The Raids
By: Jack E.
Chapter 1
Mac was sitting on the tatty wooden bench utterly deflated. This was the third time he’d been called to the drab, miserable principal’s office that week. The first time had been for assaulting another student with a stick. Which was an unfair accusation because the student had been Mac’s best friend who was playing a game with him where they hit each other with sticks until one of them gives up. His friend had just lost his and Mac was beating him when a teacher spotted them. The second time was when Mac flicked off his gym teacher after she sentenced him to run an extra mile for no reason other than a show of power. Now on his third offense Mac could have sworn he had done nothing to deserve being sent there again.
Alex had been screamed at by the headmaster many times before. Now that he thought about it at least once every other week up to the 8th grade year that he was cruising through. Alex didn’t know what he did to get sent to the principal’s dank office again and was irritated. He did not want his mom to flip out when she heard about his latest trip to the office.
Mac stood up with a start when he saw Alex moping towards him. Alex had a swollen left eye, a gash on his forehead and was still limping from where Mac had hit him a few days previous. Mac started to wonder what was going on and he was right to be suspicious. He and Alex hadn’t done anything bad together for almost five weeks. This didn’t worry Mac as much as if should have, he thought it was just a coincidence. When Alex noticed the other accused was his best friend his mood brightened a little.
“What are you doing here?” Alex questioned
“I’ve got no idea.” answered Mac “Do you think it’s got anything to do with the stick game?”
“It better not because I told him it was a misunderstanding and he would not listen to me.” Alex said, sinking back into his grouchy state “I’ll hit him with a stick if he grills me again.” he added in a low growl.
Just a Alex said that the door to the office opened. The principal, a lanky, bald man, greeted them with a bright smile. This surprised the boys who rarely saw the headmaster happy. As Mac walked in he felt relieved to see the principal so happy but he soon grew weary when he saw the two men in suits already sitting in the cushy leather chairs.
“Alex, Mac, have a seat and say hello to Doctors Jakob Bismark and Quincy Jones.”
Chapter 2
Jakob Bismark couldn’t have been more than 25 years old. He was a sharp contrast to Mac, who had olive skin, straight dark hair, and rich brown eyes. Bismark had electric blue eyes, pale skin and almost white hair combed perfectly. Quincy Jones was the polar opposite to his colleague. He was at least 50 with light brown receding hair, tanned skin with a few wrinkles, and hazel eyes. The more Mac studied Jones the more he thought he could be an older Alex.
After Mac and Alex sat down and everyone settled Dr. Bismark spoke in a slight German accent.
“Hallo, I am Dr. Bismark and this is my close friend and partner Dr. Quincy Jones. We have been working on a top secret project that allows humans to go inside the internet. Don’t ask us how and why it works because we didn’t develop the software, we just know how to operate it.”
This was when Jones spoke up with an Australian sounding voice.
“Good morning gentlemen, I am, as my colleague said, Dr. Jones and I’m going to be blunt, we’re here to ask you two if you want to be the first people to venture into the internet. It’s a once in a lifetime experience.”
Mac was skeptical.
“You mean you’re asking us if we want to go inside the internet? What would we even do? Watch-”
Bismark cut him off.
“It is a military and police operation utilizing highly trained operatives to go inside the net and kill viruses and hunt down hackers. It is an extremely intense mission. The only reason you two have been chosen is due to your critical thinking skills, physical aptitude, and you both know your way around the online world.”
Dr. Jones spoke up at about that time.
“Now let’s tell you how it would work, if you decide to go along with it. Once you enter the computer you will immediately receive a device closely resembling a tablet. This tablet will be the key to all the operations you would be called upon to perform. It basically creates anything you want and plops it down within a kilometer radius of the mini-computer. You will utilize this and anything you create to defeat viruses and hackers. But there is a catch, the viruses are heavily defended and they send out raiding parties to infect other devices. It’s all very militaristic and your life would be in danger almost constantly. We’ll expect an answer in the morning.”
Chapter 3
As Mac and Alex wandered down the hall back to their classes they mulled over their decision.
“I really don’t think we should go along with it.” Alex broke the silence.
“You heard Jones, this is a once in a lifetime experience and it would be pretty fun.” Mac countered.
The two boys were dragging their feet and walking as slow as possible back to class for they both knew school ended in three minutes.
“But you heard Bismark, it is highly likely we would die and I’m not sure about you but I really don’t want to die. And what would we even gain if we did survive? They never talked about any type of pay. Would it just be a once in a lifetime experience? I really don’t want to risk my life for a stupid experience.” Alex restarted the argument.
