Chapter Eleven

"You hear something?" asked the elderly shepherd. He looked up towards the sky and saw those things. Slowly he closed his eyes and prayed, there wasn't supposed to be a patrol today, he thought he had time to travel. He thought today he would be able to reach the settlement, but no it didn't appear to be so. The person beside him didn't speak.

"Please, make it quick" he said, as he heard the sound of a bomb falling. He opened one eye and watched as with a faint baa one of the sheep suddenly exploded. "Shut up" he said, turning as the teenager beside him burst into laughter.

---

"Oh crap, here they come!" yelled out Yukari, "Run for-" She looked up to discover the others had in fact already set off. "Bastards! Wait for me!" she yelled out as the flying machine dropped a bomb.

Chiyo watched it fall, and the last thing she remembered before the darkness was closing her eyes before the thing could flash brightly, after all she didn't want to damage her eyes…

"Huh?" said Chiyo, her voice echoing, the echo returning reversed. "Where am I?"

"This is the construct of your mind" said a male voice, "Pure imagination."

"Who are you?" asked Chiyo, as a pale figure stepped forward, no older then eighteen with Harry Palmer like glasses. The person pointed to himself.

"Me? I am just a figment of your imagination too…a pointless being who will only pose questions, never answers."

"Why?"

"Hey hey, that's my job" said the figure, adjusting his glasses. "You may call me TR. Despite my nerdy attire I do have some knowledge…and I may in fact possess ultimate power in this universe. Who knows, perhaps I am in fact more then just part of your imagination, perhaps something "higher" as you might say."

"But why are you here?"

"Let's just say I decided to jump on the bandwagon" said the ghostly figure.

"W-what are you talking about?" asked Chiyo nervously. She wasn't sure of this place…her imagination or something else?

"Some people may resist trends, attempt not to conform. I saw this spate of author self inserts, and thought why not me too?"

"What?"

"Erm, you didn't hear that last part ok?" said the figure looking nervous now.

"A-am I dead?" asked Chiyo.

"No, no of course not. In fact I have a feeling this'll all turn out perfectly fine…then again it might not…"

"For an omnipotent being you aren't much help" said Chiyo.

"Hey, your mind created me. Don't whine to me about it."

"Well, can you offer me any advice at all?" asked Chiyo, her feelings that this may be a special moment having vanished. "Please, I'm in a desperate situation, so are my friends. Do you have any advice at all?"

"Why, of course I have" said the figure, nodding his head. "I have a very good piece of advice."

"And that would be…?" asked Chiyo.

"Watch Neon genesis evangelion. I guarantee someone like you will enjoy it" said TR, sticking up his thumb.

"Huh, what?! What was that?" asked a (now extremely) confused Chiyo.

"Advice" said TR, nodding his head. "Very good advice I think."

"So my self created guardian spirit is an otaku?" asked Chiyo.

"Damn straight."

"Ok then. Any advice relating to the current life and death situation I am in?"

"Look to your right, and you will find shelter…" said TR as he began to vanish into a bright light akin to the lens flare on a poor Photoshop. "…And say hi to Sakaki for me…"

Chiyo's eyes slowly opened and she pushed herself up. She looked up into the face of Kaorin, who looked relieved to see Chiyo well. Chiyo pushed herself up and started speaking frantically.

"There's shelter out here, we have to…!"

"We found it" said Kaorin, pointing behind Chiyo to a thick steel wall that vanished beneath the sand. "We're just trying to find a way in."

"Useless spirit" muttered Chiyo to herself.

"Huh, did you say something?" asked Kaorin, having vaguely heard Chiyo say something.

"Oh what, no I think you must have been imagining things" said Chiyo, looking around guiltily. She was lying, oh she told a lie to Kaorin, this wasn't right, this wasn't fair…she had become a monster! Sure it was a tiny insignificant lie, but what was to stop her becoming a tyrant, a brutal killing machine who'd look back and realize this was the moment when she became it…

"Chiyo?" asked Kaorin interrupting Chiyo's thoughts, which had been disturbed due to the recent unexplained discussion with what was possibly her own imagination.

"Yes Kaorin?" asked Chiyo.

"Are you feeling ok?" asked Kaorin.

"Y-yes, why wouldn't I be?" asked Chiyo, "Is something wrong?"

"No, not really…you were kind of acting a bit weird though, you seemed to have something on your mind."

"Oh no it was nothing, no crazy fantasies about spirits or brutal slaughter or anything" said Chiyo laughing nervously.

"…Right" said Kaorin, looking more closely at Chiyo. "You didn't happen to hit your head when you landed did you?"

"No…I don't thing so…though that might explain some things" said Chiyo, finishing her sentence quietly. "How are they doing over there?" asked Chiyo, pointing to the small gathering. A loud yell from Yomi followed by Tomo charging into the metal wall answered her question.

"I know we can find shelter in there" said Yukari, Sakaki agreeing with her former teacher. "We'll be much safer in there, out here we're in the open."

"Yeah, but how do we get in there?" asked Yomi, "It doesn't look like we could smash our way in, or shoot a hole in it, we can't get it."

"So what can we do then?" asked Osaka, "'cos videogames say you should always explore every area to find rewards."

"How about we use the open door button?" asked Tomo, standing behind the others, close to the steel construct.

"I don't have time for this Tomo, so please give me something constructive" said Yomi in a threatening tone.

"How about grenades?" suggested Yukari.

"The open door button?" added Tomo.

"A tin opener?" asked Osaka, "I think I have one, it might work with forces applied correctly."

"They're coming back" said Sakaki as the flying machines turned in the air and started to fly back towards them.

"Damn it, there has to be a way" said Yomi, slowly turning as Tomo patted her shoulder. "Yes?"

"Why not use the open door button" said Tomo pointing to a small grey button with the word open engraved into it. Yomi was certain, positive, completely sure, that at that moment something in her brain broke.

"Ok lets do that then" said Yomi as Tomo cheered and shoved the button with her finger, a faint hiss being followed by a grinding sound, which soon died down. Sand fell from cracks as the door suddenly appeared in the wall, and then it opened, a small entrance leading to a cramped dimly lit interior.

"Come on, lets go" said Yomi, calling out to Chiyo and Kaorin.

---

"It's me" said the man, speaking into the communication device of the felled weapon system in the same language as the pilots. "Do you hear me?"

"You" snarled the lead pilot. "We hear you."

"What's with that tone of voice?" asked the man, "I've come back home."

"We all know about you, Human sympathiser" roared the pilot, "Being around the enemy, and now you try to steal one of our weapons to give to them."

The man's jaw slowly dropped.

"No, I think you've slightly missed the mark there…"

"Silence! Prepare to be destroyed!"

"Ah shit" said the man, leaping from the ruins shortly before the burst into bright blue flames, shooting upwards before vanishing almost instantaneously, leaving smouldering ruins.

The man began to run towards the place he'd seen the humans enter. He was certain he knew exactly what it was…this could be most beneficial. As the bullets tore into the ground behind him, he ran faster, towards the machine. Not a shelter…but a machine.

He just about made his way inside before the door closed and vanished into a solid wall. He slowly held up his hands as he spotted at least five guns pointed towards him.