Post by Titan on Mar 11, 2009 21:27:04 GMT -6
Midnight
Prologue:
The feeling had grown quite old. The feeling of fear of everything, death, hydrogen bombs, and anything else that could cause the extinction of the human race. Schools all around America have dropped in test scores. The economy has improved because everybody is buying supplies in bulk. America had gone from one of the smartest countries with a poor economy to one of the dumbest countries with a great economy, but this isn’t where it starts, the beginning goes far back before all this to the era of the cold war.
During the cold war, the communist Russia and the Democratic America fought with words instead of bombs. The cold war ended and life resumed on, except hundreds of thousands of people around the world who were ready for the end of everything. When nothing happen, these people were furious about spending all of their money to make sure they are safe during a nuclear war. These people hid for many years before finally acting.
On December 21st, 2012 the world was supposed to end, because that’s when the Mayan calendar ended. Not many people believed this because of false beliefs of Y2K and 06/06/06. Some people, however, spent all of their money once again to make sure they survived. Once again, the people were furious, this time to the point millions of people met and began to stockpile guns.
In the middle of 2015 these rebels silently and unknowingly invaded Canada, the country they believed would not fight back. Canada put up a much greater fight, but eventually fell to the rebels. This rebellion would later, much later, go down as the Midnight Rebellion. They changed the name of Canada to Hiberna, the Latin word for winter. Shortly after they began mass manufacturing weapons and changed to communism.
Hiberna had alliances with every communist country in the world by the end of that year. Everything was falling into the Hibernian plans. The next thing they did was beginning the secret creation of nuclear bombs. They had little compared to the rest of the world, but soon were stockpiling enough for a great war. The United Nations found out and made Hiberna stop the creation of bombs, but this just speeded up the inevitable.
The July 4th, 2020 would be remembered as the worst day of all time. Hiberna launched nukes at Washington D.C. and Moscow without warning or a declaration of war. John Critias, Hiberna’s leader, declared on that day, “Today is the beginning of what should have ended by now. Our declaration of war to the two superpowers that should have ended the world, are the ruins of their capital cities!” After that day, it was an all out war between communism and democracy.
Many people called this war, “World war 3”, but it’s official title would be “the warm war” due to the heat of radiation and since it was the ultimate cause of the Cold War. The main powers on the communist side were Hiberna, China, Vietnam, and Korea. The main powers of the allied side were the United States, Germany, and Russia. The doomsday clock hit one minute to Midnight on this day.
Hiberna invaded the United States right off the bat, killing every living human in sight. Russia sent help, but nothing helped. Any battle Hiberna lost was nuked almost immediately after the loss; even with Hiberna survivors still near the battlegrounds. Russia fell under the united might of China, Vietnam, and Korea. The rest of the U.S. and Russian military fled to Germany, the last untouched allied superpower.
Chapter 1:
Vinita, Oklahoma. May 3rd, 2021
The sound of running water is heard, an unfamiliar sound in the barren wasteland known as America. A man splashes water on his face, grunting as the cold water seeps through his unkempt beard. Everything in this country had been so hot since the beginning of the war. The feeling of the cool water was refreshing to feel once again after so long.
Adolph Hoffnung had been born in Oklahoma under German decent in the year of 1994. He was twenty seven year old, serving as a U.S. marine for nine years now. When the U.S. troops were shipped to Germany, Adolph and the squad he was assigned with was M.I.A. fighting off enemy troops. Adolph was the only survivor, the rest were wounded and died during the nuking of that battlefield. After that he was stuck roaming the wastelands alone. The number of Hiberna troops dropped greatly in the past couple of months.
Adolph grunts as he walks down the steps and begins to open the door. There were still thousands of Hiberna troops in America. All Adolph had was an M16 on his back and faith that Hiberna would one day fall. He opens the door and steps out into the bright daylight, the sun hurting his eyes while they adjust. His footsteps echo down the empty streets. Occasionally a single gunshot could be heard, every shot scaring Adolph more than the last. One never got used to the feeling of being like a deer during a life long hunting season.
The days feel twelve times longer and the heat feel a hundred times hotter when you’re in the middle of a war. Adolph would think to himself time after time while walking down the lonely boulevards. Adolph had an unstable mind. It was not caused by the war, but by something that went far back to his freshman year of high school…
Chapter 2:
Columbia, Missouri. October 31st, 2009
Life for Adolph Hoffnung had finally reached a point of happiness after months and months of depression. His friends treated him better than they used to, and random people didn’t insult him without even meeting him. He had a crush on one friend in particular, but they didn’t see it. Sophia Richards was her name and she was a great friend.
“Ah, why am I so weak?” Adolph blurts out at lunch, leaning his head back and looking at the ceiling. “Because that’s just the way nerds are.” Ben Biggs replied with a laugh. “True.” Adolph would admit. Adolph was a stereotypical nerd. He had glasses and braces, never kissed a girl other than his mom, and couldn’t fight to save his life. He had also gotten angry only twice in all nine years he had been in school. The teachers release students from lunch and Adolph heads back to R.O.T.C. He had deep down wanted to be a marine, but his friends convinced him not to. “You’re the only one that wouldn’t survive in a war, Adolph.” Almost every friend of his would say. Adolph knew full well he would die in a war, and thought it would be better to die in a war rather than at home in bed. He was also the only one who thought like that.
In R.O.T.C, students basically learned what it is like to be in the air force. After it, he had computer applications, which would help Adolph to be what he wanted to be most, a video game programmer. Adolph believed that video games were the main part of his childhood, so he wanted to make a difference in the video gaming community.
“Hey, what’s four?” A kid in Adolph’s math class constantly asks him. “Not telling you.” Adolph would always answer, not even looking at the kid. The kid would just turn around and yell, “No I will not take my shirt off!” Everybody except the teacher and Adolph would laugh. It was an over used joke that was never funny. Adolph had grown tired of class clowns and want to be class clowns; all they did was make it harder for the people who wanted to learn to learn.
The last hour of the day, history, was always fun. The teacher explained funny stuff about the past leaders of America, and that made it easier to learn the real serious stuff that would be on state tests and benchmarks. People would crack jokes about other people and it would just be all fun and games during the hour. There was nothing better than the sound of the final bell on a Friday.
The bell rings, Adolph gets his stuffs and begins the walk down the hall. The school was a fairly average sized school, and after a long day the walk lasted forever. The cool air that blew through felt good against the heads of students who just spent an entire hour and a half working. Adolph sees his friend and yells, “Hey Sophia!” going to start a conversation.
Chapter 3:
Vinita, Oklahoma. May 3rd, 2021.
The silence in a war can be broken in the tiniest second, and the silence just broke. “Get him!” Adolph can hear from behind him. He jumps down and hides behind a car. The sound of a nearby grenade leaves an intense ringing sound in Adolph’s ear. The sound of shattering glass breaks the ringing. Adolph feels glass fall down on him from the car above. The bullets stop flying, “Go check it out!” One of them says, probably the leader.
Adolph tosses a grenade over the car. The three Hiberna units dive to avoid it and hear a splash from the lake nearby. The three race over to the lake trying to see where Adolph went. “I don’t see how we are losing to you.” Adolph says standing behind all three of them with his M16 aimed at them. “Drop your weapons and step away from them.” He commands. The three units do so and back up, “Alright now let us go.” The smallest one says. “I’m sorry. Did I say I would let you live if you did it?” Adolph says as he pulls the trigger unloading the M16 bullets into the three units. Three simultaneous splashes are heard in the lake.
Adolph walks over and checks their equipment. There was nothing useful in the midst of all the equipment; the guns were dirty and poorly maintained. “Looks like they never learned how to take care of their weapons.” Adolph says, “Oh well. My M16 is in b better shape than this Hibernian crap.” He kicks the guns into the lake, picking up two frag grenades.
Adolph continues the long walk down the road, taking a break every three or four hours to chug down a bottle of water to keep his energy up. Dehydration set in pretty easily now, because of radiation heating and global warming in the summer. Adolph never traveled by vehicle; they either didn’t work or were too noisy. At 1000 hours Adolph found an empty house that was already boarded up to rest in. The temperature stayed above 90 that night, making it a lot harder to sleep.
At midnight Adolph wakes up from a nightmare, panting and sweating heavily. He reaches into his wallet and pulls out a paper. He looks over it real quick and then calms down and lies back down to sleep. Adolph never had flash backs of the war, but made up by having very bad nightmares at midnight almost every night. Subconsciously, he hated what he did. He often questioned what he was looking for. Not survivors, he had already found survivors and didn’t even bother to help them, except, however, when he found a little kid. He helped the kid to find a safe place that would take survivors to Great Britain where they would be safe.
Adolph wakes up that morning by the warm feeling of the sun on his face. It was still rising, which meant he hadn’t slept in. He would cross the Kansas state line soon, and from there he would head east to Missouri. Adolph had no idea why, but he just felt drawn to going to Missouri. With that thought, Adolph opens the door and steps into the sunlight, and begins down the street going straight north.
Adolph hears a roar and sees a lion jump out into the middle of the street. Adolph runs to the nearest cover and ducks down. The lion had to escape from the zoo that was only a mile or two away. He looks out and sees bullets fly over the street impaling the lion hundreds of times. The lion lets out a slight roar and falls down, attempting to crawl away. A unit runs out next to the lion pointing his gun at it. Adolph pulls the pin on a grenade and tosses it with a rock. The lion climbs on top of the grenade and the unit shoots the lion in the head. The unit looks up to see Adolph standing there, “You!” the unit yells as the fragmentation grenade explodes. Three more units run and see no one where Adolph was once standing. The check the area but can’t find him, “We have a magician.” One unit says into the headset, “Unknown appearance and location.” The Hibernian soldiers referred to survivors that disappeared as magicians.
Adolph waits until he hears the footsteps begin before he looks through a hole in the fence. “That’s right. Walk away.” He says smiling. One unit, wearing a helmet, turns around and looks, but continues to walk to the north. Adolph gets up and heads north as well, hoping there would be no further conflicts with zoo animals or Hibernians. The sound of a jet breaks the silence. Adolph knew what this meant. He takes off full speed running down the street, finding a nearby bike and getting on it pedaling as fast as he can. When his legs begin to grow tired, Adolph just begins to thrust the pedals down faster and faster, knowing what would happen if he slowed down for a second.
The jet is directly overhead and then flies past Adolph, down to the spot where the lion was. The sound of a falling object is heard whipping through the wind. Adolph continues to look forward as he pedals as fast as he can down the street. Silence. The silence is ended in less than a nanosecond as whipping wind and a giant explosion is heard. Wind pushes Adolph off the bike and far forward. He had escaped the main part of the nuke, but had to deal with the excess wind. It forced Adolph off his bike and onto the cold hard pavement.
Adolph runs his hand through his beard as he opens his eyes. He uses a nearby mailbox to help himself up. After standing up and hitting the dust off of him, he looks forward blankly. A sign stands in his face, “Welcome to Kansas.”
Chapter 4:
South Kansas. May 4th, 2021
Kansas has already been bombed to hell. There are no survivors or monuments left. All that’s left are the long, stretching prairies this part of the country is known for. The heat is scorching, probably ten degrees hotter than the day before. This is because Kansas has gone through more nuclear explosions than other part of the country. A rebellion started and ended here.
Adolph walks down the stretching roads that have continuously been built up year by year. Once he got in the middle part of Kansas he would begin to head east into the middle part of Missouri. Something about Missouri just drew Adolph to want to go back there. It was still a day or two away, it was already six o’clock and the sun was setting. He would go to bed when he got to central Kansas.
The good thing about nighttime was that the sun was gone and things would cool down some. The bad thing about nighttime was that the Hibernian outfits were black as night, which made them almost impossible to see. While Adolph’s outfit didn’t blend in that well with darkness.
Adolph finally takes a short break from the perilous walking and sits down on a bus bench. He pulls out a flask and looks at it, “Haven’t done this in a long time.” He says, taking a sip from the flask. The feeling of the cold beverage dripping down his throat felt good. It was the first time in almost a year he had used it. After the atom incident earlier that day he needed it.
Adolph looks down the road and sees a dog chasing a cat up the road to the east. He wouldn’t have to deal with very many soldiers here. Most, if not all, of the soldiers in Kansas have moved down to Oklahoma and Texas. It was good to finally get a break from all the fighting that had come with being a survivor. The dog catches the cat and one of the most gruesome sequences in human life beings. Adolph looks away, trying to ignore the screeching of the kitten and the growling of the dog.
When the screeching stops, Adolph gets up and walks to the East trying to keep his gut down. No matter how many times he killed somebody he could never get used to an animal dying in a much more gruesome way. Adolph just swallowed his gut and continued on, he had no time to blow chunks all over the place. The road seemed to get longer and longer the farther Adolph walked, like a bad nightmare.
