Engulfing Darkness
By James Jones

Prologue

“Night is the blotting paper for many sorrows.” ~Author Unknown

When sixteen year old Andrew Curtin stares into the night sky, he feels relaxed, at peace, safe… But how safe is the darkness really? What horrors lie within? Should he fear or embrace the unknown?

We all answer these questions differently, as we are all unique from one another. Andrew enjoys the darkness and welcomes it at any opportunity that presents itself to him. Though there is a darkness that is arriving which he is unsure whether to embrace it openly, or to run in terror. The darkness in question is a cloud of misery and despair that he was only alerted to moments ago by the local news station while eating his lunch in the schools lunch room.

The communist nation of China, which America has been locked in a heated and devastation war for eleven years, has finally taken enough of the war and decided to launch their nuclear capabilities.

The warnings came out of nowhere while Andrew was at school. All the students and factuality halted whatever tasks or assignments were before them to stand and watch in awe as the reports surged in about the East Coast being completely obliterated. Within minutes, chaos ensured. Many ran around, attempting to find some way to survive the oncoming holocaust. Some attempted to get in contact with their parents and find a way to flee before the bombs arrive, while others simple sat down in shock and remained in place, awaiting the inevitable destruction.

Andrew was dumbstruck, where would he go? Would he even bother to attempt to survive, or was it all lost? His family was not rich enough to secure a line in one of the fancy Vaults that infest the local city of DC, but they had made a small underground tunnel in the side of a hill as a fallback plan. Unfortunately for Andrew, he is stuck at school, too far away to make it in time. He will have to survive on his own.

“Quickly, everyone, follow me. I’ll lead us all to safety!” shouted the local school police officer. Officer Webley, a rather fat, short man, who constantly looked like he was hiding a few Fancy Lad Snack Cakes in his coat to munch on in the factuality lounge alone, hidden away from the rest of the viewing eyes of the school in shame. Andrew never liked the man, but he gave him credit for attempting to be a hero in a moment that would cause many to break. Though Andrew could tell that anyone who followed the officer was surely doomed. So Andrew did the only thing that he knew he could do—run. He ran, as fast as he could, with not a clue as to where to head. He knew he just needed to get away, as far away as possible. But after hopelessly charging through the hoard of students rushing to find safety, Andrew knew it was a lost cause.

“Andrew? Andrew!” screamed a voice from behind. Hearing his name caused him to freeze. He spun around quickly and began scanning the area with his light green eyes to find the person who called to him. After a moment of focusing, he saw who it was.

Kirstin Devine, the local beautiful high school popular girl, who Andrew has always had a crush on, was calling to him. Her soft brown eyes stared at him, while her pale beautiful skin shined in the light of the chaos. “Andrew, get over here! Common, I know a place!”

He had no reason to doubt her, and was pleasantly surprised that she would take interest in him. So he followed, and caught up to her. “Kirstin, where the hell are we going?”

“I know a place.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“If you’d prefer to sit here with your thumb in your mouth looking like a moron, be my guest.” She retorted with a snide remark, she had a knack to do that, but he enjoyed the playfulness of their talks. Though now was not the time to really continue this convocation, so he let Kirstin guide him to his awaiting destination.

Along their way, battling through dozens of misguided students and factuality members, Andrew caught sight of his friend, Skyler Lee, hopelessly sitting down with his eyes to the floor. Andrew knew he had to help his friend, so he ran over to him. “Sky, man, common! We gotta move, dude!” Sky just looked at him with a mixed face of confusion.

“Where are we going?”

“To a safe place.”

“Will my parents be there?”

This question caught Andrew off guard. It took him a moment to soak in the feelings, he knew already that his parents would be safe at the special tunnel, but for others, they will not be so lucky. But he needed to get Sky moving, and fast, as their hourglass is slowly running out of grains of sand. “Yes… Sky… they will be.”

Skyler looked into Andrews eyes for a second, as if searching into his soul for any reason to doubt him. His piercing blue eyes, usually friendly and soft, now seemed cold and devoid of any emotion. This sent a suddenly chill down Andrews spine.

“Okay… I trust you.” He finally mumbled after a split second. Andrew helped lift Sky up, as Kirstin pulled him, shouting they had to move.

As they reached the outside, the streets were crowed with people running in all different directions. A few unfortunate people ran blindly into the street and were hit by a car, causing a large car pileup. A few people already began to show that they were losing grip on their humanity by taking more hostile actions by either jacking cars, or by using the sidewalk as a new personal road, narrowly hitting students as they rushed to their cars.

“Where now?” Shouted Andrew.

“Just shut up and follow me!” Kirstin roared back. She led them down a few blocks, and everywhere they encountered the same scene. Humanity falling apart, already before the bombs arrived. Reverting back to their barbaric nature to secure a place to save themselves from the hellish onslaught that was slowly creeping towards the city.

“It’s almost time.” Whispered Skyler, as he pointed to a large TV on display in a window. Everyone stopped for a moment to listen.

“We have just learned now that the bombs will land at around 10:47 according to our calculations… which means there is only two minutes left to go. We here at ALH 5 will stay with you as long as we can. Good luck and God be with you.”

“We don’t have much time, we need to move! The place is only another block away!”

“Then get us there already!”

They continued on, running as fast as they could, despite the chaos surrounding them. After they ran for another minute, they finally found what Kirstin was talking about... a sewer entrance.

“You have got to be kidding me…”

Andrew sighed and waited as Kirstin opened the entrance and began to climb down, then followed Sky, and soon it was his turn. As he climbed down, he took one last look at the surrounding area. An entire crowd was gathered around a single Pulowski Preservation Shelter, shouting, screaming to get inside, while others just sat down with their loved ones gathered around.

Andrew closed the entrance as entered, and followed the others down the dimly lit path. He looked down at his watch, 10:47 AM. “It’s time.” he whispered.

The ground then began to shake as a sudden scream of wind blew around on the surface and all light intensified for a moment, before being shut out by an engulfing darkness.

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This is my first time writing in months, and I wanted to try a new story rather than continue an old one since ALH2 didn't phase out so well. So please, feel free to comment, what you liked, didn't like, spelling or grammar errors, etc. If it's well received, I'll continue, if not, I'll scrap the idea and possibly return a few months later with a new idea. Thanks for reading!

I would continue it just because there's not that many pre-war fan fics. I couldn't spot any big grammar mistakes, and if there's small ones, I missed them. The story perked my interest because it was when the bombs hit. But I liked your other one(I don't know which, I only read one) better. Personally I'm going to have to wait for you to continue, but it isn't something you should give up on.

Thanks Yttrium, it's been a while friend. Yes, I know America's Last Hope was better, but it was finished. Then when I tried to make a sequel, not many were interested and those who were ended up being forced having to basically re-read the first story all the way to remember what happened, which is a killjoy. It's like joining up in a TV show during the second season not knowing what happened at all the first season, and being forced to watch all the episodes again just to remember. That's not fun. If people suddenly start request America's Last Hope 2: Death of Liberty again, then maybe I'll start that back up as well. All the links are in my website which is in my signature should you wish to find the link to it, but I was interested in toying with the idea of a pre-war fan fiction, the eyes of the people who saw the world end as they knew it, and how they'll cope with it. And actually, this will tie in later to America's Last Hope. Consider it being Episode 1 from Star Wars while America's Last Hope was Episode 4 :wink_smile:

Well, you've perked my interest now.

