Hey guys. I'm very sorry it's taking so long to post new chapters. I'm not putting either of my stories on hiatus and I'm working to get everything sorted out. I had to rewrite this chapter several times because I didn't want things to sound like they were becoming repetitive and I had a lot of dead ends in my previous attempts to squeeze in several plot points I wanted to put in here. Anyways here you go.
Chapter 27 – Behind Enemy Lines
Friday, July 1, 2005 1842hrs, Allenfort, North Point
The girls and I arrived here yesterday and we told our friends that we were headed back to Wesson to spend the week with Captain Ortiz. The part about meeting Ortiz was true, but she was giving us the details of our mission. I recently found out that this mission was supposed to be conducted by Miranda alone, but she requested that Naomi and I accompany her because she trusted us more than the other field agents she used to work with. If it were anyone else who asked me to undertake this mission, I would've told them no. We were going to be dropped into San Salvacion via civilian passenger plane. The closest LZ that was available to us was the lake that was located to the south of the city. They wanted us to drop into the lake and infiltrate the city from the water. The whole perimeter of the city was guarded in preparation for ISAF's invasion and there was no way for us to enter or leave the place without drawing attention to ourselves. I was all for the subtle approach, but the next part of our mission was what really concerned me. After we infiltrated the city we had to meet up with the resistance so that we could aid them in sabotaging the Erusean defenses. Normally this wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that we'd be going in completely naked (unarmed) so that we didn't draw any attention towards ourselves while we were there. We had to scrounge up whatever weapons and equipment we could from the enemy. Our last objective was to coordinate some kind of offensive strategy with the resistance so that they could aid the allies' advance. Once a plan had been drawn up, we had to wait for extraction out of the city so that we could participate in the offensive as well.
I was preparing my gear in the hangar with Miranda and Naomi when I noticed Dahl looking at the maps from our briefing. The vibe I got from him was something along the lines of frustration and anxiety. It took me a minute to remember that San Salvacion was where he was from and I got up to walk over to him. Miranda was about to come with me, but Naomi stopped her so that she could explain Dahl's background to Miranda.
"You alright, mate?" I asked Dahl.
"It seems like it's been forever since I've seen home," said Dahl in a quiet tone. "I never thought it'd be in such bad shape."
"Have you heard anything from your family there?"
"They all died during the initial invasion. I was station at a base on the east coast when I got word about their deaths."
"I'm sorry," I said sincerely. "Is that why you volunteered for this group?"
"Not really. I knew that ISAF needed pilots and I figured that I'd join for the hell of it. When I found out that you were here, I thought that this was some kind of sick joke," chuckled Dahl and I joined him. "But to answer your question more clearly, I joined the group in the false hopes that I could prove to that I could've saved their sorry arse."
"Family infighting," I asked.
"That's putting it lightly. The truth is that I was raised as a member of the WASP community and I eloped with my wife. My family was against our marriage from the beginning and they tried teaching me to look down on anyone who wasn't a member of the community while I grew up. The last thing my father ever told me was that I was going to amount to nothing if I continued down this path of self-destruction. Now I'm only days away from proving the bastard wrong by saving the city I grew up in."
"Do you plan on going back when the war is over?"
"Nah, if anything, I'm going to destroy the house I grew up in," said Dahl and he continued to glare at the recon photos. He continued to tell me about what it was like growing up within his community. I couldn't imagine any child living a dull life like that where all anyone ever cared about was business. It almost made me laugh when Dahl told me that his parents wanted him to marry another community member's daughter for the sole purpose of combining two family businesses. "But I left before they could rope me into it. Anyways, it's almost time for you to head out. Take care out there," said Dahl and he held out his hand. I shook it before I turned to head out with the girls.
We followed Captain Ortiz aboard a plane that we rode towards a civilian airport on the mainland of Usea. From there, we loaded our equipment onto the civilian airliner and waited inside the terminal. Miranda was sitting next to Ortiz while Naomi and I sat across from them. The whole time we were sitting there, I could hear Ortiz trying to convince Miranda about how we shouldn't be together. Ortiz was using my history and what I've been doing over in Usea as a means to pull Miranda away from me, but Miranda just pretended like she wasn't listening. Why is she trying so hard to separate us? When the time came for us to board our plane, Miranda said her goodbyes to her mentor before the three of us got on and began our eight hour flight towards our destination.
The inflight movie was the Strangereal equivalence of a Nicholas Sparks flick and Miranda knew how much I hated movies like that because they were all the same. Other than joining the mile high club, the whole flight was uneventful. When my watch chimed at 0400hrs, we got up from our seats and headed down towards the plane's cargo hold so that we could get ready for our jump. Once we were ready, we sealed the cargo hold so that the rest of the plane didn't depressurize when the pilot lowered the cargo ramp. Our DZ was more than ten miles away from our LZ because the Eruseans had the surrounding airspace off limits. They knew ISAF's invasion was imminent, but they didn't want to take any chances with any aircraft flying within close proximity to San Salvacion. In order to get around this, we had to use wingsuits to get as close as we could. This is gonna be frickin' sweet!
