A/N : This chapter continues what had happened on the 11th chapter of this fic. Enjoy the show as we struggle to survive.
Disclaimer? Same as old ones.
Chapter 13
…
…
…
… where am I?
My head hurts, definitely not Heaven.
Maybe it's Hell?
No, it can't be…
I felt someone pulling my arms. I opened my eyes to have the bright sun shining on my eyes. I lowered my head and saw sandy beach. Everything went blurry and clear and blurry again.
"Wake up, Sergeant."
I knew that voice all too well. I turned my head and saw the Captain, with face full of bruises, blood running on the left side of his head, and blue shirt tinted with red color. Only his armor vest that was still intact.
"Glad to see you back in the world of living in one piece." Hande put a bandage with the Regeneration Liquid on my head. It was usually used in the Tournament to heal combatants. Soon, everything was clear and the pain stopped. But I still felt weak.
"Those Skaarjs took almost everything. It's good that they hadn't found some medical kit in my pocket." Said Hande.
"Where are we, sir?"
"Dunno, I think we're washed ashore by the waves. Somehow, we lived through,… what? Gravity law, lead bullets, and underwater pressure, not to mention sea predators."
"Did we just… I don't know, cheat death? Man, were we so lucky."
But then the Captain shook his head. "You believe so? I rarely, if not never, put my trust in luck, but I do believe in help from the God."
"Are you really that religious, sir?"
"No, not really. But come one, how can you believe a carpenter who made your furniture, but not the God who made you?"
"So, you mean we're destined to live by Him."
"We may be destined to die, but there's a saying I ever heard, 'God won't change the destiny of a man unless the man is determined to change it.' Maybe we struggled to live, even though our chance to live is slim. But we won't be living for a long time if we stay here for too long."
"Then let's get out of here and change our destiny!"
"Survival of the fittest."
Unknown, 0910 hours.
Sergeant Jojo McDodd.
UT Taskforce – Epsilon
Status : M.I.A.
We ran across the woods. Without weapons and with our conditions, we're really weak to fight anything. Hell, we'd be dead in 3 seconds if we ever ran into a Skaarj.
And wouldn't you know, we found a Skaarj!
Yup, we did. Captain ordered me to stay in the bushes, while he sneaked on the Shuttlecraft next to the Skaarj. Oh Who, Captain are you nuts!
I restrained myself from shouting those words, but it became much more harder, for the Captain then gave me the order to sneak into the craft too.
Somehow, by miracle, the reptile didn't see us. We climbed up to the cargo bay on the craft. Thank Who, the door was widely open.
Inside it, was a box, full of weapons and medical kits. "Well, take your time. We're just hitch-hiking for a while." Okay, I think my heart just stopped beating for a second. Captain's idea couldn't be much crazier than it had now. "We're going to jump off the shuttle. Too bad they don't invent parachute, because they can survive high heights, so you jump on my lead." Boy, was I really wrong. I believe the last event had screwed up the Cap's brain. Now my breath had stopped. The Captain looked at me when I coughed uncontrollably. I was about to get out from the craft before the Captain's crazy plan got me killed, when I felt that the back door was shut and the craft began to ascend. Oh, goody.
'Don't worry, Jo. He's a Tournament Champion. He knows what he's doing.' A voice in my head said.
So I stayed calm, holding the harsh words coming out from my mouth, and keeping the said voice in my head. Suffice to say, the effort of assuring myself that the Captain's idea would work was successful so far, or maybe just for some minutes.
"Okay, it's time." The Captain opened the back door. The loud sound of the door was loud enough to alert anyone of unwanted intruders, and I knew damn well that the Skaarj wasn't deaf. If by miracle it was, we'd die anyway, because the jumping spot nowhere in sight, meaning that we'll jump straight to the bottom of the cliff. "Here we go. Whatever you do, be sure to jump straight forward. Any last words?"
