Heyo guys, I got inspired by Generation Zero and by all of the other stories that have been written about it. So I decided to throw mine in here too. If you are out there and you have an idea for a story, than go ahead and post it on the forums, we need more of them!
Ok, here we go:
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Chapter I
November 10th, 1989 - Cataclysm day…
I stood looking out the bay window. The sounds of music flooded around me. I was leaning against a bookshelf, beer in hand. The time was just after 8 o’clock, I was attending a fall party at my friend Drake’s house. His parents were exceedingly wealthy and had gone to the Caribbean for the weekend, leaving him to watch over things here. The party had been Drake’s idea, the whole class of Salthamn High was here.
Slowly I turned and faced the room again. I noticed my buddy Mark behind the mixing table. Mark was known as the school nerd. In reality, he is a brilliant guy who is into computers and robotics. But right now, he was into Drake’s parents’ collection of records. They had amassed a collection of over five hundred songs. Each of them on a disk.
As I continued my glance around the room I picked out more of my friends. Lauren, reclined on a sofa chatting with her friend Emma who had just moved to Ostertorn from Russia. Paul was in the act of hauling a new keg of beer up from the cellar, and Drake was dancing with his girlfriend Marsha. Right beside them danced Julia and her boyfriend Dave. Julia was the Prom Queen, and I had a major crush on her. As I watched them dancing, she looked up and caught my eye. I quickly looked down at my glass. Had she winked at him?
Suddenly, the track changed to Footloose, and everyone got up to dance. The whole room was alive with excitement. All of a sudden, I found myself dancing next to Julia. She was definitely messing with him. I began to move closer to her, and that was when I heard it.
It was a mournful howling sound. It came from outside, followed by gunfire! The music stopped and everyone ran to the windows to see what was going on. It was dark out, but I could make out shapes running through the streets a few blocks down. Police sirens screamed into the night. I could see the lights of the squad cars illuminating the buildings. Some sort of dog-like creatures stood there firing at the police. Then, a missile struck the house next door.
“Run, get away from the city!” shouted someone. The crowd panicked and rushed for the exits. I was swept along and through the hall and out the door. I finally managed to get away from the crowd, and looked around for a means of escape. I saw my red Ville 440 parked by the sidewalk. Mark and Paul came up beside me.
“Let’s get out of here!”,Paul yelled. “I’ll catch up with you guys, head to our secret cave and I’ll meet you there.”I yelled back.
The cave in question was a place only a few of us knew about, we had found it while hiking one day. We had decided to use it as a hiding place should the Soviets ever invade. Was that what was happening now?
I ran to my car and climbed in as fast as I could. I looked as more of my friends climbed into the other cars and sped off. Amidst all the confusion, I saw Dave and Julia run out of the house.
“Hey, over here!”,I yelled to them.
They sprinted towards me as I started the engine. I looked back at them and froze, a feeling of terror swept over me as I saw what was behind them. A tall two-legged metal monster was chasing them, it had one single red eye on its head, and a large gun on its right arm. A long serrated blade extended from its left arm as it neared them.
“Watch Out!”,I screamed at them.
Julia instinctively ducked to the left and jumped onto the back of the car. Dave was not so lucky. As he ran towards the car, he was impaled from behind. The blade came out his chest as he was lifted off the ground.
“Noooo!”,Julia screamed. She tried to run to him.
“Come on, we have to go”, I shouted as I held her in the car.
I stepped on the pedal and the car shot off. Behind us, the monsters started chasing them. My car easily outran them as I sped towards the cove.
Upon arrival, I jogged over to Mark. He was busy unloading boxes from the back of his pickup.
“What do we have for weapons?”,I asked.
“Just a few shotguns that were in Drake’s trunk.”he answered.
“Did everyone make it?”,Mark inquired.
“No, Dave was killed, I think Julia is taking it pretty hard”,I responded.
I glanced over and saw her being comforted by the other girls.
“Who all made it?”,I asked Mark.
“Drake, Martha, Lauren and her dog, Paul, Emma, me, you, Julia, Bill, and Joseph.” he answered. “I figure that the eleven of us can survive here for about two days, then we’ll have to make a supply run.”,Mark stated.
“I don’t think it is a great idea to stay in one place for too long, we don’t know how smart these things are yet.”,I responded. “Any idea what they are?”,I asked.
“They look like robots to me”,came the response as Mark walked back toward the group.
Drake motioned to Dustin to come over.
“I think we should choose a leader”, he explained.
“I agree”,said Lauren.
“I nominate Drake”,I said.
Everyone else murmured their agreement.
“Well, I am honored”,said Drake at last.
I could tell that he had not expected my support as he beamed his thanks. I gave him a nod of approval.
“Ok, I heard the emergency broadcast telling everyone to go to the closest shelter for safety while I was driving, so there is a chance that some of our families might have survived.”,Drake reported.
“I say we head back tomorrow morning to check for survivors, or who knows, it might be over by then,”said Mark.
“Yeah, let’s do that”,chimed in Emma.
We hid there overnight.
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For this story, I decided to go with a decent sized group, since most of the other stories are centered around 1 character and 1 to 3 more. Just to clarify, the main character is named Dustin. The story is centered around him and this group of teens.
Hope you enjoy!
ProCaptainAJ
Chapter II
The next morning, I awoke with the sun blasting me in the face. The gunshots had stopped, and an eerie silence had fallen over Ostertorn. I had a quick breakfast of jerky before we climbed in the vehicles. I thought about my parents, I hoped they were all right. And my little brother Keith, he was nine years old. He had to be scared out of his mind right now. I just couldn’t wait to get to the shelter.
We distributed the shotguns to the best marksmen and headed down the road to Salthamn. Upon reaching the outskirts, I immediately noticed an overturned police car with corpses lying around it. I stopped my car and climbed out to inspect the scene. The first officer was young, probably in his twenties. I picked up a Moller PP handgun from his hand. I handed it to Lauren who was standing beside me.
As we continued into Salthamn, I began to get an uneasy feeling. Like I was being watched. We found a wreck of one of the “machines”. It was bright orange and had four legs. It’s only eye was still shining bright red.
“Holy shit!”,I heard Paul exclaim.
I followed his gaze and there in the middle of the road was a Swedish Main Battle Tank, and it was blown apart. It was still smoking and there were several dead soldiers and machines strewn around it. I walked up to one of the soldiers and grabbed his AG 4 from beside him. As I searched him, I realized that he had no head. Bugs were all over his neck. A sudden feeling of nausea came over me and I went behind the tank and vomited. When I returned, nearly everyone in the group had a weapon and we were ready to move on.
As we headed towards the bunker, I heard loud mechanical footsteps. One of the doglike machines rounded the corner in front of us and let out an error noise when it saw us. It’s eye changed from white to red and it charged towards us. Everyone opened fire and in less than a second, it was a heap of twisted metal. More footsteps signaled the approach of more machines. They had heard!
I sprinted after the others as we ran towards the bunker. Bullets pinged off the road around us as we ran. We reached the door.
“Fuck! Its jammed”, Mark shouted.
“Then hurry up and unjam it!”,Drake yelled back.
I brought up my AG 4 and aimed it at one of the machines. I squeezed the trigger and was rewarded with a bright green fireball. I wonder what I hit.
“Aim for the gas tank on their back”,Paul yelled.
That must be it.
“Got it”,Mark yelled
He pried the door open and everyone scrambled inside. It was pitch black inside. Drake flicked on his flashlight and led the way into the blackness. Ahead, a red light appeared. A light whirring sound like that of a fan came on. Drake aimed his flashlight at it. It looked like some sort of metallic crab. It hissed and jumped right at me.
Lauren screamed.
I dodged and fired at it with my AG 4. It sparked and stopped moving.
