Ramona Linton+Nils Daerden: Date from hell!
It was a cold, windy, miserable day, sometime well past noon. The skies above were dark and clouded, rain fell from the heavens and no light from the sun was cast on the forest's of Kloden, Gallia's dense woodlands. These woods were said to be impenetrable to man or machine and only the beasts of the woods roamed these lands freely. That however was not entirely true, as dense as the woods were; one man and plenty of women of the Gallian militia could get through these woods with great swiftness.
The density or closeness of the trees hampered the progress of their pursuers, Imperial soldiers of the Eastern Empire that was currently invading their homeland of Gallia. Thankfully, the part about the forest being impenetrable to machine proved to be a life saver, just moments ago, the Gallian women and their male companion darted into the woods after being cut off while on patrol. Hot on their tails were two tanks, a half-track full of soldiers and a jeep carrying more soldiers and an officer dressed in black. All had to stop upon reaching the forests edge, the trees were too close together, the ground uneven and rocky and the rain didn't help with the vehicles tires.
The Imps were in the process of getting out of their vehicles, to pursue the Gallians and deal a strike back at the squad they were from, the infamous Squad Seven of the Gallian militia. The Imperials wanted blood, revenge, a chance to deal what damage they could and deal a crippling blow to the Seven's. If they lost this many soldiers at once, it surely would lower Squad Sevens moral greatly. They would hunt down the women and the one man with them, no matter how long it took; how far into the woods they needed to chase them or however much man power was needed to get the job done. So they continued their pursuit of the many female soldiers who were lead by one man.
That man however was Nils Daerden, his company were Cherry, Dorothy and Ramona Linton, and all were from Squad Seven. This would prove to be very troublesome, for Nils in all accounts was someone who in a word 'despised' the company of women. Many girls thought him to be tall, dark and handsome. He on the other hand, found them to be annoying, weak and a pain in his side.
Despite feeling that way, he was carrying a girl on his very shoulder at the moment. A trembling, blushing girl with short hair, pulled back into a small bun. Behind him, a blonde haired girl and a reddish/brown haired girl were struggling to carry Nils's massive anti-tank lance. Both were scouts and unaccustomed to carrying such a heavy weapon. Not to mention both were tiny in comparison to the muscular, burly lancer Nils Daerden.
After some more running, the girls who were carrying Nils's lancer were huffing and puffing from exhaustion. Nils, who was carrying a girl on his shoulder, heard them and they stopped for a moment to rest and catch their breath. Nils abruptly set the injured girl down on top of a pile of moss under a tall tree.
"Ouch~!" Dorothy cried, "That hurt my… my… butt you know!"
Nils placed his hands against his back and leaned backwards to stretch out his back muscles, "Hmph! It's your ankle that's injured, not your behind, so quit complaining!"
"Hey! You could at least TRY to be nice for once you big hulking lug!" Ramona shot back.
"Oh man… this is like SO the worst thing EVER~!" Cherry added.
Nils shook his head, "I'm going back to see if those imps are still chasing us…" Nils announced. Stepping around the girls and heading back the way they came, while at the same time finding a suitable tall tree to climb and search the area from up high.
The girls all crowded around together, looking back and watching Nils get higher and higher in the tree. Once they were sure that he was out of earshot they began speaking. Not before Cherry received a punch from Ramona, right in the arm.
"This is all your fault!" Ramona accused.
"Me?" Cherry growled. "I seem to recall someone wanting to get to know Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome over there and to finally get a chance to talk to him!"
"It's my fault…" Dorothy said, eyes looking down at the ground in shame.
"What?" both girls gasped. "You didn't do anything!"
"No… I did…" Dorothy added, thinking back to earlier that day.
The squad was returning from the Barious desert after having fought a tough battle against Prince Maximilian's tank, the Batomys. They were low on ammo, had injured squad mates and were low on other provisions for the squad and were now relieved by Squads Four and Five. This allowed Squads One, Three and Seven to return to base. After travelling all day, they stopped midway from home, inside the great Kloden Wildwoods and set up camp.
Ramona was sitting on a rock on the outskirts of the camp, looking out into the forest for a moment, and then returned to her little notebook she always kept in her scouts pouch. She was so busy flipping through the little book of hers that she didn't notice Cherry, a fellow scout, walking towards her. Not until she planted her hand on her shoulder and scared her half to death.
"Jeez~! You! You!" Ramona cried, hand held against her fast beating heart.
"Sorry!" Cherry apologized with a bow. "Whatcha doing out here? Supper's already being served at the mess tent as we speak."
Ramona sighed, "Oh, nothing really…"
Cherry knew there was something on her mind. "Come on Ramona! Tell me what's up?"
Ramona reopened her small book, "It's times like after what happened at Barious and our fight against that enormous monster machine that makes me think of how much I still have left to accomplish in life. More importantly, my short term goals, here and now."
Cherry nodded, "Yeah, I like so totally get what you mean…" Cherry replied. "I am glad however, that I accomplished one of my major goals… to meet THE Ramona Linton from Gallian girl magazines, to serve with her makes it so much more special!"
