°-_My Book_-°

[Connor]

Well, when I was little I always thought about this and I finally decided to make a book about it. I have chapters 1 & 2 already. I'll put my whole book on this topic for you guys to see.

“We gotta move now! Let’s go! C’mon!” Eric hears the whistling of bullets flying past him as girls and boys around him fall to the ground either hit or too scared to move. “We got to get these kids out of this field! Eric, get over here!” Eric ran over to the Captain in charge of the company Eric was stationed in. “Eric! Hurry up damn it!” Eric was now running as fast as he could. He finally reached the Captain. “Eric, we need to get this company off this field now! You take your squad and move up the right flank. I’ll get Delaney’s squad to move up the left so you can flank these bastards! Go!” Eric screamed, “1st squad, on me, we’re getting out of this damn field!”

About 10 kids around the ages of 8 through 10 came to Eric and he led them into the forest. He whispered, “Alright, we’re gonna hook around and meet up with 3rd squad and flank those machine guns so we can get out of the field, move.” Corporal Augustan was in the front with Sergeant Eric while privates Porter and Felix where in the rear.

“Thunder!” A familiar voice said about 30 meters away. “Lightning!” Eric whispered as loud as he could. “Thank god we found you Eric; word from Captain says it’s not looking so good out there.” Delaney said. “Alright than Delaney, let’s kill those machines guns before they kill us.” Eric replied. Squads 1st and 3rd moved about 50 meters west until they were right behind the machine guns. “3…2…1… Open fire!” Eric screamed. 1st and 3rd squads opened fire on the machine gun nests and killed anything in sight. “Cease fire! Cease fire!” Delaney yelled. The machine gun nests were now full of dead enemies.

“Good job Eric and Delaney, you guys sure saved our asses out there. I’m putting you both up for promotions.” The captain said. “Sir,” Eric said, “I don’t want to be promoted, I want to stay with my men and not leave them.” The captain replied, “Eric, this is your fifth time declining a promotion. You’re gonna get promoted soon enough.” “And I can keep declining it sir.” Eric said. The captain smirked and said, “Alright Eric.”


1 Month Earlier

Beep, beep, beep, beep! Eric jumped up out of bed and ran downstairs in delight. “Mom! Mom! Mom!” Eric yelled. “Yes, today is your special day hunny! The day you graduate 8th grade!” Eric’s mom said with delight. She had cooked Eric’s favorite breakfast for this special occasion. Three scrambled eggs, five strips of soft, moist bacon, 2 pieces of toast with a cinnamon and sugar topping on it, and freshly squeezed orange juice. “Thanks mom, you’re the best!” Eric said as he hugged her. “Alright hunny, hurry up and eat, you don’t want to be late for your last day of school.” Eric’s mom said.

After Eric was done eating, he ran upstairs into his own bathroom. He looked in the mirror and laughed with delight. Eric was 13 years old ad was in the 8th grade at TJ middle school, a public school in his town. Eric had long brown hair, he was 5”6, he had freckles on his face, and he had just got his braces off a month earlier and was wearing a retainer. Then he heard his older sister say, “Congratulations munchkin, you’re finally getting out of middle school and going into high school.” “Haha thanks Amanda, without you tutoring me in math I wouldn’t have gotten a B in that class.” Eric said with delight. “Well, you better hurry up and get ready Eric; you got a big day ahead of you. I’ll see you at your graduation. Have fun.” Amanda said as she walked downstairs to talk with her mom and make her own breakfast.

Eric brushed his teeth, combed his hair, and got into his favorite pair of jeans and his favorite shirt. He ran downstairs and grabbed his red backpack and said goodbye to his mom and sister. He ran out the door, ran up the street, took a left and met up with his friends at the bus stop. “Hey guys.” Eric said to his friends. “Hey Eric, ready for the last day of school man?” His friend Brandon said to him. “Hell yeah I am!” Eric replied.

The bus came earlier than usual and all the children got on it. The bus went it’s normal route to school, went down MedowBrooke Avenue, took a left at Marbury Lane, and stopped at KettleStien Court, where his middle school was. Everybody got off the bus and went into the cafeteria where they would wait until 8:00 A.M. At 8, the bells rang and everyone went on with their usual business meeting up with friends and going to classes together. Eric thought something was different and told that to his friends, but they replied saying, “It’s the last day of school man! Of course everything is different!”

