Chapter 57: Chapter 56: Defense of the City

Before Annette was given the chance to announce the winners of the election, a roar of terror ripped through the city, silencing all forms of noise. In that split second, Alex watched as the passionate anger that had taken the crowd for the election turned to utter fear.

“B-bears! Bears in the city!” someone yelled. “Run for your lives!”

It was the worst thing that could happen and it came at the worst possible time. The great body of Vestan citizenry bolted in every direction, making for the closest walkway to take them inside one of the biospheres. There was no semblance of order. In a matter of seconds, people were trampled under the feet of the crowd without so much as a second thought for their well-being.

Only survival mattered. And for a colony that was gripped by fear, compassion went out the window.

Alex found that everyone nearest to the podium, including all the candidates and the current Council members, had all made for the safety of Biosphere One. That included Ellie, who had been yanking on Alex’s arm to follow her to that entrance.

But that was before he heard Commander Rooney’s call.

“Vestan Defense Force, assemble in Biosphere Five!”

Rooney was yelling at the top of his lungs to ensure that the VDF could make a proper defense against any bear incursions. Whenever screaming didn’t work, Rooney sent out a message to all VDF personnel, and this only popped up on Alex’s P-com right before he found the commander.

“Come on, if this is an attack, we need to fight it off!” yelled Rooney. “Let’s get geared up and then we’ll reconnoiter in force around the city!”

A group of VDF made for the Biosphere to get started while several others kept filtering in. Alex donned his armor and his pulse rifle while they waited for a few last stragglers to round out the squads. He also saw that they had a few volunteers.

In hindsight, he shouldn’t have been surprised by who showed up to help. Sam, Owen, and Jenna, his top students from his rifle training course, were waiting by the door.

“We want to help,” said Jenna. “If bears are attacking the city, we want to help the VDF to repel them.”

Alex looked in the faces of all three of them. “Are you sure about this? This isn’t like being on the training grounds. They can grab you and you’re dead before you know it. Is this what you really want?”

Owen nodded his head. “This is why we’re training, right? To eventually join the VDF. Well, the time is now to prove that we can do it. If you’ll take us, we want to fight.”

Alex looked into all of their faces for a moment, judging whether they were really ready to fight. He looked into Jenna’s the longest, and he was pleasantly surprised to see willful determination looking back at him.

At that moment, he couldn’t have been more proud of his students.

“Come in and let me get you some guns,” said Alex. “Some armor as well. You’re going to need it.”

All three of them beamed with nervous smiles as they entered the barracks. They were looked at with surprise by the other VDF members, and Alex noticed a few of them whisper back and forth to each other. Soon enough, a chatter was raised, and Alex suspected that Rooney was going to have words with him once this was over.

He just never guessed that Rooney would reject the entire idea before they could even leave the barracks.

“Absolutely not,” said Rooney, shaking his head at Alex. “You can’t bring those people into this fight.”

“Why not?” challenged Alex. “They have rifle training and they’re here because they volunteered. They want to protect their homes.”

“They’re not even VDF, Hawthorne. And one of them is a woman. That’s never going to fly. This is not the time for games.”

“No games, sir,” replied Alex. “Just good people that want to do their part.”

Rooney scoffed. “If they want to do their part, tell them to go back to their housing units and let the professionals do their job. Got it?”

That was the end of the discussion and Alex released a slur of obscenities as he marched back over to the three volunteers.

“Rooney said no,” barked Alex. “I’m sorry, I can’t let you fight with us.”

“Why, Alex?” asked Jenna. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t explain now but I’ll tell you all later. I’m sorry, I really am. Thank you for coming here. I appreciate all three of you but this needs to stay a VDF affair.”

The looks on their faces told Alex that they understood but that they didn’t agree. He couldn’t blame them, and Alex felt like Rooney was being shortsighted. Even still, it wasn’t Alex’s place to disobey an order so the entire VDF marched out of the barracks in Biosphere Five, minus Sam, Owen, and Jenna.

The first thing that was done was to get a visual on the entire plain that the city sat on. With the use of cameras and drones (most of them courtesy of Vitale), the VDF set out on patrols of the city, dividing up into sections. Each squad was assigned a cardinal direction, while the fifth squad took out the crawlers and patrolled long range, even brushing up against the foothills.

With so many men on the plain and with enough eyes on the footage coming back from the cameras and drones, there weren’t many places a bear could hide. Alex had attached himself to the group that had ranged out the farthest, believing the foothills to be the biggest threat when it came to bears.