That’s what this is, Adolph thought to himself, a bad nightmare. Any minute now something really bad will happen and I will wake up in my bed alone. Nothing happened. Adolph continues to walk, and wait, and walk, and wait. No matter how far he goes and can’t get to wake up. He hasn’t felt any pain so this has to be a dream. Before Adolph can finish the thought, he is at the destination.
The time is almost 11:30. He is in a small town in central Kansas. There were plenty of houses he could stay in for the night. He spends about ten minutes looking for the right house to sleep in. He checks for boarded windows and running water. One house has both of these assets, so it is the one he chooses. After a quick shower Adolph lies down in the plush bed and quickly dozes off.
Chapter 5:
Columbia, Missouri. December 16th 2009
Things in young Adolph’s life are going very good. He had begun to speak out more and not get messed with so much. This recent drop of stress has helped Adolph’s complexion to clear up. He has also begun to concerts and other social events more often with his friends. Ah indeed, life is great for young Adolph.
“Hey, Adolph going to the concert tonight?” A boy asks walking the opposite way of Adolph. He turns around, walking backwards, and answers “Duh. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He swings back around and continues down the cold hallway that morning. The doors in the school were still open, so it was pretty cold in all the hallways.
“So. You got the popularity, the strength, and the friends.” Ben says, walking with Adolph, “Now you just need the girl.” They both look at Sophia as they pass. “See ya.” Adolph says, slipping away next to Sophia’s locker. “Hello.” He says in a slow voice. “Hey Adolph.” She says smiling. “What’s up?” “Nothing much on my end how bout you?” Adolph replies. “Going to see my boyfriend tonight. It will be so fun!” Sophia begins up the hall.
“I wish you could meet him.” Sophia says to Adolph. I would kick him in the balls and laugh. He thinks to himself real quick. “I think you two would be great friends.” Not while he is in the emergency room trying to find his left one. “You two could hang out then we could be like a happy family.” Not so happy for the dude with one testicle. “Totally.” Adolph says smiling. Sophia smiles and waves while she walks into her next class.
“You imagine kicking him in the balls again?” Ben asks walking up to Adolph. “Yeah this time he lost the left one.” Adolph says turning and walking away. “You should really talk to a therapist.” Ben says catching up to him. “This coming from the dude that wants to help start world war 3.” “Hey that’s perfectly normal…” “…For a satanic dictator.” Adolph finishes the sentence.
“So how are you going to start it this time?” Adolph asks, sitting in history class at the end of the day. “Dude. I’m definitely going to take over Canada and make them make hundreds of weapons.” Ben says, smiling. “So your going to invade the one country that can’t defend itself.” “Exactly.” “Real strong. But one problem, the United States would still own your country, plus you have Russia like not even a thousand miles away.” “True. I would need some nukes.” “Anything to kill the planet, huh.” “Definitely.”
After class ends Adolph waits after class with Ben to see how they are doing on their project. “Dude. We are done.” Adolph says staring at it. “It sucks.” Ben comments looking at the diorama. “It may suck, but it has some facts so we will get a decent grade on it.” “True.” Adolph walks out the door and down the hall. Ben has to go the other way. The walk is long and boring as always. The cold chill is freaking everybody out. Adolph sees what he was looking for, “Hey! Sophia!” He yells.
Chapter 6:
Central Kansas. May 5th 2021.
Adolph jerks up punching the wall beside him as many as a hundred times. “Oh my god. That was the worst one yet.” He says rubbing his forehead. He stops for one second to listen. Banging. “Crap!” He yells getting up and grabbing his gun. Before he can catch his balance he hears wood breaking and bullets flaring. A man runs to the doorway and pushes the door open. Adolph hits the man in the face with the back of his rifle and shoots through the man with half of a magazine.
Adolph runs out into the hallway shooting two more units, using the rest of the magazine. He reloads the M16 and runs down the hall, ducking as he hears a helicopter shoot through the walls. He dives and begins to crawl as the helicopter bullets fly inches above his body. The heat of the bullets begins to cool down. The helicopter stopped and flew away.
Adolph gets up and runs through the broken door. No units left. He takes a breath then hears the click of a Hibernian rifle. Adolph turns around and sees the same helmeted soldier from earlier aiming a gun at him. Adolph drops his gun and puts his arms up. The soldier looks at him and shakes his head. The soldier lowers his gun and turns around walking away. Adolph grabs his gun and takes off down the street, careful not to run into any more soldiers.
The road at night is much more scarier than during the day. It was like a never-ending tunnel, as hot and as dark as any tunnel. Adolph went through one tunnel during this time and got really freaked out. A spider landed on his head, and that completely set him off. Adolph ran full speed hitting his head hundreds of times before the spider finally fell off.
Spiders. Adolph thinks to himself. How is it I can go through relentless attacks, but a single spider smaller than my thumb can set me off? Adolph continues down the road, his legs beginning to grow weary. He takes a drink from the flask with the unknown beverage again and wipes sweat from his brow. The country air stings mixing with the liquid sliding down his throat. The smell of dead farm animals rots the air.
Adolph’s legs just begin to drag across the pavement step by step. The thought of the soldier from before haunts his mind. Why did he spare me? Adolph continually asks himself, does he not agree with the Hibernian way? Was he out of ammo? That’s it! He was out of ammo and scared me into not unloading 45 5.56 rounds into his chest. The diabolical devil played me like a fool. Adolph holds his fist so tight it cuts into his palm. The blood drips a narrow red path down the road.
When Adolph finally realizes his hand was bleeding he was quick about cleaning it and bandaging the wound. It was hard to believe he had hurt himself more than the spider or the Hibernian soldiers have hurt him. The blood turns the mummy white bandages dark red. It was unbelievable, almost impossible to believe, that after being hunted for so long, the first thing to cause Adolph to bleed was his own finger.
Adolph finally arrives at Kansas City after almost a three-hour walk. He was ready to collapse from exhaustion, but kept going on. What was it that kept drawing Adolph to Missouri? The only way to find out was to follow his gut and trust it on the path it is sending him on.
Adolph stops at a gas station in the middle of town and looks inside. He walks from row to row in the gas station checking for any food or beverage he could use to regain some of his lost energy on the long walk over here. He eventually finds an energy drink. “It’ll have to do.” Adolph says, taking it and heading for the door. He hears the cocking of a shotgun behind him. “Don’t you move.” A man with a thick southern accent says from behind the register. Adolph sighs and puts his hands up, dropping the energy drink. Adolph hears banging from the back door.
When the backdoor bursts open the man turns around and fires a shotgun shell into the darkness. Adolph jumps behind cover and pulls his M16 off his back. The sound of assault rifle shots fills the room. The force of a grenade almost knocks a shelf over on Adolph. A loud boom comes out of nowhere and the man flies backwards through the window. Adolph doesn’t stay to see what kind of weapon the boom came from. He jumps through the window and takes off full speed. Before long Adolph realizes he left his gun behind. He doesn’t stop running until he is out of the city on the Missouri side of the border.
Chapter 7:
Western Missouri. May 5th 2021.
Adolph walks down the road, struggling to keep his eyes open. He had no way to defend himself in case of trouble. The road winds up a long prairie. The wind whistles a catchy tune to Adolph as he walks down the lonely road. He begins to whistle along with the fantasy wind, as rustling leaves begin to sing along. Before long nature begins to sound like a full chorus, pushing Adolph up the road.
A wolf walks up to Adolph and begins to follow him, howling along with the tune. Adolph welcomes the guest and continues up the road, completely forgetting about the pain in his hand and his trembling legs. When any animal draws close to Adolph the wolf barks it away, and then begins the howling again. Adolph takes the flask out and begins to take a drink, but the wolf lets out a sharp and angry bar that causes Adolph drop the flask.
Nature continues this as Adolph continues through many different towns and cities. Eventually Adolph gets comfortable enough to reach down and pet the wolf. The wolf disappears around Adolph’s hand and the graceful tune of nature dies. Adolph stops and looks around seeing dead trees and plants everywhere. Missouri wasn’t a paradise it was like hell.
Adolph forgets once again about the pain in his legs and begins jogging up the road trying to get out. The quicker he got to his destination the better. Adolph finally realizes that what he had seen for the last few hours was all a mirage his brain put out due to exhaustion. Nothing he could see was real anymore. All of it was his subconscious. “I need to sleep, but I need to reach my destination first.” Adolph says to himself through the heavy breathing.
“I have been alone so long. But I can’t even remember why!” Adolph yells, continuing to jog down the Missouri road. His memory blocked out the events in high school, but Adolph has gradually been remembering it. “What decisions did I make?” The voice jumps from tree to tree as it echoes through the forest. The memories of Adolph’s childhood run through his mind as the same speed that Adolph is running. His eyes beginning to get watery as he runs down the road.
“What happened in high school!” Adolph yells at the top of his lungs as trees and grass pass him. He reaches up and wipes the water from his eyes as he continues up the road. He turns at a corner and slides by accident. His pants rip at the bottom. His heart is beating at the speed of light. Adolph seems to jump forward every time he blinks. Not able to remember what happened ten minutes ago. His head begins to throb.
Adolph feels a deep thirst and hunger as he begins to stop running. He picks up one final burst of speed and runs one final sprint down the road at top speed. He bursts through a pair of double doors and slides on near-broken linoleum down a long, wide hallway. Adolph’s heart slows down looking at the sign on the wall, “Columbian High School.” His heart begins to slow down as he falls backwards.
Adolph closes his eyes then opens them again quickly as he feels himself being picked up. I am dead. He thinks to himself. I am being taken home. The thought ends when he hears a voice, “hello, my friend!” A voice says as Adolph feels himself being thrown back down. He looks up and sees a man in a Hibernian outfit. It was pitch black with metallic arms used to increase their strength. The silent pants they wear make it impossible to hear them sneak up on you.
Adolph looks down both sides of the highway then back at the man walking towards him. The man in the helmet, from before, walks towards Adolph, picking him up again. “I didn’t kill you before because I knew where you are going. You are going to die where this all started!” The man yells, yanking his helmet off. It is the first man Adolph shot back at Vinita. “Don’t you remember me? I am your best friend. Ben Biggs!” Ben yells pulling his fist back. In a second everything goes black.
Chapter 8:
Columbia, Missouri. April 20th, 2010.
Life for Adolph has begun to get worse. His friends are beginning to treat him like crap again and random strangers are getting to the point where they will punch him for no reason. Adolph will never do anything to defend himself, but will always find he smiles when he talks to Sophia. Adolph even believes that Sophia is the reason he puts up with all this crap, just to see her smile.
Adolph takes a deep breath before opening one of the double doors of Columbia High School. He steps into the air-conditioned hall and begins up, just ready for something bad to happen. Right on time, a random person pushes Adolph into a locker, “Nerd!” The man yells, walking out the doors. Ben walks up to Adolph, “Ha. Dude you really need to defend yourself.” Adolph shakes his head and begins up the hall staying quiet.
Another person gets ready to push Adolph but backs off when they see Ben. “God I hate this school. If Sophia wasn’t here I would run as fast as I could away from this place.” Adolph confesses as he begins to open his locker. “That sucks man. But I don’t think you have to worry about Sophia disappearing.” Ben comments, taking a book out of Adolph’s locker.
The first two hours of the day go as good as they get. The first teacher of the day completely ignores Adolph while they are lecturing the class. The second teacher has Adolph run errands almost the entire hour. The third teacher, however, used Adolph as an example while the class was being lectured which caused Adolph to get called a teacher’s pet and a super nerd. Then lunch came along.
After standing in line for twenty minutes, Adolph finally gets to the front of the pizza line. “Sorry, kid go get something else.” The lunch lady says rudely. “Why?” Adolph asks with an annoyed tone. “Hey! I don’t like your attitude. We are out now go get something else!” The lunch lady yells, pointing at a different line. Adolph just shakes his head and walks away, deciding to skip lunch that day. He sees students walking into the lunchroom with pizza from that same line.
After lunch that day, Adolph sits through the last hours of the day. In 7th hour, history, Ben does his best to cheer up Adolph. “Dude, forget that lunch lady I doubt she even knows what nice means. A person drops a note in front of Ben’s desk. He gets the note and reads it, letting out a fierce smile. “Here is the reason for you to smile.”
“Heyz WATS up homiez?
Sup, g?
OMG did you hear? Sophia got dropped last weak.
Totely who hasn’t?
She nevar told that one Adolph nerd.
Duh thas cause she in love wit him.
Ha! Ya.”
“Awesome.” Adolph says with a smile. “There he is! There is the happy wolf I know!” Ben laughs clapping. The rest of that hour goes by surprisingly easily. When the bell rings Adolph is the first one up and out. Nobody seems to push Adolph, just look at him strange. He gets to his locker and puts everything in it really fast. He slams it shut and begins down the hall. It was shorter than ever.
