Chapter 8

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"Sora!" Zero said startled. "What are you doing here?" He ran to her, as she came towards him. But she fell after just a few steps.

At the last moment, he caught her. She looked at him, held on to him tight, and burst into tears.

Zane and the others noticed that Zero had suddenly ran away and looked after him when they saw the little girl in his arms and got out.

"Who is that?" Zane asked when he got to Zero.

"This is Sora ...", Zero hesitated a little while trying to calm her down. "She's from the outskirts," he continued.

"An Infected?" Zane was startled and took a step back.

"Yes ...", he stroked her head.

"What is she doing here?" Asked Carol in amazement.

"How did she get here anyway?" Nathan asked, confused.

"I don't know ...", worried Zero. He had looked around but out of the girls, there was only Sora here, who seemed to have calmed down a bit. Her leg was injured and she was covered with bruises.

"What happened Sora? Where are the others?" He asked her while she looked up at him.

"Deadra brought me here...", she sobbed.

"Deadra?" Wondered Zero and looked into the alley between the houses in front of him. As if Deadra had heard them, the Akuryuma looked out from behind a container in the alley.

"An Aku!" Startled Nathan, who immediately began to cast a spell, while Carol and Asagi also shrank back a bit.

Zane backed away even further, his hand trembling uncontrollably.

Immediately Zero raised his hand and stopped Nathan. "Take it easy, everything is OK! It's not gonna hurt anyone! I know it."

"What?" Wondered Nathan and reluctantly took his hand down again before the magic circle disappeared. Deadra had meanwhile hidden behind the container and looked around the corner again carefully when the spell seemed to have disappeared.

"How do you know an Aku?" Asked Nathan.

"He lives with the children behind the wall."

"What?!" Zane was startled.

"It's obviously too small to pose a threat. Which is why the guards leave it alone, if they even see it at all," Zero explained.

"Hey you there! We're leaving!" Shouted a soldier, who saw the five standing in front of the car.

"We're coming!" Nathan waved to the soldier while the buses and trucks began to move. "We should hurry up."

"But ... that's an Aku ...", Zane said who struggled with Zero's words while Zero turned back to Sora.

"What about the others?" Asked Zero hesitantly. "Sora?"

Sora looked up at him when the tears welled out of her eyes again as she pressed against him and began to cry once more.

"What is it?" Zero turned to Deadra, who shook his head.

The color drained from Zero's face, his worst fears had become a reality. The smoke in the south was actually coming from the outskirts.

"But how ...", Zero turned his gaze back to Sora, who was still hugging him crying.

Asagi put her hands over her mouth in shock, she had been to the outskirts with Zero and Carol a few times and knew the children.

"What?"

Asagi turned to the voice next to her. Carol stood next to her trembling, tears running down her cheeks.

"That's not true, is it?" She tried to hold back her tears.

"Carol!" Asagi hugged her, who started to cry.

Zero didn't know what to say either and held little Sora in his arms, who seemed to have exhausted herself.

Nathan and Zane were both rooted to the spot, unsure of what to do when a familiar voice rang out.

"What's going on?" Tyler suddenly reported on the group's PDIs. "You can stand around some other time, come on. Move!"

Tyler's voice brought Zero back to the present, reminding him of the danger that still loomed over the city.

"Sorry Tyler," Zero raised his PDA to his ear. "We're coming."

"All good, I was just wondering what's going on. See you later." He fell silent again.

"Come on, let's pack up." Zero stood up with Sora in his arms while everyone looked at him. Carol was still crying while the other three nodded in agreement.

"What about the little one?" Asked Nathan when Zero's answer made him pause.

"I'll take her with me!"

"What?" Nathan startled.

"You can't just take her with you!" Zane protested, the fear visible on his face.

"I won't just leave her here!" He yelled at Zane. "Or do you mind?" Meanwhile, Sora looked at Zero, whose angry face spoke for itself, before she bent her head down again, depressed, and closed her reddened eyes.

"No ... I mean, I don't even know!" Zane struggled for words and nervously ran his hands through his hair while he watched Zero, who was walking past him to the truck with Sora on his arm.

