A Soldier's Peace
By TinyWerewolf of Antisocial Industries
Prologue: Peace at last
"Oh god..…..... my head........ what the hell happened.......... did.... did we fail the mission?"
Everything had gone to hell in the past two hours. Half of Jacobs squad was dead as well as the squad leader, and the other half had gone missing, including his younger cousin Frank and his friend CJ. And to make matters worse he couldn't remember any of it, except that he was a currently being chased by members of the South Dakota Resistance, SDR for short.
Jacobs head was throbbing. Probing his head he found that there was a long gash starting at the middle of his forehead and ending just above his right ear. There was a bullet wound on his right arm, and two more in his left leg. Every step he took brought pain but he had to endure. He was not one to give up easily.
The barking of SDR attack dogs could be heard off in the distance as well as the shouts of men. They sounded pretty far away so Jacob figured he could take a moment's rest.
Jacob heard the howl of a lone wolf. The young man started looking at the world around him, for a moment he forgot all about his troubles. This forest was so peaceful, it had been untouched by the war that was now ravaging America.
Jacob stopped by a tree to rest for a second. He tried as hard as he could to remember how he got to this point. He remembered getting up that morning and then getting equipped for a sabotage mission, but after that nothing. Luckily though, he could remember everything from before the mission. He pulled out his compass and map and tried to figure out where he was. After looking at his map for a minute he realized that he was at least a day's walk from home. Jacob groaned in frustration and pulled his coat tighter around himself.
Even with the heavy wool trench coat, the cold winter air still cut straight to his bones. He would need to make a fire eventually, but for now it could wait.
Jacob pulled out his supplies and took inventory.
His clothing consisted of some heavy military style boots, wool socks, heavy leather gloves, a pair of olive green BDU's, a white t-shirt, a brown wool trench coat, an M1 combat helmet, and a green beanie. For weapons Jacob had an old Springfield M1903A3 with a Bayonet, an Army Model 17 revolver, and a boot knife. His weapons were old, but they were reliable. Jacob assumed the South Dakota Resistance was armed with AK47's and M16's. In an all out firefight he weapons Jacob had would be pointless against his heavily armed enemies
In his satchel he had a mismatch of medical supplies he had collected over the years. He had some bandages, a pair of surgical scissors, some morphine, rubber tubing, antibiotics, and a book containing information about plants that could be used for medical purposes. In his pack he had an extra pair of socks, a pair of wool gloves, a bottle of whiskey, extra ammunition, a lighter, a pack of cigarettes, an iPod he kept for personal reasons, a flashlight, a piece of flint, a shriveled apple, a ghillie "cloak" a friend had made for him, a journal, a lockpicking set, and a book he had been reading titled Unbroken.
On his belt he had a canteen of water, his shovel, a small pouch containing his favorite harmonica, a pen, a small piece of paper, and a picture of him and his ten closest friends from Basic Training. On the back of the photo were eight dates written down between August 12, 2037 and February 7, 2039. Jacob looked at the old photo. All the good times he'd shared with his friends flooded his memories. Getting through basic, the long boring nights playing cards in the barracks, the drunken brawls.
Jacobs thoughts were interrupted by the rattling of an assault rifle and the explosion of bullets hitting the tree next to him.
"THERE HE IS! DONT LET THAT M.R. BASTARD GET AWAY!" Jacob pulled up his rifle let off a round at the South Dakota Resistance soldier who fell silently to the ground with a bullet wound in the centre of his chest. What Jacobs rifle lacked in fire rate, it more than made up for in accuracy and stopping power.
Jacob couldn't wait any longer, he had to get going. He could hear the enemy heading in the direction of their fallen comrade.
Jacob started moving as fast as he could. He was losing a lot of blood but he had to keep moving. The world around him began to spin as he tried to move faster. He slipped down an embankment next to a creek, it wasn't a long drop but Jacob fell on his arm and felt a snap. Jacob pulled himself up and began moving again. He was in an incredible amount of pain; it was a pure miracle that he hadn't passed out.
"I SEE HIM! OVER HERE!" Jacob turned around and saw a man up on the ridge pointing a pistol him.
This was it. Jacob wanted to run, but he knew it was no use. At this range there was no way that South Dakota Resistance soldier was going to miss. Things went into slow motion for Jacob watched as his executioner took aim. The man on the ridge pulled the trigger, a bullet ripped through Jacobs pelvis, just above his right leg. Two more shots slammed into his torso.
Jacob fell to the forest floor, he was done. Satisfied that his target wouldn't be getting back up, the South Dakota Resistance soldier went off to find the rest of his squad. He was sure they'd want to be there to see this man die.
