He stopped when he saw the concern on their faces. This was serious, and he knew it.
"What now?"
"We're not alone, not by a long shot."
"How many?"
"A lot."
"What?"
"They can't have followed us here," replied Ramos.
"No, they drew us in. They were here all along," replied Ross.
"What?"
"Think about it, Burns. This group here, they should have been wiped out before now. They couldn’t stand against a handful of soldiers. They could have attacked any time while you came to get us."
"Or before you even found them in the first place. They left wounded and survivors for a reason. That truck out on the road with the bodies, they could have taken them alive without much of a fight, I'm guessing."
"So they left them there for us to find?"
It was all coming together in his head now, and dawning on them how much danger they were in.
"You think they were in on it?" Burns gestured towards the RVs.
"No, no way."
"They wouldn't need to be. Leave a few wounded, and we'd come looking. They're using our compassion against us."
"Wouldn't catch Travers, then, would it?"
"They don't need to. There's bigger bait for him."
"You think they're heading for a trap, too?"
The look on Ross' face said everything.
"Well, shit!"
Chapter 8
"You ready to kick some ass?" Travers asked.
Donny and Lee looked white with shock as the convoy advanced along a broad open basin. Ahead were six tower-like structures. They couldn't tell if they were ships or buildings, but they looked like skyscrapers from a city, completely out of sorts in the wilderness. There was a five-metre tall wall around them, and not far ahead of the convoy. Not really any more significant than the one they'd hit last time. But this facility was huge.
"You weren't kidding about this place," said Lee.
"Nope. This has to be important to them. We take this down, and it could hit their whole operation across the county!" He went to the front of the bed to talk over the radio.
"He doesn't even know what this place is?"
Donny shook his head.
"We didn't come to rescue people or anything, Lee. He doesn't even know why we're here. Ross would never have come here without knowing what it was."
"Ross ain't here, though, is he?"
"I sure wish he was. We could have done with his mind right about now."
That’s when it dawned on Donny. His brother was right. Ross was a great fighter, but it wasn't his fighting skills that made him a good leader. He thought and planned out everything they did. He kicked himself for not seeing it before.
"Travers, he goes right at everything he sees and hopes for the best, doesn't he?"
Donny nodded in agreement. He didn't want to say it and wished he didn't even think it.
"Maybe we made the wrong choice?"
"I'm starting to get that vibe," replied Donny as their new leader came back to talk to them.
"You ready for this, lads?"
"That thing, those towers, what are we even facing here?" Lee asked.
"The enemy. In numbers like we’ve not seen before."
"What's the plan?"
"Same as always. We breach their wall, and rain down hell till there’s none of them left!"
He began to laugh, reached down, and grabbed a box-fed Russian machine gun, a PKM.
"This is gonna be all kinds of fun." He had a crazy look in his eye and a maniacal grin. He rushed to the front of the truck and banged excitedly on the roof. "It's party time!"
"What do we do?"
"Only thing we can do, Lee, buckle up and ride it out."
Donny climbed into the anti-aircraft weapon mount and readied the controls.
* * *
"Act normal. Everyone act normal," Ross said quietly.
"But what are we gonna do?"
"I'm thinking, Kim, believe me."
"We can't just hightail it out of here," replied Burns.
"Why not?" Ramos asked.
"One, they'll be all over us, and two, we'll be leaving these folks to die."
"I'm not sure we've got a choice. What good is it getting us all killed here?"
"No, I'm not leaving them. We've lost too many people today, and I won't be like him."
"Travers? You've got nothing to prove here," replied Ramos.
"Wrong. We have everything to prove, all of us, our humanity. Without that we are nothing."
"No, without our lives we are nothing."
"I'd rather die out here than become like him."
"You're starting to worry me here. This isn’t the Ross I know."
"I’m not suicidal. I don't want to die here. I don't want anyone to die here but the assholes up there."
"All right, so what are we gonna do?"
"I'm thinking."
"You’d better think fast, because we're right in their crosshairs," replied Kim.
"All right. I figure they don't want anyone escaping here, but we’re probably their main targets because we present the biggest threat. We've been causing trouble to them ever since they arrived, and I bet they know it."
"Okay, how does that help us?"
"Those RVs, they still run?"
"One of them does, the one with the wounded."
"Right, then, here's how its gonna go down..."
* * *
"Oh, my God," Donny said as the towers opened up.
"What the hell are they?"
Lee’s question was answered as fighter craft burst out from the rooftops and swarmed towards them.
"Incoming!" Travers shouted.
Hatches opened on the sides of buildings, revealing gun towers that opened fire. The lead Stryker was struck by the first volley and launched into the air in a fiery ball of flames. It crashed down hard to the ground, its hull buckling on impact. The next Stryker smashed into it and continued on.
"We...we..." stuttered Lee.
"Fighters, twelve o'clock, engage them!"
Donny was as stunned as his brother for a moment, but Travers reached over the guns and smacked him in the side of the head.
"Get those guns firing. Do your job!"
Donny snapped out of it. He'd lost any care for what the Sergeant had to say, but his survival instinct was kicking in, and he did what he knew Ross would want him to do. Give it his all. He traversed the guns, taking aim at the first of the fighters. It opened fire with a strafing run as they passed the wreckage of the Stryker. They could hear the screams of the crew inside as the fire engulfed the wreckage. The wailing cries made Donny wince, yet he had to keep going forward to stand any chance of not dying the same horrifying death.
He peered through the spider web-like sights of the weapon system and gasped in horror at the squadrons of aircraft coming towards them. They'd bitten off way more than they could chew.
Ross would never have led us into this.
He wished he'd done things differently, but it was too late. He had to stand and fight, and pray he could make it through. He knew his brother was largely to blame for the divide and all that went on that morning, yet he didn't hold a grudge. It wouldn't serve any of them any good. Lee was looking at him in horror.
"They....they..." he fumbled, unable to get his words out.
"I'm on it. Watch my back!"
He placed his finger on the triggers, as he traversed the guns further, and finally squeezed the triggers. All other sound was drowned out as the four guns roared to life. It was a welcome reprieve from the chaos around them. It was melodic in its own way. The first enemy fighter went up in flames, but he didn't even lift off the triggers as he moved the sights to the next. His stream of high calibre machine gun bullets smashed through his next target and hit another close behind it, sending them both plummeting towards the ground. Explosions rang out as the strafing runs began, but Donny kept his eye on
the target. He pivoted the guns about, caught two more of the small craft, and riddled them with bullets. One exploded mid air, the other veered off sharply. It crashed into another, causing an even greater explosion as they dropped out of the sky in a burning inferno.
"Right, right, right!" Lee yelled.
Donny shook his head. That wasn't very useful, but he knew what his brother meant. He was orientating everything on the front of their vehicle. He traversed the guns about, and his eyes widened in shock at what was coming their way.
"Fire, fire!"
He didn't need to be told again. He squeezed the triggers tight, and the guns roared to life once more.
"Come on!"
The recoil of the guns rocked him, while the roar deafened him. His voice couldn't be heard over the gunfire as he let out a visceral battle cry. He knocked out two more enemy craft as they made a pass at them, but an explosion rang out to their front as one truck went up in flames. Lee rushed to the front of the vehicle to see for himself. Two people were climbing over the sides on fire, and another was trapped and screaming. Their own vehicle had come to a standstill, and they hadn't even noticed, as had the rest of the convoy. Several wounded and dead lay on the ground, others took cover in the wreckage. Another of the trucks was shot up badly, its tyres blown out down the one side and screen shattered.
"We can't stay here!"
Travers ignored Lee and reached for the radio.
"All units, advance on the enemy position. Get us through those gates!"
"Are you crazy? We can't do this!"
Travers still ignored him as weapons on the other vehicles opened fire in a small opening they had. The doors to the facility were blown off as the last remaining Stryker let rip. Travers picked up the radio as he looked triumphantly at the breach in the enemy's defences. Yet even Lee could see it meant nothing to them. They were being hit in all directions.
"That is our opening. Go, go, go!"
Lee could barely believe what he was hearing, but his brother was too busy and deafened by his own fire to hear it.
"We can't do this. You're gonna get us all killed!"
"Shut up, Lee, and get back to work. We’re going for that breach!"
Their truck lurched forward as the remaining vehicles of the convoy continued on. Lee looked back. They’d left a trail of wreckage and bodies in their wake, as well as wounded. Two of the Humvees and a truck had already turned back and were speeding back the way they had come. Willis reached up for the vehicle as they passed him.
"Help us, help us!" he yelled. But Travers took aim and put a bullet into the Sheriff's head. He collapsed dead beside the vehicle.
"Goddamn cowards!"
Lee had heard enough. He still felt like a rookie amongst them all, yet he could see how bad this was getting. It was clear for any sane person to see.
"We have to turn back. This battle is lost!"
"It's not lost. It's not even started!"
Travers had the smile of a crazy person heading into the eye of a storm. Lee grabbed him as he tried to reason further. He pulled him about to address him eye to eye.
"You're gonna get us all killed, and then this war is lost!"
"Then it is lost. We win, or we die!"
"No, I won't let you." Lee lifted his rifle.
Travers took hold of the muzzle and ripped it from his grasp.
"What? What are you gonna do? You got that kind of fight in you, but you won't fight them!" He pointed at the enemy base they were heading for.
"I won't die here for nothing!"
Travers drew out a pistol, confident in the knowledge Lee couldn't do anything about it, but his football training kicked in. He'd been trained as a hard charger, and that is just what he did. He barged into Travers like a charging bull and smashed him back over the cab. The impact had stunned him, and Lee got a hold of his weapon hand.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded as they struggled for life and death. Donny was oblivious to it all as he went on firing.
"You're going to get us all killed!"
"It's no less than you deserve!"
He argued as they struggled on. The muzzle was pointing down when the trigger was depressed, and several shots rang out, penetrating the cab. A cry rang out from the driver as he was struck.
"What are you doing? We came here to fight them!" Travers struggled to regain control of the weapon.
"I don't want to fight you, but you're gonna get us all killed!"
"If we're gonna die, we're gonna die well!"
They continued to struggle over the weapon. Travers was the more experienced soldier, but Lee was a fit and healthy football player, all too well accustomed to battling it out with his peers. He looked back to his brother who was still fighting for them and knew this was the fight of their lifetime, even though Donny might not know it.
"We didn't come here to die, Travers!"
The AA guns continued to rage as Donny engaged the fighters. Finally, the truck veered off to one side as the driver began to lose consciousness, though none of them had noticed. Their vehicle was travelling in parallel to the walls of the facility, and soon began to veer away.
"What are you doing? You traitor!"
Donny couldn't understand why they had veered so far away. He looked over to his brother and Sergeant for confirmation when he saw the struggle. He stopped firing. He didn't care for it anymore. A shell struck the ground beside them, and the impact caused the rear end of the truck to lift off the ground. They were all thrown as the wheels hit the ground once more.
Donny could barely get his breath as he fought to get to his feet. Finally, he reached the edge of the cab and looked out. They were heading for dense foliage and trees.
"Get down!"
He had no care for Travers, but it was meant for his brother, as they ploughed into the forest and were launched out from the vehicle. He faded into unconsciousness as he struck something hard and lost it entirely.
* * *
"Ready for this?" Ross asked.
"Not really," replied Kim.
"Not ever gonna be," added Ortiz.
"All right, I'll see you on the other side. Good luck to you all."
They split apart calmly, attempting to go about their business casually and pretend nothing was going down. It wasn't long before the engine of the one good RV fired up. The vehicle tore off down the track they had been using just as Ross looked at the line of enemy soldiers hiding in the trees above them. A single shot rang out from Dunn. He’d been hiding in the broken down wreck of the other RV. His bullet struck the head of one of the enemy, and it collapsed down over the foliage, revealing many more.
"Now I see you," said Ross with a smile.
He lifted his rifle that he been carrying as casually as he could. Took aim and fired several shots as all hell broke loose. Flashes of light erupted from gunfire in the wilderness as a dozen of the enemy returned fire. He ran for the cover of their truck. The RV vanished into the foliage nearby, and he smiled. Glad they were free of it.
Mick was at the wheel, with Burns by his side, and they raced across the muddy track. Mick was fighting the steering wheel for control, and they slid on the mud, clinging on for control as they fought through the dirt trail. They were close to the road in no time at all and took the final bend. Five of the enemy blocked their path. They fired a few shots across their bow in naval fashion, and they both knew what that meant. Mick slammed on the brakes, and they slid to a halt.
"Come out, lay down your arms, and you will not be hurt!"
"This is it, isn't it?"
Burns nodded in agreement, went to the door, and swung it open. He stepped out solemnly as if about to surrender. The enemy did not even bother to raise their weapons. In the middle of them was an officer. They were confident and cocky, and not expecting a fight.
"Lay down your weapons, and you will not be harmed!"
Burns paced casually out towards them as if he was to comply. He showed he posed no thr
eat to them. But as he came to a standstill, he reached for something slung over his shoulder. It was Payne's MGL. He took aim and fired one grenade and then another. The first landed at the officer's feet and blew it apart, while the other landed nearby, and the whole line of enemy soldiers were obliterated by the blast.
"That’s right, you sons of bitches. That’s how we do it," he said with a smile.
* * *
Ross took aim at the nearest soldier and fired as they descended towards the clearing, but the foliage concealed their number. He took aim at another, and all hell broke loose. Gunfire rang out. He looked back to the others as a huge flash erupted in the middle of them. He was thrown against the truck and briefly lost consciousness. His rifle was nowhere to be seen, but he reached up to the truck, and hauled himself to his feet. One enemy was approaching. It looked like a Mastiff, and that terrified him, for he had never seen one in daylight. It was far more decorated than any he had seen before and wore a flowing black cloak. Under any other circumstances that would have made him smile.
He was stunned and shocked, but he drew out his pistol and fired two shots. To his amazement they passed through the creature as if there were nothing there. He shook his head as though drunk and trying to regain some sense of control. He took careful aim and fired two more shots, but once again they passed through the creature.
"What the fuck are you?"
He lowered his weapon and stepped out in to the open.
"What are you doing?" Ramos yelled.
But Ross wasn't hearing any of it.
"This war is over."
The creature as it came face-to-face with Ross, the two of them standing in the open as the firefight raged all around them.
"It's not over. This war isn't over until I say it is," replied Ross.
The creature began to laugh deeply and loudly. Ramos fired several shots at it, but they passed through as before.
"I am going to enjoy killing you."
"Good luck with that. Nobody has managed it yet."
"I'm coming for you, Master Sergeant Jack Ross. I hope you are everything you’re reputation is." The beast then vanished into thin air.
The gunfire died down as several more of the enemy were struck down, and the rest seemed to vanish as they fled.
Lethal Strike Page 15