I do not own Kimber Manufacturing, Mytishchi Engineering Works, Bible, Slayer or anything else seen (read) in this fic. All characters and events are PURELY FICTIONAL.
As the last hours of before christmas eve started to count, in a small white house, a young girl was waiting rather anxiously for something to happen. Something she had waited almost the whole year. All the neatly wrapped boxes under the christmas tree, just begging to be teared out of their wrappings and reveal the hidden presents inside them were no concer for the young girl that was sitting in a big, comfy couch but still was sitting rather uncomfortable.
"Mom, when is dad returning home?" The girl asked, for the tenth time that day.
"Honey, how many times do i have to tell you, dad will come home for christmas." Said the woman sitting next to the little girl.
"But what if he's dead?" asked suddenly the girl from her mother.
The womans face quickly flushed pale as she heard this.
"Honey, he is not dead, i know it and you know it too."
"But mom, what if he IS dead? What would we do then?"
"Amy, your father is not dead. Don't say things like that again, do you hear me?"
As the woman said this to her daughter, she heared something rustling behind the front door.
"Mom, did you hear that?" Asked the little girl, imagining who might be behind that door
"Yes, i did hear it. Amy, why don't you go and wait in your room?"
The girl nodded and ran up the stairs to her room
As the woman heard her daughters door closing, she turned off the light in the corridor and slowly opened the front door, hoping her husband would be there. As she got the door open, a suddent gust of wind pushed her back, bringing cold air and a little snow inside the house. A man stepped in the house, closing the door behind him and shrugging off some of the snow on his clothes.
The woman was waiting in a dark corner of the corridor, waiting for the man to notice her. Instead of the man noticing her, he heard a quiet whisper from someone standing at the top of the stairway.
"Dad?" Asked the faint voice of the young girl.
The man quickly turned to face the little girl, who was running towards him.
"Amy!" Gasped the man as he was quickly locked into a warm hug.
"Dad! Oh how have i missed you daddy!" The little girl was yelling from happines.
"You werent the only one missing him Amy." Said the woman, coming out from the the corner as she flipped the light switch, filling the dark hallway with a warm glow.
The man squinted his weary eyes from the suddent light.
"Rachel" The man confirmed as he saw the woman standing in front of him.
"Amy, why don't you go wait for me in the living room. I will come there shortly with your mother." The man said to the excited little girl.
As the girl left for the living room, the man turned to the woman waiting in front of him.
"Mick, it's so good to see you." Sighed the woman, giving the man an warm hug too.
"I'm just happy they let you be home with your family." The woman sighed again, tightening her hug.
"Rachel, i'm sorry but i can be here only for the christmas and then i have to return to work." Hearing this, the woman let a deep, sad sigh.
"Why did you have to join the USN- or whatever it is?"
"The USMC hun." Replied the man.
"I don't care what it is, why did you have to join them. You know it is an risky job and what would we do if someone would come knocking our door someday, telling us that you have passed away 'Serving your country'?"
The man was left wordless.
"I..." Was the only thing the man was able to say.
"Nevermind, im just happy you are here today with your family." The woman sighed yet again.
"C'mon, lets head to the living room." The man said, feeling a bit sad inside.
A few hours later when things started to settle down, the family again reunited, Amy was eager to ask all the things she wanted to know abut the things his father had done when he was away from home.
"What did you do when you were away from home dad?" The girl asked her father who was sipping a large cup of warm coffe.
"I was in Afghanistan sweetie." The man replied
"Where is Afghanistan?" Asked Amy, just starting her stream of questions.
"It's somewhere around south and central Asia. " The man answered, feeling happines inside him just from the fact that he could be around his family.
"What were you doing there?"
"I was protecting the people there from the rebel insurgents."
"Who are they?" Amy asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"Who? The rebels?" Mick asked his daughter, not sure of her question.
"Yeah, those." Confirmed Amy.
"Well, the rebels are bad people who go about, killing, hurting, stealing and otherwise being just a nuisance to the peaceful people there."
"So are they terrorists?" Amy asked, trying to summarise the whole thing.
"Well yes, in a way. They think we try to opress their religions and steal away their lands, so they fight us and anyone who has anything to do with the NATO, US or anyone else."
"Fucking hajjis i say." Mick suddently blurted out.
"What?" Rachel suddently glared at him, not sure of what she had heard.
"Unnh- Nothing, just slipped out that accidentaly." The man replied, feeling bad using bad language like that in front of his family.
"Oh, okay then." Rachel responded, still holding an eye on Mick, suddently noticing a black holster on his right thigh. Before she could ask what it was, she was cut off by Amy.
"Did you have to fight there daddy?" Asked Amy, her usual happy tone gone and now carried a little hint of worry on her voice.
"... Yes, i did." Mick finaly replied, wondering how should he respond to her daughter.
The rest of the evening went fluently by opening presents, eating and just generally talking about everyting that had happened during the time Mick was away. When the night went further on, Amy started to feel drowsy, and started to head towards her room for some sleep.
As Rachel and Mick heard Amys rooms door close, they just sit in the silence, like something suddent was going to happen.
"Why do you have that thing with you?" Rachel pointed at the gun in Mick's holster.
Mick suddently realised that Rachel was talking about his pistol.
He slowly pulled it from it's holster, admiring the handiwork of the pure black Kimber Colt 1911. He gave a slight smile as he saw the light being sucked in the matte black handgun, admiring how something so small, so beautiful could again be so deadly. A single .45 ACP bullet was so lightweight, but still able to be so heavy. It was like a struggle between light and heavy. A single squeeze was enought to send the light slug propelling through the air and end someones life. A single bullet, a single flick of a finger, a single squeeze, something so small, was able to decide if someone lived to see their family, their friends, their loved ones and another day, or to die right in that spot.
Mick admired the simple, ugly lump in his hands that had the power of denying life from the face of the world. Something that had taken millions of years of evolution and perfection was suddently denied by something that's being mass producet by dozens per hour. Something so ugly but still so beautiful at the same time.
"Mick?" Asked Rachel again, making Mick snap back to reality.
"I... don't know... I just tought that i shouldnt leave it at the base." Mick replied back,
"It's not like somebody would steal that thing from you anyways."
"It's not because of that. I just felt an urge that i should take her with me."
"Her?" Questioned Rachel.
"I mean it, IT." Assured Mick hurriedly.
"Okay, i'll let you off with that one. But don't let me ca-"
"Mom! Dad! Theres something outside!" Amy yelled, looking out of the kitchen window.
As both Rachel and Mick got in the kitchen to see what made Amy so excited, Mick saw something that made him go pale.
"A Zeus!" Mick suddently screamed.
"Mick, whats an Zeus?" Aksed Rachel worriedly as she saw Mick's expression change from suprised to scared.
"ZSU-23 Shilka. A four barreled anti-aircraft weapon system. The very spawn of Satan himself." Answered Mick, as Rachel turned her head back at the huge metal beast sitting in their front yard, its turret dome turning rapidly as four long barrels were pointing towards the sky.
"What is that thing doing here?" Amy asked, scared of his fathers suddent outburst of fear and anger as he saw the tank in their lawn.
"I havent got the slightest idea, maybe it just ran out of gas or broke or something." Rachel answered Amy, pulling the girl towards herself.
"It hasn't ran out of gas as the dome is still moving and the snow has melted from its exhaust fumes. And i seriously doubt it has encountered any mechanical problems as those fuckers were built to last." Mick answered, still staring at the metal beast in their front yard.
Rachel sighed and turned towards Mick to trying complain about his cursing.
"Mick, watch your langu-" She was cut off by a loud, booming rattle that came from the Shilka as enormous flames flashed from its four long barrles. As soon as the roaring from its guns started, it came to an end. Hundrets of spent shells were covering the lawn, smoke erecting from the four barrels as they sat pleased from the havoc they had caused just mere seconds ago. Both Rachel and Amy were covering behind the kitchen counter as Mick just stood there mouth open, shocked what the beast had just did. Minutes later an explosion echoed through the area as the Shilka had raked an unsuspecting F-35. The mighty F-35 was teared apart and smashed into a small house, engulfing it in flames. As the Shilka seemed happy from its succesfull kill, it started to survey the area around it. Despite the night being dark, the Shilka seemed to stop, pointing right towards Mick.
