Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Writing Exercise - It keeps me sharp
The one thing that I remember wanting back from my childhood was my Dad's 85 Mustang GT. The Car was long, sleek and shiny the recent paint job of soft milky white made the sun glint off it, giving it the look of something magical, and the deep red racing stripe down the middle and along the side was a testament of its raw power. The thick black tires, slightly worn down from excessive driving, had specks of dirt and grime mashed into its treads giving them a slightly unkempt look, but at the same time the large, white, pristine Michelin logo proved that they were still loved and cared for. The inside of the car had a soft, faint smell of leather and oil, and the cushy red seats and the cramped interior gave the driver a feeling of being one with the machine, while providing the passenger with a welcome snug feeling. The second you put the key in the ignition and turned the car roared to life in what I can only explain as an ear clamping moment. It vibrated with excitement as it longingly waited for you to push that gas peddle to the floor. I cared and loved for this car almost as much as my Dad did, but as the story of life goes good things never lasts. The car was sold to buy a more economical, safe, and reliable car, "a family car," as my Mom would later put it. So I never got to experience the thrill of driving this machine of raw power. But, through pictures and stories I got the feeling of becoming one with the road, to have my heart race as I'm crusing down I-40, to feel like I'm not driving a crap 84 Volvo Sedan. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The Oracle
3-8-10
The soft, cool wind was blowing ash and sand over the recently charred, blackened landscape; cooling the molten, twisted metal into oddly beautiful things. The glistening silver-like material glinted in the harsh rays of the sun which only added to its splendor. Sounds of crackling fire and the small booms of distant ship board explosions drowned out the sound of the quickly approaching convoy of small jeeps; their jet black .50 Cali machine guns bouncing around on their holsters. Large, armored APC’s and menacing Casio tanks quickly followed suite blending in almost perfectly with the clouds of dust and think, oily plumes of smoke. “Your mission,” said an oddly deep voice crackling over the short waves, “is to board that disabled enemy cruiser and secure it for further operations. More instructions will be given on sight. We do this right ya’ll all be home before Christmas.”
The men started shifting in their seats as the radio clicked off, “Ya heard the man!” said the helmeted figure turning around to look at the nervous faces of the men in his squad, “Rangers lead to way,” “All the way the way, Sir” Yelled the squad in almost perfect unison.
Sounds of loading Beretta rifles and brief words of luck were soon drowned out by the sound of the jeep screeching to a halt a hundred meters from the crashed ship, skidding slightly on the slick ground. Kicking the doors open the men sprang out and started to sprint toward the cruiser with a defining accompany of yelling and the heavy footfalls of their boots. Whistling motor fire erupted from the ship; Bright balls of blue plasma arched its way across the sky, quickly followed by small arms fire from the remaining survivors of the devastated cruiser.“I thought you said there wouldn’t be any resistance, damn it!” yelled a soot covered soldier crouching low behind a large sand covered rock. “I said that there might not be..." the cover the men were behind exploded as one of the mortar rounds slammed into the rock engulfing them in bright blue fire.
Jimmy Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” blasted out of the small sub-woofer that sat on nearby table, the black foam covering rose and fell with every twang of the sweet sounding guitar. A dim, flickering, florescent light hung low from the ceiling swaying back and forth giving it an oddly sinister feeling; and a pungent smell of oil and alcohol filled the small garage as two men in dirty, oil spattered jumpsuits looked into the engine of a recently wrecked MRLRV Jeep.
“Well I don’t know what the hell is wrong with it” said Terrance, scratching his head with the butt of a greasy wrench.
“Why am I not surprised, Terrance?” said John, pulling a filthy rag from his pocket and wiping his sweaty brow “I swear I bet ya can’t even tell your ass from your elbows.”
“That’s not what your mom said last night,” chuckled Terrance, a small grin spreading across his face. The silence that followed only added to his smug sense of victory.
The smell of beans and what was supposed to be meatloaf wafted through the corridors and drifted under the rust covered door into the small garage where the two men were working.
“That for us sir?” said Terrance looking longingly towards the door. John, taking one last look at the jumble of frayed wires and broken pistons said, “Yeah, this bitch is spent.” A broad grin broke out over Terrance’s face as he bounded out the door and out of sight. Sitting down in a nearby aluminum fold out chair John pulled out his large copper canteen from his pack and, tilting his head back took several large gulps of cool, clear water. For a while he stared into the back of his eye lids, looking intently at the small blue and purple dots that began popping up at random intervals. This drifted into thoughts about his life back home; his beautiful wife, Abby, and his small baby girl that he had only seen in pictures and brief web cam chats. Then, sinking slightly deeper in his chair, drifted off to sleep.
“Morning, babe” said Abby looking over the sleeping mass that was her husband. Shaking him slightly John awoke starring at his ceiling fan, watching the cheap plastic blades twirl around the room slowly. Then, looking up he saw Abby looking down at him with a look of impatience on her face. “Wake up, John! I made ya breakfast and the kid is at my friends so that means we have to whole day to do whatever ya want to do” her voice getting more and more sensual. John felt himself falling back asleep and through the blackness heard Abby’s voice transition over to the deep tones of Terrance who gave him a quick slap on his face.
“Wake up, sweetheart” said Terrance.
“Fuck, Terrance! I was having a good dream” said John looking and feeling though as he had just been cheated out of something.
“It was about her again, wasn’t it?” said Terrance, a worried look breaking out over his face.
“Yeah … Yeah, it was”
“Ya gotta stop doing that to yourself, man! She’s dead and your holding on like this isn’t gonna bring your wife our daughter back.”
“I … Forget it. Come on we gotta get going” said John picking himself up and walking out the door.
John was born in the small military town of Solvang; working on his family’s farm for most of his childhood. When he turned 18 he joined the UNMC’s (United Nations Marine Corp) 502nd airborne division; the biggest bunch of bad asses the military could dish out. He was promoted to Sergeant early on in his carrier after he showed valor and bravery against impossible odds at the battle of Der Mal. Physically wise he was a short man, though his broad shoulders and toned tight abs and arms gave him the appearance of being much taller. His large brown eyes had the look of pain and remorse etched into them, something he thanked the military for everyday. And his short black hair stuck to his forehead due to the ratty old Dodgers hat he refused to take off, the frayed brim dipped low over his eyes casting a dark shadow over his face giving him a slightly mysterious aura.
Terrance on the other hand was tall and lanky. He had bright blue eyes and wavy blonde hair that was usually matted down with axel grease and sweat. He had a happy-go-lucky way about him, but then again what can you expect from a greenhorn? Terrance was drafted into the UNMC three years after the War began and he was all too happy to join; brainwashed by propaganda and tales of glory. After basic training he was assigned to John’s squad as a tactical sniper, and after saving his ass more times than he cared to count, he and John became inseparable.
Yelling and Gunfire erupted into John’s ear as he lay on the blackened ground. He could feel himself being dragged over the uneven landscape and then the tug of strong hands as they hoisted him up and propped him against an over turned MRLRV; the smell of burnt rubber and the lapping warmth of fire suggested that the jeep had taken a direct hit from one of the alien mortar rounds. The next thing he knew a bright light was shown in his eye, “pupil dilation normal” said a voice which seemed strangely far off, and then the all familiar stinging sensation of someone slapping his face brought him back into coherence. The sight was one no man should see, human and alien bodies alike were strewn across valley staining the ground with dark reds and purple. “John?” said a familiar voice. Looking closely at the man in front of him he saw the worried, blood covered face of Terrance kneeling next to him shaking his shoulders. “Get the fuck up, John!” yelled Terrance yanking him to his feet, handing him his battered rifle. Looking around he could see that he was at the base of the massive cruiser, fifty or so men where crouching in its shadow breathing heavy and dripping with sweat. Putting his battered, cracked helmet back on, he cocked his rifle and peered above the slowly rotating tire. From what he could tell he could see twenty or so alien troopers sprinting in and out of cover.
“What the hell are they waiting for, why don’t they attack us already?” Said Terrance
“Fuck man, I don’t know! Why don’t ya go ask them real nice like? I’m sure they’d be happy to oblige.” Said one of the marines that shared his cover,
“Both of ya shot the hell up” yelled John, taking one last brief look over his cover as he turned around to his men. Kneeling slightly, he balanced himself against the MRLRV and said, “Alright, on my command we charge. Keep at least a two man length between each other, three men is a turkey shoot, one man is a waste of ammo.”
Closing his eyes and taking one last deep breath of the dusty, warm air John leaped over the cover and started spraying the remaining enemy forces that were hidden among the wreckage of their ship. After a few short seconds the other men followed suit. Three of them were immediately mowed down by the searing hot plasma; they laid writhing on the ground as the molten substance melted into their skin. The alien mortar fire began firing again, slamming into the middle of a group of marines instantly disintegrating them as it sent blood and bits of fabric high into the air.
“Where the fuck is our fire support,” yelled a marine crouching low behind a rock.
“I have no fucking idea!” yelled Terrance, pulling a Ranger whose leg was just blown off behind his cover.
“Someone get on the damn radio and zero in those fuckin’ mortars” yelled John, punching five rounds into an aliens’ chest sending it flying backwards.
“Yes Sir! Whiskey-Bravo 2-6 Alpha 3-9, fire for affect! Bring the rain nightstalker” yelled the radio man as he shot an alien through the head with his M4 side arm. A few moments later an alien solider leaped over the cover and dove its claws deep into the throat of the radio man, ripping his throat out and flipped him over the cover just to be swarmed by four or five other aliens who continued to tear him apart. They heard the roar of three longsword fighters tearing overhead towards the cruiser.
“MOVE, MOVE, everyone get their asses to cover now,” yelled john as he dove into a large, blackened impact crater. An overwhelmingly loud boom was heard in which I can only explain as an ear clamping moment. This was quickly followed by a blindingly bright light and intense heat as fire rushed over the top on the impact crater. After the explosion had subsided, John heaved himself out of cover and looked at the blue and white fire that was the cruiser and the glassed landscape. Taking a deep breath he said,
“Ok men; regroup at the base of the cruiser. We still got a job to do.”
The rest of the convoy soon pulled up and started to set up shop next to the massive cruiser. Out of the remaining vehicles remained five MRLRV’s, two APC’s and three Casio tanks, “not a bad turn out” some would say, but they all knew that the mission was FUBAR.
After everything had calmed down, John and his squad were assigned to board the cruiser, neutralize any enemy personal still alive and retrieve the enemy oracle (an artificial intelligence unit,) “It could change the entire outcome of the War,” said their commander, in his desperate attempt to give them a hero’s death or mindset.
The inside of the cruiser was dark and strangely damp. Flickering lights reveled just how much damage the MAC (Matter Accelerator Cannon) cannons actually did to the ship. Pipes where leaking luminescent green liquid had started to pool on the rubber floor, over turned tables and paper where strewn across the room. The soft buzz of an intercom system could be heard coming from a speaker which hung from the ceiling from a couple multicolored wires and the smell was enough to burn the hairs right out of your nose.
“What the hell is that, John?” whispered Terrance pulling his shirt over his face in a desperate attempt to get the scent out of his nose.
“Coolant fluid” said John bending down and touching the green liquid “looks like the navy kicked some ass.” “WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP” yelled Terrance, giggling slightly. Getting up, John ordered two of his men to stay put and guard the entrance as he and the rest of the squad continued forward to the control room.
The way to the control room was met with little resistance. A few stragglers popped up here and there who all met the same fate, two shots in the chest and one in the head or as some would call it, “the double tap…or in this case the triple tap.” Once they reached the control room they were shocked to find the door open and the guards dead on the floor, the wall behind them was spattered with purple blood.
