• Published 29th Jul 2017
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Freedoms Call - Bronycommander



Occupied America 2029. America is occupied for two years now by the Greater Korean Republic. This year will be a surprise for a KPA soldier

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Chapter 5 The no man's land

Chapter 5: The no man's land

With a headache, Scotch Tape slowly regained consciousness. She heard an engine, it sounded like a helicopter. But she couldn’t see anything. Suddenly, she realized that she couldn’t breathe.

“Hey Luca, I think she’s waking up.” The foal heard the voice of a KPA soldier. It was Korean but because of the passive magic and her learning of the subject guide, she could understand it.

The filly started to struggle as air got short. “Please, take it off, I can’t breathe!”

As someone removed the bag, Scotch Tape gasped for air and coughed.

Catching her breath, she found herself in a Black Hawk, handcuffed, a KPA soldier next to her, another of the opposite of her.

Remembering what Chung had told about his comrades about being known to execute children as young as five years old, she became scared, but tried not to show it. Shivering in slight fear, she spoke, “Where am I? Where are you taking me?

“Don’t worry child, Colonel-Commandant Jeong wants you alive, the Greater Korean Republic has plans for you.” The soldier sitting to the opposite of her replied, his voice cold, his English was embossed by the Korean accent.

Hearing that, imagines of the labor camps and the ditches flashed through her mind.

NO! Everything but that!

But then, a warning tone ringed in her ears. “Incoming missile!” The pilot shouted.

A missile hit the helicopter, he spun out of control towards the ground. Then the impact, causing the pony to black out. Scotch Tape came to with a blurred vision, looking around, the KPA soldiers had died in the crash. She had survived the crash as the only one. Scotch Tape crawled away from the wrack before she blacked out again.


Conner, Jacobs, Rianna and Hopper returned to the Oasis after their mission was a success. “I can’t wait to tell Boone we pulled it off.” The mechanical was excited.

“I just wanna take a shower.” The woman replied

The Korean-American tried to open the door. “It’s stuck!”

“Move!” The former marine kicked the door open.

“Oh my god!” Rianna exclaimed in shock. Oasis had been compromised and all of the residents had been massacred and Boone was hanged on the swing set.

“Help me! Oh, god…” Horrified, Rianna and Hooper removed Boone’s body while Jacobs and Conner secured the area. “Boone…No! No!” Rihanna sobbed.

“They killed them all.” Hopper slammed his fist into the ground.

Jacobs counted the bodies, Scotch Tape was not among them. Morgan gave the former State police officer his badge back, putting it on the body’s chest. “Here’s your badge back, old friend.”

“I can’t believe they’re did this…Oh, god. Boone.” The woman cried as a helicopter flew by.

“…You hear that?” Hooper grabbed his rifle.

“We have to get out of Montrose.” Conner realized that this was their only option to survive.

“Are we really just going to leave him like this?” the female resistance member cried.

“We have to go, now!”

I’m so sorry, Scotch Tape…I hope it was fast and painless for you…” Rianna got up.

“Rianna, it wasn’t your fault. I think Scotch Tape got taken alive by the KPA. I mean, look! She isn’t among them!” The pilot pointed out.

“You’re right. Maybe it isn’t too late yet!” She pulled herself together and they moved out.

“This is Conner Morgan to all resistance cells. The Oasis has been compromised. They’re murdered Boone.” The former marine spoke into his radio.

“Conner? It’s Brooks. 718s found the safe house. Gunnison’s got nowhere to go. What the hell is going on?”

“Meet us at the wall. We’re getting out of here.” The wall was an expansive border barrier, built by the KPA to keep the population controlled within the city, isolating them and, more importantly, the Resistance.

As they moved through the abandoned suburbs, Hopper was suspicious. “It’s way too quiet.”

“Just keep moving.” Conner replied.

At a cul-de-sac, the former soldier pointed along the street. “If we head down this street, it should be a straight shot to the wall.”

“RPG!” Jacobs yelled as he dived to cover, almost hit by the missile.

“Ambush! Kill them all!” Rianna shouted enraged.

The former pilot aimed the scope of his M110 down and fired. But for every killed Korean, 5 more took his place.

A Korean Humvee arrived, forcing the resistance fighting to scramble for cover.

“Humvee! Got to cover! Hopper! We need Goliath!” Conner ordered.

“I’m on it!” Goliath broke through a house wall, and rammed the Humvee, flipping it over before firing rockets at it.

“That’s how you do it!” Conner shouted happy. “This is our chance! Push up the street!”

The KPA tried to destroy Goliath with RPGs but it was in vain thanks to Scotch’s upgrade.

They fought their way through until they came to a barricade.

“They blocked the street!” Conner reloaded his M4.

“That’s not going to stop us, stand back! Goliath’s coming through!” Hopper warned as the drone broke through the barricade.

“Keep pushing forward, let’s move!” Conner eliminated more RPG soldiers on the rooftops with his comrades and Goliath until they reached another barricade.

A T-99 came over it, scoring a direct hit on Goliath. The UGV survived the hit with massive damage, sparks came out of the drone and the engine was on fire.

“Get out of the Street! Through the house!” Conner shouted and Goliath rammed through a house wall on the left, allowing them to escape the tank.

In the backyard, the man commanded, “Hopper, get Goliath out there! We need that tank dead!”

“Are you nuts? Even with Scotch Tape’s upgrades, Goliath can’t take out a tank head on.” Hopper protested.

“Then we’ll flank it and hit it from the rear.”

“I lure it out.” Jacobs prepared to move out.

“I‘ve got your back. Let’s go!” Rianna kicked the back door open.

On the street, the T-99 reversed to shoot at the enemy but Goliath broke through the other side of the house wall, firing rockets at the T-99 before he could react. “Nice work, you two!” Conner praised them.

After the tank exploded in a large fireball, the mechanic fixed Goliath as good as he could. “Goliath’s rolling, but just barely, without Scotch’s improved armor, it had been destroyed by the tank.”

“Good. We gonna need it. Let’s go.”

The team then reached the edge of a sewer river ditch. “Hey, I see smoke in the distance!” Jacobs pointed to the smoke.

“My god…” Rianna was horrified. The KPA was firebombing Montrose, killing civilians, the whole city was burning as Su-47 Berkuts were making airstrikes on the civilian population, Z-10 Chimeras assisted by firing missiles. Screams of agony could be heard in the distance.

“Payback for last night’s raid.” Conner figured out.

“So…this is our fault.” The Korean-American blamed himself.

“Shut up, Hopper.” The woman refused to believe it was their fault, but still, she thought, I’m so sorry, Kate…I failed to keep Scotch Tape save. I hope it was quick for you and your daughter. I hope you can forgive me…


Once again, Scotch Tape came to. Oh… my head… She wanted to rub her head but couldn’t move. Scanning the environment, she was in a small storage room. Her hooves were tied together with…duct tape.

