Chapter 1: Lemmings

A world where the only thing people know is war and oppressed by those in power. a group of rebels try to make a difference in a world ravaged by super powered humans and cyborgs in an all out war.

“Get down!’ a scream echoed throughout the burning woods as I quickly dropped to my stomach just in time to see trees burst into flames. Crawling as fast as I could, more explosions were happening around me as my comrades were sliced, shot, and stabbed one after another. Taking a quick glance towards the darkness of the burning woods I saw the glow of the enemies’ cold metallic eyes. I wanted to look away but the hopelessness of my situation was crushing my legs, unable to stand. Is this it; is this how I’m going to die?

Suddenly I was quickly lifted up by strong arms and was forced to start running my way through the woods. I looked at the man running next to me of me. It took a while but soon I recognized the man as our corps designated officer, Marco. “We need to disengage! We’ve lost too many!” He looked at me, sweat dripping off his face as we kept running, zig-zagging through the woods while hearing the distant sound of trees falling over, they were coming for us. “Hey Ro don’t go dropping your pace now c’mon man, we can make it out of here!” I-I know but I’m running out of breath here! Our whole corps had been out here for 48 hours, started off fifteen strong, but I had a feeling that number had drastically dwindled.

  “Duck under them bushes over there” Marco rasped between breathes to me while pointing at this brush near a more the untouched part of the woods. They were surely still searching for us, I tripped over, giving in to the pain in my leg and quickly crawled my way underneath the brush. Marco did a quick slide next to me, he steadied his breathing and I covered my mouth as to cause less noise. Marco turned to me, sweat thickened on his face, “keep your mouth shut and don’t move”. Don’t have to tell me twice I knew what to do in these situations at least. From my right I could hear the enemy talking in the distance barely audible due to the noise of their strange flying mechanisms. A Hornet huh? I tried to act calm but I was panicking, heart pounding, sweat accumulating, and afraid my bowels would loosen. Thanks the lords! The voices started growing more distant as quiet finally came back to the woods. I knew to stay low for a few moments but I was quickly becoming inpatient and just wanted to head back to the camp, how long have we been under this brush? Seven minutes, 10, maybe even 30 minutes?

To my right I heard shift of movement, I turned to Marco and saw a hint of his brown eyes looking back at me, “Ok we gotta be all sneak like and make our way back to the camp asap and lay low , just follow my lead okay?’ I quickly nodded my head and without any prep Marco crawled out from underneath the brush as did I. we started heading west through the thick woods all the while me praying to the lords that we weren’t caught or spotted by any Hornet units. “Should be just through here” he pointed at a thick wall of what looked to be spider webs, must’ve been the work of Harrison. Marco flicked out his wrist and a green blob of bright light flittered out and quickly formed into the shape of a V. I grabbed at his shoulder “You sure that’s a good idea? We could be heard”. Marco shrugged me off “It should be fine, we need to see if there’s some other survivors other than us”. Marco raised his makeshift weapon and it cut through the webs in one slice, semi burning the web and leaving a foul smell in the air. The sight that lay in front of us was disgusting. The web was still connected to the user, Harrison, however he was long dead, and the basterds cut his throat so deep that it looked like it was hanging on by a strand.

“Lords above they got Harrison…” Marco looked around at the badly disfigured bodies that were almost so grinded down I could barely tell that they were once people. “If I were to guess, I’d say they got at least three or four of them” Marco then looked off at a tree that had a cocoon of webbing wrapped around it, inside the cocoon were 3 Hornets with sparks flying from their torn off metal plating on their abdomen, their eyes staring blankly at the ground “At least the guys were able to take down at least three of those basterds”. I nodded but I so desperately wanted to get out of there, the thick smell of copper was making me sick and light headed. Marco patted me on the back and told me to press on, we walked for what seemed like miles and my feet were starting to ache something fierce. Then, like a shining beacon we saw it, normally it wouldn’t have been seen because of the camouflage coloring we choose to use to keep ourselves hidden. Bu there was someone familiar standing outside the tent flaps. Tall and lanky like a tree stood Tatsu, a fellow “recruit” such as myself. We quickly made our way up to the tent to finally get some much needed rest before we headed out.

“Marco, you look terrible how you feeling?” Tatsu asked this with no real expression of concern on his face. “I’m fine, just your average every day battle scars” Marco said nonchalantly. Tatsu than turned his attention to me and gave me a quick look up and down and finally asked the question I was dreading “What about you, you seem like you don’t have a scratch on you”. Of course I wouldn’t I thought, I... I was never in the fight to begin with. Before I was forced to say anything Marco quickly stepped in and interjected “I was keeping him protected the whole time you know me gotta look out for my recruits” with this he gave me a rather hard slap on the back. Tatsu seemed kind of agitated by this comment judging by his tone “Really? Looking out for your recruits are you? Well from where I’m standing your only really looking out for him, curious is that not”. Before Marco could make a retort a soft gentle voice spoke up from the back of the war torn tent. “C’mon you two please don’t start any unnecessary drama, we should all be happy we made it back here in one piece”.

I turned my attention to the voice at the back where it was mostly shrouded in dark. “How you doing Syria, didn’t get hurt out there?” She was combing her hay colored hair and didn’t look up “Well I learned my lesson from last time that me being out there isn’t exactly good for my health.” Marco finished drinking a jug of water and quickly exhaled in satisfaction, wiping at his goatee. "Let's not worry about that alright, Tatsu, Syria, did anyone else show up?" Tatsu gave Marco a blank look “Officer Marco, I hate to break it to you but the four of us are all that’s left”. Marco looked over at Tatsu with a look of horror on his face “You’re kidding me… we're that’s left…..” He looked down shaking a little bit with fear, the weight of their situation truly weighing down heavily upon him.Siriya looked up, eyes closed, lip quivering ever so slightly “Wait but I thought there was someone with me this whole time…..” Tatsu quickly answered with harsh tone “No you’ve been with me this whole time, are you perhaps  losing your mind along with your sight?” I stood up and ran over to Tatsu “Leave her alone a*****e it’s not her fault!” I swung my right fist as hard as I could but Tatsu saw it coming and in a flash before I could even register the hit I felt a burning hot slash on my face from an open wound. Marco stepped in between the two of us “Hey knock it off you two!” Tatsu looked away from the three of us "Don't bother I’m done, it's pathetic that out of all the people that survived it had to be the two with barely any power at all.” Tatsu looked down at me “this one can’t even handle his power or heighten his percentage to a reasonable solder level” turning his cold gaze over to Syria “and that one can’t even see, what do the Generals or even Kumagawa expect us to do”.

Marco made his way over to Tatsu “Look, I understand you’re frustrated but don’t take it out on your comrades, just sit down and cool off a bit. I'm going to radio the Capital and hopefully someone will come down to escort us back to the compound.” He then bent over and helped me to my feet. “Get yourself bandaged up ok Ro, and gather your strength; you never know when those freaks will be back”. We nodded in agreement as Marco typed out the coded message to The Capital. Tatsu is right, we are just a bunch of weaklings, and they're going to leave us out for the wolves to devour.

The beat up and dented jeep bounced on the rough terrain as it closed in on its destination after driving for hours. "We are almost at our destination General Atomo”, the driver turned back his head to ensure they don’t hit any more bumps on the makeshift road, the jeep was barely holding on as it is. Atomo fixed his collar a bit in the rear view mirror, his many badges of honor from all the battles he’s fought and won reflecting the moonlight. The frustration on his face clearly visible to Rita, his assistant, sitting cross legged adjacent to him in the ragged old jeep that was sputtering towards their destination. “Hmmm, what’s with the long ugly face Atomo, don’t like the smell out here in the boonies?” She waved her hand around alluding to the awful smell that filled the jeep. Atomo, without turning towards her, let out a couple quick, small explosions of light in the car startling both Rita and driver. The driver quickly adjusted the jeep back onto the imaginary line that his mind quickly conjured up all the while wiping of sweat.

“Ahh Atomo don’t do that! You could’ve killed us!” Rita looked agitated at Atomo, her already frazzled brown hair even frizzier from the spook. General Atomo, as imposing as ever, started scratching his long bushy beard, didn’t turn to Rita but continued staring off ahead into the darkness. Rita, impatient with the lack of an answer, exclaimed "Why do we have to waste our precious time with Corps 91anyways? Aren't they a bunch of weaklings?" Mostly ignoring Rita, Atomo looked out the window, recalling what Kumagawa told him back at The Capital.