“Looks like nobody’s home” chuckled Terrance
“Yeah, I don’t like it. You two stay out here and guard our asses” said John pointing to the remaining two men in his squad.
John wandered into the room and walked up to a large computer screen that was shining a feeble light into the room, flashing on and off in a frantic attempt to stay alive. Turning around he canvassed the room and saw a few other monitors that had gone dark, their shadows cast ghost like figures along the floor. Red emergency lights shown from small, unseen sources heightening John’s sense of foreboding as he walked into the center of the room and flipped on his flashlight. Off in the far west corner of the room stood a small silver pedestal, a soft light was shining down from the ceiling engulfing it in a pale, dusty, veil. Walking over he peered inside and saw a small, insignificant blue orb suspended in mid air by forces he cared not worry about. Reaching inside he stretched his hand out and grasped the small silver-lined thing, it was cold to the touch and surprisingly heavy for such a tiny object. “All this shit for this,” whispered John. Pressing his chin down on his helmets com system he whispered, “Package retrieval completed, we’re pulling out now command.” Clicking his com off, he put the orb into one of his empty ammunition hostlers. Turning around he slammed right into the chest of an alien creature, covered head to toe with what he could only make out as human blood. John looked down and saw a small plasma pistol; a bright blue ball of pure energy was forming at the two tips of the weapon. The alien raised the small weapon, pointing it directly between John’s eyes. It spoke in a harsh, uneven language which he only determined as him (or her) cursing him for the things he has done. The charge left the gun in a flash of white light pulsating as it flew through the air towards its ill-fated target.
Time seemed to slow down as John looked at his pulse flying towards him; closing his eyes he waited in anticipation for the round to bury itself in his chest. But, to his surprise he felt himself being propelled sideways as Terrance rammed him out of the way of the round which impacted directly into Terrance’s chest. He crumpled to the floor in a large heap taking slow, shallow breaths as he moaned slowly. The alien made its way over to the jumble of limbs and blood to finish off its kill. But, the silence of the room was broken as Johns pistol cracked three times, all three slugs implanting them in the side of the aliens’ skull sending it flying backwards; it laid on the floor as a pool of its purple blood pooled on the floor, twitching slightly. Getting up John walked over to the alien and but his boot on its throat, it gurgled slightly as it looked up at the enraged face of his killer. Then raising his arm he pulled the trigger one last time and shot the alien directly in-between the eyes, spraying him slightly in his foes thick, purple blood and tiny bits of skull and brain. Dropping his pistol to his side he rushed to Terrance’s side. Kneeling down he turned the solider over to reveal Terrance covered in blood. Looking down he saw that the plasma round had melted through his chest plate and had burned a hole fairly deep into his chest.
“Hey, boss” said Terrance quietly.
“We’re gonna get you out of here Terrance, just hold on!” said John frantically as he pulled his friend onto his lap, rocking him slightly. “We’re gonna get ya out of here.”
THE END
The soft, cool wind was blowing ash and sand over the recently charred, blackened landscape; cooling the molten, twisted metal into oddly beautiful things. The glistening silver-like material glinted in the harsh rays of the sun which only added to its splendor. Sounds of crackling fire and the small booms of distant ship board explosions drowned out the sound of the quickly approaching convoy of small jeeps; their jet black .50 Cali machine guns bouncing around on their holsters. Large, armored APC’s and menacing Casio tanks quickly followed suite blending in almost perfectly with the clouds of dust and think, oily plumes of smoke. “Your mission,” said an oddly deep voice crackling over the short waves, “is to board that disabled enemy cruiser and secure it for further operations. More instructions will be given on sight. We do this right ya’ll all be home before Christmas.”
The men started shifting in their seats as the radio clicked off, “Ya heard the man!” said the helmeted figure turning around to look at the nervous faces of the men in his squad, “Rangers lead to way,” “All the way the way, Sir” Yelled the squad in almost perfect unison.
Sounds of loading Beretta rifles and brief words of luck were soon drowned out by the sound of the jeep screeching to a halt a hundred meters from the crashed ship, skidding slightly on the slick ground. Kicking the doors open the men sprang out and started to sprint toward the cruiser with a defining accompany of yelling and the heavy footfalls of their boots. Whistling motor fire erupted from the ship; Bright balls of blue plasma arched its way across the sky, quickly followed by small arms fire from the remaining survivors of the devastated cruiser.“I thought you said there wouldn’t be any resistance, damn it!” yelled a soot covered soldier crouching low behind a large sand covered rock. “I said that there might not be..." the cover the men were behind exploded as one of the mortar rounds slammed into the rock engulfing them in bright blue fire.
Jimmy Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” blasted out of the small sub-woofer that sat on nearby table, the black foam covering rose and fell with every twang of the sweet sounding guitar. A dim, flickering, florescent light hung low from the ceiling swaying back and forth giving it an oddly sinister feeling; and a pungent smell of oil and alcohol filled the small garage as two men in dirty, oil spattered jumpsuits looked into the engine of a recently wrecked MRLRV Jeep.
“Well I don’t know what the hell is wrong with it” said Terrance, scratching his head with the butt of a greasy wrench.
“Why am I not surprised, Terrance?” said John, pulling a filthy rag from his pocket and wiping his sweaty brow “I swear I bet ya can’t even tell your ass from your elbows.”
“That’s not what your mom said last night,” chuckled Terrance, a small grin spreading across his face. The silence that followed only added to his smug sense of victory.
The smell of beans and what was supposed to be meatloaf wafted through the corridors and drifted under the rust covered door into the small garage where the two men were working.
“That for us sir?” said Terrance looking longingly towards the door. John, taking one last look at the jumble of frayed wires and broken pistons said, “Yeah, this bitch is spent.” A broad grin broke out over Terrance’s face as he bounded out the door and out of sight. Sitting down in a nearby aluminum fold out chair John pulled out his large copper canteen from his pack and, tilting his head back took several large gulps of cool, clear water. For a while he stared into the back of his eye lids, looking intently at the small blue and purple dots that began popping up at random intervals. This drifted into thoughts about his life back home; his beautiful wife, Abby, and his small baby girl that he had only seen in pictures and brief web cam chats. Then, sinking slightly deeper in his chair, drifted off to sleep.
“Morning, babe” said Abby looking over the sleeping mass that was her husband. Shaking him slightly John awoke starring at his ceiling fan, watching the cheap plastic blades twirl around the room slowly. Then, looking up he saw Abby looking down at him with a look of impatience on her face. “Wake up, John! I made ya breakfast and the kid is at my friends so that means we have to whole day to do whatever ya want to do” her voice getting more and more sensual. John felt himself falling back asleep and through the blackness heard Abby’s voice transition over to the deep tones of Terrance who gave him a quick slap on his face.
“Wake up, sweetheart” said Terrance.
“Fuck, Terrance! I was having a good dream” said John looking and feeling though as he had just been cheated out of something.
“It was about her again, wasn’t it?” said Terrance, a worried look breaking out over his face.
“Yeah … Yeah, it was”
“Ya gotta stop doing that to yourself, man! She’s dead and your holding on like this isn’t gonna bring your wife our daughter back.”
“I … Forget it. Come on we gotta get going” said John picking himself up and walking out the door.
John was born in the small military town of Solvang; working on his family’s farm for most of his childhood. When he turned 18 he joined the UNMC’s (United Nations Marine Corp) 502nd airborne division; the biggest bunch of bad asses the military could dish out. He was promoted to Sergeant early on in his carrier after he showed valor and bravery against impossible odds at the battle of Der Mal. Physically wise he was a short man, though his broad shoulders and toned tight abs and arms gave him the appearance of being much taller. His large brown eyes had the look of pain and remorse etched into them, something he thanked the military for everyday. And his short black hair stuck to his forehead due to the ratty old Dodgers hat he refused to take off, the frayed brim dipped low over his eyes casting a dark shadow over his face giving him a slightly mysterious aura.
Terrance on the other hand was tall and lanky. He had bright blue eyes and wavy blonde hair that was usually matted down with axel grease and sweat. He had a happy-go-lucky way about him, but then again what can you expect from a greenhorn? Terrance was drafted into the UNMC three years after the War began and he was all too happy to join; brainwashed by propaganda and tales of glory. After basic training he was assigned to John’s squad as a tactical sniper, and after saving his ass more times than he cared to count, he and John became inseparable.
Yelling and Gunfire erupted into John’s ear as he lay on the blackened ground. He could feel himself being dragged over the uneven landscape and then the tug of strong hands as they hoisted him up and propped him against an over turned MRLRV; the smell of burnt rubber and the lapping warmth of fire suggested that the jeep had taken a direct hit from one of the alien mortar rounds. The next thing he knew a bright light was shown in his eye, “pupil dilation normal” said a voice which seemed strangely far off, and then the all familiar stinging sensation of someone slapping his face brought him back into coherence. The sight was one no man should see, human and alien bodies alike were strewn across valley staining the ground with dark reds and purple. “John?” said a familiar voice. Looking closely at the man in front of him he saw the worried, blood covered face of Terrance kneeling next to him shaking his shoulders. “Get the fuck up, John!” yelled Terrance yanking him to his feet, handing him his battered rifle. Looking around he could see that he was at the base of the massive cruiser, fifty or so men where crouching in its shadow breathing heavy and dripping with sweat. Putting his battered, cracked helmet back on, he cocked his rifle and peered above the slowly rotating tire. From what he could tell he could see twenty or so alien troopers sprinting in and out of cover.
“What the hell are they waiting for, why don’t they attack us already?” Said Terrance
“Fuck man, I don’t know! Why don’t ya go ask them real nice like? I’m sure they’d be happy to oblige.” Said one of the marines that shared his cover,
“Both of ya shot the hell up” yelled John, taking one last brief look over his cover as he turned around to his men. Kneeling slightly, he balanced himself against the MRLRV and said, “Alright, on my command we charge. Keep at least a two man length between each other, three men is a turkey shoot, one man is a waste of ammo.”
Closing his eyes and taking one last deep breath of the dusty, warm air John leaped over the cover and started spraying the remaining enemy forces that were hidden among the wreckage of their ship. After a few short seconds the other men followed suit. Three of them were immediately mowed down by the searing hot plasma; they laid writhing on the ground as the molten substance melted into their skin. The alien mortar fire began firing again, slamming into the middle of a group of marines instantly disintegrating them as it sent blood and bits of fabric high into the air.
“Where the fuck is our fire support,” yelled a marine crouching low behind a rock.
“I have no fucking idea!” yelled Terrance, pulling a Ranger whose leg was just blown off behind his cover.
“Someone get on the damn radio and zero in those fuckin’ mortars” yelled John, punching five rounds into an aliens’ chest sending it flying backwards.
“Yes Sir! Whiskey-Bravo 2-6 Alpha 3-9, fire for affect! Bring the rain nightstalker” yelled the radio man as he shot an alien through the head with his M4 side arm. A few moments later an alien solider leaped over the cover and dove its claws deep into the throat of the radio man, ripping his throat out and flipped him over the cover just to be swarmed by four or five other aliens who continued to tear him apart. They heard the roar of three longsword fighters tearing overhead towards the cruiser.
“MOVE, MOVE, everyone get their asses to cover now,” yelled john as he dove into a large, blackened impact crater. An overwhelmingly loud boom was heard in which I can only explain as an ear clamping moment. This was quickly followed by a blindingly bright light and intense heat as fire rushed over the top on the impact crater. After the explosion had subsided, John heaved himself out of cover and looked at the blue and white fire that was the cruiser and the glassed landscape. Taking a deep breath he said,
“Ok men; regroup at the base of the cruiser. We still got a job to do.”
