In The Long Shot

Chapter 1

25th of october 2042

Slovakia, Bratislava

Pov Jan:

*THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD*

The streets of the old city in Bratislava. Currently being cleaned by the heavy rain pouring down consistently. What is it, that is slowly fading away from the surface you ask? Well the blood of course! The blood leaked from the remaining human bodies littered across the streets, or hanging from ropes attached to anything that can hold up to 90 kilograms (198.416 lb) if not even more.

*THUD THUD THUD SPLASH SPLASH*

I cannot remember the look of the buildings, that once stood proudly from the ground reaching mostly like two or three floors into the air. These houses were old. Build mostly from the 16th till the 19th century. Though they were a lot tougher than most modern buildings build in the 21st century. They were able to withstand much more. So after the waves of bombs dropped on us, only the outer walls and some of the interior was left.

Thus creating a playground.

*THUD THUD THUD SSSSHHHHHT*

Coming to a halt, I try to be as quiet as my body can allow. I listen. For what? Anything. Anything unusual. You might have noticed I am currently a bit on the edge. Hear me out, I have my reasons. It is way beyond uncomfortable and mentally tearing by not respirating after a sprint. Especially, when your body is trying to replenish the oxygen deficit.

Nothing. Only the rain, wind and the occasional flapping of the flags hanging from the ruined buildings. The flags. Hung by them. Marking the ground as theirs. After doing all of this. Showing no remorse. No regret. Just pride. In their "victory" and stating, that their fallen brothers and sisters were the victims in this war. Heh "war".

*PANT PANT COUGH COUGH DEEP BREATHING*

Liars.

Finally, a sense of relief comes from my legs, after the pain slowly diminishes due to the short but intense sprint. I rest a bit by pressing my head against the wall of a building. Closing my eyes.

Hehe "war".

This is and was not a war anymore, let's just get that out of the way.

"By the estimations of our strategists and warfare analysts this war should be over in less than a month and the remaining rebels will be put to their places. Thus creating a safe environment for us. We have made it this far. It is obvious that destiny has chosen us to be victorious."

I'm definitely not the only one out here that remembers these callouts word by word.

"Good news, our brave soldiers have once again found an important outpost of the enemy and successfully infiltrating it, taking in soldiers who surrendered right now as we speak."

HA!

Infiltrated?

Those guys literally let all hell lose when finding out, there were humans. Did not even bother with the fact, that there were citizens, children, injured and medics. Nope. Just had to go overkill by sending an air to ground missile to their front door.

Not sure if it really was that specific type, but the accuracy was served.

"Successfully infiltrated."

We had once found a still working radio and used it to listen to their broadcasts. On days with nothing to do, listening to it was probably the most intense activity we got.

But we quickly decided it was better to only listen to the evening broadcast, where they were also revealing where and how many of the enemy soldiers were being deployed.