Army of the Damned

VOLUME 3 Chapter 10

With a dullish atmosphere, Treitleze was luckily left with most of its buildings still intact. Though many black smoke stacks that could be seen for kilometers away transmitted the location of the large army, in the distant horizon through the thick smog from the fires of war, sparkles of light could be seen. Like twinkling stars in the distance, the sounds of guns firing and explosions echo in the skies.

Around the once well combed gardens outside the walls were now carcasses of the robots and the scarred land full of craters and destroyed vehicles as trucks by the thousands continually drove back and forth. Some tractor trailers hauled flatbeds full of railway tracks to refrigerated trailers for the starving frontline soldiers.

After walking and entering his Abrams, he grabs the long range radio mic and tunes into the frequency for ground units. About five minutes of waiting, idling on the Commander's hatch with Alana staring at him directly while cuddled up above the turret, the armored column signs in. "Hannibal, do you copy over? This is Redwood signing in. Twenty M1A2 Abrams supported by Ten M2A2 Bradleys. One human per tank, and two in the Bradleys. One commanding the crew, another for the squad inside. Do you copy over?"

"Good copy Redwood. This is Hannibal actual, our staging area is near the square on the four lane road. Over." he turns around, gazing at the dilapidated Church with a stare that could tell a thousand words. "Roger that, we'll be there for ETA for three minutes."

Fitting in the tight European styled asphalt road, its threads start rolling slowly through the alleys flanked by small two story buildings. Many of the clothing of the players who onced lived there are still hanging through the windows.

Reaching the main road, he could see players in combat readiness were scattered about the battered city, picking up random nick nacks from the stores and checking any alleyway for Combat Robots trying to hide from the massive invading force. Some thought they were silent. "Driver, stop," staring at them, he could see these people were hugging their knees. Their backs quietly up against the walls as one of them began to crawl on all fours, reaching the curb where he threw up his entire lunch.

Out of nowhere, the player began to scream. "AHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHH!" Jumping down from his tank, the General quickly held the man's hand and pulled him back as he continued to scream. "GET ME OUT HERE! PLEASE! PLEASE!" Alana and Bahamut quickly got the man subdued as Jackson removed his service pistol and grenades from his belt. "Shhhh... calm down. Calm down, it'll be over soon." he looks up to the Countess, gesturing for something to drink.

Jackson could feel the tactical glove of the player tightening as he hugged him. "It's fine, it's fine. What is it? What did you see?" the other players in the scene couldn't be bothered as the sounds of marching boots continued onwards. "I... I saw my squadmates torn apart... the-the-the mortar shell- it-it-it hit my buddy-" he looks at the man and notices his hand wasn't as strong at all. "What... level are you?"

"F-Five..." squinting, he turns to the other players with their heads slumped down. "You, soldier. Level?" he merely gets a response by two hands going up, seven fingers. "Damnit... did you people join because of the guaranteed membership?" Alana returns with a thermostat with her, giving it to Jackson as combat medics soon come. Seeing the beret, the four silver stars and the Death Knight Skull, they knelt down grabbing the player and saluted him. "Sir!"

"Why are we sending low levels to war?" with a dirtied and soot filled face, the combat medics stared at him. "Iron Mountain said it'd be a good practice run for them, sir. The Seventh and Eight Army Groups are full of recently joined freshies." he only blinked at them, slowly shaking his head as he tightly held the soldier's hand. "When you see it, when you feel it, talk. Talk to someone, NEVER bottle it up or keep it to yourself. Alright?" with a hesitant nod, he stands up and lets the medics take the man away.