Chapter 4
Moving Forward
The survivors of the Qatar base rested against the broken down tank that they had used to get as far from the danger as possible. Anna leaned against the side of the tank her head resting on top of her knees as she struggle against her survivor's guilt that was stronger in her then the others. She had known something bad was going to happen but had been focused more on getting her team out of there then getting any others out… she knew that if they ever made it out of here that she would live with the loss of those lives for the rest of time.
Anna's mind also kept drifting over how technologically advanced just this one Cybertronian seemed to be… she shuddered at the mere thought of the Allspark being found and being utilized by the Decepticons. There would be no life to come back to if that happened.
"Anna, you okay?" She looked up into Lennox's face.
"I will be when this is all over."
"All over?" Ruins asked. "We escaped, doesn't that mean that we just have to get home?"
Anna shook her head. "No." She tried to ignore the surprised looks her response gained from the rest of the team. Sometimes they were a little slow. "That was not a human made weapon. That was the beginning of the end of the human race if the government isn't warned in time."
"What are you talking about?" Graham asked. "You know something that we don't?"
"I always know something the rest of you don't. However it's only logical. Even if it is man made, you know that no government is going to attack another country's military base with something that advanced without having more in their back pocket. If it isn't man made, if it is something alien, for it to knowingly attack a military base means that it is not afraid of the human race and that there are more out there just waiting to attack. We have to get home not only to our family, but also in order to try and warn everyone so that we actually have a home and family to go back to. We have to get those pictures Epps took to SecDef ASAP."
The team sat there in stunned silence at her thought process.
"It amazes me every time how your brain works." Donnelly said. Anna immediately blushed and looked down at her lap.
"She's right. We need to get moving." Lennox said.
"Man, I don't know," Fig said, agreeing with her and Lennox as the others were still thinking over her words. "My mama, she had the gift, you know? She saw things. I got the gene too, you know. And that thing that attacked us? I got a feeling that it ain't over."
Epps seemed lost in thought. "When I took that picture, I think it saw me. It looked right at me before Anna saved me."
"Then there is a good possibility that it might try and stop us from alerting the Pentagon about what it is, especially if they are going to try and take us out by surprise. Let's get moving." Anna commanded standing up and grabbing her stuff.
Epps tried to get his radio to work again but nothing was happening.
"Hey Mahfouz. How far do you live from here?" Lennox asked, kneeling down in from of the boy.
The boy pointed in a direction. Anna glanced in that same direction and could barely see the very top of a telephone pole.
"Not far. Just up that mountain."
"They have a phone?"
"Yes."
"Alright. Let's hit it."
They were off.
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They topped the last hill and could see the village in the valley of large sand dunes.
Anna trailed behind her team as they moved towards the telephone pole that had a well not far away from it. Anna could suddenly feel how dry her mouth felt and couldn't resist moving over and taking a small sip and using it to rinse her mouth first before drinking.
Epps didn't even care and dumped some water over his head to cool off.
"Let's hope this telephone line works." Lennox muttered.
Anna was taking another drink when she felt it.
Her necklace was beginning to vibrate, the intensity building.
She turned around just in time to see the telephone pole falling down and landing several feet away from her.
The team moved closer together and Anna tried to keep an eye on their surroundings but knew that she couldn't watch all of them.
"What the hell, guys?" Donnelly exclaimed.
Anna then turned her head sharply at hearing a blade like sound and lifted her rifle with one smooth move and began firing at the tale that had been about to pierce Lennox's back.
"Move! Get to the village!" She ordered as the others began to fire at the thing as well. Ruins, Graham, Charles, Finnegan, and Fig - whom were closest to her - immediately complied and led the charge towards the village. "Men, move!"
Finally the other five soldiers and the village boy began to move with Anna falling behind to cover the rear. None of her team were going to die today.
In the village, the people had begun to gather with some of the men joining the five soldiers that had had a head start in firing at the creature that was now uncovered by the sand.
Anna and Lennox - the rest of the soldiers finally reaching slight cover of the village and joining in the firefight against the scorpion robot from hell - followed Mahfouz through the village.
"I need a telephone!" Anna shouted at the villager.
"Telephone! I have! Here!" The man gave the satellite phone to Lennox before the two sprinted back to their team.
"This is an emergency Pentagon call! I need you to connect me to the Pentagon! This is an emergency! No I don't have a credit card!"
Anna had had enough. "Lennox give me the phone!" And yanked the phone from his hand.
"Are you ready for a credit card?" Anna with a slight smirk gave the man a credit card number alright… her brother's bank card that she knew he had had since he first went to college. Hey, she had to get her amusement somewhere and using her brother's debit card without his knowledge would also let him know that she might be alive.
"No, I don't want a premium package!" Anna shouted. Then finally she got through. "EPPS! PENTAGON!"
She tossed the phone to Epps and took up firing for him.
"I ain't never seen this in my life. We need gun ships on station ASAP!" Epps said. "Unknown, man. If you've seen this shit."
"Eleven man team and civilians north of orange smoke! Attack direction west. You're clear! LENNOX, THE HEAT'S COMING!"
"Okay, laser the target!" Lennox ordered, going out into the open to do so himself with a few of the others following him.
Anna was about to follow when she heard a familiar voice crying out. She turned to see a couple brave villagers surrounding a fallen body and she sprinted over to Fig with her medkit already in hand.
"FIG!" She fell onto her knees beside him and with the help of the villagers and tuning the explosions and gunfire out was able to stop the bleeding and keep him awake until he could be seen too at a hospital.
It was a flurry of activity as they all gathered around each other after finally the scorpion was down. Transpo was coming.
They were going home.