San Salvacion, Usea, Date: unknown
We missed the LZ and ran into an Erusean patrol when we tried making our way into the city. The three of us had to run for our lives, but I was captured so that I could give the girls the chance to escape when I pushed them off a bridge into a canal. I was taken prisoner by a group of soldiers who thought I was part of the resistance because I was out past the city's curfew. After being knocked upside the head, I woke up to find myself in a room with a single Erusean soldier standing in front of me. My wrists were chained together and I was hanging from a pipe while the Erusean was playing with a pair of jumper cables connected to a car battery in front of me. I knew where this was going and I began to wonder how long it was going to be until this guy actually decided to kill me. We were exchanging glares at each other, but neither one of us would be shaken.
"You're the one who caused that explosion the other day, but you're not as clever as you think. Now, I'm going to ask you nicely before I start to have fun. Where is the resistance?" he asked, but I didn't answer. What explosion?
The Erusean got up from his seat and jammed the cables into my chest. My entire body tensed up and I was grunting in pain as I felt the electricity surge through my body. The Erusean asked me where the resistance was again and I still didn't answer him. The Erusean pressed the cables into my chest longer than before and the duration of each shock would increase every time I refused to answer his question. It didn't stop there. After he got bored of shocking me, he lowered me down so that he and another Erusean could drag me over to a tub filled with ice and water. Once we got there, they forced my head into it. The cold was enough to take anyone's breath away, but not me. I had to endure this for long periods of time while I was in Pitbull and it got to the point where it didn't faze me anymore. Losing my breath while I was underwater was something that I got used to rather quickly while I was there. Anyways, this went on for what seemed like hours on end, but it had only been ten minutes. After that didn't work, they decided to water board me. Out of all the tortures I've endured in my life, this had to have been the worst, but I still endured it.
"Where is the resistance hiding!?" demanded the Erusean, but I still wouldn't say anything as I coughed up a bunch of water. He knelt down beside me and grabbed a handful of my hair before he started yelling something that I didn't care too much for. On the plus side, I managed to get a glimpse of his watch and see that it was July 2nd, 1111hrs. "Just because you won't talk, doesn't mean that you're strong. I'm going to make you squeal one way or another!"
I could only laugh as the interrogator brought me back onto my feet and began to hit me with everything he had. Shocking me, punching me, drowning me, and burning me while I was chained up wasn't getting this guy anywhere and I knew he was desperate to make me say anything. Hell, he I bet he would've been happy to just hear me say stupid like 'erectile dysfunction'. He kept this up for another two hours before he decided to take a break. The Erusean kept me suspended by my wrists while he sat in front of me and lit a cigarette.
"I'll admit you've got some serious balls to be able to hold out for this long, kid" he said and I looked up at him. "Things are only going to get worse from here on out. You might as well tell me what you know." I still wouldn't say anything as he continued to drone on and on about pointless crap. When he was through talking, the Erusean got up to stand in front of me. He blew the last bit of smoke into my face before he began to talk again. "When I was a boy, a group of men broke into my house. They killed my father, tortured my mother and sister before they finally killed them. They did things worse to me than I'm doing to you," he said and leaned in closer to me. "I haven't even begun to have fun with you."
The Erusean pushed the last burning bit of his cigarette into my neck before he punched me in my stomach and my legs gave out. The chains around my wrist kept me up for the most part, but the rubble I felt on my arms was my cue to attempt my escape soon. I slowly got back on my feet so that I could look at the Erusean again. Ever since I've been in here, he's kept me on these chains for most of my torture. The one thing I've noticed about the room was that it had been used quite often. The chains that suspended me were held up by an overhead pipe. The bolts that held the pipe in place were weak from suspending the weight of numerous people before me. On top of that, they were weakened even further by breaking everyone's fall when they were hit. I knew that I'd die here if I attempted to make my move too soon, so I bided my time to make sure the odds were in my favor when the time came.
The Erusean moved to the far side of the room and picked up a lead pipe that he'd use to hit me in the torso with. I stood back on my feet after he hit me so that the force of my fall would weaken the pipe even further. But after repeating this process for over twenty times, the pipe still didn't collapse and I was starting to feel the effects of the Erusean's beating. Breathing hurt like hell, and it became even harder for me to stand on my own. He kept repeating the same question to me over and over, but I still wouldn't say anything. When he finally gave up after hitting me a total of fifty-three times, I wasn't sure if I could muster up the strength to make my escape. I struggled to get back on my feet and looked up just in time to see the Erusean pull out a knife. He began to heat the blade up with a blow torch and I knew right away that I needed to get out of here. I don't need any more scars! The Erusean noticed my reaction and he knew that he was close to hearing me beg. It was now or never, and I made my move when the Erusean was close enough.
He lifted my head by my chin while he held the knife above me. I could tell by the angle that he was going to gouge my right eye out, but I tilted my head to the side so that he missed. His hand went past my head and the blade of his knife grazed my right cheek, but I now had a way to fight back. I quickly kicked him between the legs and ran both of my feet into his chest so that he was forced back. When he staggered back, I began to yank on my chain so that the pipe would finally give way, but the Erusean recovered sooner than I thought. He picked up the pipe again and charged at me and I countered by spitting a loogie in his eye. He was distracted for a couple of seconds and I used this moment to kick him away again. I quickly climbed up the chain so that I had my feet on the ceiling. From there, I began to pull on the pipe until it finally collapsed and I began to slide down it until I was able to get free. My hands were still bound and the Erusean tried putting a rope around my neck, but it wasn't enough. I broke his nose when I flung my head back and delivered a spinning back kick into his chest when he released me.
