Chapter 4: November 29, 2011

    By dawn, we all felt like walking skeletons. But that didn't stop us from looking for food. We ate anything that was edible, not counting tree bark and animal feces. We ate things like plants, bugs, and blades of grass. We didn't care what it was. We were so hungry that we devoured anything we could get our hands on. By around noon, we had ravaged everything we could. One of us had gone completely insane. I saw that Ren huddled himself against a tree and was rocking back and forth, saying incomprehensible words to himself. The whites of his eyes had gone pale pink, and his irises had gone blood red. That was a sign that he had lost his mind. I turned to look at Knuckles. I gazed intently at his expression, and I read him like a book. His expression said, "If only he had a map to find his sanity." I became slightly angry. But I put it off for the moment. My friend needed urgent attention. I tentatively went closer to my crazy friend.
    That's when Knuckles said, in a rude tone, "Be sure you have a straitjacket with you. He really needs one."
    Ren hissed at him like a snake. It startled us.
    I managed to say, "Ren."
    He looked at me, with a look of crazy happiness on his face. He said, "Oh. Gil. Have you come to help a friend in his darkest hour?"
    His voice was awful. It was brittle and high-pitched.
    I then said, unabated, "Ren, I need you to calm down."
    Ren's expression changed from being a crazy happiness to deep ire. It was so sudden, I stumbled back in fear. Ren stood up and grabbed my uniform's collar.
    He growled, "Are you saying I'm mad?!"
    I said, barely able to speak, "Well, I...uh...yes. But, I don't mean that in a bad way...and...uh...I think you really should calm down..."
    Ren made an ear-to-ear, crazy smile that would make Chucky look like a Barbie doll. He then let out his trademark diabolical laughter. It sounded like a mad scientist's laugh, only a whole hell of a lot more disturbing.
    Then, he pulled out a pistol and aimed it at my chest.
    He then said, "I'm gonna kill you!"
    I said, fearfully, "Take it easy, Ren. Just think about what you're doing here."
    I heard his stomach growl vociferously, and then I understood what was going on.
    In growing horror, I uttered, "No...please don't!"
    "You know I haven't eaten anything in days!" he retorted.
    I found a bug right next to me. Before Ren could pull the trigger and kill me, I quickly grabbed the bug and shoved it in his mouth. He then began vigorously chewing it. Then, he swallowed. Immediately, he had calmed down. The whites of his eyes returned to being white, and his irises returned to being pink. He then became confused, like he had no idea what was going on.
    "What's going on?" he said. "Why do I have my pistol drawn to your chest?"
    Almost hyperventilating, I said, "I'll explain everything later, Ren."
    "Gil! You're tense."
    Now calm, I said, "Like I said, I'll explain everything later."
    Then, a bullet shot across Ren's upper arm. He let out a sound of pain. Immediately, I jumped up, calculated the trajectory of the fired bullet, and killed the enemy sniper...all in a fraction of a second.
    I then turned to Ren and said, "Are you okay?"
    "Yeah," he said, "I'm fine. Just a slight burning sensation on my arm."
    I breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Okay."
    "I'm still kinda hungry though."
    "There's a lot to eat around here. There's plants and bugs. Just don't eat any poison ivy or anything with three leaves on one stem."
    "Okay then."
    He then proceeded to devour every plant with the exception of what I told him. The entire time, I thought, Damn, Ren must be voracious. In only ten minutes, Ren had consumed a hundred plants (that equals ten plants per minute). Thankfully for him, he was "stuffed to the brim," as I like to call it. It's basically a term one uses when they eat a lot on Thanksgiving. Well, maybe I only used it...
    "We should still be looking out for enemies," Knuckles warned. "They might try to kill one of you."
    I then looked at him and retorted, "What the hell do you think I've been doing all morning, Knux?"
    And yes, some of us called him Knux.
    "Wasting your time?"
    I rolled my eyes. He knew it was a rhetorical question.
    Then, ironically, a bullet went into his back. I was shocked. He fell to the ground, face-first. I ran frantically to him. I tried to help him overcome his injury, but he succumbed to it. He died in less than a minute. I almost cried. First my best school friends, then Michael, then Molokov, and now Knuckles. I had seen death around every corner I turned, and I couldn't take it anymore. I felt a strong need to commit suicide. I held up my pistol up to my head, like one does in Russian Roulette. Ren ran to me in an attempt to stop myself from doing the deed.
    "Stop!" he yelled. "You don't need to do this!"
    "I have to!" I shouted. "I can't handle seeing all my friends die in front of my eyes! I have to kill myself!"
    He grasped my arm and pulled it to the ground. He looked at me with a solemn look on his face and said, "There's only gonna be more death! You can't escape it!"
    I struggled to try to get him to let go of me, but I was powerless. I was forced to move on with the painful loss of another close friend. Another crucifix-shaped tombstone was made, its engraving reading:

