Chapter 11

Tony

Several days have passed since we raided the town of civilians massacred by the Lox. I didn’t know what to think anymore.

“Tony,” Jacob said and appeared in my room. “You don’t want to hear this but a division is joining the conflict.”

“Which one?”

“Omega,” Jacob said and fear struck my heart with a sharp bullet. “The bastards who killed my family.”

I started getting terrifying flashbacks. I don’t trust Omega joining the war.

I pushed a chair away and stepped next to Jacob. “You still have your intent?”

“I lost it long ago when you beat Maurice but I don’t know about him,” Jacob said then touched my shoulder. “I’m going to watch your back till this war is over. After that we need to go our separate ways to deal with Omega.”

“Understood,” I muttered. “Did Romeo confirm our next mission?”

“Yeah, unfortunately. We're going to a forest. The frozen forest of Deacon.”

“I heard of it,” I said. “The temperature there is lethal. Only we can go, right?”

“Of course, but a couple other teams of Rhinos will come with us, but I want to suggest something,” he said then faced me. “There’s a Lok infested base close to that forest. I want to go there on my own to stop them from interrupting the operation.”

“No, we need every Rhino there,” I faced him back. “We don’t know what to expect from a forest with nothing but Lox. Your one of our strongest.”

“It’s a strong suggestion that is preferred, but if you think I’m needed with you guys, I’ll go,” Jacob said.

“We’ll have a look into it. I’m going to talk to Ryan about this.”

“Good idea,” Jacob muttered. “Let me set it straight with Maurice.”

Jacob released his grip and sped walked to the armory. We're only so close to setting a standard. Right now’s not the time for fallout.

As he disappeared around the corner, I caught a different shadow gripping my leg. My own shadow formed together with it and I grabbed the culprit by the arm and restrained her.

“This time I caught you,” I said.

“You did,” Nancy said and smirked. “Let me go or we’re going to have problems.”

I released her arm and she whipped her hair back. There was something different about her. It's her hair. Half of it is pink and the other is blonde. “What happened with your hair?”

“Oh, just decided to make some changes,” Nancy said and stepped closer to my face, then she laid her hand on my shoulder. “Is there something wrong with my hair?”

“Yeah,” I had no trouble saying. “Why are you changing your hair in the middle of war?”

Nancy tilted her head in question and said, “I don’t know how to answer that for you since you can’t figure it out.”

“Beats me,” I said. “I’d rather get this over with. I don’t want to start anything serious till we’re finished with the Lox. That's our goal here.”

“Uh huh?” she sighed. “Our goal? Because I remember back in training, you told me your goal was to get a life outside of war. A life outside of war with me.”

“That’s going to be a lot of trouble to get, Nancy, you know that.”

“It is a lot of trouble,” Nancy said and I knew exactly what she was going to say next. “You’re making it trouble. Get your head out of the Rhino symbolism and begin thinking about the two of us.”

“The two of us don’t matter if one of us die because we’re distracted,” I remarked. “It’s time you realize that. We have to take this conflict seriously. What do you think they were beating you up so hard for in training? You came here. I came here. Everyone came here. We need to use our strength as Rhinos to kill the Lox.

“If we’re not warriors that trained for years, we’re just nobody’s who are going to have an easy life with no purpose on hold. We're going to be pathetic weak people and we’re not weak.”

Then I took her hand off my shoulder. “You’re not weak, Nancy. You're the strongest woman I know. You're the best like that.”

“Hm,” Nancy paused and stomped my foot. “Okay, be the hard head Rhino like always and I’ll be a Rhino too, okay? Since you think I’m just a Rhino, rather than a human being with emotions, I’ll act like a Rhino and nothing else. In this case, I’ll be as heartless as you.”

I rubbed my foot and told her, “I’m not heartless. That's not what I said. I’m just saying we have a duty unlike other people.”

“Well clearly, your duty is to be heartless then,” she said and walked off.

I watched her step away in fire then from a small peek forward, Ryan showed up from a shadow. She stared at him with aggression like she was intending on fighting him but Ryan just told her, “You got a problem, Nancy?”

“Only the slightest,” she said and disappeared into the base.

Ryan then followed my eyes and prepared to tear me down with his chain gloves. “Jacob, gave you anything fresh?”

“Unfortunately,” I said.

“Cool,” he sighed and leaned on wall next to me. “We don’t talk so often, Tony. I’m sure Romeo’s given you a lot more shit than me.”

“Mhm, and why you say?”

