Hello all:
First, I would like to apologize for the slow update speed. I can't help it, unlike some (amazing) people who just pump out chapters like they're candy or something. This took me a little while to make it smooth, but I'm still not that happy about it. I figured it would do for now, so enjoy!
Chapter 3: First Contact
Ramirez shifted uncomfortably in the Humvee. The seats weren't designed for comfort, and certainly not for extended periods of time. The damn thing was a military vehicle and was designed to protect users from enemy fire while providing adequate space to return fire. Not for comfort.
Oh what the hell, Ramirez thought. This wasn't what he wanted, but he had to grin and bear it. It was war, where people died for their government's own selfish reasons. What the fuck.
The unit had scrambled into their gear and out of the base in five minutes. There was no hesitation from the soldiers as the general distress went out, and Ramirez was shocked by the efficiency at which they operated. He had barely made it into the Humvee right before the unit was about to leave him behind. Ramirez made a mental note to work on that later.
Ramirez looked to his left, eyeing Dunn as he slowly drove the Humvee along with the rest of the battalion, Hunter team ready. Behind them, Sergeant Foley kept a silent watch for anything out of the ordinary, covering areas that had already been covered by the soldiers in front of them.
The convoy had to be an intimidating sight. The lines and lines of Humvees sprinkled with APC Strykers and even an M1A1 Abrams tank in the middle rolled along the dirt road, kicking up a mountain of dust that could be seen from miles away.
Hunter 2-1 had their orders to halt the invasion of Russian forces along the East Coast of the US. Reports from the front lines didn't sound too good. The Russians were equipped with large amounts of air support, giant troop deployers, with parachutists streaming off like waterfalls. It was an enormous military force, one that was outright daunting compared to the soldiers in Hunter 2-1.
The first glimpse of enemy movement was directed towards a large trail of smoke streaming from what was assumed to be a plane crash. As the convoy moved past, paratroopers began to drop in to the area, scattered about all over the place. Ramirez heard the gunner open up behind him on a sorry soul who landed on a rooftop. The stream of tracers cut the Russian soldier down.
After a while of cutting down some more paratroopers, Foley suddenly put his hand to his headset, obviously listening to the broadcast on the other line. Much nodding later, he tapped Dunn on the shoulder, muttering their destination. Hunter 2-1's four Humvees, each holding 4 combat ready soldiers, peeled off the main road and sped off into the distance.
1010101
After a little bit more of driving, Hunter 2-1's convoy rolled to a stop. Foley instructed everyone to get out, and Ramirez swept the area with his SCAR-L. Command had sent them to investigate a small village which the Russians had apparently captured. Command wanted to know why, as the village was completely unremarkable in every way.
"This way. Ramirez, take point." Foley waved everyone forward, and Ramirez took the lead, SCAR-L at the ready.
It had taken him some time to familiarize himself with the weapon. Although it had pretty much the same controls as an M4, it was still a different weapon, and behaved differently. He didn't even know if the Eotech holographic sight was sighted in correctly. Inwardly sighing, he continued monitoring his surroundings, moving the group at a steady pace.
The small group of soldiers moved down the street, not encountering any sign of Russians. Ramirez felt his mind beginning to wonder, and he almost missed the telltale glint of a weapons sight glinting in the sun.
"Get down!" he shouted, just before the street exploded into gunfire. The group hustled over into walls, driveways, front yard decorations, anything they could find as cover as the Russians tore into their ranks, ending the lives of a few unlucky souls who didn't get to cover fast enough.
"Dunn, Ramirez, pop smoke!" ordered Foley, sticking his head out just a tiny bit. He quickly ducked back into the protection of the wall, bullets taking a chunk out of the corner.
Dunn and Ramirez, who were coincidentally next to each other, pulled the pins on their smoke grenades and chucked them out into the street, letting them saturate the area with white smoke. As soon as the time felt right, Foley gave the signal, and the Americans rushed out into the smoke, spraying thunderous suppressive fire to keep the Russians at bay.
"Into the house! Go! Parker, Take beta group and flank them!" Foley waved his group into a yellow house.
Ramirez, who didn't really think about death and killing out in the street when he was running for his life, was now shaking slightly. He knew it was war. He knew it was kill or be killed. But somehow, he knew he wouldn't be able to bring himself to do it.
The group reached the basement door. With the squad stacked up on both sides, Foley nodded to the soldier on the opposite side of the doorway, who opened the door a crack, and chucked in a flashbang. There was a solid boom! and the team moved in. Near the end of the group, Ramirez moved in slowly, allowing his comrades to take care of the hostiles. The SCAR-L in his hands felt odd and heavy, and Ramirez wanted to get rid of it.
"Dunn, Ramirez, check the upper floor! The rest of us will clear out the bottom. Go!" Foley fired a few quick bursts at a nearby enemy who had poked his head out too far.
Groaning inwardly, Ramirez grudgingly followed the Corporal up the steps, rifles leveled. Not one second after his foot touched the top step, the Russians who had been hiding there opened fire.
The two soldiers ran to cover, blind firing their rifles as they went. Dunn was taking potshots at the enemies, while Ramirez was in no position to do so.
"Ramirez, do something, godammit!"
Ramirez realized he had been panting, clutching his rifle with a white-knuckle grip, frozen in place. Dunn's words seemed to have brought him out of his stupor, and he tugged a flashbang free of his combat gear.
