Id be lying if I told you I plan to stick with this. I reworked this chapter to make it more to my liking and hopfully ill keep adding to this. LMK if you enjoy and feel free to add feedback.
It was a very dry and hot day in the desert with a mirage off in every distant direction.
Specialist Ryan of the US Army and the rest of his squad was driving down a bumpy road in a convoy on the way to a village to deliver humanitarian rations to the locals.
There was word of a bomb maker in the area and higher command thought if they buttered up some of the local villages someone might give up the intel if asked.
Ryan was driving the rear HMV with his team leader in the front passenger seat.
Ryan scratched his black hair as he saw his reflection in the HMV's windshield he saw his blue eyes starting back at him.
His friends Billy and Rick were in the back seats.
Billy was the squad's 249 gunner, so he was a big guy.
Rick was the squad's grenadier so basically a rifleman like Ryan but more fun.
Rick physically on other hand was just about the same as Ryan except half a head taller.
Both Ryan and Rick had M4's with red dot sights on them.
Their team leader was a man from Kentucky, Owen was his name.
"Alright Ryan" Owen said as he looked at the GPS mount in the HMV
"We're coming up on the village, Alpha squad with Sargent Son has the job of picking out a spot in the village to pull security"
He pauses to spit out some chewing tobacco into a water bottle he had lying next to him
"So, when we pull up make it quick with getting those humanitarian rations out so the villagers don't think we're doing a raid and start running away"
"Roger Sargent too easy, and don't think you two fuckers are just standing around you're helping me too"
"Aww fuck off Ryan, we loaded the fucking things while you were taking a shit" Rick said annoyed
"I didn't fucking ask you to do my job dumbass, you played yourself simple as day" Ryan said with a smirk
Rick responded with a simple kick to the back of his seat
Shortly after the radio kicked on
"Baker squad this is Alpha. We have made it into the town and secured a nice spot to set up. Just watch out for the children they are already running around us"
Sargent Owen picks up the radio and responds with "Solid copy Alpha" and sets the hand mic back down
Sargent Owen taps Ryan on the shoulder "Pull up to the left next to them and grab the rations, I'm going to talk to Alpha's squad lead"
"Roger that" Ryan responded
Ryan parks the HMV about 15 feet away from Alpha squad's lead vehicle and everyone gets out
As Sargent Owen got out he turned to the three of them
"Also all of you carry your assault packs. Command doesn't want some shit head kids to run up and steal them from our HMV"
They all laugh remembering the incident that happened to one of Alpha squads troops a week prior.
"Rick hand me my M4 and pack would you kindly?" Ryan asked as she stretched his back
"Anything else you need your royal lazy fuck?" Rick said reaching for his M4
As he slings his M4 and gives it a quick look over he flips off Rick
"Yeah, wake up Billy so that dumbass doesn't get caught sleeping on a mission"
Ryan walks to the back of the HMV and opens the trunk.
They have six boxes of rations squeezed back there along with all the other food, water, ammo and gas they need for a patrol.
He grabs two of the boxes and heads to the front of the HMV.
The next hour or so passes by with Ryan and Rick passing out the rations while Billy takes a smoke break at the back of the HMV.
They are on the last box when a couple of kids coming running to grab the last bit of rations that were left.
After that, they toss the empty boxes in the back of the HMV.
"Well Ryan enjoyed your day of playing hero?" Rick asked sarcastically
"Fuck no, I'd rather be back home eating a burger and drinking a beer than in this hot fucking place. Don't get me wrong it feels nice to give, but fuck how don't I know one of these little kids won't run up and stab me?"
"That's why I'm here. To help him finish your dumbass off by getting stabbed by a kid in the first place."
"Eat shit asshole"
When Ryan closes the trunk, he nudges Billy
"Hey man got an extra smoke? I really need one"
"Yeah, sure no problem"
Billy hands him a smoke and they all walk to the front of the HMV and lean on it. Ryan lights up his cigarette he looks at Alpha's lead HMV with his squad leader still there talking to Alpha's.
"Fuck man they've been talking this whole time"
"Didn't you know Ryan? They went through basic together way back when. They finally reunited when they got to this unit."
