In the Blink of an Eye - Part 7

Posted on 29 Jul 2023 @ 10:12am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde

2,612 words; about a 13 minute read

:: 2366 - 26 years prior to current time
A couple of days after the events in Part 6
Capital City of Sol, Vaeron ::


Resting his head back against the rough bark, Alexion sat naked on the lush grass and fallen leaves under the old, large tree.

He closed his eyes and gently tipped his head back against the trunk, turning his face up towards the cool rain that pattered through the leaf canopy above him. As the drops of water rolled over his face it was impossible to tell if it was just rain on his cheeks or if there were also tears.

Hours had turned to days on their path through the woodland, not that they knew where they were going or what to do.

They'd been chased down by squad after squad of enemy soldiers, each looking for the missing team they'd taken out before them. They had killed so many of them by now, and to his shame it had been strangely therapeutic after all they'd done to his home and his people. But they had also killed and injured many of their small group of survivors.

They were running out of supplies to keep healing, they couldn't send the bodies out on the water with how far inland they were, and they had taken to foraging for food and clean water.

And what for?

Their cities were burning and overrun by the enemy vermin.

Their friends and family were dead, their home taken from them with no rescue. His entire race had been subjected to a merciless massacre...a genocide with no aid.

He'd sent his son out on the last government shuttle in an attempt to save him, and he had no idea if he was alive or if he'd been shot down like the others that had attempted to flee.

So what was the point of this constant running and fighting? What was it for? What was the point anymore?

And he was so bloody tired.

"Alexion?" Hanri had managed to find him with his Talent, stopping a little away from him to give him his space. He could feel the emotion, doubt and exhaustion in him. It wasn't surprising. Alexion was a Transferer, and he was giving all he had to heal and fight without taking enough energy back to replace it. "Lauron needs your help, she's got worse. And we'll have to move soon."

Alexion ignored him...he was just staring up at the leaves, his naked body soaked by the rain, his legs drawn up to his body, his arms resting on his knees.

Hanri frowned with worry, swallowing hard before taking a small step toward him, his chest aching for him. "Lexi?"

Alexion lifted his hands, covering his face with them, his fingertips clutching as he kept his face turned upwards. "I think...I think I might just stay here," he whispered on a shaking breath.

Hanri's head dropped forward at the words and he licked his dry lips. "You're just tired..."

"Yeah, yeah you're damned right," Alexion breathed, his face still turned upwards to the rain. "Fighting, healing, running, fighting, healing, running, fighting, healing....and not going anywhere. Because there's nowhere left to go. So...I think I'll just....sit here for awhile, until it's all done."

Moving slowly to him, Hanri sat close, leaning against the trunk with him. The dark haired man was silent for a long moment, just letting the words hang in the air. He'd needed to say them. "What about Laeon? Your son needs his father to go and find him."

"The other government shuttles that tried to escape were shot down before they even got out of the system, we both know he's most likely dead," Alexion whispered, unable to say it any louder.

"We don't know that at all," Hanri replied, his voice growing a little firmer with it. "And what about us? Hm?"

"What about you?" Alexion shook his head tiredly, his breath coming faster. "We're just prolonging the inevitable."

"Better than lying down for them, that's what you said, right? At least we're making them work for it," Hanri replied pointedly, watching his face carefully. He could feel his exhaustion just as much as he could see it on him.

A ghost of a smile touched Alexion's lips at the words, but it didn't last and it didn't reach his eyes.

"Listen, you don't have a choice, Alexion, we need you," Hanri said quietly, frowning at how the other man shook his head at the words. He grabbed his arm, his voice taking on an edge and growing louder. "We are barely surviving! We've already lost too many of the group. You're they're physician and you're going to keep them alive! I am not going through all this to die in this damned wood in the bloody rain! And I am not going to let you either. Your son needs you, I am not going to let that boy grow up without you! He's alive, you know it, in your souls, he's still alive, and you are going to find him, or he will never forgive you, or me, and neither will I."

Alexion glanced to him, holding his breath tight as he tried to make sense of it all. "So much is gone," he whispered, shaking his head with exhaustion and pain.

