SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST (Watty Awards 2011)

Part Five: Inevitability

Ashes and blood flooded the fields of Spain.  Sam could see the dead souls around him, as they lay in a frozen state of pain.  The real war has just begun.  The battle had been pushed back far enough away from the gate so that Marauder’s cannons couldn’t reach the city.  Commander Brice was in charge of the Pangaean force asked to come to Europe.  He was a former general of the old Pangaea and a “War Hero”.  He was in charge of the major bombings across the world and then sent armies to find and destroy any resistance.  He was a cruel man, with a heart of stone and a lust for blood.  The only difference between him and Black Mist was that he was wearing a uniform; he was the exact kind of person that Sam hated.  Brice was a man who wanted the old world back and didn’t care for the people he was ordered to protect.  He just wanted to kill for the sake of killing, like a monster.

Brice’s forces swept upon the battlefield and nearly killed his own soldiers with his tanks.  Julius was pissed; he was losing control of his own men.  Technically Brice was under the orders of Julius, who received authority from the higher ups in Pangaea.  Brice didn’t take this well and had been running his own show since he landed on the French beaches.  Julius was in control of his own battalion, which consisted of about 950 men and women, not including his own tank squadron.  Brice outnumbered him by 4500 men, and 20 more tanks.  Brice could take over the whole army if he wanted to, but the question was when he would do it. 

The tanks began advancing on the enemy forces.  It seemed like Black Mist had been taking inventory.  He had more Pangaean tanks than Brice and even worse, his were winning.   Chaos ensued and Sam couldn’t find his team. Even Julius lost communications with his own tank squadron.  Black Mist was winning the war.  Men were being blown to pieces at every turn and explosions went off every second.  Sam tried to check in with the team one more time.  Kaya was held back with Cross and Crystal and, Sabor was nowhere to be found.   Ox and Heron made contact and said that they might be close by but mentioned they saw Jason’s disfigured body by the tanks.  No one had any word of Russ.  The squad could still function, but they needed to regroup as soon as possible.  Sam looked over to Julius to see a bullet wound on the right side of his body.

“You ok, that could have hit your kidneys?” asked Sam.

“No, I’m fine.  When I was 17 I donated my right kidney to my sister, who was suffering from kidney failure.  Anyway, I couldn’t be taken down that easily”

In that moment in time a clearing finally became available 

“You ready?” Julius asked.

“Let’s do this” Sam replied.

They stood up from their barricade and began to sprint north taking out anyone in their path.  Julius let out 7 shots with his pistol, hitting his targets in the head every time.  Sam had his rifle up and let several 3 round bursts out, hitting his targets in a fatal spot in the upper torso.  Several grenades went off 20 feet away and nearly sent the two flying.  Sam got onto his knees with a loud ringing noise in his ears.  His vision was in complete disarray and in his mind he knew if an enemy had the ability to kill him; this would be their best chance.  Sam pulled his blade out and waited for anyone to get close while he tried to regain his sense of balance.  Julius put his hand on his shoulder and quickly pulled him up.

“I see Ox and Heron behind that busted tank!” yelled Julius

Sam could only make out a few words but just nodded and followed Julius until he saw Ox three feet in front of him.

“What’s wrong with him?” asked Heron.

“He is a little rattled from a grenade, he is still trying to get his balance back” replied Julius.