Warrior Clan: Chapter two: One lost, one found
#2 of Warrior Clan
Hello.
Here comes the second chapter of the "Warrior Clan"-series, and I am currently working on the third chapter as well as a serie of short-stories. Anyway, enjoy the story (unless you're under 18yo, in which case you should not be reading this at all!).
Oh, and please leave a comment and/or a vote. ^_^
Haraio
Warrior Clan: Chapter two: One lost, one found
Jake lay on the concrete floor in the sniper area, his head resting on the butt of his K70 laserrifle.
The target, a red circle about 50 cm wide, was nailed to the wall about two hundred meters away.
Jake peeked through the crosshair, the target just a tiny red spot in the middle of it.
He breathed in, then breathed out slowly and pulled the trigger.He looked at the monitor to his right to see if he hit the target.
Nothing there at first, but then a small, blinking red spot showed up on the far right on the target.
Jake groaned. Two points. "Dammit, wish our rifles had the elite's sniper-attachments!", he said to himself as he aimed a second shot.Again he breathed in and out before firing the gun.
The monitor showed nothing.
Jake punched the ground in frustration, then regretted it as pain jolted up through his fist.
Clenching his right paw, he looked to his right, where Dania lay, busy aiming a shot.
He caught a glimpse of her monitor and groaned again. Two seven's and a nine.
He lay down again, preparing his third shot.
Eight shots later, Jake sat back up.
Dania walked over to him with a big grin and sat down next to him.
"So, how many points did you get? I got seventy-two!", she cheered.
"Twenty-one.", Jake sighed, staring down at the ground in embarrasment.
Dania stopped cheering and looked at him with an understanding look.
"Sniping's not your thing, eh? Don't worry, you'll get the hang on it, practice makes perfect, you know.", she ensured him and patted him on the shoulder. Jake smiled and gave the lioness a quick hug.
"Thanks Dania.", he said as he got to his feet.
"Anytime.", she replied.
Jake looked at his watch and grinned, before he walked over to Jamie.
"Hey Jamie, isn't it lunchtime soon?, he asked with hopefull eyes, making Jamie laugh.
"Ok, ok, go have lunch, everybody. We'll meet in the barrack at...", he said, then he suddenly was interrupted as the door flew up and husky came running in, panting hard.
"Jamie, get your squad ready, the humans are coming!", the husky screamed.
"WHAT!?"
Jamie ran over to the husky and grabbed his shoulders.
"Where? How many?", he asked as shook the husky fiercly.
"Five thousand at least, including mutants and heavy support. They're about half a click away and advancing. The defence towers are keeping them at bay, but they..."
BOOM!
The explosion threw everyone off their feet, showering them with dust that rained down from the roof.
"What was that?", Jake whispered as everyone got to their feet.
"Dammit! They blew up one of the defence towers!", the husky cursed.
((( Seen from the outside, the Warrior Clan base is a wide rectangular opening, leading into the hangar, the whole base is dug into the mountain. On each side of the opening is a gigantic, camouflaged, globe-shaped cannon that defends the base against airstrikes and similar attacks. It was one of those that had been destroyed. )))
"To the barrack! NOW!", Jamie yelled as he sprinted through the door, the others quickly following.
"Five thousand..? That's the largest attack in...what...six years!", Jake whispered to George as they ran through the halls and corridors.
"I know. They must have gone completely nuts. And they have mutants too...shit, this is gonna get messy!", they tiger replied.
"Ah, finally some real, bloody, messy fighting. There's just nothing that beats the feeling of ripping of a head with your bare paws.", They heard Chris' dark voice remark behind them.
When they entered their barrack, Jamie immediately began to shout orders, while he raided his closet for his equipment.
"George, you take the Light Assault Gun, Dania takes the Repeater and Gary takes the Flamer. The rest of you take K70's. Everybody will have battleclaws, longdagger, dual K69's, full belt equipment, and for Heavens sake Chris, remember your helmet this time!" Chris smirked, took out his helmet and put it on.
"You forget your helmet one time...", he sighed and burst into laughter as Jamie gave him a death-glare.
