WTF

“What the fuck?” That’s what I heard; 6:12am Wednesday 2042 and that “What the fuck?” was so very loud and clear in my head the question mark so clear; “What the fuck?” Yep that’s what woke me up with a start to the day we will all surely die; I jumped off my bunk and ran up the five steps of ladder to the surface.

How simple is that? “What the fuck?” “WTF.” “What da phouc.” Such a simple saying and it just has so much god damn gut wrenching meaning that you know in an instant deep in your soul that you and yours are about to experience a major fucking. How can a three word sentence have so much meaning?

“What the fuck!” Yep that’s what our long range observers said; and five minutes later all hell broke loose.

In my shorts I leaned against the dirt berm we’d dug and pushed up in a pile making sure that the raise in earth was shallow and extended out about sixty five feet so as not to show a major change in elevation in the flat desert. We’d dug down a good eight feet or so; we had a full two feet of earth over our heads in the hard pack desert we called home. We’d been planted here for six months; six fucking months we’ve lived in this hole we dug with little shovels and reinforced with shit; bushes and sticks we could find in the desert. We’d been bombed; had a few tanks run past our position but this was a whole new kind of shit we’d never seen before.

I pulled my binoculars to my eyes looking in the direction the scout was pointing and shouting “What the fuck is that?” In my opinion there is little difference between “What the fuck and what the fuck is that?” Both make my bowels turn to water and my heart rate race to two hundred beats in just a fraction of a second. We had about a five mile an hour wind from our rear kicking up a little dust so between puffs of dust and binoculars set at twenty power all I could see to begin with was dust devils with what looked like a huge pillar standing out straight from our dug in position some place around two miles in the distance. The dust died down for a fraction of a second and clearly I could see a two legged monster with a square looking top section above two long legs of about a hundred feet with knees about two thirds of the way up from the desert floor. It was clear that the legs were moving and the thing was moving towards us; as the feet stepped forward huge clouds of dust shot up from the landing of its feet on the loose dust.

“What the fuck?” slipped from my lips as I stared at the thing walking towards us. “Goggles!” I shouted at the top of my lungs as I realized the top square was covered in weapons and dishes. I dropped straight down behind the mound wall and wiggled my way down the ladder into the relative safety of the dugout pit. Grabbing my laser goggles I raced back up the ladder; I’d seen those rotating round turrets that look like spot lights before, they were laser weapons that I’d been told by blinded solders “the light looked green” and then they went blind from the laser beams. Now under two miles away I could see that the top section of the walking machine wasn’t square but looked to be octagonal and had rail guns mounted in two’s along each flatten section. Infantry was clearly seen now surrounding the terrain running to keep up with the aberration making sure they weren’t in the path of the towering monster and its huge feet.

Slapping both my Sergeants on the shoulder and waving for them to follow me I dropped down into the lower pit.

“Oh we’ve got a problem!” I shouted in their faces. Realizing that it was quiet in the pit I lowered my voice and ask “Got any ideas what the fuck we are going to do?!” Both stared at me with mouths open and blank looks of their faces. “What the fuck is that thing?” Ramirez offered with a baffled look on his face. “I guess it’s a walker or something; it’s covered in weapons!?” Sergeant James Rogers screamed spraying spit on both of us. “We can’t hide with all that infantry coming with it” I was again shouting in their close faces.

A huge whoop shook the earth raining down dust from the dirt ceiling. Two three four huge explosions shook the pit; buckets full of earth rained down from the fragile ceiling. Racing for the ladder it was clear the whole structure was going to come down in the next barrage. Running up the ladder and pushing against the dirt wall the walker had moved to within a mile of our dig and had clearly seen it for what it was. Two rail guns were walking heavy fire over our position and as they ran dry the upper turret would turn slightly bringing the next double rail gun mount around pointing directly in our direction and opening up with round after round of direct deadly fire.

Our fighting position was destroyed before the enemy infantry had gotten within a half mile. We really hadn’t even fired a shot when I ordered a white flag surrender hoping the heavy fire would stop and spare a few of the men that were left a live. We laid flat against any raised dirt area that gave some form of protection from incoming rounds.

The explosion of noise calmed leaving us with ringing ears as a cease fire was called. I could hear shouting as infantry moved to surround our destroyed position. One by one my men were pulled and dug out from collapsed fighting positions. Their huge walker stood off a hundred yards rail guns’ pointing point blank into what was left of our dig.

I’ve been in the Army now five years; one year in captivity; they treat us well. I hear the war is going well for our captures; I wonder where they found their technologies.

From the Ramblings



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