Now came the tricky part, the linkup with our people. This was where, if done wrong,or even right sometimes, a dumbass would shoot you because they were jumpy. We pulled it off with minimal shouting and zero shooting.
Kat came running up to me. I was pleased to see the relief on her face that I was still alive but I didn't have the concern when she saw I was hit.
"Oh my god! You've been shot!"
If she asked me if it hurt it was going to be hard to resist the urge to knock her upside the head. I hurt, hurt badly, and it was making me short tempered. Instead she asked me, "Did you kill the asshole?"
"No. Rodriguez did." I wasn't sure of that. Was it him or Miller? I was having problems concentrating. "Do the buses have first-aid kits?"
"I don't know. I can check."
"Good. Do it."
I wasn't the only one hurt. Second squad had one with a leg wound and one of the parents was dying. Not bad work.
Miller was getting everyone moving. The parents, instead of being mindless cattle bitching about whatever was on their little minds were helping. I could remember a time when that would have been a miracle. Now it was a rarity.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
The Unknown - Chapter 14d - by nova
Instead Miller hustled over to me, took a quick look, and started cutting away my shirt. "Give me your bandage. He fished out his, and yelled the same thing at Rodriquez. I fished mine out and handed it to him. Rodriguez got close enough to check out the damage, shot the look at Miller, tossed him his wound dressing, and started moving kids.
He yelled, "Single file, inside voices, oldest at the rear. Lets go people!"
"We got to go Miller."
"Shut up Gardener."
That set me back. I felt the anger flare, then I laughed an asked him, "That bad?"
He ignored that. "Hang on. Almost done." He cut away part of his left leg trouser and used the fabric to bind the wound bandages in place.
"Okay Gardener. I got morphine. You want?"
"No."
You think you're going to go into shock let me know."
"Yeah. Lets go."
He took the lead after grabbing the AK, slinging it, and pulling a magazine from the asshole that shot me.
Sweet Jesus, the pain was talking to me. I ran my pain routines, I had a high tolerance for it, having experienced more then my share, but this was bad.
We made it about 10 paces when I yelled to Miller, "Take drag. I'm going up front with Rodriquez."
He started to say something, changed his mind, and scowled at me as I went past.
As I passed the kids I checked them out. Some of them looked scared but most of them looked bored. One of the boys, maybe 12, quietly called out to me, "Give me a gun mister. I can shoot."
"Later kid."
I saw Rodriguez drop to a knee, look around the corner, then let rip with a full auto burst. He ducked back, grinned at me, pulled a grenade, twisted the bottom, and tossed skittering along the floor. It made for a nice satisfying scream a couple of beats later.
He jumped out, let go with one three round burst and moved out. I caught up and took the other side of the hall. If going into the gym was messy this was a lot worse. No body parts blown off but the four Apaches in the hallway were leaking blood from a lot of different places. Mixed in with the blood on the floor were nickel sized pieces of metal. I heard the kids murmuring and thought my hearing had been scrambled until I realized it was Dine they were speaking.
He yelled, "Single file, inside voices, oldest at the rear. Lets go people!"
"We got to go Miller."
"Shut up Gardener."
That set me back. I felt the anger flare, then I laughed an asked him, "That bad?"
He ignored that. "Hang on. Almost done." He cut away part of his left leg trouser and used the fabric to bind the wound bandages in place.
"Okay Gardener. I got morphine. You want?"
"No."
You think you're going to go into shock let me know."
"Yeah. Lets go."
He took the lead after grabbing the AK, slinging it, and pulling a magazine from the asshole that shot me.
Sweet Jesus, the pain was talking to me. I ran my pain routines, I had a high tolerance for it, having experienced more then my share, but this was bad.
We made it about 10 paces when I yelled to Miller, "Take drag. I'm going up front with Rodriquez."
He started to say something, changed his mind, and scowled at me as I went past.
As I passed the kids I checked them out. Some of them looked scared but most of them looked bored. One of the boys, maybe 12, quietly called out to me, "Give me a gun mister. I can shoot."
"Later kid."
I saw Rodriguez drop to a knee, look around the corner, then let rip with a full auto burst. He ducked back, grinned at me, pulled a grenade, twisted the bottom, and tossed skittering along the floor. It made for a nice satisfying scream a couple of beats later.
He jumped out, let go with one three round burst and moved out. I caught up and took the other side of the hall. If going into the gym was messy this was a lot worse. No body parts blown off but the four Apaches in the hallway were leaking blood from a lot of different places. Mixed in with the blood on the floor were nickel sized pieces of metal. I heard the kids murmuring and thought my hearing had been scrambled until I realized it was Dine they were speaking.
Monday, September 26, 2011
The Unknown - Chapter 14b - by nova
In the background I heard the 2nd squad machine gun open up and the burst of a hand grenade. I never heard one of the new ones they were carrying go off but I hoped they were the only ones with them. I also hoped they didn't kill of all the hostages saving them.
