Richtofenking95: Helloooo ladieeeees and gentlefolk :D hope you are well :D here is chapter 25, and trust me it is a VAST improvement than last chapter :D thanks to those of you who liked it though :D The new character in this chapter is based off a really good friend of mine her name is Iszy, so show your support for her because she is a legend :D I am looking for your feedback so please R&R :D
As always regards,
Richtofenking95 :D
Special thanks:
Guest, thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked it, I only rushed it because I had to post something after two months lol :D
EMH22, Thank you for your review, awesome that you liked the chapter :D
LT Rex Cole, aha well there will be more Mason and Section father son parts in future ;) and Gaz and Castro's rivalry has just begun mwahahaha. Reznov is a bit grouchy towards everyone atm but he'll warm up to people lol thanks for the great ideas :D
Vburro08, HERE IS THE NEXT CHAPTER lol :D ;) :p
Chapter 25: Florence collapse.
"Merda!" Sergeant Isabella Vasaio of the Florentine 20th infantry division Friuli, swore as she sprinted down one of the many bombed out streets of Florence, bullets whizzing past her from behind, her team dying all around her as they tried to escape the city.
Samantha Maxis' armies had invaded the Italian city of Florence in the early hours of dawn, and after four hours of extreme fighting the city had fallen, and the Italian armies were now in a full retreat. However Samantha's army was making retreating very difficult, as they continued their onslaught.
Florence wasn't the first major Italian city to fall to the dark army, that was Milan, as it invaded the country, and with the fall of Venice, Sam's forces were now free to attack Croatia and the countries to the east.
Sergeant Isabella vasaio was one of the few survivors that had been ordered to fall back from the city. She had fought hard with her team to defend strategic points in the streets, but due to the monumental numbers of the ground forces and the fierce air support, it became clear that the city was falling rapidly.
Isabella was a fair looking young woman in her mid-twenties. She had an oval shaped face that usually was quite pale, but right now was dark with dust and blood. She had chin length platinum hair that was tied up underneath her helmet. Light freckles ran over her nose and under her bright sea blue eyes that were dark at the edges and brighter towards the middle, complimented by a ring of sliver around the pupil.
She dived behind a low wall, panting heavily, her heart feeling like it was about to burst out of her chest, her lungs like they were caught in a vice. As she sat there, bullets flying over her, a terrible thought struck her; 'I am going to die today'
Holding back a tear, a fierce determination filled her. If she was going to die, then she was going to die fighting and take down as many enemies as she could.
Taking a deep breath, Isabella peered over the wall and looked down the street. She could see enemy soldiers, some walking down the road, while others were breaking into homes to pillage them. She also spotted groups of zombies feasting on the bodies of her squadron. Infuriated, the fiery Italian readied her Beretta AR70/90 assault rifle and with a furious yell fired into the zombies that were mauling her friends bodies, killing a number of the creatures before the rest, and the enemy infantry took notice and began attacking back.
Ducking back behind cover, Isabella reloaded quickly, and then lent back over the wall and shot down a couple of the enemy soldiers that were firing back at her, she was suddenly interrupted by a zombie that dived over the wall, landing on top of her.
The Italian soldier struggled holding the zombie back from mauling her face off.
Suddenly the wall exploded, killing the zombie, and sending Isabella rolling along the pavement. The Italian Sergeant shook her stunned head, trying to clear her vision. She squinted down the road to see what had blown the wall up. To her horror she saw an American tank rolling towards her. The war machine stopped and took aim at her with its cannon.
'This is it. This is how I'm going to die. Blown to pieces by a Tank' Isabella thought to herself as she shut her eyes, preparing for death to take her.
It never came though as she felt something whoosh over her from behind and she heard an explosion, and the cries of people getting caught in it.
Eyes snapping open, Isabella saw the enemy Tank in smouldering ruins, and the bodies of a few enemies lying around it, while others began to slowly get to their feet, stunned.
"Hey!" A voice shouted at the Italian from behind, snapping her out of her trance. Looking round Isabella saw a man who looked slightly older than her. He was in a military uniform which she couldn't place at the moment. In his hands he held the Rocket launcher he had used to destroy the tank.
