Carrick surveyed the 'chocolate box', as the intact room had been nicknamed by the rest of the soldiers. It had now been fully excavated, and had been loaded onto a travelling crate, thick chains attaching the rough stonework to the metal base. It was getting late now, and the sun was quickly disappearing over the blackened horizon.
Feeling rather tired, Carrick glanced at his watch, he had been here nearly ten hours, and at the current radiation levels, he only had another hour or so of his present exposure before he began receiving permanent damage from the residual radiation. He turned his head to watch the crate being loaded on the back of a huge Antonov 124 Condor that had been hired by the army to fly equipment in and certain 'items' out. The room, despite its comparatively large size, fitted easily into the Condor's gargantuan cargo hold.
Carrick watched the Condor take off, its massive bulk struggling to lift off the ground. It just about cleared the mountains around the bombsite, turned south, and lumbered off into the distance. He then turned, glanced over the crater and over the surrounding landscape, checking everything was in order. He then walked over to a convoy that was preparing to move out. He exchanged a quick word with the supervising officer, and went to get in a Warrior APC. As he got into the commander's seat, he looked at the rest of the convoy. It struck him how well protected it was. There was a couple of huge Challenger 2 Tanks, a few armoured Scimitars and a similar number of Warriors, and a small number of armoured Landrovers. Obviously his superiors were not taking any risks. He slid onto the seat, and activated the command console. A green and black map appeared of the local vicinity, and a couple of T.V monitors showed what was happening on the outside of the vehicle.
Ten minutes later, the convoy slipped out of the blast area and down a road-come-mud track that the engineers had built, connecting the site to the nearest roads, allowing ground vehicles to travel to and from the bombsite. Carrick was feeling tired after a hard and exhausting ten hours, and he dropped off to sleep, thoughts about getting back to base and a nice shower providing materials for his dreams.
Five minutes later, a massive bang shook Carrick awake. Sounds of gunfire, shouting, and explosions filled his ears as he regained consciousness. He scanned the monitors in front of his eyes. Smoke obscured most of the scene, though he could make out flames, running men, bullet tracers and the occasional flash of what looked like green and red flares. The Warrior had stopped moving and he could hear activity in the crew compartment behind him. He got off his seat and pulled himself down into the crew compartment. The doors at the rear had been opened, and Carrick could make out a body in army uniform lying dead outside, a SA-80 cradled by one outstretched arm. Two more soldiers were inside the Warrior, firing large machine guns through the gun holes in the vehicle's sides.
"What do you want us to do, sir?" Asked one of the men, firing another burst from his weapon, leaving a dozen empty shell cartridges on the floor. Carrick remembered he was the most senior officer present, and was therefore automatically in command. He mind ran through the many options he could take, weighing the pros and cons.
"Has anyone called for backup? Where are the rest of the soldiers?" Shouted Carrick, trying to make himself heard, as one of the Challengers fired off its massive cannon, which shook the Warrior and nearly sent Carrick flying forward.
"Most of the other guys jumped out when the convoy was first stopped sir, a couple of them were hit by a weapon that seems to have a green tracer or something, sir. I not sure if anyone's made contact sir, most of us have been too preoccupied." He said the last word as he let off another burst.
"Okay, do you know how many people we're being attacked by?" Asked Carrick, who was now checking the magazine clip in his 9mm pistol. The soldier he was addressing loaded another belt into his machine gun.
"Can't tell, sir, we were driving along this narrow road and they attacked us from the trees above, they destroyed the lead Landrover, blocking us in, but I don't think their weapons can penetrate our armour." He turned to look at a Carrick for a second, and then there a huge blast, and soldier was flung to the opposite side of the compartment. Carrick rushed to the downed man, but a couple of fingers to his neck confirmed that he was dead. Carrick looked into the downed man's eyes, deep blue, like his own. He closed the dead man's eyelids, and rushed back to his console.
"This is convoy 49 Alpha, we need assistance, we are under heavy fire, and we have heavy casualties, over." A distorted male voice crackled over the radio.
"Confirmed, we have your position on the GPS, reinforcements have been mobilised, ETA 5 minutes." 'Damn it,' thought Carrick, 'we could all be dead by then'. Another heavy blast on the Warrior's side knocked out the power unit, leaving him in total darkness. He felt in his pocket for a torch that he always carried. He found it and switched it on, and then dropped back into the crew's compartment. The other soldier had fled, leaving his machine gun lying amongst used cartridges on the floor. Carrick pulled out a box from underneath the bench at the side of the cabin. He opened it and pulled out a LAW rocket launcher. He grabbed some duct tape and tied his torch to the top of his pistol. With his rocket launcher under his left arm, and his pistol in his right hand, jumped out of the rear door.
The moment he landed, he realised he was in trouble. Standing ten yards away, with his back to Carrick, was one of the attackers. Carrick, ignoring nearby explosions and tracers, stared at the man. He was the strangest thing Carrick had ever seen. He was dressed, from head to toe in what looked like a black bathrobe, with a long, flowing black cape, and in his left hand was a piece of wood, almost like a wand. Then Carrick realised that this was a wizard. He didn't have to dwell on this, because the wizard turned round, and raised his wand to point at Carrick. Carrick realised just in time what was going to happen. He dropped the rocket launcher, and brought the pistol up to aim. He fired first, a single shot. The wizard fell silently to the ground, blood pouring from a wound where the head should have been underneath the hood.
