Chapter 1: Arrival

Entry #1

I can't remember much right now. In fact everything is a bit hazy so I'll just write some things down to see if I can jog my memory. I am corporal James Tanner, serial number 91327. I am 19 years old, I live, or lived in Colorado. Can't really remember the name of the town or city I lived in... But I remember I am part of the union, some faction or military organization, I don't really remember. I'm part of the 21st R and R division(Rescue and reconnaissance), fox company. I'm currently sitting near the wreck of a crashed helicopter. After the damn thing crashed, I managed to climb out before the thing blew up. I think there were 3 other guys with me but their bodies were vaporized by the explosion and what ever was left was turned into ashes by the fire. I can hardly tell them apart from the torn and blackened wreck. For some reason, I can't talk no matter how hard I try, I'm not sure why but that doesn't matter. I'm armed and I have some provisions that was in my pack as well as what I could salvage from the wreck. I saw a city in the distance and a couple of flying cars from the looks of it. I'm about 3 miles out, I'll make my way there and try to figure out what is going on here. Better take inventory first.

Inventory:

Weapons:

1x M16a2/ 7x 20 round box mags(loaded) for the m16

1x 1911 colt pistol/3x 7 round clips(loaded) for the 1911

1x Kabar knife/5x Mk2 grenades/2x M18 white smoke grenades

2x satchel charges/1x browning high power/1x remington 870

Supplies:

3x Road flares/1x lighter

1x 40 round box of 5.56 nato/1x 30 round box of 45 acp rounds/20x 12 gauge shells/ 1x 17 round clip(15 rounds) for the High power

1x Standard weapon maintenance set

1x Med pack/3x 12oz bottles of water/5x MREs

1x Emergency blanket/1x Gas mask/4x gas mask filters

1x U.S map/1x Compass/1x Binocular/1x P77 portable radio

Clothes:

1x m1 helmet/1x olive colored military garbs/1x dog tags/1x pair of boots/1x flak jacket/1x finger less gloves

End of entry

1 Hours later

Entry 1 update

I'm on the outskirts of the city and I've been scouting it out with my binoculars. From what it looks like, the people down there aren't human. Apparently, this place is Corneria city which proves I've been transported to another planet or something like that. I'm not sure how but this place is really freaky. The citizens all animals from what I can tell. They also seem to have the same alphabet as we do and they are capable of speaking English. So far, I've seen some mammals, avians and some reptiles but absolutely no humans. Not sure what classifies as sentient here but I really hope fish is still on the menu because I can't subsist off vegetables for the rest of my life. I don't know what is going to happen if I approach so I'm just going to leave my gun in the bag. But I'm going to leave my pistol in my belt holster just in case something happens. Hopefully, I don't have to kill anyone.

End of entry

A dog swerved around me. "Look at it, it's so ugly"

Another one leaned into their friend. "What a freak"

A cat stood by her friends and sneered at me. "It looks like a monkey, should we call the police, I heard the Venomians are up to no good"

Then a bird shouted at me."Go back to Venom you hairless ape!"

As I'm walking through the mall, all these... animal people went around me. All of them seemed to look at me with mixed emotions. Some looked at me with horror, others confusion and some with down right disgust. The people around me were going about their leisurely business, only stopping as I approached to get out of my way as they hurled insults at me. They were all avoiding me as if I were diseased, creating a small pocket of space between me and them. It was extremely awkward but I didn't mind, frankly, I was just as disturbed as they were. They were disgusted by my appearance, I thought they were freaks, fair is fair. Suddenly, the ground began to shake as the sound of an explosion pierced through the cacophony of the city. Everyone around me seemed to scream all at once, running in all directions as the sound of humming only seemed to get louder and louder. Looking up, I noticed ships flying over head. They looked like landing craft and there were some looked like fighters. More explosions as well as the sound of, what I could assume were lasers, began to sound off in the distance as smoke began to rise behind the buildings. I turned to run and join the civilians in their escape. However, when I turned around, I was quickly pushed down and trampled. Eventually, they stopped coming and I stood back up again but it was already to late. The air was pushed around me and the sound of the humming became a screeching noise. I turned around and saw that a drop ship was approaching. One of the turrets on it turned in my direction and began to let forth a stream of lasers. I just barely managed to run right as the lasers tore up the street and duck into a coffee stop. Unslinging the rifle from its sling, I quickly forced a mag in and pulled the bolt back. I took cover behind a table, I pointed my gun at the entrance and waited for the enemy soldiers to come after me. I could hear the ship land a few shops away and the sound of a ramp being dropped. "Sweep the area, kill any civilians you find."