The Erusean landed near the table where he kept all of his other tools and pulled out a machete. If everything didn't hurt so much, I would've been able to turn things around him a lot sooner when he charged at me. Every time he swung, I had to dodge his attack so that I could wait for him to help me get loose. When he finally attempted to make a swing for my neck, I held out my hands so that he managed to break the chain that held my shackles together. Now that I was finally free, I began my counter attack. The Erusean tried to make a diagonal swipe at me with his right hand and I used this moment to make my move. I quickly caught his arm, hip tossed him into the tub of ice water, and went to get the jumper cables he had on his work bench. The Erusean was trying to regain his composure while he was in the tub, but then he stopped for a second to look at me. I only said two words to him before I threw the cables into the water and watched him spaz out.
When he was finally dead, I took a second to catch my breath, but I heard a bunch of commotion coming from outside the door. Great… I quickly shouldered up against the wall on the left side of the door and waited for everything to kick off. I had my eyes closed and covered my ears when the breaching charge went off so that I wouldn't be fazed by the explosions. As soon as the first soldier entered the room, I quickly swiped his pistol off of his belt, but I didn't kill anyone just yet. It wasn't until the fourth man entered the room that someone actually noticed me.
I quickly pushed his gun out of the way before I pressed my pistol into his chest and double-tapped him. The other three soldiers didn't realize what was going on until it was already too late. When they were dealt with, I quickly entered the hallway to see several more armed Erusean soldiers. They were surprised to see me, but it gave me the opening I needed to make my move first. Three on the left, two on the right... I grabbed the closest Erusean on the right and forced him to stand between me and the three soldiers on the left while I shot the last soldier on the right, then I turned my attention to the remaining four. I shot the guy I was holding before I continued to shoot the other three. Once they were dealt with, I grabbed one of their assault rifles which was a SIG 556 and began to stagger down the corridor while I used the rifle as a crutch.
I was still hurt and my healing factor wasn't working as effectively as before. It had been almost twelve hours since I had any kind of sustenance and whatever energy I had before was already used to heal my initial wounds when my torture first began. I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold out. When I thought about this, I began to laugh at myself because this was nowhere near as bad as what I've faced before. Even so, it still sucked.
As I continued down the corridor, I could hear the Eruseans closing in on me, but they didn't know where I was. This allowed me to get the drop on one of them who came around a corner. I decided to use CQC and I dropped the rifle I was carrying. I made a dash towards the Erusean and quickly pulled his arm around his back while I wrapped one of my arms around his neck. Once I had him, I began to push him down the halls until I was intercepted by three more soldiers. One is at twelve o' clock, two is at six o' clock, and three is at nine o' clock… Here we go.
I threw the guy I was holding at two and quickly went towards one. He was only carrying a sawn-off shotgun which made it easy for me to make him drop it when I grabbed his arm and swung him around. Three tried to bring up his gun, but I deflected it away with one's arm. Three spun around to try and bring his gun on me again, but I grabbed it and managed to pull it away from him. I quickly jabbed him in the chest with the barrel and I turned my attention towards two who scrambled to get a hold of the shotgun. He brought it up to shoot me, but I quickly deflected it away so that he shot one on accident, who had attempted to come at me from behind with a knife. Once he was taken care of, I pushed two towards the ground using the butt of my rifle after I placed my right leg behind one of his and shot him several times once he hit the ground. The first Erusean I ran into tried to scramble away, but I shot him before he could get anywhere.
I shot the other two before I heard a fourth soldier coming down one of the halls and I hid against the wall until he came into view. He was only carrying a pistol and I deflected it away from me with my rifle's barrel once he came into view. From here, I pushed him to the ground with my shoulder and saw a fifth soldier come into view. He came around the corner as well and tried to bring his rifle up, but I pushed it out of the way with my rifle and roundhouse kicked him in the head before I kicked him hard enough in the throat to make his airway collapse. As soon as he hit the floor, four tried to get up and I spun around and wrapped my left leg around his neck so that I could shoot another couple of Erusean soldiers that were coming down the hall. After they were dead, I broke four's neck with my leg before I got up to intercept a sixth soldier. He was shocked at how I killed his friend and I took advantage to twist his arm around his back with the barrel of my rifle. The barrel of my gun was resting on his right shoulder while I had him bent over. As a measure of caution, I had his knife placed on his neck with my left hand. This allowed me to use him as a mobile meat shield.
"How the hell do I get out of here," I growled in German.
"Keep going down this hall and take a right," he said.
I increased the pressure on the knife on his neck and he began to panic. "You're not lying to me, are you?"
"No, I swear I'm not," he pleaded and I made him move forward.