I knew we were going to take casualties, the rarity was not taking any, I just didn't want any screamers until we got everyone loaded up and moving. I also had a real problem with wounded and dead kids.
All this was running through my head while I worked on orientating myself. I was about to lead us back the way Rodriquez was facing when I heard a kid scream from the opposite direction. The same one the three Apaches had come from. I started running in that direction. The scream which, in my head at least, had never stopped.
The only thing I did right next was take the corner wide. I wasn't thinking anymore. I was slipping away fast to a place I had only come close to, and not all that often in the past few years, the place where I didn't give a shit. I didn't think. I didn't care. Where everything happened in slow motion around me, where only one thing mattered and that was to kill. I had already tasted it today, now I gulped it and I loved it.
I knew we were going to take casualties, the rarity was not taking any, I just didn't want any screamers until we got everyone loaded up and moving. I also had a real problem with wounded and dead kids.
All this was running through my head while I worked on orientating myself. I was about to lead us back the way Rodriquez was facing when I heard a kid scream from the opposite direction. The same one the three Apaches had come from. I started running in that direction. The scream which, in my head at least, had never stopped.
The only thing I did right next was take the corner wide. I wasn't thinking anymore. I was slipping away fast to a place I had only come close to, and not all that often in the past few years, the place where I didn't give a shit. I didn't think. I didn't care. Where everything happened in slow motion around me, where only one thing mattered and that was to kill. I had already tasted it today, now I gulped it and I loved it.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
The Unknown - Chapter 14a - by nova
I thought I was through. In an action adventure movie from my childhood I would have been. In those movies no one got hung up on drywall. No, but I did. It enraged me and I was flailing away when I was hit hard from behind and popped through the drywall. I stumbled in the room and narrowly avoided stumbling over an old copier paper box filled with Christmas decorations. The light in the room went away and came back as quickly as the third man, Rodriquez, passed through the hole.
I looked at them, listened to what I could hear on the other side of the door which was boots running, grabbed the door handle, and hit the hallway, hugging the right side as I did. I had Sword out, my read of the boot heels had them 20 feet down from the door as I went out. My peripheral vision registered Miller taking the opposite side of the hallway giving us both clear lanes while Rodriguez, I knew without looking, was facing the other way behind us covering our backs.
It was funny, the expression on the three Apaches faces, charging down the hall, now maybe 8 paces from us, when they saw us pop out of the door. So funny that I laughed. Then I stepped forward and swung sword overhand and down at an angle catching the lead Apache on the collarbone and slicing down and in. Sword was a Sword 1.0 version which meant it had no groove in the blade. It had a tendency to get stuck when skewering people. Usually only when you needed it not to. So I sliced instead. It was also more fun.
As the blade connected I yelled "Freya!" Let go of Sword, stepped into the lane of the man on my right and kicked him in the balls. Then I drew my right hand Ruger and shot him. The kicking in the balls part could have been skipped but I got more from it than I did from slicing his partner.
I looked at them, listened to what I could hear on the other side of the door which was boots running, grabbed the door handle, and hit the hallway, hugging the right side as I did. I had Sword out, my read of the boot heels had them 20 feet down from the door as I went out. My peripheral vision registered Miller taking the opposite side of the hallway giving us both clear lanes while Rodriguez, I knew without looking, was facing the other way behind us covering our backs.
It was funny, the expression on the three Apaches faces, charging down the hall, now maybe 8 paces from us, when they saw us pop out of the door. So funny that I laughed. Then I stepped forward and swung sword overhand and down at an angle catching the lead Apache on the collarbone and slicing down and in. Sword was a Sword 1.0 version which meant it had no groove in the blade. It had a tendency to get stuck when skewering people. Usually only when you needed it not to. So I sliced instead. It was also more fun.
As the blade connected I yelled "Freya!" Let go of Sword, stepped into the lane of the man on my right and kicked him in the balls. Then I drew my right hand Ruger and shot him. The kicking in the balls part could have been skipped but I got more from it than I did from slicing his partner.
Friday, September 23, 2011
The Unknown - Chapter 14 - by nova
I don't know what the signal was supposed to be. I didn't care. I did know that over planning and fussy shit had messed up more ops than the enemy had. I came up over the lip like one of my ancestors did in the trenches of Verdun with a lot more success. I was still alive 20 paces later and picking up speed.
I thought running along the base of the mesa was good. This was a 100 times better. This was like drinking a bottle of cold clean well water after a couple weeks of boiled, treated, and not made any better by the addition of mint leaves liquid that poured and tasted brown.
"Oh fuck yeah. Thank you Freya you bitch," went through my head while my eyes read every window, door, and ripple in the flow. It was rippling, no, it was twisting. The images I had locked away until now were hammering away at the doors. My shadow self grinned and began unlocking them for me without asking. Shadow self knew it was time.
