Disclaimer: I do not own Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. I do however own a copy and am playing it to death at the moment.
I didn't know what I did to deserve this kind of punishment. All I've ever done is what I was told, from the day that I was born up until now; why God let this happen, I'll never know why. Maybe he/she doesn't really care any more? Then again, if there was a god this almighty being could've easily stopped something as horrible as Armageddon of all things.
It all happened so quickly; everything was the same as always, and then reduced to nothing. Fire and smoke filled the air as medics scrambled to evacuate the wounded only to be crushed to a pulp. Everything went up in flames, names, memories, my friends, my loved ones, and if it wasn't already apparent…my faith.
My name is Second Lieutenant Goddard, as if rank and file matter any more…
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Journal in the Ashes
Chapter 1 – "Beneath the Sunless Sky"
It had already been a week since the meteor shower. I was trapped here in the dormitory or at least what was left of it. Thankfully my old roommates stockpiled rations under their beds in the event of power failure, being the greedy bastards they were. Digging my way out of a place I was so familiar with was awkward, considering how long I've been stationed here. The ceiling was reinforced in case of air raids, many of the hallways had been blocked off by meteorite debris with the base's Geiger alert barriers keeping me sealed in, and the windows were barred shut. What's worse is that I lacked the materials to get out of here, resorting to my bare hands to dig my way out.
The only good news was that the ventilation ducts were still circulating air through the room. Of course, the bad news was that the air that was coming in smelled rancid, almost like cooked flesh. I didn't mind though; a few days of the same smell and it seems to just blend into the background. The resistance between me and the mess hall was getting thinner and thinner.
There was a sound; the familiar humming of a motorcycle engine caught my attention. From the way that it continued to rise and fall in volume, maybe somebody survived the storm. I took a loose piece of cement and began pounding on the door for attention.
Thank anyone that there was a set of footsteps towards the door and it was steadily being opened with a crowbar. When it did finally fly open, there were some armed guards on the other side. I was really happy to see them, that is, until that bashed me in the face with the butt of a rifle.
This just got better and better. I couldn't really tell where the hell I was, or what was going on. But the only thing I knew was that when I regained consciousness, I was getting the crap kicked out of me.
Whoever they were, they had a blindfold on me. My wrists were being torn into by some mangled rope, and I was hanging in midair like a goddamn Christmas ornament or in this case a piñata.
"Where do you keep the ammunition!?" said a voice in the darkness.
If this jackass was asking for ammo, I'm guessing he was part of some raid team sent by some officer who went rogue. I was pretty much doomed, so I decided to stall the bastard by keeping my mouth shut.
There came a shallow breath as the guy reared back, followed by a loud bang as the door behind him blew open and I heard the crunching of bones against the ceramic walls. All was quiet—I was genuinely scared.
"Hang on, you're gonna be alright."
That voice was a massage in comparison to what just happened. I felt the ropes loosen around my wrists and I dropped to one knee, gripping my broken rib.
"Can you stand?"
"…Yes, ma'am."
It was equivalent exchange: get captured by bandits and get the tar beaten out of me, and then get rescued by beautiful woman. She had jet black hair that rested along her shoulders, wearing a full Rubinelle BDU with the rank of Lieutenant (Though I found it strange somebody would bare midriff in the middle of a fight). I wasn't too picky; a savior was a savior.
The two of them left the room, going down the corridor to head for the exit. Goddard began to limp from the pain, having the lieutenant catch him before he fell.
"Easy now, soldier. Don't try too hard."
One of the thieves came around the corner with a survival knife. As he lunged forward, Goddard leapt out of the lieutenant's grip and grabbed the bandits arm, bending it over backwards. The knife dropped into his hand, letting him swing around and jam it into his sternum; he punches him against the wall and pulled out the knife for later use.
"Where did that come from?"
"Rubinelle Green Berets, ma'am."
"Well now, glad you're here."
On the other end of the hall were two infantrymen motioning for their officer to hurry up. The lieutenant carried Goddard by the shoulder out of the doorway and out into the open air.
I couldn't believe my eyes. Outside was the very picture of the end of the world, everything destroyed, the landscape gone from lively green to dead grey, they sky—there was no sky. There was only a thick blanket of ash that coated the horizon as if to suffocate the planet itself. Corpses lay strewn about, dead either from the many fires that broke out, or being killed in the chaos that ensued. As much as I wanted to scream, my ribcage disagreed with me.
