by R. Malak
The two boys nodded their heads in agreement.
She released his arm and held out her hand. “Hi, my name is Sarah, and this is Donahue and Greg,” she said gesturing to the two men beside her.
Donahue, a good-looking guy with a wispy thin moustache, gave him a wry smile and a half bow, while Greg, a muscular man with freckles on his cheeks and nose, nodded his head again respectfully.
Talmen, with a grateful smile, shook her hand. “Talmen.”
He opened his mouth to question them about the tower, when the girl beside him suddenly squealed in alarm, “Crap! I forgot to bring my watch!” She spun on her heels and sprinted off, leaving Talmen shaking his head incredulously. This girl seriously wanted to be a soldier?
Sarah, seeing his confusion, grinned. “That’s Katie she’s new to our squad as well. She used to be a nurse down at the clinic, before deciding to follow in her older sister’s footsteps.”
As Talmen watched Katie duck back inside of her tent. He was reminded of his real purpose for joining the army. “Have you by any chance seen a young boy with golden eyes and black hair, his name is Josh. He’d be around eighteen years old.”
Sarah shook her head. “Sorry, I haven’t seen anyone like that here” she replied.
He turned to the two men, who also shook their heads. “He a friend of yours?” asked Greg.
Talmen shook his head, his face drooping with bitter disappointment. “No, he’s my little brother, we got separated.”
Sarah bit the inside of her lips and looked away.
Greg and Donahue both decided to study their shoes. None of them willing or able to give him the answers he sought.
A breathless Katie returned panting with a wide grin splayed across her cheeks.
Sarah relieved to have her back, smiled breaking the uneasy tension that he had created and pointed her finger in the direction of the gun range. “Well, we’d better go meet up with the Sergeant he’s probably waiting for us by now.”
Together they headed back down towards the gun range with Katie leading the way babbling excitedly to Sarah about the new watch she had traded for from one the scavengers selling wares in the market. Sergeant O’ Keefe stood waiting by the gun range with his arms folded across his chest. Seeing his furious expression, the squad hurried over towards him.
Keefe scowled at the entire group with daggers shining in his yellow eyes. “Line up you miserable worms! This ain’t no fucking picnic!”
Shocked by the change in attitude, Talmen quickly lined up along the edge of gun range.
“Listen up you maggot eating dog turds! The next time you are late for training you will rue the day! Now take your lily-livered behinds and take thirty laps around the gun range! Snap to it!”
Jolted out of their stupor, they started running with Greg leading the way at a steady pace.
A nice cool breeze touched the backs of their necks as they ran through the long green grass. After his fifth lap around the grassy turf, Talmen’s wounds began to gnaw at him, forcing him to fall back a few paces to run alongside Katie, who was struggling to keep up with the rest of squad. Sweat was pouring down from her forehead and dark splotches were appearing on her uniform. But to her credit she didn’t complain, but kept her head down and kept moving. By the twenty eighth lap however, Katie was beginning to flag behind the rest of the squad, panting and gasping for breath.
Not wishing to leave her behind, he slowed down to run beside her. He could see the desperation and hunger to succeed in her eyes and knew instantly he had misjudged her. This happy go lucky girl would not give in easily.
It was soon afternoon and most of the squad had finished by now, with just the two of them left. He could hear Katie’s breathing becoming harsh and ragged, with her gulping for air.
Talmen knew she was almost spent, not wanting to see her fail he urged her own, “Come on Katie, think of your family, think of your sister. I hear you want to be a soldier like her, come on move those legs.”
Katie grunted and dug deep within herself for a last-ditch effort, sprinting the last few meters and collapsing to the ground.
Talmen a grin on his face bent down and lifted her up. “You did it.”
She grinned back up at him excitedly. “Thanks.”
The Sergeant stared thoughtfully at him, before his face hardened once more. “Took you long enough you piss drinking worms! Now lay down beside the rifles I have set up for you along the gun range! Move it!”
