Finally a good update! For mobile version...

Chinese, French and Latin. ( and a bit of Spanish.) What is your current rank in tanki?

Table tennis is my favourite sport.

I think that Hornet has the most annoying OP overdrive in the game. ( My opinion is based on it's performance in MM, since I find that I am killed a lot by camping magnums or shafts with overdrive.) Have you spent money on this game, and if so, how much?

Great tips and content, as always!

Chapter 11 They all stood, frozen, as seconds slid past hazily. Maybe even minutes had passed, but they were still rooted to the spot, indecisive. Then they heard fast movement behind, followed by rapid gunfire. The person who had moved collapsed onto the floor. Rose tried not to move but raised her head. She could not see anything in the sky above. Then there was a scuffling, and she saw an orange burst of light that eclipsed the moon; she fell to her knees and crawled to avoid the bullets. Then there was a resounding blast and a projectile exploded out of the darkness and rebounded off one of the cracked slabs of rock, exploding in mid-air. There were screams, then Rose was pushed back by a large group of people, then countless blasts and explosions echoed through the air. “Go!” yelled Rose, swinging herself up and running. She could hear heavy breathing and muffled footsteps behind her. Explosions joined the cacophony, and soon holes were appearing in the ground. Rose saw a group of people trying to climb a wall. Rose tried to make a warning noise but then a projectile that had missed her hit the wall and With an explosion of dust, debris, rubble, rock, and mysterious gases, green flames licked the entire desk and wall, whilst the stragglers screamed and fell to their knees. Rose coughed and nearly collapsed; her vision was watery, and her head spun. Blood streaked her forehead, her hands were burned, sweating and bleeding, and the pain that started from her forehead quickly worked its way down to her stomach. Liam, Leo, and Cherry helped her up, but then Cherry fell onto her back, as the green flames spread their way across the scattered rocks, metal poles and iron blocks. Leo helped her up and then they continued running. Rose looked up and saw blackened pieces of metal crumbling and falling down from the top. “We need to get up, fast, or the helicopter won’t be able to get us,” said Rose, pulling off her jumper and throwing it onto the ground. “We need to move as quickly as possible. Do not touch anything.” And then they started. Rose opened the front door and they were immediately blasted back by a few meters. Rose fell, flailing, onto the ground, but Leo, Liam, and Cherry stayed on their feet. They pulled Rose out of the wreckage and stared. There were many people running around the corridor; the passport area was completely ablaze, and some of the people running around were also on fire. As they advanced, they saw even more chaos unfolding, each level getting crazier until only ten people were running in the fifteenth corridor, most screaming for others or their leader. Rose ran to the elevator to the next level but was blown back onto her back for the second time. Fire was blazing across the floor, fast. The shiny silver automatic doors of the elevator were blackened and melting; they could see two bodies slumped against opposite walls inside. “What were you doing?!” shouted Liam over the din. “Why were you going to take the ele-” There was another explosion, then the wall to their right side was blasted away, revealing the ground below and bringing a powerful gust of windswept dirt into the corridor. Rose could see that the darkness was lightening. “Rose!” shouted someone. Rose turned and saw that a helicopter was waiting for them at the very end of the corridor, which had also been blasted apart. “Come on!” screamed Rose, pulling Cherry with Liam. Leo limped forwards but then fell onto his front. Rose let go of Cherry and ran back to help, but was nearly pushed through the hole in the wall by the onrushing crowd. Then there was another blast, and there were more screams as people toppled through the new hole that had found a home in the left wall. Rose grabbed Leo’s arm and pulled him to his feet. Then they ran towards the helicopter. “Get in!” screamed one of the people inside. It seemed to happen in slow-motion; Cherry, Rose, Liam, and Leo jumped into the air as the helicopter shuddered sideways and the corridor behind exploded. The blast made them stagger forwards slightly, as they flailed in mid-air. Redman appeared from the back and grabbed Rose. Leo, Liam, and Cherry stumbled and fell forwards in a heap onto the floor. “What’s going on?” asked Rose, as she helped Cherry to her feet and into a seat. “There’s been a change of plan,” said Redman, looking over at the burning building. “What?” said Rose. “What do you mean, a change of plan?” “Well, only seven of the original groups have survived and made it to the SPP so far,” replied Redman, nearly falling out of his seat as the helicopter lurched suddenly. Then Rose actually did fall out of her seat as the helicopter was blown sideways from a nearby explosion that caused half a tower to explode. “This is not many at all. We cannot split into strategic groups anymore. We just have to enter together.” Rose swallowed as she stomached the information, but then the helicopter was hit by a flaming piece of metal, which smashed through one of the windows in the cockpit and hit the person flying the helicopter. There was an ominous shudder, then the entire helicopter shook and started its descent. There were many screams, then Redman yelled: “Look out!” A long bronze pole was sticking out of a crumbling tower, and it impaled the helicopter by the back. Smoke, sparkling, and fizzing fire made it almost impossible to see or breathe. Redman coughed. Rose pulled off the dead flyer’s shirt, which was wet with blood, and covered her mouth with it. Then, with an enormous effort, she lifted herself from her seat. A sick feeling swept over her, and she swayed with overwhelming nausea. Clutching her head feverishly, she fell back into her seat. The scene before her swam hazily. "Rose?" asked Redman, his moustache tremulous, and his forehead lined with concern, "Are you okay?" "Come on,” muttered Rose faintly. Then the heat intensified suddenly. There was scrambling as they all searched for cloths and wetted them. “Come on!” repeated Rose, her voice muffled by the bluish-black shirt that she was covering her mouth with. “Okay,” said Rose, once they had all covered their mouths. She lifted herself from her seat, staggered, then clutched one of the cracked windows for support. She lifted her right foot shakily to the edge of the left landing skid. People below must have found what she did next comical, but the only eyes that saw were the ones that stared unblinkingly at the sky. Like a gopher, she poked her head over and her eyes became wide as she saw the drop. Then the helicopter shuddered again, and she almost fell out. “Rose!” Redman ran forwards and helped her, but then there was a horrible cracking noise, and he fell onto the floor, cursing and clutching his leg. Cherry helped him back to his seat. “It’s a far drop, down there,” said Rose, nursing her burnt toe. Redman made to take a look, winced, then fell back. Leo went to look instead. He saw the tower and the bronze pole that was helping them stick to the wall, and then looked down. His stomach lurched and he shuddered. The ground, which was littered with rusted broken pipes, bricks, poles, and the bodies of people, was fifty meters below them.

