Chapter 1
KEPLER 1C, Slifield. 2153, 3 years into the war.
“Take cover!” someone yells. I look over to see a grenade that has landed near by, and before I have any time to react, it explodes. I get knocked backwards, my arms and legs flailing around as I’m in the air. As the ground nears, I brace for impact. I hit the ground hard, pain shoots down my spine. The ground feels soft and wet. It is pretty comfortable here, but I have to get up. I have to get up and continue to fight. I try moving my legs, but they won’t move. I can’t feel them.
“Captain!” A shout comes, and I open my eyes to see James trodding towards me. James is my best man. He and I have fought along side each other the whole war, and are childhood friends.
He kneels by my side and checks me for any injuries. He curse under his breath. Seeing the worried face of my friend, I get scared.
I tried to say something, but all that comes out is a soft whisper. James doesn’t hear it over the sound of gun fire and screams coming from the other frankenstuffies. He looks around to see if there are any medics, but they are all busy helping others. James looks back at me, and goes over to grab me by the arms.
“Hold on Eddie” he says, “I’ll get you outta here.” He hoists me up onto his back and starts running back towards basecamp, crouched drown a bit to make us a smaller target. All around us, our comrades are getting killed left and right.
Just then, an explosion hits us, causing James to be thrown sideways. He lands on his stomach, and I land a meter beside him. He quickly gets up to help me again. Then two medics come running in with a stretcher. They place it beside me, and put me on. One of them looks at my injuries, and decide to treat to my injuries first. The other one takes out a first aid kit and in it was some bandages and alcohol.
“This is gonna hurt” he says, as he pours some alcohol onto my wounds. At first, the alcohol feels nice and cool on my skin, but then the pain hits. It’s like being continuously stabbed by a hundred needles. I flinch at the pain and let out a grunt.
“Be still” says a medic. After he had poured the entire bottle out, the other medic handed over the bandage. I stare at the medic wrapping up my wounds. He looks very familiar. Do I know him. Then I remembered. He’s James’ brother Luc, also the head medic here. He had saved me from frostbite earlier this year.
“Alright, lets get captain back to basecamp” Luc says as he finishes wrapping my wounds.
“Should I come too?” asks James.
“No. Lieutenant Leon have ordered a retreat. You go and get the message to the others”
“On it.” James ran off back towards the battle field. Luc and the other medic picked up the stretcher carrying me and started off to basecamp. Along the way I started to get dizzier and dizzier. I was still loosing blood.
By the time we finally got to basecamp, blood had soaked through my bandages. I kept loosing and regaining consciousness. The medics rushed me to a tent and set me onto a bed. They start to notice how much I’m bleeding, and Luc swears.
“We need to stop the bleeding” Luc says, “grab me a cloth!”
The other medic hands him a cloth and Luc ties it around my leg, just before the wound.
“It’s no use, we’re loosing him”
I try to focus on what they’re saying, but everything’s becoming a blur. Then everything goes dark.
Chapter 2
Kepler 1C, Tarkan, 2149
The morning chills hit me as I’m laying in bed. I shuddered a little in the cold, and quickly climbed out of bed to get ready for the day. The time is 7:00AM. I get downstairs to make some breakfast for both myself and my son Gabriel. After making breakfast, I look at the time. It’s 7:30AM now, time to wake him up for school.
“Hey Gabriel! It’s time to wake up!”
A few minutes later Gabriel appeared at the bottom of the stairs, still putting on his sweater. By this time, I was already finished with my breakfast.
“Gabe, I have a very important meeting to conduct at the station today, so hurry up and finish your breakfast.”
“Ok” he said. He quickly ate his food as I got his backpack ready for school. Then, we were out the door, got into the car, and on our way.
We lived alone in a small house. It wasn’t much, but we were considered to be lucky. Ever since his mother died of an illness, we have had a strong hate toward the humans. We blame her death on them because they didn’t care to lower the medical bills. The medication and treatment for her illness was too expensive, and we couldn’t afford it. That’s why when I heard about a resistance group called the Cobalt Thorns, I jumped at the chance and join their group.
I didn’t actually have a meeting at the stations, it was to meet up with them to discuss about how we can get more Frankenstuffies to join.