We continued further down the hall. We rounded the corner and came to another door. Mark opened while the rest of us aimed at it. We rushed inside beaming the flashlight around the room. I touched something uneven with my foot, and I looked down. It was a hand, and that hand was attached to a corpse.
“Guys, don’t look down”,I warned.
Gasps of shock followed as everyone looked down. The room was filled with corpses. I quickly walked through another doorway and found my way to the generator room. I pressed the largest button and all the power came back on. I rejoined the others.
I scanned the room and immediately regretted doing so. Slumped up against a chair was my fathers body. My mother lay beside him. With teary eyes I walked over to him. I knelt down beside him and grabbed his cold hand. A feeling of grief came over me and I began to cry. Around me, the others were doing the same. The bunker had been a death trap for those who had fled here. Each of us had lost someone.
I put my grief aside and began to gather the food that was here. My task took me into an adjacent bedroom. As I searched through suitcases, I heard a whimper. I spun around and saw my little brother Keith hiding under one of the bunks. I knelt down.
“Hey, c’mere Keith.”,I said gently.
Keith crawled out and ran over to me. I embraced him in a big hug. He squeezed me tightly as if he thought I might suddenly vanish.
I heard my father’s voice,”If anything ever happens to me, you take care of your brother. Keep him safe.” “I will, I promise”,I had said.
Keith cried. I cried too. I lifted him up with one arm and my gun with the other. I carried him out to the others.
“Guys, look who I found!”,I almost cried.
Keith was welcomed warmly despite the sad situation we were in.
“Guess this bunker worked after all”,Julia said.
“Leave it to the FOA to design a bunker that protects 1 out of a hundred people.”,Drake snorted.
Everyone chuckled. FOA. There was something about that name that sounded familiar. Dustin thought for a moment. That’s it! Uncle Ben had worked for the FOA.
“Hey Guys, my uncle Ben used to work for the FOA. Apparently he quit because he didn’t like the leadership, but he was pretty high up when he quit.”,I announced.
“Nice, do you think he survived?”,asked Emma.
“I don’t see why not, he lives in seclusion somewhere. The only problem is, I don’t remember where.”,I answered.
“Your parents must have written it down somewhere, we should check your house.”,Joseph suggested.
There was a unanimous agreement. We gathered up the supplies and headed back to the entrance. Paul quietly opened the door. I took point and crept forward quietly. It was getting late in the afternoon. I led the way down the street towards my house. I could see a pack of the dog robots in front of the house.
I raised three fingers and aimed my rifle.
I raised two.
One.
We opened fire at them and made quick work of them. I sprinted towards the door and I held it open for the others. Once everyone was inside, I began to search for my parents address book.
“Found it!”,I heard Julia shout.
I came running to her. She was standing in front of a huge bookshelf in the living room.
“It says he lives on an island north of Klinte.”,she read aloud.
“Great”,muttered Mark.
“It could be the best chance we’ve got. An island that small would be easy to defend. Plus, I haven’t seen any type of boat-bot yet.”,I explained.
“I agree, it sounds like an easily defendable location.”,stated Drake. “And as the leader, I have decided that is probably our best chance for survival. There is enough room here, so we’ll stay the night at Dustin’s house and start off in the morning.”
I headed upstairs to my old room, and went to sleep.
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Chapter III
Early the next morning, I awoke with Drake shaking me awake.
“Come on buddy, I need you”,he whispered.
I unwillingly dragged myself out of my bed and down the hall after him. He led me to the living room and sat down. I flopped down on a couch opposite him.
“I never got a chance to thank you for supporting me in the cove”,he began.
“Don’t mention it”,I responded.
“Well thanks”,he said.”Anyway, I’ve been up since six collecting family heirlooms and possessions from the houses with Paul and Marsha. Paul wanted his katana. Even though he never finished his samurai training, he thinks he can still do some good with it.”,Drake stated.
“I don’t doubt his abilities”,I answered sleepily. “On a side note, I was thinking of calling the dog-robots ‘Runners’. What do you think?”,I asked.
“I like the idea of giving them nicknames, it would help with the spread of information during combat,’'he answered.
“We better wake the others”,Drake said as he rose from his seat.
“Fine”, I said,”I’ll be along once I’ve had some coffee.”
“Alright”,Drake responded as he walked up stairs.
I strolled into the kitchen to make some coffee. By the time I had finished, everyone else had come downstairs. I drank it as I went to my room. Once there, I grabbed my gear and reloaded my spare AG 4 mags. Next, I walked into my parents’ old room. I approached the nightstand, and opened the top drawer. Inside was a box. My father had always told me that this box would eventually pass to me. I took it out and opened it. Inside was a gold ring. It was large and heavy. Set in the center of the ring was a large square amethyst. I took it out and put it on. It was mine now. No use leaving it here.
I returned downstairs to the others.
“Everyone ready?”,asked Drake.
“Yep”,I answered.
The others also added their consent. We headed outside and quickly loaded the vehicles with all our supplies. Minutes later, our little convoy rolled out towards Klinte.
It felt good to be driving again. The wind blew through my hair as I sped down the road. I looked up at the sky and saw the only thing that could dampen my spirits.
Rain Clouds.
Fortunately, my car was a convertible. Keith was able to put up the top while I drove. I had forgotten how useful he could be. Within ten minutes, it was pouring. We continued on our route despite the rain.
Half an hour later, large puddles had formed on the road. Thunder boomed overhead. Everything seemed peaceful. The thunder made it impossible to avoid what happened next.
We drove past a farm. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a stream of bright orange objects heading right towards us. They were missiles. I slammed on my brakes. Seconds later, they hit the leading car. Drake’s car. It exploded in a massive fireball.
“ Drake, noooo”, I yelled.
The entire convoy came to a stop. I looked in the direction that the missiles had come from. What I saw next made me freeze in my seat. A giant machine was sprinting toward us. It had two legs attached to a giant armored head that hung between them. Below the head were two weapons. A machine gun and a large missile pod. The huge tank of a machine was actually able to move quite fast for it’s size.
I glanced back at the others and noticed that they were running towards the farm. I quickly got out and followed, pulling Keith behind me. I heard the giant machine lumbering after me. Suddenly, bullets whizzed around me. I ducked as I ran. I made it to the farm and sprinted inside the barn. Mark slammed the door behind me. Seconds later, another missile barrage hit the side of the barn. I shoved Keith inside a haystack and climbed to the loft. I took up position in front of a window and peered out. The “tank” was standing in the midst of the convoy. It seemed to be searching for us. Its eye had changed to yellow.
“Fuck you, you metallic bitch!,” I yelled as I opened fire at it.
I aimed for the large joint on the top of it’s head. After a dozen shots, it began to spark. By now it’s eye had changed back to red and it started walking toward the barn. My stomach lurched as I saw what lay in its path.
My car.
“No, no, no, no, no”, I shouted.
But it was too late. It’s large foot came down right on top of my red Ville 440. It completely smashed it. I felt another surge of rage and I raised my rifle to fire. Around me, the others were already firing. Mark threw a grenade. It rolled right in front of the tank. It stepped on it. A few seconds later, the grenade exploded, causing the tank to stagger. I fired again at the joint on it’s head. Under our concentrated fire, the tank began to smoke. I could tell that the joint had had enough, I concentrated my fire on one of it’s knees. Moments later, it let out a roar before it exploded and fell over. Right on top of the other two vehicles.
“Oh come on!”,Paul shouted.
Then I remembered… Drake. I rushed outside to see if he was alive. As I reached the first car, I looked through the window. Drake’s lifeless eyes looked back at me. Marsha lay crumpled in front of the car. I knelt down beside her. Her hair was already matted with blood.
“Drake, Marsha?”,Mark asked.
“Both dead”,I answered.
“We can’t leave them here”, Emma declared.
