text: [Themes: edutainment, historical]
  
  Over the next day, the rising is generally non-violent, as the police are pushed out of the city. The British military are caught completely by surprise and aren't able to repel your forces, simply retreating and preparing for an attack.Besides the GPO, the Four Courts, St Stephen's Green, Dublin City Hall and South Dublin Union. Within the first day, the British forces had been crushed, with little actual fighting taking place. The police are withdrawn from the street, and the rebels have seized the city.
  
  You stand inside the GPO, with the Irish Volunteers Director of Arms walking alongside you as you lead him to a recently captured British soldier. The man, known mainly as The O'Rahilly, wasn't a member of the IRB, and thus wasn't told about the Rising until a day later. He drove here in his motorcar, showing him with a grin and a fervor to do his patriotic duty.
  
  "Did you really need to come here?" one of the other soldiers escorting them says. "You didn't support an armed action, did you?"
  
  "Well, I've helped to wind up the clock -- I might as well hear it strike!" he says, grinning. "I'll do my duty to this new republic happily."
  
  He's quickly led to the British soldier, who is tied up in telephone wire in a telephone box. Outside, the soldier who caught him stands, looking at the two of you.
  
  "Good evening, boy. I don't believe I've met you," the O'Rahilly says.
  
  "It's Michael, sir. Michael Collins," the guard says.
  
  "Well done capturing this man. You're a credit to the nation."
  
  "Thank you, sir," Michael Collins says.
  
  Michael Collins leaves the O'Rahilly and you in, to look at the tied up, captured soldier.
  
  He looks at him, shaking his head.
  
  "Jesus, are you alright, man?" he asks.
  
  The soldier only nods in response.
  
  "Can I get you anything? Food, water? I'm really sorry about this whole situation, but you know how armed combat is. Hopefully, we can be gentlemen about this."
  
  The O'Rahilly turns to the soldier to his left, nodding vigorously.
  
  "I want this officer to watch the safe to see that nothing is touched. You will see that no harm comes to him."
  
  The soldier nods, as the O'Rahilly turns to you.
  
  "Alright, thanks for showing me the way. Go return to your post, soldier, a pleasure meeting you. What did you say your name was?"
  
  "Michael, sir. Michael McCarthy," he says.
  
  "Pleasure to meet you, Michael," he says, shaking your hand. "God bless you and your service."
  
  You nod, before you begin walking down back to the streets, as you hurry to a nearby barricade set up in the streets to repel a British attack. You take your post there, lined up with Joseph and a few other soldiers.
  
  Over the next few hours, you're left guarding there, with no attacks. As you're the headquarters in the center of the Rebel-controlled territory, the British aren't able to directly attack.
  
  After a few hours, late in the evening, you're left smoking a cigarette, staring out across the barricade of chairs, barrels and bricks tossed haphazardly into a wall. Joseph walks back and forth, clearly bored.
  
  "God, this freedom fighting can get boring, can't it?" Joseph says.
  
  "Shut up and do your duty, you dopey fool!" Liam, another soldier, shouts from across the duty, as there's a few laughs.
  
  "Jesus, Liam, that's not what your...!" Joseph replies with a laugh,
  
  "Shut up!" you say suddenly, pausing as you hear a faint whistling in the air. "Shit, get...!"
  
  The ground explodes, as an explosive shell smashes into the barricade, exploding it in a shower of shrapnel. You're docked off your feet, sent flying through the air as you smack into the ground. Shells begin slamming into the barricade, the street and the room around you, as explosions tear through the city. There's a terrified scream, as a Volunteer is showered with wooden shrapnel from a destroyed table, killing him instantly. Another shell hits a man directly, setting him off in a red mist of gore.
  
  "Fuck, shelling!" someone screams.
  
  "What's going on?!" you yell.
  
  "The British have sailed a gunboat up the River Liffey!" someone yells.
  
  You swear, keeping low as you wonder what to do.
  
  > Retreat to cover of the nearby buildings
  You turn, bursting towards the nearest building as shells land around you, rushing inside a building as your comrades do the same. You shoulder open the door, finding you're in an office building, no doubt one that was abandoned when the fighting started. You're left waiting there inside, hoping that the violence ends soon as shells explode outside.
  
  The shelling continues until nightfall, as the sky darkens on the second day of the newly proclaimed Republic. As the shelling ends, you're left clutching at your rifle, praying to God it doesn't start up again, as tiles from the roof drop down, breaking open with crashes around you. For the next few minutes, or hours, perhaps, you're just left desperately hoping it doesn't start again, terrified out of your mind. Your allies are equally terrified. You're not soldiers; you're children, sent out to take back your country from an impossibly large Empire.
  
  "God our father, almighty Jesus, Holy Spirit, please grant me the strength and power to last through the nigh.t Please help me break away from the..." you begin to mutter, before Joseph angrily grasps your arm.
  
  "They can't take away our fighting spirit that easily!" Joseph says desperately. "They just can't! It's not fair!"
  
  "Joseph, just quiet down. No one wants to hear you breaking the silence. They're content in it. Just leave them appreciate the fact that shells aren't raising now."
  
  Joseph falls silent, but this time, the silence isn't as still. You can hear whimpering from the other buildings, crying from the wounded and the scared, desperate muttered prayers from the others. You close your eyes, desperately hoping for a way out. Joseph looks around, seeing the same group of terrified boys hiding that you see. He closes his eyes tightly, before opening them with a fierce look of determination. Slowly, he begins to sing one of the new Irish patriot tunes, his voice rising above the terrified mutterings of the rest of the pour souls hiding out there.
  
  "We'll sing a song, a soldier's song, with cheering rousing chorus, As round our blazing fires we throng, The starry heavens o'er us!"
  
  Joseph's never been a good singer by any degree, but something about the emotion, the determination, the spirit in his voice, it awakens the same feelings in you. Slowly, a few voices, yours included, join in.
  
  "Impatient for the coming fight, And as we wait the morning's light...!"
  
  More voices join the singing, as the voices grow louder and more fierce.
  
  "Here in the silence of the night, We'll chant a soldier's song!" the voices sing out into the night,
  
  The song continues as your voices get louder, the song breaking through the cold, dark silence and filling you with inspiration.
  
  "Soldiers are we whose lives are pledged to Ireland. Some have come from a land beyond the wave! Sworn to be free. No more our ancient sire land shall shelter the despot or the slave. Tonight we man the gap of danger. In Erin's cause, come woe or weal!"
  
  At this point, not a voice is silent or passionless, dozens of voices roaring without pause, without regard for the enemy at the throat of the deathly rain of shrapnel and flames that landed minutes ago.
  
  "'Mid cannons' roar and rifles peal We will chant a soldier's song!" you roar
  
  The group continues singing into the endless darkness. It's clear to you, as your voice is added to dozens of others, that the Irish spirit hasn't been broken tonight.
  
  > Days Later...
  The next few days, you're not attacked, but the shelling, that goddamned shelling, continues on. Every day is a horror as you pray shells won't destroy the building, just hoping to survive as shells smash around you, tearing great holes in the buildings and blowing chunks of stone and mortar.
  
  By Wednesday, hundreds of British troops attacked twenty six volunteers in the Mendicity Institute, and they became the first of the rebels to surrender. Impressively, these men had been placed as a diversion to hold the area for a few hours to slow down the British, but had lasted three days. Meanwhile in the assault on Mount Street, seventeen Irish rebels managed to hold off over a thousand British soldiers, taking out 240 British soldiers with only 4 of their own casualties. God, they're impressive allies.
  
  Of course, after that, the British hit hard. Over the next few days, there was endless brutality, As the British forces push in, they take heavy losses, but do push your forces back back. It's going to be a hard fight to win this battle and push them back out of the city.
  
  Now, on Thursday, a British force of soldiers have pushed up an advance force to the GPO, and you're forced to defend it. With a handful of other soldiers, James Connolly included, you're left defending an upper floor.
  
  You stand by the window of the GPO, rushing to reload rifles. The single-shot nature of your rifles means you've set it up so while two men reload
  
  "Christ, I need a better stance," Connolly says, putting his foot up on the windowsill.
  
  James Connolly aims down his rifle, taking another shot. Suddenly, a bullet thuds into his leg, as he's sent toppling over with a scream. He lies on the ground, clutching his heavily bleeding leg. You drop the rifle you're holding, looking around for something to do. You can't see outside, but you know it's not going to take much to overrun your position.
  
  > help Connolly
  You rush over to Connolly, moving over to him as you drop to your knees in front of him. Connolly groans, clutching at his leg, as you lean in to take a look.
  
  "Christ, boys," James Connolly groans, blood soaking through his clothes as he looks up at you meekly. "Those British bastards did a number on me."
  
  You grab him, pulling off his boot to reveal the bullet's nearly took off his foot. He groans, as you stare down at it, horrified.
  
  "Is it bad?" Connolly asks.
  
  "No, sir," you say, gulping as you go pale, only trying to keep him calm.
  
  "Don't lie to me," Connolly laughs, going even whiter than you. "That's insubordination to an officer."
  
  You pause, looking terrified, planning on how to deal with this.
  
  > find a medic
  "I need a medic, someone give me a hand," you yell down.
  
  You stand up, rushing out to the hallways.
  
  "I need a hand! James Connolly has been shot!" you cry.
  
  A man quickly rushes over to you, clad in the uniform of an Irish Citizen Army soldier. He stares at you with a worried look.
  
  "What do you need?" the man asks.
  
  "Are you a medic?"
  
  "No, but I've been sent to bring wounded back
  
  "It's James Connolly. He's been shot. It's bad," you say.
  
  "Let's get him to a first aid station, then," the man says.
  
  You hurry back to James Connolly, who is splayed out on the ground. His reloader is trying to stem the blood, but unsuccessfully.
  
  "Help me lift him," the man says, grabbing James Connolly's arms.
  
  You grab his legs, keeping a hand around his bleeding leg. You lift him into the air as the two of you carry James Connolly out of the room. You hurry to carry him downstairs, to an office that's now being used as a first aid station. A pair of women in bloody aprons quickly rush over him, hurrying to get to work dealing with his injury. You stand back, watching them work as they wrap layer after layer of bandages over his bleeding leg. After a few minutes, they've stopped the bleeding, and done all they know how to do.
  
  "Will he survive the night?" you ask.
  
  "He'll... well, we don't know. He's in a bad state," the woman says. "He should survive the night. All he needs now is rest, though."
  
  You nod, turning and leaving her to deal with this herself.
  
  You return to your post, where you continue loading guns as you attempt to repel the advance British forces, shooting down the the advancing enemy. The rebels continue to fire down at the British, slowly pushing them back as they're unable to break through and take over the GPO.
  
  Eventually, night falls, and the British soldiers fall back, unable to break through your lines and get into the building. You're left secure, as the enemy falls back, leaving you with a night's peace. Of course, that's what you think, until the shelling begins anew, as the British decide on that tactic instead of fighting. Connolly survives, but is badly wounded, and left unable to walk. As the shells explode around you, you settle in, for another night of praying the shells don't take down the whole building.
  
  > The Next Day...
  You crowd around Padraig Pearse, as he stares outward. The shelling hasn't ended, as the explosive rounds continue to smash into the building. As a lack of supplies, continued shelling damaging the infrastructure of the building, and the British outnumber and outgun you, allowing them to take over vast swathes of territory. Now, you're left outnumbered, as any moment the British could make their final push in, assaulting the GPO to capture or kill the remaining rising leaders and break the entire movement. After that, all that'll need to be done is a mop-up operation to take back control of the city.
  
  As well as this, fires have sprung up through the building, as they begin to race through the old building. You've attempted to put them out, but you're completely unable to. Flames race through, and you're forced to abandon large sections of the building to horrific flames and fire. It's gotten to the point where it's completely out of control. Thus, you're in a desperate situation, as Padraig Pearse and the other leaders know.
  
  "We need to begin a retreat," Padraig Pearse says. "This entire building is about to be overrun. Machine gun posts outside are ready to ambush us as soon as we go outside. Thus, we've found another solution."
  
  "We're going to break through the walls of the GPO in order to get into the surrounding buildings to get the hell out of here. Meanwhile, a strike force is going to lend a diversionary assault out into the streets in order to take out the enemy, led by the O'Rahilly."
  
  There's a quiet silence, as everyone thinks about the situation. It's a brutal issue, and the ability of rebel forces to fight every day grows harder and harder.
  
  "We're looking for volunteers, true heroes, true patriots of the Irish republic, to join the O'Rahilly in his diversionary attack. Do we have any volunteers?"
  
  > escape the GPO with the O'Rahilly
  "I'll go with the O'Rahilly," you say, as Joseph nods.
  
  "Then let's get to it," the O'Rahilly grins. "It is madness, but it is glorious madness!"
  
  The O'Rahilly leads you down the busy steps, and you hurry with him out of the street. You quickly rush down, where the British machine gun position sits. The O'Rahilly ducks behind cover as the rest of you hurry behind a wall, as he grins.
  
  "Any last words, boys?" the O'Rahilly says.
  
  "For Eireann!" someone cries.
  
  "For Eireann!" the rest of you yell.
  
  With that, you charge, bursting out in a desperate charge to take out the machine gun, or at least act as a distraction to cover the retreat.
  
  > open fire with your pistol to suppress them
  You raise your pistol, opening fire as the British machine gun opens fire on you, as bullets bounce off the stones around them. The machine gun quickly zeroes in on the few of you, machine gun fire crackling as bullets fly through the air, zipping through the air. You awkwardly run forward, trying to avoid the bullets. The O'Rahilly has bullets slamming into his chest as he twists and shakes under the gunfire, collapsing to the ground in a pool of blood. He lies there, spluttering and wounded.
  
  "Fuck! We lost the O'Rahilly," you say, continuing to fire on their position.
  
  The machine gunner quickly trains on you, shooting a burst of gunfire, as bullets slam through your chest. You're sent flying backwards, as the bullets knock you to the ground, as blood pours out of your chest, soaking your clothes in blood. You let out a gasp, lying there on the ground. Your body continues to shake under the gunfire, as the gunfire makes it look as if you're still alive, struggling under the bullets that slam into it with incredible strength.