LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 3: The Squad
Running through a swarm of soldiers during the chaos, Indie, Frost, and Panda rushed to the north gate on the tall circular wall surrounding the base. Once they managed to make their way to the opening to the field outside, they encountered troops already heading out, but between all the soldiers, two were specifically waiting for the three to show up. They stood together at the right side of the gate, and once most of the soldiers had left, Indie was able to approach them, to which they were caught off guard as they had to move instantly. But instead of greeting the rest of the squad, they began following them as Indie led the group to combat, sticking close to each other behind Panda, their superior.
One of the soldiers was a short, skinny, and scruffy guy with messy blonde hair and a particularly pointy nose, slightly bigger than average. His complexion and frame weren’t those of a regular soldier, especially while wearing dark green cargo pants and a dirty vest that had seemingly lost its original color a long time ago. Despite his physical appearance, it looked like he did have a significant role in the squad, or at least he would make some impact, as he was carrying a long grenade launcher, with a barrel capable of holding up to four grenades.
The model of his weapon stood out from the design and its colors, utilizing yellows and greens to match his outfit, though it looked like he had manually personalized every grenade strapped to his belt, as they were all painted with different patterns. The grenade launcher appeared to be light, as he was able to wave it freely in a moment of excitement. Yielding such power in his hands seemed to leave him eager for some action, to the point where he looked a bit deranged holding his weapon. His dark purple eyes showed both youthful enthusiasm and deliberate mischief. He seemed to be putting the latter to use already by holding his weapon towards his teammate running alongside him, something she didn’t appreciate and tried to avoid by outpacing him, prompting him to let out a taunting chuckle.
The other soldier was a thin, ginger girl, taller than the previous by a couple inches, with dark orange, medium-length hair, and a few blue streaks highlighting the back of her ponytail, darker in tone than her eyes, which were more of a cyan or turquoise color. Some of her bangs covered the sides of her forehead, reaching her thin, deep brown glasses. Her small nose was covered in freckles, which spread out around the rest of her face, but in less quantity and opacity. She had a rather weak chin and small lips, but her eyes and round eyebrows conveyed an austere expression, even a bit distressed, as she was focused on running fast instead of fixing her glasses or even strapping her backpack properly.
She didn’t appear to be armed, but at the same time, she was the one carrying the most. Her outfit was simple: she wore regular black combat pants, a bit bigger than her size, and black boots, as well as a simple white tee under an open deep blue denim jacket with fur on the neck and ends of the sleeves. She covered herself up more than anyone, wearing gloves like Frost, except she also covered most of her clothes by wearing all extra accessories for multiple uses.
It looked like she had a full arsenal in all the holsters and pockets of her pants alone, but she also wore a utility belt around her waist, a fanny pack strapped around her right shoulder, and carried a large backpack that was as big as her torso since it looked to be full. She was carrying a lot, which is why she appeared to be struggling to run after only a few seconds. Every time she moved, her teammates could hear the various gadgets and tools that she was carrying jiggling, but they didn’t seem to be bothered by it as they were all focused on running and looking straight. But as she tried to keep up with her squad and the rest of the soldiers surrounding them, the anxious expression on her face only became more apparent, and after catching up with Panda and Frost, she tried to fill in on the details.
–So… what happened?– Tricky, the ginger girl, asked with mild concern, trying to get the attention of either Panda or Frost, with the latter completely ignoring her while the former turned to her and the other teammate.
–The omens are coming for some villages nearby. They are probably trying to set base…– Panda replied coldly, not running too fast so Tricky could keep up, but she was left slightly confused, to which Indie slowed down to explain the situation.
–They have targeted three main Echokin villages. We are heading to Echokinge to scope out the area and see if the Omens show up– Indie elaborated, but without looking back, as she was just as focused on running as Frost. He had just given some other soldiers instructions, but when he looked back and noticed that the rest of the team was falling behind, he sighed in frustration and tried to encourage them.
–Come on people, you know what happens when we don’t reach in time…– Frost urged while picking up speed. His teammates followed behind, but as his pace was too fast, they began worrying, in particular Tricky and Nitro, the other members of Crisis. They both seemed tired already, and with a large field to traverse, it looked like they couldn’t catch up. So, after a quick glance forward, Nitro realized they had to run a considerable amount before reaching the village, and with Indie and Panda trying to match Frost’s speed, he began slowing down.
–You guys get ahead. We’ll catch up later– Nitro said lightheartedly before gasping a little. Frost didn’t take it as lightly as him, and with one disregarding look, he ignored him and turned to the rest of the team.
–Where is Candy?– Frost asked rudely, to which neither Indie nor Panda had an answer. Seeing their reactions prompted him to check back on Tricky and Nitro, with the former stammering at his mere gaze, leaving Tricky as the one who had to speak up.