“Hey, Sophia!” Adolph yells when he sees her. This was going to be the best day ever. “I wanted to…” He begins to say before Sophia interrupts him. “Leave me alone!” She snaps when he gets near. “Your so annoying its not even funny with your cheery attitude.” Adolph takes a step backwards with shock on his face. “I’m sorry.” Sophia tries to say before Adolph leaves, but she is too late. She takes a step and hears the cracking of glass. Sophia looks down and sees Adolph’s glasses on the ground.
Turns out Sophia just thought Adolph was somebody else and spoke without thinking. That one incident caused Adolph to leave Columbia and hitchhike to Oklahoma where he would grow up homeless until he turns 18 and joins the marines. Every time Adolph is on leave in the military he spends that time on an obstacle course increasing his strength, using one of the obstacles for shelter.
Chapter 9:
Berlin, Germany. May 20th 2021
“Is it true?” Adolph hears a womanly voice says. “What did you say his name is? Where did you find him?” The womanly voice asks. “Um. Adolph Hoffnung and we found him at Columbia High School.” A manly voice says. Adolph opens his eyes and slowly begins to pull himself up. “Ah. God my head is killing me.” He says holding his head, “Somebody got an aspirin?”
The woman looks at him; she was well sized for a woman. She was Caucasian and had long brown hair. Something about her voice was very familiar. The woman stomps up to Adolph and slaps him as hard as she can right across his face. “Jesus Christ!” Adolph yells out in pain rubbing his cheek, “Where’s my beard?” The woman looks at him with death eyes, “Where did you go?” She yells.
Adolph realized whom the voice belonged too. “I left because I had nothing left at that school. You hated me, everybody else hated me, I just did everybody a favor.” Adolph answers. “What? What made you think I hated you?” Sophia argues with an angry face. “You said it yourself! ‘Your so annoying its not even funny with your cheery attitude’ that ring a bell?” “I wasn’t talking to you.” “You said it right when I walked up to you and said hi.” “I thought you were somebody else. I’m sorry!” Sophia yells sadly. Adolph looks at her straight in the eyes
“Hate to break this most touching of reunions, but we have about three hundred million troops to deal with here.” A man says walking in with a younger man following him. The older man tosses an M16 to Adolph, “You have just been drafted to the German military.” The younger man looks at him, “ADOLPH!” He yells in a high-pitched voice running at Adolph.
The younger man was named Andy Jackson. Adolph decided to call him Aj. They knew each other from basic training back a long time ago. Aj was tall, slim, and slightly muscular. He had a great strength for using guns and strategies, plus he was a bit on the weird side. The older man was named Aaron Palmer. Aaron was very smart and made people call him Mr. Palmer. He had a thing for literature and poetry. Aaron was tall and muscular, with golden brown hair and a golden brown beard.
“So where am I?” Adolph asks, walking next to Mr. Palmer and Aj. Sophia follows closely behind the three. “You’re in a military base in Berlin.” Mr. Palmer says, “Germany is the last stand for the allied forces. If this place falls, so does democracy.” “That sucks.” Adolph says as they walk into a room full of machines. “Have a seat and don’t touch anything.” Mr. Palmer says. Adolph sits down and Aj walks over by him.
“Dude what happened. You were like, almost dead when we found you.” Aj tells Adolph out of nowhere. “I got attacked at midnight, and I ran to the school from central Kansas. In Kansas City I heard them use a giant gun so I ran to the edge of the city, from there I went into an allusion everything in Missouri was beautiful and singing. Then I got there and found out my best friend helped caused the warm war.” Adolph explains. Aj laughs, “Run, run, run!” He yells.
Later that day Adolph has a different conversation with Mr. Palmer. “You need to be a teacher.” Adolph says out of nowhere. “I was.” Mr. Palmer replies, “The best in my district one year. Plus I had this really annoying kid who tried to get me to call him my friend.” “That really sucks. I would have punched that kid out.” Mr. Palmer laughs, “I thought about it, and another student kept saying buzz, buzz, buzz.” Adolph laughs at the stupidity of some teenagers.
The only person who avoids Adolph is Sophia. “Dude. She really is mad at you.” Aj says out of nowhere. “I know.” Adolph says, “and I don’t care.” Aj tilts his head, “Why? She is hot.” Adolph sighs, “This isn’t exactly the time to be judging our allies.” “When is the time?” He asks in a deep voice. “Um…when we aren’t on the verge of being murdered.” “Fine.” Aj pouts.
Chapter 10:
Berlin, Germany. May 23rd, 2021.
Time in the headquarters went by fairly fast. Everyday they woke up at 5 AM. They ate breakfast and monitored the enemy armies. After that they spoke to the citizens to reassure their safety. Then after lunch they practiced their aiming at the gun range and made sure their guns were in tip-top shape. After dinner they monitored some more and went to bed at 10:00. In all this time Sophia avoided speaking to Adolph.
“We got a mission!” Mr. Palmer yells into the barracks. Adolph jumps up, “We do?” He asks. “Well. You do.” Mr. Palmer says, as Adolph follows him. Adolph grabs his equipment and heads to the main room. “Alright, Adolph. This is a simple mission. You are going to be taken to a place in Russia that has some survivors. You will escort the survivors to the rendezvous point. After that you will be ‘dropped’ off back here and they will be taken to England.” Adolph nods, “Simple enough.”
Riding in a helicopter is a scary experience the first time you do it. The screaming of the rotors and the millions of Hibernian, Chinese, and Vietnamese soldiers didn’t help at the slightest. “Holy.” Adolph says looking over the millions of enemies. “Yeah, there is no hope.” The helicopter pilot says, “I only do my job for the hope they spare me.” Adolph shakes his head, “They won’t, their only mission is too kill every enemy.” The pilot lets out a deep sigh and doesn’t respond.
The helicopter lands two hundred yards from the city the survivors are in, “This is as close as I can get you!” The pilot says as the helicopter begins to float. Adolph turns his back on the helicopter and begins on his way to the city. Adolph had forgotten about the heat caused by radiation. “There it is.” Adolph says looking at the city just down a cliff. He begins to slide down the steep hill using his boots to slow him down when he gets to fast.
Adolph steps onto the unknown feeling of pavement. The only sound is that of his boots battling the road. Rubble from recent bombings fills the city, along with the smell of dead bodies. Russia had got it a lost worse than America did. The Vietnamese and Chinese were as relentless, if not worse, than the Hibernians. Somehow the communists figured out how to get atomic bombs to send off a non-lethal amount of radiation after the more-than-lethal explosion.
Adolph hears heavy breathing from a building nearby, and decides to check it out. He kicks the door open and points his gun into the building. Nothing. He walks into the building and looks around. The sound of screaming pierces the silence. Adolph turns around and sees an Asian man running at him with a butcher knife. “Stand down or I’ll shoot!” Adolph yells aiming the M16 at the man’s head. The man stops and drops the butcher knife, “Please don’t kill me. You can’t. I already sent out for help from the Germans. Yeah, your going to die!” Adolph chuckles, “You’re the one I was sent to help? What’s your name.” He puts his gun down. “Vinh. There are others here with me, but they won’t tell anyone their names.”
One man and three women step out of the other room. Vinh was Vietnamese, stood about 5’9’’ and had an average sized body. The other man stood about 5’6’’ and is of Russian decent. The three women are all Russian, one stands at five foot nothing, another at about 5’6’’, and the last stands about 6’3’’. Adolph looks at the five survivors and nods, “Alright lets head out.” He says.
Adolph spends about five minutes on the radio talking to the helicopter pilot. “Alright the rendezvous point is straight north, he will be waiting for us.” Adolph says pointing north. The five survivors nod and begin walking. A sudden shock of terror breaks into Adolph’s heart. He hears people speaking a foreign, his reader indicating Chinese. “Run. RUN!” Adolph says turning around to see a group of Chinese soldiers walk into the clearing. The survivors take off running.
Adolph and the soldiers stand looking at each other for a second. At the same time they all break for cover. Adolph gets behind a car and pulls his M16 off his back. The sound of an exploding grenade begins the firefight. Adolph had no idea how he would fight off the enemy Chinese. He looks over the car for a second and tries to spot them all. A bullet hits near Adolph’s head and he pulls back down. The survivors have disappeared from sight.
Suddenly, Adolph sees hope. He shoots out the window to a shop and jumps in. The soldiers see him and chase him into the building. They look up and shoot off a couple rounds to try and scare Adolph. They look down and see a propane tank with the word, “Hey.” on it. They look around and suddenly hear something hit the ground. A frag grenade bounces into the room and explodes right beside the propane tank.
Adolph jumps out of the building as it collapses inward. He looks to the north and begins running full speed to the north. “Come on! One more minute!” Vinh begs of the pilot. “No. He is dead.” The pilot says as he begins to pull up. “Hey!” A voice yells from the distance. The pilot ignores the voice and smiles as the helicopter gets off the ground. Vinh pushes a small crate off the helicopter. When Adolph gets close enough he jumps on the crate, then jumps again grabbing onto the lower bar on the helicopter. “All present and accounted for.” He says climbing onto the helicopter.
Chapter 11:
Berlin, Germany. May 24th, 2021.
“You never told me I would have to parachute back here.” Adolph says to Mr. Palmer the next day. “I said he would drop you off.” “Didn’t think you meant literally.” Mr. Palmer stops, “Why wouldn’t I be literal? I was an English teacher.” Adolph stops with him, “Aren’t you supposed to teach stuff other than being literal?” “Who told you that load?” “Um. My English teacher taught us a lot of stuff about not being literal, like idioms and hyperboles.” Mr. Palmer smiles and takes a turn into another room, closing the door behind him.
Adolph shakes his head and walks into the main room, “Where is Aj?” He asks the room. The only person there is Sophia. She ignores the question. A picture of Aj pops up on the screen and points to a spot in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. “Come in, base!” He yells, “Come in!” Adolph is the first to the front of the room, “What’s wrong?” “I am under heavy fire. Repeat! Heavy fire!” Aj yells as an explosion is heard in the background.
“I have been spotted!” Aj says through the headset. “We’ll send help!” Sophia says, typing really fast. “No. It’s no use anybody that comes here is dead, switching on head cam.” The head cam is a nifty little object implanted in the headset. The head cam allows people at base to see what a single unit is seeing. Aj looks down and looks at his stomach. His stomach is very red, and so is his hand. Adolph takes a deep breath at the sight. “How many enemies are there?” Adolph asks.
“See for yourself.” Aj says turning his head around and looking through a small hole in the wall. Two units stick out to Adolph. “John Critias and Ben Biggs.” He says with a choking sound. Aj turns back around and tries to reload his gun, but it is no use. “I can’t move my hands. I have maybe another few minutes.” He says slowly and painfully. “I am bleeding out.”
Adolph closes his eyes for a second and takes a long, deep breath. He opens his eyes as Aj turns around and looks through the hole again. This time Ben has a different weapon. “No.” Adolph says looking at it. “Aj! Move your head! He has a…” The screen turns to static in a second. “…Sniper rifle.” Adolph falls into a nearby seat and leans his head back, ready to yell.
“Sophia, rewind the feed to when he turns around.” She does so without speaking. “Now go frame by frame.” Adolph sits there telling Sophia when to press next to go to the next frame. He stops on the final frame when the gray bullet is right in front of the screen. Adolph looks at Ben with disgust. “He is smiling. He knows we were watching!” Adolph yells kicking the chair away.
Sophia gets up and walks into the room Mr. Palmer was in. Adolph sits in the main room alone; ready to yell loud enough Ben would have to hear him. Adolph’s heart is pounding fast enough it is ready to pop out of his chest. He sits there, memorizing the faces of John Critias and Ben Biggs.
A blaring siren interrupts the silence. Mr. Palmer runs into the room with Sophia. “The Hibernians are invading Germany!” He says pressing an emergency button. Sirens begin to go off all around the country, civilians run into safe zones and soldiers prepare for battle. Adolph grabs his M16 and looks at Mr. Palmer with an angry look. “Where was Aj sent to?” “Why?” Mr. Palmer says, “Their leader is there, and he has a giant target on his head. Mr. Palmer looks at him, “That is to drastic.” “No, its perfectly fine. If I fail then you lost a single soldier, if I succeed this war could end.” Mr. Palmer waits a second then calls a helicopter.
Adolph walks up to the helicopter pad. It was going to be night when he got there, all the better for fighting. As the helicopter near, Sophia runs up behind Adolph. “Adolph!” She yells, tugging on his coat like a child. Adolph turns around, “I’m sorry I left Sophia, but this time I have a real reason.” The helicopter lands behind them. Tears were beginning to run down Sophia’s face. “What is that reason?” She asks painfully. Adolph looks at her and steps backwards onto the bar of the helicopter grabbing on to a safety strap as the helicopter begins to ascend. “I have someone to protect.” He says pointing at Sophia as the helicopter turns and flies away.
