Battle Earth VII

Chapter 9

Taylor had no words to soften the blow they had just taken. He rushed in through the hole that had been punched in the side of the ship and had to step over two bodies as he headed for the bridge. He got to the entrance and found the door was bent and jammed half shut. He got a hold of it and tried to pull, but even with his suit did not have enough strength. He turned to see Jafar had joined him.

"Help me."

The two of them got a firm grasp and managed to force the door apart barely enough for him to squeeze through. All power was down, and the blast shields meant there was no light at all. He flicked on the torch on his helmet and peered around. Bodies were scattered across the bridge, and he looked from one to another to find survivors. A few groaned in pain but were unable to move. The he spotted Ryan sprawled out on the deck. He rushed to his side.

"What the hell hit us?"

"I was hoping you could have answered that question."

His voice was spluttered and weak, and it was clear he could not move his legs. It looked as if his spine had been severely damaged, but Taylor didn't want to say it.

"There's nothing you can do for us. Get going.”

Taylor wanted to argue, but he knew the Captain was right.

"Good luck."

He got to his feet and rushed out through the smashed door. They got out from the ship to be accosted by Waters.

"Any survivors?"

"None that we can help right now."

"What happened to ‘leave no man behind’?"

Taylor shook his head.

"A nice ideal to live by, but you know how many soldiers have been left behind in war? Ryan understands and wants us to go on, and that's exactly what we have to do. He lifted his Mappad device to get an understanding of where they were, but it could not find signal. His comms were out also.

"Impossible, someone must be jamming us. Where the hell are we?"

"Which side of the border are we?" asked Hughes.

"I'd say we're in the south of my country."

"You're sure of that?" asked Taylor.

"As sure as I can be, all things considered."

"Malok must be around here somewhere."

"Get real," replied Taylor. "He could be fifty klicks or more from our position, and with no way to communicate, he's on his own, same as we are."

"You came after me, why?" asked the President.

"Sides are being drawn up. I chose mine, as you chose yours."

"Well, thank you, for trying at least."

"Oh, we aren't done yet. We have to get into France. As the legitimate leader of your country, you can be reinstated with a little help. If you die, it's all for nothing."

This is just going from shit to worse, he thought.

He was starting to realise it had all gone downhill since the moment he met Armand. The gladiatorial combat and puppet strings he had been pulled along by were bad, but nothing compared to what shit Armand had landed him in.

He looked at his watch. It was a long time till sundown. He flipped open the top to reveal a compass, his only means of navigation now. He looked around. The countryside around them was predominantly thick woodland.

"We'll have good visual cover, but that's not gonna save us from thermal imaging."

"Then we should move quickly."

"Southwest it is. Let's move."

"So we just keep walking and hope to reach France?"

"We'll reach it all right, Hughes. This ain't such a big country, no offence."

"Why don't we look for help nearby? We have their President for God’s sakes. Surely the locals will help?"

Taylor shook his head.

"US forces and an alien roaming the lands with the nation’s President. Anyone we go to is just as likely to think we're the kidnappers and immediately report us to the authorities. We can't trust anyone this side of the border. It can't be more than fifty klicks to it."

"Fifty klicks?" Waters shouted.

Taylor grabbed the man by the frontal plate of his armour.

"You get your shit together. Fifty klicks is a walk in the park, considering the alternative. With any luck, it's closer. I want to be there before the sun rises tomorrow."

"We have no food, only the water in our suits," said Hughes.

"You Navy boys have had it too easy for too long. Water is all we need. Let's get moving."

Jafar led the way. Taylor knew he would terrify anyone they came across, but he was thankful to have someone dependable at the front. The two seamen with them still looked terrified, but he didn't blame them. They'd just lost their ship and most of the crew with it. As they reached the edge of a thick forest, Taylor turned to look back at the Deveron one last time. The stricken ship had done him and many others years of loyal service.

"Good luck, Ryan," he whispered as he turned and carried on.

