Cochino means pig in Spanish for the part of the Latin America I was looking up. Is popular slang for pervert, unless google was lying. They also speak English in some parts of Columbia so this is good. Maybe I'll have some fun with this later.Still trying to figure out how to work Maggie in. wish me luck.
Week 9 tuesday cont.
"Hey, Cochi-chi-no!" Came from above, the call caused the enemy combatants to move back into cover and turn their attention upward.
"Who the fuck is that?" Snickers asked looking for the owner of the voice.
"Hikari." Lincoln answered as a spray of fire rolled over the enemy. The large calibre rounds cutting through the cars and trucks they hid behind. Lincoln saw them fall from his spot under the truck.
Those who could find cover ran to the base of the building Hikari was in. They started kicking at the door. Lincoln knew he couldn't let them breach. "Snickers!" He pointed to the half dozen sheltering from the young woman's fire. Snickers nodded and looked over the back of the truck and let loose on them. Several fell but the rest escaped down an alley.
From down the alley shotgun blasts were heard, four in quick succession, mixed with small arms fire.
Then it went dead quiet except for a handful of boot falls. Lincoln stood and took aim at the group of enemy and let a round go. Then another. They cut across the road and went down a cross street.
The enemy was met with more gun fire. Small arms and an M-16.
Lincoln watched as a lone banger ran into view, terrified and dragging his AK. A pink clad female sprinted into him, knocking him down and repeatedly slamming his head into the ground.
A familiar figure joined the woman in pink. "There's the LT! That's Yuki!" Lincoln stood up and waved.
He remembered the kid in the one building and ran over to the building. He stopped. A Cochino soldier sat in the doorway, his arm around the kid. Pistol resting in his lap.
"I walk away, or the boy dies." Ge was bleeding pretty bad and slyrred his words.
"I can talk him out." Lincoln thought. "Talk until he bleeds out."
"I know what you're thinking!" The man leered. "You will try and shoot me."
"I have no intention of shooting you. I might hit him." Lincoln shoulder his rifle. "I just can't risk that.
Their forces were gathering.
Shinji and Yuki coming down the road. Yuki dragging the man she knocked unconcious.
Hikari and some veterans from the old folks home came down the alley. One of them held a lone dogtag on a chain.
The rest of the squad gathered around. "Howard is touch and go. He needs to get out of here quick!" Oreo mentioned.
Shinji took a look at the kid and the Cochino soldier. "If we patch you up, would you hand over the kid and deliver a message to your boss?"
"You would let me go?" He asked with some disbelief.
"I am a person of my word." Shinji answered. "Unlike your boss."
"You think I am a person of my word?" The wounded man asked.
"I think he wants to survive. Don't you?" Lincoln asked Shinji.
"The young man has a point, Cap-E-tan!" Shinji ran her foot through the blood running out the door, across the sidewalk and into the gutter.
The Cochino looked thoughtful and then they watched his hand relax. The boy was shoved off his lap and Yuki grabbed him up and hurried him off to the resteraunt.
"Gun." Shinji mentioned. "Don't worry, we don't kill the unarmed."
He stare at the weapon then tossed it reluctantly aside.
"Oreo, patch him up." Shinji handed the medic a backpack full of medical suppplies. "We figured out where my sister went off."
"You really are her! The ghost my uncle talked about!" Snickers got excited. "You're why I joined The Army!"
"Snickers, don't bug the L T with your tall tales!" Danish stepped up and gave Snickers a light shove.
"Knock it off, Sergeant!" Shinji barked. "And zip it, Private!" She added. "Oreo, once you and Snowball here are done with this guy, meet me up in that building there." She indicated the building on the North corner of the street.
"Hikari, take the..." Shinji looked over the old vets. "Take care of the Captain and his men. Feed them, check them out and get their man in the alley ready to go home." She saluted the older soldiers. "Captain, Sir, I can't make you or your boys leave, so I wish you all the best!"
"Thank you, Lieutennant, carry on!" The man winked as if he knew something. "Troops, take five!" The older men ambled off to the resteraunt.
"One of them is from North Vietnam." Shinji chuckled. "Time really does change things don't it."
The group of eight veterans were an odd mix. Two navy men armed with pistols. A marine who served in Korea and the rest wore hats for vets from the Vietnam War, one being a pilot and most from the army. Then there was the Vietnamese man who wore an outfit like a Viet Cong.
Several minutes later, Oreo and Lincoln walked into the building Shinji had indicated. "So what?" Oreo asked.
"Snickers ain't full of shit. Truth is, I only outrank you privates. As a Marine, I don't really exist. I only tell you this because you saved Lincoln. You put up a good fight! We share an experience, one that isn't over yet. Captain Escazino won't deliver the message, he'll bring them here."
"And we let him go, why?" Danish asked.
"Because we will be ready." Shinji grinned broadly as the building started to fill with her people. "The Dead Dragons. My personal army!"
They watched as crates of ammunition were set out and assault rifles were lined up along the wall. They watched as the Dragons barracaded doors and windows or reenforced them with metal plates and sand bags.
"By the time the Cochino come back, we will be ready." She said with a dark tone. "Now get to work, boys. We have just a little while."
Shinji herself grabbed a crate off a truck and carried it in. The others fell in line. All along and around the block there was activity.
A few civilians were loaded in a van each time it returned. There were quite a few trapped when this all started.
Luna took Lincoln by surprise, pulling him into the walk in freezer for a quick make out session with her and Violet. "For luck, bro!" Luna and Violet hugged him tightly then they heeded the last call.
"A hundred members of a street gang, twelve cops and fifteen soldiers." Danish walked over with a list of names and ID numbers. "We also got thirty stubborn civilians who would like to fight for their homes. I have some of your thugs bolstering their numbers." He flopped down on a sandbag and sighed. "Never thought I'd be fighting a war in my home state."
"I always assumed it would be an invasion from Mexico or a civil war." Shinji spit a peanut shell across the hall.
"Seriously?" Danish asked.
"They like our money, many have American family, but as a whole, I never felt welcome there or liked. Pulled too many hostages out of their prisons for bull shit charges." Another shell went sailong across the hall. "As for the civil war, I'm gay, but I am a conservative and I think for myself. No identity politics for me. No giving up military funding because they see it as archaic. No letting crimminals cross the border at will." She looked over at Danish. "I swore to do right by this country, the people in it. Then our allies. Then whom ever needs it. Fuck the rest."
There was a soft beep.
Week 9 Wed.
12.01 am.
"Congratulations, Danish. You survived the day. Now the real shit hits the fan."
Outside some of the street lights lit up. A few buildings had automatic lights as well, some of those lit up. Clouds partially blocked the moon and stars.
"Nightvision will be next to useless but it is still too dark to really see well." Shinji told him.
Lincoln, not far away, felt his stomach turn. By the looks he saw on every one elses faces, they felt it too.
There was a crunch from outside, like someone stepping on rocks scattered on a sidewalk. The whole room went dead quiet. The rest of the building seemed to be as hushed.
He could smell cigar smoke. Like after the cigar was out and it had settled into Pop-Pop's jacket.
He could smell someone's bad breath and hear the faintest tinkle of metal on metal.
A scuff, like someone slid on the cement.
This was only all of what he could hear, and he was on the second floor.
His own forces moved with careful steps and went to the windows or stood by the doors at the ready. Hand signals were being exchanged and the tension built.
The order had been passed earleir that they should not put their weapons on safety. All of them should be cocked and at the ready.
Someone outside whistled and there was a collective shush that seemed to permiate the silence and echo through the street.
Loncoln chanced a glance out the window and saw at least fifty men out front. Another group was down the block, again, there were at least fifty.
Shadows from around the corner said there were also more.
Someone tried the door.
They all tensed and Lincoln could imagine the men down below crouching behind sandbags and old crated filled, packed tightly too, of old papers.
"Oye, jefe, no veo a nadie." Someone called out, only to be answered with a slap that echoed through the street.
Several people stifled a laugh, including Lincoln. The low displeased muttering of the one soldier came closer to the wall and went around the corner. Lincoln lost track as he got farther away.
After five minutes or so, he could hear the Cochino members outside talking about someone going missing. It really spread through their ranks. He could hear orders being given. A squad went off towards the North, another went West.
He felt a hand on his shoulder as the door was tried again. He could hear the knob. Then kicking on the door.