"Captain Brenner, we found a survivor."
"Good work; let's have a look at him."
Their lieutenant led me to one seriously tall commanding officer. He must've had at least a foot and a half on me, as well as a jumpsuit that had seen its fair share of gunpowder and shrapnel. Funny enough, I knew who he was.
"Urgh…sir!" Goddard stood up straight and saluted him "Second Lieutenant Goddard of 7th Battalion reporting in!"
"At ease;" Brenner nodded "Lin,get him to the medic."
"Yes, sir."
That night (according to my watch), I managed to get a brace for my ribs. The recovery teams went searching for any supplies that weren't too badly damaged in the shower. All that they managed to get were a few light tanks and some reconnaissance vehicles. I also pointed them in the direction of the Mess Hall, but the only thing that survived the shower was our stores of canned bread.
"Was that really the famous Captain Brenner of the 12th division?"
"The one and the same."
Entering the medical tent was Brenner, having a seat in front of Goddard.
"Good to see you're healing up. You said your name was Goddard?"
He nodded "Yes, sir."
"You wouldn't happen to be Goddard of the Volte Unit?"
"Yes."
"Now I remember," said Lin "you're 'Godlike Goddard'—veteran point man."
Surviving was a nasty habit of mine. Being the last one standing isn't something I'm proud of, having a front row view of my friends being torn to shreds by gunfire and shrapnel wasn't really worth having some stupid label attached to me. Some people speculate that I always survived by running away, others say that I was a living jinx; to hell with them, they're dead anyway.
"What of Colonel Volte?" asked Brenner.
"I don't know, sir. I haven't seen him since before the meteors."
To be honest, I didn't know whether or not that he was alive or not. I was hoping that he was somewhere, safe.
Brenner sighed, clasping his hands together "Goddard, I won't force you so I'll ask: would you please join our unit?"
I had a chance to look for Colonel Volte; I wasn't going to let this opportunity slip by.
"It'd be an honor, sir."
"Glad to hear it. We'll be up and moving in the morning, try to get some rest."
For the next four hours, I slept like a rock. Of course that night I had a nightmare, a replay of watching myself desperately running through my familiar hallways to escape the grasp of death. Fire and brimstone surrounded me until I had passed out from suffocation, finding salvation when the fire suppression system spurted tap water in my face. Strange thing about sleeping, how your dreams are nothing more than a warm feeling in your heart while nightmares are as broad and bright as daylight.
As soon as the camp clock struck six AM, the entire site was awakened to the sound of Reveille played by hand. Lin went to go check on Goddard in the medic tent.
"Rise and shine, Goddard."
Goddard rose slowly out of the cot that had been loaned to him, adjusting his eyes to the dim light of the oil lamp. Lin tossed him a holstered M9 Berretta onto his blanket.
"Captain's orders; he wants you suited up for reconnaissance duty."
Once again, I'd take on the role as point man. This was always during wartime; did it mean we were still fighting Lazuria? If the world was in such horrible shape as it is, why are still at war?
Joining up with the head of the camp, Goddard was handed a sand-colored BDU and an M4 assault rifle. Next to him was someone several years younger than him with golden blonde hair in a Cesar cut, his BDU barely fitting his arms and legs.
"Hey," Goddard addressed him "how old are you?"
"I'm sixteen."
"You sure you shouldn't be out back helping with the wounded?"
"Captain Brenner wanted volunteers to go out on point. I gotta go help!"
Damn, I wish I had this kid's enthusiasm. At one point I was the same as him, fresh and ready to see some action. Of course everything changes the second you get shot, feeling yourself being separated, stretched and strewn across the dirt. It was at that point in my life when I began to hate my job.
Goddard sat in back of a rust colored humvee with the kid and let the driver rev up the engine. Leaving the camp, the sentries out front kept their eyes trained on them while they went off into the horizon. All was quiet, as the five members recon team was several miles out before any form of conversation started up.
"Why did the captain stick us with this asshole?"
"Quiet, rookie. This asshole is your squad leader."
"Rookie?" asked Goddard.
"I'm not a rookie," the new recruit shouted "and my name is Patterson!"
Goddard let it roll off his tongue "Private Patterson."