“Yes, we’ll have to bury them.”, I agreed.
I lifted Drake’s body out of the wreckage of his car and carried it over to the farm. Paul carried Marsha. There we buried them in the same grave, with one large stone set over them. On the stone I carved:
Drake and Marsha
1971-1989
Lovers
The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away.
Rest in Peace
Mark prayed to close the ceremony, and we all got up and left them to lie in peace. A sudden fit of rage came over me and I began punching the tank. All it did was hurt my fist. Then, I noticed a small object fall off its head. I walked over to it and picked it up. It was square, and had a red lens. I looked through it. Everything looked blue. I looked at my friends, they were bright red! It was some kind of Thermal scope. So that is how the tank saw us. Our vehicles must have stood out like paint on a white board.
“Hey guys, it looks like the tank used IR Vision to locate us. Even if we had another vehicle, I don’t feel safe using it now.”,I explained.
“Shit man, who knows how many of those things have IR vision, plus, is that the only type of vision module? There could be lots of different ones.”,Paul complained.
“I agree, we don’t have the firepower to defend ourselves on the road if we use vehicles. One tank we can kill, but there are definitely more where it came from. What if we run into a pack of them? We can’t afford to have any more accidents like this,” Mark argued.
“Well, we still have a few hours left, so we might as well continue on.”, I said.
“Wait, who is gonna lead us now?”,asked Lauren.
“I think Dustin is more than capable of filling Drake’s position,’’ Mark answered.
Everyone else nodded their approval.
“Uh thanks”,I stammered. “I’ll do my best, but I can never replace Drake.”
“You’ll do fine,” Julia stated as she stepped up beside me.
“Ok then, let’s get this show on the road.”,I commanded.
We salvaged what we could from the vehicles but most of the food had been lost in the fire. Then, we marched out, following the road west. The rain had stopped and the ground was sloppy. We reached the safety of Angeras Church just as night fell. Mark and Joseph worked together to secure the exits, while I climbed to the top of the belltower to stand guard overnight. I asked Emma to make sure Keith got some sleep. It was an easy task however, as he was exhausted from walking.
After everyone was asleep downstairs, I quietly searched the tower. There was a sleeping bag conveniently left here along with a few ammo boxes and chairs. Most contained 7.62 FMJ ammo, but inside the last one I found a little 1x4 rifle scope hidden under the bullets. I pulled out my AG 4. I slid the scope onto the top rail and tightened it on.
Then I had an idea. I opened my backpack and pulled out the IR module I found earlier. After ten minutes or so, I was able to attach it to my scope. I shouldered my rifle and scanned the surrounding terrain.
From the tower, I observed many lights moving in the field next to us. As I increased the zoom level, they became clearer. A few were runners, but most were those large machines like the one that killed Dave. I could hear footsteps. Just like the ones that the tank had made, only quieter, farther away. I activated the IR module. It felt like I was trying to see underwater. But sure enough, there were three tanks lumbering through the woods on the other side of the field. I relaxed, their eyes were white.
I heard the stairs creak. All of my muscles tensed. I looked over and saw Julia.
“Hey.”,she started.
“Hi ”,I responded.
“ I just thought you might be getting lonely up here.”,she explained.
“How are you? You seemed to be taking Dave’s death pretty hard.”,I said.
“Um, I was just upset about my parents death. Dave hardly meant anything to me. I mean, he was a part of my life, but he was never that important. He never impressed me and was too submissive.”,she informed me.
“Oh, I always thought you two were in love.”,I told her.
“He was, I wasn’t.”,she answered. “I was always interested in someone else.”
“You look beautiful”,I said without thinking.
“Thanks”,she blushed.
“I miss my parents too”,I admitted. “ Keith is all I have left for family. He means the world to me, I promised my dad I would protect him.”
“Yeah, he really is a handful.”,she agreed. “You’re not really listening to me are you?”
“I was kinda running through in my mind how you would react to me asking you for a kiss.”,I explained.
“As long as you give it back”,she answered.
She leaned forward and kissed me. I kissed her back. She put her hand on my cheek. I wrapped my arms around her. She knelt in front of me and we kissed again. All of a sudden, she started sobbing.
“Shhh, let it out,’’ I said soothingly.
I hugged her tightly. She continued crying. I stroked her hair. Eventually, she fell asleep. I laid her in the sleeping bag next to me and tucked her in.
“Good night Julia,” I said.
While she slept I continued my vigil.
The next morning, we ate slowly before trekking out to continue our journey. Grief still clung to us. We followed the road closely, but we did not travel on the road itself. Instead, we walked several meters to the side of it. Occasionally, I would scan ahead using my IR scope.
About three hours later we passed under a train bridge leading into the mountain. Just then, my IR scope saw heat signatures ahead.
“We got trouble ahead”,I warned.
“Great”,Mark muttered.
I turned the module off and looked again. There were about a dozen runners and some of the large robots that killed Dave. However, these robots seemed different than the rest. They were green and had armor plates covering some of their parts. The runners had a large plate in front of their gas tank. They seemed to be guarding some kind of beacon. It was tall with a small dish on top that had a yellow blinking light.
“I think we can sneak around them”,I announced.
We left the road and crept up the hill to the right of the road. I kept my eye on the machines below. Then, I heard a whistling sound, like a jet turbine. A very small one, it was quiet but it was approaching.
“Get down!”I whispered.
Everyone hid behind some sort of cover. From my hiding spot inside a big fern, I could see something coming towards us. It was hovering and moving moderately slow. It was round with a head that jutted out the front and two jets attached to its sides. I could not make out any weapons on it but it had a loudspeaker on its head.
It stopped right above me! I saw Paul coming up behind it. Suddenly it’s eye changed to yellow and it swung around. It saw Paul and blared its horn. The sound was deafening. I heard Paul shout as he charged in with his sword. With one swipe, he downed the machine. I sprang to my feet and looked at the fallen enemy. Paul had sliced it clean in two. It was like it had been looking for us. Like a Seeker, yes, the name fit.
Suddenly, I heard a howl from the valley below. I knew that howl. I had heard it before on the night of the attack. I looked and sure enough, all of the machines were running up the hill at us. There was no time to run, they were too close.
“Get ready!”,I shouted.
Everyone got behind a rock on the far side of the clearing and aimed at the edge of the clearing that the enemies were approaching from. The first machine came into view and everyone opened fire! The runner was reduced to a pile of metal in a few seconds. Then the other machines soon followed it. They came charging across the clearing at us. Before I could stop him, Paul yelled his war cry and sprinted at them with his katana. One of the larger machines faced him. It’s blade extended from its arm and it waited for him to attack.
Meanwhile, I put my sights on the nearest machine and fired. It was one of the large ones. The bullets glanced off it. I noticed two vents on either side of it’s head. They looked like cooling vents. I aimed at one of them and squeezed the trigger. I was rewarded with a burst of sparks. I tried the other one and the machine exploded. I fired at a runner’s gas tank. The explosion managed to hit another runner, killing them both.
I began to aim at the next machine but heard something behind me.
Metal footsteps.
I spun around and was kicked in the chest by a runner. I flew back across the clearing and smashed against a rock. Oww. I thought. I didn’t know they could do that. I had lost my rifle. I tried to get up but a sharp pain in my lower back prevented me from doing so.
In the center of the clearing, Paul stabbed at the machine. It dodged and swung it’s blade at his neck. He managed to duck and countered with an upward slash to the machine’s head. Beheaded, the machine fell over lifeless. The battle was over.
Julia ran over to me.
“You okay?”,she asked.
“I don’t know, something in my back really hurts.”,I responded.
“Lemme take a look at it.”,Emma ordered as she sprinted over.
She knelt down beside me and ran her hands up and down my spine.
“Looks like a bone is out of place, I’ll have to reset it.”,she informed me.
