Chapter 3

"Holy shit!" One of the soldiers laughed "It really f.u.c.k.i.n.g worked!"

The laughter was short-lived as a barrage of bullets began to cut through the store. I threw myself down just before the snacks around me exploded into mists of oranges, whites, and other colors that made my choke on the dustified snacks.

Glass shattered, metal sang, and I heard pained screams as I quickly pulled myself across the store like a meth-fueled lizard. Gatorade man pulled by my vest's back handle and pulled me out of the zone of fire.

["Tangos on the Wal-greens! Tangos-!"] My brother's voice cut off as another hail of bullets tore through the storefront, forcing me and Gatorade man to retreat.

Dadadadadada-!

Gatorade man stuck up and returned fire from the back of the store, which, unfortunately, faced the wal-greens. The return fire was short-lived as I felt a weight slam into my back. I yelped at the and thought I had been hit, but the pressure kept pressing me down. I turned to see what it was and... Gatorade's bloodied face looked back at me...

I stared in shock, his nose was ripped in two and he was missing his right eye. Blood was gushing from his face and... his neck. It pooled on the floor amongst the scattered snacks and glass. It wasn't like in the video games or movies; bits of other... things. mixed into the blood. A bit of pink was mixed in and... I threw up everything I had eaten just a few moments ago. Now I struggled through throw off the soldier as the blood and vomit mixed under my chest. The stench... God... The stench was indescribable.

I cursed myself, my dad, my country, and every other entity I could think of as I struggled to even turn over. This man was in full gear too, which added hundred pounds onto this man who had nearly a hundred pounds over my. I was just an average pretty guy, not built like the bear the other men in the family were. In this moment, I had finally wished I had been.

The weight finally lived and I was dragged forward across all the bodily fluids. I saw bloodied boots and felt a few hot casings hit the back of me. The world felt numb and I only heard the rapid thumping of automatic fire. Shell casings were dropping on my right, but it all felt… Unreal.

Free of the weight, I slowly heaved myself to my knees before I was pulled back down by my brother. Somehow, this felt like a deja vu moment as he yelled at me, but I couldn't understand what he was saying. Rather than being deafened by gunshots, I think my mind was short-circuiting.

I just stared back at him, my thoughts a haze as I tried to wipe Gatorade Man's bloodied face from my mind.

I just spoke to him… We… He was alive.. I thought as my brother only scowled and pushed me down. I wanted to get back up, but he kept me down effortlessly. The floor was covered in a mixture of sodas and water as the refrigerated section had been peppered with bullets. Blood swirled in the sugary mixture beneath me as.

Just when I tried to get up again, I felt my whole body momentarily shudder. The liquid mixture on the floor also became disturbed, more than when the shells were landing in it. The floor shook and that was when I felt the world come out of its monotonous state.

"Take that motherf.u.c.ker!" I heard my brother call out. "F.u.c.k yeah!" He hollered as he removed his hand from my back. I could hear distant shouting. I got up and realized I had been dragged away behind the large foot island where they heated their little shit rolls and shoved them into those little bags. From where we were, we had a perfect view of the building across from us. The Wal-greens that was just on the boundary of the HOA I lived in.

The storefront sat on raised land, just like the guardhouse and the office for the HOA; Unlike the HOA, the storefront and its parking lot was smoking.

Before I could register why my brother was howling, I saw the storefront be torn apart my several small explosions - Like those videos of Chinese people setting off a bundle of firecrackers, but much, much more violently.

BURERERERERE - BRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTT!

I recognized that iconic sound as an A-10 Warthog.

BRRRRRRRRRT-BRRRRRRRT-BRRRRRRT-!

Followed by another pass seconds apart.

"Good hit! Good hit!" My brother yelled over the radio.

I heard the roar of the planes overhead as they circled around and my brother pulled me with him.

"Let's go!" He yelled.

. . . . . .

Run. The only thought that was in my head.

That was all I could think as I hauled my little brother after me out of that godforsaken dead trap. With most of my squad down, we were practically f.u.c.k.i.n.g shrimps to any large enemy element. That didn't help my friends though. Jackson had laid in his own blood. He was the first one to die and we hadn't even noticed him drop on contact. I felt that sink to the pit in my stomach when I thought about that.

Anderson and Kelmar also died but in the store. All that was left was Preacher, Hernadez, Kian, and I. We had already lost others when we tried to secure the house. I hadn't expected that. I was more concerned with securing the last member of my family, my precious little brother. Though in hindsight, I hadn't treated him so precious in the years previous.

I don't know if the house was a target for the forces, or they had just been canvassing the neighborhood, looking for anyone important. None of us would know, and the information wouldn't stem the loss of my friends. But at least Kian was safe...

We stopped in the hedges just off the old Home Depot lot, one of those large corporate home improvement stores that existed before the resources became scarce. Just beyond the hedges, a four-foot concrete wall sat. It offered us cover from that abandoned store and the hedges offered us concealment from the street. For once, I was happy that politicians loved their appearances more than they loved saving resources, or the whole damn street would have been baren.

I looked back at my little brother. His body was much too small to be related to us... too... much like our mother. But I had to remember that it as pops and I that were the irregularities. We looked like walking tanks, muscular and "Manly." It took a lot to remember that. Even when crouched, Kian was much smaller than me.

He had such a pretty face for a boy, and if I didn't know he was a boy, and my brother; I could have more than certain take him as a young pretty girl. He had long disheveled hair. It wasn't that he girly, but his looks were effeminate, or maybe the word was androgynous. With each passing year, he even began to look more and more like our mother. Not that he didn't before...

I had to pump the brakes on my wandering thoughts. It was a cl.u.s.terf.u.c.k of a situation. Whenever family became involved, one of the few things I learned to only care about, came under attack - I just wanted to blindly beat the issue into submission. I couldn't take on a foreign army, and the rogue state to the north. No. I could only run and take my family away.

In Kian's hands was the HK416 that Anderson had used, along with two spare magazines I had shoved into Kian's vest. I never wanted him to kill anyone, to have that taint his soul, but I would much rather turn my brother into a sinner than have him dead. Even if I had to die, I would get him away from here.

The thoughts had only lasted a few seconds and Kian felt my stare. He looked up with those trusting eyes, those innocent lost eyes that had just seen someone die in front of him. I looked away, guilty for something I hadn't even done, but I had a mission. A mission to get him out of here.

I brought my Onboard Tactical Assistant Device, OTAD, and flicked through a few menu options before I found the updated situation map of the area. Should we have been in our full battle gear, we would have been wearing the latest battle armor with cool-ass helmets that had a heads-up display and use voice commands to do all of this. Yet, we were caught with our pants down. Pops should be securing our gear and inbound to us.

On the small screen, I saw my squad on the screen - Zulu Squad, Coded Bear for today - and the surrounding DC area.

God... It was a mess...