RETALIATION - A 'ZONERUNNERS' STORY

by Rich Morgan

"Move! Move now!!"

Jools scrambled desperately to his feet, responding to the unknown voice, tripping and skidding through the dust as the chaos of battle raged around him. The thunderous boom of multiple heavy shells raining down on the stricken village was deafening, the sound of a thousand bullets whining and impacting on walls, trees and debris, piercing the air. Explosions ripped through nearby streets, artillery fire dangerously hurling entire buildings upward, rapidly disintergrating, into the skies above. Clouds of gunpowder and dirt, thrown up by the weapons of their unseen enemy, blocked out the sun for a few seconds each time, briefly casting cold, ominous shadows across the crumbling scene.

He looked around, panic stricken, mouth wide open in shock, causing him to cough and splutter as another explosion tore through the once peaceful setting, spreading dust, dirt and shrapnel between the piles of wreckage. With his arms covering his face, he desperately tried to look at his immidiate area.

He caught brief glimpses of comrades, the all too familiar sound of weapons being primed as they ran shouting and screaming disappearing into the thick, black smoke and burning rubble surrounding him. Bursts of gunfire here and there answered with distant, enemy weapons, the futile shouts for order and command, the painful screams of the wounded, and yet more deep explosions, hitting the distant hills as well as the nearby area. This was no mere skirmish, or mild confrontation - this was a war zone, an otherwise everyday setting ripped apart by the tools of conflict.

From the reactions of those around him, he could just about tell that it was not just him who had never witnessed a fight on this scale before. Nobody seemed to know where to go, or what to do, anarchy slowly consuming the situation. Once again, he looked around, squinting through the thick cover of black, choking smoke. He could make out a figure moving towards him. Staring at the shadow, he looked on, trying to make out who it was.

Suddenly, the shadow became a bright red blur, moving rapidly toward him... dazzling orange eyes piercing the smoke as it appeared right in front of Jools - a Trooper Badnik! It turned in his direction, and just as it was about to fire, another huge shell embedded itself into the ground nearby, thrusting bricks, glass and wood across the street. Jools was thrown a few metres backward, crashing against the remains of a wall. The Trooper was battered to the ground, but caught a glimpse of the young freedom fighter as it stood up again. It lifted it's weapon toward Jools, pointing at his head. Jools was unable to move, staring at the enemy soldier as it stood there, ready for the kill...

Just then, with a deafening, high pitched whining, a bullet belted out of the smoke and slammed itself into the trooper's arm, knocking it's gun into the air. Almost immediately, a second shot hit the torso of the badnik, making it stumble backward, tripping over some bricks scattered across the street. A young dog, rifle in hand and a bag on his shoulder, came running out of the smoke and over to the fallen trooper. As the smoke drifted across the surroundings, Jools could see the trooper struggle to get up as the silhoette of the young freedom fighter pointed it's gun at the badnik's head. A single shot rang out, and the trooper moved no longer. Then Jools's saviour disappeared again into the heat of the conflict, still unaware that he had saved the young cat's life from the wrath of Robotnik's inorganic minions.

Another heavy explosion reminded Jools that he was not out of this yet. He slowly climbed to his feet, his body aching, eyes desperately searching for a way out of this nightmare. He saw a pistol lying on the ground a few meters away, and made his way across the broken roadway to reach it. As he snatched it up in his paw, he could see the outlines of more Troopers slowly making their way through the village. He pointed the gun at one of the shadows and fired at the aggressors. It jerked suddenly, and dropped to the ground, the others stopping, their orange lenses visible even through the cover of the dark smoke as they looked in the direction of the gunfire. Jools turned and ran, jumping over walls, fallen trees and wrecked badniks, desperately trying to get away from them. He stumbled into another larger area of the village. Walls surrounded the open ground directly in front of him, rubble piled high against a badnik transport laying smashed on it's side to the left. Runners moved quickly, aimlessly, back and forth, voices masked by the rumbling of the exploding shells nearby. Jools surveyed the scene as he quickly climbed over the bricks and out of craters in the roadway. Suddenly he saw who he was looking for, about twenty five yards in front of him. Jools froze as he looked on and watched her.

