"That's the camp?" Zeek asked skeptically.
"Do you see any other camps Zeek?" Jace rolled his eyes.
Our first glimps of our new home we got from the back of a transport. The sky was gray and clouded, their were no trees in site, and the grass, or what grass was left, was a yellowish color. The air smelled of smoke, and ever so often a distant explosion rattled the ground under the transport ever so slightly. The camp itself was surrounded by a high wall, with razor wire lineing the top. I remember my heart sinking at the site of such gloomy surondings. It wasn't the most welcoming picture as you can imagine. We new from Derin had taught us that we would never be fully prepared for war, but we were even less prepared then we thought...
"Hey guys..." Luke said looking up at the sky to the side of the transport. "What's that?"
"What's wha-?" Shane replied, then looked up into the gray abyss. A tiny black dot headed in our direction.
"Oh God.. That isn't what I think it is, is it?" Cally whispered.
We all froze. We couldn't move.. couldn't speak.. couldn't even breath.. Several more of those tiny dots appeared in the sky around the other one, and it became evident they were missles aimed in our direction.. We sat for several seconds there, just watching... Shane was the one who broke the silence.
"Everyone shields! NOW!" He ordered. We all snapped into military mode, tapping different energies to generate force fields around ourselves. "Jace, get one around this transport too!"
Jace had always resented having to take orders from Shane, after all he was more skilled then the rest of us, but he reacted emediatly to the order and created a shield around the transport as well as himself.
And then, a whistling sound.. we went silent. It grew louder.. And then... BOOM! To the side of our transport.. WOOOSH! the force knocked our transport on it's side throwing us all out onto the open ground. BOOM! Another one not 100 yards away from us, dirt and dieing grass flew in huge clumps into the air raining down like massive pieces of hail.
"RUN!" Shane yelled the order over the defeaning roar of explosions, as he climbed to his feet and started to run, attempting to avoid the chunks of debris raining down.
BOOM! ... KABOOM! Another missle nailed the transport we had been riding in, it exploded into a ball of flames. Jace had been stunned enough to loose his concentration on the forcefield, he and Luke were the only ones who hadn't heard the order to run. They both were just beginning to shake off the shock of getting hit by the missle. The force of the exploding transport tossed them like rag dolls several hundred yards. They both landed hard on the dieng grass, followed by falling earth and scrap metal. Those of us who were up and running, were knocked down by the force. I saw Zeek struggle back to his feet and try and help Cally to hers. Brad and Shane were up and heading twored Jace and Luke, I looked over my shoulder to see the barage was far from over.
"Oh Shit!" Zeek yelled as a missle came screaming down on top of him and Cally. I saw him pull her close and charge a force field with a combination of adrenaline and life force energy. My stomach reched as I saw a ball of fire engulf the two as the missle hit only feet away from them seconds later. The force agian knocked me down. I rolled over onto my back and, seeing another heading twored were Shane and Brad were checking on Jace and Luke, I had just enough time to charge a ball of adrenalin energy and hurl it at the missle. It exploded while still a few hudred feet in the air, showering the four in flaming debris. I managed to get to my feet agian and took off in a dead run twored the clearing smoke were Zeek and Cally had been standing.
"Cally! Zeek!" I yelled as a stumbled coughing threw the smoke. My lungs were burning, and I knew I had at least one broken rib. "Can you guys here me!?"
"Jessie.." Cally moaned quietly. When I saw her I gasped. She was black. Her hole body had been burnt.
"It's ok Cally..." I said reasuringly as another missle exploded not to far from us.
"Zeek..." She said weakly. "Where.."
"I'll find him.." I said, not wanting to leave her there by herself, and yet wanting to find my other friend. I stayed beside her and yelled. "Zeek!"
He didn't answer.
"ZEEK!" I screamed as loud as I could.
I heard a faint coughing sound.
"I'll be rite back." I stood and ran in the direction of the sound.
"Zeek!" I fell to my knees beside him. He looked even worse then Cally. He was burnt just as bad as Cally, but his left arm was tore to heck. Part of the skin and muscle were gone, the shoulder bone was broken and his arm set at an odd angle.
"It hurts..." He winced his one good eye filled with tears. "Oh God it hurts..."
"Don't worry, once we get to the camp you'll get healed and be fine." I said trying to sound re-assuring. The explosions had stopped and I prayed that they didn't start agian.
"Jessie! Zeek! Cally!" I heard Shane yell. Threw the smoke I could see four figures heading in our direction.
"Shane!" I yelled back. "Over hear!"
Shane was the first to arrive, followed by Brad who was supporting Luke who had a visibly broken leg, and then Jace who didn't look like he had a scratch on him. We managed to move Cally so she and Zeek were close together.
