Chapter 21
Camp Hoxha, Actium
May 6, 2545
1218
Marcus
"Marcus, leave the engine running but put the Rig in park and come with me," Dresden immediately ordered as Marcus pulled into the warehouse and was instantly swarmed by a crowd of Army quartermasters. "Orlović, you too!"
Marcus hastily obeyed, throwing the Rig into park and popping open the door. This time, making sure to grab his rifle, Marcus ran after Dresden and Orlović, catching up with them a few meters away.
"What's going on?" Marcus heard Orlović asked as he caught up to them.
"Sergeant Scott needs to brief us on our next run," Dresden reported without breaking stride.
"Who's Sergeant Scott?" Marcus couldn't help but ask.
"Platoon Sergeant," Dresden bluntly replied.
Marcus nodded in understanding. With the platoon commander having been killed on their way to the airport the platoon sergeant was now in charge of what was left of the platoon, if Marcus remembered his military command structure correctly.
They joined the rest of the HEMTT crews as they formed a rough semicircle around the platoon sergeant.
"We've got the location of our next supply run and it's going to be a doozy," Scott announced without preamble. She activated hologram revealing, what Marcus presumed, was a map of the general area. "Right here, in the town of Newington. If you were to exit out due south of the city of Byzas, Newington would be the first town you hit. This is the place the Covenant need to capture in order to continue their advance south and out of their landing site. Fortunately for us, a tank unit from the UNSC Army managed to capture the town first and having been holding out against repeated Covenant attempts to dislodge them. Unfortunately for us, those tankers are running out of ammo, fast. I trust you all know where I'm going with this?"
Marcus did, unfortunately, and even if he didn't, he would have been able to figure it out from all the scared and horrified looks on his platoon-mates' faces.
"As of right now, the HEMTTs are getting loaded up with all supplies and ammo those tankers are going to need for extended operations," Scott continued. "Mostly ammo and fuel. Every truck will be carrying a bed-full of tank shells, a pallet of machine gun ammo, and a trailer of fuel hooked up to the vehicles. That's going to be a lot of weight, probably going to overload our vehicles, but Command has deemed it worth it so do your best to try and not flip your vehicles when you turn."
"Now, obviously our location is going to put us really close to the frontlines. Which means we might take some fire. Might even encounter some enemy contacts. We're going to be traveling with a military police unit, but they're intended to act as reinforcements for those tankers, so don't count on them for help; we're essentially going to need to depend on ourselves for protection."
Marcus noticed Dresden raising his hand.
"We got any recon of the area so that we know what we're getting into?" Dresden asked. "Satellite, aerial surveillance, that sort of thing?"
Scott shook her head. "We've gotten some reports from those tankers that some of the Covenant might have broken through their line, but how many of them and in what strength, we don't know. It can't be that much though, probably nothing more than a couple of patrols."
Marcus could see Dresden frowning. "But, we don't know for certain, do we? So... we could be driving into an ambush for all we know."
"Pretty much," Scott admitted and as fearful murmurs broke out, Scott hastily added, "But Command doesn't think that's going to happen. As of right now, the Covenant invasion force appears to have shifted the weight of their attack up north, to the city of Byzas."
"What for?" someone asked.
"No idea. Preliminary reports seem to suggest the Covenant have gone into a search pattern, as if they're looking for something inside the city itself, but without any aerial surveillance, no one knows for sure."
Marcus frowned to himself as murmurs broke out. The Covenant were searching for something? Like what? What could be inside the city that was valuable enough to capture the attention of an entire Covenant army?
"At any case!" Scott continued in a louder voice to be heard over the crowd. "At any case, the point is, all Covenant units are currently preoccupied with other objectives. Supply trucks like us will not be a priority for them."
Somehow, Marcus didn't feel assured in the least bit, and he found himself involuntarily hugging his rifle closer to him. As if that would help.
"Nevertheless, we'll try and move as fast as possible," Scott continued, "to try and minimize our exposure. However, our best bet is to rely on each other. I need everyone's head on swivel: keep your eyes peels and stay frosty. You see something, say something. Remember: it's not just your life on the line today, but everyone else's. Stay alert. Got it?"
Marcus nodded.
"Okay. Everyone, get some ammo and then go refit and refuel your rigs. We move out in fifteen. Dismissed."
Murmurs broke out as the entire group separated and broke into individual teams. Marcus felt himself shivering with fear as he jogged after Dresden and Orlović. He wasn't sure if Scott's intention had been to scare them or reassure them, but her little speech had definitely left Marcus shaken to the core.
Underlying his fear though, was a strong sense of frustration. This exact situation was the main reason Marcus had been so reluctant to join the military in the first place, and one of the things he'd been hoping to avoid once he had been forced in. Well, okay, maybe not this exact situation, but similar to it, one where he, a very poorly trained soldier, was expected to standing against the best the Covenant Empire had to offer. This was so not fair.
"Orlović, grab a cart and head to the armory and get as many cans of ammo as you can get," Dresden was saying in the meantime. "If we do run into any Covenant patrols, I want to make sure we have enough ammo to fight them off. Worst comes to worst, we can always give them to the tankers; never met a tanker who thought he had too much ammo before."
"I kind of wish we had something heavier," Orlović replied. "You know, like a forty Mike Mike automatic grenade launcher. Or a fifty cal. Man, I would love a fifty cal."