Talmen swiftly lay down on the grass where the .22 caliber rifle stood on a tripod and positioned the butt of the rifle against his shoulder and cheek. He pulled the box of ammunition closer to him and waited for further instructions.
“This pea shooter here! Is easy to load and fire! Just pull back the bolt! Slide a bullet inside! Pull the bolt back, aim and fire! Got it? Take a few practice shots. Begin!” The stilted crackle of gunfire rang up and down the range.
Familiar with most rifles, Talmen loaded the rifle deftly, aimed, and fired into the red heart painted on the dummy. His first shot hit the outline of the heart. Adjusting the rifle, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself and fired again, this time he scored a direct hit at the center of the target’s heart.
Smiling confidently, he fired three rapid shots in quick succession each with pinpoint accuracy. Pausing to stretch his fingers, he realized everyone had stopped firing and were staring at him with amazement.
Donahue his mouth gaping open exclaimed, “Fucking hell, Tal! That was like a trained sniper. Where’d you learn to shoot like that?”
Talmen, ill at ease with their admiration, prayed for a distraction and received it in the form of the sergeant barreling towards them.
“Why in the fuck have you stopped firing you dumb donkey lovers? Get back to work!”
The squad winced and returned to training.
Sighing with relief he returned his attention back to the target and whistled softly in surprise. His last three shots had blown a hole clean through the center of the thick piece of metal.
“Talmen get your scrawny arse over here!” He looked up to see the sergeant waving at him.
Not sure what to expect he stood up and hesitantly walked over.
“Tell me private are you going to pay to have that dummy replaced? What in fuck do you think you are doing destroying military equipment?”
Talmen’s eyes widened with concern. “Sir, it was an honest accident, I didn’t mean to destroy the dummy,” he pleaded.
The sergeant chuckled, “Relax kid, I’m just messing with you. You ain’t in trouble lad. In fact, I’m promoting you to private first class.”
“Sir?” Talmen stared at the Sergeant like a stunned mullet.
“Listen kid, you have shown today that not only do you have great leadership potential by aiding your comrades, but you also have the skills necessary to lead from the front.”
Finally able to speak, he sputtered, “But Sir, I have only just joined the army.”
The sergeant took him by the shoulder and led him a few paces away from the gun range. “Listen son, we don’t have many soldiers around here, who show the amount of dedication you have shown today. You have balls of steel and a heart of gold and that’s what we need right now. Do you accept your new ranking?”
Talmen dumbly nodded his head still feeling numb and not really appreciating the good fortune that had just been bestowed upon him.
Keefe turned to face the squad. “Soldiers on your feet! Form up!” The gunfire ceased instantly, and the squad quickly reassembled themselves in a line facing the sergeant.
“Listen up maggots! Talmen has been promoted to private first class! He will be your new squad leader! If you have a problem with that come and see me! Dismissed!” With that, the Sergeant patted him on the back one last time and left.
Uncertain what to say or do he stood there dumbfounded in the awkward silence, when Katie abruptly squealed with delight and raced over to hug him. “Congrats Tally, you deserve it.”
> And like ice breaking, the rest of squad broke out in smiles and came over to congratulate him.
“Well done.”
All except for Greg, who stood there watching him with brooding eyes and a grim expression. The big man left without saying a word.
Seeing where his eyes were directed. Katie said, “Don’t worry about Greg. He’ll come around.”
~ * ~
Locked and loaded, the rangers with enough ammunition and explosives to destroy a small army, marched towards the front of tunnel with Cora and Joseph in the lead.
One of rangers a short burly man with graying hair squatted down beside the vault door and pressed his ears to the metal exterior listening. After ten minutes or so he looked up with a frown. “Sir, I can still hear activity going on above us, the WarHorde must still be in the area.”
Cora twisted round to face Joseph. “Is there another way out of here?”
Joseph brushed his fingers through his beard. “Could be? I think there’s an emergency exit somewhere within the sewage system.”
“Where is it?” she demanded.
Joseph thought for a minute then turned to guide them out of room.
