Chapter 10-The Battle of New Seattle

War sirens began to blare across the city. The city was mostly still, as the troops deployed had not yet reached the center of the city but were on their way. The fighters began to fly in formation towards the WCO tower, engaging their missiles. In the center of the tower, a hangar with its massive doors already open sent dozens of fighters flying out of it. Rose began to scream at us, telling us to run as fast as possible. Above, both EPA and ASA fighters began to engage, lasers flying in all directions above. Specifically, one fighter had isolated itself from the dogfight and had shot its missiles directly towards the tower. We could hear the missile whir through the air and violently strike the building as we ran for our lives. A huge pillar of black smoke was coming from where the missile hit as debris fell to the ground. Rose signaled for us to follow her in between two buildings in a thin alleyway. We all crouched down behind a dumpster, panting. In the distance, we heard a soft roaring noise. It almost sounded as if some kind of fighter was flying this way, but we soon realized that it was shouting from the EPA troops charging towards the WCO tower. As they passed the alleyway, they began to shoot, ducking behind cars and other barriers on the street. There must have been ASA troops behind us that they were now engaging with. Bullets and lasers were flying everywhere on the street beside us. Grenades being thrown on both sides exploded, making fascinating sounds as if they were in a science fiction film. Rose motioned for us to exit the alleyway on the other side. Unfortunately, there was another heated battle on that street, too. I could see ASA soldiers with their handheld electromagnetic shields marching towards the EPA troops. The nozzles of their guns were pointing through the center of the shield, giving them a protective advantage. "We need to find an opening to get out of here and get as far away from downtown as possible," Rose yelled over the nearby explosions. Two fighters chasing each other had gotten pretty close to the ground and were spinning around, flying close to buildings, as one was trying to shake the other off. The ASA fighter was doing the chasing, and they were so determined to take down its enemy that it was shooting buildings as it missed the fighter, sending pieces of shattered glass to the ground. Dozens of soldiers from both sides were laying dead in the streets. You could tell which ones had been shot by lasers because of the smoke rising from the dead bodies, and the ones who had been shot by bullets had pools of blood beneath them. Most of the street was cleared out by now, giving us an opportunity to run away. I was horrified to see all of the dead bodies on the street as we began to sprint. The horror I felt sent more adrenaline in me, making me run faster. When we thought we were in the clear, a flaming car flew across the street from another street perpendicular to ours. Followed by the sudden stunning moment, a few soldiers were engaging in combat. There were about five ASA troops but only two EPA ones. They were in trouble, and we were almost directly in their crossfire. Mary Anne and Rose began to book it to a car to take cover behind, but I stood there frozen, trying to think about what to do. "Elijah, run! Get over here!" Mary Anne yelled. I snapped out of my daze. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a rifle that looked like it had one of those deployable electromagnetic shields on it laying next to a dead ASA soldier. I dove for it, Mary Anne and Rose still yelling for me to get to cover. When I picked up the gun, the shield deployed, providing a body-sized protective barrier. Just as I grabbed it, the ASA soldiers had just finished off both EPA soldiers, leaving them to breathe their last breaths as they lay on the cold street, bleeding out. I knew what I had to do. I began firing rapidly at them, killing two of them at once. My heart was pounding. I could not believe that I was killing people, but it was necessary for our survival. The remaining three soldiers turned their fire towards me, the lasers pounding against the barrier. I began to walk sideways towards Mary Anne and Rose so that I could get more cover as well. Rose began to peek from the top of the car and shoot at them with her hand gun. The other three soldiers had banded closely together, their electromagnetic shields combining into one large barrier. We were about to be history if we didn't act fast. I was trying to shoot at them through the broken windows of the car, but the barrier was impenetrable. Quickly, I gave the gun to Mary Anne as I reached in my backpack. I pulled out a small handheld device that was for emergency use only. Mary Anne looked at me in awe. She knew what it was. I twisted the device, making it click and count down from ten. I held onto it tightly. I wanted to throw it as close to detonation as possible so that they would have no chance of throwing it back. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six… "Elijah, throw it!" Mary Anne yelled with a worried look on her face. I just stared down at it with wide open eyes. Five, four… I stood up quickly and chucked it at the three soldiers who were about fifty yards from us. They saw what it was, and one of them lunged for it, but it was too late. "RUN," I yelled. All three of us quickly scurried away as the grenade ticked its final second. Whoosh. BOOM. A massive destructive dome emerged from the implosion, first pulling in and then disintegrating the three soldiers and sending all other objects flying at unimaginable speeds. The blue explosion extended all the way out to nearby small buildings before it dissolved, causing them to collapse and tumble onto the streets. We all stopped and turned around to look at the damage done. All of our mouths were wide open, and my ears were ringing from the extreme noise produced from the grenade. I was breathing heavily and trembling. I had just killed five people. I was still standing there in shock as Rose and Mary Anne grabbed my arm, signaling me to run with them. Above, the dogfight had gotten more intense: some fighters had plummeted into buildings and streets as others were still ferociously battling above.

