Atomic

Prologue

  Private Robert Evans had decided to join the British Army immediately upon leaving Secondary school at the age of eighteen. This was during the intense recruitment drive of 2013 undertaken by the recently established British Emperorship by the revolutionary leader Carl Griffin. It was in January 2013 that the Iranian Dictator pulled himself and his country beyond the world’s authorities and launched numerous raids along its neighbour’s borders. Requested to stop under threat of retaliation by the United States and the United Kingdom the Iranians laughed at the threats and decided to up the stakes quite dramatically. 

  In February five large missiles were launched into Earth’s atmosphere from a secret launch base deep in Iranian mountains, while cruising at a high altitude over Eastern Europe Britain’s highly advanced Star Wars Project launched interception missiles, safely detonating the incoming warheads far from their intended target of London. Some analysts believed that the Iranians did not intend for the missiles to reach their targets or that they were even live missiles. But the world took no chances, the US and the UK launched a combined assault upon Iran both with long range missiles and a full scale land invasion. Thanks to the Anti-Nuclear agreement in 2012 neither of these countries was able to blast Iran into a radioactive wasteland. However, as the western world had long feared Iran had been able to research and produce a small number of atomic bombs. The world was entirely focused upon this war with almost every country in the world calling upon restraint from the United Kingdom and her American allies. With America focusing a large amount of its military power upon Iran it was a simple process for the Iranian Dictator to launch a massive counter attack against the allies landing bases drawing the attention of Washington down away from its own defence. Never believing anyone would dare attack them on their own soil their arrogance would bring about their destruction.

  By the end of February the Iranian’s Atomic Bomb had annihilated much of the state of Washington and New York. The Americans immediately hit back launching a hundred ‘strategically’ kept nuclear missiles. Iran was obliterated but rather than seeing an end to the conflict this rash decision to launch illegally kept missiles prompted world-wide rage. The death of millions of Iranians was at the back of people’s minds. Old enemies like Germany, Japan and Russia who had all signed the Anti-Nuke agreement felt both cheated and in imminent danger of American attacks. America found itself alone and threatened from all corners of the globe. Its one remaining ally, Britain could not come to its defence for fear of losing its other allies, the foremost of whom was France and Germany. The Anti-Nuke agreement was a joint project put forth by these three countries and to side with America would cost Britain support and billions of pounds of trade, and in a war the combined might of the world would inevitably crush the US. In a difficult decision Britain withdraw from its alliance with America and decided to follow Switzerland and withdrew behind its web of missile protection. In its neutrality Britain had hoped for the tensions to ease and the world to return to normal. Its hope was to last a matter of weeks.

  In an attempt to bring Britain into the war and give itself a respite America showed the world a number of British units that were supposedly garrisoned in America, shown in an apparent attempt to dissuade attacks upon its soil America inadvertently signed the death warrant on Britain. Seeing this as an attempt to undermine their previous alliance the combined might of France and Germany, along with their allies of Spain and Italy smashed into the British coastline on the 8th March 2013.

Chapter 1

  Private Evans had found himself bundled off to an army training camp that seemed fit to burst with the vast influx of conscripted and volunteer troops. Given a quick physical inspection and thrust straight onto a 5 mile run Evans was then given a quick 2 hour shooting lesson. Upon completion of both of these tasks Evans was assigned a unit and shipped along to another training camp. Here he underwent a week of intense physical exercise followed by a further two days of shooting and tactical training. This was seen as sufficient to the British Emperor who saw Evans and his fellow new recruits only as a last resort. Within two weeks of signing up Evans and his Battalion were stationed along the south coast tasked with defending a small airfield that was used by a squadron of Eurofighters. A total of six hundred men were stationed at this airfield. Only twenty of whom would survive longer than two days from when they reached their posts.

  “Make sure you keep an eye on the horizon Evans.” The gravelly voice drew Evans rapidly back to the real world; he cursed himself for drifting off into the land of the daydreams. If it had been Captain Hendricks rather than Sergeant Keans who had found him Evans had no doubt he would be facing ten lashings within the hour.

  “Yes Sergeant. Sorry Sergeant.” Evans pulled his arms back and thrust his chest out, standing straight and proud until he heard Keans chuckle and continue on his way down the picket line. Keans could be heard further down the line laughing and talking with his men. The sun was just beginning to reach the noon point, the heat was starting to prick at the private’s skin and his uniform was clinging uncomfortable to his skin. Evans turned his attention back to the channel. Five massive battleships and one aircraft carrier lay at anchor a mile off the coast. Evans knew that all around the British coast hundreds of vessels lay waiting to see the course of the tension, if war was to come to Britain it would find itself a hell of a fight.

  The Leader of the Eurofighter squadron suddenly appeared besides Evans. His appearance was so sudden that Evans nearly dropped his M16 assault rifle in shock.

  “God damn it Murdoch don’t sneak up and people like that.” Evans playfully punched his friend on the shoulder and returned his attention to the horizon.

  “Just look at the sea like a good little girl Rob,” a faint chuckle from Murdoch, “Want a smoke?”