As Jacob laid there in the cold snow he started to feel warm. He knew death was near, and he welcomed it. A few tears began to flow down his cheek, partly because he was afraid for his family. His mother would be devastated. She had already lost her husband and Jacobs older brother to this Godforsaken war, and now she was going to lose her other son. His grandmother would probably be just as devastated as his mother, and his grandfather. What would he think, he had been proud when Jacob had joined, and even more so when he passed Basic, but what would grandpa think of his passing. But part of Jacob was happy. The war was finally over for him, no more fighting, no more suffering, no more loss. He was going to go and be with his friends and family who had gone before him.
Jacob looked up at the night sky. There was a large parting in the canopy where he lay and he could clearly see the moon and stars, for so long he had used that sky to guide him on many lonely nights. He looked over at his watch, it read 3:15 A.M. Dec 26. With what little energy he had left, Jacob pulled out the small piece of paper and did his best to write a quick note to his mother.
To my mother,
looks like this is the end for me. I've never been good with goodbyes but I'll do my best. You raised me for a good seven years after Dad and Neil died. It was tough, but you managed to pull through, you never gave up no matter what happened. I can't say I don't have any regrets, I've done some pretty terrible things during my time in the war. I wish I could fix it, but it is what it is and what's done is done. I just want you to know that I love so you much mom. I know you're going to be torn apart by this, but please try to find solace in that all I did here was to protect you and everyone back home. I know what I do isn't much, but if it helped at all, even just the smallest amount possible to finally end this war then it's enough for me. I'll be waiting for you, along with dad, Neil, and all our other friends who passed before their time. But please mom, don't try to meet us all to soon, If anyone should live to see this war finally over, it's you. Please do that for me.
With all my heart, your son, Jacob
PS. Please put this old photo somewhere safe for me.
With that Jacob folded the paper and slipped it into the pouch on his belt. Hopefully the letter would be found on his body, but he chuckled. It was more then likely that they would simply toss the letter aside without a second thought. The chances of his letter ever getting home were slime to none. Jacob laid his head back down and looked back up at the sky. All he could do now was wait til the SDR squad returned to finish the job, or he passed out from blood loss.
Jacob just listened to the sounds of the forest as death slowly began to overtake him. For the first time in his life he knew peace. He was content with the fate he had been dealt. As Jacob laid there he began to notice something out of the corner of his eye.
It was a flower of some sort, one he had never seen before. Its petals were pitch black, inlaid with crimson red veins. It's edges pulsated with a shadow, if that was even possible, and the air around it seemed to distort and twist. Looking at this flower, Jacob felt a sense of dread wash over him.
A primal part of his brain told him to run, to get away as quickly as he could. Adrenaline pumped into his veins once again and his breath quickened, an uneasiness crept into his stomach. He began berating himself, it was just a stupid flower, strange non the less, but still just a flower. There was no reason for him to fear it, its a fucking flower. Jacob pushed the fearful thoughts away.
Jacob reached over to the flower and picked it up. the second his fingers touched the petals his world exploded into darkness. He gasped, it was as if a great weight was pressing on him from all sides, preventing him from breathing, his sight had gone completely black. Unimaginable pain began to rip through his entire body, worse then any bullet, knife, or fire could inflict. The darkness around him was nearly malleable, crushing in from all sides. His heart, he began to panic, if there was a hell, he was pretty damned sure that's where he was headed in his dying moments.
He began hearing whispers all around him, it started off as one, but it soon grew to tens, then hundreds. He started trying to listen, to pick out anything, what he heard chilled his heart.
"Murderer"
"Destroyer"
"Damned"
"Traitor"
"He.... he is of the blood!"
"Yes, yes, his heart is filled with it, we can use him, he can be used."
"But what if he refuses to follow us!? He is a creature of free will, we have no control over his actions!"
"Do not worry, he will, he must! It is his kinds nature, he will do as we command him to!"
Jacobs eyes darted around the darkness searching for the source of the whispers. He could see nothing and they seemed to come from all around. He was beyond terrified now, his body had already begun pumping adrenalin into his veins but even so, he still could not move.
"Do not be so foolish young one! Even you know his darkness can be........... tainted............ We will make him obey us, but first we will need to break him."
"The lets get on with it!"
"NO! Not yet, the time is not right."
"Very well, what shall we do now?"
"Remove the metal from his wounds, and stop the major bleeding, centuries of work will be undone if he dies now, but do not close them. I have a plan, they shall know fear once again."
He could here animals of all different types around him, he thought that there might be a farm or something nearby.
Jacob heard the door for the cottage open and out stepped a horse. No, it was too small to be a horse. It was a pony. It had a yellow coat and a pink mane.
As soon as it noticed Jacob it let out a gasp. It ran over to the man and started quickly checking his wounds. The pony nudged Jacobs arm with its hoof, this brought about a pained grunt from Jacob. The pony noticed this and seemed to panic, it then spoke, "Oh no, ohnnohnohno. D-don't m-move. P-p-please, I'm going to get help."
As the pony ran off to get help Jacob began to lose consciousness. Before he slipped from the waking world Jacob could only guess that death was screwing with him for some unknown reason. He let out a slight chuckle, then slipped into dreamless sleep.
