The General: World War III Chapter 11: Snake Wires, a halo fanfic

June 17th, 25525:00 AM

It was somewhat nice to wake up at five in the mourning to a nightish sky, it felt normal. We all stood out in the open, right where me and my team had first dropped in at only a few days back, and already we where leaving. Two thousand of us stood there waiting to be airlifted away. The Pelicans came into sight, there was easily over a hundred of them. Albatross dropships even came into sight.

Albatross dropships had huge squareish troop bays that could fit large ammounts or a few vehicles. The Albatros landed first and the Pelicans continued on overhead. Tanks, transport jeeps, and hogs where then loaded up in them. Within five minutes, we had loaded up twenty tanks and around a total of ninety jeeps. The Albatross took off and the Pelicans came back into sight and landed just ahead.

We had already been issued to dropships by their callsigns that where pained on by the rear thrusters. We found ours, 214. This would be our dropship for the rest of the war. Ryan, me, and my team mounted up. "Punch it!" Ryan yelled. For the first time ever, the back doors to the pelican shut up and kept us from looking out the back. It was dark inside the dropship except for dim red lights that ran along the sides above our heads.

I felt the dropship lift off the ground and take off. I gazed around to find many soldiers slouching out and starting to go back to sleep. I did the same.

A few hours I suddenly awoke and jumped to my feet. "Ah shit!" I yelled and reached down to grab the back of my leg. Everyone else suddenly awoke and looked at me. "What happening?" Dave asked me loudly. Ryan came in from the cockpit, "Whats going on!" he asked to find me hopping around and streching out my right leg. "Nasty cramp!" I said in pain. I tried to get my leg stright, but felt like my leg would snap if I did. After a few minutes the cramp was gone and I sat back down, keeping my right leg stright.

"Fuck." I said to myself quietly. Everyone stayed awake after that. "Shit man, I thought we where under attack or something." Dave said as he removed his helmet to rub the crust that devloped in his eyes while he had been asleep.

I came to learn we where only about ten minutes from the LZ anyway, what better way to get the blood running though me then to have a massive cramp in your leg while asleep. Fifteen minutes later we started to decend. I put my helmet on my head and loaded and locked my gun. We bumped to the ground and the door started to open. I half expected to have bullets start flying into the back of the Pelican, but it was calm and quiet. We stepped out and set up the defensive circle.

The Pelican took off. I looked around. I could hear the chirp of animals and whatever else, we where in what seemed to be a jungle. Ryan pulled out a map. Pelicans began to land in the nearby areas, some continued on ahead. "Well, we've been taked of walking to our rally point, about a mile that way." and pointed off to my left. "We are to check the woods as we go along for any supply dumps that are believed to be left in the area and destroy them." he finished.

I stood up and formed in behind him. Jake, Steve, and Dave followed me, everyone else remained there. I looked over at them. "You heard the man!" I yelled. "Lets move!" They all got up and fell into formation. In one long line we made our way off in the direction to the rally point. The ground was super soft and I almost sunk into it a few times in a few areas.

We glanced out in every direction of the jungle, I think we all half expected to get ambushed by the Chinese, but we continued on and nothing happened. After about thirty minutes of walking we made out the rally point ahead. Pelicans sat on the ground being resupplyed. We stopped on a hill overlooking the rally point and glanced around. Way out in the distance we could see mountains and nothing but trees along the way to them, I looked a bit further down and saw the rally point. It was a small village of light wooden huts that stood over a huge patch of dirt.

We walked down the hill for the rally point. We came up on a trench line and I stopped for a second and glanced up the hill. I noticed it had once been a defensive position used by armed troops from Brazil, I continued on down. They must of had supply lines in the woods back there when the fighting broke out I thought to myself.

We hopped the trench and continued on though blood covered flowers. I looked down at the flowers. There where spots where flowers where crushed in shapes while others stood perfectly. I glanced at the shapes and as we walked by, I noticed they looked like people. I could make out the stretches of arms and legs, along with where their heads had been at. It was also the most painted area of blood.

I was still looking down at the ground ahead and saw something shinny among the flowers. I focused my attention on it and made out what looked like a thin wire. "Freeze!" I yelled, but it was to late. A guy ahead of me let out a scream and dropped to the ground, a wire shot by around his foot and flew back into the grass. It was a booby trap, a snake wire.

I looked at the man, he lay screaming in pain and I looked down his body and saw both his feet where gone. Snake wires where in the area, they must of been put there to help hold off the enemy attack that had come up the hill. They where still here. "What do we do! What happened?" someone yelled in panic. I began to take off my armor, I tried to take it off as fast as I could.

