Alchemy Pt2

Chapter 6
REVELATIONS

The soldier walks me to a new room full of men dressed in red digital camouflage. They immediately stand at attention as I pass each one, I stroll by making my way to the man I was looking for- Merowe.

Tassa stood next to him, admiring a sniper rifle- a .75 caliber rifle; a weapon that strong isn’t standard issue in the military but these men aren’t exactly military. They’re black ops agents- and they’re here for the same reason I am; to stop the warcarriers from under the satellite of the war; that much I was sure of.

“Look who’s up from their nap.” Says Tassa as he slowly puts the weapon in the hands of another agent.

“I’m fine thanks for asking.” I reply.

Tassa’s lip was cut and he had bruising all around his face, I’m guessing the agents were taking good care of the soldier.

“This is Merowe;” says Tassa as he points at the man next to him. “He is the leader of the team.”

Although I already knew who he was, I didn’t interrupt his introduction.

Merowe puts his hand to his forehead and then quickly lowers it back down; I mirror his salute, then he starts.

“Did your memory come back?” he asks.

“Yes it did, thanks to you and your men.”

“How many are there in your team?”

“Ten.” He says coldly almost as if he didn’t want to talk about it. Maybe it was because he had lost some men while they were out here. Then he continues.

“We are all highly ranked, but nothing compared to you, sir.”

He spoke so highly of me, almost like he knew how great I was; they didn’t know how much I had sacrificed to become this thing. I left behind my family years ago; the day I died, and I was outfitted into this military project. They gave my wife a funeral and told her that there were no remains to bury.

Within a few years I woke up and was ready to fight again, so from that moment on I’ve dedicated my life to the call of duty.

Merowe looks away as he asks another question.

“Do you need help?”

“With what;” I ask.

“Your mission…” He replies.

“No- it’s classified and you don’t need any part of it.” I reply immediately.

There are some things that not even the highest sectors should know about.

Merowe nods in disappointment; and turns toward the closest table full of weapons. He picks up an AK-50, an improvement from the old model weapon; the carbon fiber titanium alloy makes it light and very reliable, I knew even the metals used to build this gun, which takes years of experience to learn. Merowe cleans the dust off the barrel then hands it over to me.

“Thank you,” I say, grasping the weapon by the grip as I reach for a 50 round magazine clip.
It seemed as if though Merowe was ready to let me go on my way without any further questions…

“It was an honor to have helped you out sir.” He adds.

         Merowe was about to continue but is stopped by another agent holding a tablet; he whispers at Merowe then he shows him the papers. Merowe brings his arm to his forehead; he was disturbed by the news.

“What’s going on?”

Merowe turns toward me and asks a question.

“Do you happen to know any sign language?”

“One of your agents is deaf?” I ask confused by the question.

“No;” he says as he starts toward the door.

“It’s one of the injured people we found.”

Survivors, Merowe had found people, no wonder he needed help. I felt obliged to help although I knew very little sign; I ran after the men down the corridor. I don’t know why they needed to keep survivors; but they were here…

As we quickly stomped down the hall, we passed a few rooms- one in particular caught my eye labeled infirmary; two men carried a blue plastic tarp, a body bag, they quickly opened the door revealing a room full of bags. The smell was unbearable, inside was a man looking over a body checking its contents- trying to find any proof of who this person was.

Then we cross another room labeled bunkers; the men stop here and enter.

         A room full of beds lined side to side housed women and children all injured lying in medical gowns wrapped in clean white blankets, there was a man in a medical uniform tending to the sickly people. An older man, worn out and limping; I don’t know if from age or injury but he was in no shape to tend to these people. He gave a sigh of relief as we entered the room- we quickly made our way to the presumed doctor.

“I don’t know what else to do!” he tells Merowe and removes his glasses from his face.
“She doesn’t speak, and I can’t find a way to say anything, I know very little English as it is, Merowe.”

“Calm down doctor there’s an easy way to figure this out .Are you sure she speaks English at all?” asks Merowe, as he peers over at the tablet once more.

“Selena Gomez, the name says it all; she most likely speaks Spanish and not English, old man.”