Duct tape? Really? She wondered as suddenly, three red bars appeared on her PipBuck, heading towards her. She gulped.

The door opened and an elderly man with grey hair walked in, flanked by two guards. The guards wore both handkerchiefs over their mouths similar to a KPA soldier. But they weren’t KPA, that realized the filly quick. It reminded her of the Raiders in the Equestrian Wasteland, a sadistic variety of ponies that had succumbed to the harsh nature of the Wasteland. It also reminded her of Slavers, ponies who capture and sell other ponies as slaves. They were well known for their cruel treatment of ponies but were still not as crazed and sadistic as the Raiders.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here…” The elderly man with gray hair spoke to her, interested.

“P-please don’t hurt me.” She begged, fear taking slowly over.

“I think you’re more use to us alive than dead.” Was all he said, cold, before one of the guards knocked her out.

As she came to, the guards dragged her along a dusty Field route, her vision still blurry. She recognized the area as farm. They reached a barn. One of them opened the door.

The other threw her into it and locked the door. She landed hard on her chest, letting out a small cry of pain.

“Oh my… I can understand that they hate us but this… is just horrible." An English voice with Korean accent ringed in her ears.

Looking up, she saw two KPA soldiers, one a regular soldier, wearing the same gear as Chung, the other one an officer. The uniforms of both were dirty, meaning they were already here for some time.

“Please…don’t hurt me…” She coughed. Then she noticed that the bars representing the soldiers were yellow, not red.

“We will not harm you. In fact, we would never harm a child.” As proof, he took her on his arm and patted her back. “Call me Mino. This is private Yun.”

“Sco-Scotch Tape…” she managed to say in pain.

I must been injured in the crash without noticing. She thought as her chest ached.

“Shh my dear, save your strength.”

For some reason, she couldn’t control her emotions anymore and cried herself to sleep.

The Korean lieutenant laid gently the sleeping child on the stack of hay that served him as bed. Mino wrapped his arm around her. “I promise by my honor as officer, I keep you alive.” He knew how extremely racist the survivalists were towards anyone of East Asian descent, so he didn’t want to imagine what they would do with Scotch Tape.


The Resistance met up with Brooks after crossing the sewer river ditch.

“What’s the situation?” Conner asked as several wounded got treated.

“We’re pinned at the wall. Taking heavy casualties.” Brooks reported.

“What about reinforcements?” Rianna asked Brooks.

“I wouldn’t count on that. The KPA’s been burning civilian settlements. They’re killing everyone in sight. The few that did survive grabbed the C4 we stashed.”

“The opposition?” The former Marine wanted to know.

“RPG teams. A buncha KPA regulars backing ‘em up.”

“Right. We’re gonna make Goliath our mule.”

“What?” Hopper exclaimed, not believing what he just heard.

“Hopper, you and Rianna strap as much C4 to his chassis as he can carry. Jacobs, you’re with me. We’re gonna clear Goliath a path to the wall.”

“Copy that.” Jacobs had his M4 ready.

As Rianna and her friend strapped the C4 on, he commented, “I’m gonna miss Goliath. Not only because of the many things he helped me, I also like the upgrades Scotch Tape did.”

“Me too, it’s impressive that a child of her age is so creative.”


The two former soldiers moved out. “Jacob’s, you lower the barricades! I’ll cover you!”

“Roger!” Jacobs made a sprint for the controls. The KPA was well dug in but Conner took every Korean soldier out he saw.

“Got it!” Jacobs shouted as he pushed the button.

“One down, one to go! Push up!”

They moved from cover to cover to the next barricade but it was on the other side of a Checkpoint, making it difficult to get to it.

“Barricade controls are on the other side of the Checkpoint. We can’t get to ‘em from here. They’re dug in! We’ve got to go around ‘em!” They moved into a building which was a White Castle restaurant.

At the back door, Conner told Jacobs, “Jacob’s, you get the door! I got your six!”

The pilot breached the door open. 5 hostiles, one to his right, one to the left and three in front of him. Everything went in slow-motion as he first shot the enemy to his right, then an explosive barrel killing two of the hostiles in front of him. The remaining two had no chance to react as they got taken out. The room they had breached was a garage, where a Humvee was in the process of being converted for Korean military use. It was still the USMC version covered in survival supplies, as the US forces were forced to always be on the move, in order to evade and engage the KPA, albeit with the woodland-camouflaged hood and the trunk cover seen on the Korean version of the Humvee.

“I’ll hold ‘em here, get out there and lower that last roadblock!”

Carefully taking aim with his M110, Jacobs killed the RPG teams in the upper windows and Guard towers.

“Yeah! We’re pushing them back!” Conner cheered as the KPA got pushed back, allowing Jacobs to lower the roadblock.

“Done!” He yelled to Conner.

“That’s it! Rianna, the path’s clear as it gonna get. How’s our mule?” the former soldier asked on the radio.

“Goliath’s packed to the gills with C4. We’re heading your way.”

“Good. Once the wall’s breached, that Humvee’s our ticket out of here. Hopper, see what you can do.”

Rianna and Jacobs went upstairs as Goliath moved in, taking the last defenders with its rockets out.

“Wait! How are we supposed to detonate the C4 when Goliath shoots every rocket down?” Jacobs realized that destroying Goliath with a RPG wouldn’t work with his new point-defense system.

“Damn it, I didn’t think about that!” Conner exclaimed but what happened next surprised them all.

The improved armor fell off and Goliath backed up before firing a rocket on the C4.

The giant explosion and smoke blocked everyone’s view.

Once the smoke cleared, Rianna couldn’t believe her eyes. “The wall’s open!”

“And Goliath is still working!” Hopper added as Goliath stopped next to the Humvee, waiting for them.

“I guess she improved the Al or something. Now let’s get out of here. Everyone in the Humvee. Jacobs, you’re on the gun!” Conner took the backseat.

“Guys, Engine’s running. Meet me in the garage.” Hopper was the driver, Rianna took the passenger seat next to him, Jacobs manned the Heavy Tri-barrel Machine Gun.

“All right, Hopper. Get us out of here.”

Hooper reversed out of the garage and drove through the hole, Goliath followed close behind, clearing a path with Jacobs.

Outside, Regular KPA and 718s were shooting ineffectively at the Humvee in an attempt to stop it, in vain.

“We made it.” Hooper couldn’t believe it as they left the checkpoint behind, driving along the deserted Country road. “So, where are we headed?”

“West on 50 into Utah. We gotta get to the survivalist’s farm and get that helicopter. It’s the only way we’ll catch those tankers.” Conner explained.


Mino and Yun awoke by whimpering. Scotch Tape was trembling in her sleep. “Poor child, must have a nightmare.” The private had sympathy for her.

She started to scream, kicked around as much as the duct tape allowed. “No!! Please, don’t!!” She awoke with a gasp.

