Wow. It's been quite a bit, hasn't it? Well, I am back, but don't expect this to happen a lot more. I am currently working on an animated series on YouTube that will follow the premise of these fics that I write, including Worlds Collide, World At War, Depravity Falls, and (possibly) Reality of Today.
I got a LOT on my plate, so I can't necessarily set a date for when everything comes out. After all, you can't rush trash.
Or perfection.
There are two kinds of people.
With that said, enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 12: The Frontline (Pt. 1)
"LISTEN UP, BOYS-"
BANG!
"-WE'RE ABOUT TO HEAD INTO-"
BOOOM!
"-A SERIOUS FUCKING SHITSTORM!"
CRACK!
"-THERE'LL BE NO TIME TO REST-"
BRT-T-T-T-T-T-T!
"-UNTIL WE GET TO THE AO! UNDERSTOOD?"
"YES, SIR!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A large explosion nearby rocked the heli carrier they were in, throwing a couple people to the floor, and even causing the 2nd Lieutenant to stumble around.
James was in panic, looking around nervously as he feared whether their aircraft would get shot down. He looked over at Monika, who was gazing at him ever so blissfully, a calming and reassuring sign to him.
Then again, she was impervious to bullets, explosions, and other weapons of war.
"If I die, Monika-"
"You won't, James. I'll protect you."
"Monika, I lo-"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The sound was deafening, and James had to cover his ears just to prevent himself from going temporarily deaf.
"CHRIST, IT'S SO FUCKING LOUD!" Conrado shouted over the noise.
"THAT'S WAR FOR YOU, DUMBASS!" Tolya shouted back, garnering a souring face from Conrado.
"YOU THINK IT'S LOUD UP HERE, WAIT TILL YOU GET DOWN THERE!" Fritz added.
"ALRIGHT, I DON'T NEED ALL OF YOUR TWO CENTS-"
"WE'RE ABOUT TO LAND, GENTLEMEN, GET READY!"
James couldn't stop shaking as he looked around at everyone else, hearing the terrifying blasts and gunfire outside. Almost everyone else seemed to be in the same situation, but coping differently. Conrado was talking his head off to Fritz, who was sitting nearby, silent as he stared at the floor.
He's already seen war, James remembered. He heard about Fritz leading an IWA platoon at the frontlines of Europe and losing everyone but himself. He got transferred to the US after they found him shivering in-
BRT-T-T-T-T-T-T-T!
CHRIST, I CAN'T EVEN HEAR MY OWN THOUGHTS, James thought to himself in panic.
"James, don't leave my side, okay?"
"Okay."
"I'll stay by you the whole way. I promise."
"Okay."
James couldn't manage anything more than one word at this point. He was too busy being focused on what would happen when they-
WHOOMPF.
-Landed.
"ALRIGHT, HERE'S OUR STOP, GENTLEMEN! LET'S GO!"
As the boarding ramp lowered, the 2nd Lieutenant waved his hand forward rapidly, and everyone unbuckled their seatbelts, making their way down.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
BOOOOM!
CRACK!
BRT-T-T-T-T-T!
As James made his way off the ramp, he was immediately greeted with a whizzing bullet that hit the side of the ramp, grazing his leg.
"HOLY SHIT!"
"KEEP MOVING!"
In a mass-induced fervor, everyone stumbled out of the helicarrier and onto the battlefield, with explosions and gunfire encapsulating the atmosphere.
James could no longer fully comprehend his environment. Chaos became sound, and he could focus only on the Lieutenant waving his hand for the troops to move to cover. Immediately, James sprinted for the nearest one, finding refuge by a wrecked car. Monika, Fritz and Conrado came up behind him, finding cover behind the vehicle.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
CRASH!
"WE MOVE UP SLOWLY, UNTIL WE PUSH TO TOWN SQUARE! WHEN WE GET THERE-"
BRT-T-T-T-T-T-T!
BANG! BANG!
"YOU WILL HOLD UNTIL WE RECEIVE FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS!"
It was Sergeant Hendricks, his squad leader, who was speaking now, as the platoon had split up into squads now. However, he could barely comprehend this, hiis mind purely focused on evading the hail of bullets that were burning the air from down the street.
"ALRIGHT! START FIRING AT WILL! EVERYONE DOWN THAT FUCKIN' STREET IS A FUCKIN' SEBBIE BASTARD, SO DON'T HESITATE TO BLOW THEIR FUCKIN' HEADS OFF!"
