Hello wonderful readers for here is the first chapter of my revised story. I do apologize for the SUPER long delay but here it is and will start on the second chapter right away. Hope you enjoy :)
~NF
Falling Stars
CH. 1
The blazing sun and the desert hills in the little town of El Halluf were not helping in this situation. It was quiet... too quiet. On one side off to the left of a small village there stands erect a red flag on a post. On the other side to the right of a similar village was a green flag on a same post and it was on this side near a curve of a small hill in a bush where one can barely see a 105mm gun stick out from it. It was currently pointing towards the other side through the middle of a large drop with another but larger settlement stands. There it was waiting for something, just anything to happen and not just this damn silence. The sudden bounce of a shell coming into contact of the sloped hull startled the tank crew and it sounded big, possibly a 122mm. The commander swiveled his optics looking as the where the shell came from and there it spotted a heavy tank in the distance, the crew of the AMX 30 knew its cover was blown and sharply turned it's turret to the left where the IS-8 was located.
It didn't have much time that was certain, looking down the scope the gunner aimed right for the crock where the turret and hull connected on the heavy where it was most weakest. Hearing the loader successfully load a HEAT shell in the barrel he stepped on the firing pedal triggering its gun to fire at its opponent. The shell flew right across the map and right through the weak armor it exploding inside causing massive damage within the tank and thus detonated the ammo in metal and fire. The French Medium Flanker seeing its successful kill floored in reverse where by a second later a whistle can be heard before a large explosion resounded just right in front where the tank was before. 'Damn artillery, that was too close.' They knew what a G.W Tiger can do and it wouldn't be pretty to be caught by a flying shell from it. The tank began its trek across its own territory passing by destroyed hulls of ally and enemy tanks that were previously engaged with earlier. The commander ordered a APCR shell to be loaded as the tank continued on across before it met a downward slope. It took this route many times before so it kept on alert for any ambushes as it floored on down picking up a bit more speed.
A sudden splash on its left caused the driver to take a sharp right where a small hill was and took cover behind it. It couldn't be the SPG it was too soon for it to load and fire once again. It must have been another tank but where was it? Taking extreme caution the driver allowed the turret to peek out slightly as the commander searched through the optics and there he barely spotted its aggressor. It was a tank destroyer but couldn't tell what type from this distance, it backed up in the safety of its hill before another whistle and another explosion resounded from the rear of the tank destroying the tracks immobilizing the tank. 'Damn Damn Damn!' They was forced to wait as the Loader and Gunner repaired the tracks as fast as they could and that's when right in front of it a large gun peeked out and along with the front of a ISU-152. Seeing its predicament the Commander took control of the gun as he aimed for the left track of the Russian tank destroyer, fired and successfully destroyed the tracks of it restricting any movements from it until it's track was also repaired. The sound of the crew alerting the repair of the track complete the commander fired the tanks 20mm and 50 cal guns on the ISUs' right track also destroying it.
The Medium turned around and began to circle the small hill flanking the ISU-152, and just when they were about to make the final turn for the killing blow a sudden splash on the right of the tank caused it's tracks to once again become blown to pieces and also causing the tank to set itself on fire. The Gunner immediately took action and begun firefighting the engine fire with the extinguisher as the Commander looked behind from his scope, the Flanker saw the enemy G.W Tiger half way across from the small town. Looking back to the front he saw the ISU-152 move right in front of them. Having no choice the commander ordered the loader to load another shell in the barrel as he took control of the gun once again. Both Tanks were trained at each other now as time seemed to have slowed down. Both of the tank guns muzzles flashed for a split second as a shell exited the barrel right for the targeted victim. The AMX 30s 105mm shell tore through the flat frontal armor of the ISU-152 detonating within the ISU possibly killing the entire crew inside. The 152mm at the same time contacted the AMXs frontal armor but the slope of it caused the 152mm shell to slide upwards, ping the mantle of the turret and away from the French Medium harmlessly only scratching off the paint.
Believing their luck from the bounce and now that one of the bigger threats was gone noting no movement from the ISU there was one more as the gunner took control of the gun and turned the turret around and spotted the last enemy tank. The Commander ordered a HE shell to be loaded and hearing the click of the guns hatch close indicating a shell was loaded the gunner aimed at its last aggressor attempting to flee from its fate. The G.W. Tiger saw the Flanker aim straight for it knowing what would happen it attempted to run straight for the medium in hopes of destroying it with it. The Commander would have none of it as the gunner fired what would be the last shot, the muzzle flashed one last time as another 105mm shell flew right into the artillery. The shell coming into contact with the armour detonated causing the high explosive ammo to explode and destroy the SPG. The battle was finally over and the crew was grateful for that. A overview HUD suddenly appeared on the laptop showing many things one of them the name of the player of the AMX 30, 'NightFire26'.
