student's peril first two chapters
TRANSCRIPT
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STUDENT’S PERIL
Dear Reader,
It was a normal day, or as normal as any day is. The only clue theyreally had that something was different was a lot of new faces in place of old
ones. This was done so casually and intelligently that no one even noticed
the new faces. It was about noon when a few people started to notice the
difference. It would only take a few more hours for people’s lives to change
or even to be lost. Some people say that it was the beginning of the end.
Others say it was not anything but the beginning of a war. Even others think
it was merely a story told over without knowing the ending. Those that were
in the thick of it merely thought it was something else all together. No one
really knows nor do most people really care.
To understand the entire story you have to understand that most of the
people in it were about your own age. In fact they were in school just like
you are today. Their school was slightly different than yours of course. They
had what was known as an outside school. That is, all the walkways between
the classes were outside. They also had to pay for food, and commuted to
school every day. It was not that primitive as most of you think. They had
things called cars to get from place to place. In fact most of them thought it
quite a dilemma on what to wear during the day, even while working out.
The most important thing to know though is that learning thisknowledge was mandatory for them. They believed they had very few rights,
and therefore did not think much of their school. Another way for adults to
torture them they would lament. They took the knowledge they were
bestowed for granted.
Now on this fateful day several years ago they found out theunexpected worst happens at the worst possible time. And only a few wereable to teach and protect the rest of the world of the unknown powers thatbefell them. They fought against unbeatable odds and still live on to fightagain. There is only one surviving manuscript of their peril, flight, and fight.
That is what sits before you and though it is but a copy, treat it as if it werethe original so that it may live on till man forgets how to read. Enjoy andlearn from this what you can. For each it has its own message. Listen foryours.
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Unknown Author to Unknown
Reader
Chapter One
This is but the last remembered words of a man who was a child who
dabbled in literature before, and a man who wielded sword once before
trading it again for the pen. You should not worry about this old man. He will
surely be dead by the time you read this. He has left the world and is in a
more modern time with conveniences of the past. He is actually a very small
part of this story so his name will not even be mentioned.
This story begins in the morning with a call to a sleepy person in the
midst of waking up to go to work. She was not very sleepy for long
considering the news she was given. This was a thing that happened in
movies or books, not in real life. But here she was being told exactly what
would happen and she was taking it in as if it was somebody telling her that
her coffee cup had broken over the night, and that she had to bring another
one or borrow someone else’s.
She got ready quickly and barely remembered to feed her dog. She
was feeding her dog what might be its very last meal. It is amazing what the
mind will have you do to calm you down. Feed the dog, water the plants, fix
the hair, and make the bed. All normal, daily things; But then came the
steps to prepare for today, and she hoped, the rest of her life. Grab a few
knives, her son’s sword, a frying pan, dried goods, and the canteen. The
essentials she would need to survive in the new world.
The roadto work was slightly less crowded than usual. Then again shedidn’t usually go to work at four thirty in the morning. She noticed subtle
differences to the school immediately. There were slight rises in the front
lawn and gentle slopes in the roofs of the buildings. Then there were
changes you had to be dead to miss. There were trucks carting in masses
upon masses of medieval weaponry and armament. There were men and
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womenoddly carrying the same weapons they were unloading. Some looked
young enough they could have been one of the students.
“They are here to become students and substitutes. We have chosen
half your student population, and a quarter of your staff to be replaced with
highly trained Marines.” A Marine officer motioned to the younger Marinesunloading materials. He was dressed in a blue suit that was clearly not what
he was used to. His brown hair was cut very short and reflected the orange
light of the street lamps. He had come up to her as she was getting out of
her car and she had not even noticed. “The remaining students and staff will
be taught in the weapons you see us loading here. Hopefully that will be
enough.”
“Shouldn’t you be evacuating the school completely, not just half of it.
I do not like putting any student in danger at all. I don’t approve of it. I don’t
approve of putting anyone in danger.” They started to move across theparking lot. It was as crowded as it would be in approximately two hours.
But even now some trucks seemed ready to move out and leave. Ready to
leave the school as it was when they came. Well, almost how it was.
“Neither do I. And that is why I wouldn’t do this, except it is a last
resort. The American military is stretched as thin as it possibly could be at
the moment. There is absolutely no way we could keep this force from
getting their foot in the door without the civilian help, and even then will
probably fail. Within the United Statesour weakest defensive point is within
schools. The enemy thinks this may also terrorize us into surrendering, ordoing something stupid. There are too many schools in this country to
replace every student in twenty-four hours with military personnel who still
look like kids. We have no choice.” She had originally thought the rises were
men but now she realized that they were stores of food and water. All ready
to be taken out and eaten. There was probablyenough for at least a year.
Hopefully they wouldn’t need to use it.
“I already know that, but why do we have to use medieval weapons?
They could hurt themselves before they are of any help to you. And why is it
such a danger this far inland?” She finally turned on him, and put on thebest demanding face that she could. She wanted some answers before she
sent some students into battle and possibly death. Christ, she was no
military commander who had to make these decisions day in, day out.
“Ma’am, if we could use our normal weapons, we would. All weapons
that used gunpowder or any other chemical reactionare no longer in working
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condition. And why it’s a danger here is because they can attack at anytime,
anywhere. Don’t ask how, they just can.” He looked her straight in the eye
and looked as if he wanted that piece of information more than he wanted
his guns. She would have loved for him to have both if it was possible.