"Don't just sit there, get up, we've got to move!" The stranger shouted to her, in English, which she knew a little of, although his accent wasn't of English origin. He threw down the launcher and lifted up the Famas assault rifle up from his side and began shooting down the enemy soldiers that were beginning to shoot back at him.
Isabella, still shocked that someone had saves her, looked at the enemy soldiers then to her own assault rifle that was under the rubble of the destroyed wall.
"Leave it! We got to go!" The man yelled, throwing a Flashbang at Samantha's soldiers. Isabella took one last look at her assault rifle before scrambling to her feet and running to join her saviour.
"This way!" The stranger told her hurriedly as the two ran down a side alley. They rushed through the narrow way and into another street, then through another alleyway.
'Who is this man? Where are we going?' Isabella thought to herself as the two ran through different streets and side alleys. She had guessed that the man knew the route he was taking by how confidently he lead her through the city, and the reason they were heading down various paths, streets and alleyways was to avoid the enemy forces.
Even though she longed to find out who the stranger was, where he came from, and where he was leading her, Isabella didn't dare asking him until she was sure they were out of the danger zone.
"Quick in here" the soldier told her, forcing his way through a locked door. She recognized the building they were heading into, and found that she was right as she looked up and saw a sign above the entrance saying 'Leonardo Da Vinci Museum'.
After checking that the building was clear, the man slumped down, his back against one of the exhibits; "We rest here for a moment" he told Isabella in his strange accent.
Isabella didn't sit down initially, but instead stared at the face of her saviour, now getting a good look at him. He had a slightly more rounded face than hers, light stubble adorning his chin. He had dark brown hair. His eyes were a deep grey, but what struck Isabella the most was that even though they were alert, there was an element of sadness in them. All in all, despite the situation, Isabella thought the stranger was quite attractive.
"What's your name?" He asked her, looking at her with those silvery eyes.
"Sergeant Isabella Vasaio, Florentine 20th infantry division Friuli" the Italian soldier answered; "and what do I call my saviour?"
The stranger laughed at the word, then looked at her; "Captain Chandler Fertrey GIGN 5th unit he told her with a smile.
'GIGN, so he's French' Isabella thought to herself; "Well Chandler, thank you for saving my life" she told him.
"Hmph, don't thank me just yet" Chandler sighed; "wait till we reach my friends and get out of this city"
Isabella gave a faint smile, and began looking at the exhibits; "So tell me Chandler, how does a French soldier end up in Florence? I thought most of the French forces were wiped out at Paris"
"Most of them, not all" Chandler looked at her sadly as he remembered the people who had died at the French capital; "Paris was a massacre, we horrible underestimated the enemy forces. I would have died too if it weren't for the others. They saved me, and then we fled France with Samantha's forces hot on our tails. Eventually we arrived here"
"So who are these friends of yours?" Isabella asked, sitting down herself.
"A strange group. You'll meet them soon enough" Chandler smiled; "Where's the rest of your unit?"
"Dead, wiped out by the enemy" Isabella answered simply; "I hear Paris only just managed to get the civilians out of the city before the attack"
"Yes. I'm glad to see that this city had the time to get the civilians out and down to Rome before the enemy even arrived in Italy" Chandler nodded.
"My family was included in that evacuation. I hope I see them again" Isabella said, thinking about her family.
"My family is probably in captivity, now that Samantha has taken over France" Chandler told her, looking at the floor sadly. He sighed and then stood up; "We'd best get moving before we get cut off"
They made their way through the museum, heading towards the back exit. Isabella stopped suddenly, and walked over to a glass case.
"When I was younger my father used to bring me here regularly. I love Leonardo Da Vinci's work; I have many books at home about him. This is my favourite exhibit" she told Chandler, running her hand over the glass cabinet, looking at one of the renaissance artist's original sketch books.
Chandler looked at the book in the cabinet, then at Isabella; "Well, better you have it than it falling into Samantha's hands" he told her before smashing the glass with the butt of his gun, taking the book and giving it to her.
Alarms began to ring, and then shouts from enemy soldiers were heard as they moved to scour the museum.
