Euphoria

Chapter 1 Pt. 1

Chapter 1

Pt. 1

            It’s dark…If not for the rotating warning light on the ceiling that illuminates each of our faces one at a time, we’d be standing in complete darkness. The loud rattling of motor that powers the cramped air cruiser that we are riding in, coupled with the sounds of explosions and gun fire drown out the sound of our extremely fast heart beats.

It’s funny...no matter how many times you go into battle you never get over your nerves.

            I take a moment and look at my comrades, one at a time in the order that the light beam hits their face. I use this time reminisce and think about each of them individually. I often did this before every battle because in war you never know when it will be the last time you see one of your brothers.

First up was R.E, that was short for “Russian Enforcement” we called him that for two reasons. First of all his ancestors were Russian and he used what was his best impersonation of a Russian accent. I assume it was nothing close to what a real accent was like considering all accents had faded long before we were born.

The second part of his name, Enforcement, was on account of his role with the team. Ya see he lugged around a big heavy machine gun, and he was always last to the party. Anytime we’re pinned down or over matched, he’d come through and wipe everybody out. Bottom line, we go in guns hot, he comes in guns hotter.

            Flash and Heavy were beside him. If they weren’t always side by side you’d never know they were twins. Hell you wouldn’t even think they came from the same mother. They were total opposites. Flash is a fast talking marksman with a thing for loose women, rumor has it he’s even had his fair share of Euphorian women. Disgusting if you ask me, but every man has his own morals, and if alien a$s is what makes him better on the battlefield then who am I to stop him. Flash has the best long range shot I’ve ever seen. God knows how many times he’s saved my life.

His brother Heavy is the opposite, he’s big strong, built for close range and hand to hand combat. While Flash is always trying to find something to talk about, Heavy is always trying to find a way to shut him up. Heavy’s book smart, he’s always reading, says it keeps his mind off the war. His dream job is to be a professor or something like that.

            Leaning against the opposite wall was a slim Asian guy with hair that just barely brushed against his shoulders. This is Slade, wresting against his left hip was a long electric sword. He’s good with a blade, damn good, and he prefers them over guns. With that being said on his right hip is a shiny silver pistol. An ancient relic from before the war, he believes in history, and while he doesn’t prefer to use guns he still understands that sometimes they are necessary. Slade doesn’t talk much, he’s dark and mysterious, he speaks only when spoken too or when his words are needed. However he has a big heart, one of the biggest I know.

            Lastly there’s 6, we call him that because he’s the oldest of us, he won’t tell us his age so we guessed that he’s about 60, he never corrected us so the name stuck. Don’t be fooled by his age, he’s the best fighter among us. He’s been around for a long time. He taught me everything I know; about fighting, about war, about history…about everything. He’s somewhat like the father I never knew. Even still I don’t know much about him, none of us do, he’s an extremely private person. But none of us would have it any other way.

Then there’s me, Shane Rivers. The team calls me Flood, I like to assume it’s for some cool reason like everyone else’s name, but it’s because they said “Rivers” didn’t sound tough enough. I don’t have a special role on the team, I simply follow every order to the “T” and kill without question…but lately, I’ve had a lot of questions…too many questions.

            The blast doors open and immediately the sounds of explosions and gunfire amplify tenfold. Only now reality has set in, the dangers of war flash before your eyes. And for two seconds…you’re scared…your heart’s pounding and you can feel death breathing on your shoulder, you begin to think about everything you wish you could do over, then suddenly…Adrenaline kicks in and interrupts your thought process, letting you know it’s time to do or die.

I take one quick last look at my comrades, wearing biomechanical armor that covers their body from the neck down that appears robotic in nature but it moves with your skin like a wet suit. And in a split second my clear yet automatic face shield swishes down covering my face and my helmet encloses around my head…Then there’s the jump…complete silence as we free fall out of the air 3,000 feet hundreds of miles an hour into the middle of the chaos that proceeds beneath us.

The closer we get to the incoming planet, the more our velocity increases, but at about 60 feet above the ground propulsion thrusters fire from the feet of our biomech armor to slow us down and brace for impact in 3, 2, 1…

Our feet slam against the ground creating a shockwave of dust and dirt, because the ground beneath us hard, filled with black dirt, ash, and dead leaves indicating there used to plant life here. It was a forest…I think. But war has stripped this land dry and barren. It’s a shame. A place that was once filled with such beauty and wonder, is now a wasteland filled with death of both plant life and life that did not come from the ground.

            As I regain my composure I glance at the battle happening around me. Gunfire, grenade blast, bodies flying. This is the war I’ve come to know. I’m surrounded by fighting troops.  But they are not human troops. The stench of alien secretion due to the biological anatomy of the Euphorians that causes them to have particularly different adrenal glands lets me know that I did not land in the middle of the Human army.

But instead, I’m behind enemy lines…

End of Pt. 1