Welcome to the official story of Feet from Hell! I like to give a special thanks to those who read the sneak peek and reviewed, you guys gave me the confidence to start this.
As always, feel free to make constructive criticisms (I appreciate the honesty).
And if you guys like the idea of adding in your own OCs, check my bio to see the requirements and comment or PM them. (OC requirements have been updated).
No RWBY characters in this chapter, but they will be referenced. They will come soon I promise!
Story is semi-AU.
Enjoy!
"Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely" – General Dwight D. Eisenhower: addressed to Allied soldiers, June 6, 1944
March 27, 1942
In a camp inland in the Philippines
22:00 hours
A U.S soldier suddenly wakes up from his sleep when the butt end of a rifle met his face. When he woke up, his blue eyes was met with dark brown eyes of an officer, smoking, and another man standing by him with a bolt action rifle in his hands.
The captured soldier tried moving his arms, but felt rope tied around his wrists and was unable to break free.
The officer took the cigarette out of his mouth and walked towards the prisoner and spoke the same language as the prisoner, "no one here is allowed to sleep" then stuck the cigarette at the soldier's forehead.
The sensations was like someone pushed you into a furnace and left you there for hours. The pain was unlike anything he had ever felt in his first few months in service.
After a minute of letting the captured soldier suffer, the officer took the cigarette away, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it. He then squatted to the soldier's eye level, "Now then American, you will tell me where the invasion force will attack, then I will set you and whoever is left alive, free."
Before the soldier could say anything, his captured comrade beside him interrupted. "Fuck you squinty eye piece of shit! We know you are just kill us off if we told you." He then turns to the soldier.
"Rookie, whatever you do, do not give them the-" The Imperial soldier beat the man with his rifle, signaling him to silence, but the man fell unconscious instead.
The officer resumed, "Now tell me 'rookie' where they are".
Instead of revealing the information, the soldier spit blood at the officer's face. The officer wiped the blood off of his face, then smacked the rookie so hard that the rookie fell to the ground.
The officer stood up, walked to his bodyguard, and said something to him in a language the rookie did not know, and left. The Imperial soldier pulled out a knife from his boot, and headed for the unconscious prisoner. He lifted the head to expose the prisoner's neck, and slit it, leaving blood spraying everywhere on the ground. Some of the blood got on the rookie's face.
The Imperial then went for the rookie. The prisoner, while laying down, tried to move away from him, but was too slow. The Imperial grabbed the rookie, lifted him, and held the knife to his neck. The Imperial said something the rookie did not understand.
Before the Imperial slit the soldier's throat, someone came behind him, covered his mouth, and stabbed him in the back. The person then let go of the man, letting the Imperial bleed to death.
The rookie's savior then frees him. "I almost lost you there Jacob". The man looked around his early twenties, had light brown eyes, and since he didn't wear a helmet, his black, buzz-cut hair was shown. On his uniform shows a symbol, indicating he was part of the Marines.
The freed soldier named Jacob replied as he looked at the dead man next to him, "I knew I could count on you Zachary. I wished you came here sooner". Jacob was around 23 with blue eyes, and blonde hair, not buzz-cut though since his hair has rapidly grown over the hours of being trapped at the camp. Jacob and Zachary were best friends since they were children, and whatever trouble they were in, they always had each other's back.
"I know. But we can't change the past now." Zachary then asked Jacob something. "Hey, did you find her in the village?"
Jacob then became saddened. "I found her, but she died soon after."
Zachary placed a hand on Jacob's shoulder, "I'm sorry to hear that, I know how much she meant to you. Don't worry, we'll avenge her. Those bastards will get what's coming to them."
Another soldier tapped Zachary's shoulder and whispered, "We freed the rest, now let's get the hell outta here sarg."
Zachary pulled out a 1911 from his chest holster and handed it to his best friend. "Take this. You are going to need it to defend yourself is no one else is around to help you."
Jacob accepted the sidearm.
Zachary then gave orders, "Alright everyone in positions. Once the artillery hits, we start running and gunning, is that clear?"
They replied, "sir, yes sir".
Once everyone was in position, Jacob whispered to Zachary, "You think we're going to make it out alive?"
"I bet fifty dollars that we'll survive, that a good enough reason?"
Jacob chuckled, "more or less". Zachary was always good at lightening the mood when they are in dark times.
Everyone suddenly heard violent whistles from a distance. As every second comes by, the more whistle could be heard and the louder it becomes.
Jacob closed his eyes to imagine the woman he failed to save one last time before he reopened them.
'This is for you'
Zachary held up three fingers, as he was counting down. 'Three… Two… One".
2 years later
June 6, 1944
Near the beaches of Omaha
"Incoming!"
