Mindless Dogs

Chapter One: Origins Part One


There was pouring rain, it beat against the soldiers and pounded down on them. Many were sick, if not from the cold water, then from the infected wounds they received. The black rolling clouds above held no promise that the rain was going to let up soon. It held nothing of that kind of promise.

Lightning flashed, it illuminated the sky so brightly that each and every member outside was momentarily blinded. Deafening thunder followed. The soldiers outside were covered in thick, dark, mud. Many had given up trying not to get the thick sludge on them, and instead, sprawled out in it. Their bodies using it as a bed, letting the thick sludge sink to fit their own bodies. Truly, it was better than sleeping on the cold hard floor they were used to.

One soldier, who had taken off his helmet ages ago, turned over in the mud to face another. His blond hair was caked in the substance around him, and it was smeared on his face. Still, he had a wide, lopsided smile on. "Hey, you!" He called out to the person lounging beside him. The other soldier turned his head to acknowledge his presence.

"What?" The other drawled. It had been a tiring day, and the smiling man beside him only seemed to make him more… tired.

"This your first battle?" He asked. The other looked at him, clearly bored.

"No."

"What's your name?" The blonde man asked again. The other man sighed, and took in a deep breath.

"My name… is Salem." He told the younger man. The blonde had a wider smile than before.

"Salem-?"

"Don't mock, I still don't know yours." Salem told him. The blonde man raised his eyebrows, and leaned back. He rested his head against the mud, and felt it sink in. Water hit his face, but he knew that it was going to pour soon, so he didn't complain… just yet.

"I'm Andrew." He told him. Silence fell between them, a silence that Andrew wanted gone. "Ah, had a great life 'fore all this shit happened." Andrew spat out.

"Mine wasn't that fabulous." Salem said quietly. This made Andrew's head turn toward him.

"Either way, its worse now, right?" Andrew asked. The other man frowned. He reached up and took off his helmet. Black hair fell out, and a smooth, unmarred face was shone. Salem sighed. And ran a hand through his black hair.

"Yes. It's worse now." Salem breathed out. Andrew licked his lips and looked down.

"I had a girl." He told Salem off-handedly. Salem smirked.

"So did I."

"Died in the first bombing. Not even from the kingdom we're attacking right now." Andrew told Salem. "That was two years ago. Was pretty upset when it happened."

"Were you going to marry her?" Salem asked.

"Ugh, well, I was planning on it. One day just… wasn't ready, back then." Andrew murmured. His mind drifting off to the last memory of her: his beautiful Emily. She had thick, dark hair that was just past her shoulders, and wide, blue eyes. She had a good sense of humor too. But she was gone. Forever gone, and was never coming back.

A lone tear escaped his eye and traveled down his temple before reaching his hairline. It was lost next to all the other raindrops that hit his face. She was gone, for two years now. He was over her, he was over her, at least, and that was what he kept repeating in his head. "What was your girl like?" Andrew asked.

"She is… was… a school teacher." Salem started.

"Is she dead?" Andrew cut in, sincere curiosity in his eyes and despair in his tone. He knew what it was like to loose someone close to him, and he was just… curious. Salem closed his eyes.

"Yes. She had… a poor heart condition." Salem muttered, hoping that the blonde man beside him didn't hear. Andrew, however, heard every word.

"Shit, that sucks." He muttered. Salem smirked.

"Died before I was even enlisted." Salem told him. Andrew had a look of disbelief on his face.

"What'd she look like?" Andrew asked. Salem flashed his a cold glare. "No it's not like that! I just wanna know so that I can picture her better. Like, my girl, Emily, had dark curly hair and blue eyes. See? Just like that. Nothing dirty… or shallow, I guess. I just want to know." Andrew tried to defend himself with the rushed explanation. Salem eyed him wearily, but said nothing else.

"Her name was Janette. She had long, blonde hair and green eyes." Salem murmured.

