The End of the Beginning

by Eichholz, Zachary

  William grabbed his P90. He put his foot up on the vans right front tire and jumped over the hood. Vega saw this and raced after him running around the backside of the van.

  “Abeo!” shouted William. He pulled up the P90 he had and aimed it at the approaching patrol cars. He squeezed the trigger but nothing happened. He remembered to his horror about ISAF weaponry and their safety mechanism, the bio-modules. It was not synched to William. He could not use the gun.

  Abeo was no more than ten feet away from William now. William reached out his arm for his rescue officer. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Vega running towards them. He wished she wasn’t.

  Five feet away. Once he grabbed Abeo he was going to force him under the van to crawl through to the other side.

  “Come on, Abeo!”

  The guardsman squinted down his sight and rested his finger on the trigger. He took a calming breath and fired a three shot burst. William lunged for his rescue officer when suddenly blood spewed out of Abeo’s mouth. Abeo arched his back in pain and flared his arms up. Abeo fell dead into William’s arms. William looked down at him in pure shock; not even realizing the blue laser was now on his own chest.

  Vega threw herself into William, knocking him down away from Abeo, onto his back as three more bullets flew over top of them landing in the vans white aluminum. Using the van as cover, Jake began firing back with his handgun, the only weapon on him. Vega dragged William under the van and pulled him through to the other side where the team was hiding. Jake managed to hit the guardsman firing at them. He fell out of his window to the ground. He may have been alive but that chance disappeared when the following patrol car ran him over accidently.

  “Stay down everyone and stay behind the van!” ordered Vega.

  Jake kept firing his handgun until it was empty. The patrol cars were now less than 100 feet away. Instead of reloading it with his extra clip he dropped the gun and ran crouched over to the trunk of their stolen patrol car. Bullets started being fired again, riddling the side of the van, shattering its windows.

  William looked over on the ground and saw Jake open the trunk of the patrol car and start fiddling with something inside of it. To William’s surprise Jake pulled out something he recognized from his military days, an AT4, a shoulder launched rocket weapon.

  “You have a bazooka?” wowed Simba.

  “Heads down!” yelled Jake. “Heads down!”

  He gave himself clearance from the patrol car, steadied his legs, and aimed the weapon at their attackers.

  “I’m sorry my brothers,” Jake whispered as he removed the weapons safety. He placed his right thumb on the firing button and pressed it. In a rush of yellow flames exuding out the back of the weapon, the rocket flew through the air at 950 feet per second, through the open sliding passenger van door and out the shattered windows of the other side. In less than a second the rocket hit the first patrol car and exploding just after coming through the dashboard. The speeding car flew apart in flames, its chassis spinning out of control and crashing into the car on its right. This car’s driver was killed on impact, causing the car to hit one of the tank’s columns head on. The third car skidded away and broadsided another column. Several pieces of all three vehicles slid past the team for several dozen more feet.

  Jake tossed away the rocket launcher and ran over to the vans trunk. He flung open the vans double doors and pulled out two P90’s.

  “Captain,” called Jake.

  William turned over. Jake threw him one of the guns. William caught it with one hand and got up.

  “I’ve had its biomodule encoded to you. You can use it now, come on!” rushed Jake.

  “Wait,” said William, “give one to Sergeant Horbert. She knows what to do with it.”

  Jake found the gun he had encoded for Vega and gave it to her. She cocked it. William did the same to his.

  CHAPTER 74: Washing Our Hands

  William, Vega, and Jake began walking towards each vehicle. Jake was on the left, Vega took the center burning car, and William took the right one, the closest one.

  “Phillips tend to Abeo,” William ordered. “Get him behind the van. No one else moves until we give the all clear.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Heather.

  William kept his gun up and ready, pointing its laser sight on the mangled wreck. All four guardsmen in the vehicle were hunched over. All airbags had deployed. Every single window was broken. William walked right up to the car. He checked the pulse of all four guardsmen, putting two fingers on each of their necks. Vega and Jake jogged up together finishing their own searches.

