Hey guys! Finally back with this story after such a long delay!
The reason being is because of two certain FFN brothers and their actions that caused me to stop this story, hence their OCs will no longer appear in this story. Lets just say they both got killed and no one remembered them after the battle.
Chapter 8: Turning the Fight
Alex picked up a musket with a bayonet in one wing and with the other wing he picked up a flagpole, with the American flag on the end of it, the flag in tatters and with dirt all over it, but Alex still took it and without another thought, he charged froward like a madman straight into the British army. As the British marched froward, pressing their attack to break the Americans once and for all, they stopped as they spotted Alex blindly charging froward. To them it was stupidity, but to Alex it was his chance to fully redeem himself.
Jugal, Mihael, and Zach could only just stare speechlessly at Alex, but they themselves finally got the courage from watching Alex and also ran froward with their weapons.
"Man, Alex sure is crazy." Zach commented.
"Yeah, but at least we know he's certainly on our side." Mihael replied as they charged froward.
One by one and soon enough, the whole American army summed up their courage and charged back in again, surprising the British as they loaded their muskets to fire off a volley.
As the majority of the Americans came within range, the British unleashed a devastating volley, one they thought would break the Americans. However as the powder smoke drifted away, the British were horrified as the Americans were still charging, but not only that, they were only a few feet away. Both sides clashed into a melee fight yet again as the Americans now had a renewed energy for fighting, even the British grenadiers were now a bit frightened by the ferocity and madness of the American rebels, this being unlike a typical European style battle.
Alex was indeed a madman as he seemed to kill his own former comrades one by one in only a matter of seconds. His body was soon covered up by all the British blood as he continued his rampage.
As Alex was holding onto an officer's sword he taken from the ground, a British soldier charged at him with bayonet out and ready to run Alex down. However Alex quickly reacted as he grabbed hold of the soldier's musket and flipped him over, throwing the British soldier to the ground. As the stunned soldier only stared at Alex, Alex just stabbed the soldier straight through the heart. Alex didn't stay to watch the soldier suffer, only looking up for more victims.
While Alex was loading his musket to shoot in the middle of the chaos, a British officer saw Alex distracted and was coming up from behind to strike Alex down with his sword. As the officer charged at Alex, yelling loudly, a bayonet suddenly rammed into the officer's hip as he was only a couple of feet away from hitting Alex. Alex turned around to the sudden noise and saw Jugal saved him, the officer's fresh blood on his bayonet.
"Thanks Jugal." Alex said quickly.
"You're welcome." Jugal replied just as quickly and both went back to their bloody business.
As Alex was melee fighting with his own kind, not giving in or even seems to take a breath and put fresh air in his lungs, a British sharpshooter, staying back, took aim at Alex. As Alex was completely focused on fighting, the sharpshooter shot his musket, the bullet traveling in the air and hitting Alex's lower leg. Alex felt the pain and it sting him badly as he screamed out, then looking down to see the bullet hole, as well as blood leaking out. However Alex was too full of adrenaline to give in so easily and he continued fighting after only a few seconds, ignoring the pain.
Suddenly, because of the renewed charge and the onslaught of American forces, something unexpected happened… British soldiers broke and ran back to their camp, not in an organized fashion, but as a rout. The Americans pressed their advantage and went after the British, determined to end the battle before the day ended.
Alex ran alongside his new comrades as they hunted down the British, dropping their weapons in order to run faster. Eventually the Americans found themselves along the artillery positions of the British, scaring the artillery crews, but they fought back to protect their guns. This made the British soldiers a little confident and they returned to the fight.
As the fight was once back on, Alex saw someone he wished he would never have to see ever again in his life. On a horse behind the mass of the British soldiers sat the very same officer that pointed a pistol at him, back at the village, murdering the man Alex was supposed to shoot. Alex was enraged at wanted to kill this man, but he had no weapon to shoot him from this far a distance.
However… As luck would have it, Alex saw his answer to his problem laying on the ground, a long rifle used by the American militiamen, besides it the owner of the rifle, who was killed. Alex remembered Blu telling him about the weapon back in the American camp and how wonderful the rifle was. The long rifle is different than the musket in that it has spiral grooves in the barrel, making it far more accurate and with longer range than the short firing, inaccurate musket that most typical soldiers use at this time. However, the disadvantage to the long rifle was that it had a much more complicated reloading, thus longer reloading time, a rifleman at this time can only shoot one bullet, while a soldier with a musket can fire three during that time.
As Alex picked up the rifle, luck again shone on him as it was all ready to be fired, only the ignition of the flint was required to send the powerful bullet away.
