Author's Note: Hey readers, just wanted to let you know that this chapter is going to be a bit more violent than the others. Also, this chapter is going to be longer than the others before it; a little personal '10th Chapter!!' thing for me. I'm goofy in the head. :P Anywayz, enjoy and review, if you like. Let me know if you have any ideas for it. Supernova has given me several and though I haven't implemented them yet, I thank you for your support. Thanks Nova! J
Wasteland…
Part 2: The Future Chapter 10 Violence HighAlex was pacing around when suddenly the ground shook with such force it whisked him from his feet, the sudden tremor quickly accompanied by what sounded like a large explosion. Man, we're in some serious trouble, Alex thought and he clenched his hands; he felt guilty about what was going on outside; there were people dying and he was inside, all safe and sound. He wanted to get out into that battle; he wanted to go fight, not just for himself but also for the TFP. If it fell into the wrong hands, Earth could have some serious problems, future and past…the doors suddenly opened and Connor stepped out, motioning Alex to come over.
"What's going on," Alex started but Connor immediately interrupted, saying, "Listen, I told the General that you've dealt with our enemy before and now he wants your input."
"What?! This is the future Connor, I haven't—''
"You'd be surprised," he replied and then said to an officer nearby, "Bring Delia and the other girl to the command center, and hustle." The officer complied, taking off down the hallway while Connor grabbed Alex's arm and dragged him into the control room. "General, Alex Mann, from the past." The General looked up and said, "Welcome to the future, Alex. Ain't quite the happy world you thought it would be, eh? Well, to business…we've got this army of, Connor calls them 'Neo-Humans', I myself prefer 'freaks', commanded by a guy I just met. He calls himself Dr. X an—''
"What?!?!?!" Alex yelled and then thought for a second, and said, "I killed him a few years ago, your time. I watched him die; Fidget—the girl that came with me—threw a grenade and X was on the edge of a canyon and it blew up and I watched him—I watched him fall the four-hundred feet to—''
The General raised his hand and said, "Look, Alex, it doesn't matter what you did at that time. What matters is that he's alive right now and he's about to kick our ass, not to mention come on the island himself to help—''
Alex interrupted, "He's coming here?!" Before waiting for a reply, Alex turned to Connor and said, "Suit me up, give me a gun and put me out in the battlefield; I've fought him before, beaten him every time. I'll do it again if I have to." Connor didn't move for a few seconds and then turned his head to the General, who said, "Hell, suit him up and go with him. Also, if this other girl has fought him before, put her in a suit too." Connor nodded and riposted, "Yes sir," then turned to Alex, "Follow me." Connor took off running down a hallway; as they rounded a corner he said, "We're not gonna suit up Fidget," and Alex said, "I wouldn't've let you."
Connor laughed but as he did there was another explosion and both of them were slammed into a wall, "What the—they're bombing the island! X is—,'' Connor was saying but another eruption of noise disrupted him. They scrambled to their feet and rounded another corner and—Connor's shoulder slammed into someone's head, Alex barely dodging a running body. "OW," came Fidget's voice from the floor. Alex looked down at the person Connor had run into and would've laughed, but Fidget would probably hurt him, so instead he helped her up, saying, "It would help if you weren't so short."
Fidget flared up and was about to hit him but she looked at his face and…softened up…and, of course, he blew the moment, saying, "Alright, we gotta go."
Alex had just about
run into Delia, who said, "What's happening?"
Alex let out an exasperated sigh but Connor replied, "We're under attack
by the army has been killing everybody.
The best thing about it is that the army is actually an army of
Neo-Humans that's led by someone she and Alex killed back in their time."
Delia's face was blank, so Connor
said, "We're suiting up and going outside to fight. X is coming to the island himself and—''
"That scumbag," yelled Fidget, slamming her fist into her other hand. Connor kept talking, "—Alex wants to fight him, which obviously means that he thinks he can beat him. We have to hurry so—''
"Wait a second,"
said Delia and Fidget at the same time, but Fidget kept going, "That means that
we're not going." Connor looked at her
and said, "Yeah, no kidding—," Fidget punched him in the stomach and he just
stood there, looking at her. Delia
spoke, "C'mon Fidget, they can't stop us if we go on our own."
