Order of Magnitude

XXVI. Unequal Proportions

      Turner fell to the ground, bleeding and moaning. Chandra rushed over to him, and the rest of the SubTerrans brandished their weapons. Petar, meanwhile, pulled Carlisle back forcefully. "Stop, stop!" he said, trying to calm everybody down. "This is not what I wanted."

      "You tried to disarm us," Chandra said in a rage. "You ordered your puppet to attack us. What did you honestly think was going to happen?"

      "I tried to disarm you to prevent you from harming us or whatever was on our land. And I still believe that is the proper course of action."

      "You are out of your mind," Jacques said. "How about you leave your weapons or my group will slaughter you where you stand."

      "My student just got a little overzealous, that's all," Petar announced pleadingly. "There is no need for violence."

      "The only way that's going to happen is if you high tail it out of here immediately," Jacques snarled. "Chandra, how is he?"

      The former SubTerran leader hastily cleaned Turner's wound. "He's still alive. It doesn't look like he was stabbed that deep. He could still pull through."

      "Consider yourself lucky, pale man."

      "There is no luck involved in what happened here," Petar said. "We wish for peace. That is why we must insist on you relinquishing your weapons-"

      Chandra stood up. "You are insane!" she shouted, and rushed forward.

      "No!" Petar pleaded for the redhead to stop, but it was too late; she was bearing down on him, her grappling hook wielded menacingly. Morse stood in her way, and was immediately slashed. The other members of the Lost army came forward to defend their leader. This, in turn, drew the rest of the SubTerrans to join in the fight.

      Petar shouted for peace and surrender, but was drowned out by the sound of battle. Carlisle grabbed his leader by the wrist and led him safely away before he too was overcome by the advancing parvs.

      Chandra was poked at with a wooden stick, but she deflected it perfectly and threw a fist at her assailant. Her hook was still stuck inside of Morse's dying body, and she dug it out viciously.

      Alongside her, Jean was occupied punching and kicking one of the Lost members on the ground. Jacques, on the other hand, remained behind the swarming carnage, protected by a wall of followers, as well as Meghan, who clutched him tightly from his side.

      The battle was over in seconds. It was 4 vs. hundreds. Most of the SubTerrans didn't even know there was a skirmish happening. In fact, the whole back row was still marching forward, trying to catch up to the rest of group. When all was said and done, Chandra meandered back to Turner's body.

      "How are you feeling?" she asked him as his eyes blinked open.

      "Like I'd just been stabbed," was his curt answer.

      "I don't know why you left yourself so open and vulnerable like that," she said, checking his wound again.

      "Carlisle was one of us. He was my friend."

      "Some friend. Looks like he's got his own group now."

      Turner sat up, which caused immediate pain to his side. "I don't even know how he met up with those guys. If this is their land, then they've been surviving close to a human population for a long time."

      "Maybe their land is expansive, like ours is. But, let's just make this clear right now. This is not their land, or our land. This area belongs to the giants."

      "Not for long," Jacques smiled as he approached his wounded soldier. "Can he move?"

      "I'm not sure. Maybe we should give him a few minutes. We don't want to aggravate his injury."

      "I wish we could, but we don't have time to waste." Jacques thought for a moment. "How about this; Chandra, you Scarlet, Edison, and Hagen will carry him while we march."

      "Carry him?" Chandra asked incredulously. "With what?"

      "Get a leaf or something. You four should be able to handle him. Besides, if something happens to me, we're going to need all five of you to continue my legacy. But make no mistake; this setback will not interfere with our mission." And with that, Jacques gave the word and the SubTerrans continued their march to the Burger World.