Winning Story for What is a Hero!

Congratulations to Gregory Baer for winning this week’s contest!

The Ultimate Sacrifice
Gregory Baer
Grade 9

The ground was shaking beneath the repeated explosions, and the rumble of the armored vehicles adding to that vibration.
Heat from burning buildings poured around the troopers, and the occasional flash of laser fire would illuminate their faces.
These were hard, almost as if carved from stone. They were pinned in place, a burning building on one side and a sheet of enemy fire on the other. They could only hope to pick off careless enemies.
And those were getting fewer.
The Energy Tanks and the other armored vehicles were doing their best, but they were being overwhelmed. These tanks were a steel frame over a pair of treads. The outer “skin” of the tank was solid energy, capable of repelling all but the most powerful enemy lasers.
But the quick-firing guns in their turrets could only blow things up at a certain rate.
And the enemy troops were coming forward much faster than that rate. Not that they were proper troops, but were merely the scum of the huge city they were fighting for.
Bandits, pirates, slavers, the darkest end of the huge metropolis had decided they wanted the city. The only thing keeping them back was the severely depleted SWAT teams and National Guard.
These incredibly outnumbered men had fought with all the tenacity that was thought humanly possible. They had repelled frontal assaults that would have overwhelmed all but the military itself.
The military. National Guardsman Michael Gascon thought, hunkering down next to his fellows. The military is the only thing that could possibly save us. Where are they?
But no one in the city had any way of knowing. One of the first things the insurgents had done was to capture the communication offices.
A halfhearted attempt had been made to recapture those spots, but the troops were needed too badly elsewhere, so the attack had been called off.
Small help as we are here. Michael thought, if we could get to one of those wrecked tanks we might be in better shape.
But as much as he wanted too, he knew that they would never make it. All of the wrecked tanks were in the middle of open territory, their shields barely functional.
All it would take would be a concentrated attack on the flickering shields, and they would go down. Leaving the National Guardsmen completely exposed.
So Michael hunkered down as close to the blasted wall as he could. There were even supposed to be superheroes defending the city, but he had not seen them the entire day.
A laser blast blew a few bricks from their cover, and he bit his lip. He wanted to stand up and return fire, standing fully in the open and pouring laser fire back at the insurgents.
But that would be suicide. At the rate of fire that the insurgents were sustaining, he wouldn’t last three seconds.
But he needed to do something.
“Hey Dack,” he said, tapping his fellow on the shoulder, “Any ideas about what to do?”
Dack had his communications computer out, a tiny screen that was more for tracking than communicating.
“I have no idea.” he growled, flicking the computer to a different channel.
No good. That channel was a busy as the one he had just left. Command Central was scrambling all the commands and advise that it could.
So Michael tried his other side. The man there, one William Sherban, was on his communications computer.
He was looking up a tactical map of the city, pinpointing the places of military strength. The enemy was outlined in lines of red, the areas they held shaded red.
There was far more red than friendly blue.
“Is there anything we could try to move to?” he asked Will, his eye flicking over any possible route of escape.
Will shook his head. “Nothing, until the military gets here. The energy tanks can’t hold them off much longer.”
Michael closed his eyes. “What about the superheroes?” he asked, trying to keep his voice calm.
“Unbelievably, two have been killed. The third is wounded and out of the fight.”
Michael’s eyes burst open. “What?” he cried, his voice cracking with surprise. “I thought that they couldn’t be hurt!”
“Some superheroes.” he heard a voice snort from his side, “Looks like they aren’t so super anymore.”
“They aren’t even heroes.” another put in, “They just have a lot of money to be able to make suits.”
“And they are so bad at fighting the suits can’t even protect them.” The first one added.
“Well what is a hero anyway?” another asked, checking the bolt on his laser rifle.
“Not the superheroes.” the second one cut in.
“We already covered that ground.” the first said, annoyance starting to creep into his voice.
“Just be quiet!” Will said sharply, and the voices trailed off in the middle of their argument. “This isn’t helping!” he went on, “We have to locate a StutterBurst 40 Heavy Cannon they have. It’s what’s keeping reinforcements from getting here.”
