FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Ryan:

When Manchester had been laid to waste, I thought it was the worst sight I would ever see in my entire life. But, as usual, I was wrong. London was being turned into a battleground filled with dead bodies, army tanks, fire, debris, screaming citizens, explosions, gunfire, and blood. Everywhere I looked, streets had been turned into fire-zones filled with men on one side and the enemy on the other. Even the air wasn't safe, not because of poisonous gas, but because of the amount of black and navy blue jets. They raced across the sky like strikes of lightning chasing one another in random, yet deadly patterns.

The ground just looked terrible. Civilians were running for their lives, trying to look for somewhere to hide, while trying to avoid all gunfire possible. Women and children were all running as soldiers did their best to cover their backs from behind mounds of sandbags and barricades. Many were being shot at and were eventually...you get the picture.

Neither side seemed to be winning or advancing, which soon turned into a stand-off between the two with much gunfire in between both sides. More and more explosions were starting to go off, massive balls of fire erupted from random areas, sending smoke and blast waves booming all over the place. Parts of the streets had been torn apart, cars had been overturned or had exploded, and many flats and business buildings had been torn apart.

"Come è potuto succedere?" I questioned. (How could this happen?) And I really did want to know the answer.

London was the most secure city in Europe. Paris and Madrid were its only rivals, but London did take the top spot. Here, we were supposed to have the strong military, the best weapons and vehicles, and the best defenses known to man. London seemed virtually impossible to penetrate, let alone get in the condition it was in without some sort of notification.

The Admiral should've seen this coming. He knows everything even before it happens, and nothing got into the UK, let alone London--the Crown Jewel of Europe. First, it was Manchester, which still seemed pretty much impossible to get into since it was a city inside Great Britain as well. Now, it was London--the supposed safest place and refuge for people in the war.

But it had been turned into Manchester.

It scared me half to death, making me take a few cautious steps backwards. This could've happened at any time, even when I had been killed and was recovering, but it had to happen just after I had woken up. I was sick to my stomach again, and I was literally on the verge of throwing up.

This was starting to scare me.

"Get a hold of yourself, Ryan," I told myself, gulping as I tried to stop myself from shaking. "You can do this, you've done it before." I told myself again, knowing that this was like Manchester but there was no way it was going to end the same or not.

There was no way I could help out from where I was, so I needed to get to the bottom floor and do all I could to help out with the effort. My eyes just took a few moments to tear away from the heart wrenching sight that was not permanently burned into my memory, forever. If I did end up surviving the war, which was now an even bigger if, this story, plus the Manchester one, would be good experiences to tell them.

I slowly made my way out of the room, hoping that the floor didn't give away on me since it had been torn apart also. Entering the hallway, I looked both ways, seeing no soldiers but was blasted by a loud alarm that blared throughout the headquarters. A computerized voice kept on repeating "Alert! Alert! Code red enabled!" again and again, as if the people inside and out of the building couldn't figure that much out already.

Just as I made my way down the right end of the hallway, two men, one Digimon and one human both covered in a black uniform, were already running down the hallway. I cursed just as they stopped then pointed at me, making my blood start to pulse even quicker as my mind went on overdrive. I burst into an all-out sprint just as they put their guns up, then summoned my hidden blades then pounced on them like a hungry mountain lion, sending both blades into their chests. They fell flat on their backs, dead as dead can be. I pulled out then ran back down the hallway, only hoping that no more soldiers were inside the building.

As luck would have it, no more soldiers seemed to be inside the hallway. No way I could say the same for the rest of the building however, seeing as how the attack was just so sudden and destructive and all. There could possibly be even more heading up the stairs or elevator (Would they really risk going up the elevator during this whole battle going on?) to take the base.

Take the base? That seemed like an impossible feat alone. Yet, from what I saw, London was in shambles, which was a good comparison to Manchester, and we seemed to be on the losing front. Shadow troops were already inside the base, they were outside the base, and were flooding the streets as I ran to the emergency staircase. Things had to be even worse on the ground, maybe ten times as bad, and there was no way of knowing how bad it really was.

