Prompt #3A: Silver Lining and Silver Bullets

Diary Entry 135

August 8th, 2013

Now, you can see the smoke, the fire; you run as quickly as you can down the dusty road in your heavy combat boots. As you arrive to the heap of metal with flames shooting out the open windows, you're screaming at the top of your lungs to see if you can get a response, but you're screaming over the screams. They're screaming. You try to snatch open the driver's side to free them from a fiery grave and scorch your hand, realizing that there's nothing that you can do. You're under equipped. Under-experienced. And emotionally compromised. So, you stand there. You stand there and hear the screams, but you try not to listen to them. The chalky air doesn't allow you to cry, but you can feel the wrenching pain in the pit of your stomach. You feel weak and worthless. Helpless. What’s so glorious about witnessing four members of your infantry, your brothers, and get into a vehicle that will hit an IED a few miles down the road?

What's so glorious about war? What's so glorious about having to leave my beautiful wife and child behind in the States while I travel to a foreign country, ridden with disease and crime, not completely sure that I'll come back with bags or in a bag?

Marshall is six now. Lydia sends me videos and pictures of him any time she can. She even sends pictures of drawings that he's done. It's a pleasant surprise, but then the same questions rewind and replay over and over in my mind. Will I be able to see Marshall grow up? Will I be able to see him lose all of his baby teeth? And will I be able to see him experience his first crush? Will I be able to be the father that he needs? How will my absence effect our future relationship?

And what about my wife, Lydia? Her upbringing was so difficult, living in the projects with a mother on drugs and father trying to do anything he could to support them, and now she has a husband in the military and a six year son to raise on her own. I feel like her mother. War is my drug. I deal with it every day, experiencing a certain high from it, but I know it isn't good for me or the people around me. I know it's dangerous, but I part of me doesn't care.

But...

I've gotten to travel because of war. I've gotten to experience the lives of others overseas that I would have never been able to experience because of war. I've met children satisfied with the way that they live, satisfied with what they have. They were wise way beyond their years. I was thankful they were able to share their wisdom with me.

Because of war I know what the true meaning of teamwork, and that it is definitely what makes the dream work. I've learned to trust my brothers, trust their judgment and work together to achieve a goal. I've learned the meaning of courage and leadership, to step up in a time where a leader is needed. To laugh in the face of fear.

And that is the silver lining among the silver bullets.

ABC Story: Huntress Blood

And I drew my paralytic arrow back in perfect form.
Blood slithered down my face, past my eyes.
Can my arrow split the trees perfectly and hit him?
Dawn was approaching quickly, alerting me that I had a limited amount of time.
Even if I did hit him, would it slow him down?
Frost covered the blades of grass and crunched almost inaudibly as I crept, trying to get another view of my opponent.
Greg was the type to go in a match with full force, "Brawn over brains any day."
Horror filled me as he glanced in my general direction.
I became as still as I possibly could, any movement of any kind could tip him off of where I was.
Just as I thought, he saw me!
Knowing that I wouldn't escape him if I ran, I held my ground as he sprinted right toward me.
Loose and relaxed, I let my arrow fly with godspeed.
Missed.
Now, I was fucked.
Openings were non-existent with Greg.
Possibilities were existent with me, though.
Quickly as I use my hands, I loaded up another arrow within my bow and fired it off.
Remarkably, this arrow hit Greg directly in the thigh, causing him to collapse to the ground with a thud.
Sweat beaded my forehead and I quickly wiped it away to prevent it from dropping into my eyes.
Tired, I too dropped to the soft soil.
Unda, the announcer, lifted me to my feet.
Victory...
"Win!" Unda exclaims proundly with a booming voice, as if I were her own daughter. "Congratulations, you will advance to the next round."
Xu and the rest of my friends jogged toward me, giving hearty slaps on the back and playful elbows in my side.
"You did it, dude! You totally did it!" congratulated Xu.
"Zen did it."

Review 1 (Cycle 2): Cockbite?