"You'd leave those crew to get me out?" asked Mertens.

"Nothing more I can do for them. Had I the support I had in the war, I'd call in for assistance and get them out, but we did this of our own accord. My commanding officer will want my head for this."

"Coming after me, or losing that ship?"

"Both."

"You really are that officer we have seen so much on TV recently, aren't you? The Gladiator some have called you."

He didn't answer, as he wasn't proud of the fact.

"So it is you. You're the last person I would have expected to come to my aid. Do you regret it yet?"

"No room in a marine's mind for regret. We keep moving forward, improvise, and overcome."

"But you're not a marine today, are you? Not here on their orders or interests."

He was silent.

"So you've decided to join the Alliance? Even though America wants nothing to do with this conflict?"

She kept pushing until finally he knew he had to respond.

"I didn't fight over these lands for nothing. Way I see it, this is as much my home as the States is now, and I won't stand by and watch half the World rip itself to pieces."

"Even if that means fighting a human against human war?"

"I can't see how that can be avoided, can you?”

“One of the key reasons I did what I did is because we have irrefutable evidence that the UEN is freeing alien prisoners and recruiting them into their armies, and that they were being prepared for it months ago."

"You can't be serious?"

"I am. As a key representative of the UEN, I have been at the forefront of discussions. The UEN has been moving to find ways to integrate alien POWs into the World populace and find a way they can contribute to society. Maybe they weren't training them to use weapons, but the foundations were there before all this began."

Taylor shook his head.

"That figures."

She seemed surprised.

"How so?"

"I just heard from a reliable source that humans working for the Krys, or what look to be human at least, have infiltrated various levels of government on Earth."

"And you have proof of this?"

"No," he sighed, "and nobody I have so far contacted is willing to entertain the idea."

"But you know this for certain?"

He nodded.

"Yes, that would explain how all this escalated so quickly. But how can we tell who is working with them or not?"

"No idea. I know of only one who is definitely with them, Councillor Armand."

"Ah, yes, that little worm."

They’d got half a kilometre and in the middle of an opening when a missile smashed into the ground beside them, showering them with dirt. A moment later they heard a copter buzz by.

“Run!” he shouted.

He didn’t know what they were running towards, but he couldn’t think of anything else to do. The copter was far out of reach of their weapons.

“One copter? Why one?”

“They must be worried about attracting too much attention, Hughes. We must be closer to the border than we thought!”

They reached an embankment and before them was a road and sign reading ‘Welcome to Saint-Hubert’. The sign was brand new.

“Saint-Hubert, this place was devastated in the war. It’s still only a small community,” said Mertens.

“It’ll do!” he replied as they kept running.

“How can they help us?”

“That copter won’t keep firing once we’re in the cover of enough civilians.”

“You’d risk that?”

“If it means not dying, yeah!”

The copter was coming back for another pass when they hit a stroke of luck, a school bus with fifteen children aboard. Taylor rushed out in front of the vehicle that brought the driver to a quick halt. He didn’t like doing it, but he knew it was the only thing that would save their lives.

“Get up beside the bus!”

He looked up to see the copter pass without firing, and he could see the German markings clearly now. He’d prayed they wouldn’t open fire, with the potential for collateral damage, but it was as much a gamble as anything else. He rushed to the door of the bus and ripped it open. It tore from the hinges, and he threw it aside into the grass.

“Inside now!”

The children aboard screamed in fear as they stepped inside, but it reached its peak at Jafar climbing in.

“Everyone be quiet!” shouted Taylor.

It did nothing, but he repeated the order and expected it to be followed. Mertens got to her feet and spoke to them, but Taylor didn’t understand a word of it. She finally turned to him.

“Okay?” he asked her.

She nodded in response.

Taylor put his rifle over the driver’s arm. The women looked in an utter panic.

“Keep moving into the town.”

“Please, Sir, we don’t want any trouble.”

Taylor put his hand around her head and turned it, despite her trying to resist.