This all still felt so surreal. Manchester, London, the base...all of it felt like a dream that I wanted to wake from. Nothing was beginning to make sense anymore (not like it was in the first place) and logic seemed to be scrapped altogether. Okay, it was possible to breach the major cities on the world which we knew since Moscow and Beijing had been laid to waste.

As I made my way down the stairs to the bottom floor, more explosions rattled the building while gunfire echoed across the city. Only God knew how many people had died and were still being killed as I made my way down. In my mind, I was using every curse word I could think of just to pass the time with my thoughts, hoping that things would soon get better once we started getting victories.

"I hope Jason's okay," I huffed out, taking it two steps at a time down the stair case. Yes, I realized that that was dangerous and could end up either killing me or get me tripped and having a broken ankle...in the middle of a battle. Man, that would sure suck, especially just after I just got out of a hospital bed.

No way was I getting back in that bed any time soon.

And yes, I so realize that that was a "that's what she said!" moment. Have your laugh, cause there won't be another for a long while.

By the time I had finally reached the bottom floor, I was huffing and panting for air. This was exactly why you should never get shot in the middle of a war, then lay in a bed for two weeks straight without getting some physical exercise in every now and then. Though it wasn't technically my fault, the after effects were really starting to show. My chest was wracked with pain each long breath I took, my legs were getting sore from all the running I was doing, and I was still panting after a few minutes.

There was no time to stop to catch my breath, even if my lungs felt like they were on fire. Just behind the door of the bottom floor, I could hear the sound of shouting and gunfire, gunfire mainly. The shouts came from the soldiers who had probably taken a bullet in the arm, or leg...or chest. There was a ton coming from the other side, and I was scared to open the door and get shot in the process.

Swallowing my fear, I let out a long sigh then slowly pushed the door forward. I was welcomed by the sight of the lobby being turned into shooting gallery. Bullets were flying back and forth from the front doors to the receptionist's desk and back. It only took me a few moments to realize the Shadows were the ones at the door and our forces were at the desk. Taking heed of the shooting gallery, I ducked behind one of the crumbled support pillars for cover, hearing the gunfire and bullets go on and whizz through the air right behind me (some over my head).

Whether they knew I was there or not was up for me to find out, but they didn't appear to have any indication that I was there. If they did, I was sure bullets would be heading right at my cover, trying to get through and shoot me down.

Just as I was about to look over my cover, there was one problem I had forgotten to think about. I cursed which, with all the gunfire goin on, was soon drowned out, leaving me in the clear to speak.

I didn't have a freaking gun.

Talk about completely being unhelpful right now! This was one of those times where I needed a gun but didn't have one. Just great.

Instead of frantically running my fingers through my hair (which was exactly what I did), I looked for something that could help me. Anything was better than something.

That was also realized I had a bracer with a hidden blade and poison dart gun installed.

"Cazzo, sono un idiota!" I shouted at myself, still drowned out by the gunfire. (Fuck, I'm an idiot!). I took the initiative and looked at the underside of my bracer, finding that a metal plate had been fastened just above my wrist. There was a metal ball with a long oval shaped slot right next to it, my hands traveled and pulled the ball down the slot and as I hit the end I heard a very faint CLICK that told me everything I needed to know. Sure, it wasn't a gun but it was better than nothing.

Making sure no gunfire was flying over my head, I looked up then over my mound of cover. It was still just as worse the first time I saw it, but there were no bullets heading for my face so I was fine. Thinking about how Jason first used the dart gun was hard, and I was only going out on a hunch that this would work.

Letting out a sigh, I held up my bracer and aimed it forward, squinting one eye so I could see better. One Shadow Grunt was hiding behind one of the pillars yet was in perfect range for me to fire, though I couldn't say I was going to take this kill lightly even if I made the shot. It was a human, a human who had been brainwashed to fight for the side he was probably against once before. Never did it feel good to kill one of my own kind, especially if it was a Digimon who had been on our side, but I had to think of the innocent people they had killed. It was good or evil, and even though they didn't have a choice, I still had my free will.

And the good of the innocents came first.

I clicked the metal button next to where the ball was cocked. Instantly, a dart shot forward out of the chamber and flew like a regular bullet right into the man's neck, sinking itself into his neck, deep. He howled in pain for a few moments, trying to pull the dart out of his neck but soon was coughing and crying out in pain as he then crumbled to his knees then fell face first onto the floor, unmoving.

