing over the co-pilot's seat. He climbed through the burned wires and through the side door.

This room was burned the worst. It was unrecognizable from the last time he saw it. The walls were burned out, their remains covered in thick soot and smoke damage. The golden chandelier that hung from the ceiling only a month before lied smashed and broken in the middle of the floor, it's shine would never be seen by anyone again. The grand window that showed a large chunk of the city was smashed, not bothered to be fixed during or after the attack.

Reilious looked further, finding the remains of Fules on the floor, his skeleton shoved against the wall from the explosion. Pieces of him were strewn across the floor, but one thing stayed mostly intact; his skull.

Reilious picked up the skull, running his hand along a crack in it. He looked around further, walking over to the remains of an armoire. He took out his axe and broke the melted latches apart, opening it. Inside there were singed, burned clothing. Upon further notice, he found a door behind the clothing after throwing it onto the floor. He took a step onto the bottom of the armoire, pushing the door. It gave way, revealing a steep staircase to what looked like a basement.

"Well... Down the rabbit hole..." Reilious said as he descended.