A Coin Flip

Chapter 1: Pull the Trigger

Delta

~~~~

The room was mostly silent. You could hear a pen drop from anywhere in this room.

It had been a couple hours since we've departed. Just a few more to go. Even so, it felt like an eternity has passed.

The atmosphere in the room was very dense. Filled with fear and anticipation. It felt like a heavy fog on my shoulders. I could tell everyone in here felt the same way just by their expressions.

No one had to say anything, we all knew what we were thinking. 'Will I make it back from this', 'Will I be a killer, I don't want to kill anyone.' Those thoughts raced through every single protogens head.

I've heard stories from others that have been deployed recently, saying only those that aren't afraid to do what's necessary to survive will make it back. Of course I understood this. I've killed. I've killed my own kind just to avoid being killed myself.

It's a harsh world. In this sad world, it's kill, or be killed. That's the rule every survivor abides by, and if they don't. They won't make it back.

Every protogen in here is part of the 5th division. A primarily infantry division, specializing in close combat. That's what our mission is today. To go into some random occupied city, take it over by force, and wait for another division to settle it. Then my division is sent back to a camp, and the process repeats.

I often think to myself 'when will this ever end', sadly the answer is probably never. There will always be greed in this world. If only I could somehow put a stop to all of this.

Like that's ever gonna happen.

~~~~

"Attention all units, drop zone inbound. Prepare for departure." We heard the pilot say over the intercom.

Great, now for the fun part. I looked over to my right to see a new recruit that was on the other side of me, I could tell he was new because he had a terrified expression on his visor. I can't blame him though, I was the same way the first time this happened.

I could hear big mechanical parts shift in the walls behind me. Just like magic the floor from underneath our feet slowly lowered until our feet were no longer touching the ground. The floor split in the middle and slowly opened to reveal the fast moving ground below us.

We were easily a couple thousand feet up still. I could feel my heart race with anticipation as the floor was completely retracted.

My seat along with the ones next to me were slightly extended forward. I could hear a few clicks behind my head. This was it, the moment I've been dreading ever since I got back two years ago.

The first seat to be deployed was one on the middle pillar, and then more followed, lots more. The seat to my right dropped, then the left, and suddenly, my seat was released from the ship.

Time seemed to stand still. I could see many others that were dropped before me. I could see the ground thousands of feet below me. I could see the ship above me dropping even more recruits.

All of a sudden time seemed to speed up again, just as quickly as it stopped. I could feel the wind rush through my fur and over my visor. I violently gripped the side rails of me seat. Holding on for dear life.

The ground just kept getting closer and closer. My altitude was 3000 feet, but plummeting greatly. We were supposed to pull our parachutes around 700 feet. It wouldn't take that long to reach that.