“What the hell are these things anyway? Why are they attacking us atall? And how do we know they are attacking?” She walked to the door,
turned around, and looked him straight in the eye. If he tried to lie or change
the subject she would be able to catch him. She was a principal after all.
“Well Ms. Ratan, some of our scientists have been sending some
probes into a void like thing, and one sent back a radio signal, that when it
was decoded, was plans for a full scale invasion, outlining the attack on the
schools. As for the name, -we’ve called them Vanoricksright now.
Vanorickwas the name of the man who made the void.” He never took his
eyes off hers once but to make it seem he was embarrassed at the name.She wasn’t sure if he really was or if it was a very good act.
“What is your name and rank, Marine Corps isn’t it?”
“Yes ma’am, Marine Corps, I am Second Lieutenant Marshal Jennson.
Like I said we’re stretched thin.” He was obviously the commanding officer
today. And an interesting day it was most definitely going to be.
“...don’t approve one bit.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“Get those trucks out of here. We need at least a cursory look of
normalcy.” Gunnery Sergeant Chavez was busy making sure everything was
going as smooth as it could. He was from the installation and logistics unit
from the local base. He was pulled because he could organize this mess
fairly well, and then he gets told he not only is dropping off the stuff but he is
the second most senior man at this location. The most senior being a
damned butter bar. And that was just were his day started to go really bad.
The kids he had to deal with were barely old enough to shave or be out
on their own. Most of them hadn’t even finished boot camp yet. Their drill
instructors were yelling, screaming, and starting to give him a headache.
There was a reason that he became a recruiter. “Sergeant Nieves, get your
recruits to their classes now. This is no time to be teaching them crap.”
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“Aye Gunny, Just trying to prepare them to go back to boot after this is
over.”
“Yeah, first they have to survive. And to do that they need to be in the
proper place at the proper time. Now get them moving.” The Gunny
watched the recruits run off toward the class rooms, and couldn’t help butwonder if any of them would even survive. “Corporal Whitley! Get your ass
over here.” Chavez began searching around the trucks looking for the one
NCO from his own unit. He saw the Lieutenant taking to some chick.
Probably the principal, she actually looked pretty good to be a principal.
“Whitley!”
“Right here, Gunny.” Whitley appeared next to him wearing what
appeared to be slacks and a dress shirt, with tennis shoes. His hair was the
Marine Corps basic, so short you couldn’t tell color. In his hands he held the
supply man’s best friend, a clipboard. He was of course his usual cherry self “What can I do for you?”
“God Whitley, you’re a horrible sight this early in the morning. How are
we doing with storing the supplies? And how well are those that are taking
over for the teachers positions prepped?”
Whitley looked around quickly, ”Well Gunny, between you and me the
other NCOs around here all act as if this is some kind of drill. You know as if
this were some sort of readiness drill for the recruits. I really don’t think they
should be put in with any students. But as for supplies, we’re set to supply
an entire Roman legion for a full year. Excluding of course any form of
alcoholic beverage. Though I have good news Gunny, someone finally found
some coffee and ran a pot. They have it in the admin area, where you’ll be.
Hey Gunny, if we have to protect this school and all the students, why don’t
we have more than a company of Marines? And I don’t think there’s a single
grunt among us.” Whitley looked around quizzically, and finally set his sights
back on the Gunny. He was right to be worried. His estimation of the DI’s
was all too accurate. If any of these kids that found themselves under their
command and survived, it would be by luck and maybe a little skill of their
own. But there wasn’t much he could do about it at the moment. Maybe if any of the scatter brained fools survived he could get them to listen.
“Well Whitley, this is why they came up with the term ‘SNAFU’. And if
anything ever was a snafu then this is most certainly it. Now where did you
say that coffee was?”
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* * * * * * * * * * * *
The blade came down upon its neck and severed its head completelyfrom the shoulders. He barely noticed the next one coming at him from his
right side. He rolled out of the way to avoid its axe. He brought his own
sword up to block against its shield. He couldn’t depend on this one falling
over for him. He managed to get to his feet, and ward off its incessant
attacks without cutting his own head off. Left and right his peers were being
killed. They would probably put this down as a massacre, not a battle, even
though they had managed to kill one or two of these beasts. The beasts
were very vague but he could tell that they were somewhat humanoid, if you
could forgive the odd limb here and there. Not a single one looked the same.
He dodged to the side and got out his dagger as the beast lunged
forward. He got behind it and slit its throat. The warm blood slid over his
hand. He took a second to look at his hand and dagger; a gold hilted dagger
with an obvious reddish tint he had just gotten today, and noticed the
creature’s blood was a whitish-clear. He backed up a few steps and bumped
into something. He turned quickly ready to kill or die- and sighed in
momentary relief. It was a fellow student though he couldn’t tell whom
because of the blood on her face. Then her eyes widened noticeably. He
turned quickly and found one of them charging at him. Everything slowed
intensely and he saw he had a choice. What that choice was he did not
know. But he had to choose soon. He looked back and saw her frozen, as he
seemed to be. He looked forward again and-
He woke up with a start. He had a nightmare that’s all that it was a
nightmare. He looked at the clock on his bedside table and almost
screamed. He was going to be late. He couldn’t be late again today. His
folks would kill him. He already had Saturday school this weekend. What the
hell was he going to do?
