Chapter 7: La Revolution Part 1
#8 of Outer Reaches Exploration Outfit
Chapter 7: La Revolution, Part 1
Mark pushed the small button on his bracelet, and he was lifted up off the ground at many times the speed of light. A moment later, he felt his hind paws impact the ground, far more gently then when he first teleported, or even when he teleported with an actual machine. A moment later, all hell broke loose. Mark heard a noise that was unmistakeable, even if you hadn't watched as many war movies as he had. With a cry, Mark threw his arms out, and tackled Arath and Scott, the two on either side of him, to the ground. Thankfully, Arath caught Nath on the way down, and they all ended up bellies down in the dirt.
"Jesus Christ!" Mark exclaimed through his atmospheric device, as streaks of light ran past overhead, followed by loud cracks only moments behind. After a second, Mark regained his ability to think, and pulled his assault rifle off of his shoulder. He flicked the safety to full auto, and blindy fired rounds above the small hill that separated him from those trying to kill him. Almost at the same time as he started firing, shots were heard, coming from the opposite direction, though these were aimed not at the hill, but over it.
Arath had drawn his pistol, and the other two followed suit, and soon all four explorers were firing over the hill. Mark yelled at the others to stay where they were, and crawled forward ever so slightly, until he could just see over the crest of the hill. He changed the rifle to semi automatic, and cranked the intensity rating up as high as it could go. Gazing out at the long lines of people shooting at them, Mark found the most flamboyantly dressed target, and squeezed the trigger. A pulse of white light fired from the gun, and the figure fell down, a dime sized hole in his heart, clean through. A moment later, Mark took out two more, finding the gun fit perfectly into his paws.
After a few shots, those shooting at him grew smart, and started shooting where Mark's rounds were coming from, causing Mark to withdraw back to his original position. He turned, and saw a small line of foxes creeping up to them in the dirt. Mark quickly drew his pistol, and held it ready, in case they too were the enemy, but one fox, who seemed to be the leader, motioned for his crew to hold still, and he alone approached. He spoke in a odd chattering dialect, but fortunately for Mark, his earpiece translated it for him to understand it.
"You are not a foe?" the fox asked, more or less. Mark shook his head, and answered, "Explorers. We've been fired upon, so we shot back. What's going on here?"
"What does it look like?" the fox answered, sneering. "It's a war. Those people that are shooting at you are the remains of the Ercadian Imperial Army. We are the people's Liberation Front. Now, either shoot them, or get out of our way!" Mark obliged, both making room, and sliding up the slope to get a clear shot once more. He picked off every fancily dressed person in the group, followed by anyone who was shouting orders. Eventually, no more shots rang out, only the sounds of the men, either dying, or celebrating. Mark had just single handedly killed forty two people, and never thought anything of it. Another dozen sat dead by the combined efforts of Arath and Nath, and ten from the barrel of Scott's sidearm.
In the end, stood there only one group victorious, and it was, fortunately for Mark, the side that wasn't interested in shooting at him. When no one paid them any attention, Mark turned to Scott, and shouted over the din, "Jesus, Scott, we've landed ourselves in the middle of a Coup d' Etat. It's a revolutionary war!" Scott didn't understand the danger that posed them, having never lived through one, or at the least read stories such as Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.
"It's alright," Scott said, waving the issue off, "Getting shot at once in a while is good for the soul! Let's stick around and see what happens." Mark facepawed.
"Ever heard of Saint Guillotine?" Mark asked, referencing yet one more Earthly object that Scott knew nothing of. The black wolf sighed, and added, "We can stay and observe, but at the first sign of trouble, we teleport back, and consider melting this whole place down to beaded glass."