The rest of the convoy soon pulled up and started to set up shop next to the massive cruiser. Out of the remaining vehicles remained five MRLRV’s, two APC’s and three Casio tanks, “not a bad turn out” some would say, but they all knew that the mission was FUBAR.
After everything had calmed down, John and his squad were assigned to board the cruiser, neutralize any enemy personal still alive and retrieve the enemy oracle (an artificial intelligence unit,) “It could change the entire outcome of the War,” said their commander, in his desperate attempt to give them a hero’s death or mindset.
The inside of the cruiser was dark and strangely damp. Flickering lights reveled just how much damage the MAC (Matter Accelerator Cannon) cannons actually did to the ship. Pipes where leaking luminescent green liquid had started to pool on the rubber floor, over turned tables and paper where strewn across the room. The soft buzz of an intercom system could be heard coming from a speaker which hung from the ceiling from a couple multicolored wires and the smell was enough to burn the hairs right out of your nose.
“What the hell is that, John?” whispered Terrance pulling his shirt over his face in a desperate attempt to get the scent out of his nose.
“Coolant fluid” said John bending down and touching the green liquid “looks like the navy kicked some ass.” “WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP” yelled Terrance, giggling slightly. Getting up, John ordered two of his men to stay put and guard the entrance as he and the rest of the squad continued forward to the control room.
The way to the control room was met with little resistance. A few stragglers popped up here and there who all met the same fate, two shots in the chest and one in the head or as some would call it, “the double tap…or in this case the triple tap.” Once they reached the control room they were shocked to find the door open and the guards dead on the floor, the wall behind them was spattered with purple blood.
“Looks like nobody’s home” chuckled Terrance
“Yeah, I don’t like it. You two stay out here and guard our asses” said John pointing to the remaining two men in his squad.
John wandered into the room and walked up to a large computer screen that was shining a feeble light into the room, flashing on and off in a frantic attempt to stay alive. Turning around he canvassed the room and saw a few other monitors that had gone dark, their shadows cast ghost like figures along the floor. Red emergency lights shown from small, unseen sources heightening John’s sense of foreboding as he walked into the center of the room and flipped on his flashlight. Off in the far west corner of the room stood a small silver pedestal, a soft light was shining down from the ceiling engulfing it in a pale, dusty, veil. Walking over he peered inside and saw a small, insignificant blue orb suspended in mid air by forces he cared not worry about. Reaching inside he stretched his hand out and grasped the small silver-lined thing, it was cold to the touch and surprisingly heavy for such a tiny object. “All this shit for this,” whispered John. Pressing his chin down on his helmets com system he whispered, “Package retrieval completed, we’re pulling out now command.” Clicking his com off, he put the orb into one of his empty ammunition hostlers. Turning around he slammed right into the chest of an alien creature, covered head to toe with what he could only make out as human blood. John looked down and saw a small plasma pistol; a bright blue ball of pure energy was forming at the two tips of the weapon. The alien raised the small weapon, pointing it directly between John’s eyes. It spoke in a harsh, uneven language which he only determined as him (or her) cursing him for the things he has done. The charge left the gun in a flash of white light pulsating as it flew through the air towards its ill-fated target.
Time seemed to slow down as John looked at his pulse flying towards him; closing his eyes he waited in anticipation for the round to bury itself in his chest. But, to his surprise he felt himself being propelled sideways as Terrance rammed him out of the way of the round which impacted directly into Terrance’s chest. He crumpled to the floor in a large heap taking slow, shallow breaths as he moaned slowly. The alien made its way over to the jumble of limbs and blood to finish off its kill. But, the silence of the room was broken as Johns pistol cracked three times, all three slugs implanting them in the side of the aliens’ skull sending it flying backwards; it laid on the floor as a pool of its purple blood pooled on the floor, twitching slightly. Getting up John walked over to the alien and but his boot on its throat, it gurgled slightly as it looked up at the enraged face of his killer. Then raising his arm he pulled the trigger one last time and shot the alien directly in-between the eyes, spraying him slightly in his foes thick, purple blood and tiny bits of skull and brain. Dropping his pistol to his side he rushed to Terrance’s side. Kneeling down he turned the solider over to reveal Terrance covered in blood. Looking down he saw that the plasma round had melted through his chest plate and had burned a hole fairly deep into his chest.
“Hey, boss” said Terrance quietly.
“We’re gonna get you out of here Terrance, just hold on!” said John frantically as he pulled his friend onto his lap, rocking him slightly. “We’re gonna get ya out of here.”
THE END
Monday, June 15, 2009
The Decisive Human Failure - Chapters 1 - 5
Story contains Very Strong Language
"If you are going through hell ... keep going."
Chapter 1
The Silence of Shadows
The dim glow of the computer shown of f Roebucks face bathing it in pale light as he stared intently at the security cam feed, there had been reports of some suspicious activity somewhere off in sector Whiskey-Bravo9, but as far as anyone could tell those reports were just rumors coming from men with to much time on their hands. Roebuck had been at this task for the better part of five hours and, coming to the conclusion that everyone was right, and nothing was going to happen slumped back in his chair and fell into a light sleep.
He awoke with a start a couple minutes later with Frank standing over him holding a cup of coffee.
"Wake up sunshine!" said Frank handing Roebuck the small ceramin mug.
“Thanks Frank” said Roebuck taking the cup of hot coffee.
“Eh, it’s no problem Buck. Just be glad that the Sarge didn’t find ya first.”
“Yeah you’re tellin’ me. Where is that guy anyway?”
“Asleep, bastards been on the night watch for over a week. C.O. insisted that he get some shuteye.”
“Damn, I feel for the guy. I’ve been at this fucking job for a couple of hours and I can barely keep my eyes open.”
“Feel for him, that man doesn’t have feelings. He was assembled back at H.Q. outta the spare body parts of dead G.I.’s"
“That would actually explain a lot” said Roebuck laughing.
“And in any case he’s one of the only guys on this God forsaken base that can actually do this job.”
“What job? All we do is stare at the same damn clearing for hours on end waiting for something to happen.”
“Yeah, well then I guess he’s the only guy patient enough to actually give a damn.”
Roebuck took a sip of coffee and let the warm liquid rush down his throat giving him a warm home-y feeling. “Yeah well he can take my place anytime”
“I hear that, but I gotta get back to my post so I'll catch ya later.”
“Alright man thanks again for the coffee.”
Roebuck turned back to his monitors as Frank walked out of the security office just in time to see something off in the corner of the screen dash out of sight. Confused Roebuck started at the spot where he had seen the thing for the next couple of minutes, trying to figure out what it was. Soon he shrugged it off and decided that it was an animal of some sort and feeling his eyelids get heavier and heavier went back to sleep.
The sun broke over the horizon casting an orange-ish red glow over the entire countryside giving it a dream like state. Roebuck woke as the light of the morning shown in through the window lapping his face in its warm radiance. He sat there taking in the morning, listening to the slight breeze coming in through one of the cracked windows and the silent hum of the computes. Taking a deep breath he stretched, got up from his chair and walked to the coffee pot that sat in the corner of the room. He stood there still slightly dazed after having a restless night sleep, then smelling the coffee poured some into his mug.
Roebuck came back into coherence when the door to the security office suddenly flew open as Sergeant Carter walked in. Standing at attention Roebuck said “Good morning Sir!”
“Hey. How you doin’ Roebuck?”
“Eh, I’m a little tired. That night watch is a bitch.”
“I know whatcha mean. Anyway, see anything on the monitors last night?” said Carter scoffing.
“Nothing out of the ordinary, I mean I think I saw something at around 0400 hours, but the sensors didn’t pick up anything so it must have been an animal of something.”
“And you didn’t think to report this?!?”
“No sir, I didn’t think it was anything important.”
“We’re in a war solider! Everything is important! Now I want you to pull up the feed right now!”
“Yes sir!” stammered Roebuck as he scrambled back to his work station and pulled up last night’s fed and started to play it back.”
“Well…” said Carter “I don’t see anything.”
“Just give me a minute sir.”
“Hurry it up private!”
Flustered Roebuck sped up the tape to the point where he had gotten the glimpse of the creature and played the small five second section.
“What am I suppose to be looking at Private?”
“Top right corner of the screen sir” said Roebuck pointing to a small cluster of bushes.
“Alright, play that back, and this time slow it down a bit will ya.”
“Yes sir”
The second time around Carter could clearly see a shadowy figure quickly exit the top right hand side of the screen.
“Can you make that image any clearer private?”
“No sir, this is the highest resolution that we have.”
“Alright, well I still think that we should send a squad out there just to be on the safe side.”
“Yes sir! Who did ya have in mind?”
“Um, Frank, Sanchez, Karas, Spyro and Ambrose, get them assembled and in front of the compound by 900 hours.”
“You got it sir. You think there’s actually gonna be something out there?”
“Well we’ll all know when you get their asses out there!”
“Oh, um, yes sir, I’ll go right now.”
“Good man.” The crackle of the com snapped on as Private Kyle’s voice came on over the intercom. “Sergeant Carter please report to company H.Q.”
“Well duty calls Roebuck, tell Ambrose that he’s in charge of this one and I want a full situation on my desk as soon as they get back.”
“Yes sir, I’ll be sure to tell him.”
Then Carter nodded turned around and walked out of the room. Roebuck, turning back to his full coffee cup and said “Man what a dick.”
After he finished drinking his coffee he put on his jacket and walked out onto the towers balcony and stared out over the vast landscape. It was a cool breezy morning and for a moment he closed his eyes and was reminded of his home, of standing on the beach letting the cool sea wind brush against his face. For a moment he was lost in his memories, of the peaceful times before the Great War uprooted him from his home and family and dropped him in this godforsaken place, sighing Roebuck opened his eyes. After taking a swing from his pocket flask he decided that he better get Ambrose’s recon team assembled before Carter became too impatient, so walking back inside he headed over to his desk and flicked on the intercom. The system crackled to life, and taking a deep breath Roebuck picked up the microphone and muttered, “Will Cpl. Frank Kurzman, Pvt. James Sanchez, Srg. David Karas, Pvt. Spyro Hugh and Cpt. Eric Ambrose please report to the security office ASAP.” Satisfied with his announcement Roebuck leaned back in his chair and pulled the nearest scrap piece of paper and started to sketch the distant mountains. He just started to shade in the rough outline of the majestic mountain line when the security office door opened to reveal the five fully armed men. Tossing his doddle aside Roebuck pushed himself out of his chair and headed over to the door and ushered the men into the center of the room.
“Alright men, at 0400 hours our security cameras caught, something, moving about near sector Alpha-Gama7. Now our wonderful C.O. Carter saw it fit to send you five men out on a recon mission of that area. Captain Ambrose you’re in charge of this one, get your men ready and head out.”
“Sir, what exactly are we looking for out there?” stammered Sanchez
“Well James that’s what you’re gonna find out”
“Let me get this straight, you’re sending us into a possible hostile situation with only a rifle squad. Meaning no offense sir but what the fuck is that!” yelled Kurzman.
“Yeah, I feel that this is a waste of valuable military resources” said Hugh with a slight grin across his face
“You think I want you guys to do this?” Said Roebuck “If it were up to me we’d all be out of the fucking place, I’m just following the orders Carter gave me. I suggest you do the same Private. Now does anyone else have a problem they’d like to voice, because I’m sure the Captain would love to hear them.”
“No sir, no objections here, we were all just wonderin’ is all” Said Karas.
