Skeleton Wars

by Desire Luminsa

  “I want to remind you that all that success had been achieved because of the courage of ten ghosts. These ten comrades tirelessly mobilized us to build a new earth. They deserved respect for that. We owed them much for their courage! However, does any one of you know how we chose to pay them?’’ After asking the question, he looked at them. They were just looking at him because they could not understand what he was saying and he knew it also. But still, he waited for some seconds and when they failed to reply, he requested Gen Path to open all the boxes.

  Eight skeletons that had been heavily chained jumped out of the boxes. Gen. Cov was forced to call for assistance from the warriors to help unchain them and to prevent them from running away. The last two boxes that were containing the golden crowns were also opened. The generals removed the crowns and placed them on the skulls of the eight skeletons. One by one, the crowns started shining yellow and their skeletons became whiter! “They are the Ghoes! ….. The Ghoes!…..” shouted the ordinary ghosts in unison. The sight of the Ghoes was a vivid flashback to the pioneer ghosts. But to the younger ghosts, it was a fairytale that had turned out to be true!

  The ordinary ghosts continued shouting “The Ghoes….. The Ghoes,” until when Gen. Cov signaled to them to stop such that he could continue with his speech. “Comrades, before we fully celebrate this triumphant moment we should first recall that these great leaders were ten not eight? Now where are the others?” Again the ghosts lapsed into silence. For all that long, they had been thinking that Lord Ghost had managed to arrest the two missing Ghoes but they couldn't figure out what he might have done to them. There was silence for the few seconds that followed as the skeletons waited attentively for the generals’ next action.

  Gen. Path removed the two crowns that were remaining in the metallic boxes. He handed one to Gen. Cov and retained the other. They simultaneously placed them on their skulls. Immediately, the crowns started shining and their skeletons also turned whiter. Everyone present could not believe it. The ordinary ghosts plus the warriors started looking at their lost leaders in amazement for they could not believe it also!

  For all that long, the two generals were the two missing Ghoes. They had been arrested by Lord Ghost’s soldiers but were never identified. When Lord Ghost started recruiting soldiers from the prisoners, the two agreed to join him. They exhibited good military and leadership skills which impressed Lord Ghost. This enabled them to rise through the ranks in a short time until when they became full generals. Gen. Cov was made the overall commander of the warriors, second only to Lord Ghost and Roth. Gen. Path was made the commander in charge of training the recruits.

  They showed so much loyalty to their two leaders that it was had to suspect that they had other intentions. But they kept a close link to each other and would seldom meet to discuss the ways through which they would regain their leadership. They had intentionally requested to stay in charge of the reserve force such that they could use that chance to overthrow the regime. Lord Ghost had not objected this request because he trusted them to the full. When Lord Ghost was leaving, he had left the key for the vault with Gen. Cov and requested him to keep it with all his might.

  After donning their crowns, Gen. Cov invited Gen. Path to address the audience.

  “Comrades,” he began. “The last time that you were here, you were informed about Lord Ghost’s intention of attacking earth. But as I speak now, they have already reached earth. I want to let you know that the children, spouses, relatives and friends whom you left on earth are dying in the hands of our colleagues right now! Some have already died and will join us here very soon. The only bad thing is that our colleagues have no prudent reason as to why they are doing this!’’

  “We must know that humans are the ghosts and we are the humans. Ghostkind survives only because mankind survives! We cannot kill the people who buried us. The people who continuously pray for us to ‘’Rest in Peace.” It’s malicious for us to start admiring the beauty of planet Earth. We were the ones who laid the foundation of that beauty and we can do the same here! If we could do that in that short time that we spent on earth, what about here where we are going to spend all our eternity?”

  He paused for some seconds and looked at them. They all seemed to be absorbed in thoughts, as they tried to integrate his message. “Dear colleagues, if we want to rebuild our planet, we must start with earth. We must first go back to earth and rescue the human race. It is then that we shall be able to reunite when we come back to Ghostia. It seems to be suicidal but we have no choice. If they conquer earth, they will use it as a base to destabilize us here. Therefore, we need some of you to join us in this counterattack. Others should remain here and guard our planet such that no one robs us of our success again.”

  All the warriors voluntarily crossed to the side of the Ghoes and were willing to escort them to earth even though it meant fighting their colleagues. They moved straight to the underground facility and pulled out all the weapons and aircraft that had been reserved for their force. They were joined by more ghosts from the general populace, especially those who were former soldiers on earth. Among the volunteers, came the skeleton of Dr. Christine. After being shot to death by her husband, her soul had travelled back to Arcacidia and was dressed in a new skeleton. Lord Ghost did not bother following to re-arrest her because he had no time for that. This scientist was ready to go and help with the destruction of the Chemical and Biological weapons which Lord Ghost had carried to earth.

  They first marked all their aircraft with white stripes before leaving for earth in order to distinguish them from Lord Ghost’s fleet. The aircraft ascended into the skies amidst cheers from the ordinary ghosts who were watching from the Ruthst Square. The Ghoes were doing everything in a hurry because for every minute they delayed, dozens of humans were being killed by Lord Ghost’s team. Even the plan which they were to follow on their mission was discussed by the team en route!

  As soon as they entered the solar system the skeletons on earth noticed them. At that time Lord Ghost was in the laboratory supervising the progress of his scientists, but he was hurriedly called back to the Pentagon’s war rooms. “It’s a coup,”” he shouted when he saw the fleet of what resembled their aircraft on the computer screens.

  “Shoot them down before they reach low earth orbit,” he ordered.

  However, Gen. Cov also knew that they were being observed because he was the one who had designed the war plan they were following. He thus ordered two aircraft to fire air-to-air missiles at the International Space Station, which was the main computer control center of Lord Ghost’s team. By the time the skeletons on earth orientated their three space based killer satellites to start shooting down the invading aircraft with laser beams, the two missiles had already passed their position. They were able to shoot the station and it exploded at once. Even the twenty computer specialists on board perished.

  The loss of the station disrupted the communication systems of the ghosts on earth. They had to shift to other satellites more so those they had launched themselves. Gen. Cov also ordered the computer specialists of the invading army to hack into these satellites and take full control over them. This resulted into an intensive Cyber-attack from both sides. To weaken them more, Gen. Cov ordered his pilots to shoot down five of the seven miniaturized satellites that belonged to Lord Ghost’s team before they entered into the US airspace.

  Due to the great pressure that had started mounting on their side, Lord Ghost ordered for the launching of the ICBMs against humans, in order to deter Gen. Cov's group from advancing further for fear of hurting more humans.The first to be launched travelled hypersonically at Mach 40 and hit Ottawa the capital of Canada. Its killer prowess was not in the powerful explosion nor the great structural damage that resulted because these were minimal. It was the gaseous mixture of poisonous chemicals and biological pathogens that came from it which were the most deadly. The fumes were twice denser than air and hence travelled near the ground and saturated in the ventil
ation systems of many houses in the city.

  Once inhaled, the victim would take in programmed HMX12 bacterial spores which Prof. McDonald and his team had engineered from the normal Helicobacter pylori strains. These bacteria had been programmed to produce solutions that stimulate the secretion of gastric juice in the stomach. This would result into increased acid content in the stomach. The acid secretion would continue and in a period of one minute only, the victim would start regurgitating it hence causing a very painful heartburn.

  The more the acid would increase in the stomach, the more the multiplication and action of the bacteria would increase. Five minutes later, the bacteria would start invading the gastric mucosa, resulting into inflammation of the stomach lining. This would be followed by progressive swelling of the stomach, reaching almost twice its normal size in only three minutes. Distention of the stomach would inflict a sharp piercing pain to the victim. He or she would lose strength and would fall to the ground and start rolling over.

  Simultaneously, the inhaled gases would pass quickly to the alveoli of the lungs. After building up a good partial pressure there, they would dissolve into the blood more especially in the pulmonary veins which transport oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left atrium of the heart. The gas would stimulate the action of platelets and the clotting factors in blood. Small clots would start forming and after a short time emboli would form which would obstruct the flow of blood in these great vessels. This could even result into total blockage of these blood vessels after some time.

  The result would be labored breathing and pain during inspiration. At a point of total occlusion of the vein, the victim would start coughing up blood before they would die. The combined effect of the bacteria and the poisonous gas would take less than an hour to cause death to an individual. Each bomb could produce enough fumes to kill over two hundred thousand people. Though the victim would not die in just seconds, the pain they would fill before death was enough to deter other nations from ever thinking of rising against the ghosts.

  The ghosts launched many more missiles which were aimed at almost all major European cities, but none of them reached their destinations. After hitting Ottawa, Gen. Cov’s computer specialists fought hard to gain access to the ghosts’ killer satellites which they used to shoot down all the other ICBMs before they could leave the US skies.

  The hackers also took over the world’s communication system from Lord Ghost’s team and used it to guide their aircraft which had already started entering the US airspace. An intensive dogfight between the aircraft on Lord Ghost’s side and those on the side of the Ghoes ensued immediately. Lord ghost had more aircraft than the Ghoes but many of them had expended most of their ammunition in their fight with the US fighter jets.

  The white striped aircraft were also fighting in groups which increased their chances of destroying the target. Two or three of them would attack a single aircraft at ago. They would then fire their missiles at the target simultaneously. Although the alloy that had been used to build their bodies was strong enough to resist blasting, it could not survive explosions from multiple missiles. Many of them started exploding after being hit and they could be seen descending towards the ground.

  After shooting down a good number of them, some skeleton pilots on Lord Ghost’s side started ejecting their seats in the same way human pilots had done at the start of the aerial combat with US fighter jets. Within only two hours, more than fifty percent of the aircraft on Lord Ghost’s side had been shot down. But even with that success, the remaining aircraft on Lord Ghost’s side were still more than those on the side of the Ghoes. The Ghoes thus decided to descend to the ground to seek man’s help.

  Three white striped aircraft headed straight to Pentagon to conquer it from Lord Ghost such that they could use it to communicate to the world. These aircraft began by shooting all the missile installations the ghosts had erected in the central courtyard before landing there. As soon as the first missile from these aircraft hit one of their structures, Lord Ghost started panicking. Quickly, he rushed to the laboratories on the last basement level of Pentagon . By then, even the scientists had made much progress in their experiments. They had managed to synthesize almost all body organs and tissues. Their next and last experiment was to coordinate these organs into functioning body systems.

  Lord Ghost ordered the scientists to hurriedly perform the next experiment on him. He was badly in need of a new arm and a human body and he could not stand to lose the battle without gaining them. Before climbing to the operation table, he ordered his special bodyguards, the most trained of all the skeleton warriors to move to the central courtyard and arrest or shoot down any ghost that could set foot out of the three white striped aircraft which had landed there.

  These warriors quickly surrounded the whole courtyard and aimed their firearms at the doors of the three aircraft. They were only waiting for an order from their commander to shoot down any skeleton that would come out of the aircraft. But to their surprise, when the doors opened, the skeletons that came out were very different from all the other skeletons. Their skeletons were very white and were putting on shining golden crowns on their skulls. Their appearance was made even more beautiful when the yellow rays of the sun’s light touched their crowns and skeletons.

  These warriors were so much impressed by their angelic appearance that they even feared to shoot a single bullet at them. Surprisingly, their commander raised his weapon high up in the air and shouted, “They are the Ghoes! Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot….!” He later dropped his weapon and ran towards them. He was then followed by many of his juniors. However a few others refused to join them and instead ran back to the level B to report to Lord Ghost what their colleagues had done.

  Upon learning that they were the Ghoes who had attacked him, Lord Ghost was stricken with panic again. ‘’Who has released them?” was all he said as he jumped off the operation table. He quickly ran to one of the lifts which carried him straight to the last floor of the Pentagon building. From there he climbed to the rooftop of Ring E from where he was able to see the Ghoes for himself. He became even more furious after seeing the Ghoes interacting with some of his bodyguards.

  Without saying a word, he raised his arm in his usual style and pointed at the sky. Immediately, the sun became covered by a dark cloud which obstructed the sunlight. There was total darkness allover Arlington which scared both the few human soldiers and the skeletons who were still clashing on the streets. They ran to different areas to hide away from the phenomenon which they could not understand. The darkness had filled every place in Arlington County except in the middle of the Pentagon’s courtyard where the Ghoes were standing. Their skeletons were giving out white light which was covering a small area near them. Also, the yellow light from the crowns on their skulls had formed a beautiful hallo over them which could be seen by anyone who was nearby.

  The Ghoes moved closer to each other and formed a concentric ring, with eight of them on the circumference and the other two in the middle of the ring. When a roaring thunderstorm from the skies started threatening, Gen. Cov, who was one of the two Ghoes that were standing at the center of the ring put off the crown from his skull and threw it at Lord Ghost. Even as it moved in the air, the crown continued emitting its yellow light which made it to look like a moving fireball. Lord Ghost did not see it coming his way because he had concentrated all his attention on the sky. It was not until when it reached near him that he noticed it. He tried to move away from its way but it was too late.

  The golden crown collided with the black crown off his skull and knocked it off. Both crowns fell to the ground, but the black one continued rolling on the floor until when it slid off from the rooftop and fell to the ground. When it touched the ground, it exploded like a bomb and broke into three pieces. Lord Ghost had tried to run after it but when it slid off from the rooftop, he gave up on it and decided to run back into the building. But before he could enter, he was struck by a flash of lightning from the blac
k cloud but his skeleton was never burnt up. Instead, he lost strength and fell down on the floor of the rooftop.

  As soon as Lord Ghost fell down, even the skeletons that had arisen from the graves lost their strength. They dropped all the weapons they were holding and stood still for two minutes. Within those two minutes, the lightning intensified into a strong thunderstorm but there was no property nor life lost despite its strength. When the thunderstorm faded away, windstorms formed throughout the whole country. All towns and cities in USA became wreathed up in strong whirlwinds which lifted up most of the infantry skeletons. The skeletons were blown back into their respective cemeteries. Upon reaching the graves, the whirlwind would drop the skeletons into their former graves before dissipating away. The skeletons that were not lifted up ran after the whirlwinds and also fell back into their former graves.

  At Pentagon, a strong whirlwind enveloped the whole building and pulled out many of the skeletons that were inside it. Many of them were blown back to Arlington cemetery where they had come from. The few that remained were those that had come via the aircraft of the second and third divisions. They were left with no option but to surrender to the Ghoes and started following their orders. Gen. Cov sent a team to the rooftop to bring back his golden crown and to arrest Lord Ghost in time before he could regain his strength.

  Gen. Cov was then taken to Pentagon’s Briefing Room such that he could address the world leaders who were still hiding in their bunkers. With his shining skeleton and bright crown, Gen. Cov appeared on the screens of all their bunkers. His unique appearance attracted all the leaders’ attention. He spoke compassionately and he maintained his composure throughout, which convinced them to trust him.