Been a long time since a submitted anything on this site- and to this specific story. I've worked on the next few chapters for it so I'll be uploading them all tonight. Well, no one's really taken a look at this story yet but I still like this story. My other story, which has gotten much more review (positive reviews so far besides urging for length) is what I want to work in but I've hit kind of a bump with it. I'll think of something though.
Anyways, I hope this chapter which has been taken from the Co-op Campaign and integrated into the single player stories.
And to any of the folks who've read my Halo Reach story who happen to stumble on this, I'll be trying to devote some time to that story because we're almost finished with that phase of Grey's life. I say we, but I'm the one writing it.
...
Okay, we all write it a little bit. I thrive from your positive feedback and your enjoyment of the stories.
Chapter Three: Operation Exodus
Cpl. Warren Holliday – 1st Recon Marines
March 16, 2014. 1300 Zulu Time
Al Sulaymaniyah, Iraq
Doc Holliday walked along the street. He had to admit, the engineers had worked pretty fast. A lot of rubble was removed from the street and the overpass where Misfit One-Three and One-Four had been hit by the earthquake was actually visible. Holliday was surprised it was still standing.
Holliday sat down in the shade, taking off his helmet and scratching his blonde hair. His brown eyes looked at the scene a few meters down the road from the overpass. They had recovered dozens upon dozens of marines from the rubble. Most were in pretty bade shape.
Operation Exodus was simple; recovered every marine possible that was unaccounted for after the earthquake and pull out of the city. It was difficult since they didn't have any major support.
The only support Holliday could see was six HUMVEEs and a nice arsenal of recovered weapons.
Holliday felt sad and guilty for some reason, like he should be one of the men who were wounded. He hated his mindset for combat; sure, he would be the first one to pick up a rifle, but he was always scared despite the confidence that always came with his voice. He was always scared, always afraid to do his job as a medic, afraid that something would happen.
Maybe it was because he was only twenty-three had didn't have as much combat experience as guys like in Misfit. He hoped that those guys were okay too. Holliday knew he had to, but didn't want to have to tell them that Chaffin had died on their way out of the city. During the attack on the staging area, another bullet had hit him and as they retreated in an LAV he had bled to death.
Holliday felt like a failure. He had let Chaffin's team down- let Chaffin down.
He explained all of this to the new member of his squad who had joined them yesterday. The marine wasn't exactly 'new'. He had been a marine far longer than Holliday and was three years older than him.
Corporal Patrick Grant was gruff, rough and tough in appearance, mentality and even in his voice. He had dark skin, but lighter than Captain Cole's, whom Holliday briefly met the day before. To complete his appearance Grant had short black hair and vivid green eyes that always seemed to pierce Holliday.
"Why do you always talk to me about this shit?" Grant growled to Holliday when he went to Holliday for some extra water. "Grow a pair would ya?" with that, Grant started to walk off but Captain Brady came over the comms.
"Priority transmission; we're evacuating this base. Scouts have reported large numbers of enemies advancing towards our position. We're expecting immediate contacts. Our defensive line is weakened but we need to hold the perimeter until the evac choppers are ready to leave."
Holliday put a hand to his headset.
"Sir, who are we gonna put on defense? All of the troops are falling back to help with the loading- we don't have a full squad up here, it's just me and Grant."
"You two are gonna have to hold'em off. I'll keep you posted; good luck gentlemen- out."
"Son of a bitch…" Grant growled. "C'mon Doc, let's take up position on that overpass."
"I don't have a weapon with me." Holliday and Grant started jogging to the overpass. Grant turned and tossed Holliday an M16 with a scope and grenade launcher attached, followed by a bandolier of ammunition clips and grenade rounds.
"I'll grab an M249 and a Javelin." Grant started moving around the cache of weapons that had been set up nearby. "Here, take this M39 too. It's got a scope and we can pick off targets at a distance. I'll plant a couple of AT mines and claymores just in case."
Holliday obeyed Grant and got up on the overpass and went prone, aiming with the assault rifle. Grant came up a few minutes later, setting up his LMG and putting the Javelin nearby.
It was quiet as they aimed down at the road. The bodies and wreckage from the day before were mostly cleared away, but a few bloated corpses remained. Holliday knew they were enemies but he couldn't help but grimace and feel sorry for the unburied dead. "What's that?"
Holliday picked up the M39 and looked through the scope.
"Contact north, lone enemy scout. Shit…he just ducked out of sight." They called Captain Brady, informing him of their sighting.
"We're expecting an attack any minute. If you're not already, get up on that walk bridge and scout the north, over."
"Already set up defenses and awaiting the attack sir." Grant said.
