The sun had just set now. The town however was still lively. At the workshop, they were relaxing, going through another pack of beer. As they sat chatting while Bailey was drafting up a plan to make the turret, Kaze and Suki opened the doors and fell to their faces with bags of meat and vegetables in their hands.
"I've still got to cook this." Moaned Suki as she slowly picked herself up. "How does barbecued beef and salad sound?"
Bailey wheeled a barbecue into the room and opened the roof of the workshop and threw in an armful of charcoal into it. He lit it and invited Suki to use it. She placed a bunch of beef cuts onto the grill and brushed them with honey and occasionally seasoned them with salt and other spices. While the meat cooked, she prepared multiple bowls of vegetables and added mustard to them. She then sprinkled some cheese over the tomatoes, lettuce, radishes and onions and tossed them to mix well. She placed a hand on her cheek, taking pride in the culinary art she was making. She served the salad and the first batch of steaks to everyone and continued to cook the remaining beef. The crew delighted in the delicious steak. The tenderness combined with the sweet honey and beautiful seasoning could satisfy even the pickiest of pricks.
They ate and drank throughout the night with many cheers and stories shared. Suki cleaned up the kitchenware and enjoyed the food she cooked. There was still so much steak leftover after some of them were full.
"Hey Mig's pass me another beer aye?" Asked Bailey as he threw the empty bottle to a bin nearby. Migs chucks him another bottle which he catches.
Suki and Kaze fell fast asleep on the bean bags they brought out from the Stoat. Hugo sat quietly, taking a sip from his bottle once in a while. The rest of the crew still talked about the adventures they had back on the mainland.
"Did you know Migs once blew himself up with his own grenade after it bounced off a wall?" Joked Ehma
"No way. Migs, you gotta step it up mate." Bailey replied, barely containing his laughter.
Migs was a little red from embarrassment but still kept a cool head aided by the excessive amount of alcohol.
Ehma chuckled seeing his red face.
"There was also the time he.."
A loud whistling filled the air that progressively increased in velocity until they were broken by multiple explosions scattering across dog town. An explosion erupted in the workshop, blowing apart some of the walls and caving in the roof. Everyone was blasted back with some getting buried under the rubble. No one could see a thing with all the dust and debris in the air. John gathered himself as fast as he could and hurried over to Kaze who was covering Suki with his body. He seemed to have taken a lot of shrapnel from the explosion. Hugo arose from the rubble with Bailey and Migs. Migs looked around in a panic.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" He shouted. He looked around to notice that Ehma wasn't with them. He rushed back to the rubble and began to dig through it. Fire had begun to spread to some of the rubble.
"EHMA! EHMA WHERE ARE YOU?" He desperately shouted, still clawing at the wood and metal. Ignoring all the cuts and bruises he received doing so.
Lifting up a large sheet of metal, he finally finds Ehma, bleeding profusely. She couldn't move out of the rubble. Looking up, all she could see was a blurry mess of red and a loud ringing in her ears. Migs looked down further. His face froze in horror as he saw it. Ehma's right arm had been blown off. The stump of what was left was still gushing out blood. Ehma looked down to her arm and saw the horror of what the explosion did. She wanted to let out a cry but it was all too much for her. Her eyes closed and she fell back onto the rubble.
Migs hurried to grab a burning piece of wood and held it to the wound of her severed arm. Tears dropped from his chin as he cauterized the wound. After the bleeding slowed, he ripped off a bit of his shirt and wrapped it tightly around her wound. Another round of explosions pounded the town in the distance.
"Stay with me..Please!" Cried Migs.
Sirens began to blair with the shouts of many people outside hurrying to escape the situation. Hugo ran over and picked Ehma up in his hands.
"We must get her to a doctor now!" Shouted John.
Everyone rushed outside through the open walls of the workshop. The massacre outside was gut wrenching. The workshop had only suffered small damages compared to the rest of Oz Town. Buildings ablaze, whole blocks reduced to craters. Bodies littered everywhere with missing pieces strewn around. So many people were running from the fires while some stayed to aid in putting it out and tending to the wounded. A passing duo with a stretcher saw Ehma, cradled in Hugo's arms and ran to him.
"She needs to come with us to the hospital nearby, thank god it's still in one piece." Said one of them.
They laid her down and began the run to the hospital with the crew right behind.
The cries and wails of the injured and dying filled the smoky hot air as the people fought to keep the fires controlled. John looked up while running along with the crew. He could see some movement in the night sky. He paused for a moment and held his hands to his chest.
"Let there be light." He prayed as he threw up a small ball of light into the sky.
Like a flare, it illuminated the whole area. Everyone looked up to the light. High above the clouds, a single large entity was moving away from the town. A massive aircraft beyond the size of any they had seen.
The sirens changed to a quicker tempo. Explosions rang out again. But this time, it wasn't a bomb. Artillery guns were firing at the giant aircraft. Their tracers dart across the skies in hopes of retaliating against the attacker. But it was too late. It was already out of range, yet they still kept firing. Ehma opened her eyes for a moment. She could see buildings whiz passed her as the duo carried her on the stretcher. Before losing consciousness again, she saw Migs mouthing something to her. Her eyes closed once more and the sounds of the chaos stopped.