The IFV idles beside the barriers, its blue-lit hull ticking as dust settles over the service road. The schoolteacher opens the passenger hatch and guides the children out one by one.
the schoolteacher
Stay close, everyone. Hands on the barrier, heads down, and nobody wanders toward the road.
The children cluster beneath the armored side, dusty and shaken but moving. The teacher checks scraped knees and bruised arms, finding no serious injury among them.
the schoolteacher
They are frightened by the transformation, Blaststrike. I am too, if I am honest, but you carried them through.
Eli
We stayed behind to reinforce the yard. I am bringing the road crew once the gate is secure.
Eli’s voice crackles over the radio from the distant inner yard. He is not beside Blaststrike; the teacher and children are the ones accompanying her now.
Far down the warehouse road, silhouettes shift between abandoned cars. The pause holds, but the scraping movement grows clearer through the thinning dust.
Gain the survivors' acceptance as Blaststrike's protector
Keep the children safe from the threat on the warehouse road