Vestige Chapter 14 - Defeat the Enemy

My nightmare stood there silently in a lonesome grotto. Inside, I pushed Jean, still unconscious, off to the side and checked the intercom. The communications were still quiet, reinforcing how alone I was. Even the GPS wasn't working. Granted it only gave us our position and the position of Han's nightmare, but still, it was useful. Nonetheless, that recent attack did some damage, so I climbed out to see it for myself.

The back armor plates were covered in dents, and nearly falling off. Part of the right track has been blown off too. Still, to make things worse our antenna has been completely wrecked. Without it, there's no hope of getting the intercom or GPS working. We're stuck out here all alone.

I decided it would be best to start moving. To be honest, I had no plan at all for this situation. What am I even supposed to do to recover from this? Still though, staying in the same place would get me nowhere, so I started heading north, this time slower to avoid unwanted attention.

The forest was calm and quiet. Outside, the sun was starting to fall and the cold was setting in. I navigated slowly around the many tall pine trees for what felt like half an hour. Then again, I had no way to check the time, with the antenna gone.

Soon I quickened to a halt, as I was alerted to a sound in front of me. Somewhere ahead, I heard the noise of a nightmare moving. It sounded like just one moving slowly in the forest, so I hopped out and mounted the gun. With Jean out cold, I'm going to have to do this myself. Nonetheless, with darkness setting in, if I sit here and wait I might be able to catch them off guard.

Slowly the sound grew closer and closer. I finally finished loading both barrels and promptly spun the gun towards the darkness. I sat there, eyes darting back and forth, attempting to locate the noise until finally, I could hear it come close. Soon it emerged from the darkness, and I lifted the gun up to meet it. I held my finger right on the trigger, yet hesitated to fire. Wait a moment, this nightmare is red!

"Hey!" I leaped down from my unit and waved my arms back and forth to get their attention.

"The hell?" The nightmare stopped and a familiar voice, Marlo's sounded back. "Wait how are you here?" He jumped down from the top of the unit.

"Weren't you taken out?" He asked.

"No? I thought you were. What happened on your end?" I responded.

"We managed to find unit five." Rocky climbed out of the cockpit and joined us. "It was laying in the forest, completely inoperational."

"So we went up to it, right? And damn! They set us up! As we were inspecting it, a bunch of blue nightmares came out of nowhere and ambushed us!" Marlo explained.

"Watch your language." Rocky interjected.

"Whatever, anyways they blew our antenna right off, so we couldn't use the intercom. Our nightmare wasn't too damaged though, so we ran away. We've wandered around aimlessly since then."

"What about you?" He asked.

"I was driving towards unit five's position when the intercoms went silent. Soon after I was attacked by all five of the enemy's nightmares. They destroyed my antenna too and did some serious damage."

"Damn! They got you too huh?"

"Marlo, profanity! Anyways, what happened to your partner?"

"He's unconscious." I answered.

I pulled Jean up and out of the cockpit and rested him on top of the nightmare. Rocky and Marlo decided to take a look at my nightmare. They said they might be able to repair the right track, so I let them do as they please. In the meantime, I rested on the top of the unit and started formulating a plan.

Looking at Rocky and Marlo's unit, they should be able to do just fine in combat. Which means we could fight back. I could fight with mine as well. I might be able to fire the gun once, and then jump back into the cockpit to drive. I wouldn't be able to use the second volley that way, but maybe it'll work. That's it! I think I might have a plan now.

"How's it going?" I asked.

"Good. We managed to cut off some loose track. That should make it more stable for now, just don't ram it into anything or the whole track will come off." Rocky slid from under the nightmare.

"Right."

"Cool. We fixed the track, but what the hell are we even supposed to do now?" Marlo leaned on the side of my unit.

"I think I might have a plan that could work."

We started moving through the forest back towards the area, I encountered the enemy earlier. Darkness cloaked the woodlands, and we used this to our advantage. The nightmares have headlights, but I didn't use them. Instead, Rocky and Marlo did and drove in front of me, to navigate.

Since we couldn't rely on the intercom, we had to use something different. Promptly, as we drove through the quiet forest, Marlo fired his gun straight through the air. I quickly climbed out of the nightmare. I see it. A couple of lone enemy headlights wandered around to our left. We quickly separated and approached their location.

This plan relies on the fact that we caught the enemy alone, granted we thought ahead for it if they weren't. Luckily as I got closer I saw a single blue nightmare scurrying toward's Marlo and Rocky. I drove fast and hid in the shadows to the enemy unit's right. Marlo and Rocky got the enemy's attention and soon turned off their lights.

Covered in darkness, I climbed up to the guns and fired it at the enemy nightmare as quickly as I could. Did I hit? The night was too thick to tell, but nonetheless, they stopped in their tracks, likely trying to find me.

I quickly loaded the second volley and fired it their way. Again, I couldn't tell if I hit, but in response to my shot, they turned their headlights my way and found me. Just as I wanted.

I quickly jumped down to the cockpit and jetted towards the enemy. It's time they experience their own strategy in action! I drove straight past them and darted into the forest. Drawing their attention, they would have focused on me, giving Marlo the time to land a crucial hit.

Having them drive straight forward towards Marlo and Rocky initially, was extremely important to my plan. They would have instantly lined the front of their nightmare, where the engine is, to Marlo. Then my distraction would have them turn the headlights, which are mounted on the gun's rotation, to my location, as currently, I would have been more of a threat. Running past them just buys even more time for Marlo. During all this time, they would have hopefully been oblivious to Marlo and Rocky, allowing them to take out the enemy completely.