"Damn betcha lot's of her students had crushes on her!" Andrew said loudly.

"She taught a pre-school class." Salem corrected him.

"Oh, heh, right." Andrew trailed off. Salem smiled slightly.

"What was special about Emily?" He asked. Andrew looked up. A raindrop fell into his eye.

"Gah!" He bent forward and started to blink. His mud coated back shone whenever lightning flashed. Andrew squeezed his eyes shut and willed the sting to go away. What was in that water? A faint chuckle started, and, slowly, got louder and louder. Andrew opened one eye – the eye that hurt in the first place – and saw that Salem had his head thrown back and was laughing. There was no need to laugh as hard, or as loud as he did. But the sound seemed to make the dreary setting much more… happy. The sound was something that was not common on a battlefield, and made many of the other soldiers head's turn. Salem leaned over and slapped Andrew hard against the back, making his head slam into his knees. Mud coated his forehead and got into his open eye. "Ah!" Andrew lifted a hand to his head and put pressure on the mud-coated eye. More laughs were heard.

"Don't rub it, the mud will spread." He heard Salem tell him. Andrew groaned.

The rain got harder and more frequent, and soon, the entire camp was being pounded with sheets of rain. Andrew lifted his head up and tried to use the water to clear his eye. He blinked a lot, though it couldn't be seen.

"Why are we out here?" Andrew yelled to Salem, seeing, as the water was loud and near deafening to his ears.

"You really need to ask that!" Salem yelled back. A laugh erupted from Andrew's throat. "What was Emily like?" Salem asked loudly. They were only a few feet away from each other; yelling was not necessary.

"Emily? She was waitress. Made jokes all the time, to me, or anyone else. Always got people to laugh." Andrew told him, the volume of his voice a little bit louder than Salem, but he didn't care.

"Why didn't she become-" Salem started.

"A stand-up comedian?" Andrew finished for him.

"Yeah!"

"Had terrible stage fright." Andrew told him. Salem laughed.

"That's ironic." Salem noted. Andrew nodded. "What about family. Have any?"

"Died when I was six. Been in foster homes since then." Andrew told him.

"I never knew my father, my mother died when I was a baby, lived with my grandparents." Salem told him.

"That actually makes sense!" Andrew told him. Salem frowned.

"Why?" He asked loudly, so that Andrew could hear him.

"You dated-"

"Was going to marry." Salem corrected. Andrew shrugged.

"Was going to marry a school teacher; ya had to be a softie! Being raised by old folks would explain it!" Andrew told him, and laughed. Salem narrowed his eyes, before smirked. He leaned over and hit Andrew at the back of his head- hard.

"Ow!" Andrew exclaimed. He lifted a hand and rubbed the back of his head. "What was that for!" He demanded.

"Don't mock my name, or my family, and we'll get along just fine." Salem told him. Andrew aped him, saying the same sentence, only in a higher pitch. Salem hit him in the back of the head again.

"Holy Etro! Would you stop?" Andrew yelled, annoyed with Salem. Said man simply laughed.

"How are you going to be able to take a bullet, if you can't even take a hit against your head?" Salem told him. Andrew grimaced.

"The fact that your not doing any damage, other than making me more stupid each time you hit me, it's fucking annoying!" Andrew exclaimed. Salem laughed some more. Andrew rolled his eyes.

"Wouldn't want to swear around a big ol' softie like me." Salem chastised him.

"Shut it." Andrew groaned.

The two fell silent, both their heads were bowed, but that was mostly due to the pouring rain. They were in sitting position, but Salem held his head in his hands and Andrew had his arms wrapped around his legs loosely.

"When do you think, it'll be over?" Andrew asked. His voice, though not as loud as it was before, still managed to reach Salem through the pouring rain. Salem shifted his weight.

"I... I don't know."

They both fell silent again. Thinking and hurting, and remembering. Old wounds were opened up, Emily and Janette, two irreplaceable people, who both held a piece of one of their hearts.