“We’re not just fighting Lox here.” Ryan rubbed his nose. “I’ve been in contact with Omega. They're not here to start trouble. They want the Lox eliminated too.”

“How do you know?” I asked. “They’re nothing but scum corrupt bastards.”

Ryan laughed. “Those scum, corrupt bastards have a bigger army than us. Bigger than each division combined,” Ryan turned around. “You have an order. The first Rhinos that will join the war, you have an obligation to kill them when they least expect it.”

“Are they a danger?” I asked.

“We’ll see,” Ryan said. “For now, just finish the operation. You’re heading to the forest first thing tomorrow. I’ve already told Maurice. He knows his intentions.”

Ryan left on the sore note, walking away with his hands in his pockets.

The old man shows up out of nowhere each time. Compared to Romeo, Ryan Myers has higher authority over the military and he’s not a man you want to see first thing after a hard fought mission.

Maybe, just maybe, I should sleep before the day wakes me up. It's not good when Ryan shows his face in my territory.

I woke up with a sleep paralysis. I couldn’t move my body. I felt something touching my body and I saw him. The same Lok with the axe and shield next to my bed.

“Humans have black hearts. Some have stone and others have none. Yours is ready to turn into nothing but blood.”

I tried to talk or even yell but I had no control over my body. He kept staring at me while rubbing his axe flooded in black blood. I had no fear or power but I did want to fight back.

For several seconds of cold staring after, his entire shape faded away like a black smoke and I could finally move. I’m going to kill that Lok next time I see him.

I had no intention of doing anything else. I just want my mission over with.

Everybody stood by several armored trucks. Several teams of Delta Rhinos were on standby. This is the first time we all came in a group or army I should say.

“Alright!” Ryan yelled out. “There are two artillery cannons in the forest between the mountains. We were told by radar there are over a thousand Lox in that forest. Destroy the artillery cannons and retreat immediately. We'll send in airstrikes when it’s clear!”

We looked back and began driving forward into black ice. We had four armored trucks piling down over the landscape. It all seemed like endless driving until we could see a white fog beyond the ice. We reached our destination.

Each truck put to a sudden stop and before we could even step out, a barricade of bullets bombarded the trucks. We were being shoved back and several bullets were cracking the glass.

“I don’t see them!” Jacob yelled.

We didn’t have a chance to look back with all the suppression. One little peek and our heads will be knocked off.

Nobody was attempting to fire back. Someone had to do something. I told the back passengers hide under the seats while I pushed the chair back and manned the machine gun.

My leg came so close to being shot multiple times as I climbed up but when I finally had the gun, I fired back and heard several bullets landing against them.

“It’s not Lox!” Jacob said. “They have automated turrets firing for them! We need rockets!”

Nancy jumped out from her seat and loaded the rocket launchers from back and aimed out to lock on. I continued to shed bullets down until we see a group of Raiders pop out from the fog.

The Rhinos screamed out war cries and battled against the Raiders while our grenadiers handled the turrets. In short time, Nancy fired out her rocket and destroyed our first turret.

“There’s two more!” Jacob yelled.

I focused my fire on the Raiders as I watched hordes of them appeared from random directions. There are more of then us. We could die so easily but we weren’t so weak as the Lox expected.

Each Rhino handled their own against three Raiders bigger than them but soon, three heavy Lox with machine guns spread fire along several Rhinos.

I watched two Rhinos get gunned down but nearly after each Raider was cleared, we overwhelmed the Lox and took down each turret.

“It’s clear!” Maurice shouted.

“God damn,” a Rhino said and sat on his knees then I saw him pull out a bible and prayed.

The rest of the Rhinos fell in distress. Rhinos who were older than us were falling into despair. They looked miserable.

“I don’t want to be here,” a Rhino said and took off his helmet to wipe tears away.

The two dead Rhinos were then dropped in the water under the ice.

“Looks like Rhinos can die,” another one said close to my ear. “Let’s keep moving! It's going to be a long day boys. Pull through.”

“Are you still proud of being a Rhino, Tony?” Nancy said then walked off without attempting to hear my response.

Jacob loaded another mag in his sniper and sighed out-loud. He eyed me and stared back at Maurice for a short second.

“What?” Maurice asked. “I don’t know why I’m the only one here that hasn’t clipped my weapons.”

“Don’t act like that, Maurice,” Jacob said. “I don’t want to be here either.”

“Hey!” Nancy yelled. “We can continue the conversation later. I don’t want to go alone with the other nine hundred Lox out there!”

