Through the chorus of gunfire, Aaron could discern a distinct base voice. It was louder and the only one in its section. Upon the hill One was picking off the enemy a single perfect shot at a time. It was a steady almost rhythmic thud every time he fired, almost if an orchestra were to combine its base drum with a metronome. It kept time while the other weapons fired at different rates and sometimes paired with the crackle of another weapon but beneath it all, the glue, the melodic centerpiece, was One and that rifle.
Aaron could see the thinning of the battalion’s ranks as after each shot, they would ban closer together, slowing their advance. It was like an ice sculptor slowly chipping away at the block to get what he desired. The men of the NVA fired several rounds down range, but had minimal effectiveness; they simply weren’t trained well enough to execute shots when their life was in the balance. A live fire exercise is only as good as the individuals shooting back.
Aaron also fired several rounds down into the abyss of men but could not be sure if he hit anything. He knew from the day that this conflict was born, he would be fighting, to avenge and find those who killed his brother, yet up until this point, he had yet to kill another person. In the heat of combat, his thoughts were to survive and slay all, who tried to kill him. Yet in his heart, he only wanted the bell to toll for one.
“Raymond its Eli,” a voice finally cut through the white noise around them. “We’re almost out of rounds up here for the .500, Send someone this way with a box from the transport.”
“I copy give us some cover fire.” Raymond turned to Aaron. “Your brother’s on the hill top need our help. Come with me.” He turned to Ortega, Walters and the rest of the small pod of men around him. “We need to get to the transport, cover us.”
Without even the slightest nod or hint of understanding, the pod of men unleashed brimstone of suppressing fire to give them the window they needed. Raymond took off for the transport with Ehlinger close on his heals like a pup following his master. What few bullets there were coming from the MLM front missed high and wide of the pair, the suppressing fire had them too worried to aim. Raymond got to the transport first and ushered Ehlinger up and into the back before he jumped up firing a few rounds towards the target.
“Go to the very front left corner of the transport and find the wheel well.” Raymond shouted over his shoulder.
“I’m there.” The youth replied.
“Now kick it open, there’s a compartment inside there where we stored his rifle and ammo. Grab two of the smaller boxes and bring your ass back up front.”
It took a few strokes with his foot, but he eventually pried open the furtive compartment. Aaron then tossed the cover aside and put his hands into the near empty space. Eventually he moved his hands over a few boxes of .50 Caliber rounds and snagged them. Too frantic to get up from his haunches, he slid on something underneath him and dropped one of the boxes. A few rounds fell out and Raymond gave a surprisingly hardy laugh.
“Let’s go, get off your ass. We can’t hold off the rest of the world for you while you sit around!”
Aaron had a displeased look on his face as he was getting up. “If it wasn’t so slick in these damned things I would be fine.”
“Either way kid this is what we are doing next. Take one of those small bags and place the ammo in it and sling it over your shoulders. I’m going to cover you while you cut through and scale those rocks to our right. The bulging rocks will be able to give you plenty of cover so you won’t be hit by any bullets while you are climbing. Elijah will be at the top waiting for you. I’ll be at the bottom in case you fall, but from what I’ve been told you’re an excellent climber and won’t need me.”
“After I hand the ammo off-.” Aaron stated timidly.
Raymond shot off a few rounds and turned back over his shoulder. “Why the hell are you still here? Get going and stay up there unless he needs more ammo again. Then radio back down and we’ll cover you.”
Without a word he went straight to his work. Aaron found his first hand hold and began the 30 meter climb. He could hear some of the bullets impact the rock face to his left as he was climbing, but as Raymond had promised, it was a natural shield and protected him in the ascent. He climbed with purpose, not swiftly, but not slow and timid either, he knew the importance of what he carried with him, and he knew what it could mean if he were to fail getting those into Elijah’s hands. Near the top he began to struggle with the footing but kept the same pace. He needed to get to the top, to dawdle now would take even more time they didn’t have, and the rifle fire in the distance was getting louder.
Reaching his hand up and over the top, onto the plateau, Aaron found a root from a nearby tree to pull himself up and over the face of the rocks. He tossed the bag of ammo up first and then half his body and one leg. As he began to pull himself up he heard a loud crack and began to fall backwards, a hundred things raced through his mind, all starting with the thought that he had been shot. He was weightless for a moment. His next thought, while falling backwards was a memory of one year at the Harvest Carnival back home, where him and a few other friends had gone bungee jumping from a platform they had brought in special for the evening. The sensation was the same until there was a violent jerk and his back and head hit the face of the wall, only two meters from the top. Looking down he could see he was still above the ground, seemingly floating, until he realized his right ankle, the leg he had thrown over the top, was caught by something. Looking up towards the sky and his feet, he could see Elijah, holding Aaron by his right ankle, smiling, and shaking his head.
“Going somewhere?” Elijah extended his right arm to Aaron. “Give me your arm dare devil.” Aaron did as requested and Eli continued to talk as he began to pull Aaron back on top of the cliff. “You know if you wanted to go base jumping, you should have asked when we were in the mountains. And just for the record, never put that much faith in a shallow root, you’ll fall square on your ass nine out of ten times.”
