An Untitled Novel

Basil kept walking towards where ACE had said the Lizard King was. His joints ached, and the gunshot wound on his stomach kept reopening. Still, he knew it could be worse - he would probably have collapsed from pain or exhaustion had it not been for the additional doses of painkillers and amphetamines. He finally found the tall man, now sporting several more bullet wounds than he had last seen him with, although luckily nothing life threatening yet. He sported the same rifle slung across his shoulder, and his sword’s sheath had blood on it now, although Basil couldn’t tell whether that was from the use of it or another form of violence.

“Nerva” Basil said, getting his attention. He turned and began speaking, telling Basil the bad news he already knew. “The tide is beginning to turn, and not in our favor. All of my soldiers I can bring have come, and our numbers are beginning to thin. What do you propose we do?” Basil pulled up ACE’s drone surveillance on his PDA. The Lizard King’s mouth opened as if he were about to speak but could not do so, seeing the destruction only visible with the impersonal observation of a UAV. “The hooded one appears to be in that building, and a majority of them seem to be spread out along our front lines. If we can get through them and make a mad dash we might be able to cut the head off the snake.” The Lizard King nodded, but spoke as if Basil didn’t understand his own proposal. “That may work, but I must tell you that it would be suicide. We may be able to make it to the building, but there would be no way we could hold it for any length of time, and our front lines here would likely be pushed back if I put my best men towards this.”

Basil nodded. “I know, but we’re already losing ground and ammo. You, me, and the best men willing to volunteer for it. We can make a push, then get the rest of them here to evacuate unless the Elthrice’s front lines collapse entirely. It’s our only shot.” The Lizard King nodded and spoke with a triumphant voice despite the circumstances. “Very well, I will gather my best willing soldiers. Speak to Edwards; he is coordinating most of our troops and will need to be informed.” The Lizard King ran off to collect a group, and Basil ran over to restock his supplies, grabbing some of the last magazines from the wrecked craft.

“Nerva and me are going to try and punch through the front lines and get to their base of operations. I want you to go to the facility, if this all goes south it’s yours” Basil said while approaching Grey at the makeshift field hospital. She gave a sorrowful looking expression and shook her head. “I can’t do that Basil, not while I’m needed here.” Basil nodded. “Just please promise me you’ll go there rather than let yourself be captured if the camp is about to be overrun.” This time, it was Grey’s turn to nod silently, a grievous expression coming over her face yet again.

As the silence stretched on, Grey finished treating the soldier she was helping and looked directly at Basil for the first time in their conversation. “Basil, you’re a great brother.” Unsure of what else to do, Basil quickly embraced her, shortly after stepping back and seeing his blood added to the other blood on her environment suit. “Please come back” she said as Basil went to leave. “I’ll try” he lied.

“Edwards” Basil said, finally finding him on the other side of the makeshift field hospital - also tending to the wounded. “Me and Nerva are going to try and cut through the front lines, I need as much support as you can give.” Edwards shook his head. “We’re already beginning to lose ground, I cannot spare men so you two can play martyr.” Basil took on a grim but authoritative tone. “Edwards, we’re losing ground and there’s no one else coming. We’re 34 hours into our estimated 38 hour supply of ammunition, and once a hole forms in our front lines they’ll be in this camp within the hour.” A look of helplessness washed over Edward’s face as if he had been deluding himself about their condition until now. “Okay” he replied, voice suddenly weak. “I’ll do what I can.”

“You know Basil” the Lizard King said after getting his troops into a wedge formation. “There were times around when we met that I believed we had done what we would be remembered for. The war that ended wars and the decisions made that affected millions. Now, perhaps in the face of this, they will be forgotten.” Basil shook his head. “There are no ends of wars. We’ve seen three civilizations, all of which have thought they were done with war at some point, and here we are.” The Lizard King looked taken aback for a second before nodding and smiling a very brief smile. “Well, regardless, we have both come a long way since the first night we met.”

