2. Base
We rode a Hummer to the base we’d be staying at. Our job-to overtake Death Valley, captured by Spanish soldiers. Two miles from camp, they dropped us off and we had to walk.
“Anybody have any interesting to tell?” Will asked bored. Twitch turned. “I have Optimus Prime tattooed on my arm.” We all felt nostalgic of that show that seemed for the Transformers show that seems to last till’ the end of time. We all gawked at his tattoo until he said: “You know I can draw him?” Twitch dropped to the floor, about to draw him in the sand. “Give me one minute.” I timed it. A minute later, he had a basic outline of Optimus Prime. We all laughed and rose up to go to the base. I looked at Trent. Behind me, he had drawn a full, detailed version of Optimus Prime off hand. He kicked the sand, destroying the picture as he got up. He put his finger over his lips, telling me to keep quiet about it. I would.
When we reached our barrack (or ‘The base’) it didn’t seem big. It was just a small building with five rooms. We all picked our rooms and went to sleep.
We woke up today, no general, no leader, not yet. For now, we lead ourselves. I cooked breakfast. I made eggs and bacon. We didn’t have much food in the small refrigerator, but we could always call for more and they’d drop us off. After all, we were fighting this world in Death Valley, not the opposite side of the world.
I started passing the food around, six eggs, and twenty- four pieces of bacon. We all started eating. The food seemed good to me, but after the second bite, Will commented. “This food sucks.” Abe rose up, towering over Will. The anger in his eyes seemed to burn a hole through Will, because he stared at the floor. Abe grabbed Will’s plate, sat back down and started eating again. “Screw you Will.” Everybody knew I was the quiet one, so everybody stuck up for me.
We walked outside after breakfast. Our mission was today was to remove landmines from around the base. We tightened the goggles that detected them onto our heads.
After a while, the heat was unbearable, our water became warm, and our feet blistered. On the brighter side, we found eleven land mines, saving our lives for now. We were happy to see our beat up fortress after that. We went in relieved and ready to sleep. But first, we got something to eat and drink. While we ate, Abe spoke up.
“Well, what are we all in the army for?”
The room was quiet for a minute. I was the first one to speak up.
“Tuition money.”
“Me too.” Trent agreed.
“Drafted” Ty said
“To serve my country” Will added.
(We all waited for Twitch to answer.)
“Because I have nowhere else to go.”
We all felt bad. “It’s okay Twitch.” Abe comforted him. “You belong here.” We all agreed.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
1. Training
I never belonged here, ever. I was a gentle person with tan skin and green eyes. I didn’t… “Andrew Compton!” I heard the captain yell.
I love my last name.
I walked up to the captain as he flipped through his clipboard. “Andrew, you’re in the fifth battalion. My heart sank. The fifth battalion was for screw-ups to the society to get killed. But I was no screw-up. I slowly paced to the fifth section holding my sniper scope- turned -necklace. They all stood, armor on, pistols holstered.
“Troops of 2032, welcome to your battalion.” Nobody seemed welcoming though. There was a tall guy, a twitchy guy, a guy with red hair, a religious guy, and a muscular guy.
“Give Em’ Hell soldiers!” The captain yelled.
“Hoo-Rah!”
We marched into a simulation booth to determine which rank we’d have. We walked into the booth and it was devastating. I could see everything, feel everything, and even taste the air. I bent over and picked a couple blades of grass. I let them go, watching them blow away. Looking up, I realized everybody had a name over their heads.
Twitchy guy-Jason Dawn
Tall guy-Abe Strauss
Religious guy-Trent Dusk
Red haired guy-Will Baron
Built Guy-Ty Walker
So now I knew my team. We stepped through beautiful fields until suddenly darkness overcame the sky. The cloud became spiraling shades of grey and the world became dark. Clashing thunder lit up around us and it started raining.
“Alright let’s go!” Abe called. Distances away, we saw soldiers. Now we went to the weapon selection. This whole thing was virtual, but the guns were the realest things I’ve ever felt. I picked up the sniper rifle and it started to get heavy as we ran. “Hold your positions!” Abe ordered. We all stopped. Other positions advanced while I started picking people off. Jason was right next to me shooting an MP5, meanwhile, Trent proficient with a pistol. I also noticed something else about him. He almost closed his eyes when he shot like he was afraid to. He seemed my age, about 18.