"We have to heal them somewhat or else they won't make it if we wait on help." Shane said
"Heal Cally first..." Zeek saied struggling to maintain consciecness. Cally had already passed out from the pain.
"You guys heal Cally." Jace said, "I'll take care of Zeek."
Shane nodded and took my hand, I took Lukes and he in turn took Brads. We sat around Cally and all concentrated on one goal: Healing Cally. Cally was surrounded in a blueish aura as our combined energies began to heal her battered form. Slowly her skin began to turn a pinkish color as it layed flat agianst her muscles and reformed. Soon she was left with only a few 1st degree burns here and there. We all stopped at the same time, breathing hard. Even with the four of us the energy drain was immense.
I looked over at Zeek and Jace.
"Be careful, man." Zeek said and grimaced as Jace put his hands on his shoulders. "I've got a really bad sunburn..."
Jace didn't say anything. He closed his eyes and began concentrating. He rolled his head back his head so it was facing the sky. I felt the air around us begin to to move. The breeze began to clear off the smoke. In the distance I could see several well armed transports heading in our direction. I looked back to Jace. He opened his eyes still faceing twored the sky. They were distant. He was in a different world, one of dreams and nightmares. A place that all of us went when we used massive amounts of energy. A place were you stood on the edge of reality and fantasy. Where if you went to far in the wrong direction you could loose your mind... or your life... Zeek's body convulsed suddenly as wave after wave of energy pulsed threw Jace and into Zeek. Every wave healing him a little bit more. I watched Jace's eyes closely, I saw them begin to roll into the back of his head.
With what energy I had left I dove and broke Jace's hold on Zeek. Jace layed on the ground for a moment, motionless, and then let out a deep gasp for air and began to cough.
"Are you ok?" I asked him.
"Yeah." He closed his eyes taking another deep breath. "Almost went to far.."
"I know." I smiled. "You might be more skilled then the rest of us, but you still need to work on your limit break off."
"Yeah.." He returned the smile, it was the first smile I had seen from him that day.
I looked back at Zeek. Almost completely healed he lay there just gazing at the sky. Cally was still unconscious and not in as good of condition as Zeek. As the other tranports got closer we all sat and layed there in silence.. The silence was broken by Zeek who voiced what the rest of us were thinking..
"Can we go home now?" He whispered. His voice was that of a frightened child.
And I realized something that day. We were all just frightened children stuck in an age old war that threatened to claim us all.. And for the first time in my life I knew what it was to truly be afraid...
"Do you see any other camps Zeek?" Jace rolled his eyes.
Our first glimps of our new home we got from the back of a transport. The sky was gray and clouded, their were no trees in site, and the grass, or what grass was left, was a yellowish color. The air smelled of smoke, and ever so often a distant explosion rattled the ground under the transport ever so slightly. The camp itself was surrounded by a high wall, with razor wire lineing the top. I remember my heart sinking at the site of such gloomy surondings. It wasn't the most welcoming picture as you can imagine. We new from Derin had taught us that we would never be fully prepared for war, but we were even less prepared then we thought...
"Hey guys..." Luke said looking up at the sky to the side of the transport. "What's that?"
"What's wha-?" Shane replied, then looked up into the gray abyss. A tiny black dot headed in our direction.
"Oh God.. That isn't what I think it is, is it?" Cally whispered.
We all froze. We couldn't move.. couldn't speak.. couldn't even breath.. Several more of those tiny dots appeared in the sky around the other one, and it became evident they were missles aimed in our direction.. We sat for several seconds there, just watching... Shane was the one who broke the silence.
"Everyone shields! NOW!" He ordered. We all snapped into military mode, tapping different energies to generate force fields around ourselves. "Jace, get one around this transport too!"
Jace had always resented having to take orders from Shane, after all he was more skilled then the rest of us, but he reacted emediatly to the order and created a shield around the transport as well as himself.
And then, a whistling sound.. we went silent. It grew louder.. And then... BOOM! To the side of our transport.. WOOOSH! the force knocked our transport on it's side throwing us all out onto the open ground. BOOM! Another one not 100 yards away from us, dirt and dieing grass flew in huge clumps into the air raining down like massive pieces of hail.
"RUN!" Shane yelled the order over the defeaning roar of explosions, as he climbed to his feet and started to run, attempting to avoid the chunks of debris raining down.
BOOM! ... KABOOM! Another missle nailed the transport we had been riding in, it exploded into a ball of flames. Jace had been stunned enough to loose his concentration on the forcefield, he and Luke were the only ones who hadn't heard the order to run. They both were just beginning to shake off the shock of getting hit by the missle. The force of the exploding transport tossed them like rag dolls several hundred yards. They both landed hard on the dieng grass, followed by falling earth and scrap metal. Those of us who were up and running, were knocked down by the force. I saw Zeek struggle back to his feet and try and help Cally to hers. Brad and Shane were up and heading twored Jace and Luke, I looked over my shoulder to see the barage was far from over.
"Oh Shit!" Zeek yelled as a missle came screaming down on top of him and Cally. I saw him pull her close and charge a force field with a combination of adrenaline and life force energy. My stomach reched as I saw a ball of fire engulf the two as the missle hit only feet away from them seconds later. The force agian knocked me down. I rolled over onto my back and, seeing another heading twored were Shane and Brad were checking on Jace and Luke, I had just enough time to charge a ball of adrenalin energy and hurl it at the missle. It exploded while still a few hudred feet in the air, showering the four in flaming debris. I managed to get to my feet agian and took off in a dead run twored the clearing smoke were Zeek and Cally had been standing.
"Cally! Zeek!" I yelled as a stumbled coughing threw the smoke. My lungs were burning, and I knew I had at least one broken rib. "Can you guys here me!?"
"Jessie.." Cally moaned quietly. When I saw her I gasped. She was black. Her hole body had been burnt.
"It's ok Cally..." I said reasuringly as another missle exploded not to far from us.
"Zeek..." She said weakly. "Where.."
"I'll find him.." I said, not wanting to leave her there by herself, and yet wanting to find my other friend. I stayed beside her and yelled. "Zeek!"
He didn't answer.
"ZEEK!" I screamed as loud as I could.
I heard a faint coughing sound.
"I'll be rite back." I stood and ran in the direction of the sound.
"Zeek!" I fell to my knees beside him. He looked even worse then Cally. He was burnt just as bad as Cally, but his left arm was tore to heck. Part of the skin and muscle were gone, the shoulder bone was broken and his arm set at an odd angle.
"It hurts..." He winced his one good eye filled with tears. "Oh God it hurts..."
"Don't worry, once we get to the camp you'll get healed and be fine." I said trying to sound re-assuring. The explosions had stopped and I prayed that they didn't start agian.
"Jessie! Zeek! Cally!" I heard Shane yell. Threw the smoke I could see four figures heading in our direction.
"Shane!" I yelled back. "Over hear!"
Shane was the first to arrive, followed by Brad who was supporting Luke who had a visibly broken leg, and then Jace who didn't look like he had a scratch on him. We managed to move Cally so she and Zeek were close together.
"We have to heal them somewhat or else they won't make it if we wait on help." Shane said
"Heal Cally first..." Zeek saied struggling to maintain consciecness. Cally had already passed out from the pain.
"You guys heal Cally." Jace said, "I'll take care of Zeek."
Shane nodded and took my hand, I took Lukes and he in turn took Brads. We sat around Cally and all concentrated on one goal: Healing Cally. Cally was surrounded in a blueish aura as our combined energies began to heal her battered form. Slowly her skin began to turn a pinkish color as it layed flat agianst her muscles and reformed. Soon she was left with only a few 1st degree burns here and there. We all stopped at the same time, breathing hard. Even with the four of us the energy drain was immense.
I looked over at Zeek and Jace.
"Be careful, man." Zeek said and grimaced as Jace put his hands on his shoulders. "I've got a really bad sunburn..."
Jace didn't say anything. He closed his eyes and began concentrating. He rolled his head back his head so it was facing the sky. I felt the air around us begin to to move. The breeze began to clear off the smoke. In the distance I could see several well armed transports heading in our direction. I looked back to Jace. He opened his eyes still faceing twored the sky. They were distant. He was in a different world, one of dreams and nightmares. A place that all of us went when we used massive amounts of energy. A place were you stood on the edge of reality and fantasy. Where if you went to far in the wrong direction you could loose your mind... or your life... Zeek's body convulsed suddenly as wave after wave of energy pulsed threw Jace and into Zeek. Every wave healing him a little bit more. I watched Jace's eyes closely, I saw them begin to roll into the back of his head.
With what energy I had left I dove and broke Jace's hold on Zeek. Jace layed on the ground for a moment, motionless, and then let out a deep gasp for air and began to cough.
"Are you ok?" I asked him.
"Yeah." He closed his eyes taking another deep breath. "Almost went to far.."
"I know." I smiled. "You might be more skilled then the rest of us, but you still need to work on your limit break off."
"Yeah.." He returned the smile, it was the first smile I had seen from him that day.
I looked back at Zeek. Almost completely healed he lay there just gazing at the sky. Cally was still unconscious and not in as good of condition as Zeek. As the other tranports got closer we all sat and layed there in silence.. The silence was broken by Zeek who voiced what the rest of us were thinking..
"Can we go home now?" He whispered. His voice was that of a frightened child.
And I realized something that day. We were all just frightened children stuck in an age old war that threatened to claim us all.. And for the first time in my life I knew what it was to truly be afraid...