Mac retorted. “You’re clearly not grasping the fact that we would be in the internet! Besides that tablet thingy sounds awesome.”
Alex considered this then finally gave in. “I’ll talk to my mum, I’ll see what she thinks.”
“I’ll do the same with my dad. He knows how to give good advice at times like this.”
Mac and Alex brooded in the bedroom they shared. The boarding school room looked like any other, but the boys had done a lot to make the room presentable.The main thing was the smell, it was a mix of cinnamon incense and baby powder. The incense were to make the room smell like Christmas. While the baby powder aroma was for the boys’ shoes, which would smell nasty without the powder. The other thing that made their room more hospitable was the music. The boys always had their favorite songs playing throughout the day. Sometimes it was rock. Sometimes it was blues. Sometimes it was classical. It all depended on the mood of the boys on the given days. That day it was Tchaikovsky's “Nutcracker Suite”. They sat there thinking for an hour, not even bothering with their homework. Finally Mac got up and pulled out his iPhone.
“Hello, Dad? Yeah, it’s Mac. Listen, I have a question for you. Yeah, no it’s not about a girl. That’s not as funny as you think. Mmm hmm. So earlier today two men came to school and offered me and Ale- yes yes I know the other person comes first, geez sorry. So they asked Alex and I if we wanted to be a part of a top secret operation. What? No. Of course I can’t tell you, what part of top secret did you not understand? So ya, but it’s really dangerous and, like, there is a high risk we could die. Yeah, uh huh, thanks Dad. So, you’re sure you’re okay with me saying yes? Thanks Dad. Love you too.”
Chapter 4
Mac and Alex were summoned to the office once again the next day. Both Bismark and Jones were there and were looking expectantly at the boys. Bismark was wearing a white lab coat and, catlike, walked up and shook the boys’ hands. While Jones was wearing a purple and white pinstripe suit and a jolly smile.
“So, what are your final decisions?” Bismark asked in his trademark German accent.
“I’m in,” Mac answered, “I even called my dad and asked him, he said it was fine.”
“I guess I’ll do it,” Alex proclaimed reluctantly, “but I expect payment.”
“Ah yes, payment, we forgot to tell you about that yesterday” Jones spoke up, “it will be 20,000 dollars a month with a 100,000 dollar bonus every time you stop a virus.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” asked Alex now very excited about the idea of $120,000 that was all his.
“Okay boys, we’ll get started tomorrow.”
“Transfer in 10... 9... 8... 7... 6… 5... 4... 3... 2... 1… 0. You will arrive at your destination promptly.”
In a flash of blue light everything changed. Mac woke up with a sharp pain in his shoulder and an ache in his head.
“That was pretty nasty, yeah Alex? Alex? Alex? Oh, God.”
Mac was alone. In pain and alone.
Chapter 5
Mac shook, looked around again and shook some more. He felt a little bit of blood trickle down his face.
“Alex! Where the heck are you?! God, my ankle.”
He tried to contact Bismark and Jones. They didn’t answer. He looked around, he was in a beautiful French countryside with hedgerows lining the field. He struggled to his feet and stumbled over the hedgerow.
Suddenly the world exploded. Bombs landed everywhere. Shells shrieked overhead. Tanks crashed through the hedgerows. Men surged through the underbrush. They spotted Mac and opened fire. Mac sprinted away as fast as his lame ankle could carry him. Dirt was kicked up all around him from the 7.92 Mauser rounds being shot from the MG42. This confused Mac because MG42s were used by the Nazis during World War II, but it didn’t matter now. Mac dove into a crater and landed on something hard and metallic. He checked his pockets. It was the tablet.
He wasn’t sure how it worked so he muttered.
“Tablet on.”
The screen lit up and Mac got to work. He used the keyboard instead of the voice recognition because there were troops all around him now. With a closer look he realized that they weren’t even men at all. They were human sized rats.
Are you sure with your order? flashed on the tablet screen and Mac clicked “CONFIRM” and Thump! a FN FAL, Mac’s favorite assault rifle in Call of Duty landed right next to him.
“Huh, what was that?”
“I think it came from that shell hole over there.”
Mac jumped up and opened fire. He squeezed the trigger and the man-rats fell one by one. Finally, with one round left and one rat retreating, Mac took aim. The crack sounded throughout the field as the creature’s head exploded and it fell. Mac called in more ammunition from his tablet and scrambled out of the crater.