"So would I. But, I doubt we would be able to get our hands on one of those," Dresden agreed. "In the meantime, Marcus and me will head over to the Rig and see if we can't help the Q-tips speed things up. We'll met back at the Rig in seven."
"Got it," Orlović said before dashing off.
"Come on Marcus," Dresden said, gesturing for him to follow.
They hurried over to the main bay where all the HEMTTs were parked. The place was crowded now, as the quartermasters had pallets of shells stacked all over the place, which a couple of Cyclops were in the process of loading onto the vehicles. At the same time, dozens of other soldiers were busy with other tasks, with some working on strapping down all the cargo the Cyclops were loading, others hitching trailers of fuel to the back of the HEMTTS, and while others still were doing some minor repairs to some of the vehicles. It was one giant, chaotic mess.
Marcus hurriedly followed in Dresden's footsteps as he deftly made his way through the crowd and towards the Rig. Ignoring the mechanics that were busy refueling their HEMTT, Dresden marched over to the cab and popped open a small box mounted on the side.
"Here, take this," Dresden ordered, pulling out a couple of empty water bags. "Head over to the bathrooms over there and get us some water. And while you're at it..."
He glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention before pulling out a small bag and handing it over to Marcus. Leaning in close, he said in a much quieter voice, "While you're at it, you might want to consider cleaning yourself off."
Marcus immediately felt his cheeks begin to redden with embarrassment and shame. He had been hoping no one had noticed his little "accident."
"No no," Dresden quickly said upon noticing Marcus' embarrassment. "There's no need to be ashamed dude. What happened to you is merely a natural response to being thrown into a high stress situation like you were. It happens to the best of us, right?"
All Marcus could do was awkwardly nod his head in agreement.
"But I realize not everyone else will see it that way," Dresden continued. "So... we'll just keep this between us, yeah?"
Marcus felt a surge of gratitude towards his team leader.
"Thank you Sergeant," he emphatically said.
Dresden shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Just... you know, be quick about it. We don't have a lot of time."
Marcus nodded, and then headed off towards the restroom. Making sure no one was looking, he ducked into the men's room and into one of the stalls, making sure to lock the door behind him. Once he felt he was safe, he went to work.
Propping his rifle up against the stall door, Marcus took a look inside Dresden's bag. It had everything he would need: a towel, a small bar of soap, a small disposable bag, and even a spare pair of trousers, which looked to be a size too big but Marcus wasn't complaining. He could only hope no one noticed the size difference and if they did, they would have the sense not to ask about it.
Kicking off his boots, Marcus dropped his pants, grabbed a handful of toilet paper, and set about cleaning the mess as best he could. Honestly, he couldn't believe this had happened. Despite the reassurances Dresden had given him, Marcus still couldn't help feel ashamed for what had happened; Marcus knew he wasn't prepared for a situation like this, both physically and mentally, but this just proved how very, VERY, unprepared he actually was.
Cleaning himself off, Marcus tossed his ruined pants into the disposable bag and quickly dressed himself. Making sure he had his rifle (because he was never, EVER, forget that again,) Marcus exited the stall and tossed the bag into the nearest trash can before walking over to the sink to wash his hands. As he did, he happened to glance at the mirror and was shocked by what he saw.
Perhaps it was all psychological, but despite having on been in combat for a couple of hours at most, Marcus could almost swear it looked as if he had already aged by ten years or more. His face was covered in all sorts of soot and grime, he had bags forming under his eyes, and his eyes themselves were beginning to look a little bloodshot. In short, he was a mess.
Splashing some water on his face, Marcus went about cleaning his face all the while at the same time, tried to not think about everything he'd seen so far. All the bodies and all the terror. All the horror. Marcus was beginning to truly appreciate why soldiers always seemed to come out of a battle completely fucked up in the head.
The worst thing about it all though, was Marcus knew he had only seen a fraction of the terror that awaited him. And that things were only going to get much much worse from this point forward.
Drying his face off, Marcus stared at his own reflection. "I can do this," he told himself. "I can do this. I HAVE to do this. There's too much at stake here for me to screw this up. I can do this."
His reflection somehow didn't look all that convinced by his pep talk.
Shaking his head, Marcus quickly gathered his things together and headed out of the restroom, making sure to take a short stop by the water fountain to fill the water bags Dresden had given him, before rushing back to the Rig.
At the Rig, Marcus found Orlović had already returned with a cart full of ammo cans, of which he and Dresden were in the process of stashing into the cab.
"Oh great, you got the water!" Dresden exclaimed as soon as he saw Marcus approaching them. "I'll deal with those, go help Orlović with the ammo."
Marcus nodded and walked over to Orlović, who barely acknowledged him and instead, gestured for Marcus to continue handing him the ammo cans.
"Twenty-one, twenty-two," Orlović counted as he shoved the cans inside the cab behind the seats. "Twenty-three, twenty-four, and twenty-five! I got twenty-five ammo cans Sarge! That's five thousand rounds, plus the ones we had already had... that should be enough ammo, you think?"
"One can only hope," Dresden replied with a shrug. "I suppose there's only one way to find out. Hey Billy! Go check the straps holding down the cargo in the back, will you? I don't trust some of those quartermasters to do their job properly."
"On it."
"Private Olsen, with me in the cab, I want to make sure you know how to properly drive this thing when it's this overloaded."
Marcus nodded. Stashing his rifle in its spot in the door, he hauled himself into the driver's seat.
