Chapter VIII

CHAPTER 8

Operation Achilles

August 1, 4030

1321 Hours

Lexus, Earth

Tina's hand brushes his back as Jaycee makes his way down the metal staircase.

I want to look back, but I can't look back. I don't want to feel the guilt. I will ignore the guilt. I couldn't stop. I tried—I killed her. I didn't—Boots on metal stairs act as a beating drum of war. Many beams of light fill the shaft as Captain Ealy, and his section descend six stories worth of stairs.

Click.

Jaycee turns on his flashlight—explosions. The building shakes.

Shit!

Jaycee picks up speed, descending faster and faster; tucking his chin to his chest to ensure each step is a sturdy one with no chance of him falling down the stairs.

"Jaycee, are you okay?" Tina asks from behind.

"yes, yes I'm okay," he answers, his tongue catching his teeth in the lie.

We are still in battle. . . I will mourn later.

"Jaycee—"

"I said I'm fine!" Jaycee stops dead on the stairs, sending Tina right into his back.

"What the fuck?"

"look, I'm—I'm sorry, but, but please. I can't dwell on it until we're safe."

"Okay, I—"

Another explosion reverberates through the staircase shaft, Jaycee and Tina stumble into the wall and back.

"HURRY THE FUCK UP!" Ealy's voice echoes upward from the bottom floor. And yet, at the half way point, Adam and Jordan stand, whispering. But, as Jaycee gets closer, he can see Jordan is hesitant to move; gnawing at her lip.

She clenches her rifle.

"Jordan,"

"On it,"

Jordan brushes past Adam. Her boots heavy on the metal steps.

"Last one," Tina calls to Adam, who raises a set of brows before sighing.

"Tina go on, Jaycee you stay here," Adam calls, stepping aside on the landing.

"We can't stay the building—" Shakes violently this time, sending Jaycee and Adam forward into the railing; while tina collapses into a ball, waiting for it to pass.

"Listen to me!" Adam yells through the overwhelming sensory of battle.

"Tina you get the fuck down there, now!"

"Sir!" Tina exclaims, jumping to her feet and, under the immense shaking of the building, descends as quickly as she can.

"Look me in the eyes, Private. When we hit the ground floor Ealy is going to want us to split up in a group. When the shit hits the fan, I need you to bring your group South East of here to the small red door at the far end of the street. " Adam catches his tongue; his eyes look slick—his voice changing.

"It's a long run, but it's straight. Beyond that door is a staircase into an underground garage. Top secret documents of Lexus reveal it to be a bomb shelter. And it isn't the only one. You get your hand on a map, any map of Lexus, and you will find all public infrastructure to double as a bomb shelter."

"W-why tell me this?"

"Shut up and you better keep Fen safe, you got me?"

Adam steps aside, opening his body like a door.

"Now get the fuck moving,"

Jaycee clears his throat, and without a moment of thought, Adam grips Jaycee by the back of his tactical vest, and sends him forward.

At the bottom, Ealy has his arms crossed waiting.

"Last man," Adam calls to his section leader, before pushing past him.

"2ic, get the fuck over here."

Ealy and Adam step away from the section, whom have stacked up against the double green doors, preparing for entry.

Jaycee joins them at the rear, behind Shawn.

Fifteen or so feet from the Group, Ealy and Adam exchange soft spoken words. The tension in the air feels that of sitting at the dinner table while mom and dad fight.

Shawn turns to face Jaycee,

"What happened up there?" Shawn whispers, as he leans up towards the wall.

"Kelly said that she thinks Nicole tripped or--"

"Nicole is dead. She tripped, and I couldn't get her up in time."

Jaycee looks away, a blatant lie, compounded by the struggle to keep the tears in, to keep his vision clear.

"Jesus, fucking, christ. Nicole, Connor, Charles, and we haven't even hit a battle--"

"Just shove it Shawn, we don't need to talk about it now. We have shit to do," Jordan interjects; her fiesty town heard from the front of the stack.

Jaycee looks back to Ealy and Adam.

While both clearly annoyed, their body language is rigid and subliminal.

Ealy whispers hoarsely, stepping even closer, inches from Adams face.