Mac had looted the dead enemies and used their grenades to disable the tanks. He camped out a kilometer away from all the carnage. Then he contacted Bismark and Jones.
“Bismark… Jones… Come in!”
“Oh, thank god Mac we were worried.”
“I was attacked by a horde of freaky man-rats in Nazi uniforms.”
“Well, are you okay?”
“I used the tablet to get a rifle and killed them all. But I can’t find Alex.”
“That’s okay, get some rest.”
“Yes sirs.”
Chapter 6
Mac had been in the system for 6 months. He never found Alex, he figured he had chickened out or just left early. Mac had become an expert at taking out viruses and their raiding parties. He was now a cold blooded killer whose sole purpose was to defeat the viruses.
One day Bismark and Jones came into contact with Mac.
“Okay Mac, we have one more raid for you to run.” barked Bismark.
“Then you’ll be coming back out of the system.” said Jones in a cheery voice.
“Alright guys, I’ve got the coordinates, headed there now,” reported Mac, “see you soon.”
“Hey, Jimbo! Where’s that sandwich the commandant asked for? Jimbo?! Gaahh!! Jimbo!”
That was when Mac struck. He sank the knife deep into the rat’s throat and blood started to pulse out of the cavity. He wiped the blood off the knife and moved up the stairs.
Chapter 7
Mac moved quickly. Eliminating sentries and the odd drunk as he traversed the castle until finally making it to the blast doors. He placed a C4 blast pack on the solid steel doors and waited. Five… Four … Three … Two … One. BOOM!! The door bent inward then shattered, spraying the occupants inside with shards of steel. Mac entered the room. Finishing off the survivors. After making sure the control room was clear Mac put the antidote, a small flash drive, into the main computer and waited while it loaded. The power went out and the huge, black computer fizzled and sparked. Mac pulled out a headlamp and ran.
Mac went to the crumpled form. He fell to his knees, for he recognized the body. He looked on at the two bodies. Mouth on the floor, eyes wide, face stretched to its limits. He started breathing harder. Quick, short, shallow breaths. Choking back tears he sat down and began to rock back and forth on the floor. His sobs turned to moans. His moans then turned to screams. He wailed, shook his head, shoved his palms into his eyes trying to unsee what he had witnessed but it was right in front of him. Yet he could not close his eyes for the image burned even brighter in his mind.
Mac was sitting on the tatty wooden bench utterly deflated. This was the third time he’d been called to the drab, miserable principal’s office that week. The first time had been for assaulting another student with a stick. Which was an unfair accusation because the student had been Mac’s best friend who was playing a game with him where they hit each other with sticks until one of them gives up. His friend had just lost his and Mac was beating him when a teacher spotted them. The second time was when Mac flicked off his gym teacher after she sentenced him to run an extra mile for no reason other than a show of power. Now on his third offense Mac could have sworn he had done nothing to deserve being sent there again.
Alex had been screamed at by the headmaster many times before. Now that he thought about it at least once every other week up to the 8th grade year that he was cruising through. Alex didn’t know what he did to get sent to the principal’s dank office again and was irritated. He did not want his mom to flip out when she heard about his latest trip to the office.
Mac stood up with a start when he saw Alex moping towards him. Alex had a swollen left eye, a gash on his forehead and was still limping from where Mac had hit him a few days previous. Mac started to wonder what was going on and he was right to be suspicious. He and Alex hadn’t done anything bad together for almost five weeks. This didn’t worry Mac as much as if should have, he thought it was just a coincidence. When Alex noticed the other accused was his best friend his mood brightened a little.
“What are you doing here?” Alex questioned
“I’ve got no idea.” answered Mac “Do you think it’s got anything to do with the stick game?”
“It better not because I told him it was a misunderstanding and he would not listen to me.” Alex said, sinking back into his grouchy state “I’ll hit him with a stick if he grills me again.” he added in a low growl.
Just a Alex said that the door to the office opened. The principal, a lanky, bald man, greeted them with a bright smile. This surprised the boys who rarely saw the headmaster happy. As Mac walked in he felt relieved to see the principal so happy but he soon grew weary when he saw the two men in suits already sitting in the cushy leather chairs.
“Alex, Mac, have a seat and say hello to Doctors Jakob Bismark and Quincy Jones.”
Chapter 2
Jakob Bismark couldn’t have been more than 25 years old. He was a sharp contrast to Mac, who had olive skin, straight dark hair, and rich brown eyes. Bismark had electric blue eyes, pale skin and almost white hair combed perfectly. Quincy Jones was the polar opposite to his colleague. He was at least 50 with light brown receding hair, tanned skin with a few wrinkles, and hazel eyes. The more Mac studied Jones the more he thought he could be an older Alex.
