Cowboy, Squirrelpaw and the others soon made their way to where Cloudtail was as he pointed to the building on where he thought the sniper was. He soon crouched down as he began to lead the others in. They followed behind him as they wanted to find out where the sniper was. Cloudtail soon turned to Cowboy.
"Cowboy… top of the black building, around the corner." Cloudtail pointed to the building, they nodded as they began to move cautiously to the building as it commanded the square. They soon duck back around the corner looking more uncertain about what was going to happen. Cowboy turned to Crowpaw.
"Crowpaw… give me the radio." Cowboy told him. Crowpaw soon got out the radio as they wanted to present their current positions. Cowboy was unaware he was exposing himself to the sniper through a jagged hole in the building. The sniper raised the Vz. 58 looking at Cowboy's upper torso. Cowboy soon began to speak into the radio. "Firestar, this is Cowboy. Over." Cowboy began. He was wondering if Firestar was on the other side. The radio crackled then Firestar spoke.
"This is Firestar what is your request?" Firestar asked him on what Cowboy needed. Cowboy soon spoke.
"We would like the tank now if you have any on standby…" Before Cowboy could even finish his sentence, the sniper fired. The bullet hitting Cowboy in the chest as they begin to panic.
"Cowboy!" Squirrelpaw shouted. Cloudtail was firing away using his M60 as Rafter-man peeked through the hole.
"Holy shit! The sniper's got a clean shot through the hole in the wall!" Rafter-man shouted. Another shot was fired but Rafter-man dodged the bullet as the second shot hits Cowboy in the throat. Squirrelpaw was beginning to panic.
"Get him! Get him the fuck outta here!" Squirrelpaw shouted as she, Rafter-man, Mothwing and Leafpaw carried him away. Crowpaw followed them as they all carried a wounded Cowboy to cover.
"Easy! Easy!" Squirrelpaw told them as Leafpaw was fumbling around with the bandages.
"Get him on his back." Crowpaw instructed them as they laid Cowboy down. Leafpaw and Mothwing were determined to try to save Cowboy's life. Cowboy spoke.
"Oh I don't believe this shit." Cowboy mewed weakly as he was bleeding badly. Squirrelpaw wanted to make sure he would be alright.
"Shut up! You'll be all right Cowboy." Squirrelpaw mewed to him as Leafpaw and Mothwing were trying their best to stop the bleeding.
"Take it easy, Cowboy." Leafpaw instructed as she was putting pressure on the wounds. Four pairs of paws were trying to do something to make sure he would make it.
"Uhhhh, that son-of-a-bitch!" Cowboy moaned, it was clear Cloudtail was going to get them killed one by one. He knew he shouldn't have moved up.
"You're gonna be all right." Squirrelpaw tried to tell him that he will be fine but the situation was quickly getting worse.
"You're going home, Cowboy. You're going home." Leafpaw tried to tell him to stay alive but Cowboy's life was still slipping.
"Easy. Take it easy." Crowpaw mewed to them as Leafpaw was still trying to patch him together.
"Ohhhh, don't shit me, Joker! Don't shit me!" Cowboy moaned as he was still bleeding. It turned out the bulleted had severed some major arteries in Cowboy.
"I wouldn't shit you, Cowboy. You're my favorite turd in the squad." Squirrelpaw responded. Cowboy was slowly beginning to lose consciousness. "Cowboy?" Squirrelpaw mewed as she wanted to keep him alive.
"Hang on, Cowboy. Hang on!" Crowpaw shouted as thing would be all right but his life was slipping out of their reach. Cowboy coughed.
I… I can hack it." Cowboy coughed some more. Squirrelpaw and Leafpaw were trying to get him to hang in there but it was already too late.
"You can hack it." Leafpaw mewed trying to get Cowboy to keep hanging in there.