Dee knelt against a wall, fiercely clutching a familiar looking purple Badnik submachine-gun in her paws. She blindly fired random bursts of bullets from her gun as the large, swirling black smoke advanced. Jools stared at her, still in his dreamlike, shock-induced state - She was covered in dust and dirt, her hair matted and grubby, her once white hairband stained a deep scarlet colour, wrapped around a wound on her left arm. Dee was frantically turning between the obscured enemy's direction, and a young girl kneeling behind her, face streaked with tears, tightly hugging a teddy bear, gripped with panic and terror. She shouted to the child to stay down as she continued to fire into the blackness before her. The young squirrel paused as she set her eyes on her shocked comrade, standing upright and unprotected in the midst of the fray. Jools's ears picked up on the familiar voice of his partner as she screamed desperately to him.

"Jools... Jools!! Please! For the love of Mobius, get down! Jools!!"

Dee flicked her head around, and opened fire as Badniks began to swarm into the inner sections of the village. The child dived to the ground as a stream of bullets rattled out of the muzzle of Dee's weapon, hitting at least two Soldier Badniks who were no more that a few metres away. Dee, looking in every direction, her eyes darting, her fur soaked with sweat and tears, took hold of the little girl's arm and ran toward Jools as he stood, petrified at the oncoming crimson assault.

Dee's voice once again rang in his ears as she grabbed hold of him, wincing as she pulled at Jools with her wounded arm. He looked at her with a mixture of fear and confusion as she guided her shaking companion through the remnants of the roads and buildings.

"W-what's happening, D-dee?"

"Retaliation... 'cause of some attack somewhere... they're seeking revenge, nothing more. On innocents this time..."

Dee looked ahead as the three animals ducked and moved around the scene of destruction, occasionally glancing at the child whimpering and coughing beside her as they moved on.

"Please, honey, everything's going to be okay, just keep going."

As they moved further back, more and more Mobians came into view, many holding firearms and waving their hands to drifting groups of people, indicating the direction of safe passage, out of the village. People were running to and fro through the smoke, carrying boxes, sheets and food out of the village. Jools looked as he saw two or three Runners pulling food supplies and clothing out of damaged, burning shops onto the pavements while others snached up the salvaged items and moved with the stream of retreating animals. Another group of people ran back toward where the Badniks were coming from. Shots rang out once more, followed by a series of explosions and screams for help.

As they moved quickly on, stumbling and tripping over discarded items and pieces of nearby houses, Jools saw another Runner dashing over toward them. Dressed in a khaki coloured shirt and oversized blue trousers, he was looking intensely at Dee with his large brown eyes as he slung his rifle over his shoulder, and called to her.

"Dee..? Dee, it's me. Are you okay?"

Dee looked up and stared for a moment, distracted by the confusion around her.

"Rao...? Is that you?"

"Yes. Thank goodness you're okay. We had almost lost all hope."

The runner shouted to others, who came over and helped Dee, Jools and the young girl to a small stone wall at the edge of the village. Here they were given water, and Rao handed Dee two more ammunition clips, salvaged from the defeated Badnik Soldiers at the other side of the village. He quickly briefed the stunned group on the scenario that they were in.

"We were right. It's an attack of retaliation. Not quite sure what for yet though. He knows what he's doing." Dee looked up at Rao as she rested against the wall, biting her tongue as another runner attended to her wound.

"Who..?"

"Robotnik. He's targeting civilian areas in retaliation to both Sonic's and the Runners acts of resistance. The citizens will then hold us responsible for their destruction of peaceful communities, and no longer support the push for freedom. In their eyes, we would become another enemy."

Dee's eyes widened. It made sense - a horrible, but effective way to force the Mobian people to obey. With this in her mind, she looked at the little girl she had rescued from the inner section of the village.

"This is our fault..."

Rao knelt down next to a despairing Dee and talked sternly to her. The echoes of explosions and gunfire could still be heard from the centre of the settlement as Dee's head sank toward the ground.

