Dark Fall

Chapter 19 - Battle

Night sleep evaded Terra as she considered the religion that Will and Joseph showed her.

The world would be so much better if everyone actually followed those teachings, but they don't. So where is this loving God, anyway?

Finding no answer, she drifted off to sleep, but it did not last long. Well before dawn, Terra jerked up to repeated banging on the front door woke. Someone yelled her name. Jumping out of bed, she peeked out the door. "Zoe, what is it?"

"They're at it again," Zoe replied, breathing hard. "The fighting is closer this time. We are getting ready for casualties."

"Damn! I'll be there in five minutes."

Will flung open his door, looked first at Zoe as she ran off, then turned to Terra. "I heard."

Both Will and Terra rushed to the hospital. Terra slipped on surgical scrubs and gathered with others in the emergency room. Zoe, seeing that Liz had not yet arrived, took charge. "Okay everyone, you know the drill. We don't know what to expect yet. For now, triage will be at the emergency entrance. We will move it outside if needed. Let's get to it."

Distant explosions rumbled from the east, creating an atmosphere thick with dread. Stone- faced, the medical teams waited in tense silence.

They didn't have to wait long.

Within minutes, the first of the casualties limped in. They described a pitched battle moving among farmsteads and small settlements. On reports of more wounded walking along the main road, Will and Jay set out in their trucks to retrieve them.

Terra stilled as a vague premonition swirled through her like smoke from a distant fire, something she learned never to ignore. Closing her eyes, she shifted carefully into the aura and reached out, letting her perception expand past the town boundaries. As reported, many people approached Freehold from the east, faintly glowing in shades of green and gray, depending on severity of injury. To the southeast, another group approached, moving slowly in trucks with some jogging behind. A few blazed bright green in the aura, indicating high-function Talents.

They carried weapons. Soldiers!

Terra's heart pounded as she rushed over to Zoe, gripping her shoulder. "The fighting is coming to us. Get everyone inside!"

As if to punctuate her warning, exploding ordinance rumbled like thunder, rattling the doors and echoed through the town. For a brief moment, everybody froze. Zoe and Terra ran outside to direct those there to come inside, although no further urging was required.

Terra looked again into the aura. An icy dread twisted her stomach. They are here.

Liz flung a white coat on as she marched into the room. Terra turned to her. "There are soldiers in town. Coming our way."

Liz directed a man wearing a white security uniform to lock down the hospital. Another explosion shook the ground and rattled the windows. Closer yet. A collective gasp rose from the medical staff and patients.

With the last sheltered inside, Terra stepped outside. Zoe called out to her. "Terra, what are you doing? Come in!"

Terra turned her head to Zoe, narrowing her eyebrows with determination. "Lock the door." Then she ran off into the night.

Breathing hard, Terra peeked up from behind a landscape wall as a group of twenty blue-uniformed Uprising soldiers sprinted past, apparently in full retreat from the Dynasty soldiers who fired on them. The retreating soldiers turned down the road toward the school and orphanage. Terra again slipped into the aura to observe the Dynasty forces in pursuit, not far behind. A portion split off northward to cut off their fleeing prey.

The powerful Talents that accompanied them flung more ordinance. The characteristic whistling noise warned Terra to duck and cover her ears before the explosive percussion. Strong sensations washed over her — a flash of light, a deep whump sound, the shock wave, the crash of shattering glass. Terra looked up to see that the shell struck the empty school, showering glass and brick pieces across the road.

A realization induced an icy shiver. If the Uprising soldier's escape was cut off here, the battle would ensue within the town. Terra jerked, her heart rate spiking, as a hand brushed her shoulder. She spun around. "Zoe, you should be back at the hospital."

"Phht! And so should you, but here we are. What are you going to do?"

Terra pointed toward the shadows by the school. "I have to give those Uprising soldiers some cover so they can get out of here. Then, hopefully, the battle will leave with them."

"You can do that?"

"I have to try."

A shell whistled down near them, exploding with an ear-splitting boom. As the women dove to the ground, Terra went fully into the aura and threw up a telekinetic shield to block a shower of shrapnel and debris. Sulfurous smoke and fine earthy dust tingled her nose.

Another shell launched, coming from the Dynasty Talents who took position at the edge of town. Terra focused her power and, at its apogee, took hold of it, flinging the shell back to its origin. That action caused a momentary pause to the assault.

As Terra observed the Talents shining brightly in the aura, so would they see her. She took hold of Zoe's arm. "I have just exposed us. We have to move."

They ran along beside dark buildings toward the school as a whizzing cluster shell pelted their former location with metal spikes. As Terra feared, the Uprising soldiers took defensive positions between the school and orphanage, firing back at their pursuers.

"Time to end this," she resolved.

Terra took a deep breath and closed her eyes, then reached out in the aura toward the Dynasty forces. She focused on a stack of ordinance in a cart, concentrating down to a micro-scale, not unlike psi-surgery. Gritting teeth, she strained at the difficulty of this task from such a distance. One of the Dynasty Talents noticed her thrust and attempted to block it, but it was too late. She triggered multiple shells. The explosive force decimated the nearby squad of Dynasty soldiers and shook the town with a thunderous quake.

As Terra pulled back from her assault, two gray-uniformed Dynasty soldiers burst out from the shadows, one after another. Dizzied from her aura incursion, Terra could do little more than watch as a rifle barrel appeared at her forehead, only a hand's width away.

Zoe sprang into action. In a lightning-fast move, she grabbed the rifle with her right hand, pushing it down and to the left. The action caused it to discharge harmlessly into the ground. While still holding the rifle, she spun and drove her left elbow into his chin, followed by a hip throw that slammed him hard onto the ground. On impact, his grip loosened on the rifle and she took it from his hands and shot him. Jumping to the side to dodge shots from the other approaching soldier, she then crouched, shooting him twice.

Terra grinned with appreciation at Zoe. "A combat medic, huh? Emphasis on combat. I am so glad I insisted you came along."

Hardly believing their luck, the Uprising soldiers rose from protected positions to flee. However, the group of Dynasty soldiers sent earlier to cut them off appeared in the distance, standing side-by-side with rifles shouldered. Before they fired, Terra jumped up, raising arms. Telekinetically lifted pieces of rocky rubble into a swirling maelstrom, she slung them at the Dynasty soldiers. They scattered, dodging the rubble or falling to the ground. She repeated the action, flinging more debris. Startled by the display of force, the soldiers retreated.

The Blue Uprising soldiers gazed at the surgical scrubs clad women in amazement, some with gaping mouths. Terra pointed to the road behind them and yelled. "Go! Leave this town!"

With that, the Battle of Freehold battle ended. Terra's victory grin snapped to paled horror as the settling dust revealed extensive damage to the orphanage. The explosive ordinance that struck it reduced half of the long building to tangled rubble. Her eyes focused on a dusty teddy-bear among the debris.

No! Benjamin!