CHAPTER: ZERO
PREAMBLE
Operation Zero Horizons
Corporal Natsuki Subaru, Age 24
Location: Hindu Kush Mountains, Afghanistan
0400 hours, March 27, 2004
The deafening sound of the twin rotors filled the Chinook as Natsuki Subaru sat quietly in his seat near the rear of the helicopter. They had been flying over the snowcapped mountains of eastern Afghanistan for just over ten minutes now. While Subaru had heard John Williams, the medic of the team, often bitch about how the incessant whine of the engines had never failed to give him a headache, Subaru never seemed to have been bothered by it.
Looking out the open ramp at the mountains passing below, the snowy peaks were barely visible in the black void of the early morning. Subaru could already imagine how in a few hours the brilliance of the sun rising over the jagged peaks would light up the mountainsides in a dazzling display that could take your breath away. The first time he'd seen it happen he'd been left at a loss for the beauty of the Hindu Kush Mountains. He imagined he'd have loved to go skiing down the pristine slopes of the mountains if it wasn't for the bombs and bullets.
Taking in a deep breath, Subaru closed his eyes and began to think back on the events that had brought him here. He recalled the good and the bad, both helped to drive him, after all. This was a ritual that he had gone through before every mission.
Twelve years ago, Subaru and his family had moved from Japan to the United States. He still remembered throwing a fit when his parents had sat him down and explained that his father had gotten a promotion which necessitated a move to San Francisco. It had been a huge break for his father, who along with being a perfectionist was also the textbook definition of a career man. Originally the companies plan had been for his father to spend three years in the States before returning to Kyoto.
However, that changed when his father's boss, the regional manager for the firm, was killed in a car crash due to drunk driving. Seeing as how the most senior officer in the country at the time was his father, he was temporarily made the regional manager. For those who knew him, it was no surprise when his father's perfectionist mentality worked wonders on the company's performance in the North American market. Shortly thereafter, the temporary tag was removed, and the Subaru family had become permanent residents of the Bay Area. The family had even gotten dual citizenship by the time Natsuki had turned fourteen.
Whilst Subaru's father was having success, Natsuki found himself struggling to adjust to life in America. Having been enrolled in a private school, Subaru found himself with extremely strict teachers and was surrounded by pompous assholes for classmates as far as the eye could see.
While he had been able to pick up English somewhat quickly, Subaru had still found it hard to make friends and was quickly being singled out by several of the school bullies. Eventually, Natsuki couldn't stand his school life any longer, so he started ditching classes in favor of sneaking off to his local library, where he started reading comics and even a few Manga.
That all ended one day. Before Subaru was able to ditch a third-period algebra class, he found himself turning a corner and bumping face-first into a well-known school bully. The thuggish kid had been a heavier set upperclassman. Before he'd known it, the kid was all up in his face slinging cheap insults. Instead of keeping his mouth shut and taking the abuse, Subaru snapped and firmly shoved the kid out of his personal space.
That quickly escalated into a fight.
A busted lip and several bruises later, and Subaru had found himself in the principal's office with his father sitting quietly beside him as the principal explained how he'd been missing classes.
As it turned out the fight had been the final straw for the institution, and they'd had zero issues placing all the blame for the scuffle on Subaru. The upperclassman was a highly touted football player for the school, so all it took was one cup of coffee with the coach for the principle to decide who to put at fault.
After that, his father had impressed on him the shame he'd brought upon their family. A few weeks after being kicked out of school, his father had decided to ship Subaru off to a Military school thinking it would "give his life some structure". One of his coworkers had done something similar with his son and given the idea to Natsuki's father.
So, that was how his high school years were spent. For the next three years of his life, he had found himself living 8 months out of the year at what he thought to be a hell on Earth. The 0600 wake up calls, PT, people breathing down his neck at nearly every living moment. However, a small part of him had grown to appreciate the lifestyle around his eighteenth birthday.
After his senior year, his father had assumed that Hatsuki would apply to college, but instead, he informed him he had decided to join the military in full. Partly because he'd wanted to, and partly because he wanted to mess up his perfectionist father's plans for him.
He'd joined up in 97' and had ironically been deployed to Camp Zama in Japan. It was one of his fondest periods of service. He spent a long time there working mostly behind a desk pushing papers. He spent most of his time off base visiting relatives and tracking down a few of his boyhood friends.
Once he'd turned eighteen, his father had assumed that Natsuki would apply to college, but in defiance of his perfectionist father's plans, Subaru had joined the Army instead.
He'd joined up in 97' and had ironically upon completing boot camp been deployed to Camp Zama in Japan. It was one of his fondest periods of service. His time spent there was mostly filled behind a desk pushing papers. In his time off base, he would often be found visiting relatives, along with tracking down a few of his boyhood friends.
