Annihilation

[blazer133]

So here it is, a book that I've been preparing just for this, oddly enough, this is actually going to be a side story for large novel that I'm planning on publishing. So i give you Annihilation (for the lack of a better name at this point in time.

I'll post a piece of this story every Friday to keep the suspense and what not. (and to give me more time to write more before posting..) So yea, tell me what you think.

Annihilation
Prologue: Sins of the Past
Year: 5937
Planet: Earth
Location: California, New Metropolis, City Center.
Time: 3:57 PM
Status: Under siege by an unknown force.

A gleaming city that stood proud for so many years, skyscrapers so tall that they stood far above the cloud line, reflecting the golden bright light from the afternoon sun. Large advertisement screens were placed in random areas all along most of the buildings throughout the city, some were just a few lit up words for naming a particular store, others were three times larger than a theatre screen. Crystal blue windows reflected images around them, making it seems like they were tinted to a dark blue colour.

Here and there people could be seen, running frantically, and across bridges that connected certain buildings to one another. From below, these massive towers that made up most of the city seemed to go on forever, reaching up to the heavens and blocking out most of the sunlight. This kept the surface in a forever darkened state, thus killing all the plant life that used to strive there long ago.

Vehicles of various shapes and sizes flew around between the towers, scattering all over the structure. The space where they were supposed to fly was ignored, leading to many a crash. Each one sent pieces of shrapnel and debris through the large crystal windows near them, shattering the crystal to pieces and killing a few civilians that ran along the inside the buildings here and there. Explosions left only flaming piles of debris to come crashing down to the surface, destroying anything in their way.

The sounds of sirens from emergency vehicles and screams from the population that inhabited the city filled the city streets, echoing from the large, flat, metallic and glass walls. Massive military tanks drove along the surface streets, each one armed with three massive rapid-firing turrets that could tear through almost anything in their path. These tanks were so massive that they were considered mobile bases. Each one had a walkway that looped around its base, for site operators to walk on. Those piloting these things looked like ants to it; Close to one hundred and fifty meters in length and one hundred in width, their treads could grind anything to dust.

They marched through the city, towards the city center; They are the Titan tanks, an all-terrain behemoth of a weapon, able to travel through the depths of the ocean with ease, able to crush mountains beneath it's treads like it were nothing more but a mound of loose sand, able to withstand the blast of the strongest bomb ever to be constructed, just one on a battle field could change the tide. And there were six of them. These monstrous machines are the most feared weapon ever to be built.

Smaller, more mobile vehicles drove around their treads, getting a head start on making a stand in the city. The swarm of military vehicles consisted of one-man hover tanks used to move at a speed of forty miles per hour, maximum. They are called Striker tanks, built for quick hit-and-run attacks. Heavily armoured transport vehicles that carried thirty men each tagged along with the tanks for protection.

The third type of vehicle was a slightly larger hovertank that lagged a little behind, because of its weight; it consisted of one large turret and two small sentry guns on its sides to pick off any hostiles trying to attack it from its blind spots, these tanks were built to be the bulk of the armoured weaponry for the army. Lastly, the lightweight vehicles that drove ahead of the cluster were one man attack bikes, mainly meant for recon. They kicked up dust and small bits of debris that laid along the broken streets. Small flames were put out from the gust of wind generated from the smaller vehicles passing by.

The soldiers that rode and operated all these vehicles wore jet black, metallic armour that covered the chest, back, and some parts of the arms and legs. The uncovered areas were the joints for the soldiers to move around freely and instead had a black carbon fibre. Flexible leather was used as protective clothing underneath the armour already worn. Protecting their heads were full-covering armoured helmets with thick, bulletproof, red-tinted visors covering their faces, this shielded their sight from bright flashes of light and stray debris or bullets. The chest armour had a small symbol on the left breastplate area, with a small image of the planet earth with a white ring looped around the equator, and below that had each soldiers name roughly painted on, and just under that was a roughly painted symbol of their rank. Each soldier was equipped with a Hybrid rifle, able to combine energy and solid ammo together into one. They looked similar to an M16, except for a few original traits that gave them the ability to morph energy and solid weaponry into one.