HERE LIES

KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA

 

BORN: FEBRUARY 16, 1993

DIED: NOVEMBER 29, 2011

    I knew that Knuckles's death wasn't going to be the last I'd witness in this unforgiving war. I knew I had to carry on. Our army was dwindling. It now only consisted of four troops—me, Sonic, Tails, and Ren. Our uniforms were tattered and stained with blood and dirt. We persisted in finding and killing enemy soldiers. Our hearing was so trained that it became as acute as Dmitry's in the previous war. By six in the evening, we had killed off at least one hundred enemies, and at least one hundred and eighty by nightfall. We set up our campsite near the very edge of the thick forest that claimed the life of Knuckles. I still had a hard time coping with the loss. Tails went up to me.
    In a benevolent tone, he said, "I know you're taking Knuckles's death hard, but I've known him longer than you have. Yes, I'm sad that he's dead. But I don't let it eat me alive. Do you understand?"
    I slowly nodded. I knew he was right.
    "Come on," Tails finally said. "You need your rest."
    I went inside the tent and slept the long night away.

Chapter 3: November 22 - 28, 2011

    That day began with a heartbreaking start. Ren woke me up, looking like he'd just seen a ghost. His face had gone white, and his eyebrows arched.
    "Gil!" he said in a tense tone. "Come quickly!"
    Feeling groggy, I said, "What? What is it?"
    "It's Michael!"
    My heart sank, and my eyes widened in growing horror. I then said, my voice as shaky as I was, "Show me what happened."
    Ren pointed to the tent's opening, virtually unable to speak. His hands were trembling. "He's right out there. Everyone's waiting for you."
    Immediately, I got up and put on my uniform. Then, I tentatively headed out the opening of the tent, with Ren following right behind me, both out of protection and out of paranoia. Everyone looked at me, frowning and sullen.
    Sonic managed to say, "He was killed last night by a rifle bullet."
    Everyone was gathered around Michael's body. I stepped up to it, with growing grief. Michael had a cold, dead stare in his eyes. He was sprawled out, with a bullet hole in his heart. I knelt before him, choking back tears. But that made my voice shakier.
    "He was a rebel," I managed. "He was completely against Ivan's tyranny."
    "He was a great leader," one of the soldiers said. His voice was rough and papery.
    Then, I began singing a sorrowful song in Russian, and everyone began to join in. Its lyrics went like this:

    Ваши рекомендации всегда будут помнить.
    Мы чувствуем себя потерянными без вашей помощи.
    Вы, возможно, умер насильственной смертью,
    Но вы дали своей жизни, чтобы быть на нашей стороне.

    After the song was done, we buried Michael's body just a few feet from the campsite. The tombstone was a thick, granite crucifix with smooth edges and about three feet tall. The engraving read:

HERE LIES

MIKHAILOV "MICHAEL" KHILOV

BORN: JUNE 24, 1993

DIED: NOVEMBER 22, 2011 

    I thought, He was only eighteen...I guess people at that age join an army nowadays. I'm just really sad that he had to die like that, especially at that age.
    I then stood up, now feeling determined. I looked to the grayish-blue sky and then thought, I hope you're ready, Ivan. We've yet begun to fight.

    I turned to the soldiers and said, "Did Michael choose a successor?"
    One soldier said, "Yes. That would be me."
    He stepped up to me. He was an anthropomorphic weasel, with red-orange fur, very broad shoulders, and dark, brown eyes. He was five-foot-eight—just an inch taller than me. He was most likely the brother of the one who got blown to pieces just two days earlier. They had the same features.
    He said, "My name is Molokov Tchaikovsky. I was assigned by Mikhailov, or 'Michael,' as you call him, to be next in command."
    "Very well. Our trust is in your hands. Good luck, Molokov."
    We saluted each other. Then, after a brief silence, Molokov said, "Well, what is everyone standing around for? We should find the enemies before they find us and wipe us out completely!"
    Immediately, everyone scouted the forest for enemies. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Ren, and I decided to scout as a group.
    We searched for days. There was nothing to be found from the enemies. We had ventured fifteen miles from our campsite. We were starving and parched, but we'd gone too far to go back now. At least, that's what I believed...
    We decided to return to our campsite on the morning of November 25, 2011. We had ventured for three days, so it took us another three to return. We arrived by the sunset of November 28, 2011. But when we got back, we were shocked.

    The sunset was a bright orange that turned red as the light went farther. It brightly lit up our ransacked campsite. None of the soldiers had returned, thank God, but Molokov was still there. Hastily, we headed to the commander's tent to check on him. When we got there, four of us looked away in disgust, while I stood there, motionless and silent. Molokov had been beheaded, and his severed head laid in front of the exposed neck. It had been cut clean off by what looked like a blade of light. We exited the tent and looked around at the remnants of our campsite. The tents had many holes in them, some of them ripped to shreds. We had to put off our extreme hunger for now; we had to fend for ourselves and fight for survival...even if we had to kill each other to do it. But for now, our main problem was to set up a new campsite. After setting up the tents, we decided to sleep for the night. By this point, eight days had gone by since the start of the war. We knew this war was going to be longer than the last one by a long shot. We were all starving, and we had no food to live on. Alas, the long night was over as we closed our eyes to sleep.

Chapter 2: November 21, 2011

     A loud horn woke me up seemingly early in the morning. It felt like it was about five o'clock in the morning. My eyes felt like they weighed a ton. I slowly leaned to sit up and groaned. Everyone else was already wide awake.
    Ren looked at me and said, "Took you long enough to wake up."
    Out of confusion, I asked him, "What time is it?"
    "It's three minutes until noon."
    Then, I grew perplexed. In a very peculiar tone—half-mad, half-bewildered—I told him, "Ren, you know I usually sleep until around this time."
    "Well then you must've been extra tired," he said coldly, giving me a spiteful look.
    He hurt my feelings, but this time—instead of feeling forlorn—I felt antagonized. With a look of hatred on my face and in my tone, I said, "You have no right to talk to me in such a vile tone, Höek! I was expecting some respect from you, especially since my best friends are dead!"
    Ren then grew furious. He pulled out his pistol, aimed it at my chest, and stepped closer to me. "Never call me Höek!" he said in a threatening tone. "Make that kind of mistake again and I will make sure a bullet goes through your heart! Do you understand?!"
    I nodded, now beginning to repent my actions. I never truly meant to yell at him, but the surge of anger came from completely out of nowhere. But now a surge of fear ran through my body and made my blood run cold. I shakily said, "I understand. Just please don't kill me." Ren gave a smirk. He always loved knowing that some people were very scared of him. His insane personality and diabolical laughter added a lot to it.
    All five of us headed out of our tent. We hadn't a clue what was going on. That's when Michael showed up out of nowhere right behind us and said, cheerfully, "Good morning, soldiers!" We all turned to look behind us out of surprise. The mood instantly became very awkward.
    "You guys really woke up late today."
    Sonic told him, "Actually, Gil just now woke up."
    Michael looked at me with a creepy smile on his face and stared me down. I began to feel as uneasy as I did when I arrived on Mobius. There was a long silence.
    Finally, I said, in an inept tone, "Um...I think we should get some lunch."
    Tails said, "Yeah, that's a good idea. I'm starving."
    We all headed to the food tent, as Michael kept staring at us intently.


    After we finished our meal, we decided to look for more enemies. We headed deep into the broad forest. We looked back and forth to check for any snipers or surprise attackers. The whole time I thought, Where's Dmitry when you need him?
    That's when we all witnessed a sudden blade of light chop the top half of a tree clean off. We were startled. After a gasp made by everyone, I said, now tense, "Alright everyone, arm yourselves!" We then armed ourselves with our rifles and checked for any signs of a second attack. Sweat dripped down my forehead. I thought furiously, Come on, you damn sadist. We're right here! There was another long silence. Our hearts pounded in our chests. Then, I saw a flash of light coming from one of the trees; someone was about to try to chop one of us in half. I yelled, "Look out!" Everyone gasped and immediately ducked. I then aimed my rifle at the sniper and fired when he was just about to release the blade of light on me. He was dead before he could pull the trigger. Then, more and more flashes of light gleamed on me. I shot at each and every one of them. I then found myself yelling, "Come out and fight like a real man, you damn coward!!!"
    That's when twenty-five thousand of the green humanoids showed themselves. My heart almost stopped dead. I almost wanted to retreat with my allies, but I knew that this was for the greater cause. To me, fleeing from the enemy was the greater of two evils.
    I then shouted, "Get up! All of you! We've got an entire squadron to deal with!"     Everyone immediately stood up and aimed their rifles.
    Sonic then shouted at me, "Gil! Are you crazy?! We're outnumbered, and you could be killed!"
    With a stern look on my face, I said, "Do you want this Ivan to take over your world? If you ask me, I'd rather die fighting to keep one's land than to not fight at all!"
    Sonic then nodded out of sympathy and then aimed his rifle at one of the enemy humanoids.
    That's when Michael and his troops came in.
    His army increased ours to twenty-two thousand soldiers. Now, we began to stand a chance against this squadron. Then, both sides opened fire at each other. A battle for conquest had begun.


    After many shots were fired, the enemies and fifteen allies killed, as well as the five of us wounded, we immediately headed for the campsite. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Ren, and I needed medical attention. We were thankful that Michael's army was also a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or M.A.S.H. We got our wounds taken care of in a very short amount of time.
    When Michael was off his guard, I decided to interrogate him. I wanted some answers from him, because he seemed very suspicious. It happened around ten o'clock at night, when everyone else was asleep.
    I entered his tent with an irate look on my face. Michael jumped.
    "Gil!" he said. "What's this all about?"
    "I'll be asking the questions," I snarled, "and I have a lot to ask you!"
    Michael looked very befuddled.
    "You've been acting very suspicious lately, and I'm tired of holding back what I want to hear from you!"
    "What are you talking about?"
    "Tell me the truth...are you or are you not a green humanoid in disguise?!"
    Michael became horrified. He said, barely able to speak, "How did you know?"
    "You've been faking a normal accent this whole time! Whenever you slip up at some point, I notice it becomes Russian for a brief moment!"
    Then, Michael began talking softly, "My own accent gave me away...and you knew this whole time..."
    Now becoming less hostile, I asked, "Are you against Ivan's plan to take over Mobius? And if so, why?"
    Michael looked down and then said, in his normal accent, "It is true. Me and my comrades are against the madman known as Ivan. He has enslaved many of the people whose worlds he has conquered. That is why I formed our army. We want Ivan to change his mind about total conquest and give back the lands of the people that he has taken away. I am truly sorry for any suspicious behavior."
    I then became benevolent and gave a smile. "It's okay. I understand."
    Michael then looked up at me with a normal smile on his face. It explained why his smile was creepy and unsettling before; he was trying to look like someone he wasn't. Now that he had nothing to hide, he gave the smile of a Russian. It looked completely normal on him.
    "Come on," I said in a reassuring tone, "we've got a madman to stop."
    After Michael and I shook hands, we decided to head to bed. If we wanted to stand even a small chance against Ivan, we'd need all the energy as we could possibly acquire. And so, the long night was over before we knew it.

Chapter 1: November 20, 2011

     None of us expected a second attack. I was thinking, What? But we all killed Eggman over two months ago! Who's coming to try to wipe us out now? That's when a blinding pillar of light blasted into my room in the morning. I was startled. After thirty seconds, I recognized the silhouettes in the light. They were my friends from the alternate Earths: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Ren.

    Ren was devouring a bagel like it would be his last, while Knuckles was almost losing his sanity. Sonic had an edgy look on his face, and Tails looked stricken with fear. I could immediately tell something was wrong.

    Sonic said, shakily, "You have to come with us. We've got trouble."

    With a baffled expression on my face, I asked, "Why? What's happen—?" He cut me off before I could finish.

    "There's no time for questions!" he snapped. "Just come on!"

    It hurt my feelings just a bit, but I hid it well with a façade. I then stepped closer to my anxious friends. Then, Sonic said, this time in a more serene tone, "Come closer and stay still. We're gonna take you to our Earth, called Mobius."

    I obeyed his command, still unsure about everything. Then, the blinding light wrapped around us before I had a chance to think. Then, in only a second, it vanished. I wasn't in my room anymore...I was on an alternate Earth! I looked around confused. Everything looked the same as on Earth. But my shadow was bluer, the air was a bit warmer, and everyone was an anthropomorphic being. They resembled every animal from fish to raccoons and weasels to mongooses. I felt like an outsider. I heard some of them saying things like, "Who is that with Sonic? What is that with Sonic?" and "The other one looks like an alien!" It really made me feel uneasy.

    Sonic spoke out, "Don't worry. He's just from another dimension."

    One person asked, in a disgusted tone, "What is that cretin you have with you?"

    "He's a human."

    Another shouted, "Kill him!"

    "He might be able to help stop the impending doom we're facing right now!" He was beginning to sound somewhat irate. "Just give him a chance! He's a friend!"

    Everyone was silent. Then Sonic whispered in my ear, "Once we get home, put on your uniform and equip yourself with every gun you can get your hands on."

    "Okay?" I didn't mean for it to sound like a question, and my voice was trembling involuntarily. But I knew what I had to do, just not why. The very thoughts of why Sonic refused to tell me what was wrong exasperated me, but I knew he'd eventually tell me.

    Then, we headed home, without another word.

    When we got home, I asked, in a demanding tone, "What's going on here? You haven't told me a thing since you arrived in my room this morning! I hate when you go all enigmatic on me! Tell me right now!"

    Sonic turned his head and gave me a threatening look on his face. He then snarled, "I'll tell you when it's most convenient, okay?!"

    Again, his hostility hurt my feelings, but I had no façade to cover it up. In fact, I looked just about ready to cry. Sonic's expression became repentant. He patted my back and apologized. Then, he said, "A terrible conqueror from your dimension wants to take over our world. We can't stop him alone."

    As soon as he told me, my personality seemed to change from being your average fourteen-year-old boy to a twenty-four-year-old commander of a large infantry.

    I slammed my hand down on the nearest table and said, in a stern tone, "Then let's make this lunatic feel right at home!"

    The sudden slam of my hand made everyone jump a little. But they gathered themselves and went to put on their uniforms. The uniforms were the same as the ones we wore in the war we fought three months ago, except the Purple Heart was directly beneath the name tags. Jacob and Daniel had died in the last war, but they had both earned a Purple Heart. A soldier who is either wounded or killed in a war earns a Purple Heart.

    Each of us were equipped with five guns: a pistol, a rifle, a shotgun, a bazooka, and a machine gun. Once we were ready, we headed out the door to the makings of a very long and grueling war.

    All was silent. The only sounds we heard were our own breathing and our hearts pounding in our chests. We walked about with nary a clue where the danger was.

    That's when a large, deafening explosion took place three yards away.

    The shockwave sent us flying three feet in the air and carried us off at least ten meters. We all struggled to our feet. What the hell was that?, I thought. None of us expected it to happen. An anthropomorphic weasel was shouting in terror, "Run! Hide! The first shots have been fired! The first...!!" That was all he could say before another explosion blew him to pieces. Blood spattered everywhere less than six feet away.

    "Oh, shit!" Knuckles exclaimed. "We'd better watch it!"

    I knew these explosions were being caused by an aerial force, so I looked to the skies. I didn't see anything. Then, all of a sudden, six humanoid beings dropped from the sky and surrounded us. They looked almost like stereotypical aliens with green skin and large, almond-shaped eyes. They spoke in Russian.

    One of them shouted, "Vy druzya ili vragi Ivana Velikogo?"

    "What is he saying?" Ren asked.

    "He's asking if we are friends or enemies of 'Ivan the Great,'" I said. Then, I turned to the one who asked the question and said, "Yesli vy ne khotite prichinit' nam vred, to my ne ugrozy." It meant, "If you do not want to harm us, we are not threats."

    Then, he shot and wounded Tails and gave a smirk. Out of anger, I pulled out my pistol and shot and killed the humanoid being. The other five aimed guns at us. But they didn't pull the triggers. In fact, we were silent and motionless for about two minutes. Then, the five of us pulled out our machine guns and fired at the humanoids without giving them a chance to think. They were all dead within five seconds. The look of their blood disgusted us. It was gooey and a slime green. It felt like melted Silly Putty. But that wasn't what worried us. Tails's chest was shot at. Thankfully, the bullet went across it and not into it, but he was still hurt. Immediately, an anthropomorphic mongoose ran to our aid. He had brown fur and wore a similar uniform as ours, except that it was green. He held a first aid kit.

    "Don't worry," he said. He was panting. "I've got this!"

    Knuckles asked, "Who the hell are you?"

    "My name is Michael. I'm a trained professional."

    Michael's hands were so swift that it seemed like he healed Tails in only ten seconds. We were amazed.

    We all heard Tails's stomach growl. He then said, "I'm hungry..."

    Michael gave a caring smile and said, "Come with me to our campsite. We have plenty of food there."

    "Thank you."

    We all came with Michael to make an impromptu trip to his campsite.

    We never expected the campsite to be so far away. It was just about four fifths of a mile away from where we were. We all wondered how he got to us so fast. But the campsite was very organized. It was well-hidden in the thick forest. The first-aid tent was found just across from the soldiers' tents. The commander's tent was found in the middle of it all. The soldiers wore outfits like ours, except green, just like the tents. They wore a green hat with a visor. They were all friendly, but to me they seemed like they were hiding something. Michael showed Tails where the food tent was. The entire campsite resembled the campsite in the television show M*A*S*H. At the end of the day, Michael showed us a completely vacant tent where the five of us could sleep in. And so we slept for the rest of what seemed like a long day, marking the end of the first day of the war.