Chapter 10 Cherry sat up, gasping and sweating copiously. She was lying on a stretcher, with bandages on her arms, head, and feet. Then a door burst open, and a breeze came in, ruffling her hair. Rose walked inside, with a sombre expression on her face. “What is going on? I-” “Cherry, I’m sorry.” An icy warmth had drowned her; as she had heard those words, she froze, upright, and fearful. Her heartbeat quickened, and she said: “What?” Rose adopted a conciliatory tone and replied. “Bill,” she said. No, thought Cherry, no, he had promised. She let out a devastating sob. Rose embraced her tightly. Somewhere, she could hear singing, or talking; it seemed like a song. Her inconsolable grief was absorbed by Rose, who also had hot tears spilling from her eyes. Cherry’s already bruised hands thumped the stretcher in visceral agony. Everything that had happened in the few days proceeding Bill’s death was a blur to Cherry. She could not stand it: many times she would find herself imagining, foolishly, what would have happened if they had escaped. How happy and relieved they would be. How they would be somewhere safe, comfortable, warm, and how they would be relaxing. That world seemed so tangible to Cherry, for they had been so close. But she had not, as she thought she would have, been Cherry doubted whether she would ever feel again. Whether she would ever be happy again. She did not want it to end: she did not want to face the terrible reality, one that she constantly tried to loophole into a better state. It was too hard to continue without this numb comfortableness. Redman surveyed the skyline, which was littered with the remains of tall towers, broken aircraft, smoking debris, and spiraling pillars of dust. He walked forwards, but then a sharp pain shot through his right leg. He let out an involuntary gasp and limped backward, almost toppling onto the floor. As he walked back to the makeshift hospital ward, he turned and stared, like so many of the other survivors had, at the crater that had rested exactly at the middle of the camp that they had set up, which had blown up everyone that was in a twelve-meter radius from it. “You need to eat!” said Rose, who was plumping up Cherry’s pillows. As Redman entered, Rose looked at him accusingly. “Cherry, Rose is right, you need to eat,” he said, avoiding Rose’s fiery gaze. Cherry did not reply. Redman sighed, but before he or Rose could say anything else, the door burst open again. Leo, Liam, and Bill ran inside. Liam was laughing with Leo, but their laughter subsided as Rose and Redman glared reproachfully at them. Leo left through the door, but Liam lingered for a fraction of a second, then shook his head and followed Leo. Rose, Redman, and Cherry could hear their laughter. It was such a mocking noise now. As Leo and Liam laughed and talked, the blood-red sun sank a little, and the darkness intensified. The next morning, Redman called for everyone to gather in the makeshift hospital, being the newly instated leader. Once everyone had gathered inside, he spoke. “As I am sure you all know now, we lost more than two-hundred lives last week. Our mission to transfer our recruits, then all of you, failed. But it is time to start again. From today, we will be leading everyone through the newly made tunnel that leads from the SMH to the SPP. All the remaining Generals will be in leading the lower ranks, and hopefully, we can make contact with other nations under what remains of the SPP. It is our only hope: we cannot survive out here without water, food, or means of protection. We will journey, like the last time an attempt was conducted. Please listen to the plan.” Redman tapped at the wall behind him. Immediately, the lights in the room went off, and a hidden projector filled the space behind Redman with a map of Skyscrapers. “Now, you should all be familiar with this map. It is a map of Skyscrapers and its surrounding areas. Now, the route that had been agreed on has been completely destroyed: there is no possibility due to the fact that half of the SPP was blown apart in a small explosion. But you may ask how it exploded because it was a small explosion, but that is precisely my point; the SPP is very unstable. Any small lit flame could cause the entire thing to blow up, killing everyone within a fifty-meter radius. The entire SPP is littered with the remains of failed weaponry concoctions, unknown chemicals, and blackened pieces of metal, which could make the entire place, if possible, even more unstable. I cannot stress the importance of being vigilant, calm, and careful. Now Rose will take you through the plan.” “Thank you, Redman,” said Rose, as Redman stepped sideways. She took a red marker pen and drew an almost diagonal line that stretched from the Skyscrapers Border to the SPP. “Now, this is a very simple plan, but we want to make it clear. We will travel by helicopter from the border to the Power plant. Once there, we will split everyone into groups, to enter separately. There should be, as some of the thermal footage indicates, there will be a small rise in temperature as you proceed. Everyone will be equipped with a walkie-talkie, in case of an emergency. Now, the SPP should have a crater in the middle, similar to the one outside this room. If you slide down the ground and into it, there should be a metal tunnel coming out of both sides. Take the left one, and then proceed forwards until you see a drone. Stop there, and, if you want to and can find it, flick a green switch that should be located around the right side of the end of the tunnel. The entire tunnel should light up. Wait there for the other groups to arrive, and there I and Redman will discuss the rest of the plan.” Twenty-six days in It had been months since the first fatalities had struck, thought Cherry, as she re-lit the torch she had been given, and stared at Bill’s body. She had taken Bill’s watch and was wearing it like a talisman; she wanted it to survive, just like Bill would have done. The night air outside was cold and was a tasty dark blue. It was almost like the air outside the night that Bill had died. Rose woke them from their hasty sleep; Cherry looked at Bill’s stretcher, fumbled with his watch, then swallowed and turned towards Rose, Liam, and Leo. “It’s almost time,” she breathed. Then she opened the door. It was freezing: the combination of their breaths created a storm of white nebulae in front of them. “Put on your face masks!” hissed Rose, who’s mouth was partly obscured by the steamy coldness. She shivered. Once everyone had put their face masks on, Rose nodded and looked around. The black figures of buildings loomed menacingly over them all. The entire place seemed deserted until they heard movement behind them. Shadowy figures were moving sleekly away, but one of them nodded at Rose, who quickly said “Right, we need to move now!” As they crept along the cold, hard ground, which was already partly frosted, their feet’s crunching seemed to have been magnified ten-fold. Rose flinched as Liam took a loud an incautious step, and exclaimed loudly. “Liam! Be quiet!” she snapped. Time seemed to stretch infinitely. As they crept between the remains of buildings and metal poles, Rose stopped suddenly, and Liam, Leo, and Cherry nearly walked into her. “What?” asked Leo angrily, nursing his cut arm. Then he saw it. The SPP was right in front of them, but most of it was aflame. Smoke made its way down the burning building and engulfed them. “It’s okay,” whispered Rose, peering up at the building through the mountain barbed wire, rocks, glass, and metal. “It’s the right side only. We can still get in. Right, we-” But her words were drowned by heavy artillery fire. An unending spray of bullets rained down upon the ground near them; Rose ducked and pushed Cherry, Leo, and Liam underneath a slab of stone that quickly became riddled with bullets. Then the resounding noise stopped, and only an echoing, ringing noise filled the air. As far as Rose could see, nothing inside the building had changed except that more windows were missing. There was a scrambling noise behind them, then twelve people appeared, whispering fervently. “Rose!” one of them said. “What’s going on?” “Where is everyone?” “Shut up!” whispered Rose urgently. The twelve people looked up and saw the building engulfed in the inferno. Then there were more noises, and fifteen more people appeared behind the twelve. What was going on? thought Rose.

