686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94Ope0otqa
Tristen finds himself back on the battlefield once again. This time, he felt different. He had been monitored closely through his two month stay under the medical guard. They still had no idea what was truly wrong with him.
Tristen knew that he exhibited features that was certainly odd. For one, his heart no longer pumps on its own without the nano tech framework in his brain and he was rendered dyslexic in a completely different way.
The letters weren’t opposite nor upside down…rather, they would change shape and position to his eyes. They became a jumbled mess. He was slowly learning how to read the jumbled mess but it was very difficult to do so.
Now, he was on the battlefield. He was different now but not broken. He felt more at home even. He felt as if he could do impossible things. He was ready for whatever the universe would throw at him.
So he loaded his weapon and looked up to his commanding officer. The grey haired gentleman with a ragged face shouted at them at the top of his lungs. He was trying to instill courage and fear in them.
“This is the day you redeem your puny lives. This is where the fire meets the wood. You either go out like the punks I know you are or you survive like men. So when I yell charge, I want you to hold your EPN-440’s tight, aim, and shoot the arrogance out of those Earth Republic jerks! Let’s move out men!” the C.O tells them.
He takes the front of the line leading his men towards the other army. Tristen stares at the legion of death headed his way. Front what he saw, they were outnumbered easily 5 to 1. Added to that, the faces of the group he was with was not at all happy. They looked as if they knew they were going to die.
Tristen decided that it was not his day to die though. He was going to come out of this day alive. Maybe he might not be well, but he would be alive. The last battle he was in nearly killed him but he lived. He wasn’t going to stop there.
“CHARGE!” Tristen hears the C.O yell. Tristen closes one eyes and targets a man far back in the army coming their way. He was sniper from what Tristen could tell.
He fires his Auto-Laser EPN-440 at the man hitting him in the head. The man drops down and the C.O looks back to Tristen. “How in the world did you see him?!” he asks. “I don’t know.” Tristen lies taking cover.
Since his brain was damaged other portions of his mind, where potential could grow, did. He could see farther now… almost like an eagle. There was no problem for him to aim and fire at someone without a scope. His eye was his scope.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHUvyghcSS
The hours of battle had gone on. The men alive on the side of The Alliance of Freedom were weary. Added to that, the legion of men they had taken out was nothing compared to the group coming their way.
Their weapons were nearly on empty. Most men were switching to ammo type weapons now. Tristen knew it was time to leave now. But since he didn’t have an ammo type weapon, he needed to forge one just in case he needed to escape.
Tristen grabs some of the metal EPN-440’s and pulls them to himself. He looks over his hiding place seeing the legion was still a good distance away. He had time to do what he had in mind.
Tristen digs out a shape in the dirt making sure it was not very deep at all. He then placed the guns in the shape. They didn’t fit at but he didn’t need them to.
Tristen pulls out the energy charger to his EPN-440 and the others just in case. He places his charger on the metal. Tristen then pulls out his personal E-Pad and configures the energy cell. He closes his eyes quickly. From the distance of the legion headed his way, they saw a blinding light. Some wondered if they should turn around. They continued to press forward at the orders given though.
Tristen now opening his eyes saw the melted metal seeping into the shape he had dug into the dirt. Tristen looks over the rock seeing that the legion was now closer. Tristen grabs the rest of the energy cells he had collected. He links them together and forces them to dump the little energy they had into one.
He had about 7% of the total energy the cell could carry when he was finished. Tristen sits the cell a little distance away. He connects his E-Pad to the cell and configures it to negate all heat.
He enters the command then wraps himself in his provided blanket. The area’s heat was drawn away by the self-imploding energy cell. A bright light once again strikes the area in a blinding way.
686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡspNCjZLRS3
Tristen opened his eyes feeling that the light was now gone. He sees what all his hard work had accomplished. In the shape he had dug, a ragged, crudely made sword sat in it.
He carefully places his pinky finger on the area where the hilt was to ensure that it was not hot. As soon as he was sure that he could lift it, he did. Tristen watched his C.O look in defeat as he turned his direction.
“Sir?” Tristen asks. “Look around.” the officer tells him. Tristen looks north, south, east, and west, seeing that there were legions all around, coming straight for them.