"I can. I-I…" Cowboy coughed one more time coughing up blood that was spilling into his lungs. His eyes went dull as he fell limp in Squirrelpaw's grasp. Squirrelpaw knocked onto him as he didn't more nor respond. Cowboy died in her grasp." Squirrelpaw bend down as she began to cry into Cowboy as he was her other friend other than Pyle that she met in Bootcamp. Mothwing was the first to look up followed by Crowpaw and then Leafpaw. Squirrelpaw was the last to get up as she was trying to wipe away the rest of her tears. She not only felt miserable but she felt angry at who would do such a thing. Cloudtail had walked over to them as Cowboy lay where she put him down. Cloudtail rested his paw on Squirrelpaw.
"It's okay. This type of stuff happens in the war. Not everyone makes it at the end. Now how about we go and get some payback." Cloudtail tried to motivate her. Squirrelpaw turned to face him as her misery was replaced by vengeance.
"Yeah." She hissed. She was ready to snap as well. They soon went back to the square as they all huddled around.
"Give 'em some smoke." Cloudtail instructed them as they would use the smoke to conceal their movement. He had run out of ammo for the M60 and resorted to using his second weapon in his arsenal, his PPSh-41 he snagged sometime during his service. This weapon was suited for close combat as they would be heading into the factory. He and Squirrelpaw tossed three smoke grenades as they would soon be storming into the building. The grenades soon exploded with a dull bang as smoke began to fill the area. Once completely filled, they soon charged across the square in the blinding smoke as they soon entered into the now burning factory as some small fires had now started for when they were trying to take out the sniper earlier.
With the darkness approaching as the day was drawing to a close. They were looking in as they wanted to be able to flush the sniper out as the building was shattered past twisted steel girders and huge broken chunks of concrete. They soon came to a place where they knew they had to split up. Cloudtail looked at them as he wanted to make sure they could get through.
"Crowpaw, Leafpaw, and Spiderpaw that way. Squirrelpaw, Rafter-man, on me. Mothwing, Whitepaw, stay put and wait for the wounded to come out." Cloudtail instructed. They all nodded as they soon split up through the burning factory.
The three cats worked their way through as they were trying to locate the sniper in this factory ruin. They worked their way to the west side where the bullets were fired on Doc Jay and Eightball hours before. They were soon on the second floor as the fire continued to get worse.
"Squirrelpaw in there, Rafter-man, on me." Cloudtail instructed as he pointed Squirrelpaw to the left as he wanted to go check the room in front of him. Squirrelpaw nodded but she gulped nervously as she knew she was going in alone. She soon headed left.
Squirrelpaw wandered through the building as she was looking around. The room was large and open as it was the lobby. The room was on fire with shattered columns, oriental arches and windows with large decorative grillwork. Squirrelpaw heard something as she ducked back to one of the shattered columns. She soon decided to peer around the column as she was trying to figure out what was going on but it was clear that someone else was in the room too. There the cat holding the Vz. 58 in the paws of the enemy that they were going to go after: The sniper.
Squirrelpaw leaped up as she reached for her M16A1 as she squeezed the trigger but nothing came out as she realized her worst fears had come true. Her rifle jammed. She was working on the bolt as the sniper turned around. The sniper was a She-cat and the age of a kit before becoming an apprentice. She fired away with her Vz. 58 at Squirrelpaw who ducked behind one of the concrete Pillars for cover. She soon figured she can fix the problem later as she dropped the rifle and went for her pistol to wound the sniper. The sniper continued firing away as she was beautiful yet completely startled as Squirrelpaw prepared for the worse. Soon the sniper was hit by fire coming in from the side as it turned out it was Rafter-man with his rifle functioning as he shot the sniper. The sniper soon fell after being pierced with six bullets. Squirrelpaw was shaking as she picked up the rifle and handed it to Rafter-man who was T-bagging on the sniper's body. She handed him her M16A1.
"Try to unjam it for me please?" She asked. Rafter-man nodded as he got to work. Squirrelpaw was looking at the downed sniper.
"We got the sniper!" Cloudtail called out. He looked down to the sniper who she was trembling from her wounds. Cloudtail lightly kicked the Vz. 58 from her reached as he felt sorry for her. Almost if he felt remorse for the dogs he helped back in the war when he was just an apprentice himself. "Squirrelpaw?" Cloudtail asked.
