Chapter 3:
first skirmish
As bullets fly around you kinda go into a different state of being if you know what I mean.
If you get scared enough, you're going to do something about it.
"Craig! Craig! Craig!" I heard someone repeatedly shout. I was covering my head, cowering behind the sandbags with my eyes closed as the rest of the group, excluding Isara, fired away. When I looked at who was shouting, I found it was James. "Come on! You're a shocktrooper!"
"But I've never fought before!" I shouted back to him, only just being heard over the loud Ratter's and Bangs of the rifles.
"Neither have I! But I'm still Fighting!" he turned around, crawling on the ground to just left of Welkin, just beyond the sandbags cover. "Come on! Show them that we mean business!"
He looked down the scope of his rifle, aiming at a soldier. I watched him as he did so. Isara put her hand on mind, looking a lot more scared then me. I can't sit here scared to death. I heard Alicia shout 'reloading' as she crouched behind the bags, taking her cartridge out and loading another one, pulling the bolt back.
"I can do this" I say to myself, getting up slowly. "I can do this" can I now? James fired the rifle, groaning as he missed. He pulled the bolt back, getting a bullet from the side of the gun and loading it in. I took a spot in front of Isara, alongside Alicia, kneeling with the gun resting on it. "EAT LEAD!" I shouted, firing almost blindly towards them.
Obviously, most of my shots missed. The recoil didn't help either, as I didn't know it was that strong, forcing the gun to fire upwards. I couldn't really tell over the ratta of the gun if I hit, nor did I really care with that burst. When I ran out of ammo, I crouched back down, pulling the magazine out. wait…that's my only one! Damn! Isara poked my elbow. Turning towards her I found that she was holding loads of clips, mags and sniper bullet holders (not sure what there called but they apparently hold 5 bullets a time) I found myself asking the question:
"Where did you get that lot?" out loud. She looked at me oddly.
"Does it really matter right now?" she replied. True. I grabbed the mag, jamming it into the slot and pulling the bolt back.
"This time, aim" Alicia told me. I nodded, getting ready for another burst. "And instead of blindly firing all your ammo, do short bursts"
"Thanks!" I shouted, looking for the enemy. I saw one making a bolt for it. "One runner!"
"Got him!" Welkin shouted. He fired his gun twice, hitting the soldier square in the head. I aimed at the four behind cover, doing short bursts of fire. I couldn't hit them due to the cover.
"We need to get on their flank!" Alicia shouted, firing at them. "There's no way we can hit them from here"
"The old mill" Isara spoke. I stopped firing, pulling the mag out and grabbing another one.
"The old mill?" I saw the mill in question…I guess it would provide the cover we need.
"Can we make it?" the last rifleman asked. (you know, the guys I called generic).
In a daring but stupid move, he darted from cover, making a break for the mill. A storm of bullets flew his way, some going ping as they hit something…one hit his gun, others just missing him. James tried to get some good shots, but he missed about 3 times.
"Dammit!" he shouted, pulling the bolt back and loading another round. Welkin took cover as Alicia took over.
"He's made it!" Welkin shouted over the loud bangs of the guns. He looked at me whilst reloading. "You're next! Get ready!"
"Wait! What?!" I shouted. Run. Out of cover. In front of guns.
"You're best equipped for this!" he looked stressed as he said this, unlike his normal relaxed self. "Just don't think about the enemy and RUN!"
That's not exactly the easiest thing to do…but alright…just relax Craig…Breath. I grabbed three mags from Isara, also replacing the one I had with a fresh one and throwing the spare away. The bullets continued to fly, Alicia taking cover to reload.
"Alright" I tell him, bullets still flying as me and Alicia pull the bolts of our respective guns back. Somewhere within me I'm pulling this calm, brave person out so he can take over…metaphorically speaking of course. "Give me all the cover fire you can and I'll make the dash"
They both nodded, gripping their guns tightly. I crawled to the sandbag wall, staying low. James kept on shooting, occasionally saying some curse words under his breath as he missed. I looked at the rifleman, seeing him taking cover behind the wall of the mill, trying his best to avoid a rain of bullets.
"Stay low!" James shouted, firing another shot and reloading. Welkin and Alicia jumped up, firing at the enemy. "And GO!" man how many times have I heard that line in games?
I jumped up, running over the wall of sandbags and onto the bridge. Bullets flew by like a storm of lead and dust. Bullets dug into the bridge just after my foot left the spot they hit. I felt bullets hit my gun and even felt the wind around a few as they whizzed by me. Adrenaline pushed me on as I neared the mill.
