Alek's ears perked up as the sound of Deryn's boots made their way into the cockpit. He smiled and flexed his hands on the saunters; everyone was aboard.
It was nice to finally grip saunters attached to a walker again instead of the one used for throttle control on the Leviathan's engine pod. A number of months had passed since he'd piloted a stormwalker, but it was all slowly coming back to him now as his eyes scanned the dials and gauges.
Deryn's voice cut through the relative silence of the still walker, "Right, as soon as we fire her up, Ian and Allen with start chattering away at the trenches to keep them pinned down so we can warm up, but don't doddle!" Alek turned to answer just as she took charge of the Spandau to his right. He decided not to vocalize, she was quite focused.
Nervous energy perforated and reverberated throughout the walker's cabin. Behind Alek were two British soldiers; one airman that looked to be about as old as Alek himself, and a disheveled man from the trenches whose demeanor betrayed his long, hellish months of trench warfare. Below him, in the gunners' cabin, resided Hoffman and Volger, the count filling in for Bauer's absence.
It was decided that Bauer would stay on the Darwinist side of the trenches just in case the Germans managed to get their last walker working. The Clanker's inept knowledge of the stormwalker's weaknesses would prove extremely helpful if such a situation were to occur.
Alek took a deep breath. "Ready?" He called out. Deryn pulled and released the bolt of the machine gun, priming it to fire. One more second, and Alek engaged the engines.
The silence suddenly exploded as the massive Daimler engines cranked into life. The entire structure of the walker trembled with power, and the gauges all around him began to jump and arc. Alek carefully but rapidly increased the idle, hoping the engines wouldn't crack a piston, or worse, in the cold.
The air in the cabin was buffeted by the rapid concussions of the Spandau bursting to life. Deryn was right, the Clanker weapon was quite loud and unpleasant.
Alek glanced at the steam pressure gauges. The needles climbed painfully slowly; at this rate, it'd be another two and a half minutes before they could move. The prince spun in his seat and shouted at the Darwinists over the noise, "You two! Provide some covering fire from up top, I'm going to close the viewports!" The soldiers nodded, but their 'yes sirs' were drowned out by the Spandau.
Without warning, a spray of bullets rang against the walker's armour, a couple making their way in through the Spandau's gun port and ricocheting their way around the cockpit. Alek, caught halfway out of his chair, dropped to the floor and covered his head as Deryn let out a string of profanities made of some words Alek had never heard before. He immediately rose to a crouch, shouting, "Is everyone alright?"
All answered with an "Aye," or "Okay". With his confidence restored, he made his way to the viewport crank and wrenched it as closed as he dared.
Another wave of machine gun fire hit the outside of the walker, eliciting a "Oh that's how you want to play is it?!" from Deryn before the Spandau's round tore through the air once again. Through the explosions of gunfire, Alek could sense the Daimler engines changing pitch and rhythm; they were finally warming up.
He lunged across the cabin and back into his seat as another bullet bounced around, pelting him with sparks as its energy was expended on the metal interior of the walker. He swore when he saw the pressure gauges had barely moved.
"Oh your princeliness! We've got a problem!" Deryn shouted.
"What sort of problem?"
"The Clankers have figured out what's going on, and they're pushing our boys back!" She unleashed another burst of gunfire. "How soon until we can get moving?!"
"Another minute or so!" Alek said after giving the pressure gauges a glance. "I'll call in those two from up top!"
He had just reached to pull himself out of the top hatch when Deryn let out a surprised squeal. Alek whipped his head towards the sound to find a German soldier halfway through the Spandau's gunport, the hot barrel of the machine gun under his armpit, and a pistol shoved in Deryn's face.
"I'm going to-!" the Clanker began shouting in German, but he was cut-off as the older British soldier threw himself at the intruder, having leapt off the topside of the walker, tearing the Clanker from the gunport and smashing them both to the ground below.
