The city center was empty. Not a single vehicle was on the road when Zane and the others were on their way to the hospital. Everywhere on the roadside, the hectic abandoned vehicles were parked, but none of the vehicles was in the middle of the road. Following the protocols, the autopilots had carefully placed the vehicles at the side of the road to allow the military to operate.
A few minutes' drive from the parking garage, Zero turned onto a street that led directly to the hospital in the southwest of town. After a few meters, the display in Zero's car and the PDA's flashed when barricades opened up in front of them. Metallic protective walls and concrete bollards blocked the street. Only a small path led to the front at the end of which a smaller space was kept free. On the other side of the square, the military had set up another barricade that served as a lock. Several soldiers, a tech magician, a tank, as well as two ATBS secured the lock and blocked any further progress.
As the pickup neared the barricade, the turret of the tank swiveled the pickup and all its occupants in its sights. The message that flashed on the display and the PDA was a warning that you were entering a restricted area. The message provided explicit instructions. If those are ignored, it could be that the soldiers classified the vehicle as hostile and opened fire.
"We're here," Zane noted tightly.
Without a word, Zero slowly drove up the path to the tank that was blocking the way. The left sidewalk was filled with civilians who wanted to go through the security gate to the bunker underneath the hospital.
Again and again, civilians winced by the sounds of battle that penetrated into the city center. The smoke from burning buildings and crashed ships began to turn the eastern sky black. The fact that only noises could be heard indicated that the troops' defensive efforts were successful. Still, the civilians impatiently waiting to come through the lock were tense. The insurances of the soldiers who were supposed to keep order could not change that either.
"We're supposed to report here," Nathan broke the silence as he leaned forward to Zane and Zero. He and Asagi sat in the back seat while Zane took the passenger seat. Zero's car was kept in simple anthracite, only the blue LEDs emitted some light, which gave the interior something noble. Meanwhile, Nathan had played the warning on the big screen in the center console of the car with the instructions from his PDA. The point indicated on the map was directly behind the barricade.
"Stop", a soldier who had taken up position in front of the tank held out his hand. With the muzzle of the soldiers and the tank always aimed at the pickup, Zero slowed down. With the faint screeching of the brake discs, Zero's car came to a stop next to the soldier.
Zero opened the window to speak to the soldier, who peered into the car, whose gaze fell on the place behind Zane and a brief twitch could be seen on his face.
"What brings you here?" Asked the soldier, pulling his PDA out of his pocket. It was a special, military version that was covered by a sturdy shell to reduce impact and drop damage.
"Here are our IDs," Zero stretched his PDA, which was synchronized with the others' data, out of the window to synchronize it with the soldier's PDA, while Zane leaned towards the window and explained:
"We are from the Academy, we were told to report here to help out."
"How is the situation in the hospital?" Zero asked. "I'm a medic."
"The evacuation of the hospital is conducted without any major problems," he said while studying the data that Zero had sent him. One of the ATBS started moving and came to a stop next to the pickup. A window popped open on the soldier's PDA and a feed from the pilot appeared.
"I can confirm their identities, Sir," reported the red-haired pilot.
"Tyler is that you?" Zane asked as his face appeared on the screen of the car.
"I'm glad you are fine," Tyler replied.
"All right, thanks Tyler," the soldier continued, relieved by Tyler's confirmation. "The command post is at the hospital, report there for further instructions," he pointed with his PDA down the street in the direction of the hospital.
"Thanks," replied Zero.
"Thank you," Zane added.
"All the help we can get is welcomed," he said goodbye to the four. The nervousness in his voice was clearly audible. "Don't worry, you can rely on us!" Zane interjected.
"Take care", Zero nodded and drove slowly past the tank, which pulled to the side and opened the barricade.
"Ok, see you guys, take care of yourselves," Tyler signed off from his deep red ATBS.
"You take care as well." "Ditto!" Replied Zero followed by Zane.
"See you soon, Tyler," added Asagi while Nathan waved.
"Also, good fight Zane," Tyler replied before the feed ended.
"I'll let you out at the command post then," Zero explained as they drove past the crowds who, like them, had come behind the barricade.
"I'll look after Carol at the hospital and see if I can help," he added while everyone was looking out the windows.
"OK, good luck Zero!"
"I'll come with you Zero," Asagi replied belatedly.
"Thanks, Asagi", Zero smiled, swinging his head back.
Behind the barricade, the soldiers had set up one of several small camps on the right-hand side of the road to coordinate forces while they led the evacuation.
The attack had started only 33 minutes ago and the evacuation of the civilians went well, although it was the first evacuation under real conditions. The fact that more people had come to town because of the final exam made the evacuation only partially more difficult.
The reason for this was that, as a peripheral town, Halsion had enough evacuation bunkers in the event of an attack.
The evacuation bunkers were strategically distributed throughout the city so that civilians could quickly reach a bunker in the event of an attack. One of the bunkers was in the military base in the north, another was in the east of the city, another by the hospital in the south, and a last one in the west by the academy. Also, the city center was provided with a network of smaller bunkers.
Despite the distribution of the evacuation bunkers, it took a while to evacuate several thousand civilians. Besides, the evacuation bunkers were not designed for long stays. They were only intended to provide protection for a short time until the enemy was driven away, or reinforcements arrived, so the bunkers were relatively narrow. Should a siege last longer, the civilians had to be flown out if possible.
"This way, please," a soldier waved to a group of civilians and pointed them to the next assembly point.
