From SC Creator: Obviously this isn't canon to my universe, but its still great none the less. Enjoy this great piece of fan fiction. Thank you B.S. John for being a great fan and following my work. 04072011.
From Author: Hey man I know it's been awhile since the first Fan Fiction I sent in 'Moons of Yoshodora'. I do intend to do another part of that, but I'm still waiting for some inspiration to come to me for it. Anyway I was inspired to write another Fan Fiction after reading your York Ranger Short Story. The WWZ writing style seemed interesting, so I decided to give it shot myself, expect my story is following an American Soldier, instead of a Canadian. I did everything I could to follow your material as best I could, mainly by watching your WWIII films lol. Anyway I present to you, 'Only the Dead'. - John
SCFF: Only the Dead
By: B.S. John
It was the first interview I ever had with a veteran of WWIII. He was only in his forties, but looked much older. I guess a great war can do that to a man. His name was George Johansson, only standing about only 5’6”, and skinny as a stick, physically, he was hardly imposing. When you looked in his eyes though, I don’t know what it was, but you just knew he had seen the heart of the war. We introduced ourselves and talked for a moment before the actual interview. He was a pleasant man, and seemed to have lived a full life since the end of the war.
[Recorder is turned on]
Me: Hello George Johansson, thank you for meeting me here. This is being recorded for the National Archives, WWIII department; we’re trying to make a solid record of the personnel experiences of those who participated in WWIII. Nothing you say can be used against you in a court of law, do you understand?”
George: “Yes, I understand.”
Me: “Can you tell me about your life before the war?”
George: “Sure, I was born on February 26th, 2039, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Times were tough, the Economy was still in the tank at the time, but my childhood was still good. I can still remember the food lines though, and me, my sister, and my mom visiting my Dad as he waited in line for a job. Such lines lasted for days, you know. Hell, maybe it was because of those tough times that we eventually beat the Chinese, but I’m getting ahead of myself.”
[He shifted his weight a bit in his seat before continuing]
George: “I was 16, only a sophomore in High School, when the war kicked off with the Chinese Invasion of Taiwan. We had to go help Taiwan, at least that’s what my History teacher said, we had some kind of obligation since the Second World War, I don’t know. The announcement of the war was met with a collective groan really, as I said times had already been tough, and a war was just one more problem.”
Me: “What was your personal reaction?”
George: “My personal reaction? I don’t know, I mean I was 16 I had just gotten my driver’s license and was more concerned with getting a job to buy my first car, then some war on the other side of the globe.”
Me: “So you’re saying that, at least in your area, there was no great rush to the recruiting depot.”
George: “Yeah kind of, I mean there were some seniors at my school who enlisted, but nothing like the numbers in 2060.”
Me: “Did you consider enlisting?”
George: “No, not at that time, when I turned 18 though, I figured what the hell I’m still young you know? My mom cried when she found out, my dad didn’t say anything, not then at least.”
Me: “Did he say something later?”
George: “Yeah later that night, after my mom went to bed, he came into my room. He sat down on my bedside, an old combat knife in its sheath in his hand. He handed it to me, and said it was my Grandfathers, he said that my Grandfather had used it during both the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. “
[Section removed for time constraint reasons and upon request of the interviewed.]
Me: “Where were you when Operation Dragon’s Fire commenced?”
George: At that point I had been assigned to the 11th Armored Calvary Regiment, you know the training unit that acts like the enemy? I was a sergeant at the point, and had a rifle squad in 1st Squadron of the Regiment. Ironically we were on maneuvers with a unit of the California Nation Guard. [The unit would later become known as the Lone California Rangers, as they were the only unit of the California National Guard to survive.] We had no idea what was going on over there until we were suddenly called back from the maneuvers and to our staging area.”
Me: “What was going through your mind at this time?”
George: “Well, I knew something was up we all did, maneuvers where rarely canceled, especially with WWIII raging. Nothing really clicked though until we neared our staging area, the Support Squadron had all of our American vehicles rolled out, which can only mean one thing, we were going to war. Honestly at first we thought we were being marshaled for the recapture of Hawaii or Guam, never that the Mainland was under invasion.”