The name’s so familiar, but it couldn’t be- why would she be out here anyways? I look over at the woman on the bed… and I confirm my suspicion immediately. An older woman with silver grey long hair lay on the bed. Her wrinkles around her eyes were thin- as if time went in fast forward …

I push past Merowe and the doctor and grasp the woman’s hands. She was disoriented and wasn’t paying attention. Then she focuses on me and her eyes burst into tears. She collapses into my arms, and I hug her tight, assuring her that she was safe with me. Merowe found an important person, I wasn’t even sure why she was here but you could put two and two together.

Maybe Merowe didn’t need my help, but she did. I needed to make sure she didn’t fall to the metal hands of the Warcarriers.

From under her breathe she lets out a whisper.

“NO…”

She immediately pushes me away as hard as she can and looks away.

“Who are you? You are not real!”

I feel disappointed and hurt to know she didn’t want me around- I understand why, but I didn’t want to accept the fact. I died in her mind a long time ago- my face probably brought back memories and tragedy. She never even had a body to bury. How much worse could I have been to her, to show up here and make her life worse?

         Merowe grabs my arm and takes me out of the room, I leave Selena as she thrashes and throws random things in my direction. Cursing and bellowing as loud as she could.
The last I saw of her was a pair of agents tackling her onto the bed trying to control the angered woman.

“I don’t care how you know that girl, but she is unstable; we thought she couldn’t speak.”
Says Merowe angered.

“Who was that woman?” I tell him as he backs toward the door and shuts it.

         “I think its best you don’t go back in that room?” says Merowe- completely ignoring my question.

I decide to reason with Merowe- Merowe knew everything about my mission; he had it all written on the scanner. The classified mission- everything I knew was uploaded into my mind and it came out as raw data.

“You really want to help don’t you Merowe?”

Merowe grabs my shoulders and pleads.

I stop him from continuing- now that I knew he was still up for it.

“I need you to promise that she’ll be fine.”

Tassa enters the corridor from behind and interrupts…

“We need to finish this war.”
“Not for ourselves but for people like her. She might never see the world the same but neither will we. I don’t want to help but if it helps end this war I’ll help anyway I can.”

This war has gone on for far too long; I could understand war for disputes or for territory; but this war seemed to be for total extinction. I want to see the end of this war, and I want to know that they will never attempt this again.”

I stare at both men- tired of war; I could see what they were thinking- a world of peace in mind. They spoke on behalf of the planet and I was in between the world and the end of the war. I nod with agreement and make a request.

“We need a Helicopter.”

Merowe’s tired face slowly cracks a smile…

Chapter 7
The Team

         When I first woke up I was in a crater- and maybe the reason I survived was just pure luck, but I was on my way to destroying the warcarrier base. The missile missed its target but all it needed was to get close- it was meant to shut down any technology and that included our chopper- the EMP sent the helicopter flying out of the sky and disrupted all onboard technology. The pilot panicked as he tried to regain control, he yelled for help and cried for a miracle. He fought with every ounce of force he could until the plane hit the floor- he was the first to taste death. Trapped in freefall the trio of alchemized soldiers only held on, grasping for life. That’s when I lost my memory, the EMP shut down my body and disrupted my brain function- not the crash but the missile.

That’s when we all fell- my team. I didn’t even turn around to look for them, I wonder if they survived. I have their blood on my hands; and I can’t forget that- they were looking at me for help.

         Now, a thousand feet off the ground we drive in an identical Apache. The pilot looks very anxious as he commands the plane; he knows the skies are just as dangerous as being on the floor. We were dancing with death, especially at this height. But the helicopter was packed to the brim with weaponry.

Everybody on the plane was silent, including Tassa and Merowe, Merowe was holding onto the straps of the plane as he became more and more nauseated. Tassa just looked toward the pilot as he continually toys with switches and looks around at the radar for any bad signs.

“Why do you think she’s out here?” I ask Merowe.

“Who the girl?” he replies trying to focus on something rather than the elevation and the turbulence that shakes the plane.

“Yes.”

“Don’t know, maybe she got pulled into selective service.” He replies quickly, closing his eyes as he says it.

Tassa yells over the turbulence as he gives his opinion.