“Shh, calm down, it was just a dream.” The Lieutenant patted her. The young pony couldn’t help but bury her head into his chest.

“It’s alright, my dear. How does a child like you get into something like this?” He asked with interest and worry.

“It’s kind of a long story.” Having calmed down, taking a deep breath, Scotch Tape told her story and how she got here. The soldiers were fascinated.

“My condolences. Chung Joon took care of you?” She nodded. “I know his parents. He can be proud of himself. You have my word, I keep you safe.”

Knowing that she could trust both and that they will protect her, Scotch felt much safer. “How did you end up here?”

“Well, we were on patrol near the camp and got ambushed by the Survivalists. I and Yun were the only survivors. That must been a few months ago, maybe a year, I lost count.”

“What are those Survivalists?”

Yun answered her question. “People that are out of their minds. They have been preparing themselves for the end of the world since before the Y2K scare. During the collapse of the United States economy, Survivalist ideologies became very popular. When the GKR first attacked in 2025 the Survivalists retreated to large camps in the vast countryside of Utah and other states. Even though they are American, they hold little to no allegiance toward the American Resistance, simply fighting for themselves and even are not above giving captured Resistance fighters to the Korean People's Army in exchange for some form of payment. They are extremely racist towards anyone of East Asian descent, using us as slave labor.”

“Sound like slavers of my home world.” She held out her tied up forelegs. “Mind if you turn on the radio of my PipBuck?” She asked, explaining how it worked.

“Sure.” The officer turned the frequency to the voice of Freedom.

“The Resistance is attempting to contact cells beyond the Montrose area. It's hard to determine what's happening outside the Wall, but our KPA sources report that several patrols have gone missing, and the ones that survived have nothing but horror stories. After the EMP went off and the electric grid that sustained us broke apart, our nation fell into a kind of madness. I remember that first winter - desperation sweeping the country. People turned on each other, and worse, as food grew scarce. Many beyond the Wall have no allegiance to any cause, other than their own survival. If you must deal with them, be advised that they can be unpredictable, and a fair number are outright insane. Let's be careful out there. This is the Voice of Freedom.”

As the message ended, two red bars appeared in the PipBuck’s screen. Two Survivalists came in, one carrying bread and water. “Breakfast, Kim. Try anything funny and you’re dead.” He threatened.

As the member putted the breakfast down, the other trained his M-16 on them.

Gathering her courage, Scotch Tape dared to ask with a pleading voice, “Could you please until me so I can eat?” Fleeing was not an option but it was getting uncomfortable.

“No. Eat it from the ground, scum!” was the answer in a rude tone.

Scum? I’m not Korean or of East-Asian descent! What are they thinking?

Taking a deep breath, she replied “I’m not a North Korean at all!”

The unarmed American glared at her. “One more word, and I will pull your teeth out one by one, slowly and painfully.”

She gulped and nodded.

They treat East Asians like raiders and Slavers would treat their prisoners. It horrified her how cruel the Survivalists were, praying they wouldn’t hang her or worse.

That leaded to the embarrassing situation that Mino had to feed her like a newborn foal. Scotch had her ears lowered, blushing like a tomato.

It was only bread and water, but better than nothing.

After that, the unarmed Survivalist untied her. “Time to work! Stay in line, or you’re dead!”

She just nodded, trying her best not to show her fear.

She followed the KPA soldiers outside, seeing hanged Korean soldiers, dead soldiers tied up on Plywood boards for throwing knife practice she suspected, and worst of all for her to see, bodies and severed heads pierced on spears, the words “Trespassers will shot on side!” written in blood next to them as they were leaded through the camp.

She managed not to throw up at the horrible sights.

Her PipBuck showed many red bars, representing Survivalists and a few yellow bars, representing captured KPA soldiers.

The Survivalists leaded their prisoners to a Vegetable bed. “Your task for today: Harvesting vegetables, later charging batteries. Fail or try to run will be punished with death. Succeed, and you might life another day.” The guard explained.

Scotch Tape wasted no time, grabbed the gear and started to work. She had enough experience from the Oasis.

While she had seen many disturbing things in the Equestrian Wasteland and was very brave, here, she didn’t want to be hanged or suffer a painful death in the mercy of her captors. Even she had her limits. Scotch Tape didn’t want to die so young, she had her life yet ahead of her.

Yun and Mino noticed that she was trembling while working, fearing that the smallest mistake would mean death.

Yet, after a few hours, they were finished. “Okay, now the batteries!” the guard ordered.

They got back to the barn. “That task is simple. Turn that crank. It’s connected to the batteries.” The crank had three sides, Scotch Tape took one, Mino and Yun the other two.

As Earth ponies were strong due their natural physical ability, Scotch Tape had enough strength for the task.

The hours passed. “Push harder, you son of a Scarface! If those batteries aren’t charged by sundown, I’ll strip every inch of flesh from your back!” The American threaten them. That threat reminded Scotch of the nightmare she had this night, causing her to work faster, scared, desperately.

To her relief, they finished charging the batteries before sundown. As reward, they let her alive, giving her some bread for dinner before locking her and the soldiers back into the barn.

The officer hugged her. “You did great work out there.” He smiled but Scotch just trembled.

“I dreamed that night t-that t-they…sliced my cutie mark off…”

“Shh, calm down. I promise we will protect you.” Looking him into his eyes, she could tell he was honest.

“Tell me, how could you survive so long?”

Mino smiled. “Obeying, doing my tasks as good as I can, but most of all, hope. I hope that someday, someone will save me. And we both reassure each other that somebody will save us eventually. The hope dies last.”

“That’s right.” That gave the foal hope. Hope that she would survive.

If daddy was here, he would blow their camp to pieces and Rampage…well, being Rampage slaughtering every single one of them. This night, she slept much calmer.

A few days passed. Scotch Tape, Yun and Mino did their tasks as ordered. Mostly, they recharged the batteries, the guard overseeing them always repeated his threat with stripping the flesh of their backs. Being constantly threatened with death affected the young filly, the two KPA soldiers could see it as she trembled lightly while working, trying her best to maintain her courage.

One morning, a survivalist opened violently the door, caused all three to startle. “You three, come with me, now!” He shouted. The foal gulped, fearing what would happen to them now.


The four resistance fighters reached the camp. Goliath guarded the Humvee, though all knew they didn’t needed it anymore.

“Wait here, Hop. These boys aren’t exactly ‘Korean-friendly.’” Conner warned as he knew how the Survivalists were.

“Can we trust these guys?” Rianna was unsure.

“Boone set this up. He knew who he was dealing with.”

Conner, Jacobs and Rianna walked towards the entrance to meet up with the leader of the Survivalists who was only known as “The Captain”, while Hopper waited behind a car wreck.