I took my attention back to the operation and followed Nancy, through the fog. “I want to finish this quick. I'm sure you do too.”

We both disappeared into the smoke, not knowing if Maurice and Jacob were following. The minute I could see the world again, my heart was struck with needles.

I couldn’t see anything but trees, ice and snow then I questioned out-loud to Nancy, “How are we supposed to fight through this?”

Nancy only aimed her weapon up high and watched each step she took. The other Rhinos began popping out from the fog and we nodded to every one another.

Even though we confirmed in silence, everybody was hesitant in walking forward along the trees. I didn’t want to be the guy who asked, who’s going first, so I stepped forward for everybody.

I felt Nancy following my back then I heard multiple other footsteps accompany me. After one foot forward, a leaf crunched beneath me. Then I heard the slightest lift of a finger ahead of me and aimed my gun at the direction.

I raised my hand up high and bent the fingers down. “Hostiles ahead. Two o’clock,” I whispered.

Nancy shifted to a tree next to me for cover and two other Rhinos, leaned around the logs with their weapons locked on our target.

I switched my gun to my left arm, continuing to aim as I stepped through the ice. One careful pace around and I could see the back of the Lok.

Before I decided to call out, I wanted to spot out the rest. Unfortunately, it was only one I could catch with the corner of my eye so clearly.

I didn’t want to go in. I was certain more will pop out the second we start firing.

“Tony,” I heard Jacob over comms. “I see a bunker ahead. Mounted machine gun and a trench line along it.”

“Set a beacon on it,” I whispered.

Over my visor, I saw a pin pointed at the bunker. I could barely catch it between a peek of three trees. The rest were transmitted the same beacon and we had our target confirmed.

“Don’t let them shoot first,” I said. “On my shot. We all fire.”

I flipped on the Acog scope and pressed my eye on the sight then I struck my finger against the trigger. The Lok’s spine bent backwards and smacked his face on the ice.

The rest of the Rhinos, spread a rain of bullets against the bunker. The machine gunner was pressured to let go of the weapon but along the trench line, assault rifles mounted over the edge and fired back against us.

Nancy chucked in another explosive into her RPG, and stacked her foot to the right to aim it into the bunker. Her rocket flew with a white smoke that followed in a straight line and reached contact with the pit.

A blaze of fiery glory lit up into a red cloud the covered the trench line on fire. Several Lox burst out from the bunker with legs and arms torn from their brown bones.

I counted the next thirty seconds and Lox climbed over the ashes of the trench line with fire ripping their skin off and collapsed dead. Even though it seemed most have died, we still kept our guard on point.

“Check the pit,” I said and three Rhinos followed my word. They slid open the metal door and called out back to us.

“It’s clear! Everything here has been blown to bits.”

“Nice job, Nancy,” I told her and she only skipped past my space of air without sharing eyes.

I glanced back at the bunker and even though I was wearing full armor, I felt a below zero breeze of air down my spine and heard explosives thuds crash against the wall of the trench.

“Bloody humans!” a Lok stood out from the doorway and twirled a black curved knife around his fingers. He was wearing a black cloth over his mouth with white teeth painted on it.

Then two more followed his path with sharp looking shotguns. Nancy pressed her feet back and rushed to cover while firing. The Lox evaded the bullets like magic while still suppressing fire.

“I have a shot!” Maurice said then flicked his bullet through. I saw the bullet fly that seemed it had hit one of the Lox yet left no scratch on them but then I caught the Lox with a sword out in a defensive position like he deflected the bullet.

“These aren’t normal Lox!” I yelled.

Two of them jumped over the trench like basketball players and bolted towards me with their knives. They ripped the chains off my armor with one slice, then they pounded me to the ground with one kick.

I reached to pull the trigger on my assault rifle but the Lox were demonized against the trees by Nancy’s stained lead.

Suddenly the third Lok had despair in his eyes and rushed back into the smoking bunker. Nancy, and I sprinted to his direction and was smoked in room temperature before he could escape with the snow.

“Damn,” I sighed. “Thanks. Again.”

“I may be mad, but I’ll still watch your back,” Nancy said and walked away from my sight.

I pulled up a random ammo box that was torn from the RPG. I sat on it even though it felt rough on my butt. The pain of sitting on a sharp chair wasn’t close to the rest of my misery.

The other Rhinos joined me to rest in the black bunker. I began to notice some of them have been shot and they’re not bothering to repair their armor.

“Aren’t you going to fix that up?” I broke the silence. “It’s going to hurt a lot more than a bruise if we return to battle and the armor tears apart.”