"You should know all the basics, right?" Dresden said as soon as he climbed into the cab. "Air brakes, what gear you should be and all that other good stuff?"
"Yes sir," Marcus replied as he tested the pedals and the steering wheel. "They covered all that in training sir."
Dresden nodded. "I figured as much." He glanced around before leaning in close. "Marcus, are you good?"
Marcus took a moment to consider the question. He knew what Dresden was asking, but honestly, he wasn't sure what his answer should be.
"I think I'm okay for now Sergeant," Marcus finally said.
"But I'd feel a lot better if the Covenant weren't here," he added.
Dresden snorted. "You and me both kid, you and me both."
"6-1, this is 6-5, we're moving out."
Dresden grabbed the radio. "Copy that 6-5. Alright guys, MOUNT UP! We're Oscar Mike!"
Marcus hurriedly strapped himself in Orlović climbed into the cab and took up position behind his turret. All three of them waited as the quartermasters rolled open the door to the warehouse, causing the familiar feeling of freezing cold air to fill the room.
"Head's on a swivel from this point out guys," Dresden commanded. "Olsen, move us out."
Marcus shifted into gear and jammed down on the accelerator, and the HEMTT lurched out of the warehouse.
Outside, the area was as cold and hostile as before, though it appeared all Covenant fighters had vacated the area for the moment. That's not to say the fighting had stopped though, as explosions could still be heard ringing out in the distance to the north. The area surrounding the camp was mostly empty, with all military units having already been deployed and aside from all few diehard holdouts, all civilians had been evacuated.
"Head for the highway."
Marcus nodded and turned the wheel so they were heading in the direction of where most of the sound of the fighting was coming from.
Between the evacuation order, the Covenant airstrikes, and the length of time that had already passed, Marcus wasn't expecting to see much, if any, other vehicles on the road. However, it turned out his expectations had been wrong: there were still all sorts of activity, almost all of which were military. Military vehicles of all types were parked in haphazard formations, tents had been erected, communication lines and antennas had been set up, and all sorts of artillery had been deployed. Soldiers were running around setting up fortifications or moving weapons around, or doing who knows what else. It all looked rather complex.
As Marcus started to pull towards the on ramp to the highway though, he was startled to see an entire convoy of military vehicles just sitting there. Consisting of twenty-five, open topped Warthog vehicles of various types, they were filled to the brim with soldiers who were all seemingly waiting for Marcus and platoon because upon seeing them, they all came to life.
"WHO THE HELL ARE THESE GUYS!?" Orlović yelled out, and Marcus could hear him turning his machine gun in their direction.
"They're probably the MPs that are supposed to go reinforce that tank unit!" Dresden yelled back. "So don't shoot them!"
As if on cue, the radio suddenly came to life.
"Actium Army logistics unit headed down the on ramp to highway 495, this is Knollwood-02, identify yourselves, over."
Dresden grabbed the radio. "Knollwood? This is Voodoo 6-1. Are you the guys heading north to location 'Zippo,' over?"
"Copy that Voodoo. Our orders are to escort you guys up, and then separate."
"Copy that. Knollwood, go ahead and put three Warthogs in the front of the convoy, and then two in between every other HEMTT."
"Wilco. Knollwood, out."
"Marcus, slow down and let these guys put some of their Warthogs up front," Dresden ordered.
"Yes sir," Marcus mumbled. Tapping the breaks, he watched as the Warthog moved to take their place in convoy.
As he did, Marcus couldn't help but notice how very little firepower the MPs were actually sporting: only about half the Warthogs actually had mounted heavy weapons. The rest were simple troop transports. In comparison to the tanks Marcus had seen earlier today, he wasn't exactly sure what good they would do, but all Marcus could do was shake his head. Better them than him, he supposed.
They headed down onto the highway where, aside from the hulls of a few burnt out wrecks, there was nothing moving besides them.
"HEY, DID THEY FINISH THE EVACUATION?" Orlović suddenly called out.
"As much as they could," Dresden replied. "Anyone north of this point, if they haven't already evacuated, then they're not leaving this planet under their own power."
Marcus shivered at that grim pronouncement.
Dresden abruptly brought his hand up to the side of his head, and it took Marcus far long than he would have like to admit to realize Dresden was receiving a message over his headset.
"Head's up guys!" Dresden called out. "We're getting reports that the Covenant are sending armed reconnaissance patrols through our defensive lines. Command doesn't think they've gotten this far south yet, but the further we go, the higher the chance is we'll run into one. Keep your eyes up and your ears open. Orlović, cover the left side back, I'll cover the right side, and Marcus, you cover the left side front."
"Roger that Sarge," Marcus replied, reaching for his rifle to reassure himself that it was still there. He wasn't going to screw this up this time.
As he drove though, a thought suddenly occurred to him. Due to the heavy recoil, Marcus needed to keep both hands on his rifle. But if he was driving...
"Hey Sarge?" he called out.
"What is it Private?" Dresden replied, sounding a bit distracted.
"If we get attacked, what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to fight back?"
"You don't," Dresden tersely said. "If we get jumped, your priority is to keep us moving. Worst thing to do in an ambush situation is to get stuck in the kill zone. Keep moving, and we'll worry about fighting back later."
"Roger that."
"With that being said," Dresden added, "do make sure to keep your eyes peel. Me and Orlović will do the best we can, but there's only two of us. You might be able to spot and ambush before we can."