He jumped out of bed and walked towards his bedroom door, pickingup his clothes as he walked. He had about five minutes to get ready and
then he had ten to get to class. What was he supposed to do for today? Oh
yeah! He had that test in science, and he had a paper due in English. Well,
he could do them before he had those classes.
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He had an unnerving feeling it wouldn’t matter what was supposed to
happen today. The dream popped back into his head for a second and he felt
his spine try to freeze stiff. Damn movies were messing with his dreams. He
would have to stop watching them on weekdays. They may start to affect
his schoolwork. Just about ready.
“Are you still here John? You’re going to be late. It’s almost seven
o’clock.”
“I’m out the door now mom.” He ran down the stairs mentally taking
note of everything there was and would ever be. His family didn’t change
the house that much. They didn’t change much at all really. After twenty
years of living in the same neighborhood, in the same house, with the same
furniture you would think that his parents would want a little different setting
in their life, but no they kept everything as close to the original as they could
for as long as they could safely.
“Wait, have you eaten anything, brushed your teeth, combed your hair,
made your bed, or any one of those things?” He was going to be late by her
nagging over every detail. He didn’t have time to do all those things if she
wanted him to be to school on time. “Oh and dear.Happy Birthday! Here
you go. One present in the morning does a mind good.” He had forgotten all
about it. He had forgotten his own birthday. He took the package and kissed
his mom. Her cheek was slightly moist to his lips as if she had been crying.
He moved his head so he could look into his mother’s eyes, and for the split
second she held his gaze with hers, John saw tears in her eyes. And oncemore the dream popped into his head. He had the oddest feeling that he
would never see her again. “I’m alright dear. I’m just a mother crying over
her baby becoming a man.”
John hugged and kissed his mom once more before breaking the
silence that had come upon them both. “I love you mom, but I am going to
be late so I have totake this present and open it on the way to school. Bye,
tell Dad I love him.” He stuffed the present in his bag and ran out the door,
waving to his mother. What fitting last words to his parents. The thought
came unbidden, but he didn’t counter it with another thought. He walkedhalfway to the school and heard the bell ring. He automatically went into a
sprint. His mom would kill him for this, even if she wouldn’t do it till
tomorrow. He once more had the odd feeling it wouldn’t matter; it was a
feeling of eminent doom.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
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Sara walked towards the campus, lost in her own world. Her book bag
was heavier than normal, and her parents had been acting weird this
morning. There seemed to be something off today. What it was she couldn’t
place a finger on, but she knew there was something. The feeling was as if there was an end or beginning coming. Though it was only midyear and
nothing major was due. She had decided to wear dark clothes for the day.
And her hair, a mix somewhere between red and brunette, was as normal
cropped short.
She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t even notice Jocelyn
walk up beside her. “Sara? Earth to Sara, come in Sara. Hey what’s got you
so off into space?” Jocelyn was her best friend since fifth grade. Since
Jocelyn had moved to the area. She was in her normal out it of jeans and a
shirt. “Come on Sara, today’s John’s birthday. We get to make fun of himand make sure that his birthday is a day he’ll never forget. Plus I think I got
a secret.” There was a short period where Sara didn’t say anything just kept
looking around, and walking towards school. “Sara, it’s no fun having a
secret if you won’t ask me what it is. What is up with you today?”
“Sorry Jocelyn, I just have this really weird feeling today. You know a
feeling that everything is off in the world. It was weird, both my parents
were there to see me off this morning, and Julie couldn’t pick me up this
morning. It’s just all really odd to me. Did anything weird happen with you
today?” They turned the last corner and the school came into sight. At firstglance everything seemed perfectly normal, but as she looked closer she
noticed less students out in the hallways then was normal, and there was a
few other things that were off.
“Well mom was a little more huggy than normal. And I guess it is
pretty odd that she actually made a lunch for me. Oh, and my secret could
be considered out of the ordinary. Can you guess what it is?” They came up
to the crosswalk across from the school and waited for the light. There were
several students already waiting at the cross walk. Some were busy talking
to their friends; others were busy watching the light.
“Well, if I had to guess. I’d say it was you were done waiting for John to
ask you out and are going to ask him instead. And before you ask,your first
statement to me was about John so he is most certainly on your mind.
Second, you’ve seen him pull out that ring he keeps in his pocket, and you’re
dying to find out what it is. Thirdly, you told me last night on our way home
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from school.” The light changed and they made their way across the street
and onto the school campus. The campus looked even more off as they got
closer. Their first class was a trailer to the back of the campus and instead of
walking through they usually walked the perimeter.
“Sara, you’re no fun. How is a girl to be excited about this stuff if youkeep drawing the life from it with logic? I mean life is supposed to be
illogical, and chaotic. You know the whole chaos theory thing. That’s what is
supposed to keep life fun.” They were getting closer to the class and they
could see their classmates standing outside the trailer doors. It seemed the
teacher wasn’t there yet. As she got closer to the trailer Sara noticed a piece
of metal shining from behind one of the bushes. That was just one more
thing that was off.
“That is also what makes it so dangerous. But you’re right I don’t use
logic on everything. There are several things I think that are completelyillogical, such as why I should learn German instead of learning something
else.” As they stopped outside the trailer, the five minute warning bell rang.
“And like why John is never on time, even though he lives closer than anyone
else.” Both the girls began to laugh at that.
