The Forgotten Ones
This is my second story. I am using this to try and give myself a break with the other one while also coming up with new ideas. Constructive criticism is appreciated.
P.S. I am looking for a beta reader or whatever to edit my work as I seem to have a problem with spelling/grammar and seem to miss a lot of mistakes.
P.P.S. Thank goodness for backspace or my stories would be an absolute nightmare to read. Anyway if you feel like your up to the job message me or review or something. Just so I know your interested.
Enjoy the story.
"Honey, the soldiers are here."
"I know sweetheart. I'm getting ready" Joseph Raslov was a thirty-five year old man who had spent many of his years as a marine. He was roughly 5'11" with dark brown hair and green eyes. He had a muscular frame because he stuck to a tight fitness regimen. Ten years after leaving service and he looked fit as ever.
He left the marines without giving it a second thought. He just wished to stay home with his wife and two beautiful children. Those were normal times, however, back before Harvest, back before the Covenant had completely destroyed entire planets. Now, in humanities darkest time, it was necessary for him to take up his arms once more and defend the entire human race from extinction. That or the local area around him.
As much as Joe wished to leave and defend Earth from the aliens he had to protect those who he loved. He took one last look at his room before he left it and closed the door. He walked down the fourteen steps that he and his children had counted so many times. At the bottom his wife was waiting with his two young children.
"Mommy, where is Daddy going?"
"He's going to go fight the monsters."
"Are they scary monsters?"
"Yes but Daddy is brave, he'll defeat them."
"Ok, bye Daddy." His daughter rushed over to him and gave him a hug.
"Bye. Honey take care."
"I will you just come home safe."
"Don't worry I'll be back before you know it." Even as he said those words he knew that he was not coming back any time soon. He walked out the front door and down the sidewalk to the waiting transport Warthog. He waved good-bye to his family as the vehicle pulled away and headed toward the base.
"Hey, Kyle Regal, demolitionist extraordinaire." The man shook Joe's hand.
"Joseph Raslov. Ten year cubicle worker." Kyle looked at him and shook his head.
"You worked at an office job. You look like you run a gym or something."
"Nah, I just like to stay in shape since my marine years."
"You too? Thirty-third west Frankov battalion."
"One twenty-second special operations unit. Warsate battle group."
"Oh, yeah over on Epsilon Erandi"
"Yeah. Spent two tours over there before I met my wife and settled down."
"It's a good thing you did. That planet no longer exists."
"Oh, wow. I hope my buddies got off in time."
"There's a chance they did. The UNSC forces on the planet manage to evacuate half the population before they even started to invade."
"I hope so." The warthog approached a walled in base that was guarded by multiple towers with machine gun turrets. The outer wall was five meters high and made of reinforced concrete. The warthog pulled up to the main gate where the driver showed the guard his ID badge. They waited for a few seconds while the guard checked with command before he waved them into the courtyard.
The large expanse of the courtyard made it idyllic for drills and other operations. There were already several hundred men getting their stuff ready to move into the barracks. The warthog stopped next to several others which had already arrived. The new recruits were standing at attention in front of the drill sergeant.
Joe and the group from his warthog jumped down and made their way to the end of the line. The sergeant watched them intently as they slowly made their way down the line.
"Move it. I didn't come here today to watch some slackers waddling around." He shove the last guy to get him moving. "Alright, welcome to Camp Wersher. Since its your first day we'll go easy on you. You only have to run three miles today. Now go." The sergeant and several other instructors ran the recruits to the track on the far east side of the courtyard.
Joe had no problem running the three miles. He kept a brisk pace and was done in under fifteen minutes. The other recruits had more trouble however. They were almost dead after the third mile. Since most of the soldiers were just regular people they weren't prepared for this type of physical exertion.
The sergeant shook his head at the recruits and turned around. Joe noticed something strange. The sergeant didn't seem to have his rank patch on. Joe was going to mention it but he remained silent. When he finally got around to ask him about it they had to leave. The instructors took the new soldiers to the barracks and gave them bunk pairings.
Joe was paired with a man named Steven Bowing. He was a 5'6" Caucasian male. He was apparently a dentist prior to getting conscripted. The man was slightly paranoid. He kept muttering something about the government getting taken by rebels. Joe thought that rebels were the least of their worries. They were fighting a numerically and technologically superior enemy and were losing badly.
Joe climbed the ladder along the bed to get to the top buck. He laid down and rested his head upon the pillow. His thoughts wandered back to his family. He thought of how his wife was probably putting the little ones to sleep. He wished that he could be back there instead of at the base, but Joe knew he was protecting them. That gave him hope for the coming days.
The next day the recruits were woken up by the horn. They all scrambled out of bed and made sure that their beds were completely clean. The sergeant walked in and eyed the soldiers. "Well come on then, we don't have all day." They made their way out to the firing range. The sergeant was tailing them, making sure that no one was lagging behind.
