The Foliage (The Foliage Series Book 1)

by Nathan Ward

  As the group entered the forest sunlight deteriorated, the trees blocked out visibility and the fighters took cover in pot holes and bushes. Austin spotted Sasha and joined her down a ditch, staring in the direction they just came, listening to the sound of the UNA vehicle getting closer.

  The head lights shone bright, creating beams of light inside the forest, Graham slammed his foot on the brake and turned the wheel of the vehicle, sending it in to a slide, and finally a sudden halt.

  Then he turned and looked back into the carrier hold.

  “Destination boys, disembark!” he shouted, and pulled on the door lever, releasing it and then he jumped out.

  The hatch at the back of the carrier opened up creating a ramp, the UNA soldiers scattered out, raising their rifles and taking aim at the forest line while moving in to a formation ready to engage.

  Graham's wrist device began to bleep, he raised his arm and pressed a button, and a hologram of Houghton appeared, projecting from the wrist gadget.

  “They’re just beyond the foliage, no more than ten metres, finish this, Commander!”

  “As you command,” said Graham, and then he ended the call.

  Chapter 9 – A Dead Man

  Austin and the group waited patiently to engage, watching through the tree line at the oncoming UNA soldiers. Sasha made a slight move to the right, not realising she had made herself slightly more visible to the enemy - and was suddenly bombarded with gun fire, the muzzle flashes lit up the ground as the bullets peppered the tree stumps and danced on the ground, kicking up earth and flying scattered through the air.

  Sasha covered her head and Austin put an arm around her, the fighters began firing back at the UNA, taking chance shots without a visual on the targets.

  A few more rounds of bullets cut through the foliage before a sudden cease fire, with only the gunfire echo sounding to end it, along with the deep breaths of scared soldiers.

  Austin raised his head and spotted the unmissable UNA crawler vehicle but saw no sign of the troops. Taking a dangerous move, he pulled himself to his feet and began to take a few steps towards the light, he looked back and signaled for everyone else to stay put.

  Moving a branch to one side and pushing through a bush, he then emerged... to find ten UNA soldiers limp on the ground with puddles of blood expanding from underneath them, the blood was soaking in to the mud and turning it crimson.

  “Austin…”

  He turned his head, and stared at the sight of the man he now faced...it was Graham, suited in a UNA uniform.

  “Is that... Is that you, Graham?” he said in disbelief.

  Graham moved towards Austin taking small steps, slightly hesitant of his reaction.

  “Ignore the suit, I'm not UNA.. I swear!”

  “Sure looks like you are… but, you? These men? Why? I just don’t get it!”

  “I Put a bullet into every one of their heads, I can’t stand the fuckers, and that’s the reason I'm here,” he replied, “We need to talk, and it has to be swift. I don’t have long, I have to report back and by that time you have to be dead.”

  Houghton entered the command room, approaching two workers at a control desk monitoring the area, both were dressed in white tunics and wearing LED lit helmets. A Warm glow from the LEDs lit a sequence around the visor as the occupants worked.

  “Open up missile port, activate start up procedure,”ordered Houghton.

  “Port 1 engaging, launch pad ascending,” replied a computerised voice.

  Josh and four of the adults who were shackled prisoners leant against the wall, listening in on the activity of commander Houghton, armed with UNA rifles.

  Josh signaled for them to head back down the corridor, they make quick pace and turn left in to an empty store room, and Josh was last in.

  “They’re gonna either fire a pointless missile in to the sky or… they’re going nuclear,” Said a prisoner with Gary written on his overall badge.

  “What makes you think that it’s pointless? They already tried wiping us out surely this time they will succeed?” Josh replied as he set about equipping himself with UNA explosives that were blatantly on show set on a metal rack.

  “So you think they’re going to launch a nuclear missile in to space and remotely direct it back at us?” Gary asked.

  “Not remotely,” Josh told him, “ Earth's gravity will pull it back and when it does, when it makes contact, it’s going to wipe out the planet's surface. There’s always been so much more to this, they aren’t in the power business. They invaded our homes, took our loved ones and now they want no traces of life left behind - not even their fungi experiments. This is extinction.”

  Suddenly the sound of a high powered alarm cut through the air, and then Houghton’s voice came through the audio system.

  “UNA assault squadron B & C to the main gates with haste, await my arrival...” Josh looked over at Gary as both men shared a thought they didn't want to voice aloud again: Thoughts of extinction, of the human race being wiped out...

  The giant steel gates at the front of the facility started to creak and unlock, standing at twelve feet high they slowly started to open outwards, as the gap down the centre increased, the UNA soldiers in their whites began to march out in a single file formation as they left the facility, and then they entered the frosted over field that awaited them, taking position in a circular formation surrounding a beaten up UNA vehicle, where smoke was rising up from the engine under the bonnet.

  Commander Houghton finally emerged from the gates and walked out to the edge of the circle, armed with a rifle in one hand and a megaphone in the other. Then she raised the megaphone and began to speak:

  “Step out of the vehicle and put your hands on your head, failing to do so will result in death, surrender or face the consequence.”

  Josh and his small group emerged from an open hangar but remained unseen, watching from a distance.