“You see who that is? That is your President. We’re trying to save her life. Do you want to help, or do you want to be responsible for her death?”

The driver was terrified, but her expression turned to confusion on recognising the President.

“Drive!”

How did it come to this? Hijacking a school bus and on the run from UEN forces? Has the whole World gone mad?

“Where are you taking us?” pleaded the woman.

She was shaking and crying, and that made Taylor feel even crappier than he already did. Mertens stepped up beside her.

“It’ll be fine, but I need you to do this, okay?”

It was the first time he had heard her speak to her compatriots in English, and he knew it was as much for his benefit as for theirs. She turned back to him.

“We can’t keep this up. I will not endanger these children, not for anything.”

“But you would risk our lives? The lives of US personnel who don’t owe you anything? Who have no reason to be here, besides what they think is the right thing to do. Look at us. We owe you nothing, and we have lost many friends today. That was to protect you.”

“I am very thankful for your efforts, Colonel, but don’t expect me to believe you did this out of pure selflessness. You chose the wrong side, and you are looking for a way to redeem yourself, so I tick more boxes than simply making you feel good about yourself.”

Great, another politician with no care in the World for those who serve to protect her!

He knew he shouldn’t be surprised. Although her argument made some sense, he didn’t like hearing it.

“You were a hero to this world, Colonel, and rightly so. But in these past years you have been a shadow of your former self. You have let yourself be paraded around for the entertainment of the lowest common filth in society, but you can be the man you used to be. Be the soldier you used to be.”

“I don’t need any lectures from a politician,” he snapped back, “Where were you when the World needed you?”

Yet again she made some sense, but he’d never admit it to her.

“Do the right thing, Colonel. If we don’t protect the next generation, what was it all ever for?”

“Right, stop the bus!”

The driver slammed the brakes on and froze where she sat. Taylor knelt in close to talk with her.

“Get the kids off the bus and take them back to town. Don’t cover for us. Don’t lie to anyone. We don’t need your protection. We just need the vehicle. Got it?”

She nodded her head in agreement.

“Do it.”

She carefully and slowly got to her feet as if she was suspicious he was actually going to let her leave. He hated having made her feel that way, but there was no time to apologise over it.

“What are you doing?” asked Mertens.

“Okay, we won’t put these kids in any more danger, but we need this bus.”

He pulled open the door and let the driver do the rest before turning back to the few companions he had.

“Hughes, think you can drive this thing?”

“It looks older than my Pop’s, but yeah.”

“Get on it and get us moving.”

He looked around, the sailor was right. It was a rickety old transport that looked as if it had been brought out of military service.

“Come on, Hughes, minute they realise we have ditched the kids, we are fair game.”

“Then why did we ditch ‘em?”

“God knows,” he said, sighing.

Hughes leapt into the driver’s seat and got them moving quickly.

“I can drive this, but I got no idea where we’re going.”

Taylor looked over to the navigation, but like his Mappad, it wasn’t working.

“Take the road to Gedinne. We can cross the border near there,” Mertens said.

“You sure about that?”

“That I know my own country? Yes, I’m sure, Colonel.”

“Do as the President says.”

They could see the signs in front of them and did as she said. Taylor took a seat, relieved that they finally seemed to be on the home run. He sat next to the driver and facing backwards to the rest of the seating. Mertens was sitting nearest him and seemed surprisingly calm with all they had been through.

“What else do you know about all this?” he asked her.

“I’m afraid to say everything else is public information. The last communication I had with anyone was your President. I pleaded with him for the United States to intervene at the prison camps to aid in a peaceful solution.”

“And?”

“And it failed…”

Taylor looked out of the window for some sight of the craft that had stalked them, but it was gone.

“Think they’ve had enough?”

“Not likely, Waters, but we can hope.”

Twenty minutes later Hughes let out a cry of excitement, and Taylor turned to see it was a sign pointing to the border crossing.

“Just two kilometres out!”