Crisscrossing through underground tunnels that ran beneath the earth he led them across a metallic runway and up towards a sewage grate. “This might be it,” he said.
Cora bent down to grab hold of grate and tried to lift it up, but it was dammed heavy. The nearest rangers rushed in to help her. Together they hauled the grate up and let it drop with a thud.
Cora stared down into the pitch-black darkness trying to assess the situation. She passed her rifle to Joseph. “Wait here,” she commanded and jumped down into the inky black darkness and felt her feet sink into a thick cold sludge that was extremely slippery.
“Here catch.”
Cora looked up just in the nick of time to see Joseph toss her rifle down. Using her quick reflexes, she caught the rifle by the barrel, attached the torch, and flicked on the light switch. Four tunnels branched off in all directions around her. “Hey, there are a lot of tunnels down here, which way is it?”
Instead of answering her question Joseph leapt down to splash her with the smelly green liquid that filled the tunnels.
“Watch it!” She exclaimed in annoyance.
Joseph gave her apologetic smile and looked around him at all the interconnecting tunnels. Waving his arm in the air for the rest of the rangers to follow, they dropped down to join them, all of them attaching torches to their rifles, flooding the tunnels with light.
~ * ~
Tommy, his eyes glinting with malevolence, watched from behind a crevice as the rangers jumped one by one into the sewers below. After waking up and overhearing their plan to rescue some woman named Jess, Tommy had decided to spring his own plan of mouthwatering vengeance into action. Determined to teach that bitch a lesson she would never forget, he tailed the ranger through the tunnels till they reached the sewers. After watching the rangers jump down, Tommy pulled away from the walls and edged towards to the sewer grate to peer down. Torches shone in the darkness below him. He waited until the lights below him had disappeared, before dropping down into the wet green goo himself. The landing jarred his shoulder, causing it to throb abominably. Massaging his wounded shoulder, he cursed Cora to the nine depths of fuck and promised soon he would make her pay dearly for this treachery. Oh yes, he would enjoy slicing pieces of warm flesh from her soft delicate body. He may even feed them to her, with that delightful thought cheering him up. He picked a tunnel and quietly stalked the sewers.
~ * ~
Joseph, after assessing the situation, shrugged his big shoulders. “Don’t know. We’re going to have split up and search each tunnel.”
Cora cursed loudly and vehemently.
Joseph turned to face his men. “Kyla, you head west with your squad, Falwen take the east tunnel, George take the north tunnel and I’ll take the south tunnel, whistle if you find the exit.”
Joseph whispered a prayer in his mind.
Jess we’re coming. Please still be alive.
The rangers broke up into their respective squadrons each moving their separate ways. Cora, her mouth firm, clutched her rifle and tagged along behind his squadron, taking the southern route. Joseph cautiously led the way, trudging through the disgusting green muck that soaked their feet and made them stumble and fall. Rifles at the ready they marched for what felt like endless miles underground, when he caught sight of something in the chamber ahead of him. Raising his fist swiftly, he halted the procession.
Cora moved to stand beside him and whispered, “What’s the holdup?”
Joseph pointed ahead of him, barely within range of his torchlight he could make out small human forms sleeping in a chamber ahead of them blocking their path forward.
“Dwarf nest?”
Joseph nodded his head and turned to face his men. “Move quietly and surround the creatures, don’t fire unless they move,” he ordered.
The rangers formed up into two separate files and advanced slowly into the chamber. Before splitting off to either side to half encircle the human shaped creatures sleeping in the tunnels, six rifles were lifted, waiting for the command to fire.
Joseph brought his hand down and roared, “Fire!”
Simultaneous gunfire blazed all around the chamber hitting their targets a dozen times over. The bodies twitched briefly before going still. Seeing no movement, he called a cease fire and approached one of limp bodies and kicked it over, just as he expected feral Dwarfs.
~ * ~
Gunshots and screaming blared loudly from one of tunnels behind them, causing them all to instinctively swing round and raise their rifles once more.
