Chapter 1
All was quiet across the small desert town. Concrete structures stood tall but at a fraction of their former glory. The desert heat beat down on them with unforgiving determination. Dunes of sand stirred gently outside the town with the soft breeze.
A large boom sounded across the featureless landscape. Soon many more followed suit and the air was split with the roar and snarl of the guns. Shells exploded across the huge expanse of land. The structures crumbled and fell apart at the undeniable power of the cannons.
Voices shouted trying to overcome the blast of guns. Many rose in panic while others tried to organise a defence or a retreat.
Smaller guns added their crack and bark as soldiers let loose with their rifles. Sand exploded high into the air from the large shells while the rifles created small puffs. Soldiers inside the cover of the concrete structures broke away and dashed into the open, hoping for escape.
Bullets ripped through the air in short accurate bursts; cutting down the unfortunate enemy. Fear overcame most of them now stuck in the open. They had no where left to run with soldiers in front of them and shells behind them.
The gunfire was relentless and struck down all of the bewildered targets. The shells pounded the concrete into the ground constantly changing the layout of the town. Shouts rang out again and again calling targets and adjusting fire. The troops were trained well as they executed each order perfectly.
Other men tried to gather what little defence could still be mustered but the panicking men darted away to dark holes to hide. Counter-attacking units were targeted first. The guns vaporised the meagre cover of a small squad and then changed target to a small tank that was futilely charging up the dunes.
The guns suddenly cut off and the breeze and swish of sand was all that could be heard again. A few dying screams punctured the silence but they soon died away as well.
Troops carefully advanced on the shattered town. The silence was eerie and may have caused many troops to lose morale. These were soldiers trained to be the best. Soft crunching of sand was muffled by well designed boots. The men had yellow and white camouflage and they kept alert for danger.
Each man had a helmet with a black visor showing important information on the area. The guns the troops held had the same camouflage as their suits. Most had no attachments but some had scopes and grenade launchers mounted underneath. The intense heat was the only distraction to the soldiers.
Erik resisted the urge to whip off the stuffy helmet and reminded himself the battle had only just begun. He knew the large cannons had blown apart the opposition but he also knew there could still be a trap coming together slowly. The guns could destroy cover and break morale but the foot soldiers had to clear out the remnants.
The small squad advanced quietly on what appeared to be an innocent village. Each man kept his gun steady and they were all ready to dive for cover at a moments notice.
That was why when the mounted gun exploded into action, they were already out of the line of fire. The gun was a large calibre; Erik could tell that from the pitch of the bullets.
Three men hadn't reacted quickly enough and they were cut down in the lethal storm of fire. Their bodies were flung off their feet as they flew backwards and hit the ground a few feet away from Erik.
The system in his helmet had already analysed the location and threat of the turret based on the pitch of the bullets, other units under fire and the original burst that had sent the squad scattering for cover.
Erik had thrown himself down behind a fallen piece of debris. As the shots smashed into his cover dust rained down around him coating his immaculate camouflage. A small message box appeared in the corner of his helmet signalling he had the best shot at the gunner.
Erik listened carefully to the guns firing. The operator was still shocked by the sudden appearance of rival forces and was firing wildly but he was quickly gaining courage. The man swept the gun across the street trying to force all the units to remain in cover by himself. Erik knew this was impossible.
He waited until the guns shots whistled over head then rolled away from the lethal stream appearing in the opposite direction to the guns movement while still remaining partially behind cover.
His gun was a new model with many advantages in combat. One of these was accuracy and stopping power. Erik unleashed the guns fury and it easily smashed into the man operating the large gun. He saw Erik but couldn't reverse the guns motion due to its weight. He had tried to put wooden covering over his emplacement but the bullets punched through it like paper.
Erik rolled back into cover behind the debris in case there were any more soldiers waiting. When no threat presented itself, the squad cautiously clambered out of cover and formed into a tight formation. Each man scanned the surrounding area aided by their helmet systems then started moving deeper into the town.
The soldiers kept to a formation that allowed all angles to be covered. There were many buildings still intact enough to pose a threat. There were many windows that could hide anything. Craters and debris could hide an ambush. Erik knew not to underestimate his enemy; even when they had been hit a crushing blow. A man gets desperate towards the end.
Soon streets began to get wider and a well prepared ambush was almost certainly in place nearby. The squad split up and began moving with the other group giving them cover.
The ambush took place at a corner. A tank that had been destroyed blocked a street. The wheels were shredded along with the main gun and most of the front. But the thick armour provided a good blockade. Debris was stacked around it and wood hurriedly added afterwards. There were many windows with little cover left forming a large expanse of no-mans land.
The squad took up position carefully in the furthest edge of acceptable cover. Some troops pulled out a handheld device designed to detect movement. There were at least a dozen behind the barricade and a few more snipers waiting for the squad to be distracted.
Five soldiers stepped forward and armed their grenades. They waited silently as the fuse ticked down. Then as one, they lobbed the explosives over the defences. All the explosives blew apart forcing the barricade a few centimetres forward with the impact.
But the enemy was ready for this tactic. They had set up a cover above the barricade stopping grenades and depositing them harmlessly away from the soldiers. The men charged up to their positions and opened fire. The snipers appeared at their windows prepared to take their shots. But the squad had placed a few men ready to take out the snipers.
The snipers either took cover fast or were mown down by the streams of bullets. The rest of the troops opened fire on the barricade.
The destroyed tank provided sufficient armour to repel most bullets but the troops aimed for the bobbing heads of the enemy. Erik fired short sharp bursts with his assault rifle keeping the enemy pinned while some other men entered a nearby building. The tank was too strong to destroy so they had to think strategically.
More and more of the squad broke away from the main group and headed inside the building. The enemy started to gain morale and a man jumped into the still operational turret on the top of the tank.
The gun pounded the cover and killed more than a few men. It had a higher than average stopping power and a decent fire rate creating a formidable foe.
Erik retreated into the building with the rest of the squad to regroup. A few of their number were obviously missing.
"How many casualties?" The commander asked turning to face his general.
"We've lost eight men sir leaving us with twenty seven." The man replied.
His voice was rough unlike the commanders but this wasn't due to his length of service but because gas bomb stole his voice.
The sound of the remaining gunfire drained away outside and Erik examined the room. It was a moderately large lobby for some sort of business. The machines were long dead and only a little light seeped in. The room was dark and any other soldier would have been unnerved by the sudden change of pace in the fighting. But the troops had gone through strict training and barely noticed the transition.
Helmet lights softly flickered on but only on the lowest setting. Their silent movement and flanking manoeuvres would be their greatest advantage. Shadows split away revealing a small passage at the back of the room.
"Suppressors on." Whispered the commander.
All the soldiers whipped out their suppressors and attached them with unnerving efficiency. Then every man dropped into a low crouch knowing what was expected of them to ensure their silence.
Harold peeked around the corner of the window. He brought his gun up so it was braced against his shoulder and licked his lips. The iron sights allowed him to make sure he was aiming straight at the doorway where the enemy troops had just disappeared.
"Where have you gone?" He whispered to himself. "Hey, Frank! Do you think they could flank us from there?" Harold shouted to his companion.
"Hang on I'll get the data now." He replied equally loudly.
The soldiers didn't posses the same high-tech equipment of the enemy but they made up for it in other factors. The data shuffled through on a cracked and dented screen.
The room was musty and very old. The town's population had left many years before. Darkness shrouded almost every corner and Harold had the strange feeling the shadows were watching him.
Harold patted his gun. He had taken it from one of the enemy soldiers and it had served him much better than the previous owner. It had decent stopping power and fire rate but it excelled in accuracy. It was quite long and was rusty and worn. The gun was once all black but now it was chipped and old. Soon a replacement would have to be found.
Harold panned his aim across the building. There didn't seem to be any paths that provided a flanking advantage. Soon bored with the dull scenery, Harold wondered if they would head up their building.
A long corridor connected two buildings high above, designed to be a scenic look across the town. It took Harold a second to realise these buildings were the one he was positioned in and the other the building the troops had fled into.
Harold's eyes widened in surprise. How long had they had to creep across? He spun around to call a warning to Frank and was greeted by a silent bullet into his open mouth.
A spray of blood exited the window but it remained unnoticed.
Erik put the body down next to the other one. Both had been surprised but one had appeared to have discovered their plan at the last moment. They didn't have long left.
Erik rejoined the squad in the corridor. Only one more sniper nest remained but this was estimated to be the largest. They were running out of time as it wouldn't be long before the barricade checked in with the sniper nests.
Two men slithered forward silently. The door was just a few metres ahead when a loud voice punctured the silence. It was demanding a soldier to remain alert. Erik smirked at the irony.
The two men reached the door and one pulled out a small flash grenade. It had been specially modified to remain silent at the expense of range and effectiveness.
One man suddenly stood and kicked the door with his heavy boot. The door splintered and fell inwards. The first soldier pivoted on one foot away from the opening while the other performed the opposite motion, throwing the flash grenade before reversing the action.
A couple of voices rang out in shock but then the grenade unleashed its light. The squad moved in quickly putting short three round bursts through those unharmed then one kill shot into those still bewildered.
The assault had been quite loud thanks to the kicking of the door but it after the soldier shouted a few punishing hits would have been expected. This hopefully meant the barricade was still oblivious to the danger.
The squad searched the room quickly then took up defensive positions to ensure their silence. The commander walked towards the window and looked out stealthily.
He gauged the distance between the room and the barricade then signalled the soldiers to move. The troops exited and walked quickly down the corridor while maintaining their crouching stance.
The men guarding the barricade still had no idea of their impending deaths. A few were smoking some sort of stimulant and enjoying what they thought was an advantage.
The squad entered another room. Another man moved forwards with Erik. He pulled a heavy metal disk from a harness behind his back and entered the correct information into the system. Erik and the man grunted as they heaved the device to the window.
Erik looked down at the barricade below them. There were a few soldiers near this section with one sentry directly below them. With a huge effort, the pair threw the device down. It landed with a tremendous crash which echoed down the street. All faces turned towards the source of the noise.
Erik leaped to the floor with the man as he clicked the trigger on the detonator. The explosion blew apart the solid tank armour with ease and ripped apart the rest of the barricade with a hurricane of death. The buildings creaked and groaned under the stress and years of dust rained down from the ceilings.
Erik stood and peered over the lip of the window sill. Dust and smoke whirled fiercely below with choking ash rising through the air from the raging fires.
"Report soldier." The commander barked sharply.
"All units eliminated along with the barricade sir." Erik replied suitably.
The squad had advanced down the streets and alleys closer to their goal. They gathered around for a quick briefing on the area and landscape. Erik listened intently, aware that if they were ill prepared the mission could easily fail.
"There are many windows for them to snipe from and this is their ground. They know it much better than us and they've had plenty of time to set up both an ambush and a strong defence perhaps even a counter attack." The commander explained.
"I want you to split up and use a pincer movement to trap them and eliminate the greatest threat."
The squad already knew each others strengths and weaknesses. They instantly split up in a way to maximise efficiency. Erik followed his group through an alley and two men covered behind them as they clambered over a mesh fence.
The squad hurried down the remainder of the cramped alley back to a main road. They exited this into a courtyard. As soon as they rounded the corner they were forced into cover.
Bullets blasted chunks out of the concrete road. Gunfire sounded from every direction. The courtyard had a bridge crossing the far side with stairs coming along the sides like castle battlements. Only the mounted guns fired into the castle.
The second group emerged from a window from the building on the soldiers left and rappelled down to the battlements. A few mounted guns changed direction and aimed at the new threat. Soldiers peeked out and fired short bursts distracting the gunners like flies buzzing around a man's face.
The second group advanced slowly with heavy resistance trying to prevent them flanking the gunners. The enemies own wooden defences prevented the gunners from getting a target on their left hand side so the second group was mostly safe.
Suddenly, a shell fell from the sky and smashed into a carved fountain in the centre of the courtyard. Sand blasted up into the air and the fountain revealed itself to be built upon an ancient well. The gunners temporarily had their aim thrown off due to the momentous blast and Erik took his chance with the rest of the squad to quickly dart forwards to better cover.
More shells landed unforgiving and brutal. They were evidently enemy guns as they had neither organisation nor skill with the weapons. The battlefield was turned into a swirling dust storm and the gunners were forced to fire randomly and mostly firing over the heads of the advancing soldiers who continued returning fire.
The soldiers had advanced to where a small market had been towards the centre of the courtyard when the guns finally stopped. Someone had decided they did more harm than good. The soldiers were stranded.
The second group had suffered most as the wooden cover along the battlements had been shook away by the blasts and now gunners picked targets with ease. Soon half of the squad was obliterated.
"Sir! We need reinforcements! Their too well dug in!" Cried a soldier.
Erik turned to face him and noticed a bullet had punctured his visor shattering most of right side but the bullet had only hit his ear. He was pleading with the commander. The commander looked at his men and weighed his options.
"If we use our air support, we'll have no escape route. Can any of you think of another way we could get out of this shit?" He asked. The commander was a good leader and always asked his troops about their opinions to show they mattered.
No one made a sound and gunfire was the only reply the commander received.
"Very well." The commander sighed. He then took out a radio and calmly informed them of the co-ordinates.
A few seconds passed and all that could be heard was the ceaseless thumping of the mounted guns and the heavy breathing of the exhausted soldiers. Then a shuttle appeared.
It was compact and painted black. The jets keeping it airborne were silent but the most imposing feature of the shuttle was the two long gun barrels extending from the front. It hovered in slowly and a few guns switched targets to it in hope they could destroy it.
The guns opened fire and the bridge with the slits for windows lit up in flashes of orange. The guns roared and mowed down all the men diving to the floor in fear. The mounted guns twisted and deformed under the destructive barrage.
A few men tried to run down the battlements to the rappel still dangling from the window. The second group still had a few survivors playing dead. They sprung up and fired on the surprised enemy cutting them down in seconds. The shuttle fired a missile from a concealed launcher and blew apart the middle of the bridge. Soldiers could clearly be seen falling from the gap.
The shuttle turned its attention to the guns that had bombarded the courtyard with shells and kept firing until there was only shrapnel left. The explosive power of the shells contributed to the destruction. Then the shuttle broke away and flew back into the distance.
"Bingo fuel." The commander whispered to himself.
The soldiers had taken up positions watching for any remaining enemies. It was apparent the shuttle had eliminated all targets. What was left of the second group rejoined the first and the squad started to move forwards cautiously. A few fires fizzled after the missile had hit the bridge.
Debris was scattered everywhere which helped dampen the disadvantage of there being no cover. A few bodies littered the ground with some horribly mutilated by the explosive force. Erik took distaste in the use of those means as no loved ones would like to hear their husband had been killed but to hear they had been blown into pieces was far worse.
The squad had only reached the well when Erik noticed a small concealed area under the battlements. It was dark and shadowy and the perfect size to conceal a man.
Erik peered deeper into the darkness searching for any sign of movement. He raised his gun and licked his lips in anticipation. Something stirred, or was just the adrenaline playing tricks on him?
Another twitch and Erik clearly saw something. He fired a short burst like he had been trained but the bullets bounced harmlessly off a steel grille that had been slowly opening.
The hatch the grille was attached to whipped open revealing a concealed man. He was well trained as he timed the opening with the end of Erik's burst. Erik opened his mouth to shout a warning when the sniper rifle exploded into action.
The bullet hit Erik on the shoulder as Erik twisted backwards to avoid it. The impact pushed him backwards and his foot caught on the well. He plummeted into it and was lost from sight.
Voices could be heard shouting above and a few barks of gunfire erupted loudly. Erik scrunched up his face in pain and his arm went to his shoulder. Wind whistled past him quickly and blood flew into the air.
Erik could barely see in the darkness and he briefly wondered how deep the well was. He didn't have to wait long to find out.
The water was cold and stung Erik's exposed wound. Striking the water took his breath away and the current kept him submerged, slowly drowning him. Water whirled past his eyes and he could barely remain conscious.
Erik's helmet ripped from his head and was pulled away into the water. The darkness was sudden and the lack of information stunned him for a moment longer. He had been trained to grow accustomed to the swirling information flooding his view and now it had been taken away suddenly.
His blonde hair was short cropped but it still sprung up a bit as it broke free of the confines of the helmet. His blue eyes widened momentarily and he enjoyed the freedom for a few seconds before the thrashing currents crushed him violently.
The twisting sewer system he was in constantly recycled the water keeping it fresh but always moving. The water churned around him and Erik was violently pulled into another tunnel. He managed to get his head above the water for a few seconds but he was soon thrust back under.
Another corner appeared but Erik was thrown against the wall this time. Pain rushed from his shoulder wound throughout his body which cringed away from reality and the sharpness of being submerged again pushed Erik into darkness.