"Sin! You've heard?! Why are you not getting suited up?!" Bavarthos' surprised reaction catches me off guard. I have this twisting gut feeling that something is not right, tension starts building inside of me making me start to chew on the inner bottom corner of my lip.
"Something doesn't feel right, B. I don't know what it is, but I can't help right now feeling like as if something is happening." I quickly inform him of the anxiety that is only building in me as the seconds go by.
"What do you mean? We are about to go save John, then end this war once and for all. Don't you want that?" Bavarthos looks at me questionably.
"OF COURSE I DO!" I defend myself, "I want nothing more than to go and rescue John! I wanted that when he was first taken! Something feels off and I don't like it." I reinforce, pacing the stretch of stone floor under my feet.
"What do you mean something feels off?" Rakara steps forward dressed in a suit with a skirt and blouse over it to protect her modesty.
"I mean, I feel something deep in my gut that if we go, we will not succeed." I stress to them clearly.
"Bav..." Rakara takes his arm, "we need to listen to her. Do you believe me now?"
"Believe you?" I raise a brow at Rakara, curious.
"You're not the only one who's instincts are saying leaving now would be a bad idea." Rakara brow bunches in concern. "Which only grows by the second. Something IS happening, Bav."
Her confirmation is all I need at the moment. "B, it's not just me..."
"SIN! WE HAVE A PROBLEM BACK AT BASE!" Turks voice comes over my com. Gunfire and yelling can be heard as he speaks.
"B! You have to let me go! There's a problem back at base!" I shout, not sure of the situation.
"A problem?!" Concern covers his face and he does something odd with his hand. "Go! I'll get a team to join you shortly."
I snap back to my room, suit up and grab my weapons in less than three minutes and I snap to our base.
The next second I'm surrounded by screams of terror as things go flying past me.
"No!" I cry out, quickly realizing, something has happened and the Erlking has unleashed hell on us.
I run, throwing up wards around people running away, scanning the chaos for a familiar face.
"Turk?! Where the hell are you?!" I shout through the com.
"Front line! Holding off.... so more.... can escape!" I can hear him struggling, so I snap to where I think I might find him.
"Oh god." I cover my mouth in shock as from up high, I can see it really is hell. Everywhere there are reanimated corpses, descending upon our people. Ripping limbs from still screaming soldiers, like soul less demons with familiar faces, twisted in feral delight.
Vartonix is swarmed with them, no matter how much he rolls, more just swarm back over him. Turks is out there, blowing up the corpses with grenades, spells, fire, anything to make the reanimated bodies stop. Everyone is overwhelmed.
"B! WE NEED HELP NOW!" I start sending anything I can flying that's heavy enough to obliterate the bodies chasing our men.
Screams and explosions fill the air, to the point I feel like I am losing my mind. I don't stop though. I can't stop. I see our MU's snapping people out of there to safety, as I keep throwing large chunks of broken concrete and what ever else I notice, flying, like ballistics, to help out.
Bavarthos shows up next to me and cries out, "SHIT!" He starts helping, sending magical bombs out as he sends orders to his men.
"Guys get here quick! We need EVAC of all human soldiers! WE HAVE GRAVES!" Bavarthos shouts into his com and continues sending out magical bombs.
All I can do is keep sending whatever I can flying to keep the 'graves' off Turk and anyone else I see running for their lives. I feel I'm going mad seeing bodies that are missing parts or are dragging their entrails that are falling out of their stomachs. It's a sight that is going to haunt my dreams from now on.
B's people are popping in and out of the landscape below, snapping people to safety, while B is doing all he can to save his pets that are still out there.
"Turk, snap out of there now!" B shouts, as smoke starts to form around his shoulders. "I'm sending my friends!"
Turk disappears from the area he's been fighting from. I watch as the smoke curls out of Bavarthos and goes flying across the distance swallowing the area in darkness and a sudden eerie quiet except for the boom of Vartonix's steps heading our way.
Vartonix lumbers our way smashing through anything in the way as he arrives panting, bloody, visceral bits clinging to his body, with B's other pets, clinging to his back. I scan them, noticing the tiger looking one is laying there, as if dead. It lifts his head and gives a faint cry, and I know he's in pain. I snap to him and I see why.
His left rear leg is hanging on by threads of tendon and he's loosing blood. I touch it and it roars, making me flinch back.
"I'm going to help you. Please don't attack me." I can see it's growing weaker, so I move to touch him again, but it just looks away. "I'll be quick." I inform him as I remove my first aid kit, pulling out a wrap.