“How do you think I got here, I used to be a mechanic before they called me in for service. Mostly everyone left is from selective service; actually I myself come from the reserve but everyone I run into is reserve or leftover marines, just a bunch of lone gunners.”

I couldn’t imagine Tassa as a mechanic in his normal life; he fit the part of a soldier so well. But I guess he learned like everyone else has.

         The sun started going down- over the horizon you could see the gunfire slip slowly into the dangerous night, like the shine of stars coming from the ground below most would shine once, twice then never again. There were certainly people out there who needed our help but we couldn’t bring any attention to ourselves, the best way to help now was to finish the war and not win battles- it wasn’t about winning anymore not when there was nothing left to win.

From the cockpit I hear the pilot react to something.

“Contact, contact, incoming Southeast on the radar!” he screeches over the headsets.

I immediately look out the side of the chopper and look around back. Merowe turns toward the opposite side and jumps to his feet. Tassa quickly grabs Merowe and keeps him from getting too close to the edge.

By what I could see, there were four enemy planes in pursuit, small single person helicopters armed with pilot controlled weaponry.

As they crept closer toward the Apache they started unloading their weapons. The hull sparked to life as the plane took gunfire; the three of us quickly dodge to the side hiding within the metal plating of the helicopter for cover. The plane started filling with holes, missing us by inches.

I turn around to see that Tassa was pulling and putting together the heavy artillery turret chain-gun on the right side of the plane as quickly as possible. I immediately reach for the one on the opposite side and arm the weapon; I aim down the sights and fire the weapon.

A line of fire bursts from the weapon and violently recoils as I try to hold it steady. The gunfire hits the small plane but it quickly dodges from left to right avoiding further damage.

“They’re too fast, I can’t get a clear shot!” yells out Tassa.

The helicopters were too agile, they kept damaging our plane and we were only hitting air. By the time we entered a shot they danced around avoiding further impact. With frustration building I keep the trigger held unloading hundreds of bullets a second. I cry out stressed by the inaccurate shots I was dishing out.

Merowe comes out from behind me and aims a weapon at the helicopters.

“Mind if I CUT in?” he says and fires the weapon- a cutter like the one Tassa and I had before, only his was coated in digital camouflage.

The speedy flash of light spits out and travels toward the tiny helicopter, it tilts and lowers as it tries to avoid the shot- but the bullet follows the slick helicopter and makes a gash in the hull- the single manned vehicle spews fire and immediately explodes, falling out of the sky.

Tassa notices a shifted reaction come from the three remaining enemies as they bunch together and unleashes a barrage of bullets that tear one of the small crafts in two. I squeeze the trigger and destroy another one as it makes its way back to the other side of the helicopter. The last of the four stops its pursuit and begins to back away; slowly breaking its pursuit; hovering away leaving a small trail of smoke. Merowe aims the Cutter again at the fleeing machine and fires another line of energy.

We all return to our seats and look around at each other; we were all panting and shaking but we had the courage to smile; Tassa lets out a loud cry and pats Merowe as he tries to calm down. A second later the cutter’s bullet enters the craft and leaves a loud boom behind, nobody saw the explosion but we knew…

The team remained silent- no words could describe what we did. A tough fight although hostile made survival worth it- it kept the enduring trio to keep pushing.

         A city below crept slowly into view as we dropped altitude- gliding through the city, the turbulence faded as the pilot shifted his speed down careful to avoid the buildings around.

Then the earpiece slowly went static and a voice buzzed in.

“This is USAR 6th company, can anybody hear me, over?”

Tassa jumps to his feet.

“How did they get out here!” yells out Tassa

“You know them?” I reply.

“They’re part of the team that was attacked when we were in Chekniev. My original team…”

Merowe activates his radio and replies.
“This is an overwatching apache; we are making a run through the city, what’s the problem?”

“Thank god!” replies the person on the other end then the radio goes static once more.

“We need support, we have a handful of Warcarriers touring the city and it’s only a matter of time before they find us, over.”

Tassa looks on at Merowe who was staring back at him, I was worried about what Merowe would respond; if anything he might want to fight a danger that was too much to handle. Merowe lowers his head and replies to the soldier.

“Sorry, there’s nothing we can do over.”

