Mist

Life is Destroyed

Blood runs down my body. Everything is blurry and my ears are ringing. I limp down the street as explosions resound. "If I don't die today, I can go home." Onus lifeless body is being studied by the aliens. The city is leveled and burning. Thousands of aircrafts buzz around in organized chaos.

I block out the noises. I see in the corner of my eye a small building. The alien slowly approaches me. I get myself up. A loud, sharp voice says, "Stop!" to me. I run towards the building and hear a bullet hit the ground by me. I trip through it's glass door as it shatters around me. Laying motionless...

My eyes slowly open as I try to scan the area. The room is dark, with a glass flooring lit underneath by LED lights. A white desk with a small lamp illuminating it resides in front of me. A normal desk, but the words 'K.M.K. Museum' are marked on it. I squirm behind the desk and glance around for any medical items I can use to stop the bleeding. My head pounds vigorously. I peer at the lamp.

I grip the end of the lamp and I study the bloodied wound. It oozes a dark red liquid as I hold the heat lamp closer to it. I find some paper on the desk and shove it in my mouth. I count to three and push the end of the lamp into my wound. I repeat this for one wound after another, screaming each time. I sit under the desk, listening to the faint explosions while tears slide down my face.

I drag myself closer to the broken glass door and check the situation outside. Bodies lay on the ground, but no enemies are nearby and the streets are quiet and glowing orange. I slam my fist onto the ground and push myself up. Feeling my wound pulsating.

I walk deeper into the museum, searching for a weapon. Inside looms a beautiful statue of K.M.K.. The building is silent. Its walls are filled with pictures of her, as well as videos of battles, but no weapons. Eventually, I find a room full of old K.M.K. era guns. None of them are usable because they all require a battery or a clip.

After further investigation, I find the Strobe. And it's an old version, a close quarter weapon. I pick it up and turn it on. It quickly dies. Luckily, Strobes only require heat to charge, so I go back to the horrid heat lamp and stick it under there.

As it's charging, I search for a better place to hide in case more ground troops arrive. I find something better: an escape. K.M.K. made vehicles like Strobe: heat powered and durable. It's the small tank decorated with pink and yellow blotches. What a perfect camouflage for a world of white. On top, there are many barrels able to shoot in all directions. There's a hatch on the back where people can enter. Sure, I don't know how to drive it, but I would love to die like this instead.

The tank is in a cage because nobody's supposed to drive it off. I pick up the Strobe gun and set the weapon to explosive. I hold it firmly, point it at the cage, and fire. A blast makes me fly back and hit the wall. I take my time standing up. My head feels like it exploded and colors invade my eyes. I shake my head vigorously. When I'm back to my senses, I'm happy to see that the cage is destroyed and the tank is unharmed. After I set up six more lamps to start charging it, I check around to see if I attracted anyone...

A few hours later, I shove the strobe in my pocket and venture into the tank. The inside is dark and dusty. A charging symbol blinks in my face. Explosions sound off in the distance, seemingly getting closer and closer. Every sound is dangerous.

After what feels like an eternity, the noise dies down. Anyone could've walk through that door, found this tank, and destroyed it with me inside. A Warship could easily destroy this entire building. I don't hear anything familiar. There aren't any windows, so I cannot see outside.

A huge white screen turns on in the tank that says, "Welcome." A ball with a red circle in it appears from a large compartment under the screen. The hatch slowly closes behind me. I place my feet on pedals that I assume to be the acceleration and deceleration. I lift my hands to the spherical wheel under the screen.

I gaze at the screen as it changes to say, "Configuration," in glitchy letters. A loading screen appears that never loads. "Planet map not available," says a weird voice in the tank. "Turning front camera on." A video of a wall appears on the screen. I count to three and push the acceleration.

The walls crumble as the tank flies through it. The rubble rubs off the camera as it glides through the city, hoovering a few feet in the air. I accelerate, faster past the remains of houses. The Warship is still on top of my city and thousands of aircrafts are still darting around everywhere. And it doesn't take them too long to notice me. The red button is probably the firing button, but I don't want to miss my target, so I try to dodge their shots as best I can.

More aircrafts join the party and start firing. The tank sizzles as acid shots hit the top. "INCOMING OBJECT." the screen flashes. I move my hands to the right and left quickly. The screen goes blank and flashes "INCOMING OBJECT." I click the red button. My body gets pushed back as the tank speeds up. So... if I squeeze the ball, the tank shoots, and if I hit the button, the tank goes faster.

I make it out of the city without anyone following me. I want to go the Warrior base a few kilometers outside of the city. Hopefully they aren't too busy with this invasion. The road leads me out. The electromagnetic road shines brightly with the moon reflecting against it. The crumbling cement turns into a white marsh. Stars spread like polka dots glint in the night sky. The white grass harbors fog.

The ground shakes under the tank. A small Warship shaped like a fancy triangle parks just above me. Its top glows and it makes a loud humming sound. Something hits it. The triangle slants to the side and fires at the direction of the shot. Another shot hits the top of the triangle and it spirals out of control. The whole world is quiet for a few seconds as it's falling. It slams the ground, causing ripples, and the tank launches into the air.

The tank lands sideways, the air around me is hot and sparks fall from the ceiling. The screen blinks, "Warning," as I kick the hatch to no avail. I pull the Strobe out of my pocket and set it to laser, which slices through the wall above me. White soil falls in and I dig up. More soil continues to flow through the hole I made. Dangit as I stumble upwards with handful of smooth soil. A small pocket of light appears, I cough, I scrape out the hole and stick my head through it. I take a gasp, I grab the side of the tank and shove myself out. The ground around me is destroyed. A large fire reaches into the air.

Cuts and bruises cover most of my skin. I limb towards the base. My body feels cold, but I push on. "Just to the base, and it will all be gone." A faint object traveling on the road in front of me catches my eye and I wave my arms around. As it approaches, I can tell it's a squadron of several huge vehicles, a tank, and infantry. I flail uncontrollably to get them to notice me.

In a few minutes, I'm greeted by the group. The infantry sport white gas masks and armor with small grey lines. They point their guns at me and yell out, "UGH!"

I politely say, "What?" A woman steps out of one of the vehicles and looks at me, the infantry She points to the city I was just at and raises an eyebrow in confusion. I awkwardly explain, "I escaped with a pink and yellow tank and it's kind of ruined now and I don't believe any place other than your base is really safe, so can I possibly, maybe, have a ride back to the base?"

A confused look forms on her face. I point to the place where my tank is. A couple of soldiers investigate it before she pats me on the back and says, "We can take you back to the base, but we need you to have armor and a weapon because we're planning to investigate the crash." I slightly nod as I get thrown a suit of armor. I fall to the ground.

"As part of the Warrior council rule sixty-four of code of invasion, are you over the age of twenty?" A soldier says.

"Yes." I shiver.

"As part of protocol, you are required to do all you can in assistance to destroy the invading force," they say.

"I comply," I say as I grab the cold weapon.

"Welcome to a war," the women says.