"Wait for the bottle rockets. They make for a nice signal too." Shinji said in his ear.
Fweee BOOM!
Fweee BOOM!
Fweee BOOM!
The Cochinos were stunned as the fireworks went off over head. The flashes of light blinding some briefly.
Smaller bottle rockets flew into their ranks and caused confusion and minor injuries.
The gun fire started with the first blast, but by now with all the flashes and noise, even Lincoln was confused about where their fire was coming from. The enemy again was trapped in the street.
The alleys were blocked with stacks of garbage cans, shipping pallets and crates. Each with a machine gun a pointed down at each end those same alley ways.
In the chaos Lincoln heard the downstairs door blow open. Fire now echoed through the building, not just the street.
He managed to keep himself focused shoot and duck, move to a different window.
Something rolled in the room. A round tan ball. Lincoln went to jump on it but something knocked him off to the side. There was a dull but loud thump. Lincoln's ears rang and he grabbed the pistol and fired at the figure in the doorway. Well, towards the flashes of light near the figure's middle.
The figure dropped to a knee and started to turn towards him when a shadow came up behind it and hit it hard. Hard enough to jolt the man into the light. Lincoln could see his brain through the split in his skull. Lifeless eyes gazing at him.
He noticed movement to his left and saw Oreo working in a fervent pace. He had the bag Shinji had given him and was soon pulling bits and pieces from Danish.
His ears still ringing he moved to hold Danish's hand. The black man smiled at him but Lincoln couldn't hear what he was saying. Lincoln felt the tears well up in him.
He looked around.
People fired from the windows. A young man in a purple shirt and green zip-up hoodie fell backward and never got up.
A girl, probably only eighteen was firing a rifle with her good arm while her right arm hung limply at her side and it was stained a deep, dark color.
Holes were appearing next to windows. Coming in from the outside.
He saw people scurry through the hall outside.
Shinji returned to the room. Several strange looking individuals with her. They began assisting the wounded with the main focus being to help Danish.
Lincoln stood and stumbled from the room. He picked up Danish's rifle and disappeared into the halls.
There had been a breach of the front door. Several men were already patched up. Several others were covered. The enemy was stacked in front of the door.
Men in a mix of street clothes, drab greens and tans and others in jungle camoflauge. He picked up one of the Colunbian's camo hats, it was surprisingly clean. He put it on and walked into the street.
He fired several rounds into the group of Cochinos sheltering by a car out front. He gave them another shot to make sure they stayed down. He turned towards the resteraunt, his family's business, at the end of the block and headed for it. He bumped into a banger and gave him a belly full of lead from his side arm. He still couldn't hear but he could see and smell. Gunpowder. Blood. They filled his nose.
He got in through the busted window and walked to the back storage room. He didn't exactly have the key. So he broke the lock. He was happy, the theives who looted the bar forgot to check back here.
Lincoln grabbed the closest bottle and popped the top. The vodka burned the whole way down but it was a welcome pain. So unlike the one in his leg.
He turned and grabbed a case as well as Luna's emergency stash. After he found the barbecue lighter he headed back into the street.
There he bumped into a Cochino soldier. He set the crate down while they were both thinking. Lincoln was a bit quicker in coming out of his surprise.
The man was even more surprised as Lincoln cooley handed him a bottle of the liquor. He thanked Lincoln and popped the top, Lincoln smacked him with the crate lid, spilling the 90 proof alcohol all over the Cochino. From there it was a matter of lighting the Cochino on fire with the lighter. Being soaked, he went up like a kerosene lamp as Lincoln, crate in hand, walked back to his post.
The streets were starting to empty. Bodies lay strewn all over. He tried to ignore his allies dead. But he stopped to close the eyes of one of the men that had given them help the other day.
He arrived to find that his ears were starting to pick up more than the constant humm he had been hearing.
He saw one of the wounded in the ground floor being covered with a jacket.
The wounded girl who had been up in the room with him had her arm in a sling. He handed her a bottle. She thanked him.
He found Snickers and Oreo. Oreo sat there with a lost look on his face. Snickers stare at the floor. He set a bottle in front of both and moved on. Out the side door and across the street. He found Hikari and half the old veterains talking about what they would do if the bad guys returned. The Captain that Shinji had spoke with held a few more dog tags. He set the crate down and started out when Hikari stopped him.
