Flames of War Trilogy Book 1 Chapter 2

[Harakiri]

Flames of War

 

Book 1: Consumed by Fire

 

Chapter 1: The Sleepers

 

 

 

Jack Archer was dreaming of riding a boat through the sky, when it was shattered like a mirror by a shrill noise. His eyes fluttered open and he stared at the alarm clock, it's red numbers telling him it was quarter past six in the morning. His wife turned over beside him, and hid her head in her pillow, drowning out the noise.

 

Jack turned the annoyance off and threw his legs over the side of the bed. He blinked a couple times, getting the sleep out of his eyes, and then got up and headed for the closet.

 

He pulled the wooden door open and found a polo shirt and a pair of jeans. He took them to the bathroom and threw them on the toilet. He then took a shower.

 

After the shower, he shaved, and then put his clothes on. He walked out, feeling awake as ever.

 

In the kitchen, he found a box of Fruit Loops. He dumped some in a bowl, dug around the fridge for the milk, and then poured that on top. He took a spoon from the dishwasher and then set his meal at the table located in the middle of the room.

 

Jack walked to the front door and opened it up, bending down to get the paper from his brown welcome mat. That is when the Fed Ex man rolled up.

 

It was pretty early for him to be out, Jack thought, walking across the lawn to meet the man.

 

The package was thin, and rectangular, the stamp at the top right corner telling him it was from the Watley Facility, his work place.

 

He signed the clipboard that was held out to him then took his package to the kitchen. He threw the paper down, and then sat and ripped the package open greedily.

 

Inside was a manila envelope.

 

Jack gulped down a spoonful of Fruit Loops and then pulled the flap off the top of the folder. He then tilted it at an angle, until it's contents spilled onto the table.

 

First, a bundle of money fell. Then, a piece of paper.

 

Jack counted the bundle of money first. Three million dollars. He then read the paper.

 

He had to read it twice before the enormity of what was being pressed upon him even surfaced into his mind. A full time sleeper job? He would surely die. He had a child, he had a wife. He could not leave them to go to that other land, to help fight for a people who's lives did not matter. It was a fantasy, some kind of dreamland that he was paid to protect. The only thing was that other people besides himself were able to go to that dreamland.

 

He was scared, and angry at the same time. His arm shook.

 

He threw the paper to the table and ran to his wife. She snored lightly in the bed, the covers up to her neck. Jack shook her.

 

Wha... She rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times before noticing that it was Jack who stood before her.

 

Sweetie, I need to tell you something important...get dressed...quickly. Jack hesitated a little. He couldn't leave them.

 

What's going on? She started to rise.

 

I'll tell you in a moment. Tears were welling in Jack's eyes.

 

Jack waited at the table for his wife. It took fifteen minutes, and in those fifteen minutes, he reflected on what had been happening in this other land the past couple months.

 

Political corruption led to a gang overthrowing the government and now leading it with an iron fist. That was what had happened a couple days ago. No one had any pictures of the governor, no one knew much about him besides the fact that he and his gang were able to march into the palace and kill the most heavily guarded man in the entire land. Other gangs were rising up, some joining with their new leader, others fighting against him.

 

That was all he could remember that had happened since he left the world back on Friday. It was Monday now, and God knew how much had happened during the weekend.

 

Jack's wife walked into the room wearing a loose fitting T-shirt and jeans. His daughter clung to her side, a teddy bear in her hands.

 

Jack motioned for them to sit across from him at the table. His wife did so, setting their daughter on her lap.

 

"The Facility wants me for a full time job." Jack made it short and simple.

 

The impact of the words was instant. His wife started crying, and put a hand to her mouth.

 

"Mommy, what's wrong?" His daughter asked.

 

Jack wished he were a child again, did not understand a thing. Better to understand nothing then understand everything. Understanding brings with it pain, more pain than most people could handle.

 

"Don't do it." His wife said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

 

"I am calling him right now, telling Watley he is crazy to think I could do this. I have a family, my family is more important than this fantasy land."

 

Jack got up and went into the living room, picking up the wireless phone. He dialed a number. There were some rings, and then a man picked up the phone.

 

"Hello, Watley Facility, Watley speaking." The voice said.

 

"Dammit Watley, you know I can't do this. I have a family. Who the hell do you think you are? Are you purposefully doing this? Revenge for my failing to stop the overthrow. I was on the complete opposite side of the land, how the hell was I supposed to get to the city? Magic?" Jack was fighting back tears.

