War of will Raw

War of Will(Book)

By Hunter Blake

The year is 2051, the world slowly has descended into a tranquil bliss, but it would prove to not last long. The Chinese slowly began to build up forces, while due to the slow decay of military strength on both the USA’s and Russian federation’s ends, due to the end of the cold war. Although a UN charter was passed, stating that no nuclear weapons may be used without majority consent, it was quickly disbanded, due to the fact that small countries feel the need to posses them in order to repel invaders from larger countries which they believe they have no chance against. The peace really wouldn’t last that long, as WWIII would erupt in due time. Albeit nuclear arms would never be used, much more lasting scars would be felt all over the world for centuries.

December 3rd, 2051.

The customs agents inspected the Chinese tanker that had arrived in Los Angeles, they found nothing wrong with the shipment so far, they passed it, allowing it to unload it’s cargo, but a silent, and deadly force was about to be unleashed. The cargo was shipped all over the United States, to be used by consumers.
The force would prove to be the most deadly virus to ever be unearthed, or at least as of late. Within half an hour, anyone who touched it would have their flesh beginning to rot, the first symptom being peeling of the epidermis. Interpreting this as an act of war, it is viewed as a Casus Belli, thus declared on China, simply claiming no knowledge of it what so ever, they declared war also, and thus WWIII began. Some nations believed that, while the USA did indeed have a casus belli, others believed they had no right, after all China had shipped toxic goods before, some even had unknown diseases, never the less the world was once again grouped into 2 factions.

December 10th, 2051.

“So, what are they calling the virus again?” Ryan questioned, as they rode towards a training camp, in the back of a truck, the back was covered with a cloth, it flapped slightly in the back, on the outskirts of Seattle.
“I think if I recall it correctly, they are calling it, Thanatos apo diaspasi.” Maxwell, replied.
“What?”
“It means death by decay, it’s simply in Latin.”
“Fitting. Those Chinese have gone too far this time.”
“Really? What does it matter, if we fight them or not?”
“What do you-”
“Why fight? There doesn’t seem any point to fight for anything, even if we did manage to win the war, then what?”
“I-”
“There is nothing that will change, it’s all politics, it’s rather more a matter of pride, Albert Einstein said “So long as there is men, there will be wars.” In fact, he himself knew that the only way to defeat power is by fighting, so there really is no point, he actually signed the letter for the Manhattan project, now look where it got us. The truth is, humans are by nature aggressive.”
“We don’t always fight!”
“True, but has there ever been a time when exactly everyone got along?”
“…”
“See? No matter who you are, you will always hate and be aggressive, towards something at least. Take brothers and sisters, more often then not they argue and fight, but correct me if I’m wrong.”
“You know, Maxwell being all stuck up is going to get you with a bullet in you.”
“That very well may be, but I’ve accepted the fact that I will more then likely die in this war, but you know, it’s alright with me, if I die I can at least maybe find peace maybe not in this life, but in the next, because only the dead ever see peace, no matter what, no matter how hard you try to turn your head and ignore the world around you, it will always find you and drag you into reality.”
“How do you know all this? Were you born like that?”
“I don’t quite care frankly, and sometimes I rather wish I wasn’t like this.”
“Why?”
“Because at least maybe, maybe I could be like everyone else, believing that there is cause, cause to keep on going.” Maxwell shrugs and closes eyes.
“Your wrong! There is cause to keep on going!”
“What?” Maxwell frowned and opened his eyes halfway making eye contact with Ryan.
“I may not know, but if that were true then why would humans even exist.”
“…”
“Well I’m going to keep on going, and not stop until I at least find why!”

