Week Five - The rest of Chapter 12, tiny bit of chapter 12 (had to make wordcount lol) - 1293 words
Spoiler! :
They had made it halfway around the central building when the air split open in front of them. A blinding flash of light turned night to washed-out day.
After the light came the sound, a blast like a knife through Dameon’s skull.
And after the sound came the shock wave. It slammed into Dameon and knocked him backwards. The world swam around him, his head ringing as he fought to keep his mind clear. Focus. Get the others, assess injuries, get out.
The pain. It seared through him, like hundreds of tiny fires boring through his skin. Shrapnel wounds, he realized dimly. Have to see… if anything too big hit me. Stop the blood…
His fingers worked. He moved them slowly, and then his arm, and then his other hand, checking for broken bones like his sergeant had taught him years ago. Then the legs, the body, and finally, the ribs.
He was bleeding from a dozen tiny wounds. But no fragments larger than his smallest fingernail had pierced him.
Got lucky… there.
Up. He surged to his feet, pushing away the pain. “Jade! Limena!” They had been right behind him, they couldn’t be far, but it was so damned dark—
“We’re here, we’re all here!”
Jade. He stumbled toward her voice, blinking away the bomb’s afterimage — and there. Jade, leaning over Sam, Meghan and Limena hovering beside them.
“Sam!” Dameon surged forward, pushing Meghan aside. He was moving, definitely moving, and maybe groaning, but Dameon’s hearing was muted from the blast, as if he was underwater. “What happened? Is he—“
“Shrapnel to the thigh. Didn’t hit the artery. He’ll be fine,” Jade said shortly, ripping a length of cloth from her clothing to serve as a bandage. She sounded just loud enough to Dameon’s ears — her hearing would have been damaged from the explosion too.
Relief swept through Dameon, leaving him lightheaded. He sank to his knees, taking his brother’s hand. “It doesn’t hurt,” Sam told him, though he was grimacing with pain as he said it.
“Thank God,” Limena said, her face pale. “That could have been so much worse…”
At that, Dameon’s blood went cold. “Wait. Where’s Ian?”
He searched their blank faces.
“He was in front of you,” Meghan breathed, realization settling in.
Right at the edge of the explosion.
No. No. Dameon turned, jaw set, ready to launch himself forward into the night. They weren’t leaving without their guide. Not after everything he’d done for Dameon. Not after he’d come back for them.
“Dameon—“ Jade began, but he was already gone, feeling his way in the dark, hurrying recklessly along the side of the building towards the explosion, straining, straining to see by the light of flickering fire behind him and the stars above.
Rubble. He rounded each pile, shuffling his feet, searching by touch as much as sight.
A muted thud overhead marked another bomb. This one had landed on the other side of the compound. He thought. He couldn’t be sure, not with the state of his hearing.
Dark. It was too dark, too many corners a body could hide in. There was the edge of the crater, but no body inside— and that could mean anything from Ian having walked away unscathed to the only bits of him left being… Dameon didn’t like to think.
He had to keep searching. He couldn’t abandon him now. Stumbling forward again, squinting, fingers searching, ignoring the pain…
A hoverjet’s searchlight swept the compound, and in its light, Dameon found Ian. Thrown like a rag doll, he had landed on a pile of rubble at one corner of the bombed-out central building. His head lolled beside an enormous, jagged rock.
Dameon ran. He was there in an instant, squatting beside the larger-than-life man, checking his pulse and lifting his head. Ian’s long hair was matted with blood, and Dameon’s fingers quickly found a noticeable dent in the back of his skull. He shuddered in horror.
“No,” he whispered, looking at Ian’s sightless eyes. “No.”
He checked his pulse again, blindly. Still nothing.
Compressions. CPR. He hadn’t done it before, except in training, but….
Who was he kidding? He had known the moment he had seen Ian’s limp body that he was gone and wasn’t coming back, not with a dent like that in his skull. Maybe back home, if an ambulance was a phone call away, if Ian could have been revived immediately, placed on life support…
But this wasn’t Layer 7. Or even Eos. Slowly, Dameon lowered Ian’s head to the ground and leaned back. In death, the old farmer looked smaller. Shrunken, somehow, now that the light in his eyes was gone.
A hand appeared on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
Dameon turned and met Jade’s eyes, and an understanding passed between them. Jade offered her hand. After a long moment, Dameon took it and allowed her to lead him away.