"Dee... come on. Dee - look at me. No it isn't. That's what they WANT us to think. Look, we can stop this happening again now that we know his plans. We were unprepared this time. Nobody but Robotnik is to blame for this mess. We have to be strong, Dee... it's the only way we can all get through this. Joey... Joey! Take the little girl to safety... get her away from here. Dee... we're doing what's best for Mobius, despite what might-"

Suddenly, a hail of bullets flew through the air and smashed one by one into a wooden cart nearby, scattering splinters everywhere. The electronic voices of Troopers were heard once again as the runners in the immediate area ran forward, firing at the aggressors. Rao jumped to his feet, pulling his rifle from around his shoulder as he spun around, and fired a few well aimed shots at the advancing Troopers' heads. Rao shouted at the top of his voice as he reloaded his weapon with amazing dexterity.

"Get everyone out of here!! Retreat! Everyone, fall back!!"

Dee and Jools were hurried to their feet as the enemy robots began to appear out of the dust and smoke. The brief minutes of calm had been replaced with panic once again, although this time it was more of a rush to get away that one of conflict. As they ran as fast as their weak bodies could, they saw others heading along the same roadway out of the village. In the clear green fields ahead, away from the rage of war behind them, could be seen a steady stream of evacuated Mobians, carrying the few posessions they could away from the forces of Robotnik's empire. Jools looked back, and saw Rao and a few others firing at the slowly advancing troopers.

The noise of battle slowly faded into the distance as they followed the trail of the homeless, injured, and shocked. From the hills they could look down onto the burning remains of what was once a happy, prospering community. They could see the tiny figures of the last few Runners abandoning the village as wave after wave of trooper badniks steadily make their way toward the burning settlement, eventually breaking their lines and deploying at intervals around the village, retaliating with fierce efficiency. Transports hovered on the outskirts, and ominous red walking machines scouted around the stricken community menacingly.

Dee and Jools looked on as the last of the retreating freedom fighters moved quickly away from the village in different directions, an attempt to stop the Dictator's forces from pursuing them and discovering the civilian survivors. Dee held her wounded arm as they looked on, and thought of the little girl she had found, kneeling in the ruins of a house, desperately clutching her toy - maybe that was all she had left in the world to cling on to. Memories of her life in Littletree, of her father, of everything she held dear, echoed in the image of the helpless child she had saved. She could feel a lump in her throat, and the tears welling up in her large eyes.

"Dee.. come on, we're not safe here..."

Jools placed a paw on her shoulder as he brought his companion back to reality. Dee felt the shaking in his arm, still shocked by recent events. He felt no better that she did, but he was right. Rao was right. They had to press on, no matter what. She slowly turned away from the scene of destruction behind them, and walked down the hillside, the sun warming her face, the long grass swaying in the gentle breeze.

Jools looked once more at the now distant village, black smoke swirling into the clear blue skies above. They had rushed to assist the helpless, stood their ground to fight, acted openly in defiance of the New Mobian Order, and failed. The scene before him seemed a symbolic representation of Robotnik's absolute power and contempt for their existance, and his concerning efficiency in overcoming the resistance to his rule.

However, as Jools turned and saw Dee moving across the field, and Runners even further in the distance moving across the fields, protecting the innocent, he found a glimmer of hope. He was alive. Dee was alive. No doubt Rao was alive, despite his blind heroism in staying to the last, and with the survivors free amongst the populace, it would not be long before news of the attack would spread. With each aggressive act, the Dictator made more and more enemies, and surely then it wouldn't be long before the people of Mobius would rise in revolution against him, not unlike the Runners did years ago.

Jools knew what the aftermath of the conflict would involve. It would be a quiet atmosphere in the nearby communities tonight, the Runners who had endured the horrors of the day silently remembering the acts of terror, their fallen comrades, their vain attempts to turn the tide of war. But like every similar event to date, the initial time of shock would soon be replaced with a renewed drive and motvation to stand tall, to fight, and to succeed.

The Mobian people were not prepared to bow to the Dictator's rule just yet.

© Richard Morgan, 2002.