When they got to the firing range. There were already weapons waiting for them to use. The first soldiers got ready for the test. Joe waited for his turn to shot at the targets down range. He hoped that he could still recreate what he did when he was younger. Finally Joe got his turn. The weapons they used were mostly standard UNSC firearms, but there were some modified like the insurrectionist's as well.
Joe was starting to wonder if the UNSC troops were still on this planet. He wanted to find out so he inquired about when they would get to go off base. Unfortunately the drill instructor was not going to allow them any leave. Joe was still curious, but he wasn't expecting to get to see the governor anytime soon.
"It is necessary we have you here to train you and get you ready for combat" was the instructors response. The instructors sent them off to their respective barracks. In the middle of the night Joe and Kyle decided they were going to sneak out. They had both were going to see the capital but each had their own reasons. Joe was looking for an answer to what was going on. Kyle on the other hand just wanted to get out and go see the city for once.
They were very careful. They moved in the gaps between the spotlight patterns. They barely made it to the garage without being spotted. Joe flipped on the lights and went over to the jeep he had taken the keys for earlier that day. He hopped in the hog and started the engine. Kyle hopped in the other side.
"Hey why do you get to drive."
"Are you a trained driver?"
"Well, no"
"Have you ever been shot at while driving a vehicle?"
"I get your point"
"Well I don't" the two recruits turned around to see a tall blonde haired woman, with a gun.
"Ahhh, Jessica you see we were going to test, yeah, test the hog out and.. Ouch." Joe hit Kyle with his right arm to get him to shut up. Joe looked back at Jessica whose bright blue eyes pierced into his mind. Jessica Travic was a drill sergeant here at camp who had spent much of her time making their lives completely miserable.
"I know what you guys are doing. You're going to the capital to see what's going on."
"Well Joe is I'm going to have a night on the town."
"Shut up. At least Joe's reason is understandable. You're just lazy."
"Am not. Well, yeah"
"How about this? I let you guys off the hook, if you take me with you."
"Deal." Joe said as he put the car in drive and sped off through the garage door. The door splintered into several hundred pieces and the car came barreling on through. Joe and friends flew down the paths that criss-crossed the entire base. They took a left and found themselves barreling straight at the gate with the guards just now noticing them. Joe just pushed the accelerator harder and broke through the chain link fence. He started swerving as they made their way down the rode because the guards began shooting at them. They sped down the main road leaving camp. They sent up a plume of dust as they traveled down the dirt road.
"Heey cann you sloww dowwn a bitt?" asked Kyle who was being flung around by the bumpiness in the back.
"Oh yeah, sorry." Joe slowed down to the normal speed as he continued on down East Highway 56. The traffic was light at the wee hours of the morning which helped to lessen their worries of getting caught. Joe drove for the entire four hour ride from the base to the capital. By the time they reached the capital it was already getting light out. Joe looked toward the horizon by where the spaceport was.
Joe immediately frightened by the sight of a covenant cruiser. It had several transports already exiting its hangar. Joe jammed the accelerator to the floor and raced through traffic trying to get to the spaceport. He was amazed at how little the daily commuters actually notice on their way to work. The cruiser was practically blocking out the sun and they all just kept on going.
Kyle and Jessica noticed it too. Jessica handed Kyle an assault rifle. "I think your going to need this."
"Thanks" Kyle watched the already massive cruiser grow bigger and bigger as they approached the space port. Joe rammed the hog right through the gate and out onto the tarmac where the alien dropships were landing. Jessica got on the turret and had it spun up before she noticed something.
"Kyle put the gun down."
"Why?"
"Their friendlies, look." Joe looked to where she was pointing. Sure enough they saw a couple of Spartans getting off along with several ODSTs. They stopped short of all the military members that had gathered to "welcome the new arrivals."
Joe and his two companions jumped off the warthog and made their way over to the troops. They squeezed their way to the front to see the Spartans being taken away to go see the governor. "You guys stay here I'm going to follow them." Joe followed behind the Spartans as they made their way into the space port.
"Well what do you want to do?" asked Kyle.
"I don't know. How about we ask these guys where they came from?"
"Good idea." The two of them strode over to the nearest ODST who had just gotten done talking to someone else.
"Corporal."
"How's it going recruits?"
"We're doing well. We just wondered, what planet did you guys come from?"
The corporal stood there for a second trying not to think about what had happened so recently. "We came from Reach." He walked away slowly to the group of ODSTs.
"That means that… Reach. Its gone." Jessica started to cry.
Kyle held her. "It's ok. It's ok. There not going to come here." She turned and punched him across the jaw.
"I had family there you asshole." She ran away toward the inside of the spaceport. Kyle deciding that it was probably best not to pursue her stayed behind to question the remaining ODSTs.
If you haven't noticed yet this is basically a story that runs parallel to my other one.
Review I like to hear about how you guys liked it. Or disliked it. Just tell me what you want to see.