"Thank you, rest in peace and may God be with you." Alex softly said to the dead militiaman. "And time for that bastard to pay." Alex said angrily as everything seemed to go to slow motion for the Scarlet.
It seemed like everyone just ignored Alex as he put the rifle up against his shoulder and took aim, letting out a slow breath as he sighted the officer trying to rally his men with words, the officer holding his sword high above. Alex took the flint and ignited the powder, as soon as the powder exploded, it propelled the bullet and it went flying straight and true out of the barrel towards its target.
The officer was totally unaware of the shot being fired and it came as a complete surprise as the powerful rifle bullet went into the officer's lungs. The officer's expression suddenly went from commanding to shocked as he looked down slowly to see the bullet hole in his chest, blood leaking out. The officer coughed and blood came out of his beak as he felt himself grow weaker and weaker, the officer than collapsed, falling from his horse onto the ground, where he slowly choked on his own blood and died.
Alex, seeing the officer fall was happy as the sounds of battle suddenly became quiet to Alex, instead they were replaced with cheers and shouts of joy. Alex was rather confused, but his confusion was answered when Jugal, Mihael, and Zach came running up to him.
"Alex!" Mihael shouted happily as he ran to the redeemed Scarlet. "We did it!"
"Yeah, we made the bloody bastards surrender!" Zach added in.
Indeed, the white flag of surrender was held by a British officer on a pole, so that everyone could see it, the British soldiers putting down their weapons while the Americans started celebrating. Alex couldn't say anything, his lungs were so out of air from all the madness and the blood was still leaking out from his shot leg, he started to feel lightheaded as he looked at his new friends, he were confused by Alex's inability to say anything.
"Alex?" Jugal asked.
Suddenly Alex fainted from the exhaustion as well as the blood loss, collapsing to the ground as his new friends ran to wake him up. Before Alex felt his eyes completely close, he imagined Lily standing in front of him and that made him smile before he felt his mind shut.
A couple of days later, in an army hospital…
Alex felt his body wake up again, and then his mind finally reactivated, waking up. Alex slowly opened his eyes, only seeing whiteness at first and then colors appeared as the Scarlet looked around him, seeing his new friends besides him.
"Welcome back to the living Alex." Zach smiled.
Alex still couldn't say anything for some reason and he motioned his friends for some water to clear his throat.
Mihael got some water in a cup and handed it over to Alex, who took it gratefully and drank the whole cup in one gulp. The water was foul, like it would be at this time, but to Alex it tasted like heaven. As Alex put down the cup, he could finally speak.
"What happened?" Alex asked of his friends.
"I think I can answer that." A new voice said, as the owner came in, along with two older Blue macaws.
It was Blu and he was fine, with a bandage around his wounded leg. Also with blu was General Gates and Colonel Eduardo.
"Sirs." Alex said and tried to salute properly, but he was so exhausted he couldn't do it.
"Rest easy Alex." Blu told the Scarlet. "Because of you, we won this battle and not only that, but General Burgoyne's army are all prisoners of war."
"That's great sir." Alex replied in a sore voice.
"There's more private." Eduardo told Alex, then permitting General Gates to speak.
"Yes, because of your actions private, you are being given a medal, as well as a promotion to Corporal." General Gates told Alex, who was very surprised.
"Really?" Alex couldn't believe it.
"Yes, now as Captain Blu said, you rest now, you earned it." General Gates finished and walked out, followed by Eduardo.
"Well Corporal, what is your order for now?" Jugal stood at attention.
"You guys go rest too, you deserve it as well." Alex told his men.
Jugal, Mihael, and Zach all said, "Yes sir!" and walked out to give Alex and Blu some privacy.
"I still can't believe all of this…" Alex said, still trying to process all of the new information and turn of events.
"Well, you better believe it." Blu replied happily. "And thanks Alex."
"For what?" Alex asked, confused.
"For telling me not to give up, I already written and sent a letter to Jewel and the kids that I'm fine and you played a big part of me still being here, I almost told Jewel to tell Lily you're fine as well." Blu informed Alex.
"Thanks Blu, I can't wait for this war to be over to be with Lily forever." Alex smiled.
"Well, there's still going to be a lot of fighting, but we will win." Blu said, confident. "But rest for now Corporal."
"Yes sir." Alex chuckled before closing his eyes and falling asleep.
And so with the battle over and the Americans coming out the victor, the American colonies are one step closer to eventually winning their independence from England and the crown. However, more importantly, a British scarlet soldier redeemed himself and now he was fully committed to helping to win the colonies' freedom.
And finally done with this chapter!
I hope you guys enjoyed the return to this story, but there is one more chapter to this story, so see you there!