Sharpshooter - Only The Strongest Will Survive
Sharpshooter - Only the Strongest will Survive
Chapter 2
Warnings: Slight mention of blood, profanity, weapons
One thing I notice about Antarctica: There's not much of a day. It's night all the time.
Me and Mayday's families choose to stay in the same block of houses, our apartments right next to each other. We choose the top floor to get a good view.
We're within walking distance of the ray shield. When we look out from the windows of our apartments, we can see it, the light from the moon shining on it, otherwise unnoticeable to the naked eye. Soldiers guard it. That'll make it hard to explore the terrain outside.
I notice that the apartments that we stay in are less well-furnished than the ones in the central area. And a lot less well taken care of. But, considering that I lived in a bunch of tents stitched together in one tangled mess, I can't really complain. Better to have a stable roof over my head than one that threatens to fall with every movement I make.
At least it's convenient to hangout with Mayday. His family's apartment is just a few steps away from my family's.
After my family and I finish setting down our things, I immediately head over to Mayday's apartment. I only see his brothers and his parents there. I don't get to see Mayday's brothers very often, but I know there's five of them and they're all older than him. It must be hard to have 6 mouths to feed at home. It's already hard enough to feed one kid in my family. That one kid's me.
When Mayday's parents see me walking in, they tell me that Mayday's out, and I immediately go to look for him without saying anything, leaving the door open behind me.
The city is bright. Corners of buildings are illuminated by lights. The markings on the road are lighted up. A stark contrast to outside the ray shield. Outside's dark.
Downstairs is crowded. Adults push past each other as they try to make their way towards the central area. Probably to get jobs. I catch sight of my parents amidst the crowd, but I make no move to alert them of my presence.
One adult runs into me and the force knocks me to the ground. I can feel the rough black dirt-like substance that covers the ground scraping my knees.
"Watch it!" the adult shouts before running off, and I glare at him. I get up and dust myself off, blood oozing out of the scrapes, and I wipe it away with my saliva because that's what I always do.
Why would they make the ground out of this substance? It's so easy for someone to injure themselves like this.
I keep a lookout for Mayday. And if I know him, he's probably in a place where no one would bother him. He likes the quiet. Back in the Dome, we used to hangout at the places close to the ray shield. No one goes there unless they want to experience the full-blown heat of outside.
I head into alleyways that are close to the ray shield, hoping to find Mayday there. I gave him my knife after our last scavenging trip, he usually cleans it for me. Maybe I'll hear the sounds of him scraping the blood off my knife. I don't know. My hearing's fairly decent.
Maybe Mayday's gone home. That's unlikely though. He doesn't usually do that until it's really late out.
And as expected, I soon hear the sound of rock scraping against metal. I follow the direction of the sound, and soon enough, I find Mayday leaning against a wall in a dark alleyway scraping blood off my knife and sharpening it. He doesn't need to look up before he knows I'm here. He can tell by the sound of my footsteps.
I lean against the wall next to him as I watch him scrape the blood off my knife.
"How long?" I ask. He knows I'm referring to how long he's been cleaning my knife.
"An hour," he replies, not looking up at me.
"You know you don't have to do it for that long, 10 minutes is enough to get the blood off," I say, looking up at him.
"And 1 hour's enough to get it completely off and sharpened," he says, handing me back the knife. It's even sharper than the day I found it. I turn it around in my hands, and then spin it, throwing it up in the air and catching it by the hilt. Then I sheath it into one of those metal sheaths for knives that I found on a scavenging trip not too long ago.
Mayday smiles slightly when he sees me throwing my knife up in the air and catching it. He's seen me improve over the years. How I've accidentally cut myself a bunch of times trying to do that. Now I can do it almost flawlessly.
I kind of want to hug Mayday for spending a whole hour sharpening my knife, but I know he doesn't really like physical contact, so instead I just give him a downwards nod of respect.
"You wanna go to the ray shield and scout ways to get out?" I ask. Mayday nods in response, and we run silently through the alley and emerge on the other side.
We're still some distance from the ray shield, but the rest is open ground. We back up against the walls of the alleyway, taking care not to make a sound so that the soldiers guarding the ray shield won't notice us.
3 soldiers stationed from where I can see. One's sleeping. The other two look tired. Probably from being on duty the whole day. Mayday and I stand there for a while, looking for any disturbances or glitches in the ray shield.
Nothing. It's stable. Not like the one back in North America. There were holes in the shield. So much easier to sneak out.
After an hour or so of observing, waiting, for any possible way of getting out, we head back to our apartments for the night. I'm depending on Mayday to know the way back, because I forgot the way when I was looking for him.
Luckily for both of us, he knows the way back. He's got a good memory.
Pure, unclouded moonlight fills the empty streets as Mayday and I walk through them. I look up. It's a full moon tonight. And somehow, tonight's moon isn't red, it's white instead. It looks so much cleaner. I stop for a moment to look at the moon, and Mayday keeps walking, knowing that I'll definitely catch up.