“What will you do once we get to France?” the President asked Taylor.

“Push my contacts in the UK and see where I can get to. If I can’t get support back home, that’s my next safe bet. I have friends there.”

“And do what then?”

He shook his head.

“I don’t know. The World’s going to shi… to hell. And this time it isn’t as simple as fighting those in front of me.”

“Welcome to my world.”

He opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by a scream from Hughes.

“Shit!”

Taylor turned to see a line of gunmen blocking the road. They wore Reitech equipment but no insignia over plain black uniforms. He reached over and grabbed the wheel, tugging it to one side. The bus veered violently off to one side, ramming a car beside it as the line of gunmen opened fire.

“Get down!” he ordered.

He heard Hughes yelp as a shot went into his arm. Bullets ripped through the outer skin of the bus with little resistance at all. Taylor couldn’t see anything from where he was and had to hope for the best now. A moment later they heard glass shatter, and the bus rocked as they burst through a huge pane and then smashed into a wall.

The impact sent them all tumbling from their positions. Taylor hit the main console at the front of the bus, smashing into the inside of the windscreen, and then back down to the seat. He got to his feet, doing his utmost to ignore the pain and get a handle on the situation.

“Get up!”

He looked out of the windows. They were inside a modern shopping mall. He drew out his pistol and offered it to Mertens.

“Know how to use this?”

Mertens was in her mid-fifties. She was more than a little overweight and hardly looked like the gun toting type, but he had to do something.

“Can you use it or not?” he insisted.

“I can learn quickly if I need to,” she responded, snatching it from his grasp.

Fighting spirit, it’s a start.

“Everyone off the bus!”

The door was jammed shut, but it was fortunately weak. He kicked it and it flew from its hinges. Screams of panic rang out from around them, as people went from concern for the occupants to fleeing from men with guns. He quickly surveyed the scene and led them further into the facility. He looked back. Hughes was nursing his wounded arm and wasn’t even holding his rifle that was now slung on his back. Jafar was holding up the rear.

They took a bend, and the only way was up via automated stairs. As they rode up to the next floor, Taylor looked at the faces of Hughes and Waters. They both looked ready to give up.

“Hughes, get that weapon in hand. You haven’t got time to bleed! Mertens, you stick at my back, no matter what.”

Jafar was the last one off the stairs, and as he did so, gunfire raced past his head. Taylor jumped to his aid. A metre high wall ran alongside the top of the stairs, providing a perfect firing position to shoot down on those chasing them. He popped up from cover, quickly took aim, and fired three shots. Two hit the man’s armour, and the third struck his hand, almost taking it off at the wrist.

He ducked back down as he head the screams of the fallen soldier. Jafar fired the next shots, but he could not see the result of them.

“Who are these people?” asked Waters.

“Soldiers loyal to Armand. That’s all you need to know.”

“What are we gonna do?”

“Shoot back!”

He got up and fired again. It was enough to drive their attackers back, but he knew they’d already be working on ways to flank their position. Mertens tried to get up to fire, but Taylor hauled her back down.

“I gave you that gun as a last resort. You do not stick your head out while we’re still in this fight.”

She was at first offended by the way he spoke to her, but then thankful. He took a few more shots before getting to his feet and dragging her with him.

“Come on, let’s keep moving!”

They were on the first floor of the mall now, and the floor divided and split with an open drop down to the ground floor below.

Up or down? Up or down?

It wasn’t easy to decide when so few options presented themself.

“Where are we going?” screamed Waters.

“You don’t know, do you?” asked Hughes. “This is fucked. It’s so fucked.”

Taylor turned and slapped the man hard in the face.

“Man the fuck up. We’ve got a job to do, and we’re gonna get it done.”

Screams rang out from below, and he looked down to the ground level. Troops were pouring through the crowd looking for them.

“Follow me.”

He headed for the next escalator, but this time he sprinted up it. They took up position as they had done before.

“How many floors in this place?” Taylor asked Mertens.