Soldiers that stood along the walkways of the Titans looked onward down the street as all the smaller vehicles drove ahead. Up above were a swarm of organized military aircraft that had replaced the attack helicopter many, many years ago. These newly designed helicopter-like aircraft are long and narrow, shaped almost like a fish. Thanks to the two small side propellers connected to a small engine in the center, it is able to pivot and face different directions, making the aircraft ten times more maneuverable then it's ancestors. These are called Helix Strikers.

Above the Helix Strikers at a much higher altitude are several squads of fighter jets, cutting through the air at such alarming speeds that the shockwaves left behind shatter the large glass windows near the upper levels on the massive skyscrapers. Because of the air pressure being so low at such a height, anyone within those rooms where the windows shattered were sucked right out.

[TrevorW]

I am not ready to comment on the actual writing yet, but where you stoped this at is simply annoying. In between segments try to find a closer and not leave the reader in the middle of a description. Thanks.

[blazer133]

At 1/30/10 01:22 PM, TrevorW wrote: I am not ready to comment on the actual writing yet, but where you stoped this at is simply annoying. In between segments try to find a closer and not leave the reader in the middle of a description. Thanks.

Uhh, ok, I'm gonig to post the rest soon. After thinking over about only posting the next segment untill friday is sorta stupid.

[blazer133]

Ok, heres the rest.

In one transport vehicle was a sergeant that lead his platoon. He stood within the vehicle, holding onto a handle that was attached to the roof. Twenty other men and women in their armoured uniforms were lined up in front of him in two groups. They all stood there quietly, looking at a large latched door that would open up once they made it to their destination. Behind the sergeant was a small sliding door that lead to the front of the vehicle where the drivers were.

One soldier near the latched door was a little uneasy. He had his head down, his face obstructed by the visor on his helmet. He tilted his head slightly to look at the general.

The inside of the vehicle was like a large, metallic box. The colour of the inside was charred black with six light bulbs lining the top corners, three on each side. Just below each light was a small rectangle slit, allowing the soldiers from inside to peer out to their surroundings, but none of them were. The sounds of explosions and gunfire started to fill the inside of the vehicle, every second that passed the sounds became louder. The ride was treacherous and bumpy.

One soldier that stood at the front of the row, just to the left of the sergeant, had his head down and was slightly crunched over. He still held onto the handle on the roof with his left hand, carrying his rifle in his right. He slowly looked over to Sergeant Gelb to ask a question.

"Uhh, Sergeant Gelb, sir. Do you have any idea as to who we are up against?" He said nervously. Everyone within the vehicle that heard him looked at him then looked directly at the general, like they all wanted to ask the same question, but were too nervous to do so. The general looked directly at him, as if he were looking right through his tinted visor.

Before answering, Gelb looked over to Murray and paused for a moment "Private Murray, do I look like the kind of person that could answer that question?!" Gelb sternly replied, but with a hint of fear in his voice.

Suddenly a blue light turned on just above the latched door. All the soldiers inside immediately noticed it, letting go of the handles that were attached to the roof and clutching their weapons, ready to head out as soon as the door opened.

Then a voice came through a small speaker, just above the small sliding door that lead to the driver's seat.

"Holy shit, what are those things?! I hope you guys are ready, because you are all in for one hell of a fight!" The driver exclaimed over the speaker, slightly drowned out by the explosions around them.
The latched door suddenly fell down. The glaring light blinded everyone inside, but they all rushed out without hesitation. Gelb was the last to leave the vehicle.

The chaotic city center came into view after a moment, as all their visors took a moment to adjust to the light. Buildings were crumbling to pieces, littering the streets with debris. Some buildings had completely fallen over, crushing everything in their path. Towering plumes of smoke blackened most of the sky, but some rays of light from the sun could still peek through because of the fallen buildings. Pockets of fire littered the battlefield, bent and broken metal stuck up from the crumbling streets. Missiles from above impacted the surface in what seemed to be random locations.

Gelb looked around, watching his fellow soldiers run up a hill created from continuous explosions. Seeing other transport vehicles pull up by his own, he watched the latched doors fall just in time to see other soldiers that he had never met rush into battle like there was no tomorrow. Tanks that escorted them to the drop off flew right by, between the transport vehicles and directly into the fight.

Helix Strikers flew above. The sound from their engines caught Gelb's ears, and he looked up just in time to see them pass over, releasing a barrage of rockets ahead.