“Well, well, well. What have we here… Conner Morgan. We heard the Norks hanged your ass.” The Captain remarked.

“They keep trying. So, where’s the chopper?”

“Where’s Boone?” The leader asked in return.

“He’s dead.”

“Well, I guess the deal’s off.”

This annoyed Rianna. “Don’t even think about jerking us around.” She walked towards the Captain, only to be grabbed by one of his guards, holding a knife to her throat.

Conner tried to calm him down. “Hey! Hey! Help me out here. We’re fighting the same war.”

“You know, I’ll tell you what: I’ll take the bitch and Scarface hiding over there, and you can walk away without a bullet in you.” The Captain changed the deal, pointed to Hopper who was crouched behind the car wreck, pointing his M4 at them.

“I think you’re getting the bad end of that Deal.” Conner refused.

In that moment, Rianna twisted her captor’s arm, causing him to drop his weapon, and threw him to the ground. Then she punched the Captain in the head, killing him instantly. The other guard tried to attack Conner but he blocked it, kicked him in the gut and snapped his neck.

The other Survivalists that watched from a distance opened fire.

Jacobs equipped his SCAR-H LMG he had found in the Humvee and returned fire with the others.

“What now?!” Rianna used a crate as cover.

“We are not leaving without that chopper.” Conner replied.

“We’ll be lucky if we’re leave at all.” Hopper added.

“They’re Americans! They’re supposed to be on our side.” Rianna couldn’t believe she had to fight fellow countrymen.

“No! These guys have lost it! They’re not on anybody’s side!” Conner shouted as he reloaded.

“Try to take them alive! Koreans pay more if they’re still kickin’!” a Survivalist ordered before he got killed by a headshot from Jacobs.

He and his comrades moved up, to the right was a half destroyed house. “Second Floor window!” Rianna warned as a RPG got fired from it but missed them. Jacobs took the gunner out before he could fire another shot.

After all enemies were eliminated, they regrouped at the fence where the entrance to the camp was.

Conner gave Jacobs a silenced M200 sniper rifle. “Don’t fire until I give the word. But when I do, don’t hesitate.”

“Got it.” Jacobs replied.

“Follow me and keep quiet.” Conner kicked the door open, taking the lead.

As they walked along the dusty Field route, Hopper asked, “What’s the plan?”

“They’ve got that helicopter stashed somewhere. We’re gonna sneak through the camp and steal it.”

“They must know we’re here.” Rianna doubted it would work.

“I doubt it. The sound of gunfire’s pretty common around these parts. We don’t know how many of them there are. But these guys have been preparing themselves for the end of the world since before the Y2K scare. They’re heavily armed and out of their minds. We’ve gotta get as close to the chopper as we can before they figure out we’re here. I want safeties on until I tell you otherwise. This mission’s over if they spot us.”

They went to cover at a hut as a Survivalist patrol walked it past. It was the same location where Scotch Tape had seen the bodies and severed heads pierced on spears.

“What was all that shooting?” The Survivalist asked his buddy.

“Probably picking off another Nork patrol. The Cap’n doesn’t want nobody near that helicopter.”

“We have a helicopter?!” His friend was surprised.

“Yeah, in the yard behind the church. You ain’t seen it?”

“I never go back there. I heard there are Korean Snipers in the woods.”

“That’s the dumbest goddamn thing I’ve ever heard.” The patrol continued down the road, not noticing the Resistance fighters sneaking past them into a field.

At a tractor, Conner stopped. “Hold it! There’s a sniper on that windmill. He’s gonna spot us unless we take him out. Jacobs, when you have a clear shot, take it.”

The pilot aimed down the scope, the windmill was about 75 meters away. He fired and the sniper was dead. “Good shot. Okay. Let’s move.”

Leaving the field, they came to some boxes near the barn. “Hold up, hold up! Wait for them to leave.” Conner said as two Survivalists harassed a captured KPA soldier.

The soldier begged in Korean, “Please! Have mercy!” before his captors cruelly toying with him by shooting at his feet and making him have to dodge the bullets.

“I can’t watch, they’re toying with him.” Hopper couldn’t bear it, feeling sorry for the soldier.

“Stop! Why are you doing this?” The KPA hostage asked before he had to dodge another burst of bullets. Then, one of the Survivalists shot the prisoner, bullets perforated him.

His friend got mad at him as they walked away. “Oh, great job! Now what’re we gonna do for the rest of the day?”

Rianna gasped quietly in shock. “This isn’t right. We don’t kill for sport.”

“Just let them walk away.” Conner replied.

“Jesus…How did Boone hook up with these guys?” Hopper wondered.

“I don’t know, Hop, and I don’t wanna know. Okay, we’re clear. Head for that tractor. Follow me.”

They took cover behind a tractor that stood next to the barn, a Survivalist oversaw two KPA prisoners working on the same crank, Mino, Yun and Scotch Tape had worked before. The guard threatened one of the prisoners that if the batteries weren’t fully charged by sundown he would “strip every inch of flesh from his back”, as the intruders moved past him.

They moved to the fence at the other side, a garage a few meters in front of them, a guard blocking the way, having its back to them.

Another RPG.” Rianna spotted it on the windmill.

“Rianna, you handle the guy blocking our exit.”

“These are Americans, Conner. I didn’t sign up for this.” She protested.

“Do you want to get out of here alive or not?” he countered.

“Right.” She sneaked behind the guard and strangled him. “There, it’s done.”

Conner ordered, “Jacobs, take him out.”

He fired. “One shot, one kill.”

“Dropped him. Everyone into the garage.” They moved into the garage.

“I hear a chopper.” Hooper looked into the sky, trying to spot it but Conner was faster.

“Over there. Korean Recon Chopper. “He pointed into the sky as a UH-60 flew past, the Al voice made announcements from it, requesting the Survivalists to turn in the Resistance members that escaped from Montrose, promising a reward.

“What are they doing out this far?” Rianna asked confused.

“Do you think they’re looking for us…or them?” Hopper wondered.

“I don’t know. Stay outta sight until it passes.” Conner replied.


Chung had heard what happened. The KPA had bombed Montrose as retribution for the night raid. Chang was redeployed in another city before the bombings, but Chung wasn’t informed where. None of the two had information’s about Kate or Amy. If they were killed in the bombing, the two Koreans prayed it was quick.

Both got akso informed about the raid of the Oasis but weren’t told about Scotch Tape and that filled the soldier with worry and unease, fearing what happened to her.

Right now, he was in a Black Hawk, searching for the resistance members who escaped from Montrose. The helicopter searched at a Survivalist camp for them, he had also heard the horror stories about what the Survivalists did to KPA soldiers or any people of East-Asian descent, scaring him a little that they were of all here. Scotch Tape, I hope and pray you’re safe.