She shrugged. “I’m sorry, but I’ve never been here before.”

He looked around for some more information and found the board with a map of the site.

Why didn’t I think to look?

He hadn’t visited a mall in more years than he could remember. It showed another two floors above them.

“What do you think, go for the roof?” he asked Jafar.

“You’re the boss.”

“That’s a big help.”

“Here they come,” said Waters.

Taylor lifted his rifle over the ledge and took aim.

“Just a few shots to keep their heads down and then we move.”

He fired first. One brushed off one of the soldiers’ helmets. One missed all together, and another clipped a man’s ear and got him screaming as it took the tip off.

“Go!”

They rushed up to the next level but did not stop until they hit the roof. As they burst out of the door, Mertens curled over gasping for air. She wasn’t able to handle the exertion being placed on her, and he could see the Navy boys suffering also.

“What now?” Jafar asked.

“You too? How about somebody else comes up with the answers for once?”

He went over to the western edge of the roof and looked out towards the border.

“We could jump it?”

“I don’t think we have the power left to do it.”

“I don’t think we have a choice,” he replied, “We jump as far as we can, and carry on from there on foot. It’s our best hope.”

He knew the others had heard him, and he looked to them for an opinion. None responded.

“We keep pushing, or it’s over, and it was all for nothing. Did we fight all this time to give up now? Did the Deveron go down for nothing? Was the sacrifice of her crew, our friends, for nothing?”

Footsteps thundered up the stairs behind them, and they knew they had less than a minute to make a decision.

“We’re gonna make this, you know why? Because we deserve to; too much shit has happened today for us to fail now. So what the hell? Let’s do this!”

He grabbed Mertens and threw her over his shoulder and ran along the rooftop. The others were quick to follow, not because they believed they could make it, but being left behind was a more frightening concept.

The boosters launched them from the rooftop. They covered a few hundred metres when Taylor’s boosters began to give out, and the last of his power was automatically diverted to bring him to a quick and safe descent. He landed in the middle of the road to the border, causing cars to veer off it to avoid them.

The others landed around him soon after, but they knew they were a long way short of France. It was within reach and yet so far away. A driver of a car that had slid to a halt before them ran from his car. Taylor moved up and quickly took it as cover.

“What now?” Hughes asked.

“I’m not gonna be shot in the back. We turn and fight these bastards.”

“With what? We’re outnumbered, and you can’t have much more ammunition left than me.”

“And that is a reason to quit, a reason to give up? Thinking like that would have seen an end to humanity! Load up and prepare to fight!”

He slammed in a new magazine and put his muzzle down on the roof of the car. Troops were amassing. He’d counted a few dozen figures already taking up position.

How did it come to this? A hundred battles, and it could all end with so few at my side on some crappy stretch of road?

It was hard to see a way out for any of them. He turned to Jafar for answers, but he had none.

“A thousand things we could have done differently and not ended up here, Jafar.”

“And a thousand things you could have done which would have killed you sooner.”

Taylor smiled, patting his friend on the shoulder.

“Sure beats rotting in a cell.”

He grabbed Mertens and shoved her down behind the car.

“You don’t have to die here,” he said.

She seemed baffled.

“This car here. Get in, and we’ll move to the next one. Once we’re in cover, you can pull away. They can’t know you’re still with us. You can make it to the border, you can…”

“No,” she stated firmly.

“I’ve seen you are important to humanity as any president, Colonel. Presidents come and go every few years, but you are constant.”

“Maybe not for much longer,” he jested. “You know this story ain’t gonna have a happy ending, right?”

She nodded.

Stubborn! I like this President.

There were no sirens in the distance. No police rushing to the scene or help coming for them. Taylor had never felt so abandoned since he had been in a prison cell. The black clothed gunmen approached their position, using the cover of the vehicles that were stacked up. Finally, as they finally took up positions, one of them called out to him with an amplifier of some kind.