Ramona smiled, "Thanks Cherry, you cheered me up just a little bit right now."
"So, what else did you have on your mind?" Cherry asked.
Ramona smiled and passed the book to Cherry, "I wanted to meet and greet all of the gorgeous hunks of Squad Seven and I almost have. But there's just one man who always eludes me, says he never has time to stop and chat…"
Cherry looked through the small book and saw many of the male squad member's names, not only that, there were numbers and comments next to each name.
Hermes Kissinger: 7/10, Good to look at, horrible to date, he never shows up!
Homer Peron: 6/10, A pessimist, not all there, guarded fiercely by Edy Nelson. Only got 1 date and that was enough… face still hurts from that punch delivered by Edy for messing around with her 'Homie'.
Noce Wordsworth: 8/10, Very cute, small town guy, horrible conversationalist. All he ever talked about was Alicia this and Alicia that… hello! I'm the one your on a date with!
Hector Calvey: 9/10, Best date of all, he even carried me through the rainy streets of Randgriz on our date during down time. He wouldn't let me get my feet or dress wet.
Vyse Inglebard: 9/10, Would have been a perfect 10, but Aika tagged along all throughout our date, glaring at me. Think the hunks already spoken for mostly…
Alex Raymond: 7/10, Good looking, but our date was mostly him talking on and on and on about the sky and other things related to flying… not my thing.
Salinas Milton: 6/10, Not bad to look at, weird obsession with tanks, that's where our date ended. I couldn't pry him away from the hanger or its tanks and was left to walk back to the barracks alone…
Next potential date: Nils Daerden! 10/10 for looks, I wonder what he's like when he's not in battle or busy and has time to chit chat and actually go out on a date with?"
"Wow, you've like been on a lot of dates since you've joined up." Cherry laughed.
Ramona nodded her head, "Nearly all of them were bad, and a lot of the guys were spoken for already. There's just something about Nils, I can tell that he's bound to be a great catch. And that body… whoa mama!"
Cherry chuckled, "Hehe, yeah, I like totally understand you on that part."
"I really need to blow off some steam, dates are always good for that," said Ramona. "Except… I don't know how many more days I'll live to see. Nearly dieing yesterday made me realize that. Not only that… I'm single! Who wants to die single…? Not me."
"Me neither…" Cherry added.
"Got to be a way to get Nils attention, or even talk to him somehow." Ramona said while stroking her chin.
Cherry thought on it as well, and then her gaze drifted down to her golden bracelet. "I've got it!" Cherry said. "I know a way we can get it so that it'll just be the three of us together!"
Cherry explained her plan and they both set off to find Dorothy Howard.After a few minutes of searching they found her, sitting on a fallen tree, reading a book. Cherry and Ramona smiled and walked up to her.
"Yo! Dorothy!" Ramona called out.
Dorothy jumped in surprise, dropping her book. She was a very timid and shy girl, talking to people had always been a problem for her.
"Y-y-yes?" Dorothy asked. "What is it? Did I do something wrong?"
"What?" Cherry asked. "No no, nothing like that. We just wanted to talk… and ask you for a favour."
Dorothy was visibly trembling, tapping her fingers together. "F-favour… for what, why are you asking me?"
Ramona tilted her head, "Relax, you're not in trouble or anything."
"S-sorry, I'm not used to being approached like this."
Cherry rolled her eyes, "Anyways. You made this for me, right?" Cherry asked, pointing to her golden bracelet.
Dorothy nodded her head, "T-that's right…"
"It's not the bracelet that I'm interested in, it's how extremely well you engraved my exact signature. Even with all of the fancy loops and everything!" Cherry complimented.
"Oh… thank you. I mean, you're welcome! I mean…" Dorothy didn't finish; her cheeks were bright red from blushing.
"So, you can copy anyone's signature and engrave it onto metal or gold?" Ramona asked next. "Oh! What about on paper? Can you do that?"
Dorothy didn't really like where this was going, she knew something was up. "Maybe… why?"
"Well, we need you to copy the lieutenants' signature onto an order for a recon patrol. That way we can show it to the guards at the camp exits and head out into the woods." Cherry explained.
"EH! No way!" Dorothy responded loudly.
"Come on Dorothy, be a pal. You do this for us, and we'll be sure to reward you very greatly. I heard from a reliable source that you've always wanted to open up your own jewellery store, am I right?"
"Huh?" Dorothy squeaked.
"Oh yeah, Ramona and I get along pretty well with Susie Evans. And as you and everyone else know, she comes from a very, very wealthy family. If you do this favour for us, we promise; to talk to Susie and ask her if she'd be willing to fund your jewellery store at the end of the war. It'll be easy to pay her back as well, Ramona is extremely well know from her career as a model for Gallian girl Magazine!" Cherry continued. "I happen to get along with a lot of the guys in the squad. So if you do this for us, Susie will fund your jewellery shop, Ramona and I will get you loads of customers and you'll be set for life… come on, it's a fair deal isn't it? And all for one teeny, tiny little signature!"
Dorothy placed her hand against her chin and thought carefully, "What if I get into trouble?"
"Don't worry; we'll take all the blame if anything goes wrong. So it's pretty much a win, win situation for you!" Ramona added.
Dorothy inhaled sharply and sighed slowing, "O-ok… just this once…" she said.
A short while later, Ramona and Cherry entered Welkin Gunther's officers' tent. He was alone, going through some paperwork of some kind. Ramona quickly approached his table and sat on it and turned sideways, crossing one leg high over her thigh and smiled down at him. Cherry did the same, but sat back to back with Ramona, her legs crossed as well. Much of their legs and thighs were exposed thanks to their 'battle dresses' that many of the female soldiers wore instead of pants. They also sat back to back in order to completely obscure Welkin's view from Dorothy, who silently entered the tent after them and remained low to the ground.
"Uh… something I can help you girls with…" Welkin said while blushing.
"Not really, we just wanted to chat with you for a while, handsome!" Ramona said seductively.
"Yeah, you've really begun to shine and catch a lot of the female squad member's attention lately. Especially after yesterdays battle. You handled yourself so well and protected all of us and got everyone out alive," Cherry complimented. "I love a man who can handle so much on his plate at one time."
As they were doing this, Dorothy was silently going through some papers in a makeshift filing cabinet, looking for both an orders sheet and a paper that had his signature on it. As she was sifting through the pile of papers, she accidentally knocked over a canteen of water and it hit the dirt floor with a soft thud.
"What was tha-" Welkin started.
Ramona suddenly reached forward and softly grabbed Welkin by the chin, "Listen, Welkin, I was wondering… do you happen to like any of your female soldiers or officers? In a romantic way?"
"What?" Welkin said while blushing even brighter.
"Come on, you're a guy, admit it. There must be someone that you like or at least find attractive. Would it happen to be possibly… me, or Ramona or someone we happen to know?" Cherry inquired while leaning in towards Welkin, Ramona doing the same. Their cheeks were touching one another's and their soft breath hitting both of Welkin's cheeks and sending a tingle down his spine.
Meanwhile, behind them, Dorothy had finally found both an orders sheet and a document with his signature on it. She silently crept forward and tapped the back of Ramona's boot to signal that she had what they needed and quickly left the tent.
At the same time Welkin pulled away, "Now, now girls… I do not think something like this is appropriate. I'm your commanding officer and… stuff…"
Ramona looked at Cherry and winked at her. Both of them then got up and began to back away towards the tent flap. "Yeah, you can say that. But we see how you look at Sergeant Alicia Melchiott, so don't try and play all innocent on us." Ramona said with a wink and a chuckle, she then ducked under the tent flap and left. Cherry followed right behind her. Both were giggling, blushing and running away as fast as they could.
"I can't believe we just did that!" Cherry exclaimed.
"I know! Still, at least he didn't freak out or anything. So we played it quite well I think."
The girls waited till the next morning to go through with their plan; early enough that most of the squad would still be asleep and so that they'd be able to get in and get out, preferably before anyone else saw them. At 7:00 A.M. they set out to find Nils and he was not hard to find. The girls knew he liked to have a morning cigarette, close to either the barracks on base or outside of Squad Sevens tent on missions. This routine was like clockwork and helped them find him right away.
Ramona leaned towards Cherry as the two walked towards the squad tent, "I hope this works…" she whispered.
Cherry nodded, "Don't worry; we'll only be out of the camp for an hour at most. That should give the two of you enough time to talk, right?"
True to their little schedule they made up for Nils, they found him outside the Squad Seven tent, leaning against a pile of wooden crates, arms crossed over his chest, head held down as he silently smoked his cigarette.
Ramona was getting nervous, tugging at the collar of her black turtle neck undershirt. Cherry placed a hand on her back and softly pushed her forward as a sign of encouragement. She looked back, smiled and nodded thankfully to Cherry. She took one more deep breath and walked over to Nils.
He heard someone approaching, slowly opened both eyes and looked up at Ramona who was walking up to him, hands held behind her back, looking kind of shy about something.
Ramona cleared her throat, "Ahem… Nils…"
"Hmm?" Nils grunted, not even bothering to properly answer her.
"W-we've been ordered to go on an early morning recon patrol. The team consists of me, you and Cherry…"
"Really?" Nils asked slowly.
Ramona nodded and brought the paper out from behind her back and handed it to Nils. He took it, and began to look over the orders for the recon patrol.
Cherry was watching and smiling, but jumped once she felt a hand plant itself on her shoulder. "Hey, Cherry! What's up?" a female voice asked.
Cherry quickly looked back and saw Fina the medic. "What's she doing here!" Cherry thought worriedly. She quickly looked towards Ramona and Nils; he was still looking down at the order form.
"N-nothing just got something that needs doing this morning…" Cherry said, placing her hand on Fina's shoulder, trying to lead her away.
Just then, "Are you serious?" Nils's voice asked loudly. Fina looked back and saw that he didn't look too happy. Curious, she moved past Cherry and walked up to Ramona and Nils.
"What's up?" Fina asked Ramona, she got along quite well with her as well.
