The Apocalypse Series: War (part one)
"The Grim Reapers calling. Best not to keep him waiting. Eh, American?" Laughed, the Zebra in broken english to the broken body of Dustin Grimsley. He and his squad were P.O.W's in Iraq, well, atleast what was left of his squad. Most of the squad was captured and the ones that tried to fall back were slaughtered by machine gun fire.
That was... months ago. They've been interrrogated for every little bit of information that they may know. So far, they haven't been given shit and his squad has paid dearly for what they didn't tell. Kevin Faulkerson, a hardcore wolf that seemed to eat shrapnel for breakfast was laying close next to him, his organs rottting on the outside of his decaying body. He was the first interrogated, Dustin guessed spitting in the Zebra's eyes was a bad idea, since the Zebra- Amir... something or other - took a machete to the wolf's face, slicing his lower jaw off before spilling his guts on the dirt.
For what the lion guessed, most of his squad has suffered the same fate, maybe worse. They tried everything on Dustin, making him watch his other squad mates being tortured, beaten, mutilated, then almost mercifully die. They beat him with guns, used torture methods that Dustin hopes he'll forget soon. The cave he was in was dark, illuminated only by small hanging bulbs, and smelled of rot and decay. Amir didn't seem to mind it though, he was scanning a table filled with what Dustin guessed knives, guns, wire, anything that will kill slowely and painfully.
Dustin didn't have time to consider all theses things, his paws hurt from the rope around his wrist, he's tried using his strenght to break the rope but that only lead to his wrist bleeding and more pain for him to endure. Amir stopped scanning the table, smiling apparently finding what he wanted to use. The zebra grabbed a small knife and casually walked over to where the lion sat.
"Do you know what this knife is used for American?" He held the knife up, admiring it. "It's used to skin furs like you alive. I think you'll make a nice pelt." The zebra smiled, enjoying the mental torture he gave the lion. "Your pelt will go great with my snake-skin belt wouldn't you agree?" Dustin kept his mouth shut, he knew that he was referring to the teams sniper, John. He was a lizard with a bit of an attitude problem. He felt sorry for him, thinking of the pain he must of endured only to become a belt for this sick freak.
The zebra lingered, staring at the knife, the blade flashing in the light cast from the small bulb hanging just overhead.
"I apologize keeping you waiting." The zebra laughed, "I'll make sure to make this extra slow just for you." The zebra yelled to the guards standing on boths sides of the cave in his language, apparently instructing them to hold Dustin up, for that was what they did when he finished. It was hard to stand, going to long without food and water can really weaken a fur. Once he was on his feet, the zebra held the knife close to the lion's stomach, he never stopped smiling, it seemed almost permanatly stamped on his face.
Dustin closed his eyes, bracing for the sharp pain and the feel of cold steel entering his body but instead heard an explosion, followed by the sound of gun fire. He opened his eyes, seeing the lights sway and Amir, plus guards, firing their AK - 74's into a hallway. One of the guards stopped to reload and a then a bullet tore through his throat, he fell holding his throat as blood spurted out. The action seemed to awaken new strenght in Dustin as he pulled hard against the rope. Luckily, the moist air in the cave had weakened the rope over time and with one final tug the rope broke enough for him to slip his paws out.
More AK fire from the guards, followed by a yelp from someone on the other end of the hallway, this brought a laugh from Amir and a smile from the final guard. Dustin had to acted quick, he looked around trying to find something to use, he scanned the dirty floor coming to rest on the very knife that Amir was going to skin him with. The firefight continued, the other guard taking two rounds in the chest and falling. Weakly, Dustin grabbed the doubled edged knife, shaking a the daze from his eyes as he felt a bit light headed from standing up to fast. More shots, Dustin knew he should let the other shooters finish Amir but anger and pride seemed to take over, this was HIS kill. Rushing at Amir like a rabid animal, knife in paw, Amir had only enough time to glance over at Dustin before he plunged the knife deep into his stomach, throwing his entire weight into it.
The force of the hit, pushed Amir into the wall, hard enough to break something because an audilbe snap was heard in the cave. The fireing had stopped and the world seemed to vanish. It was only Dustin and Amir, staring into each others eyes, Amir's eyes with pain, Dustin's with Hate. Dustin pulled up on the blade, slicing open the Zebra's belly more until it hit his ribcage. He kept it there for a what seemed like an hour, when only it was a minute, before finally pulling the blade out. Amir grimaced, looking down and seeing his torn intestines spilling out into the dirt floor. With another another slash, Amir's throat was cut and the Zebra fell to the floor, choking on his own blood.
Dustin stared into the Zebra's eyes all the while he died,
"That was for John, you sick fuck." Dustin sayed, almost under his breath as Amir finally breahed his last. Someone placed his paw on Dustin's shoulder and he quickly, turned knife raised in case it was another attacker but saw a familiar face.
"Dustin! Woah, careful with that man!" Shouted Sam, a grunt soldier he had been friends with since his first deployment. Dustin stoped, almost froze in place from seeing such a familiar face.
"Sam? What the hell are you doing here!" Dustin dropped the knife, distantly hearing it clink to the ground, "I thought you were sent home." Sam smiled, the smile comforting in the darkness of the cave.
"I was, heard your squad got captured from a friend and requested to be sent back in a get your sorry ass." The German Shepard laughed. "What happened to the rest of your squad?" the dog asked but Dustin could only sadly shake his head,
"I haven't seen most of them, I know John's dead and so is Kevin." Sam's ears lowered.
"I'm sorry to hear that, they will be missed Dustin." Sam's ears perked up abit, "Come on. Lets get the fuck out of here." he slapped Dustin on the back as both Sam and Dustin slowly walked to the mouth of the cave were a helicopter waited for the survivors. They passed a black lab, laying on a streacher a medic attending his leg. "How's the leg, Rob?" Sam asked him, the Labrador smiled,
"It is only a fleash wound, I'll be back in action in no time." The lab laughed, "Hell, give me a gun and I'll be back in action now." The medic, an attractive fox, smiled.
"Don't make me give you a seditive, Rob. Now lay back and let me take care of you." The fox's voice was very smooth and calming
"As long as you're taking care of me, I think I might need one just to stop my racing heart." This brought a laugh from both Rob and the medic as Dustin and Sam continue to walk towards the heli, the blades making a steady thud, thud, thud, as the blades carved through the air.Dustin got in as a shout went up from the cave, Dustin could barely hear what was being said but he did hear, "We found another one!" As soon as this was said, two soldiers appear carrying a Hyena, his fur matted with blood with an arm slung over the soldier's necks.
It took awhile for Dustin to recognize the Hyena as Rocco, the teams explosives expert and "funny man". It was sad to see him, his once rather stunning fur was blood stained, his once muscular build was now gone, he seemed like someone threw some skin over a stick figure. Never the less, he was alive. They helped him up onto the helicopter and sat him next to Dustin. Soon the cave was cleared out of terrorist, the rest of Dustin's team was K.I.A. and the helicopter, Dustin, Sam, and Rocco, plus pilot took off, flying them to a hospital and then to be debriefed.
[To be continued]
Hope you enjoyed the story so far, please comment and tell me what ya think, oh and just so you know, I may have screwed up on a few things, I'm not a real army man or anything so I really don't know how things work in the military. Hopefully I'll finish this soon