(Viewpoint: Roum)
Ela takes a step back.
And he turns around, but… I see him, I see his gaze.
Don't get angry.
Don't get reproach.
More
Fear.
Is that me?
Around us, the wave is regaining density.
The giant TRACK was being torn apart, letting out a mechanical roar, the shadow entering through the detached parts, attaching it to the ground before it was submerged up to its head.
Its engines are screaming, overloaded.
– Roum, his voice is lower now,
almost covered by the rumble, you change.
I don't have time to reply.
I was absorbed by the spectacle in front of us.
A shadow is falling upon us.
I raise my weapon.
She stops.
Suspended.
As if held back by an invisible leash.
My heart skips a beat.
Again?
Ela sees it too.
– You do that?
– No.
I don't understand how.
The shadow escapes
Then it explodes, pulverized by a shot.
Chetan reappears.
– Back off if you're useless! All survivors to the ridge!
– FOLD!
he yelled
Making me jump
I turn back to Ela.
.
… There's almost no one left.
- ELA ?,
In a panic
Too many bodies.
– that's not funny
Silence
A long breeze blew through my hair
The assistants, those who were sent to the front line, are now nothing but a broken carpet under the black mass.
The wave is advancing.
Fast .
Certainly.
I ventured into the deep darkness in search OF HER,
– ELA? ELA !
I was running, catching up with Chetan a few meters ahead.
I feel the black heat pulsing in my veins with every impact on the ground.
[UNKNOWN INTERNAL ACTIVITY: 43%]
[Correspondence with enemy signature: Increase]
"Turn that off..." I whisper.
[ IMPOSSIBLE ]
Obviously.
TAK !
A shadow appeared on the left.
- Ela !
I didn't even need to aim; she was running away on her own.
I pass Chetan's thermal silhouette and plunge even further into absolute darkness.
No bodies were visible, and even then, only limbs were strewn across the ground.
I turned around.
What is this vision of horror?
squints
Chetan is catching up to me.
He saw it.
– I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE
he yelled at me
- cleared
I hold back and say nothing.
- GOOD
Then he bumped my shoulder and resumed his run, smashing through the passage to clear the view; I was glued to him, following him like a tail
"Go!" he finally breathed, staring at me.
I freeze and catch my breath
– that's what I do
He raised his weapon towards me
"I hate repeating myself," he sighed.
I slowly raise my arms
– if you kill me, everyone will know
"We're not in the middle of a war, who cares?" he laughed.
I smile too
– Ela, your secret, if your superiors find out, even if I die, you'll be finished too.
I murmured
We reach a rocky elevation,
"You bastard," he muttered.
Throwing his bag to the side
Behind us, the wave crashes like a tide against a too-fragile dike.
"The giants have fallen," I said calmly.
"Don't talk to me, you bastard," Chetan hissed.
I forced him, you could say we managed to reach an agreement, it's working for the moment.
Ela.
Only the last titanic TRACK was still standing, purple crossed by red stripes.
An eerie silence falls for a fraction of a second.
Then the wave roars louder.
Like a triumph.
"We won't hold out," I said.
– What is the purpose of all this suicide?
Because where I come from, all I see is suicide.
Chetan lay down in the distance, as if he didn't care about anything else.
"Don't talk to me," he murmured, falling asleep in this situation.
I sit at the end and observe
The heat inside me is no longer painful.
It is stable.
[VISUAL INTEGRITY: 61%]
– hHumm…
I'm staying put
My sensors are flashing.
[INTERNAL ACTIVITY: 67%]
– What are you doing?! Chetan shouts.
Annoyed by my clapping.
Either…
I stare at the black horizon.
– Either I go to meet them, they are aware.
The wind is picking up.
Loaded with dark particles.
Chetan, for his part, clenches his fists.
"I don't care…," he said slowly.
I hold his gaze.
– You forgot our agreement.
A heavy silence settles in.