"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones"- Albert Einstein

The roar of the overhead storm was drowned out by the screaming of artillery and gunfire, we were so close now that Bill could see the towering walls of the coastal defense through the periscope. Despite the promise of almost certain death I was ecstatic to bring the pain to those bastards, and I could tell my brothers felt the same. The choppy waters threw our landing boat around like nothing but we carried on. Soon the thudding of bullets started to sound as we were apparently singled out by someone, but the armor held and so did our resolve. Finally, john stood up and turned to address us, “Today is a day of history, today will be known as the day we sent those bastards to hell,” almost to perfectly punctuate that statement we made landfall, “Give ‘em hell.”

With a thud, the door on the back opened revealing a chaotic sea and a sandy beach, I charged out and readied my battle rifle before turning to face the coastal defenses only to find that… there were none. I was consumed with confusion, there were no bullets flying, no men charging, no barricades, nothing. I turned to check if my brothers were seeing this only to find that they were gone, everyone was gone, the amphibious landers, the ships off in the distance, even the enemy, what happened? I looked around in confusion, did I get hit by artillery or one of the gun nests? I took off my helmet and mask to check for any indication if I was hit but I saw none.

I began walking towards the large coastal cliffs, maybe there was a town where I could get help. But as I was walking absorbed in my thoughts I was suddenly sent face-first into the sand, I had tripped over something berried in the sand. I groggily got up and looked for what had tripped me only to find a fragmented human skull, it must have been revealed by the raging wind and rain, well at least it was a sign that I may not be alone. I started to dig around to see if I could find any more bones and to my horror, I dug out one skull after another until I could make a pile-up to my waist. I took off my mask and wiped off my cold sweat before looking around only to see that skulls were everywhere, what happened here, it almost seems like every inch of the beach is littered with them. I was now even more unnerved and a loud cackle that came from behind me certainly didn’t help, I turned and readied my rifle only to find a large humanoid shadow rising from the waves. I stared in confusion for a second before suddenly finding myself flying through the air. I slammed into the sand hard but I was able to exhale before I landed so I wasn’t winded, I tried to get up immediately but a rotting foot slammed into my chest pinning me. The shadow stood over me and when a massive lightning bolt light up the sky I saw the figure above me was nothing more than a rotting burnt corpse, but his face was covered by what looked like my mask.

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I struggled and punched and when that didn’t work I grabbed my six-shooter and put two in his chest but it did nothing. Seeing that I probably couldn’t kill it I grabbed my knife and tried to cut off his foot but it wouldn’t go through its bone. I looked up at the figure once again and found that its face was only inches away from my own and in cruel words, it said in a cold raspy voice, “KAR EN TUK,”

He chanted it over and over with such force that I could feel my ears starting to rupture. Blood started pouring from his mouth as he continued, and soon thousands of voices joined him. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore so I covered my ears, closed my eyes, and screamed, then... I awoke.

My eye opened to a sea of white, my mind was foggy and sight unfocused as I looked around, I was in a small clearing that was blanketed in snow. I rose up and pushed off the snow that had accumulated on me, despite the thin layer of white I could still see signs of my feast, scattered bones there a pool of blood here and even a poor buck disemboweled and impaled on a tree limb not that far away. I sighed at the sight of the carnage, it’s been ages since I’ve had a blood hunt where I lost control completely, but I guess that’s just life. I looked up to the sky and found that storm clouds had obscured the sky, it looks like a blizzard is about to move through.

I love snow as much as the next guy but it makes it difficult to eat, I stood to my full height and looked around one more time before heading over to the tree that I impaled the deer on. The animal was frozen solid and even had icicles of blood hanging off of it, I don’t know where I picked it up from but I always had a habit of impaling prey I wanted to save later on anything tall. This was to prevent something grabbing and wandering off with it, I guess after a few deer I sobered up enough to save one for when I could actually enjoy it. I reached up and pulled the creature down, snapping the limb in the process, before throwing it over my shoulder and heading back to the place I first woke up. After a few minutes of journeying, I found that I was a bit further away than I first hoped and I could smell the incoming snow on the wind so I increased my pace until I was whizzing past trees.