We lived in the poor part of the city. The humans had all the wealth, but they treated us like slaves. The ultimate goal for the Cobalt Thorns is to overthrown the human and drive them out of Kepler 1C, back to Earth.
After dropping off Gabriel at school, I got to the meeting spot a few minutes later. The others were already there, waiting for me. The meeting place was in a abandoned factory that use to be where most of us worked in. It got shut down because there was too many safety concerns, and the humans didn’t want to give money to support it.
“Eddie! You made it” said James.
“Hey guys, sorry to have kept you waiting” I said, with a yawn.
“Just woke up?”
“Yea, pretty much.”
“Nothing better to start a day off than to plan protests and start a war” he said jokingly.
“Alright, enough with the small talk” a voice came from the shadows, “we are here to plan serious matters.”
A figure came out of the shadows, revealing himself to be the leader of C.T.
“Does anyone have any ideas on how we can get more people to join?” He asked. Nobody said anything. A few of us has their head down, trying to think of an idea on the spot.
Out of the silence, James spoke. “We could just go around the city and tell others about this group. Or maybe we could put up some flyers.”
Everyone looked at him like he’s an idiot. James, not knowing what he said wrong, just smiled.
The guy beside me told James the flaws to his plan. “Your plan would’ve been good if it wasn’t for two things.” He took a deep breath. “One, there are guards that patrol this area everyday, so if you were to place flyers they would definitely see it. And two, for all we know, there could be some spy among the civilians.”
“So what do you suggest than” James said.
“We don’t have to tell people about C.T.”
“What do you mean?”, I said, and the others look at him questionably.
“Okay, so here my idea. We don’t have to tell people about C.T, as long as we we get noticed by other people, then whoever wants to join can join, and those who don’t will simply ignore us.”
“Hmm… interesting idea” the leader said, “and it might just work, but how would we do it?”
“An attack.”
“The plan’s simple, but hard to pull off” the lad said. We were now sitting in his house. He’s James brother Luc. “We need to follow an employee to their house. Then, we kill them, have Eddie and James go into the office to ‘investigate’. Once safe, plant some bombs around the area, and exit the building.”
“Wait, how would other people know that it would be who did it?” I asked.
“Well, if you would let me finish.”
“Sorry” I said, putting my hands up in defence.
“There are two options, either you or James write our resistance name, or after the explosion, one of us comes in and write it on the debris.”
“I think we could do it” James said.
“Great. Tomorrow, we strike.”
Chapter 3
I watched the employee step out of the building. The sun was out, and there weren’t any clouds in the sky.
“Target is out of the building” I said into the walkie talkie. I was on the other side of the road. It was a busy day today. There was lots of cars and people, so it was really easy to lose track of people. We had half of us following on foot. We would switch people following so that they wouldn’t suspect of being followed.
After following for a while, he finally reached his house. I climbed through an open window on the second floor, and a few stayed outside, pretending to be waiting for someone.
The window that I jumped into was the bedroom. I pulled out a knife that I always carried in my belt pocket, and hid in the bathroom. There was some noises downstairs, then footsteps on the stairs. When he got to his bedroom door, I jumped out from hiding and threw the knife right at his head. He was looking my way when this happened. The knife pierced through his left eye, the blade fully in.
“AHHHHHHH!!” He screamed in agonizing pain. Blood began flowing from his eyes as he fell backward, dazed at what was happening. I ran at him, grabbed the knife, and pulled it out. The blade was cover in bright red blood. He screamed again, this time clutching his eye. There was some blood running down his arm. I pulled my arms back preparing to deliver the final blow.
“W-WAIT, PLEASE DON’T KILL ME” he said, holding his other hand up as if to try to block my attack. I brought the knife down towards his heart. It went through with ease, and he died.
I let the body rest against the wall and ended in a slumped position. Blood was still gushing out of his eye, staining his clothes and carpet. I stand there for a few seconds staring at the person that I just killed. This was really weird for me, because I was a police officer. Killing some one is basically the opposite of my job. Then I pulled out my walkie talkie.
“Target has been killed” I said, shaking.
A voice comes out in reply, “Good, get out of the crime sene quickly and don’t attract attention.”
“Right” I said, and got away with the rest of the team.
Later that night, James and I put on our police uniforms and went inside the office.