[Connor]

Chapter 2

Eric went throughout the day thinking something was different, and he was right about it being different. Half of his class wasn’t at the last day of school. Eric said to his friends, “Guys, I realized what was different; half of the freakin’ grade is gone!” His friends looked around, and they agreed with him. “Why is everyone gone on the last day of school?” Trevor asked. “I don’t know.” Said Kristen. Then, all of a sudden, there was a big explosion. Everybody screamed and fell to the ground covering their heads. “What the hell was that?!” Trevor yelled. “I don’t know, but it didn’t sound too good!” Kristen added. “Everybody, get to your classrooms now! Hide underneath the desks and don’t get out unless your teacher tells you to!” The principal yelled. Everybody ran to their next period classes frightened and scared. They hid underneath the desks like they were asked.

It was 30 minutes after the explosion happened, but everyone was still told to hide underneath the desks. Then, all of sudden, they thought they heard firecrackers, but it was actually gun fire. The teacher screamed, “Everyone, stay underneath your desks, don’t move or make a sound!” Eric whispered to Kristen, “Kristen, distract the teacher, I’m going to see what’s going on.” Kristen replied, “Are you freakin’ insane?? She said stay quiet.” “Just distract her damn it Kristen.” Eric replied firmly. Kristen distracted the teacher by starting to cry, so the teacher went over to comfort her, while Eric slipped out of the classroom. He went down the hall and was about to turn right, but then stopped because he saw kids with guns shooting at each other.

“What the hell…” Eric said, but then a kid tackled him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Are you freakin’ stupid or something? You were told to get some cov- Wait, where is your gear and your gun?” A soldier asked him. “I-I-I’m not a soldier, I’m a kid who’s supposed to be graduating today.” Eric responded. “How the hell did you get out of your class?? Never mind, grab a gun, you’re fighting now.” The soldier replied. Eric was in shock. “Wait, wait, wait, wait! Fighting? I’m 13, I’m not allowed to freakin’ drive yet!” He yelled at the soldier. “Yeah, well, I could give less of a damn right now kid, he’s a M4A1 and here’s a M9. You have 2 grenades; don’t use them until you need to.” The soldier ran away to find some cover as Eric stood there in shock. Then, out of nowhere, an enemy soldier came up next to Eric and almost shot him, but Eric grabbed his M9 and put a bullet through the enemy soldier’s chest. That was the first person Eric had every hurt.

Eric went to the soldier who gave him his gun and said, “I don’t belong here! I’m supposed to graduate today and I can’t do this!” The soldier grabbed Eric by the shirt and dragged him down so their noses were almost touching. “Nobody deserves this shit kid, you gotta deal with it. I lost my whole squad to these guys and I’m getting revenge! I missed my graduation cause of this shitty war too! Don’t feel like your special, cause you’re not! You’re a kid, like the rest of us! Now grab a gun and protect yourself damn it!” Eric stood there in shock as the soldier turned around and shot two kids in the head. Eric got behind a flipped over table and started shooting his M4A1. He never felt more scared in his entire life.

Kristen stopped pretending to cry, so the teacher wasn’t preoccupied anymore, and then the teacher realized Eric wasn’t there. “Where is Eric?” the teacher demanded to know the answer. “Where did Eric go??” Kristen had a smirk on her face and everyone knew he left but they didn’t speak up. The teacher got on the walkie-talkie and said, “Code red, student 6589 is missing. Name, Eric Steigner. Code red.” Then all teachers responded, “No Eric here.” Kristen’s teacher said “Shit…” She ran out in the hallway and went towards the battle.

[Connor]

Chapter 3

Eric was picking the enemy soldiers off one by one. He was never trained with any type of guns, but he learned from the Call of Duty games. Eric yelled at the soldier, “You know, I never found out what your name was!” The soldier replied, “The name is Felix, what’s yours!?” “Ahh, Felix, nice name,” Eric said, “My name is Eric!” Felix chuckled a little bit, “Well Eric, you got yourself into some deep shit!” While Eric started to chuckle he screamed, “Felix, 8 o’clock!”. Felix turned left and shot an enemy trying to sneak into a different hallway. The enemy soldiers started to retreat slowly, so, the Colonel, a skinny 15 year old, screamed charge, and everybody charged at the invading army. The enemy army tried to retreat, but, they didn’t realize that half of the American Kid Army had circled around the building to stop them from retreating. All the enemy army could do was surrender or die trying to escape. In about 5 minutes, the enemies dropped there guns, went on their knees, and put their hands behind their hands. We knew right then that they surrendered.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here…?” A soldier said. “We got enemy prisoners John, protected under the Geneva Convention.” Another soldier replied. “Fuck the damn Geneva Convention, these guys killed my friends, so, they should die.” The soldier cocked his M9, but Eric grabbed his wrist and said, “Hey faggot, would you like it if the enemy captured you and shot you in your little ugly ass head?” The soldier looked at Eric and said, “Are you even a soldier?” Eric replied saying, “No, I’m not, but if you shoot one of them, you’ll wish I didn’t have this gun.” The soldier looked at Eric is disgust and walked away.

