Chapter 2: Chaos Ensued

New Delhi, Residency of Delhi, British Raj

March 28th, 1859

New Delhi Townsquare

{Jonathan’s POV}

Chaos

Atrocity

Barbaric

Those are the words that I can describe for such situation. Unarmed innocent civilians of Delhi present in the St. Diona Festival, were being slaughtered mercilessly by these soldiers and creatures of the darkness. They didn’t spare anyone in their way. Be it British, Commonwealth, Indian, foreign women, children, the elderly, and even the disabled. All of them are killed, no matter what. Those who were mostly killed by these… monsters, were near and around the now destroyed statue of the conquest of India which is now replaced by that mirror-like portal that transported these monsters into India… no, our world. It doesn’t matter which land on Earth where this portal appears. It brings death and destruction upon this world with unknown power from the beyond. Sure, It may only appear in India right now. But if it then spread to other places or even worse, also already appeared in other places, especially those with weak military presence, then it would mean utter destruction and barbaric massacre

But, if it can be stopped with man-made bullets and blades, humans’ ingenuity and will to live, and our hope for freedom and the future….

Then, I will take my chances to do what I think is right: resist and protect

“Let’s go! Let’s not waste more time or the lives of the innocents’ here” I told both Blake and Madhav after I drew my Revolver and retractable Saber

Both Blake and Madhav already drew their own rifle with their Bayonet retracted. I know that it’s impossible to fight off these enemies and protect the people with just the three of us along with the presence of Indian Policemen and a small unit of Army soldiers who have yet to notice the mysterious chaotic phenomenon that occurred in the inner area of the town square. Though there are some Indian Policemen and British Soldiers alongside us in the inner area who quickly joined us when they saw the chaos ensued, there are only ten of them

Seven of them are Indian Policemen armed with rifles like the one that Madhav has while the rest of them are British Soldiers from the Army branch in white Army pith helmets, red uniforms, and dark blue trousers, armed with Rifles like the one that Blake has and also a Vickers machine gun strapped on the back of the most buff of them. But until we can get those who were outside the inner area to be involved in this, we must do what we can and hold out as long as we can until they arrive here. And because I’m the only one with the highest rank among them, I decided to take the rein of leading the twelve Soldiers and Policemen

I looked around for the trapped civilians who were attempting to flee from the center of the town square that now became a meat grinder. We need to get them out from there, fast. I turned to Blake, Madhav, the three British soldiers, and seven Indian Policemen who probably not recognizing who I am from my civilian attire “Just a quick introduction, I am Captain Jonathan Davis Malborough of the 96th Rifles. We need to get the civilian away from the town square center. I need eight men with me to help evacuate the civilian and four others to give us cover while we help the civilian flee” I told them. I then quickly looked around to find a good defensible and firing position to give cover fire and found a line of concrete walls about two meters away from “Those who will give the vanguards cover fire, go behind that concrete wall and provide them covering fire. Is that understood?” I ordered them while pointing at the said fortification

They all nodded in understanding, replying in an exclaim “Aye, Sir!” and acted in response as ordered. Me and Madhav along with two British Soldiers and four Indian Policemen will become the Vanguards to help rescue and evacuate the civilian while the rest, Blake along with three Indian Policemen and the buff British Soldier with the machine gun will become the Rearguards and give us cover while we execute our task

The five men of the Rearguards quickly took up their position behind the concrete wall and loaded their rifles. The buff British Soldier, helped by an Indian Policemen quickly set up the Vickers machine gun on the concrete. The buff British Soldier now became the shooter of the machine gun while the Indian Policeman that assisted became the loader. And that makes them both ‘Rearguards’ and ‘machine gun crew’. And as us for us, the ‘Vanguards’, we will face off the enemy head-on while helping to protect, rescue, and evacuate the civilian from the center of the town square. I’m not sure that bullets can have any effect on these creatures and I know that is quite risky, might be suicidal, but for the sake of justice, not even the forces of darkness can frighten the men of the British Empire

