"Listen carefully, brat," the soldier said, pressing his rifle closer. "You need to act as bait, I will escape while the alien chases you"
The battered young man eyes bloodshot, clothes torn and drenched in blood stood beneath the roof of a partially collapsed building, staring at the soldier as he asked.
"And me?" he asked hoarsely. "If I do that… I will die."
The soldier listened quietly and said coldly
"You will die but why should I care?"
Ashton clenched his fist, gritting his teeth. All his life, he thought soldiers were supposed to protect civilians.
However, this soldier was doing the exact opposite by using him as a human shield. It was during the worst time that he learned the true face of the world.
But Ashton still nodded, despite knowing how suicidal it was.
After all, if he refused, he would die either way, but if he obeyed, he wouldn't die immediately and maybe find a way to survive.
He shot a glance at the soldier and said.
"I will do it…"
The soldier nodded, handed him a gun, pointed in a certain direction, and said.
"Good… take this and run to the alien and shoot the alien to grab their attention while I flee."
Ashton looked ahead, as far as his eyes could see, and he only saw smoke, fire, and debris of collapsed infrastructure.
And in the ruins, he saw an alien walking through wreckage, their eyes darting around as if looking for something.
From a distance, he observed them and realized the alien was far away. Ahead of Ashton stretched countless narrow paths, twisting and splitting in every direction.
As he studied the path, an idea occurred to him.
"Maybe I can escape using the narrow paths"
The soldier wouldn't even be able to see him.
Just then, the soldier attached something to his chest. It began to beep as he said.
"Move you fool and remember, I just attached a remote control bomb to you. If you don't obey me, I will activate it."
Ashton's face turned grim; it looked like running wasn't an option anymore. So he clenched his fist and walked towards the alien.
As Ashton walked, he reflected on the events of the past few days.
Just a day ago, he had watched alien spaceships descend, invading the world, raining fire upon earth, pushing humanity to the brink of extinction.
As a result, his family died, leaving him alone to wander this cruel world and try to survive.
In the end, he was reduced to nothing more than a tool to be used and discarded simply because he was weak, powerless, and easy for the strong to exploit.
Letting out a sigh, he snapped out, raised his head, staring at the alien. The alien was well within his firing range.
He looked back, spotting the soldier was still watching, ready to kill him at any moment if he disobeyed.
Reluctantly, he loaded the gun, pointed it towards them with a trembling hand as sweat dripped out from his forehead.
Inhaling the warm air, he pulled the lever, and a bullet flew towards the alien with a loud bang but it just bounced off the alien's armor when it landed.
The alien turned towards him, their icy eyes staring at him as if piercing deep into his soul, sending a shiver down his spine.
Afraid, Ashton opened fire, emptying the magazine of the gun within a moment. But every single bullet just bounced off, it did nothing to stop the alien's advance.
Left with no choice, Ashton threw the gun across the ground and ran away to his right.
As Ashton ran, he shot a glance where the soldier was, the soldier was running in the opposite direction, fleeing while the alien was distracted by him.
A curse escaped his mouth.
"Fuck that bitch."
Too battered to worry about the soldier, he turned back only to see the alien's arm raised, its palm aimed straight at him.
Cold sweat trickled down his face as understanding hit him.
"They are going to attack."
His mind raced thinking of a way to survive but before he could, a burst of blue energy flew past him, merely missing him by a few inches.
He watched a burst of energy slam into the spot where the soldier stood. A scream echoed, then flesh, bone, and blood exploded outward, raining down onto the ground.
A slight smile crept on his face as he mumbled.
"Serves that bastard right"
But his satisfaction was cut short the very next instant.
He turned his head, and his blood ran cold.
He saw a flash of silver light.
A split second later, pain exploded through his shoulder. Something grabbed him from behind hard enough to jerk him off balance before his eyes could even follow the movement.
The alien had crossed the distance in a blink. Then the alien lifted him up in the air and slammed his body to the ground like a rag doll.
The ground beneath cracked, and fragments of rock flew up, slamming into the alien's armor, before turning to dust.
While Ashton lay on the ground, battered, his broken bones pressed against his skin like countless knives, drawing a groan of agony from his throat.
"Ahahah… ahahah. It hurts so bad"
Groaning in pain, he lifted his gaze and locked eyes with their emotionless eyes.
He saw a rod slowly materialize in the alien's right hand, and they pointed it towards his heart. In an instant, they sent the rod hurling towards his chest.
The rod penetrated his broken armor with ease, and pain exploded in his chest, and fresh red blood began to pour out from his body. The scent of blood, broken metal, and burnt metal filled the air.
But that was the least of his worries; his entire body was in pain, as if he were being cut into countless pieces.
Suddenly, the pain disappeared, replaced by a sense of numbness, and his vision was darkening.
That is when he realized what was happening.
He was dying…
But he refused to die…
"Not today. I have unfinished business.."
He tried to move his body, but no matter how much he tried, he failed, and his vision kept darkening.
Something shattered at the depths of his soul, and his body flooded with unimaginable power; he began to regain control of his body.
Then a whisper brushed his ear, soft, almost gentle, yet it thundered through his mind, making his eyes snap wide in shock.
(Installing the system… Installation Completed!)
(Detecting class… Detected…)
(Prepare for Awakening Flameblade Engineer!)
Ashton felt his body burning from the inside followed by the mechanical voice thundering through his mind.
(Commencing Awakening!!!)