  “Sure why not.” The two friends stood looking silently across the slowly milling water. Neither could ever have believed what horrors would be coming for them that night, that the whole world would be devastated and changed beyond any recognition. “You heard anything else about this situation?”

  “Well one of my friends back at HQ has told me that the Americans have shown British troops stationed on US soil to aid them should they need help. The Emperor has told the rest of the world that that is of course ridiculous and we have no interest in helping them but I don’t think anyone else cares. Looks like the heat is switching to Britain now.”

  “Fucking Americans why did they do that? We have no troops in the US.”

  “Not as far as we know but we might for all us poor sods know. Anyway even if we don’t I don’t blame them. We left them on their own to deal with the whole fucking mess so if I was the President I’d probably have done the exact same thing.”

  “Well not much we can do about it now, just fight if we have to.” Evans flicked the end of his cigarette over the cliff edge and watched it spiral slowly down to the pebbles and sand below.

  “True but the French have given us a day to withdraw from America or they will launch their attacks.”

  “But we have no troops to withdraw. Are they fucking stupid? They are going to attack us!”

  “Yep soon too. Just do your job and fight Private, kill as many of them as you fucking well can. Besides their frogs, my nan could probably make them surrender.” Murdoch patted his friend on the shoulder and laughed weakly. “We are having a briefing at two. Get yourself ready soldier.”

  Dead on two the bell rang out to call the soldiers inside. The briefing room was moved to the giant hanger to accommodate for the huge amount of soldiers. Evans found himself stuck against one of the Eurofighters and struggled to move towards the front where Captain Beck was addressing his men.

  “Men. The General has informed me that a French attack is imminent upon our shores. Intel tells us that the attack will be hitting Britain somewhere along the North coast line. So far the Emperor’s attempts at easing the situation have been unsuccessful. As such security has been moved to DEFCON one and we have been ordered to full battle readiness. The Secretary of Defence is confident our northern defences will be able to repel anything the French can launch at us but we must be prepared that the Germans, Italians and Spanish will also aid the French. If that is the case the Northern line may well crumble and we will have invaders to deal with. In this case we have been ordered to set off for the north immediately. We will be joining up with the rest of the regiment and make our way north, another two regiments will be moving up with us. The rest of the 3rd Army is to stay at the south coast to hold this line. The 1st Army is holding the Northern line know and it is expected they may be annihilated by the time we reach them so elements from the 2nd and 5th Armies will be joining us for an assault on the Northern lines. Hopefully this will not be necessary. Your sergeants will bring you more detailed orders later. Give the men of the 1st your prayers men and good luck.” A quick salute from the Captain before he spun on his heels and exited the hanger.

  Lieutenant Howards stepped forth and in his greatest parade ground voice called the men to attention. The rippled of panicked shouts ceased immediately and the whole hanger stood quiet waiting for the Lieutenant to speak. “Men you are ordered to continue the picket line on a double watch, the duty falls to Alpha and Bravo Company.  The rest of you are to rest and be ready for further orders. Dismissed.”

  “God damn it we just came off watch,” grumbled Private Williams as he passed Evans.

  “That’s what you care about Williams?” Replied Evans as he fell into step with his friend, “You just heard we may be invaded, may all be killed yet another watch shift is all that matters?”

  “Come on Evans you don’t really believe that’s going to happen do you? No-one has the balls to attack us. We have the best army in the world so even if they were stupid enough to try it they’ll fail.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that Will, we may wake up to find ourselves an invaded country. Hell we may not wake up at all.”

  “Ye But we won’t. We will wake up exactly as we are now.” Somewhere deep inside himself Robert knew this wasn’t true, he couldn’t share his friend blind ignorance, or optimism? He wasn’t sure which but considered it to more ignorant of the truth. He could feel that nothing would be the same, that soon the world would go to the shits and he would have to face a new era. A new world was just a dawn away.

  The first shell fell upon the small airfield at roughly three in the morning. Advanced stealth bombers had managed to penetrate the radar defences of Britain far enough to launch their bombs along the south coast. It was believed that their target was London but seeing that the air defences further inland were too formidable they were ordered to change their targets. One new target was the small airstrip that Evans was assigned to protect.

  The sound of the sirens rang out like the sound of god himself. Its loud piercing shriek pulled Evans immediately from the clinging embrace of sleep. He had been relieved at his watch at midnight and had only managed to fall asleep twenty minutes before the siren began its wailing cry. He awoke with the rest of his company and quickly set about collecting his gear. It took less than a minute before Private Evans was running from the barracks fully kitted, his weapon loaded and ready to kill. In a moment of divine intervention Evans had been out of his barracks for just ten seconds had made it ten feet from its door when a bomb crashed straight through the barracks roof and detonated as it smashed into the tarmac floor. Screams lent their strength to the continuing siren as men felt their skin burn and shrivel in the fires hellish heat. Evans was thrown thirty twenty feet through the air and landed just short of the hanger where even as he lay half conscious and bleeding Murdoch and his fellow pilots were slowly easing their fighters onto the runway ready to take the fight to the skies.