I kept moving down the hall and I didn't see any other soldiers until I came upon a fork. More than half a dozen Erusean soldiers came pouring down both halls and they began to scream at me to surrender. When I looked at my meat shield, I could see him grinning at me like he had won. I would've agreed with him on that, but then I noticed the grenade he had on the back of his belt. I removed the knife from his neck and dropped the rifle. When he began to move towards his friends, I pulled the pin on the grenade and heel kicked him in his back so that he landed face down in front of them. The Eruseans began to shout for me to put my hands up and drop my weapons. Their jaws dropped when they saw the grenade pin hit the ground and they all ran for cover. I hit the deck and quickly grabbed my rifle. When the grenade finally went off, I scrambled to my feet and began to shoot any of the Eruseans who were still alive.
More Eruseans were closing in on me and I ruthlessly killed every single one of them. It didn't matter if they were up close or further away, but I managed to leave no witnesses. If I was going to move around freely, I had to make sure no one knew it was me who was captured. However, all of this fighting was exhausting and I was quickly running out of stamina. I have to keep going. I kept up the pace for as long as I could and eventually came across a lull in the Erusean attack. This whole time, I never gave any thought as to where I was. I knew I was underground, but that wasn't enough for me to determine anything. I began to go through any door I could find, but there weren't any clues as to where I was. That was until I came across a door that led to huge tunnel that had tracks on it.
This was the only way that made sense for me to go and I began to make my way down the tunnel. It seemed like I was walking forever when I began to hear noises coming from in front and behind me. Shit, they figured that I'd come through here. With no other way for me to go, I prepared to make my last stand. My rifle only had eleven bullets in it and I didn't have any cover. I felt my head lower in frustration knowing that I probably wouldn't get out of here alive, but then I noticed a drain cover in the middle of the tracks. I didn't waste any time pulling it open and climbing down the ladder into the sewers. I made sure to leave behind some subtle traces of my presence in case Miranda and Naomi were looking for me. Anyways I made my way through the sewer system. My only clues as to where I should go were the evidence of water flow and my own instinct. There was hardly any light down here either and it became difficult to see. I wanted to make a torch out of my own shirt, but I didn't want to look to suspicious if I made it out into a public area.
Another hour passed and I still didn't have any idea of where I was going. I wanted to give up, but I needed to make it out of here. I was tired and I wanted to go to sleep. My fatigue was at its peak and I was leaning against the side of the sewer wall to keep myself standing. I continued on a little further until I came across a four way intersection. This was where I noticed how brighter it was compared to the rest of the sewer. I looked down each tunnel to see where the light was coming from and headed towards it. I was still using the rifle as a crutch as I walked, but then I realized how useless it would be to carry it with me once I reached the end of the tunnel. I was looking over a canal that ran through the center of the city. The sun was beginning to set and I figured that I should use the cover of darkness to find some place to seek shelter in.
I climbed up the side of the canal and made it back onto the street. No one was outside because of the city's curfew and the MPs began their rounds. I decided to keep the rifle I stole as I began to sneak through the alleys between the buildings. It was too humid outside and I didn't have any saliva left in my mouth to swallow. I was starving and dehydrated, but my luck turned around when I came across a house that had a backyard. It looked like no one was home as I hopped the fence and took a drink from the gardening hose. My friends used to give me shit about doing that when I was younger because they thought it was gross, but water from a faucet was better than water from a puddle or that canal I came across. Anyways, the backyard I came across had some clothes hanging out to dry. I took a shirt and a change of pants that were my size before I left. If there had been an extra pair of shoes, I would've taken them, but my boots had to suffice.
After I got changed, I began to wander cautiously through the city by sticking to the alley ways as much as I could. I still didn't have any idea of where I was going and I was starting to worry about what happened to Miranda and Naomi. The thought of them being captured was terrifying to say the least, but I knew that Naomi would keep Miranda safe. I thought this until I heard a bunch of whistles blowing and I quickly took cover in another ally with my rifle at the ready. The first footsteps I heard seemed like they belonged to a child. When I peeked around the corner, I saw that I was right. She looked like she was fourteen with blonde hair and green eyes. I was wondering what she was doing out here when I noticed another kid peeking around the corner of a building. He seemed like he was around the age of ten with auburn hair and beady eyes. What are they doing here?
The girl was running in the direction of the boy, but I could hear the MP's whistles and footsteps approaching. She quickly hid behind a small protruding wall from a building and waited while the MPs ran past her. In front of the girl was a small car that someone was sitting in, though I doubt she knew it. When the MPs were gone, she began to run past the car and suddenly stopped when she was passing by its door. Whoever was sitting in the car suddenly got out and began to look down at the girl. He was a blonde man wearing a leather pilot's jacket and I could see the number thirteen printed just under the collar. The girl was looking at him like she didn't want to believe he was here. When I caught a glimpse of the guy's face, I knew that he was Yellow 13. My hands had brought the rifle up and I was now looking at Yellow 13's head through the sights, but I stopped myself when I thought about how killing him here would be the worst move I could make right now.
"Get out of our town, you fascist pig!" shouted the boy who was hiding.
Yellow 13 flinched like he had just been hurt and he didn't notice the girl run past him to stand by the boy's side. "Do you hate us that much?" asked Yellow 13. I watched from the shadows as they stared each other down. The look in the girl's eye told me that she would fight if she had too, but she didn't want to do it. The MPs were on their way back towards them and I readied my rifle in preparation for their arrival. Yellow 13 heard them coming as well and said 'go' to the kids and watched as they ran off into the night. Not long after they left, the MPs arrived and began to question Yellow 13. They were questioning him about the location of a resistance member whom they were chasing, but Yellow 13 said that he hadn't seen anyone.