 

"Jack Archer, you are going to get over here this instant. If Calladar falls, so will the Earth. You know the consequences, as well as I. Calladar is a mirror world to ours, it is one year in advance of ours, so this overthrow tells us that someone is going to overthrow some place on the Earth in a year. If we stop them, then we can save this world, we will know that we stop it."

 

"I'm not doing it." Jack said with finality.

 

"Then your family are all going to be murdered tonight, and you will be made to watch. Then we will slowly kill you. How does that sound?"

 

Jack punched the table the phone sat on. "You jackass. Black mailing me like that is as low as it can go. I'm quitting! I know your coming tonight, so I will make sure to have guns and police protection."

 

"Are you sure you want to do that? What if I told you I have a man watching right now? His crosshairs sit on your daughters cute little head."

 

Jack turned to his wife and daughter. "DUCK TO THE FLOOR!"

 

Jack's wife was wide eyed, but she obeyed, throwing herself and their daughter to the floor as a shot went throught the window and flew past the point where his daughter's head was two second before.

 

The bullet smashed into a cabinet, sending splinters to the ground. Jack's daughter started to cry.

 

Jack put the phone back to his ear.

 

"You win. I'll be their in a little while."

 

Watley laughed. "Good, be here soon. I will send three million dollars to your wife every month. She will be set. Say your goodbyes and make them fast. I want to see you in fifteen minutes."

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

Jack had said fast goodbyes, promising he would find a way to escape the drug, escape the fantasy world. He drove faster than the speed limit, heading for the Waley Facility, his face red with anger, his knuckles whitening as they gripped the wheel.

 

He punched the horn. It went off.

 

"DAMMIT!" He yelled, punching the horn again.

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

Watley was happy to see him. Jack was going to punch him when Watley grabbed his hand, and held it as he took him down a set of stairs.

 

Jack tried to pull his hand away.

 

"I am not a child." Watley's grasp was too tight to escape from.

 

"Perhaps you are. Please go through the door, look around the room for a second while I grab an injection."

 

Jack went through the door as he said to do and looked around. Beds contained bodies of people, some he knew, some he didn't. Most had been part time sleepers. They had worked with him upstairs in the beds on the top floor. Now, they worked below ground, in this dank, smelly cellar.

 

He noticed Sean, one of his best friends, shaking. He was throwing up blood into his breathalyzer, chocking on it. Jack ran to him, pulled the breathalyzer off his friend. Blood dumped all across his chest, all across his face. He stopped shaking. Jack checked him. He was dead.

 

Watley returned with a needle.

 

"Oh bloody hell, not another one!" He yelled up the stairs. "ZEKE! GET DOWN HERE AND GET RID OF THIS BLOODY BODY!"

 

Watley motioned for Jack to lay down in an open bed. Jack did so.

 

"Here's the needle, and here is the drug. Enjoy your life in Calladar."

 

Jack took the small bottle with a cork screwed into the top, and the needle. Watley turned his back and walked away. Jack stuffed the needle through the cork and took some, but not all of the drug. He took enough to be out for seven days.

 

He turned his wrist over, and then shoved the needle into the vein. He moaned at the pain, but then passed into a world of darkness.

[Harakiri]

Anyone want to tell me anything, if it sucked, if it was good?

 

 

 

By the way, due to time constraints thanks to school (One more month thank god) I will only be posting Friday, Saturdays, and Sundays for the next month. Next wednesday is a half day, so I will post then, and then May 25 is a day off so I will post a chapter then too. Just gonna have to wait over weekdays I guess.

 

 

 

Please give me some form of criticism, I like to know if people enjoy my stories or think they blow.

[Harakiri]

Anyone want to tell me if it sucks, its good, what they think?

 

 

 

Chapter 2: Battle in the hills

 

 

 

Phillip Kowl walked forward, pushing low hanging branches back. Behind him, two hundred people carrying pistols and machine guns pushed forward, all ready for the coming destruction.

 

It took three hours before the men broke out of the forest, and entered a hilly area, the sun high in the sky. Across a field stood a woman and her men, all carrying the same basic weapons, machine guns, pistols, knives. The woman's boots looked different, but from this far away, Phillip could not tell what it was. He pushed his fedora over his eyes, shading them from the beating heat.

 

The woman across the way snickered. Phillip did not know why, his men outnumbered her's two to one, and she did not carry her weapons in her arms like Phillip did. He shifted his grip on his modified machine gun.

