Eden | Raven Reyes (s.u)

Chapter Two

Earth was absolutely beautiful. Blaire Stone could feel her breath being taken away once more as she noticed another flowering bush. It seemed like forever since she had been among trees like these or even had so much colour in her life. She couldn't even remember the last time Earth was so helplessly lush and perfect. She wanted to stay in the peaceful nature of Earth but yet the heavy weight of her gun in her hands continued to snap her back into reality every few seconds. 

Diyoza's words had done little to settle her, whoever was still down there, or if people even were, were most likely going to shoot first, the war was inevitable and once more Blaire was trapped in the middle, her responsibilities and loyalties pressing in on each side. 

The prisoners were fanned all across the valley, but it didn't take long for Blaire to discover a small colourful village placed directly in the middle of the valley. Her eyes were immediately drawn to fresh car tracks, that was all the confirmation she needed. They were other people here, she just didn't know the amount. 

A gunshot echoed through the air, sounding like it was coming from all sides. All the prisoners froze, Diyoza signalling them all to stop. 

"Jenson, Baines, we heard two more gunshots in your direction. Report." McCreary signalled over the radio, only to receive static from the other end. 

"What's it mean?" Shaw asked, turning to look over to Diyoza. 

"Means we're not alone," Diyoza responded as everyone fanned out, searching in every direction. 

Blaire was on high alert, her eyes darting between the trees searching for any sign of movement that didn't already come from their own crew, her feet mindlessly traipsing forward. The tranquillity of the forest had been shattered. However, the birds were still there, chirping overhead, taunting Blaire. There were hostiles, and they had shot first, already killing two of their own men. Blaire had felt an initial desire to protect these people she knew nothing about, but now her loyalty won over, besides there was nothing she could do about it now. These hostiles, whoever they were, had fallen right into Diyoza's trap just like Blaire knowingly had. 

A bone-chilling scream rocketed through the forest, sending goosebumps up Blaire's arms, the hair standing on end on her neck. She of course had heard worse, but considering she was nearly certain the screen belonged to one of them, it wasn't good. 

"Help! Help me!"

Blaire whipped her head around in the direction of the voice, Diyoza voicing her thoughts as she waved everyone to the direction of the scream. 

"This way."

The screams continued, getting more desperate as the seconds wore on. Diyoza led them to a clearing, where Blaire immediately spotted the sign of distress. One of the prisoners stood, with his neck craned to the sky in agony, two sharp blades coated with blood sticking straight out of him. 

"Hold."

Blaire dropped to ground, roughly hidden behind a few rocks, clicking the safety off her gun and holding it firmly at the ready. 

"I said hold." Diyoza repeated as McCreary and one of his cronies continued forward to the bloody scene before them. 

"This is not your damn army. I'm not just gonna let a man-" McCreary hardly had the time to finish his sentence before another bullet ricocheted forward, piercing another prisoner right between his eyes, sending McCreary reeling back behind the rock, the rest of the prisoners were gathered behind. 

The man's agonised screams only increased in volume as the longer he went without any sign of help. Blaire's eyes scanned the clearing, searching for any sign of movement, the glint of a gun in the sunlight or a small puff of smoke from the bullets. 

"That ridge line, one O'clock." Diyoza informed, gesturing upwards with her gun. 

"Yeah."

"Light it up." Diyoza commander. 

"My pleasure." McCreary replied before immediately gesturing to the prisoners hidden further back to bring forward, their biggest and deadliest weapon yet. Blaine stepped forward the large gun in his hands before handing gently to McCreary, he met Blaire's eyes briefly before stepping back. 

The gun whirred before sending a blast towards the ridge line, sending rocks and dust flying through the air. 

"They're on the move." McCreary observed before Diyoza turned to him. 

"Get me someone to interrogate." Diyoza ordered. "That means alive, McCreary, you copy?"

"I copy." McCreary returned, gesturing behind him. "On me." He whistled. 

Several prisoners fell out, following McCreary's instruction as Blaire watched the back of her brother's head retreat with them. 

"Go to the ship and get me a stretcher and a med kit, now." Diyoza informed Shaw, before looking over at Blaire. "Stone, will stay with me."

"A med kit, you can't be serious?" Blaire spoke up. "I hate to say it but he's not lasting that much longer."

"I didn't know they taught thoracic surgery in SEAL training." Shaw added, looking over to Diyoza. "Maybe if you didn't make Paxton 'Graveyard' McCreary your right hand, we'd still have a doctor."

Diyoza moved quickly, placing a bullet in the middle of the impaled prisoner's head, finally putting him out of his misery. 

"McCreary's still useful, and so are you, for now." Diyoza reprimanded. "Go to war with the army you have, not the army you want."

"Why does it have to be war at all?" Shaw continued. 

"They shot first, they killed first. How are you still asking that?" Blaire asked. 

"Spoken like a man who gave jets for spaceships." Diyoza continued, both Shaw and Diyoza ignoring Blaire's comment. 

"What can I say? I choose speed over death every time." Shaw returned, turning around. 

"How about life over death, Lieuntenant? Do you choose that, too?" Diyoza questioned. "Without this valley, we die. I'd say that's worth fighting over, wouldn't you? Glad we got that cleared up." Diyoza walked forward, pressing Shaw's gun to his stomach, as Blaire watched Diyoza leave the clearing. 

"You saw what it was like up there, Shaw." Blaire said, turning to the pilot. "A wasteland, apart from this tiny little speck of green. There's nothing else for us out there, just this. If we lose it, we die."

"What about this whole 'righting out wrongs' thing you were going on about up on the ship."

"First I protect my people, my brother, then we right our wrongs with what's ours."