"If we lose the war in the air, we lose the war and lose it quickly." — Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery
London, England
August 11th, 2011
"You ever wonder what's up there?" Jennifer asked. Her Cockney accent that she so desperately tried to hide was really coming through right now. Rifleman Andrew loved it but for some reason Jennifer hated the way it sounded. They were back in the field near Hexham. Jennifer was lying next to him with her head on his chest. He opened his mouth to say something but no words would come out.
"Like someone up there wondering what it's like down here." Jennifer said. Her Cockney was really coming on thick now. Rifleman Andrew opened his mouth and tried to speak but again no words came out. It was like he was having a one sided conversation.
"I sure hope we do." Jennifer said with a smile. Her Cockney was the strongest he'd ever heard it. He tried to scream but he couldn't make a sound.
"Andrew!" Jennifer screamed. Her voice was full of panic. Rifleman Andrew began to panic. Jennifer had only cried his name out once like that. It was when they were broken up for a few months. He saw her at a party and they started talking. Her pissed up boyfriend saw and was about to hit her. She called his name out just like that. The boy's fist never touched Jennifer. He ended up being thrown out a window.
"Andrew, please get up!" Jennifer cried. Andrew wanted to scream at the top of his lungs but he just couldn't.
"Please are you okay? Answer me, Andrew!" Andrew wanted to cry. He hated hearing Jennifer sounding like this. He wished he could just tell her that everything was going to be okay.
The scenery around them changed. The moon morphed into a glowing ball of fire and the fields around them burst into flames. The stars in the sky were now replaced by flaming objects hurtling towards the ground. He looked over at Jennifer to find some form of safety in this hellish landscape. What he saw frightened him. The all beautiful Jennifer was now a burnt skeleton.
"ANDREW…WAKE…UP!"
Rifleman Andrew Webster's eyes snapped open. The first thing he saw was the blacked face of Corporal Willis. The section leader's eyes darted about looking for targets. Something darted past his field of vision in the sky. It went by so quickly he couldn't tell what it was. The ground vibrated as something exploded. He tasted a salty metallic fluid in his mouth and he felt it running down the corners of his lips.
"Bloody hell you're alive. Get up!" Corporal Willis shouted over the gunfire. He held out his hand and Rifleman Andrew took it. With a quick jerk Rifleman Andrew was on his knees next to Corporal Willis.
"Grenade out!" someone yelled. Rifleman Andrew didn't see who threw the grenade but he did see it drop a group of Tinnies running right them. Corporal Willis reloaded his rifle and looked at Rifleman Andrew.
"You good to go?" Corporal Willis asked.
"Ye-" was all that was able to come out of Rifleman Andrew's mouth before Corporal Willis threw him to the ground. He fired off two quick burst taking out a Tinnie crawling up the railing of the bridge.
"Let's go!" Corporal Willis barked as he jerked Rifleman Andrew up by the collar. They ran hunched over towards a hastily built barricade manned by a few soldiers. Rifleman Andrew jumped when one of the three surviving Challengers fired its main gun into one of the Walking Guns at the far side of the bridge. The explosion was spectacular and rattled Rifleman Andrew's brain inside his head.
"When did we get tanks?" Rifleman Andrew asked.
"Why are those wounded still here? Come on get it moving!" Corporal Willis yelled completely ignoring Rifleman Andrew's question. He had more important things to worry about.
"Oh God! Oh God!" the younger man screamed. "Don't let me die! Please. I'll do anything!"
"Calm the fuck down!" Rifleman Eric yelled trying to calm the young soldier down. He remembered his face but not the name. He did a quick check on his dog tags; Rifleman Steven Jeffery. He looked at the gaping wound in Rifleman Steven's belly and almost vomited. A loose knot of intestines hung out. It looked like uncooked black pudding he ate as a child. He'd stumbled across Rifleman Steven trying to push his own intestines back in and he decided to try to help. "You're going to be fine." Rifleman Eric lied.
"I can't feel anything. What's going on? Is it bad?" Rifleman Steven said in quick succession.
"Stop talking." Rifleman Eric said curtly. He'd have to find a way to stop the bleeding. If he didn't Steven would bleed out fast.
"Incoming fast movers!" someone yelled. Rifleman Eric instantly threw his body over Rifleman Steven's to try to provide some form of cover. He heard the uncanny buzzing and felt the heat wave from several explosions. When the buzzing faded away he looked around to see if any Tinnies were near. None. Good.
"You okay, kid?" Rifleman Eric asked. No answer. "Kid?"
Rifleman Eric looked down at Rifleman Steven and saw his own reflection in Rifleman Steven's lifeless eyes. Rifleman Eric just shook his head and moved on to the next wounded soldier.
"Take this." Lance Corporal David said as he shoved a L85A2 into Rifleman Andrew's arms.
"Thanks." Rifleman Andrew said. He looked at the rifle for a moment like he didn't know how to use it. Much like a child examined a brand new toy.
"Another wave of Tinnies incoming. Get ready people." Corporal Willis said.
"You okay, son?" Lance Corporal Willis asked Rifleman Andrew as they kneeled behind a line of sandbags.
