by Daniel Evora
Ben, puzzled, warped his face and stood up while watching the rest of the group walking in a single file line towards the shouting crowd of Loyalists, awaiting their impending doom at the end of the road.
Thomas kept walking
“Well, I never got a chance to say goodbye to my wife. Or say hello to my future daughter,” Thomas said.
“It’s okay, Tom,” Lily said.
“It’s not.”
The courtyard had hundreds of people there, mostly Silent Death loyalists, and lastly in the crowd sat Sam and the Supreme Commander, Adam. The time had almost come for them as Max looked at the huge clock that stood tall in the center, it read: 11:17 AM. Only a half an hour and they’d be dead. There was a large stage on the north side of the courtyard only meters away from them as they approached it slowly. The crowd threw small objects at them as they would scream terrible insults.
The stage had a guillotine, with a large, cutting laser. The executioner that stood next to it had a serious look on his face, ready to rid of the rebel insurrection. But, first, the First General, Sam, would give a small speech, he walked up onto the stage and configured the microphone on his ear. He tested it as the crowd settled down and put their attention on him. He looked at Adam and nodded at him, and he began to speak.
“On this day, April 20th, 2105. We have here, today, the commander of the rebellion. One general and two agents, and a traitor! A rogue pilot! Today marks the beginning of the end. From this, the Silent Death will wage war on them!” The crowd shouted in triumph. “Today they’ll be executed by the guillotine!”
The crowd began to escalate in volume as the executioner grabbed the first victim; Chris, who was trying to resist. He was getting closer to the guillotine, as he tried harder to resist. The executioner gripped even harder on his arm and forced his neck into the cold metal slot. There was nothing he could do to free himself beyond this point while the laser was activated. As soon as Chris heard the sound of the powerful red laser turn on, his chest caved in and he stopped struggling while breathing heavily. The executioner got ready to flip the switch to drop the laser blade. His hand hovering above it; ready to drop the blade.
“First, their commander!” Sam howled as the crowd escalated in noise and shouted and celebrated.
No one could believe it. All it took was a couple moments until disaster struck. Matthews tried getting up and stopping what was about to take place. His rage and frustration had released in one big explosion of desperation.
“You bastards!” cursed Matthews at the top of his lungs.
Two guards rushed at the sight of Matthews resisting, and one of them beat him with a blunt baton that stunned him for a bit.
Ben watched with silence, his face struggling to show any emotion as they all came rushing into his mind like a crashing wave in the ocean. So, he decided to look away from all the commotion.
The executioner lowered his hand onto the lever and dropped it, causing the laser to drop as well and onto Chris’ neck.
“No!” cried Max.
“I can’t watch this,” Fraser looked away.
Ben continued to hide his face as the crowd cheered. Holding in his hate, and his grief while heavily exhaling upon hearing the buzzing sound of the laser cutting through his skin and the thud that came after.
The executioner strolled over to where Chris’ head remained and picked him up by his hair. Revealing the face to all who watched the event take place. The man behind the iron mask raised it even higher and hyped up the crowd upon his death.
Suddenly, a loud crash followed by an explosion broke into the north and south walls of the base! A small missile fired by the demo squad smashed into the clock tower, causing it to fall and crushing a major fraction of the crowd. The crowd had spread in panic, and Sam ordered a counter attack.
“Get to your positions! We are under attack!” Sam yelled.
The remains and debris from the clock tower fell down and stabbed one of the Silent Death Loyalists. One of the two steel hands came down and smashed onto the crowd. Injuring many and impaling others from the debris
My squadron held out and watched as the vehicles advanced onto the base. A few Silent Death troopers manned the anti-vehicle, stationary guns and fired small mortars at full blast to destroy the vehicles before they could reach the base. The shells launched like a rocket into the sky.
I noticed the gunners firing the mortars and watched the shells. I contacted Sarah with a walkie-talkie.
“Sarah,” I shouted. My eyes widened, and my heart raced. “Are you there?”
