Firebrand chronicles

The Firebrand chronicles is a book not yet published about the fictional United Nations Special Forces operative James Xanaville Fraust, codenamed Firebrand, written by Brandon Bogar. The story is comprised of seven "acts" over the main course of 11 years.

Plot

Act 1: Catalyst

This act begins with James being assaulted by a bully in high school. Shortly after, James is knocked out and awakens at the High School football field.

A month later, in class, the teacher of the class is taking attendance, when he gets to James' name, he queries if anyone has seem him, with no answer except for chuckling by the bully at the back of the classroom. James then walks in, grabs the bully by his hair, then pulls him out of the classroom. James breaks the bully's jaw and then continues to beat him, which is not described, but apparently lands the bully in the hospital. The next scene, James is in the principal's office. AS the principal picks up the phone to contact James' parents, James picks up a picture of the principal's family. James states that his daughter and wife both look like "sluts," and throws the picture against the wall, breaking it. As James turns to leave, he is grabbed by the principal. James then picks up a decorative bottle, and breaks it over the principal's head. James then runs, ending the act.

Act 2: Stealth and Firebrand

The beginning of the act takes place in early August of 2003, at the United Nations New York headquarters, where James is in his office, setting up an elaborate pattern of baby blue and white dominoes. A man, named Denver walks into the office right before James knocks down the dominoes, which creates the insignia of the United Nations on his desk. Denver sets a file on the desk, and James takes a quick look through it, after which stating that April 1st was a long time ago, and asks why he is expected to believe stories about reanimation and zombies. He then goes to his partner, Jacob Smith's, office and they have a short discussion, afterwards going to the armory.

When taking off in route to the operation which is in Autumn Springs, Kentucky, Jacob informs James that his life is irrelevant as long as the mission is completed. James then takes a nap on the way to Autumn Springs.

The helicopter then touches down about two and a half hours later, Jacob and James step out, then begin walking. James asks where they are going, and is told by Jacob that they are headed to a pharmaceutical building five miles away, and is also informed that this mission is search and rescue.
Soon, the two enter a building and split up. Jacob goes in a undisclosed direction, while James checks a nearby room. Upon entering the room, he sees a group on their hands and knees, gathered around an object. James says, "Hello?" which is answered by one of the group, who is covered in blood, standing up and turning towards James, then begins to stumble his way, the rest of the group follow suit. James attempts twice to keep the group at bay, and after no response, opens fire with his submachinegun, dispatching the group, and calls for Jacob. Jacob soon comes in and after commenting on the gore on the back wall of the room, tells James to conserve his ammo, and that James just killed zombies.

Soon, James and Jacob are at another building, Jacob trying to pick the lock to get inside. Jacob soon fails as to his surprise, James pulls out a set of master keys and opens the door. Once inside the building, the pair split up once more. James checks an empty room, then moves onto the next one. When he tries to open the door, it is locked. Shots come through the door, but James is not hit. After a short conversation in French, a woman named Madeline steps out of the room. Jacob soon finds the two, and asks about the gunshots. James explains and then introduces Jacob to Madeline, by his callsign, Stealth. James then says that Jacob's callsign means that he specializes in covert operations, and that James callsign means, "I f**k s**t up."

Soon after, the three are at another building, Jacob trying to pick the lock. James hears Madeline mumble something in French, and after thought over what she said, he realizes that she is about to fire a shot that will attract more zombies. Before James can stop her, Madeline fires. The three then give up trying to get to the building and head towards the lab.

As they enter the lab, James closes and locks the door from the inside to keep the large horde which has pursued them out. Jacob says that they should rest for a moment. James and Madeline have a conversation in French for a moment, then the group moves on to the lower levels of the lab. As the elevator they used gets to their floor, the door opens, and Jacob quickly shuts them, and asks for James to toss a grenade, as Jacob doesn't have any. The doors open and James throws a grenade in the hallway, killing all the zombies in the hallway they were about to enter, they then continue and reach a large shaft-like room, with two doors. Jacob suggest splitting up and tells Madeline to come with him. Madeline says she would rather stay with James and the three split up. While James and Madeline are searching part of the lab, they talk, James saying that he was promoted, and Madeline had moved to the U.S., because her father was assigned to work for the pharmaceutical company. Shortly after they reach a room, and after dispatching the undead were inside, finds data on the cause of the situation. He radios Jake and tells him that it was all because of a failed cure for cancer that turned it's patients into undead. James collects samples and finds and escape route, after stating that something is,"Bad."
After exiting the room, Madeline and James encounter a monster. James tries to dispatch it with his handgun, and after failing to do this, uses a stun grenade, accidentally also stunning Madeline. The two meet up with Jacob, then keep running from the monster which has quickly recovered from being stunned. The three reach a large room, Jacob tries to open a door as James tries to keep the monster at bay. Jake unlocks the door and the three try to escape. James is hit by the monster and falls down a flight of stairs, breaking his collarbone. After a short exchange of words, Jacob and Madeline escape, while James tries to kill the monster with a knife, having used all his ammunition.
After killing the monster, James approaches a tram out of the lab severely injured. After meeting up with Jacob and Madeline in the tram, James lies down. Soon after, Madeline kisses James, and the act ends.

