Hiroshi Sakurazaka
All You Need Is Kill
Chapter 1
1
When the bullets start flying, it's only a matter of time before fear catches up with a soldier.
There you are, steel death whizzing past in the air.
Distant shells thunder low and muddy, a hollow sound you feel more than hear. The close ones ring high and clear. They scream with a voice that rattles your teeth, and you know they're the ones headed for you. They cut deep into the ground, throwing up a veil of dust that hangs there, waiting for the next round to come ripping through.
Thousands of shells, burning through the sky—slices of metal no bigger than your finger—and it only takes one to kill you. Only takes one to turn your best buddy into a steaming side of meat.
Death comes quick, in the beat of a heart, and he ain't picky about who he takes.
The soldiers he takes quick—before they know what hit 'em—they're the lucky ones. Most die in agony, their bones shattered, their organs shredded, leaking a sea of blood onto the ground. They wait alone in the mud for Death to steal up behind them and wring out the last drops of life with his icy hands.
If there's a heaven, it's a cold place. A dark place. A lonely place.
I'm terrified.
I grip the trigger with stiff fingers; my arms shake as I send a rain of scorching steel down onto the enemy. The rifle kicks as I fire it. Vunk. Vunk. Vunk. A beat steadier than my heart. A soldier's spirit isn't in his body. It's in his weapon. The barrel warms until it glows, the heat turning fear into anger.
Fuck the brass and their fucking pathetic excuse for air support!
Fuck the suits and their plans that aren't worth a damn once the shit starts flying!
Fuck the artillery for holding back on the left flank!
Fuck that bastard who just got himself killed!
And more than all of 'em, fuck anything and everything aiming at me! Wield your anger like a steel fist and smash in their faces.
If it moves, fuck it!
I have to kill them all. Stop them from moving.
A scream found its way through my clenched teeth.
My rifle fires 450 20mm rounds per minute, so it can burn through a clip fast. But there's no point holding back. It don't matter how much ammo you have left when you're dead. Time for a new magazine.
"Reload!"
The soldier I was shouting to was already dead. My order died in the air, a meaningless pulse of static. I squeezed my trigger again.
My buddy Yonabaru caught one of the first rounds they fired back—one of those javelins. Hit him straight on, tore right through his Jacket. The tip came out covered in blood, oil, and some unidentifiable fluids. His Jacket did a danse macabre for about ten seconds before it finally stopped moving.
There was no use calling a medic. He had a hole just below his chest nearly two centimeters across, and it went clean through his back. The friction had seared the wound at the edges, leaving a dull orange flame dancing around the opening. It all happened within the first minute after the order to attack.
He was the kind of guy that liked to pull rank on you over the stupidest shit, or tell you who'd done it in a whodunit before you'd finished the first chapter. But he didn't deserve to die.
My platoon—146 men from the 17th Company, 3rd Battalion, 12th Regiment, 301st Armored Infantry Division—was sent in to reinforce the northern end of Kotoiushi Island. They lifted us in by chopper to ambush the enemy's left flank from the rear. Our job was to wipe out the runners when the frontal assault inevitably started to push them back.
So much for inevitable.
Yonabaru died before the fighting even started.
I wondered if he suffered much.
By the time I realized what was going on, my platoon was smack dab in the middle of the battle. We were catching fire from the enemy and our own troops both. All I could hear were screams, sobbing, and "Fuck!" Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! The profanities were flying as thick as the bullets. Our squad leader was dead. Our sergeant was dead. The whir of the rotors on the support choppers was long gone. Comms were cut off. Our company had been torn to shreds.
The only reason I was still alive was because I'd been taking cover when Yonabaru bought it.
While the others stood their ground and fought, I was hiding in the shell of my Jacket, shaking like a leaf. These power suits are made of a Japanese composite armor plating that's the envy of the world. They cover you like white on rice. I figured that if a shell did make it past the first layer, it'd never make it past the second. So if I stayed out of sight long enough, the enemy would be gone when I came out. Right?
I was scared shitless.
Like any recruit fresh out of boot camp I could fire a rifle or a pile driver, but I still didn't know how to do it worth a damn. Anyone can squeeze a trigger. Bang! But knowing when to fire, where to shoot when you're surrounded? For the first time I realized I didn't know the first thing about warfare.
Another javelin streaked past my head.
I tasted blood in my mouth. The taste of iron. Proof that I was still alive.
My palms were clammy and slick inside my gloves. The vibrations of the Jacket told me the battery was almost out of juice. I smelled oil. The filter was on its last legs, and the stench of the battlefield was fighting its way into my suit, the smell of enemy corpses like the smell of crumpled leaves.
I hadn't felt anything below my waist for a while. It should have hurt where they hit me, but it didn't. I didn't know whether that was good or bad. Pain lets you know you're not dead yet. At least I didn't have to worry about the piss in my suit.
Out of fuel—air grenades. Only thirty—six 20mm slugs left. The magazine would be empty in five seconds. My rocket launcher—which they gave each of us only three rockets for anyway—got itself lost before I could even fire the damn thing. My head—mounted camera was wasted, the armor on my left arm was shredded, and even at full throttle the Jacket was only outputting at 40 percent. Miraculously, the pile driver on my left shoulder had survived without a scratch.
A pile driver is a close—combat weapon that uses an explosive charge to fire tungsten carbide spikes—only good against enemies within arm's reach. The powder cartridges it fires are each as big as a man's fist. At a ninety—degree angle of impact, the only thing that can stand up to it is the front armor plating on a tank. When they first told me its magazine only held twenty rounds, I didn't think anyone could live long enough to use even that many. I was wrong.
Mine had four rounds left.
I had fired sixteen times, and missed fifteen—maybe sixteen.
The heads—up display in my suit was warped. I couldn't see a goddamn thing where it was bent. There could be an enemy standing right in front of me and I'd never know it.
They say a vet who is used to the Jacket can get a read on his surroundings without even using the camera. Takes more than eyes in battle. You have to feel the impact passing through layers of ceramic and metal and into your body. Read the pull of the trigger. Feel the ground through the soles of your boots. Take in numbers from a kaleidoscope of gauges and know the state of the field in an instant. But I couldn't do any of that. A recruit in his first battle knows shit—all.
Breathe out. Breathe in.
My suit was rank with sweat. A terrible smell. Snot was seeping from my nose, but I couldn't wipe it.
I checked the chronometer beside my display. Sixty—one minutes had passed since the battle started. What a load of shit. It felt like I'd been fighting for months.