My three favourite activities are: 1.Playing table tennis 2. Drawing 3. Writing Who's your favourite table tennis player out of the following Xu Xin, Ma Long, Zhang Jike, Jan Ove Waldner, Zhang Yining, Tomokazu Harimoto, Timo Boll, Liu Guoliang, Fan Zhendong, Ding Ning, ( Yes there is more) Ding Ning, Koki Niwa, Sam Walker, and Liam Pitchford?

Chapter nine Twelve days in They were awoken by Redman’s rueful sigh of disapproval. Cold air drifted in from a gap in the tent and ruffled Leo’s hair. He could see people moving about, already awake, and the sounds of laughing; even playing. His heart ached to join. This seemed to show on his face, because Redman said: “Are you feeling alright, Leo?” “Yes,” replied Leo sleepily. Rose appeared, with dust all over her face and in her hair. “Redman, you need to see this,” she said. Redman paused, then left with Rose, leaving an even bigger gap in the tent. There were groans of displeasure as Cherry, Liam, and Leo were suddenly thrust under a fiery blaze of light. Liam yelped and made to zip the entrance to the tent when Justin came inside. He looked at them all and said: “Did you sleep well?” he asked, sitting on Rose’s empty chair and stretching his legs onto Redman’s, (Leo, Liam, and Cherry grinned at each other and stifled their chuckles, for all of them had pictured Redman and Rose’s scandalized expressions) “Well, I’m guessing-” “No, we did,” said Liam, whilst punching his pillow with a brutality that made Justin look positively alarmed. “Well, I’m g-glad to hear that,” said Justin, wincing as the pillow creased even more. “If you don’t like the pillow, I can get you another one, I-” “What?” said Leo plainly. He blinked, then- “Oh, I forgot. Why did you move all of us into this tent?” “Well, the temperature went down by an unprecedented amount last night, and Redman insisted on getting you guys in a tent, so we did it.” Leo felt a rush of gratitude for Redman, but then Cherry’s muffled voice disturbed his train of thought. “Could you keep it down?!” Her bedraggled face surfaced from her sleeping bag, but then she recognised who she was looking at, and her face transformed into an expression of utmost horror. “I-I didn’t mean-” “Well, I’m sorry if I disturbed you!” snapped Justin, storming out. “Cherry, if you would come with me,” said Redman, later that morning. Cherry followed Redman out of sight, but not before they had all heard him yelling furiously. Rose whistled nonchalantly, but her inexpert tune quickly subsided as Leo and Liam shot her annoyed looks. When Redman finally re-appeared, with a resentful Cherry muttering mutinously, Rose spoke. “Right, now we have sorted everything out, we need to build up a plan. Redman, if you will?” With a flourish, Redman pulled out a map of the entire city of Skyscrapers. It was heavily annotated, and some lines seemed to have been drawn by hand. All of those red lines intersected at one place - the Skyscrapers Power Plantation. “So, as you might have heard, a route back into the SMG is being established. Since you are all recruits, you are our priority. Our job is not to train you anymore, but to send you out of here as quickly and as safely as possible. We have already made contact with Berlin and Combe, and they are sending their troops here to collect you when we make another signal. We will only make a signal once we have you back in the SMG. You will be safe there until we can transfer you to an underground sanctuary.” Rose opened her mouth to speak, and as she did, Redman lifted the map of Skyscrapers. “Our route is from where we are now, the Skyscrapers Border Area, to the Skyscrapers Power Plantation, which is the safest place in the SMG. Once you are all inside the SPP, Rose will lead you to an underground bunker, which should be surrounded by metal doors. Once the signal is made, the doors will open by themselves, and you should take the path that is marked by red tape. If you follow the path to the end, you should see the troops from Combe and Berlin. Follow them and obey any order that they may give you. We will start going down our route when Justin comes back. Go and pack your things.” After they were all packed, with Rose in front of them and Justin talking with Redman, Rose re-capped the plan. They were to enact their plan after nightfall, for fear of being found. Twelve days, twenty hours in “All packed?” asked Rose, who was carrying a torch. They all nodded. Rose looked at Bill’s immobile figure and swallowed. “There’s been a change of plan. We can’t take Bill.” Cherry looked up, and there was a determined fire in her gaze. “No.” Rose looked expectantly at Redman, who looked at her. Then Bill turned over. Cherry let out a small scream; Redman and Rose both stared at Bill’s stretcher, alarmed. Then he tumbled out of his stretcher and onto the floor, with a small, shaky crash. Cherry ran forwards and knelt beside him, whispering. Rose followed. Everyone was staring as Rose and