Back in the Eastern Provinces, Huxley anxiously awaited any updates as he watched a map of New Seattle with every soldier's location. Right then, the secretary of defense bursted through the doors. "Sir," he began, "the troops have gained the advantage and have nearly made it to the WCO." Huxley nodded, resting his chin in one hand. "Excellent," he said, making eye contact with the secretary of defense, "It's time. Commence Operation: Patriot."

In New Seattle, Commander Douglass, leader of the fighter squadron, received word that it was time to commence Operation: Patriot. Once the word was out, carrier crafts lined up in a circle more inward towards the city below the fighters who were still in combat. They had not dropped all of their soldiers out yet, which is where Operation: Patriot came into play. The doors to all of the carrier crafts opened up, and in total, there were about thirty troopers to be deployed. These ones were in heavy body armor, and their heads were completely covered by gas masks and eye protection. With them they carried a massive, hundred pound weapon. All of them jumped simultaneously into the battle on the ground, holding fast to their mysterious weapons. Close to the ground, they deployed their parachutes. Meanwhile, all began to configure their guns as they landed around the WCO tower in the center of the city. When their feet hit the ground, it was as if everything went silent briefly. All of a sudden, the machine weapons they all carried made a high pitched rumbling sound. In these weapons, LED lights of red, white, and blue lit up as they began firing at the ASA soldiers attempting to guard the tower. They stood no chance. Thousands of laser bullets per second shot out of the weapon, destroying everything in its path. Bodies were blown into the air, and cars were sent rolling into nearby buildings, exploding on impact. Flames erupted everywhere, and the lasers blew concrete from out of the street, causing the underground pipelines to burst, sending water everywhere. At this point, the WCO stood no chance. Once the ground troops were decimated, the fighter squadron above would shoot more missiles at the tower, hoping for it to collapse. The Patriot Troopers were quickly pushing their way into the WCO block. Every ASA soldier within the area was either pulverized or had run for their lives. Finally, all the Patriot Troopers had reached the WCO, and it was time for them to wreak even more havoc. "READY, AIM, FIRE!" one of the troopers said. All at once, their machine guns charged again, and millions of lasers began firing towards the ground floor of the WCO. That was a lot of what I had known. The lobby where I first walked into--the elevators I took up to the 86th floor--the receptionist desk I had nervously walked up to--all of it was being disintegrated as the Patriot Troopers unleashed the weapons' maximum capability. After a whole minute of pure destruction, the fire ceased, leaving only the walls and pillars to hold up the building. The entire lobby, once beautiful and busy with foot traffic, was now complete rubble as flames engulfed the ground floor.