Chapter 12:
Bermuda Triangle. May 24th, 2021
Adolph jumps out of the helicopter two hundred yards from the main island. He looks down as air flies through his eyes at almost eighty miles an hour. Adolph had always been afraid of jumping out of airborne vehicles, but now nothing seemed to scare him. At the right time, Adolph pulls the string and a silent parachute flies out. He slowly descends into the water.
When he hits the water, Adolph rips the parachute off and begins to swim. After a bit of swimming, he realizes there is a spider sitting on his head. He reaches up and grabs the spider, crushing it in his hand as he tosses it away. He keeps his head cam on at all times, so Mr. Palmer and Sophia can see what is happening every minute of the mission. “Why did you wait so long to jump?” Mr. Palmer asks. “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t seen.” Adolph gasps over the microphone.
The cold water seems to be pushing Adolph towards the coast of the island. The whistling wind also helps push Adolph to the coast. It seems some natural force wants Adolph to get to the island, or he is just really lucky. Adolph accidentally drinks some of the water and spits it out. “Wait a minute.” He says drinking the water again. “Its fresh.” Adolph says into the headset. “What?” Mr. Palmer asks. “The water. It’s fresh water not salt water.” “Weird.”
Adolph finally reaches the edge of the island and climbs onto the long sandy beach breathing heavily. “Man. Never expected to swim that much.” He says looking at the night sky. “Hurry up, before somebody sees you.” Mr. Palmer commands with an impatient voice. “Alright.” Adolph says kicking sand into the water as he forces himself up.
The brisk night air feels good on Adolph’s wet face as he sneaks across the island. Every couple of seconds he sees a guard or two. They had the exact same outfit as regular soldiers, except you could hear them walking. Their gun was some weird assault rifle Adolph has never seen before. Mr. Palmer checked the database for it, but there were no matches. The Hibernian guards were using guns nobody knew existed.
Adolph walks into a room to avoid being seen and looks around. “Locker room.” He says, slowly closing the door behind him. He sees a guard changing and picking up his gun. Adolph silently walks up to the guard and bashes him in the face. The guard falls backward and tries to get up. Adolph leans down and hits the guard’s head with his M16. Water begins to flow out of his M16. “I have a better idea.” He says, looking at the dead guard.
After changing into the guard’s outfit, Adolph rips open the guard’s locker. “Cool a helmet.” He says reaching down into the locker and grabbing the helmet. He slips it on and looks the body. “Time to get rid of you.” He says grabbing the body and jamming the guard in the locker with Adolph’s wet clothes. “Somebody will find you eventually.” Adolph says kicking the locker shut and picking up the guards gun. Adolph had the headset on inside the helmet so the helmet’s voice synthesizer wouldn’t change his voice. He turns off the voice emitter in the helmet so other guards won’t hear him talking. “The Hibernians make it too easy to sneak in.”
Adolph walks out into the open holding his gun the exact same way as everybody else. Another guard walks up to him, “What took you so long?” The guard asks. Adolph turns on his voice emitter, “Had a bit of trouble.” The guard nods, “I understand, wink. Where you stationed tonight?” Adolph takes a deep breath, “Uh, actually I just got a call from Mr. Critias. He wants me to work in the HQ tonight.” “Dude, awesome congratulations.” “Thanks.” Adolph says looking at the big building in the middle.
Adolph begins to walk towards the main HQ. “Good job on tricking that guard. How did you know it would work?” Mr. Palmer asks over the headset. “I didn’t. I was yelling at myself inside.” Adolph replies, walking up a large set of stairs. “So you were risking the cover you had just set up?” “Pretty much. I have their gun so I could have just shot then disappeared.” “Don’t try anything, you don’t know how that thing works.” Mr. Palmer warns as Adolph nears the top.
Adolph walks up to the door of the big building and opens it, walking in. He walks up to the secretary, “Uh. What floor is Mr. Critias on?” He asks. “Are you the one he sent for?” “Yeah.” “He is on the top floor, just press top in the elevator.” Adolph nods and walks into the elevator. “Uh. Top, here it is.” He says pressing the button as the elevator kicks and begins to go up.
Chapter 13:
Hibernian HQ, Bermuda Triangle. May 24th, 2021
Adolph walks into the big room and sees John Critias talking to someone. “Sir.” Adolph says stepping forward. “Wait a second.” Critias says as he finishes his conversation with the man. The man walks through a door near Critias’ desk and closes it slowly behind him. “Yes, 301543?” Critias asks. “What?” Adolph asks in a confused manner. “301543, don’t tell me you forgot your number.” Adolph shakes his head, “Of course not.” He says with a fake chuckle.
“So, what did you want?” Critias asks again, standing up this time. “Oh yeah.” Adolph says pulling his gun up, “Die.” He says holding the trigger down. Nothing happens. “What happened to your nanochip?” Critias asks looking at the gun. “Nanochip?” Adolph asks surprised. “Yeah, the injection we gave you when you joined. It had your nanochip so your gun would work.” Adolph drops the gun. “Get out of there, Adolph, NOW!” Mr. Palmer yells.
“I’ll ask you again.” Critias says in an annoyed tone, “What happened to your nanochip, Adolph?” Adolph’s heart skips a beat. “Get out of there, Adolph!” Mr. Palmer continues to yell. “How did you know?” Adolph asks, ignoring Mr. Palmer. “You don’t actually think you could infiltrate the most secure base in the world, do you?” Critias says, “Now take off that helmet and have a seat, let’s talk.” Adolph pulls the helmet off and sits down.
“First, lets start with the story of the Bermuda Triangle. Do you believe it is true?” Critias asks, sitting down as well. “No way.” Adolph replies, “Its just a load of crap made up by the media.” Critias laughs, “No, it is completely true. This island was the very first terrorist operation, created by the Russians in 1950. The Russians that ran this went bad and went against order. They were the first terrorists. The reason why no planes or boats made it through this island was because the terrorists knocked them out using electro magnetic pulses.” Adolph nods at the information.
“I came across this island two years ago. I had my soldiers take over the island and use it as the main base of operations.” Critias explains. “Now to present time. We were watching you from the second you left your base. That girl is pretty, hopefully nothing bad happens to her.” Critias laughs. Adolph gets angry. “Oh calm down, Adolph, I was joking. After Germany surrenders then no more lives will be lost for this war. Civilians will be allowed to live, as long as the leaders of that country agrees to let us rule over them.”
“So this is your plan? Take over the world by scaring the crap out of countries using hydrogen bombs and unknown weapons?” Adolph asks angrily. “There is more to it than that. The ‘unknown weapons’ are actually just ak-47s painted differently with metal put on the barrel. The hydrogen bombs aren’t hydrogen bombs. See, hydrogen bombs leave behind a lethal amount of radiation. Our bombs don’t, so people can rebuild their homes in the exact same place.”
Adolph gets angry at the stuff Critias is saying. “How are they supposed to rebuild their house when your bomb kills them?” He yells. “Oh shut up you know as well as I do there are a lot of survivors!” Critias yells back. Adolph grabs the side of the chair he is sitting in as tight as he can, almost ripping into the cloth the chair is made of. “So. Any questions?” Critias asks. “Yes, why America and Russia?” Adolph asks.
“Ah, I knew you would ask this. Well, back during the cold war, my family was filthy rich. When the cold war started, my dad spent all of our money building a huge underground safe and filling it with food so we would be safe during the nuclear apocalypse. The cold war ended and our family went bankrupt. My sister became a prostitute and I decided I would destroy the country that destroyed my family, and Germany just had to try and do the right thing.” Critias explains.
“To think. It is now 11:50 P.M. At Midnight the biggest bomb in the world will launch right at your little HQ.” Critias says, laughing. “Unless of course you can stop it.” Adolph looks at Critias with a wild look, why won’t I just attack? Adolph asks himself. Because I know it is a trap. And that if I set off this trap I will die. Even after all this am I still afraid of death?
The room sits there silently. “Adolph!” Mr. Palmer yells. “You had better answer him, don’t worry I can wait.” Critias says tapping his fingers. “What?” Adolph asks through the headset. “The Hibernian troops are moving in on the HQ. You need to do something fast!” Adolph looks at Critias. Critias moves his head in a rhythmic patter, tapping his hands on the desk in a catchy beat.
Adolph begins to think about what to do. “Do something! Now!” Mr. Palmer commands. “Listen to him, Adolph.” Critias says tossing a revolver to Adolph. “Shoot me.” Adolph looks at the gun and checks to see if it is loaded. “Shoot me, or your little girlfriend will die.” Critias says standing up. Adolph continues to look at the gun. “What will it take? Fine. Shoot me or that little w…” Critias says, “…Will die!” Adolph’s heart goes crazy. He jumps up and aims the gun at Critias. A bullet flies through Adolph ‘s chest right as he does.
The clock strikes midnight.
Chapter 14:
Hibernian HQ, Bermuda Triangle. May 25th, 2021
“Wow. You really must love her.” Critias says walking up to Adolph. “You knew it was a trap but you still attacked me.” Adolph takes a deep breath and tries to hold in the pain. Ben walks into the room and lays the barrel of his gun on his shoulder. “I told you I was going to help you start world war 3.” He says, turning around and walking up to the window, “We’ll leave you alone to die.” Critias says. The two of them look out the window.
Sophia begins to talk into the headset. “Adolph, listen to my voice.” She says taking a breath, “You can’t die. Not yet. Remember Aj, how they killed him in the most? How Ben loved it just because we were watching?” Adolph looks up at Ben, then back down. “What about in high school? How Ben always treated you like crap and insulted you? He blamed me for you leaving.” She says.
“The last day of our freshman year he hit me, Adolph, as hard as he could.” Sophia says into the headset, “No teachers were around. When I told the teachers he said that I did it to myself to get him in trouble. They believed him, Adolph. Get him back for that, get him back for Aj, get him back for the millions of people that have died in this war!” Sophia pleads.
Adolph looks up at Ben again, this time he is looking at him. “Tell Sophia I said hi. Oh, also tell her that my hand hurt a lot after that day, I think I broke my knuckles on her cheekbone.” Ben laughs and turns around again looking out the window. “Don’t die, Adolph, don’t die. There are still millions of people that need you. Mr. Palmer needs you. Most of all I need you! I love you, Adolph!”
Ben presses a button and the headset cuts off, “It was getting way to mushy.” He says. The word bounces around inside Adolph’s head. Love. She loves me. Adolph thinks to himself. She loves me. I can’t let her down. I can’t let the people of the world down. I can’t let Aj down. I can’t let Ben down. He always told me to man up and now is my time too! Get up you weakling! Adolph yells at himself.
Adolph slowly gets up and looks at Ben at the window. He runs straight at Ben. Ben turns around and watches Adolph run at him, “What the…?” Ben yells as Adolph rams into him shoulder first. “This is the warm war! Not world war 3!” Adolph yells. Ben flies through the window, the sound of shattering glass breaking the silence. Critias looks at him, “So you are still alive? See the TV? That’s where the bomb is. You have one or two more minutes to blow it up.”
Adolph looks at the button that says ‘self destruct bomb’. “But you’ll have to get through me.” Critias says punching Adolph. Adolph falls backwards and grabs onto the wall, using it to hold himself up. “You are at a disadvantage you know. You are losing blood by the second.” Adolph begins to feel woozy and his vision begins to blur. “You are running out of time.” Critias says.
The sound of a helicopter is heard. Critias looks outside and sees a helicopter looking him right in the eyes. The helicopter starts unloading a large amount of bullets into Critias. He flies into the wall. “Go Adolph! Hit the button!” Adolph jumps forward and hits the button. The bomb on the television explodes right above Germany. Bombs on the coast of the island also explode. “Get on!” The pilot yells. Adolph runs and jumps onto the helicopter. The pilot begins to ascend.
Chapter 15:
Skies above the Bermuda Triangle. May 25th, 2021
Adolph watches the island from above. Explosions are constantly going off around the coast of the island. Before long the island begins to sink. “Wow, one button and their entire HQ is gone.” Adolph says, suddenly falling backward from the wound. The pilot sets the helicopter on autopilot and climbs into the back of the helicopter to bandage Adolph’s wounds.
“So how did you know I needed help?” Adolph asks. “Sophia made me help out. If it were my choice you would be dead and so would them.” The pilot replies tying the bandage around Adolph’s chest. “So just relax on the ride back to the HQ.” Adolph lies back against the side of helicopter as it flies across the great black sky. The radio turns back on.
“Adolph! Are you okay!” Sophia yells in a worried tone. “Yeah, Ben and Critias are dead and I am headed back. Are you okay?” Adolph replies in a pained tone. “Yeah, we held off the invasion and now they are retreating.” Sophia says, “Did the pilot bandage your wounds?” “Yeah, he took care of me. We should be back in a few hours.” Adolph says leaning his head against the side of the helicopter.