"What a game."
Looking back at the results of the finished Pub Match I noticed with amusement me and my Russian buddy were on the top two of the list even though I felt bad he sacrificed his tanks life to save me from the stupid obj player that was no doubt hacking. But moving on I bid my newly acquainted friend goodbye then promptly shut off the laptop. I would be considered decent being 20 years old with a fair tan for being outdoors a lot, I stand at about 5.7' with black short hair, dark brown eyes, I was lean but not overly muscular. What I wear would depend on the mood I'm in but the most favorite would be Blue or Black colored clothes or a bit of both. I also wear my favorite Black Nike Sneakers, plus I carry around a Combat Knife and my M1911 everywhere unless if strictly prohibited. Glancing at the clock I noticed it was late in the afternoon so deciding to take a late night stroll through the woods I left my room, down the stairs, and past the kitchen to the front door until I heard someone call behind me.
"And where do you think you are going young man." My mother oh so said to me suspiciously.
"Oh just going out for a walk that's all." I said truthfully, turning around knowing my mom doesn't take to kindly to liers.
"Well I'm sorry but you still have chores to do around the house may I remind you. But also I need you to go out and buy me some milk."
I sighed in annoyance that I have to be reminded of the chores that I had to do but nodded in agreement so I wouldn't have to hear her blabber what I knew by memory since I was 10. She gave a dismissive wave to me to focus on the dishes before she suddenly turned around and once again blabbered out to me.
"Oh and Randal clean that ridiculously messy room! It's uncivil."
I only groaned in frustration when there was another needless chore to be added to the plate but worked on it nonetheless. Washing the dog and cleaning the pool were the more simpler tasks but Cutting the lawn of a very and I mean VERY large home was cumbersome but was also done as well but there was the last one I hated doing the most.
"Clean this messy room." I mocked to myself thinking how unnecessary this turned out to be.
"I mean who even comes up here besides me?"
I looked around noting on how untidy and 'messy' it was I mean isn't every young mans room supposed to be messy? I think so, it shows personality. But that's what mother didn't think and wanted it done straight away, placing down the trash bags I decided to work on sorting out and throwing away the papers that were scattered in the corner near my closet which some of them dated back to middle school. I just carelessly grabbed a handful of those and just stuffed it in the bag, tanking another handful I was about to stuff those in there too until a small piece of neatly folded paper slipped out from the pile and landed near my knees. Stuffing the papers in I picked up the paper and read the contents within chuckling to myself when I realized this was a little love poem I wrote to a girl I had a crush on when I was in middle school possibly 7th grade.
I remembered those years in middle school with all the drama, bullies, and all the other crud that a middle school full of idiot teens thinking they're better than everyone else has to offer. Remembering this girl which I thought was very cute and wrote to her a love poem during one of the classes but just before I could fold the paper some ass football jockey snatches it from me and begun to read it out loud in front of the entire classroom. It was a very embarrassing moment for me and quite heart breaking when the girl I had a crush on laughed at me and begun to throw insults to the injury.
"Good times" I thought solemnly.
Looking at the contents of it and really not knowing how I even got this piece of paper back in the first place I turned it over and in big letters it spelt 'lossr'. Oh that's why...
"hmhm not sure if incorrectly spelling loser makes you one too."
I just dropped the piece of paper right into the hungry mouth of the shredder that was conveniently placed there for me destroying the paper and it's contents inside. After that little memory road everything went smoothly with the silence being comfortable with the occasional item or two falling due to being disturbed or when I would throw some unneeded junk away. Throwing dirty clothes in the laundry basket I slid that aside to the two full trash bags near my door as I tidied up my night table and bed. After an hour of cleaning up my room I was finally done and hoped it looked up to mothers standard. I kicked the laundry basket out of my room and in the hallway where mother would no doubt pick it up and clean my clothes later. Taking the two trash bags I exited out the house and to the side where the trash bin was located and promptly dumped those in.