Marcus nodded.
They continued down the highway, and the sound of artillery firing started fading away behind them, only to be immediately replaced by the rumble of explosions from in front of them. Furthermore, Marcus was beginning to pick up the faint sound of gunfire in the distance. He couldn't help but notice that at some point, herd of military vehicles had disappeared at some point, leaving behind nothing but the burnt out wrecks of gun emplacements, destroyed Covenant fighters, blast craters, and a whole ton of brass casing. Marcus could only hope those vehicles were destroyed by air attacks as opposed to ground fire.
"Okay guys, stay alert. At this point, there's nothing between us and the frontlines," Dresden urged.
"YOU'D THINK THERE WOULD BE LIKE A SECONDARY LINE OF DEFENSE OR SOMETHING," Orlović yelled back.
"Not enough men," Dresden tersely replied. "Stay alert!"
Marcus did his best to keep watch of his sector, while at the same time, keep watch of the road in front of him to make sure he didn't accidentally run into the Warthog ahead of them, but it wasn't easy. At the moment, there were just too many places an ambush could be sprung from, too many -
Marcus abruptly froze and automatically began to apply the brakes.
"Marcus, we're slowing down, why, what's going on?" Dresden called out in alarm from behind his rifle.
"Sarge," Marcus slowly began. "I think I see movement."
"What? Where?"
Behind him, Marcus could hear Dresden shifting around for a better look. Marcus lifted his hand to point.
"Over - "
KABOOM!
Marcus jerked in surprise as the Warthog at the front of the convoy unexpectedly burst into flames as something exploded underneath it! At the same time, all hell broke loose as plasma bolts began raining down on the convoy.
"Contact, CONTACT!" Dresden bellow.
"ENEMY CONTACT, LEFT FLANK!" Orlović screamed. "I'M ENGAGING!"
"6-5, this is 6-1, we have been engaged!" Dresden yelled as Orlović's turret started ringing with gunfire. "Point vehicle is toast: mine strike! Enemy contact, left flank! Break! Marcus, get us out of the kill zone!"
In response, Marcus jammed down on the accelerator and watched as the numbers on the speedometer steadily start to climb upwards. All sorts of Covenant projectiles were flying in, smashing against the cab of the HEMTT. Stuck behind the wheel though, all Marcus could do was hunch over and keep his eyes on the road. Fortunately for him, the HEMTT had enough armor to withstand most of the Covenant small arms fire, but the same couldn't be said about the Warthogs accompanying them. Because of their open topped designs, Marcus was able to watch as the driver of Warthog in front of them take a direct hit to the side of the head.
"Oh shit!" Marcus screamed as the Warthog began to spin out of control.
The front passenger immediately abandoned his rifle and leapt for the steering wheel, but before he could grab it, the Warthog jerked to the left and drove straight into the barrier wall. At the speeds they had been traveling, the Warthog hit the wall with enough force to actually cause the wall to burst, throwing chunks of concrete in all directions.
"Son of a bitch!" Marcus yelled as they sped past and without thinking, he craned his neck to see if anyone of the Warthog's passengers had made it. By reflex, he also started turning the HEMTT in that direction, but Dresden quickly grabbed the wheel.
"Hey! Keep your eyes on the damn road!" Dresden snapped.
"Sorry sir!" Marcus reflexively replied but Dresden was no longer listening.
"6-5, this is 6-1!" he was saying. "Be advised, both lead vehicles have been scrapped, 6-1 is now on point, I say again, Voodoo 6-1 is now on point!"
"Roger that! Keep pushing, keep pushing!"
Scott started to say something else, but Marcus was no longer paying attention. He stared. Up ahead, maybe a hundred meters down the road, the highway abruptly narrowed down to two lanes because of a couple abandoned cars sitting on either side of the road. Emerging from behind one of those cars, Marcus spotted a Covenant Skirmisher running to the center of the road carrying what looked like a giant dinner plate, of which he tossed to the ground before sprinting away as fast as possible.
"Hey!" Marcus called out. "Sergeant! We got a bad guy in front of us!"
"What?" Dresden distractedly yelled back.
"Covenant in front of us! Um... CONTACT FRONT!"
"Wha - oh shit! Landmine, landmine! Stop the vehicle, STOP THE VEHICLE!"
Marcus immediately slammed on the brakes but for reason, maybe it was because of the speed they were traveling at coupled with all the extra weight they were carrying, the brakes immediately locked up and to Marcus' horror, the HEMTT continued to barrel straight ahead towards the mine.
"Oh shit, oh shit! WATCH OUT!"
The next thing Marcus knew, he was picking his head off his steering wheel, with a cloud of dust floating through the air inside the cab, and a slight ringing in his ears. He felt something touch him, and he reflexively flinched, but it was only Dresden.
"You alright?" he heard Dresden ask as his hearing slowly returned to him. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Marcus managed to groan out. He tasted blood, but he couldn't figure out the source.
"Come on! We got to get out of here!"
Marcus nodded, even though it hurt his head to do so, and started to open his door when -
FWOOZ FWOOZ BANG!
A couple of plasma bolts splattered against his window and Marcus immediately slammed the door shut.
"Contact is on the left side Marcus," Dresden called out, somehow managing to sound sarcastic despite the circumstances. "Might not want to go out that way."
Marcus was too shaken to protest.