The classroom door opened a second later, and a man dressed in a
blue pinstripe suit, exited the building. His belt drew Sara’s eyes for the
briefest of seconds; it had a loop of reinforced leather on the left side, which
seemed placed there for a reason. He raised his hands for attention, “All
right class, we’re going to be outside today, just out back. I’m your newstudent teacher Mr. Jennson.” As Sara moved with the rest of the class to
the back of the trailer, she couldn’t help but think this was one more thing
that made the day off.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
He ran up the stairs, across campus, and into his classroom door. It
wasn’t open like it usually was. He had expected it to be so he had been
looking around for campus supervisors. He had been lucky, there were none.
But he hadn’t seen the door had been closed, as well as a few other things
he failed to notice about the campus, and now he had a tremendous
headache.
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“Making your acquaintances with the door I see. It have anything to
say?” There was a man standing next to the side of the building towards the
back.
“Not really, but it’s giving me a headache.” He shook his head and
cradled it in his hand for a second before inspecting this stranger a littlebetter. He seemed nervous and anxious. The fact that he was not
comfortable in the suit he wore was obvious. It was a navy blue suit with
white pinstripes. He wore what at first glance seemed a normal belt, but on
closer examination, it was a sword belt meant to carry an unsheathed sword.
“I can see why. Class is back here today, and I am your new student
teacher, Mr. Jennson. Come on you have things to learn and you’re late. By
the way, what’s your name?”
“Es ist mir egal, und Ich bin John” John was getting into the class
already and forgot to answer in English when questioned in English.
“What was that? I don’t speak that language.”
“It doesn’t matter.” The fool of a teacher didn’t even know how to
speak the language he was supposed to be teaching. What was going on
today?
“Time is one thing that does matter today. So hurry up.” Mr. Jennson
walked back around the building. There had been something poking at his
back since he left the house, so as he walked around the building he checked
his bag to see what had been poking him. It was the package his mom had
given him. What had she gotten him that would almost kill him?
“You bring a present to the teacher every time you’re late?” Mr.
Jennson had startled him. He had pulled out the package and had not
noticed the entire class staring at him. Instead of answering Mr. Jennson he
began to tear at the wrapping of the package. It was very abnormally
shaped, a sort of triangle with a downward slope from one side to the other.
It was bound to be something stupid like a watch or key chain. It even had
stupid red and gold wrapping paper. He tore away the stupid wrapping
paper to look at the stupid gift and-
His parents had buried him in a pile of excrement the size of Mount
Rushmore. They had gotten him a pair of daggers and put them in a “T” to
confuse him of what it was. Mr. Jennson brought him out of his deep feeling
of eminent doom. “It seems you came prepared to class today. Are your
parents in the military?”
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“Well yes and no… kind of. Why do you ask?” He could only be
startled at the question. He had started to say that his parents had just
gotten out of the military, or so they told their son. He didn’t fall for it for an
instant.
“It doesn’t matter yet. I’ll tell you later.” Mr. Jennson seemed tomutter something under his breath. And he shook his head. It almost
seemed he said something along the lines of “if we survive to see the end of
the day”. The feeling of eminent doom came back in a hurry. “To start can
anyone tell me what they know about military history?”
“Which military?” asked one of the more astute students “I mean eachmilitary had a different history for different reasons, and during differentperiods of time.” This student, his name lost in the fabric of John’s mind,seemed to know a bit about the different militaries of the world. He stoodbeside Jocelyn, as beautiful as ever, and Sara who was busy looking at John
and his daggers. There was a puzzled look on her face as if she couldn’tpiece something together. Beyond her there was a set of bushes with whatseemed to be metal shining out of the branches and leaves.
John had not heard a single word after Mr. Jennson had avoided his
question. He was too busy looking around the rest of the class and staring at
his new daggers. There was a sheath on them both, but the blade was not
what was drawing his attention. The hilts were gold with a very obvious tint
of red. He also noticed a symbol on them that he knew very well on each
side of the hilts. It was his family sigil, and he hated it. The sigilwas a cross
of a sword and a very primitive musket, with ivy vines crawling over each of them and a deer behind the cross eating the ivy leaves. All of this framed by
a very nice depiction of two canyon walls. It always made him think of a
fight between man and nature. He hated it. But at that moment he could
only stare at the daggers and think of the dream.
“What did you ask John?” Mr. Jennson had suddenly turned to him as
well as the entire class. John hadn’t even realized he actually voiced the
question that had been forming in his head, but he needed it answered.
“Who is it you plan for us to defend ourselves against?”
The class took a few seconds to comprehend what he had asked and
then the meaning hit. The other student’s reactions varied from complete
paralyzing shock to a boisterous nervous laughter. Only two people in the
entire clearing remained entirely calm and poised the one who asked the
question and the one who was being asked. It took a minute for the class to
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settle down and only then did they realize that those two had neither
moved,nor spoken.
There was hushed silence that not even nature disturbed.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
She couldn’t believe her ears. Neither the silence nor what caused the
silence made much sense. Why would students, high school students, be
asked to defend themselves at all? We are still kids. The thought was just
absurd. Why John had ever had the thought she would never know. But then
again the teacher had made no response or action to quiet the class. That
almost certainly proved that John was asking a question that got to the heart
of the mater.