“What!” yells out Tassa and lunges at Merowe his voice full of anger. He grabs him and pins him against the seat; Merowe passively raises his hands up and reasons with the angry man.

“What do you want us to do? Have you seen the damage on the plane?”

“I don’t care!” Yells Tassa; “They need help.”

I stand up and pry Tassa away from Merowe. The two stood at their positions and I dared to pick a side. I turn my microphone on and reply to the team below.

“We can help, but we need you to herd the enemy to the open, over.”

Merowe looks on without saying a word- trusting in my decision. Tassa lowers back to his seat and looks out for any sign of the soldiers.

“fine…” the radio goes static and the voice changes, the voice gets deeper then mixes in a strange quartet altering between woman and man…

I turn around and peer out the side of the plane to hear the sound of the building rooftops exploding. Tassa immediately grasps the chain-gun and looks out the other side trying to make contact with whatever was coming.

There was something wrong; I finally understand what was happening- there was never anybody on the other end of the radio.

A second later the Warcarriers appeared, surrounding us from every angle. With the Helicopter flying just below the buildings; they literally stood before us.

Merowe quickly makes a leap toward the Cutter and yells at the pilot.
“Get us outta here!”

Tassa lights up the sky with gunfire, trying to mow the enemy from left to right. I jump at the turret and aim down the sights, firing from left to right. The warcarriers quickly fire back in response, trying to hit the vulnerable helicopter as it slowly weaves away from enemy fire. Merowe raises the Cutter and fires the weapon in frenzy, hitting countless warcarriers only to be replaced by another. My weapon spins as quickly as possible spitting every bullet out as quickly as the last- then the weapon stops firing… the chain of bullets reached the end and I was completely out of ammunition.

I immediately reach for the bulky weapon attached to the wall behind my head and pry the loading mechanism apart. I see six rocket bullets already loaded, and quickly shut the weapon back up trying to avoid any more lost time. I aim at the enemy and squeeze both of the triggers simultaneously. Two rockets race out the weapon and make contact with the Warcarriers- the explosion buckles the building and hurls the Warcarriers clean from the rooftop. I race toward Tassa’s end as the Apache starts to rise higher into the air. I aim the weapon at four Warcarrier as they hide behind their bulky shields trying to avoid Tassa’s gunfire and release two more rockets. The bullets crash into the building and tear a crater in the roof. Merowe fires on picking off the enemy Warcarriers as they switch from offense and cower behind their shields. The menace stood no chance against the power of the cutter.
Merowe stops firing and aims the weapon aside; slowly we rise slowly higher into air leaving the ruined city out of sight.

“Any more surprises!” Yells Tassa at the pilot

The pilot raises his hand back toward Tassa holding out his middle finger and thumb.
Tassa sits down and says out loud.
“Those Warcarriers shouldn’t be bothering our troops anymore.”

I look at Merowe and he shakes his head- Tassa was either trying to avoid disappointment or was trying to find comfort in the fact that there might be troops somewhere below. He hadn’t figured out what the warcarriers did. They tricked us into revealing our position, they almost had us too. But we were prepared.

I try to lean back and calm my heart that was about ready to burst out my chest. I close my eyes and think back- looking for comfort in my memories. My home- only bits and pieces came to view, back then when things were simple; when everybody waited for the newest technology to land in their lap. Nobody was prepared for something this powerful. A loose quote could describe this war best.

“Preparation is not a give, it is made in the aftermath.”

Nobody was prepared… and there might not even be an aftermath to prepare for.

Chapter 8
Complications

         I open my eyes to see Tassa hunched over, bawling as hard as he could; he took the opportunity as nobody could hear him over the turbulence. He held a small wrinkled picture full of men and women and children, all smiling- he wipes his hand over their faces and smiles.

I reach into my pocket and pull out the warcarrier cylindrical battery. The one I found at the beginning of this war, the one I pondered over until Tassa told me what it was. I lean over and pat Tassa on his shoulder- he immediately pulls himself up and wipes his face clean. I hand him the cylinder and talk into his ear…

“The war is almost over.”

He looks at me and takes the cylinder from my hand. He looks at me and nods his head. He looks out the side of the plane and tosses the Battery with all his might.

