Clouds of Tyranny (26 page)

The Returners changed into their outfits and
t=retrieved their weapons before joining the soldiers in the dining
area. Smith watched his Returners walk out, all of which were ready
for a battle that could make or break their cause. There was Locke,
his number one, wearing his bandana, bulletproof vest, cargo pants,
and his ‘knife boots’; the knife boots had small blades that
retracted in and out of the toe. On Locke’s body were over a dozen
throwing daggers that lay on his thigh, in his belt buckle, buried
in his vest, and one in his shoe and his Damascus hung from his
left hip. Terra was forced to leave her skirt behind and was
wearing camouflage cargo pants with her two .45’s attached to them,
a black tank underneath her vest, the bandana on her hand to
prevent further injury, and her hair tied up in a ponytail. Ruthie
was with Terra wearing her outfit that she wore in the Retriever’s
swamp; she always wore this on missions. Ruthie wore her black
fighting gloves with retractable spikes and blue bandana tied in a
helmet fashion over her hair. Pearl was outfitted with thick jeans,
a sleeveless black shirt, leather fingerless gloves to protect
herself from her own weapon, and her blue bandana tied around her
left bicep. Eve wore her bandana around the belt loop of her daisy
duke jean shorts as well as a tight blue T-shirt with her large
knife at her side; it was half razor and half serrated blade. Ray
didn’t change a thing about his appearance with the exception of
his bandana that he tied much like Locke, in a stripe fashion on
his forehead. Ray had his armbow filled with arrows and the sword
he bought in Velxeer hung on his right hip considering Ray’s a
southpaw. Julius did what all his men did, using their skin color
to their advantage; all of them wearing black clothing to match
their flesh. Julius wore black jeans, a black long sleeved shirt,
and his bandana tied in a bow on his lower back around his belt.
Julius’ weapon of choice is a double-barreled shotgun, that he
carried due to its size, and a 9mm Beretta that sit snuggly in the
front of his pants. Sam, a simple family man, didn’t bother to
change since he had gotten to HQ. Alex wore her cargo pants, white
mesh top under the vest that had been provided, the shield tied
diagonally to her back, her dragon’s blade on her back, typical
military boots, and her newly acquired bandana was being used as a
tie for her hair that was up in a ball behind her head. Clyde
looked ready to go, he craved battle after being out of commission
for the last couple weeks. Clyde wore black slacks, a red tank top
that showed off every single ripple of his muscular torso, and his
blue bandana tied to his right knee.

Everyone going to Harmon
was in the dining area awaiting instruction from Smith; Locke had
Terra to his right and Alex to his left. “Psst!” whispered Terra
trying to get Locke’s attention. He turned his head slowly to look
at her as she pointed her finger at a steak knife lying on the
table several feet from them with her left hand. She opened her
right palm and the knife zoomed ten feet and landed in her hand
without incident. “Huh!” said Terra sounding accomplished. “Good
work,” whispered Locke back at her, “Listen, stay close to me
okay?” Terra looked at him intently, “Sure.” Locke looked forward
and Terra looked over at Alex who had undoubtedly been glaring at
her the whole time.
Ooh! Someone’s
jealous,
thought Terra laughing to
herself. Everyone got completely silent when Smith walked to the
center of the room. He stood there silent for a moment thinking of
what to say, then pointed to Locke with an open hand, “These are
YOUR men.” Locke nodded and stepped onto the table ahead of him and
looked about the room and saw every single person looking to him
for some encouraging words; the Returners looked ready, but the
soldiers looked scared and nervous. “You all know both possible
outcomes of this fight. Retreating is not one of them, I will
sacrifice my life for our cause and I expect nothing less from all
of you. We will be outnumbered, yes! They have training that we do
not possess, but we do have something they could never begin to
understand: hope. Know this! We will not falter, we will not fail.
The forces of evil will not win. We’ll strike them down where they
stand and refuse to quit till every single imperial is dead. Harmon
needs you! We all want peace and the only way to achieve peace is
to fill your heart with hate! The empire doesn’t want to take your
lives; they want to take your home, your morality, and your faith
in the right to do good. And we can’t let them…for if we do…they
win! The only thing we can do is prevail and create a new era of
GOOD!” Locke threw his fist into the air and everyone in the room
did the same and cheered for Locke as he jumped off the table.
Locke was nearly tackled by Sandy, the little girl that called her
uncle since she had no family. “Uncle Locke, be careful and come
back,” she said sadly. Locke kneeled down to her level, “I will.
”Some of the soldiers grabbed the bags full of food and blankets
and Locke led everyone into the tunnel leading to Harmon; they’d be
in Harmon in six hours.