"Barking spiders!" Deryn shouted, leaning out of the opening. Alek hurriedly hoisted himself topside, the night air feeling strangely cool on his sweat-dotted face. The blasts from gunfire weren't as muffled up here, and he felt miles more exposed. Alek found the young airmen crouching and firing from behind a stack of supplies strapped to the walker's topside and crawled to join him.
"We're almost ready to move!" He shouted over the rumbling idle of the engines, which were just feet away. "I suggest you join us inside!"
"But wha' about Lipton?!" The airman yelled back. "He took that German off th' side!"
Alek and the airman peered down to the two soldiers struggling in the snow below. Their movements were illuminated in the rapid, flickering flashes of Deryn's gunfire, leaving gaps in the proceedings of their hand-to-hand combat. After a few seconds, both were on their feet and lunging at one another, brandishing wicked trench knives. Another burst, and the British soldier had his knife pressed against the German's throat, much like Deryn did in Switzerland. Alek wondered why he didn't just end the man's life and run, but then he noticed a group of six Clanker soldiers from the trenches walking towards the two, rifles aimed squarely at them both. The Darwinist was using the German as a meat shield!
In a flash, it was all over. The six Germans sacrificed the life of their own soldier, and shot them both to pieces. Alek swore and the airman beside him shot at the Germans, sending one spinning to the ground and prompting the rest to raise their rifles and fire at the walker.
"God's wounds!" The prince exclaimed as he dived for the viewport.
"Where the bloody hell were you?!" Deryn yelled as Alek dropped back into the cabin.
"That doesn't matter, just get a move on!" Came Ian's voice before Alek could answer. He turned to find Ian's upper body protruding from the hatch to the gunners' cabin.
"Yes sir!" Alek responded, sliding into the pilot's chair and checking the gauges. They had just enough to get going! He engaged the pneumatics in the walker's joints, and they rose to their full height before Alek shoved a saunter forward, the stormwalker's massive foot lurching towards No-Man's-Land.
"That's it! Good show!" Ian said before dropping below.
"The buggers are getting into their own walkers! Good thing they'll have to warm up as well." Deryn said, pulling her head back inside the walker.
"Yes, but they can still fire their cannons at us!" Alek cautioned.
"Oh, right." Deryn replied a bit sheepishly.
Alek was proved right moments later as a huge boom shook the walker, a massive geyser of dirt flying up beside them. Alek swore and fought to maintain control as the stormwalker's armour was pelted by debris.
The sun was making its way over the horizon now; their little excursion had taken longer than expected, and now they were in danger of devastating artillery raining down on them.
A shattering explosion came from behind them. "What was that?!" Alek shouted through the noise. He felt Deryn's boots on the chair behind him, balancing as the walker lurched with every step. She swore.
"One of the walker's cannons exploded on them, but it looks like Randal's hit!" Alek felt her boots leave the back of his seat. "Don't-!" he began, but she'd already pulled herself out of the hatch.
Alek swore and gritted his teeth. He swerved to avoid a nasty barbed-wire emplacement. Every ping of small arms fire that bounced off the walker's armour only worried him more. His world was rocked by another cannon shell landing close by, followed closely by another, then another. He felt a cold pit form in his chest. Those were too much too close together to be from one walker cannon!
"Deryn! Get back in here!" He shouted, even though he knew she wouldn't be able to hear anything out there in all the tumult. Two more shells landed, one right after the other, on either side of the walker. Alek's hands slipped off the controls for an awful moment, his world tipping sideways. Finally, his hands regained their grip and he steadied the machine just in time to avoid another immense artillery blast.
"Barking spiders!" Deryn fell back into the cabin, dragging a limp young man in an airman uniform with him. Alek glanced at her and saw that she was covered in blood.
"Are you alright?" He asked, his hands white-knuckled on the controls.
Her answer was drowned out as the whole world seemed to explode. Alek felt the walker's legs tear out from beneath them, the viewport falling towards the muck of No-Man's-Land.
