When It Happened

OPERATION: WHEN IT HAPPENED

 “It all started when the robots came. By then it was too late.

“We were shopping in the village square, my family and I went to go shopping for groceries for the party meal for my sister’s birthday. I was twelve, she was nine. On the island where we lived it was always peaceful. The mud buildings stood tall off the ground. We weren’t like the others that came before us. We had technology and cars and the likes, but most of the countries had a huge war. After that it was just safer to live in pueblo like houses that were built before. Our island was off of the mainland. You could see the glittering white marble buildings from the beach.

“I was exited that day we went to the market. I looked at the little toys and trinkets as my father held my hand as he bartered for a lower price on watermelon. I heard some kids playing soccer behind me and I turned to see how they were doing. I turned in time to see a boy in a red shirt kick a ball into a makeshift goal. His team cheered while the other team looked at the goal in dismay. The boy took the ball and threw it in the air in celebration. I followed the ball with my eyes as it rose against the blue sky.

“I squinted my eyes to get a better look. It looked like a star was shining in the bright of day. I told my father and he looked too. His smile slowly faded as the star seemed to get brighter and brighter. I was transfixed. I was twelve. I didn’t understand. He gripped my hand tighter. I could feel his hand starting to sweat. I tried to squirm out of his grasp when the building across the street exploded.

“Just after that a machine flew over. It looked like the toy robots my brother had only much larger than that. Another explosion sent dirt in my face. I saw a flash of red as the boy ran away too. Only then did I hear my father calling me to run. He gripped my hand and pulled me with him.

“People ran in all directions. I followed my father’s voice. The sky was filling with smoke and dust as the robot thing attacked. More and more robots started showing up. Some landed and started walking around. The top half of their torso could be seen towering over the buildings. They fired rounds of guns and lasers at the buildings and people.

“My father pushed me into an alley and told me to stay put. He and my mother ran out into the street to hide elsewhere where so the robots wouldn’t find us all together. That was the last I saw of them.

“The next thing I remember firmly is me holding a M16 as I ran thought the streets bucking for cover at any piece of rubble I could find. I think it must have been a few months since I saw or heard from my parents, I’m not exactly sure. I hid behind a damaged wall, a robot only down the street. I made sure it turned away when I darted into the alley across the street. It must have spotted me because it started to come after me.

“I ran down alleys not even trying to recall my steps. When I realized it I was trapped in a dead end. I turned around and listened to the robot as it situated itself down the alley. I saw it take aim at me. I crouched down making myself small and raised my weapon. I remember smiling. All that time it thought it was chasing me when I led it here. I fired my weapon. The steady stream of bullets was ear splitting but by that time I was used to it. While most people would aim at the head or the chest I took aim at the lower body around the waist.

“It started firing at me and the huge bullets somehow missed me. I continued firing. I knew I was hitting the right spot when the joint cords, the cords that kept the leg and hip in place, snapped and the robot fell. I remember signaling to the boy in the red shirt. The robot had to be silenced before it called for help. The boy sat on the roof of an intact building and steadied a rocket launcher on his right shoulder. He fired the weapon at the robots head. The explosion threw me back into the alley wall.

“After that, we went back to our little base camp. I remember some of the Armed Forces of Corona, AFC, waiting there for us. They were in black armor. I raised my gun to defend myself and the others in the building. One of the men lifted his helmet. When I saw he wasn’t one of the scout robots I calmed down but kept my weapon raised.

“He told me to calm down. Obviously he hasn’t spent months trying to stay alive. He said that he could take a few kids back to the mainland. The adults were all dead; they couldn’t be as nimble as us. The rest would have to wait till more AFC came for them. I volunteered to wait but the boy in the red shirt said that I should go instead. It took some persuading but eventually I went with the AFC Soldiers with some of the others.

“We left the base and ran to the Tikin Ruins a few miles out of the village. There was a V12 Razor, a small aircraft capable of incredible speed. It sat there waiting to take off. The soldiers helped us inside the small cargo hold. I buckled myself in and looked out the small window.

“As the Razor lifted off the ground I could see the whole village. The engines whirred in preparation to propel the vessel forward. As I looked out the window I saw a robot much to close to the base where the others were hiding. I couldn’t move I couldn’t speak. Before we sped away I saw the building burst into flames and exploded into fire and bellows clouds of smoke. I remember shouting as something wet dripped down my face. The picture of the boy in red filled my head.

“It’s so strange. We survived together. We lived together. We depended on each other. We cared for each other. And even as I watched the flames get farther and farther away, I couldn’t even remember his name.”

 ….TRANSCRIPTION

COMPLETE.…

Because  I ran out of time to write a poem or something, I decided to post an old piece of writing I had written quite a while back. It was a prologue to a few chapters that I wrote about a robot invasion heavily influenced by Gundam, the Japanese animation in all their installments. I wrote a few chapters before putting it aside. I though you might be interested in some of my old work. Hope you enjoy!