I just misspelled every single word in that sentence...I think I need some sleep.

Truth to God, I said "Holy Crap!" when I saw that the author was Sergeant [censored] Gutsy!!! So good to see you! My God!


Let me just say if this has even the slightest connection to America's Last Hope, then I DEMAND that this story continue. UNDER PENELTY OF DAMNATION!!!!!!! bliviongate:

Chapter 1

Twenty minute since the bombs fell

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” ~Norman Cousins


The horrors of war are such things that no one ever wishes to see. Unfortunately, sometimes things are… unavoidable. At least, that’s what Andrew’s Air Force Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Crops told him. You see, Andrew joined (as if he had a choice, all males in High School are “enrolled” into the military program due to the ongoing war. It doesn’t force them to enlist, but gives them a taste of brotherhood and citizenship, though Andrew requested to be in it regardless, as he was pursuing a career into the Air Force as a Fighter Pilot) the Junior ROTC program last year, and within a semester showed the capabilities of being a Cadet Officer.

After having his hair cut short, face shaven clean, and given a military uniform, he felt in a strange way… complete. While most of his peers simply slid by with the minimum requirements, he did everything and more requested of him. Though he was currently under scrutiny by his commanding officers’ after a female student at the school had a misunderstanding and claimed he sixually harassed her, but he hopes to bounce back from that with more determination and fire in his heart to improve.

His friend Skyler is only a Cadet Airman First Class, as he basically took the class with a grain of salt and focused all his attention on his free time. Though as it can now be seen, he wasted plenty of opportunity to learn how to handle a nuclear holocaust, as the officers in charge of the program made sure to teach all the cadets how to survive should the worst occur.

But Andrew never imagined that he would actually be forced one day to recall all his training for a nuclear armageddon and learn how to survive with what little supplies he has and with so few people to rely on. A few basic rules of thumb stuck to him more than the others:

Survive the Blast, and then forget the Past

Beware the Radiation, and live to see the Celebration

Lose grip on Humanity, say goodbye to your Sanity

These few basic rules stuck with him like a sour thumb. He could at least be proud he survived the blast, though radiation will be another fact of play in this losing game of chess. He is merely a pawn, left alive after all else have fallen but the King. Already half way across the chessboard, he could continue forward with intent to find and protect his King, or he can move to the end and become a Knight and hopefully wait it out and become the new leader of this crumbling world by becoming some sort of society leader.

But one thing was burned into his mind unlike no other, that helped clearly showed him the correct path to take in this dangerous minefield of life. One the Air Force burned into his mind with furious and relentless flames;

Service before Self

He knew what he had to do: find any survivors and take charge, while hopefully finding a superior officer in the military to give him guidance and possibly shelter. After all, the military was preparing for this for years, so why wouldn’t they take him in?

“Andrew, we need to move…” Sky slowly whispered out in such a faint voice that it took Andrew a moment to realize what exactly Sky had said. “Radiation is going to get deadly soon if we stay too close to where the bombs dropped.”

“Yeah… We need to move deeper into the tunnels. Kirstin, where the hell are we going? We need to make sure that we’re not just heading towards another bomb location, as the radiation is deadly enough down here as is.”

Kirstin didn’t bother replying; she simply growled and trudged forward through the dark and narrow tunnels. Thankfully, even after the bombs fell, the light returned after a while. It would be only time till the full extent of the darkness will ensure from the dust cloud. But for now, they had a limited opportunity to travel through the dark tunnels with some light from above. Then they’ll forced to go up again to scavenge for supplies and food, though they knew it would be almost suicidal to go onto the surface with all the radiation. The tunnel is filled with it too, but not as bad as the surface at least.

“I want to call my ma… to make sure she’s okay…” mumbled Skyler.

“Sky… the EMP would have wiped out all the technology, including the ph-“

Kirstin elbowed Andrew before he could finish his sentence and shot him a cold look, which only him a minute to realize what he was saying, he needed to give a positive outlook and not feed into the darkness of negativity that was slowly consuming them.

“Don’t worry Sky, there’s gonna be a phone where we’re going, you’ll call your mom when we get there.” Called back Kirstin with a gentle tone, though her stare into Andrew’s eyes were anything but harmless.

“Yeah… okay… I want to go home soon… how close are we to the safe zone?”

“Close, Sky, close.”

Andrew knew she was lying, she hadn’t a clue where she was taking them, but it was much better than anything he would have suggested. He sighed, and began to open his mouth, before he was cut off.

“Guys… why is slowly getting darker?” inquired Sky.

They all froze and stared up, noticing the rare potholes they encounter every few hundred feet or so giving less and less light through the cracks and holes.

“The dust cloud is coming… we need to move, now, or we’ll be stuck down here. And the only place safe is sadly above ground.”
Shouted Andrew.

“What? Are you insane? Did the shock of the bombs falling cause you to lose your sanity? If we go up there, the radiation will chew us alive! And only God knows how strong the dust clouds will be, possibly over a hundred miles per hour!” Kirstin protested.

“Listen, Kirstin, it’s our best chance. If we get stuck down here when the clouds hit, the radiation will pour through here no differently than the top, and so will the clouds, along with all light we may have. Our best chance is to find a home and quickly scavenge it for supplies and ride out the worst.”

Kirstin wanted to retort, but she knew Andrew was correct and gave herself a few seconds to process what he had just said and then sighed, understanding that he was correct.

“Alright, up we go. But since you’re so damn inclined to go up, you go first.”

Andrew swallowed hard, he wasn’t afraid of the darkness, but this was something else… Did he truly wish to go up the nearby ladder and see what awaits him after the holocaust? Would there even be anything left? He had no choice, but he sure as hell wished he had a better plan.

Hoisting himself up the ladder, he slowly climbed with each slow yet steady step. His heart raced, sweat poured down his red hair and onto his pale face. Each step up the ladder felt as if he was moving closer and closer to an awaiting monster lurking above, waiting for him.

With a sudden deep breath, he looked up and used all his strength to force the pothole open and took a look outside… what he saw… he will never forget…

With a look to the south, he saw regular homes and neighborhoods untouched, but when he turned around and looked north, he saw nothing of what DC reminded him of, nothing but a large mushroom cloud over the area, with an ever growing dust cloud arriving slow but steady.

“Quickly, get up here, we need to move now.” He shouted, knowing they had only minutes to get to a safe place before the cloud hit. After hoisting all of them up, they all ran to the nearest house.

It was a beautiful small suburb home; two stories tall, a little bit skinny, red, with some white around the edges. A large, beautiful American flag flew in the wind with no care of the world. Small white fences blocked the path, but they easily lifted themselves over it and ran over to the door. Andrew charged with all his might and yelled, slamming himself into the door, shattering it. “Get in, now!”

They all rushed inside, the darkness grew. He took one last look outside and saw what appeared to be a nightmare growing in intensity behind him. A few hundred yards away, he watched as the roaring wind picked up a car and tossed it as easily as if a child would throw away a toy car he no longer wished to play with anymore.

They had seconds left, and already he could feel the wind coming closer. His heart raced, and he took one last look around the outside of the house. The flag began to flap with extreme intensity, and he stared at it for a moment. He regretted himself for growing up in such a patriotic family that he could not allow the flag to be destroyed, so he quickly ran over and used a nearby knife to cut the flag lose, and grabbed a hold of it while running back inside with the prized object in his arms, fighting to fly free.