Ramona shot a worried look toward Cherry, but she just held up her hands in a wide shrug. Nils though was showing the orders form to Fina. Their plan was in trouble already and they weren't even out of the base yet.
"Only sending out three soldiers on a recon patrol?" Fina asked curiously while looking at Nils. He just grunted loudly and shook his head.
Fina looked back at Ramona, "A standard recon is made up of five soldiers, isn't it?" Fina asked, another grunt and nod from Nils confirmed her question before Ramona could answer back.
"W-well we already have…." Ramona started, quickly looking around the area and spotting Dorothy, who was peaking out from a nearby tent, watching over the discussion. Ramona quickly pointed to Dorothy. "We have four members already! And uh… enemy presence isn't expected to be in the area, but we still need to check it out."
Fina tilted her head and squinted a little, slightly suspicious. But she just lowered her head and sighed, "Guess there's no choice, I'll be your fifth member and medic for the patrol."
"What?" Ramona squeaked.
"Is there a problem with that?" Fina asked. "Then again, I guess you're right… maybe I should ask Welkin before we leave. I also need to tell him to expect one less medic to be on the base for a while. Mina or Gina will take over my duties."
Ramona stepped in front of her, "N-no no, that's quite alright, you've just helped solve a problem for us in finding a fifth member. S-so we're all set to go right, r-right?" Ramona stuttered, starting to sweat just a little.
"Hrmm…" Nils grunted, ducking under the squad tent flap to retrieve his gear before meeting them at the front gate. Fina nodded with a smile and ran to gather her medical bag and equipment as well. Cherry on the other hand ran up to Ramona and smacked her on the arm.
"Like what the hell?" Cherry asked, glaring at Ramona.
Ramona rubbed her arm, "Don't worry… minor set back is all…" Ramona responded. She then spotted Dorothy, still hiding behind a nearby tent flap and quickly made her way over to her. Dorothy yelped in fear and tried to run away, but was grabbed by the back of the collar.
"This wasn't part of the plan!" Dorothy protested.
"Like I said, minor set back. But you're coming with us now, that's the end of it!" Ramona said while dragging Dorothy along with her towards the squad tent to quickly gather their equipment for the days patrol.
Not long after, all the members for the 'patrol' were loaded into a blue and white jeep and headed for the front gates. Cherry was driving, Fina next to her in the passenger side. Nils was in the back, behind the driver's seat, Ramona was in the middle, pressed right up against Nils and Dorothy was next to Ramona, right behind the passenger's seat. Their gear was strapped to both sides of the jeep, with a lot of the other equipment and Nils's anti-tank lancaar rounds in the back trunk.
They reached the front gate and Cherry passed the orders sheet to the guard at the front of the camp exits. He quickly looked them over, but showed no signs of suspicion as he nodded and passed the sheet back to Cherry, then lifted the gate up and out of the way for the jeep to move past.
A few minutes after the jeep had left the base, Ramona started the conversation, or at least attempted to.
"So… Nils, where are you from?" Ramona asked. Cherry's eyes shifted up to the rear view mirror, watching both the road and the scene going on in the back.
"Hmmm…" Nils responded slow and serious like.
"What did you do before the war?" Ramona asked next.
"Hmph!" Nils grunted a little bit louder, sounding annoyed already.
Ramona sighed, "Don't you ever like, talk to anyone?"
"No. Not to girls most of all." Nils answered sternly.
Ramona gasped in both surprise and offence, "And what's that supposed to mean?"
Cherry shook her head, "Great start to a great 'date' you've got going there Ramona."
Suddenly an explosion went off near the side of the road, followed by a loud, growing shrieking sound, the sound of mortar fire!
Cherry cranked the wheel hard to the left, avoiding an incoming mortar round that exploded off to their right. She then cranked it hard to the right and avoided another explosion off to the left. All the girls were screaming in terror, Nils looking about, trying to find out where the rounds were coming from.
"Stop the damn jeep! NOW!" Nils roared.
Cherry immediately responded and slammed on the brakes, cranking the wheel hard to the left, bringing the jeep to a screeching halt. Her fumbling hands tried to shift it into reverse, to get the jeep pointed back towards the base. The grinding of the gears told everyone she was having a hard time getting it into the right gear.
"Forget it; we need to get out of the jeep!" Nils ordered over the nearby explosions.
He then grabbed his anti-tank lance off the side of the jeep, ran to the side of the road and hopped over a fallen tree and took cover. The girls were trying to get their stuff off the side of the jeep as well, explosions going off all around them. Ramona and Cherry quickly retrieved their rifles and ran to take cover with Nils. Dorothy was trying to get the gear out of the trunk, but her trembling hands were having a hard time operating the handle.
"Forget it kid! Get your ass over here!" Nils shouted.
But she was tackled by Fina instead and they rolled away from the jeep, just as a lucky mortar round slammed into the jeep and blew it sky high, all of their equipment with it. Smoke and dust from the explosion were thrown high into the air, obscuring their view of either girl or whether or not they were still alive.
"Dorothy! Dorothy, are you alright?" Ramona screamed.
