Literacy

Eyes of Alpha Squad: Chapter's 1 & 2

By Marlo Devereux

Prologue

People said we were heroes but we were just doing our job. You'll hear about us and our secrets and our story, because at the time all we did was do things that everyone else didn’t want to do. No one knew who we were and what we were doing in this massive war. We were just men fighting for freedom among with and men and even women. This is the story of our life and the 4 years we served in the war.

This is James's story, this is Max’s story, this is everyone in the war’s story. This is my story.

1:     ATTACK

Tuesday 15 August, 2020, undisclosed location, United States America,

James

“So what are we doing, killing rovers or having a tea and chat?” Robert says to no one in particular.

Robert is quite small, is as speedy and as strong as the rest of the others. But he can slip through air vents and small spaces quite easily.

“Do you see any gangsters round here? Or tea pots?” replies Captain Shirley.

The general is a tall figure with a big bushy mustache that reminded James of a gerbil.

“Anyway, I’m leaving,” a commander said, he was obviously bored.

As he turned to leave he froze. Almost like he was in a trance or saw something that was wrong. The man shook his head in disbelief and kept on walking.

Suddenly, with no warning, red covers the hallways door. Everything went so wrong so fast. A bomb exploded, bullets flew, men fell over. Some never to get up again.

“What the … ,“ shouts an officer who is suddenly cut off.

James runs out of the room and unlocks a case on the side of the wall. He triggers a silent alarm that runs to the police station and grabs a 22mm shotgun out of the cupboard and hands it to Robert who has just run into the room.

“Thanks, mate!” he shouts at James.

For himself, James grabs smoke grenades and a M4 carbine with heat vision sight. He thinks for a while about what he’s about to do then rushes in and throws the smoke grenades in the room. Robert’s shotgun shells are all over the floor.

“Run!! Run!!” James shouts at the survivors and they run to the exit.

James also brought real grenades with him and he throws them into the corners of the room and starts to run with the main group of officers that are either running to the exit or the bunker.

The explosion from the grenades pushes James over. Behind him Luke, James’s school friend, grabs him and helps him up.

“Let’s go to the bunker!”

“What? No! It’s too dangerous!”

“Well, I’m going there, you can go outside and get shot to pieces!”

Luke peals off to the side towards the bunker and disappears through a corridor. James feels heartbreak but keeps moving now that Robert’s caught up with him.

“What are you all sad about?” he asks.

“Nothing, it’s just that Luke is going to the bunker.”

Robert never liked Luke or the fact that James was friends with him.

“So? Not like anything is going to happen to him?”

“No, something is going to happen. Rovers never face a horde of cops. They will kill those that don’t make it to the surface and the ones in the bunker, then they will scamper back through the hole in the wall and probably attack us survivors.

Realising that James is right, and that Luke is doomed, Robert feels guilt build up inside.

2:     HOSPITAL

Thursday 17 August, 2020, hospital in San Francisco, California, United States America, Max.

Max has just come back from Mexico after fighting Rebel soldiers that killed the president.

After being shot Max was sent back and was forced to resume his old duty as a police officer. He looks out over the city watching people go about their day. Max is thinking about seeing his family later in the week when he see’s 5 Land rover Discoverys pulling up in the carpark.

“What the…?”

Flashes erupt down below. Realising that the uniform was that of a rover Max is stunned. The same brutal group of bikers and gangsters that two days ago ambushed his squadron in their bunker, killing 34 men.

Max remembers that on the news they’d signed a treaty with the Mexican rebels. They were after him!

Sprinting down the stairs he stops on the 23th floor suddenly hearing voices.

The voice of a biker filled the space, “Okay I’ll check this floor, you two go up and look in the upper floors. I’ll come after you if he’s not in here.”

The men must of nodded but Max couldn’t see but he heard footsteps going up the stairs. The quietly opened the door and walked into the first room where an old man sat recovering from an earlier car accident.

There was a scream but no gunshot.

‘Must have been silenced,’ thought Max.

The plant Max hid behind was dense but someone only had to look closely to realise that there was a twenty year old man behind it. Max slowly walked into the hallway but stopped when another biker walked into the room.

“Tom, old man! Come here! There’s no one here, let’s go back to Martin's place.”

Max ran and jumped on the man punching him in the temple. As the man hit the floor he groaned. Max took his silenced AMT hardballer as Tom rounded the corner.

“Na, let’s go to my place. We can go put some lines up our sniffers.”

Tom had just realised his companion was on the ground when a 9mm bullet entered the back of his head.

“Not your lucky day is it now buddy?” Max boomed as more footsteps sounded from the stairway.

                                                        *

Francis was 27 and, bored with his day job as a Mcdonald's Drive Thru, joined the Rover’s to make easy money. However, he wasn’t expecting to get hit in the face with a desktop monitor by Max.

Blood exploded from his nose as the computer smashed into it. Oliver, his partner, ripped his handgun out, only to have it smacked out of his hand by Max’s monitor. Oliver stumbled back and fell over. Within seconds the pair were on the ground, Francis was unconscious.

“So mate, how do you want to play this? There are a few options, one, I kill you, two, I tie you up and let the cops get you, and after the attack on Tuesday they won’t show any mercy. Or three, you tell me what’s going on and I let you free.

Which one will it be?”

“Please, I just want to see my family again! I’ll tell you everything I know. It won’t be much but I’ll tell you!”

“What you doing in there Ollie?” a new voice grumbles.

“Stay quiet or I’ll shoot you too,” whispers Max as the man enters.

“What’s happ…”

He starts to speak but is cut of when Max shoots him in the neck.

Oliver finally speaks, “Okay, all I know is that there is a highly respected pig, I mean cop, which by the look of it that’s you?” Max nods.

“You’ve just came back from Mexico and, since we’ve made a treaty with the Mexican rebels, we were assigned to kill you. You killed the son of the rebel leader and he tracked you down to this hospital.”

“What? I killed Juan Carlos Hernandez? When? How? Why does Pedro Hernandez know? How does he know?”

“All your questions will be answered but right now let’s get out of here,” snapped Oliver.

“Why? You just want to get out of here because all the others will see me with you and then you won’t have to tell me,” Max pointed out.

“No, because this place is rigged to blow at any time.”

Oliver was worried, and as he said ‘blow,’ the room rumbled. Tom’s dead body hit the window so fast that it spun around in the air, landing on the windscreen of one of the Range Rovers, giving the three passengers the fright of their lives.

“See what I mean?” tormented Oliver when the men got their footing again.

A second explosion erupted, causing Oliver to slip, then the building tilted.

Last Alive: Chapter 1

Blake Povey

Summer was coming, birds were chirping and cicadas singing. It all started when a couple of friends decided to take a trip. Theo, Guy, Andre, Soul, a couple of girls and of course me. We planned to go down to a river to camp out one night. I said I would drive because my dad didn't trust any of my friends, of course. He's also very protective of his vehicle. He even made me practice until the day we went.

Finally the day came. With sun bleaching my hair and tanning my skin I get my packed bags loaded into the land cruiser one by one, slam the boot and then I'm off. I reverse down the driveway and wave bye to my dad.

First pick up is Theo and Guy.

“Hurry up Theo!” Guy shouts through the front door of his house.

They approach the truck with smiles smothering their faces. Pushing and shoving, they put their luggage into the back of the truck. They are twins that fight a lot over, well, pretty much nothing.

“Next stop, Andre,” I shout to stop the bickering of Guy and Theo in the background.

I pull into Andre’s drive to see him at the front door, ready for some fun. Andre is a real party boy. He always provides the drinks. Unfortunately dad said no drinks while we were away so, as any son would do, I obey him. As much as I love him he is strict and limits me doing a lot of things.

Last stop is Soul. We drive along the main road, isolated and surrounded by desert. He is quite boring and doesn't do much, but we still like him for he is hilarious. We don't need to pick up the girls because they are meeting us there.

My mum died 3 years ago so it has been hard for me. She got cancer and was very sick until the hospital called up saying what had happened. She was sick and we all knew she was dying so all we could do was spend time with her. We’d go out for dinner almost every night after we found out she had cancer. Then the day came. I was called by my dad to come home quick because something was wrong. She wasn't waking up. We shook her and shook her but it was no use. She was gone. We both cried and cried as our tears dropped onto her pale plain face. I will never forget that moment I will treasure it for as long as I live.

