Wade (Full Short Story)

Chapter One1

The most interesting time in our history is when we are at war, and we are at war often. Wade Kazem watched the three across the aisle from him. One was a small boy. You usually saw a beak shaped nose. This kid had a beak shaped face. He was sitting with one leg over the other and listening to an iPod while tapping his foot slowly. He stared out the front window of the bus. Wade winced at the thought of this kid's leg's position, how anyone could sit that way without yelling out in pain from their crotch being clamped tight by your legs bewildered him. He had never spoken to this kid. The kid had braces. Wade did not like him.2

The next kid was fat. He was one of those kids who could not even close his legs, let alone cross them. He had orange hair and probably the IQ of a slug. Did slugs have IQs? Wade wondered. Wade did not like him. The kid was talking to the winner of the three.3

Three had to have Tourette's or something. He was very ungainly with the feet of a yeti. He wore sunglasses and spoke in a very shaky voice. Three's IQ had to rival two's. Any time anyone got in his way or he thought the bus was going to miss his stop or going in the wrong direction he would freak out. One time he started crying.4

Two and Three were talking about one of last night's incredibly stupid reality or comedy shows. It was the most interesting thing. One would quote, in a monotone, something that would normally be funny from these shows. The other would, in a monotone, laugh. These guys had to be on par with a paramecium. They both certainly did not even deserve to exist.5

The bus hit a bump in the road. Why don't they fix this god-dammed road? He thought. Every day he got on the bus and sat next to Jacqueline on their way to school. Jacqueline liked him. He was not interested. He liked her, they were friends, she was pretty, and she had a nice body. He was not interested.6

I hate this bus.7

The bus hit another bump.8

Chapter Two9

As the bus came down after hitting yet another bump on the decrepit road, Wade tried to stop thinking and focus on his shaking hands.10

That's kind of contradictory. He thought.11

Dammit.12

They were heading to another HZ that they had to control, destroy, and desert. He did not even know the name of the place. He never knew the name of the place he just went. In the twenty first century he did not know the name of the place. It was not ignorance he just did not care.13

Chapter Three14

Military was perfect in every way. Wade loved the military. His love in its perfection was most plainly seen in marching. E. Pluribus Unum. He loved the order of many men acting as a single thing. It was powerful. It was unsettling. When the enemy saw efficiency like that, they practically asked us to kill them.15

Chapter Four16

It was understandable why they road in a bus. It was World War Three and in the land that was known as the Middle East, supplies were sometimes lost on the way there. In the twenty first century one would think this would not be a problem, but the world had declined since the beginning of the third millennium. War had torn it apart, the only area of technology that had truly advanced was military, more specifically weapons. Still, no system was perfect and for Wade's unit they had an APB, Armored Personnel Bus.17

Hell, this thing probably still runs on gasoline.18

Chapter Five19

The bus was approaching the town at sixty miles per hour, it hit a bump again in the decrepit road and everyone flew into the air. The town loomed toward them, Wade saw that it was actually connected to a larger city; he saw many of the towers that one always saw in Middle Eastern cities. He always loved them as a child although he never knew their name or what they were for.20

They screeched to a stop in the town square. The driver was shot through the windshield almost immediately after the bus stopped. Everyone piled out of it and ran for cover. Wade ducked behind a fountain that bubbled dirty brown water. He stayed there until he received an order.21

Chapter Six22

Fritz Krieger was kneeling behind Wade near the fountain. Fritz Krieger was Wade's only true friend in the military. Fritz Krieger could actually hold an interesting conversation that did not have the words: car, money, drugs, sports, or tits in every other sentence. Fritz Krieger had saved Wade's life once, before the war. Fritz Krieger was the one who suggested they join the military.23

Eleazar Armage was kneeling in a stone arch across the courtyard. He held his gun at the ready, his eyes scanning to get to a better vantage point. He chewed gum, at this moment he looked like The Man. He was ready for anything.24

Wade looked around, he was surprised to see Cobolt behind Fritz. How Wade missed him he did not know, he was not that easy to miss. Cobolt was a giant, a truck. When there was a big gun to carry, he took it happily. How Cobolt had not been hit was a mystery, his huge mass was sticking out from behind the fountain everywhere. Perhaps they thought he was merely a large rock, whatever, it did not matter. 25

Austin Kaiser had stayed near the bus. He would not tell them to move until he got an order. The military was extremely strict about when to fire a weapon. If you were pinned down, you should not return fire without receiving the order to do so. If you did, immediate dismissal of all duties followed, depending on the type of action you may have done, jail time was also a possibility. Surprisingly in twenty first century World War Three, violence was not a last resort, it was the last resort.26

Orders were given and received via a technology that was over a hundred years old: radio. The codes that were used in the radios were 99.99% impossible to crack unless you had an extremely advanced computer that did not exist except in the hands of the Allied government; tough luck for the bad guys. Kaiser apparently got his orders; he started making hand signals to Zar in the stone arch. After a minute Zar nodded. Zar then made some hand signals to Wade. He had no idea what the hell he was looking at.27

Whatever, we are probably going to last resort because we're not even doing any good here. He thought.28

Wade nodded his comprehension of the hand signals to Zar.29

Zar looked expectantly at Wade, then nodded to Wade. Wade nodded back. Zar got up from his position and stood in the open. For a split second Wade didn't know what he was doing, that split second was his mistake. Zar opened fire on the enemy in the shadows. Wade stood up from his position and aimed his weapon. He saw three heat signals in the HUD; he aimed for the left-most one because whoever it was had the best angle on Zar. The gun shook rapidly as he provided the covering fire, but he held it like a rock. The front spat out sparks with each loud BRAPP BRAPP BRAPP. 30

Zar looked over at him,31

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" He yelled.32

Zar strafed over to Wade as he kept on firing. Halfway across the courtyard a bullet slammed into his face; brains, blood, bones, and helmet material sprayed in all directions. Flecks of blood rained on Wade's face as he stared close-mouthed as Zar's body fell as in slow motion to the dusty ground. The speed at which he was running made the body roll twice and then hit the stone side of the dirty fountain.33

For a moment there was silence, then the hooting and cheering of the enemy, they knew that they had killed someone fairly important. Kaiser was assessing the situation from behind the bus. He looked from the body to the buildings to Wade and the stone arch. Then suddenly he jumped from behind the bus and charged out towards the dirty fountain. He was ten feet out from the bus when bullets started popping the ground all around him. He ducked his head and flew like bowling ball straight for the pins; he dove for the rest of his squad just in time for a bullet to go right where his head was.34

"What the hell happened there Kazem?"35

"I don't know sir, I hesitated." He had to think up a reason for why he had screwed up, and fast.36

"Hesitated? Did you even look at the orders he was giving you?"37

"No sir, I-"38

"You know what Kazem, for someone who loves military perfection so much, you sure are crappy about trying do it. You were to provide blank fire in the general direction of the enemy, so Zar could lob a grenade at them. We have to conserve our ammo, now we don't expect to see any armor in this area, so use your grenades on minor targets. Now, I need every one of my men working sufficiently for the rest of this operation, can you continue to operate?"39

Kaiser grabbed Wade by the helmet and pulled his head toward himself.40

"Are you receiving me soldier?"41

"Yes sir."42

"Alright, there's a bunker somewhere in this heap, our objective is to locate all hostiles an' kill'em. Let's move out."43

Simple enough. Wade thought.44

Kaiser pulled a fragnade from his vest and lobbed it from behind the fountain into the window that the enemy fire came from. A yell. An explosion. Silence. They fanned out from behind the fountain and went across the courtyard. Wade went under an awning in front of a falling apart building. The others had spread out at equal spacing from each other and were slowly making their way towards the center of the town.45

Suddenly shots ripped out from nowhere and Wade jumped into the door of the decrepit building. He had not been able to see where the shots came from because of the awning. Bullets seared through the dried-mud walls, Wade rolled farther into the room. One bullet came just close enough for him to feel the heat. He thought he had been shot and yelled in pain. The heat would not stop and he looked at his shoulder, the bullet had hit his radio lighting it on fire. As it sparked and sputtered he quickly ripped it off and the pain subsided. He sighed and slowly inspected his arm. The burn was not bad, probably first degree but he would have to live with it for a while.46

Then he suddenly realized that his radio was out and he could not go and follow his team without being shot on the spot through the front door of the building. He slowly pulled himself up and found his gun. He looked through a window towards the courtyard, the dust had settled and now it looked deceptively innocent, just like in the movies.47

The muddy window in front him exploded as the bullets ripped it apart, he jumped back in surprise and ran to the back of the room looking for another door. He found it locked. He ran and slammed his foot at it breaking it off its hinges and making it fall forward. He ran into the room to see a woman with five little children under her arms. He was bewildered for a moment, the children looked terrified. He realized he had involuntarily raised his gun at them in surprise. He slowly lowered it and walked towards a back door all the while watching the scared family. Cautiously looking into the back alley he then stepped out. The alley only went in one direction, away from his squad. 48

Dammit.49

He ran along the alley; he looked around a sharp corner, the way was empty; he could see the end, an opening of light that was another large courtyard. He slowly made his way toward it and peered out around the side of the last building. He checked to make sure it was all the clear and then ran toward his right across the courtyard, towards the general direction where his squad was. As he ran to the side of one of the far building he heard the buzzing hiss of a rocket propelled grenade in the distance getting louder quite fast. He turned in time to see the slender object with bulbous front and smoky trail behind it vying to slam straight into his face. He ducked.50

Chapter Seven51

He opened his eyes to dirt. There was heat, and a lot of it. Where was he? He spat and it fell up his nostrils, Ok, I'm upside down. He dug himself up out of the pile of rubble and debris slowly so as not to alert any probable enemy that he had survived. The building he was next to looked like some prehistoric creature had an appetite for mud bricks. His head ached incredibly and there was a ringing still in his ears. He sat up against a pillar, which quickly crumbled and toppled down on him.52

When he woke for the second time under yet another pile of rubble he could see in the distance some people and a vehicle. They were boarding, preparing to leave apparently. The last man stood there, and held something on his shoulder, craning his head toward it. Then Wade realized that the vehicle was the APB! That was Kaiser speaking into his radio!53

"Kaiser!" Wade yelled. He was too far away to be heard.54

"Kaiser wait!"55

Kaiser finally turned and slowly got into the bus. He heard the engine start in the distance and saw the bus turn slowly around and drove away in a dusty cloud. He strained to push a piece of the pillar off of his midriff, it crumbled away and he ran out into the courtyard toward the bus. Another buzzing hiss and in his peripheral vision he saw the rocket coming, he instinctively jumped back and ran in the other direction as the explosion rocked his feet off the ground. He rolled and sprang up and ran towards the rubble and grabbed his weapon. He spun around and fired in the direction of the rocket's origin just as another shot sprung from the shadows. He scrambled out of the way, all the time firing in the same direction. 56

The mud wall his bullets hit crumbled and broke apart, he saw a shadowy figure dart from the structure as one last rocket just missed him and hit the building behind him, his world rained crap colored debris. He ran for cover behind an old beat up pickup truck and looked out from behind it, bullets ripped and pinged off the rusted far side. He ducked back until they stopped and he sprang up from behind the cab and fired through it, he saw his target duck as there were sparks and ricochets across the courtyard. He loaded the attached grenade launcher on his weapon and lobbed one across the courtyard; it exploded with a ten-foot radius, just short of the enemy. He took the opportunity and ran across the courtyard just before a grenade incinerated the truck. He slammed through a wooden door in one of the buildings and went up a staircase. He ran to a window and saw the man running along the far side of the courtyard, he peppered the ground around him with bullets, all missing.57

"C'mon dammit."58

The dark figure ran into a building. Wade left his perch and went downstairs. He looked out at the other building, a bullet whizzed in his direction. He shot back and ran to the wreckage of the truck, he lobbed his last grenade at the base of the building and shattered a support column. The front side of the building fell apart in a mudslide of sorts. The two enemies were now both in the open, both circling each other, both shooting at each other. Sounds of gunfire ringed the open space until all that could be heard was the clicking of triggers; both of them were out of ammo. Then the staccato sound of handgun fire erupted. Again they ran around the courtyard and again they both ran out of ammunition. Wade unsheathed his dagger; the other had none. Wade advanced toward him until he was in range and went in for a slice which he dodged and grabbed Wade's arm in response. The dagger fell from his hand and they both ran for it, the other dived to it and Wade kicked it a little too hard. It flew into the fiery wreckage of the truck. For two seconds they looked at each other, neither had any weapons left. 59

He charged at Wade who braced for an impact. At the last possible moment, Wade ducked and flipped the guy over his back into the dirt. He quickly sprang up and threw a punch at Wade he caught and using his other natural weapon slammed the man in the face. Albeit a bloody nose, he quickly recovered and tripped Wade and kicked him in the side. Wade curled into a ball and slowly got into a crouch position and then sprang up on him, simultaneously hitting him in the stomach and tackling him. Then they both had each other by the neck, trying to suffocate the other. Wade saw the other's face turn redder and redder as the black encircled his vision from the outside in. Neither could hold on, they both let go and fell back, sprawled out in the dirt and gasping for air. For a moment they just stared at each other. Wade desperately needed some water and since the other was also panting he assumed he needed it too.60

Wade slowly turned over and made his way to a well across the yard. As he reached it and put a hand in for a drink of the dirty water the other joined him on the other side of the well. They were staring daggers at each other. As Wade drank his fill he looked out at the damage they had created.61

He looked at the crumbling buildings, the burnt out car, the scorch marks, and the bullets holes.62

"Look at all this shit we did." Wade said breathlessly.63

He looked at the man.64

"You probably don't understand a word of English."65

The other replied in broken English with a heavy Arab accent, "I grew up in that house."66

Wade looked at the house which the man was pointing at and that he had thrown a grenade into and subsequently destroyed the front side and said nothing.67

Chapter Eight68

"What's your name?" Wade asked.69

The man displayed a worn out patch on his uniform that had a name in English. Wade squinted to read it.70