"Emily!" Andrew called. Their small apartment was brightly decorated, courtesy of Emily, but Andrew had his tastes in it as well. One of them being a large flat screen TV with numerous gaming systems. "Emily! We gotta go!" Andrew yelled.

"Ah! I'm coming! Gimme a sec!" She called back. Andrew rolled his eyes to the ceiling and sighed. Women, they always took so long to get ready. Andrew put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall.

"Can't believe your dragging me to this, and you're not even ready!" Andrew called out. He heard a loud groan come from far off.

"Sorry, but unless you want to find out how long it takes to put on make-up, piss off!" She yelled back at him. Andrew smiled widely. He could imagine her flushing out of embarrassment.

Andrew looked around the apartment. He was right beside the front door, so he had a good look at the majority of the floor plan. The living room was right in front of him, the tan couches were cheap, but comfy and didn't look girly, and the large flat screen was to his left. Beside the living room was the kitchen, which was probably the largest room in the apartment. It had enough space to fit a circular table with four chairs easily, that, and having plenty of counter space and cupboards. The hall was further right of him, and it had one bathroom, one bedroom, a closet, and a butler's pantry in it. Overall it was a very small apartment.

The brightly coloured paintings were gifts from Emily's brother, who was an art student. The two never exactly hit it off, and their relationship had been strained since. The two siblings got along much better, much to his confusion, and to add further to that, they had a strange game going. Each holiday where it was customary for gifts, the two went to great lengths to out-do the other. It was odd, but Andrew chalked it off to sibling rivalry and shrugged it off.

It did, after all, decorate their apartment.

"Okay, I'm ready." Emily told him, her voice suddenly very close. Andrew looked over to her, and raised an eyebrow.

Emily had always been pretty. He couldn't admit that she was beautiful, for her features didn't support such a declaration, however she was by no means unattractive. Her personality was like a magnet, and her looks were simple and well cared for. Her smile made her look funny, twisting her face slightly off, but he had learned to love it none-the-less.

Her make-up was heavy. The thought ran through his head as he scanned her face, noting the horrible job she had done, noticing places where the eyeliner had smudged and, as she looked up at him for approval, he noticed a stain of red lipstick on her front tooth. He grinned at that; at least his Emily was still down there somewhere.

The concealer did a bad job at hiding her skin's imperfections, in fact, only now that she had it on, did he actually notice it. She looked cheap, like a cheap harlot, but the imperfections and the way her large blue eyes stared up at him worriedly made him love her all the more: his cosmetic-challenged girlfriend.

"You look like a clown, clown." He told her with a goofy smile. Emily's mouth fell open in disbelief, and he laughed as she hit him on his arm. "Sure you're face won't melt off half-way through the night?"

"I put in on the best I could, jerk!" She scolded, before sighing. "Thank God! Hold on a sec. I'm going to go wipe this gunk off my face." She retreated before reemerging, her skin red from being rubbed raw, all concealer and lipstick gone, the only thing that wasn't touched were her eyes.

Now he could look at her. "So? Seriously, I felt like such a retard with that much shit on my face."

"Breathtaking." He joked, though meaning it at the same time. With no make-up, he saw her, not her face, but her and she as herself was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Thanks." She smiled at him, revealing the lipstick stain that had remained. With a smile he ignored it, filing it away for either blackmail or a good excuse to kiss her. His eyes trailed to her hair, which she had pulled into a high bun, some loose curls falling to frame her face.

She was dressed in a simple black dress that clung to her a little too tightly. He smiled, remembering when she told him she hadn't worn it since her high school graduation, and that during those 'oh so horrible' days, she had been obsessive over dieting.

He was glad she quit.

"Well? Was all that waiting worth it?" She asked. Andrew blinked. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Hmm?" He asked. Emily rolled her eyes.

"Do. I. Look. Good? I mean all of me, not just the make-up bit." She asked again.