"Santa merda," I cursed in a gasp, marveling at the sheer power and speed of the poison and its effect. It was just as quick and deadly when Jason had used it two weeks prior to this.

My victory didn't seem to last however. Shortly after I took out the man, half of the soldiers turned to look at me and began to unleash an onslaught of bullets in my direction. Immediately, I ducked for cover and hid behind my mound again. There no way I was going to be able to take another chance with another dart. Carefully, I shifted my body until I lay on the ground, making my way closer to the desk where the allied forces were.

We had a total of about fifteen men guarding the desk against the other twenty plus men at the door. But what surprised me was the fact that Jason--my Jason--was leading the resistance against the Shadows. He was giving overs to the men, most of them coming out successful while some weren't as good as he was probably hoping. It still filled me with pride knowing he was shedding his shy attitude and bulking up as a true commander, opening up with his emotions in front of others.

Ah, I would feel better if we weren't in the middle of a gunfight.

I dodged a few bullets heading my way but hiding behind one of the support pillars still standing, giving the soldiers on our side a better view of me as well. Jason finished reloading his gun by the time he met my eyes, seeing me hiding behind the pillar.

"Ryan?" he yelled, looking to his men then at me. He looked frustrated but at the same time relieved to see me still in one piece. These near death/dead encounters were beginning to question whether or whether not my luck was running thin. He beckoned me over with his hands, allowing me cover fire as I made my way to his side.

Just as I got by his side, a loud explosion went off and rattled me ears, causing me to grunt in slight pain. My ears rang, but I was fine and luckily so was everyone else on our side. It had to have been a grenade or flash-bang or something since my ears were still ringing by the time Jason started talking to me.

"What's the situation?" I asked him, getting my words across by talking loudly. He handed me a pistol, telling me I finally had a part in this.

He grunted as bullets flew past his face, one actually cutting his cheek. The Veemon hissed before ducking for cover once more. "It's a bloodbath inside and out. It's just like Manchester; their forces sneaked through our defense lines somehow and disabled our defenses, leaving us vulnerable. We've been having a Mexican stand-off for about twenty minutes now, and I think we've only took out five men." He was about to start again but was cut off as a howl of pain came from a soldier on our left who had gotten shot. "In other words: we're getting creamed."

I sighed, standing up from my cover to take a few shots from my gun, missing one of my targets while getting one in the chest. I ducked just as another explosion rattled the room in ways that made me shudder. "Any word on the squad? Piper? The Admiral? Reason behind the attack?"

"Intel suggests that they're here for Rodrigo, you know, the guy you decided to take hostage?" he replied, taking a few shots before ducking again. I guessed he got a man because of the cry of pain from their side.

My morale dropped a little after hearing that. Great, so this attack was my fault. I decided to take Rodrigo hostage and now London was suffering for it. I could've chosen to kill Rodrigo and possibly spare London of the consequences, but what if they did the attack anyway? Revenge possibly? A way to get back at us for killing their general? It was possible, but there was no way of knowing.

All I knew, this was my fault.

Jason noticed my distress and patted my shoulder. "It's okay, man. We all make mistakes." He tried to assure me in his best way possible, which didn't work sadly.

"Even a mistake that gets thousands of innocent people killed because of a foolish decision?" I replied back to him, looking a bit down after I had spoken.

"Ryan," he sighed. "If I was you, I would've done the same exact thing. I couldn't just kill my own kind, evil or not. That's just me. No one's blaming you because of this, and we need you at full potential if we're going to get out of this alive. Okay? I need you, and so do they..." he motioned to the soldiers who were shooting and ducking as they were shot at. "...now, we need you to be a leader and do what leaders do: lead. So, get that smile back on your face and let's win this battle for the people of London!"

With that speech done, he finally put that smile back on my face. I always knew I could count on him to cheer me up, even though this was my fault. There was no time feeling sorry for myself, so sucking it up was the best I could do until we were out of this mess. Yet, something told me this battle was going to escalate really quickly, but I had no idea how I knew it, it just felt the natural thing in a battle.