I removed my armor from the waste down and approached the soldier. I draged him back away from the wire, it slithered toward him a bit. I got him to safety and a medic made his way up and began to treat the man. Another squad started to come down the hill behind us. "Traps!" I yelled and they came to a stop. "Snake wires!" I finished.

"What the fuck is a snake wire?" the soldier yelled again. I answered as I looked around for it. "A snake wire is a magnatized piece of wire. When a source of metal come near it, it will start to more toward it. When in range it lashes out and and spins around to cut though the metal, given if the plating isn't to strong. They can cut clean though ours." I told him.

"Jesus fucking christ!" he finished and started looking around for snake wires. I found the one that had taken the soldiers feet and walked up it. It began to slither to me a bit, it was being magnatized to my upper armor a bit. I stepped back and removed my helmet and the rest of my armor. When I was finished I slowly went up to the wire. I carefuly scooped my hand under it and picked it up, careful not to clasp it to tight and cut my hand open. My heart began to race, if it jumped for a source of metal, I would lose my hand. I carefully made my way to the trench line and hopped in and began to make my way down it a bit. I thossed the thing to the ground and put a rock ontop of it.

I let out a sigh of relief and looked back at my team. Others had removed the lower sections of their armor and where looking around for more snake wires. I ran over to the man who had been victim to the wire. I kneeled down beside him. His helmet was removed and his left ankle was bandaged up but his right was exposed, he was shaking a bit. "I can't get a bangage to stay on with his bone poking out like that." the coremen said. The coremen looked at me. "Give me your bayonet." My eyes became wide. "Surely your not..." I started. "I have to, or he will die soon, please your bayonet." he interupted.

The soldier looked up at us in great fear, he knew what was about to happen. I pulled my bayonet from my belt and handed it to the medic and turned away. "I have nothing that kill kill the pain. This is going to hurt alot." the coremen said. "You will pass out from the pain though. It will only hurt for a minute." the solider began to cry a bit harder and shake more, he grabbed at the flowers by him.

The soldier began to scream at the top of his lungs. I looked over and the soldier sat up. He mouth was open extemely wide and his eyes where wide, the medic was sawing away at the bone stump. Soon nothing was coming out of the soldiers mouth but it remained wide open. He fell back down to the ground, out cold from the pain. "There." the medic said and tossed a piece of bone about two inches long to the side and began to wrap up the soliders ankle.

Strangely the wire hadn't hacked all the way though the mans bone. The spin just took off all the flesh that was attached to it.

The other team approched us. Their team medic came down and assisted in the wrapping of the soldiers legs. "What happend?" asked their team commander to me in disbelief. I looked at him. "Snake wires." He glanced around and then down the hill at our team. They where at the bottom. About five men started back to our position. I stood there in my boxers and looked at the wounded man and then made my way back for my armor.

I looked around for any possible snake wires that may have made their way to my suit while I was away. It seemd clear and I began to put it back on. I heard the sound of dirt being kicked aroud then the sound of a engine. I looked off to my left and saw a transport hog making it way up the hill to us. It drove past me and came to a stop where the wounded man was. He was loaded up on the vehicle and our team medic got on with him and the vehicle did a one-eighty and began making its way back down the hill.

I finished putting on my armor and began to head down the hill myself with the others that had come up. I decided to bolt down it so that if there was snake wires, I might get by before they came up to me, the others took it as a hint and bolted down with me. I came down to the rally point. Ryan was talking to a group of COs. They saluted him and he saluted back. They broke off and Ryan made his way to us. "Well make sure that dosen't happen to the next squad that come down that hill." he said angerly as he came up to me. "The next team will have to make a detour around where the combat zone was." he added.

Jake, Steve and Dave came up to me. "What the fuck happened?" asked Steve. I explained about snake wires again to them. "There we go." said Ryan and nodded off to behind me. I turned and looked out at the hill with the others. A large team of sappers where walking though and flameing the entire area with flame throwers. Fire destroyed the magnatized lock on snake wires. I could see little line of fire shooting out though the air. Snake wire where jumping out for the armor the sappers wore, but the fire threw the lock of their target off and missed. Soon, all the flowers that where painted with blood where painted with smoke and fire.

"A shame. We had hopped a team from the Brazil division would still be holding here. Looks like the Chinese took the hill, even with snake wires all over the place." Ryan said. "Whats our next course of action?" I asked. "Well, I believe where air lifting off to the Brazilan captial next." We stood there silent. "Well launch out when the last team arrives." added and went quiet himself.

I looked back at the once grassy fortified hill that had been covered with flowers. It was all painted black now and the sappers had begun to make their way back down to the rally point. I caught of the last two teams, they where together. They detoured off around the fire and began to make their way to our position. I leaned my gun up against my shoulder, Steve coughed a bit and began to knock against his chest plateing. I looked over at him. "Heart burn." he said and I looked back at the hill.