Upon entering the house, the wind was deafening now, with only seconds to go, he didn’t see Kirstin or Sky anywhere. Was his choice to return to retrieve the flag going to cost him his life?

“Andrew, damnit, get over here!” Kirstin screamed. He saw where she was at; it appeared to be a basemant doorway. He rushed over as fast as he could, and she closed the door behind him. Rushing down the wooden staircase, he saw a steel door open with Sky inside the panic room sitting down and drifting off to sleep. He rushed inside, and Kirstin then closed the door behind him. A loud click came into place as the locks matched.

A panic room, this was definitely not what he was expecting to survive a holocaust in, but damn better than the tunnels. And at least it was underground, so they had a fighting chance against the radiation and the winds.

The house above him shuddered and tore apart in a violent scream of wind; the room fell dark and silent with nothing but the wind above making any sort of noise.

Andrew and Kirstin huddled together momentarily, awaiting the end. But after a few seconds, the wind began to die down. While it was still dark, he could see the faint outlines of Kirstin nearby him. Suddenly, she turned green, and so did the room.

“What the hell?” he whispered. Sharply turning his head, he noticed a nearby computer turned on, obviously untouched by the EMP from the nukes, which shouldn’t have been possible. He moved slowly and cautiously to the computer, and studied it, noticing the brand on the side

PROPERTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY!

It took Andrews a moment to realize that it was some officers or maybe an officials private computer, which explains how it absorbed the EMP. He touched the screen gently, and a small log began to play before him.

>HELLO CAPTAIN JAMES T. JONES, EMERGENCY PROTOCOLES INTO EFFECT. COMMANDS?

Andrew studied it for a moment, and began to type out what he believed was the correct phrases.

>>INVESTIGATE

>CLARIFY

>>COMPUTER CAPABILITIES

>WORKING AT FULL CAPACITY

>>SEND EMERGENCY DISTRESS SIGNAL

>PRIORITY?

>>RED

>INVALID PRIORITY. RETYPE COMMAND

>>TOP

>TOP PRIOIRTY SELECTED, SENDING DISTRESS CALL…

… … … … … … … … … … … …

>SENT. MESSAGE RECEIVED AND ACKNOLOGED. AID IS ARRIVING SOON, CAPTAIN. HAVE A PLEASANT DAY.

Andrew smiled momentarily, he may have used a false identity to secure himself and his friend’s a safe passage, but for now, all he cared about is surviving and somehow, someway, returning to the society and any other survivors.

Now all he has to do is wait.

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Thanks guys for supporting me, and yes, this will tie into America's Last Hope... some way. I apologize for a larger than usual chapter, but I wanted to give more details into the story than I did for ALH, where it was just action action action and no backstory until half way in the story when I realized it was killing interest for a few people, besides, I kind of got caught up in my story for a while, which is odd and usually never happens. I'll try to keep it up should people still be interested in the story. And thanks Wasteland, good to see you too mate.

I liked this chapter. I can see this being just as good as ALH, my only problem was at one point, right here:




It took me a minute to figure out who was saying what, just a little speed bump, and maybe I'm the only one who had this problem. And by the way, this length is just perfect for me. I prefer lengthy chapters.

Ah, sorry about that, it's Andrew speaking the first time, Kirstin retorting, then Andrew saying "Listen, Kirstin,...". Nice catch, lemme edit in who's speaking, my bad. Glad to know the chapter wasn't bad.

Chapter 2

Heaven’s Air Force Base

“War does not determine who is right - only who is left”. ~Bertrand Russell

Senior Airman Kim silently zoned out into space after hearing of the horrific destruction of the nuclear blasts on the American homeland. He was unable to reach his family after hearing the news from Lieutenant Raynor that the Chinese have basically condemned the world to its death than to let itself lose the war. Selfish pricks.

His hand softly trembled. Was his darling wife Mrs. Kim safe? Or more importantly, their baby boy, Jun? How cruel life must be to save him in this time of remorse and potentially condemn his innocent family to death? Is this fates way of retaliating against him after the crime he committed when he was a teenager?

No. It can’t be. It was an accident. He didn’t know anyone was inside the building at the time. Why would fate punish him of this extent over an accident years ago? It didn’t matter now to dwell on it.

He was alive, and his family was not. Now all he can do now is his job, which he doesn’t particularly care for, to help keep the negativity out of his mind. “When life throws all happiness away, find healthy way to vent anger.” His father would always say. Right now, that healthy way was to focus on his job—marking locations of any possible survivors.

Kim moved uncomfortably in his Air Battle Uniform (ABU) which was colored in a rather odd color for his surroundings. Stuck in his little room underground only a few miles away from DC, he often wonders how the Air Force continues to put underground bases everywhere and successfully hide them from the public.

>HELLO SR. AMN KIM, TOP PRORITY EMERGENCY DISTRESS SIGNAL LOCATED IN OUTSKIRTS OF WASHINGTON DC.

His eyes stared at the screen for a moment. Someone was alive? Are they important enough to risk sending out rescue teams so soon while there is still extreme danger?

>> DETAILS

>CAPTAIN JAMES T. JONES, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE COUNTER INTELLIGENCE OPERATION FORCES.

AGE: 25

six: MALE

SSN: CLASSIFIED

RANK: CAPTAIN

PROJECT: CLASSIFIED

SECURITY CLEARANCE: TOP SECRET//ENCLAVE

>WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEND A RESCUE TEAM? YES/NO

Kim stared at this for a moment. Such a high ranking and valuable asset to the United States Air Force, but what made this guy so special? And what is Top Secret//Enclave? Kim has some special clearances, but he has never even heard of such a thing as “Enclave.”

>>NO

>RESCUE TEAM CANCELED

>>OPEN CHAT CHANNEL—CAPTAIN JAMES T. JONES

>CHANNEL OPEN

Kim studied the screen for a second to see the Captain would send a message to him.

>>>HELLO?

>>THIS IS SENIOR AIRMAN BOO KIM OF THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE EMEGRENCY RESPONSE TEAM, IDENTIFY YOURSELF

>>>CADET SECOND LIEUTENANT ANDREW CURTIN, AFJROTC

That remark struck Kim with shock. Why did the computer say Captain James Jones while it’s some high school student on the other end? And more importantly, how the hell did the kid get a hold of a military grade computer with links to the emergency response team? He knew his orders would have been to shut down communications, but after losing his family and almost no survivors left in this world after the bombs fell, he decided to continue on the convocation.

>>ARE YOU ALONE? WOUNDED? HOW DID YOU GAIN ACCESS TO THIS CHANNEL?

>>>NO, TWO OTHERS WITH ME. ONE IS WOUNDED, MINOR. WE FOUND THIS HOUSE AFTER ESCAPING THE BLAST.

Kim thought this over for a while. There are three civilians in need of assistance, and one is wounded. After losing most of the world to this holocaust, every person counted.

>>ALERTING EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAMS TO RETRIVE YOU. BE WARNED, DUE TO DANGEROUS SITUATION WE MAY BE FORCED TO CALL OFF THE EVACUATION ATTEMPT.