Grabbing his rifle, he climbed through the cab and stumbled out of Dresden's door and onto the ground. Immediately he was assaulted by the sound of the firefight that was raging all around him. He looked around.
The HEMTT had struck the mine with its front right tire, shredding it and leaving a sizable crater in the road of which the HEMTT was currently sitting in. Because of the way it was positioned, it was currently blocking the entire road, preventing the rest of the convoy from advancing, a fact the Covenant were evidently taking full advantage of by launching a full scale attack on the highway. Plasma showered ever vehicle on the road while the human forces fired back with everything they had.
"Orlović, you good?" Dresden yelled as Marcus climbed to his feet.
"What the fuck was that?" Orlović yelled back from the top of his turret.
"Tripmine!"
"Shit!"
"6-1, this is 6-5, come in!"
Dresden grabbed his mic. "This is 6-1, go ahead!"
"6-1, we're taking effect fire across the entire convoy! At the moment, your Rig is blocking the way! Is it at all possible for you to get out of the way, over?"
Marcus automatically started to climb back into the cab to check, but Dresden quickly grabbed him and yanked him down as a plasma bolt splattered against the door frame.
"Negative," Dresden replied over the radio. "We're stuck in a crater. We need someone to pull us out!"
Marcus glanced down and realized it was true. With the way the HEMTT had landed in the crater, the front of the cab was pressed against the far wall of the crater, meaning backing up was the only option. But with all the trailers they had been towing, backing up under their own power wasn't going to be possible.
Over the radio, Marcus could hear Scott sighing.
"Alright, let me see if I can't get a wrecker unit up front. In the meantime, is there a way we can get around you, over?"
"Not unless you've got an engineering unit that can sweep this area for more mines!"
"Fuck. Okay, 6-5 to all victors, hold your position!"
The line went dead and Dresden glanced over at Marcus. "Come on Private, we got to get in this fight! Weapon up!"
Marcus started, and then hastily brought his rifle up to his shoulder. Adopting a similar firing stance to Dresden, Marcus carefully poked his body around the HEMTT.
"Target! Covenant Skirmisher in the open!" Dresden bellowed. "Five three meters on the left!"
Taking a deep breath, Marcus pulled the trigger.
BANGBANGBANG!
Bullets spat out from the muzzle of his rifle and brass casings littered the ground as Marcus quickly emptied his magazine. Given the chaos, Marcus wasn't sure if he actually hit anything, nor did the incoming fire slacken in the least bit, but the mere fact Marcus was finally fighting back actually made him feel so much better.
"Just like that Marcus, keep at it, keep at it!" he heard Dresden yell and feeling emboldened, Marcus quickly ripped out his empty magazine and reloaded. Poking his head around the corner once more, Marcus fired again.
BANGBANGBANG!
The acrid smell of gunpowder began filling his nostrils and his hands started to get toasty as the hand guard to his rifle quickly heated up, but Marcus ignored his discomfort as he continued to pull the trigger. He was finding that there was something so exhilarating, so exciting, in being able to fight back in a firefight, as opposed to simply being just another useless target, and he wondered why he hadn't tried doing this hours ago.
"Maintain suppressing fire!" he heard Dresden yelling in the background. "I want fire superiority! Keep up the fire!"
"LOADING!" Orlović suddenly called out and Marcus looked up to see Orlović hastily shoving a new belt into his machine gun.
"Marcus, cover! Pick up your rate of fire!"
Gritting his teeth, Marcus made the decision to switch his rifle to full auto and pull the trigger, dumping his entire magazine downrange in less than a second. Ripping out the empty and tossing it to the ground, he frantically pulled a fresh one from his belt and slammed it home.
"BACK UP!" Marcus heard Orlović cry, before someone landed on the ground next to him, causing him to jump, but it was only Dresden.
"Come on Olsen! Show me what you got!" he urged and Marcus nodded.
Yanking back on the charging handle, he leveled his rifle and started shooting.
"You're shooting too low! Bring it up a notch!" Dresden yelled into his ear and Marcus moved to adjust. "Right there! Keep it right there! That's it Private! Keep pouring it on them!"
Adrenaline surging through his veins, Marcus did just that, maintaining his fire. All around him, explosions were going off, plasma and tracers were flying all over the place, it was crazy! There was so much going on, it was almost overwhelming. Marcus felt like he was on the wildest roller coaster ride he'd ever been on, only multiplied by a ten! He found that all he focus on was pulling that trigger.
His rifle suddenly let out a mute click, and he reflexively yanked back on the charging handle and pull the trigger, but again nothing happened.
"You're out of ammo!" Dresden call. "Reload! Here, take this!"
Marcus looked up in time to catch the magazine Dresden tossed his way. Ejecting the empty one from his rifle, Marcus stuffed the fresh one in, almost putting it in backwards but catching himself at the last second, and drove the bolt home.
"You're doing great Private! Keep it up! Keep pouring it on them! Make those fuckers regret ever coming to this planet! Come on!"
Marcus suddenly found himself laughing, and he wondered when he even began, but he quickly shoved that question out of his mind as he poked his head around the corner once more. He reflexively ducked back as a plasma bolt splattered against the frame of the HEMTT right above his head, showering him with sparks, and he quickly pivoted and fired in the direction the bolt had come from. Then, over the roar of gunfire, he heard Orlović suddenly scream out, "SERGEANT! SKIRMISHER WITH A HEAVY WEAPON! LEFT FLANK, SEVENTY METERS!"