"No shit? How the fuck did you know that Rick?"
"Cause I ask questions dumbass. Not all of us can be a useless piece of shit."
"Okay fair enough asshole." Ryan respond while taking another puff of his cigarette.
Just as Ryan was finishing up his smoke some yells could be heard at the front of the convoy.
"What the fuck is going on?" Billy asked raising his 249 in anticipation of what's to come.
Following his question a series of gunshots were heard and then an explosion obliterating the front HMV of the convoy shooting flames and debris everywhere and shaking the ground beneath everyone.
The three of them snapped into action taking cover behind their HMV.
Ryan poked his head out to see that were his squad lead was.
All he saw now were the body parts of dead men on fire scattered everywhere with a few lucky people trying to crawl back onto their feet.
None of them looked good they were all wounded by either the blast or shrapnel from the explosion.
Billy was already letting volleys out with his 249 in the direction of figures dressed in black uniforms returning fire back at the three of them.
The whole convoy was coming under attack by an unknown enemy and the almost had them surrounded.
Ryan grabbed Rick and yelled "Cover me I'm going to see what the fuck is going on!"
Rick nodded and yelled "Alright but be fucking fast!" as he was preparing a round for his grenade launcher attached to the under rail of his M4.
Ryan took a quick glimpse at it before he took off.
It was the m320 model.
Ryan sprinted to where the lead HMV was and found cover next to a waist high wall.
The rest of the convoy was in the same state of confusion and panic as his team was.
All of the other NCOs of the convoy were screaming out orders to their squad's to maintain control of the situation while they figured out what the hell was going on.
When Ryan got to the lead HMV he saw body parts and remnants of what was a person or people scattered around.
He looked around for Sargent Owen but could only assume he was taken out by the blast when he couldn't find him.
"Fuck what in the actual fuck is happening!" he cursed to himself as he started back to his HMV
Halfway there though he felt the wind get knocked out of him and a huge pain in his back causing him to faceplant into the ground.
Through the confusion and adrenaline Ryan though someone punched him but he knew that couldn't be right he was wearing his vest.
Dazed and confused he got back up coughing and spitting the dirt out of his mouth he again tried to make his way back to his HMV.
Hearing the snaps of bullets and the barrage of gunfire around him he turned back around to see what could of hit him.
What he saw was a man holding a AK-47 aimed right at him.
Ryan quickly took aim on the man as the bullets flying past him all missed but not for long.
Ryan shot a volley of four bullets at the man until he dropped dead.
What Ryan didn't see was the man in the window across the street aiming a RPG right at him.
"Ryan get the fuck down!" someone shouted as he was tackled behind a nearby HMV.
All Ryan heard next was his ears ringing.
When he finally came to he had to push the person who tackled him off of him.
After doing so he looked at him.
It was Rick.
His face had dirt and bruises all over it and when he looked down at his legs he was in disbelief.
Rick had both of his feet blown off and blood was gushing everywhere.
Ryan quickly fumbled to get tourniquets from Rick's shoulder pockets while kneeling on one of his legs to apply pressure to slow the loss of blood.
"Oh fuck of fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuuuuuck. Rick! Fuck sakes Rick why the fuck what the fuck!"
He ranted frantically as he tightened the tourniquet on one of Rick's legs before moving to the other one repeating the process.
"You fucking idiot you god damn fucking idiot why the fuck did you do that?"
When he got the other one secure he did a blood sweep to make sure he wasn't bleeding from anywhere else.
Luckily, he was not.
When he finally finished doing his medical checks, he got a chance to look around and see where they were.
"What the fuck?" Ryan said almost speechless as his face shifted from panic and horror to one of confusion.
What he didn't see was the convoy under attack or hear the boom of gunfire and the snaps of bullets flying past him.
What he did see though was trees surrounding him with a clearing only a couple of feet away.
As he squinted his eyes to look through the clearing in the trees and bushes it only confused him further.
There was a small village with fields and dirt roads running house to house with scattered bunches of trees and tree lines.
It looked much more medieval looking like from a movie he had seen.