The man in the passenger seat shook his head, "Don't mind him. By the way, I'm the medic here; the name's Sergeant Weber. The guy on you're right is Major Price."
The crew cut man with white hair and an M24 rifle leaning against his inner right thigh gestured a hello for acknowledgement.
"If it wasn't already obvious, he's this team's sharpshooter."
"You aren't much for words, huh?" said Goddard.
I was horrible at remembering names, seeing as I'm usually passed on from base to base without so much as a farewell. I was thankful that they at least had the decency to make the first move.
"This is base camp," Lin hailed over the radio "what do you have for me?"
Weber picked up the receiver and replied "Nothing at the moment, ma'am."
"Good; report when you've got something."
"Will do, ma—RPG!"
On the chipped road they took, there was a small squad holding rocket propelled grenades aimed right at them. One of them knelt down and fired right in front of them, sending a mini rocket their way. The four members of the unit jumped out of the car while the driver was too frozen in fear to move. The humvee took a nosedive into the hole and flipped forward and landed on its roof, crushing the only occupant left.
This was not my day. The only bright patch was this time not everybody was killed all at once.
Goddard and Patterson managed to find cover behind part of a concrete highway rail, while Price and Weber rolled into a ditch. Goddard's mini radio flared up with Lin's voice, shouting and demanding answers.
"What's going on? What the hell happened; come in!"
Looking at Patterson tuck his head beneath his hands and duck down, Goddard took out his radio and pressed the sending button; "We're pinned down. There're some guerillas with high explosives about twenty klicks from the camp; requesting permission to engage."
"E-engage!?" Patterson stammered.
When you take away the gear, the guts, and the glory, all you're left with is a kid. All the enthusiasm that I saw before was long gone, hiding in a hole somewhere. Oh well.
"You are clear to engage;" said Lin "take them out."
Chambering a round into his rifle, Goddard switched the radio frequency to the private line for their squad. "You heard the lady. Price, Weber, give us some covering fire. Me n' Patterson are going up close."
"We're what?"
"It's only been a few minutes, are you gonna crap out now?"
"N-no!"
"At least take your safety off; I might need your help."
Goddard peeked from behind cover at Major Price who was firing volley after volley of shots towards the mech unit. He nodded to Patterson to hop over the cover, keeping his head low as they dashed across the gap towards a piece of a skyscraper that had fallen to street level. Sticking his hand up into a fist behind him to signal for his teammate to stop, he took out his radio and ordered Price and Weber to go ahead and flank them to the right while they went the other way.
To their left was a ditch that was made when more debris hit the street; Goddard and Patterson jumped down into it and used it as cover while they watched the enemy shoot wildly at Sergeant Weber.
"Open fire!" shouted Goddard as he rested his elbows on the ground as he took potshots at the enemy. What began to annoy him was the fact Patterson refused to fire his weapon.
It was a natural reaction to realize that you were going to kill someone. It slowly goes away after the first one, and gets easier as you take more and more. There was no fun, no beauty, no pleasure in it; anyone who thinks differently is a fool.
Due to two of their members getting shot through the face, the rest of the unit looked in Goddard's direction. They began to divide their fire while falling back to a safer location.
"Goddard, what the hell is going on over there?" asked Weber through the radio.
"I screwed up, that's all."
"They're getting away! They'll probably report this back to their leader!"
As Weber finished his conversation; another humvee came barreling along the road at about sixty five miles an hour with Lin at the gun roof. She observed the rocket troops fleeing, unloading a pile of 5.56 rounds into their backs as they fled. The unit she came with then dismounted from the humvee and had a look at Goddard's unit.
"Alright, what happened here?" asked Lin.
Goddard replied to her "A few missed shots here and there, ma'am."
She sighed, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Weber put more emphasis on the answer "He means that the kid screwed up."
"What do you mean, sergeant?" Goddard feigned ignorance.
"Stop sticking up for the rookie. I saw you though my binocs; the kid was too busy stammering to actually fire his gun."
"Is that so?" said Lin "You shouldn't be here then."
"Ma'am!" Patterson begged like a dog, "Please let me stay! I can't let down Captain Brenner!"
"I don't know; how do I know you won't turn chicken-shit when we need you?"
"That was just my first time out in the field! It won't happen again!"