  “This looks serious!” said Gary.

  “I have a bad feeling about all of this, go gear up that Wasp, Gary …” then he turned to another of the men, “ And Henry, go back to the others warn them of what's happening, tell them it's almost time… and don’t run in to any trouble, please!” ordered Josh.

  But then he turned to see the door of the UNA vehicle starting to open on its single hinge. The door finally opened up wide and a stream of black smoke bellowed from the inside of the transport vehicle. And then as a leg followed by a body began to emerge, Houghton started to walk forward, showing no trace of concern or interest. Then as the driver climbed out, Josh recognised him at once: It was Graham, who stepped clear of the vehicle, raised his hands and started to walk toward Houghton.

  “I really don’t know why you went to all this trouble, its only me…” Graham said loudly as he looked around at the armed men whose weapons were trained on him.

  “How were we to know?” responded Houghton, “ You didn’t respond to any calls, for all we knew, you were dead!”

  “Well I'm sorry to disappoint! You'll be happy to know it was a success, The freedom fighters - the rebellion - are dead, we took many casualties in the opening attack but the deed now is done, Commander.” And Graham breathed a heavy sigh of exhaustion.

  And from his hiding place, as he heard Graham speak those words, Josh felt anger rising, an anger he could no longer hold back. He stood up and slipped back into the hangar.

  “Gary, prep up - I want you with me, I'm piloting,” he said.

  Houghton carried on walking towards Graham very slowly.

  “Good,” she said, “ I’m pleased you’ve done me proud, Graham! You really have - in fact, you can’t beat that feeling you get when something you’ve designed actually pays off for you.”

  He glanced down at his wrist.

  Oh, you mean this? The wrist device? It worked a treat it really did, I'm quite impressed myself…” said Graham as he hoped she hadn't noticed he had started to break out in a sweat.

  She shot him a look of surprise.
>
  “Oh no, don’t be silly…. I meant this…”

  Houghton raised up her tablet as it started to play back footage from the Robot drone, and Graham squinted, focusing on the video - the clear, sharply shot video of him telling the freedom fighters all of UNA’s plans...

  And he just didn't see it coming. Houghton lunged at him,swinging her rifle and striking his face with force that knocked him to the ground.

  Graham's face was now split along the cheek and eye brow, a glistening, ugly gash that dripped with blood.

  She stood over him, glaring down.

  “You thought you could just return and play it cool, as if I wouldn’t bat an eyelid, didn’t you? DIDN’T YOU? You arrogant fuck!”

  Houghton thrust the barrel of the gun in to Graham's stomach, he yelped in pain, coughing up a burst of blood, unable to move as she stood over him glaring down in fury.

  “I thought you were my friend Graham, but for this you must die, there is no other way… “

  Houghton raised her rifle as she pointed the barrel down on to Graham’s forehead and cracked a smile that chilled his blood – it was a smile that promised this was the end.

  Graham desperately reached down and pulled a hand gun from his holster, rapidly aiming it up at Houghton as he gave the trigger a sharp squeeze and as the bullet hit her face, Graham anticipated a explosion of blood - but what he got was something much worse.

  Houghton’s face exploded into fire and sparks, her skin melting and tearing off and falling to the ground. The smell of flesh rose into the air, then as the smoke cleared, Graham stared up at Houghton, her face was still intact but without the artificial skin, now mechanisms revolved like clockwork and LEDs flashed from within the steel skull, her eyes were now just two beams of blue light gazing down at Graham who was still there on the ground, shaken at the sight of it all.

  “What the fuck are you?” he shouted.

  “The future,” she replied in a metallic voice, and then she fired a single shot from her rifle, exploding Graham's head, blowing it apart like a clay pigeon, bursts of blood and bone and brain matter, as the remains of his head were scattered far and wide across the white tipped grass field.

  Chapter 10 – Sky Attack

  Houghton pressed a switch on her metallic face and a helmet started to form around her head, hiding the damage to her features under the visor. Then she turned and began to walk back as the rest of the UNA soldiers followed.

  As Houghton proceeded, she looked upwards, detecting something in the sky, and as she looked skyward, so did the soldiers, who took aim at the sky.

  A UNA Wasp zipped down from behind the clouds, narrowly missing the soldier’s heads, then it circled the perimeter before taking a stable stance with all weapons aimed down at the troops as the pilot's voice rang out addressing those below:

  “Commander Houghton, this is Josh Levett, leader of what’s left of this planet's decent people, and I command you to stop the countdown, to stop the destruction of our planet! Before you retaliate I will tell you now, we will not back down, we will not let you win over our lives without a bloody fight!

  Today is our chance to begin again. What you have and what we have, could bring together a shining future. Please think this all through!”

  Houghton's electronic eyes stared up at Josh in the cockpit of the Wasp.

  “We’ve come too far to back down now, this planet is ours!” stated her metallic voice, and then she looked to the troops on the ground, “Fire on that craft!!

  Then Houghton sprinted for the facility as the UNA soldiers fired on the Wasp in the sky. Josh was ready for the attack, and took the Wasp into evasive action by moving in and out of the ground soldier's cross fire as he addressed his companion:

  “Gary, its time to show them what we’re made of, arm the bitch!”