"Take him out! Marcus, focus fire!"
Marcus immediately turned in the direction Dresden and Orlović were shooting at, but because of all the dust and the haze, at first he didn't see the target. But then a Covenant Skirmisher clearly stood up from a snowy hole in the ground with a fuel rod cannon sitting on his shoulder pointed straight at the convoy.
"TAKE HIM OUT!"
Marcus leveled his rifle and started shooting. He could see bullets impacting the area all around the Skirmisher, and Marcus couldn't tell if he was hitting the creature or not, but he could clearly see when a long line of tracer rounds fired by Orlović's machine gun cut the alien vertically in half, from waist to stern -
- but not before the alien was able to fire a shot off.
"INCOMING!"
It was like a giant hand just picked him and drove him into the ground. Marcus was completely blown off his feet as a literal wall of compressed air slammed into him, forcing the very air out of his lungs. All sounds instantly disappeared as his hearing protection sealed itself, adding a sort of surreal feeling to the entire situation. A cloud of dust, chunks of flaming metal, and an odd assortment of debris started raining down on him and although he couldn't hear them hitting, Marcus could feel it as they pelted his body, but he found he couldn't do anything but lay there and take it. He tried to cough, or at least, he thought he did, only to find his lungs were completely covered in dust, making it next to impossible for him to catch his breath. He reached up to touch his face, only to find blood pouring out from his nostrils. He looked up to see a large black plume of smoke rising up from somewhere near the rear of the convoy.
His hearing slowly began to return to him, and as it did, Marcus' ears were suddenly flooded with all sorts of frantic calls over the radio.
"...down! 6-6 is down!"
"Medic! I need a medic over here at - "
" - firing, keep firing!"
A shadow loomed over Marcus and it took him a moment to realize it was Dresden. Dresden extended an arm towards him and Marcus quickly grabbed it, and allowed Dresden to help haul him to his feet.
"Marcus, you good?" he heard Dresden scream, even though his words were still a bit muffled.
"I think," Marcus tried to reply, but he wasn't sure if Dresden heard him.
"What the fuck was that!?" someone else yelled and Marcus glanced over his shoulder to see Orlović, who at some point had climbed out from his turret and tossed himself to the ground.
"One of the HEMTTs got hit!" Dresden yelled back. "Set off all the shells he was carrying! Thank god he was in the middle of reversing away from the convoy, otherwise we'd all be nothing more than blood splatters on the ground right now, but fuck! THAT HURT!"
Marcus bobbed his head in agreement.
CRACK!
A purple needle shattered against the pavement nearby. Dresden and Orlović immediately whipped out their weapons, a rifle and a pistol, respectively, and started shooting back in the direction the needle had come from.
"Come on! We're not out of the woods just yet! Get your heads back in the game!" Dresden urged as he dove for cover.
Marcus casted around for his rifle, finding it on the ground a few meters away, grabbed it and shook off the dust. He was just about to start shooting, when another call came over the radio.
"6-1, this is 6-5!"
Dresden grabbed his radio, but upon finding it destroyed, grabbed the one off Marcus' back.
"This is 6-1, go ahead!"
"6-1, that explosion has left unexploded ordnance all over the fucking highway! Wreckers and sappers can't make it up the road until they clear that shit! But we are getting slaughtered out here! Find me a way to get this convoy moving again! Break! Cataphract, this is Voodoo, come in! Be advised, we are cut off and pinned down by enemy contacts two klicks south of your pos! Currently enemy strength unknown, but we are taking heavy casualties! Requesting immediate reinforcements, over!"
"Orlović, Marcus, on me! We got to move these fucking cars out of the way!" Dresden barked, pointing at the cars lining the highway and blocking the way.
"I thought we were concerned about more mines?" Marcus protested.
"No time! We're just going to have to risk it!"
Marcus nodded, then slung his rifle onto his back and followed Dresden as he led them to the nearest car. He watched as Dresden smash the window open with the butt of his rifle and shift the car into neutral.
"Come on lads! Put your backs into it! Push!" Dresden bellowed, and Marcus began shoving the car frame with all his might.
At first, he had a hard time find his footing on the snow covered road, but once he dug his foot in, he found the car was slowly beginning to inch forward. Unfortunately, such a move immediately attracted the Covenant's attention.
FWOOZFWOOZ CRASH!
Marcus flinched as a plasma bolt smashed into the rear window, causing it to explode from the sheer heat.
"Shit, GET DOWN!"
Dresden grabbed him and shoved him down before firing his rifle on full auto right over Marcus' head, causing him to slap his hands over his ears at the loud noise.
Dresden abruptly stopped to reload and Marcus glanced around to see the body of a Covenant Skirmisher laying on the ground on the other side of the highway with multiple fresh holes in his chest. But unfortunately, he wasn't alone. With a loud, inhuman shriek, two more Skirmishers appeared, leaping over the barrier wall that separated the southbound lanes from the northbound lanes. Armed with a small assortment of melee weapons, they began charging straight at Marcus.
"Marcus, look out!" Orlović cried as Marcus struggled to pull out his rifle. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Orlović's pistol appear in his hand, but then he let out a loud grunt of pain, and Marcus turned around only to see a THIRD Skirmisher had appeared from around the car.