Act 3: Solo Debut

The next act starts in mid February of 2005. James walks into the United Nations New York headquarters, apparently after a vacation in Australia. Soon, he is assigned a mission in the northern Siberian wastes.
Shortly before leaving the next day, he speaks on the phone, apologizing to someone that he can't spend Valentine's day with whom he is on the phone with.
Three hours later, his helicopter touches down and he enters a research facility. He enters a room and has a short battle with zombies. Just before he is almost bitten by an zombie, the zombie is killed. James has a short conversation with a group of five men in tactical gear, and learns that the group is from a secret organization called Echelon, sent to aid James. James learns that the leader of the group is named Dayton, and that Echelon knows that James is in a relationship with Madeline.
The group and James crowd around a map while Dayton explains the plan. The plan is to obtain samples and escape, but in route to the room containing samples, there is a large battle of zombies where Dayton is bitten. Dayton says he is infected and he will turn into a zombie soon, and asks James to kill him as an act of mercy, which James does.

Soon, the group is almost out of the facility, where they are confronted by another monster. James tells the Echelon group to go while he stays behind, once again to dispatch the monster with a knife, all his ammunition spent.
Shortly after, Jacob gets a call from James while on assignment in Africa. It appears that James has been mortally wounded in the battle.
James is then walking through the Siberian wastes very badly wounded and beginning to suffer from the last stages of hypothermia. He falls down and coughs up blood, then soon after begins to undress in the sub-zero temperatures due to a symptom of hypothermia. It is revealed that he has a compound fracture of his humerus, and several ribs. He then passes out.

A year later, Madeline walks out of what appears to be James' former, and now Madeline's, mansion, to go on a date. After getting in her car to leave, she sees James and runs to him. James said he was gone for a year to, "find the right words." James gives Madeline a bouquet of roses and proposes, and Madeline accepts the proposal.

Act 4: The Worst Weapon is Your Own

The act starts shortly after James passes out in Siberia, having being picked up by a helicopter and is being treated. As he is treated his heartbeat stops but after two shocks from a defibrillator his heart starts, and then is x-rayed and the medics start to reposition his bones.
The following January, James wakes up from a coma just moments before being taken off life support. He learns that he was in the coma for almost a year.

The next chapter begins in June 2006 at a church in Spokane, where James and Madeline are wed. After a short ceremony the two leave in a white limousine to their honeymoon.

About a month later, a car stops at a railroad crossing in Nevada as a train begins crossing. After a few moments, the man in the vehicle begins seeing James between the train cars. James draws an assault rifle as he reaches the train. As the man in the car starts to get out, James crosses the railroad tracks by a flatbed car and opens fire on the vehicle, killing the man, who had been rescued in a United Nations Special Forces operation, but violated the contract saying that anything he saw or knew about the operation needed to be kept silent.

The next day, James is in his office and is assigned a mission in Saudi Arabia to deal with a terrorist organization that has synthesized large amounts of the nerve agent VX. He is told that the mission is from a syndicate unrelated to the United Nations.
After a short visit to the armory, James acquires body armour, a minigun, and various explosives.

The day after, James is surveying the camp from behind rocks, talking to Jacob over radio about his plan. James then gets in a bulletproof Humvee and drives towards the terrorist camp.

The Humvee smashes into the camp and is fired upon by all of the terrorists outside of the main building. After the terrorists use their ammunition, James walks into the camp and dispatches all of them with the minigun. He then discards the minigun and uses grenades to break into the compound. After two short gun battles, James reaches the room of the VX stockpile, as long with the organizations leader. The leader exchanges words with James, and threatens to release the nerve agent. James shoots the detonator and breaks it, when which a swordfight begins. During the swordfight, the man's shirt is cut and gets a slight graze across his torso. During a small break in the fight, James covertly punctures one of the barrels of VX, and when the leader rushes again, James uses one of his swords to fling VX onto the man's graze, killing him shortly afterwards, but James also gets infected in the process.
Outside, James shows a few symptoms of being contaminated with VX, but injects himself with an antidote. He gives Jacob a report over radio and is told to return to base.

