And I'm back already with another chapter. I know I'm pumping these out quickly, but I know you don't mind, and when I head back to college, well it's baseball season, I'll still write, but it will be about a chapter or so a week. I'll warn you before that happens though. (: Well now enjoy!
Odd, Ulrich, and the rest of the soldiers of Barrack 32 stumbled through the door, most covered in mud and grime.
"Wow, I'm so tired I think I may skip dinner to sleep." Odd said.
Ulrich looked over worried, and Odd laughed, "Ok, I'm not that tired, but close."
"Well we made it through the first week boys!" A tall brown haired guy said as he passed by Ulrich and Odd and collapsed on the bunk next to Ulrich's.
"Yeah, though the runs are starting to get easier don't you think, Chance?"
Chance laughed, "Speak for yourself, I think…uhhhh." Chance was cut off as Jesse tossed his helmet on Chances stomach.
Chance and Jesse were both from the United States and had been visiting France when the attacks had hit. They volunteered to join the French army and had been assigned to the same barrack as Odd and Ulrich and Nicolas. While Chance was tall, brown hair and brown eyes, his friend was the opposite. Jesse was on the shorter side, with blonde hair and blue eyes, both had become good friends with Ulrich and the others.
"So where's Nic?" Jesse asked, suddenly realizing that he was missing.
The door swung open and Nicolas stumbled through the door, looking more like a swamp monster than a human.
"I see we found the mud." Odd laughed.
"Very funny, let me change and lets get something to eat."
Nicolas headed to the showers and Chance laid down on his bed, "So who has a girl waiting for them back home?"
Odd, Ulrich and Jesse raised their hands, "Well, looks like I'm the only single guy here, dang."
"Why no girl?" Odd asked.
Before Chance could answer Jesse answered, "Well he's dated off and on, but he is the romantic kind, thinks that the perfect one is out there. Shoot that's all he talked about on this trip was how he hoped to bump into Mrs. Right in some nice European town."
Chance blushed and the others laughed. Nicolas came out of the bathroom absent the muddy clothes and dressed. They all headed to the mess hall.
"So do you think we will run into Jeremy?" Nicolas asked.
"No idea, I haven't seen him much since he was transferred." The three friends had to admit that Jeremy being transferred was the only bad thing about the army so far. The second day, Drill Sergeant Tinzo's radio had gone out during their first exercise and Jeremy had picked it up, fiddled around for a minute, and to everyone's amazement it was fixed. Tinzo had transferred him to tech support and Jeremy now spent most of his time learning how to repair and maintain everything electronic that the military used.
"Well cheer up, guys," Chance said seeing their long faces, "Smell that? It smells like something besides burnt, unrecognizable crud."
Odd wrapped his arm around Chances shoulder, "I knew there was a reason I liked you, you're a food connoisseur like myself."
The others groaned, and they all went in to grab a bite.
Jeremy was busy in a tent on the other side of the base staring at a radar screen that he had fixed a few minutes before. 'This is a pointless task, we're in the middle of France, is anyone really going too…' Jeremy's thoughts were cut short by a blip on the screen that was soon joined by many more blips.
"Uhh…Sir we got incoming!" Jeremy yelled.
The commander in the tent ran for the alarm and set it off; all over the base incoming sirens were blaring and the base erupted into orderly chaos, each soldier rushing for his/her weapon.
"Oh shit!" Chance yelled as he and the others jumped up from the table and sprinted for their barrack.
"We should have brought our guns with us." Odd groaned as he put on a burst of speed and rammed the door open.
"Guns, ammo, and helmets!" Ulrich yelled as they all grabbed their gear.
Nicolas was the last one out of the barrack, but he quickly caught up to the others as they sprinted across the base to face the approaching enemy.
"So much for training!" Jess muttered and the others chipped in a few complaints and then it hit.
The first mortar landed in the center of camp and the five friends dove into some fox holes that had been dug as practice earlier in the week. The shriek of a wounded man sent a chill down the spine of every man in the camp, and then the cry for a medic began. War had begun all too soon for the boys.