Gelb pounded on the side of the transport vehicle he came in, signalling the driver to get the hell out of there. Two thick black ropes that held the door open suddenly pulled in and closed the latched door. Immediately after, the transport drove back the way it came.

Gelb took a deep breath, clutched the grips on his rifle and began to run up the hill to join his platoon. To him, it seemed like that run took forever, every step gained him a little more ground, a little closer to getting to the top of the hill to see what they were up against. Something inside him told him to go back, but he had to see what was so threatening to bring in six Titan's at once, and why it was at the center of the city.

He finally made it to the top of the hill; Finally able to see who they were fighting, and what he saw downright terrified him. The first thing that came into his view was the capital building, a once shining example of how far the city had come since it was first founded, was infested with a strange, disgusting, purple weed-like organism that covered almost every inch of it with pulsating, sticky, webbed veins. A purple ooze slowly dripped down from the walls of the capital building, creating a rather large puddle around its base, just outside of the puddle: The same webbed veins had started to creep along the uneven, destroyed streets. The buildings that were nearby, or were connected through the building to building bridges were infested with the same thing.

His view shifted from the builds to what his fellow soldiers were fighting against.

Creatures were coming out of the ooze puddle of the building. Disgusting creatures that had purple sagging skin. Some were shaped in such a weird way, like an alligator crossed with a spider. Their mouths were wide, with three rows of sharp, blood red sabre teeth. Eight long, scaly, insect-like feet pounded their way through the debris. They had five piercing yellow eyes, cluttered with a crunchy substance. The look in their eyes showed intelligence, these things weren't stupid animals. Their backs were hunched with their spine nearly sticking out of their skin and lead down to their muscular tails that were accessorized with a cluster of sharp claws that looked as if they could tear through steel.

Another creature looked more like a mutated wolf. Its snout was long and very narrow and its eyes were squinty with bulging veins. It had no ear lobes. Its sharp, blood red teeth were visible, sticking out from its upper jaw. The colour of its skin was the same purple colour as the other creature. Its feet were long and nimble, giving this mutated wolf the ability to sprint faster then a cheetah. Three sharp claws pointed out of its feet, giving it a grip on the ground. Its overall body was hairless, skinny, and very long, its ribs visibly bulging out of wrinkly skin. A multi-green shaded, chunky drool slowly flowed between razor

[blazer133]

sharp teeth and dripped down an uneven lower jaw, splashing on the broken street it walked on, corroding anything that wasn't related to the weed-like organism that covered the capital building.

Among the many other deformed creatures and beasts, one type stood out from the rest, the humanoids. People that worked in the capital building that were covered in the purple organism. Their skin colours were slowly changing to same colour as the other creatures and their muscles were starting to swell as craters began to form all over their bodies. The clothes that they wore had started to rip from their bulging and swelling bodies. Their fingers were being ripped off from the rest of their body as two large, blood red claws had started to grow out of their hands. Their faces were deformed, their eyes had started to change shape to a slightly larger, oval shape, changing colour to the piercing yellow like all the others creatures that creeped out from under the pool of purple liquid. Their noses were sucked in, leaving the cartilage that formed the bridge of their noses to collapse and liquefy. They bled from the mouths a mixture of dark purple and red as their teeth were forced out by a new set of blood red sabre teeth. Most of their hair had fallen out, leaving only a few strands or patches left, revealing their deformed scalp.

All around, soldiers took aim, hiding behind vehicles, shooting away at the creatures that crept out from the pool. Some had no choice but to fight at close range combat, and were thrown around like ragdolls by other massive creatures, being brutally slaughtered. The creatures were everywhere, pouncing on other soldiers from behind. Humanoids cut the soldiers in half with swift sweeps of their massive claws. Light armour vehicles were jumped on and pounded on until they were heaping piles of burning scrap metal.

Gelb noticed a lone soldier slowly backing up to the hill where he stood, as he pointed his rifle at a humanoid infected that was sprinting at him. The soldier went through hundreds of rounds, nearly missing every shot out of terror. When his back hit the side of the hill, he looked back and forth for a way out, and he dropped his rifle to the ground, putting both arms over his face to shield himself. Gelb took a deep breath and put his fear behind him. Clutching his rifle, he jumped down part of the hill in the soldier's direction, eventually sliding due to the steepness. Knocking bits of debris that littered the hill, Gelb aimed his rifle, staring through the target mounted on top, keeping his aim steady.

