Alighten yelled back to Valor. “Hey! We have a serious road block ahead of us! …Oh shit!” Alighten banked the ARV hard left off the road and slammed it into a small mound of sand, stopping the tank cold. Right then a rocket had come soaring directly over the top of the tank, narrowly missing the turret, and exploded harmlessly off to their side.
Alighten shifted the tank into reverse and attempted to slowly climb backwards, however its tires began to spin freely through the fine sand. “Oh shit, do NOT get stuck now!”
Another rocket flew by, this one aimed at Armor-Two. Armor-Two banked hard to the right, dodging the missile that slammed into the ground and exploded right where they had just been a moment ago. The smoke trail from this one was clear, it came from the police stations second floor. Armor-Two spun up its top mounted chain-gun, strafing the entire second story with a solid and unrelenting wave of red hot lead, and setting the floor ablaze in the process.
Alighten rocked the tank back and forth heavily from forward to reverse, then quickly threw it in reverse again and very slowly climbed back onto the road. He let out a long sigh of relief. “Uh, that could have been bad…”
Valor laughed and exhaled from the sudden adrenaline rush. “Just get us in there!”
“What about the road block?”
“Haha. What road block?” Valor designated the entire road block with the targeting computer, after a moment of unresponsiveness, and launched a barrage of a dozen unguided missiles. The road block exploded outward, sending debris flying in every direction, and leaving a mostly clear path forward. The armor column sped off down the road at full speed and began engaging and destroying any hostile raider dumb enough to come out into the street…which was now quite a few.
The column drove to the complete opposite side of the city and stopped; bullets still pinging randomly off their armor plates. Valor keyed his radio. “This is Valor! Jon, Bag, you boys need to tell me where you are because my friend or foe radar isn’t working.” There was silence across the radio. Valor grunted in frustration. “Yo for real, where the hell are you guys?”
Valor waited another few seconds then forcefully disengaged the radio from his irritation. “Alighten, shit is fucked man. No one is answering!”
“Uh, we have a bigger problem! Look to our 11 o’clock!” Alighten retorted anxiously.
Valor activated the external camera and rotated it slowly. Off in the distance was a very wide dust cloud, along with the silhouettes of a dozen or more vehicles, ranging from old military transports, to make shift armored vehicles with a strange assortment of dangerous weapons attached in odd places. Valor growled in annoyance. “Are these guys serious right now? Holy shit, what is this an ambush? They shouldn’t quit their day jobs.”
Alighten looked back at him and grunted a laugh. “They’re raiders, they don’t have a day job. Yeah…so what now?”
Valor turned on the external loud speaker. “Armor Two, Armor Three, you boys…and girl hear me?”
An extremely static filled response came back over the other vehicles speakers. “Yes… hear us?”
“Yeah, I want you guys to spread out and find the rest of the platoon and protect their asses. I don’t care what it takes, make it happen!”
“Sure….we got it…”
Armor Two and Three turned and sped off toward where the most obvious firefights were happening a few blocks away. Alighten’s voice became mildly concerned. “Uh Valor, what are you doing?”
“What WE are doing is messing those shitty cars of theirs up and ending this pathetic ass ambush.” Valor smiled up toward him with a look of excitement.
“…we are?” Alighten didn’t share that same feeling.
Valor laughed and switched the monitor back to the turret camera. “Oh yeah, you ready for the major leagues?”
Alighten sighed and drooped his head. “Hanging out with you will probably get me killed…but college life was boring anyways…”
Armor-One sped off full speed out into the desert and directly into the path of the enemy vehicles, which were about 1000 yards out and closing. Valor enabled the auto-loader for the main gun and furiously tried to target the approaching vehicles to no avail; the monitor continued to flash with static and was unresponsive all together. Valor cursed. “Fuck! Yo Alighten, can you try and reset the computer? This thing is going crazy now and won’t do shit!”