“Are you insane?” Michael cried, his voice cracking again. “They’ll kill us as soon as we stand up!”
Will’s face hardened. “Maybe that’s what will happen.”
“What Will happen?” another trooper said, irrepressible as ever. They all glanced at him where he sat, chuckling at his own wit.
“That was worse than the last one.” Will said, but nodded. “The pun aside, bad as it is, the statement is correct.”
He pulled a smoke grenade off his chest rack and held it up for their inspection.
“We throw these onto the top of the wall, and then fire through the smoke. We all know where that cannon is, and should be able to hit it without seeing it.”
Michael nodded and pulled his last smoke grenade off his vest, and pulled the pin. Making sure that his fingers were clamped down hard on the handle, he looked around at the others.
At Will’s signal, they flipped the smoke grenades up onto the top of the wall. There was a loud collection of hisses, and smoke poured out of the grenades in thick clouds.
The troopers stood up, unleashing a firestorm of laser fire at the spot where the heavy cannon was.
Even through the smoke, they could see the bright flash as it blew up, killing the troopers on it.
But they had not gone unnoticed. More than one National Guardsman had fallen, as some laser shot found its way through his light armor.
“Down all of you! Cease fire!” Will shouted, dropping down behind the wall again. He had seen something and knew they would want to be as low as possible.
Sure enough, as soon as they dropped, the entire top of the wall blew off, scattering bricks down on their helmeted heads.
Michael grunted as one glanced off his knee and then looked at Will.
“What made that happen?” he shouted over the ringing in his ears. Will shrugged, not exactly sure.
“I think it was a grenade.” he said, twisting his earpiece back into his ear. “The heavy cannon is gone sir.” he said into the mike, “you can begin your run.”
Michael frowned. “Run?” he asked. To run to where they were would be suicide.
But in a second he had his answer.
With a roar of engines and the air-chopping noise of rotors, two airships dropped out of the clouds, their armed ends blazing with laserfire. The far side of the wall erupted in a huge explosion, adding a few more bricks to the pile on the near side of it.
But the airships were past, their lasers laying waste to any insurgents that had congregated behind any cover.
“Let’s go!” Will shouted, standing up and sprinting away from the wall. The break that the airships had given them was just enough, as laserfire was already starting to lick around them again as they dove back into cover.
“We made it!” Michael grunted, “But now where do we go?”
Will peeked around the corner and jerked back as laserfire splattered along the edge.
“We don’t go anywhere.” he said grimly, checking the power level on his rifle and then slapping the battery back in.
Michael shifted uncomfortably, looking up at the sky.
“What if they give us more cover?” he said, pointing up at them.
Will glanced up briefly and then bent over his communication computer. He spoke for a while, then nodded, and crouched to run.
The airships came in for a second run, but this time the insurgents were ready for them. They laid down a fire up at the airships, causing them to have to dodge.
However, the high powered cannons on the ship still blasted many an insurgent cannons, blasting them to rubble.
Meanwhile, the troopers were sprinting through the storm of laserfire to reach the safety of the next building.
Two of them dropped before they could reach it.
Crouching in the shattered remains of the building, Will talked to the airship pilots, his face tightening as he did so.
Finally he shut down the computer and turned to the survivors of his team.
“The airships are too damaged to make any further runs for us, so we have to stay here.”
But Michael was eyeing a possible route of escape.
“Sir,” he said, drawing Will up next to him, “Look at that path there.”
It was a dangerous path, involving the need to crawl exposed for a few feet. But it could be made.
“That will only work for about two men.” Will said, eyeing the route with a practiced eye.
Michael nodded, but then pointed to the top of a building a little distance away. Some National Guard had managed to set up a heavy cannon on the roof of that building, but had all been killed by sniper fire.
“If we could get up there, then we could lay down a covering fire to get the rest of the men out of there.” Michael said.
Will’s shoulders suddenly lifted, as though someone had taken a weight from them.
He eyed the route one more time before dropping to his stomach and working along the ground toward the small amount of cover.
