1992, Thatcher Elementary School
"I want to be a doctor!" Sue said.
"I wanna be a lawyer!" Little Timmy cheered gleefully.
Our 4th grade class was being lead by our student teacher today. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid my 9 year old eyes on. Her luscious light brown hair, and alluring brown eyes complimented her fair skin complexion and beautiful face perfectly.
"I wanna be a marine biologist!" Georgy yelled.
"I want to be a doctor." Graham said smiling.
She was relatively small, but had a huge heart and her presence was always known the second she walked into a room. There was always a sweet-tempered expression about her no matter what was going on. I was completely enthralled by her.
"I want to be a doctor too!" Peggy said happily
"I want to be a lawyer." John stated when it was his turn.
Being only 21, she was still getting her teaching degree, and student teaching was a requirement for that. You can teach my class any time...
"Ahem, um Alex dear?" Her beautiful voice rang out. She called me dear.
I was completely in a trance and Eric, who was sitting next to me, had to punch my shoulder to knock me out of it.
"Uh... oh um..." I had to re-gather my wits then think about the question. That's easy.
"I am going to be in the Regiment." I stated firmly.
She was having us start out the day by going around and asking us say what we wanted to be when we grew up.
"Oh... The SAS regiment? Well that's a challenging enterprise for a young man such as yourself." She said with a lovely smile.
"I want to be... a professional smuggler and bootlegger." Eric said next. We watched an American movie about Al Capone and now he wanted to have his own speakeasy and live in Chicago.
"A.. A what? Oh my... Well that is also quite an endeavor." Mrs. Shafer seemed a little put off and I silently chastised Eric for upsetting my love. After about 5 seconds of silence the 'I want to be a doctors' and 'I want to be a lawyers' resumed.
After class I stayed behind and watched the students trickle out the door, including Eric who apparently couldn't wait for me. Bastard. Mr. Glenn, our teacher, and Mrs. Shafer, seemingly oblivious to my presence started talking. Mr. Glenn was in his 40s, he was bald and a little overweight, I didn't like him at all.
"So how did I do?" Mrs. Shafer asked.
"Not bad for your first try, I've seen a lot worse." Mr. Glenn said.
"I am a bit worried about Eric now though.. not the best of---" He started.
"Oh don't worry they're only 9 and 10 years old, it's just a phase, he's a bright kid, I'm sure he'll find something good to do." She interrupted.
"So... what are you doing tonight?" He asked in a hushed voice.
By this time I had snuck out the door and out of sight in the hallway, but decided to stay within earshot to see where this was leading. I peeked around the corner to get a better look. I saw Mr. Glenn approaching her slowly and she seemed a little uncomfortable.
"Mr... Glenn..--"
"Please, call me Oliver."
"Um... Oliver, you're married..." She started.
"No no don't worry about that..."
How did this creep ever get a job teaching 4th graders? Seeing my damsel in distress I walked in and slammed my books on the desk as hard as I could. Both of them looked very startled, Mrs. Shafer almost relieved.
"Hello, I need some help with this, Mrs. Shafer could you?" I asked.
"Oh.. Of course dear." She said, looking almost relieved and followed me out the door and into the hallway.
"So, what is it ya need help with?"
"Oh I uh... I don't need help anymore." I replied.
"Oh so---"
"Ey Alex, there you are, come on we're gonna start." Eric interrupted.
He was referring to the football game we always played during lunch hour and after school. I would always play midfield since I was the fastest and could outlast anyone. Eric was unparalleled in goal scoring though.
"Yeah I'll be there in a minute mate." I replied.
"Ugh fine hurry it up or you'll be sidelined!" Eric yelled and ran back out to the field.
With that, I gave a nod and a smile to Mrs. Shafer and ran out the door to join my friends.
Day 1, 11:00 am, somewhere in the Aldenham Park
Smoke... Fire...
I let out a cough as I tried to take in air, but my lungs protested and I let out another hacking cough. There was smoke everywhere and the fire was growing, I had to get Eric. Oh god Eric, how long had I been unconscious?