“The war is the least of my worries.” He says; looks away and slides all the way back on his seat. He slowly slips the picture into his pocket trying to avoid damaging it too much.

The United States of America was now rubble- that was the full truth. All fifty one states were in chaos, including Puerto Rico. The Warcarriers made their way through South America annihilating everything from there on. The moment the world heard they just shrugged- thinking of it as an elaborate hoax. We are far from that day.

That’s what Tassa meant; what’s left after the war? Is there a family for us waiting back home?

The Pilot turns his communication back on, and yells.

“This is going to be the end of the line.”

Merowe Immediately wakes up and listens to the pilot.

“The ship took too much damage; it looks bad.”

“How much do we have left for our destination?” I reply to the Pilot as he slowly started putting the bird down.

“We have at most fifteen miles… if not more.”

“We should be more careful, from here on out.” I tell Tassa and Merowe as they reach for a box of equipment; they immediately throw the box out of the plane and unlock the latch.

The pilot takes his helmet off and strolls over to the box of equipment, he pulls out a weapon and readies himself about as fast as Merowe, Tassa was still slipping clips into his vest and the while the two agents were done. It was a great difference between the group and less trained personnel.

I ready myself just as quickly and grab a second rifle. The .75 caliber sniper rifle Tassa was messing with before. Although it was intensely powerful I felt best we had a powerful weapon against the Warcarrier. The other three carried Cutters, strapped around their backs- ready and hot.

With a quick glance back at the Helicopter, we were on our way to the greatest battle of our lives.
We creep forward in offensive pattern, making sure we were ready for any surprises.

The black street asphalt crunched below our feet as we strolled forward along the long band of road ahead. The highway was silent around here, as if though the war hadn’t entered this side of the country. We marched on looking all around for any sign of the enemy, but there was nothing around this area- it made me wonder if there was any warcarrier base out here at all.

“Are you sure there is anything out here?”Merowe yells from behind the back of the group.
“All I see is a small villa up ahead and I don’t think they’re running the entire facility there.”

“We need to make sure.” I reply to the tense man as he inched faster toward the villa.

The sound of a jet comes into perspective as we get within a hundred yards of the villa, the four of us turn back to see the plane circling overhead. It slowly turned and made a dive in our direction…

I look to see Tassa was making a run for the villa.
“Run!” he cries out.

We all start racing our way toward the broken down village- our only cover out in this hundred miles of endless highway. We had no chance of taking on that fighter pilot, not in the open anyways.

The Firepower makes its impact on the floor peeling the asphalt from off the street. The four of us quickly start running in serpentine making a harder target for the pilot above. The hot metal scattered across the highway as we danced our way toward the village.

“We can’t outrun that thing.” Cries out Merowe and keeps on running…

“We need a distraction…” says the pilot. He immediately stops running and turns toward the jet behind.

He stares at the Jet and aims his weapon; he waits calmly, closes one eye and aims at the enemy. The impacting weaponry stops and focuses on the stationery man, oddly enough not one slug came anywhere near his spot. The man slowly grips the trigger and fires one shot… the cockpit fills with red and the jet plunges even further down. The pilot lowers the weapon and drops it- his hands shake violently. He collapses to his knees and breaths heavily looking onto the floor. The shot was no less than a mile away, an impressive shot for anybody. He knew he should be dead, but his luck carried him.

“Good job Sergei!” bellows Merowe over the sound of the crashing jet.

Tassa peers over from behind Merowe looking up toward the sky. His weapon aimed upward.

“Maybe we should rest here for a while…” Tassa implies, as he pushes his way through the laminate city walls.

I run over to the traumatic soldier and raise him to his feet. Merowe grabs the weapon from the ground and follows behind.

We quickly pile into the villa; another ghost town- the only clatter around was our footsteps and equipment that rattled. Although it was intact from warcarrier damage the place wasn’t in very well condition overall. Small makeshift homes filled the town, all circling a fountain in the middle- one entry seemed to be the only way in and out of the city; which was well given since we didn’t want any more surprises.

We scurry down the row of homes to a small fire pit; we look around for a second and dropped our backpacks to the floor synchronously.

“Camp?” asks Tassa

I look at Merowe who was already unfolding his sleeping bag.