  “How are they?” Jake asked.

  “The driver is dead,” said William. “The other three are alive but unconscious. What about with you guys?”

  “Neither of us found survivors,” said Jake, shaking his head.

  “We need to go, it’s not safe here anymore,” said Vega.

  “How did they find us?” William asked Jake. “How could they know we were here? Were you followed?”

  “No. I’m sure of it. They simply shouldn’t have known we were here.”

  “Where could we go?” asked Vega.

  “There is one more tank still under construction on the other side of the Port Section. We could go there.”

  “Okay,” said William. “Let’s go then. We - ”

  The guardsman in the back right seat reached out and grabbed William’s arm. Jake and Vega brought their guns up faster than a stroke of lightning. The guardsman was bleeding from under his helmet.

  William remained motionless and just stared at the guardsman with anger and hatred.

  “Why are you trying to kill my team and I?” he asked.

  “Orders… Orders from, from Hernandez,” struggled the guardsman. “Just orders.”

  William leaned into the window. “But why? On what grounds are those orders based? My people are innocent.”

  “Hernandez…” The guardsman was struggling to breath. A piece of the door had impaled his abdomen. “He says you’re, you’re terrorist. You must… be, be eliminated… At all... costs.”

  William suddenly heard a subtle beeping noise. William noticed a grenade sitting in the guardsman’s lap with a blue LED light blinking faster and faster accompanying the beeping sound.

  “Grenade!” screamed William.

  The three sprinted away from the car back to the van. William turned back right when the grenade exploded, blowing out the interior of the car, killing all the remaining guardsmen.

  “Everyone all right?!” yelled William.

  “Yeah,” said Jake.

  Vega nodded her head.

  William walked back around the van to where his team was huddled. He pushed everyone aside to get to Abeo and Heather. He crouched down next to his fallen rescue officer. Abeo didn’t even have his glass tag for William to collect, Jake had told everyone not to bring theirs for security reasons. A blood pool surrounded Abeo’s upper body.

  “There was nothing I could do, sir,” said Heather, closing Abeo’s eyelids. “He was dead before he hit the ground.”

  William bowed his head into his chest. He grabbed Abeo’s hand. His eyes began to water and his nose sniffled. Heather started gently rubbing William’s back. A sad man however did not look up from this bow, an impassioned one did.

  “Guess we have no choice but to fight now, eh Captain?” said Vinny.

  “We never did have a choice Rescue Officer Mckay,” said Vega. She looked around at everyone. “Evil is unfair. Evil is cold. It never gives its victims a choice. Rescue Officer Lawal wasn’t given a choice when they put bullets in his back.”

  William stood up. “Sergeant Horbert is right, I’m afraid. We no longer have a choice as to whether or not we should fight because it seems that fight will come to us no matter what now. For as long as I have lived…”

  William looked at his gloves. They were covered in Abeo’s blood.

  “For as long as I have lived my hands have been stained with the blood
of those I love, constantly reminding me of my failures to save them, to protect them. I’ve never been able to wash these stains off. I’ve never been able to, to clean my sins. Perhaps, I never will.”

  William lowered his hands and looked up at his team definitely. He made sure he looked at each and everyone of them in the eyes.

  “But that doesn’t mean you stop trying, that doesn’t mean you rest. I rested once, for six years, thinking the blood would stop, that the pain would stop. That’s why I went to the woods of Canada,” William stammered, “to hide. That’s where the supposed great Hope Giver went. I left to kill myself…”

  His team perked up in surprise. Some lightly gasped.

  “That’s right,” William nodded shamefully,” that’s why I left, content and ready to take my own life. I was ready to just sit by from a lonely distance and watch the world burn. I didn’t care for what may happen to those in it. I didn’t care about the future of it and I certainly didn’t care for the future I had in it.”

  A tear rolled down William’s facing, landing on Abeo’s jacket. William crunched his teeth together and twiddled his fingers.