Kumagawa leaned forward slightly, looking down at me, I hated when he did that. “We may be a strong force now General, but the percentage of humans with abilities is steadily decreasing”. Atomo tried to make him out in the darkness to no avail “Even so sir, to waste time with trash like corps 91, it just seems like a waste of time to me”. Kumagawa gave out a quick spurt of laughter at this comment, “Yes truly it might be a waste, however if they become even slightly battle hardened from the chore we sent them on then maybe they aren’t such a waste after all”. Kumagawa spread out his arms "It's to help them become stronger to better fit in my world, do you get it now General?" His world, yes, it’s all for the coming of his world. “Yes Mr. Kumagawa, I completely understand and I will follow your orders to the letter!” "Good General, very good" at that moment I felt that I could detect a hint of a smile on his face. Suddenly, a bandaged hand came out from the darkness into view and slammed the desk with such force it would surely bend if not for the sturdy metal it was made out of. "Next time don’t make me explain myself, you are my solder, that is your role in life, never forget that Atomo, is that clear?" Without waiting for an answer he got up from his seat and walked through two doors that had opened behind him. Although the light was close to blinding, I could make out some people in white coats moving before the door slammed shut. All that was left was me in a cold, dark, metal room with Kumagawas words still echoing off the walls and the walls of my mind.

"Hey, were finally here" Rita quickly climbed out of the jeep in a hurry. General Atomo was still slightly in the memory that was haunting him, "Solder huh, yes that’s right, I'm a solder for the cause" he assured himself and stepped out next following Rita. Outside Rita was fixing her own unkempt blazer and dusting off her ratty old jeans, her holstered weapon banging on her left thigh. "I really wish you dressed more appropriately for the job, you look like a recruit plucked from the street" Atomo fixed his own blazer and cargo pants, straitening them out with one swift hand motion, the dark blue coloring almost camouflaging him in the night. "Hey! Sometimes comfort is what comes first over um what's it called uhh". "Style ma'am?" interjected the driver suddenly wishing he kept quiet. "Yeah yeah what he said 'style'" Rita stretched her legs out, followed by stretching her arms above her head "Alright so where are these guys". "The message was sent not far from here I'd say about a five minute walk", Rita looked at him exhaustingly "even after all that driving we still have to walk" Atomo rubbed his eyes "let's just get this over with and retrieve-", stopping suddenly, Atomo looked around at the clearing surrounded by the quiet, dark woods.

Rita reading the sudden change in the air, quickly took a combat stance shifting eyes around with her hand hovering over her firearm, the driver sank in his seat expecting a fire fight soon. "What do you sense General? Is someone nearby?" Atomo looked at a thick set of trees to their right of the clearing. He took a deep breath and shouted "Come on out, I know your there!!"

The people hiding stepped out from the woods into the visibility of the moonlight, 4 of them with glistening bodies of plated metal, and wires connecting all over their faces, arms and legs. "Well I guess you’re the reinforcements?" Atomo stood his ground not giving an inch "Yes I'm currently rendezvousing with Corps 91 which was sent to wipe out a small platoon of you hybrids". Atomo looked at their abominable bodies and added "But judging by the fact that some of you are still here it seems that they failed". With this the hybrids gave a hard laugh that echoed into the night, "Yeah you sent solders that are still wet behind the ears bruv, there's no way they could’ve beaten a unit of Hornets". Their thrusters started up and they were gently hovering a foot or so off the ground, "This is however a good opportunity", a shaggy haired dark skinned man hovered forward. "Whatever ability you have, you're no match for Ringo the Hornet bruv, you're in the big leagues now" Ringo quickly flew forward at high speed. Rita stood in front of Atomo but was casually pushed aside, "He challenged me; let me take care of this". Rita took a couple steps back and jumped behind the jeep, she knew the Hornets had chosen the wrong battle.