"Hayjack?"71

"No, Hayjack like, one who steals cars." Hayjack replied.72

"I see, hijack, what kind of a name is Hayjack?"73

"An American called me it when he discovered that I had an affinity for stealing cars. He spelt it like that I suppose because he thought it looked more Arabic."74

"What's your real name?"75

"I have always been called Hayjack. What's your name?"76

Wade pulled his name patch into view and Hayjack examined it. Wade could see what was coming next.77

"Something like my great-great-grandfather lived right next to a chasm somewhere in the middle of North America and changed his sir-name to Kazem because he hated his father and he thought that Kazem looked cooler than chasm."78

After a pause Hayjack replied, "I like my story better."79

Chapter Nine80

"Do you want to kill me still?"81

"No."82

"Good."83

They were quiet for a time.84

"I need to find my squad, they obviously assumed I was dead and left, I have to regroup with them." Wade Said.85

"How will you survive the desert?"86

"I have rations that will last a while."87

"No, you will not make it, you will need more than a few cups of water. Come with me to my head quarters and we will get you some water."88

"That does not sound like the thing I want to do, marching into the enemy camp for water sounds more like suicide than survival."89

"You need water, we will start heading in that direction for a little while."90

"What makes you think I won't just tell my men where your base is once you show it to me."91

"You seem like a trustworthy man and in any event, I do not really like the people I work for anyhow. I do not hold any allegiance to them albeit, they do not know that, and if somehow the location of our base were to 'leak out' then I would not have a problem with it." Wade nodded and followed the Arab man out of the town.92

They had been walking for hours and Wade was beginning to tire, he was not as used to walking in desert terrain as Hayjack. Wade was still skeptical of the man, he seemed to willing to accept Wade as a friend. Wade was not surprised to find that his water hadn�t lasted him nearly as long as he thought it would and that perhaps they would have to find a way to get water from the enemy.93

"Are you sure there are no wells around here?"94

"The closest neutral well is something like eighty kilometers away, the only closer one is at my camp." Wade didn't respond.95

Wade hadn't been keeping a watch around their surrounding for anything approaching and it was some time before he saw the smoke trail approaching them from behind.96

"Oh joy, Hayjack do you recognize these guys?" He asked as he pulled out his field glasses for a closer look. He handed them to his companion.97

"Yes, the markings on their vehicle are of my faction. I suppose they are scouts and in that case we should find cover because they won't be very friendly If you rode around in an off road vehicle without air condition in the desert all day, you would not be friendly either. And it is not like we are not suspicious."98

They hid behind a scrub bush and Wade cursed softly. Their hiding spot wasn't accurate at all, but they hadn't had time to find a better one, not that there were any in sight. As the vehicle pulled up to where they were and stopped both Wade and Hayjack held their breath. Wade heard some brief Arabic conversation. Then he saw a booted foot step down from the driver's side and then another from the passenger side and then two pairs from the back of the vehicle. This was not a good situation at all. They all fanned out and began searching the area. It was not long before Wade had the barrel of an automatic rifle pointed into face.99

They were pulled out from behind the bush and presented to the leader of the four men, the driver. They were hit in the backs of their legs to force them to kneel. The leader saw that Hayjack was Arabic and began speaking swiftly to him, Wade didn't understand a word of it. After a few minutes of Hayjack apparently trying to save their lives, three of the men stepped back to confer amongst themselves while the fourth watched over them.100

"What's going on?" Wade asked.101

"I told them I had bad eyesight and could not see the markings on their vehicle so I could not tell who they were and that is why we hid."102

"That's pretty ballsy, but what about me? Aren't they wondering who I am and why I'm with you?"103

"I told them you were my prisoner."104

"Well that's just dandy." Wade replied sarcastically.105

The three returned and the leader had the other two point guns at Wade and Hayjack. Immediately they both started to protest. Wade started yelling in English despite the fact that no one really understood him and Hayjack was yelling in Arabic and the three were yelling back. All the while the leader just sat and watched.106

The move was fast and completely surprising, Hayjack jumped up and back kicked the man standing behind him who was now sprawled on the ground. Wade immediately took action and scrambled toward the fallen man�s gun. There was the sound of gunfire and a yell. He jumped up and saw that both Hayjack and one of them men had shot each other. Hayjack lay on the ground with a pool of blood gushing out of his neck. Wade strafed sideways while shooting at the remaining two men who had scrambled towards the vehicle. Wade's gun ran out of ammo fast and threw it at the leader and turned to run. He was beginning to wonder why they weren't shooting at him when he realized they were planning to have some fun with their vehicle, he dodged out of the way at the last second and doubled back to where Hayjack's body lay. When he got their he looked solemnly at the scene for second as he realized that the would not be able to escape. He heard the engine revving behind him, the wheels crunching on the gravel. He turned around and heard the single shot crack through the arid desert. He was dead before he hit the hot desert floor.107

END.108