His team of men were about 150 men against an army of at least 20000 men. There was no possible way that they were going to win.
“Boys… looks like we die today.” The officer says laying his weapon on the ground. Tristen is the only person who doesn’t have the look of defeat on his face. He promised himself he was going to survive. He intended to do so.
So he gripped his crude blade tightly. He waited for when the moment would be right.
As soon as the entire army had surrounded them Tristen placed his blade on the ground. The C.O and the other men bent to their knees with their hands behind their heads.
Tristen just kept his eyes on one man. The man however doesn’t even notice.
“Today, you all die in the name of the Earth Republic. Long live the lord of us all.” A leader says.
The guns are put into the heads of all the men. Tristen readies himself. He can almost feel the man breathing. His enhanced hearing let him decipher what he wanted.
Got you… he thought to himself. Just as the man’s heart beat went up… he knew the man was about to pull the trigger. Tristen’s blade found its way in the man as soon as everyone in his group had been shot dead.
The man who failed to be faster than the sword looks at Tristen in surprise. Tristen kicks the man off pulling his blade out of the man. Tristen looks at the leader turning slowly towards him.
Tristen runs at him quickly, before anyone can realize that there was one man still alive. He sticks his sword right into the leader with ferocity, then throws the leader off of his blade with his farmer strength.
The leader drops to the legion’s surprise. They were adjusting to the oddity they were witnessing when two more of their men fell by Tristen’s crude blade that had torn through them.
They raised their weapons and fired at him. He moved like something wicked although to Tristen, he felt like someone awkward, ducking under the shot lines of men as he heard their bodies move towards him and their fingers tickle the triggers of their weapons.
He was barely dodging the energy beams that were aimed to kill him. He found himself moving through the men though, heading back towards his camp. As his feet carried him towards the place he knew was safe, his blade swung at all who had gotten in front of him.
He took them to the ground, ending their miserable Earth Republic lives as he did. He continues to push through them with nothing more than the one crude blade in his hand.
He was growing tired about fifteen minutes into trying to escape through the thousands of men in front of him and salvation. He keeps trying to move on but it was hard to do so.
A laser pulse nearly hit him. But he spun himself right into the ground dodging the high whining sound that struck his ears.
For everyone watching, he seemed near to impossible to kill. For Tristen, he was getting closer to death. His movements were slower even though his ability to listen and see things quicker wasn’t diminished one bit.
Tristen saw it up ahead. Vehicles headed his way, support. It gave him that energy boost he needed. Tristen dashes forward. A single man leaps in his path trying to cut him off.
Tristen’s crude blade found itself in the side of the man as he spun around him. The man topples over one the ground calling out for aid from his allies. None pay attention, much rather walking right over him.
Tristen listens closely to his surroundings. He only had so much farther to go. He knew, from the way some people’s feet swept across the dirt they were going to jump on him and bring him to the ground.
Tristen spins his body with the blade coming around at the men in the air. He slashes them across their gut. In one motion, he spins right out of their falling path then pushes himself forward.
He keeps running and he sees her. He sees the warrior woman shouting at the soldiers around her.
He keeps up the pace. He is shocked as the laser mounts on the vehicles begin firing at the men behind him. Tristen recovers from the whining noise that screeched to his ear though.
He looks back and there were a few still behind him. One manages to leap right on his leg, slowly him down to a stop. Tristen pierces the man through with his sword. The man releases him in the same instant and Tristen keeps running.
“Watch your foot!” he hears Captain Hayne call out. Tristen jumps in the air. He looks below at the rock meant to trip him. Then he looks ahead at the even bigger rock he would have fell on perfectly. He raised his eyebrow slightly.
He lands on his feet, stumbling forward, recovering by pushing his hands up. Tristen keeps moving towards Captain Hayne. She has the look of seriousness on her face, but it breaks ever so slightly when she meets his eyes.
Tristen, nearing his salvation stops in his tracks. His neck twitches to the right slightly as a sound hits his ears. Tristen looks into the large army coming his way, seeing a single man holding a rocket launcher.
Tristen takes off towards him. The rocket is fired. It was mere seconds before it reached Tristen.