He's right of course, and after a few moments of analyzing the darker patches on the moon, I run to catch up with him.
"Took you longer than usual," he says, eyes fixated on the road ahead of us.
"Oh y'know, just distracting myself from that thing in the morning," I reply, not wanting to specify what "that thing" in case anyone's watching us, no matter how unlikely it may be.
Mayday nods, taking the hint. We'll discuss it tomorrow when we're amongst the crowd. We could try to look for some jobs tomorrow, just to earn some extra income, although we probably won't be able to get any, considering we're home-schooled, our parents passing them whatever limited information they managed to learn from our grandparents.
When we reach back to our apartments, I give him a downwards nod before heading through the door. I don't get questioned by my parents where I was, they already know I was at the ray shield looking for ways to get through. That's what I did back in North America. That's how I met Mayday, actually. He mistook my footsteps for a guard's, and literally threw a knife at my head. Good thing my reflexes were fast and I managed to dodge though. The knife only sliced my shoulder.
When he found out he threw a knife at a 13 year old girl, he wordlessly went out to the flooded ruins and tried find something to wrap up my bleeding shoulder. Obviously, I came along with him, and we managed to find a mostly intact Hunger Games hoodie, he cut off the hood to wrap my shoulder.
"Do you come out here very often?" I asked him, and he was a bit hesitant to reply. "Yeah. Every day."
Then we didn't speak for the rest of the day, just scavenging for things that we could use or sell for money.
From then, we went out every day to the flooded ruins, and he slowly warmed up to me, speaking a bit more and cracking a few jokes here and there. We're a good team. Mayday's good with directions, and he taught me how to throw knives and use one in close combat. I'm the one who could had slightly heightened senses, slightly better than his. My hearing, eyesight, and sometimes smell. I could smell explosives in some of the flooded houses. That's when I knew not to go in them.
Then when I found a blaster pistol and trained myself with it, I taught Mayday how to shoot it. The one piece of information that my parents passed down onto me was how to shoot a rifle and pistol. Line up the front sight with the back sight, and then aim at the target and shoot. I've gotten quite decent at it, although Mayday's still better at knives. He beat a fish to death with the blaster once.
I lay on the floor, the bed reserved for my sleeping parents. I stare up at the ceiling for a bit, before opening the window to get some fresh air and staring up at the moon again. It's gotten a bit red, like things are getting back to normal.
I look across at the ray shield and down at the soldiers guarding it. A few of them are sleeping, but still standing up. I don't notice much, until the moonlight hits just the right spot, I see a small hole in the ray shield. Not big enough for adults to fit through, but definitely big enough for me. I don't know about Mayday. Maybe he can get through with a few burns.
I'll tell him that in the morning.
For now, I close the window and lay back down on the floor, closing my eyes and trying to get some sleep.
The uneasy feeling in my gut still hasn't gone away.
More Posts from Tbnrpotato and Others
Our Own Choices
Chapter 9
"So how'd you know I was on that gunship? I was specifically extra stealthy that time," I ask Rex as we jump off the vehicle that Crosshair was driving as we arrive back at the base. I put on my helmet.
"You've done it 19 times, kid. I know when you've clipped yourself to the outside of the gunship just by the sound of it," Rex replies, not bothering to look at me. He's not even bothering to scold me for coming here without his permission. I think he's just tired of me, he does have a job to do as a captain as well.
But why should I listen to him anymore? Even though he's technically my superior in the GAR, I don't need him anymore. I'm biologically 20, I can handle myself. But clearly he doesn't think so, considering how he usually doesn't let me on missions anyways. He says the reason that he grounded me was because he didn't want me getting myself killed out in the battlefield because of my impulsiveness.
"But there was no sound-" I protest as the bad batch walk past me, and I stare at them as they walk to their ship.
They're really cool. They don't fit in here, just like me.
Rex nudges me in the side, I take it as a sign to go to the ship as well. Rex says he talked to General Skywalker and he says that he'll have to wait for the council to approve of the mission to Skako Minor to get Echo. I'm surprised that he lets me come along on this mission. I guess he knows that there's no stopping me when it comes to saving my brothers.
As I head into the ship, I receive looks from the batch.
"What?" I ask.
Tech looks back to his datapad, Wrecker goes to lift the gonk droid in the back of the ship, Hunter just sits there staring at me, and Crosshair is checking his rifle. I take off my helmet and lean against a wall, staring at Wrecker and the poor gonk droid, and then to toothpick boi.
Gotta admit, their armor is really cool. Crosshair's got that belt thingy with a bunch of places to store ammo, almost like my own. And then he's got that bar thingy on his left shoulder armor, probably for his rifle or something. Hunter has a random bandana for the dog shit on his head, with a small skull on it. Wrecker's helmet would scare the absolute shit outta me if I saw that first thing in the morning. Tech's helmet is cool, at least it hides his receding hairline. Whatever. At least now I'm not the only one with dark-colored armor.