Then…THWAP…followed by an intense burning sensation in my leg. I fell onto the dirt behind cover, the rifleman seeing me.
"Are you ok?!" he asked. I let my gun go, grabbing my leg, gritting my teeth through the pain.
"Ever tried getting shot in the leg?!" I asked. "It bloody hurts!"
"Hold on!" he put his rifle to one side, pulling a capsule like object from his uniform. it had a see-through top half with some kind of…well, you know what they have in lights? That. The bottom half had a key of sorts in it.
He twisted the key, holding the capsule over my injury. A blue glow filled the device, which moved to my leg. The pain started subsiding, and then the bullet was pushed out (weird) and finally my pain stopped. It was as if the wound had never happened.
"What the heck?" I asked, checking my leg in disbelief.
"Ragnaid, standard issue these days" he told me, throwing the device away. "Engineers have better ones but we don't have any in the town watch" he grabbed his rifle, hugging the wall again. "But enough chatter, back to the battle"
I nodded, grabbing the gun and getting back up, moving so my back was against the wall. All I could hear was 'Ratta ratta ratta' or 'bang bang' or the odd 'ping'. I moved carefully around the mill, opposing the way my ally was going. I managed to get a good look at what the imperials were doing.
They were still firing at the others, occasionally ducking to avoid being hit themselves. They were paying so much attention that they seemed to have forgotten about me and my friend…either that or they thought they had me and the rifleman pinned at the same time.
I knelt down, walking carefully forward. The soldiers still didn't notice me, not even when I had gotten out of my cover. I stopped, aiming the gun off my knee. I'd have preferred a grenade right now, but we apparently don't have any. Time to eat lead. I fired everything I had at the group, hitting one of all around his body. He dropped to the ground, not moving after that. The other three looked around, seeing me and jumping over the bags to avoid my shots.
I got up and jumped behind cover just as a storm of bullets flew behind me, missing me by inches. The mill wall looked in bad shape with the bullet holes in it. The guys stopped to reload every so often, when I snuck out a couple of rounds. The rifle guy taking part.
Now, I realise, the 'jumping over the sandbags' part was bad for them. You see, the bags were the only thing keeping them safe from James…now they are out the way. I heard a loud 'BANG' and one of the soldiers fall. Another few 'Ratta' sounds and the other two fell. I kept an eye on them, just to be sure.
"That's the last of them!" Welkin shouted. I came out from behind the mill, the rifleman doing the same. We saw Alicia looking at the bodies from near the bridge. Welkin and Isara nearer the mill then the bridge and James near them, Isara with a bag full of stuff. We all still had our weapons with us. Welkin was holding his barrel in one hand, Alicia doing the same. James had his pointing downwards, holding the handle before the trigger. (You know what I mean if you've seen one) and I was holding it over my shoulder. All of us were breathing heavily from the battle, Isara through fear, the rest of us just worn out.
"Miss Malchiott!" the soldier shouted, running over to her. "There's no sign of anymore enemy troops miss" he reported. Alicia didn't move from her pose.
"Good" she solemnly replied, leaving it at that.
"What shall we do with the bodies' ma'am?"
"We'll bury them" she replied again. "After all, their human too"
The rifleman ran off, leaving our little group alone. I looked at James, smiling, and then turning back to Alicia. She reached into her pocket, pulling something out and holding her hand in the wind. We all saw a white seed of some sort being taken by the wind.
"Welks, what is that?" Isara asked…that's what I want to know.
"Seeds from the lion's paw" he replied, looking at his sister. "It blooms white, fast, strong and simple"
"I want to remember…." Alicia started, turning to us. "That this war was not just about death…but also, new life" such a grand dream.
I looked at James, seeing him smile. We had our first taste of combat and won. While we didn't enjoy it, we knew we could win with our squad mates' help. He pulled the bolt back on his rifle, as did I with my machine gun.
"Well then, ladies and Gents" I started, smiling. "How about we get back to Bruhl and see how everyone's doing?"
Lion's paw…white, fast, strong and simple. Sounds like a great plant.
Once I got 'Ragnaid'ed my injuries weren't too bad. Now I've just got to work on being relaxed in combat as opposed to just important moments.
Combat down, took most of a chapter and most of a night (time is 2:48 when this is done)
So, need sleep…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz