A Very Short Story
dr_d
Join Date: 2003-03-28 Member: 14979Members
Join Date: 2003-03-28 Member: 14979Members
<div class="IPBDescription">see above.</div> <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>THE SWEETEST DAY- PART 1</span>
I finally came to the end of the long hallway and carefully pried open the broken door. The room beyond was darkened and I hesitated before making my way in, the air was stuffy and had a metallic tinge to it. Squinting I adjusted to the darkness and made out a small counter in the middle of the room, looking around I noticed it was some sort of eating area. There were broken glasses on the counter and what looked like blood on the wall behind me, and then I heard a noise to my right swinging around I aimed my rifle at a darkened stairwell. Holding my breath I waited, nothing...nothing...I slowly lowered my rifle and just then a fury of clicks came from the shadows, a dog like alien came hurtling at me. Hoisting my rifle faster than I thought possible pure instinct driving me I let loose a burst of bullets which hit it squarely in the mouth ripping most of the skull off as they went. Again the sound of claws, spinning around to my left I saw three aliens break through a long window, they charged at me, I squeezed the trigger spraying bullets across their torsos, bits of flesh flew across the room. More noise, six, seven, no eight aliens came pouring it the room from the stairwell, one leapt through the air screeching. Screaming I aimed my rifle, pulled the trigger *click* I was out...jaws ripped into my hand, I dropped the pistol I had just unholstered, desperately I pulled out my flashlight and hit the creature in the head. It dropped to the floor confused for a moment, giving me the chance to run to the corner where an unused resource tower was spouting off steam and crouch while fumbling for my intercom with my now amputated hand soaking my uniform in blood. Ten dog like aliens were now rushing across the room at me, green slime and drool falling from their teeth as they locked in the for the kill, suddenly there was a flash of light in the room and a never-ending barrage of gunfire, the aliens' bodies tore to shreds and flew against the far side of the room one by one until nothing but lone limbs and chunks remained. In the doorway a marine I hadn't seen before stood with a still smoking heavy machine gun in his right hand, he was grinning.
"You alright?"
I passed out.
I finally came to the end of the long hallway and carefully pried open the broken door. The room beyond was darkened and I hesitated before making my way in, the air was stuffy and had a metallic tinge to it. Squinting I adjusted to the darkness and made out a small counter in the middle of the room, looking around I noticed it was some sort of eating area. There were broken glasses on the counter and what looked like blood on the wall behind me, and then I heard a noise to my right swinging around I aimed my rifle at a darkened stairwell. Holding my breath I waited, nothing...nothing...I slowly lowered my rifle and just then a fury of clicks came from the shadows, a dog like alien came hurtling at me. Hoisting my rifle faster than I thought possible pure instinct driving me I let loose a burst of bullets which hit it squarely in the mouth ripping most of the skull off as they went. Again the sound of claws, spinning around to my left I saw three aliens break through a long window, they charged at me, I squeezed the trigger spraying bullets across their torsos, bits of flesh flew across the room. More noise, six, seven, no eight aliens came pouring it the room from the stairwell, one leapt through the air screeching. Screaming I aimed my rifle, pulled the trigger *click* I was out...jaws ripped into my hand, I dropped the pistol I had just unholstered, desperately I pulled out my flashlight and hit the creature in the head. It dropped to the floor confused for a moment, giving me the chance to run to the corner where an unused resource tower was spouting off steam and crouch while fumbling for my intercom with my now amputated hand soaking my uniform in blood. Ten dog like aliens were now rushing across the room at me, green slime and drool falling from their teeth as they locked in the for the kill, suddenly there was a flash of light in the room and a never-ending barrage of gunfire, the aliens' bodies tore to shreds and flew against the far side of the room one by one until nothing but lone limbs and chunks remained. In the doorway a marine I hadn't seen before stood with a still smoking heavy machine gun in his right hand, he was grinning.
"You alright?"
I passed out.
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<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>THE SWEETEST DAY- PART 2</span>
Darkness filled my mind, the sounds of my own screams echoed in my head, and aliens tore into my flesh with razor sharp jaws and sick twisted chuckles. Gasping I sat up in a bed in sickbay, I felt cold sweat covering my body. The room was blurry so I closed my eyes for a moment, then blinking a few times I looked around, the doctor wasn't there. My mouth was completely dry and I couldn't seem to work up any saliva, guess I'd been under for a while. I started to stand, but an intense pain in my left arm caused me to lose my balance. Memories flowed back to me of sharp teeth tearing through my wrist, then I glanced down at the bandages on my left hand and tried to wiggle non existant fingers.
"Just great.", I muttered to myself.
Managing to stand I headed for the exit what I needed now was some grub and something to drink, something a lot harder than water. Suddenly the doctor appeared in the room, he was holding a cup of water and a rejuv stim pack.
"You shouldn't be walking around." The doctor talked while his eyes involuntarily shifted down to my wrapped stump.
