The steady hum of the helicopter was hypnotizing. Captain Blackheart was drifting in and out of a light sleep, SR-25 at his side. Blackheart was a man in his late 30s with a military style buzz cut peppered with grey inside his black hair. Tattoos blanketed the man's muscular arms. He awoke once more and looked around the osprey's cabin; there was the rest of his team. They were the designated rescue team, call sign: Crow Five and a call just came in for assistance. Apparently a platoon of 'cleaners', men tasked with 'cleaning' the infection a square mile at a time, had met major resistance and had taken several casualties. A voice crackled to life inside his ear, "coming up on position alpha captain." Here we go thought Blackheart. He shook his spotter and long time friend Lieutenant Burnside awake. Burnside grunted, Burnside was a skinny man in his early 40s who had gone through training with Blackheart and had been with him since the outbreak.
"Rise and shine cupcake, we got shit to do." Blackheart said shoving a M16 with M203 attachment into the Lieutenant's chest. Blackheart looked around the cabin; everyone looked ready, except Phix, the heavy gunner, he was sound asleep. Phix was a well built man in his late 20s, his body made his head seem small on his broad shoulders, a M60 draped across his chest. "Wake his ass up!" Lieutenant Lockely did the honors with an elbow to the gut. Phix was awake instantly rubbing his ribs.
"We are at position alpha Captain," the voice shouted over the intercom. Blackheart tapped the man to his right's shoulder; he in turn did the same to the man to his right when it got to the end of that side of the osprey the man on the end kicked the soldier's knee on the other side and so began the shoulder tapping and kicking again until it got back to Blackheart. "Alright everyone watch your asses out there, I don't want to put any of you down today." Everyone shared a nervous laugh as the back of the osprey started to drop forming a ramp. "Alright you bunch of jackasses get up and get ready." All of the men jumped into a perfect single file line. The cabin was filled with clicks as safeties were switched off. The make shift ramp was fully down. "Haul ass!" With that the single file line piled out of the osprey on to position alpha, the roof of a 4 story building.
Blackheart grabbed Burnside and immediately ran to the edge of the roof to post up and observe the streets, dead quiet, not a good sign. "Alright clear this building and get out there on the street, I want Max and the rook up front with shotties followed by Phix and Lockely, the rest of you fall in behind." Max rested his Tavor Assault Rifle (TAR 21) across his chest and unhooked his Spas shotgun from its holster on his back and pumped it. The rook, Private First Class Bennington was having trouble grabbing his USAS shotgun from his back so Max went to help.
When Max got to Bennington he had managed to get the shotgun off of his back but it was tangled I his web gear. "Here lemme help." Max managed to untangle his gear and Bennington nodded his thanks. "Benny, before we go in, this is your first run with us, you got the USAS so you got more rounds in the drum of yours, 12 more. I want you watching my ass when I reload, okay?" Bennington nodded and Max gave him a slight tap on the shoulder. "Thanks, if you just follow my lead you might live longer then the last guy who ran with me," Max said with a slight smile. Max got to the door and stopped "Phix work your magic, I got a heavy lock here." Phix smiled, he always liked it when he was needed. He grabbed the bolt cutters of his back and gave the lock a quick cut and Max gave a nod of approval. Max removed the lock and looked at Bennington who raised his shotgun and nodded. Max opened the door and Bennington slid in followed by the rest of the entry team.
Blackheart swept the streets with his scope, no signs of life. He was starting to think this was a rescue that was never going to happen when a few loud pops went off, at first he thought it was his team when he pinpointed the direction the shots were coming from. It was from a building across the street and a few buildings north. That's when he heard the whistles and pings of incoming fire. "Jesus Christ almighty they are shooting at us! Didn't they see us come in?" Burnside shouted half laughing at their present situation. Blackheart laughed with him. That's when the radio opened up a mass of confusion, it seemed a few bullets had made through a window and missed PFC Mitchaw by a foot or so. "Calm the fuck down! They are a shit shot!" Burnside yelled into his intercom still laughing.
"How are we gonna rescue someone who wants us dead?" Phix shouted scrabbling into the room across the hall from the room where Mitchaw almost got shot and slamming his M60s bipod on a night stand so hard it broke in two so he decided to set it down, a little more gently on the window sill and sighted the window in which the fire was coming from. "Just tell me when captain and I'll put so many holes in these mother fuckers they won't know what to do." Phix grinned, he loved shooting his M60, the recoil and the mass destruction it caused was magnificent. That's when Mannix, Phix's best friend in the squad came over and patted him on the shoulder "We're here to save them not kill them, try a warning string above the window." Phix did what his friend told him, the firing stopped from the window. "Reloading?" Phix asked Mannix. Mannix shook his head "No, I'm pretty sure you just scared the shit out of them." They both laughed. That's when a shot came through the window and caught Mannix in the shoulder and spun him a full 180 degrees and he dropped to the floor. Phix adjusted his aim and fired a string through the window and the surrounding wall. "Man down! Man Down!" Shouted Phix "Where the fuck is Doc Evans?!"
Doc Evans ran through the door and dropped to his knees, next to the half groaning half cursing Mannix. He examined the wound, a through and through, no major damage done, he grabbed some sterile gauze and medical tape and covered the wound. "Should be fine, a few days R and R and you'll be combat ready again."
Blackheart was observing the window when dust and debris starting crackling off the side of the wall again "Cease Fire! I repeat Cease Fire!" He looked at Burnside with who just shrugged. "Kids will be kids, of course our kids have guns." Burnside laughed. "Sir, none of us are firing anything," a voice called over the intercom. Blackheart and Burnside both watched as a team of what looked like commandos carrying FAMAS assault rifles came from and alley across from the building and entered, shots were heard then after a few minutes the commandos came strolling back out. "They look French Foreign Legion to me boss," Burnside said not taking his eye away from his scope.
"So it would seem, I didn't hear about anything about a foreign occupation force." Blackheart said more to himself then to Burnside. "Tell the men to keep an eye on them, I'm gonna see if I can find out why they are here without our authority." Burnside nodded and walked over to the door.
"Be careful captain, never much cared for the French." Burnside said smiling and turning to go down the stairs. Blackheart climbed down the fire escape. As he reached the end of the alley he stuck his hands in the air and tried to remain calm. "Okay, I'm coming out now, don't shoot." He shouted and walked into the street, immediately all guns trained on him. "I'm not here to harm you but if you shoot me you will all die, my men have you in their sights and will shoot you down if you so much as look at me funny." A few snickers came from the second story window. The soldiers lowered their weapons and looked into the window to find Burnside giving them the finger with one hand and cradling his M16 in the other. Some of the other soldiers were waving, not Phix though, he remained like stone, set-up on his M60 probably wondering what an M60 would do to the soldiers on the street at such close range.
"What are you doing here with out proper authorization?" Blackheart asked, almost annoyed. The soldiers looked at each other, obviously playing dumb. "Say something or I give the word to fire." Silence. That's when a second group of soldiers rounded the corner stopped and started firing, luckily Blackheart had enough commonsense to dive back into the alley as the street began chipping away, he now understood why Burnside hated the French.