Ryan just couldn't comprehend how he was now in a forest when only moments ago he was in the middle of a different village in the middle of a desert not a forest.
"What the actual fuck is going on?" Ryan said as he looked back at Rick
He was just laying their motionless.
As Ryan put his fingers up to his neck to feel for a pulse, he could hear a rustle in the forest.
Surprised, Ryan unslung his M4 and aimed it at the trees in forest.
All he saw deep within were dark figures dashing around.
"Fuck shit I got to move" Ryan said to himself with panic begging to build in him once again
He quickly swung his M4 again and picked up Rick in a bridal carry.
Both men in full gear was not making it easy on Ryan to lug his friend around.
On another note, when he picked up Rick he must of messed up the tourniquets cause Ryan could still see some blood dripping out from where his feet were supposed to be.
He didn't have time to readjust them right now though.
He had to make it to that village which was hopefully friendly and would help him.
In his panic and his eyes adjusting to the full brightness of the sun after being in the shade of the forest Ryan ran right through a fence cause him to drop Rick and fall.
"Jesus fuck man the fuck was that" he said as he got back to his feet
Ryan saw a long and far reaching fence that looked like he could surround the whole village but he didn't have time to fully entertain the thought.
Ryan quickly picked Rick back up and continued to the village.
After getting halfway to the nearest house Ryan heard a howl come from the forest.
He quickly turned around to see the source of the sound and Ryan almost wished that he hadn't.
It was a pack of what looked like wolfs on steroids walking from the hole in the fence Ryan made.
The sight of them sent Ryan into now a full fledge panic as he saw the long tails and horns on their snouts.
"What in the god fucking damn are those" Ryan said to himself as he started to back up to the house he was running to.
As he did the lead wolf locked eyes with Ryan.
It was almost as if he was the one they were looking for and when it laid eyes on him Ryan could swear he saw it grin if it could do that.
Ryan now knowing he was in a terrible situation sprinted to the house with his back to the wolfs.
As he was covering the distance much more quickly now in a full panicked sprint, he heard the wolfs howl.
Glancing over his shoulder he saw the wolfs were sprinting at him and covering the distance to him.
Ryan quickly sat Rick down gentle as he could considering the circumstance and unslung his M4 and took aim at the beast.
They were already halfway to him when only seconds had passed.
Taking aim through his red dot sight on his M4 Ryan finally saw there were only 4 wolfs coming at him.
He took aim at the one in the front of the pact and let loose a volley of rounds.
Finally, after the tenth round the wolf fell and tumbled across the grass.
Ryan then took aim at the second wolf now much closer and shot a volley of five rounds all aimed at the beast head dropping it almost instantly.
The last two were now almost on top of Ryan.
He quickly with a flick of his thumb set his M4 to fully automatic and with the remaining rounds in his magazine Ryan sprayed both wolfs at practically point blank range.
He got lucky and the first wolf instantly was killed by the hellfire of rounds but when Ryan shifted his aim to the last wolf, he only got off four rounds off until the body of the dead one slammed into him throwing his M4 from his hands.
He quickly pushed the dead beast off of him and stood up.
But before he could the last one was jumping onto him mouth snapping at his throat.
"Shit!" Ryan screamed as he shot his left arm to try and keep the beast at bay.
The dying wolf was giving Ryan a hell of a fight for his life because wolf managed to maneuver his snout around Ryans hand and onto his arm biting into flesh.
The sensation of the flesh of his arm being torn and bitten into caused Ryan to scream in pain
"Ahhh you fucking bitch" he yelled as he fumbled with the holster of his M17 pistol.
Finally getting it out Ryan pushed the muzzle of the pistol into the chest of the beast where he thought its heart could be.
After yanking the trigger six times the wolf went limp finally letting go of Ryans arm.
Staring down at the dead beast Ryan holstered his pistol and looked at his arm.
"Fucking hell that's not good at all" he said as he reached for his shoulder tourniquet trying his best to block out the pain.
As he got it tightened he then finally remember Rick.
"Oh fuck Rick" he said as he quickly turned around and still saw him lying their motionless
Ryan got onto his knees and looked at Rick's now feetless legs and saw that blood was still slowly coming out from them.