“That’s what I thought, alright now we’re supposed to get this mission under way in less than an hour, so I suggest ya’ll go and get ready.”
“What’s the mission code name sir?” asked Ambrose
“Katharine. Now go wait in the staging area until H.Q. gives ya the all clear sign.”
A resounding “yes sir” came from all five men as they shot to attention throwing up a salute, Roebuck, slightly taken aback by these men’s enthusiasm swung his arm up to his head in what was supposed to be a salute and gave a slight nod of his head. Roebuck let his arm fall to his side as the men turned walked out of the office muttering amongst themselves. He stared at the backs of their heads until the door clicked shut, then taking a deep breath walked over to his desk, situated himself in his high back chair and placing his head set snug around his ears and bending his head down he folded his hands whispered a quick prayer for his friends. Then switching on his headset said, “Command, Operation Silent Thunder is underway.”
Chapter 2
Katharine
The sounds of heavy machinery and Jimmie Hendrix’s voodoo child echoed throughout the hallway when the five men walked through the hustle and bustle of the main base as they made their way to the staging area.
“Why do they always play that old crap Sarge?” asked Carter
“Watch what you say private, that old ‘crap’ is your history, better you appreciated it.”
“Yeah, well if the Asyyriak want to destroy this particular part of my history that’s fine by me” laughed Sanchez.
“Well why don’t ya ask them real nice like next time we see them, I’m sure they’d be happy to oblige.”
“Cut the chatter you three, we’re here” said Ambrose
The staging area was a huge auditorium with large metal crates placed haphazardly all about the floor, the contents of which were most likely ammunition and other various supplies. Men were running around every which way giving them an appearance of chickens with their heads cut off, and right in the middle of the room sat an M2kLRV, this was the special forces primary light reconnaissance vehicle, enough seating for 4 and a mounted .50 caliber semi automatic machine gun on the back giving the jeep the sinister look of a scorpion. Next to the jeep stood Captain Hugh looking at the team with a mixture of eagerness and impatience. When the men reached the middle of the room there was a slapping of feet and flinging of arms as the 5 men stood at attention.
“At ease men” said Hugh and the men relaxed a bit and started leaning up against the jeep and kneeling on the floor.
“Right, well I’m sure you all already know why you’re here” they all nodded “good, then I just need to go over the details. You men are going to take this M2kLRV…”
“Sorry sir, but wouldn’t it be better if we called the M2kLRV something, I don’t know, something shorter?” interrupted Kurzman.
“Hey yeah, like the puma” said Carter excitedly.
“What the fuck is a puma? Isn’t that the shoe company?” said Ambrose slightly confused.
“No a puma, it’s a big cat”
“We’re not calling it a puma, how bout the scorpion?” said Karas
“How the hell does it even look like a scorpion?” yelled Carter
“It looks more like a scorpion than a fucking puma ya dumb ass!”
“LOOK!” yelled Hugh “I don’t give a flying fuck what ya call the damn thing, I’m calling it the M2kLRV, now shut the hell up.”
“Yes sir” said Ambrose “I’ll try and keep my team in check next time.”
“Right” said Hugh with a hint of annoyance on his voice “As I was saying, you men are going to take the M2kLRV 5 clicks away from the Gama sector and set up a field position overlooking the camera’s field of range. After you’ve done that I want Hugh and Sanchez to set up a recon point at that position while the rest of you to comb through the area were we saw the, something, and see if you can find anything. After you’ve done all that I want a report back and we’ll assess the situation from there, any questions?”
After a moment of silence Hugh nodded with a look of approval on his face, “good, here are your contactors” said Hugh as he handed out 5 small black boxes amongst the men “these are already programmed to come through on all 5 of your contactors and the main link back here at the base, use these only in case of an emergency, and I mean a real one. Other than that I’ve had enough food and supplies to last you a couple of days so work fast.”
The crackle of the loud speaker broke the noise of the staging area as the C.O.’s voice boomed out of the speakers situated around the perimeter of the room.
“Katharine, I say again Katharine.”
As the loud speaker clicked off the five men jumped into the jeep and revved the engine sending plumes of black smoke billowing into the air as Kurzman yelled “Hell ya, fucking Katharine!” The laughs of the five men died off as the Jeep raced out of the hanger doors and into jungle that surrounded their base.
Chapter 3
Welcome to the Jungle
The sound of the engine roared as the jeep sprung through the forest avoiding stout African Baobab trees and large moss covered rocks with apparent ease, rolling over the uneven overgrown dirt road bouncing the men every which way. A roar of a distant waterfall and the call’s of Niam-niam parrots drowned out the sound of the jeep, giving the ride an oddly relaxing feeling. The smell of the early evening wafted over them as the jeep drove closer to the waterfall. A cool breeze streamed off the crystal clear water protecting them from the humidity that radiated off the rest of the jungle. The silence between the men was broken as the jeep made an unexpectedly sharp turn to avoid hitting a large mud filled pot hole in the middle of the road.
“Are we there yet Sarge?” said Kurzman in a childish tone.
“We get there when we fucking get there, that’s what I told you 10 minutes ago and it still applies now!” said Karas with an hint of annoyance laced in his voice.
“What about now?” Said Kurzman in a joking fashion
Karas remained looking ahead knowing that if he responded he’d be giving Kurzman exactly what he wanted. But alas Kurzman had a smug feeling of accomplishment at annoying the Sarge to the point of getting the cold shoulder. Satisfied with his work Kurzman leaned back in his seat and letting the cool night wind lick his face he felt his eyes get heavy fell asleep to the distant call of a bird that he cared not name and the soft hum of the jeep as it went ever deeper into the forest.
As they drove deeper and deeper into the forest it became harder and harder to avoid the obstacles placed before them to the point where all five men were starting to get whiplash from the sharp turns. Then the jeep skidded to a halt sending dust flying into the air and scaring the birds from their nearby perch’s scattering every which way into the evening sky. As the dust settled around the jeep a clearing came into view slightly to the right of the jeep and a little behind the clearing loomed a huge hill that over looked gamma sector.
“This should be the place” said Carter looking at the onboard GPS system. “Yeah we’re exactly where we need to be.”
“Alright men lets go ahead and get the base camp set up before we go on our recon missions” said Karas jumping out of the jeep his feet sinking slightly into the soft soil.
“Oh, and since we don’t know what we’re dealing with out here if you have to talk about anything to do with our mission try and use phonetics” said Carter
“YankeeEchoSierra SierraIndiaRomeo” said Sanchez
“Dumbass” said Carter laughing
By the time the men had set up their base camp the moon was high in the sky bathing the jungle in a soft blue light. The sounds of cocking MP5’s and M4A1 Carbines broke the still silence of the clearing as Sanchez, Carter, Karas, Ambrose and Kurzman finished their pre-mission equipment and weapon check. After every one gave the thumbs up Karas switched on his night vision goggles and standing up said,
“Let’s get this party started.”
Then the five men jumped up and ran into marbled shadows of the trees quickly being swallowed by the shadows of the jungle.
Chapter 4
Mission FUBAR
The early morning haze settled over the jungle as the sun broke over the horizon casting an orange glow over the entire Jungle. Birds from a nearby tree scattered as Carter broke a twig on the ground. The five men had been walking for the better part of five hours and to no one’s surprise haven’t found anything.
“I told you we weren’t gonna find anything” said Ambrose
“Yeah well we still have a ways to go before we can call it quits” said Karas
“Ah come on Sarge, you know we’re not gonna run into anything. This mission was FUBAR from the beginning.”
“Turn the volume down on that bitching Ambrose, we have orders and we’re gonna follow them to the letter.”
The men continued bickering amongst themselves until they finally broke the cover of the trees and came upon a steep cliff overlooking a lush valley. In the distance a small clearing could be seen with small concrete buildings dotted among it.
“What in Sam hell is that?” said Kurzman
“I’m not sure, hey Ambrose let me get your goggles” said Karas
“Sure thing” said Ambrose digging in his pack and retrieving a pair of jet black goggles.
“Thanks” said Karas as he hit the dirt and started crawling toward a better vantage point of the camp. Once he reached the edge of the cliff Karas slipped the goggles onto his head and flicked them on, the entire clearing came into focus as the goggles adjusted themselves to the low level light.
“Ok let’s take a look see” said Karas. As he scanned the small camp he noticed a few men with AK-47’s walking around and a couple of guard towers around the perimeter of the camp.
“Hey Carter I think we found what we’re looking for” said Karas waving him over.
“No foolin’” said Carter as he crouched next to Karas
“See for yourself” handing him the goggles. Carter slipped the goggles onto his head and laid down on the ground.
“Shit, they got a whole platoon down there Sarge.”
“Kurzman get on the horn to Command, tell them that we found what we were looking for and get our orders” said Karas as he stood up and dusted himself off.
“Yes sir” said Kurzman and he walked back to the clearing, jumped in the passenger seat of the Jeep and pulled out the small radio attached to the dash. As Kurzman talked to Command, Karas, Ambrose, Sanchez and Carter started scouting ways down from the cliff and into the valley below. About ten minutes later Sanchez came about an old cattle trail twisting and turning down the steep rocky cliff face and disappeared into the canopy of trees below.
“Sir I found us a way down” Karas and Carter came up to Sanchez and looked at the path that he had found.
“Good work Private” said Carter giving Sanchez a pat on the back.
“Sergeant!” said Kurzman “I just got off the horn with command.”
Karas turning around to face the clearing yelled back
“What are our orders Frank?”
“We’re suppose to recon the camp from a closer vantage point and access the situation and then report back to command to see if we can get the green light for an raid on the camp itself.”
“Alright, men grab your gear we’re moving out!”
The men picked up their packs and started to make their way down the narrow dirt path. It took well over an hour for the five men to make it to the base of the cliff. Under the canopy of think leaves lay a whole other world. The dark damp jungle gave the men a foreboding feeling and a constant twilight plagued the earth as a thin layer of mist covered the ground. Other than the random cawing of a distant bird the jungle laid deathly quiet.
“I got a bad feeling about this one Sarge” said Kurzman in a slightly shaky voice.
“Man you got a bad feeling about everything”
“I’m serious sir; I have a sixth sense about this stuff.”
“Frank … Move out.”
“Yes...” a huge explosion blew the men back slamming them against the cliff face behind them. After the shell shock wore off the men dived into cover as automatic rifle fire tore thru the jungle whizzing past them.
“Oh shit Kurzman got hit!” yelled Ambrose as he swung up from his cover and emptied his clip into the darkness.
“Fuck how bad is he” yelled Carter ducking behind a small boulder as AK-47 fire whistled over past him sending bits of the rock every which way.
“Ah man he’s fucked up Car”
Karas sprinted over to Ambrose’s position and slid into his cover.
“Where is he Private?”
“Over there Sarge” and he pointed to the point where the small crater still smoked from the recent explosion. Under a nearby tree laid Kurzman taking deep slow breaths. Looking down Karas saw that Kurzman’s legs had been ripped apart by shrapnel, the pale white bone shown thrown the bloody stumps of his legs as blood slowly formed pools on the charred ground as a large deep cut on his neck was gushing blood spattering the dead leaves in the warm scarlet liquid.
“KURZMAN!” yelled Karas. Kurzman kept moaning softly and started shifting around thus drawing enemy fire.
“Kurzman we’re coming for ya, hold on!” Yelled Karas as he shot an Asyyriak in the chest 3 times with his MP-5 “We’re coming for ya, just stop moving.” Kurzman looked at Karas and a few seconds later a bullet blew thru Kurzman’s head spattering the tree behind him with blood and bits a skull and brain. Kurzman’s hand fell limply to his side as his lifeless body crumpled to the ground.
