Chapter 21: Leader

Commander Rein was flying back toward where General Arthur apparently was. He’d left the group of soldiers who were fleeing the battle with Mayhems chasing them to help Arthur out. There weren’t many soldiers in the back of the now-dismantled circle formation fending off the Mayhems to buy time for the rest. They must all have left also, desperate to keep their lives. It would seem that this would mean that he would have to take over the role of defending the rear. Why else would Arthur call him? They trusted each other and knew they could count on each other to help out and watch their back during battle.

Rein heard Arthur shouting to Drake in the distance: “…when I see someone like you, in the new generation, eager to fight our enemies, and Steve, who’s determined to help humanity at any cost or effort, it leaves me satisfied with how I’m leaving things…”

What?!?

What was going on? Those were contextually the words of a man who was about to die. He could see now that a human figure was inside of a mutated bird’s mouth. His mind easily put together the pieces, but he didn’t want to believe it.

“…I can now die on the battlefield, with pride, without regrets, and for humanity. In return, for my sake, go to the SORS, find out whatever caused this Apocalypse, and keep fighting for humanity.”

No! Darian! Don’t leave us like this. Don’t leave me like this! You still have so many responsibilities as the head of the Defense Force. You have to do so much. I can’t take care of it. I can’t lead this mission on my own. I… Everyone else we’ve known—all our friends—are dead. We’ve only had each other. Don’t leave me alone. I don’t want to…

Before Rein could reach where he was, Arthur’s old limbs gave in, unable to keep clinging for dear life, and he fell down the bird’s mouth.

“NO!!!” he shouted at the same time as Drake, amplifying and providing an additional layer of sound that echoed under the dark clouds.

He wanted to grieve, but he had important work to do. Drake was in danger. Apart from the bird, there was a bunch of Mayhems heading toward the site where he was. Closer to Rein was a young man in a broken buggy. He needed to get the two out of danger and regroup with the rest.

Rein decided to help the nearer person first. It was someone he recognized the face of as the one who conceived the idea of the Expedition. Rein believed his name to be Steve, the one Arthur was talking about in his last moments along with Drake.

Rein went to the struggling Steve and helped him get his leg out from a crack in which it was stuck by lifting the dashboard of the buggy with him with maximum effort.

“Start running in the opposite direction. I’ll get Drake and catch up. We’ll rejoin the others.”

Steve looked hesitant at first, looking at Drake worriedly, but complied and ran as fast as he could on his damaged leg.

Meanwhile, Drake seemed to have gone crazy; he was attacking the black bird, a Raven, in vain, if it could even be called attacking. He was thrashing at its leg. The group of Mayhems surrounded him and the Raven.

Rein bit his lip. How was he going to get him out? Maybe he could fly through the air and swoop down to the legs of the bird and grab Drake. He could probably evade the other Mayhems and fly past them. The main problem was the bird itself. He’d have to take the risk and fly in. It reminded him of the situation toward the end of the Gorilla incident. Drake was too valuable an asset to the Defense Force to abandon, as even Arthur had admitted previously. And, on a personal note, Rein was fond of him.

All of a sudden, lightning struck before him, hitting the bird as well as Drake. For a second, everything remained still.

What just-

Before Rein could understand what had happened, the Raven jumped onto a nearby Mayhem and started attacking it. All of the Mayhems present there seemed to acknowledge the Raven as a threat; they attacked it back.

“What is happening?!?”

This was behavior that Rein, and probably the rest of humanity, hadn’t ever seen before. But once again, he focused his attention on the objective. He flew to Drake, who was unconscious, but still alive despite getting struck by lightning. Rein breathed a sigh of relief and left the area carrying his body. The Mayhems were too preoccupied fighting the Raven to bother with two measly humans. They escaped successfully.

The Commander caught up to Steve and they were able to travel on a single jetpack, albeit at low speed and full power. They eventually caught up to the remaining Defense Force members, who were busy trying to get faster Mayhems off their tails or kill them.

After exhausting the horses with an hour-long sprint, they reached the beginning of a forest, now Mayhem-free. The rain had stopped by now. They stopped their travel for a break.