Gelb released three well placed shots, each one piercing right through the infected's head, turning it's brain to mush and splattering it all over the ground. It was only after the third shot did it finally fall to the ground and slide up to the soldier's steel boots. Gelb stumbled to the flat surface and ran up to the terrified soldier. The soldier slowly moved both of his arms away from his face, wondering how he was still alive. The infected was nowhere to be seen, until his eyes flicked to the ground. The sight of the creature's mutated face mangled and ripped apart made him sick to his stomach. He turned around and put both of his hands on the hill as he stared at the ground, trying to steady himself and his stomach. Gelb grabbed his shoulder and swung him around, slamming the soldier's back against the hill, and quickly glanced at his name.

"What is wrong with you, Murray?! Pull yourself together! You weren't trained to cower behind a rock while everyone else fought their lives!" Gelb raged at Murray, but secretly understood why he held back.

"S-Serg? What are you doing here? I thought you were dead!" Murray Mumbled, surprised to see Gelb alive.

"I had to make sure the transport made it out safely." Gelb lied through his teeth, trying to keep a positive example for the others around him. "Where's the rest of the platoon, Murray?!" Gelb yelled over missile impact nearby, kicking up dirt and debris in all directions.

"They're all dead sir, wasted the second we made it to the bottom of the hill! I was lucky to make it out in one piece." Murray replied, ready to have a mental breakdown.

"What?! What killed them? Friendly fire, what?!" Gelb asked aggressively, wanting an immediate answer.

Murray pointed up to high floor on the capital building, his hand shaking in terror.

"That... that thing!" Murray yelled out.

Gelb followed the path Murray's finger made, which pointed at a massive, gorilla-like beast hanging onto a concrete ledge between two large shattered windows.

Its muscles were large enough to give the impression that it could probably throw tanks without breaking a sweat. Both of its hands had three long muscular fingers, with equally long claws covered in the blood of many soldiers who had attempted and failed to fight it. One hand was hanging onto a ledge while the other hung freely, the carcass of a soldier held loosely in its grip. Its shoulders nearly swallowed its neck, placing its head in the center of its own chest. Veins pulsated all over its face. Green, chunky saliva slowly ran down a large mouth that was lined with two rows of sharp, blood red teeth. Its spine bulged as it hunched over. Two massive, muscular legs bent around and through a window, with feet that size of small trucks and each foot having three long sharp claws that dug into the building.

But what was truly revolting was what it was composed of; Its body was generally formed out of the same purple organism that covered the building, but just underneath the skin were dozens of bodies twisted and bent in ways that gave the beast its form. The sound of moans for help could be heard up close, the bodies moving as if they were trying to escape. With six yellow, intimidating eyes it looked directly at Gelb.

It let out a loud roar as it leaped off the building, throwing the carcass of the soldier to the side as if he were nothing more than a doll. As it flew through the air, it crashed into a Helix Striker, creating a rather large explosion, ripping the aircraft in half and sending its pilots to fall to their deaths.

The beast hit the ground with a crash, landing fifty feet away from Murray and Gelb. It sent

[blazer133]

a strong vibration through the ground, almost knocking the soldiers from other platoons to their feet.

"Shit! Run! Gelb yelled as he pushed Murray forward, forcing him to get moving. The monstrous beast charged at them and threw its arm forward in a stabbing motion. With just a split second to spare, they doged the attack, leaving its hand to pierce the dirt hill instead. But the sheer force of the strike cutting through the air knocked them to the ground and caused them to lose their grip on their weapons. Gelb rolled to his back to see the beast aggressively pull its hand out of the dirt. Gelb looked around to see where his rifle had landed. A few feet away, to his left, his rifle was laid on top of small pile debris.

Ahead of Gelb, Murray had just staggered to his feet, dazed from the impact. Gelb quickly looked back over to the beast as it turned around and stared him straight in the eye. The beast then began to charge at Gelb once more, letting out another roar of anger. Its feet shook the ground, loosening up dirt and leaving small craters behind with every step.

"Murray, throw me my weapon, now!" Gelb yelled as he wrenched his neck to look at him, trying to snap Murray out of his trance.

"Huh...?" Murray mumbled as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.

