Day 2: 0700 Hours

Humphrey was completely appauled by what Blackjack had told him. Just by looking at him Humphrey would never have guessed that something like that would have happened to him as a kid. Blackjack's mild temperment played a role in that Humphrey supposed. The other thing that got to him was Blackjack and Lilly being together. Humphrey wouldn't admit it, but he was kind of jealous. Not so much of them being together, but the fact that they hadn't known each other nearly as long as he had known Kate, and they were already engaged.

The sun began to rise on the second day of the ordeal, and it brought with it, the work of packing up their gear. To their surprise, Humphrey was the first one to finish, aside from Blackjack, who had been awake since his discussion with Humphrey. None of them could tell what it was, but Humphrey had a certain moral boost that had him working harder than before. But they didn't have time to think, they were already starting to move out.

"So what's the gameplan," Garth asked enthusiastically.

"Easy son you'll give us all diabetes," Blackjack joked, causing the others to laugh.

"Well, yesterday when the initial attack occured we reported it to base command, who immediately started mobilizing armored regiments to the south and setting up outposts. We're going to link up with one of the outposts and help with the oush north," Midnight answered as he slung his ruck sack onto his back.

"Someone please tell me we have an idea of which direction to walk," Mooch groaned. Ricoh laughed and shook his head.

"I wouldn't worry about that too much big guy, as long as we find a good sized clearing I can call us in an extraction vehicle," Ricoh said as he gave Mooch a pat on the back.

"Hey, I think there's an old artillery field near here, think that would work," Kate asked hopefully.

"Probably, I mean, I don't see why it wouldn't. As long as we can get there without drawing too much attention to ourselves," Ricoh replied as he straooed his radio pack to himself. After a couple more minutes of packing their gear and collecting their bearings, the group set out for the artillery range. It was about three miles east of where they were, which was easier to walk than the twenty it would have taken to get to the nearest American outpost.

Thankfully for them the path leading to the outpost was overgrown enough to keep tanks from penetrating it, but not too thick to keep them off of it. They made idle chatter with each other along the way, just trying to pass the time, except for Ricoh who was busy calling in a helicopter pickup. The only problem with the conversations, Humphrey found, was trying to keep Blackjacks story to himself.

He knew Blackjack wouldn't want him to be telling everyone that his family and best friend were murdered on his brithday, but he felt like his friends deserved to know. It wasn't like him to keep secrets from them, and they could tell when he was hiding something. He tried to keep his mind on other things, like Kate.

"Humphrey, what's up," Saltey asked stepping up beside up him. Humphrey guled and then acted like he didn't know what Saltey was talking about.

"Oh nothing, just a lot happened yesterday, you know," Humphrey tried to seem sincere, but Saltey didn't buy it.

"Humphrey, you're the worst lier ever, now come on tell old Saltey whats bothering you," Humphrey bit his lip but shook his head.

"It's something that new guy Blackjack told me last night. It really got to me," Humphrey replied uneasily.

"Well what is it, I'm sure it can't be that bad," Just about the time Slatey finished, Byron and Haze fell back to jump into the conversation.

"Trust me Saltey, you don't want to know," Byron said.

"It's not exactly something that he tells to everyone," Haze continued.

"It took him three months before he even told any of us,"

"The fact that he told Humphrey after only knowing him for a day means he either really trusts you, or he really wants to help you,"

"Is it really that bad," Saltey asked in disbelief.

"Well, let's just say he's only told us and Ricoh, not even Midnight or Lilly know yet," Byron replied. Humphrey's eyes widened as he remembered that Blackjack and Lilly were engaged, and the fact that he hadn't told her the worst event in his life, was really shocking.

"Sounds like he's had it pretty rough," Saltey said as he slowly looked away.

"Worse than what you would expect given how friendly he is," whispered Haze as he pointed to Blackjack who was playfully handing Lilly a small flower he had found.

"Well guys I've got some good news and some bad news," Ricoh said interrupting the conversation, "The good news is we have an evac, the bad news is the artillery field is in dead sight for the Russian guns. In other words the second they see that chopper on RADAR you can guarentee that tey'll have shells comming out way," Ricoh finished grimly.

"We could try an airstrike," Haze suggested.

"Too easy, they'd be shot down by a SAM before they knew what hit them," Blackjack shot back.

"What about a UAV," Byron suggested. Midnight thought for a second and then nodded.