"You were THIS close to get headshot!", Jamie growled angrily and held up two fingers, a few centimeters apart.
"Nah, it only shaved my fur a little bit.", Chris chuckled while he strapped on his belt and put his two K69's in the holsters.
"A little bit? It looked like someone had dragged a shaver over the top of your head!", Jamie shouted.
Before Chris could give a really tasty reply, Dania stepped inbetween.
"Ok guys, that's enough, get yourself ready.", she said calmly, before she continued putting on her armour.
Jamie mumbled something about "women always getting in the way" that, luckily, Dania didn't hear and continued putting on his boots.
"Everybody ready?", Jamie asked one minute later.
"Yessir!", came the unisoned reply.
"Battleclaws?"
"Check!"
"K69's?"
"Check!"
Jamie smirked. "Helmets?"
"Jamie...", Dania growled warningly.
"Sorry, just kidding.", Jamie said and pulled down the visir on his helmet. "Let's go!"
They jogged out from the barrack, preparing for the battle that was to come.
As they ran through the bright white corridors, a voice rang out over the speakers: "All CIS-teams, Battledancers, Warpriests and artillery personnel to the hangar immediately. All non-combat personnel retreat to the Hall of Honour. CIS-teams 1-10 and Battledancer-teams 1-5 will join them and prepare defensive positions."
As the voice began to repeat the message, Jamie looked over at Jake with a concerned face.
"Hear that? They're retreating most of the peronnel to the back of the base, that doesn't sound good. We're gonna lose many Warriors today. I just hope all of us will make it through.", He said lowly, his voice nearly a whisper.
Jake smiled and put his hand on Jamie's shoulder: "Don't worry, you won't lose anyone, you've trained us far too well.", he assured the rabbit, who seemed to relax a bit more and returned Jake's smile.
"Good to know, but I just can't shake this feeling...", Jamie said when the door to the hangar came into sight. "Ok, here goes nothing!"
The hangar was a huge room, measuring easily five hundred meters wide and two hundred meters from the back wall, where they entered, to the opening, which was nearly three hundred meters wide and some seventy meters tall. The Warriors had filled the usually empty room with barricades of sandbags and crates, in a semi-circular shape around hundred meters from the backdoor, with a second barricade between the first one and the backdoor. The Warriors had also put up many dozens artillery pieces, operated by furs in dark red suits and helmets. Just as Jake and the others entered the hangar, another explosion threw them to the ground.
The group quickly got to their feet and looked towards the entrance, where black smoke now was rising from both sides of the opening. Jamie sighed.
"There went the second tower, now the battle begins...Dania, take with you Chris and Richard over to that artillery gun to the far right.
And by the way, try to calm Chris down a bit before the fight begins.", the rabbit said, nodding at the black-fured wolf, who was litteraly shaking in anticipation and had a weird smile covering his muzzle. Dania smirked and grabbed Chris in the neckscruff, electing a yelp of pain from the wolf. As the lioness dragged the whimpering wolf towards the artillery piece, with the laughing Richard following, Jamie turned to Gary. "Gary, you and George stay here and set up a grenade position. That means you have to protect him, can you handle it?, he asked.
The rottweiler smiled and lifted his Flamer. "I think I'll be ok."
"Good. Ok, me and Jake will be over at the front, protecting one of those Heavy Repeater-teams.", Jamie said and pointed to a group of large, tripod-mounted, belt-fed machine guns. He tapped a claw on the side of his helmet, "We'll keep in contact over audio-link."
Gary nodded. "Ok, see you later. Good luck."
Jake and Jamie jumped over the inner barricades and ran over to the Heavy Repeaters, where they were greeted by a short, thick raccoon.
"Well well, look who's here. Hi Jamie, do we have the honour of having you to protect us?", he chuckled and hugged the rabbit friendly.
The rabbit laughed and returned the hug. "Hello Brian, long time no see. What have you been up to the last year?"
"Well, I've...", Brian said, before he was interupted by a thin, nervous voice.