There were a few odd things around the campus today not in the least
the fact that class was outside. There were other odd things about the day
she usually got a ride from her friend Julie, but she had called last night and
said that she would be unable to drive her to school today. She had had a
strange premonition about whether or not it was going to be a normal day
today then. Her parents had sent her away today with a kiss and a hug,
much more than their usual “get out ofhere”. The premonition came again,
stronger. She hoped everyone was going to be all right.
“Sara, are you alright?” Jocelyn was standing beside her and seemed
worried. Then again anyone would be worried right now with all that is going
on. Or better, with what they didn’t know whatwas going to happen. “I
mean you haven’t said a word and these conversations usually spark your
interest.”
“I have never been in this kind of conversation. Not one in which I
actually think John is right. And not one in which involved the possible death
of friends, family, and us.” Sara was in a daze she had no idea how far her
voice reached or how shocking her words were. She just knew they were thetruth. Sara just stood there for a few seconds watching nothing and
everything, looking for… something. What she didn’t know, not yet.
“Sara though I agree with you, can you tell me why you think we’re in
danger?” John looked straight at her almost expectantly.
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“I just a have a bad premonition, along witha very arbitrary view of the
facts. I mean there are mounds all over the quad with freshly laid sod, no
punishment for bringing daggers to school, a sword belt on the teacher, a
new teacher at this late of a date, and most importantly a rack of weapons
behind that bush. I just want to know why the hell they’re medieval
weapons.” Things were starting to become clear yet much less clear than
before. But she was starting to understand her mother’s common uttering,
“Answers lead to questions.”
The class couldn’t help but stare at her, then the bush, to Mr. Jennson,
and finally at John and his daggers. They just couldn’t quite believe that the
world could be that cruel. Cruel enough to send teenagers into battle
without even givingthem time to say goodbye to their family and friends.
The world could be much crueler. And she had the bad feeling they were all
going to find out how cruel the world could really be.
The rest of the class was either hysterical or paralyzed, and most likely
there are mirror images of this scene in every class around the school. What
could scare the government enough to arm children, and even, if she didn’t
miss her guess, use those armaments?
John decided to speak up in an attempt to centralize the class’s
thoughts on surviving and not fear. “You still haven’t answered the question
yet Mr. Jennson. Who are we defending ourselves against? And one more,
why have us use medieval weaponry?”
“They’re called Vanoricks, and they found some way to disable most of
our chemical based weapons, in fact all of them. Yet they can make their
assault at any time or place they wish. And we suspect their first target will
be the schools. High schools are the only schools we are preparing a fight in.
All other schools we have created a fast evacuation plan.” Mr. Jennson
looked to the ground and shook his head in dismay. “Any man or woman who
has ever held a weapon in service of their country has been reactivated,
armed and sent to schools and other military strategic points. We cannot be
entirely sure where they will strike.” He finally looked up and stared into the
eyes of every student in the class. “I will teach you what I can of closecombat tactics and strategy. That’s why the Marines are defending the High
schools so we can teach you what we know. Every Marine is at least a tan
belt in martial arts. Now I’m going to give you guys a couple minutes to soak
this stuff up. When we begin again I’ll have you pick some weapons and
start our training. You have just as long to soak as it takes me to clear the
bushes away from the weapons. Understood?” Everyone just kind of nodded
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and stared at one another. Lieutenant Jennson walked towards the bush and
began lightly singing. The song was indistinguishable, but the tone was
mellow and sad, while still somehow remaining brave.
Sara couldn’t help but be mystified at the sound of that song. She had
known too many good Marines. She even forgot for a second why Mr. Jennson was singing the song. That is she forgot until John walked between
her and Jocelyn. It was then that Jocelyn without thinking twice turned into
John and began to weep. Sara stood and watched her two best friends hold
each other. She couldn’t hold her fear in any longer and she turned into John
herselfand started crying on his chest. She stared to think that she must
look incredibly dumb and childish at that moment. But she couldn’t stop
crying. She kept feeling rain land on the back of her neck and it wasn’t till
she finally pulled away from John did she realize he had been crying as well.
“Were not old enough to handle this yet,but give us a few hours and we’ll be
cold hearted bastards.” She just knew that the words were true she wasn’t
sure who said them, whether it was John, Herself, or someone nearby. It
didn’t really matter at that moment she realized there was no more room for
childish things and that their child hood would just have to wait to complete
itself if it wasn’t already.
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Chapter Two
The coffee pot was empty again. It was always empty when he needed
a second cup, or a third or sixth. His day had definitely improved since this
morning. He was in the one room in the entire school where he didn’t have
to deal with kids, he had the only coffee pot readily at hand, and there was
the cute principal to talk to. The butter bar he was under was actually a
competent officer, one who had done time on the enlisted side. Now if only
he could say they would all survive it, then it would be a good day.
He replaced the old coffee grounds, added more water, and made sure
the pot was lined up right. Taking the time to do it right was very important
to him. No reason to have bad coffee for any reason.
“Gunnery Sergeant Chavez, is the whole waiting thing normal? I meanif my staff are barely hanging on to their fears then what are the children
going through?” Ms. Ratan stood behind Chavez, and though he didn’t
bother to look at her he could feel the stress in her voice. Hitting the button
on the machine he finally turned toward her. . Well maybe he hasn’t gotten
away from dealing with a junior officer at all. “Well? You’ve been in this type
of situation before right?”