They arrived at the training camp, they pushed back the flaps on the rear covering it, and disembarked it, they climbed down and walked to the chain link with razor wire gate, they stood still, watching as soldiers came forth in more trucks, surrounding them, becoming one with the recruits in a ocean of people assembled in front of the gates. Various murmurs and such could be heard from the crowd.
The gates opened shortly after and the sea flowed forth, moving into the camp and spreading out just slightly more then it was, a group of instructors and trainers walked up, and began to divide the people in to groups. Thankfully though Maxwell and Ryan were put into the same group, their instructor spoke.
“My name is Frank MacArthur, I will be your instructor, now let’s start out with a 1 mile jog, from the gate to all the way across the camp. Well, what are you waiting for? Move! I want to see you all sweat like dogs!”
They began to jog, moving towards the other end of the boot camp, he had to stop once to tie his shoe, when he did the instructor smacked him on the back, pushing him back on his feet. He continued moving towards the end and reached it, he was beginning to run out of breath, but thankfully so did a lot of the other recruits, so at least maybe he wouldn’t be punished, or at least rather as harshly.
It wasn’t long before the few people that had been keeping up with him stopped to catch their breath, but he kept on running, he was too busy focusing on the gate to hear the instructor yelling at the recruits who fell behind.
“Maybe I can do better, better then the rest!” Ryan began to jog faster, trying to outdo the rest. However it wasn’t long before a red haired soldier caught up with him, now running alongside him they made eye contact. The red-head squinted and began to run.
“Oh no you don’t!” He began to sprint as well, they were neck and neck, it would be a close finish, meanwhile the recruits began to chant, frenzied watching as they competed against him, for a split second the instructor even joined them, Ryan using the last of his energy sprinted forth a great burst, barely managing to avoid beating the red-head.
He panted heavily, sweat was beginning to form over his neck and armpits, he sat and rested against the gate, the soldiers all cheer, Ryan only closed his eyes, with the burst of energy he gave, he hadn’t had any hardly left. He needed to rest, without him knowing it, he fell asleep.
The redhead tilted Ryan’s head and felt his pulse, feeling a heartbeat, he rested his head back, and stood up. He walked towards the recruits, which murmurs and hushed speaking began to rise from. The instructed quieted them down by using a megaphone and air horn.

December 11th, 2051.

