"Nate, what are you doing when we get back?" a young man asked as they were crouched behind a ruined wall, "I'm probably going to an amusement park, been wishing to go for a long time.....or maybe paintballing."
There was a group of four soldiers, wearing combat uniforms with desert camouflage. They were in the middle of a ruined town, torn by war. The sky above them was clear of any clouds, the sun burning the landscape below.
At this moment, the four soldiers were awaiting a signal from another group of four that was across the ruined sun. They had been split up by sniper fire, and the rear group was behind a large stone wall that was barely thick enough to block any enemy fire. It did not seem that there was any movement up ahead, but they wanted to make sure that the sniper did not have eyes on them.
"Paintballing?" a young man with black hair and a clean-shaven face said, "You want to simulate warfare with paintballs???"
This was Private First-Class Nathaniel Reyes, a 19-year-old soldier who had been in his fair share of battles during his first tour. He was holding the standard-issued M4 Carbine in a relaxed position while he was on one knee, casually glancing around them, staying alert. Like the other three, he had his helmet on while he had sunglasses on, which helped a lot with the sun.
"Haha..." The other man chuckled, "It's fun shooting balls of paint at someone else. I used to do it all the time."
"Yea well...." Nathaniel said as he shifted, "You're shooting live rounds at people now, wouldn't you want a break from any forms of firearms when we get back?"
"That's a good point...." the other man said, "It is-"
"Private-First Class, Corporal, keep it down." The man ahead of them said, "We don't have time for dilly-dallying."
"Oh, you heard the Sarge." the Corporal chuckled, "We've only been sitting here for an hour in silence. Trying to keep it nice and lively."
"If we don't take this shit seriously." The Sergeant said as he looked back at them, "We won't make it back home for your dumbass paintballs, Johnson."
"He's got a point." Nathaniel said
"Both of you are idiots." the fourth chuckled, having heard their conversation, "You all know that the Sarge hates paintballing. It's all about airsoft, anyway."
He had dark brown skin and a bushy beard, looking at them with his dark brown eyes. He was holding what looked like a shotgun in his arms as he leaned against a piece of the stone wall that may have fallen down.
"Listen to this idiot." Johnson said as he nodded at the fourth, "Too pussy to get hit by a painful paintball."
"Yea, that's kinda lame." Nathaniel chuckled, "Grow a pair, Ben."
"Hey, fuck you two." Ben said, "I took three bullet wounds before you little shits even got in the army, I ain't afraid of some paintballs."
"That's not what it sounds like." Johnson mocked him
"Fuck you." Ben scoffed as he flipped him off, "You can be an asshole, you know that."
"We all are." Johnson retorted, "We kinda have to be. Look where we are, man."
"Radio Silence." The Sergeant said as he got up and leaned against the wall, raising his hand in a fist
The others immediately got up, having their mouths shut as the Sergeant was looking ahead, spotting what looked like light flashes. The Sergeant had been looking at these flashes in the far distance, inside a fully intact building around two hundred meters away. He had translated the Morse code to "Advance".
This meant that the danger of the sniper was no longer there, and they were clear to advance to their position.
The Sergeant then made a knife-hand and pointed forward, signaling the others to make a file formation behind him as he immediately checked the corner of the wall. He then waved his arm at chest point, gesturing at the building across the street.
As he did so, Johnson advanced forward, and the others made their way towards the street, crossing it as the Sergeant followed. All of them were in a single file, immediately making their way across the street and reaching the nearby building with a closed door while Johnson and Ben were kneeling down, checking their rear.
The Sergeant then pointed at Ben, who was holding the shotgun, signaling him to be the breacher and opening the door.
Ben nodded, giving him the "okay" gesture, and tried the doorknob. The door opened, and he walked inside, his shotgun readied as he checked both sides as the others slowly walked in.
The Sergeant closed the door and raised his fist up, moving it from left to right, signaling that there was a vehicle nearby.