As soon as I heard that those kids were part of the resistance, I took off as fast as I could after them. It wasn't easy with me in my current physical state, but I still managed to find them. I had to stick to the side streets and shadows while I tailed them. They were obviously scared and I didn't blame them, but I managed to tail them to a pub called Sky Kid. I followed the kids around back of the pub where I saw the girl opening the back door and head inside. They were talking among themselves about why Yellow 13 had let them go and it surprised me that they knew him on a personal level. I continued to listen in on them as they moved around the pub. Judging by all the movement I was hearing and by using my other senses, I was able to determine that there were a total of five people in the building.
I waited for another hour before I figured everyone was asleep. When I was ready, I began to rummage through a nearby trash can until I found a hairbrush with steel bristles. I picked out a couple of them that I used to pick the lock of the door and proceeded to scout the dining room of the pub. No one was in there and I wasn't planning on staying longer than I had to. Once I found that the first floor was clear, I headed for the kitchen and began to raid the fridge. The only things that I found that were readily available were a loaf of bread that appeared to be have been made earlier and a jar of homemade strawberry jam. It wasn't much, but it was the best thing I've eaten in my entire life. After I was done, I leaned over the counter and took a deep breath, knowing that I still had to find Miranda and Naomi. However, this was when I knew that I had messed up slightly. There are six people in here!
I turned around and brought the rifle to bear on the person standing behind me, but they pushed it out of the way and tried to turn it around on me. When they got hold of it and attempted to chamber a round, I took the butter knife I was using and jammed it into the chamber before it closed. I broke off part of the knife and was about to sink it into the side of their neck when I noticed that it was Naomi. The only reason it took me so long to realize it was her was because she dyed her hair dark brown. I dropped the knife and hugged her so that she could calm down enough to realize it was me. The commotion we caused was enough to wake some of the people up stairs. The girl I followed was accompanied by two men and Miranda. I was so happy to see her again that I felt myself collapse from exhaustion.
Sunday, July 3, 1343hrs, San Salvacion, Usea
I slept for most of the day and I hadn't been disturbed at all. Miranda came to lie with me when she woke up, but she let me sleep until I decided to get out of bed at around noon. Once I was up, I met up with the girls and the barkeeper. The barkeeper and the chef were members of the resistance who gathered every bit of information the Erusean occupants let slip and sent it to the allies by certain means. Most of the pub's regulars were Erusean pilots and they were always talking about their army's operations and activities. Most of cities occupants scorned the barkeep for catering to the Eruseans but they didn't know what he was really doing. I didn't have a chance to get acquainted with everyone while I was here, but I guess it was for the better. Miranda and Naomi were going by different names and I had to join them in their charade. Miranda went by Hayden, Naomi went by Brenda, and I went by Aaron.
I went downstairs and saw Miranda and Naomi talking with the barkeep at the bar about some of the Erusean troop concentrations that were located in a park. The security around it was pretty tight, but then I heard them talk about how they were going to meet one of the resistance members who would be able to walk among the Eruseans without drawing attention. They were lucky that no one was around to hear what they were talking about. Spanish was the primary language of San Salvacion, but a good number of them spoke German too.
"I'm glad to see that you're up," said Miranda.
"Yeah, but I still feel like crap," I said as I hugged her and sat next to her.
"You hungry, son?" asked the barkeep to which I nodded. "I'll see what I can muster up for you."
"Rations to the civilians of the city are scarce," said Naomi. "The Eruseans are gathering all supplies they can for their troops."
"They're also doing this to bleed the resistance dry. After they nearly caught his daughter last night, they're coming down even harder on all suspects. If we stick around too long, we'll eventually be caught in their crosshairs," said Miranda.
"So what's the plan?" I asked.
"We're going to stage an attack on that vehicle depot we were talking about earlier, but we need to find that guy we were talking about first. What was his name?"
"Larry," said the barkeep. "He's usually holed up in an abandoned boat shack on the edge of the lake. The place is infested with crocodiles so no one ever goes there," said the barkeep as he set down a turkey sub in front of me.
I scarfed down the food I was given and headed out with the girls once I was done. We went all over the city first before we headed for the lake so that we could gather the weapons and equipment Miranda and Naomi had gathered while I was MIA. The thing was that the weapons they gathered were bows and arrows along, a revolver, a couple different knives, a scope mounted PSG-1, and the rifle I came in with last night. Our ammo was limited and we had no way to resupply. We had to be careful when we were walking through the city because hiding our weapons wasn't easy, but we were able to get a ride from a horse drawn carriage.
It was around 1530hrs when we had arrived at the edge of the lake out of view from the Erusean soldiers. Even the Snipers that we spotted along the way couldn't see us from where we were. We all got out our weapons and began to head towards the boat shack. The surrounding area was nothing but thick marshlands and the animals that surrounded them. When we got within visual range of our objective, we spotted an Erusean patrol of seven men headed there as well.