"Flash out!", and the Americans covered their ears. One very loud bang later, Ramirez was up and running, rifle leveled, letting off quick bursts to keep the Russians in cover.
The blinding effect seemed to last a lot shorter than expected, and Ramirez soon found himself staring down the barrel of an AK-47. At that moment, he knew it was do or die. Kill or be killed. In a split second he had his SCAR up and fired two shots into the man. The Russian stumbled back and collapsed onto the ground. Ramirez barely heard Dunn take down the remaining Russian, his eyes still glued to the man he just killed.
So, this is how it feels to kill, he thought, panting slightly. Strangely, it didn't feel like much. He knew it didn't take much to kill a person, just one touch of a trigger could end one's life. It was strangely dull to Ramirez, and he shook himself out of his stupor.
The duo moved into another hallway, filled to the brim with enemy soldiers. Taking cover on either side of the doorway, the soldiers pulled flashbang grenades from their vests.
"So, how does it feel to kill an enemy?" Dunn shouted over the roar of gunfire.
"Not that bad, actually," replied Ramirez, chucking the flashbang into the hallway as he did so.
As soon as he heard the bang, Ramirez was moving in, rifle leveled and ready to blow some heads off. As the smoke cleared, he fired several shots into different moving shapes, killing several Russians. Moving quickly into the corridor, Ramirez cleared each room individually, Dunn by his side. Soon, they had neutralized all targets on the second floor.
"Sergeant Foley, second floor clear, over." Ramirez slotted a fresh magazine into his SCAR.
"Copy that Ramirez, good work. We're waiting for you downstairs. Out."
Ramirez could hear gunfire coming from the street and decided to double time it, Dunn close on his heels. They emerged onto the street, seemingly identical to how they left it. Ramirez couldn't spot any friendly American soldiers, and he was about to radio Foley again when something caught his eye.
"Get down!" he shouted while pushing a disgruntled Dunn to the concrete floor. The RPG whooshed overhead, and gunfire peppered the brick wall they were using for cover.
"Sarge, we're downstairs and taking heavy fire from Russian patrols. Need assistance, over!" the Corporal fired off a few blind shots before cursing and reloading his weapon. "There's a shit ton of them!"
Ramirez pulled the pin off a frag grenade, counted to three, and lobbed it over the wall.
"Fire in the hole!"
A solid bang sounded, followed closely by the screams of enemies hit by the shrapnel. The two Americans used this to their advantage, popping out from their cover and spraying heavy suppressive fire onto the invading force, sending them diving for cover and killing the few that were too slow.
There was still no answer on the radio. Ramirez decided to try again.
"SARGE! Where the hell are you guys?" he yelled, slamming a new magazine home and slapping the bolt release before resuming firing. He could feel the heat of a bullet as it whizzed past his ear, and he recoiled slightly in response.
A large bang sounded. Ramirez was still firing on the Russians, who were seemingly stunned, not noticing what just happened, when he felt Dunn yank on his arm. Hard.
"Just got word from Sarge. The squad's two blocks down from here. Let's go!"
The two Rangers sprinted out from their cover, across the street and put their backs to the safety of a house.
Ramirez nodded to Dunn, silently reloading his weapon. His earpiece buzzed.
"Ramirez, Dunn, if you can hear me, you're going to have to lay down low for a while. The entire area is crawling with Russians. Get to us, ASAP. We're not leaving you behind."
Dunn signaled for Ramirez to move up. They passed through a multitude of abandoned houses, silently killing the occasional Russian with the goal of getting to the squad. They were seemingly doing pretty well for a little while, keeping low and avoiding a good amount of Russians, when they were met with a street that they needed to cross. Completely filled with Russians with no obvious way through. Faint firefights could be heard in the distance, which Ramirez assumed to be Foley giving the Russians hell.
Dunn tapped Ramirez on the shoulder.
"Hey, what do you think?" he whispered, looking over his weapon once more.
Ramirez shook his head. "This is going to be tough. Our best bet is to create a distraction then move quickly and silently past them." Ramirez checked his weapon and ammunition count and slung the SCAR over his shoulder, picking up an AK-47 decked out in digital camo and pocketing magazines. "I don't see a better way."
"I'm with you on that. Lead on." Dunn quietly chambered a round in his SCAR, leveled and ready.
"OK. How many smoke grenades do you have?" asked Ramirez, checking his own count.
"Two." Dunn was holding them up.
"Same here. I guess that'll have to do. We're going to throw them in random directions, spaced irregularly but just right that people are distracted at the right area. Then we'll move through the crowd and take down the guys right next to us or are blocking us. That way, we'll minimize attention and fatality rates. Sound good?"
"Oh, why do I always get stuck in this shit..." Dunn groaned, but assumed a ready stance.
Ramirez held up three fingers in one hand, the two smokes in the other. Slowly, he put each finger down. When all he held up was a fist, the Americans threw their smoke grenades simultaneously, with a distinct increase in the Russian chatter. The Americans jumped into the street and fired in all directions, cutting down any unfortunate soul standing in the way. Somehow, they managed to survive until they were halfway across the street. Then, a flashbang exploded in their faces. Ramirez stumbled, hands desperately reaching for a new magazine, completely blinded. He felt something hit him, and he blacked out.
There you go. Short and sweet. Hope you guys enjoyed that chapter, again, I apologize for not updating sooner, but that's how I am. Stay tuned for more action!