Driving along the long dry roads, the sun sizzles our skin through the windows. We pull over at a gas station to get some drinks and fuel for the truck.

“We’re almost there boys!!!” I shout to break the silence

Finally the long narrow road ended and we got to a forestry road with trees tops hovering over us, protecting us from the bright, harsh sun. Eventually we reach our destination. I slam my door as Guy opens the boot of the truck. He throws everyone's bag on the grass and we set up the tents. Soon after we hear another car chugging down the gravelly road.

“They're here you guys,” yells Guy at the top of his lungs.

They pull up next to our truck as the chugging sounds stop. They get out of there old cruddy car with their bags and approach us with smiles ear to ear on each of their faces.

We all help set up the tents to sleep in, 1 for the boys and 1 for the girls.

Sun fell beyond the horizon as darkness approaches. We all gather some firewood in the forest for dinner. One by one I pick up dry pieces of wood.

“Heading back!” I say as I walk off in the direction of the camp.

They all follow soon after.

Step by step we creep back to camp all with our hands filled with wood and dry leaves.

“Pile up all the wood over here,” I shout, pointing at a dry patch of grass.

I get the matches out and start striking at the dry leaves. A spark arrives and charges at the leaves. ‘Puff’

We all sit around the fire and after a while I decide to get some marshmallows to roast on the fire. Most of us set our marshmallow on fire but Theo doesn't, he’s an expert. His was nice and golden.

“I'm going to bed guys,” I say.

Everyone soon follows and we all hop into the tent and wrap ourselves with our sleeping bags.

The next morning I wake up, everyone is already awake, I am the last one up.

“Wake up sleepy head,” Guy says as he cracks the egg shell on the side of the pan.

I got my dad to let me borrow his on the go stove so we have eggs and bacon for breakfast. I unwrap myself and put on a shirt. Everyone is sitting on chairs watching me.

“Smells good!” I yell at Guy.

“Good, I'm dishing up now,” he says grabbing all the plates.

He slowly piles the poached eggs and bacon on each plate. He eventually finishes and gets some forks for everyone.

“Dig in!” he shouts.

Everything goes silent as jaws frantically move. Everyone is happy with their food and wants more, but unfortunately there’s none.

Slowly time passes and people start getting bored.

“Let's go for a dip in the lake,” Andre said with a grin on his face.

Screaming filled the air as everyone runs into the lake legs first. Water sprays everyone as we sink into the water’s depths. Sun approaches the centre skies as mid day comes. All the girls were sunbathing on the sand as the boys have underwater breathing competitions.

“I’m getting out now guys,” I yell as my skin appears above the shimmering blue water.

I wrap a towel around me and kneel on the sand.

All of us sit on our towels and let the sun bronze our skin. An hour passes and so does the sun as it moves across the blue skies with no clouds to be seen. We sit and talk for a bit, just about casual stuff like what we are going to get up to when we get back. None of us really knew what to reply it was just to clear the awkwardness of the silence filling the air. It is very relaxing sitting in the sun and we need to watch out for sunburn. I get burnt really easily but the others don’t as badly as I do.

Night falls. We all get dried up and encase ourselves in the warmth of blankets. I watch the moon and stars slowly arrive. Something bright shimmers along the dark blue skies.

“A shooting star!” Theo says hopefully.

“Can't be. That's too big to be a shooting star,” I state.

“Hah, it's probably a UFO,” Guy mumbles.

Sitting there we all wonder what the bright light could be. Everyone is confused and soon just give up on guessing.

This is our last night so we stay up a lot later than the other nights, partying and piling up on the beers.

Midnight comes. The party is still lit and most people are still out having fun. I’m the only one that’s in bed. Silence creeps closer as everyone finally heads to their beds too.

Although I was first to bed I’m the last one too fall asleep. My mind is still stuck on what the flash could have been.

Morning comes with birds and cicadas chirping their little mouths off. Everyone is packing up and loading all their luggage into the back of the cars. We say our goodbyes to the girls and get in the land cruiser. After 3 turns of the key the vehicle finally starts.

Chug chug chug, we stumble down the slim gravely road.

“This will be a long trip you guys so we might stop for food on the way,” I bellow breaking the silence.

Short little mumbly whispers of yay fill the air.