Other than the explosions, there was no answer. Suddenly, Dorothy came charging out from the smoke, running towards the girls and Nils. But rather then climb over the fallen tree, hysterically she tried to jump over it and join them. What she didn't know was that the ditch dropped steeply about 6 or 7 feet down to the forest floor. She thought the girls and Nils were lying prone on flat ground, not lying against a steep ditch wall. She fell this distance, landing hard on the ground and badly twisting one of her ankles as she then began to shriek in pain.
"Oh for the love of…" Nils groaned.
"Guys! Guys!" Fina's voice called out from the other side of the road.
"Fina, is that you?" Cherry shouted.
"Yeah, still alive!" Fina responded.
There were explosions slamming into the ground all over the place and the road, now the sounds of shouting, angry men could be heard, quickly approaching their position.
"I can't get you to!" Fina said, "We gotta get out of here!"
Nils shook his head and looked down at the ground to Ramona and Cherry who were tending to Dorothy. "Leave her; she'll only slow us down!" Nils said.
Ramona and Cherry looked back at him in disbelief, "Girls and most of all Seven's never leave one of their own behind!"
Nils slammed his fist against the log, "Ah! You stupid, stupid girls!" Nils cursed; he then looked back across the road, to a ducked down Fina. "Go on without us, we've got problems of our own over here and can't make it back!"
Fina hesitated for a moment and then nodded her head, "Alright, I'll go for help! You all just hang in there, no dying on me!"
Nils cursed loudly again as he watch Fina scrambled back from the road and ran, ducking under tree branches, bullets flying past her and smacking trees as she booked it back to camp.
Nils then climbed down the small embankment and joined the girls, "Can you walk?" Nils asked. Dorothy shook her head, "Fine, you! Take this!" and Nils shoved his anti-tank lance into Cherry's hands, causing her to drop her rifle in the process. Ramona bent down and picked up Cherry's rifle and put it over her opposite shoulder that already had a rifle on it. Meanwhile, Nils bent down and picked up Dorothy and placed her over his shoulder, slinging her machine gun over his other shoulder.
They couldn't walk along the road, as it was still being hammered by mortar rounds and enemy troops were already coming down the road as well towards them. They couldn't run back to base along the steep, angled ditch. Their only choice was to head down, away from the road and into the great Kloden forest and find a different route back to the base and their squad.
Nils was already heading down the sloped ground, carrying Dorothy; he turned and placed his hand against the side of his mouth, "Run you stupid girls! RUN!"
"We're not stupid!" Ramona snapped back. At the same time she noticed that Cherry was having a hard time carrying the heavy lance, which weighed more than she did no doubt. So she bent down and picked up the other end and both girls ran while carrying the lance, avoiding gunfire and following Nils into the forest.
"Even so, it's not your fault Dorothy," Ramona said, looking down at the ground. "It's mine; it was my entire plan all along. Now we're stuck out here and having…. Who knows how many Imperials chasing us and heading towards the cam- oh… Oh no…"
Ramona sat down with her hands against her midsection, which was cramping up. "Not now…"
"What's wrong? Are you alright?" Cherry asked, dropping the heavy lance to the ground.
"Hey! Be careful with that!" Nils yelled as he dropped from the tree he had climbed and came crashing down on the ground next to the girls, though he landed perfectly on his feet and even shook the ground with his heavy, muscular framed body.
Now Ramona was moaning in discomfort, rubbing her hands against her stomach. "This isn't good, Cherry…" Ramona said softly.
"What's her problem?" Nils asked as he reached back to his back pocket and tried to retrieve a cigarette, but once he pulled out his pack, nearly all of them were bent, broken and already spilling out their tobacco contents to the ground. Only one remained mostly intact, so he took it out and put it in his mouth, next he patted his pockets for his lighter, but it was no where to be found.
Nils started to get angry, "Any of you bitches got a light?" he asked with a growl.
Cherry was tending to Ramona, she looked over and glared at Nils and shook her head, Ramona groaned, and then shook her head and Dorothy did the same while rubbing her ankle. "No one has a lighter?" Nils growled.
"Not on us… we have some in the backpacks… which are back at the burned out jeep if you want to go back and get them." Ramona said. She was starting to get angry as well, at the whole predicament they were in.
Nils took the cig out of his mouth and crumbled it up into his fist while cursing under his breath, "This is hell… pure hell!"
"Hey, relax buddy. Things could be like so much worse than this you know!" Cherry shot back.
Nils placed his hands on his hips and shook his head, "How could things get any worse?" Nils asked.
There was a low rumble of thunder and rain began to fall in a steady downpour. Cherry looked over at Nils and said, "Gee... thanks Nils..."
now he heard Ramona moaning a little bit louder. "What's her problem?"
Cherry had an idea, but didn't want to discuss the details in front of him. "Nothing just… girl problems…"
"Girl prob- Oh man!" Nils said. Walking away in disgust, now he knew what was wrong with Ramona.
Then, in the distance, they could hear their Imperial pursuers approaching and by the sounds of it, there were many.
