Wolves
Recovery

“Die, you motherfu--” an orange-jumpsuit-clad man shouted,interrupted by two blasts to the chest from a Nektro rifle. The blackprinted numbers on his chest were obscured by blood as countlessalien troopers rushed past him. Traw witnessed the escaped prisonersclashing with the Nektro footsoldiers as he drove past thepenitentiary division, a gunfire-accented storm of orange and gray.Despite many of them still being bound in chains, the prisoners wereengaging the Nektro in hand-to-hand combat and gunning them down inthe courts and streets with rifles snatched from the lifeless handsof dozens of guards. Then the cannon fire ensued.

Disregarding the footsoldiers within the prison boundaries, theNektro warship opened fire from above, its devastating cannonstearing apart the buildings and courts in plumes of laser-inducedexplosions. Men and Nektro alike were crushed and blown apart underthe sheer might of the cannonfire.

Traw desperately sped by, trying to avoid both the colossalexplosions and the physical obstacles blocking his path. All aroundhim there was chaos. Twice he narrowly dodged stray laser shots fromthe battle in the prison courtyard. Just as he set his sights on theschool division a mile down one of the long, straight roads, anexplosion knocked him off his speeder, blowing shrapnel and flamingtrash everywhere.

He lay unconscious as twilight fell over the city. Flames and dyingsunlight were nearly indistinguishable. Then he awoke to the sound ofa nearby explosion, scrambling to rise from the hot ground. Awkwardlyhe lifted himself to his feet, staggering around. Blood ran down theside of his head. He lifted his goggles off and dropped themcarelessly. The world was a blur of smoke and rubble. Glancingfrantically around him, he stumbled back against a brick wall,clutching the side of a garbage container. “Get Luella,” hemumbled, pushing himself onward on the long stretch of road.

As he staggered down the street, a caravan of fleeing schooltransport ships headed toward him, escorted by four police speeders.He stopped, waving his hand in the air. “My daughter's in there!”he yelled, his mind still rattled from the blast. One of the policestopped in front of him.

“What is it, sir? What do you need?” the officer asked, hisblack gloved hand on his holster.

“I need my daughter,” Traw replied, slurring his words. “She'sin one of those vehicles.”

“I'm sorry, sir. We're taking these ships directly to theemergency station. We stop for no--”

“Give me my daughter, you bastard!” Traw screamed, advancing onthe officer with a raised fist. “I'm the only one who can keep hersafe, you hear? Luella! Where are you, darlin'?”

Traw looked down the cold barrel of the officer's pistol. “Stepaway from the convoy, sir,” the officer commanded calmly. Trawwatched the rows of vehicles as they passed, standing in the samespot. “I said step away!” the officer repeated, his fingergetting tighter on the trigger.

Traw took two uneasy steps backward, raising his open hands. Thelast of the vehicles passed by, and the officer sped up to join theconvoy, holstering his pistol. Traw stood where he had been orderedto halt, watching the convoy depart. Then he turned about to see afrantic mob of people fleeing, a few of them falling by laser shotsto the back. He ducked and sought cover in a heap of rubble andcharred trash as they passed, with a Nektro platoon in hot pursuit.Both parties passed with no notice of him, and when he deemed thearea safe, he sneaked out and glanced back down the street.

Every key compound in the city had been struck by cannonfire. Trawwalked toward the wreckage of his speeder, realizing that there wasno salvaging it. “My gun,” he muttered, scanning about on theground. The fires from afar illuminated the streets, and he found thebarrel of his gun sticking out from beneath a garbage container, andhe slid it out.

Judging it to still be worthy of use, he began his journey towardthe emergency station. “Luella,” he repeated to himself, gunslung over his shoulder.

After a long hike through darkness and rubble, he found it at last.It was a large bunker, fortified with three rows of barriers and afew cannons, all of which had been blown out in the battle. Threeplatoons of Nektro soldiers surrounded the bunker, with severalestablished turrets opening fire at the points of entry. “I don'tthink so,” he grumbled, taking his aim from behind a blasted-outwall.

He shot down three of the gunners, then set his sights on thecommanders. Traw struck them in the sides of the heads with wellplaced shots from his rifle. One of the remaining commanders pointedimperiously toward Traw, uttering a deep-throated command, and eightNektro soldiers ran toward him, opening fire.

