This is my battlecry...

Chapter IV

Corporal Jared Ramirez. Anaheim, California.

Fat raindrops pelted Jared's head and his armor, but he ignored it. It was 1550 hours. Normally, school would be letting out around this time. Normally. He sat in a foxhole next to a FNG private, watching and waiting. It was slightly dark outside due to the dark grey clouds blocking the sun. Hours had passed, and still not a thing from the Russians across the field. Jared didn't like it. The Russians were about half a football field away, at the top of a slope. Both the Russians and the Americans were dug in on tree lines. They were using thick tree branches for extra cover. The dirt was slowly turning into mud, as the marines waited. They couldn't let their guards down, that was a fatal mistake.

"You got any siblings, Jared?" Private Dills whispered to him from the other side of the foxhole. Jared looked at him. The kid was fresh out of boot camp. He wasn't even James' age. Jason Dills was his name. Jason had slightly red hair and freckles and a big toothy grin. No facial hair, whatsoever, of course. And he had big green eyes. Jason was a little more on the short side, rather than tall.

"Why?" Jared asked, returning his attention to the slick, grassy slop that led up to the Russians.

"Just wondering."

"I've a younger sister and brother. My brother is in the army, he's a ranger." Jared told Dills. Jason liked to talk too much.

"How is he?" Dills asked, wiping mud off of his face. A slick, dark greenish color spread across his jar, trailing behind his hand.

"He's in Virginia, last I heard." Jared told him.

"Dude, isn't Virginia like, taken by now? They still have Rangers there? Damn. Hope he's okay." Dills told him, slight concern in his voice.

"It can't be worse than it is over here. He'll be all right." Jared assured him. He wasn't really worried about James like that. Worrying would be a liability. It was a luxury that he couldn't afford. Not in times of war.

The marines had been locked in a stale mate with the Russians for hours. They were trying to get out of Anaheim, but the Russians didn't want that to happen. Jared's platoon had gathered a bunch of civilians that were slowing them down. They needed to get those people out of the city and safe, but that wouldn't happen as long as that force was out there waiting for them.

And the Russians could out wait them. It was almost like a game of chess, and it was the marines' turn. Both sides were sitting tight, but it was the marines who needed to move. Women and children were behind the lines, waiting to get out of Anaheim. It was a bad omen for Jared. He'd been getting ready to buy tickets for him and James to see a supercross season opener in Anaheim. That wouldn't be happening now.

Jared had taken off his heavy back pack. They wouldn't be moving any time soon. He opened it up and pulled out an energy bar, hazelnut flavor. He needed the energy, and he was hungry as hell. Win - win situation. Jared unwrapped the bar about halfway and bit into it. It was crunchy and slightly sweet, and filled with nuts and other stuff he didn't care for. He munched on a big chunk of it, grinding it and swallowing it. Jared took several more large chunks out of it.

"Dude, got ne' more of that?" Dills asked him. Jared tossed him the energy bar, and then reached for his helmet, which was sitting upside down on top of the fox hole.

Jared had been collecting rain water for the past hour and a half. Survival technique that he learned early on. He had a canteen filled with water, but he needed to save that for as long as possible. That was how things worked out on the front lines. You had to get creative.

He laid his rifle down and picked up the helmet with both hands, bringing it to his lips. The water wasn't ice cold, but it had to have been some of the best water he'd ever tasted. The cool liquid flooded his mouth and he savored every second of it. "Ahhhh," that's good water. Jared sat the helmet back up on top, in the same position it had been in earlier. The helmet was about halfway full, rather than all the way filled like it had been.

It was quiet, other than the constant chewing of Jason as he munched down the rest of the energy bar.

Jared heard footsteps approaching from the right, softly. He turned his attention to the noise, and saw Lieutenant Dan approaching. Dan was a war veteran and Jared looked up to him. Dan had a wife and several kids, back home, wherever that was.

The lieutenant slid into the hole next to Jared and Dills.

"We're gonna smoke it up, then were gonna charge those bastards." Both Jared and Dills looked closely at lieutenant Dan. He looked back at them. "We got no choice... We'll surprise them, catch them slipping. We outnumber their forces. 1st and 2nd squads are going to hang back and fire over our heads until we're almost all the way up the rise. That'll get the Russians to thinking that we're bluffing the charge. They'll think we're trying to draw them out in the open, and in response, they'll decide to stay back and wait for us to stop shooting. As soon as 1st and 2nd squads do stop shooting, they'll figure that we called it off. Which is exactly what I want them to figure. We'll be up and at those fuckers. 1st and 2nd will follow us up the hill once we get about 75% of the way. I'll throw red smoke to let them know when." Lieutenant Dan's black eyes looked at both of them, making sure they understood what was going to happen.

"It all looks good on paper, but it won't work out according to plan. There will be casualties for us." Dan reminded us. He asked us if we had any questions, then he climbed back out of the foxhole. He turned back to us before he left. "We're up and over once the smoke goes up. Get ready, and move quiet." Then, Dan left.

Dills was scared. Jared could tell easily.

