*****
Doctor Rossi once again performed miracles, but this time he did not do so alone, for without Doctor Kerrigan's assistance they would have lost Shue multiple times. As it was, when the last incision was closed, Rossi still didn't give the patient much of a chance to live. Tiredly he smiled at Nancy.
"Good work, Doctor," he murmured as he surveyed the bloody stainless steel surgical tray and the equally bloody objects laid out thereon. He shook his head; while they had removed seven rounds from Shue's body, the man had still suffered multiple through and through wounds. Those rounds would never be recovered.
"Sir, I've never seen anyone perform work of that caliber at that speed in my life, and I have almost twenty years of experience as a surgical nurse. That was amazing." Kerrigan was in awe as she stripped her bloody gloves off and moved closer to Rossi before resting a hand on his shaking forearm.
"I was pretty good in my day. That was terrible though. I give him maybe a ten percent chance of making it."
"That's ten percent more than if you weren't here."
"Well, keep your fingers crossed," and as Shue was being moved into post-op, Rossi shouted again, "Next!" His arms had ceased to shake as he prepared to save another life.
*****
Rodriguez did as Sokowski directed and moved his four M-ATVs further into the cemetery, with two along the west side and the other two forming up with Assault Force One. Almost immediately, he saw the men of Sokowski's Special Forces unit; there were only a few of them left.
"Red Six, Fox Six, I have you in sight. Directing two elements on our right flank to sweep inward. We will provide support and push south towards the parking lot with your remaining team. You're missing some, over?"
"Fox Six. They were detached to breach the chapel. They'll be done shortly and regroup with us, so keep an eye out while driving the fuckers east."
"Yes, sir. Fox Six Out!” Turning to his driver, Rodriguez said “Let’s roll!” Gripping the joystick for the CROW, he started firing at half-hidden forms running through the gravestones away from them. It’s a good thing I just changed the can, he thought, as having a fresh four-hundred-rounds of .50 would come in handy.
Suddenly the M-ATV shuddered and, panning the gun mount around to the right, he zoomed out on the camera and saw one of the marauder trucks had rammed them in the side; the men riding were firing automatic weapons into the side of his vehicle which were bouncing off in all directions, unable to penetrate the armor. What fools, Rodriguez thought as he depressed the large machine gun until it was pointed at the vehicle. In abstract, he noticed the enemy finally notice and try to back their truck up. Howling with glee, he depressed the trigger again!
*****
Chapter 24
Ringo shivered from the cold and blood loss as one of his slaves pressed down on his shoulder; she would not meet his eyes. He knew he was still bleeding, but not too badly, and he looked up at her snarling, "Cut me loose and I won't hurt you." He shivered again and waited for her to get a knife or something to cut the nylon ties holding him captive.
"No," she responded in a deadpan voice, causing Ringo to blink up at her in surprise.
"What? Fuck you!" he screamed. "You'll find a knife and cut me loose, or I'll beat the motherfucking hell out of you, bitch!"
Then and only then did her gaze meet his eyes, and as he stared into their vivid blue, he shivered again but this time not from cold, for her expression was not one of subservience, but of something else. He started to open his mouth again but she quickly laid a finger across it, so he remained silent while he wondered what she would say.
"I'll be right back with a knife." Relief flooded his body, and inwardly Ringo crowed with delight that his slaves were still obeying him. Once he was cut free, and got his hand on a gun, he’d be able to turn the tide on these asshole soldiers. They would never expect him to come at them from behind, he was sure of it. There she is, coming back, a knife in her hand. Wait. Who is that with her?
Dread filled Ringo as six of his former slaves surrounded him. Frantically, he tried to escape. Screw the blood loss if the bandages loosened, he was getting the fuck out of here. Twisting and turning, he tried to roll towards the doorway and freedom, only to be stopped as a bare female foot came down on his chest, holding him still. These fucking bitches! He'd already had them all and they would obey him!
