Unchosen Champion

Coop had led his friends through an industrial section of the city that linked the airport with the seaport. They avoided the main thoroughfares, utilizing side streets lined with warehouses, so that the Empire’s Chosen wouldn’t easily spot them during their escape. Obviously, the plan hadn’t been flawless, but they were still entering the final stage: the getaway.

The group entered the port from the northern side via a private access road designated for commercial trucks, but they needed to cross to the south side to rendezvous with Sharkbait and their escape vehicle. The plan was to have Kayla’s first mate wait for them at Port Front Park.

Before the assimilation, Port Front Park was known for the pedestrian paths that ran along its iconically long breakwater. The park had been a popular place among locals, with benches to watch the comings and goings of expensive yachts on one side and the disembarking of cruise ships on the other. Joggers and fishermen would utilize the breakwater while families picnicked and boat watched.

The port was separated into three main artificial islands that each connected to the mainland separately, all angled to better accommodate supermax ships to better enter the lanes leading north. The closest island to Coop was the shipping section, where the oversized container ships docked to unload their cargo from all over the world. The middle and primary island was for tourists and cruise ships, and it was the one connected to the rest of the city with a major highway. The furthest island held several public marinas for locals, with Port Front Park at the forefront.

The furthest section was their destination.

Coop followed the access road until it converged with an offramp that connected to the main elevated causeway leading to the cruise ships. The causeway provided a direct highway to the port for everything from commercial trucks and other heavier vehicles, to public transportation, bypassing the city’s downtown, and supposedly easing traffic. The causeway represented the main path connecting the port to the mainland and a barrier between the north and south that Coop would need to cross.

As Coop moved toward the marinas he kept an eye out for more of the Empire’s Chosen. It had been long enough for the guards back inside the settlement to have found the guards that Camila had defeated, especially with the storm dying down, so he expected a proper manhunt to have begun, even considering the incompetence that the Empire constantly revealed.

Empress City was a huge settlement, and had an immense number of Chosen capable of mobilizing in the event of an attack. Even if their ability to govern was obviously questionable, Coop at least trusted the Empire to be competent when it came to the one thing their faction cared about, which was conquest. He had no doubt that they would treat the storm that Charlie created as a reason to rouse their army.

Unfortunately, his fears were realized when he spotted a crowd of hundreds of people moving toward the port. They were marching down the abandoned highway more like a gang than any sort of proper organization. A few would break away, leaping over barriers to chase down some unfortunate soul whenever anyone was spotted. There was nothing orderly about them.

Coop hoped that the rest of his companions were ready to go. He didn’t think they would be able to stand up to the small army that had already been rolled out by the Empire if they were forced into a direct confrontation at the pier. Coop didn’t want to find out if he was ready to fight hundreds of people at once.

Coop tried to sneak across the causeway, but there was little to no cover. He was left with a clear line of sight between himself and the army of Chosen, but he dodged between broken down vehicles and cleared the median before he heard shouts as he was inevitably spotted.

He didn’t squander his small headstart, breaking into a run, crossing the causeway, and heading toward the park. It was time for them to get out of there. The Empire could have sent battalions in every direction away from the airport and into the city, and each one would be a crowd as large as the one moving toward the port.