"What you can't... shit, let's go!" Isabella gasped as she took the book, and then ran as the hostile soldiers began firing at the two. The pair ran through the museum and out of a fire exit into a back alley.
"Here help me with this!" Chandler shouted as he ran over to a dumpster. The two pushed the heavy dumpster in front of the door, blocking it.
"That was too clo-..." Isabella began, but was interrupted when an Ultranationalist Russian jumped her. Chandler was about to move to help out but was jumped himself but two more Russians.
Isabella struggled on the ground with the enemy soldier on top of her, trying to plunge a vicious looking knife into her chest. Holding him back with one arm, the Italian grabbed the pistol on the Russian's waist, and using it to fire five shots into his chest. Pushing the dead man off her, Isabella jumped to her feet and ran to help Chandler. She fired the rest of the pistol clip into one of the Frenchman's assailants, and then rammed the knife she had into the other's throat killing them both.
"Thanks" Chandler panted, getting to his feet.
"Guess that makes us even" Isabella winked, taking the rest of the pistol clips from the dead Russian. The two ran out of the alleyway and found themselves in the large courtyard in front of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, with the tower of Giotto's Campanile standing tall next to it.
The two saw that a heavy firefight was taking place between the remainder of the Florentine defenders and Samantha's army.
"Come on, we can't stay here" Chandler told Isabella, beginning to make a move.
"Shouldn't we help out?" Isabella asked as she watched her fellow soldiers fight fiercely against the dark forces.
"They are fighting a lost cause, in five minutes they'll be dead or worse" Chandler responded, with a pained look in his eye.
Isabella would have argued, but realising that Chandler had witnessed the fall of Paris, and the deaths of his comrades. So he knew the futility of fighting a losing battle.
Chandler and Isabella ran across the courtyard, keeping their heads low, and sticking to cover. Suddenly explosions began tearing up the courtyard, eliminating the Italian defenders.
"Fuck! Enemy AC-130 above!" Chandler yelled, looking up and seeing the monstrous airplane high up in the sky unleashing its deadly payload; "Come on we need to get to get across the river, that's where my friends are"
The pair ran across the courtyard with all their might, dodging the AC-130s barrage. Suddenly a round from the aircrafts 105mil cannon tore through the middle of the tower of Giotto's Campanile.
"Watch out!" Isabella cried as the tower began to collapse in their direction. The two ran and dived out of the way of the ruined structure. Isabella and Chandler both kept their heads down as they heard an almighty crash and clanging. When it had subsided, Isabella looked up and saw that one of the great bells of the tower had flown over them and was lying in a crumpled heap in front of them.
"Bastards!" Chandler coughed, getting to his feet and brushing himself down. He looked up and saw that the AC-130s attention had been drawn elsewhere, and that it was raining fire down on other parts of the city; "Let's go before that plane sees us again" he said to Isabella.
"Samantha, and her armies have no care or love for beauty do they?" Isabella asked looking at the shattered remains of the Florentine tower, and the damage to the neighbouring cathedral.
"That's what happens when you take the humanity out of someone and give them terrible power" Chandler answered, taking Isabella's hand into his own, and leading her out of the courtyard and into a side pathway.
"She must be stopped and all her vile allies!" Isabella snapped, anger building inside her, and a hate for Samantha and all her works.
"We will stop her. But first we need to regroup with my friends and get out of here" Chandler assured the fiery Italian, turning and looking at her, deep in her brilliant blue eyes with his own sad grey eyes, but this time there was a fire deep in them instead of the usual sadness.
Isabella looked at him, and she felt something connect to the Frenchman. Something deep. Something that gave her strength and hope. Something she had not felt for someone before.
"Come on, the river is this way" Chandler smiled, turning and leading the way to the river. After a couple of minutes of walking Chandler and Isabella came out of the winding roads and pathways and out into the open, with the river Arno running in front of them. To the left of them they saw the Ponte Alle Grazie bridge, and a way to the right they saw the Ponte Vecchio bridge.
"Look, there's friendlies over the Grazie" Isabella pointed over to the far side of the bridge where there were friendly soldiers fighting pockets of enemies on Chandler, and Isabella's side of the river.
