Chapter 71: a desperate situation

Clark’s squad mates escaped in different directions as Captain Briggs ordered them to scatter to different places, to have a better chance of surviving the state wide pursuit.

Clark and Sonia still decided to stick together as they ran, their aim was to get as far away as possible from the state’s capital. What really made all the soldiers’ despair was that the main attack force of this operation, led by the General, haven’t escaped yet so they had no specific direction to escape to. Their warship, G-14 would only come for them after retrieving the soldier’s in the General’s squad.

For the rest of the whole day, they were all on the run while hiding frequently to elongate time while waiting for rescue. The situation was not looking optimistic as of the 17 of them who escaped successfully, 5 were already captured and 2 were already killed. So only 10 soldiers were still alive, and on the run from their initial squad of 20 soldiers.

Despite all these, they still tried their very best to remain hidden, but the higher-ups didn’t help matters as G-14 was still nowhere to be found. Sonia was really scared this time as Clark had to comfort her, they were now incapacitated high-grade soldiers without armor as their armor’s energy was already depleted.

That night Clark led Sonia as they rested in an underground sewage drainage pathway. Sonia obediently followed without refuting this time despite the smell and other disgusting factors, as they didn’t have the guts to invade someone’s house when they were on the run. Most especially, the unfortunate fate of their colleagues was an example of note to them. Over cautiousness was no longer a word in their dictionary.

Clark comforted Sonia to sleep, as he was sure that the wet, smelly and nauseating environment affected her more. He didn’t get to sleep as he acted as her watchman, staying alert throughout the night. The only reason why they even coped a little with the smell was due to their military training.

That same night, they moved to 2 different underground sewage drainage pathways, they couldn’t help it as they were almost caught that night. They both felt like dogs surrounded by a pack of wolves.

That night 2 of their comrades were caught despite their over cautiousness, one of them being the Corporal who was shot on the arm by the ranged shooter earlier during their assault on the Governor.

After a lot of suffering and perseverance on their part. They finally had a direction after constantly being on the run. G-14 finally sent them a message to converge in a particular sports stadium, the message indicated that the warship would arrive in 2 hours. And it would wait for only 30 minutes, if you didn’t make it on time, then you’re on your own.

Clark felt the pressure on seeing the message as he quickly woke the sleeping Sonia up, so that they could get there as fast as possible. The time was currently around 3:00am in the morning, so Clark gave themselves a target to reach there in exactly 2 hours’ time. His eyes were already bloodshot from exhaustion, but he persevered leading Sonia forward to meet up.

They finally sighted the sports stadium, on seeing this Sonia was already felling happy, getting ready to rush forward but Clark held her back. He also felt the urge to rush forward, but he suddenly had a bad premonition after observing their surroundings a bit.

“Sonia wait, the atmosphere here is looking abnormal”. Clark said in a grave tone, as he scrutinized his surroundings. “Look at all these houses close to the stadium; all their lights are switched off”.

“Clark, they switched off their lights because they are already asleep”. Sonia answered in a hushed tone.

“No, it seems to me that all the people staying in these houses left and purposely switched off their lights. Sonia, I’m not sure but my gut feeling tells me that we’ve have been discovered. We still have some time, there’s no need to rush, let’s be cautious and observe first”.

Sonia was anxious to leave enemy territory, but she was not going to be careless. She listened to Clark, as she also finally started finding the situation suspicious.

They hid at a very dark corner of a nearby house, as they silently watched the stadium keenly. 5:00am finally reached as their wrist watches suddenly lit up with a dim glow, pointing to a particular spot in the middle of the stadium as where the teleportation field was activated. It seems their squad mates were not here yet or they were also being cautious, as no one rushed out.

After 5 minutes of total silence, the first soldier from their squad finally moved, coming out of a corner. He slowly moved to where the teleportation field was, while cautiously looking around. He quickly reached as he was teleported away safely, nothing happened.

Clark finally heaved a sigh of relief he was holding in on seeing this, but still suggested that they should wait for another 5 minutes before going. After the first soldier left, it seems his squad mate’s thoughts finally changed as 3 of them immediately came out sprinting to where the teleportation field was.

Boom! Boom! Boom! 3 shots were fired, followed by 2 deaths. 2 soldiers from the 3 sprinting forward died immediately as enemies appeared, shooting at them. The 3rd soldier was clearly a 2nd rank high-grade soldier, as soon as he dodged the bullet, he ran forward with greater speed while shooting randomly with his machine gun.

Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! Other machine gun fire erupted as the Mocan soldiers retaliated shooting at him, he tried his best and he reached the teleportation field, but he was filled with bullet shots.

“He escaped, what a lucky fellow, despite his many injuries he’ll be healed in no time by the Spartan army’s medical teams”. Clark muttered in a grave tone, as his suspicions were confirmed.

This short exchange of gun fire seemed to lit a fire in his squad mate’s hearts as they all emerged from their hiding places. They didn’t know how the Mocan military detected they message they received, but they didn’t care. They would rather risk their life in a last attempt at escape, rather than stay to just delay an inevitable capture and execution.

“Sonia it’s now or never, stick close to me and we’ll make it through”. Sonia nodded as her face turned grave, while they finally also rushed out of their hiding place.

Boom!! A huge explosion suddenly rocked the stadium, Clark finally started to use the explosive gadgets he got from the Mocan soldier. As they stormed out, the Mocan soldiers also stormed out in droves as they shot at them frenziedly.

The main disadvantage that they had, was their armor’s energy that was depleted.

“Fortunately, I have an exotic shield”. Clark thought as he activated his shield, while leading the way forward. Sonia hid behind Clark’s shield for protection, as they ran, Sonia shot her machine gun at the pursuing soldiers.

The opposing soldiers used various battle arts to try stalling them as their high-grade soldiers finally showed up. Only 4 of them were remaining in this battlefield from their squad, the rest either already escaped, were dead or were captured.

Captain Briggs and the female Corporal were the other remaining soldiers, they both immediately started executing their battle arts, as this was a fight for survival. Sonia finally executed her battle art in Clark’s presence for the first time.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate. During the next few days, I'll be editing my already published chapters, to refine them more to get a better quality. I'll appreciate any suggestions, this won't affect my normal release schedule, so no worries.]