Utopia

"EVERYONE! Get closer to each other! On the right side of the road. Go!" Sergeant Aster ordered.

There were a couple of cars on the right side; the cars would make a good cover.

It was also the side of the road, which had fewer intersections, so it was relatively safer.

But it would not be enough to guarantee safe passage.

The assailants were surrounding them again - many behind them, some appearing ahead.

Altin and Paul were already drained, almost pushing their limits.

To avoid getting hits, they would have to form a small group.

"BREAK THE LINE, OVAL FORMATION. RICO AND MARLO ON THE SIDE. ALTIN AND PAUL, EXPAND THE SHIELD THE BEST YOU CAN BUT MAKE SURE TO LAST!"

Still fed by survival instinct, Altin spent even more power shielding the group; he enlarged the shield from one meter in width to two meters, curved on the side. It was tough, but he still managed to find more stamina to keep the shield working at death's door.

It was all the same to Paul - he, too, was sweating hard.

Strangely, the orders from Sergeant Aster were naturally processed by everyone else.

The danger was too great to second-guess or debate on what to do.

Every second mattered.

All this took only three seconds to be executed. Then, in the fourth second following the order, the group resumed jogging toward the school, careful of taking cover when they could behind the cars.

They each had reasons to fight till the end. None wanted to die.

Altin hadn't had this revenge yet, and he would never leave his friends first. He wanted to save everyone, and so he strained himself to still power up his shield as bullets kept raining from behind.

Paul had found a renewed will to live after discovering his net increase in power following his accident. Also, he dreamed of flying again, and he knew he would one day succeed by telekinesis.

Julien had never been interested in fighting; he was someone animated by science and academics. He dreamed of becoming a famous researcher in the string force.

Eléonore had perhaps the most reasons to survive this ordeal. She knew Marie would wake up one day, and she was desperate to see Juliette, which she considered a big sister, again at Crosses.

This situation made no sense to her.

Who were these people? Why were they attacking them? Who attacked the police station? Why was nothing known about this town? How did the jamming and the black hole at the prison start?

She longed for answers.

They crossed their first intersection on their left, where people had been waiting. Immediately, they started shooting.

Altin did his best to cover the side, but he could only partly orient the shield as he couldn't leave the back open. Paul had similarly the same issues.

Rico and Bambi, who had taken the left wing of the formation, returned fire.

It forced the assailants to take cover while the formation increased the distance.

It was, however, not enough to avoid injuries.

Private Bambi was hit in the chest and immediately dropped to the ground, convulsing.

"DON'T STOP," Sergeant Aster ordered.

Julien, Eléonore and Altin passed over Bambi with heart-wrenching pain.

Giving up on a comrade didn't sound right, but they knew stopping would kill everyone.

There were still 300 meters left.

It was perhaps the longest 300 meters they ever had to cross.

"I'M OUT OF AMMO," Private Marlo shouted.

"I AM TOO!" Corporal Rico warned.

Would everyone make it to the school?

As if realizing its impossibility, Corporal Rico and Marlo voluntarily took the right wing as the group crossed another intersection by their right.

Rico positioned himself in front of Julien, while Marlo came in front of Eléonore.

They emptied their remaining ammo on the next group of assailants.

It was then.

"Click."

"Click."

They had run out of ammo.

The assailants then returned fire.

Paul and Altin could not protect the side fully. They still received incoming bullets from the front and the back.

What's more, Altin's stamina was reaching his limits. And his shield... was shrinking.

A flower of blood spurred in front of Julien, covering his face. Rico had been shot, and just a moment after, one covered Eléonore as well.

Then more shots impacted Rico and Marlo as they collapsed in front of Julien and Eléonore.

The minds of everyone went further on auto-pilot as the bloody and crushing deaths of Rico and Marlo threatened their sanity.

They finally reached the next wall, having crossed the intersection, which brought them more cover.

There were only Paul, Sergent Aster, Julien, Eléonore and Altin remaining.

Julien and Eléonore were shell-shocked. They mindlessly followed Sergeant Aster while the latter still urged Paul to continue and not look behind.

Julien and Eléonore wanted to cry but could not in this situation.

