A/N: Once again thank you for the reviews, I'm glad you all like the way I'm portraying your OC's. I was reading over my story so far and I noticed that there were some grammar problems and at some points had some misplaced modifiers. Because of this, I would like to have a Beta reader so if any of you would like to proof read my chapters before I put them up, please PM me. Thank you and here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story and the original characters, but they are in turn owned by the people who have submitted them.

General George S. Patton had a firm belief in the theory of quantity over quality. He also was very enthusiastic in the art of armored warfare, learning from his nemesis Erwin Rommel, a German tank commander during World War two. Had he seen the accomplishments that the United States had made in the development of our M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, he would have said; 'What took you so long?' The tank is the future of warfare, it can dominate a battlefield.

Our current enemies had not adapted to the armored warfare tactics that through recent years, the United States had mastered. A lack of mechanized vehicles also gave us an advantage. So far, only a small hovercraft dubbed the 'slider' and the bipedal mech that many call the 'walking gun' based on its crude design, has been the support vehicles of the infantry-based enemy. This is where Patton would have had a field day.

Looking through my bore sighted 9X40 scope on my Remington 770, I spotted an abandoned Abrams tank near a deserted outpost that had become overwhelmed. The Tank seemed to be in fairly good condition but its track was blown off and its main turret had scorch and blast marks on the sloped armor. The effective chobham armor had been able to deflect the incoming rounds from the alien's guns.

After leaving New York, our group attempted to regroup at the defensive positions on a map that we found in the Humvee. So far, out of the twelve FOB's that we had visited, there had been no survivors. Traveling from the southeastern corner of New York to Albany where the last perimeter was set up, the rest of the forces had been put in Boston where another large invasion was taking place. Apparently these invasions were occurring all over the world, targeting mass population centers and areas where little military presence was seen. Beijing and Shanghai in China, Berlin in Germany, Le Havre in France and Tokyo in Japan, had all been hit and there inferior militaries were not sustaining as well as we were in the U.S.

Now, I was on a scout mission with the Humvee that we had picked up, searching for enemies and possibly a better vehicle than the Humvee, it was very open and had already taken severe damage in the city and the suspension was nearly shot. My partner, Private Hideyoshi, was in the Humvee, keeping the engine warm in case we needed to make a quick escape.

I switched on my mike and radioed to an all channel frequency that the enemy could not track. The new frequency was being adapted by our military everywhere as we had learned at former bases. It was a low frequency radio that snuck under the radar of the enemy drone 'colonies' as they hovered above our heads.

"Colonel, McGrew here, I've spotted an Abrams that looks like it can run. Its track is hit but nothing we can't repair."

"Roger, go check it out to make sure, we'll rendezvous with you two momentarily, we're almost done refueling the Bradley." I confirmed Wilkins command then told the Japanese private that we were moving out.

I looked down my sights one more time and saw some movement of some shadows near the far side of the tank.

"Hold it Eryu, we got movement," I said sighting over the unknown contact. I kept looking before I saw a flash towards the opposite end of the tank. Quickly looking to the left, I saw a human in military fatigues pointing a sniper rifle towards me.

"You're dead buddy, come on down, I'm on your side. I need help repairing this tank, not familiar with the Abrams, We use the Leopard." The voice had a Canadian accent, not a heavy one, but noticeable.

"Coming down," I said, frowning that I had fallen for the simple trick. "Eryu, lets head down there, there's a friendly that were gonna meet, he seems like spec-ops personnel."

"Oh great, probably some Delta boy that went lone-wolf." He responded, kind of nervous that we were going to come face to face with an unidentified person.

"Not Delta," I said, climbing into the passenger seat of the Humvee, "He had a Canadian accent, might be part of their spec-ops."

We drove the 300 yards to where the Abrams lay and where an obviously well-trained military man stood, holding an M4A1 with M203 grenade launcher. As we stopped I noticed that he also had an Accuracy International Arctic Warfare .338 Lapua Magnum sniper strapped to his back, as well as a Glock 17 in a side holster and a 4" combat knife in a holster on his chest. He was also wearing a MICH Special Forces helmet. This guy was loaded for bear, actually, more like rhinoceros.

He took off his helmet exposing a brownish-blonde military-style hair cut. Standing at about six feet, he looked around his mid-twenties. He had intense green eyes that intimidated even me. A lot of people seemed to have green eyes in our group, strange. He also had a strong jaw with a small amount of stubble around his chin and mouth.

He actually was Canadian; he had a uniform that designated him as part of the Canadian Spec Ops Group. I knew them to specialize in arctic and forest warfare. I also knew they had some great snipers, some of the best in the world. Although that didn't explain why he was here in Albany, New York.