"Crap, they're going to get there before we do," said Miranda as she cocked the AK.
"We might not be able to reach him in time," added Naomi.
"We don't know if he's there," I whispered.
"Should we wait to see if he's in there?" asked Miranda.
"This is your op. We'll follow your lead," I said.
Miranda looked at the both of us because she didn't know what to do. If I were her, I would've waited to see if Larry was in the shack. The Eruseans were desperate to flush out the resistance so I doubted that they'd kill him right away. They would interrogate him until he gave them what they wanted. However, after what I did to my interrogator, there was the likely possibility that they'd kill him.
"Naomi, you'll provide over watch for us from that hill over there while we head down and intercept that patrol. Don't engage them unless you have to. If Larry is with them, we'll take out the soldiers and extract him. If they don't have him, we'll let them go," said Miranda.
We nodded in agreement and went our separate ways. Miranda was using my rifle while I equipped the bow as we made our way through the marsh towards the boat shack. The Eruseans weren't aware of us and they didn't seem like they needed to use caution out here. The resistance members we've met so far had some kind of contingency plan in case they were ever discovered and I figured that Larry would have a plan too. Miranda and I continued to follow the Eruseans until they finally reached the boat house. They casually entered the house and we were a good enough distance to hear that nothing was going on. The Eruseans looked around for about five minutes before we heard them start talking to each other.
"You think he's really hold up here?"
"The Captain said to check this place out. He didn't say that this was where he would be."
"So what should we do, Sergeant?"
"We'll radio in and get settled in so that we can grab him if he comes around."
The Eruseans dispersed and Miranda and I had to lie on the ground in the hopes that they would walk over us. The grass was thick enough that they didn't notice us, but I was unfortunate enough to have my hand stepped on by one of the soldiers. I was wearing combat glove and I was lucky that none of my bones broke, but it still hurt like hell. When the Eruseans dispersed, Miranda and I dispersed as well so that we could keep an eye on the boat shack and the enemy soldiers. An hour passed and nothing had happened. There wasn't any movement from the Eruseans and I could hear them checking in with each other. It wasn't until a couple minutes later that I noticed that something was off when they checked in again. One of the soldiers didn't sound like he did to his prior reporting. His voice sounds different. I didn't know if Miranda noticed and I bet that Naomi had already seen something that we didn't. If we had a radio or a pair of binoculars, that would've allowed us to communicate. But right now we had to go off our training which assumed that we knew what each other was thinking and how to act based on these assumptions.
I had to assume that Miranda caught the change in voices over the radio, but I prepared myself for the possibility that she didn't. The Erusean closest to me was still alive, but I stealthily made visual contact with him to make sure. When I began to make my way towards the next guy, I heard the sound of something whiz through the air followed closely by the familiar sound of a bullet ripping into a person's skull. There was no denying that the Erusean was dead, but I didn't know who it was who killed him. I didn't hear the 'crack' of Naomi's rifle, so I had to assume that someone was using a suppressed sniper rifle. Whoever was shooting didn't know that we were down here. The best course of action that Miranda and I could take was to stay hidden until all of the Eruseans were dead. I heard several more bullets whiz by from around me and based on the direction of the sound, I was able to determine that the sniper was coming from the same direction Naomi was. Naomi wouldn't deviate from a plan unless she absolutely had to. There's no way that she's killing these guys. I heard a total of seven shot before everything became calm again. My first thought was to find Miranda, but I knew I had to stay put. Several minutes passed before I began to hear rustling in the grass followed by a man speaking English.
"Cloud, I count seven bodies. Get down here so that we can get rid of them," said a man, but he didn't get a response. "Cloud, do you read?"
I slowly got up so that I could see who was talking and I saw a man that was in his early thirties with light brown hair and beady brown eyes. His appearance shouted 'resistance fighter' because he was dressed in heavy dark-green clothing while he carried an AK-47 with a cloth wrapped around the barrel. He might not have looked like much, but I could tell that he knew what he was doing. He had a sniper covering his approach which was a dead giveaway that he was a professional. I was about to head his way and hold him at knife point, but then I hear a dog bark followed by Miranda screaming. The man quickly cocked his rifle and ran off towards her, but I darted out of the grass towards the man and hit him with a left open palm in the back of his neck before I kicked him in the back of his right leg and grabbed his left shoulder so that I could deliver a solid right cross into his left jaw, knocking him out cold. Once I saw that he was out, I ran off towards Miranda to see her kick off a dog that was trying to bite her face off and I quickly tackled it to the ground and choked it so that it passed out.
"Damned dog, why didn't you just kill it?" asked Miranda.
"Because it belongs to that guy over there," I said referring to the guy I knocked out.
I led Miranda to the guy and she slapped him across the face pretty hard so that he could wake up. The first thing he saw was me pointing his rifle at his face and he slowly got up. He kept giving me nervous looks and he kept glancing at Miranda. I knew what he was thinking and I almost wanted to hear what he wanted to say.
"Who the hell are you?" asked Miranda as she pointed my rifle at him.
"I could be whoever you want me to be, babe," said the man as he smiled and winked at her.
"How 'bout I call you Ashley after I shoot your dick off," said Miranda as she cocked her rifle.
