It was 1815 HRS and three helicopters were flying through the Zagros Mountains, making their way towards the landing zone, near where the Caelus scans showed had found the supposed location of Saddam's chemical weapons.
"Coyote Two, this is Mailman Two-One Actual. We are on approach and ready to go dark. Over." Jason spoke into his radio.
"Copy, Mailman Two-One Actual. You are on your own. Good luck and Godspeed." the operator replied.
"Roger that. Tango Mike. Over." Jason replied back.
"We'll see you on the other side. All call signs, silence, silence, silence. Coyote Two out." the operator said, cutting communications.
Jason took the moment to look over everyone in the helo. Eric was adjusting his prosthetic leg and Joey and Merwin were exchanging dirty your mama jokes with each other while Rachel next to him seemed to be annoyed with them.
"You two wanna cut the bullshit and focus on the mission?" she scolded.
"Hey! Only one place I let a women boss me around like that alright? And that's between the sheets." Merwin said.
"Well, so much for the Colonel wanting everyone to show Rachel respect." Jason thought as Merwin said that.
"I'm surprised your mom lets women into your bedroom. Don't want her getting jealous now." Rachel wittingly replied back to Merwin.
"Damn Rachel!" Joey laughed.
"Hey! The fuck y'all laughing at?" Merwin replied.
Jason connected his earpiece with Nick's.
"Sergeant Kay, I need you to establish contact with the AWACS CP on four hour intervals." Jason informed.
Jason got no reply.
"Sergeant Kay, are you with me?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, I got it. Contact CP every four hours." Nick called back from up in the cockpit.
Jason was concerned about Nick, the fellow marine had always been a quiet guy and knew he was still haunted by what happened at the checkpoint three weeks ago, but there was something more to it. Nick seemed to be distracted about something and Jason felt like he should try to find out exactly what it was. He got up from his seat and made his way up to the cockpit.
"Hey, you okay?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, I'm straight." Nick tried to assure, but Jason wasn't buying it.
"What's going on in there?" Jason asked as he tapped his head.
"Just some shit I gotta work through, man. It's all good, I'm chill." Nick tried to assure Jason again.
"So, tell me what's up?" Jason asked.
Nick looked to Jason, figuring it was best to let Jason know instead of keep it bottled up inside him.
"Remember I told you, I had something with one of the jawns on base?" Nick asked in a whisper.
"Shit, Nicky, this about a girl? You never did tell me, who it was" Jason said, intrigued to hear who it was.
Nick didn't answer, he just looked into the back of the helicopter. Jason followed Nick's line of sight and was surprised to see him looking at Rachel.
"You're fucking with me." Jason said, looking back at Nick, not believing him.
"It's over." Nick said in a glum voice. "She put us 'on ice' when her old man showed up."
"Well fuck." Jason said, feeling sorry for Nick, but also a bit of relief.
Jason knew if Eric found out Nick was making moves on his wife, fists could start flying and that was something they didn't need right now.
"That's probably for the best buddy. You got any other surprises you want to drop on me?" Jason asked.
"Nah, that's all she wrote." Nick assured.
Jason and Nick knocked their fists on top of each other.
"Semper Fi." Jason said.
"Semper Fi." Nick repeated.
Jason returned to his seat, Clarice looking towards him and Nick.
"Semper Fi? What's that, some kinda boy scout thing?" she asked.
"It's a marine thing. It means 'always loyal.'" Joey answered.
"So what? It's supposed to be lucky?" Clarice asked.
"Marines have a boat load of superstitions. Like they say to never look back when you're disembarking the helo, otherwise you curse the whole team."
"That's gotta be about the stupidest thing I have ever heard." Clarice said, laughing it off.
"Yeah, well maybe, but as I see it, why take the chance." Joey tried to rationalize.
"Eyes forward at all times. You look backwards in a warzone, it's no wonder you get your ass shot off." Merwin supported.
The light in the helicopter suddenly went red as it beeped, signaling that they were going to be landing soon.
"We're good to go marines! This is what we were sent here to do and may God be my witness, we're gonna succeed." Jason said, pepping everyone up.
"Amen to that brother. OORAH!" Merwin shouted.
"OORAH!" Jason, Nick, and Joey shouted in suite.
The helicopters arrived at the target landing zone, just outside what appeared to be a small shepherd village. The marines all poured out, weapons drawn and gas masks on.
"Hey Joey!" Merwin called to the young marine.
When Joey looked, Merwin looked back at the helicopter, which scared the already frightened marine.
"Why the fuck did you have to go and do that?" Joey exclaimed.
Merwin just laughed in amusement while Joey held the crucifix around his neck to his mask, where his mouth would be, praying to God that Merwin looking back didn't doom them all to die. As the marines approached, they noticed a single shepherd running towards the village, shouting something in Arabic.
