Chapter 61

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Planet: Eteran, Sanctum Outpost

First Insurgency War

JAMES

Night fell.

Edevic rifle set against the small pod, he listened to the hush of the forest within his temporary sniper tower, where Maia took the back and wrote down on her datapad. His own rested beside him, counting any change in the wind and noted disturbances. Most of them, Gorgots.

"Any movements?" Maia asked.

He rested his cheek against his rifle and aimed down the scope to examine another Gorgot when it ran into the bushes, where the squeak of prey echoed through his ears. He lifted his head to the canopy when birds scattered. His fingers rested on the grip of the rifle while ice slipped down his spine and reminded him of a time he longed to forget.

"You going to jump at birds?" Maia mused.

James withdrew his rifle and holstered it over his shoulder. "No," he mumbled. "Something's wrong."

I recognize this feeling.

Maia peeked her head out of the window. "What is it?"

"The air." James clenched his fists. "It's changed." He scowled, and followed his instinct to leap out of the window. He balanced on the small edge, ready to take the fall.

"James—" He dodged her hand. "Get back in here, what sniper leaves his nest?"

"One that knows when to move with the change," he said and held onto the windowsil. I know this air... "Focus, Maia."

Smoke tickled the scar deep in his heart, and he steadied himself when an explosion rocked the forest and the entirety of the tower. It fell silent, and James scooted out of the way when Maia joined him on the edge.

Black pillars of ash blocked and swallowed the clouds. Fire and embers lit in the darkness. James stood on the hill, out of the way of any danger while everything he knew burned to nothing.

Maia clapped her hand against her mask. "James, that's where the hospital is!"

"No time!" James leaped off the edge, where his shock boots caught the brunt of his fall, and Maia joined him on the grassy forest floor. He rushed for the source of the past once more, but the heat weighed down his lungs and seared through his chest in reminder. He skidded to a halt when his compearl chirped, and he tugged Maia into cover when the ground trembled. "Who the hell is contacting me on my personal line...?"

He answered, "Hello?"

"I don't have much time," Rayan's voice sounded through a blurry autumn, and he choked on the embers in his lungs while the explosions on the other end of the line intensified. "The Insurgents attacked the hospital." He leaned against the cover of the tree when Rayan sobbed. "James, listen to me, I'm—"

Autumn burned.

He clicked on his compearl in desperation, to find the truth in the flames. "Fuck!" he hissed, then turned to the ball of flames. He shoved Maia. "We need to go! Now! Communications are down!"

Again and again.

Another explosion sent him reeling, and he tapped on his compearl for one last shred of hope. He raced for the break in the trees, where the foundations of the hospital groaned and cracked while smoke bloomed out of the windows like lilies of death. Debris scattered across the concrete clearing. James searched, and listened past the torrential inferno. It scattered with life, but he found a familiar heartbeat. One he heard in the embrace of the golden leaves.

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