“Shit! There must be more dwarf nests down here, come on!” Joseph called as he sprinted off in the direction of the gunfire with the rest of squad close on his heels.
Cora, lighter and faster on her feet, caught up with Joseph easily and raced off ahead of them. The gunfire growing louder and less frequent warned her that the fight was close by. Making two swift turns she burst into the chamber and was horrified by the nightmarish scene unfolding before her eyes.
Blood, guts and body parts of both Humans and dwarves were flung about the room with Falwen and what was left of his squad pressed up into a corner desperately fending off a mob of enraged dwarfs splattered in blood clawing at them. Dropping to her knees she took aim and fired a string of rounds into the backs of the creatures. Breaking their spines and dropping them into the slimy wet surface. Some of the dwarfs turned and came charging towards her with gore covered claws and blood-soaked beards growling like a pack of rabid mongrels. Taking her time, she fired again and again taking out one dwarf after another with clean headshots that blew their skulls apart. With the creatures closing rapidly on her position, she thought of retreating, when Joseph and the rest of his squadron arrived on the scene to add their fire to the battle raging in the chamber. Forming up in a firing line they advanced forwards firing their rifles. More squads alerted by the gunfire raced in to join the battle adding their gunfire to the fight.
Outnumbered and getting hit from all sides the dwarves broke and began scrambling in all directions to escape. The soldiers refusing to allow any of the filthy beasts to live kept firing, until the last body was bleeding out from several gunshot wounds. With the chamber secured, Cora ran forward to see if there were any survivors amongst Falwen’s squad. The grey-haired man she had seen earlier lay pressed up against the wall, his intestines spewed out around him. Two dead bodies rested not too far from him, each surrounded by a pile of dead dwarven corpses that were smeared in a black tar like substance. Joseph came up alongside her, and as if sensing his presence Falwen opened his blue eyes.
“Sorry Joe…” he coughed, “Bastards crept up on us from behind …we didn’t see them coming till it was too late.” Blood gurgled out from his mouth. “Take care of my wife.”
His eyes went dark as all life left him.
Joseph knelt d
own beside the ranger and closed his eyes. “Rest my friend, you’ve earned it.” Wiping the gunk from his hands, he stood up and searched the chamber and asked, “Any survivors?”
Cora shook her head the motion repeated by the rest of the rangers.
All were dead, just like that.
Joseph rubbed his eyes tiredly, and then gasped with surprise. “The silly bugger found us a way out,” he muttered beneath his breath. To the left of him concealed behind a brick wall was a ladder leading up. “Looks like Simon has found us a way out of here.”
Cora her eyes blurred by tears from the sacrifices made by these men. Prayed that she wasn’t too late to save her sister.
~ * ~
The crowd of Orcs that had come to watch the clan on clan Duerza went silent. None had expected Togran Ka to fall. Many had considered him to be one of greatest warriors from amongst the Orc clans. Ka-gan grief stricken sat motionless in the dirt beside his father, his chest aching and his mind numb. This was his fault, if he hadn’t entered the pit… if he had only listened to his father, maybe… maybe his father would still be alive. Kozan as if sensing his dark thoughts leaned down a cruel smile on his lips and whispered in his ear, “Thanks for the help, I think I may let you live.” Ka-gan tears of rage spilling down his cheeks stood up and lifted his war axe. Kozan laughed and walked over to tap Grul Han on the shoulder. “Kill him.” Han shifted the weight of his Warhammer and approached him.
~ * ~
Kozan his heart beating rapidly, turned to face the crowd of Orcs, who were still milling about uncertain as how to react to the news of their new WarLord.
Smiling, Kozan raised his arms to the sky and roared, “Togran has led us astray from our ancient traditions for too long! He has diluted the bloodlines of our people! And forced us take up human weapons! All because he thinks we are weak! But we are not weak! We are Orcs! We do not hide behind filthy half-breeds! And we do not fear to fight our enemy face to face!”