His eyes were wide with shock. Then Vikram grabbed his face and asked, "What happened?"
{Where he was staring, Vikram also turned his gaze.}
A sandstorm was approaching.
Which is touching the very edge of the sky.
"Sir, run!" He bolted toward the car, and Vikram ran after him.
{They run very fast through the sand and finally reach the car.}
They flung open the doors and piled inside.
{And when the human tries to start the car, he sees that there is no key there.}
"Sir, they took the keys."
"Key."
"Sir, roll up the windows! I'll hot-wire the car!"
{As Vikram hurriedly began rolling up all the car windows, the human soldier was hunched over the wires, trying to spark the engine to life.}
The soldier yanked open the steering column panel, exposing a snarl of wires. He stripped the ignition wires with his knife—red and yellow first, twisting them together to bypass the starter. Sparks flew as he touched the brown leads to the battery line.
The engine coughed, then roared to life.
He drove the car at full speed toward the base.
{There wasn't a single soldier standing guard outside the base, because this wasn't only a storm of dust and sand— it was a tempest raining thorns.}
"Will the car break this thick gate?"
"Let's see, sir."
"Let's see—there's no time for that!"
He snatched his Sword, shoved the window open, and perched himself onto the doorframe.
{He picks up the sword from behind, opens the window, and climbs onto the gate.}
He runs his hand over the sword as if to say, "I'm going to use you for the first time. Don't disappoint me."
{Two Modular Vehicle Barriers (MVBs) were placed in front of the gate, spaced 4 feet apart.
The walls of the base were made of mesh, and the gate was 0.5 feet thick.
All the planes were stationed inside the hangars.}
Vikram spun the sword horizontally; nothing happened. He spun it again—still nothing. He slid back inside, slammed the window shut.
"Not through the gate—take the side!"
The car screamed ahead with such fury that when it hit the iron mesh, the lattice didn't break — it snagged on the grille and ripped right out of the ground.
Dragged along by the car's raw power, the mesh tore loose — Gate side already ripped, the other still shredding away in jagged fury.