Alex rolled his eyes and said, "Shit,
we don't have for this; let's go now."
Connor agreed and they both took off down the hall; they knew they were
being jerks but X was coming and he was a priority. The girls watched them run away and Delia said, once they were
out of sight, "There's several rooms with suits. C'mon, we'll follow them once we suit up."
§
In another ten minutes, Connor and Alex were suited up and selecting guns. The first layer of suits was a skin-tight black fabric that kept the body warm at all times, so that they could swim without worries of hypothermia; the second layer was the armor. The armor was designed to fit any person, any size; for instance, you put a shin-guard over your shins and it automatically scans the leg and wraps magnets around your leg so that it helps repel bullets (not hardly at all but it has been proven that it lightens the chances of getting hit); the magnets are also attracted to the armor, to make sure that it can't come off until the person deactivates the magnets. Armor covers most of the body but not all because it would limit the person's flexibility; the third layer is just the pack that is already attached to the armor that covers your backside; it's waterproof and you can put your gun in it so it doesn't get destroyed.
Connor chose a sniper rifle equipped with an extra grenade launcher so he could give Alex cover as he ran around, looking for X and a back-up pistol that wasn't very powerful but could hold thirty small rounds that could easily kill someone. Alex chose an automatic rifle that was easy to move around and not too awkward; his secondary was the same pistol as Connor's.
Once finished getting ready, Connor and Alex started running toward the nearest opening to the outside. Alex took note of his surroundings, the most important one being…why is it sill night? They said we'd been out for thirty-two hours…how can it still be night?
The helmet had it's own frequency for communications and as they ran Connor said, "Our frequency is set just for you and me and the command center. No one else knows we're going to be out there; the only way they'll know is our suits but often times people's adrenaline gets going that they just shoot at whatever they see…so be careful."
Alex could hear Connor's voice in his left ear; it was faintly muffled by static but Alex could easily hear what was said and he replied, "And watch the Neo-Humans. They keep coming until it's impossible. So don't ever consider one dead until he's blown apart."
"Gotcha," Connor replied, and then the General was suddenly speaking, "Alright you two, we've got four bogeys on the map; did you guys decide to bring some guests?" Connor was about to say he didn't know what he was talking about but then came Delia's voice, "That would be me and Fidget, sir. We decided the boys would need some help."
"You girls get your sweet little asses back inside."
"Sorry, sir, but I believe that Connor and Alex will need cover."
"Are you disobeying orders, Delia Redden?" There was a silence for a few seconds and she said, "Yes sir, I am." The General replied, "Okay then, go give them some cover that'll be worth something and as for 'Fidget', I want you to give Delia cover. I heard you can work grenades so perhaps you'll be worth something too. Connor?"
"Sir?"
"The Neo-Humans made it past our first wave of defenses; the coastal defenses were already weak from the Chinese' first attack but if they keep going like they have been, our second wave will be gone in a few minutes. Our soldiers are running out of ammo and our turrets are starting to overheat. Keep moving and I'll keep talking." Connor answered with a quick, "Yes sir," and then he and Alex stepped out the large metal doors and into the dark night that was constantly flashing with gunfire. There was a hill and the war was on the other side and past the bottom of the hill was the shore; to the left of that was the small forest and to the right of the shore was a small mountain.
The General kept going, "There's a transport that we can see on the radar that will be here in approximately six minutes at it's present speed and I'm guessing that that X bastard has a helluva lot of his Neo-Humans inside to protect him. He's probably assuming that he's going to have our defense down by the time he gets here but let's give him hell and prove him wrong. The missile sub we used yesterday ran out of ammo a few hours ago and is refueling and reloading right now…it won't be up for another twenty to twenty-five minutes because of damage; it's barely floating as it is."