"Yes. . .Captain." Adam replies, slow and concise; his eyes darting past Ealy at Fen, whom, is the most shaken.

His fucking knee's are going to buckle.

Ealy inhales and exhales. He steps back from Adam, wiping his forehead of sweat and turning to his section.

Sure enough, standing before him, are many confused looks.

"All is well, a minor disagreement is all." Adam interjects.

"A disagreement indeed," Ealy repeats, as Adam steps up to his side.

"I'd love to sit and talk," Jordan steps into the center of the gaggle.

"But we have a fucking MechX to deal with right now, so can I please get a POA?"

Shawn rolls his eyes. Plan. of. Action. How hard is it to say?

"Our current POA is to take the streets. I want a survey on the battlefield and to find that MechX,"

"Jaycee up front!" Adam yells at Jaycee who jumps in his skin at the call of his name. Quickly he steps from the rear, eyes locked on the green door ahead that leads to god knows what. Jaycee raises his rifle towards the door and clenches his teeth. His heart rate is spiking. As taught, Jaycee hugs the wall towards the door. His mind races.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Why me? Why—

"Umm, excuse me, Captain?" Fen interrupts from the back of line, cutting the dead silence.

"Hold," Ealy calls and Jaycee does; sweat forms at his brow as he anticipates what's beyond that door.

"Whats up, Fen?"

Jaycee can picture it now, him opening the door to see the foot of an MechX or even worse; an Ax ready to cut him in half.

"What are we going to do if we find the location of the MechX?"

I think my ass is going to explode.

Nauseous—a soldier squeezes close to him, stepping their leg between his as if to grind on a dance floor. This soldier is Kelly. His poison, and yet, when she slides her M82 service rifle over his shoulder to use him as a meat shield; it comforts him. Jayce moves forward a few more inches. The metal parts of the service rifle click and clacks against his helmet.

"You can do this," Kelly whispers in his ear; overshadowing Ealy and Fen discussing the battle plan, a clear indicator that his heart rate has spiked over two hundred beats per minute. He can no longer think; from the door and the unknown, to Ealy and Fen's discussion, to the poison breathing down his neck offering him comfort.

He has entered the black—and yet, as Jaycee stares at the green double door, Jordan approaches from the rear, pressing her back up against the left green door, her free hand grips the doorknob of the opposite side. She locks eyes with him.

Jaycee eyes fall to the doorknob.

It's getting real now, isn't it? And yet Kelly—

I wonder how she's feeling right now. Can she sense my beating heart? Did she close herself tight against my skin to soothe my soul? Or is this an act of luck? How are we going to get out of here? How do we kill something like that? The dreaded machine—how did you do it Thomas? How did you do it! That whole ambush took a whole platoon, and we're a mere section. WHY DIDN'T YOU—From the rear of the stack Adam sends up the squeeze. One by one they squeeze the shoulder of the person in front of them. A firm squeeze on Jaycee's shoulder. Instinct takes over as Jordan twists the doorknob and presses outward with all her might. The green door slams against padded concrete.

Immediately, Jaycee steps wide, entering the door swift and smoothly; his front plates facing the enemy. In front of him is a large lobby. To the left, a sizeable half-crescent moon desk, above it—EOS ENTERPRISE in red, and beneath it, a large metal machine—a legendary machine that's visible in many ancient paintings recovered from the Colony wars.

The Geoz.

This machine wields two large swords. And while it's not the most popular of the legendary machines, it's the most definitive; a reflection of its colour scheme. A deep rose red, with golden acentrics on the body armour, and midnight black extremeties. It's unmistakable on the battlefield.

Standing in an office that has a giant portrait of those machines, humanity is the creator of these magnificent machines?

Jaycee kicks a solid piece of debris in front of him, breaking the steady trance of all those around the office.

"I don't fucking get it. We are the creator of machines and yet we fight them!"

He hisses, to which every draws their attention up at Jaycee, to the large office painting of

It's here, they understand.

It's here, they relate to his rage.

"Who gives a fuck who created them! What's done is done, now keep your eyes peeled for the MechX. Cover and move, get to the street!" Adam pushes from the rear; trying his best to herd the cats back into the fight. After all, it the not so distance street, explosions and a constant rip of gunfire across the city, a musical carried in the wind.

