Part Five: The Beginning
The air was split aside by a loud explosion. The radio in our truck became alive in an instant. "The third truck is hit! The third truck is hit!" The world exploded around me as the radio boomed in my ear. My broken eardrum did me a great service in muffling the deafening sound. Mortar rounds rained from the sky. "The third truck took a direct hit, it is burning. What the hell do we do now sir?" The voice on the radio was extremely panicked. The Lieutenant picked up the radio transmitter.
"Bail out! Find their spotter, pin them down with the cannons! I say again, everybody out of the convoy, take cover in the streets! I want suppressive fire on that spotter!" With this he kicked the truck door open and charged into the street. I turned to the driver as he opened his door. Shell fragments flew into the cab from his side, slicing him apart. A fat jagged piece of steel flew across my right bicep tearing the muscle in half. I screamed out with pain, as I felt the Lieutenant's arm grab the back of my jacket collar. He pulled me from the truck into the street. By now at least fifty men had jumped from the trucks, several had been cut down by shell fragments. "They're on our mortars, they're on our mortars, get down, get down!" Shouted Hanley. He was standing in the street, defying the flying steel, waving his arms in the air. He pulled his sidearm from it's holster and started firing it into the air. "Get your asses up and find that spotter, or we're all fucking dead!" He was contradicting his orders. It mattered little, as few men could hear them over the din of the exploding earth. The tarp came off on the truck carrying the quad 20mm, yet it remained quiet. I found myself hulled down inside a shell crater. Fragments of steel flew over my head at subsonic speeds. Blood spilled into the crater, and it took a few moments before I realized it was mine. My arm was sliced so quickly my brain was only now catching up with what had happened. A soldier fell on top of me, half of his chest missing. I tried to tear him off me but my arm had lost all of it's power.
With that, the mortars ceased. I could still hear the Lieutenant screaming at the top of his lungs. "Second platoon, get the hell up here! Third platoon, secure the perimeter! Get those cannons ready!"
"Second platoon is down sir! They're all dead!" An unknown voice had spoken up. They were in the truck that got hit sir!"
"Then get me fourth platoon! Someone get on a God damned radio, and get support in here. We're about to be over-run! I can smell the red eyed bastards!" The Lieutenant had lost all control of himself. "First platoon, get that fucking spotter!"
I closed my eyes. Unable to even hold my rifle, I was a sitting duck. "Here they come, left flank, second story!" an anonymous soldier yelled. I could hear bullets hitting the concrete, and then spinning back into the air. The 20mm guns opened fire, the four guns cutting every building on the left side to pieces. The prosperous from the tracer rounds lit the wood buildings on fire. Ishbali militiamen could be heard screaming, as the prosperous burned their insides. This was unlike Bismallah Street, in that our technology gave us the upper hand. "We got them running sir!" Shouted another man.
"What in the holy hell are you doing down there Taybor? I told you I wanted you on my ass!" The Lieutenant was looming over me.
"I'm hit sir!" I lifted my bloody arm up in front of him. He glanced at it quickly.
"Everybody's hit! Take your sidearm in your left hand, and get the hell up!" He grabbed my collar again and dragged me to my feet. "You there! Corporal! Get that machinegun set up, everybody brace for an assault!" Hanley threw me down behind the burning truck and knelt beside me. He spoke calmly. "Taybor, stay here, okay? I'm going to find you a medic. We'll get a tourniquet on that arm. You'll be okay. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir, I'll be okay." I slumped on the ground and pulled my sidearm from my holster.
"Here they come again sir, right down the center!" A machinegun erupted behind me, firing straight down the street into an approaching crowd. I could hear a loud hiss. I leaned out around the truck in time to see smoke grenades covering the militia's advance. They screamed as they ran towards us, and it was those screams that the machine gunners locked onto. The truck hauling the 20mm gun's cab was blocking the gunner's line of sight to the approaching crowd. It mattered little, as the gun corporal ordered the barrels pointed toward the cab. They fired through it, the explosive shells tearing it to pieces, and flying towards the militia. The Lieutenant finally put his head down as the 20mm rounds exploded in the distance. I could see Hanley turn towards a medic and point in my direction. I heard nothing over the noise of the heavy guns. The medic stood and ran towards me, but fell forward as he was caught in the back of the skull with a bullet. I applied pressure to my wound, knowing that no one more would be sent. The Lieutenant looked towards me as if to say he was sorry. He turned away.
The militias pushed through the few troops holding the front flank, leaping over their own bodies, being cut down by the dozen. The Lieutenant raised his hand and ran backwards towards me, and the burning truck. The entire line followed him as the machineguns ceased, careful not to hit our men. The 20mm cannons continued regardless. The trucks cab gave them almost no visibility. They were quickly running low on ammunition, and the militia assumed as much. The Lieutenant picked me up and threw me on his back; he stumbled slightly but his adrenaline pushed him forward. I still heard nothing but the sound of the cannons. He carried me, blood draining from my arm. It flowed over his blue uniform, which had remained unstained until that point. Mine on the other hand, had turned scarlet. He placed me on the back of the last truck in the convoy, and ordered the few remaining men to join him. The crew on the 20mm guns rigged them to explode, and ran towards the last truck as it exploded, sending steel bits everywhere. Some of the pieces flew through the backs of the gunners. Their comrades dragged them much the same way the Lieutenant had carried me.
The Lieutenant held my left hand, and looked directly into my eyes. "Avenge this Taybor. Avenge this with everything you're worth. And you can consider that a direct order." He turned and shouted at the driver to go. The truck sped down the dusty road, leaving the Lieutenant standing alone on the field. He fell soon after.