Never Forget

I stumbled my way through the bloodstained halways, weak from a lack of food and sickened by the chaotic scenes made permanent by blood and gore smeared across the walls, floors, and ceilings.

I made my way through those red-stained halls, only held together by a promise of salvation.

I thought that if I had weapons and was able to travel faster than the aliens I could still save some of the population.

I hadn't forgotten about my Maria, oh no. I figured that with more people I could find her faster.

I thought that if I could band together a small group of people, I might be able to find her again.

I thought only of Maria at the time, only of my own happiness with her, of the times we shared; how it was ripped from us by the cruelty of our invaders.

This was my promise of salvation, my driving factor, my motivation.

I wasn't going to stop until I held her in my arms.

I searched for rations and weapons, finding one of my favorite snipers. A Barrett MRAD.

It was my favorite for several reasons. One, multiple calibers would work with the several barrels that I could swap out in seconds. Two it was very accurate. Three, it was a lighter rifle.

It was about six-and-a-half kilograms(fourteen pounds), meaning I could carry it with my uninjured arm more easily and would be able to move more quickly with it.

In the same room I found the Barrett, I found ammo boxes full of 6.5 Creedmoor ammo.

You look to be a greenhorn, brought here by chance, so you probably don't know the ammo types.

6.5 Creedmoor is a classic rifle ammo type, it's often used in rifles for its lesser kickback compared to other hunting calibers, and its suitability for ranges going beyond five hundred fifty meters(About six hundred yards), which would allow me to kill those blue fuckers from half a kilomiter away.

I needed both hands to accurately operate a rifle, but I wouldn't heal for a long time from then.

As I flipped the safety and cocked back the bolt, it occured to me that I shouldn't keep just one weapon.

I selected an M4 Carbine, a weapon that was suitable for short to medium ranges and fired rounds of 5.56x45mm NATO rounds, which had some pretty good power to them.

I was a gun enthusiast at the time, and I still wish I could have gone down pinned and under fire, rather than put down like a dog here. I wish I could have gone down with guns blazing, fighting for not just humanity's freedom, but the elfins and trinaries too.

I wish, I wish, I wish. Wishing isn't going to get me anywhere, but I think hope will.

Never give up hope, my friend. Hope is humanity's driving force, and no one gives up hope, even in despair.

At the time, I had finally noticed that not many weapons were missing from their little cubbyholes.

It was only then that I had begun to feel despair.

I saw that there were few people with weapons that had died, while many of them had died without a fighting chance.

Who was I?

I was a civilian, an ordinary man with a broken left arm, two guns, twelve grenades, and some ammo.

At the time I didn't know what I could do against an entire race.

I was despairing when I heard an Awoken ship roar its way over my head towards Florida's capital, Tallahassee.

I wanted to go after the ship, but I knew that the were likely there to stay, and I wasn't in any shape for a fight.

I spent about two months living off the dry army rations in that military base, talking to myself madly, destroying parts of it in fits of rage, and slowly driving myself insane, before I finally cracked, and decided to take off the cast.

A break of that degree wouldn't have healed to the amount that I could use it easily, but I was so sick of living in that army base that I took it off early and ignored the resultant pain.

I made my way to the capital by hijacking the quietest motor bike I could find, allowing me to reach the capital in a matter of hours.

When I was about two kilomiters out (about one and a quarter miles), I saw the ship still landed there and streets crawling with masses of the Awoken.

It was time for a bit of vengeance.