With Jason by my side, we tag-teamed against the Shadow forces, sending as many bullet their way as possible. Also, with the help of our G.M.A.F forces, we started to slowly make a comeback, many of our shots making contact with the enemy forces that began to pool around the door. Many of the Shadow forces began to fall by our hand; bullets were flying like clockwork on our side.

But we didn't come out of this fight without casualties sadly. We lost half of our men and women in the process, but the rest only came out with a bullet wound in the arm or leg and a few scratches but nothing major. In their terms, as long as they were breathing and could still hold a gun at the end of the day, they counted the battle as successful.

The last few soldiers at the front door were quickly mowed down by Jason and me, barely wasting a full magazine on both of our guns to do the job. And with one final bullet from Jason, the last Shadow soldier fell down, dead, giving us time to catch our breath and get situated. Though time was probably short, Jason and I decided to go on ahead and leave the soldiers to clean up the mess--in which they gladly let us go. At least they understood we were probably needed elsewhere, and I could only hope they could hold down the fort here in the lobby. They were already radioing for reinforcements by the time we walked out the front door.

Before leaving, I grabbed an AK-47 from one of the fallen soldiers, along with their ammo pack which I strapped to my chest. No sense in going out into war with only two knives, a couple darts, and a gun with only a few bullets left in the cartridge. I had also taken two grenades from one of them men, giving me a back-up to rely on if I run out of ammunition.

Once we saw the predicament outside, I knew this was going to be a long day. Half of our trucks with machine guns mounted on the top had been destroyed while the other half had been turned over, there were large (I mean large) craters within the inside of the base, and the walls surrounding the base had large holes to reveal London for us. Many of our soldiers were engaged in their own gunfights with Shadow forces that had gotten inside the base; some of them were actually in a hand-to-hand fight because they were so close to one another. Our mounted machine gun men on the walls were doing all they could trying to keep more forces from coming inside.

"Its gonna be one long day," Jason sighed, cocking his gun.

"No kidding," I sighed along with him, nodding to his direction as we soon sprinted forward, getting into the middle of the fight.

Things escalated quickly, which you probably guessed. Jason and I took a few shots at the stragglers who were fighting unarmed allied forces in a hand-to-hand fight, taking out a dozen men in the process. This gave our forces a chance to start pushing back, in which they did by following us and covering our back as we neared the front gate.

Talk about support.

We pushed on as far as we could before we were stopped by a squad of ten Shadow Grunts coming through the gates. They unleashed a barrage of bullets on us just as Jason and I bolted for cover, managing to kill two men in the process. One bullet managed to graze my arm, allowing some blood to drip onto the pavement. I had to have been sweating like there was no tomorrow since I could feel droplets of sweat trickle down my face and arms then drop onto the ground underneath me. I was already pretty much wiped out from the battle before-hand (and the fact I hadn't eaten anything this morning!) so you can only imagine how exhausted I was.

Bags of sand covered us from bullets while they were shot our way in wave after wave. I could almost feel the bullets, just thinking about how they might penetrate the sand and shoot us dead in a split second. The soldiers that were backing us up quickly started to turn on them, raining down gunfire that allowed us to catch our breath before getting back into the fight. Cries of pain shattered the sound barrier close by me, my ears taking notice that it was coming from soldiers on both sides yet mainly theirs.

Jason and I finally took up our arms and attacked with our allies. We unleashed wave after wave of bullets on the Shadow Grunts, many of them beginning to fall on the ground, lifeless, before they could do anything about it. Bullets whizzed and whirred past our bodies, few of them actually grazing across my skin which gave me long cuts along the sides of my arms and face. The nearby explosions threw off my aim as I wasted a full magazine on three soldiers, only shooting one in the head. Jason seemed to fare no better than I, many of his shots thrown off into parts of the wall surrounding the base.

Luckily, the troops behind us managed to take out the stragglers who were coming through the gate. By the time we both had reloaded, there were no more troops to shoot (for the moment) which gave us the opportunity to rest for a minute.

We stood up, still hearing the sounds of explosions and gunfire from afar echo to meet our ears. Jets and planes both soared far above our heads, engaged in their own struggle against opposing forces, many of which were either damaged or were being attacked by overwhelming forces. Fires blazed in the distance which caused smoke to gradually rise in the sky to become beacons of destruction for other forces to steer clear, lest they get caught in the same mess.