Anyways, Rex and General Skywalker board the ship soon enough and we set off for Skako Minor. Tech's flying the ship, while General Skywalker checks out Crosshair's rifle and Wrecker's still lifting poor Gonky.
"So, how many missions has your team been on, Sergeant?" General Skywalker asks Shithair as he passes Crosshair's rifle back to him.
"Honestly sir, I've lost count. All the action sorta blurs together," Hunter replies, and that felt like a big "skill issue lmao" smack in the face.
"I know you work with Cody sometimes, but who do you guys report to?" Rex asks.
"Hm, good question," Hunter says, crossing his arms. "Can't say I've got an answer."
And then I'm reminded of that "good question" Shrek meme that I saw on the holonet a few days before I came to Anaxes, and I try to keep a straight face.
Wrecker, who's still lifting Gonky, chews on a big ass chicken drumstick which I think was kept in the ship's storage area for days. Then, the ship suddenly shakes.
"We are approaching Skako Minor," Tech reports. "It looks to be a difficult landing."
So we strap in and Wrecker gently sets Gonky down, before going to the co-pilot's seat with Tech. The ship shakes a bit until we land on the ground, and we stand up and head towards Tech and Wrecker.
"Rex, what do we know about this place?" General Skywalker asks, Rex standing next to him. Toothpick boi and I stand behind them as I play with my knife, because I'm just kinda bored and need something to do with my hands.
"On this part of Skako, there's a race of locals, the Poletecs. All we know is they're very primitive," Rex replies.
"Primitive is being kind," Tech says. "My intel says the Poletecs worship flying reptiles."
Suddenly, one of those flying reptile thingies land on the front window of the ship, cracking it slightly. I look out, sheathing my knife into my wrist compartment.
"Oh! What the heck was that?" Wrecker looks out the same time as I do. "It's one of those reptiles," Tech says.
"I want that thing off my ship," Hunter says, sounding really annoyed, before moving to get off the ship.
"Hold on! Hold on! Don't just run out there," Rex tries to warn them but we all run out anyways because which one of us even follows orders?
We see the Poletec and a flying reptile thing jumping on the ship. General Skywalker ignites his lightsaber and Wrecker points his blaster at it, and I'm tempted to do the same.
"Hey! Get off of there!" Wrecker shouts.
"Hey, calm down. We needa talk to them," General Skywalker says.
"Why?" Hunter asks.
"The General's right," Rex says, and then I hear some more flying reptiles in the distance, and I spin around to look at them, blaster and sword drawn. General Skywalker pushes Rex out of the way so that Rex doesn't get clawed to death by the reptiles. We all point our blasters towards them, unsure of whether to shoot or not.
Suddenly, the flying reptile and the Poletec on the ship swoop down and grab General Skywalker. He's caught off guard, dropping his lightsaber, and I throw my knife at the reptile before it can get too far away. It hits the reptile in the chest, but not deep enough to be a lethal shot, although I can hear it screeching as it flies away. Rex fires his pistol at the reptile but none of the shots hit.
"I have a thermal reading," Tech says. "Point two five east, elevation 175." His visor is lowered.
"Relax. I'll handle this," Crosshair says, before attaching a grappling hook to his rifle and using Tech's shoulder as support (we'll never get to see this again this is so sad), shooting it at the reptile. It hits and Hunter attaches the cable to himself.
"What are you doing?" Rex asks.
"Going for a ride." And then Hunter's lifted off his feet, flying into the air.
I just stare at Crosshair, eyes widened. Holy shit that was fucking cool. Bro really has to be so pro at sniping.
And then I think of my own sniping skills which are slightly decent at best and suddenly I'm filled with a slight jealousy of his skills. Like bro he gets to be badass and do all those fucking trick shots and I'm stuck here throwing knives.
Shut up.
"Tech, I'm with the General. Hone in on my signal," I hear Hunter say through the comms. Tech and the rest of us head back to the ship and do so, before heading to Hunter's location. We land on a ridge near what looks like the Poletec village and run down to Hunter, who's near the edge, looking across at the village.
"That creature still has a hold of the General," Hunter says.
Rex zooms in on the village, and I do the same, seeing the General getting pinned under one of those reptiles' claws. "We're going in, but remember what the General said. No casualties, disarm only," Rex says.
"We're on it, Captain," Hunter says. "Wrecker, Crosshair, rockslide."
The rest of us slide down the ridge to the village as Wrecker and Crosshair push a really big rock down the ridge, and we run behind it as it knocks down some tall but not-so-advanced structures, using the dust as cover.
We shoot at the weapons that the Poletecs are holding, disarming them. I throw a few knives at their weapons, they all hit their target and disarm them.
We run to the place where General Skywalker is, and I see some electrified thing hit the claw that's holding General Skywalker, probably shot by Crosshair, and the reptile jumps back, letting General Skywalker dodge the rock that's rolling towards him. We all point our blasters at the Poletecs in case they try to do anything.