  “And today, I am disgusted with myself for it. For too damn long this world and the atrocities and disasters in it have been because of people just standing by, as I did. For too damn long people having been willing to let the next person fight, hoping they would. For too damn long people I have been content with blood on their hands, selfishly willing to leave it there and just give up, as I did. Not anymore. I will never give up washing them! I will never give up trying to rid myself of their stain. I will never sit back again. I promise you, I will stop what is going to happen. I will stop Hernandez…”

  William knelt down again over Abeo and ripped off his jackets Velcro UNIRO seal. He held it up for everyone to see.

  “I am a member of UNIRO, sworn to protect and rescue those in need from forces that may do undeserved harm and destruction. I think Terra Nova certainly counts.”

  Some of his team members nodded. Others grinned with soggy eyes.

  “If we win today we won’t have saved a people or a country, we’ll have saved everyone, not just the many as Terra Nova intends with their genocidal ways. We won’t only be afforded the chance to wash our hands but the worlds and that is worth not resting for.”

  Seong stepped forward. “For us…” He fought his stutter. “For us, sir, there was never a choice. We…” Seong took a deep breath and cleared his throat. “We stand beside you, together, or we don’t stand at all.”

  William smiled, grabbing Seong’s shoulder. “Let’s get to work then.”

  CHAPTER 75: Individualistic

  “I’ve just received some, disturbing news. Captain Emerson was just attacked and nearly killed… by your men. Is this true?”

  “Who told - ”

  “Is this true?!”

  “It is. He has become a threat to our operation. He is trying - ”

  “He is the reason for my existence. He is the reason for our entire existence! You dare try and kill our maker, our inspiration. I spent years searching for him, years. And you… you nearly just had him killed to try and cover up your own mistakes. How individualistic of you. How narrowed minded of you.”

  “No! I never meant - ”

  “Fail again and our system will adapt to no longer need you…”

  CHAPTER 76: Heading Back

  “What time is it Colonel Morrison?” asked one of the subgroup generals as they stood at the top their planes boarding stairs in Anchorage.

  John looked at his glass tablet. “Its o-three thirteen hours, sir.”

  “Did she not order you to leave if she wasn’t here by o-three fifteen hours?”

  “She did, sir,” John sighed.

  “Then we will respect that order. The world is a shit show right now and we need to get back to it. Global stock markets are already falling in response to this threat. The US has dispatched its Third Fleet to St. Lawrence. This is causing friction with the Russians who have already nearly had a midair collision between one of its recon flights and the US’s. The UN Security Council is going to hold an emergency meeting but we both know UNIRO isn’t ready to respond to anything Terra Nova may yet do. We’re powerless.”

  John looked at the subgroup general and shook his head. “I’m sure someone will respectively disagree with you, sir.”

  The subgroup general grinned. “I hope so, Colonel.”

  “Excuse me, sir,” called the planes copilot. “Tower says Base Commander Hammond’s plane is on final approach. She’s landing in less than two minutes.”

  “Thank God,” John whispered.

  Her plane landed and then taxied right up to the waiting staff plane, which had fondly come to be known as the Bus by its passengers over the last few months of its use. Hammond rushed down the boarding steps of her plane only to quickly run up the Buses. The subgroup general tried to say hello but Hammond ignored him. She only acknowledged John.

  “Colonel, I told you to leave. It’s past o-three fifteen.”

  “Engine trouble, ma’am.”

  “That’s bloody horseshit and you know. Let’s get this bird in the air and back to base, shall we?”

  John noticed a reddened bandage over Hammond’s left eye almost concealed by her hair. “Are you alright ma’am? What happened?” he asked, trying to get a better look at it.

  “Fine,” snapped Hammond. “Give me a sit-rep, please.”

  “Well, Commander - ”

  “Not from you Subgroup General, from Colonel Morrison.”

  Everyone began taking their seats. The planes cabin door was shut and locked. The hydrogen engines began to smoothly rev up.

