Chapter 2 – Crash Landing 

      With a grunt and a shake of her spinning head Sanya awakes, her eyes foggy with stars darting across her blurred vision. She feels nauseous, with a heavy pit in her stomach, her ears ringing, as if she had just been caught in a powerful explosion. Awareness quickly returned to the bewildered night witch as she exited from the dense cloud bank she had been falling through. Remembering her years of training she attempts to activate her striker units and pull out of this plummeting nose dive however, to her shock nothing happens. 

      Again she tries to re-ignite the magical engines, looking up towards her legs in utter shock. Her units sit a crumpled mess of mangled metal and wires, smoke pluming from what remains of the pistons and gears inside the devastated devices. Every attempt at activation sends sheets of violent sparks shooting out into the freezing cold air rushing past her. Below her as the clouds clear even further she can see the earth approaching at a frightening speed. She can still feel her legs, so at the very least she knows she can’t be injured that badly. If that will even matter in a few moments however is debatable. 

      Through ever increasing panic with her heart racing faster and faster she begins desperately looking around for any of her comrades coming to her rescue - nothing. The sky is empty of everything except the dark grey, ice cold clouds surrounding her. With her broken strikers pulling her down like intricate mechanical concrete shoes she closes her eyes, possibly for the last time and whispers for Eila to save her. 

       “Sanya!” Erica yells as she flies at full speed towards her falling friend. Despite her own strikers belching smoke and flames, at least they were mostly working. Hearing this determined shout through the rushing winds Sanya darts her eyes back open to see the blond haired Karlslander closing in on her, hands outstretched to capture Sanya in a lifesaving embrace. Likewise Sanya lifts her arms, reaching out for the safety offered, in stark defiance of the ground below her. 

      Pushing the remains of her Messerscharfs into a raging display of shedding parts and grinding, screaming, torturous noises Erica finally reaches Sanya and grabs her hands in a vice grip. With one last strenuous blast of magical energy from Erica the blades of her striker spin furiously, throwing fire from the sides of the fuselage as she pulls up to slow Sanyas doomed descent. 

       “I’ve got you!” Erica utters, reassuring herself as much as Sanya. The rescue had come just in time. The ground lays painfully close as the pair reach a speed that wouldn’t kill them upon landing. Out of breath and adrenaline-rushed Erica drops Sanya safely into the soft, dew-covered grass, sitting with her legs out straight, held in place by her dead units. 

       “Hartmann.” is all the shocked Sanya can say before Ericas own units finally give-in with one last outburst of smoke dropping her to the ground as well with a metallic crash. 

       Pulling her slender legs from the wreckage of her units Sanya sees that, thankfully she is un-injured. Her tights however have been reduced to ribbons. Stumbling in a dizzy haze to her feet she wobbles over to where Erica had just made ground fall. Erica likewise was un-hurt and sat pulling her legs from her strikers.  

       “Are you ok Hartmann?!” she asks in a daze. 

        “I’m going to ask Trude for a parachute. Yeah. I’m fine. What about you?” Erica laughs it off. She’s just as panicked as Sanya but she hides it well. 

       The two sit down next to one another in the damp, mossy undergrowth catching their heavy, rapid breaths. 

       “Thank you Erica. What happened?” Sanya wonders as she slowly scans her surroundings. 

       “We got shot down but… where are we? Where’s Hive Leon? Moscow?” Erica answers. She was right. The sky was clear of the black clouds indicative of a Neuroi hive, the area they had crash landed in was clearly not the blasted ruins of the city of Moscow. 

      Getting to their feet the pair of witches stand tall to observe their location. Finding themselves in the middle of a vast open field a puzzled look of disbelief crosses their faces.  

      “Maybe that swarm carried us away again?” Sanya posits. Erica raises her hand to her ear to activate her radio piece. 

      “Trude? Come in Trude. Anyone?” she calls out, receiving only the disappointing buzz of static noise. “My radio’s busted. Sanya can you hear anything?” 

      With a soft exhale, blowing a cloud of mist from her lips, Sanyas green antenna needles generate, casting a magical glow against her silver hair. 

       “Barkhorn? Command?” she asks in a shrill, quiet voice. Likewise however she hears no reply on the 501sts assigned radio frequency. “Nothing” Sanya says looking at Erica who still tries to contact anyone on her earpiece. 

       “We can’t have moved far” she states. “But then, I can’t see the Hive anywhere. That would mean we’re hundreds of miles away!” The two look at one another with concerned realization. “That’s impossible” Erica claims. “One moment we were over Moscow, the next we end up here? I didn’t see the swarm come back anyway. Besides, why would the Neuroi carry us away like that?” Erica says as she bends down to examine her still smouldering strikers. 

