Enhanced

XII

Flashes of light beamed fractured the exposed glass barriers, blinding them of their path as hordes of the populace scrambled towards or with them. The blazing rain of gunfire razed those who stayed exposed on the grassy fields at the feet of the tower. Agonized screams of those lacerated by the metallic shells pained their drums as they cantered their way to the safety of their bunkers. Each step they took was heavier than the previous landing, the torture of having to hear such loss and distress in the backdrop carried a toll on their focus.

Terrorized outcries of the squad leads, who only knew protection for their troopers were heard as clear as daylight when the two had reached the halfway of the bridge. Granting a peek to the outward incursion only resulted in espying the discharge of soldiers onto camp grounds. Soldiers who knew that they all could never stand a chance in combat against them.

Miles and Aiden stuck to their feet, catching a glimpse of the frightened cadets of the Seventh returning to their haven; Without sight of their own comrades in the Sixth. Everything Miles could feel was represented by fear, nothing else in his head but fear for death. No matter how strong he saw himself to be, this insurgency showed the naive aspects within him. He was scared.. And all he wanted to do was hide from all of it.

Flames burned with glory as the crossfire of the adverse soldiers struck down every single child or unarmed person they perceived. The two made their last few steps, arriving at the foot of their already sealed bunker; The one place they were safe. Aiden tended to the communications relay on the door side with the other cadet pacing back and forth, anxious of what was to happen next. "Open up!" Aiden repeated multiple times, banging against the concrete as his head bounced behind and to his front several times when there was no response.

After what felt like minutes of tension and desire of relief, the vault-like door parted seconds after his voice was heard. The pair rushed in desperately, catching their breath only half a second after their assurance of safety. Miles and Aiden stood at the kernel of the wide-stretched room at the face of their central table, both their gazes fixated on the sealing door that shut them out from the hell they came from. They were all on their boots, shivering from the turmoil inured on them. Their hands quivering from the Siberian disarray on their exterior.

Not one pair of eyes made contact with their peers. All of their ogles riveted on the steel that occluded their life from death. Cassidy initiated the covert bunker protocol, eclipsing the relay on their entrance and the face of the door with a holographic defense. Once their fortification was secure, the sergeant gave out a sigh of relief and masked his inner fear with the audacious spirit he should possess. "Everyone good?" He asked calmly, forgetting his training and being human for a moment.

Words couldn't describe their feelings. It was an emotional overdose that they couldn't characterize with simplistic details. They couldn't discern what it's true form was, but they could try to find another answer from this. "Who are they?" Aiden asked, hoping Miles wouldn't veer into his twisted obsession to antagonize Never and everyone who endeavored aside them.

Cassidy reaffirmed their security by ensuring all the system protocols were at green light. "A high class military attack force." He assumed, "Their arrival was concealed by possible cloaking technology that hid them in the form of miniature flying objects that we assumed were birds or drones on the border." He detailed. "Moments before their arrival, they also utilized an advanced electromagnetic pulse that circuited tower's components. They're not just normal terrorists." He reassured undesirebly.

"They're here because of us." Miles worded unfaithfully to Aiden's hopes.

His beginning statement ending with everyone's attention returning back in circulation on his figure asymmetrically to other points in their experiences together. Cassidy, too, turned from the communications and kept his gaze on him. The certainty he saw in the boy's expressions made him fear the possibility that he knew everything. The look on his face implied that Miles wasn't just assuming the reason, or pleading to know the facts; He knew the truth and was certain of it.