Cherry lifted a conscious Bill back onto his stretcher. His face had a permanently tallowy-whiteness to it, and his hair was matted, wet with sweat, and had congealed blood clinging to strands. “Right, you guys need to move, now!” Rose was carrying Bill, with Cherry by her side. “Go! We need to move!” She checked her watch. They only had an hour left to move. They could see the path that had been made; it was a jagged hole in the middle of the glass, rock, and dirt. Windswept shards of sandy glass obscured their vision slightly, and they jumped at small movements and noises. Redman led them into the tunnel-like pathway and then stood at the entrance. He talked into his radio. “Wait for us at the end. Keep your guard.” Liam walked past a body impaled by a sharp point of glass and stepped over rocks, tables, and more bodies. Cherry, Rose, and Bill were behind him and Leo. There was a white light at the end of the tunnel, illuminating the broken metal pipes and chairs. Leo and Liam had almost reached the end before they had realised that Rose, Cherry, and Bill were not behind them anymore. Leo jumped as the mournful cawing of a bird echoed through the night. Then a blazing light burst into being, so bright that it almost blinded them. Leo and Liam both let out cries of surprise, and then there were explosions. Leo ran back but tripped over a block of crushed copper. Spitting blood from his mouth, he saw Liam running as fast as he could, whilst tanks chased him. Wiping the last of the metallic-tasting blood from his lips, Leo followed, as the glass above shuddered. He looked up, to see the glass panes wobbling, and dust falling from the crevices that were in between each pane. Then the glass fell, raining down upon them. Leo and Liam then ran into four people: Redman, Cherry, Bill, and Rose. “Go!” they shouted. A blaring alarm sounded, and Redman led them behind a building. “Leo and Liam, are you injured?” “No,” replied Leo and Liam. “I’ll be okay, I promise.” Cherry and Bill were whispering softly to each other, whilst Redman and Rose frantically and fruitlessly tried to re-create a plan. Bill kissed Cherry’s hand. “I-” The building behind them exploded.

Ares is REALLY cool in my opinion, especially in parkour fights. If you are flipped, then you can literally drive around the entire map, planting mines. You can upright yourself against props, and it's almost easier to control! It's really funny to watch, too.

Chapter 8 There was a stunned silence. Suddenly, a fearful buzzing filled the air, and the crowd stepped away from the broken aircraft. Justin walked forwards with Hunter, Levi, Grant and Grandburg; they all examined the bodies with wintry disgust. As they stepped over the corpses and examined the metal blades that impaled most of the victims, a silence blanketed the murmuring. Hunter appeared, initially obscured by six large metal poles. He nudged Justin. Together, they moved the poles to reveal a hidden hatch. Justin kicked it open and went inside. Redman eyed the hatch warily. “Are you sure it’s safe to-” But Levi and Grant had already entered. Later, Justin, Levi, Grant, Hunter, General Reeves, six other generals, twenty-six majors, and five corporals were handing out lunches and making camp. The sky was a dark shade of blue now, and the air was moist and windy. Redman joined his group with a can of watery pears, six cold pink roasted beef patties flattened against two slices of bread, five juice boxes, and twelve bottles of clear water. He put them all down and then disappeared, re-appearing minutes later with a camp chair, a few logs, a couple of matchsticks, and a lighter. Soon, crackling fires drowned out the noise of birds, the whistling of the wind, and the shaking of the shadowy trees, whose branches had already become a place of refuge to two groups. As Rose shivered and leaned closer to the warm fire, she looked back and saw the half-destroyed buildings; the towering figures were blocking the entrance into the SMG. Infinitesimal glass shards were picked up by the wind and were blown into the air with the sand, lighting up the sky with pinpoint glintings of light. Cherry was stroking Bill’s hair, gazing at him with watery eyes that stood out against her dirt-streaked face. Leo was eating slowly, looking at another group, whose members were laughing at an inaudible joke. Liam was resting with his head upon a log, his sandwich half-eaten, his juice box lying crumpled on the ground. A fuzzy silence had rested upon the group, blocking out the noise of their surroundings so all they could hear was a roaring in their ears. Redman exchanged awkward and touched glances with Rose, who had the sense to pretend to be asleep. Then the darkness went up a few degrees, and Redman, who had been awake for five hours into the night, rubbed his eyes and rolled over onto his back. Also, starting from chapter nine, chapters will be much longer! ( around 1000 words for each chapter.)