>>>UNDERSTOOD, THANK YOU, SENIOR AIRMAN KIM. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

>CHANNEL CLOSED

Kim smiled to himself inside while alerting the response teams. Screw his chances of a promotion. All he cared about right now was to save as many lives as he could, which may make fate look down on him and hopefully deliver his wife and child to him one day.


* * *


Andrew sighed in relief. He was able to secure himself and his friends a place of safety for now. Hopefully the military will come over and save them and not be called off. In his eyes the faster, the better. “They’re coming; we’re going to be okay.” His smile was a large, goofy smile. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he was finally able to relax and let lose a small laugh.

Kirstin looked at him with her soft brown eyes, and giggled a little before going back to tending to Sky. Sky wasn’t doing so well, his mind wasn’t right and something happened when the dust cloud hit, Andrew thinks Sky may have hit his head, causing possibly more problems. There’s only so much a brain can take mentally and physically in one day.

“Darkness is upon us… retrieve the light sources… don’t let death blow out the candle… rejoice the purity…” Skyler mumbled to himself. Andrew frowned, for the past half an hour Skyler has been mumbling odd phrases to himself, causing a creepy feeling to the small, steel room. Dark, with only the soft green light from the computer to see anything.

“So, Andrew, what possessed you back up there?” Inquired Kirstin.

This caught Andrew off guard, and did a sharp look at Kirstin. “What are you talking about?”

“You running back to save that flag. What’s wrong with you? You could have gotten us killed by waiting for your dumb ass. All for that piece of cloth.”

Andrew swallowed hard. While he admits that without his nation locked in a dangerous war with the Chinese, this never would have happened. But he still respected the flag and kept it close to him. After all, it very well may be the last American flag left! How could he allow such a beautiful object to be destroyed?

He didn’t bother to retort, as he knew it would give her something to lash out back to him. So he completely ignored it, and folded the flag up before putting it in a nearby backpack he found under the computer desk, he’ll keep it with him for now.

“In darkness… find light…” mumbled Skyler.

Kirstin went back to applying a wet towel on his forehead, which she found in a nearby aid kit and then soaked it in water. “Come on big guy, stay awake now, you can’t go to bed after hitting your head. Maybe you’d know this if you stopped sleeping through Physical Education now, Sky.” With a soft smile, she patted him on the shoulder, and moved back over to Andrew.

“So… When are they supposed to arrive, soldier boy?”

“Soon.” Retorted Andrew sharply. He hated it when she called him that, just because he was one of the few guys who actually enjoyed all of the military programs in their school—correction, former school. Most likely it’s no longer there.

“There’s something you’re not telling me.” She hissed after noticing Andrew trying to drop the subject.

“Spit it out.” Kirstin demanded.

“There’s nothing.”

“Military trained you good, huh? Lying with a straight face. I thought that was a politician’s job.”

“Drop it, now.” Anger began to grow inside of Andrew. She was beginning to push his buttons. For a girl, she knew how to hold a line like a guy, both mentally in convocation and physically in a fight.

“Wonder what Uncle Sam would say if he saw how weak you are after all. I bet he would--.”

Before she could finish that sentence, Andrew screamed out in rage and jumped on top of Kirstin, but she was expecting this and was able to quickly kick him off. He slammed into the steel wall and felt sharp pains in his face. Upon putting his hands to his nose, he noticed blood leaking out as if his nose was a broken pipe.

“You broke my nose, you son of a [censored]!” he shouted.

“Soldier boy can’t handle a little pain?” she smirked and stood her ground, awaiting him to try again.

Andrew ran as fast as he could, and instead of jumping onto her, he slammed into her with his full force, pushing her with extreme force and determination against the wall, pinning her. He was able to force a few punches into her stomach with quick reflexes. His military training was taking into effect, but most of it was blurred out by a haze of adrenaline, which made him oblivious to the opening he left her.

With one quick swift motion, she brought her knee up with a dangerous amount of force and into his groin. Cheap shot.

The wind was knocked out of him, but not before he was able to land a random punch near her mouth. She kicked him back away from her. After taking a second to recover, she then was about ready to pounce on Andrew.

“LIGHT IS MIGHT! THE LIGHT HAS SHINED AND IS HERE TO RID THE DARKNESS!” screamed out Sky. The sudden scream caused Andrew to svck up his pain for a moment and look at Sky, just as Kirstin wiped away the blood from her lip and also stared at Sky. He was pointing up. They stood silent for a second and heard it.

A soft, faint sound of a helicopter was flying nearby, and slowly became louder before touching down nearby. Within a few seconds, some banging was heard along with a very deep masculine voice shouting “Friendlies! Open up!” Sky ran over and began to open the door. Andrew softly moaned a few times while lying on the floor before he was able to watch a soft light enter, followed by a large shadow.

A Lieutenant walked inside in full blown battle ready armor with his weapon aimed and loaded. “What the hell happened here? [censored] kids.” The Lieutenant looked around and down at Andrew. “Looks like you got your ass handed to you by a girl, son.” He laughed, and gave a hand signal for the rest of the team to enter. A few Airmen combed around the room, picking up Andrew before shuttling him to the nearby helicopter. Though its designs were something Andrew was unfamiliar with, but he was too far in pain and says anything.

Once they were all loaded onboard the small aircraft, the Lieutenant closed the door and shouted into his microphone. “Get this Vertibird into the air and back to Heaven. Alert Command we have the survivors.”

Andrew stared at the Lieutenant for a moment, unable to say or do anything as his body ached with pain all over. Before he could try, he found himself drifting off to sleep in a dark void of nightmares.

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I'm glad that people are enjoying it, but more comments help me understand what people do and do not like. Also along with criticism or error findings would help as well. Feel free to post with whatever you feel about the story. And I know some of you remember how America's Last Hope had it where the reader would determine the fates by polls on my website, well that's still there, and in a few chapters I'll open that back up if I get enough viewers. If anyone lost my website it's still on my signature. (People telling me by polls what they want to happen is a lot better than randomly guessing and possibly upsetting some viewers, plus lets me write faster since I don't have to sit forever thinking.)

Thanks all.

Why exactly were they fighting in the panic room? If she didn't like "soldier boy" why did she signal him out from the crowd in the beggining?

They're good friends, but being stuck together in such a small place for a while when the whole world is ending and your best friend has lost his mind can cause people to act before thinking, and as you know from the earlier chapters she isn't the absolute nicest gal in the world, so she can at times know when to poke the right buttons to start something. Yeah I know it's stupid to add, I didn't even think about it till after I submitted the new chapter, which caused me to regret it, but it's already done and I would dislike rewriting a large piece from a chapter. We can just forget it even happened :whistling:

On a side note, my internet cable broke so the slightest touch now pulls the cord out of its socket and loses all internet. I hate my computer, and I especially hate my internet. :brokencomputer: :brokencomputer:

Good Lord!!! I had that problem back in my dorm room! I wanted to punch my computer right in the face! :flame:

My computer will randomly kick me off the internet, for no apparent reason. It'll also randomly sign me out, but when I'm looking around as a guest, it says I'm on. Also sometimes it will just refuse to open up a web page. It will open google, but it won't open this, but it will open the fallout home. I tried taking it to the local computer-tech shop. The guy told to just reboot, but it didn't work so I don't know whats up with it.