The shells from the German artillery started pounding the incoming invaders in their boats. Some boats were lucky than others, the unlucky ones were either blown up or it catching fire, burning everyone in it, along with violent screams and cries.
One shell almost got the boat where Jacob was in. Instead of fragments of the shell hitting him, only what felt like a bucket of water would crash onto him.
As the boat came close to 'no man's land', the driver yelled, "Thirty seconds!"
A major from the back of the boat began to speak to his brothers in arms. The man was around his mid-forties with an authoritative voice and his face shows a sign that says, 'I am not afraid of death'.
"Alright men this is it. Remember to keep your heads down and finger on the trigger. If you see an injured man, leave them, the medics will take care of them."
Another shell lands near them, causing buckets of water to enter the boat.
"I'll see you all on the beach!"
Jacob looked at his surroundings. He saw one soldier on his right holding some kind of necklace and his hand was fidgeting, as if he was afraid to lose it. The soldier in front of Jacob was praying out loud with a tinge of fear in his voice. The man next to the praying soldier, huffed, as if he was laughing at the praying man, and pulled out a lighter to light his cigar.
Jacob closed his eyes, 'this is for you'.
The boat then made contact with the sand, making the people inside move forward a bit. Luckily Jacob was in the back so had more time to react. Once the doors were opened, the unfortunate ones in the front were mowed down, bullets flying through their bodies and blood splatting everywhere. Jacob had enough time to hop over the boat. He lay himself against the boat, in shock.
There was a boat across from Jacob, which was on fire. He could hear the painful screams of those who are soon to die.
The major hopped over where Jacob was. He turned to face Jacob, "Keep your head down and keep moving!"
All of a sudden, a burning body from the boat across fell over and ran to the ocean of blood, never to be seen again.
The major got up and ran into 'no man's land'. Jacob quickly followed after recovering from shock.
He ran as fast as he could while also trying to avoid sudden death. His heart would pump faster and faster as bullets zoom past him, some of the bullets almost got him. To say he wasn't scared after all he'd been through during his time in service, would have been a lie.
Every time a shell would hit near him, his heart would jump violently, as if it wants to end its suffering.
Everywhere Jacob looked, all he could see was death and suffering. There was one of his brother in arms who had his insides showing, crying for his mother as he drowns in his own blood.
Another soldier ahead of Jacob was obliterated from the artillery, and some of the man's blood got on Jacob's face.
Jacob felt someone grab his leg. He looked down to see an injured man, who looked around to be just nineteen with hazel eyes, asking for help. Jacob wiped the blood off of his face and helped the injured man get to safety.
"What's your name soldier?" Jacob asked the injured man.
"It's Daniel sir!" The injured man replied.
"My name is Jacob. Don't worry Daniel, you're going to be okay!"
"T-thank y-you Jacob."
Jacob then sees men laying prone against the wire barrier.
"We're almost there!" Jacob told the injured soldier.
The man replied while laughing painfully, "looks like we are going to make it."
Just as they thought they made it, an artillery shell missed Jacob and landed near Daniel, knocking them both off balance and falling backwards. All Jacob could hear was the violent ringing in his ears. His sight was blurry as he tried to see if Daniel was okay. Once he could see once again, the first thing he saw was the bottom half of Daniel's body gone, and blood pouring out.
Jacob felt like he failed to save someone for the third time. "I am sorry Daniel".
As he tried to stand up, he felt a sharp pain in his left hand. He tried to ignore it and ran to the wire barrier.
While he was running for the barrier, he was almost incinerated from the explosion of a fuel tank that a flamethrower had on him. The same couldn't be said for the unlucky two who were escorting the flamethrower.
Once Jacob made it to the barrier, the pain in his left hand began to be more painful. He checked to see what it was, only to find out that his middle finger was blown off and blood replaced the missing finger.
The soldier from Jacob's right started shaking Jacob, "Right now isn't the time to cry over a damn finger! Get your head in the game soldier!"
'I guess all I can do is try to ignore it' Jacob thought. He turned to the radio man on his right, "Where are the reinforcements, we were supposed to have them a while ago!"
"They were wasted sarge! The Jerrys blew all them to kingdom come and not one landed on the beach! We are sitting ducks out here and we can't get reinforcements until those gun emplacements are gone!"
The men who were working on the charges yelled, "Charges set!"
"Detonating in ten!"
Jacob puts his hand over his helmet and faces away from the detonator.
"Three!"
'This is for Daniel'
"Two!"
'This is for Zachary'
"One!"
'This is for you'
1942
"Grenade!"
"Man down we gotta man down!"
"Suppressing fire!"
"There's too many of them!"