Chapter seven Ten days after containment Justin’s new totalitarian regime over Skyscrapers was now met by weekly protests. Justin could not see any hope in forcing the public to remain calm, so started using the preponderance of law-abiding citizens to tempt protesters into obeying. “Law-abiding citizens,” said a harassed Justin one day, after a particularly tiring clash with protesters, “Will always reap a reward in the end, be it amenities to their allocated place of refuge, or extra provisions. Please remember that we are all in this together.” Bill was lying on a stretcher. Redman and Rose were shooting worried and nervous looks at his figure every few minutes. Rose was flipping feverishly through a copy of the newly quotidian edition of ‘The Guard’. “When is Justin going to announce what happened last night?” asked Rose. “Well, he said today, but he didn’t expect this many people to be protesting,” replied Redman nonchalantly. “You do need to read The Guard properly, Rose.” “I do,” said Rose. Redman looked skeptical. “Redman!” said Justin, running out of nowhere. “Didn’t I say specifically that everyone should be in the SMH by nine? I said it in the guard! You need to read it properly, Redman!” Redman looked most morose when he took his seat next to a smug Rose. He barked huffily at Cherry for looking at him. “Right, quiet!” yelled Justin, from his high seat. There was silence. “As some of you might have already heard,” he glared pointedly at General Reeves, “There was an attack yesterday night.” There were murmurs from the crowd. “This has confirmed our fears. We need to evacuate many of you out of skyscrapers. Spies have been brought into Skyscrapers in the form of robots. Do not panic, for we have a way of testing you. We will need to do that before you leave. Our telecommunications system has been implemented to an advancement to code red procedure. Atra has already been alerted of the imminent threat of open warfare in Skyscrapers. They will be here by evening. You have two hours to gather things and go down to sector five of the Skyscrapers Military Ground. There we will let people who have tested negative go. Your time starts now." Redman was going around skyscrapers, checking on homes and people, so the group of recruits were left to Rose. They had all been given a tag number and been tested. As she made them gather their things, red lights flashed through the air. This did not disturb Rose, who seemed to be well informed of the procedure. Then there was a loud siren, and a voice said: “You have thirty more minutes to gather relatives, things, and get to sector five of the SMG. Those who are untested within this period cannot leave. If you are untested and still in Skyscrapers by the time the aircraft from Atra have arrived and left, then you must alert an official. Five hundred people will be staying back to make sure everyone is safe. Trust them and obey every command they may give you. You have thirty minutes.” Rose seemed more agitated as she pushed them out of the garage, giving them food, water, and a small pen knife concealed within a black uniform. As she helped Liam search for his lost shirt, another alarm sounded. She fell to her knees. It was ear-splittingly loud, reverberating around the room, and she had to put her hands across her ears as she ran out, to see what was happening. A blaze of fiery warmth hit her; the bluish grey sky was melting, dribbling sluggishly into the earth. She watched as the gargantuan black shape reached the ground. The spacecraft-like shape reached the place below the hill on which Rose stood, watching. She ran down, and saw Redman, Leo, Liam and Cherry standing at the back of the crowd. Cherry, Loe and Liam were holding Bill’s stretcher whilst Redman pushed and stood on his toes, trying to locate Rose. “I’m here!” she said, and Redman turned. He was sweating heavily in the light and fire from the engines of the aircraft. Redman saw Justin calling for everyone to make a queue, and promptly started ordering Cherry, Leo and Liam to do so too. As they got into line, tanks started appearing through large hatches that were placed along the right side of the aircraft. Their turrets turned towards the crowd, watching them. “Quiet!” yelled Justin, who was standing on a tank. There was silence. “Right, before you enter, you must tell my troops your name and tag ID. If you test positive, then my troops will detain you. It will be for your safety. Please comply with every rule they might give you. You may move now.” Within two minutes, the sky was clouded with dark black spaceship-like aircraft. Five had already landed, and passengers were being evacuated into them. Generals Hunter, Levi, Grant and Grandburg, who had walked out of the small hatches, were helping Justin and his troops to detain people who had tested positive. But then a resounding explosion drowned the air, and the entire crowd looked up, to see two burning aircrafts heading straight for the highest skyscraper in Skyscrapers. There was a terrible, horrible grinding noise, and with ominous creaking and smashing of glass, the entire structure that had once dominated the skyline started to descend upon the people who had made it. The crowd ran, trampling people, suitcases, pills, syringes and tables in their race to get out of the destructive path of the falling skyscraper. Some ran into the aircrafts’ open hatches, others back into Skyscrapers. But then the earth-shaking, dust-exploding chaos stopped. Everyone looked up, to see the massive skyscraper leaning against another building, stable. Rose let out a sigh of relief. As Justin re-made the queue, staring apprehensively at the figure of the skyscraper, another aircraft landed. But something was wrong. It was smoking from three of the four engines, and the back was blazing with fire. The hatch opened by itself, startling Justin. Slowly, as the crowd walked forwards, Rose caught sight of bodies strewn everywhere inside, platinum-coloured blades impaling most of them through the chest.

You might want to check it first, though.

Are you trying to write a poem yourself? You could post it separately in the AWS.