It was the first attack on Halsion since it was founded and, despite the successful evacuation, there was a lack of routine, both among civilians and among the military. While there was a small portion of the military that rotated, most of the soldiers were stationary in Halsion and the years of peace had taken their toll.
"Look at all of those people..." Nathan mentioned without waiting for an answer, looking out the window into the crowd.
"They've never seen a battle before," Zane replied.
"Just like us ...", added Zero, who had placed his right arm on the back of the driver's door and was driving the pickup with one hand.
"They're all scared," added Asagi, her worried gaze fixed on the crowd.
Zero's pickup drove down the street, past the civilians waiting to enter.
“Please stay calm,” said an automatic announcement in front of one of the evacuation bunkers. Young, old, humans, elves, everyone was waiting to get into the bunker and so they crowded in front of the entrance.
One girl shivered while her boyfriend held her hand. One child huddled against its mother in an attempt to dispel fear while the mother tried to calm it down. Around her neck, she wore a symbol of the Architect's church. Beside them, two businessmen were arguing as if they had just come out of a meeting. A young man with a sports bag was also standing in front of the bunker. An elf asked a soldier while the bystanders listened to the soldier's every word. They all waited impatiently to be admitted to the bunker.
The soldiers tried to ensure some peace and order, but the tension among the people was palpable.
“Why are they even attacking us in the first place? There's nothing here!” Zane expressed his anger at the situation and turned to Nathan.
"I wonder that too, Zane," replied Nathan with his calm and matter-of-fact language.
"But that can ..."
"Calm down Zane, it won't do any good."
Zane looked at Zero, whose gaze was fixed on the street, the tension was also evident in Zero.
"Zero is right," added Nathan. Zane's gaze turned back to Nathan and Asagi, who tried to calm him down with a smile as if to say that she understood his anger.
"You are right," said Zane, calming himself down and slumped back into the seat. "But still ..." Zane didn't get to follow his thoughts with words, because a huge bang made the inmates flinch.
The next moment, Zane and his friends covered their ears.
An unnatural sound followed the bang, it was as if someone were trying to scratch a blackboard with a fingernail with all their might, or as if metal was sliding over metal, with the difference that noises like those only known from the computer were mixed in. The shrill noise was difficult to describe and yet it sounded as if something was tearing in the very fabric of the world.
The noise echoed through the whole city and even drowned out the sounds of the battle for a moment. After a few seconds, it gave way to a less, but nevertheless disturbing noise that seemed to slowly become quieter itself. A white pillar of light, tapering upwards, rose from the direction of the explosion and the sound. At the same time, something black in the center of the pillar of light seemed to want to push towards the sky. It seemed like another pillar of light inside of the first. The pillar's unnatural black middle seemed to engulf any light that fell on it. As if it were threatening to consume the world itself.
The people froze at the sight of the pillar that rose high above the buildings in the sky. Unsure what it was that was going on before their eyes. "What in God's name ..." said a soldier, stunned, breaking the silence.
In the next moment, the first shock caused by the explosion and the sound that followed it were gone. People did not understand what had happened, but the sound of the explosion alone was enough to cause panic. Immediately people started to run wild as the soldiers tried to get the situation under control.
But all the efforts of the soldiers were in vain, the crowd was already in a panic. Some tried to protect themselves from a possible further explosion with their hands above their heads. Others ran back into town where they came from or took shelter in nearby buildings. Still, others crowded into the entrances to the bunkers.
The panic of the people was so strong that hardly anyone noticed how the noise slowly seemed to disappear completely. Like the sound, the column seemed to lose size until it disappeared behind the houses.
"What happened there?" Asked Zane, who took his hands off his ears while the people ran past the pickup in panic.
"That's at the hospital!" Zero startled and stepped on the gas. Due to the sudden acceleration, the tires of the pickup began to squeak and the loading area rose for a brief moment before the acceleration passed onto the road and the pickup started moving.
Zero passed the fleeing civilians who came in panic from the direction of the hospital.
"What was that?" Asked Nathan who had leaned forward to get a better view and was now sitting between the two front seats.
"I hope everyone is safe ..." Asagi whispered to herself, looking out the window.
"That wasn't a normal explosion, that's for sure!" Replied Zane to Nathan, who had also leaned forward and now leaned on the dashboard.
They were driving into the park surrounding the three sides of the hospital complex when Asagi yelled, "Zero, watch out!" She leaned forward past Zane's seat and pointed to the street.
Suddenly a person hunched over onto the street, in the middle of the pickup's path. The streets were now empty, all civilians had already left the hospital and fled. And yet that one person ran right up to Zero's pickup.
"Damn! What is he doing there?” Cursed Zero.
Zero stomped on the brakes and the clutch. "Hold on!" He yelled and yanked the steering wheel first to the right and then to the left. The pickup's wheels squeaked as Zero applied the brakes. The truck began to lurch due to Zero's sharp turn. The speed was too fast for Zero to be able to avoid the person.
The pickup just drifted past the person who seemed to be reaching for the pickup and came to a stop a few meters further with a strong jolt in the middle of the road.
"Are you all right?" Asked Zero turning around to Asagi and Nathan.
"Thanks, everything is okay," Asagi replied.
"What is he doing?" Asked Nathan.
"Let's ask him, maybe he knows something!" Zane yanked the door open. Whereupon the others got out of the car as well.
"Hey! Are you hurt?" Yelled Zero, whereupon the man staggered turned to face them.
"I'll check on him!" Zane yelled as he propped himself up with one hand on the hood and jumped over it to the other side.
"Zane wait!" Zero tried to stop him but Zane had almost reached the man.
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