1 Chapter 1: If something is burning there is a fire!
One hundred and eighty kilometer per hour of speed, Clauz Wallenstein maintains that speed as he rushes towards his burning hometown of Vienno.
The Loud sirens can be heard as he nears the town, dozens of building can be seen shredded and the walls and rooftops crushed into smithereens. hundreds of people running towards his direction, as he passed towards them the people can be seen hauling their things away from the city, looking like refugees of war.
That moment gave him a chill towards his spine, he instantly remembers his family. Driving past the main town gate he headed towards his family manor, hoping that his family is still alive.
Arriving at the manor, four armed guards suddenly springs at the front of his car, guns pointed towards him. Relief came to Clauz when he sees that those four guards are Otto, Alfred, Hans and Hermann. Recognizing that the ones they were pointing their guns at is their master, they immediately lowered their weapons and approached the car quickly to assist their master.
"Master Clauz, are you alright sir?" Otto asked .
"Forgive us for our insolence but we thought you were one of them Reds sir!" Alfred said
"Never mind me; my family are they alright?" Clauz asked.
"Ma'am and Sir are alright, they are with your two brothers, Henschel and Walter who is helping them packed their belongings to move out of the town" Alfred said.
"Sophia, where is sophia?!"
(The guards paused for a minute)
"Alfred talk to me, where is Sophia?!" Clauz shouted.
"Si...sir, she is currently at the school, but since the artillery barrage, we haven't had any word from her" Otto said while shaking a little
"But rest assured, Oscar and Emil is with her, they're the ones on duty to escort the young lady to school, normally they would head home right after they transported her to school but since the artillery barrage they are not here yet so maybe their still at the school" Alfred said.
Alerted, Clauz told the guards to get his carbine,his body armor from his room and some ammunitions from the armory.
Moments later the guards can be seen running fast towards him whilst carrying the told equipments, beside them is the head of the guards, Conrad von Waltz.
"Master, here is your weapon and your body armor, the magazines are pre-loaded and are located at each belts" Alfred said
"Thank you Alfred!"
"Conrad, how many guards are still here?" Clauz asked.
While counting, Conrad told Clauz.
"Ten scattered at the front lawn, Five at the rooftops, four here at the gates, that makes it twenty including me"
"Good, Otto, Hans, I need you to accompany me, we are going to get my sister and the two guards at the school, get the armored car out and arrange the machine gun on its back" Clauz said.
"Alfred, Hermann and Conrad, I need you to keep an eye out of the mansion and prepare the vehicles as we will be moving out of here when I come back"
"Will do sir" Conrad Said.
(Sound of Engines starting)
Broommm...tug tug tug tug....Broom
Smoke exiting the exhaust pipes of the car
A horn suddenly honked behind Clauz's car, its Otto driving the armored car and Hans manning the machine gun at the top. The armored car appearance seems to be like rough in design, its tires are bulletproofed and made for off-road.
The armor are sloped and thick enough to deflect sniper and machine gun fire, the windshield is the same, it is also armored as it is made from bulletproof glass fiber that can withstand one minute of machine gun fire before breaking.
The machine gun, 12.7 millimetres and has a fire rate of 700 rounds per minute is enclosed in a circular metal electric turret that can also be manually controlled by hand cranking in case of battery failure. The Machine gun can tear apart lightly armored vehicles and other soft targets.
The Car can carry a total of 8 people and 500 kilograms of materials as it has a very strong suspension designed for very rough terrain and an 850 horsepower Granduich Diesel engine that can travel 140 kilometer per hour.
Clauz then honked his car's horn, signalling that they are now going towards the school districts and they should follow his car.
The Trio are now driving deeper into the town and suddenly encountered gunfire.
ratttatatt....ratattatt....rattatttattt....
Hans began firing as soon the first shot has hit the car, he saw the shooters at the nearby checkpoint. Worried about Clauz, Hans asked Otto if Clauz is going to be okay in his car and should he transfer at the armored car.
"Dont worry, his car is well armored as ours, don't forget, his from a rich military family, they ain't softies to just not armored their car" Otto said
Hans breathed deep and exhaled, and continued firing at the checkpoint, two soldiers were shot dead Hy hans and the other three hid to seek cover.
"Is that it!?" Hans shouted
"That's probably just a scouting squad, the main force should be still at the central district!" Otto shouted
"Copy!" Hans shouted
The distance between the manor and school district is about 10 Kilometers as the manor was situated at the outskirt of the town.
After passing the checkpoint, the road toward the school district are littered with the bodies of civilians, young and old alike, no discrimination. With the view he's been seeing, Clauz was becoming worried of his sister who is still at the school.
After driving for fifteen minutes, the school can be seen now, but its wrecked, and some of its sections are burning. But a roadblock has been erected near the main road towards the school gate and it can only be accessed by going on foot.
Seeing this, Clauz told the two guards to guard his car and stay right where they are and wait for him to come back to get his sister.
"Hans, Otto, I need you to stay here to guard my car, as you can see there is a roadblock and we cant get inside the school if we are not on foot"
"Will you be alright sir?" Hans asked
"I'll be alright, I'll come back as soon as I find her" Clauz said
Clauz then got out of his car and heads toward the small opening besides the roadblock, he slip through then signals the guards that he is now inside. Moments later he is now walking towards the school gate when a platoon of soldiers can be seen marching towards the school.
He Immediately rush towards the front gate unseen and heads into one of the classrooms where his sister is in.
He opened the door...
To his surprise, no one was there
"Hands in the air!" someone shouted
Clauz turns around and saw armed men pointing guns at him.
"I said hands in the air, are you deaf?" a man looking like he is in his fifties shouted
"Easy, easy, i'm here to find my sister Sophia, she is in high school and I'm taking her home" Clauz said
The man ordered his men to lower their guns.
"So she is your brother, he is at the cafeteria downstairs with two men, one severely wounded, we've been treating him for hours now but we only manage to stop the bleeding"
Clauz asked the man to lead him to the cafeteria which the man agrees to.
"This way" the man said
While walking, Clauz observed that the school is now mostly deserted and asked the man where the other students are. The man told Clauz that as soon as the artillery barrage started, most of the students evacuated when their parents came to pick them up but the others were not so lucky. When the invasion army arrived, they pillage, looted, burned and raped their way towards the city, when they first spotted the young students leaving, they shoot at them, the boys where beaten to death, sometimes forced to bunch together to became a grenade tester, blowing them to bits. The girls, they were also not lucky, those that are alive are gang-raped, poor souls he saw one of them with the look in the eye that she wanted to die.
"We got here late as most of our force where bogged down at the central district, we only came here because some forward scouts told as that the enemy are flanking at the side district, including the schools"
"When we arrived we just found a few of their forces, some of them resting, others are still chasing and raping the remaining school girls"
"Of course we shoot them to the death, no mercy for them as they also gave no mercy to these kids" the man said
Then the man introduced himself as Captain Fradurich of 3rd company of the town force.
"Clauz Wallenstein, pleasure to meet you" Clauz said
Arriving at the cafeteria, Clauz instantly saw his sister tending a wounded man who is revealed to be Emil, one of the guards.
Clauz walks toward Sophia.
"Sophia, are you alright?"
Sophia saw his brother then proceeds to hug him and then began to cry
"My friends, they were killed, I was almost too, if not for Clarke"
"Where is he now?" Clauz asked
"He was shot, the moment he hid me under the rubbles, the soldiers saw him then they started shooting at him, then moments later they stopped" Sophia told his brother
Clauz told Sophia that he is going to get her, Otto and Emil out of the school and that there is a car waiting for them outside. Clauz then tells the Captain that a group of soldiers were seen by him marching outside near the gate which leads to the roadblock where his car was staying.
The Captain told him that there is no other path as the other exit behind the school was filled with debris caused by the bombing and that the front entrance is the only way towards the roadblock.
Then he suddenly looked at Sophia, then smiled.
"You know, I also have a daughter, two years younger than her waiting for me back at home with her mother" The Captain said
He then ordered his men to follow him towards the gate and signalled Clauz to run towards the roadblock as soon as they fire at the enemy.
The Captain and his men soon fires at the enemy, killing dozens instantly while the remaining took cover from the fire. With this, Clauz with his sister and the two body guards, Emil being carried by Oscar by using the Fireman's carry headed towards the roadblock as fast as they could, seeing the Captain one last time he nodded towards him as a sign of thanks.
But soon after they left the school gates, a tank suddenly came from the enemy forces direction and fired a shot at the captain's position, killing four of his men and injuring the other three. With nowhere to go, the captain shouted at his soldiers to give them their grenades as he bundled them up together with a stick littered at the street, he then told him his men to cover him while he runs toward the tank.
They did, and they started covering fire while the captain bravely runs toward the tank, four potential shooters where shot dead by the covering fire but a few manage to shoot the captain at the chest, but with perseverance, the captain managed to close the few yards left then threw the grenade under the tank, disabling it. But not without him being shot dozen of times by the tank's machine gun close range, killing him instantly.
His troops seeing this, fought fiercely until they ran out of ammunition and engaged the enemies in close quarters combat.
Bayonet to the heart.
Rifle Butt to the head
Blood splatters around
Dozens dead
The Squad decimated, but the sergeant, severely wounded by a bayonet strike at his belly, managed to arm a grenade, blowing him up and killing the soldiers around him instantly.
As Clauz and his group managed to slip at the roadblock, he Immediately went to his car and started it while Oscar carried Emil at the backseat of the car while Sophia went at the front seat.
Seeing it that they will now leave, Otto started the armored car, but not without the enemy noticing.
They fired at the cars but to no avail it doesn't damage it as it is armored enough to deflect strong bullets. Hans soon returned fire with his machine gun, decimating six pursuing soldiers, tearing their body parts apart.
Torn heads flew at the streets
Pierced bodies lay dead
Bullet casings scattered at the sidewalk
Burning buildings
Bodies across the streets
The road back to the manor was littered with this sight. Sophia, with one final look at her school, saw the building being burned to the ground by a flamethrower.
END OF CHAPTER ONE
Some village somewhere at the empire
At a small house
"Mommy, is daddy coming home?" a child asked
"Soon my dear, soon"
END
