Life On Helghan.
Chapter 2.
I know I said I was gonna wait but I got a few new ideas that I just had to put to paper, I've got the rest of this planned out now, if anyone reviewed my first chapter and left a suggestion I'm really grateful and I'll try to use them in my next fic, this should take 2 more chapters to finish, thanks for reading.
"Sergeant, how do things look?" The captain asked his second-in-command.
"All clear sir."
"Good, all right men we're gonna have to fight our way along the riverbank to the dam, once we arrive we get on top of it then move through the streets to Visari Square. Any questions?"
Of course I piped up
"How bad do you expect the fight to be?"
"Well honestly if I had a choice I'd sit right here and bury my head in the sand, does that answer your question? All right boys, move out!" We left the small nook on the river's edge and proceeded towards the dam, we could hear a fierce battle up ahead and eventually we came over a small hill and immediately the 2 men on point were shot and killed, I saw the blood splash from their wounds and hoped I was about to wake up, sure enough I didn't.
The captain told us to push up, 'us' I already knew it by then, I was gonna have to help fight to the Square, I wasn't gonna run I was gonna get there along with the captain at least. We made a mad dash for the bottom of the hill while taking fire we hunkered behind cover and I knew enough from movies and common sense that we were basically gonna have to shoot and hide, I manged to get a few decent hits in and the captain finished them off, we'd only lost 2 and hopefully were gonna keep it that way, we continued along the bank. I saw a bridge with fuel tanks on it explode a short distance away, then looked to the other side and saw a small four-man unit, one of them was huge and had an LMG and attitude to match, one had a shotgun which he used to effortlessly scatter the brains of soldiers, one of them just seemed to be here to fight, nothing more, at least that was the feeling I got from looking at him, the last one was a pretty damn good hacker, I saw him open a floodgate by hacking a tiny panel that wasn't even intended to be for floodgate control.
I didn't get a chance to take a shot because we had to take cover again, as soon as we'd got to cover a tank came over the smal hill behind us and cleared out the rest of the ISA in front of us, the four-man unit had left, maybe if I'd just had a chance to take a shot things would have been very different. We moved past the dead and blown apart bodies to the center of the field, the captain spoke
"Shit we need to open the fucking floodgates, who the fuck closed them anyway!"
I had an idea.
"Sergeant!"
The sergeant moved to the captain.
"Sir."
I didn't hear the captain's orders, his voice was too low then I saw the sergeant leave the area, the captain told us to stay put, I took a seat on one of the crates that were scattered around, the captain came up to me.
"You handled yourself pretty well back there Lente."
"Thank you captain, it was either that or be dead."
"Yeah, you know I could use a man like you, you seem to have a natural talent for this."
"Well my foster parents did used to take me hunting and I got a knack for sharpshooting, assault rifle's pretty much the same except closer and you've just gotta compensate for the recoil of full-auto, overall it's easy."
"Fucking hell mate, that's pretty damn impressive for a civilian, hmm...civilian." I already knew what he was going to say but I just wanted the amusement of saying.
"What?"
"OK I'm just gonna say it, when we get to Visari Square why don't I present you with a Helghast uniform?"
My next words were the same as signing my life away on that dotted line
"Yes ca...sir, I'd like that."
"Well all right then private, you are now an official member of the Helghast army."
Before I could say anything else the floodgate opened, the captain just said "Well done sergeant, let's go men!" The other end of the floodgate was clear, nothing but dead Helghast and ISA bodies, but for some reason that four-man unit was on my mind and I found myself looking for their bodies but I didn't see them anywhere. We kept on moving and eventually made it up to the street where the sergeant was waiting for us. The captain greeted him
"Report."
"When I got up here sir I could see a small four-man unit slaughtering anyone who tried to stop them, my position was to dangerous for me to risk engaging them, I apologize sir."
"You made the right choice sergeant, if you'd been killed we'd have been fucked with no way to open that gate." I asked the captain which way we were gonna go to Visari Square.
"Simple, through the back alleys of Blood Meridian, we should be able to avoid any and all contact through there."
The captain didn't know how right he was, when we got to the alleyways we could see Helghast bodies everywhere, no ISA bodies whatsoever, this was beginning to scare me because I akready knew who it was. We finally made it to Visari Square but there was something wrong, the captain stopped us and scouted the Square with binoculars. The first thing he said was. "Oh fuck!."
We were all wondering what was going on, he came back and explained the Square had been taken by the ISA and there were sentries everywhere, we had no chance of taking it back even if we had all got here alive +2. "What's our next move?" I asked.
