Broken People

Chapter 2

**************(Must Severly Edid this)*****************


As darkness yet descended on their faces,
Light shone in other places.
Hitler sat in the control room, if anyone had of walked passed, they would have thought him a dead man. A mound of rotting flesh, with white dehydrated skin, like cooked pastry. The sun sparked with the light of morning, but this room was certainly not light. The epitome of darkness, merely standing in his presence made you feel vile. The only through in your mind is to run, and vomit out the degraded taste in your mouth.
He/it staggered for breath.
“General Varkon,” He grumbled over the intercom.
In a few seconds the General rushed through the door
“Yes sir!”
“I have a job for you to do,” wheezed Hitler “Take a Night Falcon and…”
The General Varkon rapidly assembled a team together.

A mist of dust had seeped over the seat; a tang of mustiness could be sensed. But only when you first enter the ship. The smell was just above sub-conscious level and your body quickly adapts to it. Then the engine started. All other consciousness disappeared under the grappling sound. Like a tornado the power of these engines blasted them like a torpedo at mark 1… mark 2…

In minutes they had reached the far side of the earth. There was a dozen on the ship, all of their teeth were chattering. But not from the turbulence. If they failed Hitler would seek out bloody revenge on each one of them… and their families. It was the same gut wrenching fear on each mission.
On landing gusts of steam erupted from the underbelly of the ship. A just yard away was a rebel village. Buildings vibrated, out came the fighters of the village in an angered stupor. As the generals emerged from the Nazi ship they were fired upon by the wild rebels. Grenades and high yield blasts swam at the Nazis. Suddenly the discharges stopped in front of the ship. The Ship had a force field – shielding!
Rebel warriors were stunned, it is impossible.
The Generals raised their guns. Rebels dropped theirs to the arid earth. Mouth’s parched and faces wilting with sweat the rebels fell to the ground in surrender & their arms were held high in the ancient demonstration of capitulation.
Dust filled their eyes; they could smell the cooking, left to burn. Vibrations of the engine still alive with fury. Heads of all were bowed, they felt each others anguish. Coldness of the hart. They felt their life was ended.
The Nazis has no compassion, no feeling.
The rebels had no chance.
The Nazis Fired.
******************************************************
The sun was in its zenith. Unknowingly they had fallen asleep. Its odd that they felt so tired. When they had endured slave work, they had always been somewhat tired; but now they felt like zombies. They had crashed in a rocky out crop of mountains and boulders. They emerged from the wreck. The scenery was hard and barren. Yet compared to the slave camps it was bountiful, in looks and its very atmosphere. They opened their packs of food on the table like boulders, inside their packs were packages of complete dried meals just add hot water. With water added they soon had a wonderful assortment. Lush vegetables roast meat, smothered in scrumptious gravy. Rising from their plates the inviting aroma was exquisite. They sat enjoying their meal, meditating on the peace.
A row of blasts hailed across the hull of there craft at head level. Spontaneously they dived behind the bolder. They heard a war cry and fierce shouts. “AAAAAAARrr!! Ye rot’n scum! We not have Nazis here!”
“What do we do?” Egta wheezed.
“Does anyone have a white flag?” Replied Jared.
Zaya had her gun ready and pointed to blast the strangers.
“Wait, I think there just trying to protect there village, or whatever civilization the have, let me try something” Jared said.
“WE ARE NOT NAZIS… WE JUST ESCAPED!!!” Jared yelled with all his lungs.
Just as he yelled the message a short person sprang in front of him wilding a sword that instead of a blade there was just a slight disturbance in the air. The blade strayed close to the bolder, the rock crumbled. The man lunged forward, and then stopped.
“OK.” The short man growled “Ye don’t look like ‘em. you! Come with us!”
Bewildered the friends followed the strange man.
“What is that weapon?” Asked Zaya. Pointing to the sword.
“Arrr! This’n this is a time sword, it speeds up time. Us cave folk a’v learned how t engineer time!”
“That’s amazing!” said Egta.
