The Chess Pieces

by Joshua Landeros

  “Perhaps, but don’t tell me you’re as green as the children out there. Killing missionaries would barely register as an eyebrow-raiser nowadays, but back in the 2040s that kind of shit set off the Hollow Wars Venloran eventually finished. Political goals aside, religion always has something to do with it.”

  “You schooling me on history now that I have definitely missed!” Mari laughed. “What’s next? Will you tell me about the culture of the locals?”

  “The lives of the foreigner do little to intrigue me, except when poontang is involved. Then I’m all ears,” Carson said as he coughed a little.

  “Only way you get some is if I introduce you.”

  “Funny, very fucking hilarious, Mari,” he said as he finished off the contents of his pipe.

  “Aw, don’t get so butt hurt,” she teased. “I protect you from the dirty ones, anyway.”

  She stood up to leave his tent, Carson finally letting the chair’s legs hit the ground again.

  “Ay, where you going?” he called out to her.

  “Time for my patrol,” Mari explained. “Don’t stay up too late, Steve Trevor.”

  “As if I need be reminded,” he said as he lay down on his cot face first.

  ***

  Time rolled on, bringing with it a chorus of wildlife. Among these many sounds there were those creatures who clung to silence. A long serpent slithered between the tires of the Humvee, its forked tongue catching the taste of something odd yet highly resonant. However, with its lower jaw rested on the ground, it felt the vibrations of something approaching its position. Perhaps it was dinner calling, but the vibrations were of something fairly large.

  The boots approached through the dirt, silently advancing. The snake chose to flee, its dark scales glistening under the moonlight. It disappeared behind a tuft of grass as the boots came down where it had been but a few seconds earlier.

  The figure did not seek detection as well and moved like a shadow, heading for the Humvee toward the back.

  The silhouette opened the trunk, stepping inside to a welcome chill. Although the smell was putrid, it was no bother. This person had taken in this odor hundreds of times. The lack of light was no hindrance, and the being knew exactly what it craved. It opened the first large black bag, to reveal a still pale face and closed eyes. The silhouette unzipped the whole bag but did not find what it sought. There were fourteen more to search through and there was no giving up, not till there was certainty.

  The search went on but bore no fruit. Dog tags were intriguing for a few seconds but were placed back with the cadaver respectively. Even with gloved hands, the shadow was opposed to smearing blood of any kind on its person. On the final one, with great relief, the figure found what it was looking for.

  It held the necklace in its palm, inspecting the Star of David pendant at the end of it. It was brittle and probably made of cheap material, however that was not what it focused on. Remembrance of one’s heritage perhaps, the shadow wondered. The figure looked back at the body of the young man, only briefly going over the holes blasted into his body. There were many, ensuring the bottom of the bag was soaked with blood. Alas, this was over, so up the zipper went.

  Davies kept one hand on his piece, the other on his compact flashlight. He stayed close to the Humvees. Even though they were empty, he still drew comfort from them. The soldier knew he’d heard movement from this direction, but he needed probable cause to wake up the whole platoon. Walking alongside the vehicles, he suddenly felt like an imbecile.

  Davies knelt to the ground in a rush, shining his flashlight underneath the Humvee. He expected a hail of bullets to whiz through his face, but all he got was a deep hiss, which for the most part still sent his heart into overdrive. The biggest snake he’d ever seen was staring at him, half its body coiled into a large ‘S.’

  The sergeant backed away, the serpent still on edge. Fuck this. He headed back to camp, turning off his flashlight. Davies approached his foxhole, holstering his pistol. Right at that moment a silhouette darted from behind a nearby tent and grabbed him by his uniform, pulling him in close as if he were a toddler. Davies found himself breathless.

  “Why aren’t you at your post?” the voice growled.

  He saw now it was Mari, not to any relief. The man was so petrified he was unable to speak.

  “Did an enemy get through the perimeter, Sergeant?!”

  “No, no, ma’am!!”

  “Then what are you doing neglecting your duties?”

  “I had to… to take a whiz.”

  Mari said no more, setting Davies down gently. She glared into his eyes once more before heading off, the sergeant having already soiled himself.

  Chapter 7 - At Your Request

  October 8, 2065 - Western Area Peninsula Forest, Sierra Leone

  The sky was a miraculous combination of orange and purple, the few clouds standing no chance against the sun’s onslaught. It was a warm but otherwise calm morning. While everyone else was drowsy and gathering themelves, one person’s blood was hot.

  Mari burst into Carson’s tent.

  “Get up, limp dick! We have a situation developing in Freetown!”

  “Fuck me,” he said as he rolled over. “Gimme a minute.”

  ***

  The convoy pulled to a stop atop Mt. Aureol. The platoon gathered upon a large grassy area, having avoided the main road completely. The city of Freetown was a port city and all could see the vast Atlantic stretching beyond for many miles. It was a jovial sight for all. But the time of combat had come on swift wings. Even from their distance, a few hundred feet from the city, they could see all was not well. The panoramic view of the city, with all its epic buildings, allowed them to see several plumes of black smoke rising higher and higher.

  “What are our orders, sir?” Leroy asked.

  “Wait till we get air confirmation,” Carson ordered.

  “Initiated, Dragonfly inbound,” reported Mangham. She was on a small tablet.

  Zooming over their heads above was a blur, but it slowed as it began to descend on the city. The Dragonfly was an IEB-UAV. It was slim and long with a wingspan of fifteen meters. No matter how fast or slow it flew, its propulsion system gave off nothing more than a low hum. As it descended into the city, its automatic skin adaptors did what they were programmed to do. The Dragonfly began to slowly fade brighter and brighter and finally into a whitish gray. It flew gracefully in between buildings, its camera searching for one thing: movement on a massive scale.

  On the UAV, correspondent Mangham and a few soldiers could see a row of men in suits being put to their knees in a courtyard in front of a building. Behind each one of them were men armed with assault rifles. They had no audio to accompany the images, but they could see crystal clear as the hostages were executed. The other soldiers around them cheered as the bodies fell over in the grass. The Dragonfly flew away from the massacre undetected.

  It flew incredibly close to the building’s roof, dangerously so. Atop the structure though was another important image to send to the UNR database: the same symbol had been painted on the roof of the captured building, that of the Great Devourer.

  Watching it all, having a direct stream to the Dragonfly’s footage, Mari made her report. As she spoke, images were being displayed over her eyes.

  “The police are bogged down dealing with riots at Queen Elizabeth II Quay, the State House, and St. John’s Maroon Church. They are requesting assistance,” reported Mangham.

  “Tell them we’re inbound. I don’t know how this started, but we’re going to end it,” Carson replied.

  Mari was assessing it all and came to her own conclusion. Her data was combined with local news information, giving her a broader view of the situation.

  “Carson, we need to head to the Hayford Building ASAP. The opposition has stormed the building and taken over.”

  “Any hostages?”

  “No, it appears they let everyone go except for the board of directors. They were the ones we saw e
xecuted.”

  “Cowards …” Carson said coldly. His fist was curled. “Thirty years of turning this country around and this is what they got for it.”

  Mari and the others were busy watching the Dragonfly’s stream. Currently, it had circled back to the Hayford courtyard. They could all see a small statue of Venloran being dragged over to the bodies by more than a dozen men. More ecstatic gunmen wielding sledge hammers started mashing it to bits. Carson could see the leader hold up the head of Venloran and the fools cheered him. The corpses were thrown on top of the rubble as a finale.

  “Bold men,” Mari commented.

  The lieutenant looked over at the platoon, and for the first time he really studied them. A fairly large group of thirty soldiers, with over half being the cherries that had just arrived in country. A true party favor of the captain to bring him back into the theater of combat and supply him with newbies. He was familiar with so few of them. He had the best men he knew as sniper support, which comforted him to a degree, but they wouldn’t be knee deep in the shit like he was going to be.

  “We all know the protocol for harmed civilians. The teams sent to the other three hotspots will be using non-lethals unless engaged by real hostiles. Soldiers, those who do not follow this simple procedure deal with the Chancellor himself and I guarantee if you break that law you’ll never see the light of day again. Sergeant Mangham! Sergeant Leroy!”

  Mangham stepped up, followed by Leroy.

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Your squads will accompany me to the Hayford Building. We are entering a combat zone against fully armed hostiles and as such we’re going in and dropping every last asshole we see. I’ve spoken to President Johal, and he’s authorized this mission. Our enemy is crawling around the complex, and once we engage the majority will undoubtedly retreat inside. That’s what we want. All we have to do is box them in and let none get past our perimeter. Unit 37 will be the first one going inside. She alone will clean house and after we’ll back her up. Understood?”

  “Sir, yes, sir!”

  Mangham put up a hand.

  “Sergeant?”

  “Lieutenant, if any of us get a shot on the head honcho are we clear to fire?”

  Carson seemed to ponder that for a minute.

  “No, any other target is fair game, but save him.”

  “Even though you’ve been behind a desk the past few years, you haven’t forgotten how we do things. I am impressed,” Mari said with a smile.

  “Thanks, Mari. Let’s just hope I have the same old luck.”

  “Don’t worry, you’re just on crowd control. I’m the official exterminator, you know that.”

  She saw him smile as he checked his weapon, bringing a strange yet warm feeling inside her. This would be just like old times and she savored that. Her fingers were edgy, to the nervousness of the men and women around her, especially Davies. She knew that, but it hardly registered in her mind.

  “All right, let’s go!!” Carson called out.

  She barely heard his voice. They began to move in on the city, the only thing between them and the chaos being a small cluster of trees. Though sprinting down the hill hurriedly, zipping past bushes and tree branches, there was not a sound amongst the troops. They were ghosts amidst the forest, silent and haunting. They stayed away from the main road and once reaching the first few houses the platoon began to split into squads.

  The backyards were as empty as the back alleys behind the houses. When they began to reach the back lot of what appeared to be a market place they could hear the words of a speech being given over a megaphone. The words were in English, and Carson listened as they closed in.

  “…Chancellor Venloran wears the guise of a man here to innovate, here to help the poor, and here to bring light. It’s all a façade. First they took Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq! Then they took Mexico and Cuba! We are slowly but surely becoming a part of his empire…”

  Mari, Lieutenant Carson, and two other soldiers left the back alley to advance on the market. On a box of produce sat a man smoking a cigarette, currently on his phone. Slung on his back was an M-16. A large diesel truck was also in the back lot, on top of it a teenage boy. He too was dressed in the pseudo-military garb and held the same weapon. He was preoccupied with the show taking place.

  It was the old man whose eyes first spotted them, the cigarette dropping from his mouth. Carson threw a quick glance at Mari, who was already on it. A precisely thrown hira-shuriken diced right into his throat, the man clutching a gaping gash as he toppled off the box. His arm, however, did knock over a stack of boxes and, as the cardboard split, apples rolled out. The boy turned in their direction, but by that time a hira-shuriken had been placed between his eyes. His body quivered unnaturally as if he were a puppet at the hands of wild strings. The body hit the pavement after a few seconds.

  As the UNR troops took cover on the market wall, the cyborg kicked the door in hard, causing it to slam against the wall as she entered.

  “All clear,” she reported.

  The remaining members of the squads moved up into the store, finding it vacant. They moved through the aisles to find three dead police officers by the cash registers. Shot repeatedly, their blood pooled together into one crimson puddle. The windows of the place had already been shattered, and they were now at the doorstep of the chaos. Their position was luckily the high ground, the targeted building down the sloping street. Mari used the Dragonfly to get an update.

  About fifty enemies were in the courtyard in front of the Hayford Building. Every last one of them had a firearm and were positioned in a circular pattern in the grass. In the center of them was the orator, standing atop the rubble of the Venloran statue. The board of directors lay still at his feet. Kneeling between their bodies was the cameraman aiming upward. A low angle shot to boot; yeah, I’m going to enjoy this.

  An alert arrived on Mari’s HUD, delivered from the Dragonfly. Shit. She turned her view to the parking structure next to their target zone. The four-foot tall brick wall they planned on using as a pen surrounded both the main building as well as the multi-floored parking garage. The parking entrances were blocked by sizeable cars. No way up unless I move those…

  “We’ve secured the immediate area. You ready?” Carson asked.

  “The Dragonfly has spotted a number of hostiles on the top floor of the parking structure in sniper positions. There could be even more on the lower levels which would be bad news once we’re out in the open. Maybe you guys should hang back here while I clear it out. From there we can safely engage.”

  Carson shook his head.

  “Then I’ll give the command for the Dragonfly to engage those targets. We stick with the plan.”

  “Sure, it can pick off the easy ones on top, but you can’t expect it to hit ’em all.”

  “Doesn’t have to. It’ll keep them distracted while we gut ’em.”

  Hunkered down along the market walls, the rest of the troops were silent. Mari and Carson gazed at each other without debating it further.

  “Yes, Lieutenant.”

  Now it was Carson who smiled.

  “Let’s party.”

  ***

  “The men who lie at our feet were not men: they were the puppets of the UNR! Again and again they did business with Venloran and in so doing have been judged as perpetrators of fascism. Today—”

  Gunshots brought an end to the speech and every soldier turned their eyes to the parking structure. Descending like a bat out of hell came the Dragonfly, the M2 Browning located on its belly unloading on its targets. Bullets tore into cars and the unsuspecting men. None had the time to get a shot off.

  The men in the courtyard looked at their ringleader for orders. It was then that Mari came in, leaping over the short wall and landing on a gunman. His scream was a brief utterance followed by a gruesome crunch. She raised her Colt 9mm SMG and unloaded on those closest to her, spare the leader. As they returned fire, Carson and the other soldiers officially joined in.
>
  Mari was quick to spray bullets on the foes lurking on the opposite side of the wall her comrades were closing in on. Her aim was swift and endlessly deadly while Carson and the others were bringing down the hostiles by the remains of the statue.

  The leader and several men ran up the steps to the entrance hall. The lieutenant spotted the cameraman fleeing close behind and planted a bullet in the back of his head. What was left of the outside forces took cover behind trees in the courtyard or even benches, whatever was closer.

  Suddenly the sound of several heavy machine guns went off. Mari looked around up to see the glass of many windows being shattered by gunfire. RPDs? Couldn’t be…

  A missile streaked over her head, exploding against a brick wall by the position from which several UNR troops had been firing. They even have a hold of RPGs, how adorable. The explosion blew down the wall as if it were made of playing cards, and clouds of dust rose. Amongst the carnage, the enemy headed for the opening, but muzzle flashes could be seen within the floating dirt and many hostiles were killed several feet before they got even close.

  Battered but definitely resilient, Mari admired her fellow soldiers’ determination and strength.

  Even through all the screaming, muzzle fire, and stampeding feet, Mari could clearly make out the thunder of sniper rounds going off. Heads were taken off, and Mari smirked. She’d taken care of the majority at the brick walls, allowing the UNR forces to now use them. The warrior turned toward the very steps her prize had run up,

  There he was by the glass doors surrounded by men. Their eyes met, his drifting downward to the sword on her hip: an 1840 Cavalry Saber. He knew he was in the presence of no ordinary soldier. The dozen he had surrounding him all aimed at her.

  “You should run,” she suggested.

  The leader pointed at her, his yell incredible:

  “FIRE!”

  Before the first few bullets even left their chambers, the gifted speaker was gone from sight. Mari was only a few feet away from the steps and knew the perfect play. The super soldier did not return fire but instead ran right at her opponents. She was a lightning bolt of immeasurable velocity and devastating force. Mari felt a bullet strike her knee, another pass through her hair and another skid past her shoulder, but none stopped her.