"Sir, what should I do?" Jeremy asked his commander.
"How many are their Jeremy?"
"Seven total sir, it looks like two mortars are firing on us, and the other five seem to be vehicles, I imagine a force of fifty men."
The commander smiled, "Very good Jeremy, stay and monitor let me know if anything changes."
"You think your going to kill someone by hiding in the holes boys, get out here and shoot."
Odd scampered out of the hole to come face to face with his drill sergeant.
"Sir?"
"I need you five up that hill and give suppressing fire, hold the line boys." With that Tinzo walked to another foxhole and started yelling at another group of soldiers.
"He sure is calm with all the explosions." Ulrich yelled.
"Yeah, now let's go see what we're facing." Nicolas said as he helped pull Chance out of the hole and they all sprinted up the hill.
"Sir there is something I don't exactly know what it is?" Jeremy yelled and his commander rushed over.
"Oh shit, how did they…" His words were cut off as a much larger explosion took out what used to be the mess hall.
"Damn!" Odd exclaimed as the lay prone on the hill. Fifty or so men were attacking along the perimeter of the base well protected by the covering fire of two tanks.
"What the hell!" Chance said as he opened fire on the closest group of enemy soldiers.
The others joined in and the enemy turned to return fire. Bullets whizzing around them, the five worked their way down the hill firing as they went. Chance saw a man poke his head out from behind a tree and Chance dropped him with a well placed shot to the head.
Ulrich, who was the only one who thought to grab a grenade, pulled the pin and heaved it into the hole that the men were taking cover in. The explosion was unlike anything they had witnessed before. No longer was it dirt that flew up, but pieces of weapons, clothing, and humans.
"Oh God!" Odd exclaimed at the sight as they all rushed forward and dove into the hole and started laying down fire for other soldiers who had also advanced past the hill to aid in the defense.
The attack lasted for fifteen minutes, but to the five friends huddled together in the hole firing as fast as they could, it seemed like an eternity. A fighter jet flew over and the tanks disappeared in a massive explosion. With the tanks gone, the enemy was overwhelmed and the battle was over.
"Hold your positions." The boys cringed when they heard that. The full on fog of war starting to fade away and they realized that they were covered in blood.
"Is anyone hit?" Jesse asked feeling his own chest checking for holes.
"No, the blood belongs to this hole's previous occupants."
Jesse looked at Ulrich and nodded, "It was a good toss man."
Ulrich nodded, but looked away, 'Killing is so much harder than I thought it would be, I didn't think there would be any regret.'
Ulrich's thoughts were interrupted, "Alright, boys fall back, and well done I like the way you came down that hill covering each other."
The five climbed out of the hole and saluted Tinzo.
"Sir…permission to speak?" Ulrich asked.
"Granted." Tinzo said, eyeing the boy curiously.
"Any idea on who these guys were?"
"The best we can figure is that they are terrorists in league with AMEA."
"Kind of well equipped, aren't they?" Chance asked.
"Yeah, we're going to look into that, I guess we have to start taking this more seriously. No one expected to fight a skirmish this far into France. Oh well, you did well, now go get rest, clean your gear, but be ready, we don't know if there are more out their, we've sent teams out in all directions to scout around."
The five friends slung their rifles over their shoulders and headed back to base. As they climbed the hill Odd had an idea.
"Hey are you still hungry?"
"Yeah, but look." Chance said as they crested the hill.
"Dang it!" Odd muttered as he saw a huge smoldering crater where the mess hall used to be.
"It's rations tonight!" Jesse said slapping the two on the back.
Odd and Chance gave him a 'Oh great' look and followed the others down the hill.
The wounded were being taken care of, all that was left to do was clean up and wait for training to begin again tomorrow. The five, had survived the first test. They all knew that their would be many more to come.
I hope you liked this chapter, just a small taste of what is to come. I thought a little skirmish was worthy to give the boys a first look at warfare. Now we just have to see what happens next. Please review, Thanks