Gelb quickly looked back over to the beast just to see one of its huge claws rain down from above, directly between his eyes. Gelb rolled to a side, barely missing the massive claw from piercing through his skull like butter. Dust and dirt splashed everywhere around the impact area. Gelb was able to stagger to his feet. He had started to run for his rifle just when the beast swung its other arm at Gelb, knocking him away like a fly. Gelb flew through the air across the battlefield, hitting the ground and tumbling like a wheel barrel.

Once Gelb came to a stop, all he could hear was a high pitched ring that drowned out all other surrounding sounds. His visor had been cracked and his vision was blurred. It was hard for him to breath, as his breath had been knocked out of him. His head ached as if it were being repeatedly slammed against a wall; His armour had started to crack from the force of the beast's swing. But thankfully, it did it's job by keeping Gelb alive. The beast pulled its claws out of the earth, turning around and beginning to gain speed as it started to sprint after him to finish Gelb off. But all Gelb could see was a blurry blob approaching him at an increasing rate.

Murray had finally come to, his dazedness had cleared away. Murray looked around, trying to find Gelb.

"Sir...? Sir! Where are you? Say something if you can hear me." Murray cried out. But right after, he noticed Gelb's weapon lying a pile of debris; He immediately thought the worst had happened. Murray ran over to his Gelb's weapon and picked it by its handle with his left hand. Murray inspected the weapon, and noticed a giant purple blur sprinting after something. Murray looked over to where it was running, and he saw Gelb bent down on one knee trying to stand up.

"Gelb, get up!" Murray yelled, hoping Gelb heard him over all the noise in the battlefield. Murray lifted Gelb's rifle and aimed it at the beast's muscular back, composed of bodies, and began to fire. But the beast ignored every shot, as if each one was but a slight tickle on its back. Gelb's senses had slowly started to come back to him, and he was able barely make out what the purple blur was. Gelb suddenly became so terrified that he wasn't able to move.

Suddenly, the hill exploded as clumps of dirt and debris flew everywhere. A large metal beam hit the beast, throwing it aside. Massive tank treads appeared through the cloud of debris, coming in right between Murray and Gelb, nearly running them down. The Titan tanks had finally made to the battlefield, coming in with guns blazing. They pounded the infested buildings, leveling them all to the ground. Smaller secondary guns shot at the creatures that the soldiers were fighting, ripping everything in the weapons paths apart. Each energy bolt or high calibre, armour piercing round that hit pierced a creature, causing their flesh and blood to splash all over like a disgusting organic bomb. A huge cloud of dust was left behind as every hostile living thing was reduced to a steaming pile of purple mush.

Within moments, all weapon fire had halted. A moment had passed then a loud cheer erupted from every soldier on the battlefield. Murray ran around the tank treads to get to Gelb, hearing bits and pieces of conversations about why they brought in six tanks instead of just one. Murray made it around the tank and to Gelb's position.

"Gelb! Thank god you're alive!" Murray said with a sigh of relief as he ran up to Gelb. Gelb glanced over to Murray, still a little dazed

"M- Murray, you're alive! Ugh, good work, Private." Gelb mumbled as he stumbled around, trying to keep his balance.

"Sir, are you ok?" Murray asked, a little worried.

"I'm fine... had the wind knocked out of me a little. I just need to a minute to recollect myself here." Gelb said, while staggering over to the nearest Titan tank. Murray followed, but started to notice something; The light from the sun that was able to get through because of fallen buildings had gradually started to dissipate. Murray looked up to the sky to see large, rolling, dark purple storm clouds forming over the city. Gelb had made it over to a small elevator on the side of the tank, where there was a small pad with a few buttons on it with the words 'UP' and 'DOWN' under them. Just before he pressed the UP button he saw a purple drop of rain hit the DOWN button.

"Uhh, sir... You might want to see this." Murray said, a little scared about what Gelb might say. Gelb looked up, stunned at the sight of the massive clouds.

"It's spreading..." Geld quietly said, but still loud enough for Murray to hear him. The rain started to pick up, soon enough it was a torrential downpour of purple rain, blanketing the city.

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There may have been a few missed errors in this, so please dont freak out over it, ok?

[blazer133]

I'm already working on the next chapter, it'll probably be up in a week or 2, depending onhow much free timeto work on it.

[blazer133]

Could I get some replies please? i wouldl ike to know what you guys thought/ what I could work on. :(