The loading ramp hit the glass floor forcefully and swirled up a cloud of dust. As it slowly disintegrated into transparent swaths, Dawn recognized the high-rising floors of the mall. In front of him stood several switched-off ordering terminals. He used one as a shelter and scanned the entire hall with one of his drones.
" Sweep the area," shouted one of the senior military officers, prompting the Scout Squads to scatter and use a stagnant escalator to reach the upper floors. Dawn kept a close eye on the glass parapet above him.
*** We are in the low-ground. Our position is damn unsafe. I should try to get through to the top as well. ***
Dawn looked around, with the giant Grizzly occupying most of his field of vision. Out of the giant airship, Parzival's unit in full gear pushed through the hall like mythical colossuses. Without saying a word, they trotted side by side in unison, covering every angle. Behind them followed the Breachers, their heads barely sticking out of the massive armor surrounds. Their heavy bulletproof vests hurled from side to side.
VVRRRMMMM!
One of the Breachers pulled up his chainsaw thunderously, cutting rebels blood-splashing in halves, while another swung a ram around and someone else went ahead with a shield.
The Breachers were part of the vanguard, to which the Archetype Commando also belonged. Between their ponderous movements, Dawn could make out JP in their midst, who was pulling out his Sentinel 5. Within sight, the first company followed behind them.
*** They all seem well-coordinated, but where's my spot here? Am I only here for support? ***
Dawn flew upstairs, while first, the Breachers and then one of Parzival's soldiers pushed forward.
BAMMMMM!
A massive steel fire door fell crashing to the ground and divided the HMD forces in equal parts. "What the hell? That's not the plan, is it?" Jo asked through the Archetype Squad's comms.
"No, this is completely unforeseen," Erik replied to him.
The door fell like a floodgate to the ground right between the Breacher Squad and the ATLAS unit.
"We're cut off from the rest here," said JP. "Damn it, they're here! We need help, there are too many."
The sound of the gunfire rang through the door to Dawn, who was able to follow the battle with his synchrotron vision.
"They're squashing us in here", JP reinforced his statement. Dawn took a grenade from his repertoire.
" - - Universal Hand Grenade v.1.0 HMD Custom Design - -"
" - - - - - - - - - - - - Select Detonation Mode - - - - - - - - -"
" - - - - - - - - - - - High Explosive Anti-Tank - - - - - - - - - - "
" Get away from the door" he shouted to the allied units. "I'm going to blow the door now! Backup's coming, JP."
POWWWW!
The explosive charge in the hand grenade went off, creating a powerful shock wave that pushed Dawn a few feet back.
" - - - - - - - - - - - - - All systems intact - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "
��� - - - - - - - - - - Superficial Case Damage - - - - - - - - - - - - -"
" - - - - - - - - - - Combat efficiency: 99.5% - - - - - - - - - - - -"
The steel door was shredded into tiny pieces, which, melted and dented, spread throughout the hall.
*** Holy smokes, this thing is banging! ***
In a dense fog of debris and ashes, the only thing Dawn could see was a seemingly confused man in a black business suit like the ones they used to wear in former times. In the middle of the fight, he stood quietly and stared in Dawn's direction.
*** That can't be true... This is the man I saw in the summit on his way to the council! But that's impossible, I have to talk to him now. ***
"Who are you?" Dawn shouted furiously and ran towards the unknown gentleman. "Why do we keep running into each other?"
Dawn received no response from the disoriented man who stood motionless amid the raging battle. When Dawn reached him, he looked behind himself for a brief moment and when he looked back ahead again, the man had vanished into dust. However, earlier Dawn noticed another detail about the bald man, his suit was decorated with a blue-red-white flag.
"Where did you go? "Where? What do you want from me? Why won't you show yourself to me?"
"Who are you talking to?" Dawn heard a disturbed voice next to him ask. "There's nobody else."
The voice belonged to the soldier Dawn had met before in the Scout Squad. He stood beside Dawn and looked at him through his helmet with a frightened glance.
"It doesn't matter" Dawn started and pointed his eyes back to the battlefield in front of him.
" - - - - - - - - - Enemies identified - - - - - - - - - - "
" - - - - - - . - Superiority situation - - - - - - - - - - "
In front of him JP had placed his support turret to intercept the incoming fire of the Moonfall Legion. The terrorists were entrenched behind thick cover, through which they stuck their gun barrels in small embrasures to fire incessantly.
Dawn was about to advance to them when his system activated.
" - - - - - Dodging Protocol Activated - - - - - - -"
He was dragged aside by an invisible force and landed on his back when a guided missile crashed into the ground a few steps away from him. His field of vision flickered and he saw Moonfall rebels reloading the next rocket launcher over a parapet from above between raining wreckage pieces. Next to Dawn, there was a large impact crater in the ground, its charred edge lined with blood.
"Oh no!" he looked around for the scout who had been standing at this spot before. Only on the second look did Dawn notice that lumps of entrails had been burned into the ground. At the same time, liters of blood flowed in the crater which, as Dawn could see, oozed from the ruptured body of the young man. It poured out over his half-cut head and lacerated torso. Dawn noticed a dominating feeling of nausea overcoming him.
"We have to retreat, they've turned the tables on us," Erik said as he shot some rebels on a defense turret with a plasma revolver in the head. "They must have expected the attack. That can only mean one thing..."
"Seems like the hunter became the prey," Jo said.
"We have a traitor in our midst!"Erik was sure.
At that moment, a demolished pillar supporting the mall buried part of the main company underneath it and blocked the way back for the HMD troops. Some soldiers pulled out of the rubble, with their arms and legs cut off, and crawled across the dyed-red ground. Pure fear was reflected in their eyes as they looked up at the attackers who were mercilessly putting an end to their existence.
Some prayed to the Rising Gods in the face of their death, while others instinctively cried out for their mother and others cursed the rebels with innermost hatred. Veteran men and experienced fighters fell by the dozen until the numbers had balanced. The mall turned more and more into a ruin whose every life it once promised was taken away.
"They continue to encircle us," Erik said.
"I think" Zero's low voice began to speak, "they want me. They're all coming for the Grizzly."
"We have to save Zero," JP insisted.
"They locked us in here, hold on, Zero" Erik encouraged the little boy.
Perplexed by the sight of the raging battle, Dawn heard the following announcements only peripherally. It was at that moment that he understood what war meant and that it was now part of his life.
Dawn sensed that this would be the beginning of a long and cruel battle. That morning, he felt the difference between living and surviving for the first time.
With no refuge in his forgotten past, trapped in the hell of the now, Dawn looked towards a future that was more uncertain and bleak than ever.