Mr. Palmer starts talking after Sophia stops. “Good job. You really did well.” He says
Prologue:
The feeling had grown quite old. The feeling of fear of everything, death, hydrogen bombs, and anything else that could cause the extinction of the human race. Schools all around America have dropped in test scores. The economy has improved because everybody is buying supplies in bulk. America had gone from one of the smartest countries with a poor economy to one of the dumbest countries with a great economy, but this isn’t where it starts, the beginning goes far back before all this to the era of the cold war.
During the cold war, the communist Russia and the Democratic America fought with words instead of bombs. The cold war ended and life resumed on, except hundreds of thousands of people around the world who were ready for the end of everything. When nothing happen, these people were furious about spending all of their money to make sure they are safe during a nuclear war. These people hid for many years before finally acting.
On December 21st, 2012 the world was supposed to end, because that’s when the Mayan calendar ended. Not many people believed this because of false beliefs of Y2K and 06/06/06. Some people, however, spent all of their money once again to make sure they survived. Once again, the people were furious, this time to the point millions of people met and began to stockpile guns.
In the middle of 2015 these rebels silently and unknowingly invaded Canada, the country they believed would not fight back. Canada put up a much greater fight, but eventually fell to the rebels. This rebellion would later, much later, go down as the Midnight Rebellion. They changed the name of Canada to Hiberna, the Latin word for winter. Shortly after they began mass manufacturing weapons and changed to communism.
Hiberna had alliances with every communist country in the world by the end of that year. Everything was falling into the Hibernian plans. The next thing they did was beginning the secret creation of nuclear bombs. They had little compared to the rest of the world, but soon were stockpiling enough for a great war. The United Nations found out and made Hiberna stop the creation of bombs, but this just speeded up the inevitable.
The July 4th, 2020 would be remembered as the worst day of all time. Hiberna launched nukes at Washington D.C. and Moscow without warning or a declaration of war. John Critias, Hiberna’s leader, declared on that day, “Today is the beginning of what should have ended by now. Our declaration of war to the two superpowers that should have ended the world, are the ruins of their capital cities!” After that day, it was an all out war between communism and democracy.
Many people called this war, “World war 3”, but it’s official title would be “the warm war” due to the heat of radiation and since it was the ultimate cause of the Cold War. The main powers on the communist side were Hiberna, China, Vietnam, and Korea. The main powers of the allied side were the United States, Germany, and Russia. The doomsday clock hit one minute to Midnight on this day.
Hiberna invaded the United States right off the bat, killing every living human in sight. Russia sent help, but nothing helped. Any battle Hiberna lost was nuked almost immediately after the loss; even with Hiberna survivors still near the battlegrounds. Russia fell under the united might of China, Vietnam, and Korea. The rest of the U.S. and Russian military fled to Germany, the last untouched allied superpower.
Chapter 1:
Vinita, Oklahoma. May 3rd, 2021
The sound of running water is heard, an unfamiliar sound in the barren wasteland known as America. A man splashes water on his face, grunting as the cold water seeps through his unkempt beard. Everything in this country had been so hot since the beginning of the war. The feeling of the cool water was refreshing to feel once again after so long.
Adolph Hoffnung had been born in Oklahoma under German decent in the year of 1994. He was twenty seven year old, serving as a U.S. marine for nine years now. When the U.S. troops were shipped to Germany, Adolph and the squad he was assigned with was M.I.A. fighting off enemy troops. Adolph was the only survivor, the rest were wounded and died during the nuking of that battlefield. After that he was stuck roaming the wastelands alone. The number of Hiberna troops dropped greatly in the past couple of months.
Adolph grunts as he walks down the steps and begins to open the door. There were still thousands of Hiberna troops in America. All Adolph had was an M16 on his back and faith that Hiberna would one day fall. He opens the door and steps out into the bright daylight, the sun hurting his eyes while they adjust. His footsteps echo down the empty streets. Occasionally a single gunshot could be heard, every shot scaring Adolph more than the last. One never got used to the feeling of being like a deer during a life long hunting season.
The days feel twelve times longer and the heat feel a hundred times hotter when you’re in the middle of a war. Adolph would think to himself time after time while walking down the lonely boulevards. Adolph had an unstable mind. It was not caused by the war, but by something that went far back to his freshman year of high school…
Chapter 2:
Columbia, Missouri. October 31st, 2009
Life for Adolph Hoffnung had finally reached a point of happiness after months and months of depression. His friends treated him better than they used to, and random people didn’t insult him without even meeting him. He had a crush on one friend in particular, but they didn’t see it. Sophia Richards was her name and she was a great friend.
“Ah, why am I so weak?” Adolph blurts out at lunch, leaning his head back and looking at the ceiling. “Because that’s just the way nerds are.” Ben Biggs replied with a laugh. “True.” Adolph would admit. Adolph was a stereotypical nerd. He had glasses and braces, never kissed a girl other than his mom, and couldn’t fight to save his life. He had also gotten angry only twice in all nine years he had been in school. The teachers release students from lunch and Adolph heads back to R.O.T.C. He had deep down wanted to be a marine, but his friends convinced him not to. “You’re the only one that wouldn’t survive in a war, Adolph.” Almost every friend of his would say. Adolph knew full well he would die in a war, and thought it would be better to die in a war rather than at home in bed. He was also the only one who thought like that.
In R.O.T.C, students basically learned what it is like to be in the air force. After it, he had computer applications, which would help Adolph to be what he wanted to be most, a video game programmer. Adolph believed that video games were the main part of his childhood, so he wanted to make a difference in the video gaming community.
“Hey, what’s four?” A kid in Adolph’s math class constantly asks him. “Not telling you.” Adolph would always answer, not even looking at the kid. The kid would just turn around and yell, “No I will not take my shirt off!” Everybody except the teacher and Adolph would laugh. It was an over used joke that was never funny. Adolph had grown tired of class clowns and want to be class clowns; all they did was make it harder for the people who wanted to learn to learn.
The last hour of the day, history, was always fun. The teacher explained funny stuff about the past leaders of America, and that made it easier to learn the real serious stuff that would be on state tests and benchmarks. People would crack jokes about other people and it would just be all fun and games during the hour. There was nothing better than the sound of the final bell on a Friday.
The bell rings, Adolph gets his stuffs and begins the walk down the hall. The school was a fairly average sized school, and after a long day the walk lasted forever. The cool air that blew through felt good against the heads of students who just spent an entire hour and a half working. Adolph sees his friend and yells, “Hey Sophia!” going to start a conversation.
Chapter 3:
Vinita, Oklahoma. May 3rd, 2021.
The silence in a war can be broken in the tiniest second, and the silence just broke. “Get him!” Adolph can hear from behind him. He jumps down and hides behind a car. The sound of a nearby grenade leaves an intense ringing sound in Adolph’s ear. The sound of shattering glass breaks the ringing. Adolph feels glass fall down on him from the car above. The bullets stop flying, “Go check it out!” One of them says, probably the leader.
Adolph tosses a grenade over the car. The three Hiberna units dive to avoid it and hear a splash from the lake nearby. The three race over to the lake trying to see where Adolph went. “I don’t see how we are losing to you.” Adolph says standing behind all three of them with his M16 aimed at them. “Drop your weapons and step away from them.” He commands. The three units do so and back up, “Alright now let us go.” The smallest one says. “I’m sorry. Did I say I would let you live if you did it?” Adolph says as he pulls the trigger unloading the M16 bullets into the three units. Three simultaneous splashes are heard in the lake.
Adolph walks over and checks their equipment. There was nothing useful in the midst of all the equipment; the guns were dirty and poorly maintained. “Looks like they never learned how to take care of their weapons.” Adolph says, “Oh well. My M16 is in b better shape than this Hibernian crap.” He kicks the guns into the lake, picking up two frag grenades.
Adolph continues the long walk down the road, taking a break every three or four hours to chug down a bottle of water to keep his energy up. Dehydration set in pretty easily now, because of radiation heating and global warming in the summer. Adolph never traveled by vehicle; they either didn’t work or were too noisy. At 1000 hours Adolph found an empty house that was already boarded up to rest in. The temperature stayed above 90 that night, making it a lot harder to sleep.
At midnight Adolph wakes up from a nightmare, panting and sweating heavily. He reaches into his wallet and pulls out a paper. He looks over it real quick and then calms down and lies back down to sleep. Adolph never had flash backs of the war, but made up by having very bad nightmares at midnight almost every night. Subconsciously, he hated what he did. He often questioned what he was looking for. Not survivors, he had already found survivors and didn’t even bother to help them, except, however, when he found a little kid. He helped the kid to find a safe place that would take survivors to Great Britain where they would be safe.
Adolph wakes up that morning by the warm feeling of the sun on his face. It was still rising, which meant he hadn’t slept in. He would cross the Kansas state line soon, and from there he would head east to Missouri. Adolph had no idea why, but he just felt drawn to going to Missouri. With that thought, Adolph opens the door and steps into the sunlight, and begins down the street going straight north.
Adolph hears a roar and sees a lion jump out into the middle of the street. Adolph runs to the nearest cover and ducks down. The lion had to escape from the zoo that was only a mile or two away. He looks out and sees bullets fly over the street impaling the lion hundreds of times. The lion lets out a slight roar and falls down, attempting to crawl away. A unit runs out next to the lion pointing his gun at it. Adolph pulls the pin on a grenade and tosses it with a rock. The lion climbs on top of the grenade and the unit shoots the lion in the head. The unit looks up to see Adolph standing there, “You!” the unit yells as the fragmentation grenade explodes. Three more units run and see no one where Adolph was once standing. The check the area but can’t find him, “We have a magician.” One unit says into the headset, “Unknown appearance and location.” The Hibernian soldiers referred to survivors that disappeared as magicians.
Adolph waits until he hears the footsteps begin before he looks through a hole in the fence. “That’s right. Walk away.” He says smiling. One unit, wearing a helmet, turns around and looks, but continues to walk to the north. Adolph gets up and heads north as well, hoping there would be no further conflicts with zoo animals or Hibernians. The sound of a jet breaks the silence. Adolph knew what this meant. He takes off full speed running down the street, finding a nearby bike and getting on it pedaling as fast as he can. When his legs begin to grow tired, Adolph just begins to thrust the pedals down faster and faster, knowing what would happen if he slowed down for a second.
The jet is directly overhead and then flies past Adolph, down to the spot where the lion was. The sound of a falling object is heard whipping through the wind. Adolph continues to look forward as he pedals as fast as he can down the street. Silence. The silence is ended in less than a nanosecond as whipping wind and a giant explosion is heard. Wind pushes Adolph off the bike and far forward. He had escaped the main part of the nuke, but had to deal with the excess wind. It forced Adolph off his bike and onto the cold hard pavement.
Adolph runs his hand through his beard as he opens his eyes. He uses a nearby mailbox to help himself up. After standing up and hitting the dust off of him, he looks forward blankly. A sign stands in his face, “Welcome to Kansas.”
Chapter 4:
South Kansas. May 4th, 2021
Kansas has already been bombed to hell. There are no survivors or monuments left. All that’s left are the long, stretching prairies this part of the country is known for. The heat is scorching, probably ten degrees hotter than the day before. This is because Kansas has gone through more nuclear explosions than other part of the country. A rebellion started and ended here.
Adolph walks down the stretching roads that have continuously been built up year by year. Once he got in the middle part of Kansas he would begin to head east into the middle part of Missouri. Something about Missouri just drew Adolph to want to go back there. It was still a day or two away, it was already six o’clock and the sun was setting. He would go to bed when he got to central Kansas.
The good thing about nighttime was that the sun was gone and things would cool down some. The bad thing about nighttime was that the Hibernian outfits were black as night, which made them almost impossible to see. While Adolph’s outfit didn’t blend in that well with darkness.
Adolph finally takes a short break from the perilous walking and sits down on a bus bench. He pulls out a flask and looks at it, “Haven’t done this in a long time.” He says, taking a sip from the flask. The feeling of the cold beverage dripping down his throat felt good. It was the first time in almost a year he had used it. After the atom incident earlier that day he needed it.
Adolph looks down the road and sees a dog chasing a cat up the road to the east. He wouldn’t have to deal with very many soldiers here. Most, if not all, of the soldiers in Kansas have moved down to Oklahoma and Texas. It was good to finally get a break from all the fighting that had come with being a survivor. The dog catches the cat and one of the most gruesome sequences in human life beings. Adolph looks away, trying to ignore the screeching of the kitten and the growling of the dog.
When the screeching stops, Adolph gets up and walks to the East trying to keep his gut down. No matter how many times he killed somebody he could never get used to an animal dying in a much more gruesome way. Adolph just swallowed his gut and continued on, he had no time to blow chunks all over the place. The road seemed to get longer and longer the farther Adolph walked, like a bad nightmare.