“Well most tribes have advanced in some thing”
The group was lead through a mottled maze of crags & cliffs. Suddenly they took a corner and behold the mountain appeared to open up! In fact the caves mouth was situated so well that even without disguise it was almost invisible. Entering the mouth of the cave, they were shielded from the sun’s rays. As they entered they were struck by the immensity of the place. This cave was an underground city! Tunnels spread off in all directions like the streets of any normal city. But instead of just reaching into the sky lifts and passages were scattered throughout the labyrinth. The friends were lead to a lift, it speed down deep into the bowls the earth. As skyscrapers are tall the cave people’s buildings are deep.
“Welcome, friends” Greeted a an old gray man, who’s face had thick folding wrinkles. He had a spiky beard bristling from his chin. Though old and feeble, his eyes shone as he spoke.
“It is a rare privilege to entertain gests. What brings you to these parts? Is there anything we can do to help you?” The scrawny old man enquired.
Egta answered “Deep thanks to your hospitality and kindness, we have just escaped the clutches of the enemy”
Jared continued “There is information of what Hitler intends on doing in my wrist computer, may I display the information on a Holo-transmitter?”
The old leader looked to his advisers and seeing no disagreement nodded. Jared inserted a chip into the database of the cave folk. Suddenly the room darkened, shrouded in shadow. Then springing from the transmitter a fiery glow consumed the room. Before all way Hitler’s plan. Hitler was scared, Japan and South America all wanted to be the ultimate leaders of the earth. Hitler knew that any one of the three (Germany, Japan or South America) could come out top. He was making a weapon that would kill them all.
The room returned to its normal state, but now it was held in a fierce grip of silence.
The old man sat with advisers to either side of him. Staring intently the man invited them “I beseech you, stay awhile. Whatever you require to stop the destruction will give if it in our grasp! However for now we shall have a feast! You will be shown to your rooms where you can freshen up. The friends were shown through the cylindrical tunnels until finally they reached a door. There they were each given a key pass.
“See you in 2 hours.” Said one of the cave folk, he was short about four and a half foot tall. Yet his shoulders were broad, the man was strong and wide girthed. Inside was small nonetheless was cheerful enough. By no means was the room a dark corner, light flooded
the room.
They entered an enormous hall, instantly they felt the scent of fresh, tantalizing food. Inside were tables stretched to seat thousands. Placed on top were foods of every description the short stumpy benches creaked under the titanic load. Mushroom was a common ingredient indulged in many a fine dish. The ho-hum of a crowd quivered through the air. Juicy roasts were the centre piece of the table, with fatty droplets splattering down the side, surrounded in potatoes and drenched in mushroom gravy. There was deep hearty pie with an assortment of finely cooked vegetables and meats, mixed with a complementary dash of herbs and encased in a mouth watering crusty pastry. Potato, pasta, Cesar, bean as well as garden salads balanced the meal. The good food was just a side point, what was really uplifting was the good friendly company.
The cave people were in general shorter than an average person is; on the other hand, their shoulders were strong and thick.
The homely feeling of fellowship stayed awhile. But before long more urgent matters became a fold. Wise wrinkled faces of joyous folk were disturbed behind the mellow surface. The eyes of all fell onto Jared; they felt the need for hope yet found nothing to look to. Jared knew it was time to speak, his hart thundered for a moment then adrenalin poured through the boys veins. Feeling like the midst of battle Jared’s voice fell forth.
“Friends… Brothers, it brings great joy for us to be united today. We must together find a way to survive, we can not fight. However do not threat, the wicked will destroy the wicked! We must only stay free of the cross fire. Hitler is constructing a massive destruction device that will wipe the world of all life that is not protected within Hitler’s mighty cities. Together we must find a way to stop Hitler. Egta, Zaya & I shall endeavor to prevent these atrocities.”
The leader of the cave folk nodded his head in grave anticipation of what could happen. “We shall help you, Antia, Grayra & my own son Zelta will accompany you.”
The crowd nodded, and cheered but they did not know how to feel for in truth they felt it was a pointless pursuit.
**********
The sky beamed with fiery blasts. All that was around the rebels was flattened. Nazi guards looked to the fearful motley bunch of savage people.
“These weapons are yours.” Stated the Nazis, “Hitler being generous will give you many things, this is just the beginning. All you have to do is hunt down any stray bands of convicts or escapees”
The tribe was given a trove of technology. They basked in their new treasure, petting the guns like teddies. They were children.
Every kin of the tribe grew into an ardors stupor of anger. They had been given order to kill people wanted by Hitler. Eagerly they broke camp and marched forth with fierce blood lust in their heart.