“Let me do the talking. I have more experience with this” I said.
James nodded, but said nothing. We walked to the front desk, and all the while, people were glancing at us, a little afraid, and a little curious. We approached the lady at the front desk, and she looked up at us. Her eyes widened in surprise.
“May I help you sirs?” She asked.
“Yes” I said, and hold up my police badge. “There has been a murder of an employee who works here. We would like to search the office for any clues on who could’ve killed him.”
“R-right. It’s on the second floor. Elevator to your left” she said with a gesture towards the elevators.
“Thank you” and we walked away.
On the second floor, we followed the signs to the office. The office was cleared already. Not surprising there, considering that it was after working hours. It’s a good thing for us too. There won’t be anyone around, making our work easier.
We opened the lights and got to work. I went around and placed a few bombs and set the timer for 5 minutes. They were all hooked up to a remote that would began the timer. James went and wrote the letters C T on the walls farther away from the bombs to make sure they stay intact.
“Ready to go?” I asked.
“Yep, lets get going”
We exit the office and went down the elevator. This time, we went down to the parking lot, where someone was in a car waiting for us. The moment the driver saw us, she started the engines. We got in and she got us out of there. As we got out of the perimeters, I triggered the timer.
Chapter 4
“We are reporting to you live tonight at Aris Office in Tarkan, or what’s left of it. The building exploded at 10:00PM earlier this evening. Police suspect that it may be caused by a bomb, as a few pieces has been uncovered. There also appears to be two letters wrote on the walls indicating the initials of someone, or something. This has led to many believing it to be the works of a terrorists group. Others suggest it to be a resistance group.”
The C.T gathered around the T.V, looking at it intensely.
“It seems the plan has worked” the leader said, “great work team.”
“Hey, since we did such a great job, don’t you think we should learn your name now?” James asked.
“Well, I suppose you could.”
Everyone had peeled their eyes off the screen and was looking at him.
“The name’s Joshua. Joshua Rowland.”
Six months later
During those six months, our resistance groups and grew and grew, eventually becoming an organization. Because of our numbers, we were able to start protests, and when we did more protests, more people joined. One day, Joshua announced some more great news.
“Hey everyone” he said, waiting for the chatter to die down. He was standing on a stage with a microphone. Members of C.T packed the auditorium, and where once was full of conversations, it was now as quiet as night.
“Thanks for coming today. I have some very important and great news to announce today. First I want to thank everyone for being a part of C.T. We wouldn’t have become the organization that we are today, so thank you.”
The crowd roared in a round of applause, with some whistling.
As the applause died down, Joshua spoke again. “The great news is that C.T isn’t just a organization in our city anymore. It has spread all across the planet. All around the world, Frankenstuffies are rebelling against the humans, and in some places, they have gained full control of their cities.”
Cheers and applauses went up. The crowd was going crazy.
“It’s our turn now, let us rebel against the humans. It’s time for us to rule the planet! Get out there, and make the difference!” He said over the noise.
Everyone, including Joshua, stood up and ran outside the auditorium. We stormed the part of the city where humans live. They were all panicking, locking the doors and window, or arming themselves with weapons. We got as far as the city centre. That is when everything went down.
There were soldiers lined up with assault rifles and grenades. They fired at us with everything they’ve got, but our numbers were far too great. We got through them and took control of the city.
Chapter 5
In other parts of Kepler 1C, Frankenstuffies were doing the same thing, but not all managed to succeed. In the next few days, humans in captured cities ran away and took refuge in cities that hadn’t been captured. The opposite was happening with Frankenstuffies. Those who were in cities not captured moved to captured cities.
Some of them didn’t make it out though, and when they were seen, they were executed on the spot. We were really mad at the fact that we let the humans go, but they killed all the Frankenstuffies they saw. In retaliation, we had some of the pilots fly a bomber plane over their cities and bomb them.
A day later a plane flew over us. We thought they had came over to give us a taste of our own medicine, so everyone ran to a nearby mine to hide underground. We waited for the sounds of the bombs, but it never came. I went out side to see what happened. What they dropped weren’t bombs, but letters. It turns out, they have just declared war on us. We were officially at war with the human.
I was a little surprised by the news, but I knew it would come sooner or later. We all did.