And yet, during the entire patrol, nothing was sighted. There were no immediate threats to the city and not even a whisper of bear activity. It was like the roars had come out of nowhere, without a physical presence to back them up.

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The more Alex thought about it, the more he felt like the bears were just giving them a warning. He knew the creatures had a basic intelligence and were capable of speech, as they frequently referred to Alex and the other humans as intruders. If they were intelligent enough for their own speech, then they must be dealing with highly capable creatures.

If this was the first time the city was directly threatened by the bears, what if it was in response to something? Perhaps the bear that had been killed by Alex earlier that week? What if this was a warning to the colonists? That any further bear deaths would be dealt with more severely in the future?

The more Alex thought about, the more he didn’t like it. It was the reason why he found himself in Rooney’s office after the patrol was over, explaining his theory.

Rooney didn’t share his same thoughts.

“Hawthorne, you think too much. You give these creatures more credit than they deserve.”

“I’m thinking we can’t discount that option just yet though,” replied Alex. “What if they are intelligent enough to think of an idea like retribution? We kill one of theirs and they look to retaliate by threatening the city? That’s perfectly reasonable.”

“It’s reasonable for humans, not for dipshit creatures like bears,” replied Rooney. “Just because they’re fast and vicious doesn’t mean there’s a high level of intelligence there. They’ve shown us no reason to suspect otherwise. Ten years of attacks and they’ve never once shown us that they are capable of communication. Why should that change now?”

Alex bit his tongue rather than answer that question. The truth was that he knew they could communicate, even if Rooney and the others couldn’t understand it. But opening that can of worms would only lead to more questions. Questions like what was different about Alex that he could understand them. It reminded him of Doctor Barnes and his thoughts on the subject, and that wasn’t something Alex was ready to face yet.

“I don’t know,” replied Alex finally. “I just think it’s a possibility.”

Rooney leaned back in his chair. “I think it’s more plausible that they just descended down into the plain briefly and made those roars. They carried back to the city but they were gone back to the foothills before we even left the biosphere. Simple.”

“And if it’s not that simple?” asked Alex.

Rooney scoffed. “Then you can worry about it if you get on the Council. I’m sorry Alex but I don’t have a lot of time for what-if scenarios. We just deal with what we have in front of us.”

Alex knew better than to keep poking at that point as it was obvious he wasn’t going to get anything more. He saluted Rooney and took his leave, making his way back to Annette’s unit, where he found both Ellie and Jenna, but no Annette.

Upon seeing him, both women rushed into his arms.

“Are you okay?” asked Jenna. “How did it go?”

“Did you see anything out there? Any bears?” added Ellie.

“Nothing at all,” replied Alex. “Not even a glance at a bear or so much as another roar. Whatever we all heard out there didn’t last very long. Rooney thinks they blundered onto the plain and left just as quickly as they arrived.”

“What do you think?” asked Jenna. “Do you think it’s that simple?”

Alex shrugged, not knowing how deep he wanted to get with that question. “I don’t know. But I think the bears are more intelligent than we give them credit for. And I have to wonder if this is some kind of retaliation.”

“That would be something new,” replied Ellie. “Something they haven’t done before. They’ve never come down onto the plain. If this is a portent of what’s to come, we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

At least Ellie had the good sense not to dismiss the idea, and he said a silent thank-you that she was on his side.

“What’s the news from the rest of the city?” asked Alex. “And where is Annette?”

“She’s with Belladonna,” said Ellie, ending with a scowl. “I think she worried that this roar we all heard might have been another dirty trick to steal the election. She didn’t want to let Belladonna out of her sight just in case. The problem with that is that we don’t know the results of the election. Only her, Belladonna, and Vitale know, and they haven’t told anyone yet.”

“What are they waiting on?” asked Alex. “The VDF to get back?”

Ellie shrugged. “Maybe. I’ll send her a message on my P-com. I know everyone is waiting to hear the results. Especially after what happened.”

Ellie sent her message but it still took the better part of an hour before Annette replied to let them know she was on her way.

After that, it was only a matter of minutes before Annette burst into the unit while waving her hands about.

“Alex, you won! You’re on the Council!” she shrieked, giving him a tight embrace in the process.

That set off a fair amount of excitement as all three women started to celebrate, taking turns hugging him but it also brought up another question, one that Jenna asked moments later.

“What about me?” she asked. “How did I do?”

The excitement disappeared from Annette’s face. “I’m sorry, Jenna. Serrano got the other spot. It looks like they’ll be the two joining the Council.”

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