"Equipment check!" Nils yelled, "What have we got? Can we even put up a decent fight?"
All the girls patted their pockets, checked their pouches and their rifles and machine gun.
"I'd hate to say this… but we've got next to crap for ammo and even less for supplies." Cherry said.
"I've counted, we've only got four rifle clips, two Mag clips and one lancaar round and that's already attached to your lance, Nils." Ramona added.
Nils cursed, then picked up Dorothy and slung her machine gun over his other shoulder and began to run, Cherry and Ramona following close behind him. Nearby, there was a large hill visible. If they got to the top, they'd have the advantage of fighting from an elevated position, clearer view of the battlefield and able to get an idea of where they were in terms of how close or how far they were from the camp and the rest of the sevens.
With this new plan in mind, Nils lead the girls up the hill; however, after years of smoking, his lungs were having a very hard time carrying oxygen sufficiently to fuel his body. Not to mention that he had a small girl on his shoulder, and his entire lancer armour on his body. Ramona was at the very back of the group, moaning in discomfort from her… lady troubles and Cherry was sweating bullets from having to help carry Nils heavy lance.
Suddenly, as they were just a few feet from the top, it felt like someone slammed a baseball bat directly into the back of Nils's thigh and he fell forward, dropping Dorothy who began to roll down the hill, but was caught by Cherry and Ramona. Nils growled in pain and touched the back of his thigh. When he brought his hand back, it was covered in blood; a bullet had struck him and knocked him down.
He looked down the hill and saw Imperial shock troopers firing up at them. Nils roared, grabbed Dorothy's machine gun and sprayed bullets from its muzzle at the Imperials while holding it with one hand. The bullets smacked and pelted the ground all around the shock troopers and they retreated for the time being, probably to both regroup with their comrades and tell them where the Gallian's were holding out.
Nils groaned and fell onto his back, Cherry and Ramona knelt down next to him, tugging on his jacket and arms, "Come on mister! We're almost to the top!" Ramona encouraged.
Ignoring his injury for now, Nils got up and slide back down the hill until he was next to Dorothy. He picked her up and put her over his shoulder and continued to climb the steep hill, until finally, there were at the top and rested.
It was now that Nils fell back onto his back and groaned in pain from having made his injury worse by moving so much. Ramona and Cherry knelt down in front of him and examined his wound.
"This looks bad… we'll have to take the bullet out if we can!" Ramona said quickly and with a shaky voice.
Cherry grimaced as she looked at the gruesome wound that was oozing blood, "What should we do?"
"You've got long, slender fingers; maybe you can dig it out…" Ramona suggested.
"EEWW! No way!"
Nils dug out his bayonet blade and held it out to the girls, "Just get it out!" he ordered.
Dorothy's eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she fell backwards into the grass and fainted. Cherry's mouth dropped open and she quickly shook her head, "Alright! I'll try to dig it out first… I don't want to cut anything just yet…"
Nils then moved his other hand away that was clutching his wound and some blood that was pooling under his hand sprayed out, right onto Ramona's chest and she screamed, "No~! You've got blood all over my uniform! It's ruined!" Ramona was a neat freak, she freaked out over getting dirt on herself. Never mind blood that stains horribly.
Nils slapped Ramona, right across the cheek with his bloody palm, "Shut up! I'm the one whose freaking injured!"
Cherry then slapped Nils back and cried, "Don't slap her!" Ramona slapped Cherry and yelled, "Don't slap him!" Nils slapped both of the girls at the same time and roared, "Shut up! Both of you!" Rage filled the girls eyes as they glared at Nils, teeth bared and they yelled in unison, "Don't slap GIRLS!" and two tiny fists flew towards Nils and connected to his face and his head flew back and slammed into the trunk of the tree that he was resting under.
Darkness began to fill his eyes and as he began to slide to the side, blacking out, a thought came to mind, "These girls… are… different…"
As Darkness took him, he remembered when the Imperial army invaded his home town and attacked his gang hideout. They put up a desperate fight, he and his men and were able to hold out better than the town guard. But as his men fell one by one, none of his girls, his fan club, his 'groupies' that occupied his hideout lent one single helping hand. No, they were cowering under tables, hiding all over the place or just plain freaking out.
"Grab a weapon and lend a hand!" Nils ordered the numerous girls cowering in the back room of his hideout. "My men are falling! Dying out there and we need more people up front!"
Again, none of the near twenty girls moved an inch, they all continued to cry in fear, panic and were unable to move. As his followers, they claimed they would do anything just to be in Nils's presence. But, when the time had come, they didn't follow through. When he needed them the most, they wouldn't help at all. Not even when there were more of them in the back, than the surviving members of his gang who were trying to keep the Imperials at bay.
An injured member of Nils's gang came limping through the back door, clutching a bloody shoulder, "Sir… half of our men are dead, most of the other half are wounded, including myself. What should we do…?"
Nils looked at his female 'groupies' in anger, and cursed in frustration. He turned to his lieutenant and said, "Open the secret passage, we're pulling out… the Imps can have this place if they want, we're getting out while we still can."
