Shellshock

In early generations, technology researched to be beneficial for all people. But as generations go by and population begins to eat the world's resources, brought forth competition for each leaders in every country, be it in the overworld or be it in the underworld.

As people get more technologically advanced, the criminals gain more means to do crime. Which is why terrorists successfully toppled the government and brought forth anarchy that change the world. The type of anarchy that won by violence. And the people and the world suffered its consequences.

There are still small time wars happening between many factions. There are two reasons why disputes happen, personal hatred or territory ownership. The world is now a huge no man's land but the remnant of government still live on that are determined to bring back the glory days of the past. But with conflicting ideals, bad blood eventually emerges depending of how one community acts.

Only the strong and disciplined are able to stabilize and make the law. With discipline, the foundation stand strong and the community will continue to prosper.

It is heavily frowned to ally to those that causing chaos for self interest. Those that still continue to conquer others wipe out off the map.

Small time communities must be careful of who they ally with. As who they decide to ally with determines how they can survive and they will have enemies in the future.

"So infuriating!"

This is a tale of a female soldier named Amalia Everest. A survivor of a war.

Amalia Everest is a survivor of two major wars. The first war being the war against terrorists. Amalia fought hard for her country only for it to fall to anarchy. She just happened to be swept in more conflicts as her head became a huge bounty.

The bounty caused her to defect from the country she onced loved. And as an outlaw, she gains access to the underworld, becoming a contract mercenary. Her skills is well credited by her clients that hired her. Because she proved her worth, the rich find her useful and dentrimental. Useful as they can buy her loyalty, detrimental for she is skilled in combat.

The protagonist of this chapter Amalia Ernest has deep purple hair and is believed to be half asian because of her narrow eyes and yellow skin. She is 26 years old. She is much taller than average about 6" 5' and she is well fed because she earns black money, the currency shared amongst the underworld. The scars around her body and her accomplishments serve as proof of her combat ability to survive in wars.

Due to her previous occupation being an army woman, Amalia is able to use most guns and understand how one gun is mechanized to function. Both old generation firearms and new generation blasters, she can use it because she knows they're weapon for killing.

It is dead of night but the trenches is as bright as day. Explosions causes deafening roars and bodies of soldiers drop like flies. Its the second war that is still ongoing and Amalia is with the losing team. All major points in the battlefield have all been captured and the morale of every ally has sunk to the void.

"Damn them all! Nothing I can do!" said Amalia with a frustrated tone.

"No! Don't kill me!" a shout nearby followed by a blast of a rifle.

"Help me!" a shout further, drowned in explosion.

"I-I surre-" their words got cut off for their shattered throat caused by gunshot.

The situation is hopeless. Amalia grits her teeth and prepares to leave the battlefield. She best head east to the backlines. The backers that hired her may as well fled cowardly.

"I can't do this alone. I need assistance." said Amalia under her breath.

The enemy soldiers are currently busy looking for survivors. Amalia can't risk shooting her mechanical firearm as the gunpowder bursting will alert all of them. Few of her allies are still fighting the losing battle, so Amalia uses the trenches and tunnels to sneak away.

Normally desertion is punishable by execution but in this situation, no one cares about that. And they're mercenaries, not the army. Its every man for themselves.

As Amalia continues to run away, someone called out to her.

"Help.... Please..." said someone with weak voice.

"Hold on, I'm approaching." said Amalia.

Amalia comes across a young female soldier, seemingly younger than Amalia. Her arm and her face are scratched by shrapnels and its currently oozing out blood.

"My body... Bomb... Drop our cover..." said the young soldier.

Amalia grabs a morphine, an opiate drug, to numb the young soldier's pain.

She said, "Don't worry, I patch yer wound."

Amalia grabs a gallon jug containing cold water, a bottle of antiseptic, and bandages. She dilutes the antiseptic with the cold water in a basin and douses the bandages inside. She wraps the wet bandages around the wound, making sure it is secured.

It is thankful that the young soldier has light scratches but the blunt force trauma from some explosion may have caused her trauma. Amalia asks the young soldier the layouts of the tunnels.

"Back there.... Are the barracks.... There... Is another way out...." answered by the young soldier, feeling numb because of the morphine. The world shakes from the explosions outside. The young soldier instinctively ducks down and cowers in fear.

The signt of the scared and weak soldier made Amalia have a heart. She gently pats the soldier's soldier and said, "Let's get out together, got it warrior?"

The young soldier relunctantly reaches out. In respond, Amalia lifts her up and lends her a handgun nearby. The young soldier could only use her right hand.

"Follow me." said Amalia.

"W-wait for me." said the young soldier following Amalia.

Amalia and the young soldier goes through the barracks. There is a noise behind them and when Amalia looks back, a bullet grazed her face.

"Get down!" yelled Amalia.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The firefight begins. Amalia shoots her rifle towards the enemy soldiers. One, two, three, they fall and lay down in cover. Amalia strides backwards and continues to pressure them. A grenade lands in Amalia's feet. Amalia hears the distinctive clicks of rolling metal and yells grenade.

Kaboom!

The grenade explodes, sending shrapnels everywhere and cause deafening shockwaves. Amalia is in luck she is able to lay down on the ground to minimize the damage she takes. Her back is injured from the explosion.

"Get her!" shouted the enemy soldier.

They poke their heads out of their cover which enabled the young soldier who is hiding in the shadows to get one clear shot with her handgun.

Bang!

The bullet hits between the eyes of one of the soldier. Another explosion happened and breaks all the lights in the barracks. Amalia, used to covert missions, used the darkness for her advantage and sneak closer and shoot to the soldiers. They eliminated the threat.

"Miss... Where are you...?" asked the young soldier.

"Don'tcha worry, I'm here." said Amalia as she flick the flashlight on.

"Miss... I'm scared..."

"Come with me."

"T-thank you..."

All the lights in the tunnel has been taken down. Amalia is conspicious with the flashlight in her hand, but it is for the best, they need to continue to flee away from the battlefield.

They walk around the labryinth-like structure of the tunnel, stumbling from rooms to rooms until they eventually reached the other exit.

The whole battlefield is quiet outside but Amalia needs to get her guards up.

"Young lass, what's yer name?" asked Amalia.

The young soldier answered, "Clorinne Bluemary..."

"Listen, we go outside and we fight. Them enemies won't show mercy." said Amalia.

Clorinne nods and prepares herself.

Amalia opens the door and immediately meets a gun barrel in front of her face. There is a sigh of relief.

"Muddy... Ye askin to be shot Mandy?!" shouted by the bewildered man who is a fellow soldier.

"Hey Soup! Glad yer alive comrade!" said Amalia happily.

"Miss Mandy, who is he?" asked Clorinne.

"Hah. The name is Steven Soupman! Me and Mandy go ways back." said Steven proudly. Steven Soupman has big build and looks more of a muscle than a soldier. He is loud and positive.

"Soup, line has fallen. We leave this place now." said Amalia.

"Eh? No shite, commander ordered full retreat just now. We leave now." said Steven.

"Ye hear that?"

"Mortar!"

BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!!

The enemy launched a barrage of mortars, blindly hitting those that stayed on the surface. It is lucky that Amalia, Clorrine, and Steven are hiding in the strength. Clorrine is absolutely terrified of the explosion and fell to her knees.

"Clorrine! I need ye to be strong! Stand up!" shouted Amalia with care.

Clorrine's mind returned and shakes off her fears. She said, "I-I-I ok... I ok..."

"Boi, I knew world fell to shite, but war crimes?! Really?!" said Steven with anger.

There are screams of dying men and women. The trio make haste to leave the battlefield. Along the way, they saw their allies tucked away behind cover, too shaken to move. Clorrine's sanity is slowly depleting. She will panic.

"Clorrine, please be strong..." begged Amalia.

"Miss Mandy.... I can't..." cried Clorrine.

"Mandy, leave her." said Steven adamantantly.

"How could ye say that?!"

"Mandy! Look behind! They murdering people! We can't afford be slow!"

Another explosions and Clorrine broke down in tears. She falls down and covers her head. Amalia's heart is shattered at the sight of someone so young forced to fight in the war.

Amalia grits her teeth and carries Clorrine by the arm, which shocks both of them.

"Yer forgotten that I am soldier, ya Soup? I never leave a comrade behind." said Amalia with strong determination.

"Yer fucking idealist..." said Steven in a foul mood.

"Enough chatter Soup, we leave now."

The act of carry gived Clorrine courage. She looks up to Amalia. Feeling guilty that she got to be a burden, Clorrine tells herself that she won't disappoint Amalia with pathetic excuses. Clorrine is now steadfast.

The enemy soldiers catches up and spots the trio. They targeted Clorrine at her back and they take the shot. But luckily, Clorrine stumbled because of bad footing and it made her and Amalia crouch, narrowly avoiding the headshot. The helmet flies out of Clorrine's head upon impact.

"Shite! They upon us!"

"Get cover!"

Using walls and sandbags, the three protect themselves from the enemy. What they don't want is the enemies flanking them from above. Some nearby allies actually pulled together and fight back. The folks are brave and suicidal.

"Taking ye with me in hell ye cheaters!"

"Die bastards!

"I don't me care! I'm me mad! Yolo!"

"Urah! Uuuuurah!"

This desperate gambit greatly surprised the enemy soldiers. The suicidal soldiers are fueled with rage because they suffered. The allies used the sacrifice to flee themselves too.

The enemy soldiers fight back, killing more allies as they go. This last stand will eventually break for the allies will have no reinforcements arriving to help. They need to escape.

"Our chance now! Run!"

"Let's go Clorrine!"

"Y-yes Miss Mandy!"

They hurry, until they see an abandoned jeepney.

"There! We ride that!" said Amelia.

They ride the jeepney but one problem pops up. There is no key in the ignition. Amalia's face turned blue. Clorrine is very worried. But Steven smiles.

"Ye overreactin. I hijack this. Watch."

Steven removes the compartment with screwdriver and proceeds to jumpstart the jeepney with ease. The jeepney roars in anticipation. "I drive lassies. Hop on." said Steven proudly.

Both Amalia and Clorinne entered the jeepney. Steven steps on the pedal hard and shifted the gear to gear 3. The jeepney accelerates and gain speed.

"Hang tight ladies! Bumpy road incoming!"

Steven drives over the trenches with speed. They successfully escaped the battlefield. This gave breather to everyone.

"We survived. God bless ye."

"T-thank you Miss Mandy... Mister Soup..."

"Ya alright back there? How is battlefield?"

Looking outside the window of the jeepney, Amalia sees bright lights in the middle of the night. Bright orange light. It occasionally flashes accompanied by booming sounds. Whoever were left behind, will either fight till the end, escape back to safety, or even get into terms of their own.

"The battle costed us. Its annihilation. I have to do something with my life."

Amalia survived yet another war that she lost. But she is thankful that she saved Clorrine and survived with the three. Steven asks where they should go.

Amalia answered, "To Gibson."