“Looks like we are finally at war with them” I said to James. We were going around the streets, picking up all the letters that were littered everywhere.
“Yea, we have reached another milestone for C.T.”
“Do you think we can win this war?”
“I don’t know, but I do hope so. Do you think we can?” He asked, looking at me with a serious face.
“I think so, but the thought of us battle in a gloomy field and dying is kinda scary.”
“Hey man, we aren’t going to die. I won’t let you. We will live to see the end of the it, together.”
I smiled at him, but said nothing.
Because of the war, we had sent the children and elderly to a safer place with a few adults to take good care of them. The safest place there was was in the jungles. Since Gabriel was only 5, I had to part ways with him.
“I don’t want to go!” he cried with tears running down his face.
I hugged him, trying not to tear up. “I know it’s hard, but you have to go. It will be too dangerous for you to stay here.”
“Why can’t you come with us?”
“I have an important role to play here, Gabe. I can’t go. If I do, then the people here won’t survive.”
We spent the last day together, going around the city, exploring the rich part, where we had never been before. As it was time for him to go, I pulled out a picture of us and handed it to him. It was taken on his first day of school. He took the photo, and we hugged again.
“I’ll miss you, son.” I said, holding back tears.
“I’ll miss you too”
“I will come back for you, I promise.”
“Pinky promise?” He asked holding out his pinky.
“Pinky promise” I said, grabbing his pinky with mine.
As he walked off, he turned back to look at me one last time. I waved at him, and he waved back, before disappearing into the jungle. James came up to me and put a hand on my shoulder.
“Lets get going,” he said in a soft voice, “the war isn’t going to wait for us.”
“Yea. I just hope that nothing happens to him, or us.”
“Don’t worry about it so much, it will only weigh you down. Plus, I’m sure you will get another chance to see him.”
I patted him on his back and said, “you’re a good friend.”
Chapter 6
Two weeks later
We had been gearing up the army for the last couple weeks. There had been no signs of the humans yet, but in other places, battles have already began. We were pretty packed on supplies, but we needed more pilots and medics. Luc had some experience, so he offered to be one. A few others also volunteered, making our medics team stable. Luc was a fast learner, and he quickly became very skilled.
“Hey lads,” he said in a bright tone “how’s it going for you guys?”
“Not bad” James said, “Eddie is becoming a great soldier, and Joshua has even promoted him to a lieutenant.”
“That’s pretty impressive.”
“Thanks” was all I could say.
Joshua, being the leader of C.T, was also the leader of this army. He was ordering everyone around, and had also taken up the role of a pilot. Then, the speakers came up. It was Joshua, asking everyone to gather out at the front of the airport.
When everyone was present. He delivered the plan to us.
“As you can probably tell by now, the humans are either ignoring us, or are building up a large army to attack us, but whatever it is, we must not let them come to us. So tomorrow morning, we will be setting off towards the closest city to us. Pack your things and get ready, we will leave behind some of us to protect Tarkan. Those of you who wants to stay, come talk to me. Also, I will be staying as well.”
“You’re staying??” Someone from the crowd shouted.
“Why?” Yelled another, “and if your staying, then who will be leading the army?”
“Well, Tarkan is a the capital city, so I need to be here to command, and as for the person who will be leading the army…”
He paused, scanning the crowd for a strong leader for whom he can trust.
“That would be Lieutenant Eddie, of corse.” He said, gesturing to me.
All eyes fell on me. I felt uncomfortable with being the center of attention, but also honoured as well. I never would have thought that Joshua had so much trust in me.
The next morning, we got ready and exited the city, leaving a dozen or so. We also took some armoured cars with us, and a few planes would take off to follow when we were nearing the next city, Orknard.
When we arrived at Orknard, we saw that there were humans patrolling the city gates. They have built a small wall around the city with dirt and sandbags. It seems that they also dug a trench behind it, but it’s not completely finished.
We parked the cars a kilometre away and covered it to make it seem like it’s a part of the jungles. Then, we had some snipers set up around the city. I set a signal for the planes to take off, and when we heard the sounds of their engines in the distance, the snipers opened fire. From the jungle, I could see humans being taken out one by one. As more came to check on what happened, they would be killed.