There was no way to know if the plan worked right away. After gaining enough distance, I stopped and looked out behind me. All I could see back there was a single pair of headlights. Which means one of them must have lost their engine or turned out their headlights. I stared at the lone pair of headlights for moments on end, until finally, the lights flashed on and off three times.

Victory! That was the signal from Marlo, that the plan was a success. I quickly drove back to their location.

"Ah, man. What are we supposed to do now then?" Someone audibly complained. I stopped the nightmare next to Marlo and Rocky's and jumped out. In front of me, they were talking to a couple of boys. Beside them, stood an extremely damaged blue unit. The front armor had been completely blown to the side, exposing the engine and other components.

"Ah, there you are, Lulu." Rocky greeted me as I jumped down. "It looks like we were successful."

"Indeed, we're done yet though-" I was suddenly cut off by the sound of a pistol in the distance.

"Damn it!" Marlo yelled.

Two hours had already passed? To be honest, it felt like longer than that. Nonetheless, I feel accomplished after all this. Maybe we didn't take them all out, or win the battle, yet we formulated a strategy and executed it concisely.

"You took out our engine! How the hell are we gonna get back now?" The boy on the other team argued.

In the end, we decided to give them a ride. We didn't know how to fix their nightmare, so we just left it there. Luckily their GPS was still working so hopefully Han can find it in the morning. This also allowed us to know which direction to go in.

Soon after half an hour or so, we came across a clearing in the forest, illuminated with light. A large fire had been started and around it, five or so nightmares stood silently. Many were covered in blast marks, dents, and scrapes. I parked my unit nearby and jumped out.

"Thanks for the ride."

"Yeah." The boy ran off to his friend sitting on a log by the fire.

In the dead of night, the relics of the battle were but memories. Nature was unscathed and the large fire created a warming atmosphere. Soon, Han emerged from one of the tents that was set up and approached me.

"Haha! You did good, Lulu." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "Y'all put what I said yesterday into practice perfectly! You adapted to your surroundings and came up with a new strategy on the fly! Though you didn't win, you did well. You and you're whole team. The others managed to take out two other units, making it an even 2-2 game in the end."

"Thank you, sir. But, if I may ask, how did you know about the strategy I came up with?" I asked.

"Well because I put a camera and a mic in all of your nightmares! I've been watching y'all this whole time!"

"Oh."

"Alright, now go join the others, we're gonna be staying out here for the night, so get cozy!" Han yelled in his usual vigor before going off and talking to another student.

I walked over and sat by the fire.

"Hey." Aurelia emerged from the darkness and sat next to me.

"Hi."

"I heard what happened from Marlo. He's been bragging at the top of his lungs nonstop!" Aurelia joked. "Anyways, that was really cool! I'm sorry I couldn't help you out. My nightmare got completely destroyed early on!" She nervously laughed.

"It's fine."

We sat there for a few moments, silently staring at the fire. Kids around us were talking and laughing. A few were cooking hotdogs and marshmallows on the fire. I think Han, must have brought them for us, nonetheless, I'm not really hungry right now.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you're doing alright?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You've been acting strange lately. Ever since that plane ride, you've been going off about serums, and memories. Not to mention what you said yesterday, about killing Mother. It's all got me really worried for you, Lulu."

"I'm doing fine and everything I said yesterday is what really happened."

"What?"

"Let me explain this. We killed our Mother and Both of us took a serum that turned us into monsters and back. It all happened before we came here. You had just forgotten all of this!" I began to raise my voice a bit.

"Lulu, this is what I'm talking about!" Aurelia raised her voice to meet mine.

"What? I'm trying to explain to you what's happened!"

"That's all just a huge lie! You're going on about nonsense. None of that ever happened!"

"Yes it did, Aurelia!"

"Then, why don't I remember it?"

"Because they put you on a machine that got rid of your memories!"

"When the hell did I do that!?" Aurelia cleary began to grow angry.

"Before the plane ride."

"That never happened, Lulu! Before the plane ride, we Mother brought us to the enlistment building, said goodbye and we got on!"

"It never went like that."

"Lulu." Aurelia's voice calmed and she stood up, clearly seeing the people around us began to look our way. "I don't think my memories are the problem. I think it's yours. To be honest, you're sounding delusional right now." She walked off.

I sat there quietly staring into the warm fire for a few moments, contemplating what had happened. Why am I so angry about this? Maybe it's because I burden this past by myself? Maybe it's because Gray and Aurelia have changed so much? Nonetheless, this whole thing leaves me sad and angry. I try to explain things, yet she won't understand. She won't hear me out.

"Hey." A familiar voice called behind me.

"Jean?" I turned behind me.

"What's up?" He sat down next to me.

"You're awake? How are you doing?"

"Yeah, I woke up about five minutes ago. I mean, my head hurts, but like I'm doing fine."

"That's good."

"Hey, I heard from Marlo, what happened while I was out. Nice work. You kicked some serious ass without me."

"Thanks."

"Anyways, I heard what you were saying to Aurelia a moment ago."

"Oh, you overheard that? Don't pay any attention to that. It's just an argument between us, that's all."

"Lulu. Come with me."

"Huh?"

"Just indulge me alright?"

Jean led me out into the forest, away from everyone else and to a spot where no one could hear us.

"We need to talk."