"You will ..." he started to shout, and another bare foot descended to land hard on his neck, choking him. What the fuck? Where were the soldiers? And then he noticed the slaves moving heavy furniture in front of the door. What were they doing? It was like they were creating a barrier. Terror suddenly overcame Ringo as he realized what was about to happen, and his efforts to free himself quadrupled. To no avail, as six pairs of hands grasped him tightly.
"You're not going anywhere, Masterrrrrr." Her voice was a purr, and as her face loomed over his, he noticed something else ... the knives!
"Mfffghh," he tried to say, then screamed incoherently when six knives descended as one. The pain was incredible ... and lasted a very long time. In the end, as his vision darkened, he thought it odd that they were all smiling down at him.
*****
The extra magazines in his MOLLEs helped, but Sokowski was still getting low; he needed a resupply if they couldn't wrap this up quickly. The marauders had finally started deserting en masse. It was up to Rodriguez to direct them along a specifically chosen path. Sokowski contacted him.
"Fox Six! Redirect with all four M-ATVs on the west flank. Push east, hard, and don't let up."
"Copy that, sir, Fox Element. Hard push now!" Behind Sokowski, the sound of the two M-ATVs near their position indicated they were turning and pouring on the gas, heading west to the new flanking maneuver. He spoke into his microphone again.
"Red Six to Blue Two, they are on the run. Leave one squad in place and punch hard east. Hard push. This is our moment!"
"Copy that Red Six. Hard push east, executing!"
Sokowski had just split Blue Team in half, but the bastards were running. The four left would just have to hold in case any of the marauders slipped by the rest of them. He needed trained shooters for this last assault.
"Red Team. Fast forward and mop them up. Drive them. Do not, I repeat, do not conserve munitions. Throw it all and let them see Special Forces in action against those who would enslave! De Opresso Liber!" he shouted. Within fractions of a second, the motto of Special Forces was shouted back, along with, “To free the Oppressed!” As Sokowski dove into a forward roll to come up firing behind yet another granite tombstone, he heard a chorus of other voices, all chiming in. One voice in particular said, "Semper Fi!" and Sokowski's smile was vicious for he knew whom that had come from...the Reaper!
"Attack!" he shouted, running forward as his M4 blazed like a ray of light in the morning sky. He waved his arm to his team, now full, since the chapel had been secured, and directed them to veer to the southeast. To his west and south he saw the liquid streams of tracers as all four of the M-ATVs opened up at once, along with the smaller forms of Blue Team dodging forward, all shouting “Attack!”
*****
"Get ready people! Do not rise yet! Stay low, but ready your AT4s and be careful. Remember what I taught you," shouted Olsen. He was no longer concerned with his group being heard. The firefight just a few hundred yards away was incredible. Multiple flares rode the early morning sky, and bright flashes of exploding grenades, streamers of molten rounds, and shouts along with the roar of more weaponry than he could count was seen and heard from Olsen's position. Along with that were the frightened screams of captives, but what the hell. This was what he lived for, and his team, Assault Force Two, was about to put a major hurt on some bad men.
Quickly, he crawled down the line, ensuring every civilian was locked and loaded, their weapon of mass destruction ready. Today, everyone had their game on, and the buzz and whine of rounds passing overhead was a continuous cacophony of sound as he grinned evilly and readied his
first of two AT4s. Soon, the voice from the radio would shout out “Cease fire,” and that would be his cue to step into action.
*****
Andy heard the shout to attack come over the headset within the helmet he had taken from Shue. It had been a last minute decision to take it, and one he did not regret. He prayed Shue would survive, but the man had been totally bullet-ridden, and Andy doubted he had made it. All he really knew about this headset was that it appeared to be on some sort of command channel. He had seen Shue operate it, and he pushed the tiny lever over his right ear forward. It was the first time he had used it and he didn't want to fuck up.
"What's going on? What do we do?"
"Andy!" The voice was that of the dude known as the Reaper, and he sounded as cold as ice.
"Yeah, Reaper."
"Attack. Everyone over the fence. Time to drive them east and north from your position. Everyone is attacking and driving them to the arranged location. Assault Team Two is in place and ready. When you hear me say 'Cease Fire’, I need you to stop shooting and get all your people on the ground. This is important. If you don't, you'll be in Assault Two's possible line of fire."
"OK Reaper, I understand. I hear cease fire and we stop shooting and hug the ground until it's over. Attacking now."
Andy released the switch and shouted at those around him, "The Reaper says to attack. Drive them straight and to the left. Everyone's attacking and they need us! When I shout to cease fire, drop your weapons and hug the ground!"
"What about us? I'm getting tired of killing zombies!" Janet’s plaintive voice could be heard from behind them. Andy liked her, for she had grit; she reminded him of his own wife, Darcie.
"Get your asses over the wall and ignore those dead fuckers. We attack." Less than a minute later, they were all there, lined up, weapons ready. Andy pointed forward.
"Attack!" he shouted, as the hot, iron rage of bloodlust filled his veins.
And they attacked with weapons blazing!
*****
Janet heard Andy's voice call out, telling those with him that they needed to attack, and that pissed her off. She wanted to be part of this, and not on some damn zombie-killing sideline. The zombies were getting too easy to kill, and even the fast ones did not move fast enough to escape her fire. Besides, she had a grudge going on.
"What about us?" she called out, and then heard Andy's response for her group's team to join them. Things suddenly became more exciting. Bill was standing beside her and she gave him a tired smile; he grinned hopefully in return.
Jesus. She just simply wasn't interested in him. She wished he'd get it, but that understanding on his part was proving elusive. He thought she might be interested in his company after what she had been through? He had to be kidding, right?
"Men," she grumbled as she inserted a fresh magazine in her AR-15. She had called them clips until rudely instructed by Scott that the proper term was a ‘magazine'. Oh, my God! Like, what difference did it make anyways, what you called them? They held a lot of bullets and she now had thirty ready to go.
"Help me over before they change their minds," she said to Bill, and a quick foot in his waiting hands had her over the fence and dropping to the other side, her rifle ready. The others quickly dropped beside her and she started running forward to Andy's position. She could see him ahead, and she realized that the sky was growing brighter in the early morning dawn. Suddenly Scott grabbed her arm.
"Wait until the others are over and ready. We go as a group!"
She nodded silently at his words and waited impatiently. It took only moments, yet seemed forever until they were lined up with Andy. He and Bruce exchanged a nod, and then Andy shouted "Attack!" She ran with the others, and when she saw a moving form before her that was male ... she fired!
*****
Jason stroked the cross embedded in the stock of his rifle and fired again, taking out yet another of the ungodly, then switched magazines for the second time that morning. Nineteen fewer men would be on this earth to harm the innocents. Slowly, he scanned the cemetery from his perch high atop the silo. It was happening! They were starting to run towards their only escape, the parked cars and trucks in the lot near the front entrance. Several vehicles started up, and as the Reaper watched, he saw the large bus blocking the main entrance moved to the side, the tiny figure of its driver running to the lead truck afterward. He keyed his microphone.
"Assault Two, ready up! Targets are moving out. Repeat, targets are headed your way!"
"Copy that, Paris. We'll be ready for the cease fire." Olsen's voice came through loud and clear in the Reaper’s headset. He used his scope to continually scan the seminary as he watched the godless driving their vehicles through the open front entrance. He waited, for Assault One was driving the remnants hard.
"Stand by, Assault Two. Red Six, what's your situation?" he growled.
"Doing our job, and if it wasn't for the casualties, having fun," Sokowski's cold tone came over the radio, causing the Reaper to smile inwardly.
"All units, get ready for cease fire. Andy report. Are you ready to stop and drop?"
Andy almost immediately responded. "Yes sir! They already hit four of ours and I'm anxious to finish this."
"Serious?"
"Not really. Light wounds, but according to them ... painful."
A chuckle burst forth from the Reaper as he continued to survey the field, and he held his finger close to the toggle. There. The last vehicle was through the gates, the remaining marauders raising their hands or dropping their weapons and diving into bushes.
"Assault One, cease fire, cease fire, cease fire. Two, execute!"
"Cease fire copied," responded Sokowski, and within a span of seconds the north and east flanks went silent.
"Copy that Andy!" shouted the Reaper.
"Cease fire, we got it. Going to ground now. Kick their ass Reaper!" Andy responded.
"Assault Two, confirm execution of target!" barked the Reaper.
"Two on it, Reaper. they are in range but not optimal. Waiting ... ten more seconds. Over."
"Take them out, Paris Six standing by!" and the Reaper smiled grimly as he finally pulled his finger away from the trigger of his modified M40A1. His men were doing their jobs.
*****
Chapter 25
"Assault One, cease fire, cease fire, cease fire. Two execute!" The hard growl of Reaper's voice prompted Sokowski to dive to the ground while shouting into his own tac set as he switched channels.
"Red Team and elements, Assault One, stand down and cease fire. Repeat, stand down and cease fire."
"Standing down," Rodriguez's voice contained a mixture of relief and anger as he shut down his M-ATVs to provide the opportunity for Assault Team Two to advance.
"Cease fire, we got it. Going to ground now. Kick their ass Reaper!" group leader Andy responded.
"Cease fire confirmed, Paris! It's on your boys now, Assault Two!" barked Sokowski as he aimed his M4 from the prone position, ready, able, and willing to take out any marauder that was foolish enough to appear.
"We'll make Red Team proud," laughed Olsen as he signed off, and Sokowski grinned, knowing full well that he would.
*****
"Ready up, boys and girls," Olsen called out. Hearing the gunfire cease with the exception of a sporadic shot or two, he stood. It was early dawn, and he could see the enemy vehicles approaching. "Remember what I taught you, remember what you learned!" he called out again. Quickly he ran down the line, making sure that everyone had formed up and was holding their AT4s as he'd shown them.
"Sights up! Transport safety pin pulled! Tuck it on your shoulder! Everyone ready?" A chorus of yes sirs, hell yeses and other assorted words of agreement sounded from around him as he took his place in the line. They were lined up in a single row, as Olsen didn't want anyone behind them. That would not have been a wise thing, as the back blast from the rockets firing could put a major hurt on anyone foolish enough to stand too close.
T
he vehicles were rapidly approaching and, holding his own AT4 in one hand, he pulled the remote detonator console from his right cargo pocket. "Wait for it ..." he breathed as his thumb hovered over the three remaining switches. He had already flipped the safety covers up and was just waiting for the trucks to approach the foremost IEDs. What? Only seven vehicles?
"Seven targets, two on each in the order I taught you!" he shouted again. Another chorus of agreement reached his ears and he hoped they did get it, but it was too late to go over it again as the lead vehicle was coming up to the last two IED's. Shrugging internally as he pressed all three buttons in a row.
Instantly the IEDs exploded just as the lead vehicle approached, and then Olsen was dropping the detonator to shoulder his launcher. "Safety lever depressed, aim and fire at will!" he shouted. The enemy was just under a hundred yards away, which was well within the range of the AT4, and sighting carefully, Olsen pressed the firing button.
Simultaneously, rockets exploded from the tubes held in the hands of those he had trained, and he watched as his own rocket punched through the side of the fourth vehicle to explode in a huge fireball. He then watched as four rockets passed over the vehicles that were all bunched together, and three hit the ground before even reaching them. But that still left more than enough for massive overkill, except that two of the vehicles still remained unscathed. Inward Olsen groaned.
The Reaper: No Mercy Page 20