To save others, sacrifices must be made. You always have to make a choice. And either choice has good results. And bad consequences.
Pennsylvanian Country, 12:33 10th March 2037, Jason's POV
I woke up, and going off the time on the clock on the chest of drawers next to the bunk, it was almost midday. So much must have happened, but I didn't care. I didn't feel like I belonged here anymore. They all must have hated me after that outburst I had the day before. Slowly, I sat up and stretched my legs. They ached from being still for too long, and it took some time for the pain to subside.
While I waited, I looked across to see Wyatt's bunk. But I was left in a state of confusion to see it was bare. At first, I believed it might be getting cleaned. But then I noticed that the room was almost completely empty, except for the drawers with the clock on it, the bunks and me. Left in the cold, dark room. Not even the quiet breeze of the air conditioner was in the air. It was an eerie silence, and I started to feel that something was off. Perhaps this was just another nightmare, yet I found it hard to believe as normally my nightmares recently were all the same. Stuck in a burning Chester, listening to screams all around. The memories of those dreams made me shiver all over in fear. They all had seemed so real.
By the time my legs were ready to move, I was anxious to know what was going on, and lifted myself from the bunk, avoiding the top bunk with ease. I felt a cold sensation and realized that my shoes were off, and my feet quivered slightly against the cold floor, urging to be put in an area of warmth. I obliged by putting them in my sneakers, then headed out of the room. Once again, I was met by an eerie silence. There were no footsteps or quiet whispers, nor was there any smell of food and not a single light was on. It was as if everyone had vanished without a trace. And that made me feel a feeling of fear in the pit of my stomach. I felt the sudden urge to cry out to anyone, but held it back, in case something bad had happened. What if they had been found? What if I was in a dream? What if...what if I was dead? I desperately wanted to rid myself of the thought, but all could have been true. If I could one sign of life, then maybe it would disappear.
Sadly, after searching half the warehouse, I found nothing. It had been cleared out. The shooting range had been cleared of weapons, and the targets missing. The room with the table was missing the table. The cafeteria had been emptied as well, with not a single tin of food left. I felt goose bumps popping up all over, and bad feelings in the pit of my stomach. I had checked everywhere. Everywhere...except the drop off bay! I made a mad dash to the vehicle area.
When I arrived, I felt relief flow through me. The van was there, as well as two other vehicles. One was a silver Jeep with armor plating over the back and side windows with thin slits to see through, and a snow plow on the front. I found that odd. Next to the Jeep was a black ute with sheets of metal attached to the sides of the back and armored windows like the Jeep. All three vehicles had people packing things into them, such as food cans, weapons and other necessities. One of them I recognized. The red haired woman who had apologized to me last night, if that's what you call it. She was ordering the others when she heard my running footsteps behind her. She was the first to acknowledge me out of everyone. Though she chose to ignore me completely. No one would have known I was there if one of the others hadn't seen me. He waved me over with one hand, the other under a crate that was being lifted into the back of the ute, and another man on the other side.
"Hey, new kid! We could use your help here!" I rushed over and placed my hands under the side closest to me, then lifted. The thing was very heavy, but with the other two there, it wasn't too hard. "Thanks for the help" he panted, and held out his hand. I accepted it and shook. Just like everyone but Milo, he had a tight grip, though not too tight.
"You're welcome" I replied. He made his way over to the van, and when he was gone I rubbed my hands together in an attempt to rid the small aching pain. Both from the crate and his meaty hand. That's when Jill began to walk over, a clipboard with a checklist in one hand and a black pen in the other. She looked tired, and was very red-faced.
"Where have you been?" she asked in a demanding manner, jabbing the pen at me. I glowered down at her, but kept my hands to myself. Instead, I just shrugged.
"Slept in, because someone didn't wake me up." She glared daggers at me, then stalked off away from me. It seemed that I had annoyed her. Maybe all women here didn't enjoy me being around. Only the men had paid any attention to me, while some of the women only threw in an occasional hi. All but Jill and Lydia. I took this time to observe what was happening. That's when I realized that there were four missing: Hank, Wyatt, Milo and Mathias.
I thought about asking Jill, but she would most likely ignore me. And everyone else seemed busy. So I decided to wait, because they may have been inside. I sat down, helping here and there for around ten minutes, and they still had not come. At that time, I had went against my previous decision and marched over to Jill before demanding answers in the most calm way possible.