“Ms. Ratan, the modern military rarely has a battle where they can sit
and wait for it to begin. It’s is more a reaction type event. But the waiting
before any mission is usually pretty nerve racking. So yeah I would say yourstaff is acting, for the most part, normal. But no one has ever been in this
situation before.” He didn’t bother to mention if they were huddled together
praying and pretty much pissing themselves that would be normal too.
“Well, are we going to have any more warning of their assault than
this? I mean the Lieutenant didn’t mention anything except that we would
know before they came. He never did explain how we would know.” Her
hand nervously went to the sword at her waist. It was more of a testament
to how odd they all felt with blades on their side rather than the threat it
once would have been construed as
“First Ma’am, I expect our electricity to fail and with them our radios.
That will be the times to let that steel at your hip breathe air, and soon after
it should get its chance to drink deep. But until then, if you want to keep
your staff calm you have to act calm. An officer’s most important job on the
battlefield is to remain outwardly calm. Regardless of how scared they might
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actually be. You can tell them you’re scared, you just can’t let them believe
you’re scared. There’s other things you going to have to know, but just use
that one for now and we’ll get into the rest tonight over dinner.”
“Gunnery Sergeant, I am not an officer in the military. I’m a principal
at a public school. I should not be worrying about whether or not studentsunder my responsibility will live through the day. The only reason that I
should ever have this monstrosity on my hip is if I happen to be in a play,
and then only as a prop. And there is no way I could ever think about what
I’m going to be doing at dinner in this situation at all. So excuse me if I can’t
remain calm.” She was becoming hysterical, and in reality it was to be
expected of a civilian, but she couldn’t take the luxury of letting someone
else handle everything. It would only make things worse.”
“Like it or not Ms. Ratan, this is the situation we’re in. Though yes you
were a principal at a public school as soon as you, your staff, and yes yourstudents were armed you became a military officer. A very new one, but you
are one. The people in this school are going to be looking to you for
leadership. They’re going to be looking for it now, during the conflict, and
after. That means they trust you, and if you act scared they lose hope. If
they lose hope you might as well kill them yourself.” Chavez hoped that was
enough to get her back into shape. Luckily the coffee pot was in the break
room, out of sight of everyone else. No one else had seen her become
hysterical. She needed to see how the Lieutenant was acting. That would
probably help calm her down a little. “How about this? When we do lose
power why don’t you deliver the news to Lieutenant Jennson yourself? That
way you can see how he is acting, and how calm he is. There will be plenty
of time for you to get back here before the assault.”
“That sounds like a good idea, thanks Gunnery Sergeant.” She wiped
her eyes, checked her hair, and gave a brief smile.
“Call me Gunny, or in private call me Randall. Now while we endure
the terrible wait, how about a cup of coffee?”
* * * * * * * * * * *
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hour.” Lieutenant Jennson pointed to the building and then to the hand held
radio that was sitting next to it.
“So how should we expect them to, you know attack?” Sara seemed
fixated on the windows looking into the building. “You know just in case one
of us see something, we’re not freaking out at nothing.” Jennson and Ms.Ratanlooked through the window to where Sara was looking. There was a
circular black mass hovering about a foot and a half above the ground. Its
edges visibly swirled around it as if it were a whirlpool. Alicia couldn’t help
but feel dread at the sight of that monstrous void.
“Something like that, except the color was whitish blue every other
time.” Lieutenant Jennson shook his head andturned to the rest of the
students, with a look of pure determination. “Prepare yourselves for battle.
Get the spears to the doors and windows. They have to come out to fight, let
them meet cold steel first.”
Students ran to the doors and windows of the classroom ready to fight,
fear showing quite visibly on their faces. Sara ran to the door and started to
organize the students there for the most effective assault. John ran to one
side of the building already yelling at the students there, and Jennson got the
students at yet another side of the building organized. Miss Ratan had
nothing to do but stand to the side and watch as her students prepared to do
battle with some unknown beasts.
She was about to join Sara and her group at the door when she heard
John curse the fact that he got out of bed that morning. But what really
made her stop from going to the door was what John had been cursing about.
In all the other classrooms students were running out screaming. Some of
the students were covered in blood; and very few if any still carried their
weapons. They were being routed throughout the campus and students, her
students, were already dying.
The Lieutenant quickly looked around and made a decision. “John,
Jocelyn, Matt, Teresa, and Aaron on me. Miss Ratan, you should come too.
Sara take charge here, when the threat here is defeated set up an area for
the wounded and secure it. You guys will stick on me. We’re going to start
organizing the rest of the school into some sort of legible battle. That way
some of us can survive.” He started towards the quadand the six of them
followed weapons at the ready.
When they reached the quad, most of the students were running,
trying to find a class or place to hide. There were little skirmishes here and
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there. Mostly where there were Marines enough to stand and make a big
enough fight. To one side of the quad she saw the joking Marine’s class still
in their square doing their best to hold off the attacks of the vanoricks.
Where the seven ran into any of the beasts they were slaughtered quickly.
“Ms. Ratan, take Jocelyn, John and Matt. Head to the auto shop, andthen start moving back toward the quad sending everyone you can to Sara.
Damn wish we had more shields Cpl. Whitley has it right. Send all the
wounded to Sara as well, and any corpsman you run into. Aaron head back
to Sara and let her know she has to take command of the students as they
come to her. Help the wounded as you can but priority is to hold that area.