She placed her hands on me again and gave a tug. It hurt. She tugged again and I heard a pop.
“There, you should be able to walk now.”,she stated.
“Thanks”,I said as I got up.”We should get away from here”
We moved quickly away from the battle site. I pondered the way the machines had easily found us. Especially the bigger ones. It was like they were expert Hunters, specially programmed to find and destroy humans. Hunters, I liked the sound of that.
We reached Klinte within the next hour. More of the armored variants of the machines prowled the darkened streets. We crept silently toward the port on the other side of town. I led the way through an alley behind a candy store. As I neared the other side, I heard many footsteps. We stopped and waited. Soon after, a runner patrol trekked past. I let them pass, no need for any more battles. Not when we were this close to our destination. As soon as they were clear, we sprinted across the road.
I sighted the dock up ahead. There was a large pontoon boat docked there. It looked ready to sail. We approached and boarded the boat. I sat down in the pilot seat. The gas meter read full. I started the engine. It was oddly quiet for a pontoon. I steered us out into the ocean and we departed Ostertorn.
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Chapter IV
As we neared the island, I pulled the boat up alongside an old dock. We disembarked and began to head inland in search of Ben. Not long after we started walking, I sighted a light ahead. As I drew nearer, I could see that it was a house. It was a rather large house for such a small island. I walked up and knocked on the door.
No answer.
I knocked again and the door was ripped open. There stood Ben with his 12 Gauge aimed right at my face.
“Hi Uncle Ben,” I greeted.
“Dustin?,” he said questioningly. “Man you’ve grown”
I embraced Uncle Ben.
“So, I suppose that you and your friends want to use my cabin for the weekend?,” he assumed.
“Wait, you haven’t heard?,” I asked, shocked.
“Heard what?,” he answered confused.
“Ostertorn has been invaded by machines!,” Mark exclaimed behind me.
“Oh God,” he said.
“Most of the inhabitants are dead,” I informed.
“What about your parents?,” he inquired.
“Dead,” I answered. “I thought we’d be safest here”
“Well, I think you made the right choice,” he said. “I have plenty of room, come on inside and tell me about everything”
We followed him inside to his living room. I sat down in a chair opposite him.
“Well, where should I begin?,’ I asked.
“First get Keith to bed and then we’ll talk,” he answered.
I took Keith upstairs and tucked him in.
“Can’t I stay up with you guys?,” he pleaded.
“No,” I said. “You need your rest more than any of us.”
I descended the stairs to the others.
“There’s beer in the fridge behind the bar, help yourself,” Ben offered.
Everyone ran to get one. I retrieved one and sat back down in the chair.
“Now, we first saw the machines while we were partying at my friend Drake’s house,” I resumed.
I proceed to give a complete account of our adventures, minus the part about me and Julia. He listened very intently. He was also very interested in the descriptions of the machines. I finished the story and he sat there staring into the fireplace thinking.
After a while he spoke “Some of the machines match the blueprints that I saw while working with the FOA. I wasn’t supposed to see them, but I had my ways. It seems that the Swedish government can no longer control them. My guess is that they will try to tighten their grip on Ostertorn before they expand. I don’t have enough food here for all of us to survive here. Our best bet is to head north and hope the Ostertorn bridge is still open to us.”
Why can’t we just take the pontoon?,” I inquired.
“There is one machine that I saw on the blueprints that you have not encountered yet. It had large missile pods allowing it to fire at airbourne, ground, and sea targets. It is too dangerous for us to try and go by boat.” he answered.
“Oh, I understand,” I agreed.
“You should rest up here, we can leave in a few days,” he suggested.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Go on then, get some rest,” he encouraged.
We rose from our seats and trudged upstairs.
Three days later, we departed Ben’s island. We reached the shores of Ostertorn. The boat slid silently up on the sand. Everyone jumped off. We began to trek north. Suddenly, Ben stopped.
“What’s wrong?,”I asked.
“Change of plan,” he informed me. “Can we really take the chance that these machines could be really intelligent? If we thought to try and escape over the bridge, then someone else has definitely thought of that too.”
“Oh shit, you’re right,” I realized.
“Come on, there is a military base not far from here that we can go to to stock up on supplies.,” he suggested.
Ben led the way down the shoreline to the edge of the woods. We crossed a road leading to Klinte and climbed the slope on the other side. The sun was beginning to appear over the horizon. The grass gleamed with this morning’s dew. Then, I noticed a familiar spot. We were in the clearing where we had first encountered the Seeker. The place had already been cleaned up, the only traces of the battle that remained were our discarded ammo shells.
“We’re close,” Ben informed.
I walked close to Ben for the rest of the journey. Not long afterwards, he stopped and crouched. Up ahead was a train track.
“This rail leads into Muskuddon Port Complex.,” Ben whispered.
We followed him down the tracks. Soon, we came to a bridge leading over the road and into the mountain.
“We’re here,” Ben said as he started across the bridge.
I followed closely. The tracks led deep into the mountain. It was very dark inside. I flicked on Drake’s flashlight and led the way. Ben walked beside me, directing me. We followed the tracks down into the depths. Finally, I saw light ahead. It was a lit storage area by the port. I turned off my light and walked forward into the room. There were many red shipping containers piled all over the place.
“Well, we’re here,” Ben said. “From what I remember, there should be multiple armories dotted around the right side.”
I walked over and opened one of the containers.
“Holy Shit!,” I exclaimed.
Everyone rushed over. Inside the container were four runners! I opened the one beside it. This one also contained four runners!
“They all contain machines,” came an unfamiliar voice behind me.
I spun around and saw an army officer standing there.
“I am Colonel Michael Kristiansen. Swedish Armed Forces.,” he introduced himself. “ And you are?”
“I am Dustin, and this is our group of survivors, we’ve been on the run since the beginning.,” I responded.
“So have we,” he admitted. “ We only arrived here yesterday.”
“Why are all these crates filled with the machines?,” Ben asked.
“We don’t know,” he answered. “The computer in the harbormaster’s office didn’t know either.”
“How many of you are there,” I inquired.
“Five, including me,” he answered.
“You are free to stay here as long as you like,” he invited.
“Thanks, I think we will,” I responded.
“Then let’s get you situated.,” he said as he turned and led the way into the bunker. Then in a louder voice,” Hey Boys, come and meet our new guests”, he called.
The door in front of us opened and four men strolled out.
“This is Karl, Andrew, Thomas ,and Hans,” Michael introduced them.
“I am Dustin, and this is my Uncle Ben, my younger brother Keith, Lauren, Emma, Bill, Paul, Mark, Joseph, Julia, and Floss,” I said as I went down the line.
After a brief period of greetings and shaking hands, we were led inside. I followed Michael to a general living area where we sat.
“So,” he began. “Tell me about your side of this story.”
I recounted our adventures ( leaving out a few details ).
“Ok, your turn,” I said when I had finished.
“On the night of the attack, I was on duty in Ostervik. I was in charge of the garrison there. Everything was going fine until all of a sudden, we started getting reports of problems. Too many to handle. Civil Defense Workers were calling confirming the reports. The command center plunged into chaos.
Then, we were engaged. The rocket came out of nowhere and blew away part of the building. As I looked out through the hole, I could see about three or four of the Tank machines advancing up the street right towards us. I ordered the deployment of our Main Battle Tanks to stop them. They were useless. I realized that if we didn’t flee we would all be killed. But, it was our duty to defend the civilians.
I ordered everyone to grab a weapon and join the fight while the civilians were evacuated. The machines easily overwhelmed us and I was knocked unconscious.