"Hey, if your Canadian why are down here?" I asked, checking to take a look at the Abrams, it was so cool up close.

"I was doing some training maneuvers with the 10th Mountain Brigade at Fort Drum, my company and your forces were all wiped out, they sent the drones in and knocked them out. I'm the last one. I made my way here because I heard there was a tank. Do you know how to fix this?" He asked gesturing towards the broken track on the right side of the tank. "Names Travis Lawrence by the way, I'm a Lieutenant."

"We might be able to but we need our Bradley to get here first we'll wait a little bit before they ge-"Hideyoshi was cut off by the rumble of the M2 Bradley, the standard support vehicle of the Abrams, perfect. The vehicle came to a stop and the rear doors opened up. Warrant Officer Valentine and my friend Matt stepped out of the IFV. They each stepped out with their rifles ready to fire on Travis.

"Don't worry, he's okay. Do we have any repair kits in the Bradley? There's some back up tracks and suspension wheels on the tank already but we need a power wrench and a hand welder," I said as the two lowered their weapons. Matt went around back and grabbed a repair kit from the crew compartment and brought it over. Inside was a small battery powered wrench with several different socket sizes. There was also a small propane welder with an additional next to it.

" Okay, this might take a while but we can get it done, I want the new suspension wheels on the tank and then the new track patches have to be connected together," The Canadian Lieutenant stated, " then we have to replace the armor on the side of the track. There's some extra ammo inside those supply crates in there, you two get them out and load them into the Bradley." He said gesturing towards me and Hideyoshi. "The others will help me get the repairs started. Where's your CO? I need to talk to him." I pointed towards the Bradley and he walked towards the side of the vehicle where the Colonel opened a side hatch.

"Sir, I need you to have your men set up a defensive position while we get these repairs going. Have the Bradley move towards those supply crates so we can load up some extra ammo and gas." The Colonel nodded and barked orders to the personnel inside the Bradley. A second later, every combatant left in the vehicle stepped out. They then formed defensive positions on the machine gun mounts that were left behind in the Army's retreat. The Bradley then pulled up to where Eryu and I had lifted up a large crate containing ten 120mm SABOT Anti-Tank shells. We loaded four of these crates, some containing SAOT rounds and some containing HE anti infantry shells.

Upon finishing loading the shells into the compartment behind and next to the driver and crew, Robin Alexander approached me as Hideyoshi went to help with the repairs. She was now wearing Fredericks old combat jacket, dried blood still stained the lower area of the protective wear.

"I feel useless just sitting here, teach me how to use one of those guns." She said pointing to the M16 I had strapped around my back. I said okay and went outside with her. I handed her the rifle and began to teach her how to hold and use the rifle.

"First things first," I said handing her the magazine I had released from the rifle, "in order to load your rifle you have to make sure that the bullets are far enough up that the receiver will accept the bullets." I demonstrated this by bumping the bottom of the mag on my helmet a couple of times. "Next, you load the rifle by slamming the mag into the little hole here bullets up and the outer curve facing towards you." She followed the steps well but did not slide the mag far enough into the receiver, not making the clicking sound.

"Hit the bottom of the mag, it didn't go in all the way," I said pointing to the bottom of the gun. "After that you want to pull that tab at the back of the ACOG sights, the one that has two little stubs sticking out the side." She followed and loaded a single shot into the rifle. "No your locked and loaded, now look here," I said walking up to here and grabbing the rifle, showing her the fire mode switch. "This here identifies whether the rifle is in safe mode, meaning it can't shoot, single fire or full auto. We're gonna start you off on single fire so you can get accustomed to the recoil. Now, hold the rifle tight to your soldier, bringing the sights to your eye, not your eye to the sight, its more accurate." As I said this, I mimicked what I would have done had I possessed a gun.

"Okay, but when can I shoot it? I want to get in this fight, my life's not getting any better." She said this with a somewhat sad look in her eyes.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" I asked sympathetically, wondering why she acted gloomy all of a sudden. She must have realized what she was doing because she quickly grew a determined look on her face and looked like she was in disbelief.

"What do you think happened? Aliens invaded, duh! Jeez, I thought you were smart to have survived, guess not." I looked at her with one eyebrow raised. Was she really expecting me to believe that bullshit? She kept up her demeanor for a few more seconds before she let out a heavy sigh and resumed her sad expression.