I watched the explosions from afar and saw the vehicles break the formation to challenge the gunners and avoid more enemy fire. Sarah came through, but I could hardly hear her due to the noise of the engines, guns, and bullet fire.
“Kind of in the middle of something!” Sarah sarcastically remarked. “They’re firing mortars onto top of us!”
“Stay on course,” I commanded.
“Trying to do that right now!” Sarah injertected.
Sarah no longer responded through the walkie-talkie. I brought out my visors and focused my vision towards the front wall, and the gates. There were no soldiers scouting atop the wall nor on the ground.
“Alright, let’s go!” I ordered. One of the troops blew a whistle to give all the soldiers on ground the signal to charge towards the base.
Each man and woman came out from the desert plants, shrubs, and bushes, and out to the flat land. The Rebels followed me out into the desert towards the front gates. Running out and charging. The dust picked up and the shouting became a crashing wave of noise.
The Silents finally noticed the charging stampede as we stormed to the front gates. As we got closer to the gates, the Silents tried everything in their power to close the gates before we got through. The gates were too slow and too heavy to be shut in time as all of us squeezed through the space left between both metal doors.
Suddenly, before we knew it, after charging into the base with all the adrenaline left within ourselves, we charged through the courtyard section where the Silents shot on our group instantly. The pathway leading to the courtyard where the prisoners were held was heavily guarded. I couldn’t even see how many were onto us. So, I tried to get up against the wall to the entrance and attempted to peek my head just enough so that my right eye could get a small glimpse of the defenses. I was being shot at instantly, forced to go back and take cover.
“Dammit, where’s Sara?” I ranted, while blindy shooting my rifle into the battalion of Silent Death troopers.
Back out on the desert, Sarah and her group of armored buggies continued to avoid the raging mortar fire from the eastern wall. One of the shells created a massive crater, sending piles of sand onto anyone in range of the impact. Out of nowhere, another mortar hit next to one of the vehicles sending it to flip over and take another one with it in a percussive explosion. Sarah looked back at the destruction and gasped. Then she continued to look forward and frowned.
I tried to peek over again at the prison block, but it was no use to try. The corner of the wall that I put my back up against began to chip away from bullets. Once trying to look over one of the bullets ricocheted off the wall in the wrong way. Causing a ringing in my ears. I covered it with my hand, winced, and grunted, as all I could hear was the muffled sound of bullets and the shouting of men and women. For a few moments, I thought I had lost my hearing, but then the ringing sound ceded and I got back up.
I switched the channel on my walkie-talkie and attempted to contact Pete’s demolition squad.
“Pete!” I howled, trying to speak louder than the ongoing battle. “Are you still there?”
Pete’s familiar gravelly voice spoke through the tiny speaker. I put the walkie up against my ear to hear Pete talk.
“We’re alright, just trying to breach the west wall,” Pete acquiesced. “How about you?”
“They’ve got us cramped up here in front of the prison block, we could use some of that firepow
er right about now,” I explained.
“Don’t worry we’ll be on the way,” Pete assured. He switched off the channel.
I kept holding the walkie in my free hand, and unloaded the magazine in my rifle. As I was trying to put in a new one. I noticed a small, ball-shaped object roll across. Two of them rolled out onto the ground right next to us. They were missing a pin and both of them started beeping at a slow pace. My heart stopped, and my eyes widened.
“Grenade!” I screamed, while sprinting and diving for my life. The rest of the men took notice and followed suit.
The two bombs exploded only seconds later, causing the concrete and metal that supported the entrance and the bridge to crack and collapse in chunks too big for one to lift and carry. A dust cloud formed for a second as I coughed it up and tried to use my hands to get it away from my face, and mouth. The massive chunks of debris blocked the only way towards the cell block. So, I reached down again on my belt for my walkie. I closed my fist, until it was closed fully to the point where I grabbed nothing.
“Dammit, I must’ve dropped it,” I complained.
“What do we do now?” one soldier asked, as he carefully approached the blockage.