I sighed as I went into the garage to start up my hand me down pickup so I could go buy the stupid carton of milk even though I'm half to blame for that. It took a good 10 minute drive to get there since our home was 5 miles away from the small town nearby. Finding plenty of places to park I exited out of my truck and entered the food mart to find it slightly busy today which was a surprise but shrugged it off as one of those strange days. I picked out a carton of milk and for good measure took a bag of beef jerky in case I get hungry and waited in line. The sudden appearance of a news alert drew my attention to the small TV screen above as I waited interested what this fuss was all about.
"This is Clara your news reporter for tonight to bring you important news that has gotten NASA all riled up since today and here we have CEO and President of NASA Richard Allen, so tell me what is going on that has you guys jumpy."
"Well ever since the incident over at Russia a few years ago we at NASA put up a more strict policy into watching and monitoring the movements of meteorites and asteroids within our solar system." Richard explained.
"But ever since a few days ago a very peculiar meteor suddenly turned up near mars and is currently moving towards earth." He continued.
Seeing the line move I slightly moved aside allowing a local to pass me so I could continue watching.
"Is there any chance this meteor could be any threat to earth?" Asked the reporter.
"At this very moment no as the trajectory of the meteor will only pass by Earth harmlessly but the Navy has been alerted and will be ready if anything does happen." Richard said.
"Do you know how big this meteor can be and when do you think it will arrive?" Asked Clara.
"A very good question, as we know the meteor is the size of two F-22A Raptors combined and the speed it is currently at it will be predicted to arrive around Earth in a years time." Richard assured.
"Thank you Richard for your time and coming today." She said happily.
"Thank you Clara." Richard replied.
Then the local news logo appeared on screen resulting in the news and returned to the program it was on. Finding nothing interesting I was the last one in the checkout and kindly paid for the milk. Walking out with the cartoon I looked up to the stars watching it's mesmerizing lights shine within the dark voids of space. I entered my truck placing the cartoon on the passenger seat next time and started up the engines for the short drive home which I still can't fathom as to why its in the middle of the woods. Ignoring the stupid thought I arrived home on time to receive some interesting news.
"What!" I nearly screamed out.
"You have to go out to the trail and remove that tree stump that is blocking it. And there will be no arguing about it either!" I swore the stare she gave me could kill a Rhino.
Resigning I was forced to go out again to do something when she could have told me the next day due to the fact it was dark. Being 8:47 P.M. that is but I couldn't argue with her and giving me the promise she wouldn't allow me inside the house until the stump was removed. I jumped into my truck and headed out to the nature trail quickly just so I can go home and rest in my comfortable bed.
At the NASA observatory it was pretty much boring with one of the employees at work in front of a computer sipping a cup of coffee. He was currently watching and documenting the small and strange meteor that had them worked up this morning from it's unexpected discovery.
"Alright George I'm off for the day." George turns around in his swiveling chair to see his partner ready to leave with her belongings in a small suitcase.
"Ok Jessica you have a good night." Jessica waves politely before she left the building with George left alone to his own devices. Sighing to himself he turns back to the screen to continue his work until the sudden ring from his phone startled him and made him drop the coffee on the tiled floor.
"Damn it." He hissed to himself as he pulled out his phone to look at the recent text message from his wife. Replying back to the message with a chuckle he stands up and heads to a certain part of the room to clean the mess on the floor. When he picked up his mug and set it down on the table he took a quick glance on the screen then continued to clean the mess. But then something caused him to quickly drop the mop and scurry to his work desk in a hurry. What he saw worried and alarmed him greatly with the lack of the meteor anywhere to be seen and hoping it was just a bug he quickly set to work on a scan diagnostic in hopes it would pick up the meteor again.
When the scan report showed no sign of it he nearly panicked out of his seat, reaching for his phone and speed dialing to NASA command to alert them of the situation. He just hoped the meteor just disintegrated into oblivion or anything positive to happen and knew that it if the meteor was on a direct course for earth it would be at least a year before it reached its destination. But unknown to all it would be much much sooner then they thought.
"And how on Earth did I forget the rope!"
It was on this fine and cloudless night in which I was staring in the back of my truck with a dumb stricken expression. Looking up I stared at the giant tree stump blocking the wooden path ahead thinking it maybe I could just ram my truck into it and it would just fly away. But this being reality I knew I would just only wreck the truck and harm myself in the process or worse. I can just tell the tree is mocking me from my own predicament and I can just imagine it laughing at me. Hey I do have a very imaginative and open mind, nothing wrong with that.
