Sean Wolfe - The New Order

“Really? What about Zoey and Porky?” Stan asked, referring to an acclaimed racer and her pig.

“Yeah, that’s a good point, Charlie,” said DZ. “Those two’ve won that race every Elementia Day so far, and this is Bob’s first time. What makes you think he’s gonna win?”

“’Cause it’s Bob!” replied Charlie. “He’s got a stronger bond with Ivanhoe than any I’ve seen, and that includes Kat and Rex.”

“To that note,” replied Stan, “where is she, anyway?” Kat was usually the first one up in the morning, and none of them had seen her yet today.

“I saw her leaving the castle really early this morning with G. I can’t say she looked very happy about it. He looked hyped, though,” answered DZ.

Charlie sighed. “Those two … they’re just …”

“I know, man,” DZ cut in, shaking his head. “Some people just don’t have any class,” he added wisely.

“DZ, you have pumpkin flesh dripping from your left nostril,” Stan pointed out as he pressed the refrigerator button. A pumpkin pie popped out, which he caught in mid-air.

“I really don’t think it’s Kat’s fault, though,” said Charlie as DZ wiped the orange goo from his upper lip. “G is just overly clingy. I honestly don’t get why she puts up with him.”

“Well, I think she’s just …” started Stan, but he was cut off when Archie burst into the room, his chest heaving from lack of breath.

“Ah, Archie! All set for the big day, are we?” asked DZ as he wiped the pumpkin goo off his finger and onto his trousers.

“Yeah, but that’s not why I’m here,” said Archie in one breath.

Stan suddenly stood up straight. He knew something was wrong. “Archie, what happened?” he asked.

“Ben just sent me a messenger. Apparently when he sent a scout to report to him on the condition at the Jungle Base last night, the scout came back and told him the base had been hijacked.”

“WHAT?” Stan asked, dropping the rest of his pie on the ground. “What happened? Who took over the base?”

“Well, the scout said that when he approached the base, he was shot at by figures in black tunics and caps that were patrolling the watchtower on top.”

The room was filled for a moment by a stunned silence. Then DZ threw his hands in the air and yelled, “Oh, come on!”

“Do you mean to tell me that our Jungle Base was taken over by the Noctem Alliance?” asked Charlie, his face reflecting his shell-shocked disbelief.

“It would seem so,” replied Archie gravely. “It looks like not only is the Alliance still alive, but it’s powerful.”

“It’s not possible!” cried Stan. His stomach had knotted up, and he was beginning to sweat as he started to think about what this information meant. “The Jungle Base is one of our most fortified! All twenty of the guards in there were skilled fighters with enough armour and gear to fight at maximum capacity!”

“That’s not all,” added Archie, the fear in his voice almost tangible. “One of the Noctem soldiers was Leonidas, Stan.”

“What the what!” shouted DZ. “Leonidas is dead! Wasn’t he killed at the battle along with the rest of RAT1? Right? Stan?”

But Stan was staring at Charlie in horror, who returned with a stare of absolute astonishment. Their eyes locked, and it was clear that they were both thinking the same thing. The military had, after investigation, concluded that Leonidas had been killed in Becca’s TNT trap at the Battle for Elementia. The police had determined the same thing. There was only one source in the kingdom who had stated that Leonidas was still alive, a source Charlie had talked Stan into disregarding.

“You weren’t just hallucinating that night, were you, Stan,” said Charlie. It was not a question. Even Stan, who had brushed off the nocturnal visit by Sally’s voice as nothing but a delusion brought on by fatigue, now knew perfectly well that everything he had heard was indeed Sally trying to contact him from beyond the server.

“What are you talking about?” asked Archie, in a nervous, alarmed voice.

“Yeah, what are you talking about, Charlie?” asked DZ, his face taking on an uncharacteristically freaked-out look.

“Stan …”

Stan leaped up. That voice did not belong to Charlie. It did not belong to Archie or DZ, either. And, based on a quick look around the room, he was the only one to hear it.

“What?” Charlie asked, looking at Stan in panic. Stan paid no notice to any of them. He was already sprinting down the hallway, taking a sharp left, and bolting into his room. He needed this conversation to be private.

“Sally? Is that you?”

“Stan … I don’t … much … time …” Sally’s voice from nowhere was punctuated by bursts of static, and Stan could barely make out what she was saying. “Noctem … Alliance … alive …”

“I know Sally, I know!” cried Stan. “They just took over our Jungle Base!”

“I know … but … another … attack … inbound …” Her voice was barely audible over the now loud static. It was as if somebody was trying to jam her signal.

“Don’t … know … heard … fragments … tennis … danger … losing … I … contact … you … later …” There was a burst of static, and then a pop, and Sally was gone.

Stan’s head was spinning. The Noctem Alliance had attacked them, and another attack was incoming. And she had also said something about the Tennis Machine! What did that mean? Regardless, after the attack on the Jungle Base that apparently was led by Leonidas, Stan had no qualms about deciphering the information given to him by Sally, and acting on it.

“Stan, what happened?” Archie asked when Stan walked back into the common room. “Charlie told us that you’ve been in contact with Sally? How is that? She’s dead, Stan.”

“I know that, but somehow she’s found a way to partially hack her way back onto the server, and I can hear her voice,” said Stan, ignoring the looks of scepticism on Archie’s and DZ’s faces. “She contacted me once before, and told me that Leonidas was alive, and that he and Caesar were raising some kind of force. I thought I was dreaming it at first, but then it turns out that a well-equipped force led by Leonidas just took over the Jungle Base! It can’t just be a coincidence.”

Archie and DZ were staring at Stan wide-eyed, knowing that he was telling the truth even though they weren’t sure how it could be possible.

“OK, we get that,” said Charlie after a moment, “but what did she say to you just then? That is why you ran out, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is,” Stan replied. “She just told me an attack was incoming, and that the Tennis Machine was a danger.”

There was a pause. Then …

“Are you losing your mind, Stan?” asked DZ.

“Stan, how can the Tennis Machine be a danger? It’s just a recreation thing,” reasoned Charlie.

“I don’t know, I wasn’t the one who said it!” yelled Stan.

“OK, OK, let’s disregard that for a second,” said Archie. “What was that about an inbound attack?”

“I don’t know,” said Stan. “Her voice was cut off by static half the time.”

“Stan, it’d be nice if your dead girlfriend could be a little less vague,” said DZ with an exasperated chuckle.

“Well, seeing as we don’t have any real idea what the upcoming attack is, or when it’s coming, I say the only thing we can really do is prepare our military,” said Charlie. “I’ll alert the soldiers to do double duty in patrolling our walls, and I’ll send messengers out to tell all our outposts to do the same. DZ, can you go and tell Ben to get the police to step it up, too?”

“Aye aye, Captain,” replied DZ, and he stood up and crossed the room to the door that led to the stairwell with the courtyard at the bottom.