Ringo got close up to and swung both his fist forward, reared them back, and threw them back out in quick succession, left, right. Atomo took the first hit and dodged all consecutive hits, and swung his own mighty left fist down on the man. Ringo didn’t want to get hit by that fist, the man had strength and a height advantage, and he had to play this smart. Two small thrusters located on his side spurted him to the left barely avoiding the fist. Ringo then deployed a pointed blade from his left wrist and stabbed forward. The blade made contact, but something was wrong. I-it didn’t pierce his skin? Atomo swung his left fist again at Ringo, Ringo once again thrusted to his left to avoid the fist. Okay he's tougher than I thought be he's slow-. Atomo than reached out with his right hand and caught Ringo's right arm and slammed him down on the ground in quick succession. Ringo felt two ribs crack from the sheer force, but he quickly caught his composure. Ringo switched weapons and his underarm slot opened and twin barrel came out. With the clench of his left fist Ringo fired two shots; both hit the target dead on in his chest. Normally, this would kill a man, but Atomo was still standing tall and strong. W-What's going on?

"I'll admit that gave me a bit of a tickle, but with my Percentage there's no way I'll be damaged by such pathetic weaponry". Something had changed in the air, it was suddenly suffocating, like a tremendous shadow loomed over Ringo, no, the whole forest was engulfed by this shadow of death. His comrades felt it too and came rushing to Ringo, all of them with their weapons unsheathed. The first hornet let out her battle cry and tried slashing at his neck, but Atomo caught one the blade and clenched. Suddenly an explosion not only engulfed the blade but also the arm of the wielder. She let out a scream as her thrusters went haywire and she flew in wild directions. Atomo grabbed her leg; she retaliated by blasting him in the face with her pistol. This too Atomo brushed aside and another explosion engulfed her leg severing it. She fell to the ground suffering massive blood loss with Atomo coming to her to finish the job. However, the second brave knight flew forward at the perceived dragon and let out a couple rounds from his semi-automatic into the monsters back. But strangely enough before they made contact with the target the bullets suddenly exploded into small fireworks around the man's back. It's as if the bullets themselves decided to end their own lives rather than touch the man. The shards from the explosion hit and burned the man on his exposed skin. Ignoring the pain he charged forward putting all his strength into his combat prowess. Atomo reached forward and grabbed the man by the face with his massive hand. The man tried to attack him but all the strength he had before seemed to have abandoned him.

"You can die knowing you weren’t a coward" Atomo said as the man heads was swallowed up by huge explosion that spread out behind him, for a second lighting up the clearing. The now headless knight fell to the ground, twitched, and finally died. Atomo turned back to the first warrior but the life had left her long ago, he then turned his attention back to Ringo. Ringo was struggling to get away holding his sides; his thrusters were badly damaged but still keeping him afloat. I-I got to make it back to HQ... I need to warn them about these monsters-. But just like before, he felt that massive shadow looming over him. With a punch so hard it felt like reality might crumble to his side, followed by a left handed uppercut to his chin. Ringo, the once proud warrior of the HHR, witnessed the gates of hell open up at his side and below his chin as he too was sent to a fiery grave. Behind the jeep, Rita saw the last member of the squad making their way to the woods. She unholstered her own firearm and quickly bit down hard on her lip, splitting it and causing blood to flow. She spat into the barrel of her gun, aimed, and fired. Red sparks flew from the barrel as the bullets left a red neon light trail behind as they flew forward. Before the bullets could hit their target, a cocky grin spread across Rita's face. "Hey pal! Give me five! Ha-ha!" she spread out her right hand, splaying out her fingers in a flash, the red nail polish leaving behind their own red trail. The bullet then split into five separate shots but all homed in on the same target, right in the middle of their back. The shots tunneled into the target all coming out through the chest from different angles. The target was dead before they even hit the ground before the machinery could malfunctions and combust into flames.

The driver in the jeep was shacking uncontrollably; he just witnessed 4 people murdered within an instant with no struggle from their murderers. Atomo once again fixed his now badly damaged blazer and turned to Rita, "Come on, we've wasted enough time", he then locked eyes with the driver, "we'll be back soon". As they we're making their way into the forest the driver quietly whispered under his breath, lips quivering. "Y-yes sir"

Author's Note

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