ALL NOVEL Chapter 116 – The Hammer Falls
2105 June 18th, 2020 CE
Sky above Nevada
The dragon looked around in this foreign, night sky. The sky reminded it of what its world looked like before everything happened. It still remembered the time it was a being of its own. Before the monsters took over the world and made him into this. There wasn’t much it could do but listen to the commands. Strangely, it hadn't received anything new so it was just flying in a straight line. Out of the corner of its eye, the dragon saw something approaching it.
Another one of those weapons. This was a single one of the explosive arrows of whoever it was attacking. However, the explosive arrow was much slower than the ones that had hit it earlier. The dragon felt the arrow impact its back. Then a blinding light enveloped it.
A mushroom cloud formed above where the dragon had been.
0005 June 19th, 2020 CE
Washington D.C.
The President tapped on the table of the Situation Room as everyone awaited the report of the nuclear detonation. Everyone in the room was tired and cups of coffee were everywhere. General Schmidt who was in his command center was on screen. A flurry of activity occurred behind General Schmidt. “Mr. President. We have confirmation that the dragon has been downed. A drone will fly over to verify its death. We have strike fighters on standby in case it needs to be bombed.”
There was mild clapping and a few unhappy faces. They had just launched a nuclear missile on American soil. Even though it was on grounds that have been used for nuclear testing before, it was still a very heavy decision.
“I want to know where that thing came from. And I want that place blown to smithereens. Also, get someone to check on how bad the radiation around the nuclear detonation is and where it will spread.”
“The EPA is already on that.”
Somewhere in the Pacific
On her shiny, jet black metallic throne in the middle of the island, the Great Lord listened patiently as her advisor translated the garbled message of the less intelligent Soldier-level. “Great Lord, We have reconnected communications with our forces in the battle.”
The Great Lord stood up from her throne. “How is the situation? How far inland have we pushed?”
“There seems to be a stalemate. We have accomplished in taking the northern part of the peninsula but have not been able to advance any further south or east despite our large numbers.”
“What about the dragon?”
“We…” The advisor frowned and paused as he got confirmation from the soldier. “...lost contact.”
“You lost contact? Are you still able to detect it?”
“It's just gone, we can’t find it or detect it. We are not certain what happened. It somehow disappeared during the time when communications became offline.”
Her advisor slowly inched away. The soldier had already dismissed themselves. She was not like her predecessor that skewered all who came with bad news. However that didn’t mean she didn’t have anger issues like her predecessor. At that moment, no one wanted to be near her when she sat quietly on her throne
2045 June 18th, 2020 CE
Sunnyside Elementary School, San Francisco, California
Corporal Eric Lu looked out of the school building. “If I remember correctly, we are only a couple streets away from the City College of San Francisco. I can hear the intense firefight from here.”
Ian frowned. “Won’t that mean there are gonna be those monsters swarming in front of us since we are approaching the frontline.”
Eric rubbed the back of neck. “They won’t expect us to come from behind in the night?”
Ian shook his head and sighed “We still need to get through them and I have no interest in running through a group of those things. And with his head injury, I’m not sure how well John will do.”
John looked up. “I’m perfectly fine, doc. It just hurts a bit.”
“Then that's bad. That’s a head injury. Also I’m a medic, not a doctor. We need to get you to actual help.”
Eric sighed. “I’m gonna get Second Lieutenant on the comms and see what they can do.”
Eric got on his communication device. <<<”Second Lieutenant, this is Corporal Eric Lu.”
”Go ahead corporal. I’m listening”
“We are approaching the City College of San Francisco from Forester Street and hearing heavy combat. Is there any path we can take to get to you guys?”
“Negative. We are holding the line but monsters are swarming the place.”
“...is there any way you can make a path for us? Lance Corporal Felder is a bit banged up with a head injury and may need medical attention”
No reply came for a few seconds.
“Okay corporal, I will see what I can do. In the meantime, are you able to check on how many monsters are on Foerster Street?”
“Got it, sir.”>>>
A few minutes later
Eric reported what he saw outside from the 2nd floor window of the school. <<<“There seems to be around ten or so monsters milling around on the street facing us. Its a bit dark so I can’t confirm”
“Corporal, where exactly are you on Foerster Street?”
“We are currently in a building that seems to be an elementary school.”
“Which type of those monsters are you seeing? The anteater-like ones with spears for noses or the humanoid ones?”
“From the forms, I believe they are the humanoid types.”
“Thanks for the info, corporal. Go down Foerster Street and in exactly… 20 minutes, have yourself right behind the avenue between the rows of houses and the college.
“How will you let us know that the path is clear?”
“Keep an eye out and just get ready to run. There will be a clear path.”>>>
0010 June 19th, 2020 CE
Washington D.C.
“We have confirmation of the death of the dragon. We are confident that the dragon is not alive.”
A green tinted night vision videofeed was shown from the camera of the drone. In the desert below, a charred corpse of the dragon with half of its wings missing was shown.
The aide went on. “Since it was an air burst, the nuclear fallout is minimal. However, it is still recommended to avoid a 10 mile radius around the blast zone. Although the towns closest to the nuclear blast were not affected, the EPA has recommended testing the area for radiation so we will have to relocate a couple thousand people for the time being.”
Ronell leaned back on his chair. “... how’s the media coverage on this?”
“People are definitely debating about the usage of a nuclear weapon on American soil. Most are still reeling from the invasion of San Francisco.”
Ronell rubbed his closed eyes. “Well, I hope we can weather this storm. Not that its that important. I kind of just want to retire and go to the beach at this point.”
MacDill Air Force Base, Florida
“General Thompson, our drones have spotted movement on the easternmost shores of the Magus Imperium. It is just as we anticipated. Earlier sightings were most definitely these monster’s reconnaissance forces.”
“How's the situation on the ground?”
“All civilians have been evacuated and the Magusian military is pulling back as instructed.”
“We will wait as more of these monsters advance inland, then we will hit them.”
Somewhere in the Pacific
She had calmed down immensely from her anger. She had found her scientists tinkering with another aquatic species of this world.
“Great Lord?”
“We are gonna use the toy that you guys has been so excited about. How many of them do we have?”
“We have 5 in total.”
“You are certain it won’t have any effects on our forces? Just the humans?”
“Yes we have done extensive testing on both our own and the humans. Early tests had a very bad effect on our own and many died but with later improvements it has proven extremely lethal to humans and non-lethal to us.”
“Can they be ready before our second wave of forces land?”
“The gate has to be fully cleared so we can transport them across. But we believe they can be ready before our second wave arrives.”