Previously [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
[8]
“Perfect timing, Joe,” Derek grunted under his nose, or more precisely into his transmitter, after Joe’s voice rumbled in his ear, informing the Gravedigger Captain about the state of the excavation bots.
“What’s that, Cap?!” Joe yelled in his ear.
“Nothing.” Derek cleared his throat. “Get the bots out, I’ll be back on the bridge in a minute.”
Although he tried to stay calm, Derek heard his own voice trembling slightly. Sophie stood too close. Just a minute ago she kissed his cheek. Little Annouk cooed in Derek’s arms. An unknown warmth rose in his chest. The three of them felt like… a family? Was that the word he was looking for? Before Joe’s interruption, Sophie’s lips lingered dangerously close to Derek’s. He inhaled the smell of her skin. Derek had closed his eyes, waiting for whatever might happen next. What followed was Joe’s report.
Derek opened his eyes to the cruel reality. He had to tell her about the delay.
“You are Gravediggers. It’s a noble mission. I understand,” Sophie whispered with her lips too close, after Derek had stuttered out his explanations.
“Whatever may happen, Captain…” Derek was expecting some heartfelt words, he didn’t expect Sophie to go on with her initial endeavour. Their lips touched. Derek hadn’t felt this rush in years.
“Cap? You comin’?!” Joe’s voice growled in his ear.
Sophie’s lips released him.
“Comin’!” Derek blurted out hoarsely. She smiled at his bewilderment.
“Go, Captain!” Sophie urged him, smiling sweetly. She took baby Annouk from Derek’s arms.
“Derek,” he said. “Call me Derek.”
“Go, Derek!” She repeated softly. Hearing Sophie pronounce his name was almost as exciting as her kiss. Derek stood in the doorway smiling like a fool.
“Go!” she said. The Captain nodded and hurried to the bridge.
***
It was bad. The worst Ghoul attack Derek had seen in a long while. The streets of the tiny Murblard village were covered in their giant green bodies. Their black blood literally soaked the ground all around the corpses. Though Derek didn’t have the time to ponder, the thoughts kept rolling through his brain all the while he worked. Why? Murblards were a peaceful minority. Everybody knew, since the bloody Murblard wars, the green giants didn’t want anything to do with violence. They surrendered to the Ghouls on first demand!
In normal cases, the Gravediggers would gather the bodies and prepare them, before putting into coffins, and taking to proper burial grounds, but this was an unexpected request and the Murblards had their own Graveyard near the village. Derek and the boys loaded the corpses, or rather what’s left of the mangled bodies into the white coffins. It wasn’t pretty - the black blood smeared the white organic fibre. Derek was drenched in sweat, loading the giant corpses into the coffins as carefully as he could. They barely fit. All the while he had an eerie feeling of danger lurking just around the corner.
“I have a bad feeling about this, Cap!” Joe confirmed his suspicions. Derek gave a short nod. Luckily, none of the excavation bots died, like they usually did.
Derek, his crew and the handful of remaining Murblards stood near the freshly dug graves with the white coffins, while the bots poured the red soil of Orpheus into the graves.
“Ashes to ashes…” Derek murmured like he always did. Ake, the Murblard, said some words in their guttural tongue.
“I’m sorry for the rush, and…” Derek began, but a blast-like sound interrupted him. A Ghoul ship rose from the nearby cliffs, apparently, they had crept upon the village, flying low.
“Dispatch’, inform the Ghoul’s we’re a Gravedigger crew on a mission! Come in, Dispatch!” Derek yelled, but no answer followed. The Dispatcher’s tower was stubbornly ignoring Derek’s attempts to communicate these last days.
“They ain’t coming to talk, Cap!” Joe said.
“Back to the Vulture! Run!” Derek bellowed, before his voice was silenced by gunshots. The Ghoul’s didn’t waste any time, shooting while their ship approached.
The Gravedigger crew were no soldiers, they ran, hiding behind large rocks and cliffs.
“Jimmy, get the engines running, we gotta get outa here!!!” Derek addressed one of the guys left on the ship through the transmitter.
“Got it, Cap!” Jimmy fired up the Vulture’s engines momentarily.
The bullets blasted all around them. Derek saw the Murblard Ake running alongside him, shielding Derek with his giant green rump. They weren’t far from the Vulture05. Jimmy opened the Vulture’s door just in time for the crew to jump in, followed by a shower of bullets. Derek was the last one, making sure his crew gets in safe. The bullets reached him, but the Murblard jumped in front and took them, collapsing at Derek’s feet. Without giving it a second thought, Derek dragged the giant into the ship. Joe returned to help him. The ship door closed with a swoosh, followed by the sound of bullets hitting it.
“Go, Jimmy, go!” Derek yelled.