Mist

Above the Abyss

I wake up and I'm naked, so I search for clothes. An outfit already sits by the end of my bed. I'm in a weird tent with many other beds and only a few people laying in them. I pick up the clothes and put them on. I walk out of the tent and discover many Service Soldiers walking around or sitting down with many box tents around.

The medic who helped me approaches me and says in a robotic voice, “You’d better get new armor on because you are going out to battle in a few hours.” It points to a slightly different colored box tent with this weird symbol on it. I open it up and try on some human sniper armor. I find my old backpack in another tent that contains the supplies of the patients.

It isn’t snowing anymore, the sky is clear. An alien comes up and yells in a very unenergetic voice, “We’re moving this base to Mount Kulc. Dismantle everything and leave nothing behind.” Everyone seems to know what to do and they all work in groups taking things out of tents.

I wait for two hours, while every tent except the medic’s and the armory is taken down. People run around, making sure everything’s situated. The same alien comes out after all the tents are down, “Everyone get in a straight line.” I activate my weird visor and hop in line.

We march towards the edge of the mountain and the soldiers all start jumping and flying towards a mountain. I mountain jump to one mountain, only to find out it’s a checkpoint, not my objective. Some Service set up tents and drop supplies on mountain tops. My objective keeps getting further and further away. It takes forever and it's boring.

I make it to my objective, which is the large mountain. I hear small explosions and rapid-fire gunshots as I look back, but I don't see anything. An alien sets up a small rod into the ground that beeps a small sound and shows a little light. Soon, a drop-ship flies above us and drops a large container. The other soldiers run to the container and open it. It contains backpacks and armor. One alien lays out all the backpacks and armor in a row. I grab my size and backpack.

The soldiers take out their guns, add these hooks to the edge of this mountain, and rappel down the side of the mountain. My visor tells me to go to a certain point on the edge of the mountain. I look in my bag and find a hook. I don’t know what to do next. I also find another form of line. I attach the hook to that line, insert the hook into the ground, and begin to make my way down the mountain.

I see it. A huge bubble is being bombarded by a variety of explosions, all differently colored. Thousands of Unity soldiers clutter around the bubble. Service and Vendetta soldiers are clustered around Unity. It seems kind of awkward. Masses of soldiers meet each other halfway down the mountain.

I get into position and set up my sniper. It's about as long as me with a barrel the size of a fist. I pull out a huge clip from my pack and ready my weapon. My visor connects to my weapon, which is awesome. It marks enemies in a red outline and allies in green. I ready my shot, my visor conjures the letters, “Shoot whatever you can until you run out of ammo. Come up the mountain for more. Then, return and shoot again.” It's hard for me to read because the text quickly rolls by. It says, “If cover blown… sorry.” Good to know we thought this out.

The sniper rifle is high tech, expensive, and I wonder how it even appeared in my hands. I know I am a bad shot, I never choose the sniper rifle in any simulator because we were going for a high score not learning a new weapon. From what I can tell, it automatically adjusts to all the things that makes a sniper have a bad day. It even shows where you're shooting using this red dot that shows where the bullet will hit. So, basically anyone can be a sniper, but I’m still scared I’ll hit a ally.

I scan for standing soldiers and find a group of large tank-like vehicles with 8 legs. A very large barrel is positioned on the vehicle and it’s shooting explosions onto the capital. Even though its destruction is devastating, I found a flaw: it's an automotive vehicle and its being controlled by a person near it. I spot the controller with several aliens stand around it, acting natural.