Hesitation is death.
Hovering over the bodies of the dead does nothing but allow you to become one of the many corpses. Looking into the sky ablaze with fires, shattered by the screaming machines will only cause fear to awaken. Ignore the cries of the wounded and avoid the barrages with instinct only. Never look back to see if the enemy is lost, never look back to see their glee… Surviving is the only victory in this war…
Hesitation is not an option…
Hesitation is defeat.
----
Ascending flights of stairs rapidly with absolute silence was a skill the young man had obtained in the early years of the war. With each step he climbed closer and closer to the battlefield and left the security of the Underground. Although conditions were horribly uncomfortable and unsanitary, the greatest chance of surviving was to submerge yourself where soldiers seldom searched.
His calloused hands gripped the metal bars of the ladder and twisted the hatch's handle as the rusty metal resisted. Three clockwise rotations unfastened every lock keeping the war outside, and with one last heave the door was flung open. Without a moment to spare the man hauled himself up from safety and carefully shut the access to the Underground. All the locks automatically clicked into place, and the man turned away.
The air was tense and still, the calm before the storm, and the young man smiled at his timing. Slinging an empty duffel bag over his shoulder he hurried toward the nearest building and listened for the voices of soldiers or any sounds of warfare. Yet the whole city appeared to have died overnight. Taking advantage of his luck, the man quickly scouted out the best looking place to gather supplies. An abandoned apartment complex stood in ruins about sixty feet away from the man's current position, but he took a risk and ran towards the building never allowing fear to creep up on him.
A shattered window allowed him to perform a dive roll which landed him into someone's old bedroom. The timeworn wallpaper curled at the floor and ceiling all around the room, and the entire room appeared to have been ransacked. Although as the man cautiously crept into the next room it was made apparent whoever had been here before had not been searching for rations or necessities. The only thing that was missing from the apartment was its old tenant, but everything else was left behind.
"Fucking monsters…" Turning away from the destruction, the young man approached the kitchenette and rummaged through cabinets for unspoiled food. There were packages of cheap junk food and canned vegetables which were promptly stored in the duffel bag. The refrigerator contained nothing that was still edible other than a half-empty bottle of water, so everything was left alone.
The bathroom was the next place to search as there was always a chance of there being some medicine being left behind. Approaching the room the young man stopped. Taking a deep breath he continued and threw open the door and turned immediately to the medicine cabinet above the sink. Opening it there wasn't much, but there was some aspirin and analgesics.
The flies continued to thunder and the noise roared in the young man's ears, but he couldn't look towards them. Couldn't face the reality in the old tenant's bathtub, couldn't lay eyes on defeat so bitter. Prying the gun away resulted in vomiting, but there was no time to waste so the man did not allow the vulnerability to slow him down.
Zipping the duffel bag, he hastily left the bathroom but left the door ajar clinging to some pointless hope that the horror would be remedied by someone. Returning back to the bedroom of the apartment, he searched the room to be sure nothing of value was left behind, but anything of value was taken long ago and sold for to pay for a soldier's whore.
"Don't move," the young man froze at the voice and he calculated his chances. So far they were very slim. "Put the bag down, put your hands on your head, and slowly turn towards me. If you attempt to escape I guarantee your death is the only result."
Survival is victory.
Fierce, sapphire eyes stared at the soldier and hinted at a mischievous nature in the young man. His pale skin, most likely from living in the Underground, was smooth and elicited an almost ethereal glow which was offset by the long, brunette braid trailing down the young man's back. The soldier did not react to the evidence the young man was only around sixteen years of age, but the soldier himself was in that vicinity as well.
"State your name."
"Why should I? Aren't I about to join the rest of this city in hell?"
The soldier was silent and his eyes observed the cocky grin, but his hand never even twitched despite provocation. "I repeat: state your name."
"Duo Maxwell," he replied trying to see any falter any hesitation in the soldier. There was none.
"Are you part of the rebel faction Underground?"
Duo felt his jaw tighten and could read the recognition on the soldier's face. He hoped that wasn't his final mistake. Yet the soldier appeared to waver for a moment in some sort of indecision that only the slight relaxing of his trigger finger allowed Duo to detect.
No hesitation.
Whirling around, Duo disarmed the soldier with a swift kick that caused a snapping sound to emit from the soldier's wrist. Thinking the injury would cause the man to go into shock, Duo hesitated for one second to see the reaction, but instead of tending to his wrist the soldier began to search for his lost gun. Without wasting another second, Duo snatched up his duffel bag and leaped through the window with his arms crossed to take the damage from any remaining glass.
Duo knew he should not go back to the same access hatch he had left the Underground through, but he had no choice because the soldier was obviously not an ordinary man searching for glory. He was a machine, despite the moment of weakness, Duo knew facing the soldier again would probably result in his death.
Sprinting down the street there were not other patrolling soldiers to hinder him, and Duo quickly ducked down and began to unfasten the hatch. As the locks clicked open Duo barely opened the hatch enough for himself and the duffel bag to slip through before pulling it shut behind him. Jumping down the ladder he could feel the adrenaline rush begin to die down in his system and suddenly felt a bolt of pain shoot through his entire arm.
