Story [Issue 17] The Great War Part 1: The Remnants

[aojsd 144]

Note that this series will take part before the rebalance, and some of it even before the release of tier 2 weapons, more information of those times can be found in Hogree's "In the Beginning, Tanki..." articles here.

Ever since they lost, it was as if time stopped moving. Time and dates were forgotten. Every day was the same, always hiding in the day, always moving during the night. No place could ever be safe for more than a few days before the search parties came looking for remnants of the First Tier Army to eliminate. There was no way to communicate with other remnant groups, heck, nobody even knew if there were other groups of remnants. Everything had been destroyed. All of the long-range radios had been destroyed along with Boombox, their capital, or at least, what was their capital. At this point it was probably just another pile of radioactive rubble filled with the dead shells of hundreds of tanks. Morale was low. Everyone was losing hope. Some had little to no will to live. Many had already deserted or committed suicide. There were few known survivors.

Lyle Arphaxad was one of these survivors. He was relatively new in the army, only with the rank of Second Lieutenant during the fall. It had probably been years since it happened, and yet he remembered it like it was yesterday. He had seen everything. Watched them die. Killed by him. Lyle couldn’t even think of his name without a feeling of overwhelming sadness and anger sweeping through him. The image of his cruel smile still haunted Lyle both in his dreams and during the day. Until that tank was dead, Lyle could never be at peace. He had vowed revenge on that day, to kill, no, obliterate the tank that had destroyed them. That destroyed his childhood friends. Destroyed his parents. Destroyed his young sister. Yet here he was, running like a fool from the enemy soldiers he had vowed revenge upon. He felt like a wimp, a failure. He was losing hope, they would never be able to find a safe place to reorganize and settle until they could build up enough power to make an assault on the newly built enemy capital, Dusseldorf.

Lyle had to hold back tears as he remembered his sister, from when she was first assembled to the day of her demise. He would never forget her adorable laugh, her innocent smile. She was so young when they attacked.

The city never stood a chance. It had been under siege for nearly a year before the breakthrough occurred. Supplies had been running low, crime rates rose, and order had been almost impossible to keep. Once the earthen walls fell, all hell had broken loose. The dictators attacked everything, destroyed everyone. Had his squad commander not pulled him away from the destruction, from the explosions, from the area where he had killed Lyle’s family, Lyle would’ve been destroyed as well. They were lucky to escape. The enemies had been too excited over their victory and their bloodlust, or fuel lust, that they allowed the squad to slip away unnoticed and activate their supplies to quickly egress from the falling capital.

That happened years ago, and Lyle still hadn't gotten revenge. Their group was still on the run.

They had been moving for weeks since their most recent camp had been ambushed not hours after they had set it up. Luckily they had a numbers advantage and were able to drive away the hostiles, but at a cost. Their youngest and most inexperienced soldier had been skewered by a stray shot from a Railgun and destroyed instantly. Added to the fact that the enemies now knew the general area they were in certainly did not help boost their enthusiasm. They needed to find a new place that was safe, and fast.

They had only just discovered a new area, a large, dark cave embedded into the side of a large mountain, when disaster struck.

“Commander Asador! Hostiles are in sight! And they’re approaching fast!” Colonel Opex yelled.

“What? How? We only just found this place! And they were miles away the last time we checked!” exclaimed Major Dyer.

“Quiet Dyer! Complaining will do us no good at this point,” Commander Asador said, “Everyone go into the cave, we can hold them off from there, one cannot shoot what he can’t see.”

Asador, who had been famed in the army for his excellence in improvising in dire situations, was obeyed as once. The tanks immediately sped towards the entrance of the cave and began forming ranks approximately 300 meters in. Lyle held his breath as he awaited the arrival of the enemy forces.

As they neared the cave entrance, what was left of his hopes plummeted when he saw that they were outnumbered nearly 20 to 1. They couldn’t possibly conquer such drastic odds without, no. It would be too dangerous, and there was too much risk involved. The effect could easily destroy the enemies, but there was absolutely no guarantee, it could cause their own demise just as effortlessly.

Lyle and Commander Asador shared glances while standing next to each other.

“You see it too?” Asador asked.

“Yes, but we couldn’t possibly do it, it’s too dangerous, it could-“

“I know, but it’s also our only chance of survival. Our chances might be slim then, but if we don’t do it, our chances of surviving would be nonexistent” the Commander said solemnly.