Ryan woke up in, he sat up in the bed, he took in his surroundings, he noticed light spilling in from the window at the end of the building, to his right. He sits on the edge and the door opens, the redhead and Maxwell enters, both dressed in uniform. Maxwell walks over to him, Ryan finally notices the plastic bag in his hand, he watches as he sits on the bed across from him, he sticks his hand in the bag, pulling out a uniform with Ryan Jacobs on the nametag.
“This is yours, Ryan.” Maxwell said as he put it on the bed next to him.
“Alright, well if I might get a chance, could I please put it on without being watched?”
They both left the room, Ryan beginning to unfold the uniform, slipping of his pants and shirt, leaving nothing but underwear on, he began to don the Independence coalition land forces standard uniform, then the pants, the uniform using urban camouflage. He pulled the pants up and zipped it up, he stood up and began walking towards the exit, when the door opened and in came Maxwell.
“No time to idle, we’ve got training in 10 minutes.” Maxwell ran out of the building, Ryan followed him to a firing range, as he picked up a shotgun-rifle and loaded in some bullets that were on the barrier in front of him and the range, he ushered Ryan to do the same. He did.
“So, we’re getting firearm training already?”
“Seems so, pretty odd though this early on, but it’s like this quote, “If it’s natural for men to kill, how come they have to go into training to learn how?” that was by Joan Baez.”
“You know, it’s starting to get a bit creepy how much you know about war, your like an encyclopedia just for it.”
Maxwell frowned, taking the rifle up to his eyesight and firing. A loud bang could be heard as the head of the cutout was shredded by the rounds. “Surprisingly you’re the only one who has called me a encyclopedia.”
Ryan pressed the stock of the gun against his shoulder, he closed his left eye so his depth perception would appropriate for the scope, he held his breath, and pulled the trigger. A loud bang could be heard as the lower half of the cutout fell off.
“Nice shooting Tex!” Maxwell took another shot.
“Thanks, but a bit advice, if your going to aim for anywhere, aim for the torso, bigger target easier to hit, also does more damage.”
“True, but without the use the brain to give commands, there is no point in the rest to exist.”
“Wrong, without them, the brain cannot even survive, nor can it give orders.”
“Once again, true however without it, the rest is useless, without the subconscious giving involuntary commands, it stops itself.”
The instructor walked behind them both, and rested his hands on both of their shoulders, he turned them around, he wasn’t happy to say the least. “Alright, enough chit chat, return to firearms training.”
They didn’t speak to each other for the remainder of the training, regardless their anger still managed to surface, and it became a competition, each other trying to shoot the cutout targets faster and more accurate then the other. They didn’t notice as the other soldiers stopped their training to watch them compete fiercely, shooting faster and faster.
They both without warning or precaution, threw the rifles down and began to fight with each other, Ryan used an uppercut, causing a spot of blood to fly from his mouth. This was returned with a jab from his left fist. Ryan smirked and kicked him in the abdomen.
“If you think fighting is pointless, then why are you fighting me?”
“Because, well…” He paused for a moment, and this was taken care of with a roundhouse kick to the face, blood came out of the mouth, a small streak of it coming out the corner of it. They were both grabbed and thrown to the ground, they were turned over and it was the military police, which was signified by the initials MP on their helmet.
“Your wrong, to keep going on is a human trait, everyone has it, or you wouldn’t have fought me.” The MP was putting handcuffs on both of them, picking them up and pushing them towards a jeep, he put Maxwell in the right rear seat, he fastened his seatbelt, the driver was tapping his feet, he was also MP.
The MP then walked around to the other side of the jeep and put Ryan in the left rear seat, after fastening he walked around once more and got in the front passenger seat. He fastened his seat belt and the driver lightly pushed against the petal, the jeep jerked forward slightly but began to move smoothly at a steady pace.
The two MP soldiers began to talk.
“Well it’s a good thing they didn’t decide to use the guns from the range, otherwise we’d be sending two body bags home before they even fought in the war.”
“Yeah, what were they so mad about anyways?”
“No clue, their instructor just said they started to fight, he said they were beginning to get aggressive with firing rounds, and it would be best if we kept an eye on them.”
Ryan watched as people began to stare, he wondered, how many of them would return home alive after this war was over, he was watching the crowd, when the jeep came to a stop, both the MP soldiers disembarked and took both Maxwell and Ryan into a building. They had the handcuffs released and the building turned out to be an infirmary, Ryan was the first one to be taken to be treated. He was forced to sit in a chair while a girl doctor looked him over, he took out a flashlight and passed it back and forth to check his equilibrium, then she put it back in a drawer.
“So, tell me what happened?” She drew a syringe from a drawer and began to take blood, poking it into a vein and drawing some blood, she put it in a file, presumably one for a report.
“Well there’s this character who believes war is pointless, you see he keeps going on that fighting no matter what is pointless.”
“Well maybe he’s never had anything important to him?”
“Actually he has a brother Michael, he was drafted earlier, but he hasn’t spoke to him since.”
“Then maybe that’s why?”
“You know what, your probably right. Thanks Doc.”
“No problem.” She said as she took out a hammer from a drawer and tapped it against his knee, a simple reflex test, his knee jaunted a bit and she wrote down the reflex time and put it in the file.
“After all, you’ve got reason to fight correct?”
“Would I have gone along with the draft otherwise?”
“Correct, but you wouldn’t really have had a choice.” She jotted down some more notes, and took out a tongue depressant, he knew the drill and opened his mouth, she looked around and wrote down some more information and then looked in his ears, then she jotted down the last information and closed the file and moved the swivel chair to her desk by kicking off against the wall and put it in the ‘outbox’ and did the same kicking off another wall.