"Sir, we've been made! Awaiting orders!" Nick said, looking to Jason.
"Alpha team! Assault the building in front!" Jason ordered.
If this village was where Saddam's chemical weapons were held, than there could be Iraqi soldiers here guarding them and these shepherds could possibly be disguised soldiers. Jason didn't want to take any chances, so they had to hit them fast and hard. They all moved forward, Jason and Nick reaching a building, bracing themselves beside the door while Merwin kicked it down, giving Jason the opportunity to throw in a smoke bomb.
"Go!" Jason ordered.
"US forces!" Merwin shouted as he and Nick entered first.
Jason followed in a moment after them, as he did a shepherd came running towards him. Jason, not even thinking, fired, shooting the shepherd dead. It was than that Jason realized what he had done. He bent down and patted the shepherd for weapons to see if he was a soldier, but he didn't seem to have any, he was just a shepherd.
"Oh no, not again." Jason whispered to himself, thinking back to the checkpoint three weeks.
Jason pushed those thoughts away and focused back on the mission at hand.
"Passage clear!" Jason shouted.
The marines went into rooms of all the building and had the shepherds get on the ground with their hands behind their heads. When everything was clear, Jason went outside to meet up with Nick.
"Compound is secure. Prisoners are playing ball." Nick informed.
"Roger. Get Corporal Merwin to pop yellow smoke at the LZ and bring in the Colonel." Jason ordered.
After telling Merwin to signal Eric and Rachel, Jason, Nick, and the rest of the marines did a basic sweep of the area to see if they could see any entrance to the silo, but found none. As they waited for Eric and Rachel, Nick went up to Jason and voiced his concern.
"This raids a bust! These people are not the enemy. They're just shepherds." Nick proclaimed.
Jason didn't respond and went to talk with Eric and Rachel, who had just entered the village.
"Lieutenant Kolchek, a sitrep if you will." Eric commanded.
"Sir, we've secured the farm with minimal casualties." Jason reported.
"Casualties?" Rachel exclaimed. "How minimal are we talking?"
"I took one down." Jason answered.
"Was this casualty a hostile or a civilian, Lieutenant Kolchek?" Rachel asked.
"We didn't get a chance to make introductions, ma'am." Jason said.
"Was he armed?" Rachel asked.
Jason was about to say that he wasn't, but before he could, Eric asked if they had found the entrance to the underground silo.
"Negative sir. If there is one, it's well camouflaged." Jason replied.
"'If there is one?' What does that mean, Lieutenant?" Eric questioned.
Jason looked towards Rachel, not forgetting her question about whether the man he killed was armed or not.
"Colonel, I don't think these men are hostile. I'm starting to think they're just shepherds." Jason said honestly.
"Are you sure? Couldn't it be a cover?" Eric suggested.
"If these are civilians, Lieutenant Kolchek, then you just killed an innocent man." Rachel stated.
The three moved forward towards the first house.
"That went smoothly." Corporal Merwin said as he came out of the house.
"You think?" Rachel questioned.
"Got the place locked down tighter than a virgin's-" Merwin began.
"Do not finish that sentence, Corporal." Rachel warned. "Are they ready for questioning?"
"Yeah, just don't ask them any tough physics questions." Merwin said.
Rachel, Eric, and Jason entered the house, Jason reminding the men to stay sharp, wanting to know if someone so much as raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know about you guys, but something doesn't feel right about this place." Clarice said, unable to get rid of the uneasy feeling she felt traveling down her spine.
"Oh yeah? So, is that this, uh, women's intuition I keep hearing about?" Merwin asked.
"Yeah, you want to hear what happens when you piss it off?" Clarice threatened, sick of Merwin's crude sense of humor and seemingly disrespect for women at this point.
Merwin raised his hands in peace.
"No ma'am, I wouldn't want you to hurt your dainty little fingers." Merwin laughed.
"Asshole." Clarice hissed.
Back inside the house, Rachel and Jason were entering a room, where three shepherds were being pat down. Rachel looked and saw the body of the shepherd Jason killed.
"What happened here, he doesn't look like a hostile?" Rachel demanded, looking towards Jason.
"With all due respect, but you weren't there and I ain't taking no chances." Jason said.
"Well that's just great." Rachel said, frustrated.
"It is what it is." Jason shrugged.
"No, lieutenant, it's not! You killed a man!" Rachel snapped.
Rachel took another look at the body.
"But maybe we can use this to our advantage." Rachel said, planning on using the man's death as leverage if she had to.
Rachel bent down and began speaking to one of the kneeling shepherds in Arabic.
"As-salamu alaykum, brother. I'm going to ask you some questions and you must answer truthfully. Where is the entrance to the silo?" Rachel asked.
The shepherd didn't respond.