They already knew but they stopped what they were doing to see what I would answer. With a sigh and a drop of my backpack I reply to Tassa’s question.

“Yes.”

         After a few hours in; the team seemed comfortable- with a fire set in place we slumped into our mats trying to keep watch for any bad signs. Merowe looked directly into the fire lost in thought- slowly sipping from a silver canteen mumbling a few musical Russian lyrics. Sergei warmed his hands on the fire trying to beat the cold temperature of the night. Tassa on the other hand was hard at work at the well of the city. He cranked the reel trying to replenish the low water supply.

I start wondering back to the woman- Selena; wondering if she had gotten any better. Maybe the feeling of anger had passed, I hoped it had-I thought deeper into my memories closing my eyes and imagined her. Years ago, I trace back to my last memory of her- Before I boarded the plane to Baghdad, she waited alongside the other military families. Her face was full fear and pride… the last time I ever. Tears beaded down her face, afraid to let go; thinking it would be the last time she’d ever see me.

I slowly open my eyes as I get interrupted from my thoughts; I see Tassa as he marches back from the watering well with a bucket in hand.
“Well this water ain’t good enough for dinking by a long shot.” He says.

Merowe chuckles, his hands rubbing the small canteen- not moving his eyes from their position.

“What do you expect?” says Sergei
“This city is a dump, that’s probably the reason they left.”
He waves his hand at the city for Tassa to look at. Tassa tosses the bucket aside and takes a seat.
“That reminds me; I think we should check in on the guys back at base. Don’t you think Merowe?”

“Think you’re right.” He replies

He reaches into his pack and pulls out a square bulky CV transmitter. He clicks the knob on front and the static starts buzzing. A voice follows in simultaneously, a man repeating a phrase in different languages.

Merowe’s face cringes and he shakes his head, he turns the knob back and the radio goes silent.

“They’re not on right now.”

“What do you mean?” I ask

“The man on the radio is only a recording. We usually keep the radio off and inform people of what times they could get into contact with us. It keeps from letting the Warcarriers from knowing where we’re at.”
Merowe starts lowering himself into the bag, hinting that he was ready for some rest.

“Maybe we can try tomorrow.” I tell Merowe.

Tassa quickly lowers himself into the bag, takes his helmet off and continues to put it underneath his head.

“So who was that lady?” asks Merowe.

I look on as he continues, not saying anything.

“Selena…” 

I look on at the three as they looked in my direction; expecting me to answer his question.

“You can’t tell me that it’s not what you’ve been thinking about all day long.”
He says with the same razor sharp gleam he had before.

The agent in him kicked through, he knew all along what I was thinking.

I start to wind into my bag and wait a few seconds.

“She’s my wife.”

Tassa gives a sigh, almost stunned by the answer, but avoids questioning my answer.
Merowe smiles and closes his eyes giving one last reply…

“I knew it…”

Chapter 9
So Close

“Do you want to know what you are?” she says- her eyes locked on mine.


“What?”  I ask her chuckling waiting for the presumed comedy inspired answer.


She looks away- and her smile fades away.


“You’re a hero…”

My smile vanishes and I listen more closely.

“I know that deep inside you, you can do the right thing.”


She reaches for my hand and grasps it.

“I know we’ve only just met- but you are a sacrificer… please don’t change the way you are. The right thing is not easy to do but I know you can do the right thing.”

Her face slips away slowly as I am shaken violently from my sleep.

Tassa stands over me his weapon at hand- both Merowe and Sergei have theirs too.
“Wake up, they found us!”

As the sun slowly creeps over the mountains, the light sky orange in color gives way to a strange sound.

Tassa points at the gigantic fence near the front of the city, from behind the fence comes the sound of engines- tremors slowly struck getting louder- closer. From the same direction came voices, people were following the warcarriers… the voices were in a different language- not Russian; maybe German? An archaic dialect, Egyptian but not entirely- the intense voice screamed over the walls, angered.

Not knowing what to make of the voices we quickly run into the nearest home trying to get a view of whatever was coming our way.
The noise goes silent and the view at the front gate is unchanged, then the gate slams open, a task almost impossible for most people.
A row of men enter- I count six. Wearing heavily armored, helmets and shielding, they stomp into the dead city with bulky light-machine guns at hand. They freeze over the dimming fire- and look around the city, examining everything they see.