Connor grimaced and somehow managed a smile, replying with a stern, "Yes sir! Alex, let's go spread the word to use explosives on the Neo-Humans." They both took off running and, out of the corner of his eye, Connor saw two more suited people burst out of an exit a few hundred yards away. "Delia, Fidget, what kind of guns do you have?" They both replied, "The sniper ones with the grenades," and Fidget added with an evil laugh, "Haha, I have explosives." They all laughed nervously and then Connor said, "Alright, you two go to the top of the hill and give us cover from there. "Yes sir," replied Delia, her voice now serious and ready for the upcoming battle.
Alex and Connor sprinted up the hill and, for some reason, it wasn't as hard to, even though they had body armor. Alex then remembered Connor and Blake talking about the suit helping you out.
Holy shit, thought Alex just as he realized something. "General, have you guys fighting the whole time we've been out cold?" The General's laugh replied, "Hehehe, that's right Mr. Mann. While you were sleeping, we were dying." Guilt stung Alex and, in reaction, he turned it to anger. Now he truly wanted the Neo-Humans to die. He felt his adrenaline beginning to pump through his body and he also knew that his AMP Factor was going to play a major role in the impending mêlée.
The second Alex and Connor appeared on top of the hill, bullets and small proton shots started lighting up the ground around them and one bullet hit Alex in the arm. It stung horrible but in couple more seconds the pain was gone; his arm went numb for as long as the pain had lasted and then it felt just like before it had gotten shot… "It's because the armor implants have anesthetics that take the pain away and the magnets repel the bullet easily after it stops," Connor suddenly said, then added, "I know, I just got shot too. C'mon let's move." Connor sprinted down to the trenches, Alex behind him; right before they reached the furrows, the General said, "Don't worry about telling our boys about the explosives against the Neo-Humans. We already spread the word. Things are about to get kinda bumpy."
Connor stood up and fired a shot at a Neo-Human, Alex taking a few shots too. He could only hope that Fidget and Delia were safe…
"YEE-HAHAHA," yelled Fidget as she launched more grenades high into the air; they landed on the beach and disintegrated three Neo-Humans.
…Alex held back a laugh and instead said, "Good shooting Fidget…Connor, have the woods been cleared of the Chinese snipers?" Connor shrugged but the General replied, "We finally sent thirteen men into the area about twelve hours ago and three came back, saying they had killed all them sorry ass snipers." Alex sat down in the trench, the numbers beginning to come together in his mind; it was the AMP Factor but not quite it's usual manner…the calculations going through his head weren't going to happen in a split second but for the next six minutes… Alex looked at the shores and the woods, thought about the incoming transport with Dr. X, the men in the trenches… Slowly, Alex drifted from the battle, his thoughts focusing on what he could do with his abilities and what could be done and about X and the battle…
A distant voice began to awaken Alex from his trance…it kept saying the same thing over and over again and suddenly Alex was back in the heat of the battle, gunfire lighting the skies and the island. "Alex," Connor yelled, vehemently shaking his shoulder. Alex blinked and looked at Connor and simply said, "Follow me and do exactly as I say." His voice was remote and cold sounding, and Connor nodded.
The General's voice entered his ear, "You have a plan, Mr. Mann? I certainly hope you do because you've got a minute-and-a-half before X arrives with his reinforcements and judging from the battle, we won't be able to handle them."
Alex frowned; I was out of it for that long…? Sounding cold but confident, Alex simply replied, "Let me control the troops, let me take command." Alex didn't stop walking as he awaited the reply; he had a plan for any change of events. He calculated nearly every major possibility and then what could happen after that one, and after that one; a whole tree of sequences was created in his mind and he was able to take whatever was thrown at him—except a bullet in the head.
"Since we have nothing left to back us up, Mr. Mann, your wish is granted. I hope you'll understand the importance that you don't fail…okay; you're patched into the whole network. Everything you say, every soldier out there will here."