******************************************************
As the earth was gently warmed, the crew shuffled along a drab tunnel down in the dept’s of it. Jared and all who moved in his wake felt the pressing pain of bitter stone on their knees. The passage was so very small that the entire company has to squelch on their knees to advance. Hours prolonged the discomfort until it became a stifling agony. Eventually light began to appear from the dense cover. As the waves of darkness broke free to become lifted up into light, the entire cavern was transformed, as was their countenance, the depths of their worries were for a time transformed. They emerged from the hole and grouped around lush vibrant foliage, complete contrast to the dead earth they had just visited.
“Ho, I might be of the earth but I’m still happy to be free of that tunnel!” Mused Antia.
“I would never have expected to enjoy fresh live air so much.” Said Zelta.
“How I would enjoy a lovely-” Grayra stopped in mid sentence.
His eyes fixed to a bountiful tree laid with fruit, “Apricot”
Branches were toppling with the delicious fruit. Reaching us he grabbed a handful of the golden crop.
“Mmmm! Lovely!” Zaya spluttered with a mouth full.
“Say, lets gather lot’s of this, it will be appreciated later when we only have those flaming dry biscuits.” Said Egta, pointing to the army stile food rations that they had, with the slogan ‘made for every palate’ but the rock hard biscuits were really fit for no one.
They stayed at the clearing for a while, perched between a rocky hill side and the start of a forest. A loud voice yelled
“GO AWAY!”
Blasts were fired towards them, aimed above their heads.
From the shadows people sprang forth.
What was thought to be just the landscape was really people, disguised.
“We know who you are, If you enter our domain, we will spray you with our biological weapons. Your flesh will rot on your skin.”
“I think he is serious.” Muttered Jared.
“AH! Biological!” Yelled Antia “It’s just about the only thing that cannot be stopped by time!”
The group left, trekking along a river. Their goal, to reach the main cave city; where they would be better equipped for the journey. For now though it was walking.
The forest people saw them leave. From the bushes a stooped worm of a man spied on their progress. His village was now free to capture them.
******************************************************
“Hush” Zaya whispered, “Something I hear is amiss!”
They settled down quiet, Egta asked “Is there someone com-.”
The forest erupted in front of them, blasts riper shading around the little group.
Springing from a trench like ditch were barbaric figures blasting them with proton guns. Most of the unfortunate group ducked behind rocks, but not the cave folk, they stood tall, switching on their time swords. Rippling in front of them the swords acted as shields, for any blast hitting the sword stopped in its tracks. The rest of the group fired from the safety of their stone rampart. The dwarfs sprinted, head long, diving into the ditch. Any thug that was hiding there evaporated. It was not until then that the cave dwarves realized it was a trap, they were surrounded and before they could act a detonator was flung into the trench. Zelta lunged away from the blast, & shielded by rock was saved. Grayra was never seen again. Jared was dodging and firing when he saw this he froze in terror. A blast hit him on the shoulder,
“Ouch.” He yelped.
Looking down at his arm to find what was wrong he saw there was nothing. His arm was gone! All that was left was bloody chunks of bone and muscle. Blood was gushing from his shoulder he grasped in to prevent bleeding.
Zaya positioned her giant photon blasted to a stable surface & setting it onto its widest setting she was able to shield them from most of the attack.
Egta yelled “Quick, we must re-” then he saw it, a thug had a detonator launcher aimed at Zaya; the shield would not hold. Instantly he jumped pushing her out of range. They fell to the ground, just as the detonator erupted. The Photon blaster disintegrated. They were helpless.
The thugs were closing in; they were rushing over to the helpless mob. Suddenly the forest was glowing, the thugs fell to the ground and jumping to the ground were tall forest people. The sight of the forest people scared most of the thugs away.

******************************************************
Jarred opened his eyes. He was situated in a cool light room. “My arm” He gasped as he remembered the previous events. He looked down at his arm expecting to see a bandaged mass of shrapnel when he saw a bony muscle less arm with wrinkled skin covering it.
A tall young nurse walked into the room.
Jared wanted to question her on what had happened, but his mouth ceased to function. The young woman’s mouth was set stern & grim. “do not worry.” She said, without emotion.
The nurse injected his shoulder, instantly the boys muscle deprived arm began to expand with strong muscle.
