48 grueling months, four years… I could have and SHOULD have died somewhere in that time frame, but noooo. Fate had other plans for me. Figures.

“Yo! Logan! C’mon man! That fuel depot wont bomb itself!” I hear a voice call out to me. Yeah, my name’s Logan. Details will be explained along the way. Once again, I sigh in disappointment. Looking on the table in front of me, I see everything I need. An M4(or at least what we civilians are legally allowed to own and call an M4) with a for grip, and a Hybrid Holo sight, my Romanian AKM, my sidearms, yes side arms. Pleural. A double action Ruger GP100 with a 6” barrel in .357 magnum, and my semi automatic M1911 in .45 ACP.

Once all my gear was set, I climbed into the little vehicle. It had the appearance of a go cart, but could do oh so much more. We were enclosed in a matte black roll cage, the sound of a moderately sized V6 engine behind us, along with two modified(by modified I mean formerly semi automatic turned automatic) belt fed guns. The one in front of me was a belt fed M2. Ma Deuce as the soldier called it. A .50 caliber(12.7x99mm for those who are more familiar with metrics.) machine gun. And in front of my friend Keegan, an M1919A4. A .30 caliber(7.62x63mm aka 30-06) belt fed machine gun. Sure we had other, more modern LMGs, but these carts were rigged for these two types. Nothing new.

Anyway, onwards to the Auburn fuel Depot. We had to look as inconspicuous as possible, so we hid our go carts in a small cave by a quarry halfway to the town, and got in normal civilian vehicles.

Finally I decide to break the silence. “Why don’t those sorry spit fucks just give up already? Haven’t we done enough damage?”

“They will after tonight. Just chill dude. I want this to end too. But we gotta be patient. Remember, this is for America as a whole.” heh. Good ol’ Keegan. Always calm and collected. Guy saved my life more times than I dare to count.

“Yeah, yeah. I remember. We’re the true patriots, not those jag offs.” I grumbled. This war going on right now is our Revolution. We felt it time to finally balls up and start fighting our oppressive government. Our current president somehow found a way to serve a third term, when its illegal to serve more than two, and a whole bunch of other crap he pulled. That was all two years ago.

“We’re here.” He said pulling up to the curb. We got out and pretended to do some shopping, trying to look like every day civies. Hanging out, eating at the local frozen yogurt joint on the corner. Little did we know, our luck was about to change big time!

“Dude.” Keegan whispered. “H.V.T, coming from the west.” he said discreetly nodding at a convoy of black, armored S.U.Vs, with a black limo in the middle.

“Aye.” damned habits. After some walking around, we began our scouting of the fuel depot we were supposed to bomb later than night. Discreetly taking photos on our phones(no not iPhones or Droids. We destroyed those. They were too easily tracked.).

Once we completed our scouting, we headed back to our car. Keegan thought it’d be a good idea to plug his MP3 player in, and of course, turned on Eminem. Not my favorite artist, but hey, some of his stuff was quite inspiring.

I don’t know why. Perhaps it was the lyrics or what not, but every time I heard one of his songs, I always felt a little bit more riled up than usual. Even once we got to the quarry, we stayed in the car to finish the songs. While doing so we would picture in our minds what would happen if we lost. Things we simply could not, and would not allow.

Once the songs finished, we left the car, and headed into the caverns to get to our ammo dump, where we left our weapons. We always leave our stuff away from us. Every now and then the town sheriff would search our vehicles for anything considered ‘contraband’.

Once the sun had gone down, and curfew ordered, that was it. Our time to shine, and do what was right, by our beliefs, our families, and our nation. Getting into our uniforms, and our battle gear, we slipped into town. We had some walking distance to go before we hit the fuel depot, so we thought we’d do a little… hehe, artsy stuff all over their propaganda posters.