Altin silently thanked the alpha squad for their sacrifice.

He pushed his focus and energy to his limits with renewed vigor.

The alpha's sacrifice couldn't be in vain.

"They used their body as a shield for us... they knew..." Altin thought to himself.

With five people left, the oval formation was even more compact than before.

They could not stop, for they were being pursued by now dozens of armed men, even though Eléonore slowed down many.

200 meters separated them from the school's entrance: a double gate leading to a courtyard surrounded by a high the iron fence.

Yet, already, there were people near the entrance lying in wait.

But thankfully, there was no more street or alleys on the right or the left side that could be used to ambush them.

Despair had long gripped the hearts of everyone still alive.

Yet! None refused to give up.

Paul was hard at work: as the men in front of the school rained bullets on them, he successfully stopped the shots from coming at his friends.

Then, when they became as close as 50 meters from the men blocking the way to the school's gates, Paul allowed his power to overflow. His head hurt terribly, but a pressure wave crashed on the men firing at him, sending them flying.

Sergeant Aster was more and more puzzled: As they had jogged towards the school and away from the police station, the assailants had become more numerous, not less, and the men that had fired at them from the front of the school since their mad rush was a bad omen for what was waiting inside.

He had a sinking feeling that they were running into the wolf den, but where else could they go?

Their only chance was to call for an emergency evac by the air, for they would never last long enough for the HQ to send a strike team. Since the communications were still jammed, HQ would only worry if they didn't report in the next one or two hours, not before.

It was apparent to him now.

The police station had been a carefully laid out trap, and they had fallen right into it.

Now with his squad wiped out, he felt no more will to live if not to save the kids.

They... were innocents and were his final responsibility.

He hoped they would call for help in the school and somehow shelter on the roof until evac arrives.

Presently, they finally reached the gate of the school. Sergeant Aster was about to ask Paul to push open the doors when he realized they were already unlocked.

They swiftly crossed the doors and arrived in the courtyard.

But the sight brought everyone despair.

***

"Marie, I'm glad you're awake. Of course, your granddaughter will be pleased about that. But was it a reason to make such a stir in the hospital to have me on the line?"

"Sir... Brener, right? Eléonore and her squad are in danger. In terrible danger. Where are they?" Marie asked on the phone.

"On a recon mission. What makes you say they're in danger?" Brener asked.

"I saw it - " Marie replied, already knowing she would sound crazy to the man. Yet, he had to be convinced.

"You saw it?" Brener asked, confused.

"In my dream... I saw humans... but not quite. They had wide dark pupils, like cats, and very pale skin. I felt as if they were rushing towards where Eléonore was. " Marie attempted to explain.

"What do you suggest we do about your dreams?" Brenner asked sarcastically. He couldn't base a decision on a dream!

"Brener! I can't explain it right now, it might be that I was momentarily linked to another consciousness in my dream or something, but I felt it real! I felt it was real! I'm a scientist, not a medium. You know very well the work I've put into the 5th force association. So don't doubt me!"

Brener kept silent on the phone.

"What if I'm right?" Marie probed.

Brener considered the implications. If Altin's account for his dissapearance was true - and he was tempted to believe him -, Earth was only one of the many worlds. What's more, there were powerful meta-humans in the universe. So if what Marie said was true... were the unicorn squad in danger?

The last report of the alpha squad of Sergeant Aster had been due for 45minutes, but considering the jamming, it wasn't a reason to be too worried.

Yet...

Yet weird things had always happened around the kids.

"Fine. I'll send two helicopters to where Eleonore and her squad should be and bring them back here."

Marie sighed in relief. "Thank you, thank you. Please hurry. I don't feel their presence anymore... but... they were getting closer."

He hung up, dialed another member, and spoke on the phone with as much firmness and confidence as he could gather: "Colonel, it's Brener. I have reason to believe Earth might be visited by aliens at any moment attracted by the unicorn squad. This is serious. I would like you to authorize two emergency strike teams by helicopter to Linage where the unicorn squad is currently deployed to bring them back a.s.a.p."

A long silence passed on the line.

"You aren't joking, are you ?" The deep voice at the other end of the line replied.