"Where are you going-ing?" She asked.
"More booze." He said feeling tired.
"Not until you get that leg looked at." She urged him to sit. He looked down to see a piece of metal poking out from his pant leg.
"Well that explains that." He said with disinterest. "How's Mr. McBride?"
"I dunno." She answered. "No Radio-o."
Lincoln laid back and looked down the top of the woman that Hikari had called over. He enjoyed the view until she patted his ankle and walked away. His eyes got really heavy and he was out like a light.
He woke up in the rear of a bus with several others. Sun was coming up from over head. He had a major headache.
"Sorry about Danish." He said as he recognized Snickers' helmet.
Snickers patted Lincoln's leg in response.
"He's still trying to pick up on that lady trooper." Oreo said from behind Lincoln.
"He's alive!" Lincoln sat up and felt dizzy. He swooned but grabbing the seat in front of him, he was able to sit upright.
"I have to rethink everything, Linc." Oreo told him. "Believing Snickers isn't crazy is hard enough. Seeing what lives among us..." Oreo trailed off and gripped his cross tighter his eyes darting up front to Shinji. A single Cochino soldier was shackled and sat beside her.
"HEY!" A shout from up ahead. "The radio's working!"
"... And National guard forces have been capturing rogue members of the Columbian military as well as members of the Cochino Cartel since hostilities have ceased in the small Michigan town of Royal woods.The fighting has left a hundred and seven Americans dead and nearly double that wounded.
Unconfirmed reports claim that the international street gang, The Dead Dragons, have lent aide to the military and local authorities. However, the fact that the Dead Dragons are known to collect their own dead and wounded make it difficult to tell if this is true.
Investigations into how so many armed hostiles were able to lay seige to the town are underway. Suspicion of corruption..."
Someone turned the channel to an RB station. Lincoln Recognized the song. He started to sing along with Amy Winehouse through the chorus of Rehab. Soon he was joined by everyone.
Shinji flopped into the seat by him. "We lost a lot of buildings. Cochinos set fire to a lot. The government is contracting people to rebuild now."
"It isn't your fault." Lincoln told her.
"Like hell it is! Lincoln, I trusted the word of Zapada! That fuck has never, NEVER, kept his word. Even if he technically did." Shinji glare at her reflection in the window he sat by. "I should have left some guys on him."
"It isn't your fault." Lincoln reassured her. "What's with him?" He nodded towards the captured man up front.
Shinji handed him a poloroid picture. The woman in the picture was short haired and brunette but it was unmistakable.
"Leni!" The response was quiet, but it held an array of emotion. He had to force himself to look away from the vacant stare of his sister while someone had their way with her.
"And that is why my little sister gave him a concussion!" Shinji said proudly but still kept the sympathy. "So. Hikari tells me that you had shrapnel..." Shinji pointed to Lincoln's lap.
"I have no idea. Whatever they gave me, I don't feel. My head hurts though." Lincoln pressed on his leg.
"Must be a local anesthetic. Let me know when it starts to hurt again." She put an arm across the back of the seat. "Seriously, keep an eye on that, and if you weren't rung like a bell, I'd be beating your ass for going out in the open like that." She said it casually, but he got the idea. "No more stupidity. You got lucky!"
"I never expected combat to be so short." Lincoln said after a while of silence.
"Shortest battle I've been in was an ambush. Ten minutes of hell. Lost Private Chips." Oreo spoke up.
"Fifteen for me. Half my platoon was KIA and the rest wounded. I was unconcious for half that." Snickers pulled his shirt up revealing a large slash across his back. "IED!"
"Five minutes. We just threw grenade after grenade and shot everything." A man across the aisle tossed in. "Then the car exploded!" His stare got distant and focused on the back of the seat ahead of him.
Everyone looked to Shinji. "Ten days behind enemy lines. Intermittent engagements of three or four minutes. Final fight lasted thirty, by the time we were pulled out not one of us was unscathed. I died several times."
"What do you mean by died?" Oreo asked.
