Storytime: Almost Time (Blur 14)
Hi folks, welcome back to Storytime. We’re gonna have a quick catch up with everyone, find out where the positions are at, before we start pushing to the end!
But first, I have an invitation for you all for next week!
The Gender Federation are running a Twitch raid train, benefitting a gender-affirming clinic currently in danger due to lack of funds. December 14th-17th will bring together a bunch of streamers, in a nonstop train, with various prizes for donations etc.
I’ll be there for a couple of hours, mostly filler while the Americans sleep, on the 15th at 2-4pm GMT, and seeing as it’s normally TaleSlinger day, I figured I’d talk about writing. So, if you send me asks before or come and join me live, I’ll do my best to answer!
One of the offers is also a writing consult with me, so there’s that too.
Anyway, onwards with the story!
Kat looked around the control room and gripped Kaitlin’s hand in hers. The twins were asleep in soft beds, with Blake in a room next to them doing the same, all having eaten themselves into a coma.
Allen was deep in conversation with one of the techies, while Kat sat awkwardly in a corner, feeling useless.
Janice was in a meeting with all the handlers she could gather, and the entire room was working in controlled chaos.
Word had filtered through their network: the Managers were coming. The creatures who owned Autax and its ilk. And they would be expecting a subdued populace, ready to work for them, or die as slaves and food. The fact that even within the initial walled-off city there was rebellion, would not look good.
What exactly that would mean for Autax, nobody was quite sure. But it certainly meant that Autax was about to launch attacks to try and subdue or kill the rebels. Which meant they needed to be ready now, taking the initiative before Autax could send out killing squads and not only put them on the defensive, but use their hostages as bait, shields, and just generally demoralise by killing them in plain sight, using methods the Romans would be jealous of.
So the rebels were organising the final stage of their preparation: getting everyone into position, whilst trying to make it look natural. Which for the humans meant using sewers, abandoned buildings—entire rows of terraced houses with holes in their adjoining walls fo people to pass through, and anything or anywhere else they could find which provided some cover in wherever their assigned area was.
For the rebel creatures, this mostly meant trying to arrange themselves into a nonchalant but secretly focused attitude, whilst ensuring they were close enough to where the rescuers would be coming in—roof, wall, floor—so they could defend and, if possible, help the humans out.
Those in place tried to remain calm, as those farther away went into their positions, all radios on silence until Rescue time hit. The cue to begin was either the pre-agreed R-time, synched on all of their watches, or when one of the cells broke silence to say they were discovered.
Dylan and Wyn, healed and ready to go, were being held back with Vuuk, to be directed at the places with the worst problems. The three of them together could clear a place pretty well, and Vuuk was practically vibrating with tension. Going against what it was been conditioned to believe were its own, and only, family, wasn’t easy. But the hatred, and the memories of pain, and the new sensations of friendship and bond that it had developed, were overriding any of that. Though it knew Dylan and Wyn were ready to take it down, should it turn on them. That was expected, and understandable. Vuuk would have both questioned their intelligence if they weren’t, and sadly wondered if they felt it didn’t pose a big enough threat.
Dylan and Wyn picked up on the tension, but, stood shoulder to shoulder with it, they felt no danger for themselves. They had taken the tasers, powered with enough charge to bring down multiple elephants, and pocketed them silently. Both knew they would never kill Vuuk, only incapacitate it if necessary. Neither of them believed it would be, or they’d never have agreed to stand with it.
Kaitlyn and Eleanor had quickly been brought up to speed, once Kaiylyn had ben brought into the conversation. They volunteered without hesitation, and were sent to join one of the teams short on experienced members. They quickly took charge, the previous leader breathing a sigh of relief as she stepped down and gave them the floor—she wasn’t built for that level of pressure. After a quick brief to put everyone on the same page, they headed out for their assigned post.
Kat volunteered for one of the mobile paramedic crews. She had no real experience, but her deafness could be a liability anywhere else. There, a touch on the shoulder and she could read the lips of a person, or something written down, and she could perform simple tasks to keep the hands of the more experienced free for more urgent work.
She hugged Allen as he came in to see her gearing up.
“Hey. Check it out, my sexy pretend-paramedic suit,” she signed to him, then did a twirl and laughed, the thick, green and white bodysuit, covered with picket filled with equipment, not exactly flattering.
“Hey, you look amazing, like always,” Allen signed back. He wasn’t lying. From the dirty, scrawny thing that had scared the life out of him during their escape, to the clean and slightly less scrawny thing about to go out into the darkest of days, and still able to smile. She kind of took his breath away. He was grateful for the sign language that allowed him one remove from his emotions.
But apparently that hadn’t worked, because she walked over and pulled him into a corner away from the bustle.
Allen leaned against the wall and gave her a quizzical look.
“If I don’t kiss you now, when we might die and never see each other again, I’ll be really pissed at myself. Then again I may be barking up totally the wrong tree and embarrassing myself so I might actually be glad of it. Or we could kiss, then not die, and…”
Allen, getting and understanding the message clearly, closed her hands in one of his, and stroked her cheek with the other.
“Does that mean you’d like to kiss me?” he checked.
She nodded and leaned her cheek into his palm.
It was only a few minutes, in a strange kind of private bubble as others rushed around them, but when the man organising the med teams shouted for everyone's attention, they parted with a sad smile, and Allen slipped back out of the room as she turned to hear the incoming speech.
He felt the warmth of her lips lingering on his, as he made his way to the assigned room where his team was.
His job was to be taking them to the warehouse he escaped from, and helping them get in—or at least ensuring they knew the layout, as it was incredibly unlikely his escape route would be suitable. Though he may be asked to lead a couple of people that way, to wait for the rescue to begin and cause some distractions.
Allen nodded. He understood the danger, and it terrified him. His knees were jelly, even as he nodded affirmation.
He might not be coming back. But at least Kat knew how he felt. And Blake had someone to love him.
The entire rebellion was poised and ready.
But the one thing they had failed to discover, was how ready Autax was for them. But waiting for the Managers to arrive was far too risky, forcing them to go in partially blind. But full of plans, fallback plans, retreat points and command points. Everyone involved was expected to know each of these, and Allen had spent most of his time in study. He needed to get back, which meant he needed to know where to go to survive.
Janice, in the control room, now empty of all but the techies and the Handlers, looked around and stood, thumbing the mic to all open channels.
“Commanders respond with location confirmation, or ETA.”
Replies came in, the subvocal system giving everyone a slight growl. Around 90% were stationed, just the few outliers stull making their way over to their posts. She ordered them to check in immediately on arrival, and poured herself another coffee.
Almost time.
Finally. It was almost time.
Thanks for reading! See you next time for the beginning of the end…
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