Alex immediately took command, but didn't stray from his path. He, with Connor following, continued to walk towards the woods without any hesitation as he spoke; "All troops, this is Alex Mann. I've been given command of the army and I have a different strategy that I'm going to use to protect this island. You're going to have to trust every word I say and do whatever I say, the second you hear it said. Some of it might sound crazy, if not ultimately insane, but in the end, if everyone does their part, it'll be worth it." Alex gave that a moment, then started giving orders, "Fidget, Delia, I want you bombard the shore with everything you have left, starting in fifteen seconds. The second explosion light up the shore, I want everyone on the front line to jump and run back to the third trench—likewise for everyone in the second trench. Everyone that is in the third trench right now, you'll run back to the main building and haul as much ammunition as you can in two minutes—five of you grab a bunch of explosives, wiring, and a detonator. Once everyone is in the third trench, you'll give everyone that's running back to the building as much cover as possible."
Almost the second he was finished, the shore began to light up with the grenades that Fidget and Delia had started launching; Alex started sprinting for the woods and made it without any problems, Connor close behind. Alex ran for a few more precious seconds then jumped up a tree, surprised by how easily it was; the suit gave him strength he didn't need to worry about using…he quickly added that into his calculations. Connor was in the tree closest to Alex, sniping Neo-Humans that had made it past the shore. "All troops," Alex said, "don't waste ammo if you don't think you can hit a target's head; it's pointless to hit one of these freaks in any limp or the torso. Only headshots."
Alex surveyed the battle from his tree, the calculations flying through his mind super fast. The Neo-Humans kept coming out of the water and attacking the island. In the distance, Alex could see the transport's vague shape coming into view…X was almost upon them, and when he was, Alex was sure all hell would break lose; X wasn't as careless as he was presenting himself. Alex was convinced he had something up his sleeve that he couldn't calculate, couldn't comprehend.
Alex looked back up at the top of the hill and saw the Fidget and Delia weren't shooting grenades as fast as they had been; they were probably running out of ammo and trying to spare it. "Delia, run back and get as many grenades as you can for you and Fidget, and be back in less than minute."
She breathlessly got out a, "Yes sir," and Alex from what Alex could see of her, she turned around and sprinted out of view. Alex turned his view back to the shores. The Neo-Humans were still coming and were getting close to the first trench. If they took that, the chances of victory were very small, even with Alex's AMP Factor, and Alex knew it. He started sniping as many as he could before glancing back at the huge transport. It was getting closer, within three quarters of a mile. Alex looked back up at the hill and saw people carrying boxes starting to appear over the hill, sprinting down to the third trench from the shore and dumping whatever they were carrying into it.
Alex could hear the sub-commanders—he didn't know what they were called here in the future—quickly organizing everybody and the ammo to their best abilities. Alex looked back at the carrier…half a mile…
And then something Alex hadn't calculated happened. Something that probably no one thought would happen in the past thirty-two hours…the gunfire slowly stopped in intensity, and then stopped completely. Alex frowned and used the scope on his rifle to look at the shore…there were no Neo-Humans coming out of the water. They had stopped coming…
Now Alex Mann was sure that X had something planned, something that Alex couldn't predict… He looked back at the transport and tried to calculate the distance…half a mile…Alex started to look away but then swerved his head back. Still half-a-mile? Alex focused his scope on a purple 'X' that was on the transport…it stayed the same size; it didn't get bigger, which meant the transport had stopped.
The General's voice came on, "Alex, we're getting a message from X—sending it to you now." Alex was worried now…the General had addressed him as 'Mr. Mann' up until that point…something was wrong. A small picture of X appeared in Alex's helmet, a picture of X before he took hold of Brandon's body. The figure started talking, "The Remnants are on the verge of being conquered. This will be the last and final time I ask of you to surrender—if you don't…it's quite obvious you're already defeated. Look at your puny defense. The first two trenches are empty of men and you have so few in the last dugout."
Suddenly the face's calmness went to pure rage and X started yelling, "Can't you just DIE?!?! I've promised you a better life, a better base, a better EVERYTHING in exchange for ONE PIECE OF EQUIPMENT!!!" His face suddenly became its usual self again and the normal, tranquil voice of Dr. X said, "I await your reply…if you don't send a message in the next three minutes…you die." It blinked out and Alex sighed.
