Merry chistmas!
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Raining Lead
A cracked road buried in the sand has been coated in blood. "To the left, to the left move!" A voice struggled to break through the sounds of gunfire. Ten men rush to cover, desperately trying to avoid the hail of bullets coming towards them. One man yelled over to his teammate "Miller, they're in that restaurant, second floor!".
Miller was quick to reply "I'm on it!". Taking aim, miller took a second to steady his breath and fired his M320. An explosion shook the building, collapsing the balcony and killing the enemies on it.
More people came to the area, some with rifles, some on pickup trucks. All of them are intent on killing what they consider to be 'Invaders'. One of the men, a staff sergeant, gave no hesitation to his orders. "Everybody move, we'll head over to the rally point and keep going from there." His words were met with a booming "Yes sir.". As the squad moved through narrow streets and alleyways one of the local militia members managed to land a hit on one of the soldiers.
The soldier let out a yell, tumbling down as he tried to move forward. His teammate caught him before he hit the ground, then moved him to cover as fast as he could. The rest of the squad tried to give them cover fire, but with so many enemies from so many sides, only two to three were able to properly support them.
Luckily they managed to make it, and the one carrying reached for the others aid kit. "Dave, Dave! Look at me, look at me. Where's the wound? Tell me where it hurts." Dave tried to move his hand, but almost instantaneously recoiled in pain. "It's on my right!". To which the other soldier started frantically searching for the wound, and found it, right where his liver is.
Another soldier ducked behind a wall and shouted "Johnny! How bad is it?!" Johnny tried his best to put the gauze onto the wound but Johnny was still fairly young, and the constant fire made it hard to keep his hands from shaking. "I don't know, but he's bleeding a lot!"
Before another word was said, a little metal object landed next to them. Dave's eyes widened, "Grenade!" and used every ounce of strength he had to push Johnny away. The grenade didn't do much to the others other than to rattle them up, but unfortunately, a fragment hit Dave in the head.
"Shit, shit... Dave!" Johnny tried to reach him but was pulled back by his teammate. "He's dead, leave him before any more of them get here and kill us!".
"Smith, get your fireteam and cover that damn alley! This whole town is a shithole!". The soldiers yelled out "Yes sir!".
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After the fight, a few took a small break while the rest kept their eyes peeled for any stragglers. While the fighting may have stopped, they know that they're still surrounded. Their hearts still pumping hard from the adrenaline, and none of them plan on getting caught off guard. The staff sergeant took a minute to catch his breath "Alright, change of plans. We're to stay here and hangfire(1), get some rest. You all did well today." The room was filled with silence, the only noise being distant gunshots.
Miller sat by a wall when he was disturbed by a tap on his shoulder. "Got a light?" Smith asked. Miller reached into his pocket. "How long we gotta wait?" He asked as he handed over his lighter.
"Don't know, just..." Smith shook his head, changing his sentence. "Heard that the rest of the boys are making progress, pushing them back. We should be able to rendezvous in the market." Miller looked at him, then at nothing. Letting himself relax for a bit, he closed his eyes and told him "Alright... hope they come soon..." Smith responded by just walking away. "Thanks for the light." He said as he disappeared into the hallway.
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Later the sun began setting, blanketing the city under a dark orange sky. The staff sergeant did one final weapons check before turning back to his men. "Hope you all rested up, you're gonna need it. Second squad is pinned down in the marketplace, we're to head over there and get those tangos off their back long enough to evac the H.V.T(2)".
"Smith, keep your fireteam covering our six, I don't want any of these bastards hitting us like what happened earlier, you get me?" Smith replied with a uniform "Yes sir."
"Bravo squad is Oscar mike!" The squad quickly but carefully weaved through streets and alleyways, but unlike earlier, they weren't under fire. This didn't stop them from being extra precautious as they moved to the marketplace where only a few sparse gunshots could be heard.
As they neared the entrance someone shouted "Cloud!". Staff sergeant gestured for the squad to stop, "Niner!". After a brief pause, the gate was opened by two soldiers, one of them came up, a corporal by the look of his insignia, "Keep your heads down, snipers all over the place looking to score a kill. I'll take you to the sergeant."
The SSG(3) took a moment before saying back "What happened to your staff sergeant?". The corporal just said, "Got hit in the leg, had to be evacuated."
A short walk was all it took to see the destruction. Bullet holes littered the walls and craters from explosives dotted the ground. It wasn't long before they reached the squad leader. "Sergeant Paul." He introduced himself while offering a handshake. "Glad you could make it, we need all the help we can get."