Chapter 13
By the time dawn breached the horizon, the hoverjets from Eos were long gone and half the population of the compound sat huddled on the scrubby desert floor a hundred yards away, staring back at their home with glassy eyes. The fires still burned low, revealing the blackened husks of the buildings.
The other half, so far as anyone knew, had been lost to the explosions and the flames.
Dameon found himself sitting on a rock, staring at the ground, not thinking. Just listening. Listening to the crackle of flames, the memory of explosions and screams, to the crying children and weeping mothers and fathers around him. Sam sat beside him, just as silent, favoring his thigh where he had been hit by shrapnel. Jade’s bandage had done the job, for now.
But the ones who had died quickly — they had been the lucky ones.
“Dameon?” It was Jade. She crouched beside him, putting her hand on his knee. “They’ve finished the census. They’re going to start letting people back in now.”
Dameon didn’t move.
She took his hand. “They’ll need us to help rebuild.”
“We can’t rebuild,” Dameon whispered, lifting his head to stare at the ruined compound. “They killed the crops and bombed out the storehouses. We’re going to starve.”
“Of course we’re not!”
That was Dominic, of all people. Didn’t he have somewhere to be? He had appeared behind Dameon suddenly, slapping his hand against Dameon’s shoulder in a friendly gesture. He looked exhausted, his normally sharp uniform torn and covered in dust. One arm was in a sling, but he had still managed to put on a grim smile for the benefit of the townspeople.
He’s a good leader, Dameon admitted to himself. In a way I never was.
“How?” Sam said quietly. “He’s right. You can’t sustain this population.”
“Didn’t you ever wonder where Soran has been all this time? Where I go when I leave?” He shook his head. “We aren’t rebuilding. We’re relocating. The hoverjet will be here in an hour. It’ll take a day or two, but we’ll get everyone out.”
“What if they come back?” Limena spoke up from where she had been sitting with Meghan.
Dominic fixed her with an oddly intense gaze. “Samuel knows he’s destroyed our technology and our crops. To him, we’re as good as dead, an example, even. He won’t bother to come back and waste resources cleaning up loose ends.”
Dominic’s voice changed whenever he mentioned Samuel or Eos. It became colder, harder. Dameon knew that, more than anything, had left Jade reluctant to defect, and Dameon had agreed with her. But now… dammit, Dameon felt the same way. He couldn’t ignore it, not without lying to himself. He had been pretending differences that weren’t there.
And this attack only confirmed what, deep down, Dameon had always known.
After the light came the sound, a blast like a knife through Dameon’s skull.
And after the sound came the shock wave. It slammed into Dameon and knocked him backwards. The world swam around him, his head ringing as he fought to keep his mind clear. Focus. Get the others, assess injuries, get out.
The pain. It seared through him, like hundreds of tiny fires boring through his skin. Shrapnel wounds, he realized dimly. Have to see… if anything too big hit me. Stop the blood…
His fingers worked. He moved them slowly, and then his arm, and then his other hand, checking for broken bones like his sergeant had taught him years ago. Then the legs, the body, and finally, the ribs.
He was bleeding from a dozen tiny wounds. But no fragments larger than his smallest fingernail had pierced him.
Got lucky… there.
Up. He surged to his feet, pushing away the pain. “Jade! Limena!” They had been right behind him, they couldn’t be far, but it was so damned dark—
“We’re here, we’re all here!”
Jade. He stumbled toward her voice, blinking away the bomb’s afterimage — and there. Jade, leaning over Sam, Meghan and Limena hovering beside them.
“Sam!” Dameon surged forward, pushing Meghan aside. He was moving, definitely moving, and maybe groaning, but Dameon’s hearing was muted from the blast, as if he was underwater. “What happened? Is he—“
“Shrapnel to the thigh. Didn’t hit the artery. He’ll be fine,” Jade said shortly, ripping a length of cloth from her clothing to serve as a bandage. She sounded just loud enough to Dameon’s ears — her hearing would have been damaged from the explosion too.
Relief swept through Dameon, leaving him lightheaded. He sank to his knees, taking his brother’s hand. “It doesn’t hurt,” Sam told him, though he was grimacing with pain as he said it.
“Thank God,” Limena said, her face pale. “That could have been so much worse…”
At that, Dameon’s blood went cold. “Wait. Where’s Ian?”
He searched their blank faces.
“He was in front of you,” Meghan breathed, realization settling in.
Right at the edge of the explosion.
No. No. Dameon turned, jaw set, ready to launch himself forward into the night. They weren’t leaving without their guide. Not after everything he’d done for Dameon. Not after he’d come back for them.
“Dameon—“ Jade began, but he was already gone, feeling his way in the dark, hurrying recklessly along the side of the building towards the explosion, straining, straining to see by the light of flickering fire behind him and the stars above.
Rubble. He rounded each pile, shuffling his feet, searching by touch as much as sight.
A muted thud overhead marked another bomb. This one had landed on the other side of the compound. He thought. He couldn’t be sure, not with the state of his hearing.
Dark. It was too dark, too many corners a body could hide in. There was the edge of the crater, but no body inside— and that could mean anything from Ian having walked away unscathed to the only bits of him left being… Dameon didn’t like to think.
He had to keep searching. He couldn’t abandon him now. Stumbling forward again, squinting, fingers searching, ignoring the pain…
A hoverjet’s searchlight swept the compound, and in its light, Dameon found Ian. Thrown like a rag doll, he had landed on a pile of rubble at one corner of the bombed-out central building. His head lolled beside an enormous, jagged rock.
Dameon ran. He was there in an instant, squatting beside the larger-than-life man, checking his pulse and lifting his head. Ian’s long hair was matted with blood, and Dameon’s fingers quickly found a noticeable dent in the back of his skull. He shuddered in horror.
“No,” he whispered, looking at Ian’s sightless eyes. “No.”
He checked his pulse again, blindly. Still nothing.
Compressions. CPR. He hadn’t done it before, except in training, but….
Who was he kidding? He had known the moment he had seen Ian’s limp body that he was gone and wasn’t coming back, not with a dent like that in his skull. Maybe back home, if an ambulance was a phone call away, if Ian could have been revived immediately, placed on life support…
But this wasn’t Layer 7. Or even Eos. Slowly, Dameon lowered Ian’s head to the ground and leaned back. In death, the old farmer looked smaller. Shrunken, somehow, now that the light in his eyes was gone.
A hand appeared on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
Dameon turned and met Jade’s eyes, and an understanding passed between them. Jade offered her hand. After a long moment, Dameon took it and allowed her to lead him away.
Chapter 13
By the time dawn breached the horizon, the hoverjets from Eos were long gone and half the population of the compound sat huddled on the scrubby desert floor a hundred yards away, staring back at their home with glassy eyes. The fires still burned low, revealing the blackened husks of the buildings.
The other half, so far as anyone knew, had been lost to the explosions and the flames.
Dameon found himself sitting on a rock, staring at the ground, not thinking. Just listening. Listening to the crackle of flames, the memory of explosions and screams, to the crying children and weeping mothers and fathers around him. Sam sat beside him, just as silent, favoring his thigh where he had been hit by shrapnel. Jade’s bandage had done the job, for now.
But the ones who had died quickly — they had been the lucky ones.
“Dameon?” It was Jade. She crouched beside him, putting her hand on his knee. “They’ve finished the census. They’re going to start letting people back in now.”
Dameon didn’t move.
She took his hand. “They’ll need us to help rebuild.”
“We can’t rebuild,” Dameon whispered, lifting his head to stare at the ruined compound. “They killed the crops and bombed out the storehouses. We’re going to starve.”
“Of course we’re not!”
That was Dominic, of all people. Didn’t he have somewhere to be? He had appeared behind Dameon suddenly, slapping his hand against Dameon’s shoulder in a friendly gesture. He looked exhausted, his normally sharp uniform torn and covered in dust. One arm was in a sling, but he had still managed to put on a grim smile for the benefit of the townspeople.
He’s a good leader, Dameon admitted to himself. In a way I never was.
“How?” Sam said quietly. “He’s right. You can’t sustain this population.”
“Didn’t you ever wonder where Soran has been all this time? Where I go when I leave?” He shook his head. “We aren’t rebuilding. We’re relocating. The hoverjet will be here in an hour. It’ll take a day or two, but we’ll get everyone out.”
“What if they come back?” Limena spoke up from where she had been sitting with Meghan.
Dominic fixed her with an oddly intense gaze. “Samuel knows he’s destroyed our technology and our crops. To him, we’re as good as dead, an example, even. He won’t bother to come back and waste resources cleaning up loose ends.”
Dominic’s voice changed whenever he mentioned Samuel or Eos. It became colder, harder. Dameon knew that, more than anything, had left Jade reluctant to defect, and Dameon had agreed with her. But now… dammit, Dameon felt the same way. He couldn’t ignore it, not without lying to himself. He had been pretending differences that weren’t there.
And this attack only confirmed what, deep down, Dameon had always known.
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