–She’s probably heading there as well. She took Kiwy with her, so we should be able to find them…– Tricky responded awkwardly, still worried in tone, but showing more apprehension to talk to Frost in her look. She did manage to calm him down a little, which in turn relieved her a bit, although Frost suddenly had an abrupt change and turned forward once again.
Taking Nitro’s advice, Frost sprinted towards the Echokinge village, leaving everyone else behind. Some of the soldiers accompanying the squad tried to catch up, but Indie gestured to them to stay close to the team, letting Frost head into combat alone. He quickly outran them, and while the rest of the squad remained focused, they began showing more concern over Frost’s reaction.
–Well, so much for teamwork…– Nitro commented slightly disappointed, but more sarcastically to get a reaction out of the rest of the squad. However, none of them seemed bothered by his remark, and instead, just took a moment to stare at Frost as he ran up a small hill before disappearing in the distance.
–He thinks he is a one-man army, going all rogue like that. Probably has a death wish or something…– Tricky said nonchalantly, condemning Frost with her stare as she kept her eyes on him. Both she and Nitro kept staring, but Indie and Panda had already shifted their attention to something else, only to have to force their teammates to focus as well.
–No, it’s not that. Just let him be…– Indie objected, almost showing compassion, but sounding too serious for Tricky and Nitro to believe. Instead of getting them to focus, she sparked more interest in the topic, but she didn’t elaborate or even look back, just kept running faster, forcing the rest of the squad to match her pace.
With the entire squad trying to catch up to Frost, Crisis and the New Saviors approach the Echokinge village, becoming more visible after they got up one of the many hills surrounding it. Despite it still being bright outside, with the sun just now starting to set, the squad had a tough time distinguishing the location from all the smoke covering the village. From a distance, they couldn’t tell the actual structures from the mountains of debris and burning houses. Screams of agony and desperation could be heard from behind the hill, and while it did help them find people, they soon found out that the village was completely destroyed.
The few houses that were once the homes of innocent people had now become death traps for many of them, as there were still villagers trying to escape their burning houses, and in the panic of the moment, some prioritized their own lives, leaving others to die. Running down the hill to aid the villagers, it became clear that the Omens had already attacked the village and were looking for another place to ransack, so with no enemies around, Crisis and the other saviors entered the ruined village to help as many as they could. The majority of villagers had already started evacuating, but with the brazing fire and startling screams of panic all around, the saviors were disoriented and didn’t know how to tackle the situation.
Regardless of how pointless it looked, they still got their hands dirty and began helping people out of their houses, many of which had already collapsed. There weren’t enough soldiers in the area to help the villagers, but it looked like they weren’t alone, as some saviors were already on location when the attack started. Trying to assess the situation, Indie and the squad stopped for a second to look around before spotting Frost at the center of the village, surrounded by piles of burning debris and still-alive villagers. They immediately ran up to him, but with a lot of area to cover, they split up, with only Tricky approaching Frost, which is when she noticed he was checking to see if one of their other teammates was well.
In the middle of the village, a cute, short, and thin girl was found treating the burns of a wounded villager. Tricky immediately recognized her, despite the girl having her back turned and her wavy, caramel hair blocking her face. It was actually her hair that stood out the most, as it was not only fluffy, waving in all directions, but one long, colorful braid extended to her back, with a pink bow at the end to match the different tones of the highlights on her hair.
Even with the smoke, she could be seen thanks to her outfit, as she was wearing an all-white short skirt dress with white gloves, white boots, and white leggings to contrast her long gloves. She wore an armband on her left arm with a white medical cross, which shone through the smoke and allowed others to spot her. It looked like she was a medic, as she had what seemed like a portable health kit strapped around her right shoulder. She had opened the kit to retrieve bandages and apply them to the wounded but was now more focused on speaking to Frost, who was kneeling right next to her and completely ignoring the wounded person.
When Tricky showed up behind her, she was pleased to see Candy’s face, similar to hers except more round in structure, with much bigger and stunning emerald eyes, bigger lips, and a few more freckles sprinkled throughout her cheeks. In response, she smiled in relief, her teeth glowing as white as her armband, but it was only for a moment, as she was clearly pressured by the chaos around her and the number of wounded to treat. However, she did seem to calm down when she saw her squad coming to help her, as well as more medical soldiers being able to treat the villagers.
–What’s the status?– Tricky asked hurriedly as she pulled a large box out of her backpack to reach deep down and retrieve small devices. They looked like minigun barrels planted on tripods, with a round light on the top and a small box on the back, which she loaded with bullets from one of her pockets. She immediately turned her attention to the surrounding area but remained attentive to get a response. And unlike Frost, who stood up but stayed completely silent, Candy didn’t hesitate to respond.