       “They took Yoshika hostage once, remember?” Sanya recalls. “If we’re hostages then where are our captors?” Erica replies with an inquisitive giggle. 

       The wind begins to pick up, blowing a freezing gale across this wide open expanse of grassland. A tree line stands in the far distance, a dark green spruce forest with rolling hills even further behind. A steep earth bank rises up not that far away which Sanya ponders may be concealing a road. 

       “We can’t just stay here. We have to find some shelter before the weather gets any worse” she says, assuming the commanding role in this spontaneous partnership. Erica takes one last look over her ruined strikers before turning to face the Orussian whose hair and skirt wave violently against the bitter gale. 

       “Do you think were still in Orussia at least?” she asks . 

      “I do. There’s no wind as cold as Orussian wind”. 

       Sanya was correct, the duo stand atop an earthwork bank looking down on a rural dirt road below them. Taking each other by the hand they jump and slide down the side, further ripping Sanya’s tights apart. She gives an annoyed moan before patting her uniform down of dust and dirt. 

       “Which way?” Erica asks, seeing no signs of civilization in either direction. 

       “The roads covered in tracks all going that way” Sanya says pointing off down the distant path. “So let’s try that”.  

      The girls begin to walk side by side, shielded from the ceaseless wind by the banks either side of the road. They hate the fact that they had to leave their strikers behind, however as they have no idea how close the nearest repair shop might be, carrying them would be a challenge. In fact the damage done may have been too severe. At least they might get brand new strikers Erica figures. 

       The journey drags on and on, an endless, featureless, frozen, muddy dirt road snaking through this barren land. While Sanya was quite used to such a venture, Erica is becoming increasingly agitated. The crushing silent boredom is only interrupted by the pair’s own shrieks of pain when their bare feet step agonizingly onto exposed stones. 

       The ground itself varies between solid and a slippery death trap causing them to wobble and brace themselves every now and then. As they push on, the miserable sight of grey clouds and brown earth becomes crushingly monotonous. At one point Sanya had tried contacting command again using her magic; however the situation hadn’t changed, no response. She couldn’t even pick up wayward music which could have at least alleviated the pair’s drudgery. 

       “Hey Hartmann, do you think the others are looking for us?” Sanya asks in a down beaten tone, looking at her feet as she plods along. 

        “I’m sure they are. Even if they think we’re dead. Remember when I got shot down and lost for a few days? Trude isn’t the type to give up until she confirms it herself. If they don’t find us, we’ll have to find them.” Erica replies, putting both of her hands behind her head in a confident display of belief in her best friend. A quick glance towards Sanya however makes her wonder if her pride is slightly overblown.

       Sanya looks tired and upset. She knows what Erica says is true, that the 501 st never leaves a member behind. Regardless, she also feels that Eila must be heartbroken. Sanyas sure she’d search for her just as vigorously, however the idea that she’s caused the Soumous witch so much pain weighs on her deeply. She’ll have to apologise when they get back. Sensing Sanyas sadness Erica rests a comforting hand on her shoulder and gives her a reassuring, knowing smile. 

       Finally, after what seems like an eternity, the boredom of walking is broken.

       “Hey look.” Erica points out forward, towards a ruined, burnt out truck resting along the roadside. The duo approaches cautiously, avoiding the sharp shrapnel littering the blackened mud. Thankfully it looks like this was a transport truck with the faded remnants of a red cross on its side. 

       “Medical supplies?” Sanya calls out to Erica, who checks the cabin for a driver. To her relief there is no one present however the strange smell of gunpowder lingers in the air giving her an uncomfortable sense of dread. As she walks around to the back of the truck she finds Sanya sitting on the old tailgate opening a box of intact surgical bandages. 

       “You’re not hurt are you, Sanya?” Erica asks concerned. To her surprise Sanya begins wrapping the bandages around her muddied feet and up her legs. 

       “I’m fine, but this has to be better than nothing right?” she says, motioning to Ericas even less protected bare feet. This ingenious move draws a huge smile from the Karlsland witch who also perches up on the cold metal frame to begin bandaging up her exposed legs. When they finish up Sanya lets out a long, deep yawn. Clearly this night witch was feeling the tiredness kick in. 

      Silence falls as the lost pair sit swinging their mummified legs over the edge of the truck. Erica gives a playful glance towards Sanya, who returns the gesture before they both break out into a relaxed chuckle. They’d been through a lot today, finally they could rest.