The Search

"Commander!"

One of Sianna's men who went by the name Ranzo busted into her - shall we say - office, looking a bit troubled. He had ran from the other side of the refugee camp all the way to where their trucks and vans were stationed.

"What is it?"

Sianna nearly spilt the glass of wine she'd just refilled over her fatigue.

"I don't have to say it. I think it's best I show it to ya."

Smoke. Dark smoke was climbing the sky as a dusty and ashy blanket veiled the organised mess. Every now and then screams turned up the pitch, but the crackling flames engulfed the source. More to it from one direction as she looked over Ranzo's shoulder.

There, as far as a couple of metres back, everything is taken up by a fierce red that appeared to just keep growing and growing.

"What in the world? These survivors, no matter what or who slips them away from disaster, they seem to be forever destined to perish. They'll need to be a lot more careful." Her voice was firm like she is used to seeing the scene unfolding before her very eyes.

"If we don't act now the fire will never be stopped. Get a move on soldiers!" Ranzo yelled at his walkie-talkie.

• • • • •

Without hesitation, Korla left the wailing horse behind as soon as the old man gave him the command to do so. He was still in his third grader girl form. Carried his dress to allow more room for the legs to dangle freely. And to be nimble. As the fires kept roaring, Querris shove his way between the panicked crowd. He was tall, seeing past the top of their heads. And fortunately for his fairly charming height he was able to land his eyes at the soldiers.

"There, after him!"

The rudest of them all urged the rest.

Querris eyes narrowed and his lips creased til dry. The last thing he wanted was kicking the old engines awake for a sprint. And around such a place running was going to be a pain in the legs.

Glancing at every turn, men and women had lost their minds. Some were even on the scotching verge of losing their lives. Their screams were no match and trouble for the hungry fire. Querris' eyes darted wildly yet attentively but his horse was nowhere in sight. It would most likely camouflage amongst the raised tents, grey and green. The steed was a gaited.

But in the end, running he did.

Through the stampede, Korla's agility proved versatile. He was after the stations the soldiers were tasked at earlier. The mission he'd been given should be simple as infiltrating the marked location, shuffling through some files until he found a certain profile in the long list for displaced residents.

When he found himself in the storage room, the real search was to begin.

Quickly, his thin fingers flipped through some documents and papers. There were at least a thousand people who'd been registered into refuge, some teams were deployed to rescue more. Doing the math he had minimal foundation of, hundreds of files he would have to go through! Racing against time, Korla picked up his pace and sharpened his eyes. For the most part he could read.

Back outside, the atmosphere was set ablaze as smoke suffocated all that ran or walked or crawled. The makeshilft shelters succumbed to ashes and pulp, allowing the red terrorist to rage on. Those lucky packed up all of thier belongings that they could carry. Later buckets of water were passed around - this meant taking from the people's limited supplies.

"Wait! The resources are on the brink of exhaustion. We draw the line here." Said the Commander. She was standing behind the ones attempting to stop the fire. Their best opt at this was widening the cramped space between the tents and sacrificing the ones that had not caught on yet but sooner. A perimeter of everybody stepped behind the imaginary line seperating them from disaster with buckets of water or sand in their might. Nearly successfully, the flames on the front line have died off, leaving the centre and hind live and kicking.

"On your word, Commander."

Ranzo threw his voice to the depths to sound masculine.

She steps three steps forward between the mark dividing safety from destruction. Screams laced with assured death echoes from the centre of the brewing chaos, however, not much can be done accept watch. They run around, driven by fear and everything horrific, until their skin is overcooked. And at once everything else goes quiet...

Suddenly, and from within the inferno, a heavy neigh cry emanated however sounded low at first. Through the choas of shelters crumbling, the cry came yet again this time followed by gallops getting louder and closer by the second.

As the horse emerged, its brown coat smoking, it sprints past the crowd without a halt. Bemused, Sianna stood rooted on her spot only locking eyes to the terrified animal.

She looks down for a moment as the mind started to ache, channeling some arguments questioning the current situation. Ranzo waves his hand in front of her paling face, snapping her out of the daze.

"The perimeter." She stuttered and everyone else threw a confused "What" in unison. The compassionate Commander reached for her communication devise, held it up to her mouth and stared at a kid in the eye.

"Breach the perimeter, hold it under seige! The assigned troop: return to you posts and hold position! You two, you're with me. We'll thoroughly sweep the third sector post, room by room. Com'on move move move!"

And just like that, the groups are dispatched. With a thunderous rumble of boots beating the rocky ground, two groups make their way to secure the perimeter and to breach the only exits. The third group hastily returned to their assigned positions. And together with Ranzo and another folk, they march into sector 3, weapons at the ready, verbal communication falls to hand signals.

Korla's fingertips emitted a faint stream of green. The room, completely turned upside-down by the creature, was bathed in an otherworldly light as his focus sank straight to business. The creature gritted his teeth as he allowed his essence to seep through the cable ports. Numerous codes beeped in a rushed rhythm when all screens powered up. The essence pumping into the machines was a rough way of hacking the security systems, firewalls

and protocols thus getting to the database.

Everything was coming together smoothly but suddenly, the lights went out bringing the entire base to darkness. The creature's heart skipped a bit as beams of lazer sights and torches zoomed through the stale air.

The world around him seemed to come to a standstill as the realisation hit him at once. The given time has not been enough for him to obtain Joulene's profile. And the plot was no success to the end.

Silently, the three regroup after noticing an eerie light coming from behind the last door down the corridor. They approached slowly, fingers near the trigger, aimed scoping the marked location and Ranzo's eyes meet the Commander's...

One. Two. Three.

She signalled as they now raced the burning sensation whilst standing around the door.

A quick rattle pierces the air and her firearm flickers in the dark. After a second gone silent, the door slowly creaks open...