Me: “What happened from there?”
George: “All of our Hegemony type equipment was checked in, and we received the newest American Gear. T-“
Me: “Why’d you get the newest gear, while everyone else still on the continent had older gear?”
George: [George laughs slightly.] “Because we’re the Goddamn Blackhorse Regiment!” [One of his hands forms a fist and he pumped it in the air, we both laugh.] “Seriously though, we got the new equipment because we were still regular Army, even if we where one of the last ones there. Regardless we were immediately sent towards Los Angeles, basically we were told to push the Chinese out of America.” [He tears up slightly at this point, and stops talking.]
Me: “I know this is a sensitive subject, but for future generations you must tell me, what happened?”
George: [He wipes the tears from his eyes.] I’m sorry I-I’ll continue. We smack dab into the Chinese, we had no idea they had made it so far. Several of their tanks opened fire on us, hitting and blowing up several of our Petraeus Armored Personnel Carriers. Naturally ours stopped and the ramp began quickly dropped, we lucked out at that point. Had all gotten out and hand moved around the side of Carrier, one fire team to each side, and had advanced around 25 yards. There was this massive BOOM and our carrier wasn’t there anymore, luckily none of my guys were seriously injured. “
Me: “Did you run or fight at that point?”
George: “We fought of course, after years of training we had no option, it all just came naturally. I was in and kneeling position, while several of my troopers where either lying on the ground or kneeling like me. No sooner had we gotten into our firing stances then the Chinese infantry opened up on us, ever hear about the QJY 52?”
Me: “The Chinese machine gun?”
George: “Yeah, we called them Stupid Catchers, if you where acting stupid, they’d catch you doing it. They used a caseless version of their damn 5.8mm round, allowing it shoot damn faster, and damn accurately too. At this point I yelled to one of men; ‘Hey Johnny you know how to pray right?’ ‘Yeah!’ he answered back to me. ‘Well then pray!’ I yelled back to him. We could barely hear each other over the racket created by both ours, and the Chinese small arms fire. ‘What should I pray for sergeant?’ He yelled back. I said, ‘Pray that God gets us out of this shit!’ [George laughs at this point] He responded, ‘Sir, there’s millions of good Americas in the shit right now, what makes you think he’ll help us?’ ‘Godamnit just pray for anything then!’ I yelled back and we both laughed at that point, despite all the shit going on around us.” [George laughed again, and this time I joined in.]
Me: “What was the trooper’s name?”
[George’s laughing stopped at that point, and tears began to replace laughs.]
George: “William, William Terry, but everyone called him either Will or Willie. He was a private, he was short but taller than me, light skin, at least for an African-American.” [Tears began to run down George’s cheeks at this point.]
Me: “What happened to William?”
George: “We got the order to retreat. [At first I thought he missed the question.] William was our Punisher man; under his rifle was an M425 Individual Airburst Weapon System. The thing could send a projectile a few hundred yards, and then it would blow up mid air, the tech wasn’t very new, but it worked. Will stood up, his weapon switched to fully automatic, and fired all 30 of the 6.8 rounds in his magazine, and fired several rounds from his M425. He was trying to cover our retreat, at first I joined him, but he yelled to me ‘Sergeant I prayed to God and he told me that you need to get out of here!’ In the middle of changing magazines he hit me with his elbow, knocking me over, just into time for a Catcher burst to get Will several times in the chest. He died instantly, and fell down right in front of me, I got someone else, and we carried his body off the field of battle. I’m not sure how the Chinese didn’t kill us, maybe a machine gunner still had humanity in him, I don’t know.”
Me: “What happened after that?”
George: “We retreated, the entire Regiment was broken, we’d met the enemy and had lost dearly. We had been hailed as the Elite before the invasion, but we where as unprepared as everyone else.”
[More tears came down his face, more then I would’ve thought possible.]
Me: “I think it’s time for a break, would you mind if I bout you lunch, in memory of Will?”
[George smiled and nodded, even while some residual tears came down his face.]
[Recorder turned off.]
SCFF: Only the Dead
Sun, 3rd July, 2011
A Shattered Citadel Fan Fiction written by B.S. John. Comments greatly appreciated.