I turned to the seven men of the Vanguards “Men! With me! Close Order Skirmish Formation! Our tasks here are to protect the civilians and contain the enemy forces from breaking out the town square and breaching into the residential areas” I ordered them to form a Close Order Skirmish Formation in which the men will spread out but to an extent of them being close to each other which is different from the usual Skirmish Formation when the men would spread out a little bit away from each other. But, since there are only eight of us, this is the proper formation to use

“Quick march! Forward!” I shouted a command for us to move forward into the frontline. We quickly jogged towards the enemy forces while the enemy forces were still busy chasing and massacring the civilians who were trying to flee the scene and some of them stood still in their place with utter fear and shock at the sight of these monstrosity coming for them “Don’t fret, men! Those monsters are just some bloodthirsty barbarians with a thirst for human’s blood. And it is up to us to stop them from taking any more innocent lives!”

They grunted and exclaimed, almost like chanting in unison to what I said “Aye Aye, Sir!” as we continued to march towards the enemy forces

While marching into the battlefield, we encountered some civilians who were attempting to flee but they were exhausted due to the constant running for their lives. And as for the civilians who managed to flee from the slaughter, quickly wasted no time standing by and immediately try to escape the place but have no idea where to go because of panic. We approached those who were closer to us, they were in a group or at least an unorganized crowd while maintaining our formation and keeping our guards up for any dark soldiers or monsters coming for us “Come on! Get away from this place!” I told them while pointing at where the Rearguard soldiers are “You see those men behind that wall? Go there and they will help you direct where you should go! Hurry! NOW!” They all nodded and did as I told

After that, we continued our quick march toward the hostile area. On the way there, we also continued to help directing the civilians out of this area and help the trauma-struck civilians to get back to their senses and quickly escape this place. But before we could continue any further, dozens of those dark soldiers and monsters in front of us who were busy killing and/or chasing innocent civilians, noticed our presence. And before we know it, a sense of imminent fear crept up on us

They looked at us with the look of murder in their eyes. I couldn’t see the faces of the armored dark knights but I still can see their red glowing eyes and their intent to kill, their medieval steel weapon smeared in blood, humans’ blood. The beasts are also looking at us not just with murderous intent, but also grinning hungrily with their sharp teeth coated in humans’ blood and their disgusting saliva dribbling down from their mouths. This scene makes me sick. Though I’m not that much of a believer, these monsters are definitely the servants of the devil, sent here to make a living hell

One of those dark knights who spotted us along with his fellow dark knights and beasts who followed them, raised his bloodied sword (these knights are definitely men judging from the shape of their armor) and pointed it at us before shouting in his rough and almost inhumane tone “Omnes interficere! sanguinem eorum bibe, et eos delectabiliter ebibe!” The others exclaimed and the beasts roared as they- wait the minute… did that dark knight just speak Latin!?

Nevermind that! These dark knights are going to kill us all. Think about that later and focus on taking these invaders down and protecting the people

“Independent! Fire at will!” I ordered my men to fire on their own time and choose their own targets at their discretion

In response, they obeyed the given order. One by one while some simultaneously aimed at their targets before they pulled their rifles’ triggers. Loud bangs can be heard followed by some smoke coming out from the rifles’ muzzles as a rain of bullets flew through the air toward their targets. The bullets that were shot by Madhav, the two British soldiers, and two Indian Policemen found their targets, hitting five dark knights as they pierced the dark knights’ steel armor and struck their bodies behind the armor as those five dark knights fell to the ground

It seems that these dark knights can be killed with regular bullets. And as for the beasts, I don’t think that one bullet can kill them because the two bullets shot by the other two Indian Policemen with me while they hit their marks, their shots didn’t manage to kill the beasts but I think they managed to hurt them by some margin because the impact of the bullets staggered the beasts a little bit but they’re still kicking

Well then, I guess I’ll leave them to the Rearguards’ machine gunners

And as if on cue, one of the men positioned as Rearguards shouted to us “take cover!” And we did instinctively by proning down on the ground as multiple rapid gunfires from the Vickers Maxim machine gun along with ragtag shots from the standard battle rifles took the stage of the battle. Dozens, possibly almost hundreds of bullets were fired at the beasts as the bullets pierced their body again and again non-stop that left so many holes in the beasts’ bodies. After a few more seconds, they stopped firing when Blake whom I left in charge of the Rearguards, ordered them to do so “Hold your fire! That’s enough”

