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"This position has fallen. Don't be foolish and stay here to die. Fall back, regroup, and stay in this fight."

It was the reality check she needed, even if it did hurt her pride more than her jaw. She spoke something in Hebrew through her comms unit that meant nothing to Taylor, and then shouted a second time louder. She staggered to get to her feet. She was clearly exhausted. Taylor reached out and helped her.

"Fallback!" he ordered.

He repeated the same into his radio. He turned to see Eddie taking a rifle from one of the bodies and salvaging what ammunition he could. Taylor knew how heavy the bulky weapons were without the aid of a suit and did not envy him for having to manage it.

They got to a quick jogging pace as a few of the tanks began to roll back with them. Taylor could see that less than half of the Israeli armour at the line was able to move.

"We're losing a lot of ground!" said Amar.

"And we'll lose a lot more until we get some serious support," replied Taylor.

"We were promised support from all over, but you're the first to arrive."

"We have another regiment en route. Should be here within an hour."

"Then I hope we can last that long. Militias have made defences at the edge of the city. We'll have to hold there."

The Israelis were one of the few nations still putting people through National Service, and he knew that meant they'd at least have some training, though he doubted their equipment would be up to muster. Pulses still burst around them from indirect fire. The shelf they had fought from at least covered their retreat. Jafar rushed up beside Taylor. He didn't seem to shock Amar. It seemed news of one of the enemy fighting alongside the humans was spreading quickly now.

A few minutes later, they had passed behind the range of the enemy guns and thought they'd reached safety, but it was not to be. Aircraft rushed overhead, and a new wave of enemy pulses crashed down in between them as they ran for their lives. Soldiers from both units were thrown through the air by blasts and tossed around like rag dolls.

One of the pulses burst in front of Taylor, and he dipped his head just in time for the shrapnel to brush over his helmet and save his face. The crater left in front of him was four metres wide and a metre deep.

"They're not going to let up, are they?" asked Jones.

"No," replied Jafar.

"At this rate, they'll be in Jerusalem by tomorrow unless we can stop them," said Amar.

They kept running, and it wasn't long before they could see the defensive positions at the edge of the city. Several kilometres of trench works and walls were being manned by the militias. The defences were at least a welcome sight. They reached the trenches and flooded inside. The pulses continued to burst all around them. Amar and Taylor stuck together as they slid into a trench. The militia looked scared. Taylor could already see they were beginning to regret standing their ground once they could see the troops running for their lives.

"Jones, get on to Phillips and find out when we're getting reinforced!"

"Nobody has seen the Commander since hitting the ground. Word is his copter was hit on the way in."

"Well, find a radio and get on to Harney, and tell him we need more than just 5th Marine Regiment!"

"I'll do what I can."

We're in deep shit, Taylor thought.

The bombardment settled down a few minutes later, but they knew it wouldn't last.

"Be nice if we had some aerial support."

"We did this morning. They took a beating," replied Amar.

"Let's get this straight. We can’t stop them. If we don't get some serious numbers here soon, we're gonna be swept back to Jerusalem in no time."

It was too late. The enemy was already at the edge of the city with their rapid blitz to cut a path through human lines. The tanks begun firing, but the enemy was still out of range of their rifles.

We can’t have made it this far to die in the dirt here.

“Ready your weapons and hold fast!” he yelled.

Jones came running down the line, and he prayed it was good news.

“What is it?”

“Harney has been ordered to the defence of Jerusalem. All forces are ordered to rally there.”

He looked over to Amar.

“That goes for you too, Lieutenant. This is a joint command for all allied forces in the area.”

“What about all these people? We can’t leave them.”

“No, but neither I am willing to risk my life and the lives or my people because they’re too stubborn to save their own skins. Tell them they’ll all die if they stay, and that they need to move out immediately. If they go now, we’ll stay and defend these trenches for ten minutes to give them a head start.”

She knew it was the best offer she was going to get, and she wasn’t keen to stay and die either.

“Time is running short, Lieutenant.”

She nodded in agreement and turned away to relay the message for her soldiers to convey along the border of the city.

“Ten minutes for them to get through town?”

“It’s ten minutes longer than I want to stay here, Jones.”

“True, but what about us? We’ll have a hell of a time getting through with all them ahead of us?”

“After their ten minutes is up, they’re on their own. I want us air lifted out of here.”

“Now we’re talking!” yelled Eddie.

“Find us somewhere they can pick us up and radio it in,” Taylor said to Jones.

Amar stepped back up to his side.

“Looks like most of them are excepting it and moving on.”

“Well they better. It ain’t much of a window to get clear. We’re getting airlifted out of here as soon as those ten minutes are up. I suggest you do the same.”

“No, we’ll fight a retreat back to Jerusalem to make sure the civilians make it.”

Taylor nodded in agreement. He knew it was going to cost them lives, but he was done arguing.

“They should have gotten these people out hours ago,” Jones whispered.

“Yep, and there’s only so much we can do for them. We have a duty to our fellow marines, and I intend to honour it.”

The civilians were climbing out of the trenches as the enemy reached the effective distance of their rifles. Taylor didn’t have to give the order to fire. They all knew what to do, and the sharpshooters among them carefully took the first few shots. Thirty seconds later, the Battalion opened up with everything it had. The thousands of Mechs bearing down on their position were a frightening sight even to the combat hardened veterans.

The enemy fell one rank after the other, but a never-ending stream poured over the bodies. Taylor could see their numbers were expanding to the flanks. The civilians had gotten just five minutes lead-time when the enemy reached the onehundred metre mark. Explosions erupted all along the line, but they suffered few casualties due to their deep trenches. The enemy artillery fire intensified in the last three minutes.

Despite the continuous fire they put down, they seemed to have little effect on the enemy advance, and the increasing amount of fire was forcing them to keep their heads down.

“That’s enough!”

“It’s only been eight minutes!” replied Jones.

“Fuck it, they brought this on themselves by being such idiots.” He lifted his intercom as an explosion sent dirt and stones smashing into his helmet, forcing the two officers to duck down.

“Fall back! Fall back now!”

They clambered out of the trenches under a hail of gunfire. Jones covered Taylor’s back with his shield, saving him from one of the pulses before he’d got a metre from the trench. Mitch still hadn’t found a replacement since his was destroyed the day before, a fact he was all too aware off as the shards of the pulse burst over Jones’ shield and flew past his head.