A most dreadful of days
Lo'ak, Ronal and Tsireya were moving through the forest behind the village with a bunch of other survivors in tow. Under a dozen, the too young and too old. One mother with a terrified toddler in tow. They had done their best to locate them. But when they had seen the air fleet taking position they had known it had been time to make a hasty retreat. And a good thing too. They had barely left the village when a storm of missiles and bullets had further demolished what was left of their home. Still, it did not feel good to leave with so little of their goal accomplished.
Particularly painful to Lo'ak was that they had still seen no sign of Kiri, Tuk, Aonung or Spider. But they had seen scattered groups of other survivors, all heading to the far side of the island away from the sounds of the fighting coming from behind them. He hoped his family would be somewhere among them.
As soon as she had managed to recover from the shock of Tonowari's death Ronal had resumed her usual commanding position, directing those around her with stern authority. Any survivors they came across she directed towards the shore, while urging everyone to remain in small groups. No sense in providing one big target for the Sky People to gun down. All the while she was still carrying Tonowari's body, refusing to relinquish it to anybody, though many had offered to take him.
It was clear she was still in a lot of pain, but she was fighting through it to do her duty to her people. Lo'ak was glad she was still able to do so. In his haste his father may have given his orders to him. But being put in charge at the last second was not something he felt remotely ready to do. He wasn't even sure most of the villagers would be willing to listen to a mere boy giving them orders. So he was grateful more experienced direction was available.
Suddenly there was a strange whistle in the air, followed by an explosion in the distance. Two more explosions followed only seconds apart, these ones considerably closer than the first.
"Seek shelter! Go!" Ronal shouted.
"Over there!" Lo'ak shouted, diving between the air roots of a tree nearby. Others followed, and soon their little group was huddled beneath and around the roots.
As the shelling reached them they gritted their teeth, covering their ears as best they could against the noise. Some of the outermost roots shattered, puffs of dust and small chips of wood raining down on them. But miraculously the roots of the tree held for the most part, the shrapnel not finding its way inside. Eventually the explosions quieted.
They were about to leave their hide spot when they heard new sounds: Shouts, screams and running steps followed by gunfire. Lo'ak then suppressed a gasp when a dead Metkayina woman fell on her stomach right next to where he was hiding, her empty eyes staring right at him. Next a squad of human soldiers jogged past, heading towards the village. One pair of boots stopped next to the body. Peering slightly upwards through the thicket of roots, Lo'ak saw the boots belonged to a female soldier, bending down to snatch an armband from the corpse, taking a moment to examine it before stuffing it in her pocket. She was so close Lo'ak could hear the creaking of her combat fatigues, the crunch of leaves beneath her boots. The soft hisses of air from her mask with each breath in.
He was also rather horrified to notice the flamethrower in her hands, recognizing it from his father's descriptions. He could actually smell the faint smell of diesel coming off it! In that moment he was also painfully aware of their surroundings. The space between the roots was cramped, difficult to move in. There would be no way to get out in time if she decided to use her weapon.
She had not seen them yet. But if she did… then they were hiding in their own pyre.
His fear was amplified exponentially when he heard a whimper from the toddler before their mother managed to quiet them. The soldier started at the noise, taking a step back. Then she cautiously moved close again, her weapon at the ready, trying to peer past the roots.
Just as Lo'ak was starting to think they might all be dead there was a shout from a short distance away, the trooper's squadmates calling to her. The soldier hesitated for a moment, looking back at the tree, then back at her squad. Then she turned and ran after her fellows.
The wave of relief was so overwhelming for a moment Lo'ak thought he might actually faint. All of them waited for several more minutes before they dared to come out of hiding.
"Even more of them… there's so many…" Tsireya breathed once they finally did emerge.
"Yeah. And these came from the other direction. Does that mean…" Lo'ak began to ask. Then they were all startled a rustle in the nearby bushes as a new figure emerged in their midst, eliciting an embarrassingly high pitched squeal from him.
Tsireya very nearly reached for her weapon before she recognized the new arrival: "Aonung?"
"Aonung!" She repeated, running to her brother, the two catching themselves in a tight embrace.
"I was so scared that you had been killed. The Sky People are just… everywhere!" She said to him.
"I've lost track on how many groups of them I've dodged. I was so worried I might be the last of us left. But you're here…" Aonung replied.
"Yeah. But father, he…" Tsireya said.
Aonung looked past her. His eyes went wide, then turned pained. Slowly, as if dreamwalking, he walked to Ronal, placing his hands on the body of his father, bowing his head.
"Oh no… dad… dad…" He whispered.
"Aonung. We…" Ronal began to say. Her voice cracked, and she had to take a moment to gather herself. "We will have to mourn him later. We have to save our people. It is what he would want us to do now."
Aonung trembled slightly, taking a deep breath. Then his expression turned stern, and he nodded.
"Big groups of Sky people have landed on different parts of the island, all heading inland. Roxto and I were able to find a gap in their lines and led as many of our people as we could through. There's an out of the way cove, where there are surviving Ilu and spare canoes, so we have been able to get people on their way through there. Roxto is helping keep things moving over there. I decided to go back to look for other survivors." He detailed.
"Well done, Aonung. Show us the way." Ronal said.
Aonung nodded and began leading them away. Lo'ak caught up to him.
"How many have made it through?" He asked.
"Not, many. The Sky People have been just… butchering us. Murderers!" Aonung said bitterly.
"Where's your family at?" He asked in turn.
"Mom and dad stayed behind to fight the Sky People, buy the rest of us time. And I haven't seen Tuk, Kiri or Spider all morning." Lo'ak explained.
Aonung sighed heavily. "I hope they are ok."
"Me too." Lo'ak said.
They made it to the beach without incident. There they found Roxto along with a few other survivors preparing to leave. The survivors who were with them joined them, while Ronal was finally able to put Tonowari down, laying him on one of the canoes. Lo'ak's eyes meanwhile searched among those gathered, looking for familiar faces.
"Roxto, has any of my family been through here?" He asked.
Roxto shook his head. "I'm sorry. I haven't seen any sign of them."
Lo'ak crossed his arms, looking down at the ground, then back at the way they had come.
"I have to go back. I need to find my family. I can't leave here without them." He announced to the others.
"What? Go back? Uh, that's a really bad idea. That way is crawling with Sky People. You won't make it if you go back." Aonung protested.
"I might not. But I have to try. This is my family." Lo'ak replied.
"Don't wait for me. It's only a matter of time before the Sky people find this place. You must be long gone by then." He continued.
"But how will you get out?" Roxto asked.
"I'll, um, improvise. I know, bad plan. But I don't have a lot of others." Lo'ak said. He started to turn to leave.
"Lo'ak, wait." Tsireya said, running to him. "I'm coming with you."
"Wha-, no, no, no! Tsireya, this is too dangerous. I have to take the risk, you don't. Your family…" Lo'ak beban to protest, only for Tsireya to then put her hand on his mouth, then taking his hands into hers.
"I'm going with you." She repeated, looking deep into his eyes. After a while he looked down, his ears drooping. "Alright."
"Well if she's going then I'll go too!" Aonung said.
"No, brother. Lo'ak has a point. We can't all go. You need to go with mother and help her lead the clan. And with father gone… you are needed more than ever." Tsireya said.
"But you're family too. You need to survive as much as any of us!" He protested.
"And I will. I promise. So long as you do. We will see again, I swear it." Tsireya said. A pause, then Aonung hung his head, backing away.
"Tsireya, is this truly what you wish to do?" Ronal asked.
"I have to. I need to. Please, don't try to stop it." Tsireya said, taking a step closer to her mother.
Ronal sighed and put her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Go, daughter. Follow your heart." She then pulled Tsireya in for a hug. "Be well. Be safe. And find your way back to us. I do not wish to lose anything more to this dreadful day."
"Lo'ak… should you find your parents, tell them… the people of Awa'atlu have been wounded. We may not be able to join them in the battles to come. We need to find safe harbor and dress our wounds. But we shall seek to bring word to other villages, rally them to the fight. I urge you to do the same. And… Neytiri may have been right after all. We might need the Ash People against power like this. If she and Jakesully still wish to seek them out… then their plan has my blessing." She continued.
Lo'ak nodded. "I'll tell them."
"Tsireya, Lo'ak! Take these." Aonung said, tossing them a pair of abandoned spears just as they were about to leave.
"Thanks, bro! These will help." Lo'ak said. He and Tsireya then nodded at each other and took off running back towards the interior of the island.
Neytiri put her dagger through the throat of a human soldier. No sooner had she freed her weapon from his flesh than another appeared from behind the rocks from the opposite direction, spotting her and turning his weapon towards her. Thinking quickly she threw her newest kill at the new arrival, toppling him over. She closed the distance and finished the job before the human could recover. It earned her a moment of respite, with no further opponents assailing her. She cursed under her breath. If only she had her bow. Without it this was much more difficult. She definitely needed to find herself a better weapon than just her knife.
She tried to push down the sense of worry trying to rise to the surface. In the chaos of this fighting she had gotten separated from the others. Right now she was alone. She had no idea where Jake was, or Lo'ak, or Tsireya and Ronal for that matter. And she still had no idea what had happened to Kiri or Tuk. She only hoped her family was okay. But if she wished to see them again she needed to stay focused on the next few minutes.