"And keep an eye on the gun trucks, if we lose them they'll push through easily, over."
A moment later, a mortar shell landed on the street. Holliday and Grant both swore and ducked down, letting dust and sand rain down on them. Grant looked back up.
"Eyes on multiple targets, light'em up!" he began firing short bursts from his LMG. More mortars fired and landed closer and closer to the overpass. "Mortar pop; find cover!" they both rolled in behind some sandbags as shells landed right in front of them. Holliday could hear the steaming hot shrapnel whizz through the air and embed themselves in the sandbags. "C'mon Holliday- weapon's free pour it on'em!"
Holliday got back up with Grant and they both began firing. The enemy force wasn't large and moving in groups. They would move one man at a time, sprinting from cover to cover. Holiday began to fire grenades from the launcher on his rifle at cars. The cars would explode and the fiery explosion would take down several enemies as they waited their turn to move.
Behind them, the HUMVEEs gunners were firing the heavy machine guns, raking down the advancing PLR. Holliday and Grant burned through their ammunition, and Grant would send Holliday running back and forth between the cache and their position on the overpass on ammo runs.
After about ten minutes of holding the enemy back, a large object appeared on the road.
"We've got an armored vehicle moving up on the left!" Holliday yelled. Grant picked up the Javelin and locked onto it in the small screen. The rocket flew upwards and forwards before slamming straight down on top of the enemy APC.
With the destruction of the APC, the PLR in front of the duo fell back. Holliday and Grant stood up, regaining their composure. "Holy shit…" Holliday panted. "Did we beat them?"
"No, the PLR wouldn't give up that easily. You saw how they fought yesterday." Grant shook his head. "This is going to get a lot worse. Better reload…" Holliday did so and went back as just another wave began attacking them.
Holliday and Grant continued to repel them. The second wave was smaller than the first and was dealt with in a few minutes. "Holliday, get us some more ammo up here."
"Roger." Holliday hurried down the stairs and grabbed an armful of clips. As he began moving back to the stairs, an RPG was fired and the rocket knocked Holliday over.
"Contact, west side!" groggily, Holliday tried to get up. Grant ran down the stairs, firing his pistol. He grabbed Holliday's vest and dragged him back into cover as Holliday fired his own sidearm and the enemies that were pouring out from the alley near the overpass. "Can you stand? Can you fight?" Grant asked once they were in cover.
"Yeah, yeah I'm good to go."
"Good. Enemy counterattack!" the two stood up and returned fire, cutting down the hostiles that had grouped together. "Rooftop at my one o' clock!" Holliday raised his rifle and used up his clip hitting the sharpshooters that were aiming down at them.
Steadily, the pair made their way back to the staircase of the overpass and continued to defend from there. "APC!" another armored vehicle rolled out of the alley, firing its gun at the HUMVEEs.
"Grant I'll knock out the treads with a grenade. You finished it off with a frag!"
"Copy that!" Holliday slammed an M203 round into the launcher, aimed at the side of the APC and fired. He missed, only making a black smudge on the armor. He reloaded and tried again. This time the grenade hit the tread dead on. It broke and slid off the wheels.
Holliday provided cover fire for Grant, who dropped his LMG and sprinted for the APC. He pulled out his pistol as he jumped onto the front, shooting an enemy as he opened a hatch. Another enemy was taken down by Grant as he clambered onto the turret.
He pulled the pin on a frag grenade, kicked open the hatch and dropped it in. Grant kicked the hatch back down and stepped off. The grenade detonated, generating a metallic explosion within mixed with screams. Grant hopped back onto the APC and grabbed onto the machine gun mounted on top of the turret.
Holliday watched as Grant used the machine gun to kill the remaining PLR who were attacking from the alley. But he saw a silhouette moving on a rooftop, and Holliday was sure it had a rocket launcher.
"Grant, get off the MG!" Grant was still firing the machine gun and couldn't hear Holliday. "Grant! Grant!" Holliday ran for the APC, scrambled on and pulled Grant from the turret. Before Grant could even ask what he was doing Holliday flung himself from the APC's turret along with Grant. The rocket destroyed the APC but with that, the survivors of the attack retreated.
Holliday helped Grant to his feet. They dusted themselves off and Grant gave a curt nod towards Holliday.
"Get some bodies up on the eastern perimeter. Reorg and grab ammo on the way over."
"C'mon Doc, I know a nice little spot where we can get the drop on anything that moves." The pair retrieved their weapons, including the M39 and the Javelin. Following the HUMVEEs to the right of the overpass under a large archway, they ran for a ladder that Grant had pointed out.