"Rachel, take Amy with you and run!"
"B-But-" Rachel tried to argue.
"Just take and run!" Mick yelled in agony as he knew what was going to happen.
Mick could see through the four barrels, all pointing at him, like they were trying to pierce his soul. He pulled out his Kimber and took aim at the SPAAG. It was David versus Goliath but now Goliath had four 23 mm machineguns. Mick started to empty his clip at the thing. So the .45 does have the power to take a life from this world, but it just doesnt cut it when dealing with armour of this kind. The Shilka didnt even seem to notice the shooting or just didnt care.
Suddently, something caught the beasts attention.
A woman and a small girl trying yo flee away into the woods. Mick saw this too and immediately knew what was going to happen.
He tried rush towards the Shilka but stopped in terror as he heard again the loud roar of the four guns.
He knew what it was shooting at, but still had to look at the two bodies. What he saw made him gasp for air.
Rachel was lying dead on the ground, shredded to little gibs that made her almost unrecognizable. The only thing that was left intact of Rachel was her upper torso and left arm. He saw the tribal tatto on the arm and was sure that the body, indeed, was Rachel (Or what was left of her anyways). He was almost going to pass out till he saw something move. Amy was still alive, with a gapping hole on her left leg.
As the Shilka saw her too, it started to sing its trademark song of death at the poor little girl. Mick saw as Amy's body was torn to shreds, blood and pieces of meat, gut's and dirt flying everywhere.
Despite the Shilkas deafening roar, he could hear Amy cry in agony from the pain. This was too much for Mick.
As the Shilkas guns silenced once more, satisfied of the death and torment it brought, Mick could see where the last bullet had hit her beloved daughter. Right through her left eye. Mick couldn't believe this nightmare was real. Suddently the satisfied Shilka started to move, driving right over Amy's ripped carcass. as it rolled over the body, a small crunch was heard and a bloody trail started to form behind the Shilka. Mick was down to his knees, crying at the sight, yelling why the motherfucker called god wasn't there helping him.
Suddently the Shilka stopped, spinned its turret around and took aim at Mick. He was ready. There was nothing else left in the world for him to live for. But instead the Shilka opening fire, the hatch opened and a man wearing white camouflage gear popped out.
"С Рождеством Вас поздравляю. Счастья, радости желаю!" The man yelled at Mick and waved at him, quickly turning back in and closing the hatch. The Harvester of Sorrow started to roll again, driving off into the distance, shooting at anyone and anything in its path as it looked to fit.
Mick was left shocked in terror, as he sat at the same spot for four full days, not moving an inch. When he finaly got up, the radio chatter from his radiophone caught his attemtion.
"Oh god oh god oh god!"
"That's it man, game over man, game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do? "
"The ruskies have done it this time! They are nuking everything to the ground!"
As he looked up, he saw a bright flash off the distance. He just stood there, staring at the flash as destruction and death stood in its wake. An deafening bang and immense force sent Mick into the air, only to crash into a garrage wall, crushing his skull open as a big lump of his head slided off. The bright flash turned into a huge mushroom cloud as it continued to grow. Then came the heat that burned the flesh off from his dead, mangled body, leaving only a few charred bones intact.
The whole world stood in terror as two of the mightiest forces in the world collided at each other, destroying everything with their WMD's. As the western forces initially seemed to have gainde the upper hand, Mother Russia unleashed all of her rage, launching nuclear weapons ranging from mere half a kiloton to the Russian pride, the 550 Megaton 'Ultimate weapon' prototype they had been developing from 2012 onwards. And in 2013 they got their chance at testing their new toy. If they were to loose the war, they wanted to be sure that everyone around them would loose the war too. The western countries also didn't hesitate to throw everything they got at everyone. The destruction was total.
Nearly two centuries later, humanity had started to show signs of life again, only to return back to its old habits of fighting wars over little things. Were it before the apocalypse for oil, food, land, political or cultural reasons, humanity was again fighting for the seemingly same things._
