Chapter 1

A failed chapter from a failed book. Originally titled The Battlefront

Date: October 26, 2076. Twenty years later.

“Sir, we have an incoming message!”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Put it through,” says the commanding officer. A short screen appears in front of him. It's the access code panel. This must be an important message. “Everyone out!” he calls. Everybody except for me, a man of twenty-nine and a girl of thirty-one left the room. He punched in the code to the panel and the current President of the United Nations appeared on screen.

“United Nations president on deck! Salute!” said the commanding officer. We call him Bill, the Sargent Major of the Army. I'm Trace, Command Sargent Major. The twenty-nine year old is Jack, the Specialist. And the girl is my assistant Hannah, the Sargent First Class.

“At ease soldiers,” said the UN president. “I have some good news. Enemy forces are retreating!”

We cheered as the screen went black. We have been at war for so long it feels good to have a break. I walked out of the room to inform the others in my sector. I walked down a few metal plated halls and enter a crew barracks. My crew is waiting there.

They all look at me questioningly. I leave them to wait by walking to my bunk and closing my eyes. As I lay there the crew stays silent until they're sure I'm asleep before they start talking among themselves quietly. They held brief discussions about what our meeting was about.

They looked at the door and noticed something different. The door was shut and locked. They looked around and also noticed I was sitting up alert. Something about the pressure in the air was almost suffocating. I decided to be extra thorough. I took all of my crew down to our bomb shelter. As soon as I closed the door the whole place started to shake. It was a bombing. But the UN said they retreated. After a quick head count I realized Bill wasn't there. I left Hannah in charge and rushed out of the shelter. You could hear the whole place caving in. Swiftly, I rushed up a few flights of stairs to the main room where they had their meeting. Bill was sitting there doing nothing to help or protect himself. I grabbed his arm and dragged him to his feet.

“Leave me here to die, Trace,” Bill said with a stubborn look.

I scowled and said, “No, damn you. After all we had been through? I don't think so.” I picked him up from the waist and began to head down the stairs again. As I hit the last one the shaking got more violent. A few sickening crunches and the stairs started to collapse. “Open the doors Hannah!” I screamed. I was hoping down the stairs on the stable parts, avoiding the falling debris. I glimpsed Hannah and I dove through the doorway. Hannah slammed the door shut and we were safe for the time being.

Hannah helped us up and sighed. She slapped Bill as hard as she could. “Don't you ever do that to us again!” She huffed and walked back to the squad area. Bill sighed as the place rumbled. He walked over to the squad area also. Bill had been defeated so I needed to step up.

“Alright. We're going to wait out this bombing. I need you all to remain calm. There was one way out that they knew of. The doorway and stairs. But we, Bill, Jack, Hannah and I, have made an escape tunnel. We need all personal to evacuate the shelter immediately. When everyone is safely out, I will call for an emergency evac,” I said to the crew of the army. We were stationed in a remote area of the artic and Charlie had recently found our location. “We will split up into four squads. Alpha on me. Bravo with Bill. Echo with Hannah. Foxtrot with Jack. Line up!” I walked amongst the crew dividing them into squads. Every squad had it's advantages and disadvantages we had planned for.

Bill seemed to regain his composure. “Alright men, let's move!” He led the way to the tunnel and opened it. As it creaked the smell of gun powder, dust and burning stone grew intense. We all covered out faces and rushed in. When we arrived at the mouth of the tunnel we split up, all heading on a different path to the rendezvous point. Alpha Squad headed towards the mountains. Bravo towards the swamp. Echo towards the canyon. Foxtrot towards the ocean. I sighed.

“Bravo, Echo, Foxtrot. This is Alpha Leader testing do you read?”

Some static and three times I heard the reply, “Hoo-ra!” A little of my anticipation eased just then. The commlink worked. I gathered the squad under my command and said, “Let's get going. If we go we should be the last there in about a half hour, providing nobody encounters anything.” The squad got up and we left.

Author's Note

Ignore the grammatical errors. Enjoy!