On to the story itself, I find this one to be good, better than the second chapter. I also can't believe that girl broke his nose, though I can understand the shot to the groin. On to something else:


I would like it better if there was a space in between that. It keeps bugging me.

Also I will try to go to your site, if I can just remember what I used to sing in.

Chapter 3

Heaven’s Air Force Base

A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon. ~Napoleon


“Tower, this is Victor-Zero-Zero-Charlie, we are approaching landing zone Zero-Four with three civilian personal aboard, please notify EMT’s that one of them has hit their head pretty badly and needs to be looked at, over.” Lieutenant Bob “Three Strike” Wilson casually stated through his microphone. After picking up the three stragglers, he often found himself pondering why he was one of the few to survive the blasts and why he was ordered to save these three kids. Just to annoy his superiors, he personally went to check on the kids first once they touched down, ignoring suggestions from the Staff Sergeant of the security squad to stay back and let them clear the area first.

Wilson just smirked at the Sergeant and stated simply “I honestly doubt this is an ambush, and if it is, then I get the joyful feeling knowing that if I am gunned down, I’ll laugh my ass off in heaven watching you trying to figure out how to fly my bird back to base.”

His ego and personality never ceased to amaze the few who worked with the Lieutenant. After all, few could blame him: graduating top of his class in the Air Force JROTC program in high school while also advancing through the ranks in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), and then taking private flying lessons while still in school. Later, he applied for the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) and was accepted shortly after he put the paper into the mail.

Even while graduating, again, with honors, he still left behind a trail of his ego throughout the hallway of life amongst all who passed by him.

“Victor-Zero-Zero-Charlie, you are cleared for landing at Zero-Three, I repeat, Zero-Three, Zero-Four is currently occupied by Victor-Zero-One-Delta. Confirm, over.” The tower replied back through the headset. Perfect, just what Wilson wanted to hear.

“Rodger that, Tower, landing at Zero-Four, over.” He softly smiled to himself as he remembered his first day of Vertibird training, almost no different than now, other than the fact now the world is in an even worse place than he left it. Pitty, he was hoping to get lucky tonight with that pretty young darling he met at the bar. Or was it at the strip club? He couldn’t remember, he was too drunk then to clearly see her face, so he was hoping to return back today and finish the job. Even while the rest of the world is being destroyed, all he cared about was toying with others.

“Negative, Victor-Zero-Zero-Charlie! You are to land at Zero-Three! Four is occupied! I repeat, four is occupied! Over!”

“Tower, I am losing you. Must be the static from the wind. Heading to Zero-Four, will check on it when I land, over.”

“Negative! Negative! Victor, you are NOT cle-“ the communication channel went dead, and a popular hit single began playing over the cockpit.

The co-pilot quirked his head quizzically at Wilson. He opened his mouth to say something, but the Lieutenant cut him off.

“Whoops, finger slipped.” Wilson chuckled. He knew the panic he’d create, which will force whatever poor svcker who’s on Zero-Four to move or be crushed. This always caused him joy to start trouble, which is no surprise that his callsign is Three Strike, for the Three Strike Law going around. Too bad Wilson was actually on his fifth “strike,” but the Air Force knew they needed him and would just constantly slap him on the wrist than actually punish him severely.

“I don’t want to set the world on fire… I just want to start… a flame in your heart…” he loudly voiced over the music, rather poorly in fact, but knew that he just could whatever he honestly felt like while in his bird “Fourth Base.” Though I doubt it’s necessary to explain why flying an advanced military aircraft while being an Officer has given him the idea to name his bird such a “unique” name, especially when it came to the ladies.

Down there, where the world has gone to hell, that wasn’t his problem. Because up here in the skies, he ruled with authority. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“So… you kids behaving back there?” Wilson softly chuckled to himself; poor bastard got his ass handed to himself by a girl. She must be pretty strong to take on a guy like that. Though she would obviously be no match for Wilson, or so he always believed.

“Heaven… we’re going to heaven… how blessed are we…” whispered Skyler.

“Hey… is that one alright? He seems… out of it.” Inquired the co-pilot.

“He isn’t taking the situation so well.” Whispered Kirstin gently into the headset, which she was given upon entering the Vertibird.

“After watching his best friend’s ass being handed to him, I don’t blame him” smirked Wilson.

“Screw you.” Andrew retorted into the microphone, coughing softly every few seconds. The groin injury is going to take a while to heal, along with the nose too. If only the walls inside the panic room weren’t steel when he happened to slam into them face first…

No matter, the medic onboard was able to patch him up and stop the bleeding for the most part. He sighed and relaxed. The medic was very kind to him, and gave them all radiation medicine, after telling them all they had absorbed a fatal amount. If they hadn’t contacted the rescue team, it would have been hours before they would have slowly died off.

“Hey hey now, relax sonny, don’t make any sudden movements, or you might cause your swollen balls to blow!” roared Wilson with laughter. His co-pilot chuckled as well, causing Andrew to blush deep red with embarrassment and anger.

“Victor-Zero—“ static cut out the radio. Wilson rolled his eyes. Tower is starting to annoy him. Didn’t they get his message that he is ignoring them?

“VICTOR! LIS-“ roared Tower again before being cut off.

More and more mumbled voices came through the radio, starting to sound desperate and deep with worry. Why would the Tower care so much? They knew his play style.

“Maybe we should listen in and hear what’s up.” Suggested the co-pilot.

“I don’t want to…” mumbled Wilson, as if he was a child. The co-pilot shook his head in annoyance and turned off the stereo and the communications back on.

“DAMNIT, VICTOR! DO YOU READ?” Shouted Tower.

“Tower, this is Victor-Zero-Zero-Charlie, momentarily lost contact with you, what’s the problem?”

“Damnit Victor! About time! Listen to me closely, double time your bird back to Heaven, NOW!” Wilson stopped cold after hearing this. He could tell by the voice that this was General Omer on the radio. Did he piss them off that badly? svcks, they’ll probably ground his bird again.

“What’s the emergency, sir?” questioned the co-pilot, obviously growing in concern.

“We missed one, we [censored] missed one.” Replied the General, his tone was one of genuine regret.

Andrew looked up, confusion all over his face. He stared at Lieutenant Wilson, whose face was now completely white. The medic who was patching up Andrew stood still for a few seconds and zoned out. “What’s going on? Missed what?” demanded Andrew.

Lieutenant Wilson swallowed hard and slowly turned around to look at Andrew. “Our defense grid missed a nuke…”

“No…” whispered the medic. “It can’t be… we had it all planned perfectly… it wasn’t to be for another ten minutes…”

Kirstin looked out the window and gasped, which caused Andrew to pull himself up and see what she was looking at. A large missile was speeding towards their direction at an alarming rate. “Look out!” shouted Andrew, but he knew it was too late. Everyone covered their eyes except for the co-pilot, who wasn’t fast enough.

A pure blinding light of atomic energy surged outwards from the remains of the already stricken downtown DC. “Oh Jesus son of a –“ shouted the co-pilot, who was now blinded from the nuke’s blast.

The comm’s went berserk for a moment with everyone shouting loudly and the Tower shouting for a situation report (SitRep), then violently silenced permanently from the resulting Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) from the nuclear detonation.

The Vertibird screamed for a moment in despair before being shut down. Andrew could only listen in horror as the rotors slowly drained of life, causing them to spiral out of control.

