The World Of Steam

43

Karzen and I led the platoon of The Black Mark soldiers outside into the war. We looked at what was left of London. The land was scorched, turned to coal and embers. The burnt buildings creaked, looking like they were waiting for someone to walk next to them so they could fall and crush them. Bodies were strewn about the place, the unfortunate victims of today's fight. The ground was dark red with spilled blood and the roads glowed bright red like the embers of a campfire. Craters burned and crackled with flames, looking like a pit of Hell had opened up. The proud monuments were shattered to pieces and beyond repair. The Cenotaph stood cracked in half, destroyed beyond repair. The giant block of white Portland stone laid on the ground. One of The Black Mark soldiers cursed quietly and turned his head away, spotting the devastating scene. The war had taken its toll on the city, but it was still not finished yet. There was still much more chaos to come. When was it going to end? Suddenly, there came the sound of rumbling. Was it an earthquake? No. It was something much worse. We all turned as we saw the giant tank break down an apartment block like it was nothing. It fell into a giant heap of concrete and dust that enveloped the city in a giant grey cloud. The tank tracks towered over everything like moving mountains, offering no mercy to whatever was beneath them. They drove over the rubble and crushed them to pebbles, crushing those pebbles into dust afterwards. The hull itself was like a small town on tracks, big enough to contain an entire army. Pathways, bridges and ladders jutted out all over the place and I spotted some people on the roof, their coats flapping about in the freezing wind. Some sat at machine guns whilst others held large sniper rifles, ready to pick off anyone within their sights. A long row of chimneys at the back continuously released black smoke, burning away their fuel. A group of people inhabited the engine room, dressed in dirty vests and trousers. They continuously shovelled coal into the furnaces, fuelling the tank. Two workers had masks pulled over their mouths and noses and rubber gloves that went up to their elbows. They walked over to a pile of festering corpses that had a few flies buzzing about. They took one, grabbing its arms and legs and walked over to a furnace. Swinging it, they threw the body into the fire, immediately going back for more fuel. Suddenly, there came a deafening roar as the tank released both of its cannons, shooting out their 520 millimetre shells. The shells destroyed buildings like they were cleaving through air. Towers fell as they were easily toppled by the one and a half ton bullets. Gigantic bursts of flame shot out from the cannons, creating a flamethrower that lasted for a single second, but quickly evaporated into the air. The shell pierced through the buildings easily, slicing right through them. It hit the ground and exploded in a huge fireball that scorched everything in its vicinity. The ground split and cracked, not being able to withstand the unholy force. The soldiers inside grabbed another shell from their ammunition room, loading it onto a conveyor that led into the cannons. Smaller turrets behind the main cannons fired at their enemies, shooting out their 381 millimetre shells. They exploded against the ground, scattering people everywhere, creating a small earthquake. The cannons may have been smaller, but they were still devastatingly powerful, easily taking care of anything within their range. Giant craters were left in their wake. The humongous hunk of steel was surely a problem that had to be taken care of. Without thinking, the troops all proceeded to fire upon it. "Hold your fire dammit!" I yelled. Karzen held up his hand and they all stopped instantly. "Both Jennix and the cure are on there. We need other means."

"He's right." Karzen said. "We have to infiltrate the tank." He looked over to a British soldier with a rocket launcher in his hands. "You! Blow up the tracks!"

Without a single question, the soldier loaded in a rocket and hoisted the launcher onto his shoulder. Aiming for a second, he pulled the trigger and fired it. The missile hit the tracks, spraying chunks of metal everywhere, but the tank continued on. In an instant, the soldier slotted in another missile and fired it again. It exploded and the tracks snapped, landing onto the ground with a deafening crash, throwing up a storm of dust into the air. The tank stopped. Knox looked at the driver.

"Why aren't we moving forward?" He asked. The driver frantically flipped switches and put his foot down onto the accelerator pedal. The towering tank wheels moved but only took the track further from itself. It turned slightly, only having one intact track to work with. Typing away at a keyboard, the driver looked at the computer as it displayed the problem to him.

"We're stranded." He replied. "One of the tracks has been sheared off."

Knox looked out of the window and saw his enemies coming for him. He suddenly smiled. "Oh, this will be fun."

Myself, Karzen and a few British soldiers climbed onto the tracks of the tank, jumping up to catch the long ladder, one after the other. We climbed on top of the side skirt and hastily made our way over to the door. One soldier stuck an explosive device to it and we all ducked for cover. It let out a small explosion, shearing the lock. The soldier kicked the door open and we all dove inside. Weapons pointed in front of ourselves, we all made our way through the maze of corridors. Karzen held a brass rifle, a belt of bullets hung over his shoulder. A man jumped out at us, but Karzen showed him no mercy as he shot him in the head. He shifted the bolt, automatically slotting in another bullet. Making our way down a corridor, we saw a horde of enemies rush towards us. Not having any other choice, we unleashed hell onto them as we sprayed them with bullets. We stepped over their corpses and continued on. I slotted in more bullets into my rifle, having no fear of running out. We suddenly spotted corpses ahead of us, littering our path. We slowly walked up to them and saw deep and large gashes, as though they had been sliced up. I looked over to him and Karzen simply shrugged at me. Seeing that the corridor branched out into three paths, we all split up. I made my way down my path, shooting an enemy in the face. The one soldier that was with me shot another man down, firing his large gun. He tapped me on the shoulder and we continued forward. I heard as the tank was filled with the fury of gunfire echoing through the metal corridors. A shot rang out, splattering my gas mask in blood, covering one of my goggles. The soldier dropped to the ground and I spun, blindly shooting. The bullet ricocheted off the wall and I instantly shifted the bolt, fired again. The second bullet hit the man in the chest and he fell to the floor. Sighing, I wiped away the blood from my goggle and left the body of the soldier behind. Opening the chamber of my rifle, I stocked it up with more bullets as I went forward. I made my way down narrow iron bridges and twisting corridors made to slow down any attacker. I opened up another metal door and saw a long narrow corridor. The only way was forward. Sticking to the path that I had chosen, I continued down it, hoping to find my friend.