Re-uploading the story. Am trying to take some creative advice and pay attention to the formatting. Thank you to Fenris_Ulven for letting me use Ben Shannon.
Foot Hold: Based on the Tv series, and Fallen Survivors: Always Blind; Set seven years after the portal was blown.
Ops November
"Nova Vida Command to Terra Nova Command, request push to Charlie Tango."
"Nova Vida. Copy. Charlie Tango enroute thirty sierras. Standby."
"Vida, this is Charlie Tango ready for traffic, respond."
"Charlie Tango, this is Bravo Sierra. Be advised, we have a foothold situation,
we have a foothold situation. Ops November went dark 0300hrs, remote patrol
sent to investigate, barely made it out of there. At present, ten souls unaccounted for.
Large contingent spotted headed for the southern part of the Badlands."
"Received Bravo, Tango requests list ident on the 10, and what is required. Will be standing by."
"List and requests being sent now. Tango Mike Nova."
"Have three Charlie Mikes weapons hot, keep us apprised. Tango out. "
"Vida out."
The radio chatter from the rovers speakers finally stopped. It was finally quiet. Other than a
slight breeze rustling the top of the tree canopy. Reynolds finally lifted his head from the
steering wheel, wiping the tears from his eyes and scanning the surrounding jungle for
movement. He was still struggling to keep his emotions in check. Though he couldn't
afford to lose it now. He got out of the rover painfully. Leaning back against the door frame,
he tried to continue his watch. Behind the rover were two rhinos parked close, end to end.
Nose to tail. It was surreal. Nothing moved other than the wind. The absence of any wildlife
sounds was very noticeable. Looking into the rover, he could make out the sleeping form of
Maddy and the three little ones, she was holding. Looking at her, he finally broke down and
cried. That sound. The gut wrenching sobs of a man who had just gone thru a hell too terrible
to imagine filled the empty silence of the jungle. It was a long time time before he finally
composed himself. Mark pushed off from the rover. Going back to the rhino parked behind it.
Opening the passenger door, he looked in. A female corporal was sitting there hunched forward.
Her honey blonde hair covering her face and hanging down to her knees. Setting her back so
she was leaning against the backrest, she gave a low moan, which Mark found encouraging.
Looking in at the other passengers, he saw they were still out cold. And all in rough shape.
Yeah. He thought. It had been one hell of a 24 hours. Going back to the third vehicle, he
checked on them and found them alive but out. A rough night and day. They had been
awakened during the night, and had barely enough time to load up what they could from the
outpost, pile in the vehicles and run. The warning had come almost too late. And what Mark found
baffling was it had not come audibly or electronically. It had been almost like everyone there had
heard someone yelling in there heads to pack up and run. That there was little time.
Everyone in Ops November had heard it. Nobody questioned it. They loaded up the vehicles
and drove away from the outpost into the low lying hills. They had just turned into a small draw
to head further into the highlands when the blast hit. The hillside had deflected the majority of
the of the shock wave, but the resulting force leveled the forest all around. Mark and the other
drivers didn't think but drove as fast and hard as they could. Flying over smashed trees, up ended
boulders and land that had been smashed in an instant. Hours later they finally turned into a small
coullee that still had jungle forest still standing in it. Pulling up and parking. Every one simply lay
back and crashed. Simply being overwhelmed by the experience that was a nightmare in progress.
Thinking back, Mark didn't think it would be wise to tell Maddy that they had just survived a
pyrosonic detonation. As much as he wanted to. It wasn't wise to contact either colony.
They were too close to who ever had come thru, and if they were more than a threat than they had
just revealed. They would be looking for them. Sitting back in the drivers seat of the rover he
continued his vigil.
