Resistance: Final Push

Our Last Chance

There was no reason to be there. He knew deep down that he didn't want to be there in that office, staring down at the man who he had to refer to as "General." Sure, he was a soldier, but even he had his breaking points. Captain Donny Salsmick was tired of war, tired of the Chimera, tired of walking through the forest thinking that a Chameleon would sneak up on him and disembowel him. He was tired of fighting an enemy that clearly had their army outnumbered by tens of thousands, if not millions. Donny was just exhausted, to the point where he just wanted to drop his gun and walk away from it all. He wanted to be with his wife, spend the last few moments of life with her, holding her and telling her that sooner or later, all their suffering would end. But instead, there he was, still wearing his Black ops. uniform and still clutching a Carbine rifle in his arms, awaiting orders. Donny sighed and fiddled with his gun a bit, desperately wanting to smash it on the ground with fury.

"What is it, sir?"

The general was sitting there, still wearing his general's outfit, feeling not much better than Donny was. Of course, he'd never admit that. The remaining soldiers still alive trusted in him and went to him when it came to moral support. But truthfully, the general didn't know how to start his sentence without just saying it. The two men stared at each other in silence, with nothing to hear except for the clock ticking and the faint gunfire and explosions outside the building. The general sighed heavily and pushed his fingertips together.

"Do you think that's it for us?"

"Sir?"

"Us. The human race, Captain. Do you think we'll be extinct in a matter of months, maybe years?"

Donny shrugged. "You tell me, sir. Ever since I first saw a Chimera, I began to realize that anything was possible."

The general blinked and tightened his jaw a bit. "This is supposed to be the part where you say, 'No, General, we're gonna send those fuckin' Chimeras right back to their own dimension,' Captain."

Donny brushed a hand through his dark brown hair and started to rub his forehead. "All right, let's just maneuver past this dance and get to the point: America's in trouble. Over half this country's citizens are dead or dying, our military's been heavily decimated, and even though that bomb that went off in the middle of the sky took out a huge chunk of those gorillas, they're not gonna stop attacking us until we're all dead. We don't know what to do, we don't know how to do it, and a lot of us are losing or have lost all hope."

Donny held up a hand when the general opened his mouth. "Before you say anything, just know that I'm not one of those soldiers whose lost hope. I'm not a coward, and I'm not going crazy. If anything, I don't think I've been saner right now than I was since this war started."

The general leaned forward and let out a small chuckle. "Are you resigning?"

Donny didn't answer him directly. "Last time I spoke to my wife, she said she was pregnant. And considering we had sex the last time I saw her in person, the time fits. That was about three months ago, General. You've seen those cocoons in people's houses; you have any idea how many friends of mine were deployed into their home town, only to realize that their whole family has been turned into Grims?"

"Are you resigning?" asked the general, more sternly.

"I am asking you to let me have more personal time."

"So you can run away like a coward with your precious wife?"

"I am not a coward," said Donny firmly, "I just don't care any more."

"What about your team, Captain?" Now the general was raising his voice. "What about all the other soldiers who know you, who look up to you, who depend on you?"

"I depended on you once, and everytime I needed you to provide my team air support, or to send backup, or do something that'll stop us from being torn to shreds by Stalkers, you looked the other way. Where were you when four Titans were assaulting an entire team of Black Ops. soldiers? Where were you when we were in Vegas getting our asses handed to us by the Steelheads? Where were you when my team was forced to watch two very young soldiers get their faces ripped off by Howlers?"

"I thought Howlers were extinct?"

"Don't change the subject."

"So, let me get this straight, Captain: you're saying that because you don't care any more, that you should just give up hope on humanity and bend over and let the Chimera fuck you in the ass. But as long as you're holding your wife's hand while they sodomize you, you'll be fine."

Donny sighed exasperatedly. The general drummed a few of his fingers on his desk. "I thought so."

"Sir—"

"We may have a way to…get back at the Chimera. At least long enough for them retreat for the next couple of years."

"Sir, they have us by the balls. They have absolutely no reason to retreat."