Hanri searched his eyes for a long moment, just feeling his emotions. He reached to touch his face, his fingertips caressing the wet skin as he leant forward, kissing him softly.

Alexion's eyes closed tightly with the warmth from the other man, deepening the kiss to feel and taste him, reaching to grip his damp hair to draw him close. He was warmth, and life, and kin.

Stroking over his throat, Hanri gently broke the kiss to catch his breath, smiling softly to him. "So long as there is one of us alive, it's reason enough to fight and live. One is better than oblivion for our people."

Alexion nodded gently, resting his forehead to his as he closed his eyes. He took a deep, steadying breath, feeling calmer and more like himself again. "I'm sorry."

"No," Hanri shook his head with a frown, stroking the other man's trembling arm. "I think we've all gone through this at some point on the way. You were just there to kick us up the arse and tell us to keep moving or you'll thrash us," he winked.

Alexion laughed gently as he looked down, his body shaking from the rain. The numbness started to fade, replaced by the chill of the day on his now naked, wet body. "So now you're kicking me up the arse?"

"Yes," Hanri laughed softly, holding the side of his face tenderly. "And don't think I won't thrash you. More importantly though, your own son will if you don't get up, keep moving and get to him."

Alexion held his eyes in silence for a long moment before giving a firm nod, climbing to his feet and reaching for his clothes.

Hanri smiled as he watched him, letting out a long, soft breath of relief. "The injured from the last fight need your help when you're ready."

Nodding, Alexion pulled his mostly ruined shirt on and reached for the medical bag he'd refused to let out of his sight. "I'll get them back on their feet," he promised. He paused for a moment before leaning down, kissing Hanri's forehead with gratitude before moving back to the main camp. He made his way to the injured who were lying together by the remains of a fire they'd managed to get going but had now died in the rain.

"You're a Transferer, right?" one of the wounded patients watched Alexion from where she'd been laid out. She was shivering from pain, cold and exhaustion and it had brought darkness to her eyes.

"Yes," Alexion replied warily at the question, looking her over to check on the wound that had been inflicted by an energy bolt.

"Then take my energy to heal him," the wounded woman said quietly, nodding to the younger man covered in his own blood next to her.

Alexion frowned deeply at the suggestion, shaking his head firmly. "Can't do that. You're badly wounded. You need your energy. If I take any from you, you'll die," he replied bluntly.

"I know," she whispered tiredly. "But if it's him or me, I'd rather you heal him. He's so much younger. Besides, I might not recover anyway."

Alexion met the woman's eyes, holding still for a long moment at the statement. She would so easily give her own life for another? He had never thought it possible in real life, until he'd become a father. "Shut up," he finally replied tersely. "I won't stand for nonsense like that. Anyway, heroes are so bloody boring."

The woman actually laughed at that, a broken, strained sound, but a laugh all the same. "Nothing heroic in knowing when you're beaten."

"You're breathing, one of your hearts is still beating," Alexion said firmly, leaning close to lift a bloody hand to press against her chest to feel it. "You are not beaten. And neither is he. I'll find a way to keep everyone recovering."

"You transfer, you can't magic it from nowhere, you need someone to take energy from," she replied quietly, but knowingly.

"Let me worry about that," Alexion said quietly, pressing a vial to the woman's arm before she could argue anymore with it. "Besides, we still have some supplies left in the medkit yet."

"How long will it last?" she asked in a whisper, but clearly demanded the truth, not a doctor's sweet talk.