James dreaded having to raise his head up-
WHIZZ-CRUNCH!
"AAAAAHHH!"
James witnessed a fellow infantryman get shot in the thigh as he was running by, and he fell screaming, holding his leg as he cried in agony. It sounded like the bullet had broken his femur.
"MY FUCKING LEG! AAHHH! SOMEONE, PLEASE-"
CRACK!
A cloud of blood spat out of his head as another bullet came by and hit him square in the eye. James sat in shock as he watched the display.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Anger boiled up in James' throat, and he peaked up, raising his rifle and firing at the other side.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
He felt someone pull him down as a bullet whizzed by. Monika sat over him, staring at him with horror.
"JAMES! PLEASE, DON'T DO THAT! I WILL PROTECT YOU! PLEASE!"
"GET OFF ME! THEY NEED TO PAY!"
"YOU TWO, FUCKING STOP! WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A-"
Clink, clink.
A grenade clattered nearby, and James almost didn't comprehend the gravity of the situation until Monika ran over, picking up the grenade and throwing it back.
WHIZZ!
A bullet grazed her skin, causing her to yelp in pain, and she dove back to cover.
"HOW THE FUCK ARE WE GONNA MOVE UP WITH THIS SHIT HAPPENING?!" Conrado yelled in panic.
"KEEP YOUR RIFLE OUT AND ONLY PEEK YOUR HEAD A BIT, LIKE THIS!" Fritz responded, pushing his rifle out from the side and looking through the sight before firing a couple times.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
He retracted quickly, and James was surprised to see no bullets had whizzed his way.
"THEY ARE FOCUSED MAINLY ON THE CENTER! FIGHT FROM THE SIDES, AND WATCH THE SIDES OF THEIR END!"
"ALRIGHT!"
Everyone began following his lead, peeking out just barely from the sides and firing. James looked over to his left, a grave mistake. Bodies dotted the field of battle, limbs dotting the landscape. Only moments before, it was clear of such horrors.
"Oh my god...oh my god…"
"MOVE UP! THEY'RE RETRACTING! MOVE THE FUCK UP!"
Weeks of intense training kicked in, and James followed the Sergeant's command, moving up quickly, taking cover by any available cover.
Tree.
Newspaper stand.
Tree.
Car.
The cover switched quickly, with James and Monika continually moving up and firing whilst the other gained ground.
Finally, they had gotten to the cusp of what James saw to be a large, circular center of the town, where the true battle was taking place. Gunfire and explosions increased tenfold, bullets whizzed by from each side, bodies littered the field like a sickening wave of green, brown and red flowers, the nearby buildings sagged as thousands and thousands of pounds of munitions were pounded into them.
BANG! BANG!
CRACK!
BOOM! BOOOM!
CRACK!
BRT-T-T-T-T!
BANG! BANG! BANG-BANG-BANG!
Helicopters flew over the air, firing at other parts of the city, flying by the highrises, tanks from both sides shot at each other, reciprocating the sounds of death and pure destruction.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
BOOM!
CRACK!
BRT-T-T-T-T-T!
WHIZZ-CRUNCH!
The sounds of screaming, yelling, and crying occupied the atmosphere, like it made up the very molecules.
This was all within the first three seconds.
"FIND COVER NOW! FUCKING NOW!" The Sergeant yelled, ducking his head as he found refuge by a pillar of a shop. "MOVE AROUND THE SIDES! DO NOT GO NEAR THE MIDDLE!"
James was still in shock, but he could see why. That was where the biggest concentration of bodies was, and the vast majority of infantry units from either side that dared to enter that space were shot or blown to bits.
"MOVE UP! MOVE UP!"
James did as commanded, moving from pillar to pillar, keeping by some form of cover so as to preserve his life.
And yet, he was no longer driven solely by fear. Adrenaline, anger, the instinctive urge to stay alive, the built-in robotic commands that had been instilled in him during boot camp...all of this contributed to his quick movements, his evasive maneuvers.
"THERE ARE CIVILIANS IN THIS AREA, SO WATCH YOUR FIRE!"
BANG BANG!
BANG-BANG-BANG!
BOOM! BOOOM!
James whipped out his rifle, but as the Sergeant said, there were civilians running about in fear towards the UFAA. He remembered the briefing about how the SEB had made leeway into further New York territory, and civilians didn't have enough time to safely clear out.