"Yeah." Rifleman Andrew replied.
"Okay. Keep it up, mate. We're winning."
"Are we?" Rifleman Andrew said solemnly.
Lance Corporal David looked over at Rifleman Andrew and was about to say something when a flurry of Tinnie bullets zoomed over his head. Lance Corporal David looked down his ACOG scope and got a Tinnie in his sights. He squeezed off a quick three round burst. Two rounds hit the Tinnie in the chest while the last hit it in the head. The Tinnie stumbled forward before tripping over the body of another dead Tinnies. It didn't get back up. He then sighted a Tinnie who was jumping from car to car. He fired two bursts at the acrobatic Tinnie. The first missed its intended target but caught another Tinnie knocking that one off the bridge. The second burst caught the Tinnie in the groin area immobilizing it.
"More Tinnie fast movers inbound!" someone barked. Lance Corporal David got low to the ground and hoped and prayed he wouldn't get hit. He'd made it too far to die.
"Fuck!" Corporal Willis exclaimed as the last Challenger burst into a spectacular array of flames. The sixty something ton tank was thrown on its side like a toy lorry. He was now in the upstairs room of a café overlooking the bridge with Rifleman Justin and Major Flemming.
"We got bad news people." Rifleman Justin said.
"What now?" Corporal Willis asked with a deep frown.
"Fortieth Commando ain't coming. Their helis were taken down a few klicks from here." Rifleman Justin said after taking a deep breath.
"Well we're buggered now." Corporal Willis said as he looked down at his boots.
"Contact whoever is left on the other bridge. We're falling back. Forget this bridge." Major Flemming said.
"You sure, sir?" Rifleman Justin asked hesitating.
"That's an order soldier." Major Flemming confirmed. Rifleman Justin looked at Corporal Willis.
"He's in command. Give the order." Corporal Willis said. Rifleman Justin nodded and lifted the receiver to his ear. He almost threw it down when a loud, wailing, screeching sound came through the other end. It was like someone dragging their nails across a chalkboard.
"What the piss?" Major Flemming yelled as he covered his ears.
"I don't bloody know!" Rifleman Justin replied.
"Turn it off!" Corporal Willis barked. Just as he did one of the Tinnie spaceships hovered in front of one of the café's windows. Rifleman Justin realized the Tinnie spaceship looked like a mechanical wedge of pie.
"Get down!" Corporal Willis screamed. A split second later the Tinnie ship fired its two main weapons. Great bolts of energy tore through the room putting holes in walls and destroying anything in its way. Rifleman Justin threw himself on the ground and found himself laying on top of Corporal Willis. Corporal Willis just lay there gritting his teeth. Major Flemming took too long to hit the deck. A single bolt of white energy hit him square in the chest. A millisecond later he was splattered all over the café room. The only trace of him left was the blood and ribbons of meat that littered the room.
"Take that thing down! Take that thing down!" Rifleman Kyle yelled as he fired at the Tinnie ship with his L129 to no effect. One soldier shouldered a LAW and prepared to fire. Before he could a round took his head clean off. Rifleman Kyle pivoted on his heel and took the Tinnie down with two well-placed shots. He ran over to the dead soldier and moved the dead husk off the LAW. He picked it up and brushed the blood and bits of meat off of it and aimed at the Tinnie ship that was still firing into the café. The solid thump in his shoulder told him the rocket had cleared the tube. The muffled boom told him the rocket hit something. He tossed the now useless tube over his shoulder and watched as the Tinnie ship went side to side in a drunken fashion. A secondary explosion blew the Tinnie ship in half sending one part of it flying into a building and another coming right at him.
"Shit!" Rifleman Kyle screamed as he ran towards the bridge. He had two options. Either stand still and be crushed or run towards the Tinnies and get shot. He figured either way he would die. Better to go out like a hero.
"He has the idea!" Lance Corporal David yelled when he saw Rifleman Kyle run past him screaming like a banshee. He withdrew his bayonet from its sheath and secured it over the barrel.
"Men!" Lance Corporal David barked.
"Sir!" the fifteen or so surviving men replied.
"Fix…SWORDS!" Lance Corporal David shouted. He used that order because in the Rifle Regiments of the British Army, the term was used when their flintlock rifles carried sword bayonets and it survived until today. The sound of bayonets unsheathing almost overwhelmed the sound of the incoming Tinnie fire.
"It's been an honour to fight with you all, mates! Second Rifles…Charge!" Lance Corporal David yelled. He hopped over cover and screamed as loud as his lungs allowed him to. He was joined by the remains of 2nd Rifles. If they were going to die, they were not going to just sit there and let the enemy pick them off. They were going right up the enemies' arses.
The fifty or so Tinnies hesitated to fire as the small contingent of men rushed towards them. They knew the humans were stupid; but not stupid enough to openly charge them. The Tinnie delay allowed the men of the 2nd Rifles to close in with the Tinnie mass.
"Time for you to get off MY island!" Lance Corporal David screamed as the first Tinnie came into his bayonet's reach. A staggered line of men slammed into the Tinnies ranks marking the first bayonet charge by the men of the 2nd Rifles in the unit's recorded history.