Locke and Pearl led the pack across the
plains while the other Returners handled the rear so as to ensure
there were no stragglers. Ruthie and Terra were engaged in
conversation as Alex walked quietly as to get herself in the right
frame of mind for battle. “I hope he’s okay,” said Terra referring
to Lars who was in Harmon making preparations and hiding the meek
civilians underground. “He’s fine, Ter,” said Ruthie reassuringly,
“He may be skinny and sweet, but he can handle himself.” “Yeah,
your probably right,” said Terra nodding her head up and down. “You
really like him, don’t you?” asked Alex. Terra was surprised at
Alex’s willingness to talk to her after what had transpired since
they met. “Yeah, he’s nice and he’s caring and he’s a good kisser,”
answered Terra. Terra swallowed her jealousy for a moment and
asked, “What about you and Locke?” Ruthie smiled at Terra for her
attempt to be civil. “It’s…complicated,” sighed Alex, “I haven’t a
clue at how he feels about me, but I am falling for him. I try to
stop myself but I cant.” “Locke’s a strange animal,” said Ruthie
sighing, “One minute he’s in love, the next he’s trying to get rid
of you. That’s just the way he is in relationships ever since Alisa
died.” Jillian turned her head around as she walked forward, “I
don’t know what I’d do if my love died.” “It’s happened to me
before when I was in my late teens,” explained Alex, “You feel lost
even though you know where you are. You blame yourself for what is
not your fault. You try to smile but your lips wont curve.”
Jillian’s lips tightened at the depressing thought, “I’m so sorry
Alex.” “Thanks.” “That’s enough, Ten!” yelled Reuben from the front
of the Velxeer group which was in order of ascending number.
“Apologies, sir!” said Ten sulking. “Give her a break!” yelled Alex
in his direction, “Is it against the law to be human in your
country?”

“Keep it down back there!” yelled Locke
referring to everyone, then looked at Pearl who was leading the
group alongside him. “You’re a real ass, you know that,” said Pearl
scoffing at Locke. “What?” “You heard me. She says the ‘three
little words’ and you don’t say anything? You just ignore someone’s
feeling? Is that how you work now?” Locke hung his head, “I just
didn’t know what to say. What can I say? ‘I enjoy having sex with
you, but I don’t want to spend forever with you’?” “At least then,
she wouldn’t be confused. Women, no matter how strong, are still
women and they need closure, compassion, and sensitivity.” “Yeah, I
know. But, I don’t wanna hurt her.” “Better to hurt her feelings
than kill her identity. Right now she’s blaming herself. She thinks
it’s who she is that you don’t love or she’s not pretty enough.”
Locke glared at Pearl, “How the hell do you know that?” Pearl shook
her head, “Because I’m a woman and I can see it in her eyes.”

They reached the halfway mark as the moon
disappeared behind the mountains behind them draping a blanket of
darkness over their heads. “Commander Locke,” said a jar-headed boy
walking behind Locke. “What is it?” asked Locke looking behind him
at the boy. The boy pointed to his right,” Movement to the south.”
Locke and Pearl both threw up their fists to halt the group’s
movement. “Are we late?” asked Pearl trying to see through the
darkness. “No, too small for an imperial threat. A dozen, maybe
more,” answered Locke. “Pan’dier?” “Seems like it.” Out of the
corner of his eye he saw Alex running towards the small group of
people hundreds of yards away. She stood there talking with them
for a brief moment, then commenced to walk towards Locke and Pearl.
“Locke, these men are from Pan’dier. Fifteen in all,” said Alex as
they approached him. Locke looked at the fifteen men with .38
caliber bolt-action rifles draped over their shoulders, “Who’s in
charge?” “You are,” said one of the men. “She is,” said Locke
pointing to Alex who was responsible for acquiring their
assistance. Alex positioned the fifteen gunners within the middle
of the soldiers, then took her place at the rear.