"KEEP ALONG THE SIDES, LIKE I SAID! THESE FUCKERS WILL NOT HESITATE TO SHOOT YOU!"
James noticed his entire squad was here, doing as the Sergeant commanded.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, oh my god, oh my god…"
James looked over to see Oswald clenching his rifle in fear, his knuckles turning white, his face dripping with sweat, and further back Madeline crying profusely.
"Oh my god, I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!"
"You're not gonna die, Madeline! Just move up, stay with me!" James barked. The command seemed to reassure Madeline, who moved up with James as instructed.
"Stay with me, and just do as the Sergeant says, okay?!"
"Okay!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
BOOOM!
CRACK!
WHIZZ!
The sounds of war seemed to ramp up, and a rogue rocket hit the shop around a dozen meters behind James and Madelin, sending debris flying everywhere.
"LET'S MOVE!"
The squad continued on, enduring the hellfire that continued on around them, occasionally firing a few shots when they were sure there were no civilians nearby to hit.
"ALRIGHT, HOLD! WE'RE WAITING FOR LINS' TANK COMPANY TO SHOW UP-"
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee…
The Sergeant's face drained of color as the whistling sound was heard.
"FUCKING ARTIES! GET AWAY NOW!"
Immediately, everyone ran in different directions as the whistling increased in sound.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!
BOOOOOOOOMMMMM!
The barrage of artillery pounded the building and the surrounding area that James' squad was within. Dirt and debris was sent flying everywhere, and James was tossed like a ragdoll by the sheer force of a nearby artillery shell. He felt himself impact into the ground, oxygen punched out of his lungs.
In a daze, James felt himself get up, looking around in sheer confusion, holding his rifle in one hand. He looked over to see his squad mates lying on the ground, all of them seemingly alive. Oswald and Madelin got up, trying to find cover as they lurched around in stupor.
BRT-T-T-T-T-T!
Within seconds, a line of machine-gun fire mowed them down, ripping through their bodies, and they both collapsed to the ground.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
BOOOOOM!
"AAAAAHHHH!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"FUCK, MAN DOWN!"
James stumbled around in shock and terror as the screams of citizens, bullets, explosions, and sheer war screeched from all around him. He could feel bullets whizzing by his face,
grenades being tossed,
launchers being fired,
people dying left and right.
BANG! BANG!
BRT-T-T-T-T-T!
"AAAAHHHHHH, FUCK! I'M HIT!"
He was utterly disoriented by the chaos that seemed to reign across the city of New York. Looking up was an even worse sight, as beyond the plumes of smoke from explosions and gunfire, he could see buildings were being blown up and shot at. One particular two-story building to his right came crumbling down after billowing smoke for more than 5 minutes.
BANG-BANG! BANG-BANG-BANG!
BOOOM!
"AAAAAAAHHH!"
Waves of civilians were running from the gunfire towards safety, many of them getting shot by both sides as they entered the crossfire. James witnessed a group of civilians cowering behind cafe tables, and he began making his way over to assist them out of-
WHIZZ-BOOM!
James felt himself thrown back as a rocket flew towards the cafe, blowing up the whole storefront. As he hit the ground, James saw pieces of flesh and body parts fly overhead.
As if controlled by a robot, James got up, his eyes stuck in a constant state of shell-shock, unable to comprehend the hellish situation he was thrown into. He noticed one particular little girl crying as she held a severed arm in her hand.
"MOMMY! MOMMY, I'M SCARED! MOMMY, WHERE ARE YOU?!"
No sooner did she get the last word out before a SEB soldier ran up and smacked her in the head with the butt of the gun, who fell over and began crying profusely, blood pouring from her head and mouth, some of her teeth being seen missing from the inside of her mouth. The SEB soldier then brought up his rifle, pointing it at the girl's head.
BANG!
James screamed in horror as he witnessed the SEB soldier blow the brains out of the little girl's head, splattering the concrete with them. In rage and sorrow, James raised his rifle, aiming it at the soldier and pulling the trigger.
BANG-BANG-BANG!
The SEB soldier whipped backwards as the bullets impacted into his chest, and even after he fell to the floor, James kept pulling the trigger, shooting the body without remorse.
"DIE, YOU FUCKING SCUM! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"
BANG-BANG-BANG!
Click, click, click.