The Poletec that Hunter's pointing his blaster at speaks some alien language, and Hunter asks Tech to translate what he's saying.
Tech steps forward, presses a few buttons on that control panel on his wrist, and moves his visor down above his eyes. "He says he does not want our war on his planet. That is why he took our leader."
The rest of us still point our blasters at the Poletecs.
Can we just hold them at gun/knifepoint and just get them to give us whatever info we want?
"We didn't bring the war here. It was Wat Tambor and the Separatists," General Skywalker says.
Tech translates what General Skywalker said into the alien language, something that both Crosshair and I find kinda funny as I'm tryna hold in my laughter as we all lower our blasters. Definitely gotta roast Tech for that.
"Tell him we apologize for what's happened," Rex says. "But tell him the enemy is holding one of our men prisoner in Purkoll. As soon as we rescue him, we'll leave his planet for good."
Tech translates what Rex said into the alien language again, and I try my best to keep a straight face. This is just too funny.
As Tech and the Poletecs talk some more and agree about sending scouts and stuff to help find the city, I run to the reptile that I threw my knife into and rip it out. It's wedged kinda deep in there, and when I pull it out, it's covered in red blood, dripping onto the floor. The reptile screeches and tries to attack me, but I shoot it with a stun blaster a few times and it's knocked out. The other Poletecs move to attack me, but then Rex and Tech help to calm them all down.
"Woah woah woah, calm down, she's just tryna get her weapons, no need to panic," Rex says, and Tech helps translate it. The other Poletecs calm down when what I think is their leader nods at them.
I pull my other knives out from the weapons that I threw them at and head back to the others.
"Nice going," Crosshair knocks his shoulder into mine as we set off with the other scouts, the sarcasm in his voice is obvious. I cross my arms as I follow behind him. "Thanks."
We follow the scouts quite a bit of distance and find ourselves on a really high cliff. The Poletec scouts point at what looks like Purkoll in the distance before walking down the direction we just came up in.
"Hope nobody's scared of heights," General Skywalker says. I try not to let it show, although sometimes heights get on my nerves.
Hunter and Crosshair look at Wrecker.
"Well I'm not scared of nothing. I just...When I'm up real high, I got a problem with gravity," Wrecker says.
"That's being scared of heights, Wrecker. You're real smart," I roll my eyes under my helmet, standing next to Rex.
"Speaking of problems," Tech, who's standing behind Wrecker, speaks up. "I am no longer picking up Echo's signal."
"I...I don't understand," Rex says. "You said it was coming from this city." He points towards Purkoll.
"I can only speculate, but it is possible there's a latency issue with the frequency caused by all these atmospheric disturbances."
"Or, maybe they sent the signal to lure us into a trap," Hunter suggests. "And maybe your friend's actually dead." He folds his arms. "Well, I can't be the only one thinking of that."
"Every mission could be a trap," Rex and I say at the same time, and I glare at him, falling silent. "This one is no different," Rex continues. "I'm telling you that signal is being sent by Echo himself! He's alive!" I nudge Rex in the side. "Be realistic, Captain. There's not really a high chance that that's gonna happen."
"I think you're letting your personal feelings get in the way because you left him for dead at the Citadel," Crosshair says, and I clench my fist around one of my knives, which is sheathed in my belt right now. That eagerness to punch him in the face out of pure anger, it's strong, but I resist it. Not really the logical thing to do right now.
"I had no choice, you hear me?!" Rex, unlike me, isn't doing much of a good job hiding his anger.
"Oh, I don't blame you. I would've left him for dead too. Besides, he's just another reg."
I'm breathing heavily under my helmet, one hand gripped on the hilt of my knife, the other with my nails digging so hard into my skin, even though my glove, it leaves marks. Even though Crosshair is directing his words towards Rex, it's having an effect on me as well.
And then Rex punches Crosshair in the face/helmet, knocking him to the ground.
"Yoooo Rex, just chill!" I try to get him to calm down, but he's not stopping. I pull out my pistol and point it to Crosshair's head as Wrecker picks Rex up by the back of his armor. "I called first dibs."
"Hey! Why don't you pick on someone not your size?" Wrecker throws Rex to the ground, who almost instantly gets up, walking up real close to Wrecker. "You'll be a whole lot smaller when I'm through with you."
My pistol is still pointed to Crosshair's head, my finger resting on the trigger, my other hand drawing my knife and pressing it under his helmet and to his neck, I'm breathing heavily, all sense of logic gone, it's the same feeling when Fox killed Fives. And it's strong.
"That's enough!" General Skywalker puts a hand on Rex and Wrecker's shoulders, pushing them away from each other before Wrecker beats Rex to clone mush, and then he pushes me and Crosshair apart before I can get any more blood on my knife.
"Sergeant, take your men and scout the area for a tower entrance. I want to talk to my troopers alone," General Skywalker orders, sounding slightly fierce.