"Okay fine, it's something that happened a while ago and I'm just thinking of now. It's not important, don't worry about it." She said turning away. Feeling sorry for her I walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, if there's something bugging you, you can tell me, we're all in this together," I said, waving my hand towards the rest of our group. "If it would make you feel better, you can tell me, I'll try to help." I said, giving her what I hoped was a reassuring look.

"All right, when I was young my mom died when I when my younger sister was born, and my father died shortly after when I was six, leaving me with my bitch of a step mom Lucy. She treated me like shit but praised my younger sister Jeanine. Eventually I got so tired of her and I decided to run away. I wanted to bring my younger sister with me because I loved her, she was family after all, but I didn't think she could survive on the streets, she was eight and I was fourteen. I've been living as an urchin stealing and fighting for food and money. I haven't seen my sister since and I was wondering if she made it out of the city alive." Throughout her story she seemed to grow more and more depressed but when she finished her last sentence, she broke into tears.

I blushed and put an arm around her, saying it was okay and that her sister probably did make it out alive. "Hey, if she's anything like you she probably hit anything that stood in her way with a piece of plywood. She's strong, just like you, and the only way that you're going to see her again is for you to survive. She already did her part now it's your turn." I said helping her up. She hugged me and said thank you.

At that moment, Frankie came around the corner of the Bradley with Sean and said that the M1 was up and running. Upon looking at us she froze and then smiled, Sean did the same.

"Sorry to be interrupting, but we have to get moving, otherwise we'll be tracked by the ravagers, so if you two are done, Roberts needed in the tank." Me and Robin quickly separated, Blush's apparent on both of our faces. Sean just stood there chuckling and I threw my helmet at him. He dodged it and went back inside the Bradley with Crash.

"Alright I guess we have to go," I said turning towards Robin, "I'll see you when we stop for camp."

"Robert, thanks for talking to me, I had to let that off my chest, no one else would listen,"

"Hey, whether you like it or not, being able to use that rifle has made you one of my brothers in arms, your part of a whole new family, we support each other." I said picking up my helmet and walking away, waving as I did so.

As I neared the Abrams, I started to strap on my helmet but Travis stopped me, he waved his finger and gave me a tankers cap, the one with the earmuffs on the side, guess the gun was really loud. I followed him into the M1 where Matt was already sitting at the gunners controls.

"Hey Rob, this is just like the video game huh skeetsie?" he said, sharing an inside joke from a game that we played. I smiled and was about to head to the loaders station but was stopped by Gunny Rogers who had jumped in, apparently Lawrence was driving.

"Colonel wants you to be in command, he thinks that since you had the great plan for the bridge that you will do good for the tank as well. My, smile grew tenfold. I was now a tank commander, the only other thing I would have wanted more would have been to be a pilot but this was awesome. Rogers closed the hatch and set up the radio frequencies. We had17 Sabot rounds of ammunition and 20 of High Explosive. Damn, they must have bailed quick, they only got three shots off.

"Okay, lets test the turret ring. Gunner, traverse gun 360 degrees." I said, referring o matt who responded with "Aye, gun turning." I timed the traverse speed for the gun and measured it at around 40 degrees per second. "Good, Lieutenant take us out were heading west where the last line of defense that has been made according to the map, let's hope were not too late."

We were traveling for about an hour or two, pushing the Abrams to its limit and bringing it to an incredible speed of sixty miles an hour, only possible due to the fact that Travis ripped out the governor, disabling a speed limit, we where now moving faster than the fastest tank in world war two the soviet made A-20. Unfortunately, there were no seats in the Abrams, and the war torn streets were battered with holes, making the ride very bumpy, Rogers accidentally pressed the transmit button on the radio as I was saying some derogatory things about the Russians T90. Mainly that it sucked, and a couple of other obscene words that Abigail Carter did not need to hear.

"McGrew! Be quiet will ya? Why are you even talking on this channel?" Wilkins voice was pissed, and I was scared, the last thing you want is to have an angry war veteran pointing his displeasure at you, especially since he was a Marine.

"Sorry sir, were moving at ungoverned speeds and the vehicle is very bumpy, Rogers hit the transmit button at an inopportune time." I said, quickly covering my outburst while picking Rogers up off the floor.

"HMPH! Pull over here, were making a pit stop for gas, you were low on JP-8 anyways, we need to fill up on diesel." He said, referring to the JP-8 jet fuel that the Gas Turbine engines of the Abrams consumed.

"Aye sir, Travis, pull over here, we're making a gas break." He stopped the vehicle and I stepped out, since I was the commander, only I was allowed to get out and relax, according to combat doctrine. I laughed at Matt, got out and started to help Sean and Christian refill our gas tanks. After that was done, we were about to climb into our vehicles again when loud popping sounds were heard and bullets started flying past our heads, I jumped into the Abrams and closed the hatch as a mortar shot was fired from the aliens.