Lasers burned into the ground right next to him, but as of yet, he was not within laser capabilities.
When he reached the gap, he rose slightly, then slithered across the gap with the speed of a lizard.
No fire even came near him as the insurgents’ brains tried to deal with the stupidity of what he had done.
By the time they snapped out of their paralysis, Will was across the gap and out of danger.
But Michael still had to brave it.
Dropping to his stomach, he squished up as close to the protecting pipe as he could, wincing as molten metal flew past his head from laser hits.
Squirming along the ground, he tried to flatten out as much as possible. All too soon, he came to the gap.
He paused on the edge of it, looking across at the safety the other side promised. Will was there, smiling encouragingly across.
Michael slipped some fingers around the end of the pipe, hoping to use it for extra speed.
Taking a final deep breath, he threw himself into the gap.
The response this time, though scattered, was immediate. Michael winced from the heat of numerous near misses.
Suddenly, it was all over, and he was across.
“You were right.” was the first thing he gasped, “a third would be killed.”
Will gave him a tight smile. “Aren’t I always right?” he asked, and then turned back to his crawling.
Soon he was to a place where he could rise into a crouch and he did so, running low along the rest of the way.
Michael followed him until they reached a large building, the one the cannon was sitting on.
Michael turned back to the corner, slinging his rifle from his back as he did so.
Peeking around the corner, he tried to pinpoint one of the attacking men. The result was that his eye was drawn to a small window.
Out from this was a steady stream of laser fire, clearly showing a man not at all worried about counter fire.
Michael raised his rifle and fired once. The incoming fire from that window ceased, and Michael ducked back into cover, smiling grimly.
Turning toward the door that Will had gone through, he slipped through. He was in a large room, which ended in a stair spiraling upward.
He leapt up the steps, the rifle banging against his back as he did so. When he reached the second floor, he looked around for Will, but he was not there.
Mentally kicking himself, Michael leapt upwards once more. Of course Will would not be on the second floor.
The heavy cannon was on the roof, and that was where Will would be. When Michael passed three more stories, he didn’t pause to look through them.
When he reached the roof, he found Will already there, powering up the cannon. Its former operators were lying to the side, placed reverently out of the way.
“What about the snipers?” Michael asked, the sudden fear at how exposed he was regaining force.
“They’ve moved.” Will said shortly, staring hard down the barrel. It was centered on a Repeating Laser Light Cannon emplacement.
He squeezed the triggers and the gun have a hiss, the bright blue lasers streaking downrange.
The emplacement exploded in a rather impressive fireball, the repeating laser cannon there destroyed.
Michael moved to the edge of the roof and lay down, centering his rifle sights on an advancing insurgent.
He gently squeezed the trigger and the insurgent dropped, his rifle clattering to the ground.
The cannon next to him fired again, and the roof flashed with blue light. A second fireball, and a few less enemies to worry about.
But they could not go unnoticed like that forever. Already, lasers were beginning to flash up at them, sizzling through the clouds above as they missed.
Michael silenced two of those attackers and was moving on to the third when a voice came from behind them.
“What do you want me to do?”
Michael flipped over immediately, rolling away from his previous spot. His rifle was centered on the intruder’s chest by the time Michael gained his feet.
It was another National Guardsman, a long sniper’s rifle dangling from his shoulder.
His belt of batteries was half empty, showing that he had been busy plying his trade.
He raised his empty hands, palms outward, to show that he had no deadly intentions.
It took a few seconds for Michael’s mind to catch up with his reflexes. Finally, however, he lowered the barrel of his laser rifle away from the sniper’s chest.
“May I join you?” the sniper continued, gesturing toward the edge of the roof.
Michael nodded slowly, still unable to speak. He turned back to the edge of the roof and began firing again. By this time, groups of insurgents were trying to rush the building. Michael concentrated his efforts on keeping them back, while the sniper shifted to longer range targets.
Will was still firing the cannon, sending laser shot after laser shot into any target he deemed worthy of fire. None of those targets survived.
But Michael had to reload, and the insurgents were becoming more bold. Every now and then, teams of two would jump up and sprint forward, dropping to the ground before he could fire.
Michael could feel the cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck. There was no way that he could stop all of the enemy troopers before they overran the building.
And he was running low on batteries.
The sniper supported him by picking off the careless, but there was nothing then could do to stop the insurgents reaching the building.
Sure enough, they heard heavy steps on the stairs, as the insurgents pounded up them.
Michael instantly rolled over, bringing his rifle to bear on the closed doorway. Their first move would be to blow out the door.
Sure enough, the steps retreated down a ways, and there was a pause. With a sharp crack, the door exploded into splinters, and laserfire burned at the edge. It quickly swung down toward the horizontal, clearly cover fire as they ascended the stairs.
But Michael was lying down, and their heads would have to show before they could shoot him.
Sure enough, the helmeted head of one of them poked up, the laser rifle tracking.
Michael already had the crosshairs centered on the man’s helmet, and he simply squeezed the trigger. The next one was a little more reluctant, but he decided that something had to be done.
He jumped up through the doorway, flinging himself to the left in hopes of throwing off Michael’s aim.
But he too fell beneath the brilliant laser from Michael’s weapon. The others paused, clearly trying to think of something to do .
But Will already had something else in mind.
Swiveling the cannon, he centered the sights as far down the hole as possible and fired.
Michael winced at the crack of exploding wood and steel as the bolt hit the far side of the doorway, and then had the wind knocked out of him as the shock wave slammed into him.
Gasping for breath, he tried to clear the ringing in his ears and bring the his laser rifle to bear on the doorway again.
But the opening was empty except for curling smoke, and clearly no one would be coming through it for a while.
Will nodded, satisfied, and turned the barrel of his cannon back toward the edge of the roof.
However, the loss of forward fire had taken its toll. Insurgents had closed on the building, and had managed to get more men inside it.
Michael could hear their steps pounding up the stairs and shook his head.
Can’t those guys be more quiet? He thought disparagingly.
He had thought that too soon. Two of the men had come along a little earlier and much quieter. These leapt out of the doorway to opposite sides, their lasers spitting fire as they tracked toward the three National Guardsmen.
Michael rolled out of the way of two shots and then fired twice. The one on the left jerked and fell, but the one on the right was firing closer and closer to him.
With a sudden realization, Michael knew he was going to die. There was no way that his still-sluggish muscles could pull his rifle into position fast enough.
And finally his time ran out, and the black eye of the barrel was pointed squarely at his chest.
The man’s finger tightened on the trigger, and there was a bright flash from the tip of the barrel.
The black shape of a man threw himself between the glaring laser and Michael. He took the shot full in the side, grunting with pain and shock. As he fell to the ground, a single blast from Michael’s rifle shot down the remaining insurgent.
Michael then rose to his feet and hurried over to the side of the man who had saved him.
It was the sniper, his face twisted with pain. There was a deep wound in his side, and Michael could see that he would not survive.
The sniper didn’t even have time to say anything, just to give a weak smile before he slumped to the roof, dead.
Michael looked down at the body for a short time, and then slowly turned back toward the gaping door.
He was just fast enough. By the time he had the barrel centered on the doorway again, the second party was there, and he was busy for quite a while.
He had burned through half his remaining batteries before he was done. When he finally turned away from the blackened and smoking doorway, he saw that Will was still pumping the cannon for all it was worth.
“We’re never going to survive that way.” Michael said in a low voice, infinitely tired.
Will looked at him for a second as the cannon powered up, then looked back, nodding.
“Maybe that is so. But we for sure can give them one heck of a fight.” he growled as the cannon fired again.
Michael inclined his head and walked over to the body of the sniper. Gently taking the rifle from the dead hands, he slipped a battery in and returned to the edge of the roof.
When he reached the edge, he lay down and began squeezing shots off down at the insurgents below.
“There they go.” He heard Will’s quiet voice say, and looked down to see three insurgents make a run for their building.
“This is starting to get monotonous, you know?” he said to Will, smiling a little as he did so.