"I know." I told him, speaking hoarsely.
I drank the water and let him inject the stim pack then headed out.
"Tell the captain I need to talk with him, I'll be in my quarters."
The doc nodded to my back as I left. My quarters were dimly lit and some light music played in the background. I always used to leave music on in my dorm whenever I snuck out with the other cadets, my old instructor called me Mozart, I think he knew why I did it though. Now it was just a habit, probably. I walked over to my storage unit and pulled out a bottle, it was Scotch, I planned to drink it when I got home. I poured myself a glass and waited for the captain. The bottle was half empty when the intercom went off.
"You wanted to see me?" It was the captain's voice.
"Yes, come in." I turned the lights up a bit.
The captain strode into the room and stopped exactly three military issue steps later. He was career military, in it for the long run and everything about him was text book TSA, beyond that he was a good man. I gave him a half wave, half salute.
"I can never tell if your in here with that music on." The captain looked around the room then centered his gaze on me "So we'll have you're discharge papers ready by the end of the day, looks like your going home."
"I'm not going home." I looked at him over my shoulder, he almost looked surprised.
'I thought you had a sweetheart waiting for you, pretty too you said, right?" I shook my head.
"No, I mean she was pretty, but she left me a week before I joined. She left...because I joined." I said, staring into the floor.
"Well what about friends, family?" I shook my head, "You know we can get your hand patched up-" I looked up at him and winced, "Oh...that's right..." He kept looking at me.
"I want a transfer, sir" I stood up to face him.
"Where? A sunny terran world, I could give you beach guard duty at a local R&R spot." The captain almost smiled.
"I want the frontline, sir." I said trying to stand up as straight as possible.
"Oh." He nodded slowly, "We could always use another good man out there." With that he turned and strode out.
Three hours later I was holding a transfer slip in my hand. Trans. Req. to Frontlines:...Name: Joeseph Nickleson...Rank: Private...Status: Injured....Time in Service: 2 wks.
And I'm out of comments, so I'll leave you to get on with the story.
Since I didn't know many of the soldiers the goodbyes were pretty short. The captain had gone on an away mission and everyone else seemed preoccupied, and the only person I could think of saying goodbye to was the doctor. He halfway offered a handshake before realizing it and gave nervous chuckle.
"Well good luck then." He nodded to me and that was that.
I walked the long halls of the ship alone with my thoughts, and I was practically daydreaming by the time I got to the docking bay.
"Hey, where are you going?" The security guard waved me back to him, "The shuttles for wounded and completions leaves tomorrow."
"Oh, no, I.." I fumbled to unfold the paper and showed it to him.
"Why didn't you have your hand looked at by the doctor?" He asked while reading the transfer slip.
"I did." I said "He said to take two tranqadills and call him in the morning."
The security guard gave me a strange look. I glanced over at the shuttle and the guard gave a half shrug and waved me on. Once the shuttle was launched I began to think about things, home mostly. The metro plaza where all the younger kids would hang out popped into my head, and I remember myself chasing girls around the shopping center, and I remember my schoolmates nudging me towards that brunette girl they knew I wanted to talk to. The one girl who refused to run, <i>Hi</i> her voice rang clearly in my head <i> What’s your name? Uh, I'm Joey. Well Joey, your friends are making faces. Huh?</i> she laughed.
Sighing I removed a small metal box from my traveling bag. I sat it on my lap and struggled with the lock, I guess it would take some time to get used to having one arm in a sling. Inside the box a stack of letters lay shadowed in the dim light of the shuttle. I reached in and took out the top paper, after unfolding it I began reading.
Dear Linda,
Hi, sorry it's been so long since the last letter. There was an accident, I got hurt, but I'm alright. I'm a little nervous right now, I've just signed up for a transfer and there might be more fighting. I know you always said that if we kept hope nothing could bring us down, and maybe you could pray for me, I know you always used to tell me how you felt better if you prayed. I wish I could believe in that, you know? But you'll just pray for me, I know it'll help. Well anyway I hope your safe, and happy, did I mention I miss you? Yeah I guess I always do, well I'll see you.
As always, thank you for the sweetest day,
Joey
I wrote that while waiting for my transfer to go through, and now I just put it back with all the other ones. I really had no idea when I was going to send them, and I guess I was just putting it off, but now I was headed to the frontlines, <i>It'll be okay</i>, I hoped. The shuttle began to slow down, so I headed to the bridge. I watched as we approached an enormous station, thousands of shuttles and ships crowded the various entrances. The huge ring was a shocking offset to the otherwise empty void around it, and this shuttle seemed like a speck against it's surface. I had to grab onto the wall as the shuttle lurched to a stop, and I couldn't help but stare as huge bay doors began to open in front of us. The doors were meant to be able to let through the biggest of ships and reminded me too much of a gaping mouth when we passed through them, I couldn't help but feel scared as the entrance to the Dawn of Hope shut behind me.