"Lets catch that son of a bitch"

"Over there! They are trying to escape!"

I could hear the sounds of their armored boots as they began to approach my position. The first soldier that crossed my path was a monkey wearing some sort of armored combat suit. His eyes were covered by a red visor that was attached to his helmet and he was covered in metal plates. I raised my m16 and put 3 rounds into his face, killing him instantly and shredding the helmet he was wearing, sending him backwards. "Man down!"

"Over there, that coffee shop, kill that asshole!"

The second soldier that came through the door wore the same uniform but he was a lizard. I shot him 4 times in the face. That's when they began to angle their weapons around the door way and shoot into the store. Realizing I was outnumbered, I looked around for a way out. I noticed an automatic door that was jammed in the back of the store by a chair. Reaching into my pouch, I pulled a frag grenade out, pulled the pin and tossed it towards the entrance. As it flew through the air, I began backpedaling and spraying bullets at the entrance. I entered the passage way I quickly kicked the chair back into the store and took cover to the right of the door. The door shut, I could hear the grenade go off, the shrapnel bouncing off the door as things quieted down. I quickly reloaded my assault rifle and put the spent mag back into my bag. When I looked around, I realized I was in some sort of back area of the mall that was probably used as a passage way for the shops to transport supplies without disrupting the flow of the customers outside. There were several doors on both sides, the key pads beside them glowed red which probably meant they were on lock down. I turned right and ran down the passageway as fast as I could. As I neared another opened door I could hear sobbing and a man's sadistic laugh. "You stupid little bitch, I already killed 3 of your friends, you really think I'm going to spare you?"

As I turned the corner, I entered what I believe was a loading bay. I saw a monkey that was holding a rifle similar to the other soldiers I've been fighting. To the right of them were 3 corpses, all of them look like they were shot in the chest. I pulled my knife out the sheath and I got ready to stab the bastard. I snuck up behind him. "Actually, I think I'll save you for later, you look like ghack!"

I cut him off as I put my hand over his mouth and stabbed him in the neck. He struggled a bit so I began to cut outwards. I cut through the rest of his neck and dropped him to the ground. He made a gurgling noise as he slowly chocked on his blood and died. The female poodle only stared at me with wide and horrified eyes. She was wearing a green apron and a black and white uniform. I offered her a hand and she flinched back before she accepted it and I helped her up. If I could talk, I would ask if she was okay, but I can't. "Thank you, are you military, what's going on out there, is there an extraction zone."

I only stared at her and shook my head no. "Okay, well what do you know"

I stared at her with a blank expression hoping she would get the idea. "Well... can you talk?"

I shook my head no."Shoot... Well my name is Fay Spaniel, can you help me?"

I shook my head yes and handed her the blaster I picked up from the dead soldier. She took it and immediately checked the cartage that was in the blaster. Satisfied with the red glow it emitted, she slapped it back into the gun. "Okay, lead the way"

I began to run to the end of the loading bay near one of the open garage doors and she followed closely. Hiding to the left of the garage door, I took a look outside. If there were any words to describe it, it was hell. Outside was chaos, the street was filled with debris and fire. Over head, the sound of fighters going at each other filled the air. I took out my radio and began to search for a signal. For the first few turns, all I heard was static but then I began to hear a voice get through. "*static*ll civilians are head to the nearest evacuation sites for extraction *static* Corneria stadium *static* Central park, Hope hospital, Corneria space port*static*-"

The signal cut out we were just left with static."Central park is 2 blocks down from this place, if we can get there, we can get out of this place!"

I nodded to her idea and stepped out into the street. Looking left and right, the street looked clear so I signaled for her to run across with me towards salvation.

