Chapter 2

*Beep Beep Beep

6:00 am

I stretch out my arm and turn off my alarm clock.

Sitting at my bed. I sat lazily for a few moments for my body and mind to wake up. I had already set up my preparations yesterday and I just needed to do my morning routine of showering, toothbrushing and getting dressed.

After finishing and put on my uniform I pick up my backpack.

My bright purple obsidian sword lay on the desk and it shimmered through the specks of morning light that reached most of the bedroom.

I walk over and pick it up. The stainless steel hilt reflected onto my eyes.

The handle was smooth and shaped to become easily gripped. The bottom of the sword had a circle and diamond crested shape.

Inserting it back in its placeholder I go and meet up with the rest of the platoon.

Again I roll call everyone and tell them to form five groups of ten people behind me.

In total about 58 people had consented to participate today.

We went into the weaponry room and equipped ourselves with guns and ammo.

I led the group towards the Docking Terminal.

The Docking Terminal was also a huge warehouse facility, but it was used to hold many large freight airships to take soldiers out on missions. It was almost always running at all hours of the day because of people arriving late into the night after a successful mission or heading out.

Airships were lined up in order with a row in each lane for each truck to safely exit. I could see through the hard stained glass window that the pilots were already on the other side. I told the group to go in and they started to seat themselves on either side.

I counted as each person came through and had the exact numbers as on the papers. I then picked up the phone near the front of the plane to let them know they were good to go.

The hatch started to close and the speakers came on.

"We will be taking off for flight soon. Please wear your seatbelts and remain seated at all times"

I sat down near the end of the ship and put on my seatbelt. The aircraft slowly made its way to a runway.

The sound of multiple propellers started to churn faster and faster until we lifted from the ground and started flying.

For several hours it was pretty talkative. Most people seemed excited. I wondered if they'd still act the same after today.

We reached the drop off point and walked out armed with guns.

I told the group to form three groups of twenty behind me and let them know that we would be walking for about 2 hours before we would reach our spot.

While we walked I reminded them to stay alert at all times and ran through the drill we were practicing during the week before the mission.

The concept was simple enough. When we are about 1km from our destination, we would form a group of three with twenty people each.

Within each group there would be two rows of ten soldiers. When the Echos start coming the first row would crouch and start firing. When the soldier in front runs out of ammo and needs to reload, the second person standing up will take their place and start shooting. Each would take turns shooting and reloading and would prevent a situation where the enemy could break the formation.

We were lucky enough that Echos tended to create their nests in open spaces and clearings which made the strategy much easier to follow through.

I heard this standard military tactic for exterminating Echo nests was created by Admiral Laura Phan. After she implemented and introduced this strategy, there was a significant increase of an extermination mission having zero casualties. Before that it was pretty much expected that people would die during the missions.

We made our way through the thick bushes of the Forest of Latours. No one seemed in the mood to talk. I could see it in their faces that they were anxious. We were getting closer to the nest. The clearing was within eyesight and the Echos howls could be heard into the distance.

I was tapped on the shoulders and I turned around.

"Sir someone is falling further away from the group. They said they'd catch up, but..."

The guy pointed behind us and further back. I could see their figure hunched back.

Everyone looked at me because I stopped moving. I then told everyone to continue walking and remain hidden in the bushes and wait for me.

I jogged back to reach the man who had fallen behind.

The man's hands were on his head and he was shaking profusely. Vomit was laid in front of him and he talked to himself.

"Why did I agree to this… There's nothing to gain from this… I don't want to die…"

I cautiously approached the man and called out to him."Hiieee"

He jumped back like a scared mouse.

I tried my best to calm him down.

"No one's going to die. I need you back with the team to make the formations work. That way everyone can go home safely"

*Bang

The sound of a gun shot rang through the woods. After a couple of seconds later more and more gunshots were fired.

The man screamed and curled up into a ball covering his ears.

"Shit!"

I started sprinting back towards the group. The one moment I step out and everything goes out of control.

Multiple people were bleeding from bullet wounds. A dead echo lay in front of an unconscious man.

"What's the situation!?" I scream

The guy who tapped me on the shoulder answered.

"An Echo came close to the other group and he freaked out and shot widely accidently hitting friendlies. I knocked him out before he could shoot more."

"We need to bandage the wounded and-"*Bang

Another gunshot was fired from the other group followed by a scream. Another Echo lay on the ground, and a soldier was quickly bleeding out from a large bite to the shoulder.

Echos were approaching from different directions now.

Fuck I completely forgot that we just attracted the entire nest. I bark new orders.

"Get to the clearing Now!"

The soldiers start running to the clearing in front of them while firing at Echos. Some had gotten a hold of the soldiers who were further out from the group as they were dragged into the ground and mauled.

Others helped pick up the wounded and carried them behind those in front.

We made it to the clearing and made a bit of distance from the trees.

People were starting to panic. Others shot at Echos coming in all directions and some stood there not knowing what to do next.

A large pack of Echos above a small dirt hill appeared above. They screeched, jumped down, and started galloping making their way towards us.

More Echos were coming out of the woods and one had gotten close to the group. Its body crouched ready to pounce on one of the soldiers.

I started sprinting towards the Echo, But I knew I'd be too late.

The woman nearest to him pushed the man to the side and was now in front of the Echo. Its body already in the air with its webbed claws stretched out to swipe.

A gunshot was fired at the Echos head which slightly changed the direction of the Echos landing.

The woman barely dodged the attack and pulled her combat knife out and stabbed the Echo in the cheek.

The Echo reeled back for a second. A knife was embedded onto its face and it was disarrayed for a second before getting ready to attack her again. Its mouth aimed for her head ready to cut her into a million pieces.

I dashed and stepped in, slicing the Echo from the mouth into two. Its guts and body fluids spilling out onto the dirt.

Some people started to puke while others watched in awe. I saw the look in their eyes and knew I needed to use this moment to gain control of them.

I yelled out loud and made sure everyone could hear.

"Everyone Get In A Circle Formation And In Groups Of Two! Injured In The Middle!"

People quickly rallied into two and formed a circle.

The man who talked to me earlier understood what I was trying to say. He crouched and started shooting at the approaching Echos while a man stood above him waiting to fire.

Everyone else started to follow those two as one would start crouching and then firing at the Echos.

I stood in the middle of the circle with the injured and constantly scanned checking for blind spots and possible breaches to the formation. The biggest threat was the pack of Echos approaching in the front.

I ran towards the pack and started hacking and slashing at the Echos. Normally Captains for the new recruits were supposed to stay observant and watch while occasionally killing an Echo or two if they came close to the group from the sides while they were in formation. For the most part the group would fire at the Echos approaching from the main nest, but we were not in an ideal position for me to hang back and wait.

Hacking and slashing my way through the groups of Echos, I cut them down as they approached and attacked. Bullets were sent my way helping get rid of the Echos around me.

I made sure to look back at the group every so often to see if Echos were getting closer to them They seemed to be holding their own for the most part and I continued dealing with the bigger problem.

By the time we finished Echos were scattered everywhere around the clearing. I walked back towards the group who had slumped over from exhaustion.

They sat and rested their guns on the ground. The ones who applied the aid to the injured during the attack were checking their statuses. Even the man who was knocked unconscious started to stir. It was the same man who was making fun of the other people.

"Tie him up" I ordered.

Someone took a pair of rope and tied the man up.

"What are you doing? get off of me!"

Others stood up and helped restrain the man. I got down to his level.

"You will be restrained for the duration of the mission and then sent to Council for them to decide what to do with you"

"Why the fu-"

The man who helped get the group in order covered his mouth with a cloth and tied it behind him.

Standing up, I thanked the man and asked him his name.

"Private Gaurav Nisha"

"Well Gaurav, I appreciate you knocking out that guy, I would've done the same"

"Mmmphh!"

The man on the ground glared and thrashed about.

"You mind watching him for a bit?"

"Sure thing"

I thank him again.

I then let the people know I'll scout over the hill and then return quickly and to fire a gunshot if something comes up.

reaching the top of the small hill, I look at the nest in front of me. The smell hit my nose. The stench of rotting carcasses and feces were evident. I hated this part of the extermination process.

There were large piles of egg sacks about 5 days in their hatching stage. Luckily we wouldn't have to deal with more Echos as none of them seemed to be on their last stage yet.

I walked through the area making sure there was no Echo around. Other egg sacks were only in the first stages, their little transparent balls strewn on the ground. Compared to the big ones which had the Echos bodies almost formed, the smaller ones looked like they contained nothing inside, but I knew better.

The area covered a decent size and I estimated that it would take until late afternoon for us to finish. I walked back towards the group.

I let them know that we would start the cleaning up process in 30 min after everyone has had time to rest.

After everyone had a break. Everyone but the injured and those watching them started by slicing the large mucus egg sacks. I told them to save their bullets and use their knives to slice the eggs open.

Yellow liquids started spilling out and covering peoples legs and boots as they sliced away. I could hear the occasional sound of someone gagging trying hard not to puke.

We continued to cut up and destroy every egg we could find and when we were done, I had people double check every single spot in the area. I went and walked through the entire area three times afterwards to make sure no egg was missed and when that was done we packed our things and started our trek back to the drop zone.

I had the group form the same line as we came in and marched back.

Along the way we recovered the bodies that didn't make it. They were scratched pretty badly and seemed to have died soon after from blood loss.

The people who knew the deceased stepped up to pick up their friends.

Further on the march came across the deserter. His head was missing and his body lay there in a pile of blood with chunks bitten out and an intestine sticking out. Someone behind me vomited.

No one stepped up to carry the body.

I then told two guys to pick up the body so that we can take it back to base. They were very reluctant. They kept looking at each other and at the dead body in disgust.

Gaurav stepped out of the formation and walked over to the body and began picking it up. The other man who had Gaurav's back in the attack helped him carry the dead carcass.

We continued walking until we reached the dropship. The sun was beginning to fall.

I knocked on the door at the front of the ship and the pilots opened the hatch at the back.

Everyone started walking back in. Gaurav and his buddy along with the others dropped the carcasses near the entrance and took their seats. The hatch closed and I sat down putting my seatbelt on.

The pilot announced for everyone to fasten their seatbelts and then took off. Unlike in the morning, it was completely silent inside the aircraft.

If I took into account the awful smell of feces, dried mucus, mud, and blood that was on everyone and not to mention multiple injured and eight dead, I wouldn't be in a talkative mood either.

It was near midnight when we arrived back at the base. I told everyone to return the weapons back at the weaponry and that the makeshift area would still be serving food at this time as well as starting training again after three days and to meet at the same spot at 6:30 am

I asked Gaurav if he could help bring the bodies to the morgue and he agreed. I told the man who was tied up to follow or that he would face even harsher punishment.

We pushed the gurneys that carried the bodies on top of each other and gave it to the staff member inside the mortuary. I then brought the man tied up to the jail room and handed him to the security guard.

Gaurav asked me if I wanted to go eat with him. I needed to make a report about today's mission and normally I'd just grab some leftovers from the main Cafeteria that was still open, but I was craving for something hot so I agreed.

Walking back to the canteen, we waited in line to be served some hot soup. Gaurav went and sat down near his friend. Following him I sat down.

His friend looked up from his food and said hello sir. I asked him for his name.

"Private Anthony Bautista sir"

I felt like I was in a weird place because I was the captain and I didn't know if I should still act like one.

Next a woman came over along with her friend who was busy blowing into the hot soup. It was the girl who saved one of the people in the group and the other who vomited when they saw the dead body.

"Sorry to interrupt sir" the woman said looking at me.

No longer having the energy to pretend to be strict, I let her know.

"Drop the formalities, I'll only be your captain for another two weeks and that's if I don't get demoted after today and we have enough people staying to go out on missions"

She nodded and sat down.

The woman had bright silver white hair that made her noticeably different even on the day when I first arrived.

If I recall from the tests conducted as well as the documents this woman was overall average all across the board. The only difference was her appearance.

Even though she was average, she did something that so few would actually do which was to risk her life to save another.

Out of all the people around that man, she was the one who acted and traded her life for someone. I could only count a few people on my hand who I knew for certain would selflessly do that and one of them was my best friend Kim who's been out for the past weeks exterminating Guardian Echo nests.

"I wanted to thank you both for saving me"

He nodded at her and gulped down more of his soup. I assumed he was the one who shot the bullet towards the Echo when it attacked her.

"Do you all mind if we sit down and eat here?"

Anthony motioned with his free hand for them to sit.

The woman introduced herself and her friend.

"My name is Elizabeth Grace and she's Samantha Brooks."

We tell them our names and have some light conversation while we eat, trying our best to forget what happened earlier.

I didn't know it yet, but the four people I was sitting with would be the only ones in my entire platoon to stay after our next mission.