Homo Homini Lupus

“Take cover Eli!” I tackled him to the ground as a flame snapped overhead. We were pinned down in a trench maze filled with Magma-Converting-Accelerator nests and about two-dozen enemy soldiers. They were as pissed as hornets if you intruded into their hive uninvited, which we did.

Snaps of fire were passing over our head, droning out the other sounds of the world and filling my head. Snap. Snap. Snap. There were crackles of fire in the distance that could be heard, and somewhere in the void there were explosive pops going off. This wasn’t our first mission, but I prayed it wasn’t our last.

Eli and I were pinned down behind a sandbag, enemy MCA nest unloading upon us. They have consistently been firing at us for the past five minutes, with no hint of hindering their barrage.

I looked to Eli, “Cover me.” Before he give me an answer, I rolled over the top of the sand bag and bolted forward. The flaming pellets were going in a straight line, and not randomly spraying. Thank god it was an unskilled Flamer.

I was able to bolt dash over, under, and around the fire snaps much easier. The hair on my skin, and back of my neck, were standing straight up; filled with adrenaline and coursing with the static electricity in the air. Time slowed, I was able to see the fireballs moving at a much slower fire rate. I was running through the gaps in between the balls. Despite time being slowed, I was not.

There was a straight path from the barrier we were to the MCA nest in the trench, and no other barriers between. Hell yeah, I was running alongside the walls then zapping to the opposite wall, not slowing my pace, or I slid on the ground to build up more charge, hastening my dash. I knew this would scare the living f**k out of those operating the MCA, and I was right it did. The fire rate began to slow, the fire pellets were now no bigger than the flames produced by matches.

From behind me I could hear the instantaneous crackling of electricity from Eli’s hand, moments later a white zig-zag surged past my face and struck the MCA, sending it into flames. Nice shot Eli. I bolted down to the ground and dragged the glove on my left hand against the ground. The energy built up fast in my hand and forearm, it was tingling and numb. I was preparing for a follow-up attack, just in case Eli’s didn’t finish them off. The explosion was muffled by the thunder following Eli’s strike, but if anything this only highlighted the attack’s devastation.

There was fire engulfed the nest, darkening the wood before turning it to ash. Pools of flame, were spewing and filling up the trench, I was luckily able to avoid the spills. I could hear agonizing screams from inside. There screams were of pure terror and pain. Two enflamed figures hastily broke through the crisped barrier. They were clutching the cooked flesh, exposed bone, and molten mush of what used to be their faces. Where their eyes once were was replaced with pockets of flickering flames that had liquefied the eyeballs, beyond recognition, into a white and red liquid with the consistency of almond milk. They no longer had fingers. Their fingers were replaced with boney appendages that were deteriorating at a slower, but still quite accelerated, rate as they clawed at the consuming flames. Both of the figures flailed towards trying to get me in their skeletal grasps. I guess this must be their last, and quite vain, attempt to take my life and ensure my damnation alongside them. An eye for an eye. I stepped to avoid their grapple attempt, I hit into someone and jumped. I reacted by drawing my knife, bolting to the wall to my right and propelling myself behind the individual who startled me. I had the perpetrator in a neck hold with my blade pressed to their jugular before I realized it was Eli, “S**t! Sorry man!” I dropped the blade as quickly as I had drew it.

Eli quickly lost tension and blew a breath of relief, “I should have none better than to startle you. We are in a rather dangerous and stressful scenario, therefore your hypervigilance makes sense.”

We clasped forearms, “Its okay. Next time I'll try not to press my blade against your throat” He nodded in affirmation, before turning and looking at the two piles of burning gunk.

In the time of Eli and I’s little incident, the corpses had broken down to the point of being nothing more than piles of foul smelling burning sludge. “Did I do that?” Eli asked. I knew his belief that killing is only an option when there isn’t another option. To me it seemed pretty clear cut that there were no other options, but I know Eli’s consciousness won’t allow that and will find him an alternate option that, hypothetically, could of worked.

“No, I did,” I lied with an emotionless face and tone, staring at the puddles as well. “They were burning a bit from your attack,” I held up my hand that was still jolting with electricity and chuckled a bit, “I finished them off by giving them a little more juice.”