The lieutenant nodded and ran to the back of the room and pulled a rug out of the way, revealing a very large double doorway among the floorboards. He pulled these open and revealed a large dark tunnel with stone steps descending down into the ground.
"Girls! Head to the front and retrieve the injured-"
But, not a single girl heard a word he said, they were climbing and crawling over one another, trying desperately to get down into the escape passage. Once they all disappeared Nils shook his head, "Women… so damn useless!"
He then turned to his lieutenant, "Tell the men to retrieve our wounded and head for the tunnel, leave the dead and all the equipment."
"Yes, sir!" and he set about to fulfill Nils orders.
As the building shook from explosions and dust fell from the ceilings, Nils sat down and lit a cigarette. "So this is how it ends… this is how our gang disintegrates and we lose everything… because of… girls… too afraid to fight or even lend a hand."
Nils then brought out two large gas cans he kept near the escape tunnel and began to empty their highly flammable liquid contents all over the ground and over his desk and furniture. The members of his gang, less than ten appeared and headed for the escape tunnel, Nils followed last, taking one last look at his hideout, the one he fought so hard to win over from rival gangs in the past. His only home.
He then took out one more cigarette, put it in his mouth and flipped open his silver Zippo and lit up. "Farewell…" he said out loud, he then tossed the still burning zippo onto the ground and ignited the gas and everything quickly caught fire. He then pulled down the heavy double doors and followed his gang down the dark tunnels that lead far out of the town and into the nearby forests.
Nils was then abruptly woken up to the sounds of gunfire. He quickly sat up and was back in present times. He looked down at his leg, saw that it was bandaged up and didn't hurt so much anymore, the girls had did it, they got the bullet out and dressed his wound as well as any medic would have.
He looked back up and saw Cherry, Ramona and Dorothy all firing down the hill, most likely at the Imperials down below. At the same time, he looked behind him and saw black pillars of smoke rising from the forest, less than one mile from where they were. It had to be the Seven's and the other Squads, engaging the Imperials in another separate fight.
Finally, the firing stopped and Ramona said with a sight of relief, "They're pulling back… again…"
Cherry shook her sweat filled head, "They just keep coming! They charge, pull back, charge again and pull back again… how long are they gonna keep coming?"
"If they come back again, we're finished! I've got three bullets left, that's it!" Ramona said.
"I've got two bullets left, two!" Cherry said.
"Just half a magazine of Mag rounds…" Dorothy added.
"Can't fire back soon… can't move with this leg of mine… This is it…" Nils said. He then looked up at the girls, "Get out of here! Head down the opposite slope and down the hill, I'll cover you as best I can!"
The girls looked back at Nils, "No! You're coming with us!" Ramona protested.
"It'll never work; I'm way too big for you girls to carry. Dorothy needs to be carried and you can manage her better than me, so it has to be this way!"
Ramona put her hand to her chin and thought hard, her eyes drifting down to Nils's giant 'arm guard'. The part that shielded his firing arm and much of his body when he raised his lance to fire. However, before she could speak, the sounds of the shouting Imperials came back.
"They're coming again, guys!" Cherry yelled over her shoulder to the others.
Ramona then dug her side arm pistol out of her pouch and handed it to Nils, along with her rifle, "Take my place!" she yelled. She then dragged Nils large armoured arm guard around a large tree and disappeared from view. Nils, meanwhile, dragged himself to the edge of the hill and fired Ramonas rifle, then once those rounds were completed, used her pistol as best he could. All the while, a loud, banging and clanging sound could be heard from behind the tree where Ramona was located. The girls and Nils would look back every now and then.
This time, the many Imperials were now climbing the hill. All the times before, they never got close enough to even try. Now they were climbing and firing up at the Gallians, trapped like rats.
Just then, Ramona came back around the tree, dragging Nils's armour, which was now pounded flat, like a board. She then looked at Nils and yelled, "Sit your ass down here, mister! We're not leaving you behind!"
Before he could answer, he felt Cherry grab him by the jacket as she and Dorothy fell back to where Ramona was. She then pushed him onto his back and mounted him, her legs on either side of his body. Cherry sat on his chest, Dorothy in the middle, over his stomach and finally, Ramona in the back… directly over his crotch.
Their rifles were turned over; butts pointed down and were going to be used almost like paddles. Nils lance was being held by all the girls and all Nils could do was lay back, with them on top of him and dread what was coming next.
"Everyone… hang on!" Ramona called out.
Then, with the lance pointed straight back, Ramona squeezed the large trigger which was under her armpit and between her arm and the side of her chest. The lance then fired its only Lancaar round, not at any target, but to give the girls a push, so to say and they took off flying down the hill, like they were riding a toboggan in winter.
The girls were screaming, using their rifles to 'steer' as best they could and Ramona, in the back, used the empty lance to both create drag and steer from the back, also to slow down when they needed. The ride was that much faster because of the rainfall and slick mud that was all along the slope. All the while, Nils couldn't see what was going on. He didn't dare look 'up' which to him would show an upside down view of what the ride looked like from the front.
Luckily the hill wasn't very high or long and they began to slow once they reached the bottom of the hill. Once they came to a stop, Cherry and Ramona stood up and ran to the front, taking their rifle slings off as fast as they could. The moment they had them off, they passed them down to Nils, who was still lying on his back on his flattened armoured arm guard.
"Hang onto these! We're not out of this yet!" Ramona shouted.
Nils nodded and took hold of the slings, one in each hand. Ramona and Cherry held onto the other ends and dug their feet into the ground and began to drag Nils along the wet, muddy ground. If they couldn't carry him, they were at least going to attempt to drag him along; they would not leave him behind. Dorothy was still on top of him, this time turned around completely and looking behind them as they went along. The Imperials were making their way down the hill in the distance.
Ramona and Cherry continued to drag Nils along the ground, which luckily for them, was slick with rain and made their job just a little bit easier.
This continued only for a few minutes more and both girls fell to their knees, then forward onto their hands and panted and sweated profusely. "That's it… no more…" Ramona cried, literally.
It looked like the end. They were out of ammo, completely. Two of the four were injured and all of them were exhausted. All they could hope for was that the Imperials would take them captive instead of killing them outright.
Suddenly, numerous sounds of automatic and semi-automatic gunfire could be heard… from behind them. This was followed by a lot of shouting and war cries. Nils and the other girls looked back and saw Gallians, dozens of them; it was Squad Seven and the other squads. They were charging down the hill, firing all the way. Fina the medic was a head of everyone, leading the charge; she kept her word and had returned with reinforcements.
The Imperials, who were once pursuing them, gave up and turned completely and were in full retreat.
Ramona and Cherry hugged each other and laughed happily and in relief. Dorothy fell off of Nils and landed on her side, passed out from sheer relief and pure exhaustion. Nils head fell back and he looked up at the sky, which was beginning to clear and blue sky could be seen now.
Just then, a body fell next to him, a head resting against his shoulder. He looked over and saw that it was Ramona who was resting her head against his shoulder, her arm wrapped around his muscular chest.
"And how are you, Nils? On this fine, fine day…"
And for the first time, Nils smiled a little bit and shook his head, "This has been one hell of a day… you girls aren't so bad… I guess. You've proven your worth, far better than any girls I have known in the past."
Fina the medic and other members of Squad Seven crowded around the small group of girls and Nils, while the other squads and members spread out in the forest, making sure there were no other Imperials in the area.
Just then, Captain Varrot appeared, she didn't look all too happy and she asked, "I demand an explanation of what happened this morning!"
The girls and Nils looked at each other, Ramona sighed and stood up, turning to Captain Varrot and saying, "It's my fault… I'm the one who wanted to get Nils alone, to talk to him one on one and-"
"No! It's my fault! I'm the one who suggested the plan to leave the base in the first place!" Cherry interrupted.
"I'm the one who forged Welkin's signature and placed it on the order form. I'm the guiltiest one here!" Dorothy added.
Nils then sat up and turned to Captain Varrot, "But, I went along with it. I could have stopped them if I wanted to…"
"What?" Ramona exclaimed, Dorothy and Cherry looking just as shocked.
Nils looked over at them and the corner of his mouth curved slightly up, "I'm not an idiot… I knew the orders weren't real. But, having nothing better to do, I decided to go along with it."
Captain Varrot placed her hand against her face and sighed, then said, "I should have you all thrown in the stockades for what you've all done… but, you helped discover an enemy ambush that was going to be sprung on the Sevens once they had left the base. Fina ran back and told us of the large Imperial force that was gathered just down the road from where you were attacked. That gave us time to prepare for their attack and foil it.
And… seeing as how everyone is still alive, let's just forget this ever happened. But, let it happen once and only once, got it?"
The girls all smiled and saluted, Nils saluted from the ground and Captain Varrot returned their salutes, then left. A short while later, two large male medics arrived with a stretcher and placed Nils in it and began to return back to the encampment. Nils, meanwhile, was looking up at the sky and thinking about these girls he fought along side and how different they were from other girls he knew. These girls weren't so bad and were excellent fighters with iron wills and dedication to their squad mates, and even him. If he had these types of girls when his hideout and home were attacked, maybe he wouldn't have lost everything.
Just then, Cherry placed her hand on his shoulder as she walked next to him. She then took his large hand and shook it, "I just wanted to say… thank you for the best birthday experience I have ever had! This is one I'll remember forever. I'm extremely thankful that my birthday didn't become the day I died as well."
Nils grunted and nodded his head in response.
Meanwhile, Ramona was walking next to his stretcher on the other side and writing in her small book as she walked, she was writing:
"Nil Daerden: Perfect 10/10! Man what a 'date' we had! I've never been so scared in my whole entire life, but at the same time, it was kind of exciting. This'll be one day I'm never going to forget, nor one man I'll ever be able to forget as well. I got to see a whole other side of Nils that I don't think anyone is ever going to get to see! I pity what other men will have to compete with after an experience like this; it's going to be tough… for them!"
Ramona then closed her little book, put it back in her pouch and continued the walk back to the encampment, smiling the whole way.