He got to one knee and centered the long barrel of the sniper rifle on the doorway once more.
And waited. And waited.
But it was silent and still except for the smoke still curling lazily out of it. Michael frowned, as slight noises came from off to the side.
Shifting his laser to over there, he put a shot into the roof, sending molten drops of metal in all directions.
The noises stopped, but only for a second. Michael frowned and was lifting his rifle for a second shot when the roof there blew up.
Michael gasped as the light from the explosion stabbed into his eyes. As the smoke cleared, he caught a flicker of movement from there and from the doorway.
“Will-!” he shouted, his voice tight as he put a shot into the new hole. A shot flashed back, but missed, due to the fact that the shooter was ducking back from Michael’s laser blast.
Will swiveled the cannon and centered it on the hole.
Michael turned his aim back to the door, knowing why Will had not chosen to fire in that direction. He knew that Will had no desire to suffer through another of those shock waves at such close quarters.
Instead, he put a shot into the hole. Instead of exploding on the edge and sending a shock wave back at them, he managed to slip it down the hole, sending it into the wall there.
As a result, the numbing shock wave slammed into the insurgent there, and not into the National Guardsmen.
The incoming fire from there ceased, but only temporarily. The fire from the doorway, however, was a different story.
These insurgents were smarter than the others, and instead of using rifles, then used pistols. Because these weapons were not as long, they did not have to expose their entire upper bodies, just their heads.
Still, Michael was a National Guardsman. He fired at the small amounts of body exposed.
With his fifth, he managed to actually hit one of the men. With that, the amount of incoming slowed, but it was still coming uncomfortably close.
That, with the crossfire from the other hole, made for a lot of uncomfortability. He shouted to Will to do something, to find that the other already had.
The older man had taken one of the spare batteries from his belt and was holding it in his hand.
With a sharp movement, he lobbed it into the blasted hole. Just before it disappeared, he sent a laser bolt into it, causing it to explode.
That silenced that hole forever, leaving one man left.
He was more careful than the others, popping up irregularly to throw shots at them. Michael looked over at Will to see if he was about to try the same trick, but he was fiddling with the cannon.
Clenching his teeth, Michael intensified his fire on the doorway, trying to keep the insurgent busy.
He was just about to reload when there was a storm of laser fire, much of it sizzling up into the sky.
When he was wondering about that, the fire ceased.
“Michael?” a tentative voice called.
Michael almost wilted with relief at that voice. “Come on out, Dack.” he said, lowering the rifle.
Dack climbed out over the edge of the doorway, wincing at the heat still in the steel there.
He did a double take at the weapon that Michael was holding. “Where did you get that?” he asked, staring at the lethal rifle.
Michael tilted his head sadly toward the side. “It was his.” he said simply, looking down at the still man there.
Suddenly, there was a sharp Pffhiss of laser fire and Michael whirled, the sniper rifle pointing in the direction of the report.
But there was only Will, bending over the heavy cannon he had pointed at the sky.
There was a second report, and Michael followed the path of the glistening bolt as it burned its way higher into the atmosphere.
“Will? What are you trying to do?” he asked, eyeing the other as though he were not quite all there.
Will said nothing, but merely pumped off a third shot, then leaned back to watch the bright blue lance as it leapt upward.
“Hah! Michael!” a voice cried from behind Michael and he turned to see one of the Guardsmen standing there.
“You know,” the man went on, “I never did get an answer about what makes a hero, and now I know. You are a hero Michael.”
But Michael shook his head. “Not I, but this man here.”
He pointed down at the limp body of the sniper, which was still peacefully smiling.
“He took a shot for me, laying down his life for that of a total stranger. That is a hero, not some self-proclaimed superhero.”
He was still looking at the man when his eyes widened in surprise. Two large airships dropped out of the clouds, lasers blazing.
They roared by the building, dropping rockets into pockets of insurgent resistance.
Michael’s eyes widened even further, then narrowed in understanding. He whirled to look Will in the eye, who smiled and spread his hands.
Only one kind of airship carried rockets like that.
Will’s message for help had been seen, and the military had arrived.