Jared picked his helmet back up from the top of the foxhole. He drank some more of the rain water, letting it flow into his mouth and down the side of his cheeks. Then he sat the helmet on his head, the rest of the water running down his face and neck. He ignored it, and waited for the signal. Jared and Jason were in 4th squad, with several other guys. They'd be going in on the first charge. Like a miniature D-Day.


Jared spat out a piece of chewing gum. All of the flavor was gone. The piece of gum was a useless annoyance in his mouth. Fix bayonets... He twirled the deadly blade in his fingers. It was sharp and built for all-purpose knife usage. You could use it as a bayonet, or as a standard knife. He put it on the barrel of his M16.

The charge is the oldest and most famous military tactical move, ever. It's been in use ever since war has raged on earth. The 300 spartans were charged by a much larger army. The 54th Massachusetts charged Fort Wagner. The Confederate Army had charged during the Battle of Gettysburg. It's the best shock attack, and the worst at the same time. Casualties are usually staggering.

There it was. Over ten smoke grenades flew out into the open, all at the same time. Dills climbed up in the foxhole, he was about to run.

"No, wait! Wait for the smoke!" Jared had to tell him. The kid was jumpy. Fresh out of the School of Infantry. Ready to see some action. Afraid to see some action. All at the same time.

White puffs slowly fanned out, spreading and getting wide and big. The white mist got larger and larger, until they couldn't even see the tops of the trees on the other side of the open plain. Time to go.

Jared pulled himself out of the foxhole, just as 1st and 2nd squad began shooting. The bullets flashed and flew violently at the Russians. Dills followed behind Jared. Over 40 marines were moving up the hill, fast. The sounds of the bullets were drowning out the sound of their footsteps. Jared ran beside Dills, and they ran beside the rest of the assault force.

In the corner of his eye, Jared saw lieutenant Dan toss another smoke. The signal for the second wave. We all entered the white smoke, and Jared gripped his weapon tighter. The Russians were shooting into it, trying to return fire to 1st and 2nd squad. Their bullets were volatile and dangerous. Several rounds came close to hitting him. Three of the marines out front fell to the ground. The marines exited the smoke, right in front of the Russians.

"Get 'em!" Jared heard lieutenant Dan yell.

The Russians had a trenchline set up, along with stray foxholes. Jared leaped down into the trenches, right on top of one of them, and stuck the Russian with his bayonet. It went smoothly into the chest of his target. Blood rushed out of the wound, and Jared fired his M16 once, while the blade was stuck in the enemy soldier. Red fluid splattered onto Jared's hands. He pulled his weapon out.

Jared turned to the right and saw a Russian machine gunner shooting into the marines' lines. He aimed his M16, the barrel swaying slightly because of the bayonet, and shot. The bullets ruptured into the enemy soldier, hitting him in his arms, legs, and the neck. That was a kill right there. The machine gun stopped shooting, as the Russian stopped living. Jared heard yelling behind him.

A Russian soldier was running right at him, mud flying up from the ground, with a bayonet attached to his weapon. Jared had turned at the last second. He parried the blade to the side. The Russian swiped it back the opposite way, aiming for Jared's head. He ducked under it, feeling the blade fly swiftly where his head was a split second ago. As soon as he stood back to his full height, the Russian was bringing the bayonet back in a downward arc, coming from above.

Jared flattened his M16 out horizontally and blocked the attacked, the blade hitting the side of his weapon. He then shoved upwards, throwing the bayonet out of the way and unbalancing the Russian. No time to waste.

Jared kicked the Russian in the lower stomach, hard. Mud flew up from the ground wildly as the Russian hit the ground. Jared fell down with his bayonet, aiming right for the heart area.

"Ah!" Jared yelled with it, driving the blade home, as hard as he can. The Russian stopped moving.

Three kills, and he was still in the same spot. Jared took a deep breathe. There was a right turn in the trench up ahead. Like an alleyway. Jared got up and ran for it.

As he turned, he could see several enemy troops in the trench, and a marine lying on the ground, about to be killed. It was the lieutenant. No! A Russian was aiming a pistol, right at his head. Jared fired from the hip, not even trying to be precise. He shot the one that was going to kill lieutenant Dan, and the wild shots hit the side of the wall. The Russian clutched his side where the bullet hit, dropping the pistol. Jared aimed this time. He shot him in the chest 4 times. Center - mass.

The other Russian soldiers shot at him, though. Jared got hit several times, then he went down. He stumbled backwards, then collapsed on the cold, wet, muddy ground, hard. The slick mud caked his face. Jared's vision got blurry and black dots started popping up. He put his hands on the wounds. Blood was seeping up through his armor and flowed through his fingers and over his hands. He coughed, and red blood spattered out of his mouth, landing on his neck and chin.

A marine ran up beside him and knelt down next to him. It was Dills. "Medic! Medic!" Dills called out, yelling loudly. Jared could barely hear him for some reason. A corpsman came, moving fast. The corpsman knelt down, just like Dills, trying to patch up the wound and stopped the bleeding. Jared coughed again, this time worse than the last.

He blacked out. Swirling into the dark abyss.