I woke up a few hours later, it was probably around midnight. I remember picking up my Klaucke and looking for survivors. It turns out that survivors found me. Karl, Thomas, and Andrew spotted me making my way down the street. They called me over and we decided to get as far from the city as we could. First, we headed back to the command center to salvage any weapons or equipment we could find. As we were leaving, the radio picked up a signal. It was Hans in his Vraken. He was going down somewhere over the Farmlands. Karl spotted his plane on approach and we started the trek to him.
When we arrived, he was not in the wreckage. We eventually located him, he had been taken prisoner by a gang of humans! They called themselves the Syndicate and were dedicated to being the only group of humans on Ostertorn. We were able to rescue Hans from them and we fled as fast as we could. We got here yesterday and set up base, ‘’ he explained.
“Woah, have you seen this group since?,” I asked.
“No,” he answered. “ We assumed that they had given up on us.”
“That’s good,” I said, relieved.
“I’m surprised that we didn’t run into them,” I said.
“They mostly stay in Ostra Mark Farm,” Michael stated.
Michael turned to Ben,”Do you have any idea what we are fighting?”
“These machines were created for the defense of Sweden by the FOA. They must have turned on their creators.The orange versions seem to be Prototypes but the green armored variants must be Military units. But there is something else. During my time with the FOA, I heard about a top secret project. More top secret than the development of the machines. It was codenamed FNIX. I never found out what it was,” Ben answered.
“Well, I guess it’s time I gave you the bad news.,” Michael started. “When we arrived here, we only planned this to be a short stop to resupply, not a base. The truth is that we do not have the numbers to hold this base against the Syndicate or the machines. If this place gets attacked we will not hold it.”
“Shit,” I exclaimed. “What a great way to ruin the mood”
“Would you rather that I hadn’t told you?,” he inquired.
“No, I guess its better that we know,” Ben replied.
“We should probably move on then. Let’s get as far away from the Syndicate as we can,” I advised.
“The island of Himfjall is just off the coast. Its too far to swim but maybe we could take a boat. The island is pretty large too, so we could probably find a pretty good spot to hide,” Michael informed.
“Ok, let’s tell the others, they won’t be too happy to hear this,” Ben decided.
He was right, the others were not happy to hear that we had to leave the safest place we had been too yet. But nevertheless, we packed up and got ready to hit the road again.
The next morning, we headed out towards Ostervik in hopes of finding a boat. The sun was already shining brightly as we trekked down the road. We stuck to the brush on the sides of the road when we could. I scouted ahead of the main group using my IR scope. I was several yards ahead at all times, watching for danger. The trees eventually fell away and we were left with farmlands. I could make out several runners patrolling in the field next to us. But they did not see us so I left them alone.
About three hours later, I came to the spot where Drake and Marsha had died. I stopped to pay my respects to them.
Later, I reached the outskirts of Ostervik. I stopped and waited for the others to catch up. We then proceed into the town.
“The Swedish military had a stealth boat that it kept in a guarded storage building at the port,” Michael informed. “ It could easily seat all of us plus more.”
“Woah, sweet!,” Paul agreed.
“It should still be there,” Michael stated.
We crept down to the docks and located the building. It was locked, but Michael just happened to have a key. I guess that’s one of the privileges of being commander of a garrison. He opened the door. Inside was the boat. It was jet black with a few red stripes. It also had a few large guns like the type you would find on a destroyer. A depth charge rack hung off the back. We boarded the beauty and stored all our gear. I joined Michael in the command center.
“The comms are still jammed,”he told me. “And it isn’t safe to try to make it to the mainland”
“Why not?,” I asked.
“Somehow the machines have activated the layer of mines that runs around Ostertorn. We wouldn’t make it half a mile before one of them got us,” he replied.
“Damn,” I responded. “Well, I guess we might as well head out then”
Michael fired up the boat. I looked at the weapons systems. It had four torpedo tubes, two 130mm guns, depth charges, and sea to air or ground rockets.
“Shit, this sucker has a bit of a sting on her,” I exclaimed.
“Yeah, she can hold her own against a destroyer, she’s twice as fast too,” Michael chuckled.
“Does it have a name,” Lauren asked.
“Not yet, but I’m sure that you can come up with something,” Thomas answered.
“How about the Stingrocka ,”she suggested.
( Stingray )
“That sounds perfect, just like you,” Thomas agreed.
Lauren blushed.
“Well, I was looking at you when I thought of it,” she countered.
Now it was Thomas’ turn to blush.
“Ok,” Michael broke in. “ Let’s get this show on the road.”
Michael gunned the engine. I could barely hear it. We cruised out of the harbor and out onto the ocean.
“She can go about half speed and still maintain our silence but at full throttle she goes fast but stealth goes down the drain,” he boasted.
“Oh sweet!,” I yelled.
We cruised up along the coast of Ostertorn and headed for the south side of Himfjall. The town on Tarnboda Skans was our destination. We quickly reached it, and pulled up in the harbor. To our dismay, Himfjall had also been attacked. ‘At least it would be safer than Ostertorn I thought to myself.’ We stashed our gear in a lighthouse and stayed there for the night.
The next morning, I climbed to the top of the lighthouse to get a better view of the area. I could see lots of houses and cars. Then, I saw the one thing I did not want to see. A runner. But not just any runner. This one looked like the military variants but it had a green cloud around it. Emitters on its back seemed to be the source of the cloud. I wasn’t sure what the cloud was, but it couldn’t be good. I informed Mark of my find. He followed me to the deck to take a look at it.
“It is definitely a new class of machine,” he agreed. “We should be careful.”
Something on my left caught my eye. I pulled out my rifle and looked. My stomach turned sour. There was another boat coming across to Himfjall. I didn’t need to be told who was in the boat. I already knew. The Syndicate was here to kill us. I rushed downstairs to Michael.
“The Syndicate is coming across in a boat!,” I exclaimed.
“What?,” Michael yelled in disbelief.
He ran upstairs to see. Sure enough, the Syndicate was almost to the shore.
“Get ready to move out,” Michael ordered.
“Shouldn’t we wait here and try to fight them?,” I asked. “Or we could try to boat out of here.”
“They obviously know we’re here, they may not know where on the island we are hiding, but they have followed us,” Ben answered. “It is too dangerous to leave in the boat. They will see it and just follow us to the next spot. We have to try to fool them into thinking that we are somewhere else.”
“Why are we hiding? We should just fight them now. If not, then we will never be rid of them, they will just keep hunting us until they kill us. But right now we have the advantage, they landed on the other side of the island, they don’t know where we are. We can ambush them and eliminate them once and for all,” I declared.
“Well said,” agreed Paul. “I’m with Dustin”
“Me too,” agreed Julia.
Slowly, everyone else stood up.
“Well, what’s the plan Michael? You know the most about military tactics.,” I asked.
“We want to flank them or possibly catch them between two groups,” he began. “The element of surprise is our greatest weapon here. They will likely be spread out to cover more ground, so the more we can drop in the first stages of the attack, the better. Unfortunately, if they are spread out, that decreases our chances of trapping them. But it means that we can drop more of them without them noticing.”
“I guess we can’t form any type of plan until we see them,” admitted Mark. “We can still set up some positions that can be used in either scenario though.”
“Great idea,” Karl complemented.
For the few hours that remained, we went over our plan again and again. Till it seemed foolproof.
Then, I wearily hit the sack.
In the middle of the night, Bill crept out of his sleeping bag. He silently moved across to the door. He went out. He was tired of this lifestyle. Everyone was nice to him, but no one gave him the respect he deserved. Or the woman he deserved. When he thought of Julia his steps quickened towards the west side of the island. He wanted her. However, she was not even the slightest bit interested in him. She was falling after Dustin. You could see it in the way they looked at each other. He hated Dustin. He always had, from the first moment he had set eyes on him he had hated him. Because he was happy, intelligent, and a leader. I was none of those things. In reality she would never like me, but like this, this could work. I can have her and be respected. I could be important.