The man gave her a sigh before he put his hands down. "I didn't think I'd see a beautiful girl like you die," he said and he turned around to walk off.
Miranda was about to shoot the guy in the leg but I stopped her. The man only took a few steps before he froze because he heard rustling in the grass ahead of him. Out of the grass came a blonde woman with blue eyes with her hands on her head followed by Naomi pointing her rifle at her. The man looked at Naomi before he looked back at us. Naomi tossed the woman's sniper rifle at Miranda which was a silenced DSR-1 and she carefully examined it.
"You two are pretty well equipped for a couple of resistance fighters. Your rifle, the attack dog, and your tactics are all something I'd expect from trained soldiers. Mercenaries to be more exact," said Miranda. "Now, I'm going to ask you one more time. What is your name?"
The man knew he had been back into a corner and I was prepared for him to try something. He sighed in defeat before he looked at us again. He didn't want to believe that he had been captured by a couple of kids.
"My name is Larry Foulke," he said finally.
We all relaxed when we heard his name and Miranda gave the rifle back to the woman. "Larry Foulke, my name is Hayden, and this is Aaron and Brenda. We've been sent by ISAF to help the resistance prepare for their imminent invasion. We need your help…"
"Hold on, you expect me to believe that the allies sent a group of kids as my contacts?" asked Larry.
"You knew we were coming?" I asked.
"I'm the IOSS's 'go to' mercenary. I've been involved in every war and insurrection since the Belkan War and they send me a couple of kids to help me prepare for the invasion?"
"Then you of all people know that the IOSS has some pretty outlandish tactics," said Miranda.
What's the IOSS? Larry's reaction told me that he knew what Miranda was talking about and I noticed that Naomi had a similar reaction. She knew what they were talking about and I wanted to know. Anyways, Larry seemed like he came to terms with what Miranda was talking about and agreed to help us with our objective tonight. We only had a small window of opportunity to carry out our plan. But first, we had to feed the Erusean bodies to the marsh's alligators.
Monday, July 4, 2005 1811hrs, Sky Kid pub
We managed to sabotage the vehicle depot last night and Miranda almost got caught. I had to bail her out and we ended up hiding out in an abandoned house until the Erusean's called off their alert. To our surprise, they didn't bother checking their vehicles to see if they were tampered with. Anyways, we met back up with Naomi earlier this morning and we continued our recon around the city. Naomi and Miranda traveled to Old Towne to sabotage more of the Erusean fortifications. I spent most of the day overlooking the freeway that the Eruseans used as their air base. It was pretty cool how they used the unfinished tunnels as their hangars and the unfinished road as their runway. The hill I was on had a great view of everything and I could even see Yellow 13 through my scope. The temptation to kill him like this was great, but I couldn't bring myself to do it even though I regretted not killing him after we destroyed Stonehenge. We all met back up in New City about half an hour ago and the Barkeep told us that the Eruseans would be here within a matter of minutes to eat and get drunk.
Anyways, I was lounging around in the pub, waiting for Miranda as she got in touch HQ so that she could organize mine and Naomi's extraction tonight. I was eating my meal with Naomi when I noticed a small newspaper article stuck to one of the walls of the pub. Around it were names and tally marks of all the pilots who came to this pub. From where I was, I could see that Harkin was pictured in it as he posed in front of my plane when I destroyed Stonehenge. I got up to take a closer look at the article and saw that it praised me for singlehandedly destroying the railguns. I wanted to correct the author and tell him that I couldn't have done it alone, but I couldn't reveal my identity. As I continued to read the article, I began to notice the names on the wall more clearly. All of them were the call signs of the members of Yellow Squadron. Yellow 13 had accumulated a total of 108 kills since the war began and his wingman, Yellow 4 had 72 before she died. When I saw this, it made me feel like these people were even less human than I originally thought. The urge to kill them grew the more I thought about it.
"Do you find something intriguing about that man?" said a familiar voice in German.
I looked behind me and saw that it was Yellow 13. The way he looked at me made it seem like he knew what I was doing here. I felt like he was going to toy with me until I knew that he knew who I really was. My poker face was at its strongest in this point in time and I had to keep it up until I no longer had to face him. At the same time though, I figured I could use this as an opportunity to see what made this guy tick.
"I was just wondering how one man could destroy something so enormous," I said.
"He had help from the engineers who defected. There's no other way that he and his squadron were able to disable the jamming device that disrupted their targeting systems," said Yellow 13.
Shit, he might already know who I am and now he's trying to make me slip up. "Why would the engineers defect to the allies? You'd think that they'd be protected by the Erusean government."
"Who knows? Maybe ISAF bribed them into it defecting. But there's nothing that we can do now. The allies aren't too far away now and it's only a matter of time before he comes."
"Who do you mean by 'he'?" I asked to which Yellow 13 frowned.
"Mobius 1," he grumbled as he took a seat a nearby table. "When I see him again, I'm going to make him pay for what he did to my wingman."
"You mean Yellow 4?" I asked to which he shot a glare at me. "I read about it in that article. It's not easy losing a friend."
"And you would know this how?"
"I've lost more than I care to talk about," I said softly as I looked away.
