Chapter 191 - 2 Days till Destruction

Chapter 191: 2 Days till Destruction ’Odd’, was the only word that came to Kieran’s mind at the current setting.

He was sitting on his heels in a kneeling position along with Derrick and Richard, the two members of his team, and in front of them was their Instructor – August.

Thinking a little, Kieran smiled at the irony. This stage in the camp’s training was to build a bond, a level of trust between the three recruits in a team.

A synergy that was required for any missions they were to undertake in the future. They were after all going to serve a mandatory two years of service under the military before returning to their posts as young Lords of their families, or being retained in the military. All depending on what their path entailed.

They were supposed to do all that, and yet they barely even knew each other on the surface, having done less than three missions together.

He had taken up more missions with Jake and Ruby from another team than with them, and he was sure they had done the same thing, too. They needed points to go by after all, and with the no solo outing rule, they would’ve been forced to go out as a team, even against their will.

It showed how flawed their method was, especially with a lax instructor like August, who had only seen the need to place them together a few times.

Even more than that, Kieran felt his own flaws. Taking the objective of this stage with levity. An action that directly clashed with his goal of sticking to each objective, assessing as many points as he could.

Each action of theirs was observed, measured, and documented. He had seen through the objective of the second stage, the difficulty of forcing three people unfamiliar to each other to work together, to share their weaknesses with someone who could be the cause of their death in the very future — they were after all, most likely opponents after they left the military.

He saw all that and still failed at it effortlessly, almost willingly. He had been carried away by the events around him, and he was realizing the incoming consequences of such a mistake.

’It’s pointless.’

Indeed, it was pointless! Pointless crying over spilled milk.

They say the best way to learn is from one’s mistakes, and he was no exception to that rule, choosing to learn from this mistake of his.

’He is off, though.’

His thoughts wandered to the still silent instructor who sat across from them.

August had a small clay wine cup in one hand and a jade jar in the other. Their presence didn’t seem to register with him, yet none of them dared to complain or feel impatient.

Despite failing the very objective of the second stage, respect for their eccentric instructor was one thing they had gained.

So they waited.

Waited till his eyes rose to theirs and till he spoke after minutes upon minutes of waiting.

"You will go on a mission together. An extraction" He started slow, taking a sip from his cup.

Kieran wasn’t too moved or curious about the nature of the weapon. He had unintentionally been part of an extraction mission during his and Jake’s unsuccessful ambush on Orion. They didn’t even play a role in the course of the failed mission, which was proven to have been just a lure.

"It’s gonna be your first mission with the camp’s forces. It’s supposed to be more of an exhibition, but I doubt you’ll be allowed the luxury of sitting on the sidelines where you’re going."

A small chuckle followed his words, stirring the emotions of the three recruits.

"Go get your things. They’ll be moving in a few hours. And you’ll do better not to think I’d be tagging along somewhere. You really will die this time if you are careless." He gave a final and stern warning to the three recruits he had fought to bring under his guidance.

Even now, he genuinely had no idea why. He had always justified that his reason for bringing two incompatible people together was because he thought he could get some fun out of it, but it didn’t seem that way anymore.

Derrick had been picked to bring some sort of balance to the opposing sides. Even his element represented that, but he was far too timid to do anything and had been pushed to the sidelines.

The only good news was that both Kieran and Richard hardly interacted. Both of them were minding their own business enough not to cross each other’s path.

August went on to dismiss them with a lazy wave of his hand.

.....

"You all received the draft before getting here. It’s a straightforward extraction mission. Engaging the beasts isn’t our priority. According to the intel we have, Crescent has already deployed their domes, which means they should be able to survive till we get there in two days"

The soldier at the head of the mission addressed them, noting the presence of Kieran and his squad.

"We need to move fast, so we’ll be taking the ships. Let’s go!"

The conversation was short and simple.

They were soldiers, not unprepared recruits who needed some form of motivation or drive to get their mind back on track.

It was a minor detail Kieran completely appreciated.

Following the other soldiers, he, Derrick, and Richard boarded the ships which blasted full speed in the direction of Crescent.

Finally, the light of hope was heading for them.

A light they might never see if they failed to hold on long enough.

.....

The hopeful atmosphere had fallen dramatically back at Crescent as the scent of fatigue and swear filled the walls of the base, each recruit appearing with dark circles beneath their eyes, and the soldiers whilst far more composed than the recruits, still had a dreadful look to their face.

The plumes of smoke that originated from the plasma cannons were no where to be seen as they had long since been put to rest at the sight in front of them.

A sight that how ineffective the ’powerful’ blasts of the cannon was.

One that left those on the wall feeling like wanting to feel like lifeless corpses.

Ateast a corpse couldn’t feel. Such a luxury they really yearned for. The luxury of not feeling the fear they felt.

Staring at the sea of monsters that had piled upon themselves blotting out the view beyond the dome, Holland was the only one who held onto his fear. He cherished it.

Fear was a sign. A clear indicator that he was alive, breathing.

He wasn’t dead yet, and the sight of dreadful beats, blotting out the sky, casting a shade of darkness on the entire base, encircling them from every direction alone, wouldn’t kill him.

As scary as that sounded. And he was indeed scared.

His gaze scurried away from the dome, scared that his fears would come through if he stared for too long.

Bringing his knees closer to his chest, he brought a small pack to his lips and sucked the contents from it.

The reserves of the camp was already in the negative due to the scarcity of beasts, and now the consequences were becoming imminent very fast.

His watch beeped, and once again it was his turn to take watch.

For over a day, he hadn’t left this wall, forced to watch the terror that was to fall on them soon.

Walking to the post like a mechanical creature, he once again placed his eyes to the scope of his weapon.

A movement that had been done so much in the past hours that he no longer thought much of it. At least, till his eyes settled on the blotted dome.

"W-w-w-....w is t-t-that?!"

The words barely managed to make their ways out of his mouth.

The fear terrorizing him no longer felt like a reminder that he was alive.

No, it was a reminder that he was going to die soon

Hollands pupils quivered violently, trained on the dome far ahead.

He had seen a crack.

A crack on the dome.

The very one that had held its ground for the last day.

And there he stood, rooted to the ground by fear, unable to do anything.

Unbeknownst to any of them, they were only 2 days from destruction.