PROLOGUE
"Over there, straggler!"
Outward, though stealthily he pointed, the dark-skinned fellow in the dark green fatigues. A firefly. Across his face, an enormous, threatening scar. He was blind in one eye, this particular man, however this did not worsen his accuracy in the slightest. He was a frontier specialist, a combatant assigned with shooting from a distance. His eye was keen and alert. As the target became aligned with the iron sight, the firefly rested his fore finger gently on the trigger and held his breath for a split moment. Then, crack! The noise was deafening. A pellet left the barrel of his frontier rifle, whizzing just past the head of the intended victim. "Fuck!"
This time he had missed, and in doing so had given away his and his squad's position. The wayward attempt was backed up by a flurry of shots in the enemy's general direction, but the attack proved pointless. The fireflies were met with an even more vicious return fire. All at once, the squad of hunters exposed themselves and opened fire. "Get down!" one firefly yelled, but some were too late. It was lights out for the dark-skinned frontier-man, letting out one final chesty grunt before flailing to the ground as a bullet entered his skull. "Aye, tourist!"
The hunters were advancing, closing in on them. The woman with the medic band tied nicely around her arm was now the forerunner of her squad. "Cover me!" she yelled, wriggling out of the straps of her backpack that hung from her shoulders. There it was within her bag, the makeshift shrapnel bomb she had crafted together back at base camp. Its body was a tough aluminium can and inside it rattled fifty nails and sharp bits designed to fly into the faces of those who would be at the receiving end of its explosion. "Fire in the hole!" The woman, a designated medic, hollered as she pulled the string and hurled it in the direction of the hunters.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
I, Ezra Arteta Cortes, have officially completed this memoir on the seizing of the Jackson County Hydroelectric Dam, which took place on 25th March, 2034. In it are the events which led to and occurred during and after the battle against Oban's militia, lasting twenty-five and a half days. Under the guidance of Aradesh Patel, leader of the Fireflies, I and twenty courageous men and women were able to fight off Oban militants in a pain-staking yet incredibly advantageous offensive. What I have written in this book I declare to be strictly true. Should, in the future, it be copied or re-printed for the distribution of the greater public, I ask that you do not take away from, nor add a single syllable to, the following account.
I was first informed about the dam earlier that year, in 2034, when firefly scouters based in Wyoming returned with information regarding its occupation by a large clan of hunters. While there was no initial conflict, the scouters claimed in their conversing with the hunters that they had commandeered the dam from its original occupants (proudly slaughtering and cannibalising them) and were using it for their own electricity and water supply. Upon receiving this news, Aradesh made it his foremost objective to capture the dam both as a punitive assault and as a profitable incursion. For a further few weeks, he assigned Lucas Morton (#000332) the job of messenger, and had him travel to and from Jackson County on horseback communicating on behalf of the fireflies. Sometime in early February, I was called to be the leading general of the campaign, just days after returning to base following a small yet costly siege in Cheyenne against US troops.
With my morale already at an all-time low, I decided I would begin preparations immediately and rounded close to twenty of the most experienced and competent combatants I knew, equipping them each with one of three major long weapons: the M16A4 Assault, the Ruger Mini-14 Tactical Semi-Automatic and the Marlin model 1895 Lever-Action. At this, I sent my initial cautionary statement toward the hunters who had settled at the dam, warning them of an attack should they not comply with my proposition that they migrate elsewhere. Obviously, I prepared for the worst. On the 31st April an army of twenty departed for Jackson County, feeling like conquistadors on an expedition for conquest and wealth.
Chapter 1 coming soon. Please leave a review (constructive or praise, don't hold back!).
Ezra Cortes is the main character of his own memoir, the leader of a clan of fireflies whose goal is to conquer a group of hunters who have claimed the Jackson County Dam, known as Oban's Militia. This takes place about ten years or so after the events of The Last of Us and is based heavily on the multiplayer Factions game mode.