Elijah helped Aaron to his feet and picked up the bag. “Two boxes right?”
Aaron nodded. “Yeah one isn’t quite full. A few rounds fell out when I dropped it in the transport.”
“It’s fine. Look you stay out of sight and let us get back to work alright?”
Aaron nodded again and fell back a few feet, lay in the prone position and observed the two men get back to the task at hand. Eli tossed the bag next to One and he open the bag quickly filling a magazine, then passed an empty mag to Eli for him to load. One reloaded, cocked the weapon, aimed, and once again he let the loud, deep, thud that held the orchestra together, resume.
Slowly, Aaron crept forward to see the surgery being performed from 800 meters away, covering his ears and preparing for the thud he could feel inside his bones every time the trigger was squeezed. While Aaron was making the ammo run some of the enemy forces had tried advancing and gained some ground. However, once he delivered his package, it was a different story. The enemy had to start to retreat and give up all the ground they had taken in the ebb. But just as every tide has to give way to the ground it swallows, the MLM, being picked off a man at a time, gave way too.
A high pitched whistling sound that they all acknowledged, could be heard until, the motor round impacted the cliff in front of Eli and the Marksman. The force of the impact knocked them on their ass. One was the first to get to his feet and moved further down on the hill to reposition himself, Eli quickly followed helping Aaron to his feet.
“Let’s go Ehlinger.” Eli said extending his hand. One turned to look and saw Aaron being helped up while he was laughing. One and Eli nodded at one another and moved off away from where the shooter was going to reposition.
“Wait, Eli. Shouldn’t we go with and help him?” Aaron asked earnestly.
Eli laughed as he drug the youth behind him. “No. If they’re shooting mortars, the fewer we are grouped together the more likely we will survive. Besides, he can handle himself out there. He’ll kill a half dozen or so more before th
ey start to retreat.”
Just as Elijah finished speaking an explosion far in the distance had the troops close by cheering. They raced down the hill and behind the out buildings to witness the fire forming. Elijah grabbed his monocular from his pocket and looked towards the blaze. The explosion had engulfed where the mortar fire was originating. One shot an explosive barrel that had been unloaded near the tube and took out their most important threat.
From behind them, Aaron heard the sound of their own artillery shooting off a mortar round. He watched the falling bomb make contact near the MLM front and a few of the men being tossed into the air because of the explosion. In the distance it was obvious that what was left of the MLM were piling back into their transports and initiating a full retreat. They had lost nearly three-quarters of the men they came with and fighting any further would be to the last.
At the same time, several transports could be seen coming from the south. The trucks sounded their horns and a few of the men waved. One of the guards came from the out building and walked up to Aaron.
“I want to thank you. You all were able to hold the enemy off long enough where I could call in for support and even bought them enough time to get here. If you could, please get you staff sergeant and the rest of your men together and round up the rest of these…these refugees. Once our relief gets here and is settled in, we will rotate out and back to the FOB.”
Aaron looked at Elijah who nodded at him. “Yes sir.” Aaron said looking at the NVA guard and took off to find Ortega and Walters. He ran over to his previous position before he made the ammo run. There he found Raymond and the other men laughing and pointing at Ortega. The men all looked over, cheering as he ran up to them, and that brought a smile to Aarons face.
“Looks like you survived another one rookie,” Raymond said giving Aaron a friendly shove.
“Only with your help,” Aaron replied. “Look everybody. The NVA wants to round all of us up and meet over by the first transport.”
“Did they say anything about the weapons?” Raymond asked.
“No they didn’t. However I think it’s safe to say they know you aren’t refugees.”
The laughter found its voice again after Aaron’s statement. Raymond nodded and started towards the transport and motioned for everyone else to follow behind him. Aaron noticed all of the new men getting out of the trucks and unloading equipment. By the time they had gotten up to the first transport, two large tents and a small outbuilding were already up and being inhabited by various military personnel. In addition, the NVA troops began to fortify the current structures and extend the parameter dropping spools of barbed wire out towards where the MLM were located. Securing the checkpoint was the new priority.
“Staff Sargent Walters?” A man walked up to the group of men waiting for their next directive. Walter’s raised his hand in identification and spoke as he stepped forward from the group.
“I’m Walters Sir. To whom am I addressing?”
“Sargent Walters, I am Lieutenant Hawskins. I’m the secondary commander of the FOB south of here. We have decided that this checkpoint should be a larger location and will be a new fort. As you can see my men are making that happen currently. Now it’s come to my attention that you have some refugees that came with you from Anderhill is that correct?”
“Yes Lieutenant. We found them as we were looking for medical supplies. In the transports we have munitions, medical and food supplies, and a few tents. We have thirteen men, all of whom, including myself, Corporal Ortega and Corporal Ehlinger helped your men defend this checkpoint. I hate to say it sir, but without them, I believe this checkpoint would’ve been over ran and the enemy would now be in charge of this supply route and countless others coming in and out of Anderhill.”
