Cleansing Udraine Chapter

      In the middle of autumn Chiecra turned sixteen. He wanted his birthday to be full of events. The celebration was at his brother's home and neighborhood. Cadets and neighbors attended the party. Everyone hung out and celebrated in the streets. Chiecra spent time with his nephews and niece before returning to his duty for the city of Udraine.

      During the time before and after his birthday Chiecra and his fellow cadets fought gangs of humanoids, orcs, goblins, and kuruks. Their battles ended with victory after victory and a few casualties on their side. Every cadet wore protective armor underneath the trench coats they wore. This gave them an advantage over the vermin who had little or no protection from bullets. Chiecra, Allen, Jak and Thenos engaged a notorious gang in an abandoned neighborhood that was the gateway to the southeastern part of Udraine. Their company joined them in the fight along with Vestrisians and the city's Militia who covered the rooftops and upper levels.

      The cadets marched back to their academy passing familiar faces who were already privates in the V.A.V.R. Some passed them in groups headed towards the station. Others just strolled about the city blocks. It was along exhausting march which felt like an eternity of dragging their feet. When they saw that they were getting close to the academy their eyes lit up. Every cadet’s face had that weary smile of relief to see the welcoming gates of Eagle Horn Academy. Their thoughts were on resting and relaxing as they approached the academy’s entrance.

      Once they came to the entrance a Vestrisian officer wearing the militia cap appeared before them. He was tall and thin looking with the appearance of an Estati. His thin beard was the only thing that didn’t say he was elfish. The officer looked at all the cadets of Eagle horn boot camp and introduced himself to the crowd of cadets.

      “Good evening cadets I am Major Ambrosius Kabballah of the 102^nd airborne of the Vestrisian Airforce. I have been told that you cadets were told why these hordes or should I say gangs of monsters are here. You know to plunder, pillage and then take control over a population. From the perspective of an outsider the horde would not be able to take over even a part of this city. Come with me cadets.” The major turned around on his heels and proceeded towards an unused auditorium that sat in the corner of the academy. When they came to the quad in front of the building he ordered for them to sit around him. He waited for them to sit down before he spoke.

      “When the fragmented hordes came to the city of Udraine their numbers were too small to be considered a threat. That is until they got a hold of some old artillery and besieged the city for eleven months. As they put Udraine under siege their numbers increased. Once a year had passed by they forced their way through the southern parts and over powered Udraine and Vestrisian forces. You see this was around the time Vestrisia was busy fighting this war and hardly had enough men to spare at the moment. Those bastards hid in various places in the outskirts and within parts of the city they controlled. Whenever reinforcements were sent there the gangs ambushed them while their strength grew. As time went on the hordes steadily seized control over the southern parts of Udraine…” He stopped to let this entire information sink in.

      “Well cadets you might have a job tomorrow. Get more rest cadets you’re dismissed for now. Urah!” the major stood there as the cadets got up and went straight to their rooms.

      When they returned to the streets in the winter some fears came true. A few gangs reclaimed some of the streets while the Udraine forces were absent. Patrols and guards were butchered at night. Guard posts were overrun forcing the militia to pull out of those sections. The Cadets were called out earlier and were sent straight to the streets that were lost. Chiecra’s company came to the same street they were in last fall. Their commanders had them come in during the night. Forty cadets found themselves in a heated shootout with scores of vermin armed with small firearms. Each cadet shot two or three rounds before taking cover when the shootout began early in the morning. They fired back when they could as their support fought on the rooftops of the abandoned buildings that flanked them. Over a hundred vermin lay dead in the streets. More of them would die by the afternoon.

      Chiecra shot at every creature that jumped out to shoot, exposing their bodies in the open. More creatures died as the cadets took them out one by one. This shoot out helped them improve their sharpshooting skills. Orcs and goblins come out of their hiding places behind walls and out of torn up shops. These vermin made the attempt to charge the cadets. Their charge proved useless  against the dug in cadets. Each one died one after the other as the cadets gunned them down.

      "I wonder if it’s like this all over the south eastern part of Udraine?" Allen asked. He shot a humanoid down from a distance away from their position.

      "I don't know." Chiecra answered.  He shot an orc that appeared out of a door less house.

      Everything went quiet in the street except for other parts of Udraine where shooting could be heard in the distance. The silence in there area confused the cadets entirely, since they expected more vermin to appear. It appeared to be clear, but not one of them got up or left his post. For an hour the street was silent as it grew darker. Not a single thing stirred in the dark. It seemed that there was just the forty cadets and hundreds of corpses on the street.

      "What do we do now?" Jak asked looking back at their fortifications on the entrance to the street. The street sign was missing making it a nameless street.

      "Nothing, I guess." Allen replied, looking over the wall he used for cover.

      "Do you see anything out there, Allen?" Chiecra asked.

      "Not a thing, Chiecra." he answered.

Chiecra heard something behind them and turned around to see what it was. A Vestrisian sergeant rushed over to them. "How are we doing boys?" he asked theml.

      "We seem to be doing well. The street looks clear, but none of us trust the silence." Thenos answered for them.

      “This is good. You boys will make great soldiers one day. Keep this up and you might see action in the bigger war that's going on." He observed the carnage created by the cadets. The sergeant nodded and introduced himself. "Sergeant Karn Terris, Red Dragon companies. I've been assigned to lead you boys through these streets up ahead. Once we take this one we will move on to the next set of streets."

      Terris looked at Chiecra and read his dog tag. "Cadet Chiecra Gwynor." he said aloud reading Chiecra’s name tag. He placed a finger on Chiecra. "Gwynor, you go out there and see if it's clear."

      "Yes sir." he said and started out along the shoulder of the street.

      "We will cover you cadet!" he heard Terris whisper as loud as he could.

      Chiecra moved in the shadows of the houses keeping low to the ground. He kept to the right side of the street passing corpses to his left. The doors on a few buildings were bolted shut with boards and the windows were covered with wooden planks. Further down the street multiple buildings lay in ruin with windows smashed, doors ripped off the hinges. Some buildings were burned to the ground with nothing but rubble and ashes remaining. Chiecra realized he had gone too far down the street. So far he was fortunate to encounter nothing.

      Chiecra turned around and signaled that the coast was clear. He remained low on the ground waiting for the others. In the dark he could barely make out their shapes as they moved from their positions. He watched them split into two groups and scale the sides of the street, climbing over debris. Both groups kept close to the ground in a crouched position. Cadets spread the line out with six feet between them. Chiecra saw Terris lead the other group towards him. The sergeant signaled for him to keep going down the street.

      As Chiecra started to move from his spot he felt the presence of another humanoid behind him. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face an orc standing over him ready to strike the young cadet. Chiecra dodged the attack and shot the orc in the ribcage bringing it down to its knees. He finished it off with a shot to the head. Three more orcs jumped out of a ruined shop wielding picks, and axes. The other cadets gunned the three orcs down that were after him. When the bodies fell on to the sidewalk Terris rushed over to him.

      "Are you all right, cadet?" The Sergeant asked Chiecra.

      "Yeah, I was just caught off guard, sir." Chiecra admitted as Terris helped him up.

      "Call me crazy boys, but we're camping out here. Force your way into those buildings and set up a base." Terris ordered the cadets. He gestured towards the buildings behind them. He turned to Chiecra who stood next to him.

      "This is how street fighting occurs in war. You fight over a neighborhood house for house and set up a base. Once you have the area secure. You defend that position to weaken the enemy. As you make a stand for a few days then move on to the next street and continue the process until the entire city or town is taken and secured."

      "That's how you fought in the war?" Chiecra asked as they walked back to join the rest.

      "Yep, those tactics worked well against the Vullanese, Nazdar, and Gontrellians. Okay, set up some tents over here to lure the bastards out." Terris ordered.

      The cadets broke into two buildings on both sides of the street and looked inside. They found nothing, but dusty furniture and some houses in ruin. One of the buildings they broke into turned out to be an old shop with camping equipment still inside. Tents, sleeping bags, chairs, small stoves, flint, compasses, and hatchets lined its walls. Aisles of the shop held supplies within the shop. Everything was there for the cadets, except the canned food was rotten and no good to eat. Terris ordered them to set up camp using the equipment inside the shop.

      As the cadets set up camp and a base inside the four buildings the militia and Vestrisian soldiers came down from the rooftops. The soldiers and militia set up their camp in the street behind the cadets’ positions. Chiecra looked over at the other side of the camping shop. He and his bunkmate finished unrolling their sleeping bags. They set up their sleeping bags against the window as other tents were set up in the street as bait for their enemy.

      "What did they find on the other side?" Chiecra asked. He wanted to know what else the street had hidden. Much of Udraine kept many secrets that would someday be discovered once the war was over.

      "Hey Chiecra, Allen come over here and have a burger!" Jak called them over.

      "Should we go over there?" Chiecra asked Allen feeling hungry.

      "Why not I am starving aren’t you?" Allen replied shrugging one shoulder.

      Two bunkmates crept their way across the street with their rifles in hand. There was no need to risk exposure in the dark or go out unarmed. Chiecra and Allen made their way around the tents to the other building. As they entered the two cadets were greeted with a hearty welcome.

      The other building turned out to be an old diner with an icebox that still worked. The meat inside was preserved in the icebox with no signs of molding. It was grilled by a few cadets who used to work at diners like this one. Chiecra sat down at the counter with Allen. They were served a burger without the buns. The two bunkmates quickly ate the pieces of burger. Eating at a diner was something the cadets did not expect while fighting the vermin. The cadets ate their second pieces when the sergeant walked in with other soldiers and militia.

      "I see you boys found a diner and helped yourselves to some grub." Terris said looking around.

      "Fix something for these men here.” Terris ordered. “Those of you who are done eating head out there and keep watch for more vermin."

      A dozen cadets filed out of the diner with their weapons and ammo as the militia and soldiers entered to eat. It was just Chiecra, Allen, five other cadets and a bunch of battle hardened men. The bunk mates finished their second burgers and got up. Terris stopped the two in their tracks. He stood in front of them with a friendly expression on his face. "The two of you look-"

      "Get over here, you little runt! The rest of you file out of the kitchen. I'll kill you all if you don't do as I say!" a rough voice growled. Three cadets ran out of the kitchen followed by a few vermin holding pistols and one cadet in a half nelson. An orc held the cadet captive and a large revolver in his other hand. Two kuruks and a goblin wielding a sawed off shotgun joined the orc. The others held older models of pistols from a time before the Castarian War.

Every soldier fixed his weapons on the vermin. None of the vermin yielded to being outgunned and outnumbered. Only one person fired in response to the four vermin’s surprise attack. Chiecra had pulled out his pistol and shot each one to the ground. The orc released the cadet and collapsed to the floor.

      For the next few days the cadets of Udraine's JMPF fought their way through street after street. Each day they fought, the cadets gained more experience in combat. Every street they fought over was different. This forced them to adapt to a new battle field and use different strategies. The battles became longer as they moved deeper into the south east. Their shootouts went on inside houses, stores and basements of streets they tried to take from the vermin. While he was in one basement Chiecra discovered that every street was considered the turf of a different gang. Chiecra did not have enough time to report his find since he was rushed out of the room. He did get a glimpse of an open back overflowing with Republic Eagles, the Vestrisian paper currency. The young cadet was rushed to the next street after the building was secured.

      There were times when the cadets chased the vermin all over the streets. The vermin moved from building to building firing wildly to cover their movements and kill as many of the cadets as possible. It was a strategy that hardly worked for the vermin. The cadets targeted them and gunned them down whenever they ran out in the street. Chiecra fought well during these few weeks. His performance and others allowed the Udraine militia and soldiers to clean out a section of the southeast.

      Chiecra moved through the streets with his fellow cadets, led by sergeant Terris. Under Terris' leadership the cadet's fought their way through more streets than the other companies did. The cadets who forced their way further into the abandoned districts killed hundreds of vermin. Each street they fought through took longer to take than the previous one. Their shoot outs went into the abandoned buildings that were connected by plank bridges and broken walls. In every building the Vermin ambushed them with traps, and guerrilla tactics. Most of these ambushes failed since the cadets caught on and adapted to the type of warfare used against them.

      None of the cadets fell during the last weeks of autumn. Each one fought well against the gangs of vermin. Chiecra and his barracks began chasing them down in alleys, abandoned buildings, and temples. He pushed forward in every building, and killed most of the vermin they found.