As if I would just die! I needed to get Luha out.
I pulled the guy who doubled as an anchor above me and the gravity started working again. I put him right in front of my body as the bullets started raining. A bullet inevitably travelled through my shoulder because this wasn't an action thriller movie but real life with very real consequences. My shoulder was exposed.
I couldn't escape every bullet. But the bulletproof man I used as a meat shield could.
Portions of a second later, after using the meat shield as a landing pad, I was on the ground behind the bushes. Grabbing the shoulder. It stung but I couldn't pull it out.
'What now?'
"Checked the cams and Luha is headed towards your building!" Rune shouted.
"Damn it. That idiot is looking for me." Where is she? "Left or right?"
"Left." So taking the back gate. Awfully smart of her.
Cool. I undressed the vest off the dude and put it in my right hand. The people who shot at me wouldn't just die because I landed on the ground. They were probably approaching me as of this moment.
I needed a place to escape from and a way to protect myself.
I took deep breaths. This was gonna be hard.
"How far away is she?"
"Not very. And she's gaining ground fast."
"Can you contact her?"
"I can't. Lenses aren't on the school network. I would need her permission to get in. I could get a team to contact the lens making company and then get into her stuff. Otherwise, the end to end encryption stops me."
Made sense. Most big companies didn't allow the government to have backdoor access. Lense was no exception.
Anyways, she should be safer inside. Hopefully meet a teacher. From what I could tell that giant teacher was a legitimate giant. She should be able to overpower these losers any day of the week. But that all depended on their encounter.
First of all I should deal with my si-
Wuh ba ba baba BOOOOOOM!
SHIT!!
I immediately stuck to the wall, lying in a contained foetal position, as the building right next to me exploded. Windows shattered, shards flew everywhere, and a storm of flames erupted causing the bushes in me to catch on fire. I, hiding below the level of the sill, was out of the fire's range but the guys who approached me weren't. I watched five of them burn on the spot as the other three caught on fire.
I wasn't safe from the shards though. Some of them go buried in my arm and back. Many of them were too tiny to even notice. I felt a strong burn on my back from the heated walls.
'Is this what all that organised movement was? A bombing?'
"MAO ARE YOU FINE?!" I heard Rune shout.
I was concussed but I gained my stance early. I was still not in the right mind but I ran. This was the best opportunity I could get from such a traumatic event. So I ran towards the left, where Luha was. Some shots were fired from the burning men. But the bulletproof vest stopped them.
"Did the others make it?" I asked. I didn't think that I would concern myself with the teacher and the other students but I felt drawn to the question. Add to that the fact that I was barely in the right mind after facing an explosion almost head-on... That was the first thing that came to mind.
"Yes, the teacher got them out in time." Rune said after checking on something.
After losing sight of the hostiles I ran behind a pillar and put the bulletproof vest on. There was no point in getting the whole disguise I was too slim and short to pull it off.
I felt the tang from the rough vest hitting my burnt naked back.
I tightened the sleeves where I got shot. Suppressing lost blood should be my top priority. Everything is pointless if I die.
And I needed to keep moving to get over the bodily urge to stay at rest.
I got up again and ran along the left side of the main building. That was where Luha should be. She was fine judging from how Rune never mentioned any damage to her.
My steps quickly turned to a full on sprint. And soon enough I could see Luha from a distance. She was riding a spider sort of mech that she bragged about the other day.
'That explained her speed.'
"Lu-" I was about to shout but I decided to stay prudent. There were probably hostiles inside who blew the building up. I couldn't fathom that they'd do something as erratic as suicide bombing after moving around as organised as they were.
I leaned further forward into a stronger sprint only to find three others sneaking up on Luha. My mana senses saved me.
'How many of them were there?!'
There was an old lamp-post to the side- One of our school's symbols that ran across the entire path. I ripped two of them up from the ground and lit them with the fire emanating of the building. Right before reaching the destination, I used three of my fingers to grab a curtain and threw it on the three hostiles before jumping on to Luha and pulling her inside the building.
The three struggled to get out, but I used the chance to throw the lamps on them.
They combusted. The dust from the curtains even lit the air on fire around them.
But that alone shouldn't be enough to kill them. Knowing that, Luha grabbed me and we ran all the way inside through the fire. The mech shielded us from the fire.
"Are you fine?" I asked.
"Yes… You have a bullet in you, right?"
"Did you see?"
"Yes."
She was focused into driving us to the coolest section. She grew a lot in the last couple of years. 14 years old Luha was more reliable than a 9 year old one. But she was still a kid. There was no way she wasn't scared.
"Is this bulletproof?" I asked while trying to figure out what the spider mech was made of.
"No." Luha confirmed.
Of course it wasn't. They made normal mechs in school, not military ones. Why would they even need to be bulletproof?
With that information, I started to consider the mech as a possible asset.
I could carry her away faster than the mech. But the mech guaranteed her autonomy. So... Was it dead weight or a good tool?
She finally stopped the mech at one window. The window let out most of the fire. Which meant that aside from the ambient flame we were fine.
I was sweating buckets. And it wasn't because of the running. Even the coolest section, and even under the protection of the mech, this school was burning.
"What do you think is the best course of action, Rune?" I asked over the lens.
"I- still need to consider."
"Can you check inside the gym?"
"It is filled and currently it's going underground."
"As in?"
"It's closing in about a minute."
"So that's a no-go." Well, I wasn't exactly planning to hide in the school's bunker. I needed to protect JiiJii, Obaa-chan and Clintarou. And I did have the means to do that.
"Your teacher is begging for them to keep it open."
"But that wouldn't be all good. Announce it through the speaker that both Luha and I are safe."
"Who are you talking to?" Luha asked after seeing me seemingly talk to myself.
"Uhh… Rune."
"I see. Umm… can you connect me too?"
"Can you get Luha into the calls?" I asked the guy on the other side.
"Yep. Give me a sec."
That second was enough to get my plan together.
"So Luha, here's the plan." I turned my attention outward again.
"Did you already come up with one already?" Rune asked.
"Yes I did." With our lenses connected I linked the blueprint, Rune gave me to her. It wasn't a blueprint anymore it was the entire map. One that Rune got off the server.
"Rune, do you have an ETA on the military?"
"I just got one, here you go."
On the top half there was an ETA timer.
"I added 10 minutes to compensate for them being late." Rune informed. He was now linked to both of us.
Apparently, our little village was somewhat more than an hour away from the nearest base. That amount of time was workable.
"So the gym is closed. From what I can tell from the footage there are around 30 to 40 of them in plain sight. There might be more and they might have spread around the entire village. Or if they're hiding somewhere. But if they really are terrorists then their objectives would be to make a show out of us. Wouldn't make sense to involve the villagers who would only serve as a variable." I said.
"This is a premeditated attempt. I think they factored that in, yes." Rune agreed.
"Cool then my first destination is the hangar. There are probably some people there."
"Are you going to save them?" Rune asked. "Don't try to play hero."
"I'm not. I need a vehicle that gets me out of school. With the bunker gone, I'm sure we can't just be safe for an hour just standing around." I looked at Luha. "Apparently the school was making Buggiez... They should be able to take us home.
"Home being your housing?"
"Yes."
"Are you worried about the old folks?"
"Yes."
It sucked but it seemed like I had gotten quite attached to those geezers. But that wasn't the only reason. If it was our home, it meant that Yuuno's protective barrier things should be in there. She made plenty of really high grade ones for protecting the farms during locust outbreaks and storms.
They were probably strong enough to withstand gunfire, maybe. Next to the bunker in the school, the inside of Yuuno's barriers would be the safest space.
"Are you going to leave me here then?" Luha asked.
"I'll pick you up right outside."
The little mech should be able to keep her agile enough to maneuver. And it was way more dangerous where I was going than it was in this building.
I got off and patted Luha's back.
"Keep to a small space and don't move around too much. I will keep you updat-" My eyes followed the silhouettes right behind her. "Son of a-"
There were at least 15 armed men behind her. Red little lasers plastered all over us. Their number was only possible if their initial amount was way over the 30, to begin with. I underestimated them.
I took a deep breath again.
They were all communicating as effectively as we were. They knew about the whereabouts through the word of mouth.
The plan went off the grid within seconds of making it.
I had been backed into a corner yet again, but boy I was glad we had the spider with us. We should start with the execution.