Lights Outcast Shadows Chapter 7
Katt shifted in bed restlessly, she hadn't been able to sleep for longer than an hour all night. The day ahead of her was weighing heavy on her mind. She looked over at the clock resting on a metal shelf beside her cot. Six thirty, Katt cursed under her breath. "I'm not going to get any sleep like this; I might as well just get up and get ready." Slowly Katt rose from bed, her neck and back were aching from the uncomfortable cot. She could hear other people speaking in the room adjacent to her. She suspected they were a few young soldiers who had yet to see battle and were hyped up over this. Katt stretched out and let out a long yawn. "Of course, when I get out of bed I start getting tired again."
Katt looked down at herself. "I better get myself changed; I don't want anyone coming in while I'm in my pajamas." Katt changed into her flight suit, which she used in ground combat as well as in the cockpit. She liked the freedom of movement, and it wasn't like she'd be able to fight in any of the bulky chest protectors that the regular soldiers wear; she prefers to avoid getting shot rather than rely on a piece of metal to save her life. Katt walked out of her room and down the barrack's main hallway, she could hear quiet chatter behind many of the doors she passed and thought back to her younger years.
"Back then I was so rebellious, I didn't want to fly under Corneria because that was too mainstream for me, instead I had to go and become a solo mercenary. Although if I had it my way I never would have had to fly solo…" Katt hated the memory but it surfaced again, against her will. Katt was awaiting a call at her home and she just couldn't seem to occupy herself with anything; the anticipation was too great. Then the phone rang, Katt scrambled to pick it up, almost falling over the sofa as she did so. "Hello."
The voice on the other side was very familiar to her, it was Sam her flight instructor from the academy. "Hello Katt, I'm sorry to call with bad news like this but… they didn't accept you."
Katt's throat tightened and she felt as though she was going to cry. There was a long pause and Katt finally asked. "Did they say why?"
Sam sighed. "Yes they said that although you're a great pilot they didn't think that you were right for the team. I'm really sorry."
"It's alright it's not your fault, obviously, they said I was a good enough pilot." Katt spoke calmly despite the fact that tears were flowing down her face. I'll just make my own team; they're the ones missing out." Katt hung up the phone and ran to her room, she was crying hysterically at this point.
Katt walked into the mess hall and the only person there was Sam. Sam was leaning against the serving counter, when Katt walked in he looked up from his cup and motioned for her to come to him. Katt walked over to him but before addressing him she went straight for the coffee maker on the counter. Sam smiled. "Day doesn't start until the first cup."
Katt smiled and took a sip of the steaming liquid. "Not usually, but today is different, I'm tired as all hell; I didn't sleep a wink."
Sam nodded. "Me either, but thinking of what we have to do today is really unsettling." The canine put his cup down on the counter and sighed. "I'm really worried Katt. I know that something will go wrong, there's no way we can sneak this many people into an important building like that and expect to come out with a ship."
Katt frowned at the depressed Doberman. "Come on Sam, that's no way to think, if that's the way you feel than we'll stand no chance. Besides we've got surprise on our side."
"I suppose you're r-- Wait did you hear that?" A huge thump sound reverberated through the room followed by an intense blaring siren. The siren wailed throughout the base, waking up most of the soldiers. "Oh no that's the alarm for a code blue! Attack by stronger force, retreat necessary!"
Katt started to run back down to the barracks. "I need to get my weapons, get as many people to follow you out the back way as you can! We can outrun them on the JPTs!" Katt kept running, ignoring the screams of protest from Sam. As she ran into the barrack's main hallway there were hundreds of soldiers trying to get out. She pushed through as many as she could eventually seeing the entrance to her room. She rammed her shoulder into the door, knocking it over. The safe-box where she held her belongings was still open from when she changed outfits; for once her carelessness helped her out.
As she was pulling her two blaster pistols out Slippy walked through the door. "Hey Katt, let's get going, quick!"
Katt nodded and ran back into the main hallway which was already evacuated. A huge explosion rocked the building. Katt and Slippy were thrown off their feet and into the wall. Katt looked at the back end of the hallway and saw a gaping hole in it, on the other side was the Cornerian military. "No!" Katt jumped up and pulled Slippy to his feet. Suddenly another explosion sounded and the roof above them gave way. Katt was hit hard by a large chunk of metal and everything went black.
Sam was in the back of the last remaining JPT. A young soldier yelled to him. "Sir we need to go now! We don't stand a chance here!"
Sam was watching the back exit intently, oblivious to the destruction and chaos around him. "No we need to stay a little longer; Katt and Slippy aren't back yet."
Just as he finished speaking the back door opened but to his horror Cornerian infantry began to surge out. Sam grabbed a chain gun off the back of the JPT and kicked down the tailgate. "Drive!" just as the JPT started its engine Sam jumped off the back to meet the soldiers. "Eat this, traitors!" Sam's chain gun opened up on the soldiers that had come out the door, shredding through them quickly. The soldiers fell like rag dolls to the stream of giant ripping laser blasts. Sam continued to fire on the door even when it was apparent that no more soldiers were coming out, when he ran out of ammo he threw the gun at the door, shattering it. The soldiers inside had no time to react, Sam came bursting through the empty door frame and landed a jaw-splitting punch to one of the soldiers. When he went down the rest of the soldiers aimed and opened fire on Sam. A few shots hit their mark but the adrenaline in Sam's body kept him going. Blood flowed from his leg and his chest but was ignored by the enraged canine. He grabbed the rifle away from one guard and smacked him in the face with the back end of it. Sam fired into the crowd of guards and was met with a huge volley of return fire. Sam fell to the floor from the many hits, blood was pouring from his body like a fountain. As his life flowed out of him he muttered one thing. "Katt." Then a soldier put his rifle to Sam's face.