“Advance!” Will started to yell. “We need to advance!” Will didn’t back down. “No we don’t, we need to let them come to us.” As the screaming bout went on, Jason got a funny look in his eye. “Jason, you okay?” I asked, but he didn’t answer. Eight seconds later, he charged towards the enemies firing. Abe started calling him, but the shots were too loud.
While looking at Jason, we noticed that in the sky was a goldish sphere with smoke following it. “Is that…” He started his question then finished it. “RPG!” (Rocket Propelled Grenade) I opened the chamber to my gun. “I got this, keep the enemies off!” Abe continued with a shotgun and Will shot his revolver, Ty used grenades. Trent was watching me. “It’s heading for Jason.” I fumbled through my box of bullets. Here it was, the only bullet able to stop rockets with such power, developed a year ago. I loaded my gun, pointed at the rocket and fired.
Two hundred yards away.
With a rocket going over 30 miles per hour,
And I hit it.
The bullet pierced the rocket and it curved upwards, exploded. Jason was on the floor in fear. “Advance! Advance!” Everybody seemed to listen. I dropped my rifle and fired my pistol. I shot a couple of guys, but my main concern was Jason. In the line of fire, I dropped down and called his name. “Jason, Jason!” I called. A noise buzzed as if the generator went out. I looked around to see we were in a huge hangar. Training was over. ‘Enemies destroyed.’ Everybody cheered. Training was over, but Jason still twitched.
“Jason.” I called again, “Jason.”
“TWITCH!” Ty yelled.
He got up. “What happened?”
That’s how he got his nickname: Twitch.
We went outside and got our real guns. We also got our pins saying how we acted in there:
Abe: The Leader- Spas combat shotgun
Ty: The demolitionist-explosives
Will: The Backup-Revolvers, M-16
Trent-Sidearm expert-glocks, pistols
Jason-The Brave/Twitch- Smg
Me: The Valiant/deadeye-sniper rifle
Deadeye? I was puzzled. Everybody passed me. “You sopped that rocket with one bullet. Abe patted my shoulder. “You’re a deadeye.
For once here, I felt proud.
I never belonged here, ever. I was a gentle person with tan skin and green eyes. I didn’t… “Andrew Compton!” I heard the captain yell.
I love my last name.
I walked up to the captain as he flipped through his clipboard. “Andrew, you’re in the fifth battalion. My heart sank. The fifth battalion was for screw-ups to the society to get killed. But I was no screw-up. I slowly paced to the fifth section holding my sniper scope- turned -necklace. They all stood, armor on, pistols holstered.
“Troops of 2032, welcome to your battalion.” Nobody seemed welcoming though. There was a tall guy, a twitchy guy, a guy with red hair, a religious guy, and a muscular guy.
“Give Em’ Hell soldiers!” The captain yelled.
“Hoo-Rah!”
We marched into a simulation booth to determine which rank we’d have. We walked into the booth and it was devastating. I could see everything, feel everything, and even taste the air. I bent over and picked a couple blades of grass. I let them go, watching them blow away. Looking up, I realized everybody had a name over their heads.
Twitchy guy-Jason Dawn
Tall guy-Abe Strauss
Religious guy-Trent Dusk
Red haired guy-Will Baron
Built Guy-Ty Walker
So now I knew my team. We stepped through beautiful fields until suddenly darkness overcame the sky. The cloud became spiraling shades of grey and the world became dark. Clashing thunder lit up around us and it started raining.
“Alright let’s go!” Abe called. Distances away, we saw soldiers. Now we went to the weapon selection. This whole thing was virtual, but the guns were the realest things I’ve ever felt. I picked up the sniper rifle and it started to get heavy as we ran. “Hold your positions!” Abe ordered. We all stopped. Other positions advanced while I started picking people off. Jason was right next to me shooting an MP5, meanwhile, Trent proficient with a pistol. I also noticed something else about him. He almost closed his eyes when he shot like he was afraid to. He seemed my age, about 18.
“Advance!” Will started to yell. “We need to advance!” Will didn’t back down. “No we don’t, we need to let them come to us.” As the screaming bout went on, Jason got a funny look in his eye. “Jason, you okay?” I asked, but he didn’t answer. Eight seconds later, he charged towards the enemies firing. Abe started calling him, but the shots were too loud.