The black night began to fade to a dark blue
as they progressively got closer and closer to their destination.
“How long you think?” asked Pearl inquiring about the distance left
till they would reach Harmon. “We will reach the hill overlooking
Harmon in about an hour, so ninety minutes. Be ready for the
Lizarros.” Pearl smirked, “Guess again. We took care of them a few
weeks ago.” “Oh, good.” Ray and Eve walked alongside Sam and Reuben
near the middle of the traveling soldiers. “Are we there yet?”
asked Ray sarcastically. “Funny,” smiled Eve. “Great,” said Sam,
“Feels like vacation with my daughter. Yakkity yak yak.” Ray winked
at Eve and began pushing his finger into her arm. “Daaaaad! Ray
won’t stop poking me!” joked Eve mimicking a little kid’s voice.
“Don’t make me come back there!” said Sam playing along. “Do you
people think this is a game?” said a fed up Reuben. “Apparently,
happiness is against your nation’s laws as well,” said Terra
joining in on the ‘we hate Reuben’ club. “We are going into battle!
Now is the time for concentration!” “I agree, sir,” chimed in a
Velxeer archer trying to gain bonus points with his commanding
officer. “Hey Three!” said Ray trying to get Three’s attention.
Three looked at Ray who was rubbing the tip of his nose with his
index finger, “Got a little something right here.” Three gave him
an angry look and pointed his face forward. Julius choked on his
own laughter as he turned his head to look at Ray who was four
people behind him, then saw something strange at the end of the
line; Ruthie riding on Clyde’s back. “Damn!” said Clyde faking a
strain, “You need to lose some weight.” “Look who’s talking,
fatty,” laughed Ruthie tapping the top of his head with her palm.
“It’s called muscle,” argued Clyde. “I don’t agree with that,” said
the Doc walking alongside his two nurses. “You’re calling me fat
now?” asked Clyde angrily. “No, I don’t agree with her on your back
like that. You’re still healing,” explained the doctor. Ruthie
looked over at the Doc realizing that what he was saying was right
on the money and began to get off of him. “It’s fine Ruthie,” said
Clyde shrugging off the doctor’s advice and grabbing her legs so
she felt safe.

An hour passed as they approached the hill
just before Harmon. Alex saluted a decomposing Lizarro as they
passed it. “Your handy work?” asked Ruthie looking down from
Clyde’s shoulders. Alex nodded a confirming ‘yes’, “Piece of cake.”
Locke halted the line and ran quickly up to the peak of the hill to
look at Harmon’s situation. He crept slowly up the hill and looked
over the top to see an abandoned Harmon and Lars hammering the
wooden wall that surrounded the town. Locke waved everyone towards
him as they followed his lead and saw the quickly approaching town
as the sun slowly peaked up from the east.

They entered Harmon through the side
entrance on the west side of town where Lars was building traps.
“How are things?” asked Pearl. “Hey, glad you guys made it,” said
Lars looking down at them from atop the twelve foot wall,
“Townspeople are safely tucked away. Explosives set on the north
entrance and got a few traps set up here.” “Sounds good,” said
Locke looking around the dark town. “Pan’dier,” yelled Alex pointed
to the inn in the north part, “Follow me to the roof.” The gunners
from Pan’dier walked up to the front of the group where Alex was
now positioned next to Locke. Before leading them into the inn that
would give them roof access she looked at Locke intently, not
knowing what to say. Locke stared back at her wanting to say
something, but couldn’t. To the right of the inn was a small store
that sold sundries. “Doc,” yelled Locke as he looked at the shop.
The Doc and his two nurses, Bridget and Helena, walked up to the
front where Locke was. “In there,” said Locke pointing to the shop.
“Right!” said the doctor walking toward the shop followed by his
nurses; they needed to be protected till the fighting ceased.
“Alright, I want three on the inside with the Doc and two guarding
the door on the outside,” said Locke counting out the ones to go.
The young soldiers jogged over to the shop and positioned
themselves. Locke looked to the southeast part of town where a
bunch of residential building stood, “Captain Antleon, up there?”
Reuben looked to where Locke was referring to, “Perfect. I’ll
position my men.” Reuben nodded at Locke and led his archers to the
residential area where they commenced to climb the rain gutters to
the top of the buildings and positioned themselves facing the main
entrance on the south side of Harmon. Locke divided the remaining
soldiers into three groups and sent one group to the rear entrance
in the north side of town with Ray, Clyde, and Sam, one group to
stay at the side entrance with Lars, Pearl, and Julius, and one
group to take with him to the main entrance on the south edge of
town along with Ruthie, Eve, and Terra.