“We are just using your own stem cells to increase mitosis…”
The nurse read the confused look on Jared’s face & explained “Your arm will grow back.”
*******************************************************
Zeltas eyes creaked open like a rusty gate. He felt surprised that he had survived. He felt certain his death had come. The Elf like forest people however were light-years ahead in medicine and genetic engineering.
“I hope you all know we were not saving you, we were going to make the wild rebels prisoners anyway” said the tall forest leader.
“We thank you for your help” Replied Zelta.
The forest people were obviously worried about the Short Cave people. Forest people were slim and lofty. Despite being slender they were incredibly strong.
The forest people’s cuisine was incredibly diverse from the cave folk. They eat lots of salads and fruit. They have some meat including birds and fish. None of the meat was really red. It was the most fresh any of them had ever tasted. It smelled vibrant.
Even though they sounded tough they did not seem to like hurting people for they could have slain the rebels who couldn’t give a dam about any one bar themselves yet they only stunned them and made them prisoner for a short while. And yesterday they had let them go, escorting them from the forest with plenty of rations. The wild rebels had last been seen heading toward a desert aria.
So the visitors knew they were just trying to show that they are not just pushovers. Everyone was served lush red wine. Egta firmly stated
“May I please have just water…? I don’t drink, Er… fire water”
Zaya, looked toward Egta & smiled.
The drinks were given in stone glasses.
As Jared picked up the mug it shattered in his grip. He was shocked. As the liquid left a red pond on the table. The forest people seemed to be amused. Jared was confused; eventually however they explained to him that his new arm had some ‘enhancements’
“So now you are a bit stronger.”
“Wow…” Was all Jared could say.
Zelta looked a bit distressed, he was tense like an over tightened guitar.
“Don’t worry; we did not enhance you… You already have some unusual abilities… We left your cybernetic parts in place.”
This news eased Zeltas tension. For some time the group eat in silence in the great open hall. The forest buildings were part of the forest. Trees melded into walls and the ceiling was partly leaves. Genetic engineering had made windows possible. Being in the hall was like outside however it was safe from attack. Tree bark was engineered to be armor, and open expanses has electro magnetic fields. Tanks and other vehicles were growing like forests. To the Elf people genetics was everything. Without it they could accomplish nothing.
Everything from tables and chairs to weaponry was grown.
“You know…” Began the forest people’s leader, “We shall help you. We will send with you a squad of our men to help you in your quest.”
They provided fast transport as well. Soon the journey began again.
“HAaah…” sighed Zaya “Look at the sunset! Its fire is like gold; molten gold.” She mused, oblivious to surrounding noise or people. Hypnotized by endless waves of sand, and drawn to the glow of the setting sun.
“Of course, its like the sun is doing battle to stay in the sky; all day long it launches arrows until finally it fall. In one last effort it fires the last fiery spear and falls…” said Egta, who was sitting next to Zaya.
Zaya had just realized that Egta was next to her. She tried to hide the fact that she felt uncomfortable; Egta started to move.
“No, don’t go” She did not know what to say nevertheless she wanted to talk.
“Oh, thank you I thought you wouldn’t want me around.”
Zaya just grasped his hand, their eyes met “I-I know.”
Their lips touched; like butterfly wings, dancing.
The sun set had never felt so warm.
“Do you think we will stop Hitler from destroying the world?”
“I am certain, as long as we are united, nothing will stop us.”
******************************************************
The forest warriors ride on two wheeled vehicles (they are grown from genetically enhanced plants) they also have chemical & biological weapons.
Clods sprayed like a machine gun from the back of the vehicles. They traveled in large tank-like things, inside the two-wheelers were packed. On the horizon, emerged a swarm. Rogue beings. In a swift florid movement, the forest people appeared, ready to strike. Zaya loaded her weapon. “let’s see how they like photons!”
Jared rattled his fingers and grasped the controls.
Zelta growled in agreement “Aye! Send ‘em to another time!”
The furthermost forest trooper scuttled ahead. However as he drew closer to the rebels, a wall of static erupted & he was knocked over.
“Where in hell, did they flaming well get SHIELDS?!” yelled Zelta. The others were too shocked to answer.
“That’s it” replied Egta, “I’m going out!”
