You never know what's going through the mind of those on edge.
In her tent, Lance Corporal Sarah Kemp lay on her bed. Her usually-attractive green eyes now red and sore from her excessive wiping. She keeps replaying yesterday's failure over and over in her mind. An insurgent, dressed as a civilian, had detonated an IED after throwing himself inside the window of the lead patrol vehicle.
Four dead in the blink of an eye. Two of whom had been close friends of the grieving Lance Corporal. Sarah had noticed the male civilian approaching, but hadn't managed to react fast enough to stop the devastation from occurring.
"Kemp! We roll out in five. Main Gate. Be ready," came the order from outside. Staff Sergeant Malone by the sound of it. 'I don't want to go back out now,' she thought to herself. 'Sam. Dean. Fucking pair of idiots! How did they not see him?' Smacking the mattress, she sat herself up and swung her legs of the small prop bed. Even though Sarah didn't want to go back out, she knew she has no other choice.
Orders were orders and soldiers followed them. That was that.
"Fuck!" Grabbing her gear, Sarah begrudgingly pushed through the flap and made her way outside. The entire base was alive as she stepped into the blazing sun. Shielding her eyes from the oppressive light, Sarah almost bumped into a platoon of soldiers jogging directly passed her tent.
The sound of blades cutting air to her left and the dust cloud blowing through camp told her that air support would be coming along this time. It offered Sarah a slight comfort, but not much. She still didn't want to go.
Heading in the opposite direction of the bird, Sarah made her way toward the main gate. The shrill screams of those who hadn't had the best of luck during their excursions got louder and louder the further she went from the helo. No longer drowned out by the background, it was enough to turn her stomach and Sarah almost released what little was left inside there and then.
Passing the tent prepared for the casualties, Sarah couldn't help but turn her head and look inside. Instantly, regretted doing so. At least eight of the twenty-four beds had their covers fully pulled up. The sheets stained with blood and no life would be found below if they were removed. The medics were scrambling around doing their best to cope with the still-alive patients.
Most of the casualties inside the medical tent would likely be sent home.
'Why did I join up in the first place?' She thought to herself, remembering the day she walked into the career office. 'See the world for free,' they said. 'Earn qualifications in the process,' they said. Shit your pants while you watch your friends burn to death in excruciating agony? No. No. I don't remember being told that one. Bastards!' Shaking her head, Sarah reached her squad - who to be honest, didn't look to be faring much better than she was. A lot of eyes were facing the ground and the usually-boisterous group were more reserved than usual.
"Ready, Kemp?" Sergeant Green asked from the passenger seat. His dark eyes aimed directly at her. 'No!' she thought. "Yes, Sergeant," was what she actually said.
"Good, you're rear left. Sanders, behind me. Atkin on top, Mitch in front. Eye's peeled at all times. I don't think anyone wants a repeat of yesterday's mess. Now, let's move out." At the sergeant's command the squad took their positions and left the base. Their humvee, coincidentally, was in the middle of a five car detail.
20 minutes later, Sarah was wondering what she had done in her past life to deserve the shit that she was currently going through. From cover next to a stone building, Sarah held her stomach as she looked at the downed helo behind them. Flames danced across the metal frame as well as the two destroyed ground vehicles and the bodies that had tried fleeing the wreckages.
Their air support had been taken out first in a tactical move by a hidden combatant. As the RPG hit the helo, it had ended up nose diving into the car at the rear of the detail - subsequently killing the entire squad inside and blocking the road they were traveling down. A second rocket had been shot alongside the first but it had been aimed at the ground detail.
Finding it's mark, the rocket had managed to flip the lead vehicle which had then crashed into the parked cars blocking the opposite side of the street. The second humvee had crashed into the first right after it had flipped. It all happened to fast to react to. Fortunately, Mitch had managed to save their hummvee from a collision, swinging it to the right just in time.
Not that it helped.