“Incoming missile!” the pilot shouted, tearing him out. The missile hit the chopper, causing it to spin out of control. Chung felt on his back and hanged onto the seats until the Black Hawk crashed, knocking him unconscious upon the impact.

The young Korean woke up shell-shocked in the wreckage. Outside, the survivors of the crash were fighting hostiles. Chung looked at his gloves, they were lightly torn, his habds bleeding from cuts. As the ringing in his ears stopped, he got out of the wreckage, using the chaos of the firefight to escape as he had lost his rifle except for his sidearm.

The helicopter had crashed at what appeared to be a mix of a trailer park and a Scrap yard of cars.

The Survivalists didn’t notice him at all as he walked into the trailer park.

“Die!” Out of nowhere, a Survivalist rushed at him, a knife in his hands. The enemy attempted him into the chest, but he grabbed his attacker’s arm, holding him back. Chung grabbed the attacker's elbow with his left hand and shoved the attacker's forearm down with his right, causing him to stab himself in the abdomen.

Seeing that the light in the American’s eyes went out, the body fell on his back, a M16, the primary infantry rifle during the Vietnam War, next to it.

Chung picked it up and checked the body for ammo. This model was limited to semi-automatic operation but had greater accuracy than the M4.

He came to a dusty road, seeing two KPA soldiers in the distance. But what he saw happening next to his comrades shocked him.


“Jesus…did you see that?” Hooper was shocked after he witnessed seeing the Chopper being blasted out of the sky by Survivalists with RPGs.

“Gonna be a short flight if we leave these RPGs behind. Let’s make our way towards that Farmhouse.”

They took cover behind a wall. Two Survivalists played cards. “Looks like we got another one. Norks never learn.”

“D’you think those resistance guys are the same ones Tokyo Rose was talking about? Koreans are offering a bounty.” Tokyo Rose was the name of the Al voice.

“Would with you do with a bounty? Money ain’t worth anything out here.”

“I guess. Wanna at least check out the wreck?”

“Eh. It’ll be there tomorrow.”

“Yeah, well. All the good stuff’ll be gone by then.”

“Are you gonna deal or what?” They did not notice the intruders.

“They’re sending out a patrol.” Conner saw how a truck moved out on the road. "We’ve gotta stay off the road.”

“Let’s hope they don’t find the mess we left at the gate.” Rianna hoped.

They moved along but stopped at a ventilation system. “Hold. Sentry, second floor window. He’ll spot us if we try to cross. Drop him.” Jacobs did as told.

Walking along the dusty field route, they witnessed how a KPA prisoner was forced to dig his own grave. “Just a few more feet, Kim. Then you can stop. Hey, you guys! Come check this out!” The guard called out to his comrades.

“Hold your horses. We’re coming! Hey, what’re you guys doing?”

“We got this dumb Nork digging his own grave.”

“Okay, so who’s gonna shoot him?”

“I will.”

“Maybe we don’t shoot him. Maybe we bury him alive instead.”

The soldier stopped his work. “Did I tell you to stop?! Keep digging!” The guard yelled at him. The Korean responded with curse words. The Survivalists gunned him down, perforated his dead body with bullets.

“Like I said: These guys have lost it. We need to get out of here.” Conner spotted another sentry on the second floor of the house, Jacobs took him out.

Inside the house, they had to wait until two survivalists moved. “Hey, got any smokes?” The Survivalist asked his friend.

“Just knock-offs.”

“I’m sick of this Chinese crap. If I wanted to taste Cardboard, I’d smoke some damn cardboard.”

“Count your blessings. Last week Dodgson got a pack with a bullet hole clean through it. Nork Bastard must’ve had ‘em in his shirt pocket.”

“I guess. Thanks, man. Got a light?” They walked away, allowing the group to proceed.

Jacobs took another RPG on a windmill out. They followed the river, Hopper commented how this place brought back bad memories. Back in Oakland, guys like these lynched anyone who looked even slightly Asian. He got lucky that just his house got burned down.

“I’m sorry.” Rianna had sympathy for her friend.

“War brings out the worst of us.” Conner added.

At the end of the river, the woman heard gunfire. “More gunfire.”

“I hear it. No point in being quiet now. The only way through is straight through the middle. Safeties off!” Conner ordered as they engaged the guards.

Jacobs stayed back, firing his sniper rifle.

The Survivalists were no match for them.

As they reached the trailer park, they heard Korean yells. “They survived the crash.” Rianna saw that the KPA soldiers of the helicopter had survived, fighting the Survivalists.

“We should wait until one side wins. That that way, we have fewer enemies to fight and save ammo.” Jacobs suggested.

The Koreans were weakened by the crash, they got quickly overwhelmed by the Survivalists. They in return, were also weakened so the resistance fighters had an easy time taking them and the last RPG team out.

“That oughta be the last of the RPG teams. C’mon, we’re taking the road.” Conner took the lead.

Jacobs saw the church in the distance but also something else. “Guys! Look!” He pointed to it.

“Oh my god…” Rianna couldn’t believe it. About 100 meters, Three Survivalists were holding two KPA soldiers and Scotch Tape at gunpoint. She was tied up with Duct Tape.

One of the hostile Americans hit her with the butt of his M4, she fell on her back. “Time to die.”

“Spare her! She ain’t one of us! She’s still a child!” The officer yelled at him, only to be knocked to the ground by one of the other Survivalists.

“Shut up, Kim!”

“Please! Have mercy! Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!” She couldn’t bring out another word as she hyperventilated.

“Jacobs, take him out before he shoots her!” Conner was filled with rage.

The former marine pilot took aim and pulled the trigger but nothing happened. The pilot could see that the bolt-action rifle had jammed. He tried to fix it by desperately pulling the bolt back to eject the jammed bullet but it didn’t work. “Damn…it!”

Scotch Tape crawled backwards until she was against the wall of the car wreck. “Don’t shoot me! “Please! Don’t shoot! Please! Don’t!” She begged.

The Survivalist pointed his gun at the filly’s head, no, pressed the barrel against it. “Just close your eyes.” He said cold and emotionless.

Scotch Tape closed her eyes, waiting for the shot that would end her life. Her life flashed before her and she had one last thought. I love you…daddy.

Her heart stopped, her lungs cease to draw breath at the inevitable death at the mercy of her captor.

Then, there was the shot. Yet, she felt no pain.

Trembling, slowly opening her eyes, she saw that her captor had a hole in his head. Blood flowed down, the Survivalist stumbled for a moment before collapsing, a red puddle forming on the ground. The other two were also dead.

In the distance, she saw Jacobs and the others. But the lifesaving shot came from a KPA soldier, he was standing next to a truck wrack, the barrel of his gun smoked.

“Scotch Tape!” It was Chung. He used his knife to cut the duct Tape.

“Chung!” She hugged him, happy and relieved to see him again.

“Shh, I’m here, shh.” He took her on his arm.