I didn't even want to hear the cries for help, the screams that washed over the city, which beat against my ears like a mournful drum. Women wept, children cried, and soldiers wailed in anguish. Much of their pain I felt. It was almost like their cries were tearing into my heart and replaced all hope I had for victory. There seemed to be no hope for a good outcome with their pain, and I almost believed it. There was still a part of me, more than a part actually, that still held onto my will, my drive, and my determination. This battle could be won. I don't know how it was possible, but ever since Manchester, I knew battles like this could be won even if by a strange miracle.

The people just need to hold on.

We both rose from our cover and started walking on ahead. Many of the men we and the soldiers had killed had much more ammunition than I did and, taking advantage of the situation, decided to switch out my weapons. He carried an M4A1, painted full black with red stripes along the barrel and handle with a full vest of ammunition strapped to his chest.

Reloading his gun, a few beeps coming from Jason's ear caused me to jump a little. It's only his communicator, I told myself, still slapping myself in the mid for being scared like that.

"Jason here," the Veemon answered.

"Jason! This is Travis--" my ears seemed to pick up somehow. Maybe it was just my imagination or something, but I could hear every word that Travis seemed to speak. There was no mistaking it either, even the static was audible to me. Weird. "We need your help, now! Shadow forces are overwhelming me, Mia, Mina, and Felix up at the recruiting office up the street that heads into the base!" Static filled his end before I could hear him curse loud enough for me to hear even without my keen hearing.

"I'll radio in reinforcements, but Ryan and I will be there to aid you," Jason replied urgently.

There was almost a gasp on his end. "Ryan? Did you say 'Ryan'? What the hell...Ugh, it doesn't matter right now! Get me those reinforcements, Jason! Hurry! We can't hold--"

_ _ Just like that, static filled the line and soon went dead. That was not a good sign. I could hear the gunfire and explosions coming from his end and, following his directions, I looked far up ahead of the base and saw tons of gunfire and explosions coming from that area.

Jason turned to me. "We need to get to the--" He started before I cut him off.

"Recruitment office?" I finished for him on instinct, almost sounding like I was asking him a question in return.

He jumped, taking a step back before cocking an eye at me. "How did you know that?" He asked me, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Later," I replied, holding up my hand. "Let's get moving, quickly. C'mon." I beckoned him, soon having to push him forward because of his dumbfounded stature. All I had to tell him was that I had developed very well hearing out of nowhere.

? ? ?

"My turn," the Flamedramon that had arrived with his son earlier cut in. "You had your fun, now it's my turn." He stated, smiling at the human father.

The man stopped right in his place but was reluctant to give the spot to the Digimon. "By all means, please go on." The human man motioned him to start before reclining against his chair, arms folded behind his head in a relaxing pose, still looking very intent on the story.

_ "Finally."_

_ _

? ? ?

_ _

Jason

_ _

Even though I knew Ryan had something new to tell me, it was better to save it for another time. We were in the middle of a battle and there was not a whole lot of time for even a quick Q&A.

Quickly, I radioed in for any forces nearby to direct their squads or groups towards the army recruitment office on the road that led straight down the base. A few leaders of some squads promised to be there as quick as they could to lend a hand, and I could only hope that they kept their word on that. The only soldiers Ryan and I had were only a dozen in number, mainly half women and half men with Digimon being a half of the troops. It was better than nothing, and Travis couldn't complain about it either.

If he did, those troops hammering down on him weren't going to be the only thing that he was going to have to worry about...

Jogging as quick as we could, taking quick, short breaths in-between, we both could see the extent of the damage going on far ahead of us. It was nothing compared to what had happened back in the lobby of the base (which was still pretty violent) and was basically summed up in two words.

Blood-bath. Those were the first two words to hit my brain like a pile of lead bricks. Those same words were what described the war to me, just a massive massacre that needed to stop, soon.