  “Come on Private on your feet.” Sergeant Keans roughly pulled Evans too his feet and bundled him off the runway as the first fighter jet took to the skies. The rough of the engines drowned out the siren for a second before it was shooting off into the night sky. Explosions blossomed in the distance as the British forces began to fight back. Anti-aircraft fire lanced up into the night while bombs split open the dark night with bright white explosions. The ground shook beneath Evans’ feet as yet another bomb exploded off into the forest less than half a mile away from the airfield. Shouting sounded from further down the runway and Keans began pulling Evans down towards the rest of the Battalion.

  “Where is the rest of your company Sergeant!” Captain Beck suddenly flinched as the last jet took off into the night.

  “I’m not sure sir. Half of them were on watch and I have no idea where they are but those who were in the barracks are dead. Apart from Private Evans, he managed to avoid being burnt alive.”

  “Ok so we can count Alpha Company as effectively KIA. That leaves me 500 men only 200 of which are currently accounted for. Sergeant I want you to move down to Bravo’s barracks and get them up here. We have to get away from here now.”

  “Yes sir.” Sergeant Keans had made it halfway down the runway when, with 200 men watching he was engulfed in a flame ball from yet another exploding bomb. The worst tradgedy was yet to come however. Seeing the sergeant moving towards them the entire Bravo Company was moving up towards him when seeing his fiery death they froze. And in one giant clump they were all caught in an exploding mess when an enemy F22-Raptor plummeted into the ground at close to 1000 mph. aviation fuel engulfed the panicked men of Bravo Company incinerating flesh and bone within seconds. Screams were non-existent until the unfortunate few caught just at the edge of the group spilled forth their skin melting and bubbling.

  Captain Beck retched violently as he saw his men burning alive. He still had Echo Company to find as well as the men of Delta Company who were still unaccounted for, but he couldn’t risk the lives of the men he already had, he had to save as many soldiers has he could.

  “Captain what are your orders?” Lieutenant Howards patted the Captains shoulder to draw his attention away from the screaming men of B Company. 

  “We have to get away right now. Move west away from the runway cut your way through the perimeter fence and get the men into the woods.”

  “Are you not coming sir?”

  “No Lieutenant I will take ten men and search for the rest of my men. If I find them we will regroup with you in the woods.” Captain Beck tapped the shoulders of the ten nearest men and immediately set off in search of his missing men. Evans felt his stomach flip as his shoulder was touched by his captain. Refusal would mean death but to Evans following the order would also mean death, yet a slightly less definite death and so Evans followed his captain into the exploding darkness. Behind him Evans heard his comrades moving off towards the relative safety of the woods. Cursing his luck Evans desperately hoped they would find the men quickly.

  The men of Echo Company found Captain Beck at the very tip of the runway. Behind them the guns of the battleships were bringing down numerous enemy planes. Broken and twisted aircraft bobbed around pitifully in the swell of the sea. Only fifty men remained of E Company but they were all fully armed and ready to do combat. Which was just as well. Just moments after the two groups of soldiers had joined the British battleships met with their enemy counterparts. The enemy ships outnumbered the British three to one and pretty soon the British navy suffered heavy losses.  The enemy broke through the British line and troop carriers powered forwards towards the beach.

  “Shit!” Captain Beck immediately grabbed the comms officer and ordered him to contact the Lieutenant and get him back to the coast. “Right men, ready your weapons and get to your combat posts.” The men scrambled along the cliffs edge to their firing positions. Evans slipped down a small decline before the land levelled out and his sandbagged position came into view. The mounted machine gun was lying abandoned and Evans immediately grabbed it and sighted along it as the faint lights of the enemy craft drew steadily closer.

  “Alright Evans?” Williams slid down next to his friend and propped his rifle across the sandbags.

  “Jesus Williams I thought you were dead.”

  “Nope I was on watch when the attack started and managed to hook up with E Company when I tried to find you guys. Who else is left from Alpha?”

  “As far as I know it is just us two left. Our barracks got hit head on. There were no survivors.”

  “Holy shit. You were right Rob we can’t hold this lot back. We should just make a run for it.”

  “What and let this lot set foot on our soil? You know we can’t do that Will.”

  “But we can re-group and hit them back.”

  “You know we can’t yield anything to them so shut up and kill as many as you can.” Before William could reply the shapes of the enemy craft broke free of the clinging darkness. They were just fifty feet from the beach.

  “Wait until that ramp hits the pebbles and then hit them with everything you have, we cannot let them get further than this beach.” Evans’ headset crackled briefly as Beck issued his orders.

  “Hear that Will?”

  “Of course I fucking did,” Growled Private William as he steadied his weapon and placed his finger viciously over his trigger. Sweat glistened on his forehead and he struggled to control his breathing. It felt as if a rampaging elephant was stampeding around his stomach and William felt his finger tightening of its own accord. But to fire now would alert the enemy as to their position. He forced himself to take a deep breath, remember your training he told himself.