That’s what this is, Adolph thought to himself, a bad nightmare. Any minute now something really bad will happen and I will wake up in my bed alone. Nothing happened. Adolph continues to walk, and wait, and walk, and wait. No matter how far he goes and can’t get to wake up. He hasn’t felt any pain so this has to be a dream. Before Adolph can finish the thought, he is at the destination.
The time is almost 11:30. He is in a small town in central Kansas. There were plenty of houses he could stay in for the night. He spends about ten minutes looking for the right house to sleep in. He checks for boarded windows and running water. One house has both of these assets, so it is the one he chooses. After a quick shower Adolph lies down in the plush bed and quickly dozes off.
Chapter 5:
Columbia, Missouri. December 16th 2009
Things in young Adolph’s life are going very good. He had begun to speak out more and not get messed with so much. This recent drop of stress has helped Adolph’s complexion to clear up. He has also begun to concerts and other social events more often with his friends. Ah indeed, life is great for young Adolph.
“Hey, Adolph going to the concert tonight?” A boy asks walking the opposite way of Adolph. He turns around, walking backwards, and answers “Duh. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He swings back around and continues down the cold hallway that morning. The doors in the school were still open, so it was pretty cold in all the hallways.
“So. You got the popularity, the strength, and the friends.” Ben says, walking with Adolph, “Now you just need the girl.” They both look at Sophia as they pass. “See ya.” Adolph says, slipping away next to Sophia’s locker. “Hello.” He says in a slow voice. “Hey Adolph.” She says smiling. “What’s up?” “Nothing much on my end how bout you?” Adolph replies. “Going to see my boyfriend tonight. It will be so fun!” Sophia begins up the hall.
“I wish you could meet him.” Sophia says to Adolph. I would kick him in the balls and laugh. He thinks to himself real quick. “I think you two would be great friends.” Not while he is in the emergency room trying to find his left one. “You two could hang out then we could be like a happy family.” Not so happy for the dude with one testicle. “Totally.” Adolph says smiling. Sophia smiles and waves while she walks into her next class.
“You imagine kicking him in the balls again?” Ben asks walking up to Adolph. “Yeah this time he lost the left one.” Adolph says turning and walking away. “You should really talk to a therapist.” Ben says catching up to him. “This coming from the dude that wants to help start world war 3.” “Hey that’s perfectly normal…” “…For a satanic dictator.” Adolph finishes the sentence.
“So how are you going to start it this time?” Adolph asks, sitting in history class at the end of the day. “Dude. I’m definitely going to take over Canada and make them make hundreds of weapons.” Ben says, smiling. “So your going to invade the one country that can’t defend itself.” “Exactly.” “Real strong. But one problem, the United States would still own your country, plus you have Russia like not even a thousand miles away.” “True. I would need some nukes.” “Anything to kill the planet, huh.” “Definitely.”
After class ends Adolph waits after class with Ben to see how they are doing on their project. “Dude. We are done.” Adolph says staring at it. “It sucks.” Ben comments looking at the diorama. “It may suck, but it has some facts so we will get a decent grade on it.” “True.” Adolph walks out the door and down the hall. Ben has to go the other way. The walk is long and boring as always. The cold chill is freaking everybody out. Adolph sees what he was looking for, “Hey! Sophia!” He yells.
Chapter 6:
Central Kansas. May 5th 2021.
Adolph jerks up punching the wall beside him as many as a hundred times. “Oh my god. That was the worst one yet.” He says rubbing his forehead. He stops for one second to listen. Banging. “Crap!” He yells getting up and grabbing his gun. Before he can catch his balance he hears wood breaking and bullets flaring. A man runs to the doorway and pushes the door open. Adolph hits the man in the face with the back of his rifle and shoots through the man with half of a magazine.
Adolph runs out into the hallway shooting two more units, using the rest of the magazine. He reloads the M16 and runs down the hall, ducking as he hears a helicopter shoot through the walls. He dives and begins to crawl as the helicopter bullets fly inches above his body. The heat of the bullets begins to cool down. The helicopter stopped and flew away.
Adolph gets up and runs through the broken door. No units left. He takes a breath then hears the click of a Hibernian rifle. Adolph turns around and sees the same helmeted soldier from earlier aiming a gun at him. Adolph drops his gun and puts his arms up. The soldier looks at him and shakes his head. The soldier lowers his gun and turns around walking away. Adolph grabs his gun and takes off down the street, careful not to run into any more soldiers.
The road at night is much more scarier than during the day. It was like a never-ending tunnel, as hot and as dark as any tunnel. Adolph went through one tunnel during this time and got really freaked out. A spider landed on his head, and that completely set him off. Adolph ran full speed hitting his head hundreds of times before the spider finally fell off.
Spiders. Adolph thinks to himself. How is it I can go through relentless attacks, but a single spider smaller than my thumb can set me off? Adolph continues down the road, his legs beginning to grow weary. He takes a drink from the flask with the unknown beverage again and wipes sweat from his brow. The country air stings mixing with the liquid sliding down his throat. The smell of dead farm animals rots the air.
Adolph’s legs just begin to drag across the pavement step by step. The thought of the soldier from before haunts his mind. Why did he spare me? Adolph continually asks himself, does he not agree with the Hibernian way? Was he out of ammo? That’s it! He was out of ammo and scared me into not unloading 45 5.56 rounds into his chest. The diabolical devil played me like a fool. Adolph holds his fist so tight it cuts into his palm. The blood drips a narrow red path down the road.
When Adolph finally realizes his hand was bleeding he was quick about cleaning it and bandaging the wound. It was hard to believe he had hurt himself more than the spider or the Hibernian soldiers have hurt him. The blood turns the mummy white bandages dark red. It was unbelievable, almost impossible to believe, that after being hunted for so long, the first thing to cause Adolph to bleed was his own finger.
Adolph finally arrives at Kansas City after almost a three-hour walk. He was ready to collapse from exhaustion, but kept going on. What was it that kept drawing Adolph to Missouri? The only way to find out was to follow his gut and trust it on the path it is sending him on.
Adolph stops at a gas station in the middle of town and looks inside. He walks from row to row in the gas station checking for any food or beverage he could use to regain some of his lost energy on the long walk over here. He eventually finds an energy drink. “It’ll have to do.” Adolph says, taking it and heading for the door. He hears the cocking of a shotgun behind him. “Don’t you move.” A man with a thick southern accent says from behind the register. Adolph sighs and puts his hands up, dropping the energy drink. Adolph hears banging from the back door.
When the backdoor bursts open the man turns around and fires a shotgun shell into the darkness. Adolph jumps behind cover and pulls his M16 off his back. The sound of assault rifle shots fills the room. The force of a grenade almost knocks a shelf over on Adolph. A loud boom comes out of nowhere and the man flies backwards through the window. Adolph doesn’t stay to see what kind of weapon the boom came from. He jumps through the window and takes off full speed. Before long Adolph realizes he left his gun behind. He doesn’t stop running until he is out of the city on the Missouri side of the border.
Chapter 7:
Western Missouri. May 5th 2021.
Adolph walks down the road, struggling to keep his eyes open. He had no way to defend himself in case of trouble. The road winds up a long prairie. The wind whistles a catchy tune to Adolph as he walks down the lonely road. He begins to whistle along with the fantasy wind, as rustling leaves begin to sing along. Before long nature begins to sound like a full chorus, pushing Adolph up the road.
A wolf walks up to Adolph and begins to follow him, howling along with the tune. Adolph welcomes the guest and continues up the road, completely forgetting about the pain in his hand and his trembling legs. When any animal draws close to Adolph the wolf barks it away, and then begins the howling again. Adolph takes the flask out and begins to take a drink, but the wolf lets out a sharp and angry bar that causes Adolph drop the flask.
Nature continues this as Adolph continues through many different towns and cities. Eventually Adolph gets comfortable enough to reach down and pet the wolf. The wolf disappears around Adolph’s hand and the graceful tune of nature dies. Adolph stops and looks around seeing dead trees and plants everywhere. Missouri wasn’t a paradise it was like hell.
Adolph forgets once again about the pain in his legs and begins jogging up the road trying to get out. The quicker he got to his destination the better. Adolph finally realizes that what he had seen for the last few hours was all a mirage his brain put out due to exhaustion. Nothing he could see was real anymore. All of it was his subconscious. “I need to sleep, but I need to reach my destination first.” Adolph says to himself through the heavy breathing.
“I have been alone so long. But I can’t even remember why!” Adolph yells, continuing to jog down the Missouri road. His memory blocked out the events in high school, but Adolph has gradually been remembering it. “What decisions did I make?” The voice jumps from tree to tree as it echoes through the forest. The memories of Adolph’s childhood run through his mind as the same speed that Adolph is running. His eyes beginning to get watery as he runs down the road.
“What happened in high school!” Adolph yells at the top of his lungs as trees and grass pass him. He reaches up and wipes the water from his eyes as he continues up the road. He turns at a corner and slides by accident. His pants rip at the bottom. His heart is beating at the speed of light. Adolph seems to jump forward every time he blinks. Not able to remember what happened ten minutes ago. His head begins to throb.
Adolph feels a deep thirst and hunger as he begins to stop running. He picks up one final burst of speed and runs one final sprint down the road at top speed. He bursts through a pair of double doors and slides on near-broken linoleum down a long, wide hallway. Adolph’s heart slows down looking at the sign on the wall, “Columbian High School.” His heart begins to slow down as he falls backwards.
Adolph closes his eyes then opens them again quickly as he feels himself being picked up. I am dead. He thinks to himself. I am being taken home. The thought ends when he hears a voice, “hello, my friend!” A voice says as Adolph feels himself being thrown back down. He looks up and sees a man in a Hibernian outfit. It was pitch black with metallic arms used to increase their strength. The silent pants they wear make it impossible to hear them sneak up on you.
Adolph looks down both sides of the highway then back at the man walking towards him. The man in the helmet, from before, walks towards Adolph, picking him up again. “I didn’t kill you before because I knew where you are going. You are going to die where this all started!” The man yells, yanking his helmet off. It is the first man Adolph shot back at Vinita. “Don’t you remember me? I am your best friend. Ben Biggs!” Ben yells pulling his fist back. In a second everything goes black.
Chapter 8:
Columbia, Missouri. April 20th, 2010.
Life for Adolph has begun to get worse. His friends are beginning to treat him like crap again and random strangers are getting to the point where they will punch him for no reason. Adolph will never do anything to defend himself, but will always find he smiles when he talks to Sophia. Adolph even believes that Sophia is the reason he puts up with all this crap, just to see her smile.
Adolph takes a deep breath before opening one of the double doors of Columbia High School. He steps into the air-conditioned hall and begins up, just ready for something bad to happen. Right on time, a random person pushes Adolph into a locker, “Nerd!” The man yells, walking out the doors. Ben walks up to Adolph, “Ha. Dude you really need to defend yourself.” Adolph shakes his head and begins up the hall staying quiet.
Another person gets ready to push Adolph but backs off when they see Ben. “God I hate this school. If Sophia wasn’t here I would run as fast as I could away from this place.” Adolph confesses as he begins to open his locker. “That sucks man. But I don’t think you have to worry about Sophia disappearing.” Ben comments, taking a book out of Adolph’s locker.
The first two hours of the day go as good as they get. The first teacher of the day completely ignores Adolph while they are lecturing the class. The second teacher has Adolph run errands almost the entire hour. The third teacher, however, used Adolph as an example while the class was being lectured which caused Adolph to get called a teacher’s pet and a super nerd. Then lunch came along.
After standing in line for twenty minutes, Adolph finally gets to the front of the pizza line. “Sorry, kid go get something else.” The lunch lady says rudely. “Why?” Adolph asks with an annoyed tone. “Hey! I don’t like your attitude. We are out now go get something else!” The lunch lady yells, pointing at a different line. Adolph just shakes his head and walks away, deciding to skip lunch that day. He sees students walking into the lunchroom with pizza from that same line.
After lunch that day, Adolph sits through the last hours of the day. In 7th hour, history, Ben does his best to cheer up Adolph. “Dude, forget that lunch lady I doubt she even knows what nice means. A person drops a note in front of Ben’s desk. He gets the note and reads it, letting out a fierce smile. “Here is the reason for you to smile.”
“Heyz WATS up homiez?
Sup, g?
OMG did you hear? Sophia got dropped last weak.
Totely who hasn’t?
She nevar told that one Adolph nerd.
Duh thas cause she in love wit him.
Ha! Ya.”
“Awesome.” Adolph says with a smile. “There he is! There is the happy wolf I know!” Ben laughs clapping. The rest of that hour goes by surprisingly easily. When the bell rings Adolph is the first one up and out. Nobody seems to push Adolph, just look at him strange. He gets to his locker and puts everything in it really fast. He slams it shut and begins down the hall. It was shorter than ever.
