Spider-Man
UNLEASHED
Chapter 2
Parker woke up that morning feeling better; like his sleep flushed down the terrible headache he had the night before. He looked at his neck from a small piece of mirror, and saw that the red zit was gone. He began his early morning routine with a set of exercises, like doing push-ups, curls, planks and an hour of jogging. He normally wore himself out with a single set, but somehow he felt like he could finish another round. But he knew there wasn't any time for that, because he had to report back for his last mission, which was a simple patrol duty.
Afghanistan
Charikar – 10:40 AM
Driving around one of the major cities in Afghanistan, Bravo Team carried out their patrol duty that day. They drove around in a Humvee mounted with a fifty-caliber machine gun, with a dozen can of alcohol at the back. Ramirez was the driver, while Parker sat at the passenger seat with Elliot and Smith at the back.
"Hey Smith, is it true you nailed that blonde nurse who came to camp three days ago?" Elliot asked as he took a sip of booze.
"No way man, I though you were joking." Parker said with a tone of disbelief.
"C'mon Pete, Smith is love doctor. He had not one, but two girlfriend during high school" Ramirez added.
"With the way she looked at me, I could tell she wanted it." Smith explained.
All four men started to laugh hysterically, that Ramirez had to punch the brake hard. Good thing the driver behind them had enough reflexes to press the break in time. The sedan honks loudly beside them, and then speeds off.
"Enough talking about Mr. Love Machine here, lets talk about Puny Pete, he's going home!" Ramirez said placing his hand on Peter's shoulder.
"We're going to miss you man, we've been together since boot camp. Although we may love to bully you from time to time, we still you saw as a faithful comrade. You are also the brain the kept this group together."
"Holy shit Ramirez, Is this the guy who punched his father for bringing home a whore."
The boys stared laughing again, as Ramirez turned the Humvee into a small alley. It was normally a busy street, with fruit and meat vendors at every house. But that time there wasn't a single soul to be found. Parker and his friend were too busy to recognize that.
"Man, I'm going to miss you gu-" Peter suddenly felt a quick surge of pain on his head. "Oh…my head."
"You okay pete?"
A man appeared in front of them, about twenty yards away. The man yelled something in afghan, before he crouched down and aimed a rocket launcher at their Humvee.
"RPG! RPG!" Ramirez screamed.
The Rocket Propelled Grenade came flying out of the launcher, and flew towards the Humvee in a blaze of smoke. The four soldiers had no time to exit the Humvee, and all they could do was duck down and hope it would be enough to protect them from the explosion. The rocket landed and exploded at the side of the Driver's seat.
After the deafening sound of the explosion, Parker could hear nothing but a continuous ringing sound on both of his ears. He turned his head to the side, and saw Ramirez stareing back at him with lifeless eyes; the back of his head was impaled with a large piece of shrapnel. Parker then looked back and saw Elliot, who was also dead with half his face burnt to the bones. Smith appeared behind him, he was shouting something but Peter couldn't make up the words, until the ringing sound finally vanished.
"Peter! We have to get out of here goddamit!"
Peter faced forward and saw the terrorist placing another RPG on the launcher. Peter quickly went into action and kicked his door open. He then went up to Smith's door, but somehow it jammed itself and couldn't be opened from both sides.
"Shit! I'm stuck Pete. Just go man, save yourself!"
"I ain't leaving you to die in here Smith, now give me a fucking hand will you!"
With one powerful yank from Parker, the hinges of the door broke loose taking it apart from the Humvee. Smith and Parker jumped in to the house next to them, to avoid the second RPG. This time the rocket crashed right into the middle of the Humvee, and tossed it to the air in a fiery ball of flame.
Parker felt another surge of pain on his head, this time he used it to predict that something bad was going to happen.
"Smith, get over that counter now!"
Both men jumped over the kitchen counter made of concrete, and exactly at that moment, a grenade was thrown inside the house. The grenade exploded, and covered the entire place with smoke. Parker felt the same surge of pain again.
"They're coming, I can sense it Smith."
"What are you talkin about, of course they're comin after us!"
The backdoor was kicked open, and a group of terrorist entered the room wielding axes and machetes.
"Die americans!"
Smith and Parker pulled out their pistol and started shooting at terrorist, taking down several of them. Once they ran out of bullets, they had no choice but to deal with them in close quarter combat.
A man swung his bloody axe left and right, but Parker was able to jump out of the way. He then retaliated back with an uppercut to the body and a left hook to the face. A terrorist wielding a sword snuck up behind him, but Parker was warned by his special senses again. He quickly turned around and landed an elbow to the side of the head, knocking the terrorist unconscious. Smith took down his man with ease, by grabbing both arms and then hitting him with a head-butt.
"I think that's all of them Pete."
Peter though of the same, but when his ears caught the sound of a gun being cocked, he knew it wasn't over.
"Get down!"
A hail of bullets came pouring down the house. Sadly, it was already too late for Smith as he was gunned down. Parker, who was trying to save his friend, got shot twice on the chest. Parker fell on the ground, feeling the blood ooze out of his body. Parker agonizingly crawled towards the corpse of his comrade, as bullets continued to be fired at them. But once he was halfway, his vision began to fade out until he lost consciousness.
When Parker opened his eyes again, his eyesight was greeted with a flash of bright light. The pain from the bullet wounds was gone, and he felt like his body got lighter. A beautiful face of a blonde woman appeared in front of him, that he began to question himself.
"Is this an angel? Am I in heaven already?"
Until his vision became clearer, and recognized that it was the blonde nurse that Smith had intercourse with. That's when Parker realized he was in one of the emergency rooms in the hospital in Camp Foxtrot.
Camp Foxtrot – 9:15 PM
"Mr. Parker, I'm happy to see you've regain consciousness. You lost a lot of blood back there, we thought you weren't going to make it."
"Wha-what happened?" Parker asked with a faint voice.
"Well, a terrorist group ambushed you guys. Luckily a Blackhawk was passing by the area and saw your Humvee on fire. Good thing the chopper was mounted with it's own machine gun, took down every single one of those sons of bitches."
"How about Smith?"
"Smith didn't make it, a bullet punctured his heart. There was no chance of saving him. I'm so sorry." The blonde nurse said as she started to tear up.
Parker felt a mixture of sadness and rage flow through his bloodstream that his blood pressure increased slightly.
"Parker!" A grizzled voice exclaimed, it was his commanding officer, Captain Hillary. "Well I'll be damned. I though you wouldn't make it son."
Parker lifted his left arm and attempted to salute at the officer in front of him. But the nurse positioned it back down, beside his body.
"No need for formalities son, you just took down a dozen terrorist with a pistol and your bare hands. I should be the one saluting to you." Captain Hillary said as he gently pats Parker on the shoulder.
"You're going home son, not as a regular war vet, but as a real American hero. President wants to meet you, you're gettin a Purple Heart son."
To be continued…
