TITAN III

by Jurgeno123

Set in the small town of Ap Lei Chau in Hong Kong, a young boy named Darren Chang is caught up in the middle of a bombing run in his neighbourhood. Already devastated by the loss of his mother, he must escape the town and head towards Aberdeen where hopefully he can find refuge. (This was a short story that I wrote when I was 13, feedback would be much appreciated)

III

Why? Why does this even happen to the world? Why do people spend so much money on killing each other using powerful weapons? To most, war is a pointless act of rivalry that causes death and suffering, but for a handful of people on this world it's the only thing standing between them and peace.

My name is Darren Chang. I used to live in Shenzhen with my mother. She was the nicest person I ever knew. She was always there for me no matter what happened. I was always one of the outcasts of my school and that's why I never really liked going to school but after a day of pain and grief, my mum would give me the warmest of welcomes as I walked into the house. She meant so much to me and with all this pain and suffering in a poor neighborhood, she was my last string of hope and I even lost that. We were constantly updated with news about the ongoing war but we were never really affected by it until it actually hit us. Everybody was told to evacuate as quickly as possible. Amidst the massive crowd my mum and I were walking as fast as possible but we were separated. I saw her hand reaching out to me but I kept on being pushed onwards and so all I could see was her hand drifting further and further away.

It was like any other morning except for the fact that I live with a bunch of people I barely even know. They're my foster parents and they're absolutely horrible. I live in Hong Kong now, in Ap Lei Chau. I guess it's not that bad, there are some things that my old house didn't have like Internet and a TV, but I can't stop thinking about my mother. Where is she? Is she alive? I sure hope she is.

There wasn't a soul in sight on the streets because everybody wanted to stay "safe" at home and I almost forgot to mention the fact that America and China are at war over this missile that America is believed to have built. I didn't even know if it existed at the time but by the end of the day, I knew that it definitely existed. At the time, China seemed awfully desperate to try and get that missile. Photos of this missile were leaked out onto the internet. I'm pretty sure that the missile was called Titan III and it was printed on the side of the missile itself. At least that was what I was told via radio.

At times like those, there was nothing to do unless you really enjoyed watching the news which was on every single channel and they were all talking about the same thing; about the war; about countries slowly being eaten away one by one by dominant nations; about the fact that Hong Kong was one of the "safest places" on the Earth at the moment even though it was in China but all that was about to change. Hong Kong was about to go from "Safe Haven" to "Barren Wasteland".

For the first time in a while, I saw somebody outside on the streets. The problem was, she was sprinting and crying for help. There was definitely something wrong but before I could do anything about the situation, the thunderous sounds of planes roared overhead. I looked out the window to find a series of bombs soaring through the air. The whizzing falling sound of the bombs became louder and louder. The buildings at the end of the street were bombarded and blown to bits by the bombs. One by one, the buildings collapsed and I knew that if I didn't do anything about it now, I would probably end up with the fate as the buildings. Without thinking about it, I leapt out the window a storey above the ground and landed on my feet as the building behind me burst and fell apart. Debris was flying everywhere and I tried to run as fast as I could but it felt like my ankles were burning up on the inside so the fastest I could go was simply limping and trying to drag myself along the street as fast as I could.

I was almost at the end of the street when the roaring sound of the planes could be heard again amongst the screams of children and the panicking of the adults looking for a safe place to hide. Ironic wasn't it; Hong Kong was supposed to be a safe haven for people. "Safe" is a strange word. "Safe" means to be free from hurt but the problem with that is that when you are safe, there is always a feeling that you're not safe but in fact trapped in an area where you're simply a sitting duck waiting to be attacked out of nowhere.

I had to act fast as the deafening sounds of the planes overhead got louder and louder. I continued on my way towards the harbor as fast as possible in hope to find a boat or something I could use to escape in but out of nowhere a bomb hit a nearby car and blew it up way too close to me. Before I knew it, I was sent flying through the air and into the glass window of a store. I tried to get up but all I could hear were the loud ringing sounds inside my head, an easily recognizable drone being played at an ear-piercing pitch. I noticed that there was blood on the floor and on some of the glass shards. I took a look at my left arm to find lots of blood rolling down my injured arm. There was a ton of glass shards stuck inside my bicep. I didn't know what was worse, the fact that my arm was bleeding heavily or the terrible ringing sound inside my head that just didn't seem to go away but I was soon to find out the true worst part.

Although I was bleeding and probably the closest thing to being deaf, I scurried along quickly towards the harbor with the screams and echoes of people that I couldn't help because of my condition. I finally made it to the harbor when I found the worst part of the situation.

Across the harbor was Aberdeen, or what's left of it. I could see tall structures in flames or tilted to a side, one of them which in the end collapsed into the harbor destroying everything in its path. I could see others heading towards the harbor as well for safety only to find that Aberdeen wasn't the only place being bombed. I knew exactly how they felt. The planes were still doing their bombing runs over on the other side. Then, the worst part came. In the distance there was some kind of flying silo, a missile and when it got close enough, I could see the details of the missile including the words printed on the side of the missile, "Titan III".

BY: Jurgen Ohlendorf