The officer stood up. “Thanks, I thought we’re done for. You’re Chung?” The soldier nodded. “Scotch told us about you. You can be proud of yourself.”

“That was a close call.” Rianna was relieved as she and the others joined.

“What you’re doing here?” Chung patted the foal who still had wrapped her hooves around him.

“Stealing a helicopter. Did they capture you or were you on the chopper they shot down?”

“Chopper. Let’s get out of here. Thanks for the help. Did they hurt you?” The Korean checked Scotch’s body. Apart from a brushes and cuts, she was fine.

“No, but they constantly t-threatened to k-kill me.” She replied, trying to calm down.

“Bastards. I doubt we will see each other again but it good luck.” Jacobs saluted with Conner, Chung and the other KPA soldiers returned it before they leaved but Hopper stayed back as he gave Goliath’s controller to them

“Here, you will need it more than I or the others. Your upgrades have been paid off, their impressive.” Then he caught up with the others.

“We can lead you outside.” Mino and Yun knew the camp like their western bag due their long time here. Scotch Tape used her PipBuck to detect patrols as they sneaked through the camp back to the entrance.

As they came back to the barn, an alarm went off in the distance. They all went to cover behind some boxes as Survivalists ran past them.

“Guess they stitched the hornets’ nest.” Yun commented.

Finally at the entrance, Chung suggested, “If we team up, we have a better chance.”

“Thanks but we two using the chaos to free the others. Good luck!” Mino saluted before going back.

Scotch Tape and Chung saw the Humvee and Goliath standing on the road. The filly smiled. “Don’t worry, I changed the target system so it sees you as friendly.”

“Good to know.” Chung took the driver seat, Scotch Tape the passenger seat.

“Where do we go?” She asked as the car moved, the drone following them.

“I don’t know. The closest city would be Salt Lake City, the capital of the state we’re in, but it got completely destroyed a year ago. KPA planes bombed it in direct retaliation for an uprising back then. We could head for the state Oregon, or Nevada but the city of Las Vegas got also destroyed. California could work with the city of Los Angeles.”

“What about Montrose? Kate and Amy will be very glad to see me again.”

The Korean took a deep breath. “I’m afraid, The KPA destroyed it too as retaliation for the Night raid.”

The foal’s pupils went small in shock. “D-destroyed? Wh-what about Kate and A-Amy?” She asked worried.

“I don’t know. They didn’t inform me about their fate, I only know that Chang got redeployed in another city before it happened. We can only hope that Kate and her daughter got relocated. And if they were victims of the bombing, I pray it was quick and painless.” He sounded sad.

“I hope so too.” She leaned back into the seat as her friend turned the radio on. It played Pink Floyd - High Hopes.

Both enjoyed the song. It fitted the environment, the streets that had fallen into disrepair during the economic crisis.

Scotch Tape looked out of the window, wondering how it must have looked like before everything went down the drain. Traveling across the wasteland, just like with daddy and Blackjack. A pony and a soldier against the world.

Seeing that it was getting evening, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, the Korean smiled at the cute sight.

As the Humvee had several supply canisters attached to its back, they’re got plenty of food, spare parts and fuel, enough for a few weeks.

The roads were deserted, from time to time, car wrecks and cars stopped dead from the EMP attack two years ago could be seen. Due the bad condition, the roads had many potholes.

But as the Humvee was a SUV, it drove over the holes without problems, Goliath too.

As it was getting dark, the two stopped at a Resting place, making a camp fire.

It fascinated Scotch Tape that Goliath was still running with the damage it had taken, but also that it still had power.

“I must say, Goliath is a fascinating machine.” She looked at the semi-autonomous ground attack drone in awe.

“I agree in that. The life of its power cell is a strictly-guarded secret, it has been rumored that it can operate for days on a single charge.”

“Interesting.” Scotch Tape looked into the sky, enjoying the view of the stars and the moon. A beautiful and peaceful thing.

When Scotch lay down in her Sleeping bag, listening to the crackle of their fire, she could swear she saw ghostly images of soldiers passing by. Those soldiers were wearing blue uniforms, armed with what appeared to be Muskets. The uniforms looked very outdated. The march seemed endless. Maybe it was her imagination. Maybe not. The soldiers faded.

They reappeared, shooting at soldiers in grey similar uniforms. Some of charged at each other with Bayonets, some of them even started to throw their opponent to the ground, punching him.

The foal even saw soldiers on horses, shooting with their muskets at the enemy or slashing sword at they charged.

Not able to watch this ghostly battle for long, she shouted, “Stop! Stop this madness! Stop killing!” but as these words left her mouth, one of the Cavalry soldiers charged towards from behind her. In the moment Scotch turned around, the soldier slashed his sword at her.

It all vanished as she let out a scream.

“Scotch Tape, what’s wrong?” Her caretaker asked, worried upon hearing her scream, coming over to her.

“I-I could swear I saw ghostly images of soldiers fighting each other.” She tried to explain, hoping he wouldn’t think she went crazy.

Chung’s response was something that surprised and confused her. “I think you saw a battle between soldiers of the United States Army and the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. I read once that this was once a battlefield. It is said that the ghosts of the fallen still wander the battlefield.”

“B-but how is that possible?” She asked confused.

“I don’t know, the scientists are still not sure what causes this. You should catch some sleep, you earned it after what you went through.” The Korean smiled.

Scotch Tape let out a yawn. “Yeah, I should. But what about trouble?”

“Don’t worry, I stay guard. And we have Goliath.” Chung inspected his rifle as the foal nodded and drifted off to sleep, snoring cutely.

She looks so cute. His heart melted.


Scotch Tape was on the Passenger seat of a blue Chevrolet Corvette C5, driven by her father. The city they drove through was a decaying industrial and downtown area, presented in a futuristic cyberpunk style. It looked somewhat frightening.

“Let’s see how fast this baby can go, shall we?” The stallion asked his daughter who grinned.

As the sports car passed by an alleyway, a first generation Ford Crown Victoria police car drove out with turned on lights and blaring siren.

“26 to central, in pursuit of a Chevrolet Corvette at the old underpass, it’s going more than 100.” The police officer reported.

“All units be advised, unit 26 in pursuit of a Chevrolet Corvette at the old underpass.” The central alerted nearby units.

Not wanting to endanger his daughter’s life, the driver pulled over.

Scotch Tape looked into the mirror, seeing the cop stepping out. It was Blackjack. She was wearing a Black trench coat, her left eye was a cyborg laser eye. Respectable and scary.

The mare walked towards the driver side, looking Scotch’s father into the eyes and just said, “I'm gonna pretend your accelerator was stuck and let you off with a warning. But don’t try it again.” In an emotionless tone, not recognizing them.

After the warning was given, a grey Chevrolet Corvette raced past them, Morning Glory stood on the license plate.

“I’m gonna get you!” Blackjack got into her car and with blaring siren and squealing tires, the Crown Victoria chased the racer.