After Mac and Alex sat down and everyone settled Dr. Bismark spoke in a slight German accent.
“Hallo, I am Dr. Bismark and this is my close friend and partner Dr. Quincy Jones. We have been working on a top secret project that allows humans to go inside the internet. Don’t ask us how and why it works because we didn’t develop the software, we just know how to operate it.”
This was when Jones spoke up with an Australian sounding voice.
“Good morning gentlemen, I am, as my colleague said, Dr. Jones and I’m going to be blunt, we’re here to ask you two if you want to be the first people to venture into the internet. It’s a once in a lifetime experience.”
Mac was skeptical.
“You mean you’re asking us if we want to go inside the internet? What would we even do? Watch-”
Bismark cut him off.
“It is a military and police operation utilizing highly trained operatives to go inside the net and kill viruses and hunt down hackers. It is an extremely intense mission. The only reason you two have been chosen is due to your critical thinking skills, physical aptitude, and you both know your way around the online world.”
Dr. Jones spoke up at about that time.
“Now let’s tell you how it would work, if you decide to go along with it. Once you enter the computer you will immediately receive a device closely resembling a tablet. This tablet will be the key to all the operations you would be called upon to perform. It basically creates anything you want and plops it down within a kilometer radius of the mini-computer. You will utilize this and anything you create to defeat viruses and hackers. But there is a catch, the viruses are heavily defended and they send out raiding parties to infect other devices. It’s all very militaristic and your life would be in danger almost constantly. We’ll expect an answer in the morning.”
Chapter 3
As Mac and Alex wandered down the hall back to their classes they mulled over their decision.
“I really don’t think we should go along with it.” Alex broke the silence.
“You heard Jones, this is a once in a lifetime experience and it would be pretty fun.” Mac countered.
The two boys were dragging their feet and walking as slow as possible back to class for they both knew school ended in three minutes.
“But you heard Bismark, it is highly likely we would die and I’m not sure about you but I really don’t want to die. And what would we even gain if we did survive? They never talked about any type of pay. Would it just be a once in a lifetime experience? I really don’t want to risk my life for a stupid experience.” Alex restarted the argument.
Mac retorted. “You’re clearly not grasping the fact that we would be in the internet! Besides that tablet thingy sounds awesome.”
Alex considered this then finally gave in. “I’ll talk to my mum, I’ll see what she thinks.”
“I’ll do the same with my dad. He knows how to give good advice at times like this.”
Mac and Alex brooded in the bedroom they shared. The boarding school room looked like any other, but the boys had done a lot to make the room presentable.The main thing was the smell, it was a mix of cinnamon incense and baby powder. The incense were to make the room smell like Christmas. While the baby powder aroma was for the boys’ shoes, which would smell nasty without the powder. The other thing that made their room more hospitable was the music. The boys always had their favorite songs playing throughout the day. Sometimes it was rock. Sometimes it was blues. Sometimes it was classical. It all depended on the mood of the boys on the given days. That day it was Tchaikovsky's “Nutcracker Suite”. They sat there thinking for an hour, not even bothering with their homework. Finally Mac got up and pulled out his iPhone.
“Hello, Dad? Yeah, it’s Mac. Listen, I have a question for you. Yeah, no it’s not about a girl. That’s not as funny as you think. Mmm hmm. So earlier today two men came to school and offered me and Ale- yes yes I know the other person comes first, geez sorry. So they asked Alex and I if we wanted to be a part of a top secret operation. What? No. Of course I can’t tell you, what part of top secret did you not understand? So ya, but it’s really dangerous and, like, there is a high risk we could die. Yeah, uh huh, thanks Dad. So, you’re sure you’re okay with me saying yes? Thanks Dad. Love you too.”
Chapter 4
Mac and Alex were summoned to the office once again the next day. Both Bismark and Jones were there and were looking expectantly at the boys. Bismark was wearing a white lab coat and, catlike, walked up and shook the boys’ hands. While Jones was wearing a purple and white pinstripe suit and a jolly smile.
“So, what are your final decisions?” Bismark asked in his trademark German accent.
“I’m in,” Mac answered, “I even called my dad and asked him, he said it was fine.”
“I guess I’ll do it,” Alex proclaimed reluctantly, “but I expect payment.”