“Aye, me too” Grumbled Zelta “You wont catch me sit’n here, besides my sword is lonely”
“Well then” said Egta as he hopped onto one of the bikes “let’s help it meet someone, hop on!”
Together the Juggernaut blasted towards the enemy lines. Photon blasts pounded towards them, but Zelta stopped them in mid flight. Egta dodged obstacles baring their way. Then approached where the shield blocked the approach, Zelta drove his sword into the static wall, as it fluctuated Egta launched the bike through. Right ahead they saw the shield generator, it was being carried by several rouges. Zelta could just on rebound the blasts covering them. Egta attached a grenade to his gun and launched it at the generator. The blast pulverized the generator. Forest people started swarming towards the enemy. Just then a blast crippled the bike, skidding out of control it hit a rock and Egta was thrown from his seat. He was an easy target, falling far into enemy lines, his body jerked as blast after blast hit his body. Finally he crashed to the ground.
Far back on the truck Zaya saw him fall “No!” she whispered & for a moment she could not move.
As she saw Egta hit the hard ground. Zelta the short dwarf-like man swam through the hordes of barbarians. Egta lay dead, his body nothing more than shrapnel, but Zelta would not let the barbarians desegregate his body. There he stood, with blasts swarming around him, but he did not care; nothing would move him.
Blood lust struck them, Zaya screamed tears as she leapt towards the line of fighters. Clods of dirt fell everywhere as pockets of barbarians were slain. A rouge leapt in front of Zaya, with his pistol ready, Zaya smashed her oversized gun on top of the warrior, he fell limp and crashed his head on a rock. In the crazy attack they fired at every rouge that they saw. The poor barbarians were not expecting an attack with such ferocity. When the dust settled the rouges were gone, some had fled, but many perished on the blood stained dirt.
There were Forest people that had fallen as well. That is the price of war, the waste of life.
Jared, Zaya rushed to where Egta had fallen. Blood covered the ground, he lay in it like a mud puddle. They could hardly speak. Egtas eyes were closed & blood fell from his mouth.
Jared yelled, “do you have a scanner, get a scanner dam’ it!”
A scanner would not bring him back to life, but it would store all of his memory, so he would not be lost completely.
Zelta provided a scanner. Jared quickly scanned Egtas brain. And loaded it into a computer. The only computer with enough sub-processors is the tanks computer core. They did not camp that night, they rolled along as the forest people sang their death dirge. Their voices were reeds swaying along a river. Jared had placed Egtas body into a cryogenic unit, they would leave it at the Dwarf peoples ocean-side base. They would also get some supplies & a boat. The reason they had no news from the base yet was because any communication was stopped from the German satellites.
As shafts of dawn spread over the sky, they stopped for a service. Jared kept blinking, he just could not think, or he was thinking too fast. He felt he had to say something. Stepping onto a convenient stone he faced the small group, the tall Elf like people of the forest whose eyes were bright with wisdom. The short Dwarf like man Zelta, with his time sword & cybernetic implants, sometimes gruff, but he meant well. And the German girl Zaya, who at the moment stood in a corner, away from every one. “Friends,” he said, stifling his own grief “Yesterday, we lost many loved ones. We will carry their memories in our harts, but lets not make their effort a waste. We can stop Hitler, we don’t have to stop every German, most are just normal people. It is only the evil that we must stop, because…” He stopped in mid-sentence. A crackling could be herd. At first he didn’t recognize it, then he realized, the sound was coming from the tank, It was the radio.
“Crackle”
Jared walked towards the large tank, it was truly impressive, like four double buses. He hopped into the large door. No one was at the communication console & yet a repeated crackle kept humming away.
“Crackle… Crackle…”
“Oh” muffled Zelta “It’s probably just some feed back” Zelta leant down to turn off the sound, but Jared put his hand out to stop him.
“Is the speech thing on the computer turned on” Asked Jared
Zelta gave him a puzzled look.
“you know, so you can give it voice commands” explained Jared.
“Oh… well no actually, we don’t really need it so I did not put it on.”
Quickly Jared typed onto the computer, to activate voice command.
Jarred spoke into the computer “Hello, Egta…”
Only static answered back.
No one spoke after that, and all that could be heard was the continuous rumble of the tanks wheels.
“By tomorrow mourning we will be at the base” said Zelta, ending the silence.