Rex and I stay behind as the batch walk away. Toothpick bitch glances back at us for a moment, before looking away.
"Rex, Aris, I hate to say it, but...you have to prepare yourself for the possibility that Echo is dead, and this is all a Separatist trick," General Skywalker puts a hand on our shoulders.
"Sir, I have watched so many of my brothers fall during this war, and I try not to hang on to any one of them," Rex says, taking off his helmet. "But that changed when I heard that Separatist transmission. It was no algorithm. That was Echo's voice. I know it."
"And if there's any chance that Echo, my brother, is still out there, alive, we have to take it," I add on, taking off my helmet as well.
"I hope you're right," General Skywalker says. "But if, for some reason, you're wrong..."
"Then I'll deal with it," Rex and I say at the same time.
And I've learned to deal with it on my own. No "Dad" to comfort me or help me. That's what I did with Fives. And if I have to do it again with Echo, I will.
All I'll need to do is constantly wipe the blood off my knives, and make sure no one sees the wounds on my arms.
Sharpshooter - Only the Strongest will Survive
Chapter 6
Word count: 1.6k
Warnings: Blood, violence, injuries (cleaning wounds)
I can't move.
The creature's advancing fast, claw raised to strike the other side of my face. My legs aren't listening to my brain. They're rooted to the ground. My hand reaches for the hilt of my knife but it's nowhere to be found. Blood's still dripping from my eye.
I see the glint of its claws under the moonlight, poised to strike. Sharp knives digging into the other side of my face. And then my chest, blood spilling out from the wounds and dripping to the ground as my legs give out under me. I can barely breathe, the blood from my face flowing into my mouth and down my throat as I try to cough it up, but only more blood comes out.
Everything's blurry now, my vision a red haze of pain. I blink the blood out of my eyes, only to be met with the creature standing above me, claws to my throat. I can't even squirm under the weight of the animal.
My vision slowly starts to fade as the pain at the side of my face intensifies.
I'm gonna die. That's totally fine.
Humor isn't exactly working out right now. I feel the sharp claws press against my throat, and the intensity of my coughs increase as I try desperately to breathe and calm my nerves.
The creature raises its claws to strike, and all I can do is watch as its claws descend to my throat and slice through it like a knife through butter. I want to scream, but it's muffled by the blood in my mouth.
That's when I wake up on the bed of my empty apartment, coughing violently, my hand instinctively shooting up to the left side of my face where I still feel the claw marks indented into my skin. My heart pounds wildly in my chest as I frantically scan the area for signs of any movement in the darkness of my apartment. My chest rises and falls rapidly as I try to regain control of my breathing. My hands now grip the bed tightly, almost as if it could protect me from any danger.
Bed is safe.
My breathing steadies slightly so that I'm not gasping for air anymore, but my hands are trembling, clutching onto the sheets of the bed for dear life.
I press a hand to my forehead. It's sticky and warm. My breath hitches in my throat as I remove my hand from my forehead and put it to eye level. My eye scans for any signs of the sticky red liquid that makes my stomach sick, but there's no trace of it. I lay my head back against the pillow again, and stare up at the ceiling, its white paint coat slowly peeling off of it.
It reminds me of how the skin on Mayday's back was peeling off after he got whipped. I feel a lump start to rise in my throat when I think about it.
It's unfair. He got punished and I didn't. When he told me about it, I could tell that he did something to get me out of punishment. I've known him long enough to know.
I can almost see the blood oozing out of Mayday's wounds, the angry red skin surrounding the deep gashes in his back, the way he winced when I put the bandages there. It must've hurt.
I am grateful to Mayday for getting me out of punishment, who wouldn't? No one wants to get whipped on the back like that. But maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if I was right beside him, taking the same punishment. Maybe he wouldn't have that dead look in his eyes that I saw yesterday.
I just want to hug him, to comfort him, to tell him that everything is going to be okay. He doesn't deserve what he got.
After a few minutes of overthinking, I snap back to reality and get out of bed. There's some noise coming from the streets below, but not a lot. I assume it's about 6 or 7 in the morning from the amount of people downstairs.
I head over to Mayday's apartment with a roll of fresh bandages. I knock on the door.
"The door's unlocked." I hear a muffled voice from inside. I open the door to see Mayday lying on the couch on his stomach. When he hears my footsteps, he looks up at me with those eyes that have been haunting me all night.
I sit down next to him.
"Sit up," I pat his shoulder gently.
Mayday shakes his head, his face pressed against the sofa.
"I said sit up." I pull him by the shoulders and force him to sit up. "Now take off your goddamn shirt so I can rebandage those fucking wounds."
Mayday groans. "Fine." He takes off his shirt, his back facing me so that the bandages that I put on him yesterday are visible. They're soaked through with blood, staining them a dark crimson.
I inhale sharply through my teeth.
"What?" Mayday asks, annoyed.
