Author's Note - A shorter chapter compared to the ones coming up. Well here we go folks, one more chapter closer to the end.
Chapter Twenty Two – To Motivate A Traitor
Freja had kept a low profile as the village had fallen around her. The villagers were so preoccupied with attempting to keep their home free from the rapidly spreading fires that she vanished easily into the panicking crush of bodies. She had followed the masses while they had established a safe place for them to hide as the monsters attacked. She slipped away as she caught sight of Aidie, following her movements from the shadows, as she took vigil above the infirmary to protect it. She carefully watched her tactics working out her strengths and, more importantly, her weaknesses. But Freja already knew, the moment Aidie fired at the charging Nightmare to protect the two unsuspecting Gears, that she had found a way to destroy her.
She disappeared back into the darkness to work out her next step in her plan, the Formers surged past angrily, screaming and screeching as they charged. Even though she suspected they had allied themselves with her Nightmares, she chose to keep in the shadows for fear of how they would react to her. She needed to find the Leader.
She charged behind the Formers, dropping into cover each time they sniffed her scent, using the moment to scout for her people. The flames from the fires grouped a few of the survivors towards the harbour where she could see a few Nightmares standing aggressively and striking them down as they ran towards them. In their midst she discovered the Leader, swinging his blade at whoever came close. It wasn't until she approached into his view that he finally caught sight of her. He lowered his weapon and charged towards her, clutching her tightly into his arms at her touch.
"Thank goodness you're safe," he spoke into the familiar smell of her neck, "I couldn't find you at the mansion and had my doubts that the Formers had taken you."
"Heavens no," she chuckled, planting a kiss on his lips, "that little blonde COG girl got me out, led me right here. Just how I wanted."
He nodded thoughtfully at the information, "so she survived."
"Tougher than you gave her credit," she slung her Torque Bow over her shoulder as she approached her men and indicated to the lurking Formers, "I see you've rallied a different kind of troop."
"They're here to serve a purpose, destroy the village, fewer human losses,"
"Always knew there was a reason why I picked you," she smirked, teasingly squeezing his bicep and pointing at another fleeing civilian.
At her direction, he charged toward them thrusting his blade outward and carved the civilian cleanly in half. The Formers descended upon the body straight after, stripping it of its flesh within minutes.
"Those Gears you captured, they escaped I see," she commented as she pulled out her Torque and fired at a mother and child running from the Formers.
The Leader paused, "all of them?"
She nodded to confirm his assumptions.
"I want their Sergeant," there was a determination in his voice.
"I'm sure we can arrange that. I saw the Gears protecting the civilians in the infirmary. Watched the scarred one reunite with the COG girl,"
"That's the bastard,"
She chuckled to herself, "well then it seems as if our plans might merge nicely. She's his downfall, as he's hers. How about we take them down together. I saw her heading across the roof to the far side of the village."
"Angelo and his Formers are swarming over there. They've cut off a group of kids. Their screams must have drawn them in,"
"Angelo? You mean Lem's friend?"
"He's completely Lambent now, tread carefully, my love, he turns on you and the Formers will take you down," he returned to her, wiping the blood from his blade on a sleeve of one of his victims, "bring the Nightmares, at least to help protect you."
"As if I'm the one that needs protecting," she scoffed, "keep the men, you'll need them more than I do."
If there was one thing that Freja had learnt from her time walking Sera's wilderness, it was to adapt to the surroundings around her. She knew the people in the village were confused and frightened, to them she was a scared woman who had yet to make it to safety. She played the victim each time a surge of Polyps attacked within view of a Stranded guard, encouraging them to come to her aid. She used them to intentionally navigate towards her intended destination until they witnessed the school rooms explode along with a mass of Formers.
"Quick," she cried, "I saw people go in."
The handful of Stranded villagers charged forwards, tossing aside the debris of the destroyed building. She kept with them, digging through the remains in the hope of finding her quarry. The voice inside her head shouted out that she had to be there somewhere.
"The Bunker!" One villager hollered as he happened upon the destroyed door that had once led to the boiler room, "if there are any survivors they'll be there."
Together they dug away at the shattered remains of the building, frantically searching for any signs of survival. Freja scrabbled at the ground on her hands and feet, the heat from the explosion still enough to bite back at the touch. Soot and dirt caking her body the deeper she dug and shifted debris until she felt the warmth of the metal bunker door under her fingers.
"I've found it!" She yelled out, moving back to allow the villagers to shift the heavier panels from the door. The sound of someone banging on the metal now emerging from the bunker below them.
