A few red and green flares went up in the distance. A white flare followed seconds later, illuminating some buildings a dozen blocks away. The gunfire rattled a bit. Evans shrugged at Lucy, “Well, if there is one thing this war has gotten us, it’s free fireworks shows.”

“Yeah, pretty lights are always nice….” Lucy pulled a folding periscope out of her pocket and started to polish the mirrors, “I especially like it when they aren’t near me.”

Lieutenant Ricci walked into the room. She played with her skirt for a moment before drawing her pistol. Weighing it in her hand, she dropped the magazine and loaded two more bullets in. After holstering her pistol, she went through the magazines tucked into her belt until most of them were loaded. She then pulled out her binoculars and looked at the airship. Sighing, she tucked the binoculars back into her webbing and looked at Lucy and Evans, “I think we should get going soon. We’ll move until about three and then hunt for someplace to stay, assuming we haven’t found our lines yet. We’ll stick to back alleys and try to just head straight west. When we cross streets, one at a time and at a sprint.”

Evans nodded and patted down his webbing. Noting that everything was in place, he picked up his Auto Gun and checked the magazine. He then slung it over his shoulder and fitted his helmet on. He then picked up the Vledscan rifle in the corner and handed it to the Lieutenant, “Lucy and I picked this up for you, hopefully you won’t need it. It’s got ten rounds in the magazine and twenty more on the sling. You do know how to shoot a rifle right?”

Lieutenant Ricci shouldered it and smiled, “Yes, it’s Intel officers that have to teach the infantry how to work enemy weapons in the first place.” She gestured to the stairway, “Shall we be going now Privates?”

Lucy and Evans nodded and followed the Lieutenant downstairs. When they arrived at the front door, Evans opened it slowly, Auto Gun at the ready. The street was dark except for the light cast by the moon. Lieutenant Ricci followed behind him, pistol drawn, electing to keep the rifle holstered. Lucy followed next, with her bayonet fixed to the end of the rifle, and shovel slid into her webbing for quick use. The three made their way to the nearest alleyway pointing West and started walking, sticking to the shadows.

They quickly came to their first street and stacked up by the edge of the building. Evans poked his head out and looked around. He gave a thumbs up behind him. Lucy sprinted across the street. She momentarily disappeared into the alleyway before popping back out with her rifle and waving her hand. The Lieutenant moved next. With one hand, she held out her pistol, and with the other, she pulled her skirt up so she wouldn’t trip. When she got across, Evans took off.

Continuing this leapfrog pattern, they managed to move five blocks without incident. At the sixth block, they ran into trouble. Lucy was able to make it across fine. She waved to the Lieutenant, who started running. A shot rang out. The Lieutenant tumbled. Evans waved to Lucy. She scanned the area for the sniper and started firing. Evans ducked low and ran to the Lieutenant. He dragged her behind the nearest cover, an Ethslin Army truck parked on the road. He heard another shot.

“Fuck,” Lucy collapsed onto the ground. Evans started to show signs of panic. He first looked after the Lieutenant, since she was closest. He ripped open her jacket and looked for bleeding. He then grabbed his knife to cut open her blouse and undershirt to get at it. He reached into the Lieutenant’s webbing and pulled out her bandages. After bandaging the wound, he quickly fired a burst down towards the sniper and sprinted to Lucy.

Lucy had crawled up to a seated position by the wall and was unbuttoning her jacket. Evans helped with the last two before cutting open her blouse and shirt. Lucy attempted to point at her chest and said deliriously at Evans, “Like my breasts? See how great they are?”

Evans ignored her and started bandaging the wound on Lucy’s waist. She laughed at him, and then coughed out a sentence, “Oh come on, I bleed like every month, it’s nothing to worry about.”

After finishing, he pulled the periscope out of Lucy’s jacket. He unfolded it and scanned the buildings. He saw the glint of a rifle scope. He slowly pulled back the periscope. He had one shot. Evans grabbed Lucy’s rifle and took a deep breath in. After he counted down from ten, he turned around the corner and fired a shot.

…

Taking the fact that he hadn’t been shot at as a sign that he had been successful, Evans started to drag Lucy towards the truck. He lifted her up into the covered bed and handed her his Auto Rifle, “I’m going to drive us out of here, if anyone chases us, shoot them.” He pulled out his loaded magazines and slid them into her waistband, “And don’t die on me, alright?” He started to crawl out of the truck before he went back to Lucy and buttoned up her jacket, “Wouldn’t to offend anyone’s sensibilities.”

Evans then went to the Lieutenant. She was trying to hide her pain while drinking from her flask of whiskey. Evans helped her hobble into the passenger seat of the truck. He then walked around to the drivers seat and attempted to start the truck. It took two tries, but it finally started. He slowly started to drive the car down the road, attempting to avoid attracting any more attention than the firefight had already brought.

It didn’t work. Evans heard a few rifle shots. He looked in the side mirror and saw a rifle platoon taking up positions. He heard a burst go off from the Auto Gun. Evans started driving faster, taking the first westward turn he could. He then floored it. After a few minutes, he quickly pulled to the side of the road and looked around the truck for something to identify it. He went around to the back of the truck and jumped into the bed.

Lucy smiled at him, Auto Gun in one hand, Jacket in the other, “Sorry if I offend your sensibilities, I’m way too fucking hot, I’m right above the engine.”

Evans started rooting through some of the boxes, “I see you’ve regained your pluck.”

“Hey, you know what rhymes with pluck?”

Finding a flag, a long rod, and some rope, Evans chose to ignore Lucy and started stringing up a flagpole so he could be identified. After he was done, he got back in the driver’s seat, “I found a flag in the back Ma’am. It’s from the 198th Infantry. I put it up so we don’t get shot by our own people.”

Lieutenant Ricci coughed at him, “But now it will be obvious to the Vledscans.”

“Very Fucking obvious Ma’am,” Evans started the truck again and started driving. It was quiet for a few minutes, until Evans spied some lights in the distance. Roadblock. From the looks of it, it was Vledscan. Evans idled the truck and went to the back again. He whispered to Lucy, “Any weapons back here? Especially some explosives?”

She nodded and gestured to a crate, “Some rifle grenades in there, and three rifles under my seat.” Lucy smirked at Evans, “Why, we run into something fun?”

Evans nodded, “You feeling good enough to fire off some of those?” He crawled up to the rifle grenades and started priming them. Lucy nodded and slowly stood up. She pulled out her knife and cut a slit in the trucks covering that she could aim the rifles out of. She then slid back down, took a drink out of her canteen, and buttoned her jacket.

Lucy then pulled out the three rifles and loaded a few blanks into each and passed them to Evans, who fixed a grenade to each. He shrugged at her, “What, it get cold all of the sudden Lucy?”

“Last time I fired a rifle grenade topless, I had a bruise for a month,” She then switched out the magazine on the Auto Gun and drank a little more water.

Evans handed her the three loaded rifles and scooted the crate with six more primed rifle grenades, “I’ll have to hear that story later.” He then went around front of the truck. Lieutenant Ricci was sitting in her chair inspecting the roadblock with her binoculars. She looked pale. Evans offered her his canteen, “Don’t want to die before the fun starts Ma’am.”

She accepted and took a drink, “See that building near the left, that’s the armory. If we can blow it up, they should be distracted enough for us to drive straight through the roadblock.” The Lieutenant opened her jacket and looked down, “You have any more bandages?”

Evans nodded and wrapped her wound with some bandages before heading back to give the final information to Lucy. He checked his magazine and then sat down in the drivers seat and started to drive as fast as the truck could go.