The co-pilot was silenced suddenly when he accidently bashed his head into the side of a panel while attempting to grasp anything he could to hold on while being suddenly lost in the darkness, spraying blood across the cockpit and onto Lieutenant Wilson. He was desperately grabbing hold of the control stick for dear life.

But even Andrew could tell in the few seconds he had left that it was a futile move. With the energy he had left, he grabbed onto the nearby chair as hard as he could, while watching in pure terror as the others attempted to do so without as much success.

“Brace for impact!” shouted Wilson as loudly as he could. He held up his hands in a desperate attempt to shield himself from the oncoming ground that was approaching rapidly.

The few seconds left began to slow down to Andrew, as if time was stopping. Was this what they called “your life flashing before your eyes?” Where all of life slows down as you attempt to process your inevitable demise? What began to felt like an eternity was in actuality only two seconds.

Right before the crash, he saw outside the window a large blast wave heading straight towards them. Two stones for one bird… an overkill.

Darkness engulfed his eyes as the world around him was suddenly silenced.

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Hope this one lived up to everyone's expectations. Ytrrium, I don't know what to tell you about the account. I can't access it, so you'll just have to make a new one and I'll delete the old one, unless you use some sort of password recovery system. Also to my readers, I'll soon be adding polls on my site again to determine fates and story line progression. You don't have to sign up, post, or even go past the home page. They'll be right there on the first page, just click the link labeled "Fallout Stories" in my signature to access my site. Thanks.

It's ok now, I finally figure what I had used, anyway,

I must say I loved this one, best yet. I really liked the pilot, unfortunately everyone I like usually ends up dead so I'm not going to being holding my breath on him. You've also left me wondering how they could possible survive, great job. I can't actually find anything that is wrong with this chapter, rendering this whole post pointless.

Chapter 4

Victor-Zero-Zero-Charlie’s Crash Site

If black boxes survive air crashes, why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff? ~George Carlin

A soft glow lazily emitted gently over the surrounding wreckage of the Vertibird “Fourth Base.” A crash so bad, that General Omer didn’t even at first issue a rescue party, believing that everyone one board was surely dead. After hitting the ground at over one hundred and fifty miles per hour, and then being launched over a hundred feet from the blast of the nuclear explosion, the wreckage was too horrific to view.

But something took his breath away while he studied the site through a probe’s monitor. He noticed something inside the wreckage move. At first he just assumed it was something lose inside of floating around carelessly in the wind, but it wasn’t a small object. It was a person.

“Sergeant, zoom in on that.” He barked to the nearby Technical Sergeant who was manning the probe while pointing at the discovery.

“Yes, sir.” The Sergeant zoomed in as close as he could and also saw it clearly. When inspecting the person, his head shook.

“I’ll be damned, is that who I think it is? He really does have a hard head.” mumbled the General with mixed feelings. He couldn’t believe his eyes that someone had survived that crash at all, nor the person he least expected to. Omer softly chuckled to himself, that extra padding and armor Wilson always put on his Vertibird despite the protests from the General actually worked. Protocol be damned.


* * *


“No… no!” shouted Lieutenant Wilson. His legs were seriously injured, his face bloodied, and his co-pilot dead. But that wasn’t the reason why he was shouting. “My darling! The commies killed my beautiful Fourth Base! She’s ruined!” he shouted in anger and slammed his hand against the control panel, which he immediately regretted because it was still extremely hot and slightly burned him when he hit it.

Wilson groaned in pain and began to survey the crash location. The bird completely lost her rotors and tail section, but the fuselage remained relatively intact. All Vertibirds were designed for combat, as that was their sole purpose in the US military, but Fourth Base was specially padded and had extra armor on her. This made her slower, but more reliable if attacked or in a crash.

They were lucky in a sense, because the blast hit them after they had crashed, so it could only roll them, and even then, only a hundred feet or so before they were laid against a rock wall, which prevented them from going any further.

Andrew cried out in pain, his entire right leg was in agony, which he could already tell by how much it bent that it was broken. Kirstin rolled over and slowly tried to stand up after being knocked around so much. And the flight’s Medic was mumbling something explicit while rolling on his side.

“Cry babies.” Mumbled Wilson as he watched them struggling to get up. He did feel a large amount of regret though, if he hadn’t ignored the tower’s warnings, maybe they would have made it in time.

No, he already knew they were going as fast as they could in the first place. It would have made no different. After blinking a few times and wiping the blood away from his face, he could see most of the carnage. It appears that the three security team members, his co-pilot and that one insane kid didn’t make it. Shame, now he was stuck with two brats and some medic who probably got off doing physical exams. Just his luck it appears.

Kirstin looked down and gasped in fright at seeing her friends body lifeless, she slowly got onto her knees and ran her fingers over his face, closing his eyes. She looked away, trying not to believe what she was seeing. The day wasn’t even over yet and she had lost everyone, except Andrew.

The medic stood up, brushed off his uniform, and cleaned his name tag “Dietz.” Being one of a few survivors in a crash was heart breaking, all his friends whom he worked with for over six years, dead. Now he was stuck with Lt Jerkoff. But he was happy that most of the kids made it, at least.

“I’m sorry about your friend, but he’s in a better place now. There was nothing we could have done for him about his traumatic experiences anyways, so if we had made it he would have just been locked away in the infirmary for all his time.” He stated grimly while placing a soft hand on Kirstin’s shoulders.

Senior Airman Dietz was known for being straight to the point about things, which probably made sense as to how he was able to do such a fine job as a medic. Though not everyone approved of his direct-talk, as rumors went around stating that he told a dying airman a few weeks ago straight up that he wasn’t going to make it without a hint of remorse or sadness in his voice. Of course, no one could tell if it was true or not, as Dietz refused to comment on the matter, stating it was doctor-patient confidentiality.

He looked over at Andrew. “Your legs broken, son, no sense trying to move around.” Dietz looked around for a moment, and slowly traversed his way across the badly destroyed Vertibird while avoiding the hazardous obstacles in his way. Using all his might, he forced the medical kit lose from the wall, and began to open it. Most of the contents inside were destroyed, badly broken, or missing. To make matters worse, a small blood pack inside for emergency blood supplies burst apart during the crash, causing the entire inside of the medical kit to be covered in blood, making it difficult to find what he was looking for.

Unsatisfied, he dropped the kit and looked around, and was pleasantly surprised to notice what he was looking for was only a few feet away, and not destroyed. A small viral of medicine and a syringe were lying nearby. It was an experimental new technology called a “stimpack,” which if applied to a broken area can cure it momentarily, cease all pain in the wound, and provide enough time to get the person to a proper facility.

He moved over towards Andrew and began to fill the syringe with the medicine.

“Woah woah, what are you planning to do?” questioned Andrew sheepishly, his face went white as he saw the rather large needle dripping with liquids.

“Relax, boy, you’ll be okay. I wi-… woah, what’s that?” he gasped while pointing away. Andrew quickly looked to see where he was pointing, only to feel a sharp pain in his leg. He yelped and turned around to see the needle inside of him, with Dietz smiling. “There, was that so bad? You’ll be able to walk in a few minutes, but I suggest not trying to run unless you like the sound of breaking bones.”

Andrew sighed, and watched as Dietz slowly covered all the bodies with blankets, and looked away when he saw his friend laying there in a bloody mess. Wilson stood outside the wreckage, and started laughing.