"It doesn't look good," I reply as I start unravelling the bandages around his torso, revealing the cuts on his back.
I cringe at the sight of it. There's some patches of dried blood clumped together, but there's blood all over his back. There's some bruising at the areas where his skin isn't cut open, and his back is swelling slightly. I always hated the sight of wounds. I can deal with death, sure, but not injuries. Those make me sick.
I hear Mayday wince as the wounds hit fresh air. Not really fresh, considering the air in the apartment isn't that well-ventilated.
"I...might have to wash that..." I tell him.
"WHAT?!" Mayday shouts, turning around to face me, but winces again at the pain in his back. It's the reaction I expected.
"If you want it to get infected, swell up even more, have pus in it, have to be taken to the hospital and pay more for treatment and maybe even surgery, go ahead," I say with a hint of sarcasm in my voice.
I head to the toilet where there's an old cloth on the sink, I assume it's one of Mayday's brothers'. I quickly wash it with water, trying to clean it as well as I can, getting most of the dirt off of it.
With the cloth still dripping wet, I head over to Mayday.
"Lie on your stomach and stay still, or I'm going to press this cloth onto your back even harder," I order. Mayday rolls his eyes but reluctantly complies with the order. I then place the wet cloth onto his back, the blood almost soaking through it immediately.
Mayday inhales sharply as a shudder runs through his back. He presses his face into the sofa to muffle his shouts of pain, but I can still hear them. I gently press the cloth down onto his back, and he starts shaking. I can hear him breathing heavily, and almost what sounds like crying, muffled by the sofa.
"Sit up," I tell him after I finish cleaning his wounds, and wrap fresh bandages around his torso to cover the cuts, which are still bleeding, but slower. I catch a glimpse of Mayday wiping a few tears from his eyes but I don't mention it to make sure he doesn't die of embarrassment.
"There. Done." I look up at him. Mayday grits his teeth. "Thanks," he says. I can hear the sarcasm in his voice. I roll my eyes and bring the cloth back to the toilet, soaking it with water and trying to squeeze the blood out from it. By the time I'm done, most of the blood from the cloth is gone and I return it to its original position on the sink.
For the next few days, I help Mayday with his wounds. They've become scabs by now and he's no longer staining the chair in his apartment with his blood. This is the fourth day I've cleaned the area around Mayday's back. It's still bruised but slightly less now, and I make sure to be careful and avoid accidentally peeling the scabs off and reopening the wounds.
As usual, Mayday takes off his shirt and lays down on the couch, his bruised back facing up. That's when I hear a knock on the door. Mayday and I both stand up and open the door ever so slightly to see who's outside. Then five bodies come crashing down on us, and we all fall to the floor in one massive pile.
It's Mayday's brothers. Great. Mayday sighs and lets himself get tackled to the floor by his brothers while I squirm my way out of the pile and head to my apartment to find my own family.
When I open the door, I see my parents and grandparents waiting at the door for me. I immediately run into their arms and hug them as tightly as I can.
"I missed you," I mumble, my arms tightening around them.
My grandfather pats my head, and my father replies, "Missed you too Potato." It's the nickname he gave me when I was younger.
After a moment, I let go of them, but they don't let go of me.
They're not usually this clingy. Something's wrong.
"What happened?" I ask.
They have a solemn look on their faces, my mother and grandparents seem to be holding back tears. While their faces may not show it, I know them too well. My father's got no tears to cry. His tear ducts were damaged from the heat on a trip outside the ray shield in the early days back in North America.
They remain silent.
I hear sobbing and crying from the apartment next to us. Mayday's apartment. It's either tears of joy, or the same tears that my family's holding back.
I've got a feeling it's not tears of joy.
I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED BOYS
TBB fandom is dying
TBB fans rise up we can't let this fandom die its the last best thing that came in Star Wars
THEY DIDNT
THEY CANT JUST
THEY CANT JUST CASUALLY BLOW UP THE MARAUDER
U CANT JUST DO THAT
AND CROSSHAIR CONCERNED DAD AND SAYING OMEGA’S NAME
AND OMEGA TRUSTING CROSSHAIR TO TRACK THE SHIP BUT HE COULDNT 😭😭😭
AND THE ASSASSIN SAYING “DOMICILE” CONFIRMS ITS TECH
TODAYS EPISODES HAVE DESTROYED MY SANITY
Your pfp is so cool!!
ayyy thanks bro i actually asked my friend @vexingvexvexes to draw it for me cos shes my friend from school
its a drawing of my first oc (self insert) called Aris in a fanfiction that i never finished it was supposed to be called age of the rebellion and shes anakins sister it was a star wars x ninjago crossover thing i should probably post it
i have some more art of aris so like yea
its a mandalorian style armor and also the belt is from a game called rec room its the bounty hunter belt and i really like it
:)
Our Own Choices
Chapter 4
Separatist attack! After the destruction of the outpost on the Rishi moon, General Grievous and Asajj Ventress plan an attack on the planet Kamino, home of the cloning factories. Meanwhile, aboard a Jedi cruiser, Jedi knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi examine an intercepted message from General Grievous.
Rex comes into the barracks soon enough, and I'm showing Fives and Echo this new song on the holonet called "Toxic" from Boywithuke when Rex walks in. My helmet's sitting at the side, I trust Fives and Echo enough to not reveal my secret to the Kaminoans.
When Rex walks in, Fives and Echo stand at attention and I'm just leaning against the wall behind them.
"I'm guessing you have something to tell us?" I ask Rex.
"Mhm. Separatists are planning an attack on Kamino. We're going home."
And then Rex walks out of the room.
"Kamino?! This just got personal," Fives says, Echo agrees with him.
"I'm guessing I'm gonna be the only one out of you three looking at the bigger picture and not just personally," I roll my eyes. "As much as I hate that place, if it's destroyed, the production of more clones will be stopped, and we will definitely lose the war and all of us will die."
"Hey, you're not the only one looking at the bigger picture," Fives nudges me in the side.
Soon enough, we head out of the jedi cruiser with the other troopers, as usual I'm walking behind the rest, my helmet on.
So we take a stroll through Kamino, a place that I never wanted to go back to.
"Ah, look around Fives. Feels like yesterday we were here," Echo says as a group of younger clones pass us. "Heading to target practice."
"Heh, remember that?"
"Do I ever."
"Feels like yesterday I was here, heading to cleaning duty," I mutter under my breath.
And then in front of us I see 99, struggling with carrying a few guns, dropping a few on the floor. I run over and help him pick some up, he doesn't recognize me with the helmet on.
"Hey, 99!" Echo calls out.
Well, 99 can recognize them, but not me.
"Heh, you actually remembered us," Fives sounds slightly impressed.
"Oh, I remember all my brothers. Is Hevy here? Where's he?"
I don't even think he remembers me.
"Hevy's dead. Sacrificed himself on the Rishi outpost," I explain for Echo and Fives. I can talk about his death so casually now, I get over these kinds of things quite quickly.
"He saved our lives, but he gave up his own," Echo continues.
"Oh, uh, I see," 99 says, showing Echo and Fives some random medal thing that they probably got in the past.
"Hevy...gave you his medal?" Fives asks.
99 closes his eyes for a moment, before asking,"So, why have you returned to Kamino?"
"Wasn't my choice," I tell him. My helmet's still on, I can't take it off with all the Kaminoans and other troopers here.
"The Generals received word of an impending attack here," Fives explains.
"Well, how can I help?"
Fives and Echo give each other a look before nodding at each other, and they tell 99 the plan.
"So uh, 99, do you remember...me?" I ask.
"Not with your helmet on," 99 replies. "Why not you take it off? We're safe for now."
"Not safe for me. I have no interest in going back to cleaning duty."
"It's you...you're that female clone, aren't you? So...you're a soldier now?"
I nod. "Keep your voice down, we don't want others to hear that."
"Oh right, sorry," 99 whispers. "So are you gonna join those...yknow...group of different clones?"
"You mean the ipad kid, the one with dog shit for hair, the buff af one, and the old man?"
Fives and Echo hold in their laughter, but I can see it on their faces.
99 chuckles, "Yea, you ever thought about maybe joining them?"
I think for a moment, and as I'm about to reply, the lighting turns red, signaling an attack. I see other troopers running to the front, and Fives and Echo are called in by the commander, and I follow them.
We reach the dude that sent for Fives and Echo.
"Sir, you sent for us?"
"It's a dangerous assignment, but I want you two up on the bridge in sniper positions."
"Yes sir, we're on it."
And then as Fives and Echo head up to the bridge, the dude stops me before I can run off with them.
"Aren't you a bit young to be fighting?" he asks. "Get in there with the others."
"With all due respect sir, I can handle myself," I say. "Besides, someone's gotta cover Fives and Echo." Without waiting for a response, I run off to the bridge.
I can hear the blaster fire already starting, I don't look back, I just keep running.
I reach Fives and Echo, where they're dealing with some of the droids already. I narrowly miss a blaster bolt to the face, and take cover next to them.
"There's gotta be a better defensive position than this, this place is shitty to snipe from," I say as I start shooting at the droids down below.
I see 99 coming up behind us. "I...I brought you some ammo," he says, dropping the bag on his shoulder.
"Is there a better spot than this, a better defensive position we can take?" Fives asks.
"Droids! Behind us!" Echo shouts, and Fives pushes 99 to the ground to let him take cover.
I notice that there are grenades in the bag that 99 was carrying, which is now lying on the ground, so I take one of them from the bag and throw it at the droids.
The grenade explodes on contact, knocking all the droids down.
"There's more," 99 says, pointing at where the smoke is clearing.
Echo, Fives and I point our blasters at that area, until I see some kids walking out. They look like 12 year olds, 2 years younger than me.