"Any orders, ma'am?" Jason asked, ready to personally make the shepherd talk if he had to.
"I think you've done enough already, don't you?" Rachel said before speaking to the shepherd again. "I'm going to ask you one more time. Where is the silo located?"
The shepherd didn't respond, but he looked up at something on the side wall. Everyone else looked and saw many hanging effigies on the wall, a stick with two x's.
"What the Hell is that?" Jason exclaimed.
"Some kind of effigy. Possibly pagan." Rachel guessed before deciding to ask the shepherds. "What does this mean?"
"You'll find out soon enough." the shepherd said ominously.
Jason grabbed onto one of the effigies and examined it.
"What the fuck?" Jason exclaimed, looking at the strange object.
Jason accidently pricked his finger on one of the sharp ends of the effigy, a drop of blood splashing onto the floor. His temper now flaring, Jason vandalized the effigies, taring them down from the wall and throwing them onto the floor.
"Fuck you and your voodoo shit!" he shouted towards the shepherds.
Whoever these people were, they weren't shepherds or Saddam's men, they were some sort of cult, Devil worshippers as far as Jason was concerned.
"Fool." the shepherd Rachel was talking to said.
"How many of you are there here?" Rachel demanded the shepherd, who still remained silent.
Rachel grabbed onto the shepherd and forced him to look at the one Jason had killed.
"We're not playing games, brother. We've shown you how serious we can be. Now, where is the silo?" Rachel demanded.
Still the shepherd wouldn't respond, and Rachel decided she wouldn't get anything out of him. She and Jason entered another room, where a marine was interrogating a single shepherd.
"This man was armed ma'am." the marine informed, gesturing towards an assault rifle against the wall.
"Everyone in this country is armed." Rachel replied before addressing the shepherd. "That's a mighty big gun you've got there, brother. Surely too big for scaring the jackals away from the goats. Where is the entrance to the silo?"
The shepherd spat in Rachel's face. Jason tried to jam the butt of his rifle into the back of the shepherd's head, but Rachel stopped him and turned back to the shepherd.
"Do that again and I'll tear you up into pieces and feed you to the fucking jackals." she coldly warned the shepherd. "Are there anymore captives?"
"Yeah, in the other hut." Jason informed.
Rachel told the shepherd she be back for him later and began to make her one to one of the other hut, Jason following close behind. As they exited the hut, Eric was barking orders, basically telling the marine to tare apart every inch of the area until the silo was found. As they made their way towards the hut, Jason noticed Joey away from the others, whistling with a skittish look on his face.
"You holding up okay there Joey?" Jason asked.
"I swear, Merwin's brought some bad juju down on us." Joey said.
Jason smirked at Joey's non-stop tendency to believe in marine superstitions.
"I don't believe in curses, the tooth fairy, or Santa Claus." Jason said.
Joey was able to crack a smile.
"The tooth fairy, yeah, but Santa? Say it ain't so! You've truly fucked up Christmas man." Joey said.
"Eyes alert, Joey, just holler if you see any Iraqi's pop their heads out of the sand." Jason said.
Joey nodded and Jason went to catch up with Rachel in the other hut.
"There ain't shit here." Nick said as Jason passed him.
Jason stopped and turned towards Nick.
"You got something to say, Sergeant?" Jason questioned.
"Look at the ground. What'd you see? Jack shit! If there was a silo, where's all the tracks?" Nick pointed out. "No man, this is a fishing expedition. The colonel's precious Caelus has got it all wrong!"
Jason understood and saw the logic in how Nick felt, but they couldn't just give up this easily and they had orders.
"We follow orders, Sergeant. This search is far from over." Jason stated.
"Aye aye, sir." Nick sighed.
Jason entered the hut and went into the room on his left, where he found a basket of gas mask, which could serve as a clue that there was a silo somewhere near here, but they just had to find it. Jason exited the room and entered another, where Rachel was starting to interrogate more shepherds.
"I represent the government of the United States of America. You're in some deep shit and it is important you tell me the truth. Where is the entrance to the silo?" Rachel demanded from the captive shepherds.
Rachel noticed a shepherd nervously eyeing a corner of the room. She looked to see a rug that Jason was standing on. Jason got off the rug and pulled it up, revealing a hidden trap door in the floor. The marines all readied their guns as Jason prepared to open it. However, when Jason opened the trapdoor, there was no ladder leading down into a silo, it was just a stash of drugs.
"That's heroin." Jason said in disappointment.
"Just keeps getting better by the minute. These people are nothing but common crooks. What the fuck was Eric thinking?" Rachel exclaimed angrily before storming off outside to chew Eric out.
However, just as she was, an explosion was suddenly heard outside, followed by gunfire.
"Shit. It's the Iraqis." Jason realized.
As the American's had been flying towards the shepherd village, they hadn't noticed the Iraqi soldiers following them below in their truck.