Asagi and Carol had already gotten inside the car when Zero came to them with Sora.

"May she sit in between the two of you?"

"Of course." "Sure!" they replied.

"Thanks..." he nodded and carefully placed Sora between them.

"I'm sure that will cause trouble...", Zane worried and Nathan gave him an approving look.

"Is it OK if I ... come with you?" She asked hesitantly when Zero put her between the two girls.

"Don't worry," Zero smiled at her and patted her head.

"Yeah, don't worry, we'll take care of you," Carol turned to Sora as Zero closed the door. "And Zero is still here too."

"Have you thought this through?" Nathan asked when Zero closed the door.

"What if they don't let us pass?" Zane added worriedly.

"I'll take care of that when the time comes. Now we should get out of here first."

"But ...", Zane objected when Nathan interrupted him.

"Save that for later, Zane!" He pointed to the sky as a frigate headed straight for the hospital.

"How did that thing get into the inner ring?" Zane startled.

"Doesn't matter, get in!" Shouted Zero, who ran to the tailgate.

"Deadra!" Shouted Zero into the alley as he loosened the covering of the loading area.

Zero lifted the cover and pointed Deadra, who hesitantly looked at Zero, to the loading area. "Come up!"

Deadra ran out of the alley and began to climb up under the cover onto the truck bed. As soon as Deadra's tail disappeared under the cover, Zero closed the loading area again and hurried to the driver's seat.

"Let's go!" Zero closed the door and started the engine.

Without Zane and his friends noticing, the city's inner shield had shrunk, weakened by the constant attacks of the Teikoku. The outer shield still held, but the Teikoku's ships could easily pass it and the only reason it was still in place was that it was still able to repel small jets and missiles and thus protect the inner shield.

To prevent the Teikoku ships from entering the weakened inner ring, the leadership had reduced the size of the shield to maintain its strength until reinforcements arrived. Even if it came at the expense of size.

"The battle has been going on for almost two hours, where are the reinforcements?" Zane looked out the window at the sky.

In the meantime, the truck had caught up and was following the buses that drove along the main road to the bridge.

"Maybe the message didn't get through...", said Zero, his gaze wandering between the street and the rearview mirror.

"Communication disruption?"

"That is the common practice."

"It could also be that they were intercepted before they could reach us. Or they are already preparing for containment and have prepared the appropriate equipment first." Nathan began to list other possibilities.

Meanwhile, Sora looked out the window curiously, she had never seen the city. She only knew the buildings that towered above the walls in the distance and the stories Zero had told her and the others.

"Hopefully they'll come soon ...", Zane began to scroll across the news feed in his PDI, which confirmed Zero's statement.

Access to the network was kept to a minimum, in this case, the city's local network.

In the event of a crisis, the leadership reserved the right to limit the network to use the additional bandwidth for the military and other important institutions. This way, misinformation could be prevented and the transmission of information to the opponent could be contained as well.

When the method first emerged, there were many voices against this limitation, but it quickly became clear that the amount of data could be decisive in an attack. Supplies, troop movements, evacuation missions, all of this was regulated via the networks. A fast transmission was important, often a few thousandths of a second decided whether a missile hit its target or not.

Therefore, the limitation was accepted as a necessary restriction, particularly in Nykara.

It only took ten minutes from the hospital to the bridge, where the checkpoint had just been set up. This also represented the edge of the quarantine area around the hospital.

"We are here ...", Zero came to a halt.

"What?" Asked Zane, trying to look past the buses in front of them. Everyone had come to a halt. On the right and left of the street were ATBS and tanks guarding the entrance.

Civilians from all over the city had flocked to the two bridge crossings to get out of the infection zone. The northern one was less overcrowded as the military base's bunker was still considered safe and many rushed there. The southern bridge crossing, however, was completely overrun and a long traffic jam had formed in front of the checkpoint.

Everyone waited impatiently to be let through and huddled in front of the barrier.

"Please keep calm!" One soldier tried to manage the crowd. "You will all get through."

A massive truck was behind the barrier through which people had to pass, it was a mobile scanner, like the one in the city walls. The scanners were used to monitor the entrances to the cities, as they detected anomalies or possible infections.