I took a deep breath and shouted the words I had held for about an hour, with the loudest volume I ever reached. My Yopp didn't even reach this volume.
"ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY!!"
With that, we both jumped off the craft, without a sound somehow. I just closed my eyes, fearing the worst.
Thud…
I landed so fast, but… how?
I opened my eyes, to see myself standing on the edge in the middle of the cliff.
"No, but I'm fucking smart." Hande chuckled. I almost fainted. How on… wherever we are… could he really predicted everything accurately? We managed to jump to the edge that had been right on top of us, and landed perfectly on it. For me, and everyone I knew, it was something called 'Mission Impossible'.
Oh, yeah. I really need a Mission Impossible theme song right now, 'cause I had a feeling we're going to do something even more impossible, again.
"Alright, Jo. We just need to climb up this cliff. Then we'll walk our way to the base."
Oh, yeah. That's the cue. (A/N : Insert mission impossible theme song here.)
"Fortunately, I was able to steal some Raziks from the weapon cache on the craft. That should keep us hanging on the rock for some time." The information relieved me. Well, that's better than climbing up with nothing. I just hope a literally cliffhanger wouldn't be the end of my life story.
"As the Captain, I'll be the one testing the rocks." He gave me a pair of Razik and extended his. "Here goes nothing." Hande embedded his right Razik on the rocks with huge force. As he was sure the rocks wouldn't fall, he sunk his left Razik on a higher rock. No reaction. He then climbed up and sunk his right Razik on an even higher rock. "The cliff's strong enough to hol us. Your turn, Sarge." Hande said quietly. "Lower your voice. It might trigger rockslide."
I followed him. It was harder than it looked. I need to unleash full physical power to actually sink the Raziks on the rocks, since it was too thick and strong.
I was really exhausted after 10 times trying to sink my Raziks on the cliff. "Don't worry. After this, we can rest for a while." I heard Hande spoke. After another climb, I saw a small cave above, enough for us to sit on.
"Don't worry, Jo. Just a few feet left."
"How much exactly? A hundred, or maybe a thousand? That's few." I replied sarcastically.
"Two, or three. How's that?"
We arrived at the small cave. I leaned to the smooth rocks to regain my strength
"We can rest here as long as we want, but we need to jump to reach a good climbing spot."
"Jump where?"
"Jump there." Hande pointed on a slope on our right. "Sandy and slippery, but that's our only way."
"We're gonna die."
"Optimism, Jojo. If we live through this, you're gonna have to respect me even more."
"I won't keep that promise."
"Just as I thought. See ya on the other side." That was his last words, at least before he jumped. I saw him sinking the blades on his wrists to the ground to keep him from sliding down to his own death. I just shrugged and jumped along.
I did the same thing, stabbing my Raziks on the ground upon landing. But uh-oh, I slid down. Who! Help me!
I reached the edge of the slope and kept sliding down. Sure enough, I fell. I closed my eyes…
…
… and… I didn't feel anything, am I dead?
The answer of my question is… no. Someone grabbed my arm. No, let me correct that. Someone STABBED my arm, or at least, I think that said someone tried to stab my arm and ended up embedding his Razik on both my shirt and the ground. Then a hand grabbed my hand, actually grabbing it, not stabbing it.
"You won't leave me alone out here. It's not a good day to die, nor a good way to end your life." I dared to open my eyes. Hande had one hand grabbing my arm, and another hand with the Razik on the said hand embedded on the slope through my shirt.
"How'd you…"
"Sliding down and tearing your shirt off, then grabbing your arm, how's that for you?" Hande replied. "Can't hold you for long. Get your hands up."
I nodded and stabbed the sandy ground and began to climb up. 4 steps later, the agonizing cliffhanging time ended. Phew!
"How's your arm?" asked Hande.