“Freeze,” came a voice ahead of me.
“Take me to your leader, I have information for him,” I demanded.
A man stepped out from behind a tree.
“Follow me,” he ordered.
I eagerly followed him down the hill into a camp. I could see about ten figures at least. Their boat was pulled up on the sand beside me. I was led into the center of the camp. One of the men stepped forward. He was strongly build, he had jet black hair and along ugly scar running down his face just barely missing his eye.
The man addressed the guard who I was following,”What have you brought me?”
“He said he has information for you,” the guard answered.
“Well?,” he asked me.
“I want to make a deal with you,” I began. “I have information for you on the strength of the group you are hunting. I know their defenses and where you can sneak through. In return, I want an honored place among you along with the woman from their group known as Julia.”
“I accept your deal,” he quickly answered. “My name is Lars, leader of the Syndicate.”
“I am Bill,” I said.
“Now, tell me everything you know about their group,” Lars instructed.
Then, I spilled my guts and told him everything. After that, we made our own battle plan. By the time I left, I felt very confident in myself. As I walked back, I could only think about me and Julia.
“What was that all about,”asked someone behind me.
I spun around. Andrew was standing there looking furious.
“I, I, I can explain,” I stammered.
“Are you really going to betray us to them,” Andrew challenged.
“Come with me,” I urged.
Desperately I thought of any way to escape. In the hand behind my back, I held my Moller PP. It was loaded and suppressed. I readied my hand.
“Come on, you can still set yourself back on the right path.,” Andrew reasoned.
He stepped closer. I swung the gun up in front of me, and pulled the trigger. I saw the grimace of pain shoot across Andrew’s face before he crumpled to the ground. I felt stronger. I felt like I could go toe to toe with Dustin! Happily, I jogged back to the lighthouse.
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Chapter V
The moon was setting behind the mountains as Bill snuck back inside the lighthouse. He curled up in his sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning was very busy. Everyone knew what their position was. Within fifteen minutes, everyone was in their designated location. Dustin took his rifle up to the lighthouse to keep watch. Michael, Julia, Emma, and Hans were downstairs loading dozens of magazines for the fight ahead.
I looked down at the town. The machines in the town had moved off for now and it was just us. Karl was concealed in a house covering the road with his Kvm 89. Mark lay on the roof of one of the other houses. Like me, he was providing overwatch. Everyone else was scattered around the town in hard to hit locations.
It was then that I picked up movement. Through my IR scope I could see about four humans making their way towards the village. I heard someone behind me.
“We’ve got trouble,” I informed.
“I know,” Michael said behind me. “Andrew is missing, I haven’t seen him since last night.”
“Oh no,” I said. “We’ll have to look for him once we’re done. Alert the others.”
“This is a small part of their group, last time I ran into them they had at least fifteen,” Michael warned.
“Ok, tell the others to keep a look out for the rest of their group as well,” I ordered.
“Alright,” came his reply as he walked down the stairs.
A few minutes later, I saw Mark give me a fist. That was the signal to prepare to engage. I aimed my rifle at the head of the first one. Mark opened his hand. I fired and my target took all four rounds to the head. The others were quickly dispatched by Mark and Karl. Then, I saw another group heading for the town. They were sprinting from building to building in an effort to avoid our gaze. I began to lay down covering fire on their position. Karl moved into the building across from them and opened fire at them from the side.
I heard someone up on the balcony behind me.
“Get back in the lighthouse,” I said. “Don’t give away my position.”
“Too late,” came the sneering reply.
I froze, I didn’t recognize that voice. I instinctively rolled to the side and lept to my feet. In front of me there stood a man with a long scar running down his face. I was grabbed from behind and thrown down the stairs. I landed in front of Bill.
“Dustin!,” I heard Julia scream.
I looked around the room. Michael, Julia, Emma, and Hans were bound up with rope. Bill wasn’t. Suddenly it dawned on me, Bill had betrayed us.
“You traitor!,” I yelled as I sprang to my feet.
I lunged at Bill, but he was ready. He dodged to the right and tripped me. Just then, the door was opened. Joseph stood there in disbelief.
“What the Fu- ,” was all that he got out before a blast from a shotgun hit him in the chest. He fell back and lay there. I stood up just as Lars came down the stairs with his buff guard.
“Bill made the right choice in joining me, he only asked for one thing,” Lars explained.
He then glanced at Julia. Realization hit me again. All this time Bill had wanted Julia, and now he was going to get her.
“You sick vindictive fuck,” Michael spoke up.
“Not while I am still alive,” I threatened as I stepped forward.
Bill threw a haymaker at me from the side. I was expecting this and I let his fist pass in front of my face. At once, I grabbed his arm and jerked it downwards while holding it with my other hand. There was a sickening crunch and Bill screamed in pain.
“Bill, you are disappointing me,” Lars said impatiently. “Here, use this.”
Lars threw Bill a bowie knife. He failed to catch it and stooped to pick it up. I kicked him in the face and grabbed the knife before he could. As he rose, I slit his throat. Blood gushed out. He frantically tried to clasp his throat, but it was no use. Within seconds, he fell over dead.
I was again grabbed from behind and thrown into the wall. I lost my grip on the knife and it fell on the floor somewhere. I landed on something hard.
“Well done,” Lars complimented me. “You saved me the trouble of killing him myself.”
“Why would you kill him, he was on your side!,” I asked.
“Because he easily betrayed you, how could I be sure that he would not betray me as well?,” Lars answered coldly.
I felt around underneath me while he spoke. I could feel a handle. Paul’s sword! For some reason he was not wearing it. I firmly gripped the handle.
“Why do you want to kill off all the other humans?,” I asked.
‘ That’s it Dustin, get him talking ‘ I thought.
“The Syndicate is a group that has been dedicated to this principle since we were founded. We strive to become a world power,” Lars explained. “And now, we have the perfect opportunity.”
“Not on my watch,” I said.
I grabbed the sword, pulled it out of its sheath and stood up. Lars produced his own blade. It looked like it was a blade from a hunter with a crudely fashioned handle. He held his blade in a ready position. I swung at him from above and he countered. I attacked twice more with him countering each time.
Then, he attacked. He unleashed a volley of attacks so fast that I could barely keep up with them. I just kept blocking as I waited for an opening. Finally one came! I swung at his left side which he was not defending. It was a poor swing and only nicked his cheek. Then I had an idea.
“Hey there pussy, there’s another scar for ya,” I chuckled.
“Just for that, I’m going to kill you slowly,” he snarled.
I saw the fury in his face as he attacked again. This time, he beat me back. He started driving me up the stairs. I kept up my strategy of parrying, striking when there was an opening, and taunting. We battled all the way up the stairs to the top of the lighthouse.
It was much brighter up here than it was inside. We were both squinting. I saw another opening and stabbed at it. He knew I would do so and sidestepped and gave me a slash with his blade. I felt a searing pain in my right shoulder. I looked at him. His blade had blood on it. So did mine.
I glanced down at the battle below. Lars was also watching the battle. I saw Paul running across the street to a house. He was shot and fell over. He lay there unmoving. Then I saw something. Bad News. A Tank outfitted with the same type of gas tanks as the runner I had seen earlier came stomping down the hill into the town.
“Oh shit,” we both said at the same time.
The tank saw Lars’ men first and opened fire at them with its main gun. It hit several of them, lighting them on fire! It seemed to be alone. No other machines were in sight. Karl fired at it from the house he was hiding in. It turned and faced the new threat. Its second weapon started to glow bright orange. It was far longer than the machine gun and had only one barrel. With one shot, it destroyed the small house he was concealed in.
Lars swung at me again. I dodged and faced him to continue the fight.