"Oh, yeah, you always look good, Em." He told her. She groaned.

"Do I look better now, though?" She asked. His eyebrows knitted together.

"Course, wait," He groaned. "I don't know what you want me to say." He confessed. Emily rolled her eyes again.

"Tell me how you think I look, right now. Forget all the stuff about what your supposed to say. If I wanted that, I would have gone out with a poster." She joked. Andrew smiled.

"You're gorgeous, now, can we go?" He asked. She shook her head and smiled.

"Yeah, don't want Braden to get pissed off that we didn't go to his graduation party. He might not give us any more paintings."

"Oh, gee, what would we ever do without those." Sarcasm dripped from Andrews sentence. Emily hit him in the shoulder.

"If you're going to be like that, I'll just find myself another date." She warned. Andrew looked at her from the corner of his eye. He silently calculated the chances of her getting another date on such short notice. His eyes trailed over her figure. Yup, there were really good chances that she could.

"Fine, I'll keep my complaining to the minimum" He told her. She smirked, triumphant.

"Like I care. Geez, my brother is practically broke, we have more money than he does, and paintings are what he's got plenty of. 'Sides, I think if we got any more paintings, we'll have a collage."

"More like a museum." Andrew muttered. Emily laughed quietly.

"Just… don't complain in front of him. My dad would be pretty upset with you if you did." She warned. Andrew blanched. He took put his hands on the handle and turned it, opening the door.

"Etro, all I need is another excuse for your dad to give me another speech on how I'm not good enough for you."

"That's Daddy!" Emily stepped through the door, followed by Andrew. "Oh, and tomorrow I have a double shift, so you'll have to take the laundry to the Laundromat. Okay?" She told him. Andrew nodded. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the key to the apartment. He stuck the key in the keyhole and turned it. The bolt slid in with an audible noise. "We really need to get an alarm system." She noted.

"Yeah, cause those paintings in there are worth a fortune!" He joked. Emily smiled. She put a hand over his mouth and used the other one to put a finger to her lips.

"Ssh! If anyone knew about the treasure maps on the other side, we'll lose our job as spy's!" She joked. Andrew smiled beneath her fingertips. He lifted a hand up to lower hers.

"Wouldn't want that." Andrew leaned in and planted his lips on hers. Emily smiled through the kiss, before, sidestepping him, and breaking the kiss. Andrew let out a breath of annoyance.

"If you want another kiss, you'll have to catch me!" She called out.

"You're in high heels!" He told her, she shrugged, and kicked them off.

"Not anymore!" She bent down and picked him up, then, without warning, she took off, and rammed into the door that led to the stairs. "Catch me!" She yelled, the sound only a faint echo from her retreating figure. Andrew smiled and ran after her. He wanted that kiss.

The rain slowly stopped, and time went by. Though it was thought to be impossible, the two, Salem and Andrew, managed to fall asleep.

"Dogs! Get your lazy ass up! There's an attack coming!" Their leading commander yelled out to all the soldiers who were forced to sleep out in the rain. Salem came to first. Used his elbows to lift himself up and to observe the scene. Many soldiers were already up and heading towards the weaponry vehicle to get guns. Some were still sleeping, and some were just like him, staring at the scene, without any real intention of getting up.

"What happened?" Came a drowsy voice to his right. Salem turned his head to see Andrew open his eyes groggily. He was on his stomach, but Salem knew he didn't fall asleep like that; he must have rolled onto his stomach when he was waking up.

"There's an attack coming. Everyone is getting ready." Salem informed the blonde man.

"Attack from who?"

"It doesn't matter." Salem told him, and got up to get himself a weapon. "We're mindless dogs who do as their told. Nothing more."

Andrew licked his lips and stared at the ground beneath his hands. "Mindless dogs." He spat, and got up to join everyone else.


Andrew is the shotgun guy, and Salem is the man with the scar on his face. Currently he has no scar. This has been edited October 9 2010.