“I don’t care.” One of them took off their helmet and rubbed their eyes. “We’re going to die in this forest. Why do you think Ryan decided to pop up? Didn’t Romeo tell you? This is a suicide mission.”

He just took off the helmet in the middle of the freezing cold. Death probably doesn’t worry any of these Rhinos.

“Ugh.” I put my head down. “Who knows what’s next. If I don’t die here, I’m going to kill both Ryan and Romeo.”

Chapter 12

Bod

March 2nd, 2759, HellFire has led the invasion of Orson, the second colonized planets of the humans.

A number of Mercenaries known as the Skull Lox were involved in leading several hundred gunships that tore through Orson’s orbital defenses and only very few of them were able to drop on the planet alive.

“My lord, what will be my first task?” I asked.

“Have Redik lead the foraging team,” HellFire said and sat himself in a human’s chair. “He'll assign several unique Lox to arm our weapons and gear for the rest of the conflict. Without him, our Lox won’t be prepared for the rest of the war.”

“What will I do though?”

HellFire huffed with a heavy grunt. “Don’t bother me. If there are any meddlesome humans, take them out. I’m sure we’ll run into a few of them.”

He never tasked me to run armies. Even though Redik was inferior to strength with me, HellFire always relied on him for the brains and work of our tactics.

I was nothing but just a Lok of brute strength even before I became a leader yet I never acted like a leader. I never performed like a leader until HellFire sent me to retrieve Redik’s body.

“Lord Bod,” a smaller Lok with a bent back called my name. “How will we go about the infiltration?”

I grabbed him up in the air and told him face to face, “I’m going to throw you into the wall. You'll be the start of the invasion.”

I launched the Lok like a rocket. The gate smacked down on top of two Cobras then the Lox raided in packs. The first Cobras to respond were assaulted with blade that ripped their heads off. Hungry desperate Lox chose to save themselves by munching on their brains.

I only walked up to the base while dragging my axe as the Lox sprinted like maniacs. Bullets came flying at my shield but none of them came close to grazing my skin.

By the time I reached the gate, my Lox have already overrun the base. They scattered around in multiple places.

From one corner, I saw two Lox pulling the arms off of a human. In another area, I caught a Lok slam a Cobra head first into the wall watching as blood gushed out of his mouth.

The humans screamed in their own misery. I couldn’t be bothered to tell the Lox to take it down a notch. Soon it was more than a raid pulled off. It was a party that was meant to be crashed.

I was so huge compared to the pack, the humans didn’t bother to fire at me. As I approached their scared hearts, they only stared at my shadow before Lox came to rip them out of my way.

Soon I followed the scent of Redik’s and found his body loaded in a trash bag filled with his own washed up blood. I picked him up over my shoulder and nothing stood in my way after. Every human was occupied no Lok was leaving a track of life behind.

“You Lox already know what to do,” I said then marked my path forward. I slapped the shield on my back and stepped my right foot first. A long sprint awaited and in seconds, I ran faster than a car while carrying Redik.

The snow didn’t bother me and the cold was only a scratch. The human in the black and red armor will only be a tool to mark my success as a leader of the Lox.

Chapter 13

Tony

“I did a quick patrol around the area,” Jacob said. “There’s another bunker and a mountain ahead.”

I loaded my AR. “We still have a good number of Rhinos left. I saw we split into two teams.”

“Call it,” Maurice said. “We are twenty Rhinos. Jacob and I will take out the bunker and the rest go after the mountain.”

“You sure, you don’t want to take a few with you,” Nancy questioned.

“I’m positive woman!” Maurice tilted his head. “You don’t need to intervene.”

“Fucking brute.” Nancy clenched her fist. “Apparently a little question is too harsh. You can go on your own and die then.”

Maurice put his back on her stepped to the door. “If that’s what you want, that’s fine.”

Jacob then followed Maurice on the way out.

“You okay, Nancy?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Nancy crossed her arms. “He just gets on my nerves sometimes.”

“I can tell,” I said. “You two only scream at each other.”

“Mhm.” Nancy walked next to me. “All the love you can get from him. I’m surprised he’s gone this long without smoking.”

“Yeah.” I started stepping out the back door as Nancy followed me. “I don’t doubt he was smoking while we took our breaks.”

She grabbed her rifle off her back and loaded. Once the Rhinos grasped at us prepping our gear, all of them loaded up behind us.

“Give me the word when you need help with Maurice.” Nancy nudged my shoulder. “I’m going to be right behind you as always.”