“Am I good?”
“Yes, but try not to get hurt again.”
He nodded and sat up, he walked out making eye contact with Maxwell as he walked out. He was blinded a bit as his eyes adjusted to the sunlight, he shielded them with his hands and looked around. The redhead was leaning against the infirmary building, he looked at Ryan and stood up, then he walked over to Ryan.
“Looks like you won’t be seeing him again, at least not for a while.” The redhead spoke, his arms crossed.
“Is that so? Can I ask why?”
“Well it seems he doesn’t want you two going after one another, so you’ll be on the other end of the camp with me.”
“Great, and who are you?”
“The name is Brian Irons, I’m not quite going for what your training is doing.”
“Huh?”
“In other words, I’m training to be a combat medic, in addition to the regular training.”
“Oh, that makes sense, so now what?”
“Well my orders are to get you away from here, before he comes out so you don’t get a chance to rip each other up.” He began to walk away, Ryan following.
“So I’m getting a different barracks?”
“Yes, it would seem so.” He followed Redhead for what seemed like ages, or at least that is what he called him still, never the less, it must have been because the jeep’s speed that it seemed to be quicker, obviously.
“Here we are, your barracks.” They both walked in and Ryan was given a tour of the barracks, until they stopped at his bed which at the end of the barracks towards the center path of the training camp, light spilled in upon it from the window, right on the pillow. Ryan checked his watch, it was only 9 o’clock, great so now not only did he have new people to deal with, but now he had to deal with sunlight in his eyes first thing in the morning. Normally this wouldn’t sound like being a problem since normally military regulations stated that all personnel must be ready for daily tasks and orders, but it was in you eyes first thing, making it difficult to catch ALL the necessary sleep.
“Thanks, have my things been brought over already?”
“Yes, their all already in your footlocker.”
Checking this, Ryan went to his footlocker, kneeling he opened up the lid of it, looking in he found the few things he came into this camp with, some chewing gum and a lighter. He closed it and stood back up, he looked back to Brian and saw he was gone, he had already left. He walked back outside and his instructor was waiting outside, he was standing in front of a jeep, his hands were behind his back.
“Well it looks like I won’t be your instructor from here on out.”
“Who is then?”
“You’ll see, get in the jeep.” Ryan got in the passenger seat of the jeep, and the instructor in the driver seat. He watched for a few seconds as they drove to the very end of the camp, and then stopped.
Ryan got out of the jeep and so did his instructor, walking up to the door of a building, the instructor pushed open the door. They walked in and sat at in two chairs on a side of a desk, the other side only having one. He waited for a few minutes, checking his watch infrequently until a door on the opposite side of the desk they were sitting at opened, and out came another instructor, he was 6’6” and had brown hair. He sat down in the chair.
“So your name is Ryan Jacobs, you were born on April 7th, 2030, your blood type is O+. You have a tendency to argue with Maxwell Adams, thus you were separated. But enough with the formalities, my name is Jake Miles. I’m your new instructor nice too meet you.” He reached out his hand and shook Ryan’s.
“Nice to meet you, so you’re my new instructor, I understand we’ve been separated, I could understand that I’ve been assigned a new instructor, makes sense.”
“That’s not why I’m your new instructor.” He pulled his hands back and rested them in one another, setting them on his desk.
“Then why are you?”
“Because you’ve shown leadership potential.”
“How so?”
“Not every leader has people that do exactly what they say, actually none of them do.”
“So? That doesn’t automatically make me a good leader.”
“No but the ability to coax people into doing them or convincing is.”
“And how did I do that today?”
“You were able to get him to do better then any of the other recruits on the range.”
“So? We were angry and trying to do better then the other, I still don’t see how that makes me a better leader.”
“Because you brought out the best in him, but for now back to your barracks, your training begins tomorrow.”
With that, Ryan left and returned to his barracks, laying in bed he began to remember how this all started, how it all came down to WWIII.
“In news today, it seems that the majority of goods shipped from China has proven to be toxic, it seems that those who have came into contact with these goods will began to have their flesh rot, with the first symptom being the peeling of the epidermis, with the rotting usually beginning within a half hour after exposure.” The anchorman began to continue on regarding the toxic shipment, but Ryan was too groggy to be concerned about it, he had just waken up 5 minutes ago at 7:00 AM today for work, you’d be groggy too.
He was eating some cereal, oblivious to much else. He began to sip some coffee, hopefully it would help him to become more awake. It was starting to work, he became less groggy, he was finally able to take in the news.
“Considering this as due Casus Belli, the government has declared war on China, thus effectively killing all consumer intake, as well as corporations that rely on China for outsourcing.” Now that he was more aware he knew this was bad, the US had been relying on China for all goods for over half a century. Without China’s imports the US consumer market would perish, but if things were like during WWII at all, then things would change a lot, we could maybe be able to rely on ourselves again, but still what for now?
He wiped the sweat off his forehead and begin to continue eating his cereal and sipping his coffee when another news break came on.
“This just in from the white house, current president Cindy Meyers has issued a draft for all able bodied people, we go live now.” The camera switched from the anchorman to the conference room in the white house. President Cindy was as calm and relaxed as usual.
“I believe in order to establish a status quo, it is necessary to incorporate a draft for ages 19 to 25, thus it should help to even the sheer number of the Chinese armed forces, any more questions?”
“Yes president Cindy, how do you think this will effect our economy?”
“I believe this will allow us to rebuild it, which is just what we need, we’ve been relying on imports from countries such as China for far too long.” She checked her watch and said no more questions, walking away a commercial came on for the news.