“But, Commander!”

“I am your Commanding officer, you shall do as I say” Commander Asador said with a stern glare.

“Y-Yes, sir.”

“Spread the command to the rest of the group.”

As Lyle began spreading the Commander’s instructions, cries of outrage and disagreement were heard, but were quickly silenced by a deadly glare from Commander Asador.

“Whether you like it or not, this is our only chance! If you want to live, this is the only thing you can do. I am of higher rank than all of you, and you shall all do as I command, this is for your own good!” Asador yelled over the noise. It seemed to work, as all of the soldiers quieted down.

“On the count of 3, shoot.”

The enemy was only a mile away from the cave now, and were closing in quickly.

“1.”

They had reached the camp, which had been set up about two thirds of a mile away from the cave.

“2.”

They were extremely close now, the soldiers could see the orange tints of the railguns they wielded. The enemy hadn’t seen the remnants yet, and had just traveled 100 meters into the cave when Asador said the final word.

“3.”

Shots echoed throughout the cave as tens of shells impacted against the walls of the cave entrance. At first there was silence, it seemed that the enemies were too shocked by the presence of enemies so close to them. The first orange glow began emanating from a charging Railgun when suddenly, a loud rumbling was heard, and then an earsplitting crack.

After that, chaos ensued as the cave opening collapsed sending tons of rock falling down upon the tanks, plunging the area into complete darkness.

To be continued...



Big thanks to @gromatom for the signature!

Edited July 31, 2017 by Hexed

[GoldRock 6,165]

It seems you've pinched a few ideas from the Hunger Games series :P I like this a lot; it engages the reader, it's got a great plot, and effective dialogue. To improve, you could possibly add descriptive imagery i.e. paragraphs which describe the setting, the tanks, sounds and smells, feelings and the chaos of war, in more detail, so it creates more of an 'image' in the reader's mind - don't be afraid of the extra length it can add to your stories, for it is an invaluable technique of keeping the reader's interest throughout. Also, you could try a 'frozen moment' at the explosion part, in which you slow down the sequence of events drastically, and use detailed descriptive imagery in between those events. Otherwise, great story, and I'm looking forward to reading the second part ;)

[Remaine 4,687]

It seems you've pinched a few ideas from the Hunger Games series :P I like this a lot; it engages the reader, it's got a great plot, and effective dialogue. To improve, you could possibly add descriptive imagery i.e. paragraphs which describe the setting, the tanks, sounds and smells, feelings and the chaos of war, in more detail, so it creates more of an 'image' in the reader's mind - don't be afraid of the extra length it can add to your stories, for it is an invaluable technique of keeping the reader's interest throughout. Also, you could try a 'frozen moment' at the explosion part, in which you slow down the sequence of events drastically, and use detailed descriptive imagery in between those events. Otherwise, great story, and I'm looking forward to reading the second part ;)

[aojsd 144]

It seems you've pinched a few ideas from the Hunger Games series :P I like this a lot; it engages the reader, it's got a great plot, and effective dialogue. To improve, you could possibly add descriptive imagery i.e. paragraphs which describe the setting, the tanks, sounds and smells, feelings and the chaos of war, in more detail, so it creates more of an 'image' in the reader's mind - don't be afraid of the extra length it can add to your stories, for it is an invaluable technique of keeping the reader's interest throughout. Also, you could try a 'frozen moment' at the explosion part, in which you slow down the sequence of events drastically, and use detailed descriptive imagery in between those events. Otherwise, great story, and I'm looking forward to reading the second part ;)

Thanks for the advice! I'll be sure to take your ideas into consideration when writing the sequel. :)

[Joshua16 780]

Wow, Very nice first issue bro, well done, Congrats on ranking btw ^_^

[GoldRock 6,165]

Thanks for the advice! I'll be sure to take your ideas into consideration when writing the sequel. :)

You're welcome, can't wait to read it :P

[swede1 1,726]

I can't wait for the next issue :P , great job.

[q456wert 18]

Very nice issue

[I.King.Lagger 86]

Nice work

Suspense of what will happen next

[r_ADITYA980 45]

very nice waiting for next part. :)

[lnstantly 1,020]

Nice :)

[Contaminate 0]

THIS was so weird <_<

[r_bananaSWAG0 2]

i read the 1st line and i could tell it was good.. i didnt read the rest...lol