The SSG shook his hand "Staff sergeant Connor. How's the H.V.T?"
"Mayor Aadeel has a few cuts and bruises, luckily nothing deep. They weren't trying to kill him, just keep him hostage until they could get ready." Connor just nodded his head.
"Someone bring me a map." He ordered. One of paul's men brought out a map and pushed aside some baskets, setting the map on a table. "What's the plan?"
Paul pointed at a highlighted path. "We're planning on taking him through this route and crossing that bridge, evac should be waiting for us on the other side."
Connor turned to his sergeant. "Smith."
"Yes sir."
"At dawn tomorrow I'm gonna need you and your fireteam to move up over by the river, and give us some support with that M249."
"Aye, sir."
"I'll take my fireteam and scout ahead. We clear?"
The room filled with a slight echo. "Yes sir!"
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The sun was barely shining over the city. Smith and his fireteam were already hiding inside of a broken-down house, the occupant rushing to flee judging by the half-eaten plates of spoiled food.
"Got eyes on 'em." Miller said.
Smith turned to the one holding the machinegun. "Browns, get that SAW a clear view of any potential danger zones." Browns replied with a crisp "Aye sir."
"John, calm your nerves. You ain't hitting shit while you're shaking like that." Johnny let out with a weak, nearly shaky "Aye sir."
"Miller, see any tangos?"
"Not one..."
Smith took position by a window on the second floor "Keep your eyes peeled, I don't want any more surprises."
Miller paid keen attention to smith's words, but out of the corner of his eye noticed a silhouette. He turned his ACOG towards it.
His eyes widened. "There they are, three o'clock!"
Smith spoke loudly but slowly into the radio "Astern 1-1, Astern 1-2, this is Astern 1-2 Alpha. We spot multiple tangos to your west, over."
"Roger that alpha, give us some cover fire while we try to head to the objective, over."
"Wilco, over and out." Smith aimed his rifle and ordered his men.
"Open fire!" Just a second after the over was given bullets came crashing down into any enemies out in the open. Browns noticed a large group about to reach the escort and released a deadly burst of automatic fire.
Chaos once again erupted in the streets of the once beautiful city. Johnny took a moment to steady his aim before pulling the trigger, killing a militia member instantly.
A voice booms from the radio. "1-2 Alpha, we've made it to the bridge. Now get the fuck out of there, I see tangos swarming your position. Over."
Smith reloaded his weapon before replying. "Roger that 1-2, over and out."
"Alright, let's get out of here fast! We'll make it to the bridge through route Charlie. Miller, take point!""
"Yes sir.!" However as Miller made it to through the door a large crack practically echoed through the walls, and miller fell, clutching his leg.
A scream "You fucks! Argh god, shit." A young man popped out of a building with an AK aimed at him, but a shot to the chest made quick work of him.
"Miller!" Johnny called out rushing towards him but another militia member, by the window of a shop, sprayed him with bullets. Rick Johnson fell to the ground, dead.
"Johnny!" Browns shot at full auto, keeping the enemies' heads down.
"Shit! Browns cover me, I'm gonna go get miller!" Browns nodded and fired another burst of full auto.
Smith ran across the street, keeping his head down and his feet moving. "Oh god... fuck..." Miller tried to keep his mind off the pain and focused on shooting more militia.
"Miller." He turned his head "I'm gonna need you to work with me. " He nodded. Smith took miller's aid kit and injected a small dose of ketamine. Smith then got out a gauze and filled the opening with it. "Keep pressure on it, keep pressure on it..."
Smith tried to take as little time as possible to wrap the leg with a bandage but he knew every second was a potential danger. Once he was finished he grabbed onto miller. "I need you to get up, c'mon."
Smith carried miller back into the building where browns was reloading his SAW. "How is he?" Browns asked. "We stopped the bleeding, but we gotta get him to a medic soon." Smith answered.
Smith propped his gun out of a window but noticed one of the militias carrying a metal tube. "RPG!" He screamed out. Smith shot at the RPG carrier but he had already fired.
"Shi-"
An explosion shook the building.
End.
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1. Hangfire - Await orders
2. H.V.T – High-value target
3. SSG – Staff sergeant
Authors Note: Hello and thank you so much for reading my book! I hope I didn't make too many mistakes when it comes to how the army worked but if i did please point them out in the comments. This new rewritten version is going to take a few changed from the original, such as the army and the overall theme. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you next time.