The new Skirmisher immediately started attacking Orlović, grabbing a hold of his pistol and shoving it aside before Orlović could bring it to bear. The move caused Orlović to accidentally fire the gun, almost hitting Marcus in the foot with the stray round, before the Skirmisher knocked the pistol right out from his hands. Then both fighters were on the ground, battling it out.
Marcus grabbed his rifle and tried to find a way to help out, but both combatants were too close together and there was no way for Marcus to shoot the Skirmisher without somehow hitting Orlović. Before he could figure it out, the two original Skirmishers were all over him.
A fist abruptly smashed into Marcus' face, knocking him to the ground. Hitting the ground, Marcus felt his rifle getting kicked from his hands before he was rolled over onto his back. As he laid there, one of the Skirmishers appeared over him. A sort of sneer passed over the creature's ugly face as he pulled out a plasma pistol and pointed it straight at Marcus' face and stunned, all Marcus could do was weakly raise his hand and wait for death.
BANG BANG!
Two holes suddenly appeared in the Skirmisher's chest and as the alien glanced down to dumbly stare at his wounds in shock, Dresden appeared out of nowhere. Driving his shoulder into the Skirmisher and bowling his over, Dresden slid Marcus' rifle across the ground and towards him.
"Get up Private!" he bellowed but before Marcus could stagger upright, the second Skirmisher grabbed a hold of Dresden from behind and dragged him out of Marcus' line of sight.
Alarmed, Marcus forced himself to his feet and look around to see if he could help, only to stop and stare in surprise. Dresden and the Skirmisher were in the middle of fighting hand to hand, but it was clear, even to Marcus, Dresden had some training as, not only was he holding his own, but he looked like he was actually winning.
The Skirmisher swung his right arm in a wide roundhouse punch, but Dresden calmly blocked it with his arm before delivering a vicious head-butt to the aliens face and sending him staggering. But as the Skirmisher stumbled backwards, he abruptly lashed out with his leg, kicking Dresden in the shin. While Dresden was wearing shin pads, the blow did cause him to stumble forward and into the Skirmisher.
Through his arms out, Dresden managed to reach and grab a hold of the Skirmisher for balance. The Skirmisher tried to shove him off, but Dresden held on tight and instead, managed to shift his weight around enough to throw the Skirmisher off balance to the point he was able to throw the creature into a nearby car. The Skirmisher hit the side of the door, smashing the window in with his elbow by accident as he hit. Dresden immediately charged him, driving his right fist into the Skirmisher's stomach and then slugging him across the face with his right.
With the Skirmisher winded and stunned, Dresden took a step back and pulled out a handgun to shoot him, but then the Skirmisher grabbed a handful of glass and threw it at Dresden's face. It was all tempered glass, so it failed to do any serious damage, but it did distract Dresden long enough for the Skirmisher to recover his breath and charge at him.
Dresden let out a grunt of pain as the Skirmisher drove his shoulder into his stomach, wrapping his arms around Dresden's waist as he did. The Skirmisher made a motion to the right, as if he was trying to throw Dresden, but Dresden was clearly heavier than the Skirmisher thought because aside from stumbling a bit, Dresden failed to be moved. In fact, all this maneuver did was leave the Skirmisher open to attack, which Dresden proceeded to by driving his elbows down into the back of the Skirmisher's head.
Seeing all this go down, Marcus decided now was a good time to intervene. He hefted his rifle and took one step forward, but before he could take a second, something grabbed his ankle, causing him to trip. His rifle flying out of his hands as he fell, Marcus found himself lying on the ground without his rifle once more. He looked back to see what had tripped him, only to see the Skirmisher Dresden had shot holding onto his leg with a crazed look on his face. Marcus immediately scrambled for his rifle, but with a strength unbefitting of his small size, the Skirmisher dragged Marcus back in his direction.
Turning around, Marcus tried to kick at the Skirmisher's face, but the creature deftly blocked the blow, and then soaked Marcus in the face with enough force, Marcus' head snapped back and banged hard against the pavement, stunning him despite his helmet. Unable to resist, the Skirmisher mounted Marcus' and pulled out a wicked looking dagger. Lifting it over his head, the Skirmisher was about to stab the dagger down into Marcus' neck when -
THWOCK!
"Ahhh!" Marcus screamed as the Skirmisher, suddenly missing his upper body, toppled over and landed right on top of him, covering him in blood. "Get it off!"
A pair of rough hands abruptly shoved the corpse off him and helped him to his feet. Marcus looked up, expecting to see Dresden, but it turned out to be Orlović, sporting a black eye and a bloodied lip, but alive and well.
"Jesus Christ, what the hell was that!?" Marcus exclaimed, eyeing the half corpse with a bit of disgust.
In response, Orlović pointed down the highway and Marcus looked up to see three Grizzly tanks and some sort of heavily armored personnel carrier firing their machine guns and making their way down the road towards them. As he watched, one of the tanks fired its main gun, and Marcus heard the loud shriek as the shell passed through the air before exploding in the field the convoy had been taking most of the Covenant fire from.
"Why hello 53rd Armored," Dresden declared as he walked up.
"About damn time," Orlović could be heard muttering.
The vehicles began spreading out. Three of the tanks and the APC continued to advance on the Covenant's position, firing their weapons and driving them off. The last tank, however, continued down the road towards Marcus and the others. As it approached, Marcus could see a hatch opening on top and a woman climbed out and started to run towards them.
"First Sergeant Noble of the 53rd Armored," the lady yelled as she reached them. "You Voodoo?"