Alexion held her eyes, never having been one for sugar coating anyway. "We can't take another serious injury," he whispered. "Or we'll lose someone. But it's not going to be you, and it's not going to be now. So save the energy you have." He squeezed her shoulder with a bloody hand before pushing himself up to stand, moving away tiredly.


~~~~~


The blood sprayed through the air, whipping across Alexion's face as he slashed at the soldier with the large hunting knife. He didn't care though, he barely noticed it in fact, already drawing the knife back to hit down again with a shout of effort and anger.

This latest wave of scouts had tried to surprise them, but with Hanri's Telepathy Talent, they'd known they were coming.

It didn't make the fighting any easier though. It was hard and bloody, and they were tired. Tired and injured from days of attacks and keeping on the move.

Alexion and the Captain had taken out the bulk of the soldiers using the Duel, violet bolts of energy scorching and blasting the enemy as they worked together with Eaest's Talent. But a rifle bolt had managed to get past the Energiser's moving shield and thrown them apart, breaking the contact of the Duel and severing Alexion's access to Eaest's Talent.

Without thought or care, Alexion had grabbed the hunting knife from one of the fallen enemy and quickly set to work on those that were left.

He'd managed to throw this one to the ground and taken the knife to him without mercy, slicing and hacking at him.

Pulling the knife up, Alexion stabbed it down into his chest as hard as he could, shouting with the strength and primal force behind it. Only a moment later, he was yanking the knife out to stab down again, the anger consuming him, unable to see or care that the bastard was already dead, just forcing the knife back down into the body, breathing hard with the adrenaline from the fight.

"Alexion!" Captain Eaest moved closer to him, able to catch his breath now the scouts were all lying dead.

Alexion either ignored him or didn't hear him, thrusting the knife hard into the soldier he had pinned under him.

"Alexion!" Eaest moved to him, grabbing his arm. "Easy....easy, he's dead!" he used his grip to physically pull Alexion off the dead body, having to fight with the struggling man to get him off and up onto his feet. "Alexion, he's dead!"

"It's not enough!" Alexion shouted, breathing harder as his hearts thumped in his chest, his skin flushed with the anger pumping in his veins. He suddenly threw the knife, his chest heaving as he lifted his arms to run his bloody hands through his hair. "I'm done! We can't just keep running aimlessly, we need a way out of here!"

Eaest took a few steps back to watch him warily, lifting his arms to show he meant no harm. "All the transports are gone, and most of them were shot down before they even left orbit."

"Maybe not all the transports are gone," Alexion's arms dropped back to his sides as he tried to catch his breath. "There has to be some private ones still on the ground. If we can get back to my father's estate in the city...."

"No," Nurse Ion shook his head emphatically, the pain all too obvious on his face as he lifted a hand. "We can't go back into the city. That's where they all are....it would be suicide. The city is crawling, they were killing everyone, it's nothing more than a smoking, broken mass grave....I don't want to go back...."

"Captain Eaest said himself that they're focussed on chasing down any escapees that are fleeing the city," Alexion lifted his hands to his head as he struggled to calm down enough to think straight. "But they're not going to be expecting anyone to try and get back in to the city. That would be stupid, trying to go back into the stronghold of those filthy bastards. If they're not expecting it, we have a better chance. My father's estate is on the outskirts anyway. He has a private shuttle, now, they might have damaged it or stolen it, I have no idea, but it's got to be a better shot of getting off this planet instead of spending the hours we have left running and bleeding in these damned woods!"

Ion looked away, running a hand over his face, clearly terrified at the idea of going back into the city, but he nodded all the same. He was right; a plan to get off the planet was better than none at all.

Alexion nodded, moving to Ion and grabbing his shoulder, pulling him close to drape his arm around him. "What do you think?" he looked around the others, swallowing hard. "I'm not going to leave anyone here to die alone. We all go, or none of us go. But this...hell has lasted long enough. We can't just keep running, we need to get off this planet."

"It's our home," a blonde woman, protected from the elements only by a bloody patient's gown, shook her head as she struggled with the idea.

"It was our home," Hanri corrected quietly before glancing to Alexion. "Now, they've poisoned it, and it's nothing more than a lifeless rock they've stolen. It's not a home anymore. I say we leave. Help would be here by now if it was coming. We've been left to the hands of this genocide."

Captain Eaest listened to Hanri in grim silence. It felt like he was deserting, leaving the planet as an Elite Guard. But he was right. It wasn't their home anymore. It was gone. There was nothing left to protect. Just these people. "Pack up," he said quietly. "We're going to head to the Wylde estate and find out if that shuttle's still functional."

[TBC]

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