Only five minutes passed before we were close enough to Travis's location, seeing the damage up close and personal. Before I could even paint a picture of the blood-bath, Ryan and I had to quickly dodge and avoid any and all bullets that missed their targets and headed for us. One had managed to hit me in the side, and, clutching my side in pain, I groaned, already feeling the blood start to spill. It wasn't as bad as I thought, though I couldn't compare this wound to Ryan's nearly fatal one either. It was just far away enough from any arteries or organs, which told me I was in the clear, though I was still injured from the shot. The blow had still caused me to fall onto my knees instantly, almost like someone had knocked the wind out of me.

Luckily, Ryan was right next to me, pulling out his gun before shooting back. Though I doubted he managed to kill someone, there was gurgle not far ahead that had me question he did. He gave as much cover fire as he could, draping my arm over his shoulder before slowly yet hastily getting be behind one of the flats, out of range for the enemy.

Ryan did his best to help me, my groans of pain only telling him what he already knew. He had me sit down with my back pressed against the wall, while he tore off a piece of his robe and pressed it against my wound, getting a hiss of pain from me in the process. I ended up cursing him out a dozen times just before I could feel the bleeding start to slow itself, yet my wound still stinging like someone had poured lemon juice onto it. Soon, it began to fade and I could start to feel my strength come back slowly.

Groaning, he helped me back onto my feet. "You couldn't...heal me like you did...Piper?" I asked him, feeling very light headed and wobbly after losing a bit of blood.

He looked at his hands then shook his head. "If I could, I would've. I don't know how to do that again." He spoke truthfully. I knew he would've healed me if he could figure it out, but I wished he had already figured it out.

It would be very useful right now.

I gripped my side, the pain slowly fading away until it just felt like I had numbed a portion of my side completely. It was better than bleeding out too much then dying, I thought to myself. There was still the task at hand: give aid to Travis and the rest of the members of the squad up ahead. Even with my injury, nothing was stopping me or Ryan from winning this fight.

He handed me my gun and helped walk me to the closest cover near the blood-bath up ahead. This was definitely one of those moments where I was glad Ryan was with me, his determination combined with my drive made the both of us compatible when it came to a gunfight.

We were still fulfilling the old saying though, bringing a knife to a gunfight. Well, we had four knives, in which we could throw ten more--five me, five Ryan--in case we were out of options. I doubted we were going to have to use them, but it never hurt to be safe in case we got into a sticky situation and had to resort to the more primitive style of fighting without a gun.

But up ahead, we going to need a gun for sure.

Ryan pushed me on my knees (that's what she said, I know) but saved my life as we both dodged a barrage of bullets that flew over our bodies. Another moment I was going to have to pay him back for. Ugh. Summoning all the strength I could muster, we both jumped to our feet and bolted for cover close to the gunfight. I looked over my corner, taking notice of things up ahead. A large portion of a tall building had collapsed and had formed a wall of debris separating our half of the road from the other. On our half was Travis, Mia, Mina and Felix--an Angemon?--fighting against the Shadow troops on the other side. The four of them were barely holding on, with only five other men to guard and aid them. It was going to take much more than that apparently, since I could see over two dozen men on the other side hammering bullets at them with such sheer force and power that it made my skin crawl.

Travis was separated from everyone else, not even using his gun, since he was duking it out with a Shadow Grunt, a human boy close to his age, in a fist/knife fight. He had a few cuts and bruises along his body and parts of his uniform were torn up, telling me he was fighting his hardest. Mina and Mia were doing their best with the troops around them trying to hold off the troops trying to get across, both of them covered in dust and dirt and sweaty from fighting. Felix--the Angemon apparently--was in the exact same position as his partner, fist fighting with two others half his size. He made short work of them quickly but was soon surrounded by a new group of men that held their guns up at him. It surprised me that they didn't just shoot him down right then and there, and it seemed to surprise Ryan as well since his mouth had dropped.

No way were they killing him!

Forgetting about the pain in my side, I cocked my gun and ran out into the gunfight, not even caring if Ryan was behind me. Okay, I did want him behind me to cover me but I couldn't just wait for him to make a move while those troops could shoot down Felix. Maybe I didn't know the guy much, but that didn't mean I didn't care about him, and since he was Travis's partner, an ally of us, he was more than worth saving. Besides, I was way too nice and caring, so I couldn't let him die regardless.