Trapped on the street, with no where to go, Sergeant Green had ordered his squad to use the cover of their own vehicles before directing them to advance into a side street. Other than than rockets, nothing else had been fired at them so far. It was safer to find a less exposed position just in case.
'Fuck. What do we do now? What if they shoot a rocket in here?' Sarah was on edge as she observed the street tlfrom cover. At 20 years old, she was the youngest of her squad. If anyone was supposed to be panicking, she had every right for it to have been her.
"Fuck. Fuck! We're dead. We're fucking dead! Where are the other teams? What the fuck are we gonna do!?" Miller was the one making the most commotion though, slightly alleviating Sarah's own mounting panic. The driver, after seeing the car infront of theirs crash into an explosion of flames, had visibly shit his pants.
No one knew how many enemy combatants there were at this point and the ambush they had rolled into had worked brilliantly. Pinned down with no idea where the shots came from, they couldnt have been in a worse situation. For all they knew, it could have been just two men with a single rocket each.
'Wishful thinking.'
"They fucking killed Atkin. His...fucking blood and guts are all over me!" Sanders screamed as he wiped pieces of his fellow servicemen off himself. He was smearing the blood and making it worse than it had been originally.
"Shut the fuck up, you two! Let me think!" Sergeant Green was also panicking, but only on the inside. No matter which way you looked at their situation, they were fucked! It didn't look like they would be able to get out of this easily. The alleyway they had entered had actually turned out to be a dead end. With no other options the only direction they could go was back to the blocked off street.
"My fucking baby man. My fucking baby." Sarah knew that Sanders' wife had gave birth just before he deployed. He wouldn't stop showing off pictures of his daughter the whole tour. 'Poor bastard. Glad I'm not in his position.' Sarah didn't have any family except for a foster mom.
Carol Lewitt had raised Sarah since the age of twelve. Sarah thought it odd back then because most people who adopt tend to look for children who were younger than she was. 'Who wants to adopt a rebellious teenager, right? It's like asking for trouble.' Still, Carol had brought her home and given her a life.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
Sarah had continued being that rebellious, at least for the first few months. That soon calmed down after she finally realised that Carol only had her best interests at heart. She truly cared for Sarah like no one else ever had. For the first time in a long time, someone was actually on her side.
After that epiphany, life progressed much smoother for Sarah. From rebellious teen to Lance Corporal. A feat that all felt bleak in her current state.
"Kemp. Eyes on?" Sergeant Green was planning their next move. To do that he needed to understand their surroundings and the number of enemies they were up against.
"It's empty, Sarge. They might have only had those two rocket... wait, there's movement on the roof. One man moving south. He's... fuck, he's out of sight. Two o'clock from our position." Leaning a little further out of cover, Sarah looks for more signs of movement when the sound of metal hitting stone is heard next to her. Looking back, her body had moved on its own before she even realised what was happening.
"All it takes is a moment and in that moment you find out who you truly are. Are you truly as bad as you claim to be? Or are you actually good and just misunderstood?" Carol had once said this to Sarah.
'Why am I thinking about that now?' Her heart was beating harder than it ever had done before as she covered the object of death with her small body the best she could.
'At least Sanders will get to see his baby. If they can make it out of here that is.' Sarah looked at the man whose face was as pale as milk. 'And Mitch can get a fresh pair of fucking pants.' She laughed inwardly with a grim humour known only to her in that moment.
"Kemp!!" Sergeant Green shouting her name was the last sound Sarah heard before a thunderous explosion of shrapnel tore her body apart. Unable to see anything, a high pitch noise rang out, signalling the death of Lance Corporal Sarah Kemp.
'Fucking idiot! Why did I do that?' Sarah cursed herself. 'Well, I know why. It's not as though I had any obligation to save their lives, but it seemed like the right thing to do. Hopefully, Sander's kid won't grow up without a dad,' she thought. 'Huh?' She thought again.
