Chapter 12 - Chapter 12... Apotheosis...

What Jasco told me last night… It made me think. For him, it was a never ending loop. He said that, his home was deep inside of him… And… With each man he killed, he felt farther away from home… But if that earns his right to get back home, then that’s his mission… With other words, it’s a never ending loop…



That day… The lives of 31.343 creatures were lost during the assault on Angel Island… As Jasco holds Cyrus and I stood there, a convoy of Red Faction rebels taken prisoners were walking passed us… Some of them were kids… By the looks of it, some are not older then fourteen…



As the others prepared for setting up the bases on Angel Island, retaking sources of the Red Faction, we buried Cyrus on top of a hill, under a willow tree. As time passed by, we stood there…



Evening broke… Food is handed out to everyone who cant stand up. Others however, have to stand in line… Then suddenly, we heard a familiar voice… I turned around and I saw Flash…



Flash: Excuse me, hedgehog coming through!
Hedgehog: There’s a line you know…
Flash: I know…
Hedgehog: This isn’t the end of the line…
Flash: … I know…

He fills his plate with food… He looked at the hedgehog, winked at him and made a trigger squeezing motion with his finger. The hedgehog looked rather baffled…



Tala: Come on, leave him alone. The poor bastard hasn’t eaten a few days.

So after we got… “served”, we joined Tala and Flash…



Blain: See you guys are still alive.
Flash: Well lookie here!

As Flash and I talked, Jasco went up to Tala… Standing in front of her.



Jasco: Hey… Great to see you Tala…
Tala: You’re blocking my view…
Jasco: Good to see you too…
Jasco sits down next to her… They see the large beach with the moon shining, lighting up the hundreds of thousand bodies scattered throughout the beach.



Tala; You know, it’s kinda funny… Beautiful beach, beautiful moon… Would almost make a great place to spend your holidays…

Jacso: Yeah… Almost…
Tala: You know where the others are…?
Jasco: No… I was wondering the same thing.
Tala: Where’s Cyrus…?
Jasco: He didn’t make it…

After a while, I saw Jasco standing up and walked away.


Blain: Where you going?
Jasco: To look for the others. Your coming with me?
Blain: Sure.

We’ve been spending a long time finding the others. We did find them, alive and well. We went to a more quiet location and sat down. Not long after that, everyone falls asleep…



We didn’t get much sleep though. The things we saw that day were rather horrifying, and no one could sleep properly. I only slept for 2 hours… At that point, I didn’t think it would help me to fall asleep…



Tala: The trick to falling asleep is trying to stay awake.
Blain: What do you mean?

Tala: Well, when my mother… She used to work late through the night... Sleep through the day. So the only time we'd ever get to talk about anything is when she'd get home. So what I... What I used to do, I used to lie in my bed and try to stay awake as long as I could, but it never worked because... because the harder I'd try, the faster I'd fall asleep.

Jasco: Heh… Yeah well, that wouldn't have mattered in my house. My mom… She would have come home, shook me awake, talked to me 'til dawn. I swear that woman was never too tired to talk…

Tala: Only thing is, sometimes she'd come home early, and I'd pretend to be asleep…
Blain: Who? Your mom…?

Tala: Yeah… She'd stand in the doorway looking at me... and I'd just keep my eyes shut. And I knew she just wanted to find out about my day. That she came home early... Just to talk to me. And I still wouldn't move... I'd still pretend to just be asleep. I don't know why I did that…

Then there was a long silence…



Blain: What would you do if you had the lead Jasco…?
Jasco: Put on a cape, get super powers, fight crime and call myself Awesome Wolf…

Blain: Right…
Jasco: You could be my sidekick… Suggestion Boy…
Blain: That’s not what I meant…
Jasco: I’m sorry, but let's say you weren't a Sergeant, or maybe I was a Major. What would you say then? What would you think of our missions…?

Blain: Well in that case, I'd say this is an excellent mission, sir, with an extremely valuable objective, sir. Worthy of my best efforts, sir. Moreover, I feel heartfelt sorrow for all the lives lost and I’m willing to lay down the lives of me and my men, especially you, Jasco, to claim back freedom.

Jasco: If your mother heard you saying that, she’d be very upset…
Blain: I thought you were my mother Jasco…
Jasco: Ok fine, but just because you don’t have a mother!

Heh… Jasco laughs and sucker punched me. Not long after that, Tala fell asleep. It stayed quiet between Jasco and me and not long after that, he fell asleep too… I just stared at the white moon… I fell my eye lids were getting heavier and I fell asleep…



I had a dream that night… I was dreaming that I was running through a completely destroyed city holding a girl in my arms. I just kept on running while I heard bullets whizzing by me. I suddenly fell a sharp pain in chest and I fell down… I looked at my hands and saw that blood was on it. And the girl was dead. A bullet went right through my chest and hit her in the head. I tried standing up but I fell down again. Then Jasco ran towards me and picked me up… He was saying something, but I couldn’t hear it… I felt weaker and suddenly saw nothing but darkness… At that point, I was gone… I couldn’t feel anything… Hear anything… See anything… Its like you know your there, but you cant do anything. Trying to move your legs, your arms, turning your head, blinking your eyes… Nothing… It was just one big black space where I was immobilized… A scary thought really… Everything felt so real…



I suddenly woke up and scared the hell out of me when I saw Jasco’s face right in front of me…



Blain: WHOA!!
Jasco: Dude, you ok?
Blain: Damn!! What the frack?!
Jasco: You don’t look to good Blain, your all sweaty.
Blain: No I’m fine.
Jasco: You sure…?
Blain: …Yeah.