I looked at the man who stared back, waiting for an answer. I brushed off my shoulders and knees. Then, ruffled my hands through my hair. Suddenly, another group of Silents rushed through coming right out of the courtyard. They instantly noticed us as we attempted to drop and take cover. However, I was unfortunate to react a little too late for my liking. I dropped to the floor, but one stray bullet hit me. I felt heat in my upper left arm, the muscle was sore, and I fell to the floor behind and out of sight from the enemy fighters as they stormed through like a tank.
“Are you alright?!” another Rebel troop shouted out at me.
“I’ll be fine,” I acknowledged them, as I quickly sat back up.
I reached into my vest and brought out a tiny, two inch long syringe. It was a small dose of morphine. I stared at the needle and the thought about basically stabbing myself with it had crossed my mind, but then I swiftly injected the morphine. I didn’t feel that bad, to be honest. Luckily, most of the hot pain went away, but the arm still felt a bit sore and the feeling was within a strange, uncanny valley that I couldn’t quite describe. I took a deep breath of relief and tossed the syringe to the side so I could bring out a small roll of bandages to cover the wound. A bullet ricocheted near my face, and I jumped up and the roll of bandages did the same within my hand. I dropped it to my left and it rolled out the safety of my cover and into the danger of the battlefield. My eyes followed the tail end of the roll.
Once it stopped I noticed the walkie-talkie that I dropped earlier. It was still on and I could barely hear the sound of Pete’s voice coming through--calling my name. I tried poking out my hand to reach for the walkie. I instantly ceded action once I was fired upon.
“C’mon, just run outta ammo, already!” I blurted, as I waited for an opening to reach.
The entrance to the courtyard was a complete mess. Bullets were flying everywhere to the point where I was too afraid to even move my arms or legs. Then, suddenly, the percussive sound of bullets hitting solid cover began to fade. There it was. The opening. So, I laid on my stomach and crawled over towards the walkie. I grabbed the bandages and tossed them back towards my cover spot and reached my left arm even further to get to the walkie. With just the tips of my finger I was able to grip the edge of it and pulled it towards me. I rushed back to my spot with the bandages sitting right next to my thigh. Instantly, the firing continued.
“Pete! I’m here!” I yelled into the walkie, trying to overcome the sound of the current conflict.
“Nate, what the hell happened?” Pete questioned me, as I glanced at the debris covering the way to the courtyard.
“They took down the entrance to the prison, we need some firepower to get through,” I explained to him.
“Don’t worry kid, we’ll be right--” Pete responded wittingly.
Pete’s voice cut off from the walkie-talkie. Then, static.
Pete’s crew sped their way through the thick, west wall. A huge explosion occurred as rock and debris spread out and impaled a couple of Death Troopers, flying at quick speeds frontwards at every angle. Pete’s squad rushed in, emptying their clips into the rest of the Silent Death reinforcements.
In just a few short moments, all of the enemy troops were neutralized by Pete’s squad while he rolled on through in his wheelchair. His squadmates made way for him.
I peeked over from the silence and grinned at the sight of Pete.
I stood and waved my hand once to my squadmates.
“All clear. Let’s go.”
My squadmates rushed over behind Pete’s demolition squad as four of them kneeled and lifted an array of missile launchers.
Pete lifted his arm, and kept it there. He looked at me.
“Standby for charge,” commanded Pete.
Soon after, the four men pulled the trigger at the same time; letting the missiles go. The heavy debris blocking the entrance to the prison block imploded upon impact. The concrete disintegrated, and formed into a dust cloud. The fire from the combustion of the missile shell spread out for just a small moment. It created a blinding light, from which I covered both my eyes with my left hand. The dust cloud expanded to where we couldn’t see the other side once the light died off.
I held up my rifle against my chest. My heart is pounding. My face was drenched with sweat. My hair, dirty. Exploding while sprinting into the dust cloud as the rest of the men and women followed through it with me. All shouting with a roaring charge.
The dust cloud slowly faded as we ran towards the prison block. I could see the light on the other end of it. I broke through the dust and the noon Sun shined on us. The light reflecting off our armor and weapons. But, I halted and so did everyone else. The fire of the roaring charge died out in moments. There they were. Thomas, Max, Matthews, Lily, and Fraser. All of them tied together on a metal post wearing the same blue jumpsuit.
“Crap.”
I waved my fist upwards so that everyone wouldn’t follow me. I rushed towards the metal post where they were tied up together.
“What’s going on?” asked Pete. He rolled out onto the prison courtyard as the troopers stepped back for him. His jaw dropped.
“No.”
Each of them were struggling and trying to speak out of their mouths. A single, thick rope was tied around them to keep them quiet. They were cuffed together in some sort of contraption that I couldn’t recognize.
“Anyone have a knife so I can cut this thing?” I looked out at the group.
One of the troopers stepped over to me and handed me a combat knife. I gripped the rope as best I could in an awkward upright position and started slicing my way through. Every fiber collapsed as I cut down towards the floor. The rope ripped itself when it was weak enough and the pressure on their lips was relieved.
“Nate, you came back,” chirped Max.
“Pete?” Matthews questioned, perplexed.
“Matt,” greeted Pete. “No time to explain right now. Nate, cut them free.”
“Yes, sir.”
I began going at the metal contraption gluing them together to the post.
“Wait, don’t!” Matthews exploded, speaking at a rapid pace. “You cut us free of that and we’re goners. There’s a bomb attached to us. They got out the whole prison block while you guys were busy. Also…they took Ben.”
“What? Where?!”
“We don’t know. But, they did retreat to the city.”
“Wait…” I asked. “Where’s Chris?”
My sudden question made the group completely silent. Max frowned and stared at the floor.
Since, no one would say anything about. Max went ahead to speak of his condition.
“They killed him,” he explained.
My eyes widened and I turned to Pete.
“Shit,” Pete whispered to himself, while he slamme
d his fist on the armrest of his wheelchair.
“How long ago was it?”
“Just before your group started storming the place,” Max confessed.
I kneeled on the floor as I started thinking of all the possibilities in which he could have survived. I kept thinking to myself: What if we had arrived a minute sooner?
“Dammit,” I muttered to myself, while getting up off the ground and looking in front of me.
I looked down and discovered a big box covered in a tanned tarp. I flipped the cover to meet my eyes with a bunch of wires and a timer. My chest pounding, I glanced at Pete.
I exhaled and frowned.
“Thirty minutes.”
“That’s it?” blurted Pete. “The hell are we supposed to do? I don’t know how to disarm this bombs.”
“I can,” Thomas interjected. Pete looked at him. “But, this type can’t be disarmed like that. The casing, that reveals it’s wires, is welded on instead of drilled with your average bolt or nut. The only way to disarm it...is to find the trigger that armed it in the first place. ”
“You’ve gotta be shittin’ me,” barked Matthews.
“Well, I don’t know what you want me to say.”
The city went quiet. There were screens usually up on the wall for advertisements and live broadcasts within Qeles City. A loud ringing spread out and everyone looked up to the screens including myself.
I raised my wrist up to my mouth.
“Sara, are you there? Sara?” I repeated.
The feedback I got from my walkie talkie was extremely muffled and glitchy. I could only make out a few noises until I eventually decided to put the walkie away.
Suddenly, the screens switched on and everyone looked up towards the tall buildings where the screens showed themselves. Most of the group gasped and started conversing among each other as the silence broke.
On the screen, it revealed a rather brutal broadcast. Three figures appeared dominant on the screen in black, appearing almost like a fine shadow. The figure in the middle walked up towards the lens of the camera as it blurred the closer he got. Then, a light beamed onto the scene finally showing every single detail. That’s when I could hear the crowd from within Qeles, shiver in terror and shock. My eyes widened and I nearly wanted to look away from the image the camera forced into my face.