A week later, James is in his den at his mansion. He receives two envelopes, one from the United Nations, another from a Swiss bank. After he reads the letter from the Swiss bank, he discovers that the syndicate has paid him two billion dollars.

Act 5: Bad Things, Good People.

The act starts when James is working on a car, when Madeline walks into the garage and tells James that she is pregnant. Madeline suggests that James should retire, but James refuses, and is told that he got a call from Denver. He leaves the garage, muttering about the difficulty of getting a full vacation, and calls Denver, where he is told that his assignment is similar to the one in Siberia, except on a tropical island off the coast of Japan.

Three days later, Jacob and James are taken from the United Nations New York headquarters and taken to a United Nations Special Forces air junction, where they get on a jet and leave to an unrevealed location. They are then flying a helicopter to the island, with James piloting. They get a missle warning and are hit. James keeps the helicopter under control as much as he can before ejecting, and shortly after Jacob ejects. James lands on the beach and arms himself with his weapons out of a duffel bag. After doing so, he goes to find Jacob, which has come down more inland on the island.
When James finds Jacob, a short battle with zombies, except the zombies have a skin color with a slight red hue, and claws.
The two shortly reach a compound, surrounded on all sides by a 150 foot cliff, and a moat. After considering how to get to the compound, the two jump into the moat.
On an elevator in the compound, the two are attacked by another monster, which is quickly dispatched. After the elevator ride, there is another zombie battle, after which a dog approaches the two. James sees that the dog is healthy and uninfected, then feeds and waters the dog. James finds that the dog's name is Hengst, and adopts it. Hengst almost immediately shows hostility to Jacob, but is friendly to James. The group then continues on, and James goes through a door while Hengst bites Jacob in the hand. James shortly after comes out of the room, gunfire being heard from inside. After the gunfire stops, James walks into the room, and sees that the hallway is covered by foliage, the foliage being a trigger for sentry guns whenever a disturbance occurs. After James gets through the room, he finds samples of a virus, and obtains them, then returns to Jake, who begin to leave the facility. As they are stuck at a door, Jacob is impaled by the monster they had encountered in the elevator. The monster then attacks James, and James scares the monster off with a grenade. Shortly after, James kills the infected Jacob and continues with Hengst.
James is then encountered by a group, but they are all killed and eaten by the monster from before. The monster then attacks James. James commands Hengst to the other end of the hallway as he draws a grenade. He pulls the pin on the grenade and drops it, the grenade explodes, but also sends a piece of shrapnel into his leg. James then sets a thermobaric explosive on the monster and runs to an elevator. During the ride up, the explosive detonates.
After he returns to a treatment center, the doctors find something odd in his bloodstream, but it is dismissed.
The next day James returns home, and a week later, James speaks at Jacob's funeral, after the funeral, James makes a call and sets up a meeting.

Act 6: ...Out Of Mind

The act starts at late August in 2006, where James screams, "Oh my god! Purple badgers!" and jumps out of a second story window, apparently for the third time of that week. Beside the pool, Madeline asks James if he's been on acid, and James asks if she would be mad if he had been taking cocaine and PCP. Madeline answers maybe
James in then in his den, intoxicated from taking cocaine and PCP, when he gets a call. He talks on the phone, learning that he had been infected on the island from a piece of shrapnel going through the monster and into his leg, however he is told that it should not be of concern. After the phone call, James jumps out of the window again.
Four days later, on James' birthday, James' drug dealer comes to James' birthday party. They have a short discussion, then the next day, James wakes up for a few moments then goes back to sleep, an hour later, he wakes up with a hangover. He then goes downstairs and found that he was given a present. Three days later, at the United Nations headquarters, he is ordered to fire hundreds of peacekeeping troops due to a controversy overseas. Later that day, James writes a letter of resignment.
The next day, James overdoses on cocaine and PCP then is rushed to the hospital. After waking up, Madeline informs him that James is being sent to rehab.