The two Commanders discussed Arthur’s death and how to proceed with the mission now. Neither of them was willing to even temporarily take up the position of leader of the mission. Rein felt that, although he was the most competent at fighting Mayhems, he did not know how to lead a group. The other, Commander Eric, didn’t know enough about the mission and had similar problems with leading the Defense Force. Eventually, they settled with having Rein as the leader, despite his qualms.

Rein didn’t feel he could take over what was formerly his now-deceased best friend’s role. He was certain his skills couldn’t match expectations.

Steve came up to Rein. “Uh, thanks for saving me and Drake back there, Commander. It was a tense and dangerous situation.” Steve knew that he could have easily abandoned them for his own safety.

“No problem.”

“If I can do anything to help in return…”

Commander Rein remembered talking with Arthur about Drake and Steve. Arthur’s opinion of both of them was high. Apparently, Drake was a good, eager learner; he’d been training him in combat and strategy. The only downside was his weird obsession with killing Mayhems. Steve, on the other hand, was quite observant and had critical thinking. He did what was in the best interest of humanity. Unfortunately, he was quite shy in front of crowds.

Rein decided to test him.

“I’m thinking of setting up camp for the night here. What do you think of the decision?”

“Here? In the middle of the open? Commander, I think it would be a better idea to go to the city and sleep in a building there. It would provide protection against Mayhems. They wouldn’t be able to enter…”

“Oh? So you think we should go through these woods in the dark toward the city?”

“No, not through the woods. They are too dangerous. We wouldn’t be able to see our surroundings, so Mayhems could pop up and attack at any time. If they were to do so, we wouldn’t be able to properly fight back, having so many obstacles around us and all.

“I’d instead recommend we go around the forest, through open areas. But not in the direction we just came from—that would frighten the soldiers and bring down morale even more than it is right now.”

He’s smart. I didn’t think of some of that myself. Maybe he can help me out with my job, along with Drake, once he wakes up.

He knew that Drake had training in strategy under the General’s tutelage.

“It’ll be tiring to go now, though. Is the risk of being in the open not worth tiring soldiers even further?”

“I don’t think so. Tiring out and then being safe is a clearly better choice. The extra effort is worth the prevention of potential deaths and injuries.”

“Alright. Do you know which route we should take?”

“I do have a rough idea. Through the suburbs would be good. And we can go downtown and stay in a large, sturdy structure. The maps were all left in the buggies which we abandoned, but I think I remember it well enough.”

“Great! Help me out by explaining your route and we’ll go.”

After a short break, the group of exhausted and injured soldiers of the Defense Force moved on. Drake was carried on horseback, showing no sign of waking up.

They traveled along Steve’s chosen route and safely arrived in the once-bustling main area of the now-desolate city of Cyll. Large buildings, broken cars, empty streets devoid of life, old stains of blood, signs of death and fighting, and vegetation growing sporadically in crevices surrounded them. Strange shapes loomed in the distance, unclear as to whether they were deformed structures or Mayhems. In the dark moonlight, covered partly by clouds, and dead silence, the atmosphere was eerie. The only noises were the interrupting sounds of footsteps splashing in puddles.

Steve recognized one of the few open areas. It was the Plaza he and Drake had gone to when they had first arrived in this city months ago. He remembered the hundreds of people fighting for seats on the few helicopters. He tried to push away bad memories.

Steve heard some quiet sounds echoing around. The soldiers instinctively pointed their laser blasters in the direction of the source of the noise.

“Wait!” Steve said.

Shadows emerged from behind a building. Now, everyone was at full attention.

“Those aren’t the sounds of Mayhems,” Steve continued, “They sound like-”

The shadows stepped into the light. Everyone stood still with shock.

“-humans…?”

They were a group of people.

What? Survivors? For this long? Commander Rein thought.

“Steve?” one of them asked, surprised.

“Ah! You’re…!”

“We can talk later,” another one of them said. “You all are traveling at this hour? That’s dangerous. We’ll take you somewhere safe to rest: where we are gathered—our base.”

MAYHEM ON EARTH: Volume 4. / End.