I put the limb back in place, best I can, using the wrap that's quickly becoming soaked in blood. I try to use the magic that B taught me, to help heal a body. I start with the vessels to stop the bleeding, and then the muscles and tendons, but halfway through it, it stops. I look to the striped side and it's no longer moving.
I hang my head, knowing, that I was not quick enough. I stroke the animals side and apologize, before snapping back to the rooftop where Turk and B still stand. Turk is blowing up any graves not caught up in the fog, while others are still being snapped to safety.
Bavarthos is talking to the smoke like fog, in a language that is beyond me. I continue helping with taking out the graves running around until the roof door, on the far side of the building we're standing on, bangs open.
"SIN!" I turn around to see a bloody Lili running for her life from a grave that's hot on her heels.
I throw my hands up and scream, "HIT THE DECK!"
She does just that, and I blast the grave, making him explode. My knees feel weak from that attack, and they give out from under me. I reach for a bottle, chugging it quickly, as I see more graves coming through the door.
"NO! LILI! RUN!" I shout, as she gets up from her spot. Turk snaps to her back, using his Kanabō club, beating them away from her. My body starts to regain the energy I need, but not enough. It doesn't matter though, I have to get her.
Turk is bashing and beating them back, as I prepare to blast them. Lili is crawling as she tires to get back up, but she's not quick enough as a grave grabs her ankle, digging it's bony finger tips into her flesh.
"AHHHH!" She screams and I snap to her, cutting the hand of the grave off, then shove the blade through it's head.
"Turk, we have to go!" I yell at him, snapping me and Lili back to B's side. "B, we have to go."
Bavarthos pulls his smoke back to him and nods, "I'll take Vartonix and the others see you soon."
He snaps to Vartonix and I shout to Turk, "LET'S GO TURK!" Snapping back to HQ, we arrive to just as much chaos as people are being snapped in, screaming, wounded, traumatized, and dead.
"Lili, are you alright for me to take you to your room to take care of your leg?" I take a glance to Lili's face and pause. Lili's face is ashen in color, her face covered in sweat, her breathing shallow and rapid.
"Lili?" Her eyes flutter open and grimace in pain as I set her down and open up her bloody uniform. "MEDIC!" I scream, sticking my hands on to her stomach, seeing the gunshot wound. "MEDIC, O BLOOD NOW!"
I use my magic to see if I can do anything, but the damage is too great and I don't have enough energy.
"No. No, no, no, no." I start to worry, "MEDIC, O BLOOD NOW!" I try to reassure Lili, "Stay awake, Lili, you'll be fine as long as you can stay awake.
Lili struggles to tell me something, " *inaudible* .... try..ing..."
"I know your trying, Lili." I still have my hands applying pressure to her wound, trying to slow the flow of blood and keep her going.
The medics show up, bringing a blood bag and a trauma med kit. They relieve me of holding pressure, and I start informing them of her condition.
"Gunshot wound, right upper quadrant. She has damage to liver, gallbladder, and broken rib from the bullets exit." I see Lili's hand feebly try to hold my own, so I clutch on to it as I turn my attention to her.
"They are going to take care of you, Lili. You'll be okay." I inform her, tenderly moving some of her hair from her clammy, face.
Lili struggles again to speak, "stop... trying... it's okay..." a tear rolls down from her eye into her hair and ear.
"What? Lili?" I heard her, but that couldn't have been what she said.
"Let,... me.... go..." Lili grips my hand tighter, even though it's still feeble, I can tell she's trying.
"No, Lili." Tears form in my eyes at the pang in my heart, realizing she's asking us to let her die.
"Yes." She says firmly, a light cough accompanying it before she groans in pain, "Thank..... you,... Sin, for..... everythi...." Her eyes dull and she lets out a long, slow, wheezy breath.
"No... Lili.."
'She did not just die... she did not just die, right?'
"LILI!" I say her name louder and when I get no response from her lightless eyes that focus on nothing, the medics step away from Lili's body.
"LILI!" I scream, hoping she'll blink, breathe, something, anything. The tears fall from my eyes, as I pick her up and hold her closer to me. I notice her blood on my hands, that's when it sinks in, she's not coming back, she's gone.
I clutch her tighter to me, anger, grief, and helplessness welling up inside of me like a bomb that is about to blow. I let out a loud, scream that sounds like a demon was screaming, tears flowing freely for my friend.
"DAMN IT!"