“Colonel Taylor! Our fight is not with you! President Mertens is under arrest for breach of the public trust and illegal use of her powers. Hand her over, and this can end peacefully. She is not your responsibility. She is not your problem. Give her up so that she can face sentencing in a European court, and you may walk free.”

“You mean UEN court?” he asked.

“That is Europe, and anybody who says different is a troublemaking rebel intent on dividing our people.”

“Christ, who is this guy?” asked Mertens.

“Someone who is really starting to piss me off,” replied Taylor.

Taylor took aim at the man through his sights. He squeezed the trigger without hesitation. The bullet hit his throat and instantly silenced him. Blood spurt out from the wound. Gunfire returned almost simultaneously, forcing them to duck down as the car they were sheltering behind was peppered with fire.

“Not much of a diplomat, are you, Colonel?” shouted Mertens.

The shooters started encircling their position, and Taylor saw one appear at their flank. He opened up with his rifle, and the man ducked back down. Jafar was doing the same at the other end of the car while Waters and Hughes kept it up at the centre. Taylor knew it was his last magazine, but he’d accepted the end, just as he had done so many times before.

His rifle was out. He reached over and grabbed his pistol from Mertens and kept firing. The gunmen were surrounding their position, and he knew he didn’t have long before they were completely exposed to the troops working their way around the flanks.

All hope seemed lost, but just as the thought passed through Taylor’s mind, engines roared towards them, kicking up dust. He looked up to see copters fly into view and come to a hover over them. One was Rains’ distinctly painted monstrosity, with a distressed stars and stripes and a reaper carrying a scythe.

It must be a dream.

“Impossible!” he yelled.

Troops leapt from the copters and landed all around. The first face he saw was Parker’s. She was wearing the full gear of an Inter-Allied NCO. He couldn’t believe his eyes, no matter how much he wanted it to be true. She rushed towards him and pushed him down into the cover of the car.

“Are you okay? Are you okay?”

He could barely find the words to respond. He got up and could see dozens of allied troops flooding through the streets, pursuing the gunmen who had plagued them since the crash of the Deveron.

“How are you here?”

Another man approached, another who was unmistakeable. Sergeant Silva, his arm replaced with a bionic. He looked as purposeful as ever.

“It was his idea,” Eli said, pointing to the Sergeant Major.

“Hit me,” he said.

She looked at him funny.

“Hit me, or I won’t believe it’s real.”

He expected a slap, but Parker punched him in the face. His head rocked back before recovering with a smile as blood trickled from his nose.

“Eli, meet President Mertens.”

“Ma’am,” she said with a small bow.

“How are you here? America wanted nothing to do with this?”

“We aren’t here as Americans, Ma’am. We’re here for him, and that means we’re here for you.”

Taylor turned around once again. The black clothed gunmen were in full retreat. Rains’ copter put down in an opening between the vehicles and rushed out in person to greet Taylor.

“Son of a bitch, you’re still alive? Means we didn’t fly out here for nothing!”

“Ma’am, if you’ll join us,” said Parker. “We’ve fooled this band of gunmen, but this isn’t the US getting involved. This really is all we have. We need to get back into friendly territory.”

“Lead the way!”

Taylor ran alongside the two of them.

“I thought you were done with the Corps?” he asked.

“Not by choice. I left for you, but while I can have both, I’ll take everything I can get! Now let's get the hell out of here, before you attract anymore trouble!"

He could barely believe it were true. After all the hardship they had faced the past few days, they had been saved. He rushed to Rains’ copter as quickly as he could. Even as they were lifting off, they could see more gunmen and vehicles rolling up to the scene.

"Close call," he whispered.

"Should be your middle name!" Eli said, smiling.

A minute later and they were in French air space. Three fighters raced up to their flanks.

"What now?"

"It's okay, Mitch. They're here to escort us to Paris."

"How'd you wrangle that?"

"We told the French they could either escort us in or shoot us down."

"That's a relief," he replied sarcastically.