“No! You fucking sons of bitches” Yelled Karas as he emptied his clip into a charging Asyyriak sending him flying backwards. “Come on men don’t let up!”
“Come on ya mother fuckers, come get some!” yelled Carter as he shot three Asyyriak grunts thru their heads sending blood spilling out all over the ground.
Ambrose pulled out his radio and switching it on yelled into it
“Command this is Delta squad, we have a man down I repeat we have a man down!”
“What’s your mission standing Delta” crackled the radio.
An Asyyriak who managed to get thru the crossfire of the squad jumped over Ambrose’s cover. “Oh shit” yelled Ambrose and he reached for his gun laying next to him, but before he could grab it the Asyyriak kicked it out from under his hand and rammed the butt of his AK-47 into the side of his head knocking him backwards. The Asyyriak approached him and started pulling out a long machete covered in dry cracked blood, but before he reached Ambrose Carter ran up beside the Asyyriak and, pulling out his .45 side arm, shot him straight in the temple splattering Ambrose with blood.
“Thanks Carter, I owe you one” said Ambrose as Carter helped him up
“That’s what I’m here for buddy” and turning around ran back to his original cover and started to spray shoot the slowly approaching enemy. The radio that had been knocked out of his hand was crackling
“Dammit come in Delta squad!”
Ambrose grabbing the radio from the blood soaked ground said “Sorry about that Command.”
“What the hell is your mission standing Private?”
Ambrose, looking around and seeing the Asyyriak gaining more and more ground and Kurzman slumped on the ground covered in blood and black flies yelled into the radio “Mission is FUBAR sir, I repeat mission is FUBAR.”
Chapter 5
Tragedy or Statistic
The aftermath of the firefight with the Asyyriak was one the men hoped to soon forget. Bloodied bodies were strewn across the entire forest and the heat and humidity of the mid-day caused a stench so fierce the men could hardly breathe. Ambrose and Carter had started striping the dead Asyyriak soldiers of anything useful that they could use, so far they had recovered 6 AK-47’s and a couple of M4-Fragmition grenades.
“God Dammit these guys are heavy” said Ambrose as he heaved yet another dead corpse onto the pile, then standing up and wiping the sweat from his forehead turned and walked toward Carter who was leaning against a tree.
“Hey, how’s he doin’?” asked Ambrose pointing over to Karas who was kneeling over Kurzman’s body.
“Not too well” said Carter taking a deep draft from his canteen.
“One of us should go talk to him” suggested Ambrose looking sideways at Carter, who after a while got the idea and said “Fine I’ll do it.”
As Carter walked up to Karas he tried to come up with something consoling to say to him, which turned out to be harder than he thought because when he walked up behind him and placed his hand gently on Karas’s shoulder all he that came out was “Well … at least he didn’t feel anything, when he died I mean. That was a clean shot ya know.” Karas stood up and turning to face Carter yelled “fuck off man, he was my best friend and I don’t give a rat’s ass if he didn’t feel anything when he died the point is that he did die and it’s my fault that he did!” Carter stood there for a little while as Karas stormed off and took a seat next to Sanchez who was about to light to pile of bodies on fire. Then taking a deep sight Carter thought to himself “hell at least I tried”
Later that night the four men were huddling around a small makeshift fire that they had made out of some dry twigs and branches and strips of soft kaki cloth that they had torn out of the Asyyriak’s uniforms. The small fire barely put a dent in the cold night air but it was better than nothing. The silence between the men was broken as the soft put putting of a distant helicopter caught their attention.
“Is that Raven 5?” asked Ambrose standing up and pulling out his pair of goggles. Sanchez rummaged in his pack and pulled out his handheld radio and said “Raven five this is night crawler do you read me over?”
“Loud and Clear night crawler, how may we be of assistance to you boy’s tonight?” Crackled the jovial voice of Raven fives pilot.
“We need an immediate dust off at location Alpha-Whiskey-Tango.”
“Ten-Four night crawler, we should be there momentarily.” And few minutes later the light burst through the thick canopy of leaves as Raven Five ripped through them making its way down to the men below. Dirt, leaves and ash got thrown into the air as the immense helicopter touched down on the damp Jungle floor, the men put their arms up to shield their eyes from the flying debris. After getting the all clear sign from the pilot Carter crouched low and ran over to the cockpit and yelled over the sound of the motor “We have a K.I.A!” The pilot looked where Carter was pointing and saw where Kurzman lay and looking back to Carter nodded and said “alright bring em’ on board and I’ll take him home.” Sanchez and Karas heaved Kurzman’s body onto the helicopter and taking one last look at his mangled friend shut the door and stepped back. The pilot sealed to door to the copter and after giving them a quick salute he started to rise from the ground and a few seconds later broke the canopy and diapered from sight.
“What do we do now Sarge” asked Sanchez who was still looking at the gaping hole the helicopter had left.
“We still have a mission to complete Private” said Karas who had already turned around and was walking away from the rest of the group.
“But Sir” said Ambrose “We just lost a guy, I don’t think …” But before he could finish his sentence Karas turned sharply around and said “I don’t fuckin’ care what you think Ambrose! We continue on with the mission.”
“Sarge is right” said Carter “We have a mission to complete. Frank’s death was sad yes but it’s a statistic in this war. Just another name on another tombstone and just because he died doesn’t mean that this war is gonna stop. We have to complete our mission so that we can prevent any future tragedies like this from happening.” Carter jogged up beside Karas and putting his hand on his shoulder said “I’m with ya till’ the end Sarge.” Karas gave a slight nod of appreciation to Carter and turning around to look at the rest of the men said “Any of you men want out now’s the time, everyone else follow me.” Carter and Karas started to make their way through the thicket of bushy undergrowth, Sanchez soon followed after leaving Ambrose in the clearing all by himself who a few seconds later yelled “Ah fuck me, wait up guys” and sprinted after them into the dim glow of the jungle.
"If you are going through hell ... keep going."
Chapter 1
The Silence of Shadows
The dim glow of the computer shown of f Roebucks face bathing it in pale light as he stared intently at the security cam feed, there had been reports of some suspicious activity somewhere off in sector Whiskey-Bravo9, but as far as anyone could tell those reports were just rumors coming from men with to much time on their hands. Roebuck had been at this task for the better part of five hours and, coming to the conclusion that everyone was right, and nothing was going to happen slumped back in his chair and fell into a light sleep.
He awoke with a start a couple minutes later with Frank standing over him holding a cup of coffee.
"Wake up sunshine!" said Frank handing Roebuck the small ceramin mug.
“Thanks Frank” said Roebuck taking the cup of hot coffee.
“Eh, it’s no problem Buck. Just be glad that the Sarge didn’t find ya first.”
“Yeah you’re tellin’ me. Where is that guy anyway?”
“Asleep, bastards been on the night watch for over a week. C.O. insisted that he get some shuteye.”
“Damn, I feel for the guy. I’ve been at this fucking job for a couple of hours and I can barely keep my eyes open.”
“Feel for him, that man doesn’t have feelings. He was assembled back at H.Q. outta the spare body parts of dead G.I.’s"
“That would actually explain a lot” said Roebuck laughing.
“And in any case he’s one of the only guys on this God forsaken base that can actually do this job.”
“What job? All we do is stare at the same damn clearing for hours on end waiting for something to happen.”
“Yeah, well then I guess he’s the only guy patient enough to actually give a damn.”
Roebuck took a sip of coffee and let the warm liquid rush down his throat giving him a warm home-y feeling. “Yeah well he can take my place anytime”
“I hear that, but I gotta get back to my post so I'll catch ya later.”
“Alright man thanks again for the coffee.”
Roebuck turned back to his monitors as Frank walked out of the security office just in time to see something off in the corner of the screen dash out of sight. Confused Roebuck started at the spot where he had seen the thing for the next couple of minutes, trying to figure out what it was. Soon he shrugged it off and decided that it was an animal of some sort and feeling his eyelids get heavier and heavier went back to sleep.
The sun broke over the horizon casting an orange-ish red glow over the entire countryside giving it a dream like state. Roebuck woke as the light of the morning shown in through the window lapping his face in its warm radiance. He sat there taking in the morning, listening to the slight breeze coming in through one of the cracked windows and the silent hum of the computes. Taking a deep breath he stretched, got up from his chair and walked to the coffee pot that sat in the corner of the room. He stood there still slightly dazed after having a restless night sleep, then smelling the coffee poured some into his mug.
Roebuck came back into coherence when the door to the security office suddenly flew open as Sergeant Carter walked in. Standing at attention Roebuck said “Good morning Sir!”
“Hey. How you doin’ Roebuck?”
“Eh, I’m a little tired. That night watch is a bitch.”
“I know whatcha mean. Anyway, see anything on the monitors last night?” said Carter scoffing.
“Nothing out of the ordinary, I mean I think I saw something at around 0400 hours, but the sensors didn’t pick up anything so it must have been an animal of something.”
“And you didn’t think to report this?!?”
“No sir, I didn’t think it was anything important.”
“We’re in a war solider! Everything is important! Now I want you to pull up the feed right now!”
“Yes sir!” stammered Roebuck as he scrambled back to his work station and pulled up last night’s fed and started to play it back.”
“Well…” said Carter “I don’t see anything.”
“Just give me a minute sir.”
“Hurry it up private!”
Flustered Roebuck sped up the tape to the point where he had gotten the glimpse of the creature and played the small five second section.
“What am I suppose to be looking at Private?”
“Top right corner of the screen sir” said Roebuck pointing to a small cluster of bushes.
“Alright, play that back, and this time slow it down a bit will ya.”
“Yes sir”
The second time around Carter could clearly see a shadowy figure quickly exit the top right hand side of the screen.
“Can you make that image any clearer private?”
“No sir, this is the highest resolution that we have.”
“Alright, well I still think that we should send a squad out there just to be on the safe side.”
“Yes sir! Who did ya have in mind?”
“Um, Frank, Sanchez, Karas, Spyro and Ambrose, get them assembled and in front of the compound by 900 hours.”
“You got it sir. You think there’s actually gonna be something out there?”
“Well we’ll all know when you get their asses out there!”
“Oh, um, yes sir, I’ll go right now.”
“Good man.” The crackle of the com snapped on as Private Kyle’s voice came on over the intercom. “Sergeant Carter please report to company H.Q.”
“Well duty calls Roebuck, tell Ambrose that he’s in charge of this one and I want a full situation on my desk as soon as they get back.”
“Yes sir, I’ll be sure to tell him.”
Then Carter nodded turned around and walked out of the room. Roebuck, turning back to his full coffee cup and said “Man what a dick.”
After he finished drinking his coffee he put on his jacket and walked out onto the towers balcony and stared out over the vast landscape. It was a cool breezy morning and for a moment he closed his eyes and was reminded of his home, of standing on the beach letting the cool sea wind brush against his face. For a moment he was lost in his memories, of the peaceful times before the Great War uprooted him from his home and family and dropped him in this godforsaken place, sighing Roebuck opened his eyes. After taking a swing from his pocket flask he decided that he better get Ambrose’s recon team assembled before Carter became too impatient, so walking back inside he headed over to his desk and flicked on the intercom. The system crackled to life, and taking a deep breath Roebuck picked up the microphone and muttered, “Will Cpl. Frank Kurzman, Pvt. James Sanchez, Srg. David Karas, Pvt. Spyro Hugh and Cpt. Eric Ambrose please report to the security office ASAP.” Satisfied with his announcement Roebuck leaned back in his chair and pulled the nearest scrap piece of paper and started to sketch the distant mountains. He just started to shade in the rough outline of the majestic mountain line when the security office door opened to reveal the five fully armed men. Tossing his doddle aside Roebuck pushed himself out of his chair and headed over to the door and ushered the men into the center of the room.