Everything had been going smoothly for him until one night. He'd been doing some late-night work when at 2046 hours on September 11th local time, the world changed.
It hadn't been until the next day that Natsuki had learned that his father had been on a business trip to the New York offices, which were located on the 87th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. His mother had accompanied her husband to New York to go sightseeing in the city. She'd stopped by the offices to bring her husband his briefcase which he'd left in the hotel room. It was the first time in the twenty-two years of his life that Subaru could remember his father forgetting something related to work.
The funeral was short. Subaru organized a service for his parents in Kyoto. There had been no instructions as to where they'd wanted to be buried, but Subaru had supposed his father would have wanted their graves to be back home in Japan. Subaru hoped that his parents' spirits would be satisfied with headstones, like so many others there were no bodies to be placed in the ground.
Shortly after the funeral, Subaru had put in for a transfer, and he'd been deployed to Afghanistan by November of 2001. After a year of active combat, Subaru went to Fort Bragg where he had spent the next fifty-six weeks training to become a Green Beret.
"Subaru!" Sucking in a deep breath Subaru was broken out of his meditative state. It was Staff Sargent Myles Baker who was yelling directly into his right ear so that he could be heard over the drone of the engines.
Subaru too had to shout back in reply to being heard over the noise of the engine. "Yeah, what's up Myles?"
"The situation up on the mountain has changed drastically. The SEAL Team is bogged down by at least thirty insurgents, both LZs are going to be swarmed."
"Are we going to be able to get in?" Subaru questioned.
"Overlord decided that we need to get those guys out of there, now!" Myles declared, "If we don't try to get boots on the ground, those men are going to be dead before we can find a way to help them. Get ready, because when we get close, they're going to give us hell."
Subaru watched as Myles move from man to man as he relayed the new information to the other men of the team. Subaru was in the first of the two Chinooks set to deploy two twelve-man teams to secure the survivors and get them the hell out of dodge.
Their mission had been put together after a SEAL Team had been sent into the mountains to take out a high-ranking Taliban leader that had been placed in the area. However, the SEAL Team had stumbled onto a fortified position on the mountain top. They currently were pinned near the ridge of the mountain and had been there for over twenty minutes now.
About five minutes had passed before they had descended over to their LZ. The muzzle flashes below lit the mountainside as the cracks of gunfire ripped through the darkness. A moment later the sound of bullets smacking against the siding of the helicopter rang out and made a few people duck their heads down.
"We can't land, we're going to repel down ropes!" Myles shouted from the front of the group. "You're first Subaru."
Stepping forward, Subaru racked the slid of his M4 and readied to exit the aircraft. Taking a deep breath, Subaru grabbed the thick rope and prepared for a fast rope descent. No sooner had he left the helicopter before his ears went ringing. In an instant, Subaru felt his body being tossed about as he was flung from the repelling rope into the air.
Everything was disoriented, as his ears were ringing like a bell. Half a second later, Subaru felt himself slamming into a snowbank on the mountainside. Despite the snow, Subaru still hit the ground hard, and gaged hard as all the air in his lungs was ejected from his body. Fighting hard Subaru caught his breath back and pushed himself out of the snow and scanned around him to reorient himself.
About thirty meters up the mountain he spotted the wreckage Chinook. The transport had been blown into two pieces that were now in flames on the mountainside. The two halves of the wreck had landed somewhat close to one another, though it was hard to see through the thick miasma of smoke that billowed from the remnants of the Chinook.
Meanwhile overhead, Subaru could see the second team's helicopter being forced away from the second LZ. This has gone straight to hell. Subaru thought bitterly.
Crouching, Subaru made his way toward the crash site, praying all the way that others had survived the crash. Running up the mountain through the snow was slow work, but eventually, Subaru found his way up to the remains of the back half of the Chinook which was getting assaulted with small arms fire from a small pile of boulders higher up the mountain.
There were several bodies in the snow, which had turned crimson. Subaru counted three bodies, though he couldn't identify them at a glance. A moment later Subaru watched as the figure of Myles came gingerly crawling from the mangled remains of the transport.
The Leader of Subaru's team was coated in blood, at first Subaru though he'd been badly hurt, on a second glance he noted that that the blood was not Myles.
"How many made it out?" Subaru asked as he took cover next to his team leader behind the wreck as bullets whizzed overhead.
"Just me and a kid named Deshawn, at least in from this half of the wreck." Myles coughed into a bloody fist. "He's still in the wreckage, but the kid had his leg severed clean off by a chunk of metal. I was able to get a tourniquet on his stump, but he already passed out from the blood loss. I'm not even sure he's not already dead."