In a heartbeat Ryan with now only one good arm got to work tightening Rick's tourniquets until he was sure this time the bleeding had stopped.
When he got done he heard a sound the he dreaded.
Another howl coming from the forest.
This time when he looked up he saw a now much larger pack of wolfs at least twice as much as before.
Ryans heart dropped to his stomach.
"No fucking way man no fucking way" he said as he was weakly fishing for his M4 with his one good right arm.
"I'm going to fucking die here, aren't I?" Ryan said as he tried to swap the almost empty mag for a fresh one from his vest.
Before he could even get the magazine fully in and take aim they all started in a sprint at Ryan.
"Well Rick this is where we fucking die man sorry I'm such a fuck up man" he said weakly starting to accept his fate.
Ryan took aim by stretching out his left arm and merely propping his M4 on it.
But before he could even get on shot off a even more unbelievable sight took place.
Giant icicles littered the field and one by one tore into the wolfs before they could even make it halfway to him.
Ryan looked to where the source of them could be coming from and saw three figures.
One of them was a figure dressed in almost all white clothing with some purple decorations on them.
The other two who Ryan saw were heading towards him were both of similar clothing of what looked like maid uniforms.
It also looked like their hair color was different too, but Ryan decided he lost more blood than he thought and was hallucinating.
Since it looked like they were helping Ryan finally after what seemed like an eternity he relaxed and fell down next to Rick.
"Fucking hold tight Rick I think we're being saved" he said nudging Rick in his side.
Rick just laid still motion less.
"Rick?" Ryan whispered out his consciousness starting to fade.
"R..rick man wake the fu… up" Was all he could get out until Ryan let the darkness overtake him.
As Emilia finished driving off what was left of the Wolgarm she spoke out loud to what almost seemed like no one.
"Puck can you see anymore?" She asked
Then out of nowhere a small cat like fairy creature appeared.
"Hmmm no. Pretty sure you got all of them!" They stated triumphantly.
She made a sigh of relief.
"Good now how about our strange visitors?" She said as she glanced over to where Rem and Ram ran off too.
"One of them seems okay but could do with some healing but I sense the other one has passed" Puck said matter of factly
Emilia only made a small face of defeat before moving to her two maids and looking at the field scattered with the dead bodies of the Wolgarms.
"So many this close to the village. If that strange man wouldn't of been here to hold them off with his magic weapons until we arrived" she let the thought trail off before thinking of what the outcome could of been
"Well at least one of them made it" She says as she approaches her maids
As she walks up, she sees Rem healing the man with the badly hurt arm.
Rem has almost fully healed the man in the strange camo like uniform when Emilia walks up.
"Who are they?" Emilia ask but not expecting any real answer to her question
Rem speaks up
"I don't know, it appears they have some sort of marking on their chest, but I do not know the language. They do however have a flag on their uniforms, but I don't know where it comes from."
"That's okay thank you Rem. Ram could you go and see if any of the villagers have a horse and carriage. I want to bring these two back to the mansion. Maybe when the one that survived wakes up he can tell us where he came from."
"Of course, Lady Emilia" Ram says as he bows and walks away into the village
Emilia looks at the man that Rem is working on and the bodies of the Wolgarms surrounding and leading up to him.
"He went this far to protect his friend and the village even after being severely hurt. Just who is this person?" Emilia though as she then laid eyes on his strange thing he was holding.
"Puck have you seen anything like this before?"
He floated up to man's weapon giving it a good look over
"Nope! Never! It smells weird too."
Emilia sniffs the air.
Whatever the man was using was quite a mystery.
Shooting fire out and loud noises to kill the Wolgarms.
It truly intrigued her.
She was simply happy he used it to save the village than the other way around.
When he wakes up maybe he will tell her the answers to her questions.
Ram got back leading a horse and carriage.
Rem loaded the dead on first and then the one that she saved.
She went to pick up the weapon he was using when it slightly burned her.
She went to pick it up again at the complete other end and put it in the carriage too.