Felix walked up behind Eric and sat down. “Nice job telling Suckley there not to kill our prisoners.” Eric sat down next to Felix and said, “Why the hell are kids fighting this damned war anyway?” “Well,” Felix said while getting comfortable, “We’re fighting this war because people think it is inhuman that kids fight adults, so, Obama decided to make us fight. Now come on, let’s go get you back to your class.” Felix just got up and then Eric pulled him down. “I’m not going back there, I never said I didn’t want to fight, I just said I don’t know why we’re fighting.”

Felix looked at Eric with shock. “You actually wanna fight this war Eric? Is there something loose in your head boy? If I got the chance to go home, I’d pack my gear and say ‘Adios’ to this piece of shit war.” Felix sat back down and looked out of a massive whole in the side of the school. “Eric, I suggest you go back to your class, if you stay any longer you’re gonna be dragged into this war.” Eric looked at the massive whole in the wall as well. “Well, I guess I’m going to war then Felix. Cause with the way you fight, you’re not gonna last another week without me.” They both looked at each other and started to laugh.

The Colonel came up to Eric and Felix while they were laughing. “What are you two laughing at?” The Colonel asked. Felix and Eric both got up quickly and saluted the Colonel. “We were just laughing at a joke Eric made sir.” Felix said as he was saluting the Colonel. “Well, that’s always good to see two young boys laughing at something instead of being sad. Carry on.” The Colonel walked away while Eric and Felix sat back down.

“Hey Felix, how did you get dragged into this mess?” Eric asked. Felix looked at that massive whole in the wall again, and stared at it for a minute, then replied, “When the Chinese invaded Maine; the government wanted to keep it a secret, so they grabbed all the residents of Maine and locked them away. They made the kids soldiers and the parents they moved to the middle of nowhere so they couldn’t share any information on what happened that day. I haven’t seen my parents since two days after the invasion, and I probably won’t ever see them again unless I live.” Eric was sitting next to him playing with his gun and listening. “Don’t worry Felix, I’ll make sure you live to see your parents again.” Just as Felix was about to say something, the Colonel said, “Everybody, listen up, we’re moving out! We’re going down towards Richmond to hook up with Henderson’s division! Let’s move!” Felix smirked and said, “Joy, we’re going to my brother’s division…”

[Connor]

Chapter 4

“Uhhh… What the hell is that?” Eric asked Felix as Felix was getting on the truck. “It’s a transport, a truck basically. Can carry up to 30 soldiers, now come on and get in.” Felix put his hand out and Eric grabbed onto it and climbed into the transport. “Alright boys and girls, we’ll be in Richmond in about an hour. Make sure no guns fall out, and try to get some sleep.” The Colonel said before closing the door at the back of the transport.

“Well, this’ll be fun, stuck on a truck for an hour…” Eric said sarcastically. “Oh cheer up you cry baby. It could be worse; you could be stuck with Colonel and his nasty breath.” A soldier sitting next to Eric said. Eric shuddered, “Alright, yeah, this is better than that.” All the soldiers started to laugh. “My name is Delaney, what’s yours?” Delaney said to Eric. “My name is Eric.” Eric replied. “Not a bad name, I always wanted that name. I hate my name.” Delaney said to Eric. “You’re name isn’t that bad, it’s better that Chujan.” Eric said. Delaney started to laugh so hard he started to wheeze. “You ok there Delaney?” Eric asked concerned. “Yeah, I’m fine, just need my inhaler.” Delaney responded. He grabbed his inhaler and used it, in about a minute he was calm. “I have asthma.” Delaney said. “Doesn’t really help when you’re at war…” Eric started to chuckle. “Yeah,” Eric replied, “It doesn’t.”