“Alright men, at 0400 hours our security cameras caught, something, moving about near sector Alpha-Gama7. Now our wonderful C.O. Carter saw it fit to send you five men out on a recon mission of that area. Captain Ambrose you’re in charge of this one, get your men ready and head out.”
“Sir, what exactly are we looking for out there?” stammered Sanchez
“Well James that’s what you’re gonna find out”
“Let me get this straight, you’re sending us into a possible hostile situation with only a rifle squad. Meaning no offense sir but what the fuck is that!” yelled Kurzman.
“Yeah, I feel that this is a waste of valuable military resources” said Hugh with a slight grin across his face
“You think I want you guys to do this?” Said Roebuck “If it were up to me we’d all be out of the fucking place, I’m just following the orders Carter gave me. I suggest you do the same Private. Now does anyone else have a problem they’d like to voice, because I’m sure the Captain would love to hear them.”
“No sir, no objections here, we were all just wonderin’ is all” Said Karas.
“That’s what I thought, alright now we’re supposed to get this mission under way in less than an hour, so I suggest ya’ll go and get ready.”
“What’s the mission code name sir?” asked Ambrose
“Katharine. Now go wait in the staging area until H.Q. gives ya the all clear sign.”
A resounding “yes sir” came from all five men as they shot to attention throwing up a salute, Roebuck, slightly taken aback by these men’s enthusiasm swung his arm up to his head in what was supposed to be a salute and gave a slight nod of his head. Roebuck let his arm fall to his side as the men turned walked out of the office muttering amongst themselves. He stared at the backs of their heads until the door clicked shut, then taking a deep breath walked over to his desk, situated himself in his high back chair and placing his head set snug around his ears and bending his head down he folded his hands whispered a quick prayer for his friends. Then switching on his headset said, “Command, Operation Silent Thunder is underway.”
Chapter 2
Katharine
The sounds of heavy machinery and Jimmie Hendrix’s voodoo child echoed throughout the hallway when the five men walked through the hustle and bustle of the main base as they made their way to the staging area.
“Why do they always play that old crap Sarge?” asked Carter
“Watch what you say private, that old ‘crap’ is your history, better you appreciated it.”
“Yeah, well if the Asyyriak want to destroy this particular part of my history that’s fine by me” laughed Sanchez.
“Well why don’t ya ask them real nice like next time we see them, I’m sure they’d be happy to oblige.”
“Cut the chatter you three, we’re here” said Ambrose
The staging area was a huge auditorium with large metal crates placed haphazardly all about the floor, the contents of which were most likely ammunition and other various supplies. Men were running around every which way giving them an appearance of chickens with their heads cut off, and right in the middle of the room sat an M2kLRV, this was the special forces primary light reconnaissance vehicle, enough seating for 4 and a mounted .50 caliber semi automatic machine gun on the back giving the jeep the sinister look of a scorpion. Next to the jeep stood Captain Hugh looking at the team with a mixture of eagerness and impatience. When the men reached the middle of the room there was a slapping of feet and flinging of arms as the 5 men stood at attention.
“At ease men” said Hugh and the men relaxed a bit and started leaning up against the jeep and kneeling on the floor.
“Right, well I’m sure you all already know why you’re here” they all nodded “good, then I just need to go over the details. You men are going to take this M2kLRV…”
“Sorry sir, but wouldn’t it be better if we called the M2kLRV something, I don’t know, something shorter?” interrupted Kurzman.
“Hey yeah, like the puma” said Carter excitedly.
“What the fuck is a puma? Isn’t that the shoe company?” said Ambrose slightly confused.
“No a puma, it’s a big cat”
“We’re not calling it a puma, how bout the scorpion?” said Karas
“How the hell does it even look like a scorpion?” yelled Carter
“It looks more like a scorpion than a fucking puma ya dumb ass!”
“LOOK!” yelled Hugh “I don’t give a flying fuck what ya call the damn thing, I’m calling it the M2kLRV, now shut the hell up.”
“Yes sir” said Ambrose “I’ll try and keep my team in check next time.”
“Right” said Hugh with a hint of annoyance on his voice “As I was saying, you men are going to take the M2kLRV 5 clicks away from the Gama sector and set up a field position overlooking the camera’s field of range. After you’ve done that I want Hugh and Sanchez to set up a recon point at that position while the rest of you to comb through the area were we saw the, something, and see if you can find anything. After you’ve done all that I want a report back and we’ll assess the situation from there, any questions?”
After a moment of silence Hugh nodded with a look of approval on his face, “good, here are your contactors” said Hugh as he handed out 5 small black boxes amongst the men “these are already programmed to come through on all 5 of your contactors and the main link back here at the base, use these only in case of an emergency, and I mean a real one. Other than that I’ve had enough food and supplies to last you a couple of days so work fast.”
The crackle of the loud speaker broke the noise of the staging area as the C.O.’s voice boomed out of the speakers situated around the perimeter of the room.
“Katharine, I say again Katharine.”
As the loud speaker clicked off the five men jumped into the jeep and revved the engine sending plumes of black smoke billowing into the air as Kurzman yelled “Hell ya, fucking Katharine!” The laughs of the five men died off as the Jeep raced out of the hanger doors and into jungle that surrounded their base.
Chapter 3
Welcome to the Jungle
The sound of the engine roared as the jeep sprung through the forest avoiding stout African Baobab trees and large moss covered rocks with apparent ease, rolling over the uneven overgrown dirt road bouncing the men every which way. A roar of a distant waterfall and the call’s of Niam-niam parrots drowned out the sound of the jeep, giving the ride an oddly relaxing feeling. The smell of the early evening wafted over them as the jeep drove closer to the waterfall. A cool breeze streamed off the crystal clear water protecting them from the humidity that radiated off the rest of the jungle. The silence between the men was broken as the jeep made an unexpectedly sharp turn to avoid hitting a large mud filled pot hole in the middle of the road.
“Are we there yet Sarge?” said Kurzman in a childish tone.
“We get there when we fucking get there, that’s what I told you 10 minutes ago and it still applies now!” said Karas with an hint of annoyance laced in his voice.
“What about now?” Said Kurzman in a joking fashion
Karas remained looking ahead knowing that if he responded he’d be giving Kurzman exactly what he wanted. But alas Kurzman had a smug feeling of accomplishment at annoying the Sarge to the point of getting the cold shoulder. Satisfied with his work Kurzman leaned back in his seat and letting the cool night wind lick his face he felt his eyes get heavy fell asleep to the distant call of a bird that he cared not name and the soft hum of the jeep as it went ever deeper into the forest.
As they drove deeper and deeper into the forest it became harder and harder to avoid the obstacles placed before them to the point where all five men were starting to get whiplash from the sharp turns. Then the jeep skidded to a halt sending dust flying into the air and scaring the birds from their nearby perch’s scattering every which way into the evening sky. As the dust settled around the jeep a clearing came into view slightly to the right of the jeep and a little behind the clearing loomed a huge hill that over looked gamma sector.
“This should be the place” said Carter looking at the onboard GPS system. “Yeah we’re exactly where we need to be.”
“Alright men lets go ahead and get the base camp set up before we go on our recon missions” said Karas jumping out of the jeep his feet sinking slightly into the soft soil.
“Oh, and since we don’t know what we’re dealing with out here if you have to talk about anything to do with our mission try and use phonetics” said Carter
“YankeeEchoSierra SierraIndiaRomeo” said Sanchez
“Dumbass” said Carter laughing
By the time the men had set up their base camp the moon was high in the sky bathing the jungle in a soft blue light. The sounds of cocking MP5’s and M4A1 Carbines broke the still silence of the clearing as Sanchez, Carter, Karas, Ambrose and Kurzman finished their pre-mission equipment and weapon check. After every one gave the thumbs up Karas switched on his night vision goggles and standing up said,
“Let’s get this party started.”
Then the five men jumped up and ran into marbled shadows of the trees quickly being swallowed by the shadows of the jungle.
Chapter 4
Mission FUBAR
The early morning haze settled over the jungle as the sun broke over the horizon casting an orange glow over the entire Jungle. Birds from a nearby tree scattered as Carter broke a twig on the ground. The five men had been walking for the better part of five hours and to no one’s surprise haven’t found anything.
“I told you we weren’t gonna find anything” said Ambrose
“Yeah well we still have a ways to go before we can call it quits” said Karas
“Ah come on Sarge, you know we’re not gonna run into anything. This mission was FUBAR from the beginning.”
“Turn the volume down on that bitching Ambrose, we have orders and we’re gonna follow them to the letter.”
The men continued bickering amongst themselves until they finally broke the cover of the trees and came upon a steep cliff overlooking a lush valley. In the distance a small clearing could be seen with small concrete buildings dotted among it.
“What in Sam hell is that?” said Kurzman
“I’m not sure, hey Ambrose let me get your goggles” said Karas
“Sure thing” said Ambrose digging in his pack and retrieving a pair of jet black goggles.
“Thanks” said Karas as he hit the dirt and started crawling toward a better vantage point of the camp. Once he reached the edge of the cliff Karas slipped the goggles onto his head and flicked them on, the entire clearing came into focus as the goggles adjusted themselves to the low level light.
“Ok let’s take a look see” said Karas. As he scanned the small camp he noticed a few men with AK-47’s walking around and a couple of guard towers around the perimeter of the camp.
“Hey Carter I think we found what we’re looking for” said Karas waving him over.
“No foolin’” said Carter as he crouched next to Karas
“See for yourself” handing him the goggles. Carter slipped the goggles onto his head and laid down on the ground.
“Shit, they got a whole platoon down there Sarge.”
“Kurzman get on the horn to Command, tell them that we found what we were looking for and get our orders” said Karas as he stood up and dusted himself off.
“Yes sir” said Kurzman and he walked back to the clearing, jumped in the passenger seat of the Jeep and pulled out the small radio attached to the dash. As Kurzman talked to Command, Karas, Ambrose, Sanchez and Carter started scouting ways down from the cliff and into the valley below. About ten minutes later Sanchez came about an old cattle trail twisting and turning down the steep rocky cliff face and disappeared into the canopy of trees below.
“Sir I found us a way down” Karas and Carter came up to Sanchez and looked at the path that he had found.
“Good work Private” said Carter giving Sanchez a pat on the back.
“Sergeant!” said Kurzman “I just got off the horn with command.”
Karas turning around to face the clearing yelled back
“What are our orders Frank?”
“We’re suppose to recon the camp from a closer vantage point and access the situation and then report back to command to see if we can get the green light for an raid on the camp itself.”
“Alright, men grab your gear we’re moving out!”
The men picked up their packs and started to make their way down the narrow dirt path. It took well over an hour for the five men to make it to the base of the cliff. Under the canopy of think leaves lay a whole other world. The dark damp jungle gave the men a foreboding feeling and a constant twilight plagued the earth as a thin layer of mist covered the ground. Other than the random cawing of a distant bird the jungle laid deathly quiet.
“I got a bad feeling about this one Sarge” said Kurzman in a slightly shaky voice.
“Man you got a bad feeling about everything”
“I’m serious sir; I have a sixth sense about this stuff.”
“Frank … Move out.”
“Yes...” a huge explosion blew the men back slamming them against the cliff face behind them. After the shell shock wore off the men dived into cover as automatic rifle fire tore thru the jungle whizzing past them.