While looking at Jason, we noticed that in the sky was a goldish sphere with smoke following it. “Is that…” He started his question then finished it. “RPG!” (Rocket Propelled Grenade) I opened the chamber to my gun. “I got this, keep the enemies off!” Abe continued with a shotgun and Will shot his revolver, Ty used grenades. Trent was watching me. “It’s heading for Jason.” I fumbled through my box of bullets. Here it was, the only bullet able to stop rockets with such power, developed a year ago. I loaded my gun, pointed at the rocket and fired.
Two hundred yards away.
With a rocket going over 30 miles per hour,
And I hit it.
The bullet pierced the rocket and it curved upwards, exploded. Jason was on the floor in fear. “Advance! Advance!” Everybody seemed to listen. I dropped my rifle and fired my pistol. I shot a couple of guys, but my main concern was Jason. In the line of fire, I dropped down and called his name. “Jason, Jason!” I called. A noise buzzed as if the generator went out. I looked around to see we were in a huge hangar. Training was over. ‘Enemies destroyed.’ Everybody cheered. Training was over, but Jason still twitched.
“Jason.” I called again, “Jason.”
“TWITCH!” Ty yelled.
He got up. “What happened?”
That’s how he got his nickname: Twitch.
We went outside and got our real guns. We also got our pins saying how we acted in there:
Abe: The Leader- Spas combat shotgun
Ty: The demolitionist-explosives
Will: The Backup-Revolvers, M-16
Trent-Sidearm expert-glocks, pistols
Jason-The Brave/Twitch- Smg
Me: The Valiant/deadeye-sniper rifle
Deadeye? I was puzzled. Everybody passed me. “You sopped that rocket with one bullet. Abe patted my shoulder. “You’re a deadeye.
For once here, I felt proud.
Prologue
gue
The Barracks (Prologue)
| ||||
| barracks [bárrəks] (plural bar·racks) noun (takes a singular or plural verb)
[Late 17th century. Via French baraque <>baracca or Spanish barraca "soldier's tent, barracks"] |
Microsoft® Encarta® 2008. © 1993-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Me and what was left of my team stared at blood a drenched valley, chewing on our bitter-sweet victory. That’s when we realized the win wasn’t worth it- the Militant’s Warranty was right.
The Militants Warranty or “The Mil” was created by five ghostwriters during the Vietnam War. The five men figured they’d tell the soldiers what they were in for:
Men,
Whatever reason you’re here, you’re in for more than you can handle. None the less, it is guaranteed that these simple steps will happen no matter what battalion your in ,what rank you hold, or what war your in, these will all happen to you.
1. You’ll never forget what has happened.
2. Other than violence and other men, you will see nothing.
3. Blood will run like tap water.
4. The food will be horrible.
5. I don’t care how tough your team is, one of you will cry.
Here’s to the Past
The first thing I ever wrote was this four part series called Quake.
It filled out two composition notebooks and the first one I had received after watching the film Shark boy and Lava Girl
It sounds corny, but I made my mom drive me to Walmart so I could buy a notebook because well, the movie inspired me
It was all about dreams and I always wanted to get my dreams out
So what better way to do it then put it on paper
And what did I write about
Superheroes of course!
And that is the point I realized I wanted to be an author when I grew up
So in ninth grade I found a short story I wrote the previous year called The Barracks
I typed it up and gave it to people in my class
It was the first thing I actually really typed and tried to make look like a book and looking at it now I realize I put some hard work into that
So I gave it to my teacher, Mr. Ringold and he read it and said it was awesome and it reminded him of a video game
But it was a bit stereotypical
And I agree, it is a bit one-dimensional
Jake also said if it was in the future, it could've had futuristic weapons
And I hit myself in the head for forgetting about that
But nonetheless I'm going to post this because well I believe that you cannot hold a true identity without looking at your past
So I present: The Barracks
First Few Pages(and the overview)
The Barracks
Derrick McCain
Overview
Prologue
- Training
- Base
- Loss
- New
- Dominance
- Retaliation
- Takeover
- Bitter Sweet
- Departed
Epilogue
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Americas at War (an overview)
The year is 2032. While trying to stop a tyrant in South America two years ago, the crowd rioted, killing 20 United States officers. In retaliation, the President secretly launched Operation Authority. Seven officers (US) were sent into Brazil to destroy as much as they can and torture the citizens. The operation was successful. Now South America has taken Death Valley in California, where they plan to slowly move into the US, killing citizens. In these hazy politics, this eye for an eye battle, this is known as the Brotherhood War.
Sorry Guys, there was a couple pieces of clip and word art, but they don't show up on blogger, but if you want to see it, I can always e-mail it to you
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