Looking over to the other half of the wreck Subaru could see three figures stumbling out from the other half of the crash. Among them he could make out that one of them was John Williams with another member of his team, Sam Hall draped over his shoulder.
A few bullets smacked against the broken hull of the mangled remains of the helicopter as Subaru flinched instinctively. "Son of a Bitch!" he cursed.
Peaking out from cover, Subaru could see up the mountain the two rock formations where the SEAL Team was dug in. It was about a twenty-meter hike, and they were now taking on heavy fire.
"We need to get them down the mountain."
"The secondary LZ is about seventy meters down mountain," Myles though before he pointed to a small crop of trees downhill. "They'll land there, to avoid the heat. If it's too hot, then we're fucked until brass can come up with a new plan."
"Okay, so what's the play?"
Myles thought for a moment before nodding to himself. "Okay, he's the play. The SEAL team is split up into two fox holes. We'll call the one on the left Alpha and the right Beta. I'll go hook up with the others on the survivors from the other end of the crash. They'll provide cover fire for us as we make our way up the mountain. You'll make your way to Alpha and I'll get to Beta. Still have your radio?"
Subaru looked to this shoulder and saw that it was missing. "Must have lost it in the fall."
"That's alright, you still have your smoke?"
"Yeah right here," Subaru patted the side of his vest where he'd stashed his smoke grenade.
"Okay good, when you link up with Alpha pop that smoke to let me know. From there we'll provide relief for the SEALs to retreat, then they'll provide support from the crash for us to sweep back here. After that, we either pull down the mountain or hold here, whichever is more viable. At the very least we would get them far enough away to get support from the AC-130. Last I heard it was twelve klicks out."
"Alright," Subaru nodded.
"The second they start giving cover fire we move in. I don't want those guys stuck in that kill box for another second."
Subaru watched as his team captain crouched down and went bounding through the snow to the broken front end of the helicopter. Subaru could see a few puffs of snow as bullets landed near his commander as he ran back to cover and began to relay the new plan to the other members of the team.
A moment later they had taken defensive positions. Taking in a deep breath, Subaru prepared himself, keeping his eyes trained on the other four figures across him. The moment he heard the three men being to open cover fire Subaru leaped from cover and began up the mountain as fast as he could.
The sound of his blood pumping filled Subaru's ears as he pressed through the snow up the mountain. The sound of bullets rang all around as Subaru heard the bullets whizzing near his head. Puffs of snow sprayed his face as bullets landed near his feet. Fucking shit! Subaru thought as he ran hard uphill.
About twenty meters out, Subaru felt a bullet rip through his left bicep. "Fuck!" Subaru cried out. Gritting his teeth, he kept pressing uphill. Stop and you die. He told himself.
Somewhere nearby an RPG exploded in the snow kicking shrapnel into the air. Subaru felt a few fragments of rock bite into his thigh. A second later he'd dived into cover under the side of bolder Alpha where four of the seven members of the SEAL Team had held up.
A glance around showed that one of them laid propped up against the rock. It was apparent from the whiteness of his face that the man's head died some time ago. The other three members of the team looked war-torn, their faces cut and bloody from the spray of rock fragments. Near every member seemed to have been hit somewhere by a stray bullet.
"What's the situation down at the crash?" The SEAL to his left asked as he ducked behind cover as he reloaded his handgun. Subaru assumed he must have already run out of ammunition for his rifle.
"Five made it out, there was another one in the crash, but he was close to bleeding out before we made it up the mountain," Subaru informed the man.
"What's the play chief?" One of the others asked between shots at the rock formation up the mountain.
"We have three guys down at the crash offering supporting fire." Subaru started before being interrupted another explosion from a grenade went off nearby. "Fuck me!"
"Go on." The SEAL encouraged.
"My team leader and I are going to provide supporting fire as you and your men sweep downhill to the crash site. From there we can hook up with the second relief team, or at the least get supporting fire from our AC-130."
"I don't know if that's going to work, there's fucking Taliban all up on our right flank. They have two bunkers up to our left with RPGs and those fuckers have a KPV."
"Jesus Christ…" Subaru felt his throat go dry. "Well staying here isn't the best idea either."
"We break formation they might descend on us and try and sweep us down the mountainside," One the SEALs cautioned.
"I have a smoke in my vest, I could pop it toward the bunker while you pull back. If we can rally at the crash sight the AC might be able to take out the bunker." Subaru argued. "My team leader is waiting for the smoke, so it's up to you."
The SEALs looked at one another as more bullets ripped overhead. "Alright, let's go."
Nodding, Subaru plucked the smoke canister from his vest and pulled the pin. Taking a half step from cover he pulled his good arm back and threw the smoke as best he could. After the smoke had begun to plum for a few seconds, Subaru lifted his rifle and began to fire off in the direction of the enemy fire.
All at once, the SEALs began descending the mountain as fast as they could. As Subaru fired blindly into the night he was soon under heavy fire as several grenades went just behind his bolder.
There was a sharp sting in his rear as more rock fragments ripped through his pants. Curing Subaru clenched up in pain, but he didn't get to focus on his legs for long as a bullet caught his right shoulder sending him sprawling on his back.
For whatever reason, he couldn't feel that much pain, though he assumed it had to do with the sheer amount of adrenalin pumping through his body at this point. Looking behind him Subaru saw that the SEAL team was still only halfway to the crash site.
"Fuck me," Subaru muttered to himself through gritted teeth. Pulling out his spent magazine, Subaru slammed in a fresh set of rounds and hauled himself to his feet and reengaged the enemy.
It was about two minutes later that an RPG went off next to Subaru. The impact sent him flying about twenty yards from the bolder. Subaru hit the ground hard, as everything went blank. He wasn't sure how just how long he'd been out, but when Subaru had come to, he was aware of the bullets landing all around him.
Gripping his weapon, which he had his harness to thank for, Subaru tried to get to his feet only to find his legs cry with pain in protest. Glancing down, he could see his pants were crimson with his blood from shrapnel. Additionally, it looked as though he'd been shot at least once in his right leg, and Subaru was sure he'd broken a bone in his left.
Grimacing, the solider spotted a small crater about ten feet down the mountain. Biting his lip, Subaru rolled himself through the snow and came crashing into the small dip of earth.
Laying on his belly, Subaru began to return fire up the mountainside at the figures in the dark. There was a barrage of enemy fire coming down on him, but Subaru held his ground.
"Come get me assholes!" Subaru shouted as he dumped another empty magazine.
For nearly twenty minutes Subaru laid along in the dark as the area around him was blasted with RPG fire and a rain of lead. At that time, he'd been shot another three times. Once in right collar and straight through the collarbone and twice in his arms. That's when the AC-130 started to rain hell down on the mountainside.
That that point the enemy had begun to charge down the hill toward him. Subaru had been in the middle of reloading when a Taliban fighter game running right to him. Despite his injuries, Subaru rose to his feet and pulled his knife from his hip as the man came running into him.
Subaru and the man went falling to the ground as he struggled with him. Everything seemed to be red, as Subaru hit, and fought bitterly with him. Nearly everything he'd been taught about hand to hand combat went from his mind, and he worked off entirely off muscle memory. After getting the upper hand Subaru's blade found itself in the neck of his enemy. Falling back, Subaru gasped for breath as he slapped his last magazine into his rifle and began to aim the other fighters running downhill.
Just as he'd turned a fighter, no more than five feet away pulled up and fired directly into Subaru's chest five times. Luckily, he'd been able to return fire and catch the fighter in his temple, but Subaru was now laying flat on his back.
His reprieve from combat was short-lived however as another RPG went off only a few yards to Subaru's left. This time he was sent flying down the mountain, Subaru rolled over snow and rock until he came smacking back first into a bolder.
The air was shot out of him as Subaru choked up a mouthful of blood. It was hard to breathe now as Subaru whizzed. My lungs are being filled with blood. Subaru realized in horror.
Everything in his body was running cold as the blood began to pour out of him. Subaru was faintly aware of the earthshaking blasts of the AC-130's 40mm cannon as he looked up at the sky. The explosions were mostly taking place further down the mountainside. Subaru assumed that must have meant the Seal team and the remnants of the quick reaction force had pulled back down the mountain.
I'm not out of the fight, I'm not out of the fight! Subaru tried to tell himself over and over, but no matter how hard he tried to move his body, it refused to respond. What was more, Subaru had lost his rifle in his latest tumble down the mountain. A glance down to take inventory revealed that Subaru had expended very utility he'd brought with him, it was a sickening thing to realize that the only weapon he had left was his bare hand and those were quickly becoming useless.
With great labor, Subaru was able to roll onto this back. Coughing up a mess of blood, Subaru felt his life was quickly draining away. He had made peace with the idea of dying a long time ago; it was after all a stark reality of his profession. With that said, he solider, and so he was determined to fight to the bitter end. So, despite the knowledge of his impending demise, Natsuki Subaru tried to get to his feet to continue the fight. However, his body refused to give in to his will. It was only then, with the morning sun peeking over the crest of the mountain peaks that Subaru wheezed in one final breath. Subaru felt the warmth of the sun on his face, and a moment later a bullet ripped through his chest and found his heart. Then there was no more fight, only the embrace of darkness that came in the form of a swarm of dark hands enveloping his passage into death.