“You had a Corporal Ehlinger you say?” Hawskins asked with a smile.
Aaron stepped from behind the other men and waved to the lieutenant. “Hello sir. It is nice to see you once again. Like you said on the first day of the war, I’d have my chance. And the last 24 hours have definitely given me a shot at it.”
“That’s good Corporal, I’m sure your brother would be proud of how you’ve handled yourself in combat. Now Sergeant, if you would please come with me and bring with you the spokesperson for your group of refugees, I would like to discuss what happened here today in private.”
“Of course sir,” Walters turned to Elijah. “Would you please radio One and relay the message?”
With a nod, grabbed his radio and clicked it three times. There was a pause before two clicks came back over the sound wave. After hearing that, Eli turned his head and spoke into his radio. “Hey, you go chase down that transport?”
A moment passed before the reply came back. “Yea I did. Shot the engine block. They are about two kilometers away from the checkpoint. Most have started back on foot, but a few have stayed with the transport. When you get a chance let me speak to the operations commander would ya?”
Eli passed the radio to Hawkins who wasted no time. “This is Lieutenant Hawskins. For all intensive purposes, I am the operations commander. That’s great work you did with the transport, I’ll send a unit out there to bring back the remaining enemy alive. In the meantime, I understand you are the leader of this group of Refugees?”
“Yes Sir I am.”
“Good, I want you to meet with Sargent Walters and myself at the new HQ building back at the checkpoint as soon as you can. There are a few things about today that need to be discussed.”
“Only under one condition Sir, and that is if the man that gave you this radio is present in the building with me. If there are two of your officers in the room, there should be two of mine.”
“Agreed, the three of us will wait for you to make it back here. I’ll send a four wheeler towards your location to expedite the process.”
“Copy.”
With that Hawskins tossed the radio back to Eli and move his hand in a follow me motion. Before the Lieutenant turned all the way around, Aaron spoke up.
“You’ll like him Lieutenant Hawskins. Without them, we wouldn’t have made it through the last twenty four hours.”
“I’m sure you’re right Aaron. The rest of you men, please drive your transports to where the rest of the vehicles are being stowed until the motor pool is built. Wait for us in the mess tent, you deserve a meal. My men will take care of securing the area from here.” He turned and Eli and Walters followed him into the heart of the busy construction zone.
The three officers stopped and spoke to a troop who ran over to where the NVA had assembled their transport area and maned a four-wheeler, taking off in the direction that One had gone. Aaron’s transport passed by and the Men exchanged waves.
The mess tent was buzzing with the discussion of the day’s events. It didn’t take long for the men of the NVA to start questioning who the men were that came out of nowhere to help in assisting in the defense of their outpost. Rumors and urban legends were all that the soldiers had to go on, but the refugees who found their way to the camp, only helped in their perpetuation. Aaron was sitting with Raymond and the rest of the men feelin hundreds of eyes watching them eat. Suddenly, the tent fell silent. Looking from side to side, Aaron noticed that the men were looking behind him near the entrance of the tent. Hawskins was standing with Elijah and they motioned at Aaron to follow them. Pushing his tray aside, Aaron stood up and walked to the front of the tent, the eyes no longer focused on the entire group of new men, just him. The weight of the looks only slowed him down, and he had to make a conscious effort to keep pressing forward to make it the seventy-five feet to the front of the tent.
“Your Staff Sargent and the rest of us require your presence in the command building.” Hawskins said when he got within a whisper. “We have some questions about your actions today.”
Elijah grabbed his arm before he passed in front of him. “Don’t worry kid,” he said quietly. “You executed everything today with honor. The worst they are gonna do is make you peal s
ome potatoes and cook tonight’s meal with me as a punishment.”
His escort was quiet during the walk to where the small congregation was waiting in the command building. While his eyes darted back and forth, Aaron could see the NVA was in full force getting the walls and fences of the newly erected Forward Operations Base fortified. At least six barracks building had been placed back behind the current motor pool location providing the home of the future garrison. With rate of efficiency in composing such a fort from nothing It was an impressive feet. Pure organization was extremely better than the haphazard NVC. The men made it to their destination and Aaron trailed them into the building moving down a hallway and into a dimly lit room. There was a slight glow from computer monitors and charts as the intelligence server changed to the NVA logo upon entering, a security precaution he thought incase there were wandering eyes, eyes like his. There was a metal desk in the middle of the room with room for six to eight men to sit and discuss operations, Walters was standing with his back to the monitors.
“Please take a seat over there,” Walters said pointing to one end of the table. “There are some questions you have to answer for Corporal.”
Keeping his head up, Aaron moved over to the specified chair and sat quietly waiting for them to join him. Elijah sat closest to Aaron on his right Walters sat to Aarons left with Hawskins taking his seat across from Aaron at the head of the table. Folding his hand onto the table Hawskins didn’t waste any time.
“Look Aaron I’ve known you for a while. So that will be taken into account with this discussion. Now today you disobeyed a direct order from your superior and commanding officer as you entered the checkpoint. Do you know of the order I am speaking of?”
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