Dark Fall

Chapter 17 - Pickup Lines

Terra trudged back to her apartment. Stopping, she admired the countless stars spread out over a moonless sky, silently serenading her in a chorus of twinkling lights.

She had hoped to speak to Will, but his apartment was as dark as hers, and his truck was missing. Exhausted from the events of the day, she went straight to her bed.

The next morning, although well after dawn, Terra searched for Will again, but there was no sign of him. He must have spent the night at a worksite, she concluded. Returning inside, she pulled out her viewer to report in.

"Hex?"

"Morning, Terra," a voice responded. "What's up?"

"What can you tell me about a battle north and east of Freehold, near a village called Norhold?"

"Hmm, let me see what I can pull up. What is it anyway with cities around there that have hold in their name? Hmm. There was a recent battle, but not much info yet, other than a few status reports. Why do you ask?"

Heat flared in Terra's mind as fresh memories of the atrocities surfaced. "Civilian casualties from Norhold came into the hospital here, and there were many. I know, because I worked the triage. Something was not right, so I went up to there. Hex, the village was leveled! It was shelled by both the Dynasty and our forces!"

Hex fell silent for a moment. "Terra, I don't know what to say."

"Connect me to Walt and be insistent."

"Okay."

Terra fumed for a few minutes before Walt came on. "Terra, what is so important?"

"Walt, what the hell happened at Norhold?"

"An investigation is underway. It is classified for now. It looks like the Dynasty dropped shells on the village."

Terra gritted her teeth, yelling into her viewer, "Walt, I did triage on the casualties and then I went up to Norhold to see for myself. It was completely destroyed! The Dynasty shelled the village, but so did we! And we used anti-personnel ordinance! Who was responsible for this?"

"Are you sure?"

"I damn well am! And they pushed a cluster slug at me while I was there! This was a war crime!"

"Calm down, Terra," Walt replied, lowering his voice. "We don't want any of this to get out."

"Walt, we are supposed to fight for the oppressed of this world, not take them out! Didn't you read the pamphlet?"

"Okay, Terra. I will see what I can do."

"You do that!" Terra hung up and threw her viewer down such that it bounced on the couch cushions and clattered to the floor.

She leaned back with her eyes closed, drawing deep relaxing breaths to dissipate the anger. Once sufficiently calm, she retrieved her viewer and checked the clock. There was still some time before she would meet with Benjamin, so she strolled to the town market area to get something to eat. Along the way, she passed a series of tents and temporary shelters set up in a park, presumably for those displaced from Norhold.

Coming to a small cafe near the city center, Terra sat down at an outside table under a brightly colored umbrella. A friendly waitress took her order and returned with a sweet roll and a cup of hot spiced cider. As she ate, she took in the bustle and interactions among nearby shops and stalls.

I've only been here a short while, but this town already feels like home.

When Terra met again with Benjamin, he pointed to a poster announcing a school festival that evening. She smiled at the invitation and agreed to go with him.