Thanks for the reviews!!
The prologue you read is a condensed version of the end. So everything from here on will lead up to that point. (Yes, I started off with a cliffhanger! Sorry guys!)
This story is adapted from a fiction that I'm currently writing. I did more research on that story than I have ever done for any of my other works! I had to look up guns, military ranks, terminology, divisions, etc. Kinda wore me out... --wipes imaginary sweat from brow-- I decided to keep the American military system as my model, it's easier for me. The Japanese military system is very similar to it, so there isn't much difference.
I dedicate this fanfic to some special folks who I won't name for moral and legal reasons...
Disclaimer: I don't own AzuDai! but if I did, you would probably love it 100x more... :)
Shrapnel – Chapter 1
Tokyo, Japan
The once densely populated and flourishing city was now a raging war zone. Sounds of tank blasts and gunshots echoed throughout the ruins of toppled office buildings and homes, blending in with cries of death and fervent commands of army leaders. Many compared Tokyo to hell, but when put side to side to the rest of the world, Tokyo was paradise. World War III brought out the worst in humankind; nations declared war on each other so often, that it no longer made headlines in the news. Nonetheless, Tokyo wasn't a place you wanted to be. Only by circumstance did unfortunate souls find themselves in this godforsaken place; on this day, fate decided to scorn Battalion 38.
Kagura lay slumped over a concrete slab. Her body was immobilized by the searing pain in her upper chest, where a hot bullet had torn through her body. Her right arm hung limp by her side, and was drenched in the blood which flowed from her gunshot wound. She had never felt so helpless in her life, yet all the military training that she had never prepared her for a war like this. She was fierce, but apparently her enemies were fiercer. Kagura could never forget the frigid look in the soldier's eyes as he pulled the trigger of his rifle and sent a flurry of bullets in her direction. Kagura began to succumb to unconsciousness, when a running figure came into view. Focusing her vision she made out the large red cross emblazed into the figure's coat. She gathered up the remaining strength she had to painfully call for help. "Medic!!"
Sakaki ran as fast as her legs could take her. The ground shook violently from heavy artillery blasts, making her steps somewhat unsure as her boots crushed against the ground beneath her. She occasionally hopped over bodies that were strewn about the battlefield, some dead and some still alive. She regretfully gave up tending to the injured as doing so would endanger her own life. Sakaki wasn't a selfish person; many of the soldiers were so severely injured, that it would be a waste for her to even stop and look upon them. Therefore, Sakaki had her mind focused on one objective: make it to the rendezvous point - alive.
"Medic!!...Medic!!!" A voice wailed in the distance
The rendezvous point was coming into sight, but Sakaki now mentally debated whether to respond to the cry for help. She briefly stopped and whipped her head around in every possible direction in an effort to locate the source of the plea. Finally her eyes spotted a soldier slumped over a chunk of rubble, northeast of her current position.
"Medic!" the cry was somewhat weaker.
Something compelled her to run over to the wounded. As she got closer, Sakaki began to make out the features of the soldier. It was a female who appeared to be all but dead. She lay motionless, drenched in blood; her face was darkened by debris, and one of her eyes had already closed. The other eye narrowly looked up at Sakaki. "Medic…"Her voice was now reduced to a breathy whisper.
Sakaki kneeled beside the soldier to see if she had any other injuries besides the one on her back which seemed to originate in her chest. She found no others. Carefully rolling the young woman over, Sakaki's assumptions about the wound proved true; the soldier had a gunshot wound in her upper chest, just below her left collarbone. "Shit" Sakaki cursed at the sight.
For a moment Sakaki second-guessed her intentions. This one is in horrible condition, maybe I should have continued to the rendezvous point… No, she might live... She took her medicine pack off of her back and frantically began to stuff the wound with gauzes to slow the bleeding. Sakaki constantly checked the soldier's vital signs. Her half-opened eye never shut; instead it remained Sakaki, following her every movement. The medic took this as a good sign, there was still hope.
Tokyo – Akihabara District
An explosion sent hunks of debris to the ground, reinforcing Tomo's fears. The dark haired soldier tightly clenched her M-16 rifle; this part of war frightened her. Tomo pressed her back against the remnants of an apartment building, and tried to calm her nerves. She couldn't let the rest of the battalion know that she was scared out of her mind.
On the other side, Yomi and the first company of the battalion were putting up a strong offensive against the equally aggressive opposition.
"Where the fuck are you!?" Yomi barked into her radio
Tomo took a calming breath before lying "I'm reloading!"
"Stop wasting time, and get your ass up here!"
Tomo peaked around the wall to locate Yomi. After spotting her, Tomo collected her senses and made a crouching dash to Yomi's position. Bullets whizzed past her head, hitting the ruins behind her. Yomi unloaded the rest of her clip to distract the enemy and squatted behind a block of concrete to reload. "When will you get over this Tomo!?" Yomi pulled a magazine from her utility pocket and popped it into her gun. Tomo was taken aback by the statement. Then again, considering the fact that they were life-long friends, it wasn't so surprising.
"Sometimes I wonder how you made it this fa-" Koyomi was interrupted by a call came from the base "Base to Sergeant Mizuhara, what's your status?"
Koyomi pulled her radio from her shoulder where it had been clipped "I estimate there's at least twenty of those bastards left out there, it's hard to tell with the rapid gunfire. What I do know is that two of them are manning heavy machine guns, backed up by a tank. Junko and Goichi picked off most of them from the vantage point, but they can't get a clear shot on the rest, so it's up to us down here..."
Tomo looked up in the sky and noticed several black dots. "What the hell is that?!"
Badda Boom!
A/N: A lot of detailed-details were left out because didn't want to make this too technical. So, here's the omitted stuff: Kagura was shot under her left collarbone, just about 2-3 inches away from her lung. The bullet pierced her subclavian artery which carries blood to the head and arms (thus explaining her immobility and unconsciousness). According to medical research that I've done, there's a 19-39 percent chance that one could die from such a shot (don't worry, she's gonna live).
Just to make things clear, Kagura was separated from the rest of the battalion in a previous battle.
Reviews please!! yeah.. thanks...