"Well this is just great." Muttering to myself I looked to see what was in the back that could be useful which I found my camping equipment along with a few tools and my trusty sledgehammer. There was a small traveling pack that had some climbing rope but would easily break if I used it to move the tree. A medkit, compass, map, magnesium lighter, a few glow sticks, and a a couple of protein bars. I checked the backseat of the truck to see if there was any rope there but all I found was my crossbow hidden below the seats with a quiver of bolts. Finding nothing else that can help I gave up and decided I might as well make camp if I were to be here out all night till morning. Taking the camping equipment out of the truck I erected the tent, inflating the little bed and placed my sleeping bed on top.
I then set up the mobile stove burner I had and cleaned out the pan that came with it clean from any impurities. Placing that on the stove I took the crossbow with a few arrows that were rigged with a fishing string attached. I always loved fishing and I made sure to know of all the streams and rivers that flowed through these very wooden forests by heart. Heading to the nearest stream I slung my crossbow onto my back walking through the dense forest and scaring a doe on the way. Reaching the stream I slung my crossbow off my back and took one of the rigged arrows loading it onto the crossbow and clipping the line onto one of the crossbows riggings. Removing my shoes and socks I waddled into the near knee deep stream and there I stood and waited for a good fish to catch.
I sighted and peered into the night vision scope I noticed a bit of rippling movement in the water and caught sight of my dinner. Relaxing and taking a deep breath I fired the bolt and it successfully impaled the salmon cleanly. Reeling in my catch I waddled out of the water with food in hand and trekked back to the camp I setup for the night. Igniting the stove I took out some frying oil and dropped some in the pan I then took my catch and begun gutting the fish along with removing the bolt reminding myself not to forget to wash it. I cut out a couple stripes of meat and threw it in the pan with the satisfying sizzling sounds of hot oil. I would turn it over a couple of times and checking it was cooked enough to be deemed safe to consume, I then took out the stripes of meat off the pan and onto a plate adding a bit of salt to give it a bit more flavor to enjoy. While I was eating my meal I pondered on what I should do the next morning as I stared at the area where the blockading tree stump would be at then looked up at the sky to notice a streak flying along the stars.
"Hmm a shooting star. If only something interesting would happen but make a wish." I closed my eyes for a moment thinking of the tree stump being removed from the path and opened them again to notice it wink for a second. I found it a bit interesting as it streaked along until all of a sudden it did a strange and very unnatural turn and I started to notice it was becoming brighter and bigger. It then clicked in my head that it wasn't just becoming bigger but it was heading straight for me.
"Holy Shit!" I just dropped the plate and jumped as far away as I could from the flaming inferno and felt the heat uncomfortably singe across my body and strangely notice the roar of engines resound close above me then away. Looking up I barely had enough time to see it disappear in the forest and heard a sudden sound of something impacting on wood then other noises into the deeper parts of the forest. I jumped up to my feet and stared running towards where the object went and noticed that the tree stump blocking the path was cleared. Disbelieving my luck that something like this happened I continued running until I noticed that some of the trees on my left were bent and broken out of shape and looking down further I noticed whatever the thing was left a good trail of destruction behind it.
Deciding on seeing what it could have possibly been to do something like this I grabbed my small pack and trekked along the path of destruction noticing a few gouge marks on the ground until I came to a stop on a small clearing where it all stopped and right there in front of me was a vehicle. It was all grey looking and had the resemblance of the fighter in the game sabrewing 2 but the noticeable difference were the 2 turret hardpoints on top and possibly bottom part of the craft. It then came to my attention that I forgot to notice until now but looking at the front there was a cockpit and it took me a second to register that there could be a pilot in there.
"Oh shit. Hey! Anyone in there! I'm going to try to get you out!" I pulled out my combat knife and held the handle firmly as I impacted the skull crusher on the glass and the result was a slightly scratched surface and the rebound of my knife with the painful rattling shock in my bones.
"Ok bullet proof glass bad idea." I contemplated on running back to my camp to get my sledgehammer but that would take too much precious time so I looked around then noticing a good sized small boulder that was rounded and flattened on some areas. Grabbing it I ran back to the craft and was about to hit it when the sudden spew of white smoke and hissing caused me to jump back slightly then noticing that the cockpit was opening. I slung the pack off my back and opened it to grab the medkit I had calling out the the person if he needed any medical help. But looking up I sat there stock still in shock to see what slumped out of the cockpit for it wasn't a human but a extraterrestrial alien. It wasn't those stereotypical thin pale looking aliens with pupiless black eyes that is commonly seen of TV movies, no what it was would definitely impact the course of human history.
For what lays unconscious is a Dragon.