"We'll have to head to the Salamun District and hope to Visari that colonel Radec isn't there otherwise we'll have to report to him, I don't think he'll swallow the news that Visari Square got taken because we were fucking late very well. That way we'll at least have another defendable location on the bridge."
The captain got on the radio. "Come in Tempest 6 this is captain Hakha, repeat captain Hakha to Tempest 6...we need immediate pick-up in Blood Meridian bound for the Salamun Bridge...OK thanks we'll be waiting." We made our way back to the alleys and waited, 5 minutes later an APC arrived and we boarded.
The captain seemed nervous, first time I'd seen it since we'd met, "What's wrong?" I finally asked.
"We're fucked if Radec asks for a report."
"Why?"
"He doesn't tolerate failure, as far as he's concerned if you can't deliver victory then you're a useless soldier and during a war like this discharge isn't an option, he executes failures I just hope some poor sod survived the massacre at the Square and delivered the report, better his neck than ours right lads?" Everyone nodded.
"And he's a colonel? People know he executes failures and he hasn't been executed or discharged for it?"
"You don't know much about Helghan military rules do you? This stupid fucking army encourages the old way of doing things, I don't I'm just a soldier following orders from an insane dictator and a bunch of nazi chairmen, I don't have the luxury of choice with my rank."
We were quiet the rest of the trip, when we arrived at the bridge we left the APC and entered the command post to resupply, the captian took me to the locker rooms and said it was time to get my uniform, I wasn't excited if that's what you thought, as far as I was concerned at that point it was just a little bit of padding to slow down bullets a bit. I changed into my new uniform and left the locker room, the captain greeted me.
"Well you look...(sigh) fuck it these helmets make us all look the same anyway, how is it?"
"A bit hot and heavy, but the HUD I like."
"Well hopefully you'll have time to get used to it."
"Thank you sir."
We were on our way out of the command post to patrol when we were stopped by a voice, the captain froze and slowly turned around, I did the same and stood to attention, I looked at the captain and the way he was standing helped me to figure that I'd just met the infamous colonel Radec.
"Captain Hakha, glad to see you're still with us...and who is this?"
I made the mistake of trying to answer . "Sir I'm-"
"You will speak...when spoken to soldier."
I couldn't see his face but the way he turned to me and the tone of his voice combined with what the captain had told me scared the living hell out of me.
"Now, captain you were saying?"
"A-a new recruit sir, he was a civilian we evacuated out of Blood Gracht and he proved a natural ralent at weaponry and battle so I used my discretion as a captian to enlist him sir." Then he walked to me
"Remove your helmet."
My heart stopped because I didn't know if he was gonna blow my brains out then and there, from what I'd heard and gathered from the captain's body language and stutter this man was capable of anything.
"Hello soldier, can you hear me in there?" I came back to reality
"Y-yes sir, sorry sir." I took it off and he opened up a panel in his helmet where his eyes were, I looked into them and saw things that I could never forget but wish I could to this day.
He studied my face intently and I had no idea what he was going to do at that point, I felt so naked, as though I was in the middle of an inferno with nothing on, when he finally said something it alomost gave me a heart attack
"Thank you soldier, you can put your helmet back on."
I immediately replaced it, I don't know why but I felt so much safer and more comfortable with glass between my eyes and his.
"You made a wise choice captain, I'm sure the private will serve well in battle."
With that he turned and walked down the hall to the control room. The captain sighed and I couldn't believe what had just happened, couldn't believe I was still alive, it had felt like I was looking into the eyes of the Grim Reeper. The captain said.
"You got the special treatment, seems like he really wanted to test us both"
"What do you mean?"
"Well he was giving you the 'Look Away And Die Stare' you turn your eyes away even for a second and he pulls a pistol and redecorates the walls with your brain, I've seen it."
"Why did he want to test me?"
"He really wanted to test me, after the shambles at the Square and the fact that I recruited you, basically if you'd broke eye contact it would've been the 'Look Away And You Both Die Stare' but you passed, you've got a better chance of not being executed for failure now, you're on his list, come on let's get on with the patrol." I followed him outside.
End of chapter 2.
OK I'm REALLY happy with chapter 2, it got longer than intended again lol, and yes I know I made him another soldier but I've got great things planned for Caleb Lente you wait and see. And by the way I appreciate the suggestions left in the chapter 1 reviews but from now on I've got the rest of the story sorted so I'm not looking for ideas, but still please review. Oh and it might take quite a few more than 2 more chhpters, dunno when I'm gonna start on chapter 3, I'm gonna take a short break but rest assured it's on the way.