They flowed...
She is four. She is scared. The man with the gun tells her, "Stop the crying kid or I'll give you something to cry about." He grins. His grin scares her even more. She cries louder. She is terrified. He scowls, lets his rifle go and the 3 point sling catches it. He moves toward her, bends down, grabs her feet and dashes her brains out against the wall.
I am howling. The sand of the field should be slowing me down. It isn't. I am flying. My feet make contact for a blink and I cover yards.
Another...
He doesn't want to go into the back room. Pain lives there and their smiles don't fool him. They made him shower today and he knows that is a bad, bad sign. He is prepared. His friend, the one they took last time, whispered to him about the room. He isn't going there. The piece of glass he found is fished from his pocket. He tells himself it won't hurt that much. It doesn't really. He has hurt worse more times than he can remember. He hopes his mom will remember him.
In the background the Barrett booms. Good. Start up the drums and let the music begin. I can't see the center of the two buildings anymore. We are running at an angle now to the big building. The kid building. The machine gun is pumping out its staccato beat. Oh yes. Let it begin! Other instruments begin playing. I fade them.
We're against the wall. Miller is swinging his sledge. Both of them now are slamming the iron heads into the cinder block. They have done this before. Their rhythm is perfect. "Faster!" I scream. At least that is what I wanted to scream. What came out was a roar of longing, hate, and unfulfilled desire to make the men behind that wall die.
They each are cutting a line, in the middle between them the cinder block is crumbling, trembling, waiting to be shoved aside. I step back ten paces and run full tilt into it. Almost. Back. Again. I'm through.
It's time to hunt.
I thought running along the base of the mesa was good. This was a 100 times better. This was like drinking a bottle of cold clean well water after a couple weeks of boiled, treated, and not made any better by the addition of mint leaves liquid that poured and tasted brown.
"Oh fuck yeah. Thank you Freya you bitch," went through my head while my eyes read every window, door, and ripple in the flow. It was rippling, no, it was twisting. The images I had locked away until now were hammering away at the doors. My shadow self grinned and began unlocking them for me without asking. Shadow self knew it was time.
They flowed...
She is four. She is scared. The man with the gun tells her, "Stop the crying kid or I'll give you something to cry about." He grins. His grin scares her even more. She cries louder. She is terrified. He scowls, lets his rifle go and the 3 point sling catches it. He moves toward her, bends down, grabs her feet and dashes her brains out against the wall.
I am howling. The sand of the field should be slowing me down. It isn't. I am flying. My feet make contact for a blink and I cover yards.
Another...
He doesn't want to go into the back room. Pain lives there and their smiles don't fool him. They made him shower today and he knows that is a bad, bad sign. He is prepared. His friend, the one they took last time, whispered to him about the room. He isn't going there. The piece of glass he found is fished from his pocket. He tells himself it won't hurt that much. It doesn't really. He has hurt worse more times than he can remember. He hopes his mom will remember him.
In the background the Barrett booms. Good. Start up the drums and let the music begin. I can't see the center of the two buildings anymore. We are running at an angle now to the big building. The kid building. The machine gun is pumping out its staccato beat. Oh yes. Let it begin! Other instruments begin playing. I fade them.
We're against the wall. Miller is swinging his sledge. Both of them now are slamming the iron heads into the cinder block. They have done this before. Their rhythm is perfect. "Faster!" I scream. At least that is what I wanted to scream. What came out was a roar of longing, hate, and unfulfilled desire to make the men behind that wall die.
They each are cutting a line, in the middle between them the cinder block is crumbling, trembling, waiting to be shoved aside. I step back ten paces and run full tilt into it. Almost. Back. Again. I'm through.
It's time to hunt.
The Unknown - Chapter 13d - by nova
The Captain who had the Barrett guy slid his way back down to brief his people and get them moving. I laid back and stared up the sky and tried to see what animal shapes I could find in the clouds floating by. I was pretty sure I had a cat cloud when the Captain quietly told me, "We're ready sir. Give the signal?"
"You got a name Captain?"
"Miller sir."
"Okay. I'm Gardener. Not sir. You decide to be one of my two sledge guys?"
"Yes...Gardener."
"What's the other guys name?"
"Rodriguez."
"Is today a good day to die Miller?
He looked at me quizzically.
"It's not a test Miller. Just answer."
It was a test. He knew that too.
"It's a better day to kill."
"No shit. Lets do this thing."
"You got a name Captain?"
"Miller sir."
"Okay. I'm Gardener. Not sir. You decide to be one of my two sledge guys?"
"Yes...Gardener."
"What's the other guys name?"
"Rodriguez."
"Is today a good day to die Miller?
He looked at me quizzically.
"It's not a test Miller. Just answer."
It was a test. He knew that too.
"It's a better day to kill."
"No shit. Lets do this thing."
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