Redemption and Rebirth

by KGBCowgirl

The Other Side

An explosion rocked the building as yet another shell struck the ground near the Riverwalk. A young man sprinted for the stairs to the upper floors, dodging bullets and shrapnel as foreign soldiers fired into the heavily populated shopping center. He made his way to the history theater, hunkering down behind a wall as Army personnel rushed to face the onslaught.

San Antonio was a warzone of incredible proportions, people running around the streets, only to be gunned down by the Korean extremists that had invaded the United States only a few days prior. The North Korean government had declared a state of active war against America shortly before sending forces to in to take the country by force. The American military had attempted to stop the onslaught, but by the fourth day of the invasion, the entire western seaboard had been overrun by the Korean People's Army. This was the fifth day, and the Midwest was almost taken by enemy forces.

The young man in question was a local musician, barely twenty years old, and scared out of his mind. Grif Eintracht of Austin, Texas swore as he regretted leaving his gun at home. He peeked around the corner to see several Korean soldiers stalking towards him, their assault rifles raised and pointed in his direction. He swore again before sprinting into the dimly lit theater, looking for anything that he could use as a weapon. He'd already seen the Koreans gun down civilians who had surrendered without incident, ignoring their pleas for mercy.

Grif spotted something near the front row. He rushed to the object, and sighed in relief as he identified an abandoned pistol. He guessed the owner didn't realize it had fallen to the ground in the confusion and panic, choosing instead to evacuate like everyone else. He checked the magazine, and his eyes widened at the sight of some very illegal hollow-point bullets. He had no time to question where the bullets came from before the soldiers loudly entered the theater. Grif slammed the magazine back into the pistol and took it off safety. He squeezed the grip to release the second safety before taking aim at one of the soldiers from behind the seats of the front row. He zeroed in on the man's thigh and squeezed the trigger.

In a loud bang and an almost immediate scream of pain the first of the three soldiers was down, clutching his leg as it gushed blood. One of his comrades took aim at the seat where Grif was hiding and opened fire while another dragged his teammate away. Grif dropped to his stomach and looked for the soldier firing at him. 'Thank you, Grandpa Eddie,' He thought as he made use of the military training his grandfather had passed down. In airsoft and paintball, Grif was hopeless in open spaces, but he excelled in small areas like the theater. He couldn't run fast or hit very hard, but he'd be damned if he couldn't shoot.

The soldier stopped firing, apparently believing that he'd taken Grif down. He was corrected as Grif crawled out enough to aim for the soldier's groin. Grif almost felt bad before he fired... almost. The high-pitched scream from his adversary accompanied the soldier dropping his weapon and putting his hands over his now non-existent nether regions. Grif had no time to celebrate as he sprinted towards the dropped rifle, grabbing it and a spare magazine from the downed soldier. He put the safety back on the pistol before sliding it into a cargo pocket on his pants. He whispered a quiet apology to the screaming man before raising the rifle and aiming for the final soldier, who was looking to see why his other teammate was screaming bloody murder.

Grif opened up on the soldier, firing several rounds into the final man's stomach. He went down with a loud moan. Grif rushed out of the theater before coming face to face with a US fireteam, all with their M4 rifles leveled at him. He laughed nervously before raising his hands and setting the rifle on the ground.

"Uh, the guys in there are down." He said, pointing back to the theater. "One isn't a guy anymore, though..."

---

After explaining his situation to the US Army soldiers, Grif was allowed to reclaim the rifle, as well as a body vest from one of the downed Koreans. He had a bit of trouble fitting it over his clothes, but managed to eventually don the protective gear.

Now, Grif looked like an average young adult from Texas. He stood at a reasonable six feet in height, with dark blonde hair and tri-colored blue eyes, a darker ring around the outer edge, cobalt in the majority of the iris, and an abnormal yellow ring around the pupil. His clothes consisted of loose-fitting black cargo pants, light green steel toed boots, and a tight-fitting Disturbed t-shirt, which was half covered by a large-hooded white zip-up jacket. Now, over the jacket, was a dark grey combat vest.

"You suited up, now kid?" The sergeant in charge of the fireteam asked.

Grif shrugged his shoulders and moved his arms around a bit. "It's a bit tight, but I don't think I need full mobility to fire a weapon, do I?"

