What's going on soldier?!?!

I don't know sir, but I smell limburger!

Chapter 7

As Fred Corr led Charlie 2 north east, towards the city centre, he had an impending sense of doom coming upon him, and if there was one thing that had kept him alive, and cool in drastic situations, was his gut.

He made a snapping noise with his fingers, indicating to his squad mates to form up on him. Tyler and Greg formed up on him from the shadows. They then made their way to the courtyard of an old, medieval type castle. It was like the ones you see in the movies, with spires, tall walls, moat, and such, but all it was to him, was another piece of cover. They had been moving pretty fast through the city, and haven't come upon any indication of any contacts, hostile or otherwise. He then looked into the sky, and saw a huge plume of smoke, and knew the LT and Charlie 1 had seen it too by now, but by the looks of where it was coming from, they were the closest. So he opened a comm. channel to everyone.

"Hey guys, listen up, I'm sure you've already seen the smoke, don't worry about it, we'll find out what it is, continue on course Charlie 1, and If I don't report with is ten minutes, chances are it's something bad, out."

With that, they moved up, a bit slower then what they were going, stopping every so often, so Greg could plant explosives, just in case it went hay wire. They finally got up to what seemed to be the point of origin for the smoke, it had been five minutes, made good time, even with the delays. He then looked around the corner, and was, for the first time in his life, frozen.

What he saw, along with Greg and Tyler, was a sacrificial circle going on, right in the middle of the city. The 8ft aliens were there, along with some humans, wait, they weren't human. They held a weapon he had never seen anything like it, it had a green rod in the middle, and other then that, looked like a .bull pup rifle. He then looked into the fire, which was the reason for all the smoke, and saw the bodies of the civilians that were missing. They were generating the fire, and what was worse, some of them were getting up, horribly deformed, and joining the freak army. The good thing was that the majority were staying dead. Fred then got a look to his right, and saw three cages, all filled with the citizens of Jackson.

God damn freaks of nature, you're mine now! Fred thought to himself. He glanced at his watch, it had been nine minutes, close enough.

"LT listen up, good news, and bad news. Good news, found some civilians, bad news, they are being used as sacrifice in a giant bonfire, which is surrounded by Michael Jackson's children, request permission to engage."

There was nothing but static, he then looked up, and saw the smoke had began to form a cloud, damn it, the cloud was jamming their radios, he had to choose now, so He chose what He was best at.

He had Tyler go into the building, over looking the square, and get to the third floor, and hold fire. He then had Greg arm his M79, and get ready to shoot, he waited a few moments, took some deep breaths, and remembered his little kid, who was waiting for him when he got home.

Don't worry kid, dad's still got some fight in him

He then made a controlled punch in the air, and Tyler opened fire on the hostiles, taking out three with precision headshots, thanks to the scope. Greg then hit one of the more human ones with a dead on grenade hit. He then shouldered the gun, and through two frag grenades in quick succession, going out with a concussive "thump"

Fred sprinted from my cover, making my way to the cages. The hostiles weren't firing yet, as they tried to figure out where we were coming from, then they saw me, and opened fire, but I had already made it to the cages, and was taking cover behind them. I then saw a flash of green, and instinctively went prone. I looked up to see a 2 inch diameter hole in the cage where I had just been.

Damn it, no hiding from those shots

Fred then hit the lock on the cage, and civilians barged out of the cage, heading towards the nearest building. I looked up to see Greg still firing, killing on, and shooting the gun out of one's hand. Tyler was still hiding in the building, he was still firing also, not knowing if he was alive or not.

Fred then burst from cover, diving forward, and entering hand to hand combat with the nearest hostile, slamming the butt of his rifle into his face, deforming it more then it already needed to be. He took out his combat knife, and slit his throat. He then fired the gun with one hand, and sliced with the other. He saw out of the corner of his eye, Greg enter hand to hand combat with the 8ft variety of the freaks. He had to help him, so He threw his knife into the back of its head. He then turned towards the way he was going, and had one of the tall creatures swat the gun out of his hand. He then dropped to his knees, and rolled under the creature, and kicked him from behind. All it did was anger him, but then the freak's blood covered his visor, and looked up to see Charlie 1 join the battle.

They came in, guns blazing, taking out a good five before having to take cover. With their distraction, Fred was able free the rest of the civilians, find his gun, and rejoin the battle. After about a ten minute fire fight, there were no more freaks in sight. He then walked over to Kelly.

"You have some great timing Kelly."

"Hey, it was Harris that picked up the rest of your transmission, mostly by luck!"

"I heard that!" Harris yelled back smiling

"Hey guys, sorry to break up the reunion, but did you get the goods?" Greg said breaking in

"Of course, we wouldn't be here if we didn't!" Harris yelled back

Tyler then joined us from the building.

"So…" He started, "What about the civilians?"

"We don't have the man power to do anything about it right now, their best chance, is not to be with us, they'll live longer if they stay hidden."

They all eyed Fred, as if he had told them to go shoot themselves

"But we can't just leave them here!!!" Yelled Tyler

"I agree with Ty on this one sarge, we shouldn't leave them." Kelly commented

"So, we take them with us, where are we going, to more fighting, if they go with us, they are a care package that we have to get past the guard dog on a really long walk to the mailbox. They will surely die if they come with us, but if you want that to happen, then so be it." Fred said in his calm, cool voice.

They all looked down, and didn't say anything. Fred nodded, and they started towards the fire to put it out.