“Gold Command, this is Red X-Ray 1-5. We’re facing a large number of hostiles closing in our location. Requesting close air support, over,” I said, over the radio.
“Copy Red X-Ray 1-5, air support is on the way,” Gold Command responded.
“Roger,” I replied.
We started picking off bandits. As the bandits were closing in on them, Echo Charlie Teams tried to fall back, but some couldn’t get out of cover to fall back. The bandits threw Molotov cocktails at them and they caught on fire. They were screaming as they tried to stop, drop, and roll, but the bandits sprayed them with bullets while making some deranged battle cry, showing no mercy.
Then a bandit on the roof started firing an M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun at our guys. Echo Charlie Teams were getting hammered pretty hard. We couldn’t get a shot from where we were.
“I can’t get a shot!” Private Morgan yelled.
“We need to flank them! Lieutenant Amos, you and your guns lay down suppressive fire from here. My guys with me! Let’s move!” I ordered.
I entered the warehouse building first so we could cut through it to get to the M2 shooter. It was dark and there were a lot of big shelves with boxes and pallets full of junk. There were three forklifts, one in an aisle, one parked in the open and the other in a corner.
I started, “Check those corners—”
I was interrupted by a bandit getting the drop on me, literally. He jumped down from the shelves on top me and my rifle slid away from us under one of the forklifts. He was the first to get up as he tried to come at me while another bandit jumped down as well. He tried to kick me in the face, but I dodged, grabbed his other leg and lifted it up causing him to fall on his back. The other bandit was swinging a machete. I dodged two swings and then I grabbed his right arm and used my left elbow to break his arm. He screamed in pain and then I switched from my right hand holding his broken arm to my left as I did a Kata-Guruma takedown, placing my right arm between his legs, lifting up while pulling his arm with my left causing him to fly over me and land hard on his back – I grabbed the machete he dropped and swung it right at his throat. The second bandit came at me with a knife, I blocked his right, kneed his ribs with my right, and then punched hard with my left. He was swinging wildly. I grabbed his knife arm and did a shoulder throw on him. I grabbed the back of his neck and one of his arms and brought him to the forklift, slamming his face into the hard side, smashing his face with three solid hits against the forklift and leaving a bloody stain. Some other bandits tried to attack my guys with blunt weapons, but they didn’t stand much of a chance and my guys took them using martial arts.
A bandit charged at Private Morgan, but couldn’t tackle him and then Private Morgan pulled out his knife and stabbed the bandit in the back repeatedly until he threw him to the side and shot him a couple of times in the face. One bandit came at me with an assault rifle and fired at me full-auto. I ducked behind the cover of the forklift. As soon as he was empty, I charged and tackled him with a double-leg takedown and punched him hard in the face three times before pulling out my 1911 sidearm and shooting him in the head. Another bandit was coming out at my guys with a shotgun, so I sprinted toward him from the side, slamming into him and shoving him hard against the wall. I used my left hand to keep the shotgun pressed to his chest keeping his back against the wall. I shot once in his gut and then another bandit was coming at us from my right so I shot him in the face then another bandit with a rifle from my left. I turned facing him while using the other bandit in front of me as a shield, then shot the rifle bandit twice in the chest – one hit his heart and the other hit one of his lungs. As soon as he hit the floor dead, I threw the other bandit and shot him in the head leaving two holes.
I heard more gun shots in the building and turned to see my guys killing bandits. Lieutenant Amos was stabbing one bandit repeatedly with his knife before grabbing his rifle and putting three bullets in the bandit’s head. I grabbed my rifle from under the forklift and we exited the building. We were getting closer. We went through some back streets and buildings until the shooter was in our line of sight. I took aim at the shooter of the M2 and took a shot, hitting him in the right side of the temple. He fell with his blood spraying in the air. We entered a building to take the stairs to a higher position, but there were bandits waiting for us. My guys took cover as the bandits fired at us – after about three-minutes we were able to maneuver so we could return fire. Some tried to escape outside, but were shot as they ran. We got to the roof, and there was no one up here except for the shooter I killed.
“Clear!” Private Morgan said.
“Clear!” Lieutenant Amos said.
There were cans of 50 caliber ammo next to the M2 machine gun. I manned the M2 and started shooting at the bandits attacking the Echo Charlie teams. A lot of them were out in the open, making it easier to take them out. A 50 caliber does a lot of damage. Limbs and heads were being blown off, with torsos having big holes – it left a real bloody mess. One bandit attempted to throw a grenade at Echo Charlie, but I hit him before he threw, he dropped it and it blew up, killing him and two of his comrades next to him.
“Hey! What the fuck are you doing?!” the walkie talkie strapped to the dead bandit yelled.
“You’re fucking shooting at our guys!” another bandit yelled.
“That’s not our guys. It’s them! They’ve taken the gun!” another bandit stated.
“Get those sons of bitches!”
“They’re on to us! Cover all sides!” Lieutenant Amos ordered.
I continued firing while the others covered me, reloading as fast as I could, and then resumed firing. The bandit numbers were significantly higher than our intel indicated, and they were closing on us from two fronts. I was killing as many as came in our direction, but now the bullets were coming at us and they were closing in. The bandits started bringing in technical vehicles – trucks and SUVs with mounted machine guns. Some were military Humvees and others were converted civilian vehicles.
“Keep them heavily suppressed! Don’t give them an inch!” Lieutenant Amos yelled.
“I’m down to my last can of ammo!” I told everyone.
“We gotta move or we’re gonna be boxed in!” Private Morgan warned.
“Keep shooting!” Lieutenant Amos ordered.
I continued firing the M2, able to target bandits taking cover behind inadequate materials. I tried to conserve as much ammo as possible until I ran out.
“I’m out!” I yelled, switching to my rifle.
“Red X-Ray 1-5, this is Viper 1-2 on approach with Viper 1-3, Stinger 3-1 and Stringer 3-2. Ready for tasking. What’s your position? Over,” Viper 1-2 said over the radio.
“Viper 1-2, both Red X-Ray teams are in the three-story building of Family Dentist Care. Echo Charlie teams are to the east, near the housing neighborhood. Enemy hostiles are in the streets of the commercial district. We’ll mark targets with lasers. Over,” I said back.
“Roger,” Viper 1-2 replied.
Viper 1-2 and 1-3 were two Blackhawk Gunship helicopters with rockets and minigun pods on both ends and both Stingers were AH-6 Little Bird helicopters with rockets and miniguns, although not as much ammo as the Blackhawk, but with more maneuverability. We got our lasers on and pointed to the bandits, marking them as targets.
“We got the targets. We’re inbound hot,” Viper 1-2 said.
We looked up and could vaguely see the helicopters coming. They were hard to make out with the dark night sky, but they were definitely easier to see once they started shooting. The Blackhawks came in first, firing their rockets at the bandits’ vehicles. The rockets traveled at high speed to the vehicles blowing them up in big incendiary explosions while firing the miniguns. The Little Birds followed behind doing the same thing, running a pass on the bandits. Many were killed instantly, while others were in bloody or burnt pieces – there wasn’t much left of the technical vehicles either, just burning pieces of metal and tires. The bandits in the buildings we
re still holding strong in a building, and what few bandits that were alive limped off the streets and into the building. Echo Charlie 5-7 marked the building since they had a better angle and the Blackhawks blew up the front half of the structure with their rockets. The falling debris kicked up some dust which made the bandits even more disoriented, many were wandering around like they weren’t even aware of what planet they were on, let alone, where. As others tried to get their senses back, we put them down before they had the chance.
The QRF backup was pulling into the town cleaning up whatever bandits were in the town. From the sounds of the gunfire, there were still some putting up a fight but they were now outnumbered and outgunned. I saw in the distance our guys in Humvees shooting at bandits in houses, or those running in the streets.
There were still some holed up in a building to the north. I took my guys and worked our way up to the building to stack up, and breach and clear. There were still several piles of dead people the bandits were going to eat and holes with human bones. When we got to the building, there were only a few bandits, they didn’t stand much of a chance and we quickly dropped them. We checked every room on the first floor, before moving to the second floor. Same thing as before, checking every room to make sure it was clear.
When I checked the last room at the end of the hallway, however, there was one bandit sitting in a chair smiling – Private Morgan kept a gun on him so he wouldn’t move. The wall he was sitting by had a bunch of photos and some maps with thumbtacks, a string was connecting one tack to another or to a photograph. When we got close to the wall, I noticed the photos and the map looked familiar, but I couldn’t make it all out in this poor lighting. I lit a LED flashlight to get some better light, and I saw the photos were our kids from the training camps, and the maps were of Camp Terminator and Sledgehammer. No one said anything. They’ve been spying on us.
“What the hell? What the fuck is this?” Lieutenant Amos asked.
I marched to the bandit sitting in the chair, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him against the window.
“What the fuck does that mean?!” I demanded.
“You like to kill? Huh? You like blood? You’re gonna see a lot of it at those two camps when my guys get there,” the bandit smiled.
“What?!” Lieutenant Amos shouted.
“You’ll never get there in time. My teams left long ago. Everyone there will be dead before dawn! I bet those kids taste really good . . . nice soft meat.”
“You son of bitch!” Private Morgan yelled, angrily.
I threw him hard to the ground and he tried laughing. I pulled out my Black Ops 1911 and shot him in the head leaving blood and bits of brains on the floor.
I got on the radio and spoke in a loud and firm tone, “Gold Command! This is Red X-Ray 1-5; we have confirmed intel that the bandits are going to attack Camp Terminator and Camp Sledgehammer. Bandits are already en route; our kids are in imminent danger. We need to evaluate the camps’ status now. Over.”
Gold Command didn’t respond back. My guys were looking extremely pensive. I was starting to get anxious.
“Gold Command, come in. Gold Command, do you copy?!” I raised my voice.
“All teams, this is Gold Command. We’re getting reports that Camp Terminator is under attack. Abort mission and head for Camp Terminator immediately!” Gold Command responded.
I turned to the others, “Abort mission, get to the trucks! We’re leaving!”
“Everyone move your asses! Come on! Let’s go!” Lieutenant Amos yelled.
We rushed outside and everyone was getting into a vehicle. Once everyone was inside or on a vehicle, we hauled ass to the training camps.
Private Morgan was reloading his rifle and growled, “I swear to God, I’m gonna fucking kill them. Every last one of those motherfuckers.”
“I just hope you’ll have the chance, they’ve got a head start,” Lieutenant Amos said looking grim.
****
I was awakened by the sounds of a flash from a camera. I groaned and opened my eyes to see Amara taking a photo. She had a very satisfactory smile on her face as the Polaroid camera was printing the photo. I know what she’s going to say, and what she's going to do as soon as the image appears and I groaned.
When the image was complete, she showed it to me, “Ha! See that? I spy a big tough lug snoozing on the couch, on a Saturday evening, with his loyal little Tuxedo dog – the same dog that you didn’t want!”
“Wha-what are you talking—? I was just sleeping here and he just showed up! I didn’t put him on the couch,” I defended.
“Really?” Amara asked.
“Yeah really. I was just relaxing here and he was like this when I woke up.”
“Well, you know what I also spy with my little eye, Grim?”
“You found Waldo?”
“Waldo? Really?”
“Yeah Waldo, everybody is always looking for that guy and it’s amazing how a guy with a red and white striped shirt with blue jeans blends in with a crowd. I mean, you think someone like that would stick out like a nun at a strip joint. Although, Carmen Sandiego can disappear anywhere as well, and she always wears that bright red coat and hat, so I guess anyone can vanish—”
“Before you lose me on this, allow me to answer your question, smart guy. I was gonna say that I also see an arm resting on top of a Tuxedo and that arm is your arm. Right there in the photo, see? Clear as day. Now what useless defense do you wish to mount?” Amara pointed.
“Oh that . . . well, that doesn’t prove anything. For all you know, this little booger hopped up here and burrowed under my arm and fell asleep!” I protested.
“Really? So, he hops on the couch, curls up under your arm and just . . . falls asleep like that?”
“Yeah! I mean, he’s a dog and dogs have that amazing ability to fall asleep anywhere at any time. I’ve seen some of them sleep with their heads upside down. They’re dogs, Amara.”
“Or . . . maybe you are finally warming up to little Tuxedo and he knows it, too. Which is why you two like each other!”
“Ah baloney!”
“Admit it!”
“No.”
“Admit it!”
“Oh jeez.”
“You love him! You love him! You really love him! You love little Tuxedo!” Amara sang.
I rubbed my eyes, “Oh my God.”
“You love him. Look how happy Tuxedo is! He’s sitting right next to your chest with that big smile of his. He’s so happy sitting with you!”
Tuxedo actually did look really happy as he sat panting with what looked like a big happy smile. He was looking around like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on but I’m happy.’ I started scratching his head the way he likes it and he closed his eyes while leaning his head back against my hand signaling that he likes it.
“Come on, say it,” Amara said.
I sighed.
“Say it. Saaaaaaaaay it.”
“Okay, I like the dog,” I confessed, reluctantly.
“Yes! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!” Amara danced.
“Yeah, I said it. I like the dog, so sue me.”
****
“We’re coming up on Camp Terminator! ETA two minutes!” Lieutenant Park barked over the radio.
“Bandits have surrounded the camp, so we need to act fast! We’ll be coming in from the Northwest! Watch your fire!” I said on the radio.
“Red X-Ray 1-5, Camp Terminator is informing us that there’s a mortar position hammering down on their position just west of their location,” Lieutenant Park said on the radio.
“Lieutenant Amos! Take your men and get after them! Radio what kind of resistance you face en route – I need strength of force numbers and entrenched positions,” I ordered.
“Roger that!” Lieutenant Amos replied, before driving off with three vehicles.
“One minute!” Lieutenant Park said on the radio.
“Blackjack Nine, this is Red X-Ray 1-5 we’re coming inbound on the northw
est. Watch your fire. Over,” I said on the radio.
“Roger, damn good to hear your voice. We’re surrounded. We need immediate support. Over,” Blackjack Nine replied.
There was smoke in the distance and we could hear the gunfire from here. As we drew near, we could see that there were dead bandits all around the fields outside the camp with a few burning vehicles here and there. Many of them were taking cover behind the vehicles or behind a boulder. Some of the floodlights were out so the soldiers at Camp Terminator had to fire flares to get some extra light in the dark areas. I was on the M2 Browning and as soon as we got within range I started shooting as did the other vehicles and we were making an immediate impact. Because we were mobile, we circled the bandits, firing at their exposed ranks – some of them had already turned and become zombies and began feeding on the dead. After clearing the bandits on the north side, I ordered Red X-Ray 2-6 to join Echo Charlie Teams to clear the areas to the west and the south. My guys went with me on foot to help take care of the bandits already inside the camp. Most of the soldiers and the new recruits were up on the roof of the buildings shooting at the bandits on foot closing in on their position.
“Blackjack Nine, this Red X-Ray 1-5. Hold your fire to the north, we’re coming in. Over,” I said on the radio.
“Red X-Ray, we’re up on the roof. Anyone on ground level is hostile. Over,” Blackjack Nine replied.
We went in and started killing any bandits we saw on sight as they shot back. There were dead scattered inside the camp, both the enemy and ours, including some Black Shadow kids – some of the fighting looked hand to hand. The mortars were still firing, but started to stop halfway through our firefight. After a few minutes of working our way around buildings, and flanking the enemy, we were able to finish them. One bandit came at me with a knife in his right hand. I grabbed his knife hand with my right, grabbing the back of his neck with my left – I pulled his arm, side-stepped and pushed his head hard into the wall, then grabbed the knife and stabbed him in the throat before throwing him to the ground and stabbing into his head.
The Dark Days Series | Book 2 | Sanctuary Page 22