My eyes opened to the last glimpses of pure sunlight they’d see for years to come. I was on a stretcher manned by four guards, honors, headed for the city. On either side of the stretcher were two soldiers carrying common field rifles, ready to cut down the first sentient being daring to oppose them. Pulling up the rear was a monstrous tall brute of a man wearing a white officers uniform and he was accompanied by two honor guards that tried marching in synchronization, but i could tell, from experience of jogging around Dix in those stone hard iron maiden boots, that they had blisters and gashes from extended time in them. Now that i thought about it, everybody did. Even the crisp officer that was headed by two soldiers packing twin barrel twelve gauges. Everyone in the military knew her name and that she was the kindest yet most fearsome soul one could ever encounter and that she held the amazing and most respectful rank and bearing of Chairman. She was also my sister. I grabbed the shoulder of the guard to my rear right and signaled for him to let me down for I could walk on my own two legs. My dark brown hair was stained with the blood and grease that came to accumulate through the previous firefight id been through. My face tainted with dirt tossed in the air by lost rounds and shells that never found their intended mark and my lip had previously been bleeding, but had grown a scab and only released tiny droplets now and then. The brutes uniform was stained, cut, and tattered, I realized as i noticed him eyeing me suspiciously once I got off the stretcher. I made a mental note to confront him about it later, but right now I had to confront Claire about our current situation. She always possessed these incredible instincts of detection and so as kids I made a game of trying to sneak up to her, but shed always notice ages before and press her index finger against my lips causing me to give up and listen. So i approached her, silent as a mouse, but the moment i was about to open my mouth she placed her gloved finger over my lips, just like when we were kids, and didn’t move her head an inch as we entered a dark underpass resembling a tunnel. I cursed under my breath and waited for Claire to bring me up to date. “So I see your’e up on your feet finally” she said, cracking the tinniest of smiles. I began to express my disapproval of our new course and she once again stopped me in my tracks. “I know your’e upset and that you wanted to see that op through, but there’s no way to go back now. Anne’s Valkyries missed their strike and hit a building we were near, completely blowing out the foundation and collapsing it, cutting us from Gamma. In the whole destruction we suffered five casualties, but we’ll brave the storm in their honor”. I sighed, sad that I both missed a great battle and for the men and women lost under my command. More death certificates too. “So what else happened? And why are we headed for Times Square of all places?” I asked her as we reached the exit of the underpass and began nearing the sign boldly displaying the once bustling crossroads title. “We’re catching a trolley to the west ports where General Garron here will attend a meeting with the Doctrines to reassess the current economical and state of war concerning the military. Back after we were cut from Gamma, we were attacked and force to flee by multiple outbreaking riots. We eventually crossed fifty fourth and bartered passage on a trolley till the track was blocked by debris. We’ve been on foot for the past two hours”. “Don’t you think these men need a break?” “No time for a break. Rest is for the weak and you are obviously the weakest” Garron said as he walked alongside Claire. “Maybe you should stay back. Even take some milk and cookies from grandmas”. I approached him, blocking his path, staring him in the eye. I had to crane my neck upwards for he was surely at least a foot taller than me. I gazed into his amber eyes that burned with passion and were threaded with experience. He had a strong jaw and silk white hair and a beard that reached down far past regulation. There was also a long deep scar reaching from the tip of his left nostril down, across his lips, to the tip of his chin where his beard sprouted. “So your’e the great general Garron. I’ve heard so much about you and the legendary tales of you destroying fleets with the limited resources she could provide you. I’d say the pleasure is mine, but there is no pleasure in meeting a brute like you. All bronze, my general, and no brains” I slid the forty caliber magnum from the holster on my left leg, tugged the hammer back spinning the chamber, and rammed the barrel into the Generals jugular in less than two seconds. “If you ever, and I mean ever, so much as think about insulting my family, my sister, or I, I’ll put one-two-three rounds in your brain before your men can realize your’e dropping. Am i understood General”? He nodded and I released the tension of the hammer and let the long barreled revolver dangle at my side, then he