We stalked a trail of footsteps along a road of dead trees. The path way was more clear and we could spot out the mountain from a long distance.

It didn’t appear Lox were anywhere near our perimeter. Since everything was so open it was also empty in numbers but that doesn’t necessarily mean we shouldn’t pay attention.

An echo of gunfire bounced around our ears from behind. We knew that was Maurice and Jacob but I did realize that could attract other Lox around us.

“Pay attention.” I waved my hands. “More Lox will appear at any point.”

As soon as I said that, a bullet flew next to my face. My attention sparked into a flame and I pulled myself over to a log for cover. I didn’t see where the bullet came from but it did sound like it came from the mountain.

“Can anybody spot that sniper?” Nancy asked.

Jacob was our best spotter. We shouldn’t have let him go with Mauirce. We have to count on ourselves here.

“I can try!” a Rhino called out. “But I see a few Lox climbing down the mountain. I can set beacons on them but I can’t get the sniper just yet.”

It wouldn’t make sense why we’d come with only one spotter. They're our best option against long range combat.

Nancy leaned around her tree and attempted to mark the Lox. Even with her accuracy, we still can’t land a hit on the Lox.

“We won’t land a single shot on that sniper from this range,” I said. “Nancy and I will push together with the trees. The rest of you keep us covered from the Lox climbing down.”

“No!” a Rhino yelled. “My team will go with you. The two of you alone will easily get hit by it. Let's make it harder for him.”

With the Rhinos words, I felt adrenaline pump inside me. We're making it through this together. We ran up while firing and switched to different trees every few seconds to evade the bullets. We battle just to get to cover and we have yet to spot the sniper.

For a damning struggle, the Lox reached the bottom but I just had a disgusting realization. They look like the strong Lox we faced in the bunker, wearing the same masks like before.

“Stay by the trees!” I alarmed the rest. “Kill these Lox first, then move up!”

There were five this time and some of them are carrying stacks of grenades on their chest. Nancy and I fired the first shots. They sent back bullets to us close enough to mark our armor. They knew how to shoot too.

We had to pay attention to the sniper as well. It adds a lot more worry to the situation every blood gunching second.

The Rhinos in the back followed up with us to suppress the skull painted Lox but one of them launched three grenades at once.

Bang! I looked back at the explosion and it wasn’t no regular grenade. It left a shockwave that hit my head against the tree and a crater big enough to trap on underground.

That Lok still had six more grenades on him too. He's definitely going to kill us if we let him live but then I had an explosive idea.

“Nancy!” I called out across to her. “The RPG!”

Then I pointed to the rest of the Rhinos. “Suppress them down with everything you got! Allow Nancy to fire her last rocket!”

Though as I called out, the Lox heard me straight and began retreating. There was no point in waiting for the RPG, they have their backs on us.

I leaned around the trees and sprayed bullets. I could not see what I was shooting at but I felt a few bullets coming back to me.

I bent forward to catch my view and the sniper knocked a bullet deadly close to me. Even if we killed the skull painted Lox, we still have him to deal with.

“Just let them run,” Nancy said. “We’ll get back to them after we deal with him.”

“That’s unnecessary,” out of nowhere I heard Jacob’s voice and without hesitation he sent a bullet to the top of the mountain. That bullet must have gone over a mile yet somehow I heard a skull split open.

The Lok’s body then came crashing down to the bottom of the mountain. As the rest attempted to run, Jacob knocked a bullet into each of their heads before they can get anywhere near the top.

“I told you, we didn’t need any Rhinos,” Maurice popped out of the shadows to grab Jacob’s shoulder. “We’re not your regular Delta Rhinos.”

“I’m impressed,” I said and put my AR over my shoulder. “You wouldn’t believe how much trouble we had without you two snipers.”

“Operations not over,” Jacob shoved Maurice away. “Start climbing. Our artillery cannon is right at the top. I saw it from there.”

“Great eye.” I lowered my AR and started stepping to the mountain. “Jacob, you stay down there. Make sure no meddlesome Lox attempt to shoot us while we’re climbing.”

“I’ll do you the favor this time, then.”

Blood boiled under my skin realizing we still had a long operation ahead. The thought that kept me fueling up was that we were all in this together. We can’t die here even if it was a suicide mission. The entirety of Orson is depending on us to eliminate the Lox.

“I’ll start climbing,” this time without hesitation I called the shots for the group.

I clawed my fingers on the sharp rock. I scraped my armor as I climbed but that was the least of my worries.

Screaming was heard from the top then pebbles fell over my head but Jacob said, “Keep moving! I got your back!”