But the ground shook and rumbled and the two lost their footing.
"Sir, what the hell was that? Are we going to have another earthquake?"
"Those are aftershocks. Hold your ground." Captain Brady assured them, but Holliday could sense the hint of nervousness in his voice. He and Grant climbed up the ladder and set up along some sandbags near the second, smaller ammo cache.
"Okay Doc, set up that rifle's bi-pod. I'll go prone with the LMG." The rooftop of the building they were on was lower than most of the buildings around them, but it still provided a good vantage point on the T shaped road ahead of them. The area was not cleaned up as well as the previous one; rubble clogged the alleyways and cars were thrown all over the road.
Voices could be heard in the distance and Holliday tensed up, his grip tightening on his rifle. "Stay ready, they're regrouping." Overhead, a Little Bird attack chopper joined the defense, giving some relief to Holliday on the ground.
"Eyes on multiple enemies, light'em up! Weapons free pour it on them!" yelled the Little Bird pilot. Holliday began to pick off targets as Grant suppressed them to keep the enemy from moving. They either moved down the main road or through the parking lot. Down the road they were easy to snipe for Holliday. Through the parking lot to the right of the road, the PLR were easily cut down by Grant.
The Little Bird changed direction and buzzed way.
"What…what the hell? Where's it going?" Holliday asked as he reloaded. A new, larger wave of enemies appeared that made more progress than the last. But through enough ammo, the HUMVEEs, Holliday and Grant were able to hold them off.
To their dismay another wave arrived this time with armored support. Again, the pair responded with a Javelin rocket which destroyed the APC. As the third wave started to press their attack, Captain Brady came over the comms.
"Birds are ready to lift off. Let's get outta here!"
Holliday and Grant scurried down the ladder, following the HUMVEEs as they started to move out of the city.
"Come on, come on!" Grant shouted as mortars started shelling the streets again.
"They're right behind us!" Holliday cried as they found some cover on the highway. The HUMVEEs had sped from sight and the two were left fighting the advancing PLR again. The chopper was nowhere in sight.
"Where the hell is it!"
The chopper finally appeared and circled once before landing on a clearer spot on the road. Holliday ran first with Grant beside him.
His mind was focused on nothing but getting to that chopper. Behind hundreds of PLR were swarming in to finish them off. Holliday wasn't going to die here.
The pair jumped into the chopper, firing at the enemies that were now below them, firing at them and the retreating convoy. Once they were clear, Grant and Holliday exchanged a glance, amazed that the two of them had been able to hold.
Back at basecamp, Holliday and Grant were sitting silently in Captain Brady's tent at his request. The whole base was overloaded with wounded, and some had been moved to their tent. Moaning and cries of pain filled the air, as well of the stench of blood and flesh.
"Maybe'll we get some R and R after what we just did." Grant said, breaking the silence between them.
"I doubt it." Holliday sighed, rubbing his face.
"Handled yourself well out there- that was a nice call on the APC that snuck up on us…"
"Thanks…you deaf asshole." Grant snorted and smiled. "Y'know, maybe we will get some R and R."
"Sadly no." Captain Brady strolled up, putting a hand on Holliday's shoulder. "I've heard that the big dicks have already started cooking up a plan to go into Iran. But anyways, I've got something I want to talk to you two about, come with me."
Brady sat down on a nearby table across from Grant and Holliday- he was smiling. "You two did an excellent job out there today. I don't care what anyone says, you two are the reason any of those wounded marines got back here. You two are a pair of heroes."
Grant snorted and Holliday rolled his eyes.
"Thanks for saying sir." He said anyways.
"I'm putting you two in for some medals and promotions to sergeant but I got something better." Brady sat down; his eyes alight with a new idea.
Brady was a younger officer compared to men like Cole, but just as experienced- if not a better commander. Although his actions shifted towards recklessness, he was a favorite among the marines since he had risen through the ranks legitimately from buck private to captain. Brady was also an ex-marksman, so as he put it, he didn't have time for bullshit.
Holliday and Grant looked at each other, than back at Brady. "You two work really well together, like a two man army. I'm giving you a special callsign: Snake Six-Six. You two are gonna be my elite, my shock troopers. If I got a sticky situation that needs handling, you two are going in. Sound good?"
"Yes sir." Grant answered immediately.
"Sounds good to me, sir."
Brady smiled and clapped his hands together and rubbed them with a laugh.
"Great, you two are gonna be one of my most valuable military assets. Hell, maybe you'll even be recognized enough to do some PLR priority target hunting." Brady left the two, who looked at each other with doubtful looks on their faces.
"Next he'll make us save the world."