fell back a few paces, loosening his own sidearm. We were approaching a crossroads that led in four different directions. Sis revealed her prize joyed forty five as she opened her mouth and began to talk. “So i see you’ve familiarized yourself with Garron. He’s a tough man, obviously, but he’s got a big heart and a battle record stretching from here to China.” “Didn’t seem too tough to me...” I whispered under my breath. Everyone formed up on Claire and she divided us into for squads. She took three guards, The general two, I two, and a squad of three led by an honor guard. We scattered and searched the surrounding city blocks. for any signs of danger or trouble, still remaining within radio contact. As my squad and I rounded our first corner, we began to hear the roaring cries of men and the crackling shouts of rifles. We crossed the street and masked ourselves in the shadows of the decomposing building. We all glanced around the corner and stared at the absolute chaos giving way down the street. There was a loud piercing cry that tore through all the absolute war going on and I reached out a bit more to see the cause of it. There was a tank, Abrams, that had just fired on the office building up the street which was falling apart on its own. Disgruntled angry citizens were engaging Grisley factions, groups of men who thought of themselves as the apocalyptic police. Who would’ve thought that in the end of the world, people would bleed and kill for the mantle of police. The citizens were using rifles that had been scavenged from a large scale battle quite some time ago while the Grisleys used quieter and more primitive methods of attack such as using knives and strategic distribution of their units. The tank was civilian populated and the building it fired upon packed with Grisley snipers using high powered seventy-five caliber rounds. Powerful enough to tear clean through a Valkyries armor. “Where the heck did they get a friggin tank?” one man whispered under his breath. “What’d we do, sir?” the other of the two asked me, rifle trained on the snipers. “Stand down, Colonel. There’s no way to get that tank out of commission without a Valkyrie at the minimal.” I pressed my fingers against the tiny earpiece i had managed to keep hold of and announced my callsign. There was a moment of dead static when i heard Claire’s voice patch through it. “Claire we may have a bit of a problem” “What was that noise? It sounded like a tank” she said. She sounded extremely exhausted. I figured it was a lot of sleep deprivation mixed with fatigue. “It was. Somehow the civvies got ahold of an Abrams and are fighting the Grisleys, trying to take out a building up the...” The loud cry of a Valkyrie revealed itself and then came the black angel from around the corner, unloading its thirty caliber belts into the Grisleys amongst the street, decimating whatever was in its way. One of the rounds caught the soldier next to me in the arm as the civilian Valkyrie passed over us at a super sonic speed, leaving distorted air and blaze from the turbine jets in its wake. I used the comm again, and Claire answered again. “Gosh, what was that? Are you alright?” she asked. It sounded like she was jogging now. I could hear gunshots on her end as i wiped some of the smut from my face. “I’m fine. Rendezvous on our location and get the others to secure the trolley and the track. It’s three blocks east of my position. Alright?” “Sounds good. Chairman out.” I was greeted by the static again. I tossed the comm and stepped on it. Lines were getting patchy anyway. “You and your arm alright, soldier?” I asked the one who’d been shot. He wrapped his rifle strap around it and shrugged off the pain. I patted him on the shoulder and sat down, back against the cool rugged stone of the city building. I closed my eyes and began counting the seconds until Claire showed up. She flicked me on the head and scoped out the riot. She decided not to get involved and we jogged back and then east to catch up with Garron. She fell back to exchange words with him privately during the walk to the trolley. She then caught up to me and briefed me on the new game plan. “Garron’s gonna ride the trolley to the west ports where he’ll meet with the Doctrines. You, I, and five of these men are gonna take the extended trip to the Catacombs where we’ll meet with Kristy and Jared to discuss civvies and population control. And what happened back there? Why is there a round lodged in his shoulder?” “The civvies have become vultures. They scavenge the dead, grave robbing, those who died in battle. They’re stealing our tech and using it against the Grisleys which is why I propose we, the military, stay out of it. But, to answer your question, that man was shot by a thirty from a Valkyrie. We’ll have to have a talk with Anne about an automated destruct. Huh?” “Yep” “But at least we’re getting rid of that idiotic general. Remind me to demote him soon and to crush every tiny urban legend about him” “Oh shut up and get on.” She pushed me a bit and i