Tell her not to try a counter attack. Hold that ground. Now go.” Alicia and
the three students named to go with her split off towards the auto shop, with
Aaron already sprinting back to Sara.
Her small group yelled into class rooms as they went yelling foranybody that was still alive. Most students they ran into were with wounded
or wounded themselves and got sent off to Sara with an order to listen to her
commands and run there.
When they got to the auto shop it was quiet,almost as if no one was
there. It was also dark where there were usually bright, and almost
disturbing, halogen lights above the garage. As their eyes began to adjust
they began to notice blood everywhere. Limbs hanging off of the hydraulic
lift as if set up there for ceremony. But everyone who had been in the auto
shop that morning was all over the walls, floor, ceiling, and tools. Not evenone vanorick body was to be found among them.
Miss Ratan turned on her toe and lost her scant breakfast. Actually the
only people not to lose whatever was in their stomachs were John and
Jocelyn. But that was merely because they had noticed what else was in the
room and did not have the chance to go with their first instinct. The
vanoricksthat had committed the massacre had found a way to hide in the
small crevices made by the machines in the room. John already had the
adrenaline running through his system yelling, “Well come on and dance
damn beasts!” Then before Miss Ratan could get up the vanoricks practicallyflew at them.
* * * * * * * * * * *
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The Gunny had been wrong, this was like modern warfare. All he and
the staff had was a few seconds after that first vortex thing appeared before
the first vanorick came through. It had the beak of an eagle, two human
looking arms, and it looked like it had a pair of horse legs. Not long after the
first staff member fell. And then another vortex appeared, and then another.
The vortices were appearing in several areas of the building. “Get your
weapons up, backs to the walls. C’mon people that last cup of coffee will not
be my last. It wasn’t nearly that good.”
The staff reacted fast as soon as someone started yelling directions.
They moved themselves to as close to the walls bringing what weapons they
had up to point at the vanoricks. Though no matter how fast they were, half
of the staff had fallen in those first couple of seconds, and the beasts kept
coming out of the vortices. The Gunny found a position standing at the door
of the break room shouting encouragement and orders to the rest of the
staff.
Staff member after staff member fell to the blades, claws, and teeth of
the vanoricks. And yet those that remained standing, were killing more and
more of the beasts. After a minute that seemed to last a lifetime the vortices
began to close. “See this isn’t so bad, we’re almost finished. Just keep
fighting and we’ll all live to see dinner tonight. I’m cooking.” There was a
weak cheer at the Gunny’s words. Whether it was because there were very
few people left or that they were all busy didn’t matter. A second later the
next set of vortices opened. One of vortices opening directly behind the
Gunny Chavez, in the break room, he never saw the beast that stabbed him
from behind.
As Gunnery Sergeant Randall Chavez lay on the ground he had a
couple very poignant last thoughts. The first being, at least that cute
principal wasn’t here, and the second was that the coffee wasn’t all that bad.
It didn’t take long for the rest of the staff to fall under the seemingly
unending flow of the odd beasts.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Blood was everywhere, on everyone and everything. Jennson must
have chosen the best sword fighters to come with him because they had not
lost anyone yet. It had seemed they had been fighting for at least two hours
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and still the vanorickswere still coming. When they had first assaulted them
he and Jocelynhad barely fought off the first wave by themselves. But then
the others regained their composure in time for the second wave that came
at them from behind them.
From there they had been pushed into the garage towards a waitinggroup of vanorickswho were quite determined to destroy their approaching
foe. The vanorickswere almost beasts in their looks but something about
them, plus the fact that they stood upright, seemed to put them above a
simple beast. John only saw three types of the vanoricks, birds, weasels, and
a sort of hairy disfigured humanvariety. And each had different types of
limbs at that. Feet, hooves, hands, claws, and talons were among the list, as
well as a few other unknown limbs. They fought together only as if being
controlled, other than that they fought by themselves.
They had moved out of the auto shop, and seemed to be moving backtoward the quad. These beasts just didn’t seem to be stopping. Jocelyn
stayed at his side, with Matt to her back and Ms. Ratan to his. They had their
own little square of defense, constantly moving. Between waves of the
vanoricks, they checked class rooms, bathrooms, and hallways looking for
anybody. All they seemed to find was death and more death. After a while
of this they almost stopped searching for survivors and were looking for the
beasts to kill.
In the latest wave Matt had taken a blow to his right arm and was
barely able to hold his blade. He could defend himself a little with his leftarm, but not at the level that the fighting required. John decided to speak
up. “Matt, head back to Sara. Its close enough you should be able to get
there unhindered if you run. Rather have you alive later on than dead now.
Plus you got to make sure Jocelyn’s best friend is still there. Tell Sara she’s
missing all the fun.”
“John if you think this is fun I’d hate to see your idea of hell.” And with
that Matt dashed off toward their German class. Ms. Ratan just watched him
run off, on one knee catching her breath. Jocelyn took the slight break in the
fighting to hit John in the arm.
“Alright John, she’s your friend too. But when we’re done fighting, and
we both get cleaned up, you’re going to sit down with me and we’re going to
have a nice long conversation over some food.”
