D-Day in the Ashes by Johnstone William W

Author:Johnstone, William W. [Johnstone, William W.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published: 2014-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

Ben viewed what was left of the first Rebel prisoner found. He knew there was no point in bringing the press in to see it. The majority of them would only come up with some excuse for the behavior of the Night People.

The woman had been with the Rebels for many years and was a platoon leader. She could be recognized only by the missing tip of her little finger, left hand.

Jersey said, “Knew her. She was a good person. Had two kids. Her husband lost a leg during the Hawaiian campaign.” Jersey spat on the ground. “I figure it took her long hours to die.”

“Yeah,” Ben said.

“We found a pocket of creeps that got themselves trapped,” a scout said. “’Bout a quarter of a mile from here. Part of their tunnel collapsed.”

Ben’s eyes were as cold as the North Sea. “Let’s do it.”

“We got a problem. They’ve been in radio contact with the press and have offered to surrender.”

“And the press have gathered.” It was not a question.

“All of them assigned to this operation.”

The reporters began shouting questions at Ben as he walked up to the tunnel entrance, located in a small park on the outskirts of the city.

“Why is that gasoline tanker truck here, General?” one yelled.

“We’re going to have a cookout,” Ben said, and kept on walking.

He was true to his word. Explosives had already been placed, and the tanker started pumping gas into the tunnel. The reporters were quick on the uptake.

“That’s against the rules of war!” a woman yelled.

“Idiot,” Ben muttered.

The reporters were not as quick to notice the Rebels backing up. When the specially prepared explosives blew, igniting the gas fumes, about a dozen members of the press were knocked on their asses by the concussion. None were seriously hurt, except for their pride, which was considerably bruised, along with their asses.

The Rebels stood by impassively as the flames ate the life from the creepies.

“Those poor wretches offered to surrender!” a man yelled over the roar of flames coming from the seared mouth of the tunnel.

A few members of the press were standing close enough to Ben to hear him say, “Nobody tortures Rebels and gets away with it. Nobody. Not without paying a terrible price.” He whispered to Corrie, “Tell the censors to let all copy from this incident go through as is. I want to see what side these people are on.”

“Shit!” Corrie said, quite uncharacteristically. “I can tell you that right now.”

“Let’s be sure,” Ben replied. “Bring me copies of all transmissions.”

GENERAL RAINES DECLARES HIS TROOPS SUPERIOR TO ALL OTHER HUMAN BEINGS, one headline silently screamed.

GENERAL RAINES IGNORES ALL RULES OF WAR, another stated.

The rest were predictable. GENEVA CONVENTION TRAMPLED UPON BY RAINES’S REBELS.

RAINES’S REBELS NO BETTER THAN THE SAVAGES THEY FIGHT.

A few reported the incident without personal embellishment. They neither praised nor condemned Ben’s actions in dealing with the creeps. They told it exactly as it happened—no more and no less.

“They stay, the rest leave,” Ben ordered.

“That man has more

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.