James lowered his empty rifle, staring at the little girl's corpse in horror.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
BOOOOOM! BANG! BANG!
BRRRRRT-T-T-T-T-T!
"GET A FUCKING MEDIC! DID YOU HEAR ME?! GET A-"
WHIZZ-SHICK!
James turned around to the sound of someone yelling for medical support. The man who had been screaming for it, who had been putting pressure on the gunshot wound of another soldier, took a bullet straight through the head, followed by a grenade.
BOOOM!
James stood in horror as he saw the body turn into red mist, body parts being flung in all directions, blood spattering across James' face and uniform.
"Jesus Christ...Jesus Christ, help me..."
He couldn't comprehend anything. His eyes wandered around the field of death and gore that embodied the field, idly watching the massacre. He noticed one of the SEB tanks lower its cannon, pointing at him.
Oh, I'm gonna die.
At sudden, he felt someone tackle him, followed by the sound of a tank round whizzing by, before hitting the building behind them, sending the structure tumbling down.
James looked up to see Monika, tears streaming down her face as she gazed at him.
WHIZZ-BOOOOOM!
The tank that was pointing its cannon at James suddenly exploded, sending shrapnel flying, killing nearby SEB soldiers and emitting plumes of smoke. James craned his head back to see a platoon of UFAA tanks move in, with someone looking over the top of one of them.
"BLAST THEM TO FUCKING BITS!" He shouted.
"JAMES! PLEASE, FOLLOW ME!" Monika shouted at him, knocking him out of his trance.
"Okay."
James felt himself lifted up and brought to cover, where a couple members of the squad were waiting.
"HOLD FIRE! THE SERGEANT MAJOR'S BATTALION IS HERE!" Sergeant Hendricks shouted.
From there, the battle started to slowly but surely recede as the tank troop ripped through the SEB enemy, blasting any form of them. Civilians ran behind the tanks, crying in relief as they found refuge with the friendly forces.
After a couple more minutes, the battle finally died down, with the SEB forces having fully retreated from the town square. Gunfire and explosions echoed in the distance now, but only the silence of the dead and the wailing of the living occupied this space now.
James stood from the side, with Monika hugging him in relief as she sobbed. He looked on at the rotting field of corpses, the blood that soaked these grounds, the dirt and debris that littered the field haphazardly.
A sight of decay.
"Fucking hell...finally, a break." Conrado muttered, before shortly breaking down into tears in relief. Fritz sat against a wall, his eyes glued to the ground as he pondered. Tolya looked around constantly, wary of his surroundings, most likely paranoid. Danny was curled up in a ball on a bench, muttering to himself.
"We're missing Oswald and Madeline. Anyone know where they are?" Sergeant Hendricks addressed the group.
"They're dead." James uttered in an almost monotone manner. He hadn't even processed their deaths, just noting it as another event in the battlefield.
"W-what…?"
James looked over at Madison, wide-eyed, having heard his statement.
"M-Madeline...No...No...Madeline's not…"
She fell to her knees, dropping her rifle.
"She's not dead...She's not…"
Tears streamed down her eyes as she stared at the ground in shock.
"She's not...No…"
And then she wailed, so loudly and terribly that James would have thought she was mourning the death of her family.
"AAAAAAUUUUHHHH!"
Meanwhile, everyone else took the deaths of their compatriots, the squad members they had endured adversity alongside for twelve weeks, terribly.
"These fucking Sebbies...they have no morals." Tolya commented miserably. "They fired on Danny, even after seeing the clear medical patch on his helmet and shoulder. They've abandoned the Geneva Convention, along with their humanity..."
"They shot civilians, right in front of me." Conrado seethes. "This...little boy was hiding behind a trash can, crying, and one of those fucking scum just pass by and shoot him, no hesitation. What the fuck is wrong with these people?"
"Don't focus on that." Sergeant Hendricks interjected. "They're pieces of shit. We're gonna wipe them out of this city and off the face of this Earth. You can be at peace with your mind that we're the good guys of this war."
James at on a bench, with Monika hugging him as she sobbed, looking out at the battlefield.
"Why...why did you want to sign up for this, James...why…" Monika sobbed. "We could have been living in peace, in New York, next to those waterfalls, living together...why are we here...instead of there…"
"Because…" He muttered. "...how can I live in peace, knowing my brothers and sisters are dying, to save the world?"