His words gave me courage. Even though I was afraid of climbing and getting shot down, some part of was asking for the operation to end. It was asking like it was some other voice, you have to finish this, Tony. It's a lot of pain but you have the strength to beat it.

The voice guided me and Jacob fired back at the top. Several Lox collapsed over to the ground. When they collided with the ground it sounded like cars had clashed with each other. I even heard bones shatter like glass.

It’s a deep fall and I’m nowhere the top yet.

“Tony,” Nancy said below me. “I’m right behind. You need to keep climbing.”

I’m right on top of Nancy. If I fall, she’ll fall with me. So, I won’t. I won’t bother to shatter like glass on the ground. I won’t allow Nancy to die with me.

I gripped the next few rocks until I felt a flat surface then stepped my foot on top. The path ahead was tight but it is a lot easier than clawing my fingers on razor sharp rocks.

The road reached halfway to the top and soon I had a good enough touch on the top. I want to risk throwing the rope at the tope but what if the Lox kick it off.

I had my doubt once again. I had the mentality, “If I die, I die.” and I was okay with it but my heart clogged up and clenched my throat. I don’t want to die like that.

“Here, let me go this time, Tony,” Nancy said.

With Nancy I had the urge to go first. I couldn’t let her do this head on. I’d hate myself if she died.

“No,” I shoved her off. “I’m doing it. I’m the leader.”

Nancy stared at me for a second but then she grew a smile with red cheeks. “Go, I’ll be right behind you.”

I’d kill to see that smile again in a literal sense.

My heart lit and I grew an ambition to climb fast and hard like my life depended on it. I trusted Jacob, I trusted Nancy and I trusted every Rhino down there to watch my back along the way. If they fail me, well, I no longer have a reason to put my word on them.

I cut my finger well over a hundred times yet I still had the fuel inside me that helped me reach the top. I peeked over the edge and viewed ten Lox.

I waited for Nancy to reach with me then the next few. “Can you guys shoot while I climb up?”

“We got your six,” they said.

I pressed my hand at the top then they released their bullets. The Lox fell before they could react. I’ve reached my point at the top and now, they’re hopeless.

I rushed through blazing my weapons. Before I could turn my back, Nancy and the rest already joined my side. The Lox all they could do then was wreck havoc.

A bar of fences guarded the cannon and we had several forms of covers and paths to take. I peeked around the corners to see what was offered. The Lox don’t have so much space to go around.

“Surround the outside.” I waved my hands. “The inside is tight. We'll catch them at each corner.”

I shifted over to the right side and peeked inside for a shot. The corners are too narrow. I switched to my shotgun and aimed forward.

A Lok popped from the corner with a blast that knocked him back into the wall. I leaned around the corner to see two more Lox at the opposite side. My shotgun didn’t have enough range to reach that far but before I could switch, I heard the familiar sound of the rifle cling bullets into their faces.

Nancy appeared from the side and watched the middle door for me. The door slammed open close to my face. Two Lox met lead in their chest and fell to the room temperature.

All we had was the artillery cannon left to shut down. “I don’t have the bombs. We'll have to wait for Maurice.”

“We don’t need the bombs,” Nancy said. “The controls look familiar. We can use this gun to tear down the rest of the forest.”

I gave my look to the buttons and it all seemed rather too coincidental to look exactly like rocket controls. At base they taught us how to manually fire rockets at gunships.

“You’re right,” I gripped my hands on the switch. “Give me coordinates of the forest. They have a map to the side.”

“Got it,” Nancy said.

The power of eradicating the forest was quite literally on my hands. All I needed was the coordinates and I can send a hell fire storm of bombs that will rain death on top of the Lox who cursed this planet. There will be no survivors.

Her numbers came through my head and all I did was press keys. The least I needed to do then was press one red button and a show will light up the sky for me.

“Firing!”

The Lox. They sure did damn themselves for copying the mechanics of rocket controls and I’m sure they’re not going to learn from that.

The cannon fired off explosives into the sky like fireworks. With each explosive, it ripped into several bombs that rained from the sky and the shattered the ground of the forest. Nothing but fire met the dirt and soon we heard the scream of Lox in agony.

“Nancy,” I said. “We’re done here.”

She smiled yet again and punched my shoulder. “Not so soon, let’s call Ryan first, then we get out of here.”

For once I grew a smile and maybe an ounce of happiness followed but I knew we’re still not quite finished with this war. We still have so much coming for us and then my normal life ahead. I hope so.