Katt's head was swimming; she felt as though she had just been spun around too fast. Memories were slow in coming to her. She felt an immense pain in her head and felt the spot. When she touched the spot it hurt even more, when she pulled her hand away there was blood on it. That's when she remembered what happened. She looked around for Slippy over the rubble but couldn't see him anywhere. When she tried to stand to search for him she realized that she was buried waste deep in rubble herself. She tried to call out for Slippy but her throat was layered with thick dust and all she managed was a weak wheeze. The pain in her head became stronger and her vision began to fade. She fought her eyelids from closing but she again fell into unconsciousness.
When Katt woke again she didn't open her eyes, her head was already pounding and she didn't want to put further strain on her mind. She felt the wound on her head but to her surprise it was covered in a bandage. Katt opened her eyes and noticed she was no longer in the rubble of the base, she couldn't recognize where she was, it was a small room. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of very rough wood, the wooden planks were attached in a very unprofessional manner and there was a gap left open in front of her that was most likely used as a window. Katt tried to stand to look out the window but when she did so a sharp pain pierced her right leg. She looked down at it and saw it was in a homemade brace, also wrapped with bandages. "What now? I don't know where I am and I can't move. I guess the only thing I can do is wait here."
Although Katt didn't particularly like staying in one place so long, especially when there were so many things on her mind, she had to admit that this place was very peaceful. The sun shone in through the window and the warmth felt comforting. Katt could hear the birds chirping outside. A wind blew by the ragtag structure causing it to sway and creak.
Then something broke the peace, Katt could hear a thumping sound below her. She reached for her guns but didn't see them anywhere. The thumping got closer and Katt braced herself. Then a piece of the wooden floor popped up and shifted aside allowing for a bag to be tossed up onto the floor. Slippy looked over the floor and almost fell from surprise. "Oh Katt you're awake, how are you feeling?"
Katt sighed. "A lot better now that I know I'm with a friend. I was worried someone else might have been coming. Would you mind explaining where we are, and how we got here?"
Slippy pulled himself up onto the floor and put the wooden door back over the opening. "Alright, first off, what happened was we were running from the Cornerian military after they found our base way earlier than expected. Well we both got hit by the falling roof after an explosion and we were presumed dead by the troops, so they left us there so they could keep chasing the others. I was lucky, I only got covered in a small layer of metal, and I never lost consciousness. When the soldiers left I checked you, and you were buried up to your waist and unconscious. Then I pried the stuff off of you with a crowbar and brought you here."
Katt nodded. "Alright, well, where exactly is here; and what's in the bag?"
"I'm getting there." Slippy said exasperatedly. "Well this is a… tree-house."
Katt frowned. "I'm injured and we're both wanted by the government and you hide us in… a tree-house?"
Slippy smiled. "Yup, isn't it genius? Why would the government ever think to check a tree-house? Besides Fox, Falco, and I built this thing when we were young; it was the only safe place I could think of on the spot."
Katt shook her head. "Fine, I guess it'll work well enough. So what's in the bag, oh yeah and what's with my leg?"
"Well your leg is broken, which is going to make it really hard to travel." Slippy gave a shrug as if to say sorry. "And in the bag is all the stuff that I could gather together that could be useful to us. Like a fire starter, canteen, your guns, and a bit of food. That was all I could find."
"What are we taking a trek through the desert? Why do we need to travel? It's not like we know anywhere to go, we don't even know where the rest of the group went or if they even got away." Katt winced at the thought of the JPTs getting shot at by the military.
Slippy winced as well; he just remembered something he had found during his search around the ruined base, he didn't know how he was going to tell Katt. "Umm Katt, it doesn't look good, Sam… he's dead."
This hit Katt like a freight train. "Sam can't be dead I just talked to him, he… no he can't be." Katt couldn't take it, she hadn't cried in years, but she did now. Slippy tried his best to comfort her but Katt cried out years of sadness.
Katt sat in the tree-house she felt shell-shocked; Sam had been her mentor and probably her best friend. Slippy sat down beside her and tried to find the right things to say. "Katt, I know how sad this is for you, I was sad too, but we still have to finish our mission. We can still take the aircraft and escape Corneria!"
Katt hardly even acknowledged Slippy. "If that's what you think is best I'll go, but I can't make any promises with how useful I'll be. I have a broken leg, and that's not even the worst of what's wrong with me."
Slippy was very worried about Katt who was usually full of self-confidence, but he knew that first thing they needed was to get off the planet. "Alright then we better get going soon, the guard shift is about to take place; lucky for us we're not too far from the capital building now."
Katt took her pistols out of the bag and tossed one to Slippy. She struggled to stand but once she got up she wasn't in that much pain. "Let's go, hopefully I can kill a good few of those bastards before we leave."
A/N: Decided to have only one author's note from now on. I initially didn't plan on having this chapter focus on Katt but my writing just flowed that way. I kind of wish Sam didn't die, I liked him but that's just the way the story went. Hope you enjoyed.
-F.A.E