As he did so, the sound of a truck was heard on the street. The four took cover and Nathaniel was peeking through the curtains of the window, seeing that the truck had several armed men who were looking around.
He pointed at the window with an upside-down pistol gesture, telling the others that there were enemies outside.
The Sergeant nodded as Johnson and Ben were checking the other rooms quietly, "Alright..." He said in a hushed tone, "So the sniper is no longer there. Just in time....."
Ben knelt down, "What's the move?"
"Davidson's team will find the sniper and neutralize him." The Sergeant said, "Our priority is our hostages. They are most definitely at the north-east of the town, but that area is heavily fortified."
"I found it odd that they haven't rushed us while we were pinned down." Johnson said as he looked around, "I don't have a good feeling about it now that I think about it."
"We move through the buildings carefully, trying to avoid any patrols." the Sergeant said, "We have to wait for reinforcements, which are more than likely to arrive in an hour or so. The closer we are to the location, the better."
"Yessir." Ben nodded
"Reyes, what's the situation?" Sergeant looked at Nathaniel
Nathaniel was peeking through the window, "Nothing outside." He said, "As far as I can tell."
"Clear on this side too." Ben had gotten up and peeked through another window, "We should be good to advance."
"Advance to the next building, we clear them, and we keep going." The Sergeant said as he moved towards the back door, "Let's go: Radio Silence."
They nodded and followed the Sergeant, making their way outside the building and quickly walked over to the next one, checking corners and properly clearing everything.
Nathaniel then crouched down as they were in a broken-down building, with only the walls remaining, aiming his rifle at the street as he was steadying his breath. There was a hole in the brick walls that had a direct view to a different building next to theirs, the street visible past it.
The group crouched down, making sure they were in the clear.
"Clear." Ben called out as he peeked through the brick doorway
"Clear." Johnson called out as he checked a back room, stepping back to the others
"Front side is clear." the Sergeant, "Reyes."
Nathaniel noticed something darting around the corner of the building, footsteps rapidly approaching.
"Ambush!!!" He shouted as bullets began to rain on their position
"Shit!" The Sergeant exclaimed, "Take cover! Weapons free!"
They rushed for cover as Nathaniel returned fire, hitting three men that came into view as Ben unloaded his shotgun rounds on several men that rushed the building with Ak-47s, shouting loudly.
They began to return fire, taking down multiple enemies as dust and flew everywhere, caused by the bullets hitting the brick walls.
Nathaniel was reloading when he heard someone to his left, "Shit." He said as he dropped his rifle and drew his pistol, "Fuck!'
He aimed his fired a round, hitting the man in the head, his body slumping down immediately as Nathaniel jumped to the side, getting behind cover and grabbing his rifle, trying not to stay in the same spot.
"Reloading!" Johnson called out as he ducked for cover
"How many are there?!" The Sergeant asked
Nathaniel was reloading his rifle when he saw someone slip past and get behind the Sergeant, "Sarge!" He shouted as he dropped the rifle, raising his pistol and firing, hitting the man in the chest, "Watch out!"
He got up as another man appeared, firing at him as well, killing him immediately.
"Reyes!" The Sergeant shouted, "Look out!"
Nathaniel was then shot in the face, on his right cheek, blood spraying everywhere as he collapsed to the ground.
"NO!!!" The Sergeant bellowed, "REYES!!!"
The light from his eyes slowly faded as Nathaniel lay face-first on the ground, blood pooling around his body.
On that day, Private First-Class Nathaniel Reyes died on the line of duty.
***********************
Nathaniel slowly stirred awake; the sound of metal clanking was heard loud and clear. His eyes were blurry, and he tried to focus his vision, feeling cold steel around his wrists.
"W-What....?" His throat was dry, "Where am I.....? What happened?"
He looked around him, seeing that he was in some sort of dungeon cell, the walls were a dark grey stone, with moss growing on them. In front of him, a wooden table sat with a stool next to it. On the table, there were several iron tools ranging from pliers to tongs and skewers. He could only see the light of the torch that was on the wall next to the cell door.
