Deafening Howl

April 20, 2028. The attack on Washington had started. I, along with my wife and daughter, arrived at the Kingfish site and hastily move to the back of the site and into the small airfield. Dozens of helicopters are already lifting up from ramp and heading out.

After telling my family to board the helicopter waiting for us, I then walk up to another colleague as he commands a group of soldiers boarding a container into a Super Stallion.

"Steven, how is everything going?" I ask him

Steven looked at me and says "Ah, Daniel... Well, everything is going smoothly but slow... A good number staff have already evacuated and most of our equipment and researches are already making their way to the second site in Nevada. However, if we don't pick up the pace, the Riftborns will catch up to us."

I then said "To site 'Hercules'? I guess it makes sense, since it's closest one. Eric did mention relocating there when Washington comes under attack... Oh, that reminds me, where's Eric?"

Steven then said "Eric? He's currently at the Hercules site to establish an Emergency Relocation Procedure. The other council members are also there right now"

"I see..." I say, somewhat relieved

"You should get going now, Daniel. Get your family out of here, I'll handle things here." Steven says to me

I replied with "Alright, I'll leave it to you... Make sure to quickly evacuate as well."

"You too. Let's have some drinks sometimes." Steven says

"Yeah, I'll see you at Nevada!" After saying this, I then heads towards our helicopter

After I had boarded our helicopter, the pilots made a final flight check before slowly taking off. As we lift off from the ramp, the sirens of the facility suddenly started going off, the Riftborns are here.

Dozens of people below scrambles to board aircrafts or vehicles, and hastenly leaves. The large Super Stallion helicopter quickly lift off from the ramp and races off.

As I look down into the site, I can see dozens of soldiers lining up and preparing to hold off the Riftborns while the others escapes.

Our helicopter shakes as the pilots tries to avoid colliding with other helicopters that are also heading out. As our helicopter finally stabilizes, I look on in fear as the sky slowly turns dark red.

As the sky slowly grew ever redder, the lone wailing noise of the facility siren was suddenly joined with a thunderous roar of gunfire and explosion as the soldiers engaged with the Riftborns.

Fear engulfs the whole cabin, Myra and Alexia huddle together, the soldiers onboard with us try their best to stay calm. Alexia tries to comfort the shaking Myra.

I, too, was also shaking, but I wasn't able to resist the temptation to look out of the window. The scene outside was apocalyptic, the blood-red sky was now being joined by dark smoke coming from the facility, all the while bright flashes of yellow from the explosions and gunfire continue.

As I looked on, the facility slowly grew smaller as we moved away from it. Then, dozens of small blue lights emerge up from the site.

"Are those...flares?" One of the soldiers asked

"They're spreading out and moving weirdly... almost as if they are heading towards us and other helicopters..." Another soldier said

As I look at the strange lights, I started feeling uneasy, everything about it felt bad... its movements, trajectory, and speed... Even the light they emit makes me shiver in discomfort.

And then, as I watch these strange lights move towards our direction, one of them suddenly slams into a helicopter that was lagging behind the fleet, sending it down to the ground. And the rest have also started slamming into other helicopters, taking them down every single hit, all the while more of the blue lights starts popping up from the far distance and begins rushing towards our fleet. It is here that everyone finally realized that those blue lights... are missiles.

"What the hell is going on!?" One of the soldiers shouted

"Those are missiles!" I shouted to the crew

"Hold on, everyone!" One of the pilots said

Our helicopter started shaking and swerving violently as the pilots tries to avoid other helicopters that have started breaking formation and scattering around after the first initial strikes. Flares were being thrown out by every helicopter in an attempt to shake off the missiles, but this proved to be useless as the flares seemingly have no effect on the blue missiles.

"The flares are having no effect whatsoever!" Another soldier shouted

"Fuck! Hang on, we'll try to pull out of this mess!" One of the pilots shouted as they try to navigate out of this chaos

The helicopter once begins shaking violently as it started banking heavily to left and a few moments later, everything calmed down as we break off the fleet formation. All of the crew let out a sigh of relief when all of a sudden...

*Bang!*

Our helicopter was suddenly struck by a missile and we are now spinning out of control. And seconds later...

*Crash!*

End of Chapter -------- Deafening Howl