10 minutes later

The street combat was intense. Laser fire from the fighters above pelted the street as Venomian soldiers began march through with their armored vehicles. We crept through ally ways and ruins. As we began to approach the extraction zone, the fighting got louder and louder. Fay seemed to be shaking a lot but she managed to keep her composure. As we rounded the corner, we saw a Venomian tank that looked like a t-34 shooting some sort of energy ball at the defending Cornerian soldiers. There were also 4 Venomian soldiers protecting the sides of the tank and one was using a mounted turret on top of the tank. All their shots seemed to be bouncing off some short of shield that covered the defenders but the shield looked like it was dimming as more lasers began to hit it. Using the element of surprise, I signaled Fay to stay on that side of the road while I crossed to the other. After I took cover at the corner of the other building, then I signaled for Fay to shoot. I shot the 2 soldiers on the right of the tank and Fay shot the one soldier on the left. The soldier that was on top of the tank noticed us so he spun the turret around and began to shoot at Fay while the other tried to rush me. Acting as quickly as I could, went back into cover and I took out my knife. When the soldier turned the corner, I stabbed him in the leg, turned him around a used him as a shield as I began to shoot at the other soldier with my rifle. He noticed me and shot back but all the lasers were soaked up by the guy I was holding and the spray of bullets I sent at him tore through his armor and killed him. Knowing we had to act fast, I signaled for Fay to climb onto the top of the tank with me. After we climbed to the top of the tank Fay gave me a confused look. "Okay what now?"

I made the gesture for opening up the hatch to the tank turret. She seemed to get the idea and she grabbed the tank hatch while I reached into my bag for a frag grenade. After I pulled the pin, I signaled for her to open the hatch. She quickly released the latch that was on the hatch and popped it open. I tossed the grenade into the tank compartment and she shut the hatch. As we both jumped off the tank, we could hear the sound of the soldiers inside screaming as they frantically tried to throw the grenade back out. However, their screams were quickly snuffed out when the grenade detonated in turn, caused the ammunition rack inside the tank to explode. The blast knocked us onto our faces but we managed to get back up and look back on our handy-work. "Hey! Get over here, were about to take off!"

I could hear one of the soldiers over the sound of the fight. I started to run, however she remained rooted in place so I grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her towards the escape craft. It resembled a b-26 but instead of rotors, it had some sort of jet engine on the wings. As we began to cross the street, plasma bolts began to pelt the ground around us as the Cornerian soldiers did their best to return fire at our aggressors and I began to spray my m16 at the windows until I ran out of ammo. When we ran into the cargo bay of the aircraft, there were several people inside and behind us, the soldiers began back up into the cargo bay until they all funneled in. A panicked soldier hit the side of the cargo bay. "NOW NOW, get us out now!"

I began to feel the craft shudder as it began to take off vertically and fly away from the combat zone. I watched the bay door close behind us as the Cornerian fighters began to bomb the Venomian positions. As I looked around the cargo bay, everyone looked at me with suspicion and fear. Suddenly, one of the dog soldiers leveled his rifle at me. "Alright you monkey bastard, what were you doing with that poor girl. Huh? Why is she covered in so many bruises? I know she didn't get them when the tank blew up so what did you do.

A soldier, which I assumed was the commanding officer, placed his hand on the soldier's arm. "Settle down private, he helped us take out that tank, if he didn't we would all be dead. He isn't one of them, and that girl could have gotten those injuries from anywhere"

The soldier, did not lower his rifle. "How would you know, lives don't mean shit to them! How do you know this isn't some sort of ploy to lead us into a false sense of security."

The officer spoke in a low, dangerous tone. "Stand down private, we'll just hand him over to command once we touch down, they'll decide what to do with him."

"Wait!"

Fay's voice broke the squabble. "He didn't do anything wrong."

The officer spoke to her. "Then where did your injuries come from."

"A Venomian cornered me in the downtown shopping center. He killed my friends and he beat me. He was about to finish me off but this man saved me."

"Do you know who he is?"

"No sir."

"Did he say where he came from?"

"No sir."

"What about his gear, I've never seen it before."

"None."

"Does he even speak?"

"No."

"Then how can you trust him."

"He saved and he saved you all. That's all I can say."

The others just stared at us in silence while the soldier that was pointing his gun at me lowered his weapon and just glared at me. Soon the sounds of fighting died down and began to approach a military base. On the landing pads, there were other ships unloading civilians and heading back out into the fight to rescue more. AA guns surrounded the base and there were Cornerian aircraft flying all around. As we began to approach one of the pads, I began to wonder what would happen to me. Dissection, execution, prison? I wasn't one of them and I looked like one of those damn monkeys, what if they thought I was a spy. I per-occupied about all the horrible things they could do to me, I hardly noticed the craft touching down onto the pad and the bay doors hissing open.

Alright, I've re-written this chapter. I've just cleaned up the grammar a bit, got rid of some of the dramatic crap I didn't like, and made it so Fay had a bit more backbone in her personality so it would fit in with her later. Structurally the same and in terms of plot.