CHAPTER 3
We were now a group of six ODSTs- me, the Commander, Benny, Jason, Frank- an expert driver, even though he was a little cocky- and Cunningham. She had shortly cropped blonde hair and a delicate face, but she was much more tough than she seemed. As we walked to the city, in the desert sands at night, we tried communicating with the rest of the squads, but none of them answered the comms. We assumed the worst.
"Why couldn't we just blast ONI from orbit? It would have saved a lot of lives." Jason asked.
"It would have cost more lives than it would save." the Commander said. "If we don't wipe the local network, the Ascension will resort to bombing the whole city with a Shiva nuke. Civilians will die and this colony will be deemed beyond repair. If we win this war, no one will come back here- we can't fail." But that didn't satisfy anyone.
The city was now sprawling in front of us. A massive place, bigger than my city on Kholo but it still bore much resemblance to it. I looked away to escape those memories, those good memories. I remembered the day Anna gave birth to our daughter, the happiest day of my life. I was living the dream and I didn't even know it. I tucked my family's picture deeper into my pocket, I couldn't think of that. Not now.
We walked through neat streets, not a speck of dirt or garbage on them. It was all so perfect. Too perfect. As I walked between the giant white buildings, I remembered how small and insignificant I was, really. Then I looked up.
Benny caught me staring into the dark night sky. "What are you looking for?" he asked.
"Where's the moon?" I asked as we walked silently, through the ghost town that was once New Kingston- between abandoned cars and beautiful, empty plazas. This world could have become a center of cultural growth, had it been given a chance.
"This planet doesn't have a moon." Benny said. "It's always weird to come to a new world and look up in the sky in search of it, only to learn it doesn't exist. Nature is so random." he said. You had a moon, in Kholo?"
"Yes. It was round and red. Every night, it would light our world- usually a crescent, like a giant red banana." I said, laughing. "But once every 27 days it would be full, and what was before beneath the shadows would reveal- a giant crater. I always wanted to go there when I was a child, but my parents said the moon's atmosphere was toxic. I never went there." I said.
"We have a moon too, at Earth. It's big and white and it's filled with craters. Once people thought it was a giant roll of cheese." he said. We both laughed. "After we win this war, you can come with me. To Earth. They will welcome you there, they will respect you. You can visit our moon, it has plenty large craters and it's open for turis-" Bang. Benny's visor cracks as a blue energy beam plows through his helmet. Red blood sprays on my visor. His body falls back limp, like a rag doll. I hear my heart beat- thump, thump, thump. My eyes open wide.
"SNIPER!" I shout and jump to the ground.
I look at my squad, all four of them confused in the commotion. "GET DOWN!" I shout again. A second energy beam burns through the air plowing through Jason's shoulder. He fell back from the force of the shot, and then all the ODSTs jumped to the ground. My heart was still thumping. I couldn't bare to look, but I had too. Benny's body lay unmoving on the cemented road and blood was oozing out of his broken helmet. I crawl to him on my hands, and another beam splits the night air, destroying a car's wing mirror and sending glass shards tumbling to the floor.
I hold Ben's head, try to shake life back into his body, but he's gone- dead. Anger fills me. A burning fire at the dark pit which was once my heart. My hand clenches into a fist. Benny was my last true friend. He was trying to help me, bring me back in shape. At that moment I knew- I will kill the son of a bitch who did this. I will split his head in two and smash the pieces to a fine mush after they hit the ground.
Ben had a DMR hidden somewhere, a rifle built for long range situations. Not quite a sniper, but it would do. I grab it from his belt and unhook it. I check the ammo display in the weapon's back. It had a full clip- 15 rounds. I crawl to the back of a car, where Cunningham is already taking cover. "What are you doing?" she asks in her Danish accent. I ignore her, take a breath and pull my head out of cover just enough so I can see where the damned Jackal was hiding. Another beam strikes, at the windshield of the car next to me- behind which the Commander is hiding and glass flies everywhere. She gives me a commanding stare- likely asking me to back down- as she treats Jason's gaping wound with a can of biofoam. I ignore her.
I trace the Jackal's location from the place which it hit the car, and followed the angle of the energy bolt right up to a rooftop. I think I see movement, but just to be sure, I turn on VISR night vision. I was right, the bastard was waiting at the top of a building to our right, holding up his Beam Rifle- prepared. VISR highlighted the Jackal with a red line that outlined its body. Piece of shit. It would likely have shot at us earlier, but it decided to line the shot up perfectly instead. Ben was in front of me when he was shot... It could have been me. I zoom in with my DMR and aim delicately. The thumping of my heart makes my hand shake, and I can't lock the shot.
A beam blasted through the car's tire, and made the car I lean on sink down. I return to cover and close my eyes. That was close. Too close. I take a breath, one last breath and jump out. I ram the trigger- Bang, Bang, Bang! The world grows silent. I zoom in again and see the Jackal dead on he rooftop, spotting faint purple blood dripping down the side of the building. I lay back again and sigh. I close my eyes again. My hand heads for my pocket, where my family's picture stays safe. I imagine the picture in my head, my wife smiling as her hair flows back from the wind. The summer sun shinning at her back, and my daughter laughing the way only babies can. I remember that day. A good day at the beach. A normal day. I open my eyes again, and I am back in the real world.
The ODSTs surround me, all sad and surprised- but proud. All but the Commander.
"What the hell were you thinking, Rob?!" she asked. "You could have gotten yourself killed there. And for what? Petty vengeance?"
I had no answer.
"Ben was concerned about you. Did you know?" she said. "He said to me you were ready to kill yourself. You were willing to kill yourself. He told me that I have to keep an eye on you, so you won't do that. That was the last thing he said to me. If you do anything like that again, I swear I will kill you myself."
I did my best to hold back tears. I would not cry, I would never cry. The Commander was right. I was a pathetic little man. Weak, already dead inside. Ben wanted me alive- he wanted me to regain a purpose, to regain hope. Just before he was shot he offered me a home. I will do that, for Ben. I decided. I will go to Earth, and visit the moon. I will go to the craters at its top and see the cheese-holes for myself. I will make myself a new home, and I will live.