He was breathing heavily. My spirits rose, he was getting tired! I swung at his neck. He ducked and stabbed his blade down through my leg. I screamed out in pain. I dropped Paul’s sword and fell back against the railing.
“Looks like it’s the end of the line for you,” he laughed.
“Bring it,” I challenged.
He held his sword behind his head and charged forward to finish me off. I slammed my heel down on the hilt of Paul’s sword, propping it up. As he charged, the blade went right in his crotch.
He staggered and dropped his sword in pain.
At once I lunged forward, grabbed his shirt and threw him over the railing. He fell headlong into the ground and didn’t get up. I slumped back down against the railing. I watched the battle from my perch.
Most of Lar’s men were dead. My friends were picking them off as they tried to flee from the tank. It killed the last one with another blast from its railgun and turned to scan for more targets. ‘This is the end ‘ I thought. We couldn’t even hope to take out something like this.
Just then, a rocket struck it from behind. I looked up. There were figures on the hill behind it! But they couldn’t be Lar’s men, they were all dead. I watched as more rockets rained down on the tank.Our group fired at its back as it tried to engage the new threat. Finally, it gave a loud moan and fell over on one of the houses.
Julia came up the stairs and ran over to me. Michael followed.
“You okay?,” she asked.
“I’ve been better,” I answered.
“You’re hurt,” she exclaimed. “ Emma!”
“Hey, I’m fine,” I assured her. “How did you get rid of Mr. buff?”
“I was able to get the bowie knife you dropped,” Michael spoke up.” You’d better get on your feet, looks like we’re about to have guests.”
They helped me to my feet just as Emma emerged from the doorway.
“You look terrible,” she greeted.
“Thanks a lot,” I muttered.
I staggered down the stairs and out into the courtyard. I passed Joseph’s corpse and walked over to Paul. He was propped up against the porch.
“Good fight,”he said as I approached. “Your form could use some work though.”
“Well, I’m sure that you’ll help with that as soon as we’ve healed,” I replied.
A group of well armed survivors came around the corner of the street. They spotted us and walked over. Most of them had either an AG 5, and AG 4, a Kpist, or an HP5. Several of them were armed with RLG-7s. Their leader had a PVG-90 slung across his back.
“Is everyone okay?,” he asked.
“We’re hangin in there, thanks for the save,” I responded.
“Where is your leader?,” he asked.
“You’re speaking to him,” said Michael.
“How long have you been on Himfjall,” he asked me.
“We just arrived here the other day,” I answered.
“You have a boat then?,” he inquired.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Then we have to leave, now,” he urged.
“Why, what’s wrong,” Paul spoke up.
“Himfjall is plagued by the worst class of machine yet. They are called Apocalypse Class machines. They use chemical weapons to exterminate humans,” he explained.
“Great,” Paul yelled. “The one place that we go for safety has the worst kind of machines yet!”
“I’m sorry that we did not get here sooner, we might have saved more of your people,” he said and gestured to the dead Syndicate men.
“Ummm, those are not ours. That is the Syndicate. A group that wanted to wipe out all other survivors and be the only humans on Ostertorn,” I informed him.
“Oh goodie, they are all dead, yes?,” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered.
He turned to some of his men,” Go and get the others, we must leave at once.”
The men sprinted off back the way they had come.
“I am Viktor, and I lead this small group,” he introduced himself.
“I am Dustin, I am the leader of our group,” I responded.
“Do you need any assistance gathering your equipment or the bodies of your fallen comrades?,” Viktor inquired. “We are ready to help you.”
“I think that we should be the ones to carry our brothers to the boat, but you can help us gather any weapons or supplies in the town. And the dead Syndicate members still have weapons with them,” I suggested.
Everyone got to work. We had the boat loaded pretty quickly. Unfortunately, Emma would not allow Paul and I to help. Instead she treated us and poured stuff in our wounds that really stung.
Mark strolled over.
“I packed up that blade for you,” he said. “The handle is pretty broken though. Mind if I tinker with it once we get a new base?”
“Not at all,” I told him.
“Hey guys,” I heard a yell.
I looked and there was Andrew dragging himself into the town. A long trail of blood was behind him.
Everyone ran to him.
“It was Bill,” he informed me. “I saw him slip out last night so I followed him. He went to the Syndicate’s camp. He agreed to betray us in exchange for an honored position there and Julia. I confronted him when he left. He had a gun and he shot me.”
“We know, Bill and the Syndicate are dead,” I told him. “Quiet now, save your strength.”
“Its too late for me, I may not be a doctor, but I know that I’ve lost too much blood,” Andrew gasped.
His breaths were coming slower now, and his heartbeat was fading.
“I just wanted to die in the company of friends,” he grinned.
Then he died in peace, surrounded by his friends.
About an hour later, Viktor’s men returned with the rest of his group and all their supplies. The boat was packed full. After some quick socializing with the other group, I got up to leave.
“Wait, so how is this gonna work?,” asked someone from the other group. “ Are you two going to be joint leaders or is there going to be 1 leader or are we going separate ways once we get to Ostertorn. A sudden chatter filled the room as everyone put in their own opinion of the way things should be. Viktor stood up and raised his hands for silence.
“I know nothing about Ostertorn, I am just happy to be leaving this goddamned island. You lead us,” Viktor held out his hand to me.
“I will do my best,” I said as I clasped his hand.
Claps erupted from the group.
“Well, let’s not waste any more time here,” I suggested.
We boarded the Stingray and cruised out away from Himfjall. I despised that place now. We had lost Karl, Andrew, and Joseph there.
The sun set over the waters as we sped back towards Ostertorn.
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Letter From the Dev
Btw, this is the first rough draft of the story. I have plans to go back and add more pictures and dialogue once I am done with the story. I would like to replace ALL of the pictures with screenshots that I take myself when I have the time. I will repost the final version of the story here once I finish it.
Some of the characters so far have just been looser side characters that I had no use for ( like Joseph and Martha ) I just ended up killing off cuz why not. I would like to develop their characters more to make it feel like they are involved with the group. However, this can be difficult in a group scenario like mine. Fitting in everyone is not always easy.
If you find any typos pls comment on them so I can fix them asap. I have proof read it, but I may have missed a few. I still have a “plan” for where this story is going, and am working on Chapter VI
Are you guys enjoying this story or is no-one reading it? I’d like some feedback.
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Chapter VI
We stopped the boat out in the water and went to bed. I woke the next morning feeling much better than the previous day. Michael started the boat and steered us towards Muskuddon Port Complex. We had discussed it and we now had enough people to defend it. Plus, the Syndicate was no longer a threat, so we only had the machines to deal with.
We cruised into one of the sub pens. The boat would be safest here. Michael took a team in to clear the bunker before we could unload. Five minutes later, he gave us the all clear signal. We unloaded all the gear and stashed it in the bunker’s living quarters. Mark took a bunch of gear and set up a laboratory for him to work in. He was planning to study the machines to catalog their weak points. The bunker had adequate space for everyone with room for more.
Emma claimed a room for the med center, and set up her equipment. Everything in the bunker was working perfectly. Even the beds were real, not some military cots but real beds! We found them in a few containers in the large warehouse by the docks. I was digging through a crate when I found a teddy bear. I immediately dropped what I was doing and limped across the complex to Keith. His face lit up when I presented it to him. Happily he carried it back to his room.
The days passed quickly as I healed. Michael oversaw the sealing up of the top entrance by the train tracks using shipping containers. They made an impressive wall out of them. It was reinforced with steel I-beams and featured multiple shooting positions. He was also successful in constructing an entrance by the warehouse at the port. The Stingray remained in its protected bunker. It was meant as a last resort means of escape. My leg healed surprisingly fast. Within two weeks I was back on my feet. I was getting ready to depart the med center and resume my role as leader when Mark strolled in. He had something wrapped in cloth.