His body felt like it was hanging, shackled to the wall, the stone pressing against his back. The moment his skin touched the stone, his entire body shuddered.
He immediately assumed the situation, a brief panic washing over his face as he tried to move his hands.
He believed he was captured by the enemy, a terrorist organization that his nation had been fighting for a couple of years. The last thing he remembered was getting caught up in an ambush, bullets flying from all directions, and getting hit somewhere in his body.
He couldn't remember where exactly.
He didn't feel any pain that resembled a bullet wound. The only thing he felt was that his entire body was completely sore and cold.
He looked down to see that he was wearing nothing but a loincloth, "What....the fuck....." He said, his surprisingly pale body was lightly illuminated by the torchlight, "Dammit....."
He heard a low hum, somewhere in front of him.
He narrowed his eyes as he saw a faint light appear in front of him, taking the form of swirling runes, slowly expanding outwards as it formed a small rectangular screen, blue in color.
"What is this....?" He managed, his voice low and coarse
Runes appeared on the screen, slowly shifting into the language he could understand:
[System: Start]
- Nathaniel Reyes
- Age: 19
- Height: 6'2
- Weight: 220lbs
- Hair Color: Black
- Eye Color: Black (Formerly), Dark Blue (Currently)
"System?" Nathaniel said aloud, "What is this? Is this some sort of dream? System...?What is.....? Some sort of character sheet?"
The words shifted, and a new sentence had formed on the screen:
[War Necromancy Activated]
Nathaniel felt a shift inside his body, energy briefly surging inside his body. He didn't like the way the energy quickly left his body, as if it was giving him a quick and false sense of hope and assurance.
"The fuck...." He said as he heard footsteps approach
The Screen immediately disappeared, no longer illuminating in front of Nathaniel.
"Are you sure the fucker is still alive?" a voice said outside the cell, "Wasn't he in a pile of corpses?"
"He was." another voice said, this one much deeper, "But I swear there was a heartbeat on him, I heard it."
"Alright, alright." the first voice said
Nathaniel saw a massive figure appear in front of the cell door, ".....huh.....?"
The cell door opened, and Nathaniel watched as a massive green-skinned man with pointed ears and a serious underbite appeared, two tusk-like teeth sprouting up. He was wearing fur garments over his shoulders, showing his massive pot-belly, which could distract someone from his muscular arms, which had veins bulging.
The man had fierce green eyes, glowing in the dark as his bright red hair was tied in a pony-tail, "See...." He said, "He's alive."
"What the fuck is this guy? Some sort of Monster????" Nathaniel thought to himself
"Huh, how about that?" the other man said as he stepped to the side, "He was alive."
This one seemed like an ordinary human, much shorter and thinner. He had blonde hair which was shaggy and reaching his neck, his brown eyes staring right at Nathaniel. Like the behemoth of the strange-looking man, he was wearing fur garments.
"What say you, Hub?" the massive one said, "Should we dissect him? According to the Boss, the fresher the organs, the better the ritual."
"I don't know, Borug." Hub said with a frown, "This one doesn't seem like he'll have good organs. How long do you think he was smeared by the blood of the dead? Hm?"
"He smells fine to me." Borug said as he sniffed the air
"Of course, you Orcs definitely have good hearing and smell." Hub rolled his eyes, "Well, if he's alive, we can feed him a bit to make sure his body isn't on the brink of death. Then we can harvest his organs, that way they can be more lush with the Aether."
"Good." Borug said
"Orcs.....?" Nathaniel thought to himself, "Like Orcs from Fantasy?"
Borug took a step forwards and looked at Nathaniel, "You're ours now, fresh meat." He said with a smirk, "Our Goddess will gladly accept your organs as sacrifice."
"What.....?" Nathaniel's voice was barely heard
"Quit teasing him." Hub said, "Let's get him a piece of bread or something."
As they turned around, the Screen quickly appeared in front of Nathaniel:
[War-Necromany System Has Activated]
-
-
[ESCAPE]