"So, it's true. Pigs do fly." Captain Dar laughed once he was them.
As the helicopters landed, the Iraqi's positioned themselves on a ridge above the village. Salim noticed that they were outnumbered and tried to explain this to Dar.
"I'm worried Dar. There are so many of them." Salim tried to reason.
"If you really cared about that boy of yours, then you'd be willing to fight." Dar stated, refusing to listen to reason.
Salim saw no point arguing with his captain, knowing how stubborn he could be and just said that he was ready. Dar handed Salim some binoculars and he began to scan the area, noticing that the American soldiers didn't look like normal ones and they had a woman among them.
"These guys don't look like any soldiers I've ever seen. Special forces perhaps and why the Hell would soldiers have a woman with them?" Salim told his captain.
"A civilian?" Dar assumed.
As Salim continued to scan the area, he noticed the shepherds down on the ground.
"Who are these people? They look like shepherds." Salim observed.
"Nobody important lives out here." Dar insisted.
"Why the Hell would the Americans be interested in shepherds?" Salim wondered.
Salim spotted Joey through the binoculars.
"They have a lookout in the yard." Salim pointed out to Dar.
"Then we'll hit him first." Dar stated, smiling with anticipation to make the Americans pay for invading Iraq.
"It makes no sense for them to be out here." Salim stated, unable to come up with a reason why the Americans were terrorizing this village.
"Maybe they're looking for Saddam's hideout?" Dar assumed.
"You think Saddam is down there?" Salim asked.
"No, but those 'shepherds' could know where he is. We can't take the risk." Dar stated.
"What do you mean?" Salim asked, worried what Dar meant by that.
As Salim asked that, one of the American's helicopters flew by, but luckily they weren't spotted. Dar pulled over a long wooden box and opened it, revealing a rocket launcher. Salim realized what Dar was going to do, he wanted to use it against the Americans, either on the soldiers themselves or their helicopter, but doing either was dangerous as they could accidently injure or kill any of the shepherds down there.
"What are you doing? That's our people down there." Salim protested.
"So you say." Dar brushed off.
"Are you serious?" Salim questioned, not believing that Dar would be so careless.
"The timing is perfect for an ambush." Dar reasoned. "I order you to fire, Lieutenant."
"Who should I target?" Salim asked reluctantly, knowing he couldn't disobey a direct order from his superior.
"The helicopter." Dar confirmed.
Salim took a breath.
"May Allah forgive me." Salim said to himself before aiming and taking fire.
The rocket launched towards the helicopter, hitting the tail, causing it to crash.
Jason rushed outside the hut once he heard the explosion and the gunfire. The other marines were rushing for cover while Eric tried to find Rachel and Clarice hid behind a wall, covering her ears, terrified for her life, having never been in a shootout before. Jason hid behind the hut before he could get shot, Nick rushing to his side. Jason carefully peeked back out from behind the hut to see where the Iraqi's were shooting from.
"They're up on the ridge! Return fire!" Jason ordered the marines.
Jason popped out from behind the building, getting down on one knee while Nick stood and shot up the ridge at the enemy soldiers. The gunfire eased down for a moment and Jason and Nick quickly rushed for a wall where Merwin was.
"That was fucking close. Wooh! What a fucking rush, huh!" Merwin laughed.
Jason looked to see one of their helicopter's mounted guns firing up on the ridge at the Iraqis. From here, Jason could just hear what he assumed was their commanding officer shouting something. Jason, didn't know one lick of Arabic, but he assumed by the sight of the soldiers descending from the ridge they had been ordered to advance.
"Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!" Merwin shouted as he fired at the advancing Iraqis.
Jason peeked over the wall and saw a marine on the ground, it was Joey, he'd been hit when the firing began, but he was still alive and the Iraqis were closing in on him.
"They're closing in. We gotta get to Joey!" Jason told Nick and Merwin.
Jason heard the Iraqis say something again.
"Yeah, fuck you too!" he shouted back before firing at them.
"Let's burn the fuckers out with W.P.!" Merwin suggested.
"We can't use phosphorous against people!" Nick stated, surprised Merwin would even think of that.
"Aw, come on! You rather us hold hands and sing Kumbayah around a fucking camp fire?" Merwin argued back.
"Shut the fuck up for a second and let me thing!" Jason snapped.
"What's to think about, huh? We're getting massacred! Permission to use W.P.?" Merwin demanded.
Jason took another peek over the wall. The Iraqis were getting closer and Joey was going to bleed out or get shot dead if they didn't get to him fast. Using the WP rounds would make getting to him easier and safer, but Jason had promised Eric that they wouldn't use it against people and he was already in deep shit for killing that shepherd earlier.
"Negative! Only use it for smoke!" Jason said sternly. "Now