AUGH, MY BACK.
Okay, so I wrote all this in the span of thirty minutes. After soooo long. I lost the original file.
I'm sorry, please forgive me D8
And we go-
Laura had done the last checks, and sent (barked) everyone out of the—what was once and would no longer be—their home. She was proud of their appointed sub-leaders for making it out in record time. Now she had to get out herself, as soon as Amaya's team arrived with the Cloaks.
She'd sent Otto off with Dignity, told her to take care of him while she acted as a leader should act. Everyone was gone, and she could feel the ground rumbling below and above her. They were so close. Her mouth felt dry, but she had to be patient. Wait. Wait...
She was startled when something came up behind her. She was half-way through throwing the other over her shoulder when a familiar yelp stopped her. "Rogers! What are you doing here?"
Yulie Rogers looked frazzled from the almost-throw, but she collected herself quickly.
"Uhm. I was worried about you, boss. I mean, me and the others... Well, we should go!" she said. "Rogers, shut up and leave. I'm waiting for the Cloaks and—" Laura wasn't able to finish her sentence. A tremor shook them both off their feet, the effect akin to what might happen had a blast destroyed the upper parts of their homestead.
And that was exactly what had happened.
"Shit." Laura said, shortly and appropriately. She grabbed Rogers' hand and pulled her towards one of the open entrances. It was dangerous, but sending Rogers back down to the emergency exits when the tunnels were structurally unsound was even more dangerous and Laura reasoned that it was Yulie's own fault, so she should face the consequences.
"Boss, look!" Rogers said as they reached the near-surface. They both saw—one horse moving past the enormous legs of the machines. Wing was with them only a few seconds ahead of the drones.
"You should have left, Laura!" Wing said, holding a hand out to both of them. "Do you have it?" Laura demanded. Wing looked at her questioningly for a moment, but then realized what she meant and took something out from his pocket. It was a memory stick, one from Tanya's assessor, something Laura had created long ago. It pulled codes from the simpler drones, which Laura could use to her advantage.
She input the codes from the stick to her pocket drive and flipped the switch. "We'd better go, right now." she said, quickly mounting behind Rogers, who was sandwiched between her and Wing.
Wing set the horse on a hard run just as a terrible screeching sounded from the machines they passed.
When they were a safe distance away, Rogers looked back. What she saw was the chain reaction of the explosions rooting from every small land drone, which took down the larger drones almost too easily. The result was one giant lights show and a mushroom cloud of the home they left behind. The people they buried...
They would be buried forever deep beneath the earth, never to be disturbed again and only ever remembered by friends and family who were likely to die themselves.
It wasn't a pleasant thought. Rogers felt the weight of Laura's forehead on the back of her right shoulder as they rode on, and she was almost certain she felt tears warm the cloth there. She said nothing.
Everyone was gathered at the base of a cliff a little ways from the chaos, far enough and hidden enough to be safe for maybe a week. That was the hope, anyway. Some children were crying, but the majority simply wore looks of calm defeat. They were the ones who had gotten used to it. Running.
When Wing, Laura and Yulie Rogers arrived, they were greeted with questioning faces. The good news was, Laura said, they were able to destroy most, maybe all of the drones and the larger machines. Also, they weren't followed. She didn't have to mention the bad news; people felt it all around. They'd lost their home. They had to find a new place to settle now.
"I know a place," Innokentiy, Inno, their resident Russian, volunteered. "Near the Thames. The drones and all of Overlord's machines moved away from there a long time ago, right?"
Laura shook her head. "Unless we're desperate, Inno, we have to stay away from cities. We don't know what could be left over from Overlord's reign and the machinery is too dangerous."
"The beach?" Tam suggested over Inno's shoulder.
Laura looked thoughtful. "Could be. We'll check the areas and decide. Tomorrow. Tonight, let's just rest. It's been a long day."
She wandered around the camp. Franz was distributing food to the rest, but she didn't feel hungry. She was so tired. Not from the ordeal. Not from the adrenaline rush.
She lost Shelby. Of course, that had happened way long ago, but she had something to remember her by. She felt the inexplicable need to set up another memorial, but she knew she couldn't do that until they settled somewhere.
Suddenly, Otto entered her mind. Oh crap, Otto!
She couldn't believe she'd forgotten.
She started looking around for the kid, looking for Dignity. She was panicking a little by the time she reached Dignity, but Otto was nowhere to be seen around her.
"Oh, hey Laura."
"Dignity, where's Otto!" Laura demanded, louder than she'd wanted to ask. Dignity blinked. "He's fine. He's with Wing." she said, placating.
Laura looked over to where she pointed and saw Wing, little Otto in his lap while they both ate the stew Franz had given. Otto looked calm, happy, but also a little worried, if Laura read him right.
His face lit right up when she approached. Wing looked up, and silently gestured for her to sit with them. "Hungry?" he asked, monosyllabic, as she took her place with them near one of the many camp fires. "Ugh, no, I think I'll vomit anything I eat now." she replied.
"Sleep then." Wing said wisely, pointing to one of the bed rolls. "I know you're just going to strain yourself tomorrow. So rest, Laura."
Laura looked at Otto. "He'll be fine. Don't worry." Wing said softly.
"Sure. Okay."
And with that, she slept.
-back cracks-
you know the drill. I also posted art of this: atemozzarella. deviantart. com /art / H-I-V-E-Overlord-Apocalypse-183191460 (remove spaces) Which prompted me to continue ;)