Everything around Tristen slows down. He jumps in the air, places his blade to the right of him and lets the rockets own inertia slice it apart. He comes down and rolls forward. He springs out of the roll into a jump forward to get even further from the explosion.
The wave of energy knocks him back a few feet. Tristen gets up with the ringing noise in his ear. He sees Captain Hayne look in pure confusion before she snaps out of it and motions him to come on. He runs back towards the vehicles with the mounts with his hearing recovering.
“How did you know to come and get me?” Tristen asks. “We didn’t know we were only going to get you. Your C.O beaconed us. You’re the only survivor?” Captain Hayne asks. “Yes.” He responds sorrowfully. “Get over. They’ll be plenty more bodies in the place of the ones you left.” Captain Hayne says grabbing on to a vehicle’s brace.
“LET’S MOVE OUT!” she orders. Tristen grabs on to a rail and hangs on as the vehicles begin to back out. He watches the legion of men become smaller and smaller as they head back towards camp.
Back at camp, Tristen enters the tent of the General. The General looks up from his papers. He invites Tristen to sit in the chair in front of his desk with the motion of his hand.
Tristen takes the gracious gesture and sits down in the chair. The General looks up with his serious look at Tristen. Tristen gets a little fear in his guts.
“Welcome Mr. Forrest.” The general says with absolutely no emotion. He more than like was doing it as a formality rather than a heartfelt gesture. Tristen detects this by the shear feeling the prominent man emanated.
“Thank you.” He responds politely. “My men tell me that you escaped all on your own.” The general says still looking at the papers before him. “Yes sir.” Tristen says.
“Some say they let you go because you are truly working for them. However… I find that to be…gall. You’re a fool of a man to be working for them.” The General says still not looking at Tristen. “Thank you?” he says a bit hurt.
“I still want to know how you were able to do it. How were you to come out of a legion, an army no less without so much as a bullet to show for it?” the general says finally looking up at Tristen. The general kept his no funny business demeanor as he stared at Tristen waiting for his answer.
“I have no idea sir.” Tristen responds. “See, that is a lie I do believe Mr. Forrest. I’ve read you file. I was intrigued at finding out you survived. This medical file has revealed much.” The general tells him, “You were injured in the brain severely, so much so, you lost some autonomous functions in your body. Add to that, you were turned into a dyslexic.”686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwV29Bp0t2
“Well that’s not entirely true. I’ve always been dyslexic. It’s just I learned at a young age how to read well. I have no problems… or rather had no problems reading.” Tristen tells the general.
The general twitches his lip slightly. Tristen shuts his mouth then leans back in his chair. The general returns to looking at the file. “You were transformed into a severe dyslexic. However, you’ve exhibited a brain that adapts to the situation taking other portions of the mind and using them to the full. Your sight has been enhanced, your sense of smell, hearing, and ability to read gestures and faces.” The General reads off.
“Somewhat all of those things.” Tristen says. “Uh-huh. I want to hear nothing from you Mr. Forrest. Now, do you know why I’m so interested in you?” the general asks.
Tristen wags his head. “Because Mr. Forrest, you survived something no one else has. Tell me, what your teachings was?” he asks of Tristen. “I learned to be an engineer.” He responds. “Hence the quick thinking to make the crude blade. You can do more than that I imagine.” The general says to him. Tristen nods. “Hmmm. I want to train you. I will help you and you will help the Alliance in many ways.” The general tells Tristen. “Sir…” “Not an option Mr. Forrest. These are your orders. Captain Hayne will be your tutor for reading. She specializes in teaching dyslexic men and non-reading soldiers to read. I’m sure she can be the one to help your case. I will be teaching you to fight and build yourself up for the battlefield. And you… you will make something interesting for me.” The general says.
“What would that be?” he asks the general. “I want a weapon. I don’t care what it is but let’s see how skilled you really are Mr. Forrest.” The general tells him, “You are dismissed now. We start bright an early tomorrow… 0300.”
Tristen, though he wanted to say something about the time, kept his mouth shut as a wise man would. He passes Captain Hayne entering the General’s office as he leaves. She barely acknowledges him as she passes. She sits before the general and darts her eyes back then towards her superior.
“What is it General?” she asks. “Something important.” He tells her pushing his files to the side.686Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdpSUpgs9p