However, since it was a smaller version, the performance was low and each person had to be scanned individually while the soldiers examined the empty buses by hand.

Bus by bus was analyzed, understandably a long traffic jam had formed and people became restless. The newly arrived Teikoku ship had made its way to the hospital and the battle seemed closer than before.

"Are we there yet?" Sora asked Carol shyly.

"Not yet," she replied.

"We're stuck in traffic," Nathan looked out of the window. Soldiers patrolled the street, inspecting the cars and buses.

The line proceeded slowly. The soldiers hurried as best they could, but more and more refugees came from the evacuated parts of the city.

Ten minutes had passed and it was the turn of the third train from the hospital. The mood in the car was gloomy, except for a brief report from Tyler, in which Zero had hidden Sora under his jacket, it had been quiet.

Zane had been insecure since the little argument at the hospital and didn't know what to say. The traffic jam had allowed him to break the silence, but it didn't last long.

Nathan, on the one hand, seemed to be in thought while he looked out the window at the newly arriving vehicles.

Zero was his friend and he respected him, but he doubted his decision to take both an Infected and an Akuryuma with him. Had Zero thought it through carefully or was it a hasty decision on his part due to the situation?

Or was it himself who overreacted?

Zane, on the other hand, knew of his panic, the encounter with the Infected at the hospital was proof enough of that. His fear was so great that at first, he could hardly think, his body began to shake uncontrollably and now he hardly dared to look back.

He just couldn't look into those eyes.

Was it his fear that made him question Zero's decision?

But it wasn't just Zane who had doubts, Nathan had also raised his objections. It wasn't just Nathan and Zane who spoke out against the Infected in the first place. Ben reacted even more violently, he had witnessed the second outbreak and besides the fear of the Akuryuma and the Infected was widespread.

Zero was an exception.

Yet, Zane felt bad for contradicting Zero even though most of them agreed. The argument bothered him because he knew that there would be consequences for Zero, even if he couldn't picture them yet.

The display lit up and Carol immediately covered Sora with the jacked before Tyler appeared on the screen.

"OK, it's our turn now. My team and I will stay here until the last ones have crossed the bridge."

"Thanks Tyler." Zero said and Zane nodded in agreement.

"No worries," he replied absently, gazing at another screen. "As soon as you find Ben, report to the academy, they can certainly use your help."

"Got it," confirmed Nathan.

"Good luck and it's good that you are fine, Carol."

"Hmmm." Carol smiled before Tyler raised his hand to say goodbye and his picture vanished.

"See you soon."

"You can come out Sora." Asagi said, whereupon Sora carefully pulled back the jacket and nodded. She glanced at Zero, who was supporting his head with his left arm, which he had leaned against the door. With the other hand on the wheel, he was slowly following the buses. His worried gaze was directed towards the bridge.

"What do we do now?" Nathan broke the silence that had reignited inside the car.

Everyone looked at Nathan, only Zero continued to stare in the direction of the bridge.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, Zero." Nathan sighed while Zane's gaze wandered between the two.

"We're going to the barrier and then we'll go to find Ben."

Everyone stared at Zero while Sora looked at them with uncertainty.

"You don't have a plan, do you?"

Zero was silent.

He actually had no plan whatsoever, what should he do? He saw no way, no excuse, that would allow him to take Sora and Deadra along. The hospital outbreak had ruined even the slightest chance.

It was a miracle they'd even gotten into town, let alone found him.

Maybe he could get her through the barrier claiming that she just got infected due to the outbreak. But the fact that Sora had no ID and was not registered anywhere made the success of the idea unlikely.

Zero racked his mind but couldn't think of anything.

The feeling of powerlessness came over him again. He had barely managed to protect Asagi and Carol, and now he had lost the children.

Their smiling faces flashed through his head, how happy they were when he brought something with him or was simply spending time with them.

But now, there was only Sora left.

"Is it OK if I come with you?" Sora suddenly asked worriedly, holding Zero's jacket tightly in her tiny hands.

Zero turned to her and looked into her red eyes, which everyone feared.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of you now, I promise," he stroked her tousled brown hair.