"Where are the others?" She looked up from her clipboard to me and arched a brow. Then, after a small moment, she made a face of realization.
"You mean Wyatt? Oh, they left ages ago." I could tell she read the confusion on my face, because she went on to explain. "We have to abandon this place. They left to help." That left me even more confused.
"How are they going to help if they aren't here?" I asked. I never expected the answer I received.
Wyatt's POV
I felt bad for not waking the kid. But after last night, he deserved some sleep. And I didn't need to wake him up to say goodbye, because I knew we would be back. But my mind was better at reasoning than my heart. And it's belief was that we wouldn't make it back. Not all of us. Deep inside, I knew that we definitely weren't leaving unscathed.
"D'ya think they'll be there on time?" Hank asked from the driver's seat of our Jeep Wrangler. I sat beside him with my head against the window, my eyes drifting along the landscape. I only lifted my head to answer, knowing who he referred to.
"Lydia will make it back just fine. We told them where to go, and they will be there, waiting for the rest. Hopefully, we will be there to greet them" I answered, the last part sounding glum. I felt a strong hand on my upper arm and turned my head to find Hank looking at me.
"They gon' be fine. Trust me. They can hold they own." I nodded silently, half of me agreeing. But the other half was still afraid fro them. What if they were found? And if they led the KPA to the others? I repressed the questions in my head and readied myself. We were only a minute away from the drop off point. There, Hank would wait for us while we completed our mission.
I peered at the Milo and Mathias in the back seats. They already had their weapons at the ready. I upholstered my own USP.45 and checked the ammo clip, then loaded it back in and cocked it back. Now all I had to do was turn off the safety and it would be ready for shooting. The vehicle came to a slow roll before stopping by a tall billboard. We hid the car among the bushes at the bottom of it and then we exited the car. Hank stayed, however, because that's where we needed him.
"We'll be back" I reassured before turning from the open window and taking the lead. Me and Milo took the road, while Mathias had the high ground on our right. We stayed crouched, slowly advancing with our eyes scanning the path ahead. Not long after did our target come into our sights. It was a small checkpoint, with a single guard tower and a small barracks. It had a barbed wire fence all around, the only openings in it being the boom gates on either side of the road inside.
"Road ahead clear" Mathias said over the radio.
"Roger, Old Man" I replied back. Old Man was his code name, Ruski was Milo's and mine, regrettably, was Watts. I would have rathered something better than an electrical measurement, but anything was better than the nickname Jill had for me. I heard a grunt on the end, and then it cut off. With a flick of my hand, I signaled Milo to move up with me. The higher ground sloped down, and Mathias was soon by our side.
"What's de plan, Watts?" Mathias queried. I took a knee and they followed my action.
"We need to hit that checkpoint-" I pointed my gloved index finger at the fenced area, "-and draw as many KPA patrols to us as possible. Hopefully it'll but the others some time. When it's time to go, we leave this place as a fiery ruin. And I know just how" I finished explaining, pulling out a sniper scope and zooming in on the fuel tank inside. Next, I pulled out my knife and started to draw a map in the ground. "Old Man, you will go here, near the guard tower." As I spoke, I drew a line from the outside of the fence line to the guard tower. "Ruski, you take this side, with me. We'll cut through the fence and by the time reinforcements arrive, we will already be in position. You two got it?" They both nodded. I grinned, satisfied with my answer. "Good. Let's move out. On me, Ruski."
We went around, using nearby shrubs as cover. Since it wasn't night, they wouldn't be using searchlights. But the bad thing was that they had an infinite source of light in the sky. Too bad they don't use it. Milo watched our backs for outside patrols with his double-barrel while I began cutting with the wire cutters I brought with us. It took longer than expected, but we got through with no interruption. Once through, we raced to the grey cement wall across from us. And by the sounds of it, so did Mathias. Still, I had to check.
"Old Man, are you in? Repeat, are you in?" There was a crackle, followed by silence. Then the earpiece came to life with a voice.
"Aye. Below de tower nigh. Waitin' for yer go."