After that, we raised our heads from the ground to finally see the otherworldly beasts laying on the ground dead, taken down by the heavily-armed Rearguards, their bodies riddled with holes from dozens, might even be hundreds of .303 Vickers rounds. The sight of these creatures that are now dead, is one of uneasiness and disgust. They looked horrible when they still have their thirst for blood but now, they looked way more horribly disfigured. Turns out bullets made out of lead can even take the life of a monstrous being from hell, just need several bullets to take them down to a peg. Huh, I didn’t expect that it would be just that easy without the need for us to find out what kind of countermeasures to take down these monsters. It’s just like they say ‘reality is always more unexpected than imagination’

I got up on my feet, revolver and retractable saber still in my two hands “Stand up, men!” I ordered them “With those threats in front of us gone, at least for now anyway... Now’s the time to protect and rescue any civilians trapped within this hostile space. The rearguards will keep an eye out and cover for us” They all nodded in understanding as they followed me to protect and help the civilians

As we continued moving inland toward the hostile area, we found another group of civilians. There are about ten of them, two of them are women and three of them are children. It seems they were trying to flee the area but couldn’t find the right way to go and were in confusion and distraught amidst the chaos. Thankfully there aren’t any dark knights or otherworldly monsters in the vicinity around those civilians but there are those who were scattered off the side, not near where the civilians are. I’m not sure if this is good or bad but somewhat my intuition is giving me a bad feeling about this. But we won’t waste any time thinking about that when we could help these civilians

We quickly rushed in towards those civilians without any interference from the otherworldly monsters. After reached the civilians, we wasted no time to help protect and direct them to the safe zone behind the Blake’s rearguard forces. The two British soldiers and four Indian Policemen each took one civilian under their protection while both me and Madhav each took two civilians. The two civilians that I took under my protection are the two children while the two others are a women and a child under Madhav’s care. And with that, all ten civilians are secured and ready to be evacuated from this place. I just hope that there really aren’t any hindrance that awaits us

“It’s okay mister and miss, you are all safe now”

“Not to worry. We shall protect you all with our very life”

“I assure you all that everything is going to be fine. You all just need to listen and follow me and our Commander”

“The situation is very grim right now. So you all need to stay calm and rest assured that as long we are here, no monsters would cause harm to you all”

“We will bring you all to safety. I-no, we assure you all that you all will be safe”

The men went to their respective assigned group of people to calm them down and collect them under their protection. As soon as we’re finished with this task, we will escort these people to the backline where it’s safe from this hell. That’s our first priority right now. We probably don’t have too much time before another dark knights or humongous beasts or fire-breathing flying reptiles to appear before us

I walked up to them and crouched down while facing them

“Hey there, you two!” I greeted them with a smile as to give them some assurance not to worry about anything. But the truth is that there’s so much to be worried about “Are you okay? Do you have any injuries? If so, we’ll tend to them as much as we can” I told them with assuring tone as to comfort them

These two children under my protection are a boy and a girl and it seems that these two are twin siblings, brother and sister judging by the similarities of their appearance. They looked about around six to eight years old with the same blonde hair and blue eyes with the brother having shorter hair and the sister having longer hair. Looking at them caused me to be in deep sorrow, seeing that these kids were in the middle of a slaughter. I don’t know where their parents are but I hope these kids and their parents were just separated in the midst of this chaos. These two still need guidance from their parents to survive and strife in the future and also enjoy their lives freely while they’re still kids

The sister was the first one to speak “We’re okay. It’s thanks to you and your friends, Mr. Soldier”

The brother then, feeling that his courage to speak has been built, spoke “Yeah, we were scared of those creepy men in black armor. We thought that we were in grave danger along with these other people. We also got separated with mom and dad when those bad guys suddenly appeared” He paused for a second before a smile crept up on the boy’s face “But then you and the other soldiers arrived and rescued us from them”

