Invasion Wars 1: Crimes of War Read Online Free PDF Page B

floor, other than staying there until death does its deed. If only he was stronger. If only he was able to lift his brother into the flyer right away… it would have been different. He knew in his heart, his brother died because he was too weak, too useless.
    Nothing but dead weight to everyone around him.
    Sitting down, Emich’s hand fell from holding his small wound and flopped over his lap, his stinging back being soothed by the softness of the co-pilot seat. He looked at the passing city — buildings absent from where they were supposed to be, weird aircraft replacing the birds that would have been flying around, the lack of life around them. The feeling that everyone and everything they once knew was now dead and gone. If the adrenaline wasn’t still pumping through him, he probably would have passed out from the shock. Barely an hour ago he was fighting a hangover and now he is fighting to keep himself intact.
    It stayed silent in the flyer the entire time.
     
    Air rushed through the landing pad, the blue-hued engines lowering the flyer down to have the landing gear touch ground. The door lifted, the glare of the sunset entering the cabin. There was no going back, nowhere to call home. His fist clenched hard enough for his hands to feel like they were ready to bleed. Emich closed his eyes, unable to hear anything outside.
    Konrad’s words from long ago echoed in his memory, back when he left to join the ERA. Don’t waste your life anymore, Emich. Make me proud. Okay?
    Standing before the light, Emich walked towards it. He knew what he had to do. He knew what was in his blood. The call to battle. There was only one thing on his mind the entire time he worked his way to become a soldier.
    The Niflheim were going to pay for what they did.

     

Chapter 3
     
    It was strange to feel a bed that wasn’t cold and metallic. It was even stranger that he could still feel anything at all. Emich sat up with a start, having no memory of when he was last conscious. The room was different than the cell he called home for several weeks. He actually had a whole room with all four walls.
    Somehow, that addition of confinement gave him comfort. He could picture anything he wanted past the closed door. No matter what was behind it, the door was electronically locked. Emich tried to swing his legs out of the bed, but they refused. Just sitting down was draining him of all of his energy.
    Lying back down to have the back of his head bash into the soft pillow, he enjoyed the comfort of a soft bed. So many little things he had taken for granted in the past, so many luxuries that he’s forgotten. The room was kept dim, lights coming from the bottom of the walls to give just enough brightness to see all of the body monitoring equipment. Looking down at his body, he was covered in medical stickers for every reason possible. The needle in his arm gave him a steady dose of something purple from an IV bag hanging next to his bed.
    He would have torn it out of his arm by instinct if he had the strength to.
    The door whooshed upwards with an electronic beep, the agent from before marching in. He had the same bulldog scowl he wore the last time Emich saw him, the scientist next to him looking more nervous than anything. It was cold in the room and the young man was sweating like he’s been running all over the place. If the agent treated his patients the way he treated Emich, his lackies were not any better off. Turning on his wrist screen, the scientist opened up a floating holo-page that showed Emich’s profile, as well as his current status.
    Since the page wasn’t flashing red, Emich assumed he wasn’t dying just yet.
    “Looks like his vitals are stable, sir,” The scientist rapidly said. His voice was faster than the words flying by on the holo-page. “No signs of any abnormalities. Heart rate is clear, air intake is clear, metabolism is clear…”
    While he checked off everything important, the agent grabbed Emich by the head and