Frontline of the Courageous

New Squad

Laura walked to her squad's barracks, belongings in hand and stood in front of it. 'Ok, Laura you got this. Just introduce yourself and you'll be fine.' Taking a deep breath she opened the door and was met with a unexpected site. In the middle of the barracks, she watched two men and a single woman on top of each other in a dog pile.

"Hello, you must be our new squadmate. Sorry about the mess." called the person on the bottom. The group straightened themselves out and introduced themselves to Laura.

"Hi, my name is Henry Bar. You can call me Henry or Bar. Either is fine. I am the squad leader of this little group," said the tall black-haired man.

The brown-haired man introduced himself next. "I'm Zach Giest. I'm the squads SAW gunner."

The woman walked to Laura. She had long blonde hair. "I'm Lucy Ren. This little squad's designated marksman or markswoman, take your pick," she said shaking her hand," it's nice to have another woman in the squad."

Laura introduced herself to the squad and set her stuff on one of the vacant beds. After that Henry herded the squad into the mess hall to eat lunch. Setting her food down she was bombarded with questions about her life, why the military, and etc. When she told them she fought with Jonas, they gasped.

"Wait. You fought with Jonas Ru?" Henry yelled.

"Yep. Keep it down," Laura answered, "I was partnered with him when I was sent to this base. Why?

"Pfffft. It's not like he's a legend or anything," Lucy retorted.

"Actually?" Laura asked.

"Why do you think everyone calls him the 'Reaper'." said Zach. Laura thought for a minute. She really didn't know why he was called that name. She only knew that name from the other soldiers.

"He has the highest kill count of all of the UDF. I even heard destroyed a tank single-handedly," Lucy said then smiled, "Plus he's a cutie. Does he have your eye, Laura?"

Laura stuttered, "W-w-what, no he doesn't!" The squad laughed at Laura's dismay and they spent the rest of the time laughing and talking about other things.

As they finished up their meals Henry spoke up. "Alright guys I got a message from Major Oliver, we are going to head out in a few to help clear NPR paratroopers from the city. Let's go gear up and head out. Walking out to the armory Laura picked up her M16A3 and Beretta. Henry grabbed an M4, Zach carried an M249 and Lucy an SR25. The squad then carried themselves to a transport truck already filled with other infantrymen and were driven to the city. Nearing their destination Laura heard the distant sound of gunfire.

"Ok once we reach the city we are going to start clearing the blocks of any hostiles we can and while we're at that rescue civies, got that?" Henry announced. Everyone nodded, "Good. Get ready." The truck stopped at everyone who got out started their advance through the streets. Walking through the street Henry rose a fist stopping the squad. "Hostiles in front, watch your fire, they have hostages." Looking ahead Laura saw a squad of NPR soldiers standing in front of tied civilians.

Laura gripped her rifle, "Those bastards, they're doing it again." She rose her rifle to take her shot.

"Not yet," Henry whispered putting his hand on her rifle, "you'll put the hostages in danger!" Laura grunted as she lowered her weapon. "Lucy I need you to take a position in the house. Zach, I need you to prepare to fire on any reinforcements with you M249. Laura and myself will take down the soldiers in the street. We'll engage when Lucy fires her shot." Everyone agreed and took their positions. Laura took position behind sandbags lining her rifle on the head of a soldier. Laura breathed in waiting for the signal from Lucy. She didn't have to wait long as a shot rang out splattering the brains of an NPR soldier. Henry and Laura opened fire onto the soldiers striking all of them down. Another squad of NPR ran down from one of the adjoining alleys.

"Enemy squad from the alley!" Laura shouted. Zach turned his lmg to the alley laying suppressing fire onto them. A soldier tried to his head over his cover to fire on Zach but was met with a shot from Lucy's rifle.

"And stay down!" yelled Lucy from her position. The hostiles fell one by one to the squad's bullets into there was no one left. Walking to the hostages Laura cut their bindings and sent them to extraction.

Laura turned to her squad looking at her feet. "Sorry I almost let the revenge get to me," she sheepishly said. The squad looked at her, the silence eating her alive. The squad laughed confusing Laura.

"It's alright," Henry said.

"Nothing happened," Zach laughed

"Everyone is alive. It's fine," Lucy deadpanned. Laura scratched the back of her head laughing nervously with her squad. For the first time with this squad, she felt like she was accepted already. Maybe, just maybe it would be fine.