48 Joyous Occasion (2/2)
'What is she talking--' he thinks before the cloth wrapped around the ”backpack” unravels.
She reaches down and tugs the pierced body off of the night hornets stinger. The decapitated body isn't very large. He can see pale, childlike fingers flop out at the sides of a tan leather jacket. On the shoulder of the jacket is a patch. It looks like a black star. Priya wraps the body back up in the dirtied white cloth.
Gently, she lowers the body to the floor then gropes at her hip for her radio. It's not there. She turns to her men at the doors.
”Any of you seen my radio?” she asks.
Pheno checks Turner's vitals. Nard spots the knife he'd given the new guy on the ground.
”Sigh, not much of a fighter,” Nard mutters as he bends down to reach the knife.
The stranger is quiet. He feels guilty about defiling someone's corpse but also grateful to the corpse for saving his life.
”What was his name?” he asks while staring at his hero.
Priya accepts the radio from her subordinate, and her gaze softens as she thinks of Kid.
”We called her Kid.” Priya answers.
”Kid? That's not much of a name.”
The truck drives over a bump. Priya ducks her head so it doesn't collide with the ceiling, and thinks about Kid for a moment.
”She was from one of those wandering groups. Real tough,” Priya's eyes cloud as she remembers first meeting the young woman. ”I think her real name was C--”
The truck is rammed on the opposite side than usual and Priya loses her balance. A bright yellow night hornet stinger drops into the hole, but it has no space to stab forth its stinger. Instead, it grabs Priya's arm and clothing with four of its appendages and flies up into the dark night. She spins as she kicks and screams in the hornets grasp.
Nard drops his weapon and grabs the radio off his hip.
”Stop! STOP THE TRUCK!” Nard screams into the radio. ”They got Priya!”
The truck doesn't stop. It screeches as it turns in a circle. Ika is wearing night vision goggles. He lowers his window, pulls his body through, and balances his lower abdomen on the opening as the truck speeds back down the road. He holds his breath as he pulls up his rifle and takes aim.
”They got Priya!” Nard repeats into the radio.
The hornet holding Priya curls down to pull her body higher. Into a better position to sting. Another hornet approaches to sting her first.
BANG
A bullet cuts through the head of the hornet approaching Priya's body. He takes aim again, but the truck is rammed by a group of hornet and it forces him to fall back into the driver cabin.
”Fu(%!” Ika shouts.
He gets back into the window, but Priya is out of sight. It's all winged creatures and darkness. The hornets appear to be flying away now.The swarm is retreating from something. The stars can spare no light to illuminate Priya to his eyes. Ika tears off his goggles and blinks out into the dark night. Nothing.
He lowers himself back inside. He curses as he rips off his night vision goggles, and tosses them at the windshield. The driver presses a button and raises Ika's window back up.
”Boss?”
Before Ika can give his order, they hear a siren go off. They are within range of Warts. That siren is an alert for a coming sandstorm. It sounds once more and shuts off.
”Turn around. Head to Warts.” Ika commands.
Ika changes the frequency on his radio and listens in.
”Warning! Anyone within range of Warts, enter into the vehicle depot. Anyone within range of Warts, enter into the vehicle depot. All wards will be shut down until the storm passes. All wards will be shut down in 10 minutes. Warning! Anyone within range of Warts, enter--” Ika grunts and changes the frequency back to his team's.
”We can't go back! Priya is out there! We have to go get her!!” Nard is screaming into the radio.
”Sandstorm,” Ika says into the radio while looking out into the dark night.
”I don't give a damn about no damn storm!” Nard rages into the radio.
”...”
”Chief...Chief, come on. We lost Kid. We lost Ralph...We can't....we can't lose...” Nard begs into the radio.
The radio slips from Nard's hand. Pheno frowns and retrieves it from the ground.
”We need to rush Turner into medical as soon as possible. He's already lost a lot of blood. I don't know how much more of this he can take.” Pheno reports in.
”Roger,” Ika replies and changes the frequency again.
”Incoming. Numero Dos, incoming. We have two injured. One critical. ETA two minutes.” Ika calls in.
Someone from the radio room replies back not a second later, ”Roger that. Dos, We'll have a space open for you and your men. Hurry inside. The storm is fast approaching.”
Ika sets down the radio on his thigh. He runs a hand through his blonde hair as he looks up at the night sky through his window. A few constellations are still visible to his naked eyes. The only beauty that Cinalians can enjoy without fear that it may be destroyed before their very eyes. Ika grimaces as he spots Algol*. He turns away from the sky and looks at his lap.
A bright blue star winks down at the wrecked earth beneath it. The demon star winks once more down at the pitiful world. No one winks back.