“Hey, Sophia!” Adolph yells when he sees her. This was going to be the best day ever. “I wanted to…” He begins to say before Sophia interrupts him. “Leave me alone!” She snaps when he gets near. “Your so annoying its not even funny with your cheery attitude.” Adolph takes a step backwards with shock on his face. “I’m sorry.” Sophia tries to say before Adolph leaves, but she is too late. She takes a step and hears the cracking of glass. Sophia looks down and sees Adolph’s glasses on the ground.
Turns out Sophia just thought Adolph was somebody else and spoke without thinking. That one incident caused Adolph to leave Columbia and hitchhike to Oklahoma where he would grow up homeless until he turns 18 and joins the marines. Every time Adolph is on leave in the military he spends that time on an obstacle course increasing his strength, using one of the obstacles for shelter.
Chapter 9:
Berlin, Germany. May 20th 2021
“Is it true?” Adolph hears a womanly voice says. “What did you say his name is? Where did you find him?” The womanly voice asks. “Um. Adolph Hoffnung and we found him at Columbia High School.” A manly voice says. Adolph opens his eyes and slowly begins to pull himself up. “Ah. God my head is killing me.” He says holding his head, “Somebody got an aspirin?”
The woman looks at him; she was well sized for a woman. She was Caucasian and had long brown hair. Something about her voice was very familiar. The woman stomps up to Adolph and slaps him as hard as she can right across his face. “Jesus Christ!” Adolph yells out in pain rubbing his cheek, “Where’s my beard?” The woman looks at him with death eyes, “Where did you go?” She yells.
Adolph realized whom the voice belonged too. “I left because I had nothing left at that school. You hated me, everybody else hated me, I just did everybody a favor.” Adolph answers. “What? What made you think I hated you?” Sophia argues with an angry face. “You said it yourself! ‘Your so annoying its not even funny with your cheery attitude’ that ring a bell?” “I wasn’t talking to you.” “You said it right when I walked up to you and said hi.” “I thought you were somebody else. I’m sorry!” Sophia yells sadly. Adolph looks at her straight in the eyes
“Hate to break this most touching of reunions, but we have about three hundred million troops to deal with here.” A man says walking in with a younger man following him. The older man tosses an M16 to Adolph, “You have just been drafted to the German military.” The younger man looks at him, “ADOLPH!” He yells in a high-pitched voice running at Adolph.
The younger man was named Andy Jackson. Adolph decided to call him Aj. They knew each other from basic training back a long time ago. Aj was tall, slim, and slightly muscular. He had a great strength for using guns and strategies, plus he was a bit on the weird side. The older man was named Aaron Palmer. Aaron was very smart and made people call him Mr. Palmer. He had a thing for literature and poetry. Aaron was tall and muscular, with golden brown hair and a golden brown beard.
“So where am I?” Adolph asks, walking next to Mr. Palmer and Aj. Sophia follows closely behind the three. “You’re in a military base in Berlin.” Mr. Palmer says, “Germany is the last stand for the allied forces. If this place falls, so does democracy.” “That sucks.” Adolph says as they walk into a room full of machines. “Have a seat and don’t touch anything.” Mr. Palmer says. Adolph sits down and Aj walks over by him.
“Dude what happened. You were like, almost dead when we found you.” Aj tells Adolph out of nowhere. “I got attacked at midnight, and I ran to the school from central Kansas. In Kansas City I heard them use a giant gun so I ran to the edge of the city, from there I went into an allusion everything in Missouri was beautiful and singing. Then I got there and found out my best friend helped caused the warm war.” Adolph explains. Aj laughs, “Run, run, run!” He yells.
Later that day Adolph has a different conversation with Mr. Palmer. “You need to be a teacher.” Adolph says out of nowhere. “I was.” Mr. Palmer replies, “The best in my district one year. Plus I had this really annoying kid who tried to get me to call him my friend.” “That really sucks. I would have punched that kid out.” Mr. Palmer laughs, “I thought about it, and another student kept saying buzz, buzz, buzz.” Adolph laughs at the stupidity of some teenagers.
The only person who avoids Adolph is Sophia. “Dude. She really is mad at you.” Aj says out of nowhere. “I know.” Adolph says, “and I don’t care.” Aj tilts his head, “Why? She is hot.” Adolph sighs, “This isn’t exactly the time to be judging our allies.” “When is the time?” He asks in a deep voice. “Um…when we aren’t on the verge of being murdered.” “Fine.” Aj pouts.
Chapter 10:
Berlin, Germany. May 23rd, 2021.
Time in the headquarters went by fairly fast. Everyday they woke up at 5 AM. They ate breakfast and monitored the enemy armies. After that they spoke to the citizens to reassure their safety. Then after lunch they practiced their aiming at the gun range and made sure their guns were in tip-top shape. After dinner they monitored some more and went to bed at 10:00. In all this time Sophia avoided speaking to Adolph.
“We got a mission!” Mr. Palmer yells into the barracks. Adolph jumps up, “We do?” He asks. “Well. You do.” Mr. Palmer says, as Adolph follows him. Adolph grabs his equipment and heads to the main room. “Alright, Adolph. This is a simple mission. You are going to be taken to a place in Russia that has some survivors. You will escort the survivors to the rendezvous point. After that you will be ‘dropped’ off back here and they will be taken to England.” Adolph nods, “Simple enough.”
Riding in a helicopter is a scary experience the first time you do it. The screaming of the rotors and the millions of Hibernian, Chinese, and Vietnamese soldiers didn’t help at the slightest. “Holy.” Adolph says looking over the millions of enemies. “Yeah, there is no hope.” The helicopter pilot says, “I only do my job for the hope they spare me.” Adolph shakes his head, “They won’t, their only mission is too kill every enemy.” The pilot lets out a deep sigh and doesn’t respond.
The helicopter lands two hundred yards from the city the survivors are in, “This is as close as I can get you!” The pilot says as the helicopter begins to float. Adolph turns his back on the helicopter and begins on his way to the city. Adolph had forgotten about the heat caused by radiation. “There it is.” Adolph says looking at the city just down a cliff. He begins to slide down the steep hill using his boots to slow him down when he gets to fast.
Adolph steps onto the unknown feeling of pavement. The only sound is that of his boots battling the road. Rubble from recent bombings fills the city, along with the smell of dead bodies. Russia had got it a lost worse than America did. The Vietnamese and Chinese were as relentless, if not worse, than the Hibernians. Somehow the communists figured out how to get atomic bombs to send off a non-lethal amount of radiation after the more-than-lethal explosion.
Adolph hears heavy breathing from a building nearby, and decides to check it out. He kicks the door open and points his gun into the building. Nothing. He walks into the building and looks around. The sound of screaming pierces the silence. Adolph turns around and sees an Asian man running at him with a butcher knife. “Stand down or I’ll shoot!” Adolph yells aiming the M16 at the man’s head. The man stops and drops the butcher knife, “Please don’t kill me. You can’t. I already sent out for help from the Germans. Yeah, your going to die!” Adolph chuckles, “You’re the one I was sent to help? What’s your name.” He puts his gun down. “Vinh. There are others here with me, but they won’t tell anyone their names.”
One man and three women step out of the other room. Vinh was Vietnamese, stood about 5’9’’ and had an average sized body. The other man stood about 5’6’’ and is of Russian decent. The three women are all Russian, one stands at five foot nothing, another at about 5’6’’, and the last stands about 6’3’’. Adolph looks at the five survivors and nods, “Alright lets head out.” He says.
Adolph spends about five minutes on the radio talking to the helicopter pilot. “Alright the rendezvous point is straight north, he will be waiting for us.” Adolph says pointing north. The five survivors nod and begin walking. A sudden shock of terror breaks into Adolph’s heart. He hears people speaking a foreign, his reader indicating Chinese. “Run. RUN!” Adolph says turning around to see a group of Chinese soldiers walk into the clearing. The survivors take off running.
Adolph and the soldiers stand looking at each other for a second. At the same time they all break for cover. Adolph gets behind a car and pulls his M16 off his back. The sound of an exploding grenade begins the firefight. Adolph had no idea how he would fight off the enemy Chinese. He looks over the car for a second and tries to spot them all. A bullet hits near Adolph’s head and he pulls back down. The survivors have disappeared from sight.
Suddenly, Adolph sees hope. He shoots out the window to a shop and jumps in. The soldiers see him and chase him into the building. They look up and shoot off a couple rounds to try and scare Adolph. They look down and see a propane tank with the word, “Hey.” on it. They look around and suddenly hear something hit the ground. A frag grenade bounces into the room and explodes right beside the propane tank.
Adolph jumps out of the building as it collapses inward. He looks to the north and begins running full speed to the north. “Come on! One more minute!” Vinh begs of the pilot. “No. He is dead.” The pilot says as he begins to pull up. “Hey!” A voice yells from the distance. The pilot ignores the voice and smiles as the helicopter gets off the ground. Vinh pushes a small crate off the helicopter. When Adolph gets close enough he jumps on the crate, then jumps again grabbing onto the lower bar on the helicopter. “All present and accounted for.” He says climbing onto the helicopter.
Chapter 11:
Berlin, Germany. May 24th, 2021.
“You never told me I would have to parachute back here.” Adolph says to Mr. Palmer the next day. “I said he would drop you off.” “Didn’t think you meant literally.” Mr. Palmer stops, “Why wouldn’t I be literal? I was an English teacher.” Adolph stops with him, “Aren’t you supposed to teach stuff other than being literal?” “Who told you that load?” “Um. My English teacher taught us a lot of stuff about not being literal, like idioms and hyperboles.” Mr. Palmer smiles and takes a turn into another room, closing the door behind him.
Adolph shakes his head and walks into the main room, “Where is Aj?” He asks the room. The only person there is Sophia. She ignores the question. A picture of Aj pops up on the screen and points to a spot in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. “Come in, base!” He yells, “Come in!” Adolph is the first to the front of the room, “What’s wrong?” “I am under heavy fire. Repeat! Heavy fire!” Aj yells as an explosion is heard in the background.
“I have been spotted!” Aj says through the headset. “We’ll send help!” Sophia says, typing really fast. “No. It’s no use anybody that comes here is dead, switching on head cam.” The head cam is a nifty little object implanted in the headset. The head cam allows people at base to see what a single unit is seeing. Aj looks down and looks at his stomach. His stomach is very red, and so is his hand. Adolph takes a deep breath at the sight. “How many enemies are there?” Adolph asks.
“See for yourself.” Aj says turning his head around and looking through a small hole in the wall. Two units stick out to Adolph. “John Critias and Ben Biggs.” He says with a choking sound. Aj turns back around and tries to reload his gun, but it is no use. “I can’t move my hands. I have maybe another few minutes.” He says slowly and painfully. “I am bleeding out.”
Adolph closes his eyes for a second and takes a long, deep breath. He opens his eyes as Aj turns around and looks through the hole again. This time Ben has a different weapon. “No.” Adolph says looking at it. “Aj! Move your head! He has a…” The screen turns to static in a second. “…Sniper rifle.” Adolph falls into a nearby seat and leans his head back, ready to yell.
“Sophia, rewind the feed to when he turns around.” She does so without speaking. “Now go frame by frame.” Adolph sits there telling Sophia when to press next to go to the next frame. He stops on the final frame when the gray bullet is right in front of the screen. Adolph looks at Ben with disgust. “He is smiling. He knows we were watching!” Adolph yells kicking the chair away.
Sophia gets up and walks into the room Mr. Palmer was in. Adolph sits in the main room alone; ready to yell loud enough Ben would have to hear him. Adolph’s heart is pounding fast enough it is ready to pop out of his chest. He sits there, memorizing the faces of John Critias and Ben Biggs.
A blaring siren interrupts the silence. Mr. Palmer runs into the room with Sophia. “The Hibernians are invading Germany!” He says pressing an emergency button. Sirens begin to go off all around the country, civilians run into safe zones and soldiers prepare for battle. Adolph grabs his M16 and looks at Mr. Palmer with an angry look. “Where was Aj sent to?” “Why?” Mr. Palmer says, “Their leader is there, and he has a giant target on his head. Mr. Palmer looks at him, “That is to drastic.” “No, its perfectly fine. If I fail then you lost a single soldier, if I succeed this war could end.” Mr. Palmer waits a second then calls a helicopter.
Adolph walks up to the helicopter pad. It was going to be night when he got there, all the better for fighting. As the helicopter near, Sophia runs up behind Adolph. “Adolph!” She yells, tugging on his coat like a child. Adolph turns around, “I’m sorry I left Sophia, but this time I have a real reason.” The helicopter lands behind them. Tears were beginning to run down Sophia’s face. “What is that reason?” She asks painfully. Adolph looks at her and steps backwards onto the bar of the helicopter grabbing on to a safety strap as the helicopter begins to ascend. “I have someone to protect.” He says pointing at Sophia as the helicopter turns and flies away.
