Fade (Walker #74033 fanfiction) Book 1

Chapter 15

Night had arrived quicker than he thought. The sliver of moon shone brightly in the dark sky, which was punctured with multiple stars. He began jogging toward the forest that had been nearby, wanting to hide from the RX-8's that had flown out of the temple and were searching, headlights lighting up the ground. He felt himself beginning to panic, breathing heavily, unsure of what to do next, when another rumble sounded behind him, unlike the one caused by the drones. He turned to see a car approaching, the headlights making it impossible to see who was driving. He put his hand over his eyes and squinted.

"Get in." It was #20.

Jevden didn't waste time. He jumped into the passenger seat, and #20 stepped on the acceleration, shooting the car into high gear. He glanced behind and saw that the drones were flying after them, but now they were attracting a group. He looked down and saw the container sitting on the car floor behind the driver's seat and he sighed in relief. The thought of losing the disk had scared him for a moment.

"What's going on?" He asked. "Where are the others?"

"My entire team..." #20 started, then paused. "They're all gone."

Jevden looked down, understanding right away. "How did they find us?"

"I think when they were retreating from those cities, they had a different location in mind," he replied gruffly. "It was #2's fear that Red Nexus would find the disk before we did, and now I see he was justified with it. I couldn't believe it at first; the only way to find those disks is by deciphering the code of our scans, but they must've found another way."

"At least they got it back to the buggy," Jevden said.

#20 shook his head. "They didn't. It happened right before they reached it. An explosion took out the car and them. The disk was safe in the box, but they weren't."

Jevden looked confused. "So, where did this one come from?"

#20 smiled at him for the first time since Red Nexus attacked them. "You don't know everything about our AVI-8's."

Jevden wanted to question it, but he was cut off when multiple red lasers began shooting at them. "Turn left here!" He cried out.

#20 looked at him incredulously, but obliged, swerving to the left. Jevden nearly banged into the car door, but steadied himself and activated his drone. It maintained their speed, flying right next to them. Jevden had it rotate around and fired a few shots at the RX-8's behind them. The first couple fell short, but one struck a drone on the far right, causing it to dip down and smash into the ground. They continued driving across a green plain as Jevden tried to shoot down the RX-8's closing in on them.

"How are we going to lose these things?" He asked.

"I don't have a plan," #20 responded as he rounded another turn, keeping close to the woods. That gave Jevden an idea.

"I'm going to shoot at a few of the trees," he said. "Just keep driving."

"Well, I'm certainly not stopping," #20 replied.

Jevden looked ahead and aimed his drone at one of the taller trees on the path. He fired two lasers, and they hit the trunk in different places. It began to fall as they raced by.

"Faster!" Jevden cried out. "Before we get crushed along with them."

#20 gritted his teeth as he sped up, shooting by just as the tree clobbered three of the drones. They hit the ground in mini explosions, tearing up the grass behind them. Jevden grinned in satisfaction.

#20 smiled slightly. "Not bad. Just don't destroy too much wildlife."

"Well," Jevden said. "If it helps us survive."