“Hey, made you this,” Mark greeted. “Welcome back.”
“Thanks man,” I said as I took the package.
It was long and narrow. I opened it to find Lar’s hunter blade that had been seriously upgraded. It looked much cooler now. The hilt was now firmly attached to the blade and featured a switch.
“What does the switch do?,” I inquired.
“Try it and find out,” Mark chuckled.
I flicked the switch and flames shot up the blade. It startled me at first, but I got used to it and turned the blade over.
“Awesome, thanks,” I complimented. “How does it work?”
“It uses the gas that the machines use, but in very small amounts. It could probably run for a few days,” he explained.
“Only you could have thought up something like this,” I said.
I turned the switch off and sheathed the blade. I strapped the scabbard across my back and followed him out.
I followed him out into the main cavern. I looked down towards the entrance. Outside, I could see small snowflakes starting to fall. Winter had come.
“That’s not all I did,” Mark added. “I’ve been working on a comm array. If there are any other pockets of resistance out there, we’ll find them.”
“Great,” I said. “How’s it coming?”
“Uh, not good. Something is blocking my attempts to send out a signal,” he replied. “It is almost like the towers that the signal would normally transmit through are the ones blocking me. I haven’t even been able to get the local radio stations.”
“So basically, something shut off the towers,” I guessed.
“Exactly,” he agreed. “To get the comms working, I will only need one of the towers to be online. There is one far not from here. I suggest we try that one.”
“Ok, I’ll put a team together. We’ll leave tomorrow,” I told him.
“Sounds good,” he answered.
It was getting dark outside so I headed off to my room. On my way, I checked in on Keith, but he was already asleep. I strolled down the long hall to my room. It felt good to be back. I had felt helpless in the med center. I hated that feeling. At least I had still been able to help with some things. I opened the door to my room and walked in. Everything was the way I had left it. I grabbed a cigar and walked out to the docks.
I fired up the cigar and sat down to watch the sunset. I remembered watching the sunset every night with my parents when I was younger. The memory almost brought tears to my eyes. Just then, Julia came up and flopped down beside me.
“Hey,” she greeted. “How’s your leg?”
“It’s fine,” I responded. “Why are you out here?”
“I never got a chance to say thank you for standing up and fighting for me,” she explained.
“Oh, it was nothing,” I said. “I shou- “So thank you,” she cut me off and kissed me.
“That’s all the thanks I get?,” I asked jokingly.
She giggled and we kissed again. I reached for my cigar and realized I had forgotten my lighter.
“Oh, I guess I forgot my lighter,” I said.
We walked together to my room. I easily located my lighter in a drawer. I turned around to see that the door was closed. Julia was standing right in front of me.
“Forget the cigar,” she began. “You look sexier without it.”
I dropped the lighter and kissed her. We wrapped our arms around each other. We kept kissing. The sun had set by now and there was no point in going outside anymore. For the next hour, we made out. It felt right. No adults to tell us not to. Even if there had been an adult there, we wouldn’t have listened.
The next morning, I woke up in my bed. Julia was sleeping beside me. I quietly climbed out of the bed and got dressed. I snuck out of the room and silently closed the door.
I walked down the hall towards the main room. Michael, Paul, Lauren, and Thomas had volunteered to accompany me to the tower. I met them outside the armory.
“Everyone Ready?,” I asked.
“Let’s do this,” Thomas responded.
Mark strolled up to us.
“I’ll be ready here to make the connection. Just radio me as soon as the jammer is down,” Mark ordered.
“Got it,” I said. “Let’s go”
We jogged out of the base in full military gear. It didn’t provide much protection, but at least it was something. It wasn’t that heavy either, so travel was hardly affected. After about fifteen minutes, the sun appeared over the treetops. It felt warm. It seemed to lift the desolate feeling that hung over Ostertorn. I felt great.
About half an hour later, I noticed the top of our target appear on the horizon. We were getting close! The possibilities darted through my mind. Who knew what we would find with the comm array? A resistance group? Maybe lots of resistance, all over Ostertorn! I came up over the crest of the hill. The tower stood below me. I noticed multiple hunters guarding it. It appeared to be unscathed. Only the front gate had been broken.
I readied myself and aimed my rifle at the first hunter. I placed my crosshairs on its front vent on the right side of its head. I paused and checked to make sure everyone else was ready. Michael and Paul were crawling towards the gate while Thomas and Lauren were behind a few rocks above me.
I looked back at my target and squeezed the trigger. The new silencer on my rifle worked really well. The machine exploded in a shower of sparks. Paul and Michael opened fire on the rest, distracting them. Once they had their attention, I charged down the hill to the fence at the back of the compound. I scaled it and snuck inside the building.
Inside was dark. I fumbled around for a lightswitch. I found one and flicked it. The lights came on and five feet from me was one of the ticks. Its light was not shining but it looked like it was attached to the circuitry of the tower. I shot it off.
Outside the gunfire had stopped. Suddenly, the screens flickered to life. I immediately pulled out my radio and yelled,” Its active!”
“Okay!,” Mark responded. “I am getting a signal. Its the Rock ‘n’ Roll channel for Ostervik! This thing works. Why don’t you come on back”
“Sounds great,” I answered.
I headed outside and informed the others. We began the long journey back to the base.
Upon our return, we arrived to a celebration. The Rise of the Resistance was at hand! We broke out some beers and turned on the new radio.
Mark rushed up to me,” I’ve got a signal! I think I found another resistance group!”
3 Likes
I’ve read the first 5 chapters. I’ll read 6 later today. 
I’m enjoying the story so far. Did not expect a conflict between people!
It may be a dumb quiestion, but many of your characters have non-swedish names. Are any of them foreigners living in Sweden?
No problem if that’s not the case, though.
I don’t know where you’re from, but if you’re american for example, I can understand you’re using names familiar to you. 
Uh, oops. I got most of the names from a list of Swedish names. Guess I was lied to. Emma is an immigrant from Russia but other than that they are all supposed to be Swedish.
Yes, and I don’t think anyone expected the traitor. 
Maybe when I go back and do the “remaster” of the story, I’ll change most of the names to Swedish names.
I really appreciate the feedback tho, I honestly wouldn’t have seen that. Thx
Could you give me a list of which names are not Swedish so I can make a note of that?
Lol, I guess you were! 
Allright, here goes…
American/English names: Dustin, Drake, Keith, Lauren, Dave, Andrew.
Russian names: Marsha.
Typical english, but also international names: Bill, Mark, Ben, Joseph, Michael, Thomas, Julia, Viktor.
Common scandinavian names: Emma, Lars, Paul, Hans, Karl.
What you do when you have something between your teeth: (
) Floss.
1 Like
Haha, come on, it is a good name for a border collie
Thx for the list. I really thought that Viktor was Swedish. hmm
We haven’t met Sven yet, but I think that is a Swedish or Norwegian name. Right?
You see, this is why I wanted people to comment and leave feedback. 
Sure, I’m only joking. 
Well yes. Viktor would be used in Scandinavia, and Victor in english.
Correct.
1 Like
Male: Torbjörn,Bjorn, Niklas, Håkån, Per, Fredrik, Leif, Nils, Edvin, Kjell, Jörgen, Olof, Magnus
Female: Annika, Siv, Ingrid, Hanna, Linn, Inger, Agneta, Freja, Maja, Tuva, Ingeborg, Ulla, Kajsa
2 Likes
Yo, what a lad. Thanks for the list. There is a 50 / 50 chance that I will alter the names. I am still thinking about it, but this is great if I need to add a new character.
There is one new character coming that I know everyone will love. Can’t w8 to add him.
My name
My middle name, but with ø instead of ö
2 Likes
Yo, lets gooooooooo!
I am User of the Month!
What exactly does that mean???
it’s April fool’s u sure ab that