Act 7: One Man Wrecking Crew

The act begins with two men talking about breaking in to somewhere and stealing files, during early March of 2011.
The next day, the two men walk into the United Nations headquarters and take it hostage, soon after, 30 more men arrive. James is then called at the New York Hilton, after apparently backing out of his resignment. He is told of the situation and goes to help.
He enters the building by throwing a grappling hook onto a roof then climbing up. After entering the building he sneaks up on one of the intruders and interrogates him at gunpoint. After the interrogation, James kills the man then goes to his office. He gets his glasses, respirator mask, a silenced carbine and grenades. While in his office, he is fired upon from outside his office, but is not hit. While his assailant begins to walk away, James dispatches him as well then sends a message over the radio.
James is then running down stairs being followed by intruders. He goes into a corridor and locks the door behind him.
All of the intruders break into the corridor and run in, looking for James. While doing this, they trip a wire and a grenade which was set as a trap in the wall. The grenade explodes, dispersing a powdered nerve agent, which effects all of the intruders. While they are dying, James comes out of hiding and crouches down next to a man who is struggling for breath. James taunts him by breathing loudly and deeply through his respirator mask. The man with his breath utters the word, "Please," for James to stop his suffering. James continues to look at the man, then stands up and leaves the corridor. As he enters the stairway, he is knocked out.
James wakes up tied to a chair, one of the two men from the beginning standing in front of him. The man demands to know where files are, slightly torturing James. James refuses, but then gives in. The two go to James' office, and James tricks the man into untying him. James gives him false instructions to open the safe in his office, which were really instructions to trigger a trap, which would spray pepper spray into the man's eyes. While the man is immobilized James runs to the roof. The man follows shortly. There is a short gunfight between the two, until James' opponent is disarmed. James picks up the grappling hook and stands at the edge of the building. His attacker tackles him off, the grappling hook still on the roof. While in the air, James slips the noose he tied after climbing the building around the man's neck and then the rope goes tight. James is still holding onto the rope as to not fall, as the man is killed.
James then walks back to the lobby. The last man tries to attack, but can't get a good aim and is grabbed by James. James takes the man into the nearest bathroom and fills a sink with water. James dunks the man's head in the water several times, nearly drowning the man.

Epilouge

James slowly rises from his knees, a massive horde of zombies approaching around him, the whites of James' eyes now matching the red color of his irises. A zombie grabs his arm, James grabs the zombie's arm, and begins swinging the zombie. James stops swinging the zombie, the arm being ripped from the socket. He began to move through the horde, using the arm effectively as a weapon until he hits a stop sign pole with the arm. He drops the arm then rips the stop sign out of the ground and begins moving through the horde, using the sign as a weapon quite easily. As he defeats all but two of the undead, he throws the sign, which cuts through half of a zombie's head and sticks into a wooden door. Then, he returns to the zombie which he attacked first, and begins pulling at it's head. He rips the head off the zombie's body, spine still attached, and throws it at a one-way sign, which chops the head in half. James then passed out. Upon waking up, he walks over to a car and looks in the mirror, seeing two trails of blood tears down his cheeks.

James Xanaville Fraust

James was born on September 1st, 1981 in Bristol, England. He is albino, more specifically, he has oculocutaneous albinism type 1bTS, which allows him to have pigment in his hair and skin, making his hair silver and his skin seem to be the same tone of a normal Caucasian, although his eyes are red. He is 6'2 and weighs roughly 180 pounds with an athletic build.
At the age of six, he moved to Amarillo, Texas to live with his grandfather. In 2000, he joined the United Nations as peacekeeping, three years later he was promoted to U.N.S.F. duty. As of March 6th, he was promoted to six-star general of U.N.S.F.

Personal Life

James is the father of twins, one male and one female, born on May 6th, 2007. The boy was named Dayton Jacob, and the female Mercedes Ann.
James is normally an occasional user of marijuana, stating that, "...everybody needs to kick back and smoke a bone time to time, and I'm no exception."
He also smokes clove cigarettes. He chooses to smoke cloves because they do not usually contain nicotine because nicotine addiction which could create a problem during covert missions.
James resides at a manor in an undisclosed part of Spokane, Washington, rumored to be in the Palouse area.

Equipment

Clothing

Except for his first assignment, in which he wore tactical gear, he wears a black suit with a white tie, a black fedora with white trim, black leather gloves, and a black trenchcoat. He wears glasses with a HUD on the right lens, even though the main processing unit for the glasses are in his trenchcoat, which also relays weapon information through his glasses via a wire that is concealed in the left bow. His suit is lined with SOV-2000 armor, which can withstand 40 7.62 NATO rounds and 120 9x19mm Parabellum rounds without being penetrated.