chuckled, then boarded the trolley to embark on a bit of a field trip. After we left the general at the bloody ports I proceeded to fall deep into sleep. For the first time in years i had a dream instead of a nightmare. It was Claire, Rachel, Zach, and I all asleep atop our parents. Dad had become the twenty-sixth Chairman of the armed forces and mom was Chairman of aerospace combat. Zach became Joint Chief of Staff when his hard head and his desire to fight alongside his men got him shot in the heart. He was dead before he hit the ground. And Rachel was dads Vice until her disappearance right around the time dad got assassinated. No ones heard from her since the Government shutdown and everybody thinks her dead, but I know she’s smarter than that. Claire breezed through the ranks with all of her combat experience and strategy. She achieved Chairman in thirteen years and heads what remains of the once great american military. I moved up in the ranks to Joint Chief and am Claires second in command. I guess we all fell into the armed ranks under dad. We carried his legacy with grace, but none of us ever used our power or boasted about it. We took orders from lower ranks, fought everyday alongside our men, and never used our power to degrade people. We respected the duty and honor bestowed upon us and we led and still lead with an iron fist. My dream was just biographies, but at least it didn’t make me wake up screaming at the top of my lungs. I opened my eyes, blinking them to adjust to the amber sunset. We were in the country side where the military now buried their dead. The local cemeteries were full and Claire thought it immoral to burn them without a families consent. I bowed my head and payed my respects to those lost to us as the trolley continued its heading south west to the stone hedge. There we disembarked. We walked up the stone steps to where the two incredible statues of David and Jupiter stood towering over a stone arched gateway, capturing the arts of beauty and intimidation. Upon the arch lay etched a phrase in ancient greek: Ekeinoi pou molynoun tis Katakomves molynoun ton Theo. It translated to: Those who defile the Catacombs defile God. I took the phrase into consideration as we entered the stone hollow where we boarded the most ancient elevator i’d ever seen. It wasn’t a smooth ride down by any means. The elevator shot down, barely slow enough for us to keep our feet planted, and hit every bump in the shaft. The speed of descent of the stone death trap quickly slowed and eventually halted, hitting one last bump slamming my head against the doors just before they opened. Once they did we entered a hallway made of glass where five men in bio suits came out and searched us. They took blood and scanned our faces and asked us background questions to reassure themselves of our identity. “Name, age, dob, mothers maiden name, height, weight, eye color, hair color, and list of relatives, please sir.” one of them asked me. I straightened up and answered the questions in the identical order they were asked. “Henry Callwince, twenty-four, August twelfth, Margaret Striker, seventy-four inches, one hundred twenty-three pounds, glass blue, dark brown, Claire Callwince, Zach Callwince, Rachel Callwince, Nicholas Callwince, Margaret Striker” I took a deep breath, and passed through the iron gates and doors to rendezvous with Claire and the others. Once we were all gathered in the guest room we were greeted by a tall slim man in an officers uniform who bore the rank of Petty Officer. The last time i saw him he was but a colonel and has since developed a bit of maturity. His grey eyes bore happiness as he led us through yet another long hallway till we reached a gigantic room. There we were greeted by two towering doors that appeared as though the gods forged themselves for themselves. Beyond those doors lay a blinding light so glorious and beautiful as though it flowed straight and true from Heavens. There were little nearly invisible grains of dirt and sand overlaying the pure granite stone lay here long ago by the ancient Romans who once governed this vast city of beauty. There were huge buildings made with great elegance that had intimidating archways and balconies held in place by stone pillars that were lined at the base by elegant statues of different Roman and Greek Gods and Goddesses. There were dirt and sand trails lined with erected stones lining their sides making them resemble roads and streets. Taverns lined these streets, different shops selling different goods. Everyone bore a smile on their face and a good mood. Even the military guards were relaxed, watching what little remains of TV there were, playing games like scrabble, poker, and chess. This was the last remaining civilized place in America and it was decorated to ancient times. It was absolutely beautiful and impenetrable. The military leaders of America once convened here, but the ancient court hasn’t been touched in decades. Here is where I decided to settle down, find a wife, make my home. There