He rested his face in the palm of his right hand, he knew this was going to be a pain, although he should be more concerned about getting drafted, but for now he had to get to work. Leaving his quaint suburban home, he rested his coffee mug on the table and switched off the news, after putting away his cereal he went out the door, he straightened his tie. He took the keys out of his pocket, fumbling with them for a moment he got the right key and slid it into the lock, turning it he opened the door and slid them out.
Keys in hand, he sat in the drivers seat and put the ignition key into the lock, turning it once more the car growled to life, he shifted the gears into reverse and backed out of the driveway, checking his rear view mirror to ensure that there were no obstacles such as cars and pedestrians obstructing his path, he backed out and shifted into forward and drove off.
The drive to work was rather boring and empty, he endeavored to find something worth while to listen on the radio, but despite his efforts he was unable, he merely sighed, rolled his eyes and shrugged. When he was on the brink of falling asleep his cell phone woke him up, taking it from the glove box he flipped it open and pressed the green call button.
“Hello?”
“Ryan? Have you seen the news?” It was his mother, she tended to worry about him rather unnecessarily, but this time in all due honestly he didn’t blame her. He was concerned himself, he didn’t want to get drafted, although he knew it was very well unavoidable, it was merely a matter of time before it found him.
“Yes mom, I know, it’s war.”
“Just be careful, I’m only afraid for your safety.”
“Alright thanks.” He flipped the phone shut and the call was ended automatically, he rarely had opportunity to speak with her, however when he was able to converse with her he rather enjoyed it. Sometimes he felt alone after all, spending weekend nights alone in bed, tossing and turning about what awaited him upon his return to work, although it was normal after all, wasn’t it?
He was putting the cell phone back in the glove box, when it rang again. Looking through the second LCD screen, he instantly recognized the number. Flipping it open he pressed the green call button once more, putting it to his ear he spoke.
“Doug?” Doug was his boss, so if he was calling something must be wrong.
“Ryan? I’m afraid I have bad news.” This immediately set off an alarm in his head, normally when he said this, it wasn’t in this tone, usually in fact Doug seemed to take light of things when he could, but no, this was different.
“What?” He asked, he was nervous, you could tell it in his voice alone.
“I’m afraid, you’ve been drafted.” This made his heart skip a beat, he felt as though time were stopping, he was actually afraid he was going to die. His mind became overflowed with thoughts and panic, in it he lost sight of what was happening in reality, he nearly collided head on with a sedan, if it weren’t for the driver of the sedan using the horn, the collision would have happened for sure.
Frantically he threw the steering wheel to the right, the car skidding out of control, the tires screamed as he flew off the road, he slammed on the emergency break, the tires screamed even louder, almost shattering his ability to hear, the car jaunted to a stop, he was breathing heavily. He pushed the handle for the door, making it come open he stepped out, and could see a police cruiser in the distance, it’s lights were on and the siren could be heard, albeit faintly.
He could guess that the police cruiser was there for him, although he was surprised at the speed at which the local police department had taken to respond. He attempted to step forward but immediately fell down, attempting to get back up he fell again, sitting down he noticed a piece of glass in his leg, it wasn’t very big but it was still significant enough to do damage.
He waited for the police officer to arrive, when he did he stepped out of the car and walked up, seeing the piece of glass in his leg, he used his radio and ordered in Emergency Medical Services. The police officer walked away a few feet and talked into his radio, soon the ambulance, a tow truck, and a flatbed truck arrived.
He didn’t really get to see what happened next because they picked him up and lifted him to the rear of the ambulance, they took out of a flashlight and shone it across his eyes. He followed it, and they put it away, laying him down on a stretcher they closed the rear doors and drove off.
He waited for almost half an hour, probably longer until they arrived in the emergency room. When they got there he was taken out on the stretcher and taken into an Examination room, where they took x-rays and cat scans. Finally they injected him with some penicillin and removed the glass, dressing it up with bandages.
He waited in that bed, he was fine, or rather he was until a man in a camouflage uniform walked in with a gun, handing it to him he was forced to stand up and walk out the door of the room, he found himself in a war zone. He tried to run but his legs wouldn’t work, he nearly screamed as soldiers ran past him yelling, he couldn’t speak, one of them landed on him, his eyes were rolled back in his head, worst yet though, he could recognize him, it was Brian Irons.
He sat up in bed in a sweat, he didn’t know it first until he looked around and remembered where he was, seeing the other soldiers asleep, he presumed he should do the same, and lied back down in bed and tried to sleep, closing his eyes he opened them again, and looked around rather concerned. He didn’t want that to happen again.
Never the less, he needed sleep, he lied back down in bed and closed his eyes, he could still hear the screams of the soldiers as they died, he shuddered and dozed off.

December 12, 2051

It was a rough night of sleeping, he was constantly tossing and turning, going through that same nightmare repeatedly, finally the sun rose through the window and shone on his eyes, waking him up. He tried to block it but it was no use, finally with a grunt he sat up in bed and went over to his foot locker, a fresh change of uniform was in it, along with underwear. He changed clothes and put his dirty ones in the foot locker, then walked outside.
It seemed the rest of the camp wasn’t awake yet, because there was absolutely no one out yet, it was rather eerie in fact. Walking down the dirt road, he walked to the end of the camp, he nearly tripped on something as he was walking. That’s when he saw the body, or rather one of many bodies, they began to fall on him covering him in a mountain, he wanted to scream but his body wouldn’t let him, blood began to cover him. He woke up.