A group of Glowing ones charged with a screech, racing on all fours towards them, leaving a trail of lava dropping from their long and thin limbs. Ashley’s shot from her sniper rifle hit one of them in his featureless face, but he moved forward as if nothing happened. The next one ripped off his left arm from the body, but another one grew in seconds. They were tougher than expected.

Felix crouched behind the railgun cannon as the system placed a red icon over the five enemies. The coils around the barrel glowed of hot red light, and when the bar reached one hundred percent on the screen, he pulled the lever backward.

He ducked as the whole weapon moved backward from the recoil, and a cloud of white smoke billowed around him. When he raised his gaze again, only flaming orange mush remained.

“Good job”, said Ashley, rising from the ground with her anti-materiel rifle;

“I just pulled a trigger”;

“That’s the difference between life and death”.

They turned towards the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge, where Elliot, Cole, and Milton were huddled around the large metal box of the charge.

“We’re clear”, said Felix on the radio channel of his full helmet.

“There’s a problem with the circuits. We need still three minutes”, said Elliot, “Wait”;

“Roger”, he said, but in reality, he wanted to get the hell away from this place as soon as possible. The skyscrapers of the city were now piles of rubble hidden in the darkness, inhabited only by the monsters he fought before. He activated the armor’s air-recycling system, as the tall visible flames and columns of smoke coming from Central Park made the air unbreathable.

“Have you thought about the plan?”, he said;

“What do you mean?”, she said, “Aren’t we going to be evacuated?”;

“The other plan”.

She groaned, “Not again”, she said;

“I don’t really care much anymore, but you still have someone-”;

“You should mind your business, Felix”, he couldn’t see the expression behind the helmet, but she must have been angry, “You’re talking about very dangerous things”.

He just wanted at least to do a good action, the one he didn’t do with his family before it was too late.

“Sorry. Just having a bad moment”;

“Just don’t dig it anymore”.

Felix turned towards the other three, as more than three minutes had passed.

“What’s happening?”, he said on the radio channel of his full helmet;

“We’re nearly done”, answered Elliot, “Everything is fine”. Elliot waved his arm towards him but stopped and raised his head towards the white bright light descending on the bridge. The earth started to shake, and cracks started to form on the already broken tarmac. The rumbling noise was so loud it was going beyond the protective layer of the helmet, making his eyelids twitch.

“What’s happening!?”, Ashley said;

“I don’t know!”. The steel cables of the bridge snapped and dangled loose, while the roadway started to swing from one side to the other. This couldn’t be the charge. Felix grabbed the railgun and turned it towards whatever was coming.

A perfectly sphered spaceship was levitating over the rough waters of the river, slowly moving towards the bridge. His eyes widened, “This can’t be”;

“Why would they be here?”.

Felix opened the radio channel, “Elliot!”. The air around the three men started wavering, and he already knew what was going to happen. He pushed Ashley on the ground, as the explosion made a shower of debris ring against the metal of their armors. White smoke billowed around them, and steam started to form on the visor.

Attention! Said a message on top of his vision, Body temperature rising beyond safe levels.

“We must go and save them!”, said Ashley, running in the smoke.

“Wait!”, there was no way they had survived the explosion, but she was already gone.

The railgun lost all the power in the explosion, and Felix didn’t have the time to try to find a reason. He pulled the submachine gun from the holster and followed her inside the cloud of smoke. He didn’t care if he died, but she still had someone waiting for her, and he couldn’t allow it.

Cole’s body was lying sprawled on the ground, with a metal splinter sticking between his eyes, “I’m sorry”, said Felix, as he moved towards the gunfire. He ducked as a shower of rocks fell from the nearest tower bridge, and a cable swung in front of him. The road’s inclination was becoming steeper towards the sea, as half of the bridge was already gone underwater, but he couldn’t see the spaceship anymore.

Elliot was lying behind the charge box, and Felix had to follow the trail of blood with his gaze to see where the left leg was gone. Enemy’s spears of fire were making sizzling sounds around him, but the excessive heat had already disabled most of the sensors, and red error icons wouldn’t stop from flashing on his vision. Ashley pulled the trigger from her rifle and turned towards him, “I’ll cover you!”;

“Where’s Milton?”, Felix said;

“Gone!”, said Elliot. Heavy breathing was coming out of the helmet, “What are you doing here? Leave me here and save yourselves, you fools!”. Felix pulled him up and carried on his back.

“We’ll never leave a comrade behind”, said Ashley, and threw a smoke grenade in front of her, giving more time to Felix to move away. He was far stronger than a normal person but carrying nearly half a ton of man and armor was tough.

“Glowing one!”, said Elliot, and Felix raised the submachine gun. The burst wasn’t enough to kill him, but it slowed him enough that Ashley was able to cut his head off with the cryogenic sword.

The bridge started to rumble again as part of the roadway behind them crumbled in the sea, and they were now walking uphill. Felix gritted his teeth as he moved as fast as he could because if they fell in the water it’d be the end.

“Elliot”, said Felix, “How is it?”. His head slumped on his shoulder, “Elliot!”. He moved slightly his head, “I’m fine”, but his voice was already too weak.

Three Glowing Ones charged towards them. There was no way Ashley could put them down alone. “I’m sorry”, said Felix, as he dropped Elliot on the ground and unsheathed the cryogenic sword. One of them jumped towards him, but he sliced the arm lurching towards him in mid-air, cutting it off in a cloud of steam and sparkles.

He dropped the now useless sword on the ground, and, as he was unsheathing the other one, a screech filled his ears and a wave of heat hit him, pushing him to the ground.

The Glowing One grabbed his neck. Steam and bubbles were forming on the armor, while cracks were appearing on his vision. Felix tried to kick him with no avail and trying to grab it back was impossible as it was like try lava. He couldn’t breathe anymore as he was being cooked inside the armor.

The cryogenic sword cut off his enemy’s head, making him collapse on the ground.

“Thank you”, he said, as Ashley gave him a hand to pull himself up. She ran towards Elliot and shook his body, but the red light had already lighted on his chest.

“We must go”, he said, “There’s nothing we can do anymore”. Ashley caressed Elliot’s cheek with a sigh, “I’m coming”.

They left the bridge and retreated in the darkness, running among the rubble, but at last, they had to stop to let the armors cool down.

Ashley turned towards him, “How are you?”, she said;

“Mostly fine”. Nothing could be a surprise anymore, and the death of most of his team left him cold, even If he knew all those people from the Academy days.

“But the bridge is gone now”, he said, “It will hard to leave this place”. They were most likely doomed.

“We’ll find a way”, she said, “We can remove our armors and swim”;

“I don’t think it can be feasible”;

“I’m sure that everything will be fine”, she said, “We’ve have survived much worse things. Remember in Alas-”

The fire spear made a cracking sound as it perforated the side of the helmet. Ashley collapsed on her knees as another one pierced her breastplate from end to end, pushing her backward. Felix caught her falling body, but there was nothing he could do anymore. He opened the visor of her helmet, showing her closed eyes and blood-soaked hair. As it happened with everybody else, he couldn’t save her.

He raised his gaze to the bright light of the spaceship in front of him. A young woman wearing a white dress was walking towards him without casting a shadow. Her long dark hair was moving even if the air was still, and her feet weren’t touching the ground.

“Come, Felix”, she said, giving her hand.

How could he say no? It was his wife after all.

His metal gauntlet touched the long and slender pale fingers. Darkness enveloped him, and when his eyes opened again, he was on the ground, coughing blood as he raised his chin towards the fire spear sticking from his neck.