were multiple occupied cities and military bases with top notch security, but no thing, no place on Earth could compare to the absolute perfection and glory of this city. I loved it here almost as mush as my wife, Kristy. I couldn’t wait to see her again, but it’d have to wait for I still was on duty. Claire led us through the elegant city all the way to the Justice Building where we climbed the enormous stone steps to the pillars at the gates. We waited quite a bit when they opened and revealed a huge round table that circled the room and left a gaping hole in its mid so whoever would be speaking could have the absolute center of attention. Gathered here were a few or the major military leaders, but compared nothing to the great meeting of the Covenant held so many years ago. Claire and I took our seats next to our escort, Jared, and our lifelong friend Anne. Jared practically ran this city from beneath and held everything concerning corruption in his hand under his control. Justice was actually distributed here instead of the judge disliking the verdicts. Anne was the Joint Chief of the Air Force and was the inventor and founder of the Valkyrie aerodynamic unit. She is feared amongst everyone in her corp and she had a power that actually rivaled Claire’s. She was the most brilliant person I’d ever met in my life and she was one of the only people i had left to cherish and care about. Thankfully she didn’t share the same blood as my family and so she had the common sense to listen to her advisors and actually remain off the front lines most of the time. I’ve fought alongside her and Jared both, and she’s got piloting skills that shouldn’t exist and he’s got more accuracy than a dead shot. I looked amongst the rest of the officers, noticing these were the only ones I could call my kin, my family. There were only four of us left, and with our rashness and the direction this world’s heading, we’ll start losing numbers quickly. I have to gather the four of us soon so we can all appreciate the lives we were lucky enough to live. Remembering the little things is what stabilizes our humanity and keeps us from transforming into lifeless robot soldiers. Gosh I love them all. The meeting began once all the officers took their seats. Jared stood and walked to the mid field of the courtroom and began to break the ice between all these ancient warlords. “Now, I’m sure you all know why we are meeting here today. We’re just discussing how to deal with these recent chaotic riots that have been rapidly outbreaking around the city between the vigilante Grisleys and the civilian population. Joint Chief Tudor will now provide a summary of the technology developments between the two factions. Chief” Anne walked up and replaced Jared as the center of attention. “The Civilians used to engage the Grisleys with forks and kitchen knives, but have definitely evolved since. Based off of recent field images and reports, they’ve begun scavenging the fields of battles held. They take whatever and i mean whatever they can. They began taking guns, ammunition, and grenades from our fallen, but have definitely stepped it up. They were seen packing fifty caliber rifles and a tank. I definitely regret having to admit this, but they’ve also managed to hot wire a Valkyrie aerial reconnaissance unit and were able toss thirty caliber browning belt fed machine guns on there. The civvies have gone from being civvies to start to rise to the position of national threat. They may or may not be unified, that we don’t know yet, but if they are, we have to seriously consider setting boundaries and making announcements about what they can and can’t do and restate the legal definition of a citizen of the United States of America. That’s all i have for you” she said and sat back down. As Jared began to walk up towards the mid, we al felt the ground begin to rattle. There was a moment of silence, then every officer in the room ran outside and, in unison, called the nearest soldiers to attention. Claire, Anne, and I began giving orders as Jared disappeared down an alley where he had more guards stationed. Claire spat orders to the soldiers, telling them to secure the pillars of each building and to evacuate the citizens to the bomb shelter. Anne demanded a status update and found out Grisleys were surrounding the above perimeter and had begun planting nuclear bunker busters that contained enough powder to decimate half of this safe haven at a moments notice. I ordered to guards to begin securing civilians then sprinted across city blocks till I reached my house. I shot the door lock and kicked it open. I ran upstairs to the bedroom and shook Kristy awake. I grabbed her and carried her in my arms to the bomb shelter which was basically just a steel and iron composite city built beneath the Catacombs where there was enough stock to feed a city for at least a decade. I took her to a room and sat there and kissed her till i heard the deafening noise of the alarms. “What’s going on?” she asked me, holding my face close