Renegades (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 3)

Chapter 16

Koil woke up dazed and confused, the world blurry and spinning in front of him. He shook his head to try and get himself straight, when he began to feel very warm around himself. He was curious as to why this was happening, until he began to smell smoke and jolted up very quickly. Koil looked around and saw that he was sitting in the shredded remains of the Swift, that had managed to dig a large trail for itself in the side of the mountain. He thought back to a few moments before the crash against the bird, and remembered himself pressing the button to eject the cockpit from the main fuselage. It had launched away from the rest of the fighter, which had promptly dropped and exploded against the hard bedrock on the sides of the mountain. The cockpit, however, had landed on the softer dirt and treeline above the wall, but still hit hard. It had dragged along for a few feet, creating a large gash in the ground that scarred the mountain. The combined crash and sudden stop had made Koil black out. Now, he looked around to see the remains of his Vulcan fighter burning up, and he was trapped in the middle. Quickly, Koil began to wrestle with his harness, trying desperately to pull the buckle off. He was worried about the flames reaching the laser chaingun. If they ruptured the plasma battery, the entire cockpit would be vaporized, him along with it. And the flames were spreading quickly. Koil struggled with the harness for a while before realizing the heat had probably fused the metal together. Thinking, he grabbed his assault rifle from his bag under the seat, and began to hit the buckle with the stock. Finally, he broke it, and dove clear from the cockpit with his bag. Seconds after, he heard a loud boom, and felt a hot wave push his back firmly. He looked up and saw the cockpit now finally destroyed completely. He sat back, catching his breath, then took the flare gun from his bag and shot one into the air, the red glow shining brightly. He then sat back against his bag and cocked his gun. It was going to be a long wait.

Nolun had almost his entire body wrapped around the tree, yet he still wasn't able to find any kind of good grip on it. He slid off and fell on his back for the 17th time, grunting in a dull noise of pain and annoyance. Of course, the tallest tree in this stupid jungle had to be the only one with a trunk that he couldn't climb. He sighed, still laying on his back, and looked over at his bag. The Dorado Piece was still inside, the beam of light still shining brightly. No matter how hard he had tried, he couldn't block it out. Nolun was getting worried that some creature or something might find him. Then, as he looked at the bag, a thought occurred to him. He started digging through it, hoping that at least one particular item had survived the dive into the waterfall. His hands closed around a thin, wooden cylinder, and Nolun smiled. He was in business. He pulled out a small cylinder with a slit on the top, and two metal studs on either side of the handle. As he pressed one of the buttons, a blade sprung out of the slit. It was a pocket knife that Nolun had carried with him for emergencies, and was especially easy to smuggle. Moving to the tree, he closed his eyes and stabbed the knife into the side of it, the bade giving him an easy grip. He then pulled himself up, grabbing the next branch and moving the knife upwards. Nolun used this to make his way slowly upwards, until he finally made his way to the top of the tree, out of breath and covered in leaves and dirt. He looked around him, and saw that he could see for miles, and the entire jungle was visible from up here. It was exactly what he needed. He unzipped his bag, and pulled out the Dorado Piece. Then, balancing himself on the tallest branch, he lifted the Piece as high as he could, and saw the light shoot upwards into the sky and back down into the forest, but was a clear enough signal to anyone who saw it. Nolun smiled. Now all he had to do was wait for the Vulcan fighters to make another pass. However long that would take.

Bunker, Dante, and Elicia had been trekking their way back through the jungle towards the shuttles to camp for the evening, when Dante suddenly perked his head up again. Bunker and Elicia raised their weapons expectantly, thinking another creature was in the area, but instead saw Dante point over towards the mountain where they had seen Koil go down, and the 3 of them saw a red flare fly upwards and arc over the trees. "He's alive!" Elicia said, thankfully. Bunker silently sighed in relief, and turned to the two of them. "Alright, we'll make it back to camp, restock on supplies, then we'll take the shuttle over to pick him up. Then, we need to regroup with the rest of the Vulcans." Dante was looking over at the mountains uneasily, then shook his head at Bunker's words. "No. That'll take too long. We don't know what other things are out here. Koil could be dead or worse by the time we get there. I can get there faster. You know I can." Elicia looked at him like he was crazy. "What about you? You could end up like him if you went out there alone!" Dante looked at the both of them. "I can make it. Trust me." Bunker normally wouldn't let anyone else do what he was planning on doing, but he also knew that with Dante, it was an entirely different story. Just as Bunker was about to speak up and make his decision, a loud buzzing noise suddenly filled the air. The 3 of them looked up and saw 2 large insect-like creatures with several wings, large stingers on the bottom of their many legs, and large compound eyes hovering above them. They quickly drew their weapons, and Bunker started firing at them. Immediately, one bug exploded with the sheer force of Bunker's weapon, but the other managed to dodge the others. Elicia launched a few daggers at the other, but the bug proved to be too nimble to be hit. Just as Dante was about to rush in and attack, the bug suddenly screeched in apparent pain, as something flashed through the centre of it's body, slicing it clean in two. It fell to the ground, it's two halves splitting apart. Dante looked up, and saw a figure in a tattered jacket with long hair wielding a slightly battle-damaged plasma sword crouched on a tree branch and staring down at them. Bunker raised his weapon at him, but Dante placed his hand on it, shaking his head. The figure jumped down, and everyone in the group recognized him well. Dante stepped forwards, nodding his head. "Hello, Zero." Mister Zero looked back at Dante with his now singular eye, and sheathed his sword slowly. He then uttered two words in a raspy voice. "Help me."