"Yeah, she was the first wingman who ever died under my command. It wasn't easy accepting what happened to her, but I mostly blame that bastard who shot her down," said Yellow 13 and I clenched my fist in frustration. "Her plane was in disrepair and he knew it. He went for an easy kill like the coward he is."
"How does going after a pilot who should've taken responsibility for their plane make Mobius 1 a coward?"
"He was fighting me and he could've shot me down, but he went after her instead," said Yellow 13 in frustration. He went on to tell me how everything happened from his perspective. Some of the details of his story were altered to make him seem even cooler than he thought he was. The thing that pissed me off was that he refused to even mention the fact that he tried bragging about how he thought he could beat me that day.
"What was Yellow 4 like?" I asked, but he seemed to grow even more depressed.
"She was a very kind person who never left my side." Yellow 13 began to describe his late wingman right down to every aspect of her personality. With every word he spoke, I began to get an even clearer picture of what his wingman was like. She's like Miranda in a way.
"She did her job as your wingman even though she knew there was a problem with her plane. I thought a flight lead was supposed to take responsibility for his flight's conditions."
"I did take responsibility for them!"
"Only after Yellow 4 died," I argued. "Why didn't you stop her? Was it because you thought those ISAF pilots were just going to roll over and play dead?"
"Shut up," growled Yellow 13.
"Did you think the sight of your flight was enough to make them retreat?"
"I said shut up!"
"Or was it because of your pride as the most Elite Erusean squadron that you decided to fight Mobius 1?"
"Shut up!" shouted Yellow 13 as he slammed his fist on our table. Everyone in the pub froze and looked at us while Naomi readied her concealed pistol in case she had to help me. "Mobius 1 killed my wingman because he's nothing more than a coward. There's nothing more to it than that."
I should've killed you instead. "I see," I said softly as I got out of my seat. "I'm sorry, have a good night."
I could feel everyone's eyes on me as I left the pub to go sit outside. My mind was swarming with what I wanted to say to Yellow 13 about how he was a coward, an idiot, and a seal clubber above all else. He thought he was the best because he never flew against anyone whose skills were on par or superior to his. Now that he faced a superior enemy, his pride as the best pilot in Erusea has been severely wounded. I hope I never become as prideful as he is.
"Hey, is everything alright?"
I looked towards the pub's entrance to see Naomi and Miranda heading towards me. They both took a seat at the table I was sitting at as I continued to think about my inevitable fight with Yellow 13 when ISAF commenced its operation to liberate San Salvacion. "I'm just wondering if all aces want to be considered the best," I said.
"They know they're going to lose the war," said Miranda, referring to Yellow 13. "Either that or they hate being one-upped. I know I do."
"He's just an asshole like Weaver," added Naomi and I couldn't help but chuckle.
"You know I've never had an ego, but I think I'm starting to get one now that I've bested the Yellows twice," I said softly.
"You'll beat them next time."
"Yeah, but right now you need to get back to the FOB (Forward Operating Base)," said Miranda.
I placed my hand on hers and gave her a tender smile. Miranda had to stay behind while Naomi and I headed back to base so that we could get ready for the invasion. Miranda was going to stay behind so that she could help the resistance and allied forces once everything kicked off.
"We'll see you once this is all over," I said as I hugged Miranda and she nodded.
Miranda gave me the coordinates for our LZ before she headed off to hide for the night. Naomi and I headed off to begin our hike towards our destination and we grabbed our equipment that we stashed in a nearby building. Our plan was to sneak out of the city and follow the highway towards our destination. Our ride was on standby at a safe distance, but we had to call it in when we got there. It was a good thing we stole a radio off an MP, otherwise we would've been stuck here. Another thing we did was commandeer a MP buggy so that way we could get to the LZ a lot quicker. We weren't expected to arrive there for another couple of hours so I decided that it was okay to teach Naomi how to drive, but she pretty much got the hang of it within the first couple minutes. We followed the side roads as much as possible to avoid the Erusean patrols until we got to the freeway.
"Hey, Antonio, can I ask you something?" asked Naomi.
"Go ahead," I replied.
"Why didn't you escape with me and Miranda through the canals when we first got here?"
"I did it so you guys could escape," I said in a slightly annoyed tone.
"I can see why you don't lie to anyone. You're terrible at it," she replied.
"Why would I lie to you?"
"Maybe there's something that you don't want me and Miranda to know."
"What is there that I don't want you to know?"
"You tell me, but I'm not going to stop bugging you about it until you tell me the real reason you didn't escape with us," said Naomi and I gave her an annoyed look. For the next ten minutes Naomi kept asking me the same question and I kept telling her that I did it so they could escape. How she found out that I was lying about the real reason I turned myself in was a mystery, but she knew. "Will you just tell me already?!"
"You look really cute with your hair that color," I said in an attempt to change the subject.
"Thank you, I appreciate your flattering compliment, but it's not going to work on me. Why did you let yourself get captured?"
I gave Naomi a sour look and I could feel myself blushing from embarrassment as I contemplated the real reason I didn't escape with them. I wanted to bury my head in the ground so that she couldn't see my face after I told her, but I had to come to terms with this now. Miranda would find out through Naomi and I knew Miranda would give me a ration of crap because I told Naomi first before her.
"I can't swim…" I muttered.