"Brian, pay attention, they're almost here!", said his partner, a very young female fox, probably not more that seventeen or eighteen years old. She was clearly very nervous, throwing scared looks at the advancing humans as she talked.
"Calm down, Christina. Sorry Jamie, we'll talk later.", he said as he threw the fox an annoyed look and sat down in the firing seat behind the Repeater, while Christina continued to get the ammo-belts ready.
The human army was almost within firing range and steadily advancing. Suddenly one human, armed with a missile-launcher, ran forward, got down on one knee and released a projectile, before Brian riddled him with a hail of laserbolts. The missile flew through the air and blew up one of the larger artillery guns, showering the nearby warriors with burning metal and parts of the three crewmen.
A triumphing roar rose from the advancing army, followed by a lone voice, yelling an order.
The entire human army opened fire, a storm of green energybolts hit the Warrior's lines and barricades, with many Warriors falling.
Jamie, Jake and Christina threw themselves behind the barricades, just narrowly avoiding being hit. Brian had no such problem, as he was protected by the large shield on the Heavy Repeater. The Warrior Commander, a tall badger with metallic armourplate and yellow shoulderpads, shouted out for them to fire back. Jamie and Jake opened fire from behind the barricades, as did the rest of the Warriors and the artillery. The lack of defensive positions took a high toll on the humans, large pieces of the frontline dissapearing under the massive fire. But as they fell, a new force cut their way through the falling humans. For a moment, Jake stared in horror at the new enemies, before he opened fire with a yell.
"Flayers!", he heard Jamie scream as he too opened fire.
The disgusting creatures were terrifyingly quick, and even though many exploded in showers of purple ichor, they were soon at the barricades. One of the Flayers leapt up on the barricade right in front of Jamie and Jake, knocking them to the ground. Jake looked in disgust up at the creature standing over him, a living incarnation of the cruelty of Men. Flayers were actually furs, captured by the humans. When a furr was captured by humans, they removed the fur, while the poor soul was still alive. This revealed all the muscles and veins underneath, creating an almost zombie-like look. Then they cut of the underarms, replacing each with a long, scythe-like claw and operated in a lizard-like tail, armed with a third claw. Finally they brainwashed the tortured creature so that it followed their orders blindly. The Flayer stared down at him, a ferocious intelligence lurking in the sickly white eyes.
Jake growled and pushed himself up with one arm as he jabbed the battleclaws into the creature's eyes and twisted around.
The Flayer shrieked and wavered it's arms desperately as it fell, nearly decapitating Jake in the process. Jake quickly got to his feet and looked at the battle around him. The Warriors were fighting desperately, discipline and training having went right out the window.
They fought a hopeless battle against the more melee-suited Flayers, fighting only with battleclaws and longdaggers against the long claws of their enemies. Yet they fought valiantly, holding their ground even though they were outnumbered. All around him the massive carnage raged. Battledancers leapt into combat to help the hard-pressed Warriors, dancing through the enemies and gifting each with a gaping wound. Warpriests waged through the battle, wavering relics and holy items and smashed enemies to pieces with large battleaxes and fireballs. A wolf shot the head of a Flayer, before he was hacked to pieces by three others before he could even turn around to face them. A Heavy Repeater simply exploded from overheat, the large, square metal-shield flew wide and cut a skunk in two. A grenade from a LAG hit the humans, hurling half a dozen of them screaming into the air. The air was thick with the smell of blood, sweat, adrenaline and weaponfire, the sound of snarling Flayers, humans and Warriors screaming in pain, crying for help, the sound of laserfire, every single sound of the battlefield echoed in Jake's head, felt like it would drive him insane, tear him apart.
Suddenly he froze.
