The Bridge

Genre: Science Fiction

Age Range: 14+

Author's Notes: I wrote this short story for a sci-fi contest. With only 1,500 maximum words to work with, this story is pretty much the beginning of a bigger story. I thought of something like The Matrix when writing it, especially with the mechanical suits that everyone uses and the overall violence. The idea with the brothers came from Metal Gear Solid, with one brother modeled after Solid Snake, and the other one modeled after Liquid Snake. Maybe one of these days, I'll write the Malenheim novels that this is pretty much the beginning of.

Across Peacemaker Bridge lies one of three fortresses of the Malenheim Empire. Ten members of the resistance group, Spider, attempt to cross the heavily guarded metal walkway. Two robotic sea serpents with dragon-like heads circle underneath the bridge in brown, polluted water hoping to breathe their fire onto careless invaders.
    Jayce Everwright stations his companions in a crater right before the bridge. The heat of the sun and the dryness of the ground cause the party to sweat profusely. Looking through a telescope, Jayce sees the lush green hills of the Malenheim Empire riddled with holes from bomb attacks. Two soldiers in mechanical suits that are the height of two adults slowly walk across the other end of the bridge, keeping their eyes forward in anticipation of an attack. With their bulk and heavy artillery, they lumber about at a deliberate pace. However, a blue-painted mechanical suit stands farther back with his foot soldiers patrolling the immediate area.
    Jayce and his team have no vehicles, and he only has one mechanical suit that he uses. The rest of his team is equipped with guns and grenade launchers to fight their way into the fortress. Jayce, with a commanding voice that disguises his youth, speaks with the team, “Look, we’re clearly outnumbered and outgunned. Seeing what we have, and what we have to cross, we’re just going to fight through and hope for the best. If any of you want to leave, now is the time. Your chances of making it alive are slim.”
    “Can’t we wait for reinforcements?” Rett Braverly, Jayce’s second-in-command asks.
    “We’ll most likely starve if we just wait around since all of our manpower is spread out, and it will probably take a while for other teams to complete their missions. That’s if they even get that far and don’t get killed.”
    “Well, I’m with you to the end.”
    Inside of the rocky crater, the team waits until nightfall. As they move along the metal bridge, they hide behind its tall pillars as they advance forward. Jayce’s mechanical suit lumbers behind them so as not to draw attention. While patrolling, both mechanized sea serpents spot the intruders. They stick their long, metal necks to each side of the bridge and unleash burning flames. Hiding behind pillars, their skin can feel the heat of their fire and the steam of burning metal.
    Jayce, in his mechanical suit, fires his gatling guns at one of the sea serpents. The bullets shoot through its neck until its head falls into the water. Its remaining metal neck and burnt electric wires that make its insides subsequently fall and electrocute the dirty water. The surviving sea serpent lunges through the wires holding the bridge. Its sharp metal teeth rip into the flesh of the youngest team member, Matt Gazer. It raises its head high above the bridge and drops the lifeless corpse onto the direction of his comrades. 
    With horror-filled eyes stunned at Matt’s blood flowing freely away from his body, they look at the metallic murderer and shoot it at will. Bullet holes mark its face, and some bullets reach its eyes blinding it. It collapses backwards into the river.
    Alerted by the battle, five soldiers with shields advance into the bridge while the mechanical suits and a few other soldiers wait behind. The remaining members of Spider hide behind pillars and shoot back at their attackers. 
    “We can’t just waste ammo on these guys. Any ideas?” Rett yells to the rest of the group.
    “I’m going on in front. This hunk of metal should be able to withstand some of the bullets, so two of you will stay close behind me with those grenade launchers. Once we get close enough, start lobbing those grenades over their shields,” Jayce tells them.
    Jayce moves forward with two of his comrades following behind. He fires his gatling guns laterally as he lumbers ahead. The force of return fire pushes him backwards, but the bullets do not penetrate through the suit’s metal. Within feet of the shielded soldiers, Jayce’s two comrades run into the open and launch grenades at an upward angle. They explode onto the metal floor near their enemies’ feet, and blood along with body parts fly into the air once the grenades explode. 
    Jayce motions his comrades to move forward, but when he looks back, he sees that they are standing in a circle looking at the ground. One of his comrades that used a grenade launcher lies on the ground in agony with blood coming out of his stomach. After a short spurt of labored breathing, his glassy eyes stare at the sky. 
    “We gotta go, guys. We can’t just stand here unprotected. Get these shields and any weapons that you guys can use,” Jayce says bluntly while trying to keep his emotions in check.
    With only a few feet from the edge of the bridge, Jayce motions five members of his team with shields to stand in a row up front. 
    “Guys. We’re just going to advance forward and shoot our way inside. Once we get past the bridge, try and disperse to find anything to hide behind,” Jayce tells the team.
    “How are we getting past the mechanical suits?” Rett asks.
    The three mechanical suits stand at the edge of the bridge with the blue one in the middle. A row of foot soldiers position themselves with rifles in hand behind the metal wall. The mechanical suits point their gatling guns at Jayce’s team and open fire. Rett, equipped with a grenade launcher, shoots a grenade at the mechanical suit to the left. It explodes and pushes the mechanical suit backwards. With incoming fire, a bullet finds his grenade launcher and explodes in his arms. Bullets fly across the bridge with the sound of constant ricochet and grenade explosions, as everyone scatters about.
    The blue mechanical suit runs with surprising speed and mobility towards Jayce with a shoulder block. Jayce’s suit tumbles along the metal floor, and the blue mechanical suit gives chase. It runs and kicks Jayce’s downed mechanical suit, which launches it into the air and crashes onto the solid floor.
    The blue mechanical suit grabs the front cover of Jayce’s suit with its claw-like hands and rips it off. Two of Jayce’s comrades shoot at it, but it turns around and shoots them with its gatling gun. As their lifeless bodies fall onto the ground, laughter can be heard from inside the suit. It moves towards Jayce and stands tall in front of his badly damaged body that lies still inside of his suit. The front cover of the blue mechanical suit lifts up.
                “Hello, Jayce,” a young man with the same eye and hair color of Jayce says with a smirk.
                “Villsin, why? This place is a parasite to the world,” Jayce says weakly.
                “Why would I choose not to live in the glorious Malenheim Empire? Do you think that I want to live in this barren dreck? Do you think that it was fun wandering this desolate wilderness with our parents looking for scraps under the hot sun or freezing cold?”
    “It’s better than being a slave to this tyranny.”
    “I strongly disagree, brother. Look at our situation now. You are on the floor beaten and just barely surviving. I am in control and do not have a scratch on me. Also, your friends will not survive this attack.”
    Villsin closes the front cover of his suit and begins shooting at Jayce’s remaining comrades. Occupied with the mechanical suit at the edge of the bridge, all of them get shot in the back by Villsin’s gatling gun. He cheers as if he scored points in a game and walks towards his brother. 
    With the mechanical suit’s right claw, Villsin squeezes his brother’s battered body and slowly walks towards the side of the bridge. He hangs his body over the edge with the polluted water far underneath him. He opens the front cover of his suit and grins as he looks at his brother’s helpless body.
    “You were never going to cross this bridge, brother. I did, but I crossed it by not being a fool like you,” Villsin says mockingly to his brother.
    He releases his brother, and he free falls onto the polluted water. Villsin watches him fall with a big smile on his face. He then walks back to the fortress with his soldiers.
    Jayce’s body washes ashore against a rocky shoreline covered in sludge, blood and brown seaweed. His body lies on the sharp rocks as waves splash against his skin, washing away his blood. As the sun burns his body, he slowly opens his eyes.