"HOLD! Rounds incoming!" I screamed, warning everyone to brace. The mortar strikes struck near us, rocking the tank but not hurting us.

"Get moving private! Are you ready to move?" The Colonel's voice was mingled with Coleman yelling attack orders for the driver.

"We are ready to rumble sir! Just give us a target!" I said as Travis started up the engine.

"Get to the open field, we can engage them better there." I told Lawrence to move to the field and began yelling combat orders to the crew. With a similar pattern of commands following this pattern:

"HEAT!"

"UP!"

"LOCKED!"

"SAFETY OFF!"

This process repeated with the loader telling when the round was loaded, me yelling that the shell was locked and ready to go, Matt flipping the safety off of his gun and stating that it was ready to fire and me finishing the command by yelling; "FIRE!"

The High Explosive shell ripped through the air with a bang and a flash of fire from the barrel of the cannon. When the shell landed, a large explosion tore through the forest, ripping alien bodies to shreds while burning trees and revealing enemy positions. We fired three more before we made it to the open field, that's when the alien armor came up. Two 'sliders' came from the road we were previously on and began firing grenades and incendiary machineguns at us.

This time I told Rogers to load a SABOT round to kill the enemy vehicle. "Gunner, traverse gun thirty degrees and track target for a five twenty degree deflection shot." I heard the hydraulic turning of the turret as it quickly began to target the enemy hovercraft. Our loading sequence started again and another shell was launched, incinerating the craft in the flames that were released from the SABOT shell.

The Aliens friend began to charge us, knowing it couldn't damage our armor enough in time with its gun so it tried to disable us by ramming the side of our tank. Similar to what the Soviets did to defeat the superior Tiger tanks in world war two. Knowing what the consequences would be if they managed to do that, I yelled for Travis to hit the gas. We propelled forward and Matt took control of the electronically powered .50 cal, decimating the vehicle with a quick thirty round burst.

We gave a yell of cheer but it was short lived as a series of explosions rocked the front end of our tank. I yelled through the radio "What the heck is going on outside?" as my optics were down and were fizzing.

"It's a walking gun! Keep hittin em!" Christian's voice came through the radio, I looked back through my optics and sure enough a walking gun was being loaded for another shot our frontal armor. 'Oh no you don't' I thought.

"Fire a sabot at that target!" I yelled to Matt as Rogers loaded another round, "On the way!"

The shell hit the mech, killing it and everything around it. Then, something that scared the shit out of me happened, the entire forest erupted with a terrible sound, then, a new kind of vehicle emerged. A quadrapedal mech that had two large machineguns in front with turret mounts on each of its shoulder joints on a crab like body. It opened up with its turrets, hitting our Abrams and forcing us to be knocked back by the sheer force.

Travis began to pull out as shells began to pierce the armor, narrowly missing us and dropping dead to the floor, having lost all momentum. I quickly ordered Matt to fire and a shell ripped the mechs leg apart. It stumbled, causing a break in fire. However, it quickly regained balance and its leg was somehow boosted up by some form of rocket engine where some ground infantry began to repair it.

Just as the guns began to glow again however, multiple missiles struck the mechs body, causing a blue green explosion to erupt from its center. I heard screams over the radio saying that it was our air. I opened the hatch and saw two A-10 Warthogs coming around for a strafing run on the forest where a large amount of enemies were retreating. Our celebration was short lived as a drone 'colony' came by and began to deploy fighters. One A-10 launched a Stiletto Air-to-Air short range missile. The blast killed one of the drones and another was knocked out by the other A10-'s missile strike.

I yelled into the hatch for Matt to target the 'colony.' The gun started turning, then elevating until it had a direct line of fire with the drone group.

"FIRE!" The shell raced through the air, causing a large explosion and taking down multiple of the drone ships, only two getting away, but they were chased down by the A-10's.

"Welcome back Devil Dogs, proceed East until you reach the FOB that we've established, we'll need every tank and soldier we can get for this counter attack, were not dead yet." As the last sentence of the A-10's transmission was spoken, three B-52 Stratofortress bombers flew overhead, where in the distance we could hear and feel the rumble of the powerful planes carpet bomb.

That's why I want to be a pilot.

A/N: sorry for the abrupt ending, but I was getting a little tired when writing the last bit. Thanks for reading and please tell me if any of you are interested in Beta Reading. See ya next time.