In the myriad of noices, he managed to differ a singel, horrifying sound, the unmistakeable click-clack of claws on concrete floor, right behind him. Jake clutched his rifle harder and turned slowly around. In front of him were two snarling Flayers. The one to the right stared at Jake and snarled, before he leapt from the barricade, his claws ready to turn Jake into mincemeat. Jake fell backwards and closed his eyes, accepting his own demise. Then a shadow flew over him, followed by slashing noices. He heard the Flayer shriek in pain, then the low sound of a body hitting the ground. Surprised he opened his eyes. Over him stood a tall, muscular wolf, his nearly-white fur covered in purple and red blood. In his paws was a longsword that was also covered in blood. The second Flayer looked at his comrade for a moment, then he snarled at the wolf and attacked. The wolf dropped down, his sword swung in a wide arc and sliced off the Flayer's feet right above the ankles. The Flayer fell forward, screaming in pain as it landed directly on the wolf's sword. The mutant gave a few spasms and gurgling noices, then fell silent as the wolf pulled out his sword and turned to Jake with a big grin.
"You didn't really think that I would let you die yet, did you?, Silver said and reached out a paw to help Jake.
"Well, you took your bloody long time.", Jake chuckled as he grabbed Silver's paw and let the wolf pull him up.
"You should just be glad I got here in time, this is like a freakin' nightmare! Most of the Warriors have retreated to the second barricade, you should do the same!", Silver called as he ran off to help the other Battledancers.
Jake looked around and saw that it was true as Silver said, nearly all of the other furs had retreated. Most of the artillery was gone too, blown to pieces by the overwhelming enemy.
Jake turned and ran towards the second barricade, spotting Jamie on the side nearest him.
"Ah, there you are. I was almost starting to get worried.", Jamie said as Jake jumped over the sandbags and crouched down behind them, next to Jamie.
"No need to worry about me.", Jake panted as he pulled out the clip of the rifle and replaced it with a new one from a box that stood near them. "Have you seen the others?"
"I talked to Gary over audio-link a few minutes ago, seems like he and George are still up and running. Brian and his squad has moved back here as well, they're over there to the right.", he said and pointed at Brian, his Heavy Repeater placed some fifteen meters from their position.
"Good to hear.", Jake said as he looked at the Battledancers, who were now withdrawing under coverfire from the Warriors.
Suddenly a Battledancer flew through the air and crashed into the sandbags next to a startled Jamie. Jamie rolled him over and gasped. From the build and the colour of the fur they could see it was a wolf, but he was a complete mess. It was simply impossible to see who it was. It looked like someone had scratched the face really bad and then turned it inside out, four massive clawmarks trailing from side to side. His chest...well, his chest was nearly gone, a head-sized hole straight through his body.
"What in the...who...how...?", Jamie whispered, his lower lip shivering in disgust.
Jake threw an angry look at the Flayers, who were now advancing on them, before he looked at the dead wolf again.
Then his mind realised what he had seen and he turned to look again, his lips silently whispering the name of their most feared foe.
"What could have done this sort of damage?", Jamie puzzled as he looked at the hole in the wolf's chest.
"Mutantlords.", Jake whispered.
"WHAT!? A Mutantlord!?", Jamie asked terrified.
"No, FOUR Mutantlords.", Jake corrected and pointed on the advancing Flayers. In the middle of all the Flayers, four giant shapes strode forward, standing a massive four meters over their lesser brethren. They looked like Flayers, except that they didn't have long, scything claws, but instead they had massive paws, armed with four diamond-hard claws. The paws were fitted on long, muscular arms that any bodybuilder would kill to have, which in turn sat on an equal muscular chest and legs. One of the Mutantlords picked up a Battledancer who tried to stab him in the side and grabbed him by the shoulders and legs and began to pull. The lion let out a scream of pain as his body was stretched, before he came apart in the waist in an exposion of blood. The Mutantlord dropped the two halves to the floor, where a group of Flayers quickly began devouring them.
"Take down those Mutantlords!", Jamie yelled as he opened fire, Jake and the other Warrriors not far behind.
The Mutantlord that had ripped the Battledancers in two got a LAG-grenade in the stomach, the following explosion turning him and the nearby Flayers into mincemeat. But the three others were closing fast as the Flayers took most of the laserfire from the Warriors.