“Don’t Move.” whispers Merowe under his breath.

“Are they friendly?” asks Sergei

Merowe peers at the men

“I don’t think those are toys they’re carrying.”

I hold still aiming my weapon at the head of the closest soldier.

They hold perfectly still as one of the men moves around them looking at our makeshift camp. He suddenly screeches a quick phrase and the five men raise their weapons to their shoulders and start making their way around the city.

The look of the house suddenly catches my eye- newspapers and scraps of paper cover the walls; for some reason all containing strange WWI articles, written around the papers were dates and a strange symbolic lettering. Around the collage of historical documents stood the face of a notorious man, hoisted in the middle of the room…

I follow the others around the room as the team creeps closer toward the back of the house.

The door creaks open as Tassa pushes the rusty laminate forward-he pauses and stands still waiting; a heavy boot stomps at the front of the door and continues toward the other homes ignoring the sound of the metal. Tassa cracks the door back to place and turns toward us waiving a flurry of information.

I make out the signs as he gestures.

One is going away from us- one in the center of the village and three others circling around the village.

Merowe waves his hands at us to listen; he waits until the room is at attention and turns his open hand into a fist- he slams it straight down into his other hand then waits for a reply.

Sergei looks out the front of the home and brings his weapon to his shoulder; he creeps silently and hides under the open window. Then nods at the group- holds two fingers up and swipes them downward-Indicating two definite kills.

Tassa edges for the back door opens it again and peers at the large soldier- he holds his fist up at us then pops up his index finger, he does the same motion as Sergei and nods back at the team.

I make my way toward Sergei and Merowe rushes to Tassa’s end. I look down the sights and rest them over the head of the soldier, Sergei aims at the one standing at the front of the city. Sergei returns his attention to Merowe who was now holding up three fingers- counting down…

Three, Two…

         The silence dissipates as the room explodes into madness; Tassa fires his weapon and doesn’t ease off the trigger. Sergei lets out a three round burst, switches his weapon into full automatic and starts unloading his weapon as well.

I aim my weapon and let out one bullet, the bullet sparks on the soldier’s helmet and ricochets- I aim the weapon at his body and fire in quick bursts, the bullets rip into the heavy Kevlar and stick at the surface.

The soldiers have high end armor, sure. But to withstand the power of the titanium rounds is unheard of.

Merowe pushes past Tassa and rushes out the back door, firing as he strafes from the row of homes.

The soldiers raise their weapons in our direction and fire the gigantic weaponry with deadly speed. The team drops to the floor avoiding the barrage of burning metal. We quickly rush behind Merowe following the agent out the door and around the broken homes.

The floor around the Heavy soldiers starts to pile with empty rounds as they continually rip out bullet after bullet. At this rate they didn’t have to see any of us to get in a shot.

“This is hopeless.” Screams out Merowe

I throw my rifle to the floor and pull out the Sniper Rifle strapped around my back.

I pull the loading mechanism and slam it into place, raise it toward the closest soldier and fire the weapon at its chest hoping for the best. If the .75 caliber, high powered rifle doesn’t work then nothing will penetrate their armor.

The bullet enters the armored body of the soldier and exits out the other side- the weapon it carries stops firing and the armored goliath slumps to the floor. The last chance weapon actually worked!

I load another Bullet from the magazine into the barrel via the loading mechanism and aim at the next soldier- as he makes his way toward the group, I rip another round and the bullet explodes into the helmet of the soldier. The man screeches a bloodcurdling cry and collapses. The three others focus their fire on a lone fighter and furiously jab rounds into the hopeless shooter.

As a fourth soldier tries to make its way toward the gate- I reload, take aim and fire one last round into the sluggish body of the soldier. He falls to one knee before finally collapsing.

Four soldiers down- one to go…
We immediately trod toward the center of the city- where the last one stood. The three men take aim at the soldier and empty their weapons; the bullets graze the armor of the soldier and bounce off the surface. The soldier looks back toward the gate and dashes clear of the entrance. The team takes a second to drop their empty magazines and slap a fresh clip into their weapons. I load another bullet into the sniper rifle and out pops a light blue indicator from the surface of the weapon… last bullet.