Lin thought about it for a minute, taking his rifle away from him and handing it to a guard in the humvee. She then pointed to another one in the back, curling her hands without wasting any movement to make him hand over his MP5 submachine gun.
I remember the look on the Lieutenant's face when she handed him the more lightweight MP5. She smiled, almost as if she was giving a birthday present to the little kid next door. I guess she wasn't as cold as I had first anticipated.
"Here, maybe this'll suit you better."
"Ma'am," he said with his Boy Scout demeanor "do not patronize me!"
"Who's patronizing who?" Lin asked "That rifle must've been a pain in the ass to carry. I personally like SMGs, to be honest. Now load up; you're going to follow alongside us."
The humvee slowly pulled away, with Major Price and Goddard walking right beside it. Weber nudges the recruit and chuckled.
"Heh, I think she likes you."
"S-Shut up!"
"Damn, last time I screwed up the Lieutenant chewed my ass out good! What does she do to you? She gives you a lighter weapon that we have plenty of ammo for!"
That wouldn't be the last time that things went bad. If anything, things were only going to get a lot worse.
On the binoculars, Weber scanned the horizon to see that there was a small dust cloud forming along a once sturdy street. He bangs on the side of the humvee to gather everyone else's attention.
"Lieutenant!" he shouted "I've got a visual on a kid! Looks like he's Rubinelle."
"You sure?"
"Positive, ma'am. What should we do?"
"We'll ask the Captain." She hailed Brenner over the short range radio, with him being first to pick up the receiver.
"Give me tactical, Lin."
"I've got a single soldier being pursued by a pack of raiders. Shall we intervene?"
Brenner said without the least amount of hesitation "Do it."
The squad jumped onto the sides of the humvee, hanging onto the sides of the windows. As soon as the last one was on, the driver floors the gas pedal and brought up the speed to fifty five MPH.
We saw the kid, running scared in his Rubinelle Military Academy uniform. We managed to catch him before he passed us.
"Hang on, kid!" shouted Goddard "We're here to help!"
The white haired kid asked "Who are you guys?"
"I'd prefer to skip the formalities." Lin said passively "Just fall back and let us handle it."
"Um…okay!" without another word, he revs up the bike engine and roars off into the background.
On the back of the humvee, Major Price wordlessly took one of the RPGs from the previous encounter and handed it to Goddard who handed it to Weber.
"What's this for?"
"I was never that great with heavy weapons." He prodded Patterson, "He's my backup, and I can't slow him down."
The group rode in on the humvee, with Goddard's unit jumping off the sides when they got within range of several recon vehicles. Lin's humvee dodged the main spray of fire that came their way, manning the thirty-cal gun and returning fire.
Goddard held his left hand up and clenched it shut quickly, signaling the rest of the team to stick close as they make their approach. They quickly make a sprint along the nearby ruins where they pressed their backs against the wall in anticipation.
Lin ordered her squad to strafe along the blind spot of several light tanks that were just a few klicks away. She fires a blanket of bullets their way, drawing attention to towards her. Her driver peeled out and drove the other way with Lin firing several shots to keep them interested; Weber and Goddard knew exactly what she was doing.
"She is one crazy bitch…" Goddard muttered.
Weber grinned "Ain't she great?"
Goddard signaled Patterson to get the RPG ready, watching him barreling down the iron sight as he knelt down and set his sights on the light reconnaissance tanks. As Lin zooms past them, he then gave him the green light to fire on them.
"Open fire!"
Patterson got up, ran back several yards behind the rest of his squad and aimed slightly higher at about a seventy five degree angle. He squeezes the trigger and squints his eyes shut as the rocket began to fly, going at an arc and falling along its constant trajectory to hit the top of one tank where the plating was the weakest and send it reeling back into the other three tanks behind it. The rest of them were damaged with shrapnel damage to their tires and barrels.
"Holy crap," Weber shouted "what was that just now?"
"Hm…" their squad leader's curiosity came out "something you're not telling us, private?"
"P…Private Patterson; Demolitions and Artillery, 3rd Division, sir."
I guess it was a good idea giving him the rocket after all.
"Goddard, report."
"Everything's going according to plan, captain."
"Good work. I've brought extra support; things are about to get messy."