A few snipers of their own had spotted and taken out some of ours. I ordered them to stop firing. We waited until the planes had arrived to attack. They dropped all of their bombs on the city, and we could see clouds of dust and dirt being lifted off the grounds. As soon as the bombing was over, we charged in to finish the job.
The vehicles were at the front, acting as a shield. The humans were out hopelessly numbered, but they still put up a good fight. In the end, we came out victorious, though we suffered many casualties. They knew they had lost, so they surrendered, and we captured them as prisoners of war. Later that day, I met up with James.
“Hey, James. How was the first battle for you?”
“It was horrible,” He said shakily “I almost got blown up by a grenade.”
“Oh…what happened?”
“A guy jumped onto the grenade to save everybody else. I watched as his body got blown up in to pieces.”
“Damn, that’s must have been disturbing. Well, this is war.”
“Yea, but it’s more gruesome than I thought.”
“Keep your head up buddy, we’ll be ok.”
I managed a smile and put my arms around him. He smiled back, and we walked into a house to spend the night in.
Chapter 7
Kepler 1C, slifield, 2153
I hear talking, but it’s not very clear. There’s also the sounds of beeping, and a bunch of other noises. It’s overwhelming me. I open my eyes to see what’s going on, and as soon as I do, bright lights blind me. I try to cover my eyes with my hands, but they feel very heavy, so close my eyes again.
The sounds are starting to come into focus. I could pick up snit bits of conversations here and there. Everything is starting to make sense again, and I remember. I was injured in battle, and passed out. This must be the medical tent. I open my eyes again. This time, it isn’t so bright. Someone must have seen me wake up, because I hear them yelling for a doctor.
“Is everything alright?” Luc asks, rushing into the tent.
“Captain’s awake” says James.
James, Luc and I sit around a table, fulling in everything that has happened in the time that I was out. Our side had won again, and the humans have retreaded into Arkwood, the last remaining place they they control. Every week we would send in some bombers, but we have not received with any retaliations.
“They have cornered themselves, so why don’t we just charge into the city?” I ask.
“We can’t. Our supplies are running short. We are waiting for the supplies team to return” explains Luc.
“When will they be back?”
“Hard to say, maybe like a month?”
“Then we’ll wait til they are back. Once they are, prepare yourselves to charge in. It’s gonna get bloody.”
About a month later, the supplies team comes back. We use up all the supplies we have, and when everyone is ready, I give the command to fight our final battle. We charge in the city. The humans are ready for us. They fight back with everything they have.
This battle is the bloodiest battle we’ve fought. We are losing more numbers than they are. After a long time, we finally push through the gate and into the city. It’s empty. There isn’t anyone here. It seems like it has been abandoned for a while now. I order everyone to search around the city, to see if there is any traces of humans. I also go, and I found someone sitting on a fountain. I raise my gun on him, slowly walking closer.
“Hello Eddie” he says in a raspy voice, “please don’t shoot. I want to have a talk.”
“Who are you?” I ask.
“You don’t recognize me?” He turns around, and I recognize him instantly. He is commander O’Neill, the one who leads the human army.
“You” I say in a harsh tone.
“Yes, me. Could we talk?”
“What’s there to talk about?”
“There’s lots to talk about Eddie. I have wired a dozen bombs under the city. It will destroy it, and I have the detonator. I’ll ask again. Can we talk?”
My eyes widen a bit from this. I hesitate, before answering.
“No. There’s no point in this.”
He seems a little taken a back by it. “Very well then.” He pulls out the detonator, but before he could press it, I open fire. The bullet hits his hand. And he screams in pain. I tackle him to the ground, wrestling for the remote. It gets knock to the side, and I hit him in the head with the butt of the gun, knocking him out.
I use this chance to radio everyone to get out of Arkwood, telling them that there are bomb that will destroy this place. I also start running away, but at that moment, O’Neill regains consciousness. He pulls out a pistol and fires it at me a few time. Some misses, but two hits me in the leg. I fall over, landing hard.
His pistol runs out of ammo, so he goes for the detonator instead. I quickly turn around and shoot at him with all the bullet I’ve got. Bullets penetrate his side, and he falls on the ground, next to the detonator. As he reaches for it, I get up and continue to get out of the city.
Every step I take hurts, but I push forward. As I’m about to cross the city gates, the bombs go off. Then, nothing.