“Oh shit Kurzman got hit!” yelled Ambrose as he swung up from his cover and emptied his clip into the darkness.
“Fuck how bad is he” yelled Carter ducking behind a small boulder as AK-47 fire whistled over past him sending bits of the rock every which way.
“Ah man he’s fucked up Car”
Karas sprinted over to Ambrose’s position and slid into his cover.
“Where is he Private?”
“Over there Sarge” and he pointed to the point where the small crater still smoked from the recent explosion. Under a nearby tree laid Kurzman taking deep slow breaths. Looking down Karas saw that Kurzman’s legs had been ripped apart by shrapnel, the pale white bone shown thrown the bloody stumps of his legs as blood slowly formed pools on the charred ground as a large deep cut on his neck was gushing blood spattering the dead leaves in the warm scarlet liquid.
“KURZMAN!” yelled Karas. Kurzman kept moaning softly and started shifting around thus drawing enemy fire.
“Kurzman we’re coming for ya, hold on!” Yelled Karas as he shot an Asyyriak in the chest 3 times with his MP-5 “We’re coming for ya, just stop moving.” Kurzman looked at Karas and a few seconds later a bullet blew thru Kurzman’s head spattering the tree behind him with blood and bits a skull and brain. Kurzman’s hand fell limply to his side as his lifeless body crumpled to the ground.
“No! You fucking sons of bitches” Yelled Karas as he emptied his clip into a charging Asyyriak sending him flying backwards. “Come on men don’t let up!”
“Come on ya mother fuckers, come get some!” yelled Carter as he shot three Asyyriak grunts thru their heads sending blood spilling out all over the ground.
Ambrose pulled out his radio and switching it on yelled into it
“Command this is Delta squad, we have a man down I repeat we have a man down!”
“What’s your mission standing Delta” crackled the radio.
An Asyyriak who managed to get thru the crossfire of the squad jumped over Ambrose’s cover. “Oh shit” yelled Ambrose and he reached for his gun laying next to him, but before he could grab it the Asyyriak kicked it out from under his hand and rammed the butt of his AK-47 into the side of his head knocking him backwards. The Asyyriak approached him and started pulling out a long machete covered in dry cracked blood, but before he reached Ambrose Carter ran up beside the Asyyriak and, pulling out his .45 side arm, shot him straight in the temple splattering Ambrose with blood.
“Thanks Carter, I owe you one” said Ambrose as Carter helped him up
“That’s what I’m here for buddy” and turning around ran back to his original cover and started to spray shoot the slowly approaching enemy. The radio that had been knocked out of his hand was crackling
“Dammit come in Delta squad!”
Ambrose grabbing the radio from the blood soaked ground said “Sorry about that Command.”
“What the hell is your mission standing Private?”
Ambrose, looking around and seeing the Asyyriak gaining more and more ground and Kurzman slumped on the ground covered in blood and black flies yelled into the radio “Mission is FUBAR sir, I repeat mission is FUBAR.”
Chapter 5
Tragedy or Statistic
The aftermath of the firefight with the Asyyriak was one the men hoped to soon forget. Bloodied bodies were strewn across the entire forest and the heat and humidity of the mid-day caused a stench so fierce the men could hardly breathe. Ambrose and Carter had started striping the dead Asyyriak soldiers of anything useful that they could use, so far they had recovered 6 AK-47’s and a couple of M4-Fragmition grenades.
“God Dammit these guys are heavy” said Ambrose as he heaved yet another dead corpse onto the pile, then standing up and wiping the sweat from his forehead turned and walked toward Carter who was leaning against a tree.
“Hey, how’s he doin’?” asked Ambrose pointing over to Karas who was kneeling over Kurzman’s body.
“Not too well” said Carter taking a deep draft from his canteen.
“One of us should go talk to him” suggested Ambrose looking sideways at Carter, who after a while got the idea and said “Fine I’ll do it.”
As Carter walked up to Karas he tried to come up with something consoling to say to him, which turned out to be harder than he thought because when he walked up behind him and placed his hand gently on Karas’s shoulder all he that came out was “Well … at least he didn’t feel anything, when he died I mean. That was a clean shot ya know.” Karas stood up and turning to face Carter yelled “fuck off man, he was my best friend and I don’t give a rat’s ass if he didn’t feel anything when he died the point is that he did die and it’s my fault that he did!” Carter stood there for a little while as Karas stormed off and took a seat next to Sanchez who was about to light to pile of bodies on fire. Then taking a deep sight Carter thought to himself “hell at least I tried”
Later that night the four men were huddling around a small makeshift fire that they had made out of some dry twigs and branches and strips of soft kaki cloth that they had torn out of the Asyyriak’s uniforms. The small fire barely put a dent in the cold night air but it was better than nothing. The silence between the men was broken as the soft put putting of a distant helicopter caught their attention.
“Is that Raven 5?” asked Ambrose standing up and pulling out his pair of goggles. Sanchez rummaged in his pack and pulled out his handheld radio and said “Raven five this is night crawler do you read me over?”
“Loud and Clear night crawler, how may we be of assistance to you boy’s tonight?” Crackled the jovial voice of Raven fives pilot.
“We need an immediate dust off at location Alpha-Whiskey-Tango.”
“Ten-Four night crawler, we should be there momentarily.” And few minutes later the light burst through the thick canopy of leaves as Raven Five ripped through them making its way down to the men below. Dirt, leaves and ash got thrown into the air as the immense helicopter touched down on the damp Jungle floor, the men put their arms up to shield their eyes from the flying debris. After getting the all clear sign from the pilot Carter crouched low and ran over to the cockpit and yelled over the sound of the motor “We have a K.I.A!” The pilot looked where Carter was pointing and saw where Kurzman lay and looking back to Carter nodded and said “alright bring em’ on board and I’ll take him home.” Sanchez and Karas heaved Kurzman’s body onto the helicopter and taking one last look at his mangled friend shut the door and stepped back. The pilot sealed to door to the copter and after giving them a quick salute he started to rise from the ground and a few seconds later broke the canopy and diapered from sight.
“What do we do now Sarge” asked Sanchez who was still looking at the gaping hole the helicopter had left.
“We still have a mission to complete Private” said Karas who had already turned around and was walking away from the rest of the group.
“But Sir” said Ambrose “We just lost a guy, I don’t think …” But before he could finish his sentence Karas turned sharply around and said “I don’t fuckin’ care what you think Ambrose! We continue on with the mission.”
“Sarge is right” said Carter “We have a mission to complete. Frank’s death was sad yes but it’s a statistic in this war. Just another name on another tombstone and just because he died doesn’t mean that this war is gonna stop. We have to complete our mission so that we can prevent any future tragedies like this from happening.” Carter jogged up beside Karas and putting his hand on his shoulder said “I’m with ya till’ the end Sarge.” Karas gave a slight nod of appreciation to Carter and turning around to look at the rest of the men said “Any of you men want out now’s the time, everyone else follow me.” Carter and Karas started to make their way through the thicket of bushy undergrowth, Sanchez soon followed after leaving Ambrose in the clearing all by himself who a few seconds later yelled “Ah fuck me, wait up guys” and sprinted after them into the dim glow of the jungle.
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Rut
Every morning I get up and fall out of my bed and into my rut
The rut takes me to where I need to be when I need to be there
There are no exceptions
I’ve grown to hate the rut, as it so happily hates me
Taking me to school everyday
Annoying me until I do my work
But maybe it’s not the rut I should hate
It’s just doing its job
School has formed this rut for me
And being a student has reinforced it
Maybe I should hate school
But then I think about where I would be without school
I don’t like it
Maybe getting up at 5:30 every morning
Working hard
Going to work
Ect.
All the things that I’ve grown to hate about the rut
Is actually making me a better person
Eh, I’ll cross this bridge when my rut takes me there
The rut takes me to where I need to be when I need to be there
There are no exceptions
I’ve grown to hate the rut, as it so happily hates me
Taking me to school everyday
Annoying me until I do my work
But maybe it’s not the rut I should hate
It’s just doing its job
School has formed this rut for me
And being a student has reinforced it
Maybe I should hate school
But then I think about where I would be without school
I don’t like it
Maybe getting up at 5:30 every morning
Working hard
Going to work
Ect.
All the things that I’ve grown to hate about the rut
Is actually making me a better person
Eh, I’ll cross this bridge when my rut takes me there
Citrus Sinensis
Orangey lived a simple life. He was born and raised in the Southern California in the town of South Beach, and lived a modest life growing on a tree. That is until the day he decided to separate himself from his home and travel the world; this decision would change his life forever.
It was a bright, sunny Saturday morning, the birds where chirping and all seemed right with the world. Orangey had already packed his bags and was saying his last goodbyes to his fairly large family, each of which consisted of a teary hug and heart-felt hand shake. Finally he came up to his father who looked at him sternly and said, “The World’s a dangerous place, don’t do anything stupid like that time you went to Tahoe.” Now orangey knew his father meant well by these words but they hurt none-the-less.
By the time he had finished saying his goodbyes it was already midday and the sun was high in the orchard sky. Orangey walked a few yards from the house and looked back just to get that one last memory searing glimpse so that he would remember his way back if need be, turned and started to walk away. After an hour or two of rolling around orangey had reached the edge of the orchard and decided to sit down and rest for a while. He had never been off the tree before and he was already having second thoughts about leaving it, “If I knew there was going to be this much walking I would have stayed back on the tree, my goodness.” Then all of a sudden he heard a slight scuffle coming from behind, he turned around to see who it was but nobody was there, he stared at the spot for a second and then shrugged it off. A few minutes passed by and then he heard the scuffle again this time slightly louder from behind, it was at this point that he started to shake in his peel slightly, he slowly turned back to the spot but same as the first nobody was there, “Who’s there?” said orangey, nobody answered, so he continued on sitting and relaxing under the shade of an oak tree. After a while of sitting in the warm glow of the sun and letting a cool breeze lick his face he slowly drifted off to sleep.
He awoke with a start hours later with a splitting headache and laying in what appeared to be a large wooden box. Startled, he got up and looked around the room. Through the dim light he was able to make out 20 or so other oranges stumbling around the room in a distant manner. He walked up to the nearest one and asked, “Hey buddy, what is this place?” the orange just looked at him with a vacant expression on his face and after a couple of seconds continued walking around the room screaming out random curses. Confused, orangey started walking around until, in the corner of the box closest to him, he saw an orange beckoning him over. When he reached the corner the orange said,
“What’s your name kid?”
“Orangey, what about you, you got a name?”
“Yeah, it’s Citrus sinensis. What was an upper classy like you doing all the way out by the edge?”
“I wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, so I thought why not try and start fresh ya know.”
“Oh, is that what you wanted, eh. Well you’re in luck! You are currently in a shipping container destined for the east coast and our inevitably deaths ya dumb ass!”
“WHAT!?! Why?”
*scoffs* “Who knows, these creatures have been kidnapping anyone who’s gone anywhere near the edge, bunch of schmucks what the hell'd we ever do to them?”
“What creatures?”
“What do I look like, an fuckin' zoologist. All I know is that their huge and mean and they’ve been taking oranges from all over the Southern California area and jamming us into these boxes and shipping us half-way across God knows where.”
“What, I mean… Wha...”
“Look...kid, I can see you’re a little out of it right now, why don’t you sleep it off go grab some food and talk to me in the morning. You’ll feel better, I promise.”