Goddard signaled his squad to form up on him, keeping an eye out for extra hostiles as they inched along the wasteland without revealing their presence. As a man of his word, in came captain Brenner who had brought a set of six recon tanks with him. He began shouting over the loudspeaker, giving the order to fire off a salvo of shells in their direction.
In symphonic harmony, the roar of the 75mm guns ripped through the armor of several of the opposing tanks before they knew what was going on. The squad made their move in all the confusion, getting the jump on several squads in disarray hiding in a forest.
His entire squad opened fire, spreading bullets into the nearest recipients. Many of them were easily dispatched due to poor planning on the part of their commanding officer, whom of which decided to show his ugly mug.
"Who the hell is hitting us from behind!?"
I got a good look at the bastard. The guy looked like he hadn't bathed in weeks, covered in gunpowder and soot. What really pissed me off is that he had the nuts to keep his uniform on.
"Lieutenant, it's Lin; captain Brenner has orders for you."
"Awaiting orders, ma'am."
"We need to get rid of those jeeps; they won't get far without them."
"You got it." He let go of the send button on his radio. He shouted over the gunfire "Patterson, put a charge on those jeeps! Price, I don't want a scratch on him; understand?"
Major Price nodded and put the safety on his M4, slinging it over his left shoulder and taking out his M24 Sniper Rifle from his right. He slid his hand along the belly of the rifle to open up the bi-pod at the end of the picatinny rail. He waved to Patterson to give him the go to run like hell, watching the child scurry along the splintered trees that lay among the ground. From behind his back was a satchel pack that he took off his belt and applied it to a jeep parked next to another. As he twists the timer to set the delay, he turns to see that there was a mercenary aiming his AK47 in his face.
Before he could blink, Patterson saw the merc's head explode into a red spray of blood before being blown backwards. On the hill they were situated on, Price ejected the shell from his rifle and Goddard was busy yelling at him from over the radio.
"The hell're you doing? You set the charge already, get the hell out!"
Patterson scraped his feet along the ground as he got a running start away from the blast radius. Diving behind the wall where the rest of the squad was situated, he watched the ensuing explosion shred apart the only jeeps left in their encampment and saw the rest of the raiders escape on foot.
On the radio, Brenner gave word to Goddard "Brenner here; we've gotten rid of the armor. How are things on your end?"
"Sir, we've taken out their jeeps and they're on the run. They won't get far before…nightfall." Goddard paused after he realized that the sky was always clouded.
"Good. Report back to camp; that survivor is going to need a debriefing."
Hitchhiking with Lin, the squad went back to camp to see the white haired survivor that they had picked up looked like he'd had a rough day, with his clothes completely dirty and his hands blistered from rocks.
Brenner asked "You alright, kid?"
"Y…yes sir, thanks to you! My name is Will. I'm a…well I was, a cadet at Rubinelle Military Academy."
"I see. That uniform looked familiar. What can you tell me about what happened?"
"Well sir, I was eating lunch in the cafeteria with my friends then fires broke out everywhere and people started dying…!"
"Calm down, you've done well to survive."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Captain Brenner, and this is the 12th Battalion. This is my second in command."
Lin introduced herself, "First Lieutenant Lin. Welcome to Brenner's Wolves."
"We've made it our mission to seek out and aid survivors of the meteor shower. This place is dangerous now, I suggest you come with us."
"Absolutely!" said Will "You won't…." a loud constant grumbling went off nearby.
"Whoa, what was that?"
"Sorry, sir. I haven't eaten in a long time."
"That's a relief. I almost thought that was gunfire. Let's go get you some spare rations; though, don't get too excited. All we've got is canned bread."
The captain took a liking to him pretty quickly. According to my watch, it was only about five o'clock but the kid was already out cold about ten minutes after he took out two rations of bread.
"Goddard?" asked Weber "You feelin' alright?"
"Yeah, just fine." Goddard was standing next to Patterson, who was currently trying to stop himself from shivering, "Not a great feeling, is it?"
"What do you mean, sir?"
"It's not too late." The second lieutenant said, "You can leave my squad. If you don't wanna be in the field, you don't have to. I'm not going to force you into this."
Patterson shook his head, "I made a promise…"
Goddard knew that he was firm about his decision; he placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded "You did good today, kid."
We may have only saved one life, but for some reason it felt really good to not be alone anymore.
Questions, comments, reviews? I'd appreciate the feedback.