An hour later, the transport stopped and the doors opened. The Colonel was there waiting for them. “Alright, everybody out, let’s move!” Everybody was already there, so Eric thought they were late or something. Tom Henderson, the Colonel of the 2nd Kid Marine division walked up to Felix. “Hey little bro.” Tom said. “Hey Tom, how ya been?” Felix replied. They hugged each other and then Tom asked, “Who is this?” Felix replied, “This is Eric Steigner, just joined our division about 2 hours ago.” Tom smirked. “Welcome to the Kid Marine Corp, Semper Fi.” Eric replied, “Semper Fi.”

Everybody from Kid Marine Divisions 1 and 2 gathered around Colonel Henderson and Colonel Walsh. “Alright, listen up!” Colonel Walsh said, “The Chinese are trying to get to Washington D.C. to take them out first, then they’re going to keep moving west and take out any resistance. We are not going to let them take Washington D.C.! They’re most likely going through Route 15 and Interstate 270, which come from Frederick. Now, we are going to barricade that up so they’re tanks can’t get through. We’re going to fight like gorillas. We’re going to booby trap Interstate 270 and Route 15. Those are to buy us time to evacuate D.C. and set up perimeters around the district. Once they get past those barricades and booby traps, we hit them. So, if you have not filled out a will, go talk with the lawyers so your possessions can be given to your loved ones. Thank you.”

Colonel Walsh and Henderson walked down from the podium and went to their tent. Eric found Delaney and Felix and headed toward the mess hall for food. They sat down as talked about what was happening. “I can’t believe we have to defend D.C.” Felix said. “Those Commies are gonna throw everything they got at us.” Delaney added. “Well, we’ll just live and fight and survive.” Eric said finishing that discussion. Colonel Henderson sat down at their table and talked with them. “I always wanted to go to war,” he said, “but I didn’t want to go to war at such a young age.” Eric, Tom, Felix, and Delaney talked for an hour, than Tom had to go to the tent with Colonel Walsh to discuss battle strategies. “Your brother is nice Felix.” Delaney said. “Yeah, he is. We would always go down by the lake and when the older kids would be mean to me, he would just knock them out cold.” Felix said. “I bet you could beat the shit out of them now.” Eric said. “I would beat them up, if they were alive.” Felix added.

That night, Eric couldn’t fall asleep, so he got out of his bunk and walked outside to sit on a dead tree stump outside of his tent. Felix came out with him and said, “What the hell are you doing up so early…?” Eric replied, “Eh, I couldn’t fall asleep; too anxious.” Felix sat next to him, on the ground, yawned, and said, “You can never be too anxious when your life is on the line. You’re just scared, confused, and you miss your family. I can feel your pain.” They both sat watching the stars until Delaney came out with a pistol. “Put your hand- Oh, it’s you two… You woke up the whole freakin’ tent; we thought you were the Chinese.” Felix chuckled and said, “Since when do Chinese speak English and sit outside of an enemy’s tent?” Delaney replied, “They probably do it when they’re drunk.” Eric, Felix, and Delaney started to laugh. “Alright you two, get back to bed. We got a busy day tomorrow setting up barricades.”

It was about 8 A.M. when the sirens blew and everybody woke up. Since Eric was on the top bunk, he fell out of his bed and dropped 6 feet before hitting the ground. “Ugh… Tonight you’re getting the top bunk Felix.” Eric moaned. “Pfft, in your dreams Eric, I’m not falling 6 feet like you just did.” Felix laughed. Eric groaned as he got up, and went to the mess tent to get some breakfast. “Oohh… Poptarts… Joy…” Delaney said. “Eh shut it Delaney, at least it is actual food.” Felix said. “Yeah… You’re right…” Delaney said while his mouth was full. Eric chuckled, “You’re new name is pig.” Felix and Eric started laughing. “Eh screw you Sleepwalker.” Delaney said with his mouth full. “Whatever you say, Oinky.” Eric said laughing at Delaney. “What should we call Felix?” said Delaney, who now swallowed his food. “I think I should be called Felix. I don’t like the nicknames you guys give each other.” Felix said seriously. “I got it!” Eric said, “The Terminator!” Eric and Delaney started laughing. “Yeah, great name. Thanks Oinky and Sleepwalker.” Eric and Delaney kept laughing. “Listen up!” Colonel Walsh said, “We’re going to build the barricades! Finish your breakfast and let’s move out!”