Chapter 25:

4:43 pm.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

*PING!* *PING!* *PING!* *PING!*

"Fuck, better get moving" the Driver quickly reverses the truck then turns the truck forward.

"Everybody okay?" the Driver asks while taking a look at the damage.

The truck is still smoothly driving through the road towards Lowee, they're about 20 minutes out at the current speed they're going. The left side mirror has a hole, most probably from a bullet when they ditched that thing. There's a hole at the top made by one of them earlier, and lastly, they're now 3 men down. With their Commander in bad shape.

"Yeah. Never been better" the Combatant said as he sat on the gunner's platform.

"What about you Nurse? And the Commander?"

Compa checks in on IF, she's now lying straight up, knocked out cold. Her wounds are all stitched up.

"Mhm… we're fine. She's knocked out for now" Compa answered.

"Alright. We're in the open road, so we're pretty exposed to any AWACS. Plus, it's pretty peculiar, we need to switch vehicles" the Driver said.

"What? You have a way to get another truck?" the Combatant said, as he checks his GT40, it's undamaged.

"…We're still wearing their uniform. We can probably borrow some"

"Probably…"

"…Yeah probably…" a moment of silence between the 2 soldiers.

The 3 of them know the situation right now isn't what they hoped for. They've barely were able to get out of the village. Their Commander is now in a sown mess, their only Operator shot himself, the other was shot in the head, and the last one was eaten by them. And even before that, they've lost the only home they have left.

They all know from the very start; their crazy plan is suicidal. And yet, they followed the girl whose feelings were strong enough to lead a group of untrained men and women into the fray.

"Say…"

"…Yeah?"

"…You know what I'm about to say"

"I'm not your girlfriend, so tell me what you want to say"

"…Are we going to make it out, alive?"

"…" the Driver pauses for a moment. A moment to contemplate.

"Dunno, man"

"Always with the 'dunno', huh?"

"What are we fighting for anyway? We've… *sigh*… We're the only ones left fighting. All of our friends are dead, Planeptune is now gone. We have nothing to go home too. And you know that too, you have a bro in Lowee right?"

"…Yeah" the Driver simply agrees.

He was right, what else could they be fighting for now? For the glorious rise of Planeptune? To get back at the nation that waged an unjust war against them? To get revenge on those things that have been rampaging around? Even the idea of meeting back with old, loved ones is a far-off dream.

What is a home? The embrace of people you consider friends. But where are those friends? The people he shared drinks, meat, water, sweat, tears, anger, joy, sadness. Where are those people he fought for? Where are those people he desperately wants to save?

"Nurse, what do you think?" the Combatant redirects his question to his Commanders friend.

"Why's the Commander so bent on fighting this war?"

"…" the Driver perked his ears.

Compa opens her mouth but closes it again. How desperate she wants to say anything for her only friend to stop. How her chest screams to say anything so they could go home. But she can't. How her mind shouts to say the very words she wanted to say long before IF made her decision. Something is telling her she can't. A little voice inside her says she can't. To not deny their efforts. To not deny the choices they've both made. To not deny the eventual result.

For Compa's goal to come true, she should...

"Iffy and I… lost someone…"

4:45 pm.

*BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNG!*

"That took a while"

Kei probably performed every gymnastic in the book to get the fire alarm started.

Now that it has, the sprinklers are now spraying their water taking out an imaginary fire. She drops the cigarettes and dashes out of the cubicle.

"Tch!" she slipped.

The floor is wet, obviously. She slams her hand down on the floor, stopping her from slipping entirely. She uses that to propel her up, continuing her dash out towards the door. She pushes the door open and sees a crowd of people running out of the cafeteria. People holding their hand up trying not to get too wet.

Kei dashes through the hallway, water splashing all around her with each step. The moment her feet land on the cafeteria, she looks towards the double doors towards the staff kitchen. It's unguarded.

"They'll know it's me if I don't move…!"

Without wasting any more time, she sprints towards the double doors. The water droplets splash all around her face as she dashes through the wet cafeteria. She bursts through the double doors and is greeted by the silver-colored empty kitchen.

With familiar steps, she heads towards the secondary kitchen at the back of the first. She runs through it, towards the steel stairs.

*PING!* *PING!* *PING!* *PING!*

"—!"

Footsteps.

Kei immediately hides behind the nearest island, making sure to time her splashing noises with their footsteps. She peeks at the corner and sees 4 guards coming down the stairs, all 4 of them armed. Is she planning on having them open fire? On what? Her? By all accounts, she's a valuable asset to her. Then, if it's not Kei, there's only one other person she'll ask for a hit.

Not person, people.

'Was she planning this the entire time!?' Kei tries to hold her gasp.

As much as she wants to stop these 4, she'd risk being located and radioed. She'll have to add this incident to the list of sins the devil will shout aloud when she finally dies.

The 4 guards rush in a sync towards the first kitchen, jogging past Kei. When the last man finally exits, Kei runs towards the steel stairs and climbs it as fast as she can. She lands in one of the back corridors of the Basilicom, secret paths for the Basilicom guards to fast travel between locations. The corridors are narrow so it can only fit at least 2 people shoulder to shoulder.

Kei runs towards the end of the corridor, she turns le—!

*BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!*

She hears footsteps. Based on how heavy the footsteps are it must be more guards. She needs to hide but there's no place to hide. Plus, if she does hide, it's a coin toss whether they come through or not.

*BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!*

Either way, she has to make a decision. The echo of the footsteps is getting louder.

*BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!*

"Tch! So much for being sneaky"

In her frustration, Kei pulls out her sword.

*BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!* *BNG!*

"—!"