If you guys truly know anything about me, you know that I love, love, love video games. I've been playing them since the age of three and haven't stopped since. Recently, within the last two years, I've started to watch video gaming personalities on Youtube, such as Hat Films, Game Grumps, and Tobuscus. Back when Halo released in 2001, a company by the name of Roosterteeth (the employees call it Cockbite), founded in 2003, started making a web series called Red vs Blue which I started watching around the time it was released. Here's the first episode of the first season. The 12th season is releasing in April if you're interesting in watching it. The videos are short, usually around 7 minutes long.

Look at those amazing game graphics! That's 2001 goodness right there! Roosterteeth became very famous for this web series, and they branched out from there doing live action shorts, a show called Immersion where they take video game concepts and attempts to apply them to real life, and many, many other things. This is the man, the mastermind behind it all, Burnie Burns.

One of the other Roosterteeth founders, Geoff Ramsey, also created a gaming website, Achievement Hunter, which is a division of the main company. Here's this handsome devil...

Not nearly as professional as Burnie, but whatever. He has charm! Achievement Hunter consists of him, his right hand man Jack Patillo, James Ryan Haywood, Michael Jones, Gavin Free, Ray Narvaez, and Michael's fiancee Lindsay Tuggey. (with the occasional Caleb Denecour & Kerry Shawcross) Here's their daily news for this week:

Yeah, so basically this is the most amazing company ever.

Prompt #2 (Tell This Story): Among Mist and Moss - Episode 1

Note: A short story inspired by the video game franchise Fallout, created by Bethesda.

It wasn't the prettiest place in the world, and probably not the most sanitary, but it was one of the only semi-safe places in the west region of the United States that wasn't overrun by zombies and ridiculously large, mutant animals. 

I grab my girlfriend's hand as we stomped through the swamp-like area, assisting her in crossing toward two wooden cabins that lay before us. They were old and had definitely seen a lot of years. The front porches were rotted and falling apart. Wooden parts of the dwelling bobbed in the murky waters, and I had no idea what type of aquatic life lived in that marsh. It wasn’t safe in the sense that we could hurt ourselves, I knew that, but it was secluded, a perfect location to hide out from the outside world of monsters that you only hear in ancient folklore.

I step cautiously onto the steps of one of the cabins, hearing the old oak creek in protest of my weight. I keep my hand close to my hip where my SIG Pro automatic pistol resided.

“Keep your shotgun ready just in case I miss,” I whisper over my shoulder to Lee. I can see that she held the weapon tightly, to brace herself of the recoil, but she looks natural. It isn't stiff within her hands, but it isn't loose either where she could hurt herself with it. She is definitely a marksman of a new breed.

She brushes her tangled and matted brunette hair from her face and smiles, showcasing her deep dimples. Camouflage paint covered her cheeks, forehead, and the bridge of her nose. She looks beautiful in the strangest way. “You never miss.”

We proceed to step into the darkened front room. I pull my gun out of its holder and grip it with my right hand, placing my left hand, which grasps a flashlight underneath as a foundation.

One foot in front of the other, Lee and I creep around the cabin like cats, checking every room and every corner for anything moving that could cause harm to us.

“Have we checked everything?” Lee questions for confirmation.

“Not this closet,” I say, reaching for the doorknob. “Pretty sure there isn’t anything in here, though.”

Abruptly, the door busts open, sending me sprawling down to the hard timber floor with out a loud thud. My heart thumps violently in my chest.

“Shit, shit! Lee! Yo, Lee!”

A zombie child, portions of his chest and an arm missing, most likely turned at the age of twelve, grabs my leg in an attempt to pull it off. I desperately try to crawl away, but his grip was strong.

“Christ!” Lee fires off a shotgun shell, the round taking the zombie’s head clean off. Chunks of decaying flesh flies everywhere and blood freckled my dirty face. The body collapses to the floor.

"Gross!" I exclaimed angrily. I stood up in urgency to brush the zombie skin off of my body.

"Sorry about that, love," giggles Lee.