“Do you think she gets her?”

“We will see, my dear.” Now keeping the speed limit, they saw after making a 180 degree turn as the road was lead, that the grey car has crashed against the wall, the police car with flashing lights behind it. Blackjack stood at the driver’s window and said, “Step outta the vehicle slowly! You're under arrest!” as they drove past.

“Didn’t come far.” Scotch Tape commented.


Chung was with Scotch Tape in a forest with some US soldiers. She showed great interest in the M1A3 Abrams, doing maintenance work on it with an Engineer.

Chung was chatting with a soldier as they both heard the whistle of artillery. “Incoming!” They both dived into a foxhole as the explosions came, spreading shrapnel and splinters everywhere. The Korean couldn’t help but laugh.

For some reason at that moment, all he could think about was when he was a kid and loved to watch fireworks. What he just saw was the most awesome and terrifying display of firepower he had ever seen in his life. Course he hadn't been laughing if he knew what happened to Scotch Tape.

“I need my PipBuck… I need my PipBuck…” Echoed weakly in the distance.

The KPA soldier recognized the voice. “I think that’s Scotch Tape.” He got out and ran towards the source of her voice. “Oh, god.” He was shocked

Scotch Tape’s left foreleg was blown off, she tried to crawl with her right foreleg, leaving a blood trail on the ground, mumbling “I need my PipBuck…” over and over again in shock.

“Come on, Scotch. Come on, my dear.” She screamed in pain as he gently picked her up.

“Can you get back my PipBuck for me?” The filly asked, her voice was a mix of pain, shock, fear and crying.

“You ain’t going anywhere. You’re alright!”

Scotch screamed in pain. “I gonna get my PipBuck!”

“Forget it!”

“I gonna get my get my PipBuck!”

“Forget it, Scotch!”

“Incoming!” an American shouted as the artillery fired again.

Chung made a sprint for the foxhole as explosions were all round him. “Come on! Come on!” the soldier in the foxhole yelled.

Halfway there, a shell exploded right next to the Korean, throwing him to the ground. During the second barrage he wasn’t laughing anymore. Explosions all round him, causing his ears to ring. Trees fell over from the barrage, then it came to an end.

Chung got slowly shell-shocked up. But the shock became greater as his vision got clear again. Scotch Tape was lying in a puddle of blood and shrapnel.

“M-m-m-m…MEDIC!!!” yelled Chung at the top of his lungs.


At this moment, the young man awoke with a gasp and panted heavily, cold sweat on his face. It was just a dream. Just dream. He thought relieved, taking a deep breath to calm down. His heart melted as he saw Scotch Tape giggling in her sleep.

Knowing she was safe, he fell asleep again.

The next day, both breakfast. “If I may ask Chung, what kind of job had you chosen if you had never to join the military?” Scotch Tape was curious as she took a bite from her ration.

The answer was simple. “Well, my mother is a doctor and my father a mechanic, so I had either chosen a career in the medical area or in the mechanical area. You?”

The foal thought for a moment. Due the role with a resident's child taking over her role once their parent died, she had never thought of it before. “If the Great War never happened or ended in the Megaspell, I would choose to be a repairpony, or an architect. Plumber only as last option when everything else would fail.” She emphasized Plumber with disgust.

The human suppressed a laughed. “I understand. Time to go.”

During their second day of traveling along the deserted and in disrepair fallen road, they stopped at service station to repair Goliath as there were many spare parts left.

“We make a good team.” Chung was proud of her.

“Yes we are.” She blushed.

After a few hours, the road leaded to a deserted city. The Road sign was missing so they couldn’t figure out what city is was but it looks similar to Carson City, high buildings filled the sky. Scotch’s eyes widened in awe.

“Even in such a deserted and destroyed state, this city maintains its beauty.”

“Indeed, my dear. Do you see anything?” The soldier asked, pointing to her PipBuck.

No red or yellow bars except for him. “No. nothing. I’ll warn you should someone come.” They checked a street diner designed in a 50s flair out. Abandoned cars stood outside on the parking lot, ketchup and mayonnaise bottles with salt and pepper still on the tables, on some tables were also bottles, cans and plates but otherwise nothing. The furnishing was dirty, the cash register had no money, not that it had any use out here.

“As kid, I always dreamed to visit one of those.” The Korean smiled at the memories. “Or to visit Los Angeles or New York.”

Then they searched an old Fashion home. Chung scanned the rooms with his M16 and gave a thumps up with his left hand after it was clear. Scotch confirmed it with her PipBuck.

All clothes were gone but there was still some fabric left and some tools for knitting. That gave Chung an idea. “Uh, Chung, what are you doing?” The young foal was confused as he measured her with a measuring tape.

“You will see.” Then he worked on a still working sewing machine.

She watched curious at what he was working on. His work turned out to be a saddle bag and a holster for her. “You got to defend yourself out here. The saddle bag is for ammo and other useful things you should find.”

She gave him a smile. “Thank you.” Scotch Tape’s voice was in a glee.

The next journey wasn’t very interesting. In the evening, they reached an Army base. It had the star of the KPA on it but no signs of soldiers. Plus it had still supplies and ammo.

“Strange that they captured the base but no one is here to guard it.” Scotch Tape was suspicious, watching her step, looking for traps.

“Yeah. Maybe they saw no use in it or something. Still, let’s be careful.” They both entered the base carefully, watching out for traps. Luckily, there were none.

In the armory, Chung took some ammo for his M16 and a M9 for Scotch Tape. “Here, for your own protection.”

“Thank you. I hope I won’t have to use it though.” She holstered it.

“I hope so too. Hey, do you smell that?” He smelled something, a smell that was very bad, something he would recognize instantly.

“I do too.” They followed the smell. It came out of a storage room, which door was perforated with bullet holes. Slowly opening it, they saw a dead US soldier, his back against the wall, his M4 next to him, his chest perforated with bullets. He looked like he had been dead about a day.

“Don’t look.” Chung covered Scotch Tape’s eyes out of reflex, although he knew that she had seen this before in her home world.

“We should give him a proper burial.” She suggested in a tone that showed pity for the dead American.

“Agreed.” Chung grabbed the body by the arms, dragged him outside and gave the soldier a proper burial, leaving an improvised grave. “Rest in peace.” He made the catholic cross out of respect, Scotch Tape made the same gesture with her hoof in respect.

As they had dinner, the KPA soldier told her, “The United States Armed Forces used to have significant power projection capabilities and defense because of the advanced weapons and the placement of troops in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the continental United States. Due to the burgeoning economic recession in the U.S., the United States Department of Defense scaled down the military budget by reducing its reliance on fleets of capital ships and large-theater military conflicts. Due to the worldwide economic collapse, America's military simply did not have enough funding to re-modernize all their forces. Therefore, much of the U.S. Armed Force's equipment are the same ones they have been using since before the economic downturn, which started in 2007. But still, I have great respect for them. They helped us in the war years ago.”