"Yes First Sergeant!" Dresden yelled back.
Noble waved at them. "Then let's go!
Dresden shook his head. "Our rig is struck!"
"What?"
"Our HEMTT! Is. Stuck!" he yelled, pointing at the truck. "We need a tow!"
Marcus could see Noble mounting a string of curse words before she grabbed her radio. She was now close enough Marcus could hearing her saying, "Sergeant Helmand! They say their truck is stuck! We need the tow bars, get out here!"
The hatch to the tank opened up once more, and an Indian-looking man poked his head out. Even from this distance, Marcus could make out the name "Tariq" stenciled in big bold letters on the front of his helmet.
Tariq took one look at Marcus and the others, and Marcus could clearly see him saying, "How the hell did you idiots do that?" but he nevertheless climbed out of the tank and jumped to the ground.
Before Marcus could see what the man was planning on doing to get their HEMTT unstuck, Dresden roughly grabbed him and shoved him in the direction of the Rig.
"Get in the cab and get ready to reverse," he ordered, shoving Marcus' rifle back in his hands at the same time, before running off to go help Tariq.
Marcus immediately ran into the Rig, stowing his rifle away in its normal spot, and hit the ignition, praying that the mine hadn't destroyed their engine. To his surprise, the engine activated without a hitch, and Marcus strapped himself in. He sat there and watched as Dresden and Helmand run to the front of the tank where a couple of thick looking bars were located, and extend them so they looked like the forks on a forklift. The tank moved forward until the bars were just about touching the rig. While Dresden and Orlović set about attaching them to the HEMTT, Tariq came running up to Marcus' window.
"Listen up the Private!" he bellowed. "We're going to need to push you back out of the crater. That means, as soon as you feel Lillian pushing against your truck, you hit the accelerator. Got it?"
"Got it sir!" Marcus smartly replied.
"I'm not a fucking 'sir,'" Tariq snapped. "I'm a Sergeant in the UNSC Army. Means I fucking work for a living. Call me sir again, I'll rip your damn head off and shit down your throat. Got it PRIVATE!?"
Startled by the hostility, all Marcus could do was nod his head but by that point, Tariq was no longer paying attention.
"Sergeant! You guys set?"
Dresden gave him a thumbs up as he and Orlović quickly scurried out of the way.
"Alright, Corona?" Marcus heard Tariq say into his radio as he hopped off the cab steps. "Move it forward. Slowly though!"
The tank gunned its engine and began to slowly move forward and push the bars against the HEMTT. As soon as Marcus felt the HEMTT begin to move, he jammed down on the accelerator. A loud screeching noise filled the air as his tires skidded against the ground before they abruptly found traction, and the HEMTT slowly began to back out of the crater.
"Alright, that's good! Driver, halt!" Tariq yelled as soon as Marcus was back on solid ground. "Sergeant! Unhook my tank! Corona, as soon as you're free, see if you can't knock some of these fucking cars into that hole. Try and fill it up."
Tariq headed back to his tank. In the meantime, Marcus waited somewhat impatiently for Dresden and Orlović to finish unhooking the tow bars from the HEMTT.
"Okay, we're clear!" Dresden finally announced. First Sergeant Noble immediately took charge once more.
"All crews, mount up!" she roared over the sound of her tank spinning around so that it was facing the right way. "Voodoo, this is Cataphract. Your truck is free; we'll escort you to the mission area, break. 07 to 3-1 and Dragoon 2-2, mount up! We're moving out!"
Marcus glanced over as Dresden and Orlović climbed into the cab.
"Billy, get back on your gun," Dresden ordered. "6-5, this is 6-1, be advised, our rig is free and we are Oscar Mike, over."
"Roger that!"
"Let's go Marcus! Drive!"
Throwing the truck into gear, Marcus followed the tanks as they headed down the highway. Behind him, he could hear gunfire coming from the vehicles closer to the rear, but they were quickly dying down, which led Marcus to believe the Covenant weren't interested in pursuing them.
"Everyone alright? You guys okay? Not too serious injured?" Dresden asked as the gunfire finally ceased. "Billy?"
"I'm okay!"
"Marcus?"
"I'm good."
Dresden nodded. "Good. Hey, good shooting back there by the way Marcus. Keep up the good work."
"Thanks Sarge," Marcus wearily said, doing his best to keep the HEMTT straight.
"Hey, how's the handling on the Rig," Dresden asked upon noticing Marcus struggle.
"She wants to drift to the right, for obvious reasons. But I can handle it," Marcus added.
Dresden nodded. "Yeah. Well, our run-flat tires will get us to the mission objective, but we should swap them out as soon as possible. But let me know if it becomes problem."
Marcus grunted in acknowledgement. A thought suddenly occurred to him and he could help but wonder out loud, "Hey Sarge? How come that mine didn't do more damage to the vehicle? I mean, not that I wanted it to, but I thought for sure we'd be dead."
Marcus could see Dresden giving him an amused look. "You do realize the UNSC had been fighting an insurgency for near a century before the Covenant arrived, right? Every vehicle in the UNSC is designed to be pretty resistant to mines or IEDs, if nothing else."
"Ah," was all Marcus could say.
"Yeah... Anyways, keep your eyes peeled guys, we're not completely out of the woods just yet."
"Roger that Sarge."
They wearily traveled down the road as the sound of fighting in the distance continued to echo all around them.