A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

15 minutes that was the time it took for Ciara to reach Ryan, 15 minutes that seemed to be an eternity and the distance was like a never ending road never in her life had she felt so much fear, never had she felt so much helplessness that it was maddening her heart hammered like a war drum she could make out the silhouette of creature well more like its back, what are my soldiers doing why are they not tearing it apart already they should have enough fire power to do so, when all of a sudden a figure appeared from the sky.

Ciara did not even acknowledge her as her soldier began to speak, "Major the threat has been neutralized though our sisters are either dead or are dying and brother Ryan is unreachable as such his condition is unknown not to mention he is unconscious is trapped in some sort of cage that we are unable to break it off."

Ciara bit her lips heard she wanted to ask more but she knew every second is precious as such spoke while pointing to one of her subordinates, "Nikita come over here, Ellie you carry her to the injured asap and then go and grab Ruby from the camp."

Upon hearing her orders the winged woman saluted promptly saluted her as she took to the sky with Nikita firmly in her grasp, as she left Ciara for the first time felt jealous of her if only she had some mutation that could enable her to move fast enough to reach her son in time.

Michalina had rushed from her site of work as fast as she could run, her elemental affinity had played a great role in making her fast enough to reach much ahead of her group who were still a quarter of the way here though now she regretted it the friction created between the fabric and her skin was making it burn like some bad case of sunburn and she disliked it, she grumbled as she located the nearest soldier upon entering the base as she spoke in an annoyed manner, "Why was there an emergency flare send for us to regroup?"

The soldier looked at her before she spoke in an urgent manner, "Sister Michalina your brother's team was attacked and they send emergency flare, Major left with half of our troops."

Michalina's blood ran cold upon hearing that, when all of a suddenly she heard the flapping of wings as she looked up she saw one of her closest friend Ellie landing near them as she shouted, "Captain Ruby you are needed immediately."

Ruby who had given up on testing the beast as soon as she heard about the crisis was standing there with her field equipment as she spoke with a grunt, "How bad?"

Ellie's face gained a pained look as she spoke, "Two missing one dead, other two seriously injured and another condition unknown."

Ruby raised her hand as Ellie swooped from behind her as she was about to leave another Michalina intervened, "Take me with you.", she knew she was fast by her friend was faster.

"Excuse me!", another voice intervened them as one of the civilians approached them, "I am a general surgeon by profession and I had a clinic in town I can help."

Ellie looked at Ruby who nodded before she turned towards her friend as she gained an apologetic look on her face as she spoke, "Sorry Micha, I …."

Micahlina raised her hand as she spoke, "I understand see you there.", with that she once again started to run towards where the incident took place as Ruby was lifted off with the other woman she shouted off towards the soldier, "Sister inform the acting commander of the base, Captain Zhan, I am needed in the field."

"No need I am already here and God Speed.", was the words she received before she was whisked off by Ellie.

Michalina gritted her teeth as she caught up to her mother as they had just reached the carcass of the beast, the beast had its back turned towards their base and looked to be standing on its hind legs, as they reached it they could see spikes protruding out of it head, its warm blood piling around it but the mother and daughter duo did not pay any heed to it their main focus was Ryan, as they came face to face with the beast they saw multiple spikes had risen from the ground which had penetrated the beast through its mouth and eye killing it and since it was in midst of it jump it looked as if it was standing from behind.

The spikes looked like a bunch of spear that had been placed between the three storey tall lion like creature had jumped on the group of spears, and in midst of the spears lay Ryan resting on of them completely drenched in blood, and the spears looked like flower petals which was surrounding a sleeping Ryan, unfortunately for them the spears were so tightly grouped together that all they could do is view Ryan from a small cracks in between two separate spears, the gap was so small that only a hand might pass and there was no space near Ryan so that they could reach him, as such his condition was unknown.

Both Ciara and Michalina were on verge of panic but somehow managed to reign in their emotions as Ellie approached them, "We tried everything but the spears are too strong as such we are unable to break it."

Ciara nodded at her answer before she looked at the woman on whom the trio of doctors was working with great fervor, Ellie gave her a sad sigh as she spoke, "Tessa passed away a few seconds ago and Evelyn is touch and go, I hope they will be able to pull pure miracle here, Nadia is dead her body is completely mangled, Poppy is missing and we saw Lena getting eaten by the beast before it pounced on Ryan when all of a sudden this spikes appeared and the beast died."

Ciara frowned hard for a moment her temper flared upon hearing Lena's death before she looked directly into Ellie's eyes as she spoke, "You had a high caliber sniper if I remember correctly."

Ellied balled her fist as she nodded in confirmation as she replied to her superior, "Yes ma'am I do but it was useless the sniper only gave it a scratch and normal rifles did not work, hell even grenade simply gave its skin black marks."

Hearing that those who were nearby had their eyes widen in alarm as they began to whisper fearfully Ciara quickly barked out an order in order to stop the fear from spreading, "You heard the lady one of our sisters is missing I want Poppy found yesterday."

Seeing their commander in bad mood quickly send the soldiers scampering off in search for Poppy as Michalina touched the black spears that held the carcass of the beast inspecting it closely as she spoke with a frown, "Major is this iron?"

Ciara frowned before joining her daughter's side inspecting the spears as Ellie nodded in confirmation, "I also think it is indeed iron but how did it appear and why I cannot explain but if it is indeed iron I do not think it will be easy for us to break Ryan out of his prison."

Ciara nodded as she made her way towards her fallen sisters, they were staring into the sky into the sky she kneeled in front of them as she closed their eyes while offering a small prayer, she could remember their laughter, their joy but now they would never wake up.

Michalina stood by her mother's side as she spoke, "Should we cremate them or should we bury them."

Ciara frowned before she spoke with a sigh, "We would cremate them, as we do not know if they would rise as a zombie and I do not wish to find it at the expense of our sisters.", she was lost in thought for a moment before her attention turned towards Michalina who let out a gasp of pain as she rubbed her thighs, she looked at her curiously as she spoke, "Is there something wrong lieutenant?"

Michalina gave her a pained look as she spoke, "I used my powers to increase my speed and the result of which my skin kept on rubbing against my clothes and it is now burning."

Ciara frowned at that as she spoke, "Try to avoid jeans from now on then, when you raid the town find something that does not cause too much friction with your skin and also try and keep yourself from getting unnecessarily injured I do not want to lose you because you were careless."

Michalina sighed but before she could speak again a couple of her soldiers returned with one of them carrying a severed hand along with broken rifle as Ciara looked at them one of them stepped forward as she spoke, "Ma'am we found out Poppy's hand, that wristlet on this severed hand belonged to Poppy we can assume that she might be dead as well, others are searching for her body."

Ciara gave a sad sigh as Ruby came covered in blood as she spoke with a sad look on her face, "Evelyn is out of woods for now though I will need her to be carried back immediately.", she hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Major she will never be able to walk again."

Ciara nodded before she turned towards Ellie as she spoke, "Ellie can you and others make a harness using that cart over there and a few ropes and then carry her to the base, make sure four of you do so together to provide balance also take the civilian doctor and Ruby with you, Nikita will stay here at the moment and back at base if you see Donna one of you bring her here."

Ellie nodded as she quickly left to gather her flying friends then emptying the still undamaged and intact cart, before tying it with rope and preparing a make shift harness, Evelyn was placed on the cart along with the two doctors before they were flown off towards their base.

A few more minutes later Donna was brought near Ryan's prison by then most of the soldiers have been recalled from their search for Poppy, while the deceased soldiers were lifted off and send back to their base by their winged sisters with the instruction of having guard stationed near them and keeping them bound tightly Ciara did not wish to risk another zombie outbreak in her base.

Donna stood in front of Ryan's prison as she touched the spears surrounding it, before speaking with a grimace, "I will try my best Major but I do not know if it would work."

Ciara simply nodded as she extended her hand give her the permission to go ahead, Donna nodded towards her as she touched one of the spears as she focused on it with her eyes closed, a few minutes had already passed since then and Michalina was getting impatient when all of a sudden with small groan one of the spear seemed to be slowly pulled back into the ground, and half an hour later Donna had removed enough spear for Nikta to slip past her inside the 'prison' to check on Ryan.

Nikita checked quickly checked his pulse and sighed with relief finding him alive but the narrow space which smelt of blood was not the best place for any diagnosis but form whatever she managed to gather from preliminary examination it was not good Ryan was burning up bad as such she quickly checked for any injuries that made it difficult for her to move him upon finding none at the moment she turned towards her commanding officer as she spoke, "Major Ryan is alive though he is running a pretty bad fever and my preliminary investigations suggests that he can be moved this place albeit carefully."

Ciara nodded as she stepped inside holding his legs as Nikita moved towards his head lifting it up high, as they pulled Ryan out Michalina and Ellie stepped forward as they supported his body carrying it and laying him on top of the cart, Ryan seemed to have taken a dip in a river of blood as many send a concerned look towards him both Ciara and Nikita climbed on the cart as the Major turned and spoke to Michalina, "Get that ugly thing down and make sure it does not rise up again."

Michalina nodded her head in acknowledgement of the order as she watched the group flying off towards the base she then turned to look at the large carcass as she spoke, "Now how do we dismember something that even bullets cannot penetrate, does anyone have any idea."

One of them spoke in a bit unsure tone, "Well we can stuff its face with explosive and blow it sky high I hope it would not zombify if its brain is missing."

Michalina narrowed her eyes in deep thought while looking at the giant carcass before she spoke, "Well let us do as she says but before that Donna lower it making the aforementioned person groan as she send an annoying glare towards a smiling Michalina.

Meanwhile as the group landed Ryan was carried off and placed inside a hut and a bucket of water was brought shortly after, Ciara removed any clothes off of his body as Nikita began to clean it with a rug, a couple of soldiers who were nearby lend a hand as they cleaned of the blood of his body, when suddenly Nikita noticed something that made her frown, "This…"

Ciara raised her brow as she spoke, "Is something wrong?", while inwardly she was panicking whenever any doctor speaks like that it was never a good thing.

Nikita brows furrowed as she picked Ryan's hand pointing towards his finger as she spoke, "Ryan's fingers are showing sign of mild to severe necrosis.", Ciara's eyes widen upon hearing that as Nikita continued, "We might have to surgically remove part of his fingers."