At the same time, three of the four missiles from the Cheetah were distracted by the chaff. The fourth had also risen in the air, and it circled twice over our heads before diving back down.
“Watch out!” I cried as it dove through the camo netting and slammed into something on the ground between the house and barn.
“Damage report! Damage report!” I cried, looking over my shoulder. “Lulu, Rosita!”
“We’re okay,” Lulu said a minute later as relief flooded me. “It hit one of Roger’s heat dispensers. Someone’s quad was parked a little too close and got wrecked, but I think everyone else is okay.”
I looked worriedly at the massive tear in the camo netting right over our head.Christ, if just one Cheetah can do that…
“If you’re not actively manning a defense, get in the shelters!” I called over the local band.
In the distance, the glow of dozens of jump jets appeared as the bulk of the enemy force emerged from the woods.
“Mortars,” Lulu called. She didn’t have line of sight, but she was watching a UAV camera via her bracelet. “When I say go, unleash hell!”
“Multiple units have flanked and are coming from the east,” Roger said.
I looked right, but I couldn’t see anything yet.
“Go! Go! Go!” Lulu cried so loud, I could hear her from the wall.
“Incoming missiles. All take cover!” Roger called as literally dozens of missiles from our side all fired at once.
The woods just north of our farm, the ones that separated the northern edge of our fields from the southern edge of the Gonzales farm, were suddenly just a line of fire as dozens of mortar blasts walked across the tree line.
At the same moment, missiles started exploding in the air in front of us. It was just one explosion after another with burning shards of metal flying through the sky like fireflies.
I was on the floor of the top wall behind the barrier. Sam was right next to me. We both screamed as the world shook as both sides traded missile fire.
It seemed most missiles exploded in the chaff above us, but some were getting through. I felt the wall shudder with a direct hit. More missiles continued to fire on both sides. My ears rang.
“Attenuators inside the fence line. Defend the wall!”
That surprisingly hadn’t come from Roger but from Axel.
“Shit.” I scrambled up to the barrier, ready to fire. I popped up, but I couldn’t see anything. Everything in front of the wall was smoke. It was like a heavy fog had descended on the farm. The distinctivethwumof pulse blasts filled the night, but I couldn’t see where they were coming from or from what side they had been fired. To my right, a huge chunk of the wall was just gone. I tried to remember if anyone had been standing there.
An angry, high-pitched squeal filled the night. At first I thought it was a person, but I realized it was Cindy the pig. I looked over my shoulder, expecting to see the massive pig on the ground, injured. But she seemed okay. She was squealing and running in circles around a group of people with a mortar.
Whooom!The big mounted gun behind me to my left fired, but then it exploded on its own. The secondary explosion wasn’t as loud.Instead it broke with a massive crack, and it fell in on itself. Below, I could hear screaming as people scattered away.
“Mounted gun two has been hit by the fire from a Heavy. Honeybees engaging. Target reticle engaging for those with advanced connection,” Roger said, his voice calm.
I switched the view type of my helmet, and several red circles appeared on my HUD. Next to me, I could see Sam do the same. The targeting reticles, which had been painted by Roger, fed directly to my helmet. They would blink once they were in range of my gun. None blinked yet, but there were a lot of them.
Streaks of light ripped back and forth from both sides, oddly reminding me of those videos of Earth rave dance parties. The burning antimissile glitter punctuated the night air, giving everything else a sparkling appearance, like everything in the world was shivering. Pulse bolts ripped back and forth from both sides. Other, stranger weapons filled the night air. A purple laser-like light was on the giant flamethrower, but it didn’t seem to be doing anything. A second, then a third purple light also painted the weapon. Then a giant explosion echoed across the field, and the three purple lights went away.
I had no idea if we were winning or were on the verge of defeat.
“Warning. Warning,” Roger said. “Three drop units detected directly above. They are hovering, and it appears they’re about to attempt a high-altitude jump. These will all be Cheetahs. Those on the south wall, target vertically.”
More missiles from our side fired. This was a deeper, more distinctivewhoosh, and I knew these were the heat seekers we’d received from the Apex supply boxes. I held my breath, afraid they’d loop around on us.
“Two drop units remain. Beware of falling debris.”
At the same moment, all the reticles started to blink. To my left, Sam roared and started firing. I did the same. I fired, and I fired.
I couldn’t see if I was hitting anything through the smoke.