Eli let out a little sound, “Nice pun.” His words seemed a little hollow, I think he might have bought my words consciously. Subconsciously, I think he knew it was his attack that ceased those men’s breathing.

We stood there for a few moments, among the fire and brimstone, and horrid smelling burning flesh. These quiet moments in the trench, we stood silent in trance. I viewed myself from the third person, like I was watching some war film. My eyes were fixated upon the flame, I didn’t even blink from the smoke that was singeing my eyes. I saw death and decay saturated my nostrils, but I could find no trace of its smell. The flames burned the image into my retinas, forever etching this image into my memory.

I felt nothing in this moment, no remorse or compassion. My body was numb, my gear was weightless. All I could feel was the electricity. It traversed simultaneously and sporadically throughout the entirety of my body. I could feel static electricity building up in my feet, head, and intertwining my hands with my plated gloves as if they were one. Suddenly, without causation, I began to feel a wave of energy that rippled through out my body. I could feel the electricity wrapping itself through every fiber in my body, cycling around my bones like a generator.

ZAP

Blue lightning had shot from the palm of my hand at Eli, like a whip it wrapped around him. I snapped the whip back, pulling Eli back with it and launching myself forward. Words left my mouth, I had no clue what I had said, as I flew forward. I could see each and every individual flake of ash that formerly belonged to the flaming skeletons, along with a fire ball being hurled to where Eli was just standing. My eyes tingled, I no longer felt the saturated squish sack, and were converted into pure jolts of electricity. My gaze pierced through the dense black smoke, there was one more soldier still alive, the inexperienced Flamer. Tears streamed from his eyes, he was flaring his teeth like a dog who was about to bite, flames engulfed his eyes and hands. He had shards of metal fixated into his skull and his torso, from which blood was steadily flowing. The ash on him dirtied his skin, and spotted gray freckles all over his pale skin.

My voice crackled with lightning followed with the booming of thunder, “Surrender Flamer.” I began building up more electricity, arches of blue lightning were emerging all over my body, making contact with other parts of my body or the environment.

His voice exploded, “F**K YOU! YOU KILLED MY FRIENDS, AND YOU WANT ME TO JUST SURRENDER!? YOU TURNED THEM INTO F*****G PUDDLES!” A single flaming tear made its way out from his rage filled eyes, finding its way down his boyish face to illuminate the darkened floor beneath his feet. “I WILL NOT SURRENDER,” a wave of intense volcanic heat seared me, causing me to draw my hand to keep protect my face from bearing the full impact. Suddenly, a bright flash went off and I was hit by a blast, only comparable to a solar flare, f**k.

I was rocketed out of the bunker at near terminal velocity. I could feel the flames devouring my combat fleece as I flew through the air, I lost my breath from the impact of the fire ball. The front of my combat fleece was nonexistent after the initial contact, exposing my flak jacket and undershirt underneath to further attacks. I abruptly, and painfully stopped moving through the air when I was slammed against the barrier that Eli and I launched our assault from.

Eli helped me up just as the Flamer stepped out of the smoke, a flaming humanoid shape that did not expose the human within. “I WILL KILL THE BOTH OF YOU!” He became a ball of erupting flame, projecting towards us as an all-consuming flame.

Words came out of my mouth as audible static, “Eli cover-“ I discharged my energy and snapped forward to meet the ball of fire. Not the most thought out decision, but the only decision that came to mind.

Thankfully, he couldn’t match my acceleration which allowed me to have about three precious seconds to analyze the scenario, assess the risk of my actions, and act accordingly.

One…I can zap him, not guaranteed to pierce his flame. Get behind him and strike him in the back, less flame to get through. Only problem is Eli is exposed and might not react in time…Two…The trench floor is covered by a solid two inches of water, zap it and stun him. Hans or Carlos, would be better suited for taking this guy…Three

The flamer and I were only a single arm’s length away, I began to direct my energy to my arms as pure energy blades.  I felt a jolt in the back quickly followed by a thunderous boom, Eli was siphoning some of his juice into me, allowing me to kick into overdrive. The water began to buzz loudly as it hit the water. Oblique tentacles of electricity surged from the thin layer of water, and pierced through the flaming veil and hooked into the wall of the trenches; embedding itself within the densely packed soil, preventing further assault from flamer.