I smiled as I put my hands on both of their head “Yeah, that’s right. We came to rescue you all and beat those bad guys down” I told them “So, there’s no need to be afraid, don’t worry. With us, we will get you to safety and back to your parents” I paused, thinking about what happened when these two were separated from their parents before continuing “You said that you were separated from your mom and dad. What happened? How did you two got separated from them?” Oh, I hope that they’re okay as well

“W-We don’t know. One moment we were with them, then an acrobat got us distracted, a-and then we found ourselves alone without them” The sister replied. She stopped in the middle of her sentence while stifling slightly “And that’s when those bad guys and monsters suddenly appeared and started to…” She chocked while attempting to finish her sentence, feeling hesitant and unable to continue. It’s hard for these kids to witness such… savagery unfolds before their eyes

I decided that was enough from her. No need to press her any further “Alright, I get it. It’s okay, you don’t need to say it”  I told her with a smile to which she responded with a smile of her own

I then stood up as I put both of my hands on my waist and looked down at them once again “Now then… I think an introduction is needed. My name is Jonathan Davis Malborough, a Captain of the Her Majesty's Rifles but you can call me John. And you two are…?”

“My name is Aaron”

“And I’m Angela, we’re siblings”

I smiled as I ruffled their hair softly to which they responded with giggles “Nice to meet you two, Aaron and Angela. Now, let’s get-” Before I could continue, one of the men who were with me exclaimed

“Incoming! about a dozen or more enemy cavalry along with five bloody dragons heading towards our direction” a British soldier informed in a frantic exclaim while looking at a certain direction behind us when we were about to evacuate the ten civilians that we managed to round up

We turned around to the direction where the British soldier is looking at which is near a water fountain which doesn’t have clean water anymore but was replaced by water that got sullied in red by the blood of innocent people, including women and children and even the bodies of those people floating lifeless on the water. Those are the blood of the lives that we didn’t manage to save. This sight definitely pained my heart so much that I can barely cope with it seeing that I failed to save the lives of innocent when it was not their time yet to leave this world. This is also what it means to have a human heart and soul, especially about the pain of having them

So, I guess this is what my Physician meant about me when I was recuperating from the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion two years prior in which I lost many good men under my command who were close to me to the rebels. I can’t say that I blame the rebels for launching that mutiny though. All they wanted is independence but they tried to gain it by spilling not just British blood but also their own people’s blood, especially those with close ties to the British. Due to all of that guilt and sorrow, the Physician described to me as having a ‘Selfless Hero Syndrome’. Though it sounds so silly, but when the Physician explained about it more,  I understood and accepted the fact of having this kind of Mental Syndrome and I told myself that I will embrace it for as long as my life goes. And embrace it I shall

So, I have to be strong, both in soul and mind so that I can face this dilemma and strive to be someone that can achieve his goal and fulfill his fate. And that one obstacle getting in my way to that is in front of me. A horde of the same dark knights in armor but armed with halberds and mounted on these undead skeleton horses along with five flying fire-breathing reptiles simply known as dragons hovering over the mounted dark knights are bearing down upon us. With them here,  they became an immediate threat to the civilians that we are about to evacuate. If we told the civilians to run back to the rearguard line while we hold off the mounted dark knights and dragons, they might get lost or exposed to danger outside our expectations. And if we die here, then the civilians will be in grave danger. I will not let our effort to be wasted here

But still… getting away from a charging cavalry is quite an impossible task to do unless if we have enough men to counter them by forming a square or rank-and-file phalanx or even enough machine guns to overpower them with superior matchless firepower. But neither of those is available at the moment. The only thing we can do is just one thing: get the hell out of this bloody place or simply said: retreat and escape. There’s no other way if we want to keep the civilians alive, then we must keep ourselves alive as well so that we can escort them safely out of this place

“We can’t fight them head-on. Retreat! There are too many of them! Let’s get back to the rear line and get the civilians to safety!” I shouted the command to retreat for the men and the civilians to where Blake and the rear guard troops are

“Roger that, Sir!” Madhav obeyed my command before turning to the woman and children under his protection “Come on, ma’am and little lady. It’s not safe here anymore. We’ll get you two to safety” He told them to which they replied by thanking him and the rest of us for coming to their rescue

After I relayed my order to the men, I turned back to the pair of brother and sister “Alright, kids. Follow and listen to big brother John. You two don’t need to worry about anything besides that, we’ll get you all to safety” I told them

They nodded in understanding and did as I told them “Okay!”

“Good. Now, let’s go!” I turned to the men under my command and the civilians under my command 'Retreat to the Rearguard position!”

Under my command, We wasted no time as The British Soldiers and Indian Policemen of the Vanguards obeyed my command as they quickly run back to Blake’s Rearguard Position with the civilians close to them. The troopers were placed behind the civilians who will be ahead of the troopers so that they can protect the civilians and eliminate any approaching mounted dark knights from harming the civilians. The blonde twins under my protection cling to me as we retreated from the charging of enemy cavalry bearing down upon us with the intent of killing every single one of us without mercy and even disregarding the involvement of children in presence. Nevertheless, there’s no any other choice for us right now but to get away from the charging enemy cavalry

“Run! Just keep running!”

“Don’t stop for anything!”

“Our life depends on us getting away from them!”

“Don’t fret! We shall assure you that no harm comes to you all!”

Those exclaims and shouts from the soldiers and policemen, urged the civilians to keep running no matter what especially with the imminent danger chasing us from behind

We continued running away from the charging enemy cavalry and dragons while also occasionally turning around but still on the run while firing back at the mounted dark knights to get some shots at them. We did manage to kill some of them, but our main priority is still on securing the civilians away from the enemy and retreating back to the rearguard line, period. And because they’re cavalry, riding on horses, not to mention those flying reptiles that the enemy brought along means their movement is much more faster than us. They can outpace us easily at any time and cut us down with their blades and blow us away to smithereens with the fire blasts from their dragons

The rearguard troops also cannot open fire yet because we were not within the reach of a safe firing range as not to accidentally hit any of us with their Vickers machine gun that could hit anything within the range yet. While the same could not mostly be said for the riflemen, it’s still dangerous for us at this range if they open fire on the charging enemy anyway. That’s why we need to at least reach the safe fire range for the rearguards to give us covering fire from the enemy cavalry and dragons. If only we had a communication device with us, I can relay my command to the Rearguard forces without the need to reach their position. This is a dire situation for us to be in. What a predicament… But still, I won’t give up any moment and neither would all of us

While we were on the run, my instinct kicked in as it reacted to something, something bad. I turned behind and looked up to the sky above the charging dark knight cavalry, one of the dragons had its mouth open as a flaming orb formed from a smaller flaming orb and into a bigger flaming orb almost as big as the dragon’s mouth. And the thing worse is that the dragon had its eyes on me and the two siblings under my protection. At that moment I realized that it was preparing its fire blast and the target is us. I can’t let it hurt these kids. They have a bright future ahead of them

So, while still running, I slowed my pace so that the kids can run ahead of me while I’m behind them. I turned around while still running as I raised my revolver and aimed it at the dragon’s eyes. I somehow know that I can at least hurt the dragon by shooting its eyes with high-velocity projectiles so the dragon would stop its fire. I pulled the trigger of my revolver three times consecutively as sparks erupted from the revolver’s barrel and fired three bullets into the sky. The three bullets flew in the air towards the direction of the dragon as they all consecutively hit the dragon on its left eye, causing it to screech in pain and fly in jumbles and in turn, stopped its fire charging

That’s one dragon down and the futures of two kids saved

“Don’t you dare bring harm to the future of innocent children, you monsters! I, along with the brave men and human ingenuities shall be the ones to protect their futures from the likes of you” That was my last declaration to the enemy that I will in the future face once again before we continued our retreat and the evacuation of civilians

And in the future, I surely will realize it as long as I keep living and fighting for the sake of everything that I believed in

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