The sergeant laughed shortly. "You're built like a tank, kid. These Koreans are as twiggy as Slenderman."

Grif shuddered at the mental image of the disturbing entity that had become an image of nightmares in the last decade. "Great, Slenderman Koreans. What's next, Terminator Russians? Predator Chinese?" Grif shook his head to clear his head of the images that were flashing through his head with each outlandish idea. "What's going on, anyway?"

A PFC looked over to Grif, sighing. "Hate to say it, sir, but welcome to hell."

Grif returned the look, perplexed. "I thought Lackland was on the other side of town?"

The soldiers laughed at his dry humor, raising the mood slightly. The sergeant clapped Grif on the shoulder lightly. "Keep up jokes like that, we might think you're not a civilian, Mister...?"

Grif snapped to attention like his grandfather had taught him when he was young. "Grif Eintracht, sergeant. Ametuer musician from Austin."

The soldiers laughed even more as they watched the civilian snap to attention like he really was military. "At ease, Eintracht. Are you military?"

Grif relaxed, shaking his head. "No, sergeant. My grandpa just trained me for a summer when I turned eighteen. I never liked the idea of wearing a uniform every day. Give me cargo pants and a t-shirt any day over fatigues."

The exchange was cut short as another explosion rocked the building, causing it to shudder loudly. Everyone fell silent and Grif was ushered to the center of the group. The sergeant signaled for everyone to move forward, while Grif still looked around rapidly, expecting more Korean military to appear out of nowhere. He began to feel sick as he stepped over the dozens of dead bodies of civilians massacred by the People's Army.

The sergeant spoke to the group as they walked outside. "Alright, everyone. We have a mile to cover to get back to base camp, so let's hustle! Eintracht, I hope you can keep up."

Grif focused on the soldier, taking on a determined look. "So do I, sergeant. So do I..."

All five began the trek to the base camp, while Grif just hoped for the best.

Author's Note:

I have a few ideas on how to progress the story, but I figured I'd get started on the Earth side. I placed the timeline for Earth at about October 2025. I'll try to keep an even pace between the two worlds until the inevitable crossover. Hopefully I didn't screw anything up too badly.

Please review and comment. Also, let me know if you would like to see anything elaborated upon, be it back-history or personal details.

Comments

[Adamanthys]

NORTH KOREA overrunning america?...... HAHAHAHA!

Do you have any idea how small (as in combat ready and properly supported) and ill-equipped their military is compared to ours? Our civilians alone could rebuke a attack from them. They wouldn't even have enough troops to secure even a fraction of the nation afterwords. If they somehow equipped their entire population young and old and sent them as a invading force It wouldn't be enough. And on top of that the military isn't sitting around twittling their fingers to be caught with their pants down, they are by all means ready for a war with them. The military industry would welcome the extra funding and support it would get.

And if north Korea even tried to use chemical / nuclear weapons they would be totally annihilated and we would lose maybe a few hundred thousand lives at most (missile defenses)

Sorry but you need to use a more credible nation, like china.

[KGBCowgirl]

2579296 To be honest, not only do we have no idea what their military is really like, but that sort of misunderestimation would make a Korean invasion very possible.

Rule 35 of the Art of War: NEVER underestimate the enemy

Case and point: The Gallic Tribes nearly annihilating the Roman Empire as a result of the lax attitude the Romans had taken concerning their "savage" northern neighbors

[Adamanthys]

2579318

1. Their total population is under 25 million..... its impossible to even hold a portion of north america.

2. They have no where near the level or amount of military equipment that we do.

3. In the united states there are 88 guns per 100 civilians not counting law enforcement. This would rival their military ENTIRE population alone 10 to one. But lets say every trained soldier is worth 5 armed semi-trained civilians. They would out number them two to one then.

4. Do you think other peacekeeping nations would just stand by?

[KGBCowgirl]

2579354 I don't suppose you can just roll with this bit for now? I have more coming, I promise.

[Adamanthys]

2579362

Why not just use china? Make up some huge overthrow of government and unrest leading to war between them.

Oh, and north Korea wouldn't even be able to feed or fuel their troops for any period of time. Nations would refuse to sell them these necessities and they don't produce enough on their own.