Beyond the desk, a large shattered window, an easy entry into the rubble street. Jaycee locks onto window, his mind restless as shattered glass crunches beneath their boots.

Once at the window, Jaycee takes a breath. He drops to the ground, pressing his back up against the concrete wall, anticipating the long trek across open street—and the waiting enemy.

Breathe. How hard is it to spot a enemy the size of a three story building?

And yet, as he peeks his eyes above the ground level, he can see the

he can see the flattened red uniforms, the chunks of skin bone and meat pulverized from being crushed by twenty tons worth of weight. And thirty meters down the road, as he peaks his head out; he see's the half mangled corpse of the man who was squeezed to death. Flesh being squeezed out of their body armour, like smashed jars of strawberry jam.

"Kelly," Jaycee says, short of breath.

"When I push out, I need you to take position on the other end of the street. Got it?" Jaycee asks, clenching his service rifle in his hands.

"Kelly?"

Jaycee looks over his shoulder. Kelly is there, yet her eyes are blank as she stares at the mush of a corpse.

"Kelly!" Jaycee says , locking eyes.

"I, Jay—"

"Look at me. I need you right now. I need—"

"I-I-I don't know if I can," Kelly answers as shes pulled from the back of her brain.

"Stop looking at the dead, or I'll be next!" Jaycee answers quietly, but with a stern look.

Kelly swallows hard, thinking of her ex being crushed by the machines, the same way that girl was moments ago.

"Just,breathe and cover me, alright?" Jaycee answers, calm and collectedly.

"Okay," Kelly inhales and exhales. "Okay, Okay," she swallows shame—yet fear—she bites her tongue as Jaycee reluctantly pulls himself from the window and into the street.

He looks left to right, then sprints across the street. He dives into cover. A long-rusted mailbox and large chunk of debris that can cover him from the south, even if he's standing.

Relieved that Jaycee had made it; Kelly drops to a knee, sets her rifle down on the ledge, and leans into her scope. She's watching the north. Once in position, the others move into the street. As each soldier enters the city street, most of their facial expressions are the same, each in awe and fear as their dead comrades litter the battle ground. The smell of death and carbon sticks in their nostrils. The visions of the dead, squashed, cut in half, or the odd limbs stuck in the debris from when the enemy machines collapsed the abandoned theatre, engrained in their eyes. But what scares them the most, are the many midnight black metal parts that litter the city street—and yet the machine that fell, is nowhere to be found.

Captain Ealy is the second last to take the street. He passes off a quick whisper to Adam, before taking command of the situation.

"I need Jordan and Shawn to sit reserve. Kelly and Jaycee check the ambush site and abandoned theatre for any survivors. Tina and Fen, take Front. Adam take Rear."

Kelly and Jaycee lock eyes.

They know the drill.

The section splits into fireteam partners and quickly moves into positions that, at the time, appear like good choices.

"You going to be okay?" Jaycee can't help but ask as they rush to the first body; visibly dead—Both legs are gone, and his guts hang out like long mutilated spaghetti strands.

Kelly steps over the corpse, reaches down, and pulls their dogtags.

"Corporal Michael Roberts, age 24."

"I'm-I'm fine. This. . .this is obviously because he saw me freeze back there. . .I"

"You'll get over it."

"And how are you over it so quickly?"

The second body is more of the same. The body is whole, except the head is missing. It's chest caved in as if it's ribcage folded down on itself.

"Because I'm an ignorant, dumb fool, who doesn't think he can die."

Kelly nods, "Ignorance is bliss sometimes, I guess."

Again, she reaches down, and pulls the dog tags.

"Private Joseph Briane, age 19."

And it's everytime she reads off the name, that the object beneath Jaycee, becomes that little more human. And his stomach, curls that much more.

The third corpses face—frozen in anguish and agony—scared him. His brows furrowed, frozen in pain. It makes you wonder, how long does it take to die when your lower body has been crushed by a building?

Kelly again, drops to a knee, and pulls the dog tags.

"Private Andres Watson, age 21."

"Please, please stop saying their names."