"I copy. Wait for the signal." Before he could do some smart ass remark I switched it to stand by and signaled Milo to take point. With my USP drawn, I stayed by his back, glancing back to make sure no one was coming around the corner behind us. The building wasn't too long, possibly only thirty meters in length and fourteen in width. For a barracks, it was small. Almost perfect for a checkpoint. And the smaller the building, the less people there were in it. I stopped by the window and Milo went straight for the corner, waiting for someone to come around. Out of my pack, I claimed a hand grenade and after pulling the pin, threw it through the window. The glass shattered and panicked shouts of terror filled the room it went in, and then I waited. Seconds later, there was an explosion, cutting off the frantic shouting. I peered into the window, weapon in hand to find three dead, and one an officer. Me and Milo rounded the corner, ducking and running for cover. I slid to a cement road block while Milo took cover on the other side of the road. Already we were being fired upon by automatic rifles. I lifted above my head and fired a couple of rounds, hoping to get a hit. From the sounds of hit, no one did. Unless I hit someone in the face, cutting off their dying screams. It was only a matter of time before automatic fire came down on them from the tower. It seemed that Mathias had made it up, and claimed the guard's rifle as his own. We took our chance and charged forward while they were pinned down. By now, an alert would have been sounded.
"Ruski! Take the right!" He nodded and rounded to their right flank, then began unloading some shells into them. I took the building, and as soon as I entered, I was pinned down. I managed to catch a glimpse of a soldier armed with an T3AK assault rifle. There was a pause in his firing, so I took my chance. With a well placed while he reloaded, I forced him onto the ground. I fired another into him to finish him and then advanced further into the building. It was small, and by some luck I had hit the sleeping quarters with the grenade, and the galley was close to the entrance, so I knew that was clear. Now all that was left was the communications room. Once he arrived, he found two. Fortunately for him, they hadn't noticed him. One was standing with a rifle in hand, and the other had a pistol on the desk in front of him. They had a good setup. There was a set of radios and a desktop computer on the desk, and a generator at the far wall. With the element of surprise, he shot the standing soldier in the hand, forcing him to drop his gun.
"Get down!" I instructed with a loud and clear voice. The man at the desk slowly lowered his head onto the desk. But the standing soldier just stood there, his eyes burning into mine. "I said get down!" And he moved. But not the way I expected. He charged forward, brandishing a knife. On instinct, I fired. He sidestepped out of the bullet's path and before I could fire another he slashed at me. I dodged the swipe by taking a step back and leaning away, then raised a hand to catch his knife arm. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the other making a grab for his pistol. After elbowing my opponents head, I bolted to the radio operator, only to be caught around the neck by the one I had thought to be unconscious. The radio operator grabbed the handgun and leveled it at me. Thinking quickly, I snapped my head back, butting my captor's nose. I then reversed the situation and by that time, it was too late for him. The bullet fired, and hit him square in the chest. I pushed him at the radio operator and using his partner's knife I pinned his hand against the table. He screamed in pain, trying to tug it at. But it was too deep to be pulled out in a panic.
I began using the computer beside the radio and pinpointed the expected reinforcements. Judging on the ETA on the computer, they would be here in ten minutes. And that was more than enough. My ears started to hurt from the constant screaming next to me, so I slammed his face against the desk. If that didn't kill him, then he would be out for a while. Though that didn't matter when I tossed a grenade back in as I strolled out calmly from the building. I heard the explosion as I left it, and found Mathias and Milo waiting in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by KPA corpses.
"We need to clean up. Once we're done, we need to get ourselves ready. Each of us is going to wear a KPA uniform. Old Man, you will be in the tower. Ruski, you will be waiting at the boom gate. I'll greet them out the front of the barracks. When I give the signal, you open fire. The main objective is to hold them here for as long as possible. Understand?"
"Da" Milo answered. Mathias's answer was similar, and we all got to work.
Based on the ETA I had seen, it would be a minute and a half before they arrived. And we were ready. All the bodies had been piled into the sleeping quarters of the barracks, and we had a uniform each. In my hands I held a T3AK with an under barrel shotgun, my USP.45 holstered at my side. Milo had a M1014 pump action shotgun and his sawn off double-barrel, and Mathias waited in the guard tower with a scoped T3AK and his Colt 1911 that he called 'Sally'.
"Everyone in position?" I asked over the radio. Both confirmed. "Good. Old Man, are they is sight yet?" There was a pause, then he answered.