One of the large mutants fell with a myriad of holes in the chest from Brian's good aim, crushing a Flayer underneath the massive body. But they were now at the second line. As the first line of Flayers was cut to pieces by Battledancers as they jumped over the barricades, their larger brethren simply hurled the sandbags aside and began smashing both Warriors and Flayers away with their long, sweeping arms. One of the last giants went straight for Brian and bent the barrel of the Heavy Repeater by simply stomping on it. Brian stumbled out of the seat and tried to run, but the Mutantlord was to fast and grabbed him by the head, the claws digging into the raccoon's skull. As the mutant began squeezing on his head, Brian opened his mouth slowly. Christina stared at him in shock and horror and stumbled backwards towards Jake. Brian let out a groan, before his head was crushed under the immense pressure.
Christina screamed and half ran, half stumbled over to Jake, tears running down her face. Jake ran to meet her and caught her as she fell onto his chest. The fox looked up at him, tears pouring down her cheeks.
"Brian, he...he...", she stuttered, before Jake lay a finger over her lips.
"This is not the time to talk, but just stay close to me, I'll look after you.", he said calmly, before he lifted his rifle.
"Can you use a K70?", he asked her.
"A little, we used to practice a bit before I joined the heavy weapon-teams.", she answered uncertain.
"You just aim at the baddies and pull the trigger. Dont worry about loading, it's full.", he ensured her and handed her the rifle.
Then, in one swift motion, he pulled up both his K69's and fired over her shoulders, into the eyes of the Mutantlord that turned to look for a new victim. The mutant roared in pain and clutched his eyes, before he collapsed on the floor. Christina gave Jake a last uncertain look, before she turned around and crouched down on one knee. She put the butt of the rifle against her shoulder, aimed at the nearest Flayer and pulled the trigger carefully. The power of the dozens of energybolts that flew out and blew the Flayer to pieces, threw the surprised fox to the ground. Jake grinned at her, bent down and pushed a switch on the side of the rifle.
"I think you'll do better without automatic fire.", he chuckled and helped her up.
Christina smiled at him blamingly, then sat down on her knee again and began sniping down Flayers at a stunning pace.
Jake whistled in appreciation.
"Wow, this girl could become a kick-ass Warrior, what if she was in our squad? Think I'll ask Jamie.", he thought to himself and called over to Jamie. "Hey, Jamie."
But just as Jamie turned towards Jake, a Flayer leapt over the barricade behind him and slashed him in the back. It all seemed to happen in slow-motion: Jamie's shocked expression as the blow hit, the sound of bones breaking as his spine was cut over, the sight of the claw digging it's way out of Jamie's stomach. Jamie's upper body tipped backwards and fell onto the ground with a dump sound.
"JAMIE!", Jake screamed in shock, before he stared at the Flayer, pure hate burning in his eyes.
"DIE!", he yelled as he launched himself at the Flayer, his K69's dropped and his battleclaws ready.
The Flayer tried to stab him, but the frenzied hyena ducked away, cut off both the Flayer's arms and then jabbed his battleclaw up under the mutant's muzzle, before he ripped off the Flayer's head. For a moment, Jake stood there panting, with the Flayer's head still stuck on his battleclaws. Then he remembered Jamie and ran over to the rabbit's body and bent down. Jamie was coughing blood and looked weakly up at Jake.
"Sorry, I didn't see it coming...cough...You'll have to take care of the others...", He said and coughed up more blood. Jake pulled of Jamie's helmet and held up the rabbit's head so he could spit out the blood in his mouth.
"Don't worry, you'll make it..", Jake stuttered, tears beginning to trickle down his cheeks.
"Don't give me that, I know that I'm dying here!", Jamie snapped at him and grabbed Jake's shoulder, pulling him close to his face. "There's three things I need you to do, so that I can rest in peace: Take good care of the others, write my name in the Hall of Honour, and for Heaven's sake, do not let them catch me alive!"
It took a second before Jake understood what he ment.
"You mean...you want...me to kill you!?, Jake asked horrified, tears now pouring freely.
"Please...just do it...", Jamie said weakly.
Jake slowly lifted his K69 and put it against Jamie's forehead.
Jamie smiled and closed his eyes.