Chapter 12:
Bermuda Triangle. May 24th, 2021
Adolph jumps out of the helicopter two hundred yards from the main island. He looks down as air flies through his eyes at almost eighty miles an hour. Adolph had always been afraid of jumping out of airborne vehicles, but now nothing seemed to scare him. At the right time, Adolph pulls the string and a silent parachute flies out. He slowly descends into the water.
When he hits the water, Adolph rips the parachute off and begins to swim. After a bit of swimming, he realizes there is a spider sitting on his head. He reaches up and grabs the spider, crushing it in his hand as he tosses it away. He keeps his head cam on at all times, so Mr. Palmer and Sophia can see what is happening every minute of the mission. “Why did you wait so long to jump?” Mr. Palmer asks. “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t seen.” Adolph gasps over the microphone.
The cold water seems to be pushing Adolph towards the coast of the island. The whistling wind also helps push Adolph to the coast. It seems some natural force wants Adolph to get to the island, or he is just really lucky. Adolph accidentally drinks some of the water and spits it out. “Wait a minute.” He says drinking the water again. “Its fresh.” Adolph says into the headset. “What?” Mr. Palmer asks. “The water. It’s fresh water not salt water.” “Weird.”
Adolph finally reaches the edge of the island and climbs onto the long sandy beach breathing heavily. “Man. Never expected to swim that much.” He says looking at the night sky. “Hurry up, before somebody sees you.” Mr. Palmer commands with an impatient voice. “Alright.” Adolph says kicking sand into the water as he forces himself up.
The brisk night air feels good on Adolph’s wet face as he sneaks across the island. Every couple of seconds he sees a guard or two. They had the exact same outfit as regular soldiers, except you could hear them walking. Their gun was some weird assault rifle Adolph has never seen before. Mr. Palmer checked the database for it, but there were no matches. The Hibernian guards were using guns nobody knew existed.
Adolph walks into a room to avoid being seen and looks around. “Locker room.” He says, slowly closing the door behind him. He sees a guard changing and picking up his gun. Adolph silently walks up to the guard and bashes him in the face. The guard falls backward and tries to get up. Adolph leans down and hits the guard’s head with his M16. Water begins to flow out of his M16. “I have a better idea.” He says, looking at the dead guard.
After changing into the guard’s outfit, Adolph rips open the guard’s locker. “Cool a helmet.” He says reaching down into the locker and grabbing the helmet. He slips it on and looks the body. “Time to get rid of you.” He says grabbing the body and jamming the guard in the locker with Adolph’s wet clothes. “Somebody will find you eventually.” Adolph says kicking the locker shut and picking up the guards gun. Adolph had the headset on inside the helmet so the helmet’s voice synthesizer wouldn’t change his voice. He turns off the voice emitter in the helmet so other guards won’t hear him talking. “The Hibernians make it too easy to sneak in.”
Adolph walks out into the open holding his gun the exact same way as everybody else. Another guard walks up to him, “What took you so long?” The guard asks. Adolph turns on his voice emitter, “Had a bit of trouble.” The guard nods, “I understand, wink. Where you stationed tonight?” Adolph takes a deep breath, “Uh, actually I just got a call from Mr. Critias. He wants me to work in the HQ tonight.” “Dude, awesome congratulations.” “Thanks.” Adolph says looking at the big building in the middle.
Adolph begins to walk towards the main HQ. “Good job on tricking that guard. How did you know it would work?” Mr. Palmer asks over the headset. “I didn’t. I was yelling at myself inside.” Adolph replies, walking up a large set of stairs. “So you were risking the cover you had just set up?” “Pretty much. I have their gun so I could have just shot then disappeared.” “Don’t try anything, you don’t know how that thing works.” Mr. Palmer warns as Adolph nears the top.
Adolph walks up to the door of the big building and opens it, walking in. He walks up to the secretary, “Uh. What floor is Mr. Critias on?” He asks. “Are you the one he sent for?” “Yeah.” “He is on the top floor, just press top in the elevator.” Adolph nods and walks into the elevator. “Uh. Top, here it is.” He says pressing the button as the elevator kicks and begins to go up.
Chapter 13:
Hibernian HQ, Bermuda Triangle. May 24th, 2021
Adolph walks into the big room and sees John Critias talking to someone. “Sir.” Adolph says stepping forward. “Wait a second.” Critias says as he finishes his conversation with the man. The man walks through a door near Critias’ desk and closes it slowly behind him. “Yes, 301543?” Critias asks. “What?” Adolph asks in a confused manner. “301543, don’t tell me you forgot your number.” Adolph shakes his head, “Of course not.” He says with a fake chuckle.
“So, what did you want?” Critias asks again, standing up this time. “Oh yeah.” Adolph says pulling his gun up, “Die.” He says holding the trigger down. Nothing happens. “What happened to your nanochip?” Critias asks looking at the gun. “Nanochip?” Adolph asks surprised. “Yeah, the injection we gave you when you joined. It had your nanochip so your gun would work.” Adolph drops the gun. “Get out of there, Adolph, NOW!” Mr. Palmer yells.
“I’ll ask you again.” Critias says in an annoyed tone, “What happened to your nanochip, Adolph?” Adolph’s heart skips a beat. “Get out of there, Adolph!” Mr. Palmer continues to yell. “How did you know?” Adolph asks, ignoring Mr. Palmer. “You don’t actually think you could infiltrate the most secure base in the world, do you?” Critias says, “Now take off that helmet and have a seat, let’s talk.” Adolph pulls the helmet off and sits down.
“First, lets start with the story of the Bermuda Triangle. Do you believe it is true?” Critias asks, sitting down as well. “No way.” Adolph replies, “Its just a load of crap made up by the media.” Critias laughs, “No, it is completely true. This island was the very first terrorist operation, created by the Russians in 1950. The Russians that ran this went bad and went against order. They were the first terrorists. The reason why no planes or boats made it through this island was because the terrorists knocked them out using electro magnetic pulses.” Adolph nods at the information.
“I came across this island two years ago. I had my soldiers take over the island and use it as the main base of operations.” Critias explains. “Now to present time. We were watching you from the second you left your base. That girl is pretty, hopefully nothing bad happens to her.” Critias laughs. Adolph gets angry. “Oh calm down, Adolph, I was joking. After Germany surrenders then no more lives will be lost for this war. Civilians will be allowed to live, as long as the leaders of that country agrees to let us rule over them.”
“So this is your plan? Take over the world by scaring the crap out of countries using hydrogen bombs and unknown weapons?” Adolph asks angrily. “There is more to it than that. The ‘unknown weapons’ are actually just ak-47s painted differently with metal put on the barrel. The hydrogen bombs aren’t hydrogen bombs. See, hydrogen bombs leave behind a lethal amount of radiation. Our bombs don’t, so people can rebuild their homes in the exact same place.”
Adolph gets angry at the stuff Critias is saying. “How are they supposed to rebuild their house when your bomb kills them?” He yells. “Oh shut up you know as well as I do there are a lot of survivors!” Critias yells back. Adolph grabs the side of the chair he is sitting in as tight as he can, almost ripping into the cloth the chair is made of. “So. Any questions?” Critias asks. “Yes, why America and Russia?” Adolph asks.
“Ah, I knew you would ask this. Well, back during the cold war, my family was filthy rich. When the cold war started, my dad spent all of our money building a huge underground safe and filling it with food so we would be safe during the nuclear apocalypse. The cold war ended and our family went bankrupt. My sister became a prostitute and I decided I would destroy the country that destroyed my family, and Germany just had to try and do the right thing.” Critias explains.
“To think. It is now 11:50 P.M. At Midnight the biggest bomb in the world will launch right at your little HQ.” Critias says, laughing. “Unless of course you can stop it.” Adolph looks at Critias with a wild look, why won’t I just attack? Adolph asks himself. Because I know it is a trap. And that if I set off this trap I will die. Even after all this am I still afraid of death?
The room sits there silently. “Adolph!” Mr. Palmer yells. “You had better answer him, don’t worry I can wait.” Critias says tapping his fingers. “What?” Adolph asks through the headset. “The Hibernian troops are moving in on the HQ. You need to do something fast!” Adolph looks at Critias. Critias moves his head in a rhythmic patter, tapping his hands on the desk in a catchy beat.
Adolph begins to think about what to do. “Do something! Now!” Mr. Palmer commands. “Listen to him, Adolph.” Critias says tossing a revolver to Adolph. “Shoot me.” Adolph looks at the gun and checks to see if it is loaded. “Shoot me, or your little girlfriend will die.” Critias says standing up. Adolph continues to look at the gun. “What will it take? Fine. Shoot me or that little w…” Critias says, “…Will die!” Adolph’s heart goes crazy. He jumps up and aims the gun at Critias. A bullet flies through Adolph ‘s chest right as he does.
The clock strikes midnight.
Chapter 14:
Hibernian HQ, Bermuda Triangle. May 25th, 2021
“Wow. You really must love her.” Critias says walking up to Adolph. “You knew it was a trap but you still attacked me.” Adolph takes a deep breath and tries to hold in the pain. Ben walks into the room and lays the barrel of his gun on his shoulder. “I told you I was going to help you start world war 3.” He says, turning around and walking up to the window, “We’ll leave you alone to die.” Critias says. The two of them look out the window.
Sophia begins to talk into the headset. “Adolph, listen to my voice.” She says taking a breath, “You can’t die. Not yet. Remember Aj, how they killed him in the most? How Ben loved it just because we were watching?” Adolph looks up at Ben, then back down. “What about in high school? How Ben always treated you like crap and insulted you? He blamed me for you leaving.” She says.
“The last day of our freshman year he hit me, Adolph, as hard as he could.” Sophia says into the headset, “No teachers were around. When I told the teachers he said that I did it to myself to get him in trouble. They believed him, Adolph. Get him back for that, get him back for Aj, get him back for the millions of people that have died in this war!” Sophia pleads.
Adolph looks up at Ben again, this time he is looking at him. “Tell Sophia I said hi. Oh, also tell her that my hand hurt a lot after that day, I think I broke my knuckles on her cheekbone.” Ben laughs and turns around again looking out the window. “Don’t die, Adolph, don’t die. There are still millions of people that need you. Mr. Palmer needs you. Most of all I need you! I love you, Adolph!”
Ben presses a button and the headset cuts off, “It was getting way to mushy.” He says. The word bounces around inside Adolph’s head. Love. She loves me. Adolph thinks to himself. She loves me. I can’t let her down. I can’t let the people of the world down. I can’t let Aj down. I can’t let Ben down. He always told me to man up and now is my time too! Get up you weakling! Adolph yells at himself.
Adolph slowly gets up and looks at Ben at the window. He runs straight at Ben. Ben turns around and watches Adolph run at him, “What the…?” Ben yells as Adolph rams into him shoulder first. “This is the warm war! Not world war 3!” Adolph yells. Ben flies through the window, the sound of shattering glass breaking the silence. Critias looks at him, “So you are still alive? See the TV? That’s where the bomb is. You have one or two more minutes to blow it up.”
Adolph looks at the button that says ‘self destruct bomb’. “But you’ll have to get through me.” Critias says punching Adolph. Adolph falls backwards and grabs onto the wall, using it to hold himself up. “You are at a disadvantage you know. You are losing blood by the second.” Adolph begins to feel woozy and his vision begins to blur. “You are running out of time.” Critias says.
The sound of a helicopter is heard. Critias looks outside and sees a helicopter looking him right in the eyes. The helicopter starts unloading a large amount of bullets into Critias. He flies into the wall. “Go Adolph! Hit the button!” Adolph jumps forward and hits the button. The bomb on the television explodes right above Germany. Bombs on the coast of the island also explode. “Get on!” The pilot yells. Adolph runs and jumps onto the helicopter. The pilot begins to ascend.
Chapter 15:
Skies above the Bermuda Triangle. May 25th, 2021
Adolph watches the island from above. Explosions are constantly going off around the coast of the island. Before long the island begins to sink. “Wow, one button and their entire HQ is gone.” Adolph says, suddenly falling backward from the wound. The pilot sets the helicopter on autopilot and climbs into the back of the helicopter to bandage Adolph’s wounds.
“So how did you know I needed help?” Adolph asks. “Sophia made me help out. If it were my choice you would be dead and so would them.” The pilot replies tying the bandage around Adolph’s chest. “So just relax on the ride back to the HQ.” Adolph lies back against the side of helicopter as it flies across the great black sky. The radio turns back on.
“Adolph! Are you okay!” Sophia yells in a worried tone. “Yeah, Ben and Critias are dead and I am headed back. Are you okay?” Adolph replies in a pained tone. “Yeah, we held off the invasion and now they are retreating.” Sophia says, “Did the pilot bandage your wounds?” “Yeah, he took care of me. We should be back in a few hours.” Adolph says leaning his head against the side of the helicopter.
Mr. Palmer starts talking after Sophia stops. “Good job. You really did well.” He says
