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100 Days Until Songs And the Uncertain End (part 1)
The first day of attacks were horrifying. With the amount of time that they had to get the word out to everyone, there was not much time for preparation. Locations that were not fully prepared were brutalized before the military could step in. Some attacks were different than the predicted ones. There was little care for those places that were were already mostly abandoned due to people moving to work for the ships. In the cases of those towns, there were no survivors for those who remained.
Evester had known that the warehouse would be receiving an attack that night, not too large but large enough to cause a worry. They’d get through it, easily enough, however they had to make sure that the attack didn’t put them off. He had watched the attack feeds of the other cities instead, noting how all the large UnderCities seemed completely unaffected. They had no casualties, while other cities were annihilated. For the first time in his life, Evester felt angry. He had wanted them to get the word out in order to save lives. The orders were to defend, not to attack. Yet the large Undercities annihilated their aggressors and the smaller towns were left to fend for themselves. Nothing had gone as planned and too many people had been lost. Evester wanted to say it was greed. He wanted to say that it was pride. He was not sure what had driven the X leaders to make the choice they had, but he did not accept their choice as right.
“We are trying to capture some right?” Karla asked, breaking Evester from his trance.
“Yes.” Evester groaned as he looked up from the tablet with the news from the cities. While practice was good, Maverin had the great idea that the Aralax were capable of communicating with humans. If that were the case, Evester was not sure how he would feel. After all, he’d killed so many of them already. If they could communicate, then there was a chance that all of their fighting was for nothing. Communication meant another party with their own selfish goals that might result in the annihilation of humanity.
“Alright,” Rayda approached them. Evester had decided to sit outside of the facility. The sunset was across from him shimmering on the airfield. It was perhaps the last time they’d see daylight for a long time, and he had wanted to see it even as he drove himself mad with the reports. “All the scientists are locked away.”
“Including Uly?” Evester asked looking at her.
“He didn’t want to go.” Rayda sighed. “But he’s there.”
Uly was a fighter like them, but he also had to survive. Maverin was there with Uly. The two of them could complain as much as they wanted. Uly, however, might be chosen by Europa. Uly, however, was the head of this entire initiative. Uly was their only way to saftey. They could not risk losing him. Rayda handed Evester a headset, a device he hadn’t used in what felt like forever. Placing the headset on he tested his connection.
“I’m connecting to the video feeds. I’ll be here.” Uly spoke over the connection. He was pissed.
“Good to know.” Crass spoke as well. Evester looked around searching fro Crass.
“How is everything from your side?” Evester asked him.
“Good enough. I’ve double verified all the locks. I’ll be to you shortly.”
“Are we sure we don’t want to split up?” Rayda asked Evester.
“The scientists and equipment is secured?” Evester asked her.
“Yes.”
“Then no. I’d rather we stay together.” Evester stated as the sun dipped below the horizon. It would not be long. For their location casualties were predicted, but that was to be assumed based on the fact that this was a war. They hadn’t had the chance to set up a defense against the Aralax. Not yet. It was why Evester had locked up everyone underground. Only those who could fight, soldiers and EverDanger, were out. They had a better chance at survival, and meant less if they died. However, unlike all of the leaders of this fucking world, Evester did not plan on having anyone die.
“Alright.” Evester turned back to go inside. From inside they would have a better advantage of attack. From inside they were going to survive. They had set up the high vantage points. They had set up the sniper locations. They had their vests on to let the shooters identify humans versus Aralax. Evester was not going to lose a single person, because they all deserved to live. They were alive and thus they deserved to stay that way.
“Have we heard anything from the others?” Karla asked.
“Not much.” Uly answered.
“No time to worry now. We have Aralax to worry about.” Evester stated as he took his post. The girls followed with him. The waiting then began. In time Crass came with more soldiers and they sat in silence and the growing dark. Evester thought of nothing and everything, how Heia and Zeydar were, if they were working to help as they probably would. He thought of their challenges that they had, and then in the silence he wished for their comfort, comfort he hadn’t expected to care about. He thought of Heia’s complaints about corruption and Zeydar’s listless expression as he analyzed a situation. Evester thought of their whispers in the night and their smiles and laughs.
Yes. He would make sure that everyone survived the night. There were others they had to get back to. Evester went over the plan once more with everyone. The countdown had begun. They had planned out every minute detail. This was a heist. This was a trick. This was an event to be broadcast to the entire world.
“Cameras on.” Evester announced to all those who heard him. He flipped on his camera and tested audio and capture with Uly giving the okay on the cameras and feedback. He twisted for a second and then froze.
“We’re live.” Uly stated bitterly. Evester turned to Rayda and Crass.
“Hello citizens of planet Earth.” Evester said the words falling into cadence. It had been more than a year since he had given this greeting. It had been too long, but this was not an impromptu recording like the others for EverDanger had been of late. This was planned. This was a game. This was an EverDanger task. Thus it required the same presentation. “Evester here.” He bowed to the cameras. “Today I come to you, live from no-man’s land, ready to present to you a task of enormous difficulty.” Evester breathed out, not feeling his cadence. This was not how he usually was? Why not? Why was he afraid? Why was he uncertain of everything all too suddenly? Why… Why was he not… “The name of the game is survival.” He had one more line. One more phrase. It was not right. It was…
“They’re here.” Uly’s voice came as a whisper, a revelation, and a fact. Evester readied himself looking to the others who prepared as well. His mind went blank and his body calmed. All before, that was, the racing that had began in Evester’s chest and the smile formed on his lips.
Evester let himself sink into the abyss of the feeling, erasing all worries and focused on the heart pounding fire that coursed through him. “Ever Present. Ever Surviving. Ever Dangerous. We begin.” Evester gave his signature salute and then turned from the camera’s, eyes narrowing. The show began then. If the rest of the world was going to be selfish then Evester was going to show them what it meant to be selfless.
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