"No," Kelly furrows her brow. These are real people, and god be damned, I'm going to say their name. Look at them, it's all they have left. And I'll be damned Jason. When we look like that, I want the same respect. To be remembered by my name, and not th-this!"

Kelly raises her voice, and to that Jaycee, pulls his finger to his lips.

"So-sorry," She mutters as they step towards the next corpse.

"It's okay," he nods.

And then came the fourth.

The woman is on her back, with long hair that extends past her butt, splayed outwards like wings. Her helmet cracked to all hell, with the back of her skull fractured, exposing her brain to the hair. The left side of her body is buried, well her right leg is visibly broken; her knee twisted, and her foot twisted backwards.

Kelly again drops to her knee, and pulls the dog tag--but this time, she stops.

"Kelly?" Jaycee asks, unsure of why the name hasn't been read. And Kelly shoves her fingers to the womans next.

"She's still breathing!" Kelly smiles, looking up at him now.

"A pipe dream," Jaycee mutters, turning to face the front.

"Daisy, we got you, we got you girl, we got you." Kelly turns to the rest of the group.

"She's alive!" Kelly screams out to the air in excitement.

Ealy, visible anger over Kelly whom, he assumes, is walking into denial and a soon to be battlfield casuality, starts to sprint over to their location. Every soldier turns to Kelly, whom, in the middle of the street, is assuring them that this soldier is somehow still alive.

"Kelly, enough, please" Ealy rushes up to them, visibly nearing out of breath. He watches on as Kelly, in ignorance, attempts to dig out the soldiers medical first aid.

"She's alive and can be saved. We must save her."

"And we will child," Ealy says calmly as he drops on both knees besides Kelly, whom, as opened the first aid kit in its entirety. His eyes fall to the girl. While her brain exposed and her body beyond broken, when he reaches into her neck, he can feel the pulse that is there. And it's steady, somehow.

She is indeed alive.

"Alright, I'll deal with her--"

"Her name is Daisy, Daisy Jacobs," Kelly blurts.

"Right, I will stay with Daisy and give her comfort. I need you Kelly to return to Jordan and get her up here. As for you Jaycee, get Shawn and take position up the road."

"Right," Jaycee and Kelly say in unison, taking back towards the group.

Ealy bites his tongue, as he stares down at Daisy, a lovely, once beautiful, barely living—thing.

A thing it is. An unconscious thing.

Once Kelly is long into the distance, and without hesitation, points his muzzle down to the girl's temple.

The cold steel against her flesh. She can feel it. Despite not knowing What she's feeling.

"Shawn, you and me, we're going up to replace Tina and Fen."

"On it," Shawn mutters, as they start their slow trot up the road.

There is no fear in her mind. Only darkness. There is no pain, just a field of roses. She think of her grandfather, whom, owned a little candy story shop at the end of Delaware. He, while barely able to walk, woke up every day at five am, and rolled her into the store. For eleven years, she worked the counter, and at eighteen she sold the business and—A single gunshot cuts through the street.

Everyone turns to face the sound of the single shot that cuts through the explosions, screams, and gunfire around them. Ealy steps over the girl, the armored helmet covering the gruesome act. In the distance, he see's Jordan jumping on Kelly who's beat red face can be seen even at fifty meters away.

Shawn bites his tongue, wincing.

"It had to be done, didn't it?" Shawn asks, coming back to reality.

"Yeah," Jaycee admits, and in some way he feels grateful. Grateful of the fact he wasn't the one to do it. Because if that were the action he was expected to take—he didn't know if he had it in himself to put down another human being like a dog.

Ealy holsters his side arm, and swings his rifle up over his shoulder, walking back to the group.

"I trust him. Especially after he saved those troops, and that chick commander from utter annihilation." Jaycee asks, turning his attention down the road, eye's peeled for the MechX.

"Yeah, that was kind of wack."

"It had to be done. Expose our position to save the many."

"Even if it killed Charles?" Shawn asks, thinking back.

"Or even me. Charles pushed me you know."

Shawn bites his tongue, inhaling and exhaling at his brush with death.

"Like, I never even thought of him, a total gray man, even at our time at the academy. Quiet, did his job well, never failed, never a thought of his incompentence. Just the perfect soldier. And like a good soldier, he's dead."