"The Fission Bomb didn't work, but we can try Hale's method in our own country."

"Hale's dead, and he's part of the reason why our Chimeran situation is ten times worse."

"If you recall the situation in London, after Hale destroyed the Chimeran tower and killed a handful of Angels, all the Chimeras on the ground just fell down and died. So that got me and several others thinking, 'What if we destroy the towers in America? It only took Hale half a week to retake an entire country; surely it would take us the same amount of time.'"

"So, what, you want my team to go around America, save any soldiers and civilians in distress, and destroy any towers we come into contact with?"

"In a nutshell, yes."

Donny scoffed. "I'd be better off sticking my handgun in my mouth. The only person who has managed to even try doing everything you just said was Nathan Hale—who's dead—James Grayson—who's MIA and possibly infected with the virus—and Hale's team of Sentinels, all of whom are dead, short of Capelli."

"Exactly. You should be proud; you and your team will be the very first human beings who aren't infected with the virus to do something as extraordinary as Hale."

"You're not even asking me."

"Salsmick, we only have one shot at this. If we wait too long, then the opportunity will be gone forever. We might as well strike while the iron's hot, don't you agree?"

"Suppose I say no, and walk out that door behind me."

"Oh, you won't do that. You keep telling me you want to see your wife again, but how can you if you're locked away in a jail cell, in a city she doesn't even know is still intact?"

Donny frowned. "You're threatening to arrest me? Out of all the things—"

"We know about your various criminal activities, Captain. The only reason why no one ever brought it up before was because we figured a valiant soldier like you could be very valuable on the battlefield. But since you're so adamant in resigning, I see no problem with letting all the skeletons out the closet."

The captain sighed and chuckled wryly. "So it's down to blackmailing, is it?"

Like always, the general never gave a straight answer and changed the subject. "Your team will be deployed in San Fernando Valley in the next few hours. One of the towers has been spotted there in the heart of the city, and if you team is able to destroy it, we might just take out all the Chimera on the Pacific Coast. I suggest you get ready."

Donny stared at the general with his nostrils flared and his blood boiling, resisting every urge in his body to leap forward and attack the officer. He wanted to break his nose so bad, but knew that doing so would only give him and all the other superior officers a bigger reason to lock him up. Although, given their current situation, being stowed away in a cell would do wonders for Donny. At least he'd be safe from the Chimera there, temporarily. The soldier turned around and stomped out of the general's office, slamming his door along the way.

Donny slammed his locker shut and started to pant, unable to keep the frustration bottled up any longer. He was in the locker room with his other six soldiers, all of whom were also shocked and angered by the general's decision.

"Told you not to trust him." said Danton.

"Shut up, Private."

Private Lee Danton was the cynical soldier in the group. The only thing he enjoyed more than killing the Chimera was pissing off his teammates.

"Captain, I thought you said you wanted to leave all this—"

"I can't do that, Sergeant, not without ending up in jail."

Sergeant Tommy Polick, unlike Lee, was hopeful and patriotic. He had the same attitude as the general their captain reported to, but he was much more calm, and less manipulating or corrupt. Nevertheless, he had no trouble pushing his teammates past their limits if the outcome meant success.

"So we're gonna be this guy's workhorse until he doesn't need us any more and puts us all down?"

Corporal Jonny Myles was the only soldier in the squad who didn't trust anyone with a rank higher than his. It wasn't that he was paranoid, just very cautious. He had heard about the rumors going on with the Sentinels and Hale too, and seeing as how Hale was the person who not only turned into a Chimera, but damaged the planet's chances to strike back at the enemy hard, he didn't know who could turn on them next. He honestly thought that the captain was intentionally going on all these suicide missions just for the thrill of it.

"If you wanna be negative about it, yes, Myles, that's what's gonna happen."

"Did you even try to tell him about your wife?"

"You know he doesn't give a shit, Livy."

Corporal Olivia Vernez was one of the few female soldiers in the army who was just as adamant at defeating the Chimera like any other male soldier. Of course, she was a bit sensitive when it came to personal matters, especially people's families. She also had lived through the horrors of walking into town only to discover that everyone was locked inside a cocoon, waiting to transform into a Grim.