I walked away to the others but I could see Jasco looking after me while he still stands there…



Nothing happened in the past hours. Well, not something interesting. Few hours later, a guy walked towards us…



Hedgehog: Which one of you is Jasco and Blain?
Jasco/Blain: We are.
Hedgehog: Former members of the RRTS?
Blain: Yes sir.
Hedgehog: Follow me.

We followed the guy to a tent… He closed the canvas and puts on a light and shines on a map on the table.



Hedgehog: What I’m about to tell you is highly confidential. You understand that what you hear here, stays here.

Jasco: Yes sir…

Hedgehog: Good. Thirteen hours ago, a reconnaissance squad was send out to Station Square to capture vital checkpoints of the city. However, things weren’t going as planned. Two are confirmed dead, one is taken as a prisoner, and the others are lost. We’ve lost every form of communication with them. We want you to go down there and extract them.

Blain: How many men…?
Hedgehog: … Four of them…
Jasco: Atleast one of them is confirmed alive…
Blain: So… Who’s coming along…?
Hedgehog: You’re allowed to be accompanied by 4 others. Remember, inform your guys on a need to know base.

Blain: Yes sir.
Jasco: When do we leave?
Hedgehog: Tonight at 22:00 hours
Jasco: Right-o sir.
Hedgehog: Dismissed.

After that, we went out of the tent…


Blain: Right-o sir…?
Jasco: Yeah…
Blain: Ooooookay…

Jasco: We need guys…
Blain: … A navigator…
Jasco: Tala is a sniper…
Blain: Flash is assault…
Jasco: We still need the navigator… And another sniper…

We searched the remaining battalions. We found the leader of a battalion who could borrow us a sniper… He introduced him to us.



Blain: I heard your one of the best.
Hedgehog: Well, sir, seems to me, God gave me a special gift, fashioned in me a fine instrument of warfare.

Then the leader took me apart…



Hedgehog: Look eeh… This guy is fracked up. Really… Highly religious after he saw torn up limbs and the many onslaughts in Westopolis 3 years ago. It marked him for life. He believes in God and that He helped him through the years. You sure wanna take this guy…?
Blain: He’s a sniper…?
Hedgehog: Yeah.
Blain: A good one?
Hedgehog: One hell of a sniper sir.
Blain: Then what’s the problem?
Hedgehog: Just a warning sir.

I went back to the others…



Blain: You, come with us.
Hedgehog: Yes sir.
Jasco: What’s your name?
Hedgehog: Talon sir.
Blain: Sounds familiar aint it…?
Jasco: … Yeah…

So after a while, he went with us. We were searching for a navigator. Someone who could read maps and determent our location. I mean, we could read maps, but just basic stuff. So we needed one… And eventually found one. We entered a tent and we saw some guys sitting there. I asked for a navigator and one told me we could find a guy named Upham in the next tent. So we went to pay the lad a visit… As soon as we entered, a guy jumps up and salutes…



Jasco: What the frack is he doing…
Blain: No idea…
Jasco: Right… You’re Upham?
Upham: Yes sir!
Blain: You got assigned to us now. Pack your gear.
Upham: But… Sir…?
Blain: Yes?
Upham: I.. eh.. I never went to the field… Sir…
Blain: Ever held a rifle…?
Upham: Yes sir.
Blain: Ever killed somebody…?
Upham: No sir.
Blain: Good, me neither.

Jasco chuckles loudly behind me… I turned around and he looked at me, then walked out of the tent, and he just laughs his @$$ off…



Upham: Eehm.. Eh… Can I take my sketchbook with me sir?
Blain: … Go ahead…

The guy runs around while he accidently bumps into a table and things just fall on the ground. He looks very nervous…



Blain: Take your time Upham…


After he packed his gear, we went back to Tala and Flash and informed them of what we’re about to do. Flash and Tala agreed to go with us. After we said to Sonic and the rest that we’re leaving, they said there going home, back to Knothole… So after that, we went off. We got dropped off on mainland and set out to Station Square. We all walked on the grass plains… I asked Upham to locate our position. He salutes and figured out our position. And we walked again…



Upham: So eeh… Jasco right…?
Jasco: Drop dead Upham… And another thing, whenever you salute the Sergeant you make him an open target for the Rebels so don't do it, especially when I'm standing near him!



Upham: Right…
Blain: Careful you don’t step in the bullshoot Upham… Jasco’s full of shoot!

Upham: So eeh… Where did the sergeant got bootcamp…?
Jasco: Sergeant didn’t got bootcamp. He got assembled out of body parts of dead soldiers.

Blain: AKA the RRTS…
Upham: You guys…?
Blain: Yup… Created… Jasco isn’t. They just scoop up a pile of shoot and made a statue of a wolf. A spark of electricity and he was born…

Jasco: That’s not funny Blain…
Blain: Well, was worth a shot…
Tala: So why are we doing this anyway?
Upham: "Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do or die."
Jasco: La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la. What the frack is that supposed to mean?
Flash: What Upham is trying to say… Is that we just have to follow orders, be careful and that we can go home in one piece…


Blain: What's the saying? "If God's on our side, who the hell could be on theirs?"

Talon: "If God is for us, who could be against us?"
Blain: Right, what did I say?


Tala: … Why the hell are we quoting people…?

Blain: No fracking clue…

To be continued…

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment