Battlefield 3 will be released next week, but few people know that a Battlefield 3 novel will also explore the dark and gritty world of EA and DICE's first-person shooter. Written by "the guy who wrote the Battlefield 3 novel," the book will show the horrors of combat through the eyes of some soldiers sent to do battle against some nefarious enemy soldiers.

Several short sections from the book have been leaked to Ars Technica, and we're excited to bring you the first look at this explosive piece of writing. Enjoy!

The plan of attack

The line of snipers stretched ten men across, the scopes of their rifles glistening in the morning sun. One man seemed confused by the situation, holding only a medical kit in his shaking hands. He tried to catch the squad leader's attention.

"Sir, maybe I could go into the field and... I don't know. Try to kill someone on the other side?"

The squad leader squinted at the medic, who seemed to be new to the art of war. He chuckled to himself, thinking that the young man likely didn't have even a defibrillator to use yet. "Son, if I sent you out in the field, who would stay here and heal my snipers?"

He spit at the soldier's feet, enjoying the look of disgust and fear on the young man's face.

"But sir," the medic gulped. He seemed nervous about bringing up this next point. "Aren't we the attacking force?"

The squad leader grinned coldly before bringing the binoculars up to his eyes. "Of course we're the attacking force. That's why it's so important for every man under my command to pick up a sniper rifle and wait here, at our base."

He nodded to himself, sure of his strategy. "Snipers as far as the eye can see. Sooner or later... they'll come to us."

This looks easy

"Have you ever flown one of these things?" the soldier asked nervously as his squadmate flipped switches and checked dials in the helicopter cockpit. The rotors roared to life, kicking dust and debris away from the landing pad.

"No, sir," the soon-to-be pilot answered. "But I've seen it done before. You get back on that mounted weapon and get ready to take care of any opposition once we're airborne. Our friends are taking heavy fire near the communications tower, and they need us to back them up."

"Yes sir, gladly sir," the soldier responded, snapping off a smart salute.

He braced himself in the helicopter's doorway, both hands holding the machine gun steady. This was it, a flight into the center of the storm, and it was his job to clear out any enemy soldiers they saw.

"Hold onto your butts!" the pilot yelled with a grin on his face.

With a light touch he powered up the helicopter and took off slowly until the craft hovered ten meters off the ground, at which point the vehicle pitched backward, slammed into the dirt, and exploded, killing everyone inside instantly.

Behind the helipad, a long line of soldiers waited for the next vehicle.

"Have you ever flown one of these things before?" one asked the other, who shrugged.

"No, but I've seen it done."

The hero's journey

It took months to get through basic training, but he was finally here. Simmons gripped his rifle tightly and risked a look over the hill to scan for enemy soldiers. Nothing. He dropped to the prone position and began to scoot forward through the foliage, careful to avoid sudden movements. He had a long way to go to get to the enemy base, and he wasn't going to die because of a stupid mistake.

Simmons thought back to his father, and how badly the old man wanted his sons to become soldiers. It was all he had ever desired, and from boyhood on, Simmons ran for miles to build up his stamina and lifted weights to gain strength. He practiced with firearms from the age of ten; he was now a deadly shot. But this was different. This was the real thing. The other soldiers in his platoon had even given him a nickname: XxxxBongSmoka69xxxX. Simmons didn't know what that meant, but he was proud to fit in.

So far he had done everything right. He avoided the flashlights his teammates tried to shine in his eyes. He grabbed an assault rifle instead of a scoped weapon. He moved slowly, inching towards his goal. He stopped.

Were those footsteps?

Surely it was his imagination.

Simmons moved deliberately towards the enemy base. Twice he saw patrols pass by his position. He also saw his friends die at the hands of the enemy, who for some reason crouched up and down on the faces of the fallen. His hand longed to feel the trigger of his weapon, to watch the enemy fall at his feet. But he stayed his hand; he had a grander goal.

Crossing a small stream, he heard a tank and dove to the ground, shivering from the ice-cold water that soaked his uniform. Helicopters and jets fell from the heavens above, as if no one on either side of the battle had been trained to operate the vehicles. He ignored it all, moving laboriously to the enemy base, hoping to occupy the area and allow his friends to home in on his position and win the battle.

Simmons' muscles ached, but he forced himself to breathe slowly and evenly, just as he had been taught. He know how much punishment his body could take, and he was nowhere near his limits. He heard the sharp *snap* of small arms fire as the bullets sang past his head, and he tried to ignore the cast-off rounds from far-away combat. No one knew where he was.

He moved across a small valley, darting from tree to tree, always staying under cover, always careful to scan the horizon for enemy soldiers and vehicles. It took a painfully long time to cross the battlefield, but it would be worth it once he took the enemy by surprise. After an interminable amount of time and a few daring dashes between the bombed shells of buildings, he saw what he was looking for: the enemy's flag.

Simmons, or XxxxBongSmoka69xxxX as his friends knew him, moved slowly into a crouching position, his ears tuned to every small movement or sound. He thumbed the safety of his rifle, scared that a passing soldier might hear the sound of the small click. He slowly moved one foot in front of the other, hoping to get close enough to gain control of the small piece of....

His head exploded into a fine red mist, as a sniper 100 yards away popped up from his position. The enemy had somehow hidden under the ground and had been hard to spot. "LOL," the warrior said to himself. "OMFG, LOL."

The End

Battlefield 3 is coming to the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on October 25.