Chapter 236: Evasion Tactics

Sanchez returned within minutes, after leaving a winding trail in the forest.

Then, he dragged her back into the river, and the Cleric held to his belt, so they weren’t separated as the Sergeant swam as fast as he could through the river current.

The river was getting faster as the hills got steeper, and soon she was holding his waist with both hands as they tumbled through whitewater rapids. But she didn’t let go, and Sanchez didn’t stop swimming.

Only when they realized that the river wasn’t freezing over again, and that they were in a wild part of the mountains, in naturally cold river water, not the artificially frozen waters around the city, did they begin to relax.

They didn’t try to exit the water, that would just give the Frost Giants a better way to track them. But eventually, they would have to, if they were going to get far enough from their pursuers that they could actually escape and find out where they were.

For half an hour, they had been swimming, when the sound of shouting Giants and the crackle hum of a Pulse Cannon caught their attention.

"Out of the water, we have found reinforcements," Sanchez ordered.

Lillian had never heard more glorious words in her whole life.

Through the woods they ran, until they came upon a roadway covered in corpses, and a battle between a full team of Heroes and a patrol of Frost Giants, including two mages.

Sanchez motioned for silence as he took aim at the back of a Mage’s head.

The Pulse Cannon shattered a barrier, and he squeezed the trigger, dropping the mage before the other could replace the barrier.

Two warriors turned to see where the new threat had come from, and were immediately cut down by heavy weapons fire, leaving the Mage with a much diminished team, and two sides to protect against.

Then, through the woods, an army of insectoid monsters charged at the Frost Giants.

They had just reached the battle, tearing into the Frost Giant mage’s barrier, when Pulse Rifles from the woods lit up the patrol, giving Sanchez the opportunity to drop the second mage.

"What’s the password?" A voice from the woods shouted.

"FUCK YOU REGGIE!" Sanchez called back.

There were laughing voices that he recognized as his old special forces team, and the Sergeant led Lillian out into the road, where Esmeralda and her team were joining the first patrol.

Kurt gave his old Sergeant a sloppy salute as Esmeralda and the nine special forces soldiers, with their three Assault Speeders, joined the party.

"Well, this is good news. We lost our carrier, so we’ve been riding the undead. We’ve still got all our speeders, though. It looks like you’ve been through hell, Sergeant."

Sanchez nodded. "It only grabbed five of us. Our speeders and carrier are still back home. We appeared in the middle of the damned city, fought our way out, but I lost three."

Kurt nodded. "Out of sixteen total, we lost five, all high ranked heroes. Derek is gone, along with the rest of his team and the carrier."

Then they turned to the group they had all come to rescue.

The speeders from the rescued group landed, and Kruger hopped down to stretch his legs. The big warrior looked more than a little haunted, and Sanchez knew that it wouldn’t be good news.

"We lost eight. They weren’t in the carrier when the transfer happened, only the drivers were. We took heavy fire right from the start, and we’re ten patrol groups deep into the battle already.

No new casualties, but we could use a gunner for the carrier."

Sanchez nodded. "I can do that, and the four from Esmeralda’s team who are riding the undead instead of the speeders can likely join us too. It’s better than leaving them out in the cold.

With six speeders and an armoured personnel carrier, we should be alright for firepower. How are we on supplies and food?"

"We’ve all got food in our packs, not much solid ammunition. The rocket pods are full." Kurt explained.

Kruger shook his head. "The rocket pods are empty, the speeders are damaged, limited maximum speed and mobility. But we’ve got enough food for a couple of days."

Sanchez made a mental note, then switched to his "Unit Commander" tone. "Alright, then we can team up and hold a position, or go hunting the Frost Giants on their own turf.

If we can find more teams, we can rebuild our force and make a proper go of winning this challenge."

"Got it, I like that plan. There is strength in numbers, and most of us should have appeared outside the city, that’s where we were to start with. I’m assuming that your team was inside the city when the transfer happened?"

Sanchez shook his head. "We were near the perimeter. I think it just put us in the spot where a team of Frost Giant warriors were when the swap happened. They seemed just as confused as we were for the first few seconds."

"What a shit show. Any objections?"

Everyone shook their heads, and the soldiers piled into the personnel carrier.

"I don’t suppose that we have a map, do we?" Sanchez asked.

"GPS is out, no satellite feed. But the same sun position. My guess is that we’re somewhere along the same latitude, likely further south somewhere in the mountains of Karmans."

"Good enough for me. It explains the weather, anyhow. Now, let’s go find more heroes and wipe out some of these damned Frost Giants."

The heroes cheered, and the convoy began moving slowly down the road, wary of traps, with a pair of Shredder type insect warriors leading the way. They were durable, fast, and most importantly, repairable.

Esmeralda had [Undead Regeneration] as a newly purchased Class Skill, and her undead army would slowly heal itself, even if they lost limbs.

But none of that mattered when they came to a mountain valley and looked down on a half dozen groups of heroes surrounded by Frost Giant patrols. They couldn’t see each other through the trees, but from this elevation, Sanchez and his team could see them all.

All that he had to do was rescue one, and get their speeders high enough to see the others, so they could form a proper defensive position.

The Frost Giants were going to regret the day that they were paired against the Heroes of Marimgar.