Thanks for the feedback, but I did say that Redman opened the door with 'inconsequential force'. I would hope that this would imply that he opened it in a particularly unusual or loud way. It's nice to have some crictical feedback, though I do find it surprising that you would focus on such an 'inconsequential' detail. P.S ( thanks for reading so thoroughly )?

Chapter six 225 hours into containment The code red procedure. People who refuse to cooperate, break curfew, or disobey any other rule imposed shall be detained and, depending on the degree of their crime or/and violation, subsequently punished or sentenced to death. Curfew times and exceptions. You may leave your allocated place of refuge only between 5AM-5PM. You may leave for vital trips. You may leave to train, only if you are accompanied by a high ranking military person. (definition for this purpose: above captain rank.) If you are a high ranking official, then you may leave at any time for any period. Do not make loud noises. Redman led Rose, Cherry, Bill, Leo, Liam and fifteen other recruits from different sectors to meet up with Captain Serena, General John, and General Molly. Redman looked satisfied that he was still the highest ranking official in the group. Grinning, he said; “Right, recruits. Due to the current situation, your training will take place underground. Captain Rose and Serena will take you to your training sector. Molly and John, follow me.” Molly and John looked rather grumpy at being addressed by their names rather than their ranks. Redman clapped his hands together, and led Molly and John into the garage. Later, Redman emerged into the Skyscrapers Underground Military Training Ground, carrying large metal weights and blueprints. Molly and John were seen racing along in his wake, carrying more blueprints and sheets. “The time has come for you to choose a tank that will suit you best in the battlefield,” said Redman. He rolled out the blueprints on the floor. “Whichever one looks nicest to you, pick it. I do not advise you to look at the actual blueprint designs as a reference; the factors in the designs are too advanced for you yet,” said Redman, examining a heavily annotated diagram of a turret. Rose was also inspecting a blueprint. Cherry, Bill and Leo saw Liam looking at a very intricate diagram of a smoothly mechanical turret. Cherry pushed Bill into Leo, who toppled sideways into a table, and snatched the blueprint from Liam. Liam turned around, and saw Cherry being chastised by an indignant Rose, and Bill and Liam being helped to their feet by Redman. Twelve minutes later, no one had made a choice. Molly was discussing something with John, who was nodding. As Bill walked past him, Leo stuck out his foot. Bill fell straight onto the wooden table with all the blueprints on them. There was a loud crash, and Redman looked up, looking livid. The other recruits were huddled together, talking. As Cherry walked passed, smirking, one of the group walked up to her. “Have you chosen a turret yet?”he asked. “No, but that one looks nice,” replied Cherry, pointing at a smooth and grey drawing. But as she turned around, the boy drew a blade from his pocket. It was long and silver, and it gleamed in the semi-darkness. Cherry let out a yell, then all of the group drew blades. Redman whirled round, and he was almost decapitated by a blade that had buried itself in the wall. Rose, Molly and John looked around. A blade whizzed past Molly’s arms, but stuck John in the leg. He fell to the floor, just as three silvery blades struck Bill: one in the right leg, one in the left arm, and one in the chest. He fell with an agonising crash, into a table. Redman fired at one of the group. The boy hit the wall. Small vestiges of broken wall paper fell on top of Rose, whose gunfire was instantly muffled. John threw a grenade into the middle of the huddle of people, who scattered. Five of them collapsed onto the floor, but around ten of them escaped, running out of the doors. Redman followed one of them, a boy, and fired. Rose did not see if the shots had hit. She saw Molly wrestling with a woman, but before she could properly register what she had seen, a silver blade whizzed past her face. John shot a man down, and then Rose saw that Molly had managed to subdue her opponent. Rose fired at a man fleeing through the fire-doors, and he collapsed. Molly and John ran to join Redman, but Rose ran back. She helped Leo, Liam and Cherry lift Bill onto one of the blueprint tables. Blood spattered onto the blueprints, refleecting purple against the navy blueness. “Stay with me!” yelled Rose, scrambling around for a first-aid kit. As Redman advanced down the alleyway, there were odd scrapings and dripping noises as he went closer to the end. An eerie yellow light made the walls look brown, and the puddles looked like ink. There was a loud clang and a spray of water hit Redman; he exclaimed and a shadow dropped from the pipes. Redman staggered as a blow to the head set in. Then he fired randomly through the water-fall like cascade. The bullet perforated the sluicing water and Redman heard a loud thump. He stepped through the water tentatively, his trepidation exacerbating. The body of a boy was revealed, sprawled in front of the water leaking from the cut pipe. Redman’s hands found a wet, cold and hard something. It was metal and it had come out of the boy’s skull, exactly where the bullet had landed.