"Yo." Squirrelpaw responded. Cloudtail wanted to continue the conversation.
"What's up?" Cloudtail asked Squirrelpaw as Squirrelpaw turned to him.
"We got the sniper." Squirrelpaw responded. Leafpaw, Crowpaw and Spiderpaw entered the room as Rafterman solved the jam issure as he tossed the rifle back to Squirrelpaw. He soon reloaded his own rifle in the process.
"I saved Squirrelpaw's ass. I got the sniper. I fucking blew her away!" Rafter-man laughed hysterically as he kissed his rifle. "Am I bad? Am I a life-taker? Am I a heart-breaker?" No one payed attention to Rafter-man as Mothwing and Whitepaw came in as they looked at the sniper. The sniper was gasping and whimpering as they couldn't understand what she was saying.
"What is she saying?" Crowpaw asked her wondering what she was saying. Squirrelpaw was listening in on this as she listened to the sniper.
"She's praying." Squirrelpaw responded. Spiderpaw just laughed as he spoke.
"No more boom-boom for this baby-san. There's nothing we can do for her. She's dead meat." Spiderpaw taunted as he loved the fact that she was going to die. Mothwing had enough of this as she turned.
"Okay. Let's get the fuck outta here." Mothwing spoke. Squirrelpaw knew what about the sniper.
"What about her?" Squirrelpaw asked them as she pointed to the sniper whose eyes were going wild. Mothwing spoke.
"Fuck her. Let her rot." Mothwing responded as she prepared to leave. Cloudtail crouched down to her as he felt remorse for their killer.
"We can't just leave her." Squirrelpaw mewed to Mothwing. Cloudtail soon got his M60 propping the sniper's head up so she could breathe.
"Hey asshole… Cowboy's wasted. You're fresh out of friends. I'm running this squad now and I say we leave the gook for the mother lovin' rats." Mothwing shouted at her as Cloudtail felt mercy. He soon got out his canteen of water as he began giving the sniper some water to drink. Squirrelpaw looked at Mothwing.
"I'm not trying to run this squad. I'm just saying we can't leave her like this." Squirrelpaw responded as she didn't want to leave the sniper to rot. Cloudtail was giving the wounded sniper water as Mothwing looked down to her.
"le… le-let me. Let me… live." The sniper whimpered as Mothwing looked at Squirrelpaw.
"If you want to waste her, go on, waste her." Mothwing gave her the pistol. Squirrelpaw was faced with a stark choice. Shoot the sniper or help Cloudtail. The sniper was beginning for her life as Cloudtail was trying to save her. Mothwing wanted the sniper dead as vengeance for killing three of their own. Everyone had their eyes on Squirrelpaw.
"Let… me… live. Let… me… live." The sniper gasped as Cloudtail was still tending to her. Mothwing soon kicked the canteen from Cloudtail's paws and scooted the M60 away from her head causing her to fall flat. Cloudtail went to get his empty canteen. Squirrelpaw was shaking as she held the pistol over her head as she didn't want to shoot her but Mothwing demanded her to be killed.
"Listen its best I try to do this. Cloudtail wants her to live. I say we should just take her back to camp." Squirrelpaw mewed as a part of her didn't want to kill the sniper. Mothwing looked at her.
"The gook doesn't deserve to live. Do it or I will do it myself." Mothwing threatened her as Squirrelpaw looked at the sniper.
"Let… me… live." The sniper pleaded. Squirrelpaw closed her eyes as she looked away. She was shaking holding the pistol over the sniper's head and with one last shred of innocence left. She jerked the trigger. Bang! The shot had torn through the sniper's head as she was laying there motionless. Cloudtail was beginning to weep. Rafter-man looked at Squirrelpaw.
"Squirrelpaw. We're gonna have to put you up for the congressional medal of ugly." Rafter-man laughed as she didn't feel too bad about his remarks but she did feel bad for the sniper. Mothwing smiled as she spoke to Squirrelpaw.