I tried to raise him on my radio. Click...
"Eric come in, Eric come in damnit!"
Click... "Eric, ugh bollocks!"
"ERIC!" I yelled out and looked around. I went over to the cockpit side of the helicopter. No one there, Then scanned the surrounding area. There was a still form laying about 20 meters from the crash site...
"ERIC!" I called out again and rushed over to him. Come on Eric, it's only a scratch...
"A-alex... what... happened?"
"We crashed mate, your damn flying skills need some improvement."
He laughed. That was good.
"We have to get out of here, where's your weapon?"
"I don't know, I think it's still in the cockpit shit."
I did a quick inventory check myself and saw that I still had my G36 in working order
and only two mags left. Eric got up mumbling something I couldn't make out and slowly made his way towards the burning helicopter.
"My sidearm is still good, I've only got 2 mags left though. How are you looking?"
"I'm fine, I've got 3 mags for the SIG and 2 mags for the G36."
I looked around the crash site and determined we were in a grassy park, no immediate
danger, but I didn't know how long it would last.
"aahh ow ouch!" Eric squealed
"What the fuck are you doing?" turning to Eric I saw that he had fished the radio out of the
now burning cockpit and was messing around with it.
"Hey I got the radio, I think it still works."
While he fiddled with the radio I did a more thorough inspection of the vicinity. I determined we were in some kind of secluded area of a park. I also determined, without a doubt, the rioters had seen our little fireworks display and would be here shortly. We couldn't waste any time, we had to move. Making my way back to Eric, I could see he had he radio back in working order.
"HQ this is blue-six come in over. HQ this is blue-six over"
Nothing.
"HQ this is blue-six co--"
"crrsshh blue-si-- this--- we are--- overrun--- rioters crrsshhh--- HQ no lon--- crrsshhh"
"Hereford please repeat that, over"
"crrsshhh blue--- situa--- char--fo-- ove--crshhh"
"crrshhh blue-six we ca--- unable to--- crrshhh you're on your own--- crrsshhh"
You're on your own.
"Shit, they got to Hereford. What the bloody hell we supposed to do now eh?" I was pacing back and fourth trying to come up with a plan.
"Calm yourself, we're still in the crapper here, we should probably get going asap." Eric said.
"Yeah, yeah, you're right. Let's concentrate on just getting out of the city then we'll figure out what comes next." I replied.
"Salvage anything from the helly?" I asked.
"Nah, everything is too badly broken up in there, this radio is complete rubbish now." He said with a kick.
I felt movement in my stomach and it tensed up. I could feel hot, bitter tasting liquid coming up my throat and turned as fast as I could and puked my guts out. Those people eating other people... More puke flew freely out of my throat. The people burning alive, Hammond tearing at Robinson's face... More puke came until there was none left.
"Ey you alright mate?" Eric asked.
"Ask me when we get back to Hereford... I mean when we get out of this bloody city." I replied.
"Those people weren't regular people Eric, they were cannibals... I mean they were eating other people and Coy, the pilot, they tried to kill us too!" I added.
"Look I don't know what that was but in any case we should get out of here before discussin any more theories."
"Eric! What do you think happened to red team and Hammond!? They came rushin out the doors and killed Robinson---" I started before being interrupted.
"I know I saw it!" He yelled.
"Great first mission don't ya think?" He said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Yeah it's complete bollocks it is." I replied.
I got back to thinking about Hereford and the radio transmission we received. Life in the army had always been a strictly scheduled life that was lived in complete order and control, wake up at 5, do your business, and in bed before 10(when not deployed, of course). With the army there was always a backup plan, a contingency if something went wrong, a regrouping area or something. The cold hard fact of the situation was that there was no regrouping area, there weren't any reinforcements, and there was no one to report back to and no orders to be given. "You're on your own" I kept repeating to myself thinking what to do next. Hereford must be fucked.
"Shit."