Chapter five Containment day two The skyscrapers hospital had collapsed in on itself, killing all of the construction workers, tank surgeons, doctors and nurses inside. Rose and the other people standing outside were forced to watch the unfortunate victims as they pressed their hands against the half-broken windows. Screaming and pounding on what glass was left, those inside looked immensely betrayed, unable to believe that they would be abandoned. Visceral guilt had swept over Rose, resulting in her turning away. She regretted that now. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Until the evening, it was almost what could have been considered a ‘normal’ day. Redman had yelled himself hoarse at Cherry, Leo and Bill. (Liam had gone to Shaun's stretcher to talk to him.) Rose was scanning the skyline for some indication of who was enforcing the containment. Cherry slumped against the wall, sweating. “Do we have to?!” “I told you to keep it down!” hissed Redman. “You need to train!" Redman exchanged dark looks with Rose. Cherry scowled. As Redman started berating Cherry, Rose saw something in the distance. “Shut up!” she snapped, as Redman opened his mouth again in an angry retort. Cherry turned her head, looking incredulous but amused. “How dare-” “There’s a flag there! Look! A black one! Gimme your binoculars!” Rose grabbed a pair of binoculars from Redman’s pocket. “What are you?... ouch!” “Look! There’s a flag waving in the distance! Near the SH!” “Where? What are you talking about?!” Bill and Cherry were clambering onto Redman’s seat. Looking worried, Redman passed the binoculars to Cherry. Moments later she saw a red flag with snake-like inscriptions clearly visible against the blue skyline. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Generalissmo Justin called a meeting in the SMH. A new regime of strict rule was to be imposed. A code red procedure was rumored to be the main principle that Justin would force upon the inhabitants of skyscrapers. Redman was now shepherding the recruits inside the SMH. Rose was talking gravely with Justin. “Right!” said Justin, over the clamboring and shouting. He walked to his podium-like seat and addressed the crowd. “As I am sure you have all heard, Captain Rose of sector one of the skyscrapers military base spotted a red flag in the evening. Me and my equals have drawn only one logical conclusion from this sighting. We must impose a strict code red procedure upon the entire city of skyscrapers. For those unfamiliar to this particular procedure, you may ask a superior, who will get you an information leaflet. I cannot stress enough how important your compliance will be. Our priority is your lives, and however rough or inhumane our decisions may be, we troops at the skyscrapers military base assure you that it will benefit everyone in the end. Please keep faith, obedience, trust and mutual respect. Goodnight.”

Chapter 3, part two Redman grabbed Shaun’s arm and pulled him sideways, just as a powerful gust of dusty wind made them topple over. Redman stood over Shaun, shielding him as shards of crystalline glass and clanking pieces of metal rained down on them. Shaun felt Redman stagger slightly, then he fell onto him. Coughing and bleeding copiously from the head, Shaun pushed Redman off him. Redman’s face was bleeding, infinitesimal shards of glass were embedded in his cheek, arms and shirt. The small crystals were deep, too deep and too small to pick out. Black blood was smeared on the edges. Then Shaun’s vision went blurry. Dark edges materialized in the crevices of Redman's legs and face. His hearing became fuzzier, and his head hit the rocky floor with a loud crack. Chapter four Containment begins “I strongly advise you all to refrain from resisting. If there is no compliance to any rules or curfew set, then you shall be detained. A leaflet will be handed to you by drone or person in a tank. There you can find your curfew times. Please do not resist.” The same metallic voice had echoed throughout the rubble and destruction. Nobody could tell where it came from. Later, thousands of drones had appeared in the skyline, bringing leaflets. They dropped them in huge piles in the middle of the wreckage. Many people flinched as they were dropped, as though afraid they would explode. Rose ran forwards and picked one up. She passed some to Field Marshal Jarath. He grimaced as he stepped away. His right leg was bleeding badly. Redman and Shaun were lying on stretchers. Shaun had a dark laceration across his face and ripped trousers that had shards of glass drawing tiny beads of blood. People were emerging from crushed tanks, or the ruins of houses. Bill limped out of the nearly crushed shack that he had taken refuge in. His hand was striped in blood. Only ten skyscrapers were visible, murky through the mist of smoke, dust and dirt that obscured the sun. Rose pulled out a whistle, and blew it. Twenty or so people quickly emerged, and followed Rose. “I need all your hands,” she said. “We have a lot of calls from the Skyscrapers Hospital. I’ve got seventeen red tags, one hundred or so black tags, fifty yellow tags and seven hundred green tags. Sixteen hundred people are missing. Find them.” “I’ve found someone!” Leo said. The mangled remains of a body was crushed underneath a large metal hammer. They pulled the person out. He was dead. “Okay, send him to Dr. John!" said Rose, pulling him onto a stretcher. “Don’t damage his face! We need to identify him!” “Someone here!” yelled Captain Ross. He was pulling out a woman who was burnt and bleeding but breathing. “I need a stretcher and a red tag!” shouted Ross. He took one from Rose and put the woman on a stretcher. “Help!” said a voice. Rose looked down, and saw a hand sticking up from the ground. “Help, please!” Rose took a large metal thing from the ground, and dug underneath. A woman was cowering there, with sixteen bodies lying next to her. “I need people here!” Redman was pacing around the site, anxious. Then General Robin came. “I’m sorry, but we couldn’t save Shaun.”

Chapter 3 It was a rather grumpy affair at breakfast. Field Marshal Jarath had come to give a strict lecture to all the soldiers, during which Redman and Rose kept on looking at each other. Presently, Jarath left, leaving Rose and Redman to shoot one another looks without any background audio. Once they had eaten their fill, Rose left, which meant that they were left with the wrath of Redman for the remainder of that day. “Get your leaflets out.” Shaun noticed that Leo had shot a rather resentful look at Cherry as he pulled out a ripped edition of "The Guard". “You will be completing task one today,” Redman said. “So get on with it.” Twenty minutes later, they were heaving heavy pieces of stone and rock towards Redman. “Move quicker!” he barked. “If you want to use controls to turn a turret on a real tank, not the recruit tanks you've been driving, then you need arm strength and-" But his words were drowned out by an ear-splitting alarm that blared across the entire sector of skyscrapers. Leo and Liam cursed; Shaun, Bill and Cherry jumped. Redman looked around, confused. Like a flash of red lightning, lights started strobing the place. There were sounds of electrical crackling, then an entire house blew up. Cherry screamed. Smoke billowed out of the wreckage, and another alarm, a louder and more intimidating one, joined the now crescendoing cacophony. “Get inside!” yelled Redman. Suddenly, a huge portion of metal, which had been hanging precariously at an almost impossible slant, toppled over and crushed a tank. Cherry cried out hysterically. There was a rumbling, then the buildings started to shake. The ground split; the dirt was like a fluctuating blanket, everywhere people were falling into the dark belly of the earth. Bill ran forwards but was nearly flattened by a falling tree. Cherry grabbed Bill and pushed him back as the tree crushed another two tanks. A burst of smoky haze pummeled them; like wind it engulfed the buildings around them and swept up dirt and dust. Cherry took shelter inside, but no sooner had she entered than the windows exploded. The floor rocked, and then a burst of orange light blew the windswept dirt even further, smashing more windows and stained walls. “We need to get out of here!” yelled Shaun, over the howling and whistling. He turned to see a huge shadow enveloping him. With the sound of smashing glass and a horrible, guttural grinding, the building shuddered and staggered forwards. Shaun tried to run.