I brought my gun up and aimed it right at the first man that caught my eye. Quickly, I pulled the trigger and kept it there as I let loose a torrent of bullets that soon made contact against the intended targets. Four men soon fell dead and another, with help from a throwing knife strapped to my sash (which I did need), soon joined them on the ground. This gave Felix the chance to counter attack in which he kicked one man in the head, ducking as another tried to jab at him with a knife. He then spun himself and kicked a new man in the face, sending him into the ground, before taking up his position to start laying down a barrage of punches on the man who tried to stab him. It was almost as if I started playing majestic, powerful music, it would fit the flow of his attack patterns and make things more interesting than they already were.

Ryan soon joined me, taking shots at the remaining enemies attacking Felix before turning his attention to the two guards heading straight for Travis. He made short work of them in a single mag before rendezvousing with us at the wall of debris, along Travis, Mia, Mina, and Felix. Explosions rattled the wall behind us as the remaining soldiers on our side tried to fend them off, to no avail but yet only further antagonized them into slamming the wall with all they had. I sat up and took a few rounds of my own, evading a shower of bullets only by a hair before I had to cover once more. Only a dozen shots left my gun, a small fraction of those hitting and killing only one man.

Mina and Mia covered their heads as small pebbles of stone landed on our heads, our wall of debris shaking and slowly shifting around before holes started to appear. Travis pulled a grenade from his belt then pulled then pin as well, standing up to throw the damn thing before it went off. He hit the ground while we all covered our ears as the soon explosion rattled the air and buildings around us. Cries of pain quickly filled the air, but I was unable to know for sure how many soldiers he had managed to kill.

Soon, I heard the group start cursing at the top of their lungs. This was definitely starting to anger me as well, and there no way my pressure was going to go down any time soon. My blood was boiling, and my mind was thinking twice as fast as it had done once before in Manchester three months ago. It could've just been me, whose mind was working twice as hard, but everyone's--including the Shadow forces--minds could be working just as hard not to mess up and end up dead.

Just then, there were three thuds that bounced off the wall from behind us, and they sounded metallic. On a sure note, I knew everyone who was behind the wall gulped then sprang forward with lighting speed. Before we got five feet away from the wall, the grenades went off and sent fire and debris flying right at us as we soon found ourselves with no cover and no hope to escape.

Cursing and howls of pain filled the air but did us no good. Shadow troops gave us the loudest war cry I had ever heard before charging forward to take us down. Most of the soldiers that had aided us had been killed while the rest had been crucially injured, leaving us on our own.

We were at the mercy of the Shadows.

Ryan scrambled for his gun, grabbing it then grabbing my wrist before pulling me towards him. I would've cursed him out for nearly pulling my arm out of its socket, but he had, once again, saved my life from an array of bullets that nearly missed me. The human found the closest corner close by and hid me behind it along with himself, firing a few rounds before taking cover once more. He had gotten two men, as if that made a difference to us.

Felix was dragging an unconscious Travis by his arm behind a charred truck while Mina and Mia had found large enough piles of debris from the wall to kneel behind for the time being. We were all matted with sweat, dirt, and blood and I knew for a fact that we were all starting to get tired, our exhaustion starting to take its toll on us like dehydrated animals in the African plain. My mouth was dry, the back of my throat felt rough like sandpaper, and each time I had to take a breath my lungs felt like they had been stabbed by a shard of glass. This was probably the minor effects, but my bullet wound was acting up on me, causing me to lose focus on my surroundings every few seconds.

It wasn't a matter of keeping up anymore. It was a matter of holding out and try to not to die now. As if we had any other choice anyway. The Shadows were going to turn us into swizz cheese if we didn't think of something quick.

Luckily, I still had a back-up AK strapped to my back which I put to good use. With Ryan's aid, we started to fire our bullets back at the enemy, causing Shadow forces to halt exactly where they were for a few moments before ducking for cover. In the process of their fleeing attempt, we both had managed to kill three men, which wasn't much against twenty plus more. There was just no way that this was all of them, even as Felix gave us aid from his side, protecting Travis in the process. Mia and Mina had resorted to using their grenades, throwing a duo at the core of the enemy forces, in which we finally made a large dent in their numbers after the double explosions.