"Good idea, their missiles wouldn't be able to reach a Reaper drone at the maximum ceiling. With the drone shooting back range doesn't matter, the missile's comming so even if it ran out of fuel it would still knock them out. Ricoh, see if you can get us a drone to soften them up a bit," Midnight said with a sadistic smile.

"Gotcha,"

The rest of the walk was filled with silence. Everyone was too nervous to say anything. They didn't know how far the enemy had penetrated into the forrest, for all they knew they could run across a huge patrol of enemy scouts and get mowed down. Even worse than that was the thought of running across a tank. Pitty rifles would be no match for the thick composite armor of a T-90, not even Garth's .50 caliber sniper rifle would stand a chance against a tank.

They found their way to the lightened forrestry arround a long field that seend to stretch on forever. It was littered with blast craters and scorched Earth, dead vehicles that had been left to rust, and the shrapnel of thousands of artillery rounds. It was hard to believe that on this seemingly endless plain a gun could still hit them.

"Now we wait," Midnight said softly, just in case their were a few forward observers. They all sat down and just tried to pass the time. Humphrey noticed that Blackjack and Lilly had partially excluded themselves, and were holding hands. Something about seeing that just made him feel, alone. Almost 20 minutes had passed before they heard the sign of relief they were hoping for. The spinning of rotors on a helicopter. It grew louder and louder, but also heavier and deeper. Finally, their air support burst over the tree tops and rvealed themselves, right about the time several loud explosions rang through the valley.

Before them were three helicopters in all. Two, were AH-64 Apache Longbows, armed to the teeth and ready to kill. The other was the behemoth of the group. A Sikorsky CH-53 Super Stallion. It was the largest helicopter in the entire western hemisphere. Seven rotors, capable of carrying 30,000 pounds of cargo. The massive vehicle dwarfed the two attack helicopters, and made the group look like ants.

"Think they over did it," Hutch asked sarcastically.

"Probably not look," Ricoh shouted and pointed down thee field, where an entire battallion of Russian mercenaries and at least four armored divisions were moving in. Almost instantly a hail of bullets slammed into the trees around the group, who all ducked down to avoid being hit. The Apaches sprung into action and unleashed hell onto the oncomming troops, but they only had so much ammo. Midnight looked up to see Super Stallion in position to pick them up and he looked at the group intensely.

"Mooch, Haze, and Blackjack lay down some supressing fire, everyone else to the chopper," Midnight shouted. Everyone was hesitant at first, until Midnight darted alone to the helicopter, then they joined in. Haze and Blackjack both jumped into action, pulling out Steyr AUG's with extended barrels and extended magazines. Mooch tried to get up, but whenever he would try a bullet would fly by his head and slam into a tree and he would duck back down.

"What's the matter with you, come one get up," Haze barked. Mooch started to but yet another bullet bounced beside of him and he started to tear up.

"I didn't sign up for this man," he cried. Blackjack knealt beside of him and looked into his tear filled eyes.

"Listen to me, you will be alright, go for the chopper, I have you covered," Blackjack said calmly. Mooch was shocked at how calm Blackjack was being and he wiped the tears from his face. Blackjack made the encrouaging notion to put in a fresh magazine and pat him on the shoulder, don't worry, you'll make it.

Mooch nodded and took a deep breath. He jumped over the bushes and sprinted towards the helicopter. He heard Blackjack right behing him, not letting off of his triger for a single second. The relief he felt when his feet hit the metal cargo ramp was umbelievable, he wanted to sit down in the first seat he could, but he rushed to the front of the cargo bay and joined the others. He turned around to see Blackjack stepping on board and just as Haze's foot stepped on the ramp, he jerked and hit the ground. At that moment everything began to slow down.

Haze fell to the ground slowly, and Blackjack who had a smile on his face, frowned and turned. He was just as shocked as mooch was. Before Mooch could even react Blackjack ran back and pulled Haze on board. Mooch couldn't move, he was paralyzed by fear. Midnight pushed his way past him and helped Blackjack pull him towards the front of the helicopter as they began to take off.

"Canadian forces we welcome you aboard Wolvering 3-1, emergency exits are located anywhere you can get your ass off of the helicopter, and there are two .50 caliber machine guns in the front for your enjoyment. So just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride," one of the pilots laughed at them. They started to laugh, until they say Blackjack and Midnight pulling Haze aboard. Suddenly, even the roar of the helicopters rotors, was dead silent.