Traw took cover behind the rubble, squeezing his eyes shut as cementchunks and dust sprayed about him. He raised himself again and firedoff three shots in rapid succession, then ducking. He had no idea ifthe shots met their targets. Sebastian sprung up again and clickedhis trigger, to no avail. The energy in his rifle had been expended.Rolling to the side and avoiding two blasts, he picked up a straybrick and flung it at one of the Nektro, its head smashed by theobject. The Nektro's fire intensified, forcing him to hide behind amound of garbage.

Realizing he had no choice, Traw grabbed another brick and crouchedat the ready, awaiting the arrival of a footsoldier eager to completeits task. Though to his surprise, he heard a hailfire of shots andNektro cries of pain that followed. The new shots didn't bear thestrange, fluid chirp the Nektro rifles did when they discharged ablast. In fact, he almost found the sound to be relieving. Althoughhe suspected the Nektro were no longer such a pressing threat, Trawdecided to wait it out another twenty seconds or so before leavinghis barrier.

As he emerged, he saw twenty GAM troopers walking across the fieldof Nektro corpses, inspecting them with flashlights. They worevarious protective pads and straps that held tactical tools andammunition. Flashlights were strapped to their dense, padded helmetsand to the ends of their bulky rifles. “We're good over here!”one of them called.

“And over here!” another one chimed.

“Alright, let's get these civilians out of here and to thechopper. Move it, the next platoon's comin' in hot!” a sturdy, deepvoice commanded.

Traw approached the leader with raised hands. “Excuse me, sir,”he introduced. The squad leader turned about, a smoking magnum in hisright hand and a communicator device in the other.

“What do you need? We're not giving you any rations or medicine.If you want some, you can scavenge in there after we're done here,”the leader told him, making his disinterest plain as day.

“No, I just need my daughter. She should be in there,” Trawinformed the leader. He glanced over to see the troopers prying openthe shabby barricade.

The squad leader paused, looking Traw over head to toe. “We'll seeif your daughter's in there. When we let them out, she'll comerunning to you...assuming she is in fact your daughter.”

“I know she is,” Traw assured him. They both watched as thetroopers ripped down the last layer of barricade, ensuring thecivilians that they were on their side. After a few seconds ofhesitation, civilians began to flow out. Traw walked up to the doorand scanned each one's face anxiously.

To his immense relief, Luella was there among her schoolmates. “Oh,God, Luella,” he exclaimed, picking her up. She embraced her fathersilently, unable to speak a word. The squad leader watched frombeside a turret, studying the girl's response. By the hand, Traw ledhis daughter away.

The squad leader walked in front of them, staring Traw straight inthe eye with squinted lids. “You'll have to forgive me for doubtingyou're her parent,” the leader apologized. “I can't count howmany times men have tried to take random girls away after battleslike this. I haven't let one of them get away with it to this day,and that's something I don't intend to change.”

“Understandable,” Traw granted, looking down at his daughteragain. “Do you know what's goin' on with the rest of the city?”

“I couldn't tell you specifics if I wanted to,” the leaderanswered, “but as of now, this quadrant of the city is secure. Weflushed out the Nektro air armada, and they're in full retreat. Wegot boys shootin' down the rest of the Nektro soldiers in the streetsas we speak. By this time tomorrow, the city will be secure.”

“And how are we supposed to get home? I got a wife that's probablyworried sick and a speeder that ain't gonna run even if I bribed itwith a fresh can of oil.”

“We've arranged for all rural civilians to be taken to theirindividual residencies. You should be out of here within the hour.”

“Thank you,” Traw concluded, holding Luella's hand tight.

“Just doing my job. We all gotta eat.”

Weary and beaten, Sebastian and Luella walked up the long drivewayto the homestead, and were met halfway by Louise.

She cried.

Later that night, when Luella was fast asleep in bed, Sebastian andLouise lied in their own, staring at the ceiling. “I shouldn't 'avelet her go,” Sebastian uttered, his face clean after a cold shower.“I insisted she went to school, and...Louise, she coulda died.”His brow furrowed as his mind spun.

“Babe, it wasn't your fault,” she excused. “What matters isyou're both safe here. At home.”

“I dunno. I wish I would have just--”

Louise began kissing his cheek slowly, wrapping her arms around him.He just stared at the ceiling, unfazed by his wife's embrace. “Thatwarship. I've never seen anything that big. And those guns...theywere like thunder.” She stopped, propping herself gently on hischest.

“Look at me,” she told him in a soft voice. “You're safe.We're safe. You did a heroic thing, gettin' Luella outta there. We'reboth safe because of you, and we'll always be.”

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