"Two light armor, comin fast." I acted surprised, for I had expected more. But even still, it would be slightly challenging. It wasn't too long after the warning when I saw them coming down the road towards the checkpoint gate. My rifle pressed against my chest, and my fingers tapped alongside the trigger to relieve the tension.
They stopped right by the gate, and Milo opened the gate up after 'checking' their papers, allowing them to pass through. The vehicle at the front had no mounted gun, but the second one did. So we had to be careful about that one when we start the fight. Out of the first one came an officer with one other soldier by his side, armed with an standard 870 Express shotgun.
"Ulineun dangsin-i gong-gyeog-eul badgo iss-eossda jeonhwaleul bad-assda. Sanghwang-eul seolmyeong." He may have spoken in Korean, but that didn't make it any harder. I had learnt Korean for these exact situations. He had asked what the situation was, so I answered in their language.
"Ulineun munjeleul dalueoss da. Geuleona ulineun yaggan-ui sonsil-eul haessda." The officer raised a brow behind his sunglasses and I could imagine him giving me a questioning look. And I could guess why. My language may have been good, but my fluent accent may have been the give away. Fortunately it seemed that he didn't pay much attention to it.
"Dangsin-ui jang-gyo eodi?" he asked cautiously. Just the question he had to ask. Well, I could have answered straight up. But I didn't think he would like the answer.
"Geuneun ... salam jung hanaga hiteu haessda" I answered hesitantly. The officer stepped closer and eyed me carefully, studying my eyes which were the only parts of the face that was visible.
"Jeonhwa beonhoga eotteohge doejyo?" That one question caused a ping in my heart. Other soldiers began to empty. Just a few more seconds, and then it would be the perfect moment.
"Uh..su?" His eyes narrowed, and I caught movement as his hand slowly lowered towards his holstered weapon. Looking at the other vehicles, I counted in my head. One...
"Ne. Jeonhwa beonho." Two...
"Mianhajiman, nado molla." Three..."But, I do know yours." For a moment, the officer seemed to be stunned in confusion possibly because I had spoken in English. "It's nothing...cause you're dead." Before he could reply, I put my spare arm to his neck and pivoted him on the spot, raising my rifle just above his shoulder before firing a shot at my first target. The shotgun soldier collapsed in a heap, and another went with him when my second shot hit him. In a second it had begun a full-on firefight. The first enemy bullet directed out me hit the officer right in the shoulder, and three more hit him in the chest, splattering blood over his vest. A bit sprayed up on my neck, but that was it. When I neared cover, I pushed him aside and shouldered my rifle before popping up to fire a few rounds.
Milo had the rear vehicle handled and was using it as cover, keeping them away from the turret. Mathias pinned a few down next to the front car, hitting a couple of heads. In the first twenty seconds, five were down, and seven were left. Everything was going well. Another popped up, and his head exploded in a red mist as I pounded two bullets into his face. I saw two more go down, killed off by Mathias's well aimed shots. It would have been over if the third vehicle hadn't shown up from behind. I was showered by a barrage of machine gun bullets, so I was forced to dive into the building. But not without getting my left arm clipped. My rifle dropped from my hands, and I was forced to use my pistol. I put the pistol around the corner with one hand, only just peering around to see them. Then I let off two rounds, one of them hitting.
I was about to fire another when I was startled by a crash, and turned in time to see the tower fall on the first car. Luckily, I had seen Mathias jump out, but it would have still hurt him. Looking to the second one, I saw Milo sitting against the side of the vehicle, holding his leg with one hand and his sawn off in the other. If I was to save them, then I had to do it now. I steadied my pistol towards the fuel tank close to the third vehicle and fired, making a hole. The liquid began pouring out in a small fountain. Then with my last grenade, I pulled the pin and threw it before covering my ears and getting as close to the ground as possible. It was all over when the big boom went off, shaking the ground and sending a fireball into the sky.
Well, that was an explosive chapter. So here's the next vote: Who will die? Remember, some will change the course of the story, and this one will change it majorly. So choose wisely.
The Korean lines are listed in order below. If any are wrong, blame google translator, cause that's what I used:
We received a call that you were under attack. Explain the situation
We have dealt with the problem. But we took some losses
Where is your officer
He...was one of the ones hit
What is your number
Uh..number
Sorry, but I do not know
