As Eric drove, he felt as if someone was breathing down his neck. His chest tightened while he gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. They had no time to stop, but he wanted to. More than anything, he wanted to make sure that Jessica or Ricky were okay. His eyes stared straight forward.

"It’s my fault she’s hurt."

He remembered a lesson that Mia had taught him about mana when they were first getting to know each other. She had told him that when a mage uses too much of their mana, sometimes their blood vessels can burst because of the pressure it puts on their body.

Mia looked up. "Babe. Stop doubting yourself. You made the right call. We were able to get out of there thanks to you and Jessica."

Mia ran her fingers through Jessica’s hair and kissed the sleeping young woman’s forehead. "She will be okay. This is not mana overuse."

Eric didn’t answer immediately, his eyes focused on the road. His lips were pressed tightly together.

"Mia."

She slapped him on the back of the head. "Eric. Listen. If we had fought that unit on their turf, we would have been overrun. Empire units do not just run one by one. They go in elements of five. When they go in pursuit, it is a layered pursuit. We would have all been captured. I know you are worried, but you and I both know what happens to soldiers in the field when worry takes over for reason. Jessica will be fine. Her breathing is steady; there is no sign of blood leaking from her eyes or ears. She is just tired, and for good reason. So snap out of it. Snap out of it right fucking now." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Eric reeled from the slap and exhaled sharply. He looked down at his hands, suddenly feeling the vibration from the gravel. He looked over to his right; Michael was eyeing him.

"Don’t look at me. I’m just an innocent bystander."

"Shut up, Mike." Eric and Mia said at the same time.

Suddenly, the radio came to life. Justin radioed in. "Chaos one. Urgent report. Ricky is awake."

Everyone in Eric’s truck exhaled. Eric tapped the steering wheel with a grin. "I knew that tough sumbitch wouldn’t kick the bucket."

"Chaos one. Continuing the report. Ricky stated they found the real core transport plans."

The truck went from jubilation to grim. Eric looked at Michael, and Michael immediately grabbed his weapon. Eric returned the radio call. "Everyone that is able, man overwatch. Gunners, weapons hot. Chaos two, spread out from us. Watch the right and rear flanks. We will watch the left and rear flanks."

Suddenly, Jessica stirred. Her eyes fluttered as she felt Mia’s hands running through her hair. She tried to sit up, but Mia held Jessica’s head firmly in her lap. "You stay down, sweetheart. You’re still recovering." She said gently.

"No, Mom. It’s not that. Something is coming. I can sense mana from behind us."

Eric grumbled as he called in to Justin’s vehicle. "Chaos two, potential hostiles unknown distance to the rear."

He then radioed in to Dresken. "Dresken command. Chaos one. Requesting immediate QRF at Rally point Delta. Potential hostiles near Dressinia Pass."

"Chaos one, Dresken command. Confirmed QRF mobilization. ETA ten mikes."

Eric turned around to look at Jessica. "Do we even have that long?"

She looked up, her eyes clearing as she sat up. This time, Mia didn’t stop her from doing so.

"I don’t think we do."

Eric looked around, trying to spot ridgelines or hills they could hole up on. The radio came alive again. "Chaos One, this is Chaos Two. Confirmed hostile presence 2.5 clicks out ."

"Great. It gets better and better." Eric murmured as he continued to drive. The flat plane they were traveling was rocky, and Eric rubbed the sweat from his eyes.

"We can outdistance their vehicles, but we can’t outdistance their weapons if they are that close. Mia, any suggestions?"

Mia sighed, her hand grabbing Jessica’s.

"It depends on the size of the Cartharic force. Since I don’t know if what is chasing us has artillery or the Llrathels, I can’t say for sure. Until we get an accurate read on what is behind us, I can only suggest we keep moving towards Dresken."

Michael looked out the window, and his eyes widened. "Yo Eric, we gotta get somewhere where we can fight, and fast."

"Care to explain why?"

"They got these new vehicles behind us. They look like trucks, and they have mana guns mounted on the back."

"Fuck."

Eric grabbed the mic. "Chaos two, divert to the pass. We hold up along the ridge lines and use line of sight to target incoming hostiles."

"Copy."

Eric turned the wheel harshly. "Jess, I know you can’t use mana, but can you stand?"

She inhaled sharply, her eyes narrowing. "Yes. If you tell me to, I will."

Eric smirked. "That’s my daughter for ya."

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and Eric spared a quick look behind him. "We’ll get through this, babe."

Mia kissed the back of his head, saying nothing as she pointed her rifle out the window. "Let’s light these fuckers up!" She growled, her green eyes glowing fiercely as she caught sight of the element in pursuit.

"It literally looks like they took a modern Earth truck and replaced it with a mana engine." She muttered.

Michael shook his head. "Nah, they ain’t moving fast enough. I think they just took the idea and replicated it as they did with the Llrathels to our tanks."

Eric shook his head. "Hey! Can we focus on surviving first! When we destroy those things, we can analyze them!"

Michael sighed and took aim with his M4. "They are still too far out."

Dirt patches began exploding behind them, large swathes of the purple grass flying into the air as Eric neared the ridge line of the pass.

Justin was right behind their truck.

The soldiers hopped out of the trucks, while the wounded stayed with Trephania in Chaos Two. Jessica stayed on the turret.

Justin climbed into the turret of the other truck.

"Alright, Justin and Jessica, suppressive fire. The rest of you, we hold this hill. Conserve ammo. Do not fire until we can call out targets. Use the ridge line as cover."

As he spoke, tufts of grass flew into the air on the other side of the ridge.

"Move!"

The calm, still air burst with the ping of mana bullets on grass, and the suppressive fire of the .50cals. Eric and the team climbed up to the top of the ridge, taking aim as the targets got close. Eric noticed a shimmer of blue light around the trucks. They drove straight towards the pass, ignoring the bullets.

"Fuck. They have mages." Mia muttered.

There were four trucks at the front, each one protected by the refractive light. As the bullets neared the light, they would divert from the trucks and hit the ground.

Bullets flew from the air on both sides. The dozens and hundreds of pings filled Eric’s ears as he fired round after round into the approaching vehicles. Suddenly, as if on plan, the trucks split. Two of them went to the right, two of them went to the left.

Eric reloaded his weapon, looking around. They couldn’t retreat further, as behind them the mountainous terrain sloped severely. They couldn’t flank left or right, as going into the vehicles would make them targets.

"Justin! Can you do spells like Jessica can?" He yelled, hopping into the truck where Trephania was still working on the wounded soldiers. Sweat was dripping down her forehead as she worked on the man. Eric didn’t look at the wounded. He couldn’t break down here.

"Yes! But I need a minute or two. I’m not as fast as Jessica is."

As Eric was about to respond, an earth-rending explosion tore through the air. The soldiers on the hill were pushed back, and Eric ducked down before remembering he was still in the truck. He looked out the window and saw the blonde-haired woman collapsing. He then looked out towards the field. One of the Empire’s trucks was now nothing more than molten steel. It no longer had a shape as the lump of metal lay twisted and lumped where it had been at.

Eric watched as the woman was brought to the rear behind the vehicles.

"One down, three to go."

Mia crawled up to the truck, tapping on the door before opening it slightly. "Eric. There is a delay. Whenever they have to fire their weapons, there is a small targeting window. I’ve already told the rest of the team. When they start firing, aim for that window. The shields can take a lot of our fire, but if we concentrate all of it at once, we can at least keep them busy."

Eric nodded before relaying the information to Justin.

"Target them when they stop firing!" He yelled.

There were still five minutes until the QRF team arrived.