Several blocks down, Rose, Mary Anne, and I were running for cover once more. When we had run out of ideas, our intercoms began to work once again. It was Huxley's voice. "Can you hear me?" "Yes, yes!" Rose said. "Excellent. I heard about your dilemma--there is a platoon of troopers in the northeast sector of the city. It appears you are in south central, close to midtown. Head that way, and they have a teleportation device waiting for you." Our devices were only at 50%, so this platoon was our only hope of getting out of here. All of a sudden, our iHolos made a pinging sound, and it displayed our location as well as the location of our next destination: it was about a mile out. Only one more mile of running and avoiding gunshots and grenades. We could do this. Right then, we began to sprint towards the northeast sector of the city, not looking back. Above, the dogfight was even more fierce, which put us in danger. I could see the smoking WCO tower to my left as we tried to run between alleyways to protect us from the fight above, worrying that it could come down any second. Rose stopped at the edge of the small alleyway we were in. She placed her hand behind her, signaling for us to wait and make sure the coast was clear. When we began to move forward, thinking all was safe, a fighter crashed down from above, striking an already unstable building behind us. I heard Rose yell some questionable words as she screamed at us on the top of our lungs to run for our lives. I could hear the creaking and snapping behind me--the building was collapsing right on top of us. I had never run so fast in my life. I knew my bag was slowing me down, so in response I threw it off and left it behind me. It had the teleportation devices in them, but they were useless at this point, anyways. The once-beautiful glass and steel structure was plummeting towards the ground, but thankfully, we were almost at a safe distance from it. "Run for this building right here!" Rose said, pointing towards a small shop across the street. I heaved quick, heavy breaths and ran to the building just as all of the debris began to fall on top of us. I smashed my body through the glass door to break in, only sparing a couple of seconds before being crushed by the collapsed building. Most of it had covered the entrance, so I could mostly only see small cracks of light and smoke. I coughed, saying "Rose? Mary Anne?" Mary Anne was just beside me, and I knew Rose was just behind. I could hear coughing from one end of the room and a painful moaning at the entrance of the building we were in. As I stood up, I observed blood dripping down from my right shoulder, the one I used to thrust through the glass. Sucking up the pain, I ran over to whoever was at the entrance, as they sounded like they needed serious medical help. "iHolo, turn on the flashlight," I said in a panic. My device lit up the room to reveal Mary Anne making her way over rubble in what looked like the dining area of a restaurant and Rose, who was laying down at the entrance. A massive piece of concrete was laying over her abdomen. "Oh, no, Rose! Are you okay?" I yelled, bending down to try and help her. I attempted to move the concrete piece from her chest, but it was at least 350 pounds. Rose let out a weak moan. Her entire lower half of her body up to her abdomen was crushed by the rubble. Mary Anne came running over to her, screaming as she slid on her knees over to her. "Elijah, help me get it off!" She yelled, beginning to cry. I was just frozen in awe and fear. Without saying anything. I jumped over to one side of Rose and tried to lift the piece of concrete off of her, but only barely budged. Rose let out a scream with all of the air she had left in her body. "Go," she croaked, "It's too late for me." A tear rolled down her eye. Mary Anne still refused to give up. "No, no, no, we're not leaving you! I can't lose you too," she said, crying. "We'll call for help! We will, just ple--" "No," Rose interrupted, her voice sounding even tighter, "get to the platoon and get out of here. I don't have much longer, and neither do you if you don't get out of here. Go, live your lives in a free world." With that, her eyes closed with one last tear rolling from one. I was still too dumbfounded to say anything. I put my hand on her shoulder and began to weep. Mary Anne did the same. Regaining my composure, I said, "Come on, we need to get out of here" as I looked up at Mary Anne. I walked over to grab her hand, and she just kept staring at Rose's lifeless body. "Come on," I pleaded. Mary Anne stood up as I assisted her. When she got to a standing position, she grunted and collapsed. "What's wrong?" I panicked. As she was still panting, she pointed to her ankle. It was completely twisted, bent, and limp. I assured her it would be okay as I placed her arm around my shoulder, helping her up. Her and I limped over to a small opening where we crawled out of and onto the street once more. There was only about a half mile left to go. It would be tough, but we would make it. We were only able to go at a slow jogging speed because she was only able to use one leg, placing her weight on it and me. I could see and hear explosions in the distance as well as gunfire and shouting.

In the dogfight above, there were only about a dozen fighters on each side left. Scattered in the air, the EPA fighters were now to engage on the WCO tower once more to take it down once and for all. The only problem now was that for the missiles to charge, the fighter must be flying at a steady position. The science is complicated, but for the ion missiles to be launchable, they must be at a stable position while charging. All ASA fighters were on their tails, and if they held still, it would be their demise. "All fighters, this is Commander Douglass. Strike the tower with all you've got" he said, surveying the city from above. All other fighters dove for the city, flying between buildings in an attempt to shake their enemies off their tail. Unfortunately, the enemy fighters could not be shaken so easily. The EPA was now down to only three fighters left after failed attempts to shoot missiles at the tower. "Initiate fighter recall," Douglass said. The EPA had just developed a feature in their fighters where they would time travel to a second in the future if they were being followed, putting their chaser now in front of them. They had avoided using it unless there was an emergency, but now was the time. Commander Douglass warped behind two fighters chasing after him, shooting both of them down and crashing into the city. The other two fighters followed. It was now getting even more intense as the three heroes flew back out into higher airspace to lock into their target. Douglass began to charge his missiles, flying in a steady path. Two fighters began to chase after him, causing him to maneuver away. He grunted in frustration, attempting to try again. The missiles charged to 70%, but as he thought he was in the clear, a fighter shot his right wing, causing it to go ablaze. Warning alarms started to go off. The other two fighters had failed to launch their missiles, and they had been shot down, sending them crashing into the war-torn city. Douglass was on his own. He fought, and fought, and fought, only one wing taking the weight of the whole fighter. Finally, he had a shot, right at the tower's weakest point. The display indicated the missiles were charging--50%, 65%, 80%... The two ASA fighters left were on his tail again and began to rapidly fire at him. More warning alarms blared as the lasers blew out his boosters. He wasn't going to make it, but the missiles were fully charged. Saying a quick prayer and closing his eyes, he pressed the launch button, sending two ion missiles straight towards the burning WCO tower. Douglass's fighter was completely disabled, and he plummeted into a tower nearby, causing a massive explosion.

Down below, Mary Anne and Elijah were just about a block away from the platoon that would rescue them, but they were also near the unstable WCO tower. "Come on, Mary Anne, we're almost there!" I yelled as I panted. Buildings were collapsing everywhere, and there were explosions all around us. Above, I could see a fighter launch two ion missiles, and they were headed straight for the WCO tower. It seemed as if everything went silent just a second before the strike. I could hear the missiles whirring through the air, and then, BOOM. The impact shook the ground and smashed the tower. I could hear the shattering and the creaking. "RUN, NOW!" The tower was finally collapsing, and we were yet again in the danger zone of a falling structure. With all of her strength and with much pain, Mary Anne went as fast as she could with me alongside her. Just seconds later, the building struck the ground, cracking all of the concrete around it, knocking us off of our feet. A huge storm of dust engulfed us as we were knocked off of our feet, and I didn't remember much after that…

The first things I heard were muffled booming sounds. I opened my eyes to try to comprehend what was happening. All I could see were clouds of ash from the fallen tower and the first bit of sunlight peering through the alleyways of nearby buildings. Then, I saw something I never thought I would see. Leading a group of about ten soldiers, a general of some sorts was holding a flag I was pretty unfamiliar with. With all of the sparks and flames flying everywhere from the battle, I gazed my focus on the flag to decipher what it was. It wasn't the EPA flag. Neither was it the ASA's. No, this was a flag that hadn't been flown in decades. It was the flag of the United States of America. This man was ever so proudly waving it as he led his platoon to finish off the rest of the ASA soldiers. In the back of the platoon, a soldier ran over to me, helping me up. Then, I gained full composure, coming back into full focus to what was going on around me. "Come on, kid, we have to get you out of here!" he said. I spun around in panic, wondering where Mary Anne was. I also started to be concerned as to why I could not hear everything well. My left ear was throbbing, and I could feel blood dripping out of it and down my neck. My left elbow's pain was also excruciating, as it had probably been broken in the collapse. "W-wait!" I choked, "We have to get Mary Anne!" I couldn't see her anywhere. The soldier reached out of his pack and handed me a fully charged teleportation device. "Take this, and you and her get out of here," he yelled, pointing to something over a clump of concrete and glass. I hurled myself over the rubble to see one soldier kneeled down over someone. I ran over next to him as he got up and joined the platoon again. He had helped Mary Anne into a sitting position against some rubble, leaving me to take her back to New Boston. "Oh, Mary Anne," I said, shaking her. There was no response, and her eyes were closed. Quickly, I put my fingers on her neck to check for a pulse--thankfully, she was still alive. I hurriedly clicked the device, making it ready for use. The red button lit up, and I grabbed my love ever so tight and pressed the button. My surroundings, which contained explosions and fighting, quickly flashed away. Then, we were in the hangar that we had left in. Dozens of people were around us, many of them medics. I started to have tunnel visions as I sat there, holding Mary Anne in my arms. The last thing I remembered seeing was two medics running over to Mary Anne and I to put us on stretchers, but then, I blacked out.