"Rest in peace, Warrior hero.", Jake whispered and pulled the trigger.
Jake rose slowly to his feet, oblivious to the carnage around him, the weird feeling of silence all around him.
For a moment he just stood there, looking down at his dead friend, a furson who had been like an older brother to him.
Then he turned to face the enemies, his eyes burning, his mind empty except for a few simple words: Hate. Death. Revenge.
Activating his battleclaws, he walked towards the advancing humans.
Then a small paw landed on his left shoulder. Jake stopped, turned and looked down into Christina's beautiful, green eyes.
"Jake?", she asked worriedly "What are you doing?"
Jake shook his head, pressing back the destructive feelings. He would keep his promise to Jamie. He had to stay alive to take care of the others. That included Christina. Jake turned, took her paw and led her back towards the backdoor, while he pressed in a button on the side of his helmet and spoke into the audio-link: "CIS 43 come in, all respond! Everybody meet at the backdoor, situation 38!"
There was a brief silence, before Chris spoke, his voice shaking with fear. That disturbed Jake a little, Chris was never scared!
"38? Jamie...is dead...?"
"Yes.", Jake sighed.
"How dead?", Chris asked a few second later.
"What do you mean 'how dead'? Vital signs 0%!", Jake growled, making Christina throw him a "take it easy"-look.
He heard Chris curse to himself, before Dania spoke, her voice a lot calmer than she probably was.
"Jake, you know that you're in command now?", she asked him.
"Of course I know!", he growled at her, before he regretted it. "Look Dania, I'm sorry. I...Just meet at the backdoor, ok?"
With that, he let go of the button and shut off the audio-link. The fox looked up at him with a worried face.
Jake looked down into her eyes and sighed. He had to take care of her.
"Christina, what do you say about joining me and my team? You have real potensial.", he said.
The fox stared at the ground for a few minutes. Then she looked up again, her eyes glimmering.
"I'd love to.", she said and giggled.
"Great. Ah, there's the others.", Jake said and pointed towards the backdoor, where the others were gathered.
They all looked up as Jake and Christina joined them. Richard was limping on one foot, blood trickling from a wound in the ancle.
Chris' helmet was gone and replaced by a bandage, which fit very well with fact that the right leg on Dania's pants now ended at the knee. George was leaning heavily on Gary while he clutched a nasty wound in his side.
"Jake, I think we have to pull back, like the others." Dania said as Warriors ran past them through the backdoor.
"Very well. But I need someone to look after Christina.", he said. The others threw him confused looks.
"You mean her?", Chris said and nodded at the fox.
"Yup. Glad you voluntered, Chris.", Jake said with a small smirk, as he knew how the wolf would react.
"Oh no...", Chris growled and shook his head. "You can't keep me away from this!"
"Fine. Richard, take her to the Hall of Honour and protect her.", Jake said impatiently, before he was interupted.
"Hey, who says I need protection?", the fox asked angrily and lifted Jake's rifle. "I can protect myself!"
"Fine, fine, fine.", Jake growled and pointed to a pile of sandbags. "Everybody grab one of those spare sandbags and follow me!"
Jake ran over to the pile and took a sandbag under each arm.
The other quickly did the same and followed Jake into the corridor. After about twenty meters from the backdoor, the corridor made a turn. There, right before the turn, they put up a small barricade.
"Richard, help George. Chris, Christina, Gary follow me, we need more sandbags! Dania, prepare a mounted Repeater-position!", Jake shouted and led the three other furs back towards the backdoor. As they entered the hangar again, they noticed that they were the last furs left there, it was just them and the humans, who were now getting dangerously close.
"Quickly, lets grab some bags and get out of here!", Gary yelled and picked up three bags, the others did the same.
Just as the others ran through the door, the humans fired. Jake dove through the door. He landed hard on the concrete and cried out as pain surged up through his leg. He looked down at his leg, a hole the size of a large grape straight through his calf. Christina turned as she heard his cry and saw him lying wounded on the floor. She quickly threw her sandbags on top of Chris', who grumbled and struggled under the weight. She then ran over to Jake. Jake looked up at her with a scared look.