Chapter two A miasma of mundane sombreness seemed to follow Captain Rose, whose talks of over-complicated building schedules' tedium had seemed to increase in intensity as they advanced. Many of the recruits had had to be slapped back into reality, as the lazy heat got hotter. So it was no surprise that when recruits Bill, Cherry, Leo, Liam and Shaun finally reached the end, they were extremely grateful. When Rose saw them all collapsing into armchairs and rubbing their eyes, she frowned in disapproval. Exchanging knowing looks with Redman, she said; “ You should really get used to this, you know.” Bill, Cherry, Leo and Shaun gaped at her. “Go to bed,” she advised them, “Looks like you need the rest.” “Ah-no don’t go yet!” said Redman, strolling into the garage. “What? Marshal Redman, I think that they can have some rest,” said Rose, looking concerned. (Her eyes had roved over the bedraggled-looking Cherry, the pallid face of Bill, and the sweat on Liam, Leo and Shaun’s shirts.) “I still have to give you the training course,” replied Redman robustly. Rose looked rather scandalized at being reprimanded for her soft-heartedness and stomped away, exceedingly morose. “You will have ten weeks to finish this, and whoever finishes best, in our professional eyes, shall be chosen. I expect you all to be working very hard. Very hard indeed,” he dropped some leaflets on the floor. One was patchy and dusty, one clean, one scribbled all over, another ripped, and the last one looking slightly beaten down.“Now, to bed!” And with that, he left, leaving a ringing silence in the room. Bill, Cherry, Leo, Liam and Shaun looked at each other. There was a scramble, and two minutes later, Shaun was clutching a clean, fresh edition of the guard, and displaying a bruised knee, Liam holding onto a dusty copy, with a slightly custodian gleam in his eyes. A continuum of the skirmish was where Bill, Cherry and Leo stood. “What in the?!” A blaze of light lit up the garage, as Rose and Redman stood, frozen, staring at the copies strewn across the floor, and the thrashing figures of Bill, Cherry and Leo. A white-hot, blazing sun lit up the sky, which was a ragged explosion of orange, purple and red. “What do you think you’re doing?! “ yelled Redman. “It’s six in the morning!”

Containment in Skyscrapers Skyscrapers, 100 years ago The blackened and burning tanks lay docile against the bullet-perforated walls. They stared at the opponent’s shell. Metallic scrapings echoed hauntingly across the ghostly rubble, and the protective domes made the buildings reflect incarnadine, as though it was caked in blood. The charging line of tanks with burning and twisted turrets fired through the eerie light, able to see the remaining stragglers. Fire illuminated rusty alloys, their green colour slowly turning black, the fire bubbling sluggishly. Retaliatory projectiles exploded out of turning turrets, throwing up plumes and puffs of windswept dirt. The bangs continued to rocket the battlefield until only one blackened corpse of a tank stopped, exhausted. Smoke leaked out of the black crevices of the hull. With a burst of orange, blue, red, green, yellow and black, it exploded. But two survivors had already headed North. Pillars of smoke clouded the skyline, as the flag with the ouroboros inscriptions was sliced to pieces, as the original tankers finally re-claimed their land. Chapter one Skyscrapers in the present Recruit Shaun Leever was woken up by a loud hoot. Marshal Redman opened the door of the garage with inconsequential force, startling some birds in a nearby tree. As a result, reproachful squawks and indignant hooting echoed across the land. Captain Rose, who had been dozing lazily in the heat, quickly started. “ What did you have to open the door like that for?” she asked ruefully. “We have new recruits”, Redman said. “And you should not be questioning me. Right, you lot. Get up!” “You heard him!” With groans and much clanking, the new recruits dove out of their "beds" --they were really metal cages -- and lined up in front of Redman. “Right,” he said, adopting a maddeningly patronising and stern tone. “Since you are all in the top 100 of your state sector, I assume that you all know what you have signed up for?” There were murmurs of assent, quickly stifled by the look Rose gave them. “You have all tried to join the SMA and have got through all the stages. Now, today is day one. Rose here,” Redman nodded towards Captain Rose, “will give you a tour of Skyscrapers. You can ask questions or do anything else except wander around by yourself. Okay?” he said briskly. Without waiting for an answer, he continued: “After the tour, I myself will present the ten week course for you.” Meanwhile, in the Skyscrapers hospital, a man had contracted some unknown disease that had caused him to freeze. He had worked in the SH as a tank surgeon and had operated on a half-decapitated tank only five days ago. This particular tank had a mangled turret topped with a frost coating, uncannily similar to his symptons, which the unfortunate tank-surgeon had touched. The victim of this frosty attack had been travelling North... To be continued...