“Yes, you two can laugh and smile but, I don’t think any of us we’ll ever
get all this blood off of ourselves. Thanks for sending Matt for me John. I
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was about to speak up but I’m not as young as you two. It takes longer for
me to catch my breath. Damn this sword is heavy.” Ms. Ratan paused for a
second, taking a deep breath. “Alright, where to next?” She said, finally
standing up straight.
The decision of what class to head to next was taken out of theirhands. Another group of the vanoricks turned a corner and wasted no time
in heading right for them. One was coming at John, sword raised above its
head screaming at the top of its lungs,concentrating on its target, him. It
failed to notice its fallen comrade under its feet, and lost control of his
momentum and its sword hurtling the blade across the hallway into another
one of the beasts. Rising back to its knees John swung hard down on the
creature’s neck severing the head. Either the beasthad no clue how to fight
or John was the luckiest person on the planet right now. Seeing motion to his
right he swung in time to barely catch a striking blow off his own blade. He
rolled to the side and slashed at the creature’s arm, only to have the blow
caught on its shield. He rolled to the right to avoid a swinging ofthe
creature’s mace. He fumbled one of his daggers out, got in behind it, and slit
its throat the warm blood sliding down his hand and arm.
He didn’t have time to ponder the sloppiness of his fightingbecause
something hit him from behind. He turned quickly ready to kill or die- And
saw Jocelyn giving him a relieved look that must have mirrored his own. She
was covered in vanorickblood. From head to toe she seemed as if she had
just walked through a yogurt shower. He was about to say some witty
comment to her, when her eyes widened in an almost primal fear.
He turned around and decided that primal fear was appropriate. There
was a vanorickcharging towards the both of them with spear lowered and not
reacting to anything else. He felt more than saw Jocelyn completely frozen.
He turned around and was about to push her out of the way when he felt a
searing pain in his shoulder. He looked into Jocelyn’s face and saw pure
astonishment. John looked down and saw the spear sticking through his
shoulder and into her throat.
On instinct John stabbed back into the creature’s stomach. He nolonger had any real self-control. He broke the spear between Jocelyn and
himselfpulling it out of his shoulder. Turning around he began killing and
hacking at any and every vanorickhe saw. It was sometime laterthat he
finally calmed down and stopped hacking at dead bodies. The last
vanorickhad died a couple of minutes ago. Though he stopped killing, the
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world was still in a haze. He felt people helping him up and asking him
questions. All he could think about was Jocelyn.
* * * * * * * * * * *
He was pissed. Not only had the assault interrupted one of his favorite
jokes, but he also saw the recruits running as hard as the students. Where
the hell were their Drill Instructors? With the students under his command
starting to panic he had no time to deal with piss poor excuse for NCOs those
sergeants had made. He began to rally his own class. Screw it if his class
was going to fall apart.
“Alright I got those shields for you to help keep you alive. Keep them
high, and keep jabbing with those toy blades you got and we’ll all get
through this just fine. I still have too many jokes left to tell.” Corporal Jason
Whitley stood stark center of a group of young teenagers standing shoulder
to shoulder, facing outboard and holding every shield the Corporal could get
his hands on. It was when he mentioned feeding Roman legions to the
Gunny that he had the idea to use similar tactics. True, there had been no
way he could train the students enough to make them disciplined enough to
use the tactic as an effective offense, but it should help to keep most of
them alive.
But the fact that it seemed to be a losing battle everywhere else was
starting to worry him. He needed to start drawing the fleeing youth towards
his position. Those that had no weapons could at least start looking after the
wounded. So Cpl Whitley began to do the one thing all good sense, and
many a late night reading military novels told him not to. He was going to
draw attention to himself. “Rally on me. Everyone head here. Get behind
the shields.” He began yelling for all he was worth.
Slowly students and recruits realized what he was offering and
changed their frantic running to take them towards the shields. Hopefully his
class could tell between friend and foe.
Things went on like this for a time, him yelling orders and shouting for
attention. Some of his original class fell, and he had new students pick up
their shields. They had to keep that shield wall up. He remembered feeling
a pain in his heart when he started seeing the beasts come out of the
administration building. That could only mean the Gunny was no more.
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After that everything became a slight blur. It wasn’t until the Lieutenant
yelled his name in his ear did he notice he was holding a part of the line
himself.
“Cpl Whitley, bloody smart idea with the shields. Now maneuver this
beast toward the south. I got some students with a set line of defense, andan aid station.” The Lieutenant was covered in the beasts’ blood. There was
a female student behind him, which was equally covered. She seemed to be
smiling searching the line looking for a break. It seemed there was at least
one portion of this mad house that was organized.
“Glad to hear that sir. But I don’t know if that would be the best idea.
If we move in that direction it will drive the enemy towards their line. They’ll
get hit even harder than they are now.” Whitley backed from the line letting
the female student take his place. She gave a quick smile his direction then
began humming tunelessly under her breath. She picked up a fallen shieldeasily and began to stab repeatedly beyond it, always holding the shield up.
The lieutenant just watched her take her position and with the barest
nod gave his approval. He then turned his look on Cpl Whitley. “I’m counting
on that Cpl. The people there are as ready as they can be. Any word from
the Gunny?”
“His position fell a little bit ago; I didn’t see anyone make it out, other
than that nothing.” And that was all that was said of the Gunny’s death.
Maybe they might eventually be able to write the letters make the toasts,
and quietly cry over the people lost. But not now, now they had to survive.