Somebody knocked on the door of the car. "Get out, it's your turn soon." It was one of the soldiers patrolling the street.

Soldiers ran around everywhere, some with hand-held scanners with which they were already sporadically scanning the cars and people. Zane was near the waiting line for the scanner with Nathan at this point, when he looked worriedly at Zero, who was still by the pickup.

"We'll do as we discussed, OK?" Zero knelt in front of Sora, who put on his jacket, which was way too big for her. "You stay with Carol until I call you."

"Yes." Replied Sora, who had brought her hands to her chest nervously, which disappeared deep into the sleeves of the jacket.

Previously he had already walked to the loading area carefully and had given Deadra the order to jump from the bridge in case of an emergency. He knew that Deadra was good at swimming, he had already seen it and among the scraps of food that Zero had found with the girls were fish bones.

Zero knew this hardly passed as a plan. Hiding Sora wouldn't fool the scanner, hence, he tried to take advantage of the tense situation and go through the scanner before Carol and Sora and then call Sora over as if she had accidentally walked back after she had already passed. It wasn't an original plan, it was more like trying to sneak into an amusement park. With Deadra, it was even less likely that he would just be able to take it with him. The scanner, through which all vehicles passed, would definitely recognize it but maybe it would be close enough that Deadra could escape from the bridge into the sea.

Zero just hoped that it would somehow work out as he straightened up and looked at Zane who was waiting in line.

Meanwhile, Asagi was close to Carol and Zero. Despite the hustle and bustle of the evacuation, she felt the eyes of the others on her. They were glances full of disgust and fear, others even avoided her as if she were to blame for the situation. She nervously tried to hide behind the two of them without attracting Zero's attention and thus complicating the situation for him. Somebody took her hand which startled her. She turned and saw Carol smiling at her. Carol had noticed her uncertainty and tried to calm her down.

Asagi thanked her with a slight smile and a short nod.

"Close the gaps!" a soldier who dealt the queue waved towards Zero and the others.

"OK, let's go," he held out his hand to Sora.

"OK," she replied, her face barely visible beneath the hood, but the uncertainty in her voice could be heard clearly.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Carol leaned down to her. Sora nodded when the soldier instructed them again.

Zero and the others caught up with Zane. In front of them, people were guided through the scanner one by one.

"Zero, I ...", Zane approached him hesitantly.

Zero turned to Zane. "Hmm? What is it?"

"Uhm ..."

"It won't work ...", Nathan continued quietly instead of Zane. He knew what Zane was trying to say, and he agreed.

"It'll be fine ...", Zero replied quietly, to not attract any attention, as he squeezed Sora's hand a little tighter, who looked up at him worried.

"And if not? What if they don't let her through?" Zane took the courage to say something.

"Then I'll stay here too," said Zero, without hesitation. "I won't leave her here alone."

"But ...", Zane wanted to object, his voice growing a little louder with shock when suddenly they heard a scream.

Everyone turned back in the direction of the scream. Zane asked a nearby soldier what was going on when the soldier received a message.

"Infected sighted! Repeat, Infected sighted!"

Panic broke out immediately when the first shots could be heard in the distance.

The people began to run frantically past each other. All orderliness was gone. They ran in all directions as some began to push their way through the barrier.

"Come on, go, go!" A soldier instructed the civilians already passed to get on the bus, which drove off with screeching tires before the bridge was overrun by civilians.

Zane and his friends had rushed back to the car when Nathan stopped and looked towards the hospital.

"What's going on, Nathan?" Zane shouted, who turned to him while Zero prepared for departure.

"The ship has turned around!"

"What?" Zane looked at the second battleship that had appeared earlier and headed for the hospital. It began to turn in their direction.

"What are you doing? Come on!" Yelled Zero, who closed the back door.

People were still rushing across the bridge when Zero started the engine to get across the bridge as well. Most had come by bus, but many ran past the blockade on foot and ignored the scanner.

Zero passed the scanner when they heard a bang. One of the buses tried to push forward and rammed into another bus, pushing it over one of the barriers.

The soldiers began to split up. Some had rushed back to stop the attacking Infected, while those who stayed behind tried to maintain order among the civilians in vain.