There was no more counting the death toll of the men that were falling; all that mattered was that we needed to hold out by all means. As Ryan took down another man, in which he also had a bullet cut across his skin causing him to bleed, I couldn't wrap my mind around all of this.

Three months ago, I had taken up arms at a moment's notice, without any warning or how-to involved, to save my life and the lives of those around me. It all sounded so...crazy, so unbelievable. Sure, I knew I was going to shoot and kill eventually, but I didn't expect to start killing after only being only about two to three days in creation. At first, everything had been a new concept for me to get around, a new knowledge to soon be tattooed in my mind forever.

Amazingly, I had done very well. How I survived that day still puzzles me right now. I can understand surviving right now since I had been trained for once, but back then--no. Everything seemed to be a blur back then. I remembered getting cut by a few shards of glass, the sweat that dripped from my body, the gunfire, the smoke, the explosions, and something that I sure couldn't forget, were the bodies.

Comparing the scene now to Manchester wouldn't do London justice, in fact, I thought London looked better. In Manchester, many (and I mean many) of the buildings had been crushed, obliterated, and leveled while the streets had been torn up in ways I never thought possible. London was probably only in the first stages in the destruction, the streets were starting to get torn up and the buildings were losing large portions every few minutes. But London looked better for now, and I hoped it didn't get too bad as things dragged on.

Ryan grunted as an explosion blew small stones and dust in his face, making him cough while wiping his eyes in the process. I gave him covering fire as he tried to get the dust out of his eyes, firing half of my magazine at three soldiers that soon fell by my hand. I then covered behind the wall we hid behind as a couple bullets flew towards us quickly.

"Where are those reinforcements you said were coming?" Ryan asked in a near yell, mainly because of the gunfire blaring over all the other sounds going on.

I was about to answer just before a new sound hit my ear. It wasn't from our side, that much was clear since Mia and Mina were fine and Felix was still standing with Travis still out cold behind him, but it also wasn't from the other side. Well, not exactly from their side to be exact.

Ryan and I cautiously looked over the corner of our cover, watching as the Shadow troops stopped exactly where they were, standing completely still like statues. Some were in weird poses while others had fallen to the ground, but most were just standing there doing nothing. Just when I thought things turned weird, they drove to get even weirder as the soldiers began to fall like stones of lead onto the ground, unmoving and not even taking a breath.

Puzzling as it was, none of us moved an inch from where we were. The soldiers didn't move for a good minute and, as far as I could see, none of them had even taken a breath after two minutes. After the third minute passed, that was when I decided to break away from my cover but only at a walking pace. Ryan tried to call me back but I ignored him, feeling that after the four minute mark that there was no way this was a joke.

The nearest soldier, a female Gaogamon by the looks of it, I saw fall first. She was on her back (that's what she said, I know, I know) when she fell and so, I looked her up and down a few times. Nothing seemed to be out of place for her to fall like this.

The fifth minute was where I drew the line.

I bent down, looking her up and down even closer just to check and make sure she really was dead. Her eyes and mouth were wide open, gaping as she looked like she had just breathed her last breath, which she actually did. The only thing that I saw odd about her was the fact that she was lying on something apparently, and the thing was that she didn't have a backpack on or something that could make her back arch like the way it did.

I didn't want to defile the dead in any way, and I knew we were strapped for time, but I used both of my hands to turn her over. Once I saw what she was lying on, I nearly jumped back a few feet.

It was a knife.

The sight had frightened me at first. It was probably eight inches in length and glistened with red blood that dripped from the metal onto the pavement. It was deep enough to kill a person; there wasn't any question about that, but it did pose the question: where did it come from? My belt still had its five knives in their slots and Ryan had used his earlier before this had happened, and I'm sure Mia, Mina, or Felix had enough to take out the twenty-five men that had almost swarmed us.

Bodies just littered the streets now. They were all motionless, unmoving, and completely devoid of all life. Each one had one to two knives in total implanted in their backs as the blood poured from their wounds, the crimson colored liquid making a pool around their corpses.

Little did I know, a white hooded man stood on the top of the flat right beside me, twirling a knife in his grasp before disappearing in a gust of wind.