to hers. “For the first time in history, someones actually attacking the Catacombs and they’re doing it with nuclear bunker busters. I’ve gotta go back up to the city and lead the defense forces, babe. I promise i’ll come back down later, I promise” I held her close to me then left up the staff elevator. I ran to the front wall and broke the men i had up into squads and leaders. There were only about one hundred of them, but the other two hundred went to Anne and bunker control. The Catacombs were large enough to launch full out aerial warfare with fighter jets let along Valkyries. Anne had them positioned along the roof tops, hidden, waiting for my command to strike. She was amongst them. I had stationed all of my men in the key point buildings hidden, and ordered two lines of fire in front of the Justice Building. I commed Anne and told her to meet me there and she was at my side in less than five seconds, fully dressed in her Valkyrie armor. We headed to the upper floors of the vast building and I unlocked the arsenal. She linked four thirty cals and two fifty cals to her suit and i grabbed more rounds for my magnum and a fifty cal rifle. She headed back to her post and i stood inside the building waiting for the first sign of an attack. I closed my eyes for a moment and remembered the sweet hearted Anne i grew up with. She was so kind, so elegant as well. Her beautiful wine red hair always was combed to the side except for the one loose strand that dangled just above her eyes which were grey clouds of a foggy past. She always wore red lip stick that made her pale face brighten making her look absolutely amazing. Honestly, if I hadn’t fallen in love with and married Kristy, it’d be her i’d have asked to be my wife. But she’s my best friend and i’m grateful for that. I cocked the hammer back and pointed the barrel dead center all the way down the road to the gigantic doors. I took a deep breath as the doors were pushed open revealing tanks and ground personnel. I rolled from behind the pillar and fired the first round into the General at the head of the platoon. He fell and so his men began to return fire and I notioned for the Valkyries to destroy all hostile armor in the Catacombs. Anne was the first to completely destroy one and the others didn’t take long to follow suit. It continued as a firefight for hours, bullets going back and forth, tank shells firing through pillars, collapsing buildings and taverns. We eventually managed to eliminate all oft their armor with tiny remnants of ground forces remaining. At that moment I opened my eyes to the full battle and entered slow motion. Anne and her Valkyries flew high, Claire was in the street giving orders, Jared was nowhere to be found, and I was just noticing the now-in-position high powered riflemen lining the rooftops. One squeezed the trigger and I watched the round tare through the air till it hit Claire in the shoulder and she grabbed her shoulder in agony and fell in a spiral to the ground, lifeless. I screamed her name at the top of my lungs and began to run out to her, but was knocked off my feet by a crashing Valkyrie. I looked upwards and tried crawling to her, but a Valkyrie swooped down and retrieved her before i could get close. Then Anne came and carried me back to the Justice Building. We were at the pillars when she lay me down and turned to fight, but was instantly blown off her feet by a tank shell landing just two feet from her. Her armor shattered and began to break apart. She was unconscious, but I couldn’t will my arms and legs to move so i could get her out of that time bomb. I cried her name and she leaned her head towards me and looked me in the eye. She silently whispered “I love you” then the suits reactive core and engine blew out and hit overdrive causing the suit to erupt in a ball of flames and spit flaming gasoline everywhere. I was screaming and crying now, banging my head against the concrete. I cried till i couldn’t breath and i screamed till i lost my voice. I eventually passed out and had too much time to come to terms with the loss of my best friend and my sister. Life had frozen in that moment. I opened and closed my eyes rapidly for a few moments, waiting for them to adjust to the bright light in the plain white hospital room. I had a sharp pain in my left side and it felt as though my foot was dislocated, but I shrugged off the pain deciding i’d live. The massive headache I had felt like a tumor, but it soon caused me to remember the dreadful events of the previous day. I quickly got off the soft white bed and limped to the door where I nearly collapsed. The halls in the building were dark, but luckily there were multiple signs that stated where the different classes of patients were and hot to reach them. Valkyries and high officers were in two different directions and so I quickly debated if I should see Claire or Anne first, but the next minute I was rushing down the Valkyries hall deciding and knowing Claire was strong enough to take a fifty to the chest and still