Something's wrong with X…things aren't going as he planned or something… Knowing Alex wouldn't figure that out, he pursued other thoughts. "He thinks our defenses are weaker than they are, which means he underestimates us," he said into the helmet. The troops were all silent, waiting, watching the shore; most of them were ducking in the trench…there were probably only thirty of the two hundred visible from shore; no wonder X thought they were weak.
Could I destroy the transport with a turret? No…too much armor…it would probably only dent the it…"When the transport hits the shore, I only want those of you that are already visible to shoot—I want all turrets and other gunfire not to fire a shot until I give the command. The five of you that got the explosive stuff go up and quickly string up the first trench. I want you in and out as fast as possible. Go! General, can I talk with you alone on the headset?"
There was a small click and the General said, "Just you and the command room."
"Okay, how much longer can I depend on those turrets?" Silence for a couple of seconds, then, "About five to ten more minutes of shooting and they'll explode." Alex frowned and said, "Can you pour any kind of cold water on them, or nitrogen or something?"
"We've already been doing that and it's gotten to the point where it's not having an effect."
Alex glowered and then said, angered, "Why don't you just blow up the damn TFP?"
The General sighed and said, "Because it could cause a rip in time; we've already created one and by bringing you here, caused a stitch in it. Things are different going from the future than going from the past…but destroying the TFP would certainly cause some kind of warp… Now, if it comes down to destroying it or this 'X' character getting it, I'll gladly tell them to press the button, but until then, we can't take that chance."
Silence…there wasn't a sound from the command room or from anybody…
Alex looked back at the trenches; the explosive crew was just getting back to the third trench and picking up their guns. These men were willing to die for a stupid science project…amazing, thought Alex, never thought I'd be in the future, commanding a small army that is protecting something that could change the world if destroyed. Never saw it coming…
A sudden noise filled his ears; it was a quiet wwwhiiirrrrrr, of motors and Alex looked to the transport to find it moving towards the island. Alex closed his eyes and tried to ready himself for what he was planning to do…
And then opened them to find the transport almost upon the island. It looked like a huge APC from the ninety's, the front of it opening so quickly that it was barely seen moving…and the Neo-Humans rushed out, opening fire on the third trench, the third trench's thirty visible men firing back. They surged forward, their numbers quickly into the hundreds and—
"Fidget and Delia, open grenade fire, as much as you can, now. Turrets will NOT fire until I give the command…" The Neo-Humans rushed the shore, trampling over the ones that tripped on a corpse. The thirty men weren't holding them back hardly at all, and Alex said, "Stay as you are, stay as you are…trust me, people." He was positive that doubt was creeping into their minds, especially every time they saw the army rushing the island.
Alex could hear the General's heavy breathing and mutters; he caught a couple words, "crazy fool…about…retake command…" Alex hoped he wouldn't because they had to have hope for a few more seconds…
The Neo-Humans took the first trench, pouring into it and attempting to take favorable position. "Wait for it," Alex said, an almost-desperate edge in his voice, "wait for it…" The Neo-Humans were still pouring into it and Alex wanted it to be overflowing with Neo-Humans… Another ten seconds and it was full of at least four hundred Neo-Humans, all crowded shoulder to shoulder, with more Neo-Humans stepping on them to get past the trench and blitz the second one. "You thirty shooting, take out the ones that make it past the first trench, person with explosives, detonate on my mark…………now!" The explosion lit up the night the sun for a few seconds; hundreds of Neo-Humans flew high into the air, screaming and squelching as they were burned or incinerated.
"Everyone in the third trench, open fire, open fire!" …And here we go, Alex thought, then added, as foretold, the hell has been unleashed…and he took a deep breath…
§
Fidget and Delia had to lie down while doing their business due to a lot of gunfire in their direction; quite obviously, X considered them a threat and wanted them dead for his assault but it was of no avail, thanks to the brilliant technology of the armor.
Although fear kept easing into her mind, Fidget was having a blast—literally—blowing up the Neo-Human army. Delia had brought out over five hundred grenades and Fidget intended for them to use every last one of them; man I wish I could film this, she thought with glee as she fired another one. She also kept glancing in Alex's direction, the tree on the edge of the woods; he was a surprisingly good commander, better than she thought he would be. And he had some plan, that he was going through with. So far, he was looking really good and Fidget knew Delia was impressed. When the first trench lit up, she said to Delia with an all-too-Fidget roar, "HHHooow do ya' like my man now!?" Delia just laughed and launched another one.
