Wings of Death

Ready, aim, fire

The next morning Nathan opened his eyes to the first rays of the rising sun. He had gone to sleep quite early the previous night so that he could wake up on time. It was only 5 AM, the training was supposed to begin at 7 AM. There was plenty of time for him to take a shower, have his breakfast and get ready.

After washing his face Nathan changed into his tracksuit and headed outside. Most of the soldiers were still asleep. Only those who were on guard duty were standing at their posts. Without informing anyone he went to the training ground. He took a deep breath and then started doing the warm up exercises the Captain had taught them on the last day. It was still misty and cold outside but Nathan did not let the cold bother him. After he had finished with his warm up, he sat down on the ground and paused to catch his breath. The rest didn’t last too long; 5 minutes later he was back on his feet and ready to accept the next challenge. He took out his cell phone from his pocket and started the stopwatch. There was only one goal in front of him, finishing two laps of the ground. Nathan ran like a man possessed. The cold breeze pierced his skin but he kept on running. He finished the first lap in just 6 minutes. Though his legs were aching he knew he had to finish the second lap as well. Margaret’s words fueled him towards his goal and he kept running. Drenched in sweat and struggling to breathe he eventually managed to finish the second lap in only 7 minute and 5 seconds. The last lap had completely exhausted him and he stretched himself out on the grassy field.

Captain Elijah had been silently observing Nathan from a distance. He was surprised to see the sudden change in Nathan’s behavior. It filled him with a sense of deep satisfaction. He knew Nathan had great leadership skills and today he had just proved that his resolve was just as firm. Nathan reminded the Captain of his younger self. He too would wake up before anyone else in the camp and train alone in the morning. Captain Elijah walked up to Nathan and pulled him up.

“I am proud of you. It seems you are determined to push yourself to new limits”, he said with a rare smile on his face.

It was a proud moment for Nathan. The Captain was his idol and his words of appreciation filled him with joy. He stood up and saluted Captain Elijah, his heart brimming with pride.

“Let’s wake your friends up. Today is a big day for all of you”, said the Captain. Together they went to Alex’s room to wake him from his slumber.

Alex looked at Nathan in wide-eyed surprise and exclaimed, “How did you manage to wake up so early?”

“It’s magic Alex”, Nathan replied jokingly.

Nathan, Alex and Margaret had all chosen different paths but it would ultimately lead them to the same destination. Nathan was focusing hard on the military training because he wanted to prove his worth in front of Margaret and protect his family. Alex was trying to get close with Captain Elijah and his men so that he could convince them to send a team to search for his mom. Margaret was helping Dr. Von Hart with her research because she was extremely interested in biology and she wanted to learn more about these extra terrestrial beings. They all were working towards a common goal: defeating the Bloodwings and helping humanity rise again.

Captain Elijah would never allow the new recruits to get their hands on any real weapons before they had completed their basic training but things were different now. Time was a luxury that none of them could afford. The enemy was too dangerous so he decided to teach Nathan and his friends how to defend themselves effectively. Captain Elijah and his men were ready to launch an offensive against the Bloodwings at night. He wanted the new recruits to be a part of this mission as they would need all the firepower they could muster.

The weapons training began with a long lecture by Major Morris. He spoke about Fort Barton’s prestigious history and then went on to describe the evolution of firearms in the recent years. Nathan used to read the military’s weapons journals online and knew about most of the weapons at their disposal. When the long speech was over, Captain Elijah took over.

“I want you all to understand that these weapons are not toys. You must respect your weapon and take care of it as you would take care of yourself”.

He picked up an m16 rifle and started explaining the basics to them.

“This is an ordinary rifle. It has two fire modes : semi-automatic and burst fire. When using any rifle you have to make sure that you are firing it from a stable platform”, he put the rifle’s stock to his shoulder and continued “the butt of the rifle needs to be pressed against your shoulder to absorb the shock from the recoil. Keep your head straight. Aim down the sights and relax your muscles”.

After he had finished talking, he turned towards the shooting range, aimed the rifle at one of the target dummies, turned off the safeties and fired a volley of shots in burst fire mode. All the shots hit the target’s head.

“You see burst fire is very accurate but very slow. If you are outnumbered and trying to suppress the enemy or if the target is quite close, just flip this lever and switch to semi auto”.

The Captain then proceeded to fire a few rounds at the metal bucket a few metres away. The bullets pierced the bucket and drilled neat holes on its surface.

“Look at the bullet marks. They are scattered all over the bucket. I hit the target but the shots are not clustered in the same spot. Semi automatic mode gives you a high rate of fire at the cost of accuracy”, he explained pointing his fingers towards the metal bucket.

He then turned around, took out the magazine from the rifle and tossed it to a Corporal standing nearby.

“As you all know, rifles are quite useless against Bloodwings. They can only be killed by firing explosive rounds. Currently our standard weapons against the Bloodwings are the M32 grenade launchers. You may also use rocket launchers against them but I doubt any of you can lift these much less run with them on your back. So, for now you should just focus on the grenade launchers”.

The Corporal in charge of maintaining the weapons handed a brand new M32 to the captain along with a grenade belt. Captain Elijah pulled back a small hatch and opened the loading chamber of the grenade launcher. He then carefully inserted the grenade belt into it.

“Loading the weapon is very easy but be careful not to slam the loader shut with your fingers still inside. This grenade belt can hold up to 10 rounds. The grenade launcher fires   one grenade at a time. It is slow but extremely lethal. These grenades are powerful enough to destroy any light armored car in one hit. One grenade can take out a maximum of three Bloodwings at once due to the huge blast radius. Be careful with this boy or you might end up blowing your own squad to bits. Luckily for you, I don’t trust you enough to give you an M32. If you go out with us you will be using a weapon designed by Klaus Varchovsky himself. Follow me please”.

He handed the M32 back to the Corporal and started walking towards the ammunition depot. It was a small building with just two floors. On the ground floor was the ammunition storage area and on the second floor was the Research and Development   department headed by the weapons expert Klaus Varchovsky.