–We are rescuing everyone from the buildings and escorting them behind those barriers…– Candy, the medic girl, replied, pointing at a rock wall near the back of the village, at a safe distance from the fire.
Without saying anything else, Tricky ran towards the wall, where dozens of villagers were lying around, all suffering a variety of wounds, from big cuts to amputated limbs and other missing parts of their bodies. Tricky tried not to pay much attention to them since there seemed to be some medics already taking care of them, but she still appeared to struggle to focus on her job with the wounded screaming in pain and for her to help. Regardless, she stuck close to the wall, scrambling to plant one of the small devices on the side of it, and as soon as she turned it on, the light lit up and the mini sentry gun’s motor began spinning quietly.
–Could you help around or are you just going to stand there?– Candy asked Frost with mild annoyance as she kept treating more wounded at the center, now trying to resuscitate a villager while he remained standing completely silent. He was staying alert, looking around the scene in hopes of finding a threat. But as he distracted himself with the surveillance, Candy got impatient and hit him on the leg to make him react.
Frost looked down at Candy and saw the desperation in her face as a villager died in her arms. Her eyes seemed to blame him for the tragedy, yet he remained unbothered and only let out a sigh. To not argue with Candy, he quickly kneeled next to her again and, with a swift motion with his hands, compressed the chest of the villager only one brief time. Candy looked at him in horror, almost trying to stop him, but he was too quick. But before she could do anything, her expression changed to a shocked one once she noticed Frost managed to instantly resuscitate the villager before casually running off to help more people.
Candy’s shock persisted, but as the villager stood up and ran in fear with the rest of the wounded, she found herself staring at Frost in admiration, losing herself for a moment and letting a smile shine for a brief moment before hearing a loud noise. A house nearby just collapsed, and while Frost was already heading that way and was carrying two villagers to the wall with Tricky, Candy noticed that one of the villagers was struggling to help someone out.
A thin teen, younger than Candy, with parts of his clothes burned or torn off and only a stick strapped to his pants to defend himself, was trying to hold a big wooden beam that was on fire to prevent another villager from getting crushed. Everyone else had escaped the house or had already died. It seemed like those two were going to end up dead as well, but the teen was able to withstand the weight of the beam despite not being so strong. The other villager couldn’t move his legs, so he could only crawl under the beam as the rest of the structure collapsed behind him.
The teen screamed in pain as he struggled to lift the beam while also begging the other villager to escape. It was useless since the other one completely gave up and couldn’t move anymore. However, the teen held on for as long as he could, to the point where his hands began getting burned and his arms were shaking. Before he could give out, Candy ran to their aid, glancing at the teen to let him know she was going to help. He ignored her, closing his eyes to focus on holding the beam. He let out more groans, and just as he lost strength, Candy dragged the almost unconscious villager to safety before the teen dropped the beam, prompting the structure to completely collapse right in front of him.
He fell to the ground, dropping his stick in the process. A large cloud of dust blinded him, with Candy gasping for air and turning her head away, pulling the villager to the side so she could help the teen next. She turned her attention to him, but long after the dust had settled, the teen kept staring mindlessly at the burned house. Seeing this, Candy hesitated to approach him but ended up tapping his shoulder either way, which still didn’t prompt a reaction, at least until she spoke.
–Hey, it’s okay, you did well…– Candy reassured the teen, using a caring and calming voice. He finally reacted as soon as he looked back and saw her smile, he came back to his senses. Frantically, he looked around before shifting his attention to her big, green eyes. He stood still in shock again but regained his composure shortly after as he picked up his stick.
–Can you take her with the rest, please?– Candy asked the teen, who took a while to react. He was dismissive at first, staring her in the eye but not quite paying more attention to his surroundings, as he seemed overwhelmed by the fire and his deceased close friends. But after a while, he tried his best to focus and nervously nodded before grabbing the villager, and with another reassuring look, Candy left the teen to his own and ran around looking for more people to help. After a moment, she looked back to check on the teen and saw him and the villager arriving safely at the wall, where she watched as he slowly sat down, and as he began processing what had just happened, he broke down crying.
Candy stared for a second, but something else caught her attention. The entire squad is startled as well, with the rest of the soldiers instinctively taking positions around the village. All of the villagers had been rescued, or at least all they managed to find. But it looked like the job wasn’t over, as a loud march became audible in the distance, accompanied by a chant that the saviors didn’t react nicely to. Whoever was approaching wasn’t an ally. The squad immediately ran to the center of the destroyed village to gather around and stare at the hill from which the chant was coming from, only to find out that the enemy had never left.