'How is this possible? How am I still conscious? Hmm, I suppose there are still lots of unexplained phenomena that science still can't explain. This could be the last sparks of my mind fizzing out and here I am wasting it trying to work it out. Why? Even if I managed to unravel a slither of the unknown, it's not like I'm be able to tell anyone...I'm pretty sure my face exploded because of that grenade...I think... I was so pretty too.'
[Congratulations! You have performed a heroic feat. 25 stat points have been awarded.]
'Who the fuck is congratulating my death? And why the hell does it look and sound like I'm in a computer game? Although, I too thought it was quite heroic, so I'll take that, thanks.'
[Congratulations! You have earned a title.]
'A title? I'm proper confused! Aren't I dead?'
- Titles are granted by performing challenges befitting them. Try hard to uncover and attain as many titles as you can, power means everything. However, if you only put in half effort, don't expect to reap the rewards.
'I like what you're saying about rewards, but that doesn't answer my question, does it? What good's a title going to do for me if I'm dead?'
[What Death?]
Now you're just having a laugh.
Through despair and destruction, both physical and mental, your spirit has stood strong. Even after your losing your body you haven't succumb to Oblivion! +5 to all stats. Due to your title, you have unlocked the specialised skill - Immortality!
'What!?'
[Immortality]
Once a day you may revive at a spawn point of your choosing. Skill -Immortality has no levels and can not be advanced further. Don't fuck up this time!
'Eh? Don't fuck up? What's that about? I didn't fuck up last time. I saved my squad.'
A lot happened in the following few second that Sarah wasn't able to process, prevent, or even adjust to. Inside the pitch black oblivion, a white flame crept over the empty expanse before a kaleidoscope of colors exploded before her. They burst passed her non-physical being and as quick as it had begun, it had finished. A cold sweat washed over Sarah's body which caused her to expel the contents of her stomach, much to her surprise.
With one hand on a cold wall, Sarah propped herself up whilst wiping the corners of her mouth before spitting the remnants out on the floor. 'What the fuck was that? And how am I alive?' Patting herself over, Sarah was sure that she had dove onto the grenade that had been thrown into the alleyway. 'How did I get here? Was it that nauseating light show?' After confirming that all her body parts were where they should be, Sarah let out a sigh of relief. Her clothes - the uniform she had been wearing prior, were barely existent, showing the extent of the damage that had occurred. 'I wonder if the others are ok?'
"In fact, fuck them! How am I still ok?" A cynical laugh crept out at the end of her question.
'Am I alive? Is it because of that Immortality thing?'
[Immortality]
Once a day you may revive at a spawn point of your choosing. Skill -Immortality has no levels and can not be advanced further. Don't fuck up this time!
The same game-like text she had seen before the light show appeared again and coated across her eyes like film.
'Imagine if you could read books like this! You'd never get tired arms again. That's not important right now though. Don't fuck up? I didn't fuck up! I saved my squad at the cost of my life you prick. You could have at least called it self sacrifice or something!' Getting no response from one sending her text messages, Sarah tried to picture the other words that she had seen before shit got weird on her.
'What death?'
[What Death?]
Through despair and destruction, both physical and mental, your spirit has stood strong. Even after your losing your body you haven't succumb to Oblivion! +5 to all stats. Due to your title, you have unlocked the specialised skill - Immortality!
'So the title gave me the skill then? It's like I'm a protagonist in very own movie! Although, usually the antagonist has the Immortality skill cause they're evil and shit. They always come back no matter how much the hero beats them down. And what about those +5 stat? How do I use them?' The moment she finished her thought, Sarah's view was obscured by more text.
Name: Sarah-Jane Kemp
-Unspent Points: 25
Class: None
Title: What Death?
Skills:
- Cirian Language MAX
- Identify Level 1
Specialised Skills:
- Immortality
Status:
Vitality: 10
Strength: 10
Endurance: 10
Dexterity: 10
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Health: 200/200
Mana: 200/200
Stamina: 200/200
'Well... that's something!'