Citrus Sinensis was an older orange, in his late 40's. He was born and raised in the town of Solvang. When he turned 18 he joined the UOMC (United Oranges Marine Corps.) He was promoted to the 2nd armored C.O. after the battle at Der Mal, and earned the medal of courage after he held off Fruit Fly (F.F.) forces single handedly until reinforcements arrived during the Blitz. He proved himself time and time again throughout his carrier, but on November 25th, 2008 on a routine shakedown run of the neighboring town of Tropicana he was captured. But even then he showed valor when he got three of his men to safety before they where also captured. Physically wise he has small yellowish spots all over his body and he is slightly more oval than the other oranges. He has a tattoo of his squad insignia on his upper right arm, and has the aura of an orange whose life has not been an easy one, and even though he had a tough peel you could see sadness in his eyes.
The next day Orangey woke with C.S. standing over him holding a cup of water,
“Wake up sunshine.”
It took orangey a moment or two to get his bearings and then taking the cup said,
“Thanks C. How long was I out?”
“Ah, not too terribly long, couple of hours at the most. You feelin’ any better?”
“Oh I’m awesome.” said orangey sarcastically. “Do you have any idea where we are?”
“No idea, we left port last night so we can’t be to far from home, oh and don't call me C alright.”
“Well tha—“
Before orangey could utter another word the lid of the box was ripped open, and for the first time orangey was able to see the ugly mug of the creature that had captured him. Looking back around he saw that everyone else had gone deathly still, he quickly dropped and laid there with out making so much as a twitch. For what seemed like a lifetime the creature just stood there looking at all the oranges and then reaching his hand down into the crate he grabbed the orange closest to him and started to rip off his peel in a sadistic fashion.
“What the hell is he doing C.!?!”
“Shut up and don’t move!”
“But...”
“I said shut up dammit!”
"We can't just sit back and let this happen!"
getting up orangey started to make his way toward the creatue, but he was quickly tackled by Sinensis and pinned to the ground and said,
"What the hells the matter you? You wanna die, huh!?!
"No..."
"Then shut the hell up and don't move, you got me!?!"
"Yes!"
Laying back down orangey looked back at the helpless orange and looked in horor as the creature drove its fingers into its flesh. After every last piece of peel had been removed from the poor oranges body the creature ripped the orange into pieces and popped each piece into its mouth like it was a piece of candy. The creature looked as if it was savoring each and every piece and was relishing in the moment. The horrific incident of terror was over before it really began and the creature soon reattached the lid of the box and walked off. It took a while for this event to sink in, everyone just stood there shocked. Orangey then felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see C looking back at him. “You ok?” Said C, “Yeah, um, yeah I’m a, I’m ok.” “Good cause we gotta find a way out of here and your going to help me.”
That night wasn’t a night for sleeping, instead orangey and C started coming up with plans on how to escape before the creature came back. But after hours of failed attempts the two oranges gave up and went to sleep.
The next morning the two friends woke to find that they where being carried into a menacing looking building with random pipes going every which way. Soon they where beyond the doorway and orangey looking around saw a horrific sight. Oranges where being tagged and then forced into mesh bags before they where thrown back into the containers. “What’s going on C?” “I don’t know orangey, but I think I know how to escape, just follow my lead.” Orangey opened his mouth but then quickly shut it because the creatures had starting putting oranges from their crate onto the conveyer belt that led into the belly of the beast. Soon orangey could feel the cold hands gripping his back and was almost immediately placed onto the conveyer belt. Looking at C he knew that he was about to do something drastic and stupid. As soon as the hands of the creature let go C made a break for it, “No, what are you doing!” said orangey. But it was too late to do anything, C had already jumped off the belt and onto the ground and rolled like he had never rolled before, and just before he was out the door he was grabbed from behind and yanked from the floor. Orangey saw C get captured and was terrified but at the same time relieved when he saw that the creature wasn’t going to eat him, he was just going to put him back on the belt, but this was not to be. Due to the sanitation of the floor C had become too contaminated for human consumption so C was to be disposed of. This came as a blow to orangey and he remained still and contemplated what had happened during the cleaning and bagging process.
Orangey left the factory with one goal, to keep C’s dream alive and free as many oranges as he could from the east coast and try and get them safely back home to California. Thanks to him numerous amounts of oranges made it safely back home to their families. He made the trek from coast to coast 6 times until his capture in early 2009. Orangey lived a fulfilling life and even though he was inevitably captured he was finally at peace and knew that others would carry on his legacy.
From orchard to savior, orangey will live in the rinds of others for generations to come. You will not be forgotten
It was a bright, sunny Saturday morning, the birds where chirping and all seemed right with the world. Orangey had already packed his bags and was saying his last goodbyes to his fairly large family, each of which consisted of a teary hug and heart-felt hand shake. Finally he came up to his father who looked at him sternly and said, “The World’s a dangerous place, don’t do anything stupid like that time you went to Tahoe.” Now orangey knew his father meant well by these words but they hurt none-the-less.
By the time he had finished saying his goodbyes it was already midday and the sun was high in the orchard sky. Orangey walked a few yards from the house and looked back just to get that one last memory searing glimpse so that he would remember his way back if need be, turned and started to walk away. After an hour or two of rolling around orangey had reached the edge of the orchard and decided to sit down and rest for a while. He had never been off the tree before and he was already having second thoughts about leaving it, “If I knew there was going to be this much walking I would have stayed back on the tree, my goodness.” Then all of a sudden he heard a slight scuffle coming from behind, he turned around to see who it was but nobody was there, he stared at the spot for a second and then shrugged it off. A few minutes passed by and then he heard the scuffle again this time slightly louder from behind, it was at this point that he started to shake in his peel slightly, he slowly turned back to the spot but same as the first nobody was there, “Who’s there?” said orangey, nobody answered, so he continued on sitting and relaxing under the shade of an oak tree. After a while of sitting in the warm glow of the sun and letting a cool breeze lick his face he slowly drifted off to sleep.
He awoke with a start hours later with a splitting headache and laying in what appeared to be a large wooden box. Startled, he got up and looked around the room. Through the dim light he was able to make out 20 or so other oranges stumbling around the room in a distant manner. He walked up to the nearest one and asked, “Hey buddy, what is this place?” the orange just looked at him with a vacant expression on his face and after a couple of seconds continued walking around the room screaming out random curses. Confused, orangey started walking around until, in the corner of the box closest to him, he saw an orange beckoning him over. When he reached the corner the orange said,
“What’s your name kid?”
“Orangey, what about you, you got a name?”
“Yeah, it’s Citrus sinensis. What was an upper classy like you doing all the way out by the edge?”
“I wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, so I thought why not try and start fresh ya know.”
“Oh, is that what you wanted, eh. Well you’re in luck! You are currently in a shipping container destined for the east coast and our inevitably deaths ya dumb ass!”
“WHAT!?! Why?”
*scoffs* “Who knows, these creatures have been kidnapping anyone who’s gone anywhere near the edge, bunch of schmucks what the hell'd we ever do to them?”
“What creatures?”
“What do I look like, an fuckin' zoologist. All I know is that their huge and mean and they’ve been taking oranges from all over the Southern California area and jamming us into these boxes and shipping us half-way across God knows where.”
“What, I mean… Wha...”
“Look...kid, I can see you’re a little out of it right now, why don’t you sleep it off go grab some food and talk to me in the morning. You’ll feel better, I promise.”
Citrus Sinensis was an older orange, in his late 40's. He was born and raised in the town of Solvang. When he turned 18 he joined the UOMC (United Oranges Marine Corps.) He was promoted to the 2nd armored C.O. after the battle at Der Mal, and earned the medal of courage after he held off Fruit Fly (F.F.) forces single handedly until reinforcements arrived during the Blitz. He proved himself time and time again throughout his carrier, but on November 25th, 2008 on a routine shakedown run of the neighboring town of Tropicana he was captured. But even then he showed valor when he got three of his men to safety before they where also captured. Physically wise he has small yellowish spots all over his body and he is slightly more oval than the other oranges. He has a tattoo of his squad insignia on his upper right arm, and has the aura of an orange whose life has not been an easy one, and even though he had a tough peel you could see sadness in his eyes.
The next day Orangey woke with C.S. standing over him holding a cup of water,
“Wake up sunshine.”
It took orangey a moment or two to get his bearings and then taking the cup said,
“Thanks C. How long was I out?”
“Ah, not too terribly long, couple of hours at the most. You feelin’ any better?”
“Oh I’m awesome.” said orangey sarcastically. “Do you have any idea where we are?”
“No idea, we left port last night so we can’t be to far from home, oh and don't call me C alright.”
“Well tha—“
Before orangey could utter another word the lid of the box was ripped open, and for the first time orangey was able to see the ugly mug of the creature that had captured him. Looking back around he saw that everyone else had gone deathly still, he quickly dropped and laid there with out making so much as a twitch. For what seemed like a lifetime the creature just stood there looking at all the oranges and then reaching his hand down into the crate he grabbed the orange closest to him and started to rip off his peel in a sadistic fashion.
“What the hell is he doing C.!?!”
“Shut up and don’t move!”
“But...”
“I said shut up dammit!”
"We can't just sit back and let this happen!"
getting up orangey started to make his way toward the creatue, but he was quickly tackled by Sinensis and pinned to the ground and said,
"What the hells the matter you? You wanna die, huh!?!
"No..."
"Then shut the hell up and don't move, you got me!?!"
"Yes!"
Laying back down orangey looked back at the helpless orange and looked in horor as the creature drove its fingers into its flesh. After every last piece of peel had been removed from the poor oranges body the creature ripped the orange into pieces and popped each piece into its mouth like it was a piece of candy. The creature looked as if it was savoring each and every piece and was relishing in the moment. The horrific incident of terror was over before it really began and the creature soon reattached the lid of the box and walked off. It took a while for this event to sink in, everyone just stood there shocked. Orangey then felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see C looking back at him. “You ok?” Said C, “Yeah, um, yeah I’m a, I’m ok.” “Good cause we gotta find a way out of here and your going to help me.”
That night wasn’t a night for sleeping, instead orangey and C started coming up with plans on how to escape before the creature came back. But after hours of failed attempts the two oranges gave up and went to sleep.
The next morning the two friends woke to find that they where being carried into a menacing looking building with random pipes going every which way. Soon they where beyond the doorway and orangey looking around saw a horrific sight. Oranges where being tagged and then forced into mesh bags before they where thrown back into the containers. “What’s going on C?” “I don’t know orangey, but I think I know how to escape, just follow my lead.” Orangey opened his mouth but then quickly shut it because the creatures had starting putting oranges from their crate onto the conveyer belt that led into the belly of the beast. Soon orangey could feel the cold hands gripping his back and was almost immediately placed onto the conveyer belt. Looking at C he knew that he was about to do something drastic and stupid. As soon as the hands of the creature let go C made a break for it, “No, what are you doing!” said orangey. But it was too late to do anything, C had already jumped off the belt and onto the ground and rolled like he had never rolled before, and just before he was out the door he was grabbed from behind and yanked from the floor. Orangey saw C get captured and was terrified but at the same time relieved when he saw that the creature wasn’t going to eat him, he was just going to put him back on the belt, but this was not to be. Due to the sanitation of the floor C had become too contaminated for human consumption so C was to be disposed of. This came as a blow to orangey and he remained still and contemplated what had happened during the cleaning and bagging process.
Orangey left the factory with one goal, to keep C’s dream alive and free as many oranges as he could from the east coast and try and get them safely back home to California. Thanks to him numerous amounts of oranges made it safely back home to their families. He made the trek from coast to coast 6 times until his capture in early 2009. Orangey lived a fulfilling life and even though he was inevitably captured he was finally at peace and knew that others would carry on his legacy.
From orchard to savior, orangey will live in the rinds of others for generations to come. You will not be forgotten
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