 

He stopped the march twenty feet away from the opposite gang.

 

"Give up." He said, pointing to her flag bearer, carrying the gang's flag (now raised partway) and a white flag. Phillip also had a flagbearer. The enemies flag had a bear on it, eating a man, pulling him in half.

 

The woman shook her head. Phillip then noticed what was wrong with her shoes. They had knives pointing out of the front.

 

Phillip knew they were going to fight, there was no way around it.

 

The women's men got the first shot.

 

 

 

Jack Archer awoke to the sound of a shot. He lifted himself up and opened his eyes to a scene of war. Two gangs were fighting, guns and swords drawn, screams and grunts echoing around the area. Jack looked at himself. He wore the dark suit of a Sleeper, and also had two pistols holstered and attached to each side of his waist.

 

He continued to watch as a woman stuffed her boot into a man's scrotum, a knife on the bottom digging deep into him. He squeeled and dropped.

 

Jack stood and took his guns out, shooting into the armies. Two men dropped from his shots. He ran down the hill to join the fray.

 

A man with a sword ran at him. Jack rolled to the side and shot him through the ear.

 

Jack shot some more, and continued for what seemed like hours. His black dress shoes were now stained with blood, as well as various parts of his suit.

 

He wanted to throw up, the smell was terrible. He almost did, but he kept it in, because even relieving himself for ten seconds could cost him his life.

 

The woman, he noticed, was progressing toward him, digging her knives into anyone who came near her. When she noticed Jack shoot one of her men, she ran toward him, and kicked out at him. He dodged backwards, falling on his [wagon]. He tried to shoot, but she kicked the gun from his hands. He tried the other, but once again she kicked it.

 

She then kicked at his face, he put his arm up, the knife making a huge gash on it. He then kicked her legs out from under her and got up as she fell.

 

He ran backward, ripping a piece of his suit off to tie around his arm. Out of nowhere, she appeared, kicking him in the knee, and tearing to the side.

 

Jack screamed as he fell, blood puddling everywhere. The strip of his suit fell into the blood. She had torn his left knee so bad, he didn't think he would be able to walk, much less fight.

 

She jabbed her foot onto his neck, and crushed the wind from his lungs. The knife prodded his jaw.

 

"Who do you think you are, invading the fight like that?" She asked in a cute tone. She might have been a rather nice companion if she wasn't a psycho killer with knives taped to her shoes.

 

Wait, Jack thought. Taped? That meant...

 

He focused all his energies to his hands, all he needed was one push. One...

 

He placed his hands palms down on the ground and then pushed forward, throwing her off. He then grabbed the knife from her left shoe and tore it off. He stuffed it in her right knee, pushing it deep and then wiggling it back and forth. She screamed, trying to kick at him. He then pulled the knife out of her knee and shoved it into her neck. Her screams were gargled by the blood foaming out of her mouth. She stopped moving, and lay limp.

 

Jack tried to get up, but collapsed. His knee was going to kill him. He picked the piece of suit he had torn from the blood and tied it to his arm. He then tore another piece and tied it to his knee.

 

He was able to get up by crawling to a nearby tree and using it to balance. He started to limp down the hill.

 

The woman's men had run away when he had killed her, and so had the man's. A medic sat at the bottom of the hill, a medical kit attached to his belt. Jack grabbed it and opened it, finding stitches and bandages. He also found a bottle of alcohol.

 

He spent the next hour getting into the forest, away from the horrid stench of the battlefield.

 

It took another hour for him to find a stream, the perfect place to work on his wounds.

 

 

 

Phillip Kowl watched as a jeep came at him, and stopped. He walked toward it and took the passenger side.

 

"Governor, how did the campaign go?" The driver asked.

 

"The woman was killed by a Sleeper. He also killed some of the Royal Guards. He must be punished."

 

"Do you have his description?"

 

Phillip nodded. "Take me to the palace. I will write a warrant for his arrest."

 

"Sir, why did you not finish the battle and capture him if the woman was dead?"

 

"Because, their was a whole damn army of sleepers watching from the forest. He was the only one who interfered. I would be bloody crazy to try to capture him while there were so many."

 

"Why did they not interfere?"

 

Phillip shook his head. "I have no bloody idea. Get us out of here. He will be captured later, when there are not so many Sleepers around."

 

The driver nodded and turned the car, heading for the palace.