Carrick ran to take cover behind a second landrover that had been travelling behind his Warrior. It had veered off course and hit a tree. Carrick could see the driver was lying over the wheel, blood flowing from a head wound, behind a shattered and blooded windscreen. A second soldier was slumped over the roof-mounted machine gun; he was unmarked, but clearly dead.
When Carrick had taken cover behind the bonnet of the Landrover, he was able to get a good view of the battle. A landrover at the head of the convoy, along with a Scimitar halfway down were in flames. Most of the tracked vehicles had lost tracks and had careered all over the road. Both Challengers were still operational, and were firing their machine guns and 120mm cannons into the trees that climbed up the hillside on the left of the road. On the right side, a fifty-foot dropped lead straight into a lake. An overturned Warrior was lying half sunken on the shoreline, buried under a small pile of rocks and dirt. A few bodies were floating around it, turning the water a dark shade of crimson. On the road itself, there were a dozen bodies from both sides. Most of the remaining soldiers were ducking behind the remaining vehicles, occasionally letting off a few rounds from their weapons, but it was the Challengers that were doing all the work. Red and green blasts were coming in from all directions, keeping most of the soldiers pinned down.
Then Carrick saw two wizards moving in on one of the Challengers. He picked up the rocket launcher, and took aim. He pulled the trigger, and watched the smoke trail of the missile as it sped towards its unsuspecting victims. One of them, about five yards behind the other, noticed the missile, and yelled. The missile hit him directly, completely vaporising him, and flinging the other wizard about twenty feet, and he landed as a crumpled and disfigured heap. Carrick smiled morbidly to himself. He felt the adrenaline serge through his veins; he knew that this was his element.
He picked up his pistol again, and began firing almost randomly into the trees. There were a few yells and screams from both sides, and Carrick was sure he saw something fall over in between the trees. Lights appeared in the sky from over the top of the hill. Carrick waved and pointed to the trees in front of him. The lights were army helicopters, and they fired rockets and machine guns into the forest below them. Within a couple of minutes, there were no more green and red tracers, and Carrick and a few brave soldiers went to investigate. They found a couple of bodies, and more traces of blood that didn't have an owner. It almost looked as if their attackers had vanished into thin air. Carrick returned to his Warrior, sat on the edge of the rear door, propped his head against the side, and fell asleep within a few moments.
A few hours later, about four o'clock in the morning, a car pulled up outside the busy offices of the Daily Record in Edinburgh. Two people got out, and rushed inside the main doors, both flashing passes at the sleepy guard, and heading straight up to the main office floor. They found the man they were looking for, the newspaper's editor, Mr Reynolds, among half full cardboard boxes and unplugged computers.
"Mr Reynolds, sir, we have a front page story ready to go on the morning edition." Said one man, who was quite short and plump, with a mop of untidy sandy hair and a similar moustache. He shoved a few typed up sheets of paper into Mr Reynolds's hand.
"Hang on Donald," Said Mr Reynolds, pocketing the sheets of paper. "Haven't you heard, we're closin' down, army's orders us to move, says the radiation clouds movin' south towards 'ere. We're packing up, we ain't printing anythin' lad."
"What, but sir, this is really incredible, this is like, the biggest thing to ever happen to Scotland." Said the other guy; taller and thinner than his companion, and with dark brown hair and thick glasses.
"Err, laddie, have ya been on Earth the past few days, this is the biggest thing to happen to Scotland, youse don't get bigger than nuclear weapons ya know."
"Sir" Donald spoke up, "have a look at these, please." He passed a few black and white photographs to Mr Reynolds. The editor glanced at them, and then held them close to his eyes, and then he rubbed his eyes, and looked at the pictures again. His jaw dropped.
"Wha', what are those?" He mumbled, his gaze firmly on the photographs.
"Wizards, sir, attacking an army convoy."
"Wizards, what do ya mean, wizards?" Muttered Reynolds, tearing his eyes from the photos. "You mean…?"
"Yes sir, magic, that's why the army used the a-bomb, sir, to stop the wizards, the wizards are attacking us, they nearly destroyed an entire armoured convoy, and they are dangerous. No wonder Westminster keeping it quiet, can you imagine what people would think if they said they were fighting wizards, ha, no one would believe them. It all makes sense, that's probably why the government refused to allow planning permission for that new hotel they were gonna build there with that old castle. Sir, this is the…the story of a lifetime." Mr Reynolds collapsed back into his seat, a hundred thoughts and ideas running through his mind. And then…
"Right, Donald, e-mail your photos and story to all the other newspapers and T.V stations, this story has got to come out. Mike," He turned to the other man, "Get the printers ready, we're going out this morning. And get your story written, and get everyone to help you, explain everything to 'em. Check the Internet for stuff, and get me a draft ready for print." He turned, and headed for his office, a look of determination across his face. Mike and Donald stared at each other, and then grinned. Today was going to be a memorable day for the Daily Record.
A/N Sorry about the wait, but writer's block is a big annoyance. Anyway, please read and review!!