Ryan slowly opened his eyes and stretched out his entire body
"Awww fuck I'm sore as hell." He said as he stretched out his whole body
After a quick few seconds his memory come flooding back to him.
He grabbed at his left arm and in disbelieve It was still there.
"How the hell is this possible? It got bit to shit, didn't it?"
He got up out of the bed and did a whole take on his body
"Everything is here…wait what am I wearing?"
Ryan noticed he was wearing some sort of robe he was then startled by a voice he heard literally right next to him
It belonged to the two maid twins from before
He was amazed at their hair color and it seemed their eye color matched their hair too.
"Rem it seems our guest is finally awake now"
They both began to bow
"I am Ram and this is my sister Rem. We are maids at this mansion." The one with blue hair stated
It was strange.
Ryan knew they were speaking a different language, but he somehow knew every word they were speaking.
He didn't know how to explain it but it just somehow just was happening.
"I- ummm…. Hello?" He said very confused then he remembered
"wait umm… where is the other one? Where is my friend? Is he okay? Did you save him like me? Wait who saved me and how my arm was practically bitten off. Where is all of my stuff too you didn't steal it did you?"
He barraged the girls with questions, and he could see the look of discontent on their face's.
The one that called herself Ram spoke up again
"Follow us and we will show you to your friend"
"Umm alright sure but seriously what's going on here?"
"All of your questions will be answered when you sit down with Lady Emilia for lunch."
"Fine fine okay."
As they walked Ryan kept rubbing his arm not believing it was still there.
It seemed almost impossible.
It WAS impossible.
Even with the best gear and doctor in the world there would still be some scars left and he would still be bed ridden.
They got to a set of doors and they stopped and the both faced him as Ram spoke up again
"All of your gear is inside here but please only change into the set of cloths we set aside for you."
"Okay sure that makes sense, I wouldn't want someone I don't know walking around my house with a weapon too"
"We are glad you understand" as she said that she opens the doors
The room was basically a huge changing room with a lot of mirrors scattered around.
Ryan could see all of his gear tucked away in a corner with his uniform and boots next to it on a chair.
He walked up and grabbed it walking in front of a mirror dragging the chair.
He looked over to the door seeing the girls eyeing him
"I-im guessing you were the ones that changed me in the first place?" Ryan said with a blush
"I assure you nothing foul happened and me and my sister were most professional while changing you." Ram said
"Right" he said meekly "Could you at least turn around?
They both looked at each other and nodded and did so
"Thanks"
Ryan then quickly changed and noted how his uniform was spotless.
Despite the fading from the sun and just being a used uniform, it was almost like new. His boots too.
"Alright I'm done, now where is my friend Rick at?"
They only pointed to the door right next to them
"What is he still sleeping or something?"
Ryan almost already knew the answer, but denial was keeping him from asking the real question,
"Please just tell me he is sleeping" he said choking up
They both only looked at him and then at the floor
With great hesitation he put his hand on the doorknob and opened it.
Inside he only saw a bed in the center of the room with a blanket covering a figure.
He could already feel the tears forming up in his eyes as almost in a trance he walked over the head of the figure and put a hand on the blanket revealing the face of his friend.
"Awww no just please no" he said the tears now falling "you dumb motherfucker how did you let this happen, you should've fixed those tourniquets you stupid stupid dumb bastard" he said to himself
Ryan turned around and sat down putting his back to the bed.
He only sat there for a few minutes with the thoughts in his head blaming himself for everything.
After a while he finally found the strength to stand up again and face his friend.
He saw he still had on his dog tags, so he took the second one that was on a separate smaller chain.
He clipped it onto his and then covered his friend face again.
He then looked at the maids "So umm, I guess.." he trailed off with a loss of words "The girl Lady Emilia you said. She wanted to see me?"
"She knew the loss of your friend would shock you and said if you needed time you did not have to see her today" Ram replied
"No uhh, its fine. She's the one that saved me too I guess. Id like to thank her for that at least."
"Very well, follow us" Ram said as both maids began to lead him out of his room.
I'd like to give a shoutout to bankai117. Saw he made something like this way before I did and i thought that was cool. Cheers.