Basil nodded, and the Lizard King seemed to change to the demeanor of a commander in an instant. “Stay close to me, I don’t want you to be the first thing they shoot at, but if our ranks get thinned be ready to join the fight. Though we have seen almost nobody with Orbital’s objects that may change as we push through; only a few of my soldiers have depleted uranium rounds, so they may need us for that as well.” Basil nodded and the formation began to move, temporarily flanked by soldiers on each side organized by Edwards.

The next few minutes offered death and destruction that even the past hours did not hold, at least not in Basil’s presence. They began to make headway, cutting an opening into the Elthrice’s defensive line, but only at the cost of wave after wave of the Lizard King’s men sacrificing themselves for the last push. As soon as the line began to break the Lizard King shouted “NOW!” and he, Basil, and a large group of his soldiers began nearly running in an attempt to keep the Elthrice from catching up and stopping their advance. As Basil looked back the Elthrice seemed to be short on troops as well, suddenly causing him to second guess their plan momentarily. However, they were still losing ground to them, so he ultimately told himself this was the only way to turn the tide.

Basil opened fire alongside the Lizard King and his soldiers. Cutting through the line of defenses made the trip to the building begin to speed up, but they were now a small group surrounded by any Elthrice that could catch up or move in from the nearby buildings. The Elthrice’s line was quickly reinforced, and Basil could see their fate was sealed with nowhere but forward to go. The firing became one singular noise as their best weapons fired upon seemingly endless poorly armed Elthrice. If nothing else, Basil figured that was the only reason why they were still in the fight; though they were losing people at a hugely faster rate than the Elthrice, a long stretch of gaining ground meant all the best weapons were still in play on his side - even if ammo and people were quickly becoming scarce now.

Basil saw the dome in sight as they rounded a bend, although their ranks were quickly thinning with the endless Elthrice coming their way. Losing all cover, a fast walk turned into a full sprint towards the dome, with some of the few remaining soldiers staying a distance behind to cover the ones in the front. Basil and the Lizard King imminently opened fire on a group of Elthrice outside of the dome, most dropping without (object)s, but some clearly having some. Making it to what appeared to be a door into a large dome, Basil ran through an arch that revealed walls nearly six feet thick.

Basil ran into the enormous dome, shocking the many Elthrice in it. The Lizard King ran through the arch, but was stopped in the center of it with invisible walls trapping him within the arch itself, preventing him from doing anything as he watched the Orbitals clear out what remained of the soldiers outside. Basil opened fire as the armed Elthice in the building raised their weapons, although a majority of the Elthrice seemed unarmed and ran for cover. In one split second every Elthrice froze, lowering their weapons to the ground, and Basil stopped firing a few seconds later. The hooded one stepped out from behind what appeared to be a metal crate and Basil aimed his rifle at him but did not fire. The other Elthrice seemed to be a mix of worried and terrified, but the hooded one’s body language and horrifying voice seemed to indicate that it was calm.

“The other will soon be dead, there is no need to pretend, one who calls himself Basil” the hooded one said, causing Basil to pause in confusion. He went to speak but the hooded one continued. “An impressive feat has been performed, better than the ingrates I have been made to tolerate in our rebuilding. Join us, your crimes will be forgiven, and you will be given great standing and technology; you can perform an even greater service than the true Elthrice who initially accompanied me.”

Basil let out a laugh that almost sounded insane before emptying the remainder of his magazine into the hooded one. Unlike Orbitals, however, the hooded one appeared unaffected by the onslaught of angry uranium. In a blur the hooded one raised something, and Basil fell to the ground, feeling numb aside from a warmth feeling around his chest and back. Basil tried to move, but found himself unable to do so. The hooded one approached Basil and raised an Elthrice weapon, saying something that Basil could not process. He went to raise his handgun, but the hooded one pointed his weapon at Basil’s head and the world went blank.

The Lizard King screamed at the hooded figure, punching the invisible walls until blood appeared floating before him. “You will never get away with this! I will kill you and wear your cloak as a trophy!” The hooded one approached the Lizard King, although it looked on blankly without saying a word.