Delia, on the other hand, was worried sick; Connor was awful quiet and she knew that she was patched into his headset because the list she accessed said she was…and he was very quiet. Not like him, especially in mêlée…very quiet… She was worried that he was dead and Alex either didn't notice or didn't have the time to say anything about it…or didn't want to say anything about it… The thought of Connor hurt made her want to just drop the grenade launcher and run toward him, check on him and tell him she loved him…but she couldn't; she had to fight it, as well as fight the enemy army that was quickly engaging the island.
The Neo-Humans were taking up positions in craters that the missile sub had left behind from the missiles and Delia was trying to hit those craters and take out the Neo-Humans that were in them; they were obviously serving as snipers and snipers were as much a threat to her as a grenade exploding next to her; especially if she was a feared target. Delia also—
"Oh no," Fidget said quietly, "What is he doing?"
Delia looked at Fidget and then followed her gaze…to Alex, who had just dropped out of the tree he was in, Connor dropping a few seconds later. He's okay! …But the happy thought quickly went grim as she saw Alex start running towards the army of Neo-Humans…right toward the middle of the battle...
Fidget started to get up but Delia held her back and said, "Keep shooting grenades…it's only thing we can do from here and we certainly can't get to them before they do anything stupid…we can only hope and shoot…"
Fidget frowned the deepest frown Delia had ever seen, but then got back down and started shooting grenades as quickly as she could…so did Delia…
§
Despite knowing everybody could hear him, Alex said to Connor, "Don't follow me now; there's no way you can do what I can do, and there's no way you'd live by following me." Connor stopped running and quietly asked, "Is that an order?"
They stopped running and Alex nodded, "It is," then turned his attention to the army, "I want everybody to give everything they've got. If you're out of ammo and have nothing left but a knife, I want you to fight off every monster that gets close enough for you to stab. I want the turrets to start firing until they can't in fifteen seconds. This…this IS IT," he finished with yell and could hear, even with gunfire and heavy armor on, the cheers of the men as they fought…
Alex told Connor to go back to his tree and keep sniping and he did so…Alex went back to the forest and sneaked along the tree line. The Neo-Humans were still flooding from the transport, but not as thick as they had been; Alex estimated that he had blown up probably a third of the hostiles just by that one stunt. Now it was time for another stunt, one that would probably end his life but save the others.
But every idea he had was suddenly shattered when he saw a huge…tentacle?…come out of the transport, followed by another and another until there was a mass of some kind of tentacles or legs on the shores…then two tentacles suddenly shot high into the air, holding what appeared to be a human figure by the palms of his hands… No…the tentacles looked like they were coming from the palms…
Gangrene?! He heard a psychotic laugh that confirmed his thoughts and tried to recover from the shock of seeing one of the last people he'd expected to see… The vines began to spread and grow towards the first trench, which was now bigger thanks to the blast… Alex got over the shock of seeing Gangrene real quick and told the army to, "Focus all firepower on the Neo-Humans except for one turret and all snipers. All snipers try to hit the guy that's being held up by the vines and I want the turret to hold back the vines from reaching the third trench. If that turret goes out, I want another to take its duty."
Oh man…now hell is unleashed. Even over the gunfire and the shouts and yells and screams, Alex could hear Gangrene's psychotic, almost-giggly laughter. Alex raised his automatic rifle and tried to find Gangrene on the scope but Gangrene had moved, now moving all over the place, hardly stopping all…it was as if he knew the snipers had targeted him.
The Neo-Human army was progressing, ever so slowly up the shore, now making to the first trench again. The mass of vines kept getting obliterated by the turret but it kept growing back in a few seconds…the scene of chaos was pure madness…and Alex couldn't help but wonder what he was going to do… The adrenaline already flowing at unimaginable levels, Alex felt it coming and could only hope that it would lead him to a solution that might save them all…