Young Man's War (The Thousand Worlds) by Rod Walker

Author:Rod Walker [Walker, Rod]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Castalia House
Published: 2017-07-29T05:00:00+00:00

Right at 0600, the artillery bombardment began.

I waited with my team on the northern bank of the Spokane River, across from the old convention center. The Dark’s invasion and the subsequent war had shattered the city, its streets now paved with rubble, and entire neighborhoods were burned-out shells. Yet the empty shells of the old downtown buildings jutted into the sky across the river, and the Darksider citadel squatted in the midst of them.

It looked sort of like a giant turtle, albeit a giant turtle with black spikes jutting from its shell. The spikes weren’t decorative. They were the emitters for a plasma weapon like those the Overseers carried, and they could shoot down helicopters with ease. They could also bombard other neighborhoods of the city, but they had trouble hitting anything on the ground within a few hundred meters of the citadel’s base. Still, if the Dark saw our assault teams coming, they would have no trouble whatsoever blasting our boats out of the water.

I was in a platoon of twenty men led by Captain Howard and Sergeant Mendez. I was glad that they were in charge of the platoon, since both of them knew their business and had steady heads. Bull and I were the Listeners assigned to them. As the other men checked and double-checked their weapons, Bull and I did a last check of our own equipment, though Bull was praying in silence the entire time. I knew him well enough to know what he was doing, since his lips never stopped moving in silence when we were heading into danger.

I hoped that God was listening. Even after a year of war, I was still a bit shaky on God. I figured He probably existed, but that He hated us. He must, to let the Dark come through their Hellgates.

But maybe He hated them more. I don’t know. I just hoped He was listening to Bull. I finished up my check as Bull wrapped his up, his mouth still moving in silent prayer.

Then the clock hit 0600.

The explosions rang across the river, and I saw the bright flare of high explosives striking near the massive citadel. There were more explosions across Spokane, and the spines covering the citadel began to glow as they gathered energy for a plasma discharge. Fortunately, the artillery began to hit home, and the explosions began shattering off the spines. The barrage took off about half of the plasma emitters, mostly those closer to the ground. The citadel could still shoot down any aircraft, but hopefully it would not be able to direct any fire towards the ground.

We waited, listening to the roll of explosions. I glimpsed hordes of Darksiders pouring out from the citadel, rushing to meet the Division’s offensive on the other side of the city. Another volley of explosion shook the citadel, snapping off more of the spines. Most of the Darksiders moving out from the citadel looked like assault drones, and in the cramped confines of a city streets they would be absolutely brutal.

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