The first shell landed amongst the dry wasteland, followed by the barrage of several more shells.

“Let’s see... there’s an arty position 15.4 degrees north of west, right behind that large pile of debris, and another one 37.6 degrees north of west. Couldn’t catch any more. Let’s send that info over to the commander and wait.”

Another shell struck from the same position as before as it rocked the surrounding debris, turning another soldier laying down into nothing.

“ Let’s have a change of scenery… I think there’s something firing 87.2 degrees north of east… Also behind another large mound...Hmmm… Wonder why those geniuses don’t just indiscriminately shell every large mound…”

A soldier attempted to jump across craters to slowly push closer to the trenches where the missile batteries lay. Aircraft weren’t commonly used on such fortified lines like this, but just a single one landing its payload could be devastating, thus the layers of missile batteries scattered about.

“Hmmmm...I can’t exactly see...really wonder why they can’t just shell all the artillery right now though… Do they need to move into position or something?”

The lack of range on an artillery piece allowed it to be in the range of several other artillery pieces at once, keeping it in constant danger. The frontlines in this area consisted of several trenches which were obviously lacking in use, but they did form a path between the supplies and the front trenches. Of course, the front trenches weren’t the front line, but rather a death trap as in the first artillery barrage, it would be the first to be targeted. They did still work however, for reducing the amount a soldier was exposed when in conflict. However, given that another wave of artillery barrage could come at any moment, most soldiers opted to hide in various craters formed by the reckless shells.

“Damn, that one at 37.5 degrees north of west really is shooting quite a bit… Or was it 37.6? Eh, whatever, close enough. When we gonna silence that thing though? One shell means one life…”

A wave of shells came and struck several positions among the back. Most fell silent, but where the shells missed their mark, shells continued to fall.

“Can’t they just carpet bomb the whole backline? No chance of hitting us and high chance of hitting the enemy…When are those jarheads up front gonna break apart those missile batteries though…”

Silence fell among the battlefield.

“Eh? Something’s wrong...Kinda creepy if you ask me… The sound of shells means you know what your opponent is doing…Wonder if we could pull off some fancy high altitude bombing runs…”

A soldier twitched and sent a single plastic can tumbling down the mound of plastic, but that was enough. More shots rang out, each one shaking the ground and when combined, they formed an earthquake where the piles of plastic that protected them began to collapse under the vibrations.

“Man, I’m lucky to be where I am, between the artillery and front lines, nobody’s gonna want to shoot here…Let’s do my job though… 87 degrees north of west…”

Under the bright morning sun, a ray of light was reflected off the lens.

“Shit, sun’s coming out… I should probably take a nap or something… and wait until the angle of the sun changes...”

The ray of light was just enough to give away his position as another shell landed atop his position.

--Apt. #496--

The two men sat face to face as they held a syringe to each other’s necks.

“Almost like a suicide pact right John?”

“Let’s get this over with… Animals seem to go through quite a bit of pain…”

“Don’t worry about it, we’re gonna be fine and rule the slums!”

“Still the slums though Leonard… Don’t have high hopes…”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

The two men injected the syringe into each others necks as they fell back, having instantly fainted from the pain. As their bodies spasmed, the hair on their heads began to fall off as the pale white skin underneath darkened and hardened. The skin rose to show several hard bumps that led down the collar of each man. The transformation continued at the back of their hands, with large bumps on their knuckles and the layer of hardened skin running down their fingers until it reached the fingernails which turned into hard and sharp claws.

--Vice captain’s room--

“Ey man, you see that girl though?”

Five men sat around in a circle, hunched over. Two of them sat on the bench, but the other three sat on several boxes to form a tighter circle.

“She ain’t looking like she’s gonna be much now.”

“Nah man, I’m talking about the other parts of her if ya know what I mean…”

“Oh sure I know what you mean hehehe…”

“Boys, let’s not get so high on our hormones now shall we? Still gotta see about her personality you see…”

“Don’t worry, we ain’t gonna have problems when we’re conducting business, we all know the drill without her…”

“Man, brighten up will ya? Talking about whether she’ll be friendly…”

“Heh, you think a brat like her will be friendly? Come on!”

“Ey, keep it down man, don’t want old vice to hear us now do we…”

“Speaking of which, who’s the new vice captain? Ain’t seen her around here yet…”

“Heh you don’t know? Was that girl besides her…”

“Man you kidding me? That girl? Anybody heard of her before?”

“You don’t even know? Heh, guess I really am the most informed out of all of us.”

“Boy, you gonna sit there bragging or what? Spill.”

“Alright, alright. Turns out she’s a merc hehe.”

“She good? Ain’t look so strong from what I saw.”

“Yeah, apparently she’s the real deal, new captain’s father apparently brought her out of the slums hehehe…”

“Man, imagine if I was the one to bring her out…”

“Ey man, you kidding me? You dare go in there? Guards there a kind of different breed from us you know.”

“Yeah you’re all boys before them…”

“Man, what would you say the new captain is?”

“Hmmm… Solid eight I’d say… Maybe a bit higher if she has a good personality heh.”

“Stop your little games boys, we gotta cheer up old vice now…”

“How we gonna do that now? We ain’t therapists.”

“Heh I got just the thing… Hey! Wake up sleepy head!”

Under the blankets stirred the man. Uncovering himself, he sat atop the table with his feet on the seats, joining them in their circle.

“It’s nothing much, knew I’d be screwed over like old captain… The thing that’s been on my mind you see… Well old captain gave me a task to fulfill… Dunno when I’m gonna find time to do it though.”

“Ey man, don’t worry at all. Just go right now. We’ll cover for ya.”

“We ain’t gonna be covering anything if we’re all saying different things. What’s the story?”

“Relieving stress? Hehe.”

“Sure thing man, no problem.

“Alright then, I’ll go, even if they find out, I can always say I was looking at the home of old captain… We were pretty close after all…”

--Gate 1--

“John you sure about this?”

“Don’t worry Leonard, we’re powerful enough.”

The two men, hooded and clothed such that not a single inch of skin was exposed, walked up to the gate flanked by two men. The shorter of the two on the right held a briefcase with the handle hidden by the man’s sleeve and the other man had put both his hands in his pocket.

“What are you guys up to?”

“You see, me and my friend John here lost our jobs, so you see… we have no choice…”

“Sure, permission granted. Beware of what’s in the building. Between the gate and the building, there’s still a chance to come back as long as we don’t lose sight of you. Once you’re beyond those walls, you’re staying there.”

“Heh… Got no choice. Lets go John.”

The gate was opened for the two of them and as they walked down the several dozen meters leading up to the dark hole in the wall, a voice came out.

“Once you’re in, you’re not coming out. Are you sure?”

The two responded simultaneously.

“Yes.”