"Go.", he pleaded. "Save yourself."
"No.", she answered plainly. "You saved me, and you dare not leave me before I have paid my debt!"
With that, she bent down, grabbed Jake wrist, pulled him up on her back and ran for the barricade.
Jake was taken completely by surprise by her strength, he couldn't believe that a girl who was more than a head smaller than him could carry him so easily. He grunted with each step as her back hit him in the stomach and pain jolted up through the leg, which was now bleeding badly.
"Hang on, just a...little longer!", Christina panted.
She then let out a surprised yelp as a lasershot bounced off the wall right above her head. A stream of humans were running through the door behind them and opened fire at them.
"Come on guys, you'll make it!", Dania urged them, as she aimed her tripod-mounted Repeater at the humans. They reached the barricade and Christina stopped and threw Jake over, into the waiting arms of Chris and Gary. Just as Christina jumped over and crouched behind the sandbags, Gary bellowed "Fire!" and Dania did so. The humans screamed as the storm of laserbolts hit them, cutting them down like wheat before the scythe. In a matter of seconds, the dozens of humans in the corridor were on the floor, never able to rise again. Dania didn't stop however, because the humans were still streaming in through the door, running strait at the deadly bolts. The Repeater was emptying quickly, the clips on Dania's backpack was popping out, one by one.
Seeing this, Jake bellowed out: "Everybody load weapons! Quickly!". The others began to fill their weapons, while Gary began pumping gas from a valve on the wall into his Flamer. Jake turned to George. The tiger looked up at him.
"George, how do you feel?", Jake asked with a concerned face.
"Fine, I guess.", the tiger said uncertain. Jake smiled.
"Good. I need you to do something."
George cocked an eyebrow. "Go on."
Jake pointed at a gas valve next to Gary's and the tiger's face lightened up.
"Sure thing, Jake!", he said as he reached down into one of his pockets and pulled up a fistful of sticky goo. He then stuck it into the valve and put in a small remote. Chris looked up and smirked when he saw what George was doing.
"Hey George, this time, maybe you should wait 'till we all get away before you blow it up, eh?", he chuckled and pointed on a large scar on his forehead. "Well Chris, I thought that maybe you would like to be here and trigger it off, what do you say?", George replied with a laugh.
"Are you done, George?", Jake interupted, receiving a nod from the tiger. "Good. Ok Dania, fall back. Gary, flame 'em."
The rottweiler lifted the weapon, aimed and released a inferno of flames at the humans, turning a dozen of them into living, screaming torches. "Now! Lets pull back!", Jake yelled and led the others around the corner and further down the corridor. After some thirty meters they stopped and waited for the humans. George reached down in his pocket and picked up a remote, flicked off the security glass and handed it to Chris.
"Here Psycho, you'll have the honour.", he said with a grin. Chris lifted a finger as if he was wiping away a tear and mumbled: "Thanks." At the moment the first human rounded the corner, Chris pressed the button with a psychotic laughter. The following explosion shaked the corridor and showered severed bodyparts all over the wall behind the human at the front, who spun around in surprise. When he turned to face them again, his forehead was pierced by a laserbolt and he collapsed on the floor.
Christina lowered her rifle.
"Wow, not bad for a girl.", Chris remarked. Dania sent him an angry look, but Christina just grinned at him and lifted her paw.
Chris smirked and stepped forward to give her a highfive, but she stepped neatly aside, grabbed his paw and threw him over on the floor. The others bursted into laughter, while the dark-fured wolf grunted and crawled back onto his feet. "Not bad at all."
"Wait, you hear that?", Dania asked, waving her paw to silence them.
"What?", Gary said confused. "I hear nothing."
"Exactly. Come on.", Dania said and ran back through the corridor. As they passed the turn, Dania stopped.
"See? They're retreating.", she said and pointed to the entrance, where small groups of humans were bording their transport ships.
"Finally.", Jake sighed and they all sat down near what was left of the barricade.
More furs were now passing them on the way into the hangar again, cheering and hugging eachother.