We had a knack for taking our inspiration from stories of fiction. Some people spray painted ‘Wolverines’, others, the skull of ‘The Punisher’, us.. Hehe. Nope. The Ghosts Skull. We had a reason for choosing the Ghosts, Keegan and I. Quite simply, it was because we were always the hardest to track. We knew the area the best, and that’s what gave us the advantage. Not only that, but we were the quietest resistance foot soldiers this side of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. Never once have we been sighted.

So when we found prime real estate for our propaganda, we always used epic lines from the old days. We found a line of pro government posters, and right there, spray painted ‘Here, there be monsters’ or ‘The Ghosts are real!’(admittedly again it was something we took from Ghosts, our favorite Call of Duty game) Anything was useful when it came to striking fear into the enemy troops.

Our watches were synchronized to go off at 2300 hours(11 P.M), giving us plenty of time to spread our message, and get to the infiltration sight we found earlier that day.

At 22:58(10:58 P.M), the rest of the team was scheduled to detonate a car bomb. In hopes of turning their attention away from us. And sure enough…

“KABOOM!” yep. Right on schedule. As always. As we watched the soldiers run off towards the sound of the car bomb, and gunfire, our watched started to beep.

“It’s go time.” Keegan chuckled. In one ear, we had headphones, listening to music to motivate us, and in the other, radio earpieces, allowing us to give and receive commands.

“Copy. Lets move.” I whispered, as I played the soundtrack of Modern Warfare 3 into my left ear. I don’t know why but that tune always made me feel… well… focused.

“Hold, hold!” we heard in our right ears. Apparently our spotter noticed something we didn’t.

“We got two soldiers walking your way. Their uniforms seem off though… oh shit… SPETZNAZ! Get out of there you two!” she shouted.

“Negative. Spetznaz or not this place is gonna burn!” I hiss into the microphone around my neck.

“God speed then brother. Come back alive.” Savannah was always the… emotional one of us. Only then, something completely to our surprise happened. Firstly, a rocket flew past us and into a nearby armored vehicle. Then, three more rockets came speeding in. By the angle, they appeared to be from Javelins. Fire and forget anti armor(mostly anti tank but any sort of vehicle will do) missiles.

Seizing our chance, Keegan and I snuck up to the Soviet Spec ops, and promptly lacerated their necks, making very sure to eviscerate their arteries. We then pulled our ski masks down hoping our faces weren’t seen.

We ran, as fast as our feet could carry us, to the biggest fuel tank in the center of the depot. We both grabbed as big a C4 charge as we could cobble together, and stuffed it into a tight wedge between the tank and piping.

“Ok, you got the charge, good. Now GET THE HELL OUTA THERE!” Keegan and I both cringed as my sister’s shrill voice pierced our ears. “Listen, we got US military backing us. They’re offering you an airlift on a Blackhawk. You’ll be flying with Foxtrot 3 Bravo, 2nd battalion, 5th Marines. Use a green flare to get their attention.” she explained.

“Copy that!” I call out as we sneak back out of the depot. “Alright Savvy. We’re clear. Blow it!”

“Detonating!” we hear as she depressed the trigger on the detonator.

One explosion was quickly followed by another, and another, and another. Night temporarily turned to day as the fireball rose into the sky, the shockwave pounding us in the chests. We felt winded as the shockwave blew past us. Despite our coms, and headphones acting as hearing protection, we heard nothing but a loud constant ringing. Our ears felt numb for what felt like the better part of an hour.

We stopped running once we hit the parking lot of the restaurant ‘In n’ Out’(Damn good food by the way). Keegan raised the flare gun and fired. A sphere of green light was visible for the better part of a mile.

“We got at most 90 seconds. Keep on guard.” he informed me. Yeah sure. Standard protocol. I honestly hate how unpredictable my life’s become.

It wasn’t long before we heard the whirring of helicopter blades. To most people the sound of what helo was what was pretty much indistinguishable. Not to us. We learned pretty quick what sound was that of a Blackhawk. Their rumble was a bit lower in pitch. I’d describe why but when it comes to engines and anything else that deals with vehicles… I cant tell my ass from my elbow.