"Eh, you know how he is, Captain. You'd be better off saying you need some time off to go clean out your guns, since those are the only things he cares about."

"Mickey, just shut up. We all know this is gonna end with you saying, 'He's da boss, Captain. He can do whatever the fuck he wants and we have to listen to him,'" said Lee.

Corporal Mickey Tavern was the only soldier on Donny's team who never bothered arguing with his superiors, no matter how asinine their ideas were. He told himself that it was all for the best and that the outcome would always end up with the Americans winning, and the Chimera losing. So far his theories had been wrong. But unlike Lee, he wasn't so pessimistic, and always tried to encourage the team to keep moving forward, despite always being shouted at by Lee. The bulky man standing next to Mickey was Lars Rooney, although "man" may be an exaggeration. Everyone who knew Lars thought he was a statue; he could go days without talking, and even when he did, he wouldn't say much. Lars would just nod and say "Yes, sir" or "No, sir" or just shrug or grunt. No one knew much about him really, except he hated the Chimera, and he was bold enough to try and attack a Howler with his bare hands. He didn't kill it—he actually almost had his organs ripped out until Donny blasted the beast with his shotgun—but a lot of the soldiers thought Lars had a huge set of balls. They figured Lars was crazy, and that he wasn't a soldier to mess with.

"I'm just sayin', Lee."

"You're always just saying."

"Guys, bitching about it isn't going to help at all. Did the general say specifically what you did ten years ago?"

"Why does that matter, Polick?"

"Because if he didn't, he could just be bluffing. For all you know, that asshole's just forcing us to do this just so he won't have to."

"Wow, didn't know you were a coward too, Sarge."

"Are you saying you wanna go through with this?" asked Myles.

Lee shrugged. "Nothing's better than putting a few more Hybrids six feet under. 'Sides, from what the captain's telling us, we don't have a choice here."

Donny turned around and sighed as he leaned against the locker. "He said I didn't have a choice. Look, I've known all you men—and Livy—for years now. You've all served under my command very diligently and without questioning my orders. Except you, Lee—you question everything I do. But that's to be expected."

"Why thank you," he said, while grinning.

"I won't force you to come with me, and I won't call any of you cowards for retreating. But I do know for certain that our chances of survival will increase dramatically if we stick together. And who knows, maybe the general isn't lying through his teeth this time around…maybe we might be able to put a stop to the Chimera. Does anyone here still have—I mean…have a family?"

Tommy, Lars, and Lee shook their heads. "No."

"…I had a daughter…" muttered Myles softly.

"The only living relative I can think of is my brother," said Mickey, before shrugging, "and I don't know where he is."

"My parents and a brother," said Olivia.

"You guys know if you leave now, you can spend the rest of your time searching for them."

"Captain, my brother always teased me for not sticking up for anyone or anything; I'm pretty sure if I leave now, his opinion of me won't change." said Mickey.

"There's no point in living in this world if it's infested with the Chimera. I'd be better off trying to find a way to kill 'em all with you, Captain."

"I'm serious men—and Livy. At this rate, none of you—"

"We're aware of the risks, Captain," said the sergeant. "We all know that we may not make it back home, we all know we could die, and we all know we could be infected by the virus. In all honesty, we're better off staying as a team and fighting the Chimera together, instead of going our separate ways. Even if we wanted to leave, we probably wouldn't even get to our families or friends before the Chimera caught us."

"So you'll stay?"

Lee chuckled. "'Til the end, Captain."

Donny smiled. "Good. Now, get your guns ready and let's move out soldiers! I don't want those gorillas stabbing me in the back 'cause you were too fucking stupid to check your clips!"

Tommy grinned, knowing that that was the captain's way of saying, "Thank you." He may have been on the brink of hopelessness, but the soldier they all served under still had fury flowing in his veins and hadn't lost his touch.

"Yes, sir!" said all the soldiers, before following the captain out the building.