“I understand. But happened to them?” She asked curious as she took a bite from her ration.

“As far as I know, subsequently, the U.S. military began to pull out its troops in Asia, and by 2016 the United States was forced to pull out of all its foreign installations in order to maintain domestic order. By 2017, the U.S. President enacted a policy of martial law in response to the growing disorder in the U.S. caused by the economic crisis. By 2019 the crisis had worsened, with outright anarchy in several cities, forcing the President to consider violating the Posse Comitatus Act and had the U.S. military deploy domestically to restore order. The Pentagon put forth a plan involving the military in charge of managing civilian authorities, completely supplanting the police and fire departments in many urban centers under the controversial Operation Vital Archer. The military later continued to serve under martial law in the Eastern United States in response to the outbreak of the H5N1 avian influenza virus, also known as Knoxville Cough.”

“Sounds like they have been through Tartarus and back. Makes me feel sorry for Kate and her husband, they had a very difficult time.” She didn’t want to imagine what kind of chaos that must have been back then.

“You and me both. We could try to get into the east of America, it’s still under control of the US or better said what’s left of it. Yet, it could be difficult, as we had to cross the Mississippi River.”

Scotch was confused by this. “What’s the problem with the river?”

“It’s irradiated. One year ago, the Greater Korean Republic executed Operation Watersnake. The operation created a barrier between the West and East side of America. The affected area is almost 210000 square miles of land and sea within the continental United States. The Mississippi River and roughly 100 miles to either side was contaminated with lethal radiation from the Northern Reaches of the river into the Gulf of Mexico. Not only is the water and ground contaminated, the combination of Materials XYZ makes the air poisonous when inhaled and to a lesser extent air that is absorbed through the skin. Most of the groundwater in the area was contaminated destroying plant and animal life and causing the area to become uninhabitable.

We would need hazmat suits to cross unaffected, otherwise we’re would be dead before our bodies hit the ground. I’m sure we can produce them from this base. I have never seen a hazmat suit for a pony but first try for everything.”

“Well, I heard once, before the great war, a hazard suit for foals was created, Mark VI Omni-Environmental Suit was the name I think.”

“Interesting. The suits have time until tomorrow. For now, let’s catch some sleep.”

The green pony yawned cutely. “Yeah, I’m tired. Goodnight.” She climbed into one of the cots in the barracks and fell asleep.

“Sweet dreams.” Chung whispered before he went to bed, putting the safeties of his weapons on, laying them down on the table next to him.

In the morning, they both breakfasted and Chung produced two hazmat suits. It was a little bit hard to make a hazmat suit for the filly. She tried the suit on. “Suits perfectly.” Her voice was a little bit distorted from the helmet. Of course, Chung had thought to make it so that it covered her tail.

“Glad to hear it.” They packed their things and moved on.

This time while travelling, they saw an M1151 of the US forces, crashed into the Road trench on its roof. The wheel with a severed hand on it was next to the wreck.

“Poor guy.” Scotch commented.

“Agreed. As the EMP catapulted America's technology back to the 1800s, they got quickly pushed back. We isolated and scattered them. I doubt it will end soon.”

“What about their allies?”

“Their allies? They got Europe. As the economy of the USA went down the drain, Europe’s economy worsened as well, they were not able to help their partner. But still, they have all pledged their aid to America, but due to global economic conditions it could take months or even years before their assistance arrives. With the European Union aides them, the US troops could take what once was theirs.”

“I see, a hopeless situation.”

“Sadly, yes.” The came to a military checkpoint, the gate was broken, the guards dead, lying in their own blood against the wall of the small house.

“My guess from the deceased US-soldier and the destroyed Humvee, the US-forces came through here.” Scotch Tape suspected.

“Could be.”

They travelled for a week now, towards east, evading KPA patrols and US forces alike. They stopped at an abandoned Gas station, the price tag still showed 20$ per liter.

“We should be close to the river by now.” Chung pronounced.

“You sure?” Scotch raised an eyebrow.

“Before I got deployed in Montrose, I used to patrol the roads in a Humvee, so I have pretty good knowledge of the area.” He pulled a map out of his backpack and opened it. “We should rest here and tomorrow, we should reach the river. A subdivision of the Occupational Police patrols the border, but I’m sure we can evade them.”

He pointed to the price sign. “This is a Result of the Oil Wars, hundreds of oil wells and pipelines in the Middle East were damaged or destroyed, burning uncontrollably. The prices were about to break the dreaded twenty dollar ceiling.”

“How do you know so much about it?” She asked with interest.

“I watched daily the news and read newspaper.”

“Uh-huh.” Suddenly, a red bar appeared on the PipBuck. Looking around, she spotted a Korean helicopter, a Z-10 Chimera in the sky.

It looked damaged, as smoke came out of the engine. “Attack chopper! Quick, down!” Chung and she went phone as the helicopter flew past them.

“I don’t think he saw us.” Chung said but the chopper turned around. “He's circling back around. Don't...move.” He didn’t have to say it twice. Her heart raced in fear of being seen but he placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

Suddenly, the rotors exploded and the helicopter spun out of control.

“Ahh...crap! Run!” Her friend shouted as the helicopter fired his missiles, crashing towards them.

They both ran as fast as they could. The Z-10 Chimera exploded as it crashed on the ground, throwing Scotch Tape into a ditch, knocking her out.

She slowly came to with a blurred vision and ringing ears, rubbing her head. I don’t know how more of this I can take. She was not injured, only a few bruises and scratches. The ditch was too deep to climb up, Chung was not visible on her PipBuck. Did he die in the crash? Was he still alive and taken away by someone? She didn’t know. Okay, don’t panic. Stay calm. Taking a deep breath, she tried to think how she could get out of here. It was still light, only an hour or so had passed.

As she did that, two yellow bars showed up in the display. “It’s worth a try.” She spoke to herself before she called out for help.

Someone called out, “There’s someone! Get a rope!” a rope was lowered and she grabbed it and climbed up.

Upon leaving the ditch, she saw her saviors. Two men in US forces uniforms with a tank she didn’t recognize. “Thanks for the rescue.” They looked shocked at her. “You’re not hallucinating, I can talk.”

One of them shook his head. “Just a kid in a costume. I’m Ben Walker and this is Sergeant Wally Kopple of the California National Guard.” He introduced himself and his comrade.

“Scotch Tape.” She replied.

Author's Note:

Looks like she found new allies. The scene with the ghosts, I got inspired by a semilar scene in Somber's story, Homeland, should you read this Somber, I hope you don't mind. Scotch Tape's dream was based on the old game Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 3, one of my first games, I thought I give it a tribute too. Chung's nightmare was based on this scene from Band of brothers.