"Hard core Squirrelpaw. Fucking hard core." Mothwing smiled as Squirrelpaw went through with it. Crowpaw bowed with dismay as he knew he couldn't trust Mothwing again. They all began to leave one by one except for Cloudtail who looked at the sniper's dead body as he took the rifle and her ammo and magazines. He soon put flowers over her as he molded her into a burial corpse as he looked at her.
"I'll be sure to make a grave for you one day sweet sniper. I hope we meet again in the sky." Cloudtail weeped as he would have buried her in a sign of respect but since none of them had shovels they were going to leave her in the open. Cloudtail had some respect for her as he walked off weeping knowing it was just another life he couldn't save.
The cats were all marching together. Singing a song of their favorite cartoon character growing up as Squirrelpaw spoke to herself while they marched through a city of raging fires. A scene from the Dark Forest.
"We had nailed our names in the pages of history enough for today. We hump down to the perfume river to settle in for the night." Squirrelpaw spoke to herself. The apprentices were singing the loudest. A select few weren't as they were heart broken or in deep sorrow.
"B-a-s-s-e-t H-o-u-n-d. We play fair, we work hard and we're in harmony. B-a-s-s-e-t H-o-u-n-d. Basset hound. Basset hound! Basset hound. Basset hound! Forever let us hold our banner high. High. High. High." The cats sang as they marched along with the older warriors being lower as the younger apprentices. They kept singing as several cats remained silent. "Tom and She-cats from far and near you're welcome as can be. B-a-s-s-e-t h-o-u-n-d. Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me?" They continued to sing as Squirrelpaw began to mewed to herself about what she learned so far from Bootcamp until now.
"My thoughts drift back to erect nipple wet dreams. About Mary Jane Rottencrotch and the great homecoming fuck fantasy. I'm so happy that I am alive, in one piece and in short. I'm in a world of shit… yes. But I am alive and I am not afraid." Squirrelpaw mewed to herself as her fellow platoon members continued to sing.
"Come along and sing this song and join our family. B-a-s-s-e-t h-o-u-n-d. Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me? B-a-s-s-e-t h-o-u-n-d. Hey there! Hi there! Ho there! You're welcome as can be. B-a-s-s-e-t h-o-u-n-d. Basset hound. Basset hound! Basset hound. Basset hound! Forever let us hold our banner high. High! High! High!" The cats continued to sing through the wreckage. Cloudtail soon spoke to himself.
"In the end. They say we're the heroes when in reality; we're more of the villains. The Vietnamese don't want us here and they told us we need to go there to control them. It is only a matter of time before we're kicked out of the country and we would fall. I knew I couldn't trust Mothwing and how insane she is. She would go off with a section eight and hopefully a lifetime prison sentence I always think of it. No one wanted to associate with her for the rest of the war. I vow to do my best to make sure that everyone enemy or friend would make it out alive. I hold no grudges on the cats Vietnam but they held the grudges on us. This war was moreover a war of politics and not about our freedom. It was one of the wars Thunderclan should have kept their noses out of." Cloudtail mewed to himself as because of this war, Thunderclan would never be the same.
End of part 2 (Story)
[A/N]: They often say the first victim of the war is the one who is shot first but it's the innocence of a person that is the first to go. Reflecting on this, it's clear that there are those who want to try their best at what they do and those that are complete monsters. Always listen to those whose opinions are completely unbiased.
While not the most popular story that I have written. It definitely has a lot of hidden meetings in it as the cats are possibly marching to an unknown faith. Also would you like to see more stories centered around war or I should go back to milder stories and call it a day for now? Let me know what you would want me to do next.
In the memory of the 58,318 Americans that were killed in Vietnam. This was a war that we shouldn't have gotten ourselves into. I really care for where we live but no one wants to be controlled at the end and we paid the price for it. So if there any veterans reading this. My mind and heart go to you and your friends as well as the Nearly 1 million dead N.V.A and Vietcong soldiers. It's sad when so many gave their lives for something that wasn't necessary. I guess I need a break to collect myself and prepare for the next story so I'll see you until then.