Jaycee knows the feeling, he swallows, his mouth dry from all the debris. And yet, while he doesn't know what to say, after all, this is a man who took his everything from him.

"I'm sorry you know," Shawn utters, as they near Tina and Fen. Their choice of cover is a a yellow rusted taxi with LEXUS still on the top.

"No you're not, but I get it, okay?" Jaycee says, as he cuts conversation and turns to Tina and Fen.

"Pull back to reserve, we're replacing you. Prepare to move, I imagine."

"And that was?"

"A person beyond saving," Shawn answers, tapping Fen to pull off the taxi cab.

Jaycee and Shawn open the doors of the cab, placing their rifle on the interior seats. Sitting in a comfortable firing position, they can see wide arcs.

Down the street, eight dead soldiers lay sparsely; they look like blobs, pieces of meat churned up in a blender. I can taste my morning's breakfast in my mouth for a second time.

"Black smoke," Shawn points down the road. Sure enough, five hundred meters past, or so, black smoke rises into the sky.

"Push forward to the next intersection!" Captain Ealy yells.

Immediately, Shawn pushes off the taxi. He clenches his rifle.

"Time to go again, spin, spin, spin,"

"Got it.". Jaycee stands and follows. Quickly, they push up the road, dropping into a crater, which at the deepest point, can keep them hidden.

"This is fucking insane," Shawn whispers; peeking up over the mound of debris, only to drop back behind cover.

"Like, how can two machines that big disappear so fucking quick? I don't get it. . ."

"Who knows. The M series 10s are smart. But the calm before the storm, remember?"

"Yeah, I know. But I just want to be in a good position when the storm hits," Shawn says, resting his rifle at head height. Shawn looks into his sight, peering down the road, taking note of the features ahead. . .

And that damn bright red door.

'You know Jay, I gotta say, this place amazes me. How can everything be the same colour, and yet at the end of the road, there it stands is a bright red door?"

"I was told that door is a bunker."

"Really?"

"Yeah, from Adam. He says intelligence says a lot of public infrastructure buildings are acting as bunkers."

"Hmm. . . I wonder why,"

"Who gives a fuck why?"

"I give a fuck. This place is supposed to be beautiful, and yet this fucking city is like a scar on Paradise. Look around. Gray. Fucking. Everywhere."

Jaycee stands and peers down the road himself. His eyes follow the explosive residue and old city functions. Odd pieces of square concrete slabs, along with rusted metal poles barely standing. Rampant, overgrown grass and bushes show a world where civilization has been swallowed by the Earth; only to rise again. Many orange-brown cars, trucks, and long, over-sized things that look like tubes with four decaying rubber wheels litter the street—And Jaycee locks eyes on the building where the MechX had fallen against.

"God dammit!"

"What?"

"This is unnerving. How in the hell did that machine we blew sky high, well, moved?"

Jaycee doesn't answer. And Shawn can't help but sigh, taking a moment to dig his free hand into the rubble, tossing a rock aside..

"We're moving!" Adam calls. Immediately, Adam and Jordan cross their arcs, pushing past them to the other side of the road.

"We're are we going?" Shawn asks. To be ignored. Adam drops to a knee scanning left to right before settling behind cover to watch the right street. Behind him, Jordan steps back against a street sign, flails her rifle over her shoulder and vomits up her breakfast. She wipes her chin, taking up another firing position. Jordan turns, locks eyes and waves them down. Shawn turns back, and waves for the rest of the section to move up.

"Let's move,"

"On it," Jaycee and Shawn climb up and out of the trench working their way down to Adam and Jordan. Covering left flank, they hit the prone. From here, down the street, a section of United Universe soldiers break through the numerous buildings from the left; sprinting for their lives. One of the soldiers turn around, drops to a knee, takes aim, and fires their rocket launcher; before ditching the heavy weapon. Others, at the sight of their comrades—turn their direction towards them. And for the first time—reality hits.

And here's the fucking storm.

Jaycee opens his mouth and clears his lungs.

He yells; just as Ealy and the rest of the section past the mound of debris.

"We have a MechX incoming!"