Within moments after my electric spears anchored into the wall, the flamer’s fiery mass began to flicker as he struggled to get free. At first, the fire that shielded him like a mother would her own, and began to pulsate in sync with his heartbeat. The flame at first was strong and bright, like that of a star. Now, they are nothing more than the warm glow of a candle. The beats got slower, and the time between beats grew longer and longer. The flamer was dying.

 

I dispersed my electric hooks that pierced through his body and anchored him to the putrid trench, as his body began to fall I zapped forward to catch his body. Like a feather he fell into my arms, I couldn’t tell if this was due to him not being that heavy to begin with, or from all the energy surging through my body causing me to negate the realization of his weight. He weighed nothing, and in a few moments was about to become nothing.

I looked into his youth filled amber eyes, “You fought well, the Father and your father are proud.” Again a tear of fire dropped from the corner of his eye. It slowly glided over his blooded and electrified skin, leaving a trail of crusted blood in its wake. “You are going to see your friends soon,” he smiled. I moved my hand over his head, pushing his dirty blonde hair off of his face and removing some blood from his face as well.

His hair was infused with singed flesh, ash, and blood. It was a rather revolting combination that coerced me to match the flaming tears with electric ones of my own. I rested my hand on the back of his tattered mat of hair, my pink lined up at the base of his neck and the beginning of his spine. My tears were about to overcome the flood gates and spurt forth. I would not allow that. “Until we meet again.”

A lightning bolt surged from my pinkey, piercing into the flamer and severing his brain stem from his spinal cord. The Flamer’s eyes rolled back in their sockets, blood began to flow up his throat and out his mouth. The Flamer’s body went limp in my arms. My floodgates finally succumbed to the immense pressure that my compassion had built up, like sparks of electricity my tears jolted in every which way.

I felt a hand on my back, “Paul, we have to go.” I didn’t realize that Eli had made his way behind me during that whole moment, which scared me.

Eli was right, we had to go.

We had to leave the Flamer.

The Flamer is now nothing...

Author's Note

Let me know what you think.

Reviews

[Mariah Renae]

This is an interesting start! I am intrigued but I have a lot of questions. My two main tips, before I get to the questions, are (1) try to be consistent in terms of tense and (2) remember that all the reader has is what you tell them. Consistency of tense will make it easier for the reader. And for #2, descriptions are important. As a writer, Im sure you can see the whole scene play out clearly in your mind. But as a reader, all I have to go to build a scene are the words you write. Personally, Im having a hard time picturing the space this story takes place in and the way he is moving through it. In terms of space, I know they are in a trench, so are the walls you speak of the trench's walls? How tall are they? How wide is the trench? For that matter, what is a trench maze exactly? A maze dug into the earth? Can you see the sky? are they trapped there? Why are they in a maze? And you use the word Bunker at one point, is that synonymous to trench? When writing think of how you would describe the scene to someone who doesnt know anything about your story or its world. At least in the beginning.
Note: Not all of my questions need to be answered in the first chapter, they are just things Im wondering about as I read this. But some are crucial to your readers ability to picture the scene you want them too.
Then theres the matter of how he's moving through the space. For example: "I bolted down to the ground..." this could mean any number of things; he anchored himself physically, with bolts; he was in the air or on top of something and jumped/landed in a fast way; etc. Also, is he using the walls to propel his movement? Like one might in a pool, pushing off the walls to gain speed. And I want to know more about his electric abilities.
And why was he so gentle with the Flamer at the end? He seemed so unaffected by the deaths of the others so why is this boy's death different?
Lastly, there is the section where he has an out of body experience. Why is this moment monumental enough to remember? Why does he attack Eli? Is he protecting him? Does his electricity not harm Eli? "Words left my mouth, I had no clue what I had said, as I flew forward." How can words leave his mouth and he not know what they are? Is something else controlling him or occupying his body? And why is he flying forward? Is it voluntary or is he being propelled by something/someone else?
Anyway, I hope I haven't overwhelmed you too much. I hope these questions bring inspiration and I cant wait to read the next chapter. Let me know if you'd like to keep receiving my long winded feedback.
Happy Writing!
Mariah