Chester, 11:32, 20th March, Jason's POV
A day had passed since the retaking of the city of Chester. My home town. Many who I had known as friends of our family, and a couple of my own friends killed in the firefights that raged across the city landscape. Just three hours ago the all clear was given, all KPA forces left had either left or been captured. Or killed.
I had never thought I would ever handle a weapon. Let alone kill a man. My aim had done rather well when I first fired, although the recoil had put me off. I had been relaxed then, knowing I was just shooting a target. The thought of shooting a living being never crossed my mind. Even Wyatt had said I was good. Although, truth be told, it was all luck. I had never admitted it to him, it was just complete luck. I don't know why I hadn't said that in the first place. So, here I was. Sure, I had always disliked the KPA garrison of Chester, but I had never wanted to kill. Yet, here I was. Having shot several men just doing their job. And I...I killed them. At the time, the adrenaline had come to save me.
I felt a firm grip on my shoulder, and quickly turned my head around to see whoever was holding my shoulder to see an auburn haired man. Wyatt. The man who had brought me into this.
"Thinking about the battle?" he asked. His face was rather chiseled, with what looked like would become a new scar across his cheek. I had never come to recognize every feature on his face.
I turned away from Wyatt, my fingers rhythmically tapping along the wall. It was high and I could see both sides of the wall; the city of Chester and the ruined outside. Both of which I had traversed before.
"I..." I couldn't muster any words, despite how much I wanted to speak.
"It's all right...first time I show someone, I felt the same for weeks. Couldn't even look at a gun." There was a long pause. "It's a terrible feeling, watching someone die in front of you..." I looked over my shoulder to his face. It seemed distant, like his head was at another place...or maybe a memory.
"What...what happ-"
"Wyatt, radio's online. You might want to hear this" Wyatt gave a firm nod to whoever it was, it wasn't a voice that I recognized then disappeared. I turned to see both of them going down the wall through one of the towers that had stairs within, I couldn't recognize who it was from behind.
Quickly after they disappeared from sight, I followed swiftly behind them. I heard nothing from the conversation as they went down the stairs, and it did make me very curious to know what they were speaking of.
I hadn't realized I still had a pistol holstered at my side till I had started moving, the weapon having some weight to my side.
It was quite a long walk till we got down to the bottom, and just seeing all the ruin once more. People were pulling out of Chester. The KPA would be arriving at any moment with a counter attack, with none of them having any kind of idea how large the counter force would be. There were some sentries on the walls, watching for any sign of the counter force. I was very afraid of them arriving, knowing that after we had attacked and 'liberated' Chester, they would leave no mercy.
"Jason?!" I stopped and looked around, and to my right down the street that's where I saw a familiar face.
"Dad!" I rushed over quickly. I had never been so glad to see their faces. He took me into a hug, I was so very glad to see him. Once all was said and done, a few words exchanged, I figured out that my mother wasn't here.
"Where's Mom?"
"Safe. She's going with the first out of here. I was about to go, but I wanted to find you first. If we are going to leave, we need to now." He tugged on my wrist, but I pulled back.
"Uh...sorry Dad...but I'm staying here?" He turned back, glaring subtly. For a moment it hung there, before suddenly it was replaced by a caring smile. He placed a hand on my shoulder. No ridicule for being stupid. It took me by surprise.
"Just...just stay alive out there, all right? We both want to see you when this is all over" he said, then he began turn around slowly. I was taken aback, before giving a small smile back then began to head off back on the trail of Wyatt...whom had apparently disappeared.
Wyatt's POV
I knew that Jason was falling me all the way from the wall, and I did not mind one bit. However I did glance back once to see who was calling his name, and when I saw their gesture to each other that's when it came to my mind.
I grinned to myself at seeing that finally Jason had found his family. Although any talk between them did not fall on any eavesdropping ears as I didn't stick around to hear. One of Chester's resistance cell members led me to where their headquarters had been during that big battle. Another welcomed us through. It was filled to the brim with resistance members rushing about. Now, I had been in many other resistance cells, and this one was not merely as organised as the rest.
With the leading member I was following leaving me behind, I found ahead the table with the radio, as well as Lydia standing by and Milo leaning on a long crutch made to suit him.
Lydia gave a nod, and Milo did not see me approaching until I put a hand on his shoulder, looking over it.
"What's the good news?" I assumed there was some, as there no grim look.
"Welllll, if you think a direct call from the Fleet-"
"The fleet? Are you sure?" Lydia nodded. That was most surprising to hear. Last we had heard anything from them...well, San Francisco had been hit. We all knew how that went down.
I gestured to the radio to tune it, which she did. Some crackling came through, followed by some more recognizable chatter from the other side.
"...Operation Seattle is in effect. All resistance cells, military forces and other required units report in. Operation Seattle is in effect. All resistance cells, military forces and other required units report in. Opera-" I turned it out, then put a hand to my chin as I thought deeply about this. Operation Seattle? I hadn't heard a thing about this.
"What's all this 'Operation Seattle' stuff about?"
"You really think I wouldn't have given you an answer if I knew?" she asked, with raised brows.
"Good point." There was a long moment of silence as we thought over this. Operation Seattle...Operation Seattle...
"Well...it's obviously got something to do with Seattle, yes?" Milo piped up. Both I and Lydia gave him a half-lidded stare, as if to say 'obviously'.
"Lydia report in" I ordered, and she nodded then picked up the microphone attached to the radio. "Milo...go get your leg checked out" I said with a sigh. He nodded, grinning as he began to move off, hobbling along.
"Any idea what all of this is about? I have a feeling you know a bit more than me" I said once Milo was gone. She shrugged, still listening over headphones now with one of them over one ear, the other not covering so she could also hear Wyatt. "And any other messages?"
"I barely got much from the message on repeat, except exactly what Milo said. No other messages, just trying to...decipher this one" she replied. So she knew as much as I did.
This was all quite confusing to me. Word of the liberation of Chester would have gotten out by now, and now this? Things were coming together, just like before the battle of San Francisco. One pin, then another linked by a string. Many strings leading to the center; Operation Seattle. All there was to learn was what was the middle? There was someone I suspected that could know. Briefly I wondered where exactly she was, or what she was up to. But part of me already knew what exactly she was up to.
New Mexico, 8:40, 20th March
"You hear? Chester got liberated."
"So Pennsylvania is finally pushing them back? Still can't believe they caught us by surprise like that. They managed to take Pennsylvania, just like that. Or at least half of it..."
"Equally surprised we had done nothing about it till now. Sure, Philadelphia has a big GKA garrison, but seriously in that area we outnumber them by a- 10'o'clock, see it, Anya?"
One of the pair, a woman, looked down the scope quickly of the M200 bolt-action Sniper, a Mosin Nagnat strapped across my back. An old weapon, sure, but it was my preferred weapon of choice. Anya had a lot of history with the rifle. Her partner was armed with an M468 rifle, an EO-tech holographic sight. The M200 was more for distance.
Down the scope, Anya spotted a trail of dust behind some metallic object travelling at a rather high speed. With a closer look it was seen that there was in fact multiple. Just as intel had suggested.
"Three. Looks like a truck and two armored vehicles...KPA. Looks like intel was right."
"Course it was right" a voice came over the radio. I made a grab for it, not realizing it was on. "Intel is rarely wrong, except for those couple of times where it did go wrong. But this shouldn't go wrong, no it shouldn-"
"Hopper...we talked about this, everything will go fine." There was silence, then a sigh on the other end. "Wander, have you ever met anyone so nervous?" Anya asked, once Anya was sure that the radio was off. Wander shook his head in response.
"Most I meet are tough, and stubborn." Anya glanced over, with a small grin.
"Guess that all rubbed off on you" Anya snickered at her own remark, returning down the scope. Anya shifted the course of the scope down to follow the road the convoy traveled. Down the road, that's where she spotted a few buildings, surrounded by a wall of metal sheets put together as well as crates. It looked like a farm, protected by a poorly designed wall, but what was to be expected from such ruffians? They got in everyone's way, never got much out of it in return.
Anya adjusted the scope's zoom, focusing on a gate part of the wall. It was slowly opening, a guard stationed within some excuse of a guard tower. That, she had to admit looked somewhat good and stable. Would withstand bullets. A rocket-propelled-grenade on the other hand...
Anya tuned into the radio, connecting to the other team. They would need to know exactly where the convoy's position was, they were closer to the bandit's camp as well so they would be in danger if they did not know how close it was. It was a threat, so they would need to make this quick in enemy territory with their such small numbers.
"Anya checking in, gate's opened. Target's on it's way." Another voice checked in this time, one that sounded tougher than Hopper. Not a hard thing to accomplish.
"Jacobs here, we see them. Moving in, keep you eye on us would you? Wouldn't want someone to surprise us and ruining this mission, would we?" Anya rolled her eyes.
The convoy was coming up on the gate. Some distance away, by a corner of the wall out of sight from anyone at the gate was two others, the other team. Hopper was off sight with their evac.
"Anya, can you make the shot?" Anya glanced over, as if questioning if he knew her at all. Of course she could make the shot. She flicked her hair back over her shoulder after she had turned away from him, brushing it back behind her ears.
Aiming back down sights, Anya lined up the long barrel of my M200 down to the gate. Yeah, she could definitely make that shot. But for now, she just had to be sure for when the time comes. Anya had to keep my finger off the trigger, for now.
"I could make it. Keeping an eye on those trucks right now." The KPA trucks passed through the gate with no resistance, that confirmed it more that the KPA and these...people were in league together. She wasn't sure if she should call them 'people', they all had heard a lot of bad things about them. And knowing they were allied with the KPA...it at least explained how they got so many KPA weapons when they attacked that Resistance base a few miles off.
She lifted her head away the scope and activated the radio.
"Lead target in sight" she murmured into the radio, getting an acknowledgement back through it. Her crosshairs rested on the head of the lead target, the leader of the Buzzards, as they called themselves. Wasn't sure what was behind the name, but at least Anya and the others had something to call them.
With those KPA there, they wouldn't be able to move in just yet. They would have to wait till they left. They weren't the target, only the Buzzards were. At least, they were the first target. They needed to know what was up.
The front gate opened while Anya had been drifting about in her own thoughts.
Meanwhile, the team of Anya's allies near the camp were making their way over a fence that had no barbed wire on top, carefully. They soon disappeared from sight.
"They're over" Anya said to Wander. Now all they had to do was await the call to give support fire.
Jacobs landed first over the wall, followed by Rianna. Some may have believed it to be a bad idea to go with just two, but they thought they had the best cover. Hopper was far off somewhere with their exfil.
Armed with a suppressed USP.45, and an M4 as well as gear that would make him look like one of the Buzzards. Rianna had the same. They had to be close to the shadows as to not be recognized as not one of the Buzzards, their gear would help remain inconspicuous.
"All right, we will need to move carefully. Remember the plan?" Rianna glared at him. "Take that as a yes. Let's get going before we miss this chance." He led and she followed as they moved through the Buzzards encampment. The convoy came through slowly, Jacobs barely caught a glance of it. He gave a short nod to one of the Buzzards who glanced their way, receiving another. He had to act like he was part of the group if he were to mingle. They both stopped off a distance from the convoy. And then, out he came.
The leader of the Buzzards, a rather short man with a thick beard and a large facial scar. Made it look like he had a bad time shaving his eyebrows, if he ever tried.
Jacobs attempted to get closer, to listen for what they were saying. He soon heard what exactly the conversation between the KPA captain and the Buzzard's leader.
"What we got 'ere?"
"Not for you to know. You get pay, we go through." The Buzzards leader shook his head.
"Oh no, I see what you got. What's the worst that could happen, we go tellin' someone?"
Jacobs imagined the KPA captain scowling behind his mask. Then, with a click of his fingers the captain went to the back of the truck. It opened, revealing the contents inside. And once Jacobs saw it, he knew that it would immediately change the plan. He slowly paced back till he got back to where Rianna was.
"We got a change of plans. Follow my lead."
"What? What are you on-" But Jacobs was already moving. Rianna rolled her eyes and huffed before moving after Jacobs.
"Jacobs, are you going to tell me what is going on?" she asked once both of them were out of earshot.
"In that truck. It had yellow containers, with a biohazard sign on them. That sound like good news to you?"
"Fuck no, it doesn't...What do we do? We can't let it get away, right?" Jacobs shook his head. "I'll call Hopper then, tell him to get ready." While she got on that once they got inside the barn, while Jacobs looked about for just what they needed. And he found exactly that. A gas tank.
Clipping a frag grenade from his belt, he pulled the pin then gave an under arm toss at it. It clanged against it. One Buzzard must have heard, moving towards the sound to pick up the grenade. With a sudden cry of surprise, Jacobs heard the explosion next. It blew him right off his feet, was certainly bigger than he had expected. That's when the firefight started.
"Hopper, they are in. Are you ready?" There was a 'yes' on the other end, and that was it. That was all she needed to hear, anyway. Nothing was heard, although the pair of long shots were a long way away. Anya caught out of the corner of her eye Wander fiddling with his M648. "Do you have to do that?" she grumbled, going back straight down the scope as an attempt to ignore that fiddling.
"Oh, come on. You are in perfect focus, nothing can bring you out of it." Though he still put the weapon down, putting the binoculars back up and looking down toward the camp. "Nothing's stirred up yet. Surprised they have lasted this long."
"You don't know them, neither of us do. But I've heard things. They survived the Battle of San Francisco, you know."
"That hornet's nest? They were there?"
"From what I heard, they helped kick the nest." Wander glanced off to the side, he sure was surprised to hear that. Then he shrugged it off. But Anya could still see the surprise. To be honest, when she had first seen them, she thought they were just a rag-tag resistance group. They seemed to have done a lot more than most she had seen, for the amount of members they had. There were only just the three of them. There was a long line of silence...
"Just the three of them? What could those three do?" Wander couldn't help but ask.
"I don't exactly know what they did. Why don't y-" An explosion of smoke clouded up from the western part of the camp. Panic set in.
"What the hell did they do?!" Whatever was happening, Anya had set to work. Taking her first target up into her crosshairs, she pulled the trigger, firing her first round of the day. It soared through the air, tearing the target through their chest.
The KPA were piling into their vehicles, heading out quickly. Even ramming the gate at the other end of the camp. They weren't the target, the camp was. Another one of Anya's targets were dropped quickly, someone with an assault rifle firing at the barn. The Buzzards were probably trying to retake it, no doubt having all their vehicles inside the barn. Meanwhile, Wander was trying to get in contact with the ground team.
By Anya's seventh target, Wander was making a call to Hopper. She hadn't heard what Wander had been saying until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She was about to question what he wanted, but he was way ahead of her.
"Plan's changed. We need to get after those trucks. Hopper is on his way, so pack up we need to go!" He said all this as he was already on the move, leaving Anya to lie there with her rifle for a moment before the words came through. She took her rifle, slinging it over her shoulder then following Wander.
Hopper pulled up ahead of them with an uncovered truck, the back having some sheet metal along the sides to protect anyone on the back. Wander climbed into the back, Anya following suite. They were both greeted by a bark from the front passenger seat.
"You treated him well, I hope."
"I don't think the dog can-"
"Not talking to the dog" Wander rebuked. Hopped shut up, then nodded. "Thank you, I knew I could trust you take care of him...So, are we moving?"
"Right! Hold on!" Hopper pushed on the accelerator, and the truck lurched forward. The KPA would no doubt be moving fast, so they would need to get across open cross country.
Wander picked up an M248 light machine gun that was in a case in the back of the truck. Pulling the bipod out, he rested the weapon against the back of the truck roof. Their truck bumped along the open ground toward the road where they would no doubt find the KPA's convoy.
Speaking of which, that road was coming up. Far ahead along it, the KPA convoy. It seemed to have slowed down, thinking they had outrun the trouble for now.
"Anya! Could use your help!" She nodded and set up her sniper rifle onto the roof next to Wander. "On my go, fire. All right?" She nodded. They must not have noticed them approaching, not until the truck came up close behind. The armored vehicle at the rear began firing with a high-power caliber machine gun. Anya and Wander returned fire.
"Anya!" Wander gestured with his head behind them to a case. Holding onto the side, Anya crawled over to the case before opening it, finding something that made her grin.
"For me? How did you know?" Wander shrugged.
She picked up the AAWS-M launcher over her shoulder, readied it over the roof, then fired. Judging by Hopper's shout of surprise, he did not expect it to be used so close to the driver's seat, or rather right above it. The rocket launched towards the locked-on target, zooming after it. It hit straight into the rear left, the vehicle then flipped in a fiery explosion.
"I guess that...works" she barely heard Hopper mutter. But there was still the KPA truck. "So you want me to pull up next to that truck?" Anya's eyes widened for a moment. She turned her gaze to Wander.
"I'm sorry, what are we doing?" Wander shrugged with a grin on his face.
"Apparently, Jakobs found something on it. We need to get on it. Hopper, pick up the speed!" he shouted, banging on the top of the truck. Their truck's speed picked up as they closed the distance toward their target. Anya was not sure if this was even safe, and she knew what Wander's plan was. Although when the second armored vehicle came out from in front of them, Anya took Wander's M248 that he had put down and began firing at it's gun, trying to disable it.
Wander climbed up onto the front of the truck, trying to slide forward to the hood of their truck, holding onto whatever he could hold on to. Then, as soon as they got close enough...
"Wander!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, fearing for his life as he leaped from their truck to the back of the KPA truck, barely grabbing hold. He went about climbing along the sides, carefully as the turret of the front vehicle was distracted with Anya's fire. Hopper was forced to pull back as the KPA truck started to swerve, trying to throw Wander off. He held his grip. Anya could hear the dog, Tank, barking for his trainer.
There was a moment where Wander disappeared near the front, and Anya expected to see him tumbling behind. Someone did in fact come tumbling out, screaming out in pain. Then the truck got back on track before speeding forth toward the KPA escort. Ramming into their behind a few times got them to go out of control, turning left and right before soon it flipped out off the road. The two trucks sped ahead, leaving the KPA driver and gunner to climb out of the crashed vehicle.
The trucks stopped off to the side where Anya hopped off the back to rush to the KPA truck. She ran along the side to find Wander climbing out. She ran at him, lunging at him in a hug.
"Don't you ever, ever do that again. You hear me?!"
"Yes, yes I do. I hear you" he responded.
An excited bark drew their attention to their Belgian Malinois running toward them. Wander bent down, greeting the canine as any good dog owner would. Hopper followed along, going past them to open up the back of the truck. The pair stopped playing around with Tank when they noticed the truck's back door opening.
Wander stood up, no longer smiling as he suddenly became serious.
"Now, let's see what exactly they were...what the heck is this?" Anya was confused as well as she sure the yellow cylindrical containers. With a biohazard sign on the side.
"Wha...what is this?" Hopper came by behind them, just as shocked as they were. "Well...this is going to be a great story to tell the others...We should get this truck back to base so they can examine...whatever this all is."