Another great battle was over.
Later that evening, Dania walked into the barracks. She closed the door, turned on the light and saw Jake sitting in his bed, head between his knees. "Jake?", she whispered. He didn't respond. Quietly she walked over and sat down next to him. He didn't look up, but she noticed he tightened the grip on his knees. "Jake?", she said again. "Is there something you want to talk about?"
The hyena finally looked up, tears flowing freely from his blue eyes. The lioness looked at him with a concerned face.
"Jake, what's wrong?", she asked.
"Jamie...I...I...", Jake stuttered.
"What?", she asked again, bending closer to wipe away some of his tears.
"I killed him.", the hyena whispered.
Dania froze. She hadn't heard...no, it couldn't be true. She stared shocked at the hyena, who looked down with tearfilled eyes.
"You? You killed him?", she whispered. Jake then told her what had happened. When he was done, he lay crying with his head on Dania's chest and her arm around him. She was stroking his head and whispering soothing words into his ear.
"I should have saved him, I could have made it.", he hulked into Dania's chestfur.
"No, you couldn't. Anyway, you can't let his death stop you, you're the one who have to follow him."
"I can't take Jamie's place. You've all been like family, I couldn't take it if something happened to one of you."
Dania grabbed his shoulders and held him on an armslenght, looking into his eyes with serious eyes.
"I'm not asking you to be Jamie. Be yourself. Be Jake. You will be a great leader.", she said and smiled warmly.
Jake smiled and wiped away his tears. "Thanks Dania, I really needed that."
Dania smiled wider and hugged the hyena tightly. "Anytime.", she whispered into his ear.
She then released him as she heard someone outside the door. The door opened a moment later and Richard walked in, followed by the rest of the squad. Chris was the last one in, being dragged in the scruff by Christina. Jake sent Richard a confused look and the grey-fured wolf chuckled. "Psycho wanted to go to the hangar and collect human heads."
Jake sighed and threw a look at Chris' bedside, where three rotten heads hung.
Dania got to her feet and patted Jake on the shoulder. "You should get some sleep. We all should."
Jake nodded, threw his clothes on the floor and slid under the blanket.
A few minutes later, when the sound of the others undressing had finally stopped, he awoke from someone tapping him on the back.
He rolled over and looked up at Christina. "What is it, Christina?", he asked sleepily.
"Can I sleep with you, just this night?", she whispered with an uncertain look at the other beds.
"I...guess..", Jake replied surprised. The fox smiled gratefully.
"Thank you.", she said and slipped into bed next to him. She fell asleep almost instantly, resting her head on Jake's chest.
He sighed.
"Shelly's is so gonna kill me for this.", he thought to himself as he drifted into sleep.
The End.
Two worlds collide, rival nations
It's a primitive clash, venting years of frustration
Bravely we hope against all hope, there is so much at stake
Seems our freedom's up against the ropes
Does the crowd understand?
Is it a East vs. West, or man against furr
Can any nation stand alone?
In the burning heart, just about to burst
There's a quest for answers, an unquenchable thirst
In the darkest night, rising like a spire
In the burning heart, the unmistakable fire, in the burning heart
In the warrior's code, there's no surrender
Though his body says stop, his spirit cries never
Deep in our soul a quiet ember
Knows it's you against you
It's the paradox that drives us on
It's a battle of wills, in the heat of attack
It's the passion that kills
The victory is yours alone
In the burning heart, just about to burst
There's a quest for answers, an unquenchable thirst
In the darkest night, rising like a spire
In the burning heart, the unmistakable fire
In the burning heart, just about to burst
There's a quest for answers, an unquenchable thirst
In the darkest night, rising like a spire
In the burning heart, the unmistakable fire
In the burning heart, just about to burst
There's a quest for answers, an unquenchable thirst
In the darkest night, rising like a spire
In the burning heart, the unmistakable fire
In the burning heart
Survivor - Burning heart
Thanks for reading this story, means alot to me.
If you have any suggestion or opinions on this story or the series itself, just drop me a comment.
Haraio