The enemy vehicles began to fire wildly toward Armor-One. While most of the shells proved harmless or missed completely, some of the rockets and larger weapons began to pound the side of the armor, rocking it heavily. Valor became frustrated and slammed the console. “Ugh! Fine, I’ll do it myself!” He pressed a series of buttons and took manual control of the tank’s weapons through a joystick built into his chair. Valor spun the turret wildly around, trying to find his first target… and there it was, a small dune buggy with make shift armor plating, and a variety of ancient and ineffective weapons, about 50 yards off his 7 o’clock. The crew of which was either stupid or brave for coming so…oh shit! “TURN RIGHT!”
The tank banked hard to the right, one side coming completely off the ground for a moment. A rock whizzed by a second later, fired by the crew of the dune buggy. Valor gritted his teeth. “Oh, hell no!” Then fired the first 105mm shell, missing the buggy but sending a huge cloud of dust and rock into the air around it. The dune buggy swerved back into formation with the rest of the hostile vehicles, which were now on Armor-One’s tail and gaining quickly.
Valor spun up the chain-gun and sent a wave of bullets into the cabins of some of the lesser armored vehicles, thinning the horde by four dune buggy type vehicles altogether. The remaining hostiles began to fire again, sending clouds of rock and dust up all around the ARV. Valor switched to unguided missiles and fired a barrage into a group of what looked like make shift tanks. Most of the rockets fell harmlessly behind the moving vehicles, but two of them found their mark on a particularly ugly looking tank on the far end, sending it sky high.
The tank shook and lifted slightly off the ground as Valor fired the second 105mm shell; the lead hostile tank suddenly turned away and the shell exploded harmlessly in front of it. Valor fired the second shot, rocking the tank slightly more this time as the turret angle became more directly off to the side. The round hit the hostile tank square in the center, blowing it into several large pieces, and sending it flying into the path of a trailing vehicle. The enemy vehicles all swerved wildly away from the wreckage, but immediately returned to trailing Armor-One. One of the hostile tanks moved directly behind them and fired, blowing the rear loading door off into a twisted heap and filling the cabin with smoke.
Alighten cursed. “Holy shit! What happened?”
“Don’t worry about it! Just drive!”
Several of the dune buggies pulled up along either side and were trying to plant some sort of explosive charges on the outside armor. Valor switched to the turret chain gun and began lighting them up with a stream of red hot lead, but one of the charges managed to explode halfway between the dune buggy and the tank, damaging Armor-Ones back left wheels. Alighten jumped almost out of his seat. “WHAT WAS THAT? Steering’s going to shit! I’ve got fire alarms going off inside the plating and there is a severe vibration in the back axel! I got to slow down!”
Valor cursed loudly in protest. “Ah damnit! We can’t slow down!”
“No choice!” The tank began to shake uncontrollably from the damage, and Alighten slowed the ARV down instantly to a crawl. The enemy vehicles flew past them on either side, unable to slow down in time. Valor cursed under his breath and shook his head as the enemy vehicles began to circle back in for the kill… He began to fire wildly at the approaching vehicles, when the targeting computer reset itself and began to identify and mark the enemy vehicles as hostile. “HOLY SHIT! It’s back up!” He exclaimed in shock.
Valor quickly switched to unguided rocket pods and gave the computer full control of the gun; all targets locked. “Oh, you’re all so dead now!” V
alor grinned deviously.
The turret spun about and then acquired the nearest the mass of approaching targets, firing the remaining dozen unguided missiles directly into their paths. The enemy vehicles panicked and began to scatter, but were caught in the wave of destruction from the rockets and the other exploding vehicles. Four of the dune buggies turned back and charged directly at the tank, the computer fired a 105mm round as fast as the auto-reload could function, sending a tungsten projectile sailing directly into each target and blowing them into a fiery wreckage.
The last of the vehicles turned and tried to escape, but all met a similar fate. The computer beeped cheerfully to indicate all targets were destroyed, and began to run a self-diagnostic. Alighten peeked up over the back of his seat and cheered with relief. “Haha, yeah they all just got slapped! Hell, I wasn’t worried at all…”
Valor shook his head, not too sure about the whole situation. “Yeah…but something don’t smell right here. Why did the computer shut down and then suddenly come back on? Why don’t the radios work? I mean…damn!”
Alighten nodded in agreement. “Yeah, maybe we’re out of range of whatever was causing the jam?”
Valor sighed loudly and glanced back at the destroyed hatch of his tank to the city that was now a mile or so away. That was going to be a pain in the ass to fix using field supplies… Now he was just pissed off. “Hell I don’t know. Just get us back to town as fast as possible, we still need to help our boys.”
***
Sarah frantically checked her ammo pouch, her pockets, the elastic strap that ran the breadth of her helmet, and everywhere she would possible keep a spare ammo clip. She let out an irritated shout. “I’M OUT! I need ammo!”
Stevens grabbed the last clip he had and tossed it to Sarah, who immediately slid it home and chambered a fresh round. “That’s my last magazine!” Then he went back to trying not to hyperventilate… or get shot in the face. The billet description said it was a fast paced unit…but holy shit!
The hostiles just kept charging into the alley relentlessly, as if they didn’t have any regard for their own lives. Almost on cue as the last group fell, another group rounded the front and back corners simultaneously. Bravo Team opened fire and eliminated the first few, but the rest began to return fire from cover, and a grenade flew in over one of the buildings and landed in the middle of the group. Harrison’s eyes went wide and he tried to shout out a warning, but he couldn’t put the words together. Instead he rushed over and grabbed ahold of it. Don’t explode! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! He pitched it away down the alley, and not a moment too soon since it exploded just as it cleared the nook, sending of wave of intense air pressure blasting out in all directions.
Reagan shoot his head clear from the grenade’s disorienting effects, then fired the last round out of his rifle, shouldered it, and drew his 9mm pistol. Stevens likewise fired frantically down the alley until his rifle clicked empty. “IM OUT TOO!” Maybe he should have been more careful with his shots… in the heat of it he kind of lost track of how much he’d been firing.
Reagan fired his pistol reflexively toward several enemies and then dove back into cover, desperately trying to think of a way out. He glanced over into the nook; the hostage was curled into a ball crying, and Stevens was still attempting to comfort her. Sarah emptied her last magazine, then also drew her pistol. A bullet whizzed right over Reagan’s and then Sarah’s head, blowing a small hole into the synthetic wall behind them. Reagan stared at the crumbling hole in the synthetic wall, then began to dig for his breaching charges…one left. “HEY, GIVE ME ALL YOUR BREACHING CHARGES!”
The group dug around in their packs and tossed what they found to Reagan, with the exception of Sarah who just yelled that she was busy…but three charges should work. Reagan crawled over to the inner nook wall and placed the three charges vertical of each other, and pulled all three pins. “COVER!” The three explosives detonated and filled the alley with light smoke but also the very pungent tar like smell of plastic explosives.
The team shook their heads clear, just in time to see a raider jumping off the roof of a nearby building and into the alley. Harrison ran over to Reagan and pushed his head down, firing his pistol directly into the hostile’s chest, dropping him. Harrison took in a deep breath, just as Reagan pushed him away. “Uh, thanks…” Reagan said, as he brushed himself off.
Harrison moved back to cover the front, as Reagan crawled back over to the wall to inspect the results. The explosive had done its job as it was designed to do, leaving neat holes in the wall that were supposed to target the weak points in a door. There was still about and 6 inches of synthetic in-between each hole, and there was no way a person could fit through it. Reagan unslung his rifle and began to beat the remaining material to no avail, yelling out in frustration.
The buzz saw sound of an ARV-40’s chain-gun drew his and Sarah’s attention away. It was close, very close; probably within a few blocks. He had to get their attention! He keyed his radio and desperately tried to reach them or anyone; but it nothing but static. He could hear the ARV moving about one or two streets over. He grabbed a colored smoke grenade from his vest and tossed it onto the roof just above them; the grenade went off with a small pop and poured plumes of bright green smoke into the air. “I hope this works…”
Yelling and cursing from the raiders increased dramatically after that, and it sounded like the green smoke had just infuriated them more. Even though both entrances to the alley were piled with their dead, they still were trying to push in... They are absolutely insane! Raiders don’t act this way… Why the hell would they so willingly risk their own lives? How many of them were there?
The sound of heavy, quick footsteps began to sound from the metal roof on either side of the alley, slowly growing louder. Reagan turned and fired upward on instinct, causing two raiders to drop down into the alley. Reagan shot one twice in the chest, making him very dead. The second one took a bullet through his left hand, but was still struggling to raise his weapon. Reagan rushed over and tossed the raiders ancient AK-47 over to Stevens, and pistol whipped the man directly in the face, knocking him unconscious.
Stevens picked up the AK and used it immediately, spraying a barrage of bullets forward toward the raiders that had begun to creep down the front. He switched to single shot and carefully began to fire toward the not so dumb raiders in the back, which were now obviously using tactics. The last bullet rang out from the AK; Stevens checked the magazine to ensure it was empty. “DOES THAT GUY HAVE MORE AMMO?”
“Conserve your damn ammo!” Reagan screamed at him with frustration, then did a quick check of the body and found one additional magazine, tossing it over to Stevens. Stevens slammed the magazine in, racked the weapon, and chambered a round. Sarah also shouted out right then. “IM OUT! THEY’RE ON OUR SIX!”
Two figures peeked around the back corner and began to shoot wildly at the group, finally having used their brains and dug into cover. Stevens couldn’t hit them without exposing himself to either side of the alley, which was not worth the gain. Reagan peeked up from cover toward the front after hearing the whine of an engine, just as an ARV-40 skidded to a halt on the road right behind the two hostiles…who turned around and froze in shock. The ARV’s chain-gun spun up instantly with its high pitched humming sound. Reagan grabbed Stevens and the hostage and dove to the ground. “OH SHIT, GET DOWN!”
A red-hot stream of bullets tore through the two bad guys in front, and then cut straight through the buildings and everything else down the alley like a hot knife through butter. The firing continued for a full 20 something seconds, creating a small mound of brass casings around the tank, until the gun slowly spun back down and vented excessive heat. There wasn’t a sound to be heard in the immediate area after that, as all the raiders seem to have died or fled. A female voice came over the tank’s loud speaker. “Get in before they come back!”
Reagan grabbed ahold of Stevens’ arm and pulled him to his feet. “Get the civilian to
the tank! The rest of you help me with this guy!” Stevens carefully stood the terrified civilian woman up and began to lead her to the slowly lowering troop bay door. Reagan however struggled to stand the unconscious raider up, prompting Sarah and Harrison to rush over and help.
Multiple shots rang out from down the back part of the alley. A round hit Reagan square in the back, and one in the leg, knocking the air from him and dropping him to the dirt. A second round grazed Sarah in her right arm, and another hit the unconscious raider in the gut. Stevens turned and fired furiously at the lone gunman, dropping him with several shots. Then as he glanced back to where he’d left the civilian girl…she was now totally still and laying in a pool of progressively expanding blood from her head. He took in a deep breath and spoke in an increasingly dire tone of voice. “Ah…shit! The civilian is dead!”
Sarah ran over and checked her pulse. Nothing, she really was dead. No point in dwelling on it. “Leave her, let’s go!”
Harrison scanned the back alley out of caution, then rushed over and helped Reagan to his feet, who was having great difficulty breathing and couldn’t walk on his own. “Sarah! Help!”
Sarah cursed under her breath, ran over, and helped shoulder carry Reagan into the tank. Stevens began to drag the raider into the troop bay, and was suddenly assisted by Matt and several other members of Two-Bravo, who took up defensive positions outside the tank until all members of the teams were on board.
The tank sped off down the road as soon as the gate shut. Two-Bravo’s members began tending to Sarah’s arm, Reagan’s wounds, and all the other similar bullet wounds and scratches they had received. Sarah fought off the bandage Shake brought her, and her tone was equally annoyed and frustrated. “Don’t help me, help Reagan!” Then pulled out zip ties from her satchel to bind the raider’s hands together. The raider was now mostly conscious and was doing a combination of crying in pain from his gut wound and yelling profanity toward everyone in the troop bay.
Krieger Platoon Page 11