Gadgets

Along with his glasses and trenchcoat relay, James has a set of master keys for almost any lock ever made, a P.D.A. with which he can download information from computers via USB, hack computers, and send encrypted messages.

Weapons

On his first mission, James was armed with a Fabrique Nationale Herstal P90, A Fabrique Nationale Herstal Five-SeVen handgun, Mark II A1 Pineapple grenades, 7290 stun grenades, a Winchester 22-41281 Ranger tactical knife, and a Heckler and Koch VP70M.
From his second mission on his main weapon was a Heckler and Koch 416 with ACOG scope and tactical foregrip, Glock G34C as a sidearm, and at times a Desert Eagle chambered in .44 Magnum with a 12 inch barrel, or an Ingram MAC10 with two stage silencer, sometimes the Desert Eagle and MAC10 was carried both at once.
In 2007, he acquired a pair of handguns based of the Heckler and Koch VP70, the differences being an extended magazine size, the caliber changed to custom made 12x48mm armor piercing rounds, an extended threaded barrel to accept a silencer, a lighter trigger pull and a select fire switch which can switch the gun to semi-auto, three round burst, and full autmatic.
From 2008 on he changed his primary weapon to a Kriss Vector-V carbine with an ACOG scope because of the low recoil force and the attached silencer, as well as a larger round.

Other Characters

Jacob Lee Smith

Jacob Lee Smith was born on August 3rd, 1979 in Bilouxi, Mississippi. He joined the U.N. at the age of 19. At the age of 21 he was promoted to U.N.S.F.and at 24 was assigned as James' partner, as well as commanding officer. He was 6'1 and weighed roughly 185 pounds with an athletic build. He had brown-green eyes and short light brown hair. He was James' best friend until his unfortunate demise in 2006.

Madeline Paris Jacques/Fraust

Madeline Paris Jacques was born on October 3rd, 1985 in Marseilles, France. in 1997, her family moved from Marseilles to Autumn Springs, Kentucky because her father was given a job at the Villeneuve Pharmaceutical company. She graduated from Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, living with James since 2003.

Richard Carlton Denver

Richard Carlton Denver was born on June 4th, 1953 in Medford, Oregon. He joined the U.N. in 1975 and was promoted to U.N.S.F. in 1979. He has been working in the U.N.S.F. assignment office ever since.

Hengst

Hengst was born on July 3rd, 1998 in Berlin, Germany. He was originally trained as a police dog, until he was purchased by the Omihura Pharmaceutical company in 2005 as security in their biological experiments.

Sequel

Brandon Bogar has already been working on one sequel, by the name of "Skytzoe," and also plans to write another sequel by the title of "Declassified: U.N.S.F. War Reports."

Declassified: U.N.S.F. War Reports

Declassified: U.N.S.F. War Reports revolved around a zombie war occuring from 2012 to 2016, in which 80% of the world population is infected and turned to undead. Not much is known about this sequel, but it is said to take place mostly in England, and that during a severe infestation, Spokane, Washington, was almost completely destroyed by a barrage of nuclear weapons.

Skytzoe

Skytzoe revolves around an operative recruited to the U.N.S.F. in 2018. The main character is said to be Brandon Bogar himself.

Returning Cast

James is confirmed to be in this sequel, and the possibility of Dayton and Mercedes Fraust. Madeline being in the book is not confirmed, but the current assumption is that she will make at least one appearance. Hengst, however, will not make an appearance.

New Characters

Brandon Bogar

Brandon Bogar was born on September 1st, 1988, in Spokane, Washington. While on a vacation to Switzerland in 2012, he was stuck in England during the main outbreak. He then joined the army where he fought for the entire duration of the war. After the war, he somehow returned to the United States to return to Spokane. It is rumored that he has synthesized a cure for the virus.

Aaron Baguley

Not much is known about Aaron, but he is Australian, and he was hand selected by Brandon to be a second partner next to James.

Robert Mutsaers

Not much is known about Robert either, but he is Dutch, and was also hand selected by Brandon to be a second partner after James retires from active duty to replace Richard Denver as assignment officer.

Other Info

Brandon is said to wear mostly black, with a white bulletproof vest, white gloves and a white bandana tied around his face. His weapons are said to be two Glock G24C's and a Sig Sauer SIG 551 with scope and tactical foregrip. It is also a concept that he will be a given a Glock 18 with a .50 GI conversion kit by James.

James in the story will not have aged since the end of The Firebrand Chronicles, but he will have a slightly colder and quieter personality, as well as a replacement arm from an incident during the war.

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