Zachary was losing men too soon, too quick. When he saved Jacob and a few other prisoners, he had about twenty men. Now he only has six brave men and a couple freed prisoners, counting Jacob.
The remaining men were sprinting to the retrieval point, which was on a beach, two miles from where they are. When they were half a mile out, they were met with an ambush, a bayonet charge.
One ambusher tried to stab Jacob, but Jacob quickly disarmed the man, elbowed him in the face, and finished him with the type-100.
Zachary flipped another ambusher to the ground, making the ambusher land on his back. Zachary quickly kills the Imperial with his sidearm.
One marine succumbed to the stab wound when he tried to save another dying marine. Another marine used the butt end of his M1 Grand to knock out his enemy and finish the man off with his rifle.
The others sprayed their guns at the remaining enemies.
As they thought they were done, more Imperials came out of nowhere.
Zachary yelled, "Jake behind you!"
Jacob turned around to see an Imperial with a katana bring it down on him, then everything turned white.
1944
Jacob continued to stab the German in the stomach to the point where he could see the intestines of the enemy. Once he finished stabbing the dying German, Jacob shoved the soldier to the ground, pulled out his 1911, and shot two rounds to the dead soldier's head. Jacob couldn't believe what he had done, but he was relieved that it was over.
A fellow man who was with Jacob yelled to the others, "Bunker's cleared!" The men cheered in victory, the battle has been won.
The major from the boat earlier came into the bunker and walked up to Jacob and the others who were with him in the bunker. "Good work all of you. Thanks to you, we have taken the beach and have a foothold in Europe."
Jacob couldn't have been happier. What he saw, what he went through today, it all reminded him of that one fateful day he was in the Philippines. The loss, the pain, the suffering he went through and still going through.
"But" the major continued. "We still have a long way to go for this war to end. What we did, was just a small step into victory. Now we must make one big leap for mankind. There will be casualties, but I assure you that their loss will not be in vain."
He then pulled out a piece of paper from his chest pocket. "Now before you are dismissed, does anyone know where I can find Sergeant Jacob Whitman?"
Jacob replied, "That would be me."
"Alright. Everyone else, you are dismissed."
Once everyone left, the major began, "you were the one that was with me back on the boat correct?"
"Yes that is correct."
"Looks like only you and me were the only ones to get out of that piece of metal. Congratulations on surviving."
"Um… Thanks?" Jacob was confused. What was he trying to say?
"Anyways, I am Major Henry Jameson and this…. Is a special order that came from the general himself".
Jacob's face turned from confusing to a questioning one, "What does the general want from me?"
"He wants you to lead and teach a squad of rookies that will come in in a few short hours. He thinks that you had enough experience to get this opportunity."
Jacob apologized, "I'm sorry sir, but why do I have to lead a group of inexperienced soldiers who hasn't seen enough to help us in the war?"
"Because sergeant" the major replied as he leaned close to Jacob's face. "If you fail your duties as a soldier, you will be joining them, if not worse."
Jacob didn't like this one bit, but he knew that orders were orders. "I will do my best."
The major continued, "I do not know why or how he chose you, be he saw something in you that I do not see at all."
"Thanks for the compliment" Jacob muttered sarcastically.
The major then questions coldly, "What was that soldier?"
Jacob instantly stood straight as a stick and felt a chill down his spine, "Nothing Major!"
The major squinted his eyes, as he if he was suspicious of the sergeant. "Good, now go and get some rest." Then he looked at Jacob's left hand. "And get your finger bandaged sergeant."
1942
Jacob wakes up to see that he was in a motorboat with other marines. He looked and saw five boats with the freed prisoner and the rescue team, but he didn't see his best friend. "W-where is, m-my f-f-friend?"
No one answered him, but they responded with their heads down. Jacob realized what this meant. His eyes widened, with tears coming down from them. "W-we have t-to go b-back."
"We can't rookie, to many Imperials, we were lucky that this mission wasn't a total failure."
"But we c-can't just l-eave with-out him".
The marine yelled, "We can't do anything about that! The sergeant is dead, get it through your damn head and stop shining like a bitch!"
Another marine spoke up, "hey man calm down, the rookie is just shook, so leave him alone". He turns to Jacob. He couldn't see what the marine looked like since it was too dark, but he could tell the marine was around his late twenties. The marine spoke, "I am sorry for your loss, but don't worry, your friend is in good hands now and doesn't have to suffer anymore."
Jacob couldn't believe it, and doesn't want to. But all he could do was accept the fact that he failed to save someone he cared about… again.
And that is the first chapter for you! I hope you guys enjoyed it and also tell me if you liked this story so far or not (I really do not like starting stories if the majority of the people don't like it).
Like I said before, RWBY characters will come soon!
Have a great day/night!