  “Oh, well,” started John, sitting next to Hammond, “St. Lawrence is still under threat from Terra Nova. All bases have gone into Sequence Red and have been so for some time now. But, we haven’t been able to contact Base Tranquility. All communications are down. We’ve had no contact now for about three hours. We have no idea why.”

  “Hernandez hasn’t said anything?”

  “No, ma’am. We’re in the dark. No base procedure involves a complete communications blackout so we’re a little baffled… and concerned.”

  “With all due respect, ma’am, we’re also concerned over where you just flew off to and why you haven’t told any of us about it,” said an annoyed colonel two rows up.

  Hammond glared at him with irritated frustration and impatience.

  “Compared to current circumstances, Colonel, I wasn’t aware my travel plans had become the biggest issue of concern! Pilot!” yelled Hammond. “Get us in the air, now! Move it!” She looked back at the questioning colonel. “Do I need to order you to shut up if you are going to speak with such bloody stupidity?”

  “Ma’am,” said John, leaning in close to here ear, “I was able to get a hold of Captain Emerson before the blackout…”

  “And?”

  “Reception was horrible and the call dropped pretty quickly but it sounded like he said we’d be coming home to a trap of some kind.”

  Hammond leaned back heavily into here seat and turned, looking out the window. She put her thumb in her lips and chuckled. “Well, you of all people John should know Captain Emerson. He does like to exaggerate sometimes.”

  CHAPTER 77: You Will

  “She has the drive!”

  “What? How is that possible? She went to Nome?”

  “It appears so… Upon her arrival find it, if it’s the last thing you do. Without it we cannot pursue the scope of change we desire. We cannot function in the open.”

  “I will find it, Patrem. I swear it. I will initiate the drives contents here at Base Tranquility at the precise time originally intended, fifteen hundred hours Alaskan standard time, nineteen hundred hours eastern.”

  “Yes, you will. The land we desire is just over the seas, ready to be taken in hand, ready to be taken from a world that bleeds. You will…”

  CHAPTER 78: The Coup Of Civilization Beg
ins

  “Chief Hernandez,” called a guardsman over the radio.

  “This is Hernandez, go ahead.”

  “Airport terminal is evacuated and secure. Guardsmen are at every entrance and exit. We have two drones airborne and waiting to escort. And, as requested, Phoenix 27 has been fully fueled with traditional aviation fuel and is ready for takeoff upon your order.”

  “Good. You may begin preflight startup sequence for Phoenix 27. Once startup is complete you may send it on its way. Have it take up a cruising radius of twenty miles around the base holding at 10,000 feet.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Any sign of Emerson and his friends?”

  “Negative, sir. We’ve had no contact since one of our patrols found them in an unfinished seawater holding tank in the Port Section over six hours ago. As you know, they were gone when reinforcements arrived.”

  “Okay. Stay alert. He’s out there. Once we arrest Hammond and Colonel Morrison we’ll put full attention back to him.”

  ...

  Five guardsmen came in through the base command centers airlock. Two stayed back at the door, the other three made their way through the center, past the holographic globe over to a computer console.

  The senior officer in the room, a major, ran up to the guardsmen and asked, “What the hell is going on? We’ve been stuck in here for nearly twelve hours with almost no information. We’ve got the US government and the UN Security Council calling us every three seconds asking us what the hell is going on. What is Hernandez thinking right now with this blackout? Why is Phoenix 27 filled with carbon-based fuel? I demand a further explanation to all of this!”

  “That isn’t your concern right now,” said a guardsman bluntly. “We are on a communications lockdown at Sequence Red. That’s all you need to know.”

  Reaching their intended computer console one of the guardsmen placed a gray plastic suitcase atop it with a thud and opened it.

  “Bring Phoenix 27 online, now,” said another brutish guardsman to the UNIRO technician sitting at the console. “Begin preflight startup and all system checks. Interface your console with the computer inside this suitcase. It will have all the flight information you need.”