“Hey General! How ya doin’?” he shouted as he waved to the probe. “Where’s my rescue team and my new bird? What, hoped I was dead?” he laughed as he pushed the probe around. The speakers of the probe opened and he heard the Generals voice boom through.

“Quit screwing around, how bad is it?” General Omer inquired through the static filled probe.

“We lost all but two of the civvies and the doc.” Shrugged Wilson. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have some drinks on you would you, sir? I’m thirsty and could use a few shots of scotch.”

Andrew ignored the convocation that was taking place and began to stand up. Kirstin helped him up and caught him as he began to fall. Dietz watched him with mild interest, almost laughing as Andrew almost fell.

“Lieutenant, we cannot risk another bird. Thankfully, you four are within a mile of the base, just follow the nearby road up the hill.” Stated General Omer.

“Yeah yeah, I know the drill.” Wilson shrugged and rolled his eyes. “Okay boys and girls, let’s get walking. Faster we’re home, the faster I can get drunk and forget this ever happened. And then maybe I won’t have to yell at you two for having me lose my darling bird.”

Kirstin was about to snap back at him, but he simply left the scene too quickly and went back to messing around with the probe by pushing it around, obviously to the Generals’ dismay, before the probe fired a warning shot at the Lieutenant, which he quickly backed off.

While Andrew was watching the world fall apart around him, he noticed something nearby. A familiar cave… no… could it be? The cave that his family was supposed to regroup in was only a few feet away. But something wasn’t right; the wooden door that was supposed to block entrance into the cave was missing.

He slowly walked over. “Dad? Mom…?” he called out desperately. Inside was completely dark and void of any sound or light. He began to walk inside when he felt himself walk on something wet. A momentarily burst of light shined through the cave as a cloud finally moved from the sun’s view for just a moment.

What he saw horrified him. His entire family was there alright, but dead. The blast from the nuke that took down his Vertibird also blew the wooden door apart, flinging shrapnel of wood everywhere, and cut down everyone inside the cave, while the rest were thrown against the wall from the blast.

Blood completely filled the small cave, and the stench of death began to as well. “No… no… daddy… mom…” he looked around desperately, hoping that at least one of his family members survived. They had to, there were at least five of them in here, and not all of them could have died by the blast, right?

After taking a second to look around, he could already tell that the blast threw his family back hard enough to smash their heads against the wall, and the wood from the door sliced through the rest.

Horrified, Andrew stood there for a second before falling backwards and catching himself. He lost all feeling in his legs and his stomach was upset. He turned around and threw up. This caused Lieutenant Wilson to walk inside.

“What’s the matter, kid? Can’t stand the sight of death? You handled it pretty well back in the wreckage, what’s so different now?” he smirked and lay up against the wall observing Andrew.

“My family…” Andrew replied softly.

“Huh?”

“This is my family… my dad… mom… grand father and grandmother, and little brother… they’re all my family… and they’re all dead…”

Wilson didn’t reply, he looked at the bodies and noticed the similarities between some of them and Andrew. His gut lowered, knowing that he had said something that even to him would be considered a low blow.

“Kid… I’m sorry… I didn’t—“ he was cut off.

“Just go.” Andrew mumbled with growing rage inside of him. Wilson knew this was one time he should listen, and quickly left. Kirstin walked past him, but he told her not go inside.

“Why not?” she protested.

“You don’t want to know.” He whispered softly, and set off back to Dietz.

Wilson walked back over to the probe. “Sir… we may need that transport, one of civvies isn’t doing so well, and we would be too slow to make it back in time before any other bombs came. Please… I beg of you this one time to bend the regulations.”

The probe remained silent for a second and stared at Wilson, for a moment he thought that the probe lost connection or something, but then the Generals voice was heavy.

“Alright. They’ll be there in a few seconds to retrieve you guys. Get ready for pickup.”

“Thank you, sir.” Replied Wilson. He then turned towards Dietz. “Get the kids ready.”

“Yes, sir.” Stated Dietz, and he turned off toward the cave.

Lieutenant “Three Strike” Wilson breathed heavily for a second, and thought to himself.

Damn, do I need a drink right about now.


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Chapter 4 is up. Hope you all like it. Don't worry Yttrium, I have plans for our little hotshot for at least a few more chapters. Although the next chapter will have a poll deciding something in it. If anyone wants to voice their own opinion on the story, then please visit the link to my website at the bottom and vote at the homepage.

Awesome story as one could expect from you. Just one comment... The way you wrote the beginning made me think of Ron Stewart describing to us the scene of a Twilight Zone episode Write more!

Not bad at all. Your writing makes for a good read every time my friend.

Good to know Mr. "Three Strikes" Wilson isn't entirely a selfish [censored]. Though I take it, he had few feelings for his co-pilot.

Thanks all, currently I am having a little bit of writers block at the moment plus a few new video games, so I may not be able to write for a few more days. Busy and tired a lot, especially with finals around the corner, too. I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as I get a chance.

Hey all, sorry for taking such a long time. Finals are done, had an family emergency, and my work was pissing me off. I'm unsure if people still like the story, which is why the story has rather slowed down.


Chapter 5

Heaven Air Force Base, in-processing

“Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.”
- Francis Ford Coppola

Airman First Class Powell has seen many things in his short lifetime on this earth. But today has to take the cake for the most shocking day in his life. Not only has his entire country been reduced to rubble from communist forces, but the entire world. Now he’s watching Lieutenant Wilson actually, well, caring for someone other than himself. At first, he was too far in a state of shock to even care about Wilson or anyone around him for that matter. Like many others, he was drenched in dread and thought deeply of the “what if’s” in life and how they would have played out.

If he had taken his father’s advice when he was a kid and just ignored the patriotic call and followed in his parents’ footsteps, he may have been lucky enough to be in one of those fancy vaults with some hot young dame.

But after a few hours and letting the shock drench in, he is beginning to be able to return to his work.

Ironically, after having the world reduced to a large smoldering rock, Powell did not expect anyone to arrive to his little heaven of the in-processing center.

The doors parted open after a long decontamination cycle was completed. Kirstin, Andrew, Dietz, and Wilson strolled inside. Kirstin and Andrew stayed rather close together, taking in the sights of the base. The walls were stainless steel grey, void of emotion, but large open areas.

Though there was a feeling of depression in the air. The colorless rooms drenched any happiness, along with the fact everyone is dead silent from the war. Wilson walked over to Powell. Powell braced himself, practicing the usual techniques he learned from his fellow airmen how to handle “special” officers.

“Log me and Dietz in, and these two guests as civvies’ that we rescued.” He nodded his head towards Andrew and Kirstin, who were examining a nearby recruitment poster that showed a soldier in some sort of power armor with the words “AMERICAN MIGHT” strolled across the bottom of the poster in bright red, white, and blue letters.

Andrew observed another poster that showed an aircraft model he wasn’t familiar with soaring above the skies. Below the poster was a button labeled “Air Force Blue.” Andrew cocked his head quizzically and pushed the button. Music began to play and the sounds of singing began.

“They took the blue from the skies and a pretty girls eyes,

And a touch of old glories hue.”

“And gave it to the men who proudly wear the U.S. Air Force Blue.

The U.S. Air Force Blue!”