“Ah yes, payment, we forgot to tell you about that yesterday” Jones spoke up, “it will be 20,000 dollars a month with a 100,000 dollar bonus every time you stop a virus.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” asked Alex now very excited about the idea of $120,000 that was all his.
“Okay boys, we’ll get started tomorrow.”
“Transfer in 10... 9... 8... 7... 6… 5... 4... 3... 2... 1… 0. You will arrive at your destination promptly.”
In a flash of blue light everything changed. Mac woke up with a sharp pain in his shoulder and an ache in his head.
“That was pretty nasty, yeah Alex? Alex? Alex? Oh, God.”
Mac was alone. In pain and alone.
Chapter 5
Mac shook, looked around again and shook some more. He felt a little bit of blood trickle down his face.
“Alex! Where the heck are you?! God, my ankle.”
He tried to contact Bismark and Jones. They didn’t answer. He looked around, he was in a beautiful French countryside with hedgerows lining the field. He struggled to his feet and stumbled over the hedgerow.
Suddenly the world exploded. Bombs landed everywhere. Shells shrieked overhead. Tanks crashed through the hedgerows. Men surged through the underbrush. They spotted Mac and opened fire. Mac sprinted away as fast as his lame ankle could carry him. Dirt was kicked up all around him from the 7.92 Mauser rounds being shot from the MG42. This confused Mac because MG42s were used by the Nazis during World War II, but it didn’t matter now. Mac dove into a crater and landed on something hard and metallic. He checked his pockets. It was the tablet.
He wasn’t sure how it worked so he muttered.
“Tablet on.”
The screen lit up and Mac got to work. He used the keyboard instead of the voice recognition because there were troops all around him now. With a closer look he realized that they weren’t even men at all. They were human sized rats.
Are you sure with your order? flashed on the tablet screen and Mac clicked “CONFIRM” and Thump! a FN FAL, Mac’s favorite assault rifle in Call of Duty landed right next to him.
“Huh, what was that?”
“I think it came from that shell hole over there.”
Mac jumped up and opened fire. He squeezed the trigger and the man-rats fell one by one. Finally, with one round left and one rat retreating, Mac took aim. The crack sounded throughout the field as the creature’s head exploded and it fell. Mac called in more ammunition from his tablet and scrambled out of the crater.
Mac had looted the dead enemies and used their grenades to disable the tanks. He camped out a kilometer away from all the carnage. Then he contacted Bismark and Jones.
“Bismark… Jones… Come in!”
“Oh, thank god Mac we were worried.”
“I was attacked by a horde of freaky man-rats in Nazi uniforms.”
“Well, are you okay?”
“I used the tablet to get a rifle and killed them all. But I can’t find Alex.”
“That’s okay, get some rest.”
“Yes sirs.”
Chapter 6
Mac had been in the system for 6 months. He never found Alex, he figured he had chickened out or just left early. Mac had become an expert at taking out viruses and their raiding parties. He was now a cold blooded killer whose sole purpose was to defeat the viruses.
One day Bismark and Jones came into contact with Mac.
“Okay Mac, we have one more raid for you to run.” barked Bismark.
“Then you’ll be coming back out of the system.” said Jones in a cheery voice.
“Alright guys, I’ve got the coordinates, headed there now,” reported Mac, “see you soon.”
“Hey, Jimbo! Where’s that sandwich the commandant asked for? Jimbo?! Gaahh!! Jimbo!”
That was when Mac struck. He sank the knife deep into the rat’s throat and blood started to pulse out of the cavity. He wiped the blood off the knife and moved up the stairs.
Chapter 7
Mac moved quickly. Eliminating sentries and the odd drunk as he traversed the castle until finally making it to the blast doors. He placed a C4 blast pack on the solid steel doors and waited. Five… Four … Three … Two … One. BOOM!! The door bent inward then shattered, spraying the occupants inside with shards of steel. Mac entered the room. Finishing off the survivors. After making sure the control room was clear Mac put the antidote, a small flash drive, into the main computer and waited while it loaded. The power went out and the huge, black computer fizzled and sparked. Mac pulled out a headlamp and ran.
Mac went to the crumpled form. He fell to his knees, for he recognized the body. He looked on at the two bodies. Mouth on the floor, eyes wide, face stretched to its limits. He started breathing harder. Quick, short, shallow breaths. Choking back tears he sat down and began to rock back and forth on the floor. His sobs turned to moans. His moans then turned to screams. He wailed, shook his head, shoved his palms into his eyes trying to unsee what he had witnessed but it was right in front of him. Yet he could not close his eyes for the image burned even brighter in his mind.