"No, I'm afraid," Brener replied.

***

Even since her son's orb had been detected for the first time ever, she had sent multiple teams searching across the multiverse. However, with only a faint signal that lasted only a moment, there hadn't been good results so far.

Altin could very well be many space-years away in an adjacent universe or just a few. Well, she was at least sure of one thing: he couldn't be too near, else they would have found his planet and dimension already.

The days seemed to last an eternity: every moment, she would wait for any news. But, hélàs [British word borrowed from French, meaning 'sadly'], all the efforts were fruitless. The universe was just too vast, let alone the multiverse, even after filtering the dimensions by their string density.

Today, she waited like usual on her throne, lost in her thoughts.

It was at that moment that her own orb vibrated.

She put her hand on the orb and thus read the content of the message.

Immediately, a view of Ludor came to her mind. His squadron accompanied him in outer space in an unknown universe. All had bronze skins, a distinct mark of the changes made to their body to allow interstellar flight in near absolute zero temperature.

It was, of course, a prerecorded message sent across the multiverse and routed using the citadel's unique mark in space-time.

"My lady," Ludor said in the message, "I've sent 11 teams to pinpoint the origin of the signal by its coordinates in the 11-dimensions multiverse. Unfortunately, the signal came from too far. By the time several teams got into position, the signal had already passed. As a result, we have only been able to locate a region of space-time. I'm sorry. Realistically, we may have to search for several time-years, even with the best of our Energicians. By this time, I fear other civilizations might reach him first."

It was the end of the message.

Lady Ensani grimaced. It was as she expected. The universe was just too vast.

If only... if only she hadn't lost him in the stellar storm years ago!

Now, she could only send more men to hasten the search.

She stood up. She would not stay idle anymore.

"Gather the generals," She ordered, communicating her intent directly to her aides in the palace.

The empire would stop at nothing to recover the prince, and no civilization will possibly stop it.

***

Julien, Eléonore, Altin, Paul, and even Sergeant Aster stood paralyzed in the school's courtyard.

The situation had turned for the worst.

There were hundreds of people in the courtyard, perfectly lined up and waiting for them.

Among them, there were also many children, perhaps 300 - and about a hundred armed men.

Sergeant Aster dropped his weapon.

There was no point in continuing fighting. There was no more possible escape with the assailants catching up behind them and the unexpected rows of attackers in front of them.

The situation was hopeless.

If they wanted them dead, they would die.

"DON'T SHOOT! WE SURRENDER!" Sergeant Aster exclaimed.

Then, in a lower voice, he said to the unicorn squad: "I'm sorry, kids. I've failed you."

His eyes were filling his tears.

What was the use of fighting tears when death was seconds away?

Sensing the mood and seeing the situation, the unicorn squad clung to each other, forming a circle of 4 people.

They would fight until the end of it came to that. They still had people to lose: each other.

"I'M THE ONLY MILITARY OFFICER HERE. THE TEENS ARE CIVILIANS. YOU CAN KILL ME, BUT SPARE THEM!" Sergeant Aster shouted.

BANG!

His eyes still opened, Sergeant Aster... fell backward.

A clean headshot killed him in between his eyebrow.

"Granted."

A man emerged from the crowd: he held a sniper, still smoking due to the bullet that had just been fired.

Altin instantly recognized him.

It was Jurgen.

The man that caused François's death, the man who tried to kill him, and the man who killed Mrs. Durand. The man he had sworn to kill. But what was he doing here? What was happening ???

"Well, well," Jurgen said.

"Congratulations for making it here. I must say, I'm impressed."

He clapped.

And as he did, all the armed men behind him laughed.

Now that they were motionless, Altin could take a good look at their aggressors.

They were bandits, undoubtedly, judging by their posture and appearance.

But how were they so many? How...?

The clapping ceased.

Now, Jurgen, walking forward but staying far from the unicorn squad, said: "I've been observing you since you entered the town. You see, all of us - here - have one thing in common. We hate the police, we hate the army, and we do not tolerate intruders in our little heaven."

He smiled like a happy kid, announced: "Welcome to Utopia, our world."