She watched as they removed the final chunk of debris from the door, approaching as one heaved the remains to one side. Carefully she drew the Stranded guard's sidearm from his holster, quietly checking his bullet count and holding the gun to his head. She fired before he even realised she was there. The others turned in response, fumbling with the heavy debris between them. Before they could go for their weapons, she shot at them all. It didn't need to be accurate she just needed them incapacitated. She watched as one of her victims tried to drag himself away from her, his hands grasping out for something to protect himself.
"Nope," she chuckled as she planted a bullet in his head, "when will you pathetic humans learn?"
She kicked the body to one side as she cleared the rest of the debris from the door and hefted the metal weight open. It swung open with a clang. Inside Aidie and Lem squinted back up at her as she angled her Torque down at them. She chuckled loudly, preparing herself to continue playing the game until she had her victim where she wanted her.
"Lem thank goodness I found you!" She was thankful that Lem was there, so a part of her knew it wasn't all an act.
She offered a hand out to Lem, hoisting him out of the bunker. He grumbled thanks, hesitating as he took stock of the bodies strewn behind her. His questions silenced as she handed him the three small boys from the darkness. She took note of them huddling behind Lem in relief. As Aidie came into her view, she lifted her Torque Bow and aimed it at her. Aidie drew her gun from the holster in response.
"Freja," exhaustion prevented Aidie from hiding the wobble of alarm from her voice, "what are you doing?"
"Look at you, little COG girl," she chortled, loading her Torque and drawing it in readiness, "you're falling apart."
"There's a lot of fight still left in me," Aidie winced from the pain in her arm as she adjusted her grip on the pistol.
"What's going on?" Lem asked nervously, "you wouldn't hurt a pregnant woman?"
Aidie physically flinched at his announcement, "Lem, please."
"What? I didn't realise it was a secret,"
"Lem my sweet," Freja half turned to him, eyes twinkling dangerously in response, "please go get yourself to safety. He's rallying the troops and needs your support."
"What about the Formers?"
"They're on our side, he's united us with the monsters for a bigger purpose," her voice brimmed with pride.
"Why are you destroying this village Commander?"
"Why were you creating Formers, Lem? We have our reasons for our actions,"
Aidie's hard laugh from the bunker drew Freja's anger.
"Commander? Seriously? Why am I not surprised that you're with those freaks?"
"You would never understand," On realising that she and Aidie were at a stalemate she went for the next best thing to gain the upper hand. She lunged at one of the boys and dragged him towards her as he kicked and screamed in response. The look on Aidie's face was enough for her, "these kids mean something to you, so I'm assuming you'll do anything to protect them. It's not the first time I've killed children, so don't think I'm just bluffing."
"Don't you dare hurt him," There was a genuine worry in Aidie's voice, her eyes fixed on the child as she clutched both hands around the pistol's grip.
"What's going on Commander?" Lem asked, now placing a protective arm across the other two boys to prevent further harm coming to them.
"Don't make me tell you twice, Lem, this is none of your business. It's between me and this blonde cracker,"
"Jaxton, it's okay sweetheart, I'm not going to leave you," Aidie spoke directly to the child before fixing Freja with a look, "whatever issue you have with me, deal with me. But I beg you, leave the kids out of it."
"Aidie!" the little boy screamed as the blade on the Torque Bow sliced across his chin, drawing blood.
"Freja!" Aidie made a quick decision at the sight of the child's blood, releasing her hold and offered the gun out on her open palm, "let him go, and I'll come willingly."
The offer was too tempting for Freja to resist, she watched as Aidie handed over her weapon as a testament to her word. Reluctantly she pushed the boy from her, letting him stumble to the dirt at the force. Freja grabbed hold of the young Gear's arm to hoist her out of the bunker, as she holstered her newly acquired gun she took her eyes off her hostage for a moment. She never expected Aidie to twist against her and elbow her in the nose to force her release. As Freja bellowed a yowl of pain, Aidie staggered forwards, grabbing the fallen boy and urging the others onwards.
"Go!" She cried, "get to the infirmary."
Despite how fast Aidie ran, Freja was quicker and a damn side less tired. She sprinted towards Aidie and wrestled her backwards before she could get away. She struggled and kicked out against her, crying out for the boys to keep running, begging Lem to get them to safety. Lem hesitated a moment, the boys dragging him away from the scene as he glanced back at her. Freja clamped a firm hand around the wound across her arm, squeezing it tightly forcing Aidie to let out a yelp in response. Freja then slid out her knife from its sheath and angled it towards Aidie's unprotected stomach.
"Don't think I won't do it," she spat as she pressed the blade against her bare flesh until Aidie let out an involuntary sob and eventually stopped fighting.
"Please Lem," she whimpered to him, "get them safe."
As he turned heel and fled, the boys keeping pace with him, he felt every part a failure that everyone had accused him.