From the front entrance stomps in a new model Warcarrier- much different from the ones we’ve seen. It gripped in both hands a gigantic three barrel cannon, the revolving chain swung as it started accelerating to fire. The body of this warcarrier was lighter- less machinery made up the body, maybe because there was less need for energy with only one weapon.

Before the warcarrier could let out a round, the lightning fast flash of a Cutter bullet dances toward the enemy- the Warcarrier completely spins around and avoids the hot light of energy and the bullets start flying. Merowe runs up the slope and dashes behind a second row of homes. The team scatters as we try to avoid the deadly onslaught…

Tassa rushes toward the front of the homes watching as the walls get torn to pieces. He aims his Cutter and fires a second round at the Warcarrier. The warcarriers eyes turn blue and emit a stinging light directly at the incoming bullet and sends the bullet up into the air in an aimless volley… this thing was different from the others.

Tassa leaps to aside and avoids the strong energy bursts coming from the Warcarrier. He crawls slowly toward Merowe who was now aiming at the Warcarrier. Merowe fires once more and the flash of light bolts again.

The third time- the Warcarrier reveals a new technique; it lowers its weapon and makes a fist. It meets the bullet on impact and sends the bullet straight down- no luck. I aim my weapon and fire the last bullet left in the clip- I close my eyes as the barrel lets out the team’s last hope.

The bullet fires into the Warcarriers head- the power punches into the fighting monster and nearly rips off the head. The machine drops its weapon and self destructs in an uncontrollable frenzy.  The warcarrier vibrates furiously as it tries to continue but eventually stops quietly.

“Regroup!” I yell out at the team of scattered men.

Merowe appears from the top of the hill with cutter still purposely aimed in the direction of the Warcarrier.  From behind Merowe follows Sergei- scampering down the hill limping with every step. Tassa claws his way from behind the nearly destroyed home we were in minutes before.

“One of them got away…” Tassa lets out.

“I don’t care.” I reply

“We should be on our way.” Says Sergei with an uneven voice

Before I could ask he brushes away any assistance- another side effect of being a hardened fighter, no help needed.

“I think that is a good idea.”

As we make our way down the hill, a coughing catches my attention- coming from the direction of the downed soldier the others had taken down. I freeze in my tracks and change paths toward the soldier. The soldier moves over to its side and unbuckles its helmet, wheezing with every breath.

I kneel next to the dying man and tear off his helmet, from behind the heavy helmet appears a man- no different than Tassa or Merowe; all but his blue eyes and blonde hair were the difference.

“What are you fighting for?” I ask the man

The man looks on at me and menacingly smiles, his teeth stained with blood.

Without saying a word the man pulls down his heavy padding around his neck- revealing an eerily familiar tattoo. The Swastika…

Merowe jumps back and picks me up off the ground, my eyes widen and I lose my balance- just the sight of tattoo makes me not believe my eyes. Tassa angrily yells in disappointment and rushes towards another dead body.

He pulls off the helmet from the head of another blonde man; he pulls down the padding and reveals an exact tattoo…

“Who are we fighting?” asks Merowe

I look back at the tattoo of the man and shake my head.

“Impossible!”

The downed man spits out a slab of blood and breaks into laughter, Merowe angrily pulls out his pistol from his side holster and aims it at the man’s forehead.

The man continues his stressing laugh and pushes his head harder against the barrel of the handgun.

Merowe looks at me and squeezes the trigger- the laughter stops with the sound of a single gunshot. The silence fills the air once more…
Merowe cracks a light voice as he pushes himself off the floor…

“This is Impossible!”

         Years ago- much further back than many of the worlds people could remember was the holocaust, a movement started by a select few that ended up leading to WWI. Within a few years they convinced people to believe that the dominant race should rule the world; that only the white skinned, blonde haired and blue eyed should rule the planet- the purest, they said. I could see how this war was in their favor- they planned from the moment they lost the war; but was it purposely?

To test the world of its strengths as they build their weapon, the Warcarrier.

The counter retaliation for the Warcarrier was alchemized soldiers; that is what I am. That was the last minute effort of the United States… it seems almost incomparable.