The song continues to play with different lyrics but with the same melody. Andrew smiled at himself for not remembering one of the Air Force’s main songs, other than the Wild Blue Yonder.

Airman First Class Powell ignored the song playing in the background. He honestly doesn’t know why the base sets up so much propaganda inside a military base where the personal inside already are fighting for America, instead of brain washing the civilians.

He shrugged, passed along the paperwork to the lieutenant and began to observe the two teenagers. How did they survive the outside world for so long? Wasn’t Wilson a pilot? If so, why did he walk these two from wherever they were, and not fly them to the base?

But Powell was a smart man, and knew to keep his mouth shut at such questions. To be appointed for work at the Heaven AFB means that in some superiors’ eyes you appear to have potential. Either to fly advanced aircraft, to protect the president, or tasked with keeping the toilet that the president uses sparkly clean. Thankfully, his job wasn’t the latter.

Wilson filed out the forums and handed them back to the airman. Dietz walked over towards the teenagers and began to talk to them about all the posters on the walls and what they mean. While Dietz was busy with that, Wilson lowered his voice to a low whisper.

“Hey… the bar open?” he inquired.

Airman First Class Powell’s eyes slowly rose from the worthless piece of paper to meet the desperate eyes of the lieutenant. He stared at him for a second, sighed, and after a few moments of an awkward silence asked why.

“Jim and a few others didn’t come back, the world’s blown to hell, and I’ll need a little liquid courage before I talk to the General in a bit about why half my team didn’t come back with me.” Wilson put it bluntly.

“You got half your team killed?!” gasped Powell. Wilson was an ass, but this took Powell off guard.

“The nukes did, moron. I was just lucky to survive the crap.” Retorted Wilson harshly.

“Their lives’ were your responsibility, and you got them killed!” Powell began to raise his voice. Dietz could overhear them arguing, so he attempted to lure the teenagers farther away so they wouldn’t have to hear. They’ve heard enough for one day. Hell, they all have.

“Listen here you in-bred moronic piece of crap, the god damned communists killed them. And as I’m sure everyone has talked about, I displace my feelings through either beer, or anger issues. And since I lost my co-pilot of three years today, I need something to displace to. I don’t see a beer near me, so you’re the first [censored] thing I’m going to hit instead unless you point me in the right direction. Understand, Airman?” Wilson raged with fire and almost shouted that line. A few Security Forces’ (SF) personal nearby overheard the argument and were getting ready for a potential conflict.

Powell just sat there silently for a second and mumbled that the bar should be open until 2100 hours. He sighed and went back to filing his papers.

Wilson took a moment to collect himself before feeling like crap again. He wanted to apologize to the airman for blowing up at him, but he decided the best course of action would be to get out of there and to the bar as quickly as possible. He strolled towards Dietz and the teens to say goodbye and that he’ll see them around, while at the same time trying to avoid the glancing of the SF personal that were eyeing him.

Getting into a fight with a few cops that have orders to shoot first and ask questions later would not help quench his displacement problem. He decided that he’ll get into an argument with one that’s off duty later to compensate.

Kirstin watched Wilson disappear down the maze of corridors. She looked back at Dietz with a mild look of confusion. “What’s with him?”

“He’s… special.” Dietz stated emotionless and shrugged.

Andrew stared down the hall at the endless paradox of recruitment, encouragement, and patriotic posters. “How many are there?” he muttered beneath his breath, oblivious to the fact that he actually asked that aloud.

“Hundreds, they span the entire base. I believe it’s more of a subtle reminder of what we’re fighting for, along with drowning out any negative thoughts. After all, we are one of the most advanced bases in the world with hand-selected personal. All that time and resources would go to waste if we let the base become discouraged.” Dietz said, deep in thought.

“I think they’re doing to piss us off.” Shouted Powell from the back of the room. “Have you ever noticed anyone being discouraged or the like in this base? They’ll replace them the moment they have a feeling of the person in question!” He gestured his hands in a ‘whatever’ kind of motion, while shaking his head.

“Keep ‘er Airmen and you’ll be replaced!” replied a nearby SF Sergeant. He had a rather deep voice and chuckled gently at his reply, obviously amusing himself.
Powell grunted and went back to work, not wishing to discuss the subject anymore.

The SF Sergeant walked over to the group of survivors, smiling broadly. “Welcome to Hell’s Air Force Base!” he shouted while placing his large hand on Andrew’s shoulder.

Andrew twitched uncomfortably as the giant laid his hand on his shoulder. The man obviously intimidated him, but he was trying not to let it show. “I thought it was Heaven.”

“Really? Sure feels like hell!” laughed the Sergeant. In one powerful pull, he dragged Andrew to his side, put his arm around him. “Name’s Craig, but some people call me Smiley.”

Craig smiled broadly; his dark black face was a noticeable difference in the colorless rooms of steel. To say he was friendly was an understatement; he was the definition of ‘friend.’ Some of the fellow SF Airmen nicknamed Craig as “smiley”, because in the six years he’s been here at Heaven’s Air Force Base, he has always smiled. Some joked around that should anyone ever catch Craig while he’s not smiling, they’ll still see an outline made out of wrinkles that resemble a smile.

“Now my friend, judging from your haircut, posture, and the fact you haven’t ran away from me—which would be a shame, since I’m just big lovable guy—suggests something about you. Too young for the military, but around the age for the local ‘Roxy programs, eh?”

“’Roxy?” inquired Andrew.

“JROTC? Young cadets call it JROTC and so do the civvies, but active duty calls you little ones ‘Roxy. Don’t know where it was coined, but I like using it.” Craig patted Andrew’s back, the force of the pat was meant to be gentle, but moved Andrew a few inches forward from the force.

“Yeah, Cadet Andre-"

Andrew was cut off; a loud speaker with a deep voice interrupted him. “Multiple Subject V’s entering the vector. Presume Hostile!”

“Subject V’s are nukes?” Guessed Kirstin.

“No, aircraft. V is for Vertibird.” Replied Dietz. Andrew was about to ask something, but Dietz knew what he was going to ask. “We don’t know if they’re friendly. If they were, they’d answer us. Not all our Vertibirds made it back to base in Alaska, for all we know they could be captured and used as Chinese strike forces.”

A few moments passed, waiting for an update.

“Dozen Subject V’s heading towards the base from the East.” The speaker updated.

“Should we be worried? I mean, we’re deep underground” Andrew whispered.

“We don’t know, if it’s an airstrike, no. If it’s an invasion, then yes.” Craig responded.

The voice returned with a little trace of worry in the voice. “Subject V’s are increasing speed. No contact has been made. Presume hostiles, possible invasion force! Standby… more contacts approaching, in toe of the first wave.” The microphone stumbled for a moment, Andrew thought he could hear the faint voice saying “my God…”

“Four dozen total contacts approaching the base! Presume hostile! All security personal are to immediately prepare for possible invasion. All non-security personal to enter the bunkers. This is not a drill!”

Craig ushered Kirstin and Andrew towards the halls, with Dietz following in behind.

“What’s going on?” Kirstin asked quietly.

“Quickly, we need to head into the bunkers.” Dietz stated quickly. Andrew noticed that Dietz’s eyes were wide, he could notice fear in his voice.

What is going on…?

I for one still enjoy Engulfing Darkness....Please, do continue.

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