"Yes and my friends are somewhere over there too" Chandler nodded with a smile. The two began running towards the bridge, keeping low so not to draw attention to the enemy soldiers. Suddenly a couple of explosions went off in the distance up the Arno and somewhere behind the Vecchio bridge. Isabella looked up and saw that the enemy AC-130, which was still flying about, was firing down a deadly barrage.
'I wonder what it is firing at?' Isabella thought. Her thought was quickly answered when the AC-130 fired down on the Ponte Vecchio causing the bridge and the buildings to explode, raining rubble into the river.
"Fuck, its destroying the bridges!" Chandler cried as the airplane continued its barrage on the Vecchio; "We need to get across the Alle Grazie before that AC-130 destroys it too!"
The two began to run towards the Grazie, enemy soldiers turning their fire on them, forcing them to keep low behind cover. Chandler looked round and saw that the Vecchio had almost been destroyed; "I wonder why it's blowing up the bridges?" He asked aloud.
"Probably to cut the main part of the city off from Italian reinforcements and to prevent survivors from escaping" Isabella answered, as the two turned into the Grazie bridge. The enemy soldiers stopped firing at the two, but that was because the AC-130 suddenly began to fire down on the Ponte Alle Grazie.
"Merda! Watch out!" Isabella cried, pulling Chandler out of way of an explosion tearing into bridge. She glanced over to the Ponte Vecchio and saw that it was completely in ruins, and now the AC-130 had now turned on the bridge they were on. With a barrage of death raining down on them Chandler and Isabella were struggling to get across the bridge in one piece.
"Come on, get on your feet!" Chandler shouted, helping Isabella up after she had been knocked over by a blast.
"There's the end of the bridge!" Isabella coughed pointing towards the end of the bridge, where a group of Italian soldiers were, encouraging the two to make it. Helping each other along Chandler and Isabella managed to clear the bridge just as the AC-130 sent a final barrage down, destroying it.
"Heh we made it" Chandler laughed, relieved; "Now where are my friends?" He looked around to see if any of them were around, but couldn't see anyone. Suddenly the AC-130 began firing down on the remaining defenders.
"That thing is really pissing me off!" Isabella growled, glaring up at the aircraft, as the two began to run again with the planes attacks following them.
The two sprinted into a small courtyard and dived behind cover. The AC-130 began laying waste to the courtyard, barely missing the two.
"Guys this is Chandler, where the hell are you!? I'm in a small courtyard near the Ponte Alle Grazie!" The Frenchman screamed into a radio he had with him.
''We're just around the corner Chandler, we had to find transport, be there in a minute!" a Texan accented voice answered back.
"Is that your friends?" Isabella asked, looking at Chandler, who nodded. They both felt the shockwave of the AC-130s 105mil cannon hit the courtyard, nearly destroying their little piece of cover. They then heard a screech of a vehicle roll into the courtyard.
"I t'ink that's enough of that!" a voice with an Irish accent shouted. Chandler and Isabella heard the sound of a rocket launcher going off. They looked up and saw the rocket zoom up towards the AC-130. The plane began to deploy flares but too late as the rocket hit it, causing to erupt in flames and blow up.
"Take that ya bastard!" the Irish voice laughed triumphantly.
"About time you guys showed up!" Chandler snapped angrily, vaulting over the piece of cover that he and Isabella had hid behind.
Isabella climbed over the cover herself and looked at Chandler's friends, a bit surprised at a particular member of their group.
"Ha, I'll have you know my timin' is perfect Chandler" this member who was the owner of the Irish voice laughed at the Frenchman. He then spotted Isabella, and gave a wide cheeky, but kind grin; "Picked up a friend eh Chandler? Heh, I love me a fiery Italian. Welcome to the team"
"Who the hell are you?" Isabella asked looking stunned.
Tsukibooks: Introducing Isabella, the return of Chandler, and you must start to be wondering who's saving them? It'll all become clear soon…or eventually…one day…
Anyway, we hope you have enjoyed the Collapse of Florence.
Keep on reading! And don't forget to Review ;)