That… did not do much to alleviate her concerns though. Pushing them to the background could not evaporate them.
As for the current situation… the battle was still ongoing. She and the other villagers had been pushed deep into the woods behind the village. Then all direction had been lost as Sky People had appeared from multiple directions at once. The small band of warriors she and Jake had managed to cobble together had scattered to avoid getting pinned down. Now the humans were combing the woods, gunning down any resistance they encountered. There were shouts, barks of Sky People guns over the pervasive roar of the engines on their war machines. Things seemed to be starting to quiet down a little though. But at the same time the number of Sky People around did not seem to have gone down significantly. With some distress she noted things did not seem to be going in their favor today. The warrior in her was disheartened but hardly surprised. That first attack had left things in such a disarray and the Sky People had come so quickly afterwards…
Today it would be a victory if she managed to survive and could rejoin her loved ones. Anything else seemed beyond hope today.
Her thoughts were interrupted by another group of troops drawing near, possibly to investigate where the ones she had just killed had disappeared off to. Before she could get out of sight one of the soldiers spotted her.
"There! There's another one!" The soldier said, pointing.
"Blast her!" Another shouted.
With a snarl she dropped back behind the rocks just in time before a hail of bullets blew off chips of stone where she had just been. Remaining in hiding she drew a sharp breath. This wasn't good. They knew where she was and would flank her in moments. There wasn't enough cover to go around or sneak past without being spotted and shot. And with just a knife she would be gunned down before she could get halfway to the soldiers. Again she wished for the reassuring feel of her bow in her hand.
She weighed her options for a few seconds, then did something she never thought she would do: she went to one of the dead soldiers at her feet and picked up his gun. It was too small for her, built for human hands. But she did the best with what she had, holding the weapon as she had seen Jake and human soldiers do. She stood up from behind the rocks and took aim, then pulled the trigger.
The recoil caught her by surprise, the weapon nearly ripped from her grip. The barrel veered up and to the right, her shots going wide. Nevertheless a red blossom bloomed on the chest of one of the troopers, the others diving for cover. Their weapons returned fire, but she was already back behind the rocks by then.
"Damn it! Watch out! She's got a gun!" A soldier shouted.
"Screw this! Grenade out!" Another responded.
An object flew towards her, bouncing off the rocks, then skidding and rolling to a halt a short distance to her left. She gave it a puzzled glance, not recognizing what it was, then making ready to fire again. Only then did a faint recollection come to her. A brief introduction of the devices given to her by Jake years ago, in case she ever ran across them. An encounter that had never happened, so she had forgotten all about it. But now a realization hit her. Regrettably it came a split second too late.
A flash. A blast of force that knocked her to her side on the ground and left her ears ringing. A burning sting of pain.
Coughing and groaning she dragged herself to a cleft between the rocks. There she curled in on herself, her breathing labored. The entire left side of her felt like it was on fire. She didn't even want to guess at her condition. She did happen to glance down at herself by accident at one point. But she immediately closed her eyes and turned her face aside, refusing to take a second look.
She thought the soldiers would come to finish the job, but they never did. She stayed put for some time, the last sounds of battle quieting around her. Then she heard footsteps. When she saw who had arrived she bared her teeth. Lyle. The Colonel's sidekick. He arrived with two troopers in Skel-suits. At first he appeared interested in the dead humans she had left around, but it wasn't long before he spotted her, walking over.
"Well, well. Looks I walked in on the Queen Bitch herself." He said, smirking. Then he gave a whistle. "Wow. Quite a mess you've made of yourself. Barely recognized you."
"Looks painful." He commented. "Might feel sorry for you, but…"
He glanced behind himself. "Just couldn't help yourself could you? Just had to make mincemeat out of a few more of our guys while you still could. But on the upside you'll be getting your comeuppance for that."
She managed to hiss at him.
He chuckled. "Rabid animal to the last, eh? Have it your way."
"With your leave, sir?" One of the Skel troopers asked, pointing a gun at her.
"Hold up." Lyle said, pushing the weapon's barrel aside. "This one'll go to the Colonel. He'll want to see this."
"Right. Let's get her out." He said, reaching and grabbing her wrist. She tried to break loose and get away from him. But there was no room to back up in her cleft. And she was in no condition to really fight him. One of the Skel-troopers moved to assist Lyle, grabbing hold of her other arm, metal fingers digging painfully into her wounds. Together they dragged her out of her hiding place, handcuffed her and proceeded to drag her back towards the village.