not kick the bucket. I limped as fast as I could down the A hall, zigzagging from side to side, peering into every room with the elating ambition of finding my closest friend. A203, A205, A206, A209...A223 was the room I saw her laying graciously in. She wasn’t moving, but she was alive. Perhaps asleep, but alive. I was left in awe after i began studying her physique for she retained almost all of her natural beauty. She acquired a few burns and bruises on her arms, had a few tiny cuts on her face that definitely would fade with time, and her lush red hair was stained just a bit with the grime and the grease from the suits overload. For having been in the center or an inferno, she was pretty fortunate to receive the minor injuries she did. Her pulse was normal so I knew she’d be alright and so I calmed down a bit, but I also began rushing to reach Claire’s side. I noted to find the head doctor of this field hospital and thank them for saving my friends’ life. Claire was much easier to find than Anne, probably due to the fact that back in the Catacombs, many high officers lost their lives defending the city of vast engineering and beauty. I found her and surprisingly she was up watching the hospital TV with a slice of untouched vanilla cake sitting on the tiny plate next to her. She heard me coming in and once I walked in, she saw my limp and forced me to sit in the chair next to her. The kind nurse brought me some coffee and I grabbed Claire’s hand and began crying with tears of joy. “Hey what happened after i fell? Where’s Anne and what happened to your leg?” she asked reaching for the cake to her side. “Well, right after that” i said pointing to her wounded arm “I tried to go get you but i was thrown off my feet by a crashing Valkyrie. Then Anne came and dragged my lifeless self back to the pillars of the Justice Building and she tried to defend me, but was hit by a tank shell. Her armor was wrecked and it overloaded bursting into a ball of flame.” I waited for her to take all of that in, her mouth now gaping. Talk about a cliffhanger. “Don’t worry, I just went to see her. She’s fine and aside from a few minor injuries, has not been harmed in the least. She’s so lucky.” “Aren’t we all” Claire said, staring out of the hospitals window at the lush green fields that coated the mountain tops. “We’re a family of stubborn fools who don’t know when and when not to pull that trigger. We were born into families of great wealth and military power and we all carried our ancestors legacy. It’s like kings and their lineage, isn’t it?” “Yeah, it is.” I lay back in the chair and the two of us sat and watched the military news broadcast whilst we sipped our coffee. We ultimately ended up failing to hold the Catacombs, but there was also no report of a large number of inhabitants. That meant that everybody in the shelter city beneath was safe. Kristy was safe. It felt as though a great burden that I bared for years had just been lifted from my shoulders, like a release from the depths of the inferno. After I finished my coffee, I sat the tiny cup on the plate and left it on the nightstand for the nurse to collect upon her return, then lay back in the cozy chair. “I’m gonna take a bit of a nap, ok. Make sure you go visit Anne soon, she’s in room A223 on the second floor.” “Ok.” I sat my head back, but it didn’t take long for me to fall into a deep and soothing sleep. I half expected to have a nightmare causing me to wake up screaming, but to my surprise it was a calm dream. Well it was almost exactly like the one from when we rode the trolley, except just a recollection of the memories Claire and I shared. It began with us running through the ravishing and calming meadows that lay so soothingly behind our old manor, her sixteen and I six. I picked a beautiful blue rose from the ground and tied it within her gorgeous black hair, she picked a small red one and poked it through the thread of my shirt collar. We decided to stay beside each other till the end and that we’d be best friends forever. Then the dream skips ahead a few years to the time when dad died and Rachel went missing. She was twenty-two and extremely frustrated and I came over trying to calm her, but we got into an argument and stopped talking to each other for three years. The next time we did talk was at her promotion ceremony when she reached Vice Chairman and I was Joint Chief. We went back to my home in the Catacombs and lay down on the couch together, her crying on my chest as I wrapped my arms around her. Then we came to the time when mom died and I had married Kristy. She was depressed just a bit at the funeral, but I guess my wedding cheered her back up. She became close with Kristy and, including Anne, we all vowed to love and protect each other till the day we die. The dream ended with a flashing image of the photo of the four of us all together holding hands in the meadow from our childhood.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 03:35:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015