Part One

Operation Deadlock was a very bloody operation in our corrupt world where there is only war and bloodshed left. I would describe it as more like something you would expect to see in hell. It started thirteen years ago with my squad, a scout who was my twenty-one year old friend, Isaac, and John twenty years old. I was nineteen years old and my name is William; this is my story of what happened on December third in the  year 2301.

Thunder rumblings and the clouds bump against our transport before we finally landed a clearing in a dense forest. It is raining and not to mention misty with the kind of pitch black darkness that only comes at midnight. As we walk out into the darkness, the silence of death is in the air, and our boots make no noise against the wet ground. Suddenly, a loud shot came out of the air and instantly our medic falls down dead. We all got down fast and crawled into a nearby ditch by the edge of the woods. Isaac crawls up next to me and sarcastically says, “This will be a fun night.” I laugh to myself and nod as we both turn on our night vision cams in our helmets. Looking across the grounds, I see a farm and signal my squad to awareness. Isaac sets himself up into a well thought out sniping position...BANG... Dead silence, then there was a crash and a explosion. Dazed and blown back by the force of the explosion, I see a crater in the clearing with the trees all around lit with light from the flames spread across the clearing. I hear Isaac’s voice and I go to him crossing a few of my other friends lying motionless on the ground. I ask him what happened and he said that he thinks it is enemy artillery. In the distance, the sounds of gunfire and more artillery continue as we go into the forest.

Part Two

Later that morning, at 2:00 and one mile away from the clearing, there is a city that used to be called Moscow. It is supposedly also in a country surrounded by more land, but it is a big island now, too. Now that’s known as a myth although no one knows how life was before the purge anymore. But anyway back to the story… A scout named John walks down a street with rubble and flames scattered everywhere along with the ruins of houses and bombed out parks and neighborhoods. He starts to hear a low rumble getting louder by the second but yet he couldn’t see what it was because of the fog. It sounds like metal grinding against dirt, but just by its presence you could tell it was a machine of death designed only to kill and only that purpose. He leaps behind a broken down transport and peeks through a hole as it comes out of the fog. He freezes with three different emotions: fear, dread, and shock. In his mind, he knew exactly what it was: a metal coffin. Still, to others, it might be known as a tank.

Then John sees us, William and I are standing behind a corner staring at the tank with the exact same emotions he had felt. We all looked at each other as if under a spell of despair and then, I knew what had to happen. At least I thought that it was the only answer at the time. He came over to us and said I don't know about y’all but I’m getting out of here. I'm gonna report some info to the base camp.

I said, “No, getting rid of this death machine will be doing our men out there a favor.”

John, looks at me and says, “Ha, that's a joke. Well, good luck because I’m leaving you, but here, take this.” John hands me a drone. I, of course, asked how does it work, but I got no answer because he was already gone. Suddenly, the tank stopped, but I didn't care, for all I cared he would have blown us up as I was quickly attaching a flash bang to the drone. Once I finally got it on, I flew that beauty right above the hatch of that tank. Then, I stepped out of my safe hiding spot, all while Isaac was looking at me like I was insane. I let the flash bang drop… BANG… everyone was now stunned in the tank and that's when I started charging it jumped on top of the tank and I went in.