ToTS Chapter Three: Ambush

ToTS Chapter Three: Ambush The chill of night had set in even with their camp fire. Lily slept peacefully off in the distance while Stark had his back up against a wall looking through a hole in the ceiling. It was a moonless light which allowed the stars to shine unobstructed. Stark growing restless and bored stood up, stretching. He bent down and picked up his cloak and swung it around over his shoulders, putting up his hood. Before heading out the door Stark pulled out a piece of paper and scrawled a quick message on it, “Went out for a walk, be back soon –Stark” laying it next to Lily. As Stark walked out the doorway he took one last glance at Lily before stepping into the chilly autumn night. The only sounds was the soft crunch as Stark walked through the crumbling cement and gravel. White puffs of air could be seen as Stark made his way through the ruins keeping a watchful eye to the shadows. Although there was bound to be no one else within miles of this place it never hurt to go out and and do a quick survey to make sure. After doing a good search around the perimeter of their campsite Stark decided that it was about time to get back to the campsite. If Lily had awoken and found Stark not there she would throw a fit, she always did. It was not a fit of anger more so a fit of worrying. She never liked being alone without Stark, she always made sure she was within at least eye sight of him. She had been like this ever since Stark had taken her away from the orphanage, Stark had found this out the hard way. It hadn’t been on purpose; the two had been walking through a forest when something had caught Lily’s attention. She had stopped to admire a butterfly sitting on a log spreading and closing its wings. Stark unaware of this continued onward believing that Lily was right behind him following right in his footsteps. Stark had gotten maybe hundred yards before he heard her cry out in terror. Stark had nearly stumbled over himself hearing her cry out like that. He had quickly spun around frantically looking all over to figure out where she had gone. He then sprinted back the way he had come, jumping and swerving around trees, rocks, and bushes. Stark had just ran through some brush when he spotted Lily hunkered down by a tree with her knees held agaisnt her chest crying. Stark still breathing heavily from the run calmed himself and walked over to Lily, kneeling down and enveloping her in his arms. “Its ok little one I'm here.” From that day Lily made sure that Stark never left her sight, not even for moment. Stark gave a slight chuckle at this. Although Lily no longer cried when he got out of her line of sight she made sure he knew that he had. As Stark headed back towards their camp he stopped and attentively listened for something. He couldn’t make out what it was, it sounded like a low buzzing sound of sort. It got gradually louder before it became a deafening roar causing him to cover his ears.There was only one thing that could make this kind of noise, a starship engine. Stark quickly took to shadows of some fallen rubble, trying to make out the markings of the ship and who might be flying it. Even with little light to go on he could tell the ship was in poor condition. The entire hull looked to be made up of other hulls with patches of metal here or there welded together. It was a miracle that ship got off the ground let alone flew at all in the shape that it was currently in. The ship suddenly lit up with lights, it was then that Starks heart skipped a beat, it had the distinct markings of a Fallen ship. This was bad, very bad, what made matters worse was that the ship was hovering between him and Lily. The ship sudden opened up, Fallen could be seen pouring out of the hull. Stark knew he had to act quickly, running towards where the Fallen ship was still hovering he took up cover, unholstering his pistol taking careful aim. Two shot rang out in cold dead night. They hit their mark, right on the two thrusters that kept the ship hovering in the air. The ship's thrusters began to sputter before dying out completely sending the hunk of metal to fall on the unsuspecting Fallen below. The ship managed to catch a few of the Fallen by surprise as it crashed to the ground with a thundering boom that echoed throughout the ruins.The remaining Fallen became frantic and furious looking around trying to figure out who or what had shot down their ship. Stark took this chance to get the remaining Fallens attention. He jumped up out of his cover and fired a volley of shots at the Fallen gaining their full attention. Stark jumped down from his hiding spot and began to run in the opposite directions taking the remaining Fallen farther and farther away from where Lily slept. Stark looked over his shoulder to see the group of Fallen were just now making their way over the pile of rubble weapons drawn howling in rage. Stark ran for several blocks before coming to a stop next to a crack in a pile of rubble. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to outrun the Fallen for long he squeezed himself into the hole and waited. After a few moments Fallen after Fallen began to run by him in hot pursuit. After being sure that they had all passed Stark came out of hiding and started to make his way back towards Lily running at a dead sprint. His lungs screamed for air but he didn’t dare let up. When he finally reached the camp the fire had all but gone out, all the remained was smoldering embers. “Lily wake up he need to get out of here now!” said Stark frantically has he grab Lily by the shoulders shaking her awake. It took Lily a second to grasp what was going on, “Why what is wrong, what happened?!” asked Lily with a sense of terror. “Fallen, a squad of about seven or eight just landed, grab your sack we are leaving this instance.” said Stark has he stuffed various items into his bag. Just as the two were just about to leave a Fallen grunt suddenly dropped down through the hole in the ceiling landing on the fire extinguishing what little light was left. The fallen was quick to draw his gun and already had it pointed in Lily’s directions ready to fire. The Fallen was quick but Stark was quicker. No sooner had the Fallen hit the floor Stark had fired two shots, both landed hitting the Fallen square in the back. The force of the shots caused the Fallen to tumble forward but to also miss-fire its pistol in the process. The shot missed Lily by mere inches hitting the cement wall to her right sending shards of cement flying. Stark rushed over to Lily doing a quick look over to make sure she was alright before grabbing her hand and heading for the door. Stark stuck his head out to see if there were any more Fallen around. Since the time of the first ship sighting two more had shown up, along with all the Fallen they contained. To the left were all the Fallen spread out at varying distances looking for their prey. To the right the the road they had taken into the city, beyond that was the barren field and a forest farther still. “Lily I need you to be brave girl for me ok, I need you to run out the way we came, don’t stop don’t look back, keep running till you get into the woods and hide there.” whispered Stark as he knelt down to Lily. “No! I won’t leave you here, I not leaving without you!” Lily argued, fighting back tears. “I know Lily I know but its the only way I can think of to get you out of her.I can’t fight all these Fallen and look out for you at the same time, we will both either be captured or killed.” said Stark. “You promised that we would always be together! That you and I would look out for each other; you can’t do this to me. I don’t want to lose you!” said Lily now crying. “Its ok little one, I have no intentions of leaving you, this is only temporary. I plan drawing their attention onto me so that you can get away and hide. I will find you when I'm finished here I promise.” said Stark looking out at the Fallen quickly closing in on their location. There was no more time to talk. If they wasted anymore time it would be too late, they would be over run and his plan was doomed to fail. “Lily I'm going, give me a few moments to grab their attention, when I do you are to run as fast as you can don’t stop and don’t look back, I’ll find you once I've cleared out these Fallen.” said Stark. Lily went to grab Starks cloak to stop him from going but just barely missed, all her hands came up with instead was air. Stark had stepped no more than a few feet out of the door when he upholstered his pistol firing of a volley of shots taking down a Fallen before running towards the hoard. Lily watching is awe and terror as she saw Stark run into the wall of gunfire. She had never seen Stark fight with such ferocity before. She watched Stark reach the first Fallen and break its neck while in mid-stride in the crook of his arm, using the same fallen as a meat shield shooting down another Fallen before diving into cover. Lily scanned the area; every Fallen was locked in on Stark none of them even realized she was even there. She took this small window of opportunity to make her run for it. She ran as fast as her little legs would carry her. As she was nearing the end of the ruined city and heading into the field three more ships came screaming in from the direction of the forest flying over her and heading in Starks direction. Lily continued to run never stopping or looking back, the only thing that kept her going when she would have normally stopped was the continuous gunfire going off behind her and image of Stark fighting for his life to give her a chance to live.