"Cadets, what're you doing here?" Echo asks.
"We got separated from our group," one of the kids says.
"Where were they taking you?"
"The barracks."
"Oh, I know the best way there," 99 says, and we all follow him as he half-runs to the barracks.
We reach the barracks and the kids sit down on the beds.
"What are we gonna do?" one of them asks.
Fives and Echo look down at the floor.
"A separatist victory means...death...for all of us," 99 says.
"Oh hell nah I have no interest in dying today," I lean against a wall.
"The cadet is right. What are we gonna do?" 99 asks.
"We fight."
I look to the side, and see commander Cody and Rex taking off their helmets.
"Ayyy Rex, what took you so long?" I ask when I see him. Rex rolls his eyes.
The cadets stand up. "But our training's not finished."
Fives steps forward. "Look around. We're one and the same. Same heart, same blood. Your training is in your blood. And my blood's boiling for a fight."
"That's one of the most useful things you've said today," I nudge Fives in the side.
"This is our home. This is our war," Echo says.
"What about weapons?" one of the cadets asks.
"The armory," 99 suggests. "It's just a few corridors away, here in the barracks. I can retrieve all the firepower we need. So who wants to blast some droids?"
Rex, Cody, Fives, Echo and I give a downwards nod of respect to 99 and Rex, Cody and I head to the armory with 99.
"Here it is, everything we need is here," 99 says, he's panting a bit.
Rex and Cody get some weapons and I get a few pistols, a few grenades, and just stuff them on my belt, running out of the room and passing a few to the cadets.
"What about you?" one of them asks as I hand them my second last pistol.
"I only need 1 pistol."
I hear one of the droids shooting at the door to the barracks, and as the door opens, we start shooting at them through the door. As the droids advance, we back up, finding whatever cover we can get behind boxes or the beds.
I hear some blaster bolts whizz past my shoulder, and I take cover with Fives and Echo, shooting at the droids. As they advance, we continue backing up, taking some more cover behind the boxes. Rex throws a grenade at the droids, which misses, and I can feel the force of the explosion from here.
"Cadets, now!" Rex shouts into the comlink and the cadets start shooting at the droids from the high ground where they were initially hidden from view. They manage to knock down quite a few droids, making it much easier.
Cody throws another grenade at the droids, and as the smoke clears, more droids start coming in.
I hear 99 get shot, and he's tryna make his way to the armory. I run towards the droids, strafing so that I avoid blaster fire, and I try to slice up the droids as fast as I can with my sword, and when Fives and Echo help me shoot down the last one, I look back and I see 99's body on the floor. It feels like someone tightened their grip on my stomach, and I run to 99, kneeling beside him as Echo holds him in his arms.
"We..." Cody sighs. "Lost a true soldier."
"He really was one of us."
I bite my lip under my helmet, I can feel the tears coming but I don't let them flow, so I just walk away and sit on one of the beds, looking away, softly singing under my helmet to distract myself from 99's body. ("Toxic" from Boywithuke my new fav song lmao)
Later, all of us start walking out to the outdoor platform, the battle has ended. I'm leaning against a wall, watching Echo and Fives do their thing. I still have the grenades clipped to my belt, I'm throwing my knife up in the air and catching it, just like I always do.
I see Rex motioning for me to come over with Echo and Fives, and we all stand at attention (I'm just following what Echo and Fives are doing, just because I have no idea what I'm supposed to do)
"You all really stepped up in the heat of battle," Cody says.
"We did what we had to do, sir," Echo says.
"What any clone would've done," Fives continues.
"All of you showed valor out there. Real courage. Reminds me of me, actually," Rex says.
"Don't flatter yourself, we all already know," I smirk under my helmet, Rex chuckles a bit, looking at me.
"Echo, Fives, Aris, you're officially being made ARC troopers," Cody says. Echo looks at Fives, and we're all kind of a bit in shock.
"I don't think the Separatists will be coming back anytime soon," Rex says. "But if they do, Kamino will be lucky to have clones like you defending it. Good job, men."
Rex and Cody salute and Fives and Echo does the same, so I just follow them.
As I walk away with Rex, he pats me on the back. "Good job ad'ika."
"Rex, I don't wanna be an ARC trooper," I say quietly.
"Why not?" Rex looks confused.
"Too many expectations. I'm not like Fives or Echo. I'm just a kid. And besides, I don't deserve this, 99 does."
"Kid, 99's-"
"Dead, yea I know, and I've accepted that, just don't make me an ARC trooper, okay?"
Rex sighs. "Okay, ad'ika."
I nod at him. "Thanks dad."
Rex chuckles a bit.
"Okay fine, you can call me that."
just met north star in undertale yellow and BRO HES MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER ALREADY THIS GUY IS GOATED THE WILD EAST IS SO FUN
we’re in the endgame now
happy bad batch eve-
WAIT NOOOOOOO
im still not over tbb :(
Aris: A Skywalker Story hit 1k reads yesterday :)