"No!" He shouted. Three more deafening concussions tossed the walker around, the passengers buffeted and rocked violently from wall to wall.
Suddenly all was black and eerily silent.
OOOOO
"Alek!" Deryn's voice was muffled, and he barely registered her shaking his shoulders. "Please wake up, you daft prince!"
"Wha-? Where are we?" Alek said groggily.
"We're in the middle of a barking battle you ninny! Now get up, we need to move!"
Alek slowly checked all his limbs to make sure they all worked. Nothing seemed to be broken, but his head was pounding, and he tasted blood. "Randal!" he heard Deryn shout over the ringing in his ears. He rose to all fours and crawled towards the wounded airman on the crooked floor, which was now a wall. Randal was laying on his back in a pool of his blood. He gasped and hacked for breath, and his shaking, pale hands clutched at his chest. Deryn knelt beside him and brushed away a lock of his brown hair, which was also splattered with blood.
"M-mom?" He squeaked, his wide open eyes seeing nothing.
"No, it's Mr. Sharp," Deryn said soothingly, continuing to brush his hair with her hand. She looked up at Alek, her lips drawn tight into a straight line.
"I…I want m-my mom…" Randal said at just above a whisper. Tears began streaming from his eyes. Deryn sat behind him, putting his head in her lap and taking one of his bloody hands.
"I don't want to die…I…" He sobbed uncontrollably, coughing up more blood. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry mommy…" He breathed, clamping his eyes shut.
"Shhh," Deryn whispered, "It's alright."
Randal lurched, his back arching and his mouth and eyes wide open. His body slowly went limp, his last breath raggedly escaping his blood-filled mouth.
Alek stared at the dead soldier in silence. This was the reality of war, the reality he never experienced from the glorious heights of the Leviathan or from inside the protective shielding of a Walker. This airman was a mere boy, perhaps even the same age as Alek, but he had died alongside countless others in a war that was beginning to affect the entire world now. How many more were going to die?
"Alek," Deryn said, breaking him out of his trance. She stared hard into his eyes, hers filling with tears. "We need to keep moving." Her voice broke on the last word.
"Yes…yes we do." Alek managed, shakily making his way towards the gunner's hatch. He opened it, revealing Ian wrapping a bandage around Allan's bloodied upper arm. "We need to go." He said.
"Figured as much," Ian said, hauling himself out of the hatch, machinegun in tow. "Didn't think you fell over on purpose or anything." He said, flashing a quick smile and nudging his arm as he passed. Allan crawled out of the hatch, muttering "Bloody artillery."
Alek froze, wide-eyed. He heard the muffled thundering of another walker's feet approaching mixed in with the ping of more small arms fire. "Go!" He shouted, heading towards the top hatch, which was now the forward wall. "The other walker's on its way!"
Ian shoved the hatch open and swore. "Were right in the middle of No-Mans-Land! There's no way we can make it back!"
The walker's footsteps began to shake the cabin now, and Alek saw its feet approaching out the starboard gunport.
"But we can't stay in here! The walker will blow us to pieces!" Alek exclaimed, throwing a hand towards the opening.
"Aye, that or artillery!" Allan shouted.
"Well, what other options do we-" Ian was cut-off as a concussive roar battered their ears, followed by a crashing of noise and the top wall of the walker caving in.
"Blisters!' Deryn swore. "What the hell was that?!"
Alek blinked and looked out the viewport again. It was almost obscured by the walker's foot, but he could see it as though he were looking at it from above. Was it on its side?
"I think something hit it. Or it was shot by one of its own artillery guns." Alek said.
"The mines!" Ian said. "Mr. Sharp and I wired mines to its saunters earlier…I just don't know why they waited until now to go off." He said, scratching his head beneath his helmet.
"No matter," Alek said, "Now we have more cover to escape! Let's go!"
With that, the four of them scrambled out the hatch, leaving poor Randal's motionless form behind.