"Heart stopped. Severe blood loss, you know. Had used the pints on hand and the guys were donating right from the vein." She rubbed her hip. "I guess I covered their asses good enough to be kept alive."
She looked out the window and pulled a cord. There was a ding and the bus pulled over. "This is our stop. You guys take care. Keep us up to date with Danish." Shinji moved to the front and pulled the prisoner from his seat, taking him out of the bus.
"Danish actually has the last name Danish, why do they call you Oreo?" Lincoln asked the medic.
"Mom's black dad's not. I take a bit more after him." Oreo answered.
"What about you, Snickers?" Lincoln looked ahead.
"Favorite candybar." The man replied.
"He ate them until he was sick, the drill seargent ran him until he blew chunks." Oreo laughed.
"What about the rest of your squad?" Shinji tossed in.
"Rolo was a match of perfect caramel skin and chocolate brown hair and eyes." That was simple enough. "Skittles, he had a few things going for him. He was gay, he was a stripper, he had 'TASTE THE RAINBOW' tattooed on his penis." Oreo laughed. "Oh, man, you serve in the military long enough, you learn shit about people."
"Why weren't they here?" Lincoln asked.
"Hospital. Literally an hour befor we got called out here, some ass ran a stoplight. Rolo has two broken legs and Skittles has a broken arm and leg. They were lucky, the car was a total loss."
"What kind of car?" Shinji looked to Lincoln as he glared at her. "What? They're fine!"
The other soldiers in the back chuckled, Oreo and Snickers the most, as Lincoln chided her. His words dying off as he noticed the men all laughing.
"Skittles would have asked the same thing!" The man across the aisle commented.
"Hey, sorry." Skittled reached across the aisle. "Linc, Dearest, this is Tommy, he's from our platoon! Tommy, this is Lincoln and..."
"Shinji Kanaan." Tommy cut Oreo off. "You used to baby sit me before we left New York."
"Fuck!" Shinji exclaimed. "You got big!"
Tommy laughed. "I wish I'd looked up sooner." The two stood and hugged.
The rest of the ride was filled with small talk on less meaningful things.
Thu. week 9
The town had been evacuated. Everyone was outside of town, some had friends, some had family, some were finding hotels. Lincoln greeted his sisters in a big group hug in the very exspensive suite.
They were put up here until the town was fully cleared and deemed safe.
Lincoln was getting word that not only did the Cochino Cartel set fires, which led to the total evacuation, but that there was undetonated ordinance. Not all of the combatants used only bullets.
Some of the D.D. used flash bangs and concussion grenades.
The Cochino had a few RPGs and the Black Rattlesnakes had pipe bombs.
A group of National Guardsmen sent in to evacuate some wounded had to go through hell and went in heavy.
Lincoln watched over Lana's head as a news helecopter flew over the town showing just how big the battle for Royal Woods really was. The carnage ended just a few blocks from his family home. Billows of smoke wafted over their home and he was suddenly worried about their pets.
Yuki came out of the adjoining room, plastic bag in hand. "Charlie pooped again. Cliff is making sure we need to buy the curtains." She paused and grinned. "Lincoln!" A short wave and she moved on to dispose of Charlie's waste.
"Lincoln is sleeping with me tonight." Lola stated matter of factly.
"Nuh-Uh!" Lana retorted.
"Actually, we may have a lead on Leni." Lincoln informed and Lori stepped up. "Yes?"
"I'm going with you!" Lori stated.
He glanced to her belly and then stare into her eyes.
"I saw the man Shinji was putting in the car!"
"Lori, I would rather the baby be safe!" He hugged his big sister gently. "This guy got loose once!"
He pressed his face into her. "We all love Leni, we all worry for her, but I don't want to risk the rest of you! I don't think she would want that either!"
Lori nodded reluctantly.
Everyone was excited about Lorin. Lori smiled, the name had already been accepted when she let the suggestion slip. The rest of her sisters were already trying to combine their names with Lincoln's.
"Fine!" She pulled him off of her and wiped his eyes.
"I need to pee." She stated and walked from the room. It wasn't a lie, she drank twelve bottles of water when she was bored and waiting with worry to see if Lincoln was coming home.
Shinji poked her head in. "I drugged him, spend time with your sisters, Snowball. I'll get you tomorrow morning."