Chapter 29 - A Chase At The Skies

Time Remaining: 6 minutes, 5 seconds

"Hey there, Mr. 2nd place." Claire jests as Raphael arrived at the top of the tower.

"...hey." he answers shortly. He sits down next to her and catches his breath. "How's the Power Source? Is it still intact?" He asks.

"As it should." She says and showed him the Power Source on her hand. "Crazy how this small piece of object is used to power a whole region. What exactly is this thing made of?"

Staring at this object for minute, Claire notices Raphael's silence and seemed to focus his attention on something. "What's wrong?"

"It's just that... Leon and Julia are oddly slower than they usually are."

"It'll be a problem for them if they won't make it in time." Claire said with indifference. The pair wasn't aware of Leon's situation which explains why they can't comprehend the sluggish pace that Leon and Julia were showing.

"...did something happen to them?" Raphael wondered.

Time Remaining: 5 minutes, 8 seconds

Both Leon and Julia still has a long way to go to reach the top of the tower. There's still about 3.5 kilometers left for them to travel on ground, while a half kilometer by ascending to the top of the tower.

"We'll make it! We'll definitely make it!!..." Julia said, convincing herself.

"...I think this is it for me, Julia... you'll make it alone if you just drop me off..." Leon's voice sounded very weak at this point. Everything in his body was in complete pain, and there was nothing that can be done about it at this point.

He feels ashamed by slowing down Julia now that he's rendered useless. 'I'd rather she ditch me here and save herself already, I'm thankful enough that she wanted to save me, but it's really impossible for us to make it at this pace.' Is what he kept thinking.

Julia paid no attention to his words and focused on moving forward. She was also counting down every seconds and minutes in the back of her head, calculating her every step she takes. As one of the extraordinary soldiers of the special infantry troop, Julia can travel about a kilometer per minute.

Although now that she's carrying someone behind her, it have really slowed her down. "Er... I need to make it!!" She persists.

Time Remaining: 4 minutes, 19 seconds

Captain Wright looks behind him to see that both Leon and Julia are drawing near, he continues to ascend the tower by using the same method that Raphael used to climb up.

"...just a few more minutes..." he mumbles to himself. Zahi will arrive any minute from now, and he worries of the slowest pair in the team.

When the Captain finally reach the top, he gazes in the sky at a distance where Zahi might appear. And shifting his attention to the last pair that has only a kilometer and a half left to travel on the ground.

Time Remaining: 2 minutes, 24 seconds

"Haa!... haa!!" Julia couldn't breathe anymore. She forced herself to run on a faster pace until she had to stop and look up to the tower she must climb.

Can she still do it?

Her legs were already shaking, she couldn't catch her breath, she might collapse and fall down with Leon any second from now. Pushing herself might not have been the best choice she made, it left little of her stamina and had her exhausted.

But must she stop there after making it this far?

I don't think so, she thought.

Time Remaining: 1 minute, 40 seconds

"He's here!!" Captain Wright sees the jet plane Zahi's piloting from afar, there was already a rope ladder on the jet plane waiting for the whole team to grab on.

"You two, hurry and go retreat first!" He ordered Claire and Raphael, and the two obeys him without a word.

As he looks back on Leon and Julia, they were already ascending to the top but is still quite far from being half way up on this tower. There's also a few seconds left until the Gamma Suit's protection effect wears off. "Shit! They're not gonna make it!!"

Time Remaining: 1 minute, 16 seconds

Claire and Raphael prepares themselves to grab on to the rope ladder that's attached to the jet plane. Worried that she might miss, Raphael offers his hand. "Would you like to hold on to me?..."

She glanced at his hand, her face portrays a confident expression that goes well with the message she conveyed. "It's fine, I don't need help for this." And by the time the rope ladder was approaching, Claire launched herself onto the rope and grabbed on tight.

Following her lead, Raphael have also successfully grabbed the rope and climbed up to get into the jet plane with Claire. At the very same moment, Captain Wright figured out a way to help Leon and Julia.

"Julia!!..." he calls as his shifter spear extends to a great length that reached Julia and Leon. "...hurry!!"

Time Remaining: 45 seconds

Julia grabs on to the spear before her just as Wright grabs hold onto the rope ladder that almost passed him by. "DON'T LET GO NO MATTER WHAT!" He yells to her.

Captain Wright slowly decrease the size of the spear, pulling Julia and Leon to him. Raphael and Claire also helped with pulling the rope ladder.

Time Remaining: 34 seconds

It was difficult to pull the weight of two person with one arm, Captain Wright can feel his arm might break. "A-Almost there!!..."

When Raphael managed to pull the Captain close to the entrance of the jet plane, he grabs hold of him. "Captain!!..."

Time Remaining: 13 seconds

"PULL THEM IN ALREADY!!" They can hear Zahi complaining at the back, as he's about to ascend the jet plane to the sky.

"Gah!!...Agghhh!!" Raphael and Claire pulled in the Captain's body, however, his arm with the shifter weapon are still outside along with Julia and Leon.

Time Remaining: 5 seconds

When Raphael tries to pull the rest of the team inside, he was stunned by the pitiful sight of Leon. He thought it was crazy how one mistake can lead to such a tragedy.

Eventually, the whole team made it in one piece inside the jet plane, though Captain Wright had his arm broken and Leon suffered the radiation sickness. Julia have also finally allowed herself to faint from relief by successfully making it back to the jet plane.

This leaves Raphael and Claire to aid the injured members of the team. The protection effect of the Gamma Suit has also expired, but luckily the jet plane was far enough from the infected grounds.

But the problem doesn't stops there...

Jet fighters chasing after them decides to attack. "...3...2...1—FIRE!!"