"Was it all a lie?" Aidie asked as she plodded alongside Freja towards the harbour, resigning herself to becoming her hostage.
"Shall we say I embellished it a little," Freja angled her Torque Bow a little as she gave her a sly look, "Anyway, it seems I wasn't the only one holding back the entire truth."
"The difference is, I never lied to you, I just chose to omit a rather personal detail from someone I didn't know,"
"The good that did you," She fired her Torque at movement in the shadows and watched as a Polyp exploded at the impact.
"What is your plan for me, aside, I assume, being used as bait,"
"We'll see, depends on our end game, maybe we'll keep you alive until the child arrives and then deal with you accordingly,"
Aidie let out a dry chuckle, "and you don't think that I'd have something to say about your plans. Let alone the father,"
Freja smirked to herself in response and poked Aidie in the back with the Torque, "I doubt it,"
Lem felt his legs thunder automatically underneath him as he ran with the three boys blindly towards safety. He hadn't realised that the eldest child was directing them back towards the infirmary, the kid had a determination he had rarely seen in someone so young. He would pause every so often to take stock of his position, pulling his brothers behind cover each time a Polyp skittered past. Lem felt himself follow the kid, rather than take the lead. There was no question the child had picked up his half brother's military heritage.
A strong pair of hands grabbed hold of the kid as they rounded the corner of a building, causing him to let out a yelp. Lem lunged forwards to grab him backwards, attempting to wrestle him from whoever had taken him. He caught sight of Archer's familiar gruff figure as he managed to pluck the child from Lem's pathetic hold.
As much as Lem wanted to believe that finding the Stranded guard meant that they had finally reached safety, he couldn't help thinking that once again he had failed. Archer knelt down to check the child over, Cam now beside him doing the same with the younger two. The smallest wrapping his arms tightly around someone he finally recognised. Cam steadied himself at the child's hold and hugged him back.
"It's okay kid, yer safe now," he said as he ran a careful hand over the child's fair hair.
"We need to get them back to the infirmary," Archer announced, offering a hand out to the youngest, who hid his head in Cam's chest plate in shyness.
"I'll carry Trystan," Cam suggested, picking the child up, "the other two will follow you I'm sure."
Then, as if the pair had only just realised that Lem was still with them, Cam and Archer both fixed their attention on him.
"Kid," Cam approached him and placed a grateful hand on his arm, "yer found them and got them to safety. On Wilks' behalf, I thank you."
"Actually," Lem heard himself admitting, even though there was a small part of him that wanted to take Cam's offered gratitude, "it was Aidan. She found them, got us to safety. Formers surrounded us, and we were forced to blow the school rooms apart."
"She's alive? Where is she?"
"The Commander of the Nightmares, she took her. She exchanged her life for the boy,"
"Please help her," the eldest child eventually spoke up, gripping his fingers around Archer's hand, "she saved my life."
Cam paused in response, deliberating their next move, "we get yer to safety. Then we take down these bastards. Lem, are you coming?"
It was the first time Cam had referred to Lem by his name. It meant that he was getting that one step closer to forgiving him, but Lem knew he didn't deserve the trust, not when he had let his old friend get taken from him by a vengeful killer. Once again Lem had betrayed those he had once held dear. He didn't even know his purpose anymore. Everything he had done was for Angelo, every choice he made was to help him, but now he didn't even know when he'd crossed the line. He had willingly agreed that poisoning Wilks would help get the serum back for the sake of Angelo, unknowingly contributing to jeopardising so many other lives at the same time. The three small boys that Wilks had thrown his life and career away to protect, the young wife that carried his unborn child who would do anything to support him. Did he even have a moral compass if he allowed such barbaric acts to guide him?
"No, I'm not," he eventually spoke, his mind shutting off, "there is something I promised I needed to get."
From the moment he had discovered that Angelo had turned Lambent Lem had spent a good long while switching off the part of his brain that wanted to cry out for him. He wanted to crumple into a ball and cry, the years he had sat beside him, begging him to fight it, all for nothing. The things they had gone through together, good and bad. It had been a good long while since Lem and Angelo had sat beside him while they had joked about the obstacles they had encountered. And as he stood there staring at nothing, he remembered the last time Angelo had laughed, back at the Compound when things had seemed so uncomplicated. Before their home had slipped into the darkness. Before the Imulsion had swallowed them whole. Before life had destroyed him. Right now he just wanted to be there, beside Angelo's bed joking about their pathetic combined nickname, regaling him with a story he had once read about the Allfathers. He wasn't ready to face the inevitable. He didn't want to accept that Angelo was gone. But for the sake of the young lives that he now felt responsible for, he knew he had to finally let Angelo go.