His hand reacted from reflexes to put pressure on top of a bleeding wound, and instinctively he searched the ground to see if he had left a trail. None of the scratches from the glass on his arms were deep enough to cause too much bleeding, and luckily Duo found his new wound was not bleeding too badly yet.
"How did that son of a bitch manage to shoot me…?"
----
Navigating the Underground never became any easier no matter how long a person resided there. A new tunnel was always discovered and longtime residents would tell stories of them being lost for days amongst the labyrinth, but giving indication of where the bases were was forbidden. If a soldier were ever brave enough to try to scout out the Underground there couldn't be anything beneficial left behind for the intruder.
Duo felt his way in the darkness against the wall and left the access point at least sixty feet behind him before he dared to flick open his lighter. The only thing he had left from the time before the war, the time when his family was alive, the time when every day was a struggle between life and death.
A sound was made that served as a signal between the Underground recruits that allowed them to differentiate a friend from foe. Three light taps echoed down empty corridors and Duo responded with a short, high-pitch whistle. Another person turned a corner holding a small lantern that emitted minimal light, but the small amount of light still illuminated the lean, blonde teenager in an unearthly manner.
"It's unusual to see you this far out from the main base, Quatre. Or were you just eager to see me?" Duo grinned as he approached the blonde. Flicking his lighter shut and shoving it in his pocket, Duo proceeded to attempt to sling his arm across Quatre's shoulders immediately resulted in severe pain in Duo's right shoulder. "Fucking lucky bastard…"
"You managed to get hurt on a supply mission? What happened to being the most talented soldier and scavenger in the entire Underground?" Quatre mocked the brunette before raising the lantern up to investigate the wound. "It's not too severe and it's not endangering any major arteries or organs so we need to return to base quickly."
Shaking his head, Duo smiled. "Now you remind me of that soldier I met. Cold, distant, vaguely resembling a robot."
A confused look flashed on the blonde's face, but Duo passed him and turned the same corner that his friend had emerged from. The muffled whispers of voices sounded like screams to Duo as he looked upon Quatre's personal bodyguard squad. Although Quatre had often tried to convince the men to leave him alone, being a descendent of royalty forced to join a war did not allow these bodyguards to ever fully relax. They were always near Quatre, and many of the Underground members had come to recognize them as somewhat honorary members as they had for Quatre.
"How did your recon mission go?"
"Successful, the next big target is London, just as expected. It was only a matter of time before the neutrality act would be torn apart. England has no true military power left for a real conflict to develop, so it won't be long before the unconditional surrender." Quatre's eyes suggested the desire to pity the nation, but the war had hardened the teenager as it had all people participating. "We are also moving the main base tomorrow at dawn. So be prepared."
No hesitation.
The two young men continued down the tunnel, now followed by the bodyguards, until the entire group reached what was known as the main base. Tents were pitched up all around the enormous cavern with lanterns lit inside each one. Shadows of men quietly resting or distracting themselves from their situation never caused any longtime recruit to stare.
An enormous, black tent towered over the others in the middle of the cavern and no light could be seen from the outside although everyone knew there was always someone awake. Duo shielded his eyes from the light as he pulled back the tent's flap and silently wished he was back in darkness. Light only revealed the worst secrets of the world, and only uncovered more disheartening news.
"Report."
Duo slumped into an incredibly uncomfortable, metal chair and placed his duffel bag on a huge table nearby. As two men went to inspect the bag and contents Duo began, "Battlefield was silent, searched for supplies in abandoned residency, was ambushed by enemy, but obviously evaded and suffered only minor injuries."
"A mere foot soldier caught you off guard? Maxwell, the war is finally taking its toll on you." A husky man observed the aggravated teenager who was now on his feet. "The mission was a stealth mission and obviously you failed at that much. You are sure that the soldier did not have any way of finding the access hatch?"
"I doubt that was merely a foot soldier… probably one of those damn, greedy mercenaries that are throwing themselves into this war to get a nice paycheck! I didn't fail that mission, it just didn't go flawlessly as hoped. But when does anything go perfectly anymore?"
The room fell silent for a moment before the husky man spoke again, "Well despite what happened, you appeared to have gathered some useful rations. Although I don't understand why you picked up a gun."
Duo snatched the gun away from one of the inspectors and slid it into his back pocket. Without another word he exited the tent and returned to his own which was… cozier and way more compact. He slid the gun into a backpack that was tucked away in the corner and unrolled his flopped onto his sleeping bag.
Sleep came quickly.
----
Hello, hello! It's been quite some time since I have written anything other than gross essays, etc. for school so it is a glorious feeling to be producing a new story. Hopefully this glory that I have felt has been transferred onto my computer and has created a marvelous story! Although I will obviously let you readers be the judges of whether or not this can be described as glorious... or disturbing... or just plain stupid.
Anyways I was kind of inspired by some things I learned about World War I and II in throughout this year so I am going to write a war fanfic with the Gundam boys. Yes, I promise somewhat reasonable amounts of updates, so just give this a chance.
Any critique is appreciated, flames aren't really appreciated but I won't die if someone flames me so... yeah. If you are such a loser you can't think of anything really helpful to say to a struggling writer, then that sucks for you. This really wasn't supposed to be a rant. But anyways...
Feedback is loved! R & R people! R & R!
~ Shari Maxwell