"It's a miracle they're still in their respectful places." I replied weakly. The captain just chuckled. He climbed up to the higher ground. It wasn't really high, so he didn't have to cliff hang. In fact, he had thrown away Raziks, and mine are already broken on the last step, so I ditch them away
The Captain helped me climbing up because I was so small. Sometimes I hate being small. When I was up, I saw a forest with road in the middle. "The road's too open. We need to hide in the bushes." Hande gave an order. "Stay close and keep your voice down. Skaarjs will kill you without mercy if you stumbled into one. Keep yourself sharp."
"Don't have to tell me twice."
We sneaked in the bushes. "Hold up. 2 Tangos on sight. Broke their neck, or choke them up to their death, whatever it takes to bring them down." He said.
"What about turning around, sir?" I suggested.
"We'll be most likely visible since their eyes are better than Human's. And again, we need their weapons."
I sighed, but then I sneaked on one of the Troopers. I saw a Nighthawk on its belt. Must be a stolen weapon. I quickly pulled out the knife out of its holster and stabbed the Skaarj on its chest in a blink. The other Trooper was alerted, but then Hande jumped on it and stole its pistol also in a blink.
Bang.
With a quiet gunfire, the Skaarj was dead. "They never saw it coming." He then picked up a small minigun-like weapon from its corpse. I turned to the dead Skaarj next to me and looted some weapons. An energy pistol and a U shaped weapon with a mini razorblade.
"Ah, I see you have old Dispersion pistol and Razorjack. Want me to teach you how they work?" The Captain volunteered.
"Yes please." I replied calmly.
"Dispersion pistol has two ways to work. One is pulling the trigger repeatedly, while the other, by holding the trigger to charge a large amount of plasma on its cell, then either releasing it or wait until it was full and it'll be released itself. Its self ammo charging weapon, so don't worry about low power. N.E.G. used this weapons a long while ago, until T.C.A., the Terran Colonial Authority invented L.E.P.E.W. -13 Dispersion Pistol. Stands for Law Enforcement Personal Energy Weapon 13, which now can store the plasma energy forever as long as you hold the trigger. Razorjack works kinda like Ripper, except for the secondary setting. Instead of exploding, you control the blade like a Redeemer. It still bounce, but in your control. Mind you, this trick is really hard."
"Ookay, I think I understand the basics. What 'bout you sir?"
"Automag and Skaarj minigun. Not really a good pair of weapons. Uses same bullets, so perhaps I'll ditch the Automag pistol, but who knows? Maybe I'll use it anyway." He checked the ammos for a while. "Enough for now. Let's be off."
"Where to?"
"Somewhere that is Skaarj-free."
We ran through bushes fast, but quietly and carefully. Suddenly, there was a loud sniper gunfire sound. I turned around, and saw a Skaarj Sniper hanging on the tree. I shot my Razorjack and successfully chopped the Skaarj's head off. Successful in killing, failed in stealth. More Skaarjs appeared on every direction.
"Oh, come on. After all we've been through, it has to end this way?" I groaned.
But soon, rockets fell down from the sky, destroying some Troopers and Warriors and forced the rest to take cover. I saw 7 Raptors landing on the road, all with U.T.T.F. emblems on its door. The Raptor's door in front of us opened, revealing a teen with short black hair and glasses, with Dark Phalanx vest, namely Jalaludin, Major of the Beta team. "Hey, you still alive, huh?"
"More or less. You come to rescue us?" The Captain asked hopefully.
"Not in the first place. We just came by and saw the commotion here. How're y'all doin'?"
"What do you think?" Well, I felt some déjà vu feeling, now. "Can we now please leave this place? I need a rest, and so is Jojo."
"You got it, Isa. All aboard!"
A/N : Yay! We're saved by the Beta team!
This has something to do with the previous chapter. Remember what Jalal said about coming by? Well, they were just finished destroying the Battleships and accidently saw the fight on their way home. So that's how we're saved!
2 words, consists of 12 letters. R-E-V-I-E-W P-L-E-A-S-E !