  “With pleasure, Commander,” replied Gary, and he flicked switches on the control panel.

  The Wasp started to descend as it then unleashed a hail of bullets down on to the field, bullets that exploded on impact, sending many of the UNA soldiers in to the air. The Wasp circled them, firing mini gun bullets across the ground, killing numerous soldiers in one burst. Then as the Wasp finished its counter attack, Josh shifted it into a hovering stance facing the UNA facility, only to notice a company of soldiers down below emerging from the tree line.

  Down on the ground, Austin and the freedom fighters make their way through the final tree line looking on at the UNA fortress. Houghton managed to reach the gates just before they closed with a crunch, sealing the facility.

  Up above, Josh looked over at the hanger entrance that was nothing but a small dot in the distance from his high up cockpit view. Even the hanger had been sealed with no entrance left unprotected.

  Gary shot him a worried glance.

  “Your move, Josh,” he said.

  Josh began to analyse the surroundings, all the while aware that time was ticking.

  “Straight ahead, Gary. Light it up...”

  Gary smiled, liking the sound of his command.

  Back down on the ground, the fighters were staring up at the Wasp, as Austin turned to the group.

  “Whoever is up there is obviously on our side or they haven’t noticed us, if they haven’t noticed us, we may well be fucked when they do - but I still want to lay my cards on the first one, for all we know it might be Josh?”

  Thomas moved forward with a massive grin on his face.

  “It is!” exclaimed the freedom fighter.

  Thomas pulled away his sniper scope to once again confirm the sight of Josh inside the Wasp aircraft. The group turned with determination and a look of hope in their eyes knowing hope was very much alive – because they would soon have their leader back in the ranks.

  Then the Wasp launched two missiles down towards the main gates, they shot down like fire crackers, penetrating the gates and lodging themselves into the steel, this was followed by a ground shaking explosion, the gates were blown inwards and fire spilled out, engulfing the nearby area. Two of the facilities' security had also been caught by the explosion; their suits just about kept them protected from the roaring flames.

  Josh activated the Wasp audio link and projected his voice down to the fighters:

  “The final assault can now commence, people!” he yelled, “Give 'em hell!”

  Then Josh pulled a cord as Austin and the group began to run towards the UNA facility, he was rocketed into the sky, followed by Gary. Immediately they pulled a cord on their jackets and parachutes opened up, suspending them in the air, and as they slowly descended above the fighters approaching the blaze at the main gates, the Wasp lost velocity and crashed in to the ground, exploding on impact creating a massive ball of fire behind Austin, silhouetting the advancing aggressors.

  Josh and Gary’s parachutes descended them low enough to make a jump on to the main facilities rooftop; they both unlocked their buckles, releasing the parachutes and sending them in to a fall. Gary fell directly on to a UNA soldier, knocking him to the floor. Josh made a perfect landing that immediately turned rough as he was attacked and then struck out with an upper cut, knocking a soldier out stone cold. Then he turned around in time to witness Gary do the same by repeatedly punching a guardsman's helmet, shattering the glass and finally making impact on his face. Then Gary let go of the guard, his body landed with a thud as it fell, then the two men exchanged a glance, and then they continued on their war path, heading towards an air duct close by.

  Meanwhile at the front blaze, Austin lead the advancing group through the roaring flames, each of them covering their faces as they sprinted and jumped over the burning debris. The first five emerged in to an open courtyard only to witness a horde of UNA soldiers waiting for them. Austin slowly rose to his feet with his team growing in numbers behind him, emerging through the fire. Slowly but surely the two sides began to balance out, facing one another preparing mentally for what was about to happen: Bloodshed seemed inevitable...

  “Hold your gro
und, soldiers!” shouted the UNA soldier at the centre of the pack.

  Austin looks on as anger blaze din his eyes as he stood firm, and he was not alone - so much emotion flowed through his and the entire groups minds. There had been so much death, so much pain... Sasha looked over at Austin, she clutched at her Rifle, her hands trembling in fear.

  “OZ!” she yelled.

  Austin looked back at her.

  “If this is the last thing we ever do,” She called back, “We had better make sure we do it fucking well!”

  “Oh believe me, we’re gonna own this! Shame no ones watching this, it’s about to get messy!” he added, wishing he felt as confident as he had tried to sound, because this was a tight situation, and he couldn't predict if any one would be getting out of it alive...

  Chapter 11 – Blood Bath

  Inside the main complex, the lighting was flickering due to the heavy damage sustained to the building. Then three figures emerged from the shadows, moving down from the furthest corner of the longest corridor leading to the control room - a vulnerable and heavily damaged Houghton and two UNA soldiers, who marched with Houghton in tow. The android was limping and with half of the face missing, this revealed a cold mechanical glow from her artificial eye.

  Then the soldiers came to a stop, halted by the sound of a burst of sudden gun fire, then they shuddered as a UNA soldier's body was flung against a wall in the opposite direction. The body slid down the wall until the corpse hit the floor, it had left a trail of deep red blood on the pure white wall. The soldier’s death was followed by two figures turning the corner, each wielding a UNA assault rifle.