Meanwhile, Zero had done what Nathan and Zane had thought was utterly impossible. They had passed the scanner.

"We did it ...", Zero sighed in relief, who looked over the rearview mirror at Sora, who was still wearing Zero's way too big of a jacket.

"Where did the new Infected come from?" Zane wondered, trying to see something in the distance through the side mirror.

"Right, up until now there was no sign of them", Nathan also looked out the window to the back, only recognizing the smoke of the fighting in the distance.

"There's someone approaching," Zero slowed down. One of the civilians who had run through the barricade waved at Zero.

"Hello, can I come with you?" he asked out of breath.

"Sure!" Zane replied immediately, while Sora shyly pulled the hood over her head.

Sora trusted Zero unconditionally, which is why she also believed Zero's friends to be trustworthy. But strangers and so many new faces unsettled her enormously.

Asagi stroked her back and smiled at her, whereupon Sora began to smile too.

"Of course, no problem," Zero agreed as well. "We can take you along with us to the end of the bridge, but then we'll take a detour... But uhm ...", Zero began to remember his cargo. "Be careful on the loading area, right at the front there are uhm ... groceries". Zane seemed to remember too and looked at Zero with wide eyes.

"Thank you very much!" The man thanked him and began to walk to the loading area. After a few meters, more civilians, families, and others who had tried to cross the bridge on foot came and asked to be taken along.

The train connection that ran beneath the bridge had been discontinued and there was hardly anything else going on on the bridge. Most of the vehicles had left the bridge on autopilot to make room for the evacuation. Small groups of soldiers who had been parked to secure the bridge and protect the civilians stood at the roadside only. Other than that, it was only a few buses and a few private vehicles that crossed the bridge among the running civilians.

The sounds of battle seemed to have decreased somewhat when Zero passed the first soldiers with his fully loaded truck. Suddenly a shadow appeared above the bridge and the soldiers began to cheer.

"The reinforcements!" Yelled one of the soldiers.

"We are saved!" Cheered one of the civilians on top of the loading area.

A ship had jumped into the city with the logo of the Alliance emblazoned on its hull and it wasn't the only one. Shortly afterward, other smaller ships jumped into the airspace above the city.

"Finally!" Zane was happy. "Now we're fighting back!"

Everyone looked up at the ships in the sky that marked victory. They had held out long enough and reinforcements had arrived, which immediately began attacking the already weakened Teikoku ships.

"I hope Tyler is fine...", Asagi broke the tense silence in the car, which was only disrupted by the sounds of the battle.

"I'm sure he's fine." Zane assured her.

"Right, you don't have to worry," Carol agreed.

They were just halfway across the bridge while Zero watched the battle in the sky.

"Oh damn!"

"What is it?" Zane was startled and looked out the window.

"Something's coming down!" Said Nathan, who was also looking out of the window.

A Teikoku ship that had tried to break the formation of the newly arrived Alliance ships came under heavy fire, was rapidly losing altitude, and heading straight for the bridge.

The vehicles in front of the truck accelerated while some in the back tried to halt and the civilians ran in panic in the direction they thought was safest.

"Sure, nothing much around, but these things always hit the bridges!" Zane complained as the shadow of the ship drew closer.

"We won't make it! Hold on tight!" Zero stepped on the brakes with all his might and activated the brake assistance. The car rocked and everyone in the car, as well as on the loading area, held on wherever they could.

"Here it comes," Zane yelled as the bridge began to shake and the ship fell just past the bridge towards the sea.

With tires screeching, Zero had come to a halt just before the presumed impact location.

"Is everyone okay?" He turned to Asagi, Carol, and Sora.

"Everything OK," Carol replied and Sora nodded a little intimidated.

"I'm sorry Zane, but the bridge will probably stand for now." Laughed Nathan.

"You never know what's next." Zane laughed in relief, too, before opening the door and turning to the loading area. "Are you okay back there?"

"Everything's fine here," replied one of the passengers, who looked around among the people. The family's child was crying, presumably in shock, but no one seemed to be hurt.

"Well then we go on." Declared Zero.

But as soon as the car began to roll again, shots hit the street in front of them and a Teikoku hovercraft hovered above of them.