Once the Blackhawk landed, they called out at the top of their lungs.

“California Militia?! Ghosts?!” one yelled.

“Foxtrot 3 Bravo, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines!?” I yell back.

“Get in!” naturally we comply.

We sat in silence watching the ground pass by as we flew westward. Apparently we were told along the way that Sacramento desperately needed to be liberated. Personally Sacramento was never a city I openly cared for. Number 1 in car theft, and most irritating city in the country. You’d have to be VERY self absorbed to go there not caring about those things.

It wasn’t long before the glow of a burning Sacramento came into view. We could clearly see skyscrapers burning, the thermal cameras were going haywire with so many heat signatures.

Keegan n I both checked our weapons making sure they were cocked and locked, switched our radio channel to the Marine’s primary coms channel, and got ready for the biggest fight of our lives.

It was then that we heard loud alarms and beeps. The pilots began shouting ‘FLARES, FLARES!’ looking out the door towards the tail, yep. Figures. Stinger missiles.

“HANG ONTO SOMETHING!” I shout as the helicopter begins to spin wildly out of control. Its difficult to get my bearings when the one thing your standing on suddenly starts spinning and falling out of the sky.

“KEEGAN! BAIL OUT IN 3... 2... 1... NOW!” I shout as Keegan, myself, and half of the marine squad jump out onto the roof on top of a moderately sized skyscraper not just 2 blocks from the capitol building. What luck! As I look over the edge, I watch as the large Blackhawk continues to spin, circle around while still spinning, and crash right into the tenth floor of the building we’re standing on. The whole building shook violently as we listened to the loud crash(no it wasn’t the big fiery explosion you get in Hollywood, armchair soldiers! Sheesh get up and actually do something worth your time!)

“Nice going Logan. You got us trapped on a building that is now full of insurgents, on fire, and under a severe possibility of collapsing!” Keegan shouts smacking the back of my head.

“Better to be alive now than dead moments ago!” I bark. “Alright! Lets get moving! Work our way down, check for survivors, and get the hell outa this city. Its clearly a lost cause.”

Suddenly we all hear a voice from our coms. The current commanding officer for the squad has died and clearly none of the men alive with me have had any professional training.

“Go ahead Overlord.” Keegan chimes in.

“Foxtrot 3 Bravo you are to fall back. Get out of Sacramento! We have Intel(intelligence, or information) of orbit fired Kinetic missiles being launched. You’ve got 15 minutes. Tops.” the voice called

“Copy that Overlord.” I reply. Well, instead of going inside and wasting time, we just wrap a rope around the rail, and rappel down. We hit the ground fighting as a small squad of insurgents(not insurgents from my side but the side of the government) rounded a corner and into the alley we just happened to be in. Just our luck.

Upon dispatching those insurgents, who thankfully couldn’t shoot to save their sorry lives, we ran to find a vehicle. Sure ‘nuff, there was a Jeep wrangler. 4 door. My favorite 4x4.

“OH I am so driving!” I shout excitedly as everyone climbs in. inside the jeep, we found weapons, ammo, and food, but that mattered little. The Jeep roared to life, and from there, we floored it out of the city as fast as we could.

We had just barely made it out when we saw the missile streak down from the sky. Looked almost like a meteor. Next thing we knew, there was a huge flash of light, followed by a thunderous boom. The last thing we felt was the impact as it started an earthquake, roughly a 7.0 on the Richter scale. We lost control sadly enough. We all braced as the earth lurched upwards on our left and sank on the right. we found ourselves careening out of control up onto a burm, drifted(or power slid, whatever you wanna call it) till we hit a rock. The Jeep rolled easily about 5 times before coming to rest on its roof.

“E-everybody okay?” I faintly called out hoping to god I wasn’t the only survivor.

“Yeah! I’m good!” oh thank god there’s Keegan.

“Guys? Sound off?”

“We’re all good.” I hear from right behind me.

“Count your arms and legs and lets get out of here.” Keegan shouted as he cut the seatbelt strap holding him in the chair.

“We gotta get to our F.O.B(Forward Operating Base)” the commander said calmly.

That calm was quickly shattered when a group of Federation Militia(They were Democrats actually but they called themselves members of the ‘Federation’ and yes they existed) found us and began to open fire. Since Keegan was the first out of his seat, he grabbed his AR-10 and began to return fire, the soldiers quickly joining the fight.

I would have joined sooner but I fucking lost my knife on the roof of that building in Sacramento. The buckle was jammed on but hey. I still have my AK. I may have been upside down but I shot back anyway. It wasn’t long before they were running scared. By then I had been freed from my automotive prison, and had begun to hike back to our camp. Thank god it wasn’t far. We’d be there by sunrise.

“What kept you guys!? We got so scared when we saw the missiles come down!” My sister… always panicking over us.

“We’re fine. Jeez sis you should know better than to worry about us.” I chide as I wave her off. “Now… what’s for breakfast?”

“Pancakes actually.”

The moment those words left her mouth, we felt another quake in the ground beneath us, followed by a thunderous explosion. We all ran as fast as we could to our observation point and began scanning to find where the source was. South… Long Valley.

“Son of a Bitch!!!” I shout. “Fuckin’ Long Valley’s blown!”

“Long Valley was a volcano!?” there was a collective gasp followed by other members of the militia also explaining that it was a caldera, or Super volcano. That’s it. We’re doomed.

“What do we do?” Savannah asked.

“North East. We head North East.” Keegan adds.

________________________________________

3 days later

14:22 Hours

Long Valley Supervolcano has forced evac

Logan Mason

It had been nearly 3 days since Long Valley erupted. By now we had made it to Lake Tahoe. Beautiful, pristine, blue, Lake Tahoe. All around it’s eastern shores, guess what we found. Yup. Burned, and destroyed casinos and motels. Figures.

“We’re short on rations Logan. I hate to ask but can you two go out hunting?” our militia cook. He never told us his name so we just called him ‘Cookie’ asked.

“Not a problem.” Keegan smiles as he grabs his AR-10. We both had long barrel 30 caliber rifles by the time we hit the woods, but we both also carried our shorter combat weapons as well. The whole day passed and, nothing. Not even a track. I guess locals had eradicated the local population of animals.

“This is so not our day dude.” I grumble irritably as both our stomachs growl loudly.

“Tota- wait… what is that? Did you see that?” I look to where Keegan was pointing, and sure enough, there seemed to be a distortion in the light. Almost as though a sphere of crystal clear water was floating in the trees.

“What is that?” I think to myself slowly advancing towards the distortion. Cautiously, Keegan and I both picked up pebbles or pine cones and threw them at the strange refraction. Instead of passing straight through as we had hoped, they both vanished. “Where’s the Para cord?” I asked. Within minutes I was tied at the belt to investigate. Reaching forwards, I dipped my left hand into the distortion. Surely enough it vanished, but on my hand I felt a brisk, cool breeze in a rather warm climate. Not like ours where the weather was cooling really quickly. Next thing I know I’m sucked in.

On the other side I see a lush forest. Teaming with life, and no sign of a looming ash cloud from the south. I quickly pull out my compass to make sure south is where I was looking, and yes it was. In the distance I see a clearing, and in that clearing is what appears to be an apple orchard. Interesting. It’s difficult to see any residents at this distance, unfortunately. Further off in the distance is what appears to be a small town. Cozy place it seemed.

A plan quickly formed in my head, and I dove back through the portal.

“So? What’d you see?” Keegan asked.

“You’ll see tonight.” I reply cryptically.

“Uh… okay?”

We returned to the camp acting as though nothing happened, and with only a few jack rabbits for dinner.

______________________________

2300 Hours,

5 Miles north of Resistance camp

Logan Mason

“So, You ready?” I ask as Keegan finishes preparing his gear.

“Ready as I’ll ever be I guess.” he replies as we both pull down our masks, and cross over through the portal, or whatever you want to call it.

We both scanned around keeping an eye open for anything considered a threat as we slowly made our way towards the dimly lit village in the distance. Fortunately the apple orchard was a good quarter mile away. A short hike.

“Here we are…” we both whisper taking notice of the barn, few farm animals, and house in the distance. Whilst wandering around, we noticed the lights in the house were on. Slowly, we snuck our way towards the house, keeping to the shadows. Inside we heard about 5 to maybe six voices.

“So Twi, how’s the whole, bein’ a princess thing?” asked a country accented female.

“To be honest it could be better. Tonight’s dusk court, I had to listen to Blueblood’s bickering about the Gala a few years ago and how we should ban cakes and pies” gagged another.

We didn’t stay to listen to the conversation. So we silently left. Suddenly I was startled by a noisy(not exactly loud, but noisy) ‘whoa, oof’. looking around I saw that Keegan had fallen down in the cellar. Following where he fell by going down the stairs, I start giggling at where he’s landed.

“Ya know, its easier to take the stairs.” I prod playfully.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wise ass. Whoa… apples… I haven’t had one of these in a long time.” he explained holding up a juicy, ripe, red apple. Right away we start packing as many apples as possible, then we started back for the portal.

To say we were ‘busted’ was an understatement as we suddenly heard a growl behind us. Slowly turning around, we saw what seemed to be the country girl’s dog. A collie it seemed to be.

“Easy puppy. We have no qualms with you or your mother.” I try to say gently holding out my hand to reassure the increasingly aggressive collie. But it had little effect as she began barking her head off like mad.

“Shit, run!” Keegan hissed as we turned tail and rain as fast as we could to the portal. In the distance we hear the country girl accent cry out.

“Winona!? What is it girl?”

It wasn’t long before we hear the clopping of hooves in the distance headed our way. Moments later, they stop.

“They went into the forest? I aint goin’ in there past sundown. Whatever they took, they can keep it.”

Shit… I forgot I wanted to leave an IOU note. Quickly shoving Keegan back into the portal, I sneak my way back to the farm house. I can still hear the voices outside. Quickly writing a note saying I’m sorry for stealing some apples, and that I’ll pay them back for them, I then dash back to the woods, and through the portal.

_________________________________________

0400 Hours,

Resistance Camp

14 hours till ash cloud hits

Logan Mason

“Where the hell did you find an apple orchard!?” Savannah asks us.

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is we have some food. So take these to Cookie, and tell him we got ‘em.” I say.

The day goes on and the hours tick by slowly. We know we should be moving further from the ash cloud, but we’ve been running for quite some time. We’re not only a Resistance movement, we’re now refugees. The ash cloud pushed us from our homes. So now we had a lot more mouths to feed than usual. Soon enough, we look to the north west just as we hear a faint boom. And again, another ash cloud. Mt Shasta. Figures.

The religious in the camp began praying for salvation. It wasn’t long however before they began to bicker, and fight over whose religion was correct. Keegan, Savannah and myself stood watching.

“THAT is why I never went to church.” I explain gently. Of course we had to go in there and break up the fight. Surprisingly the only ones who didn’t get involved were the Mormons.

Suddenly our radios hiss to life saying that there’s a battalion of Federation headed our way with the intention of wiping us out.

“Shisse! We don’t have the manpower, nor the ammo to take on a battalion!” I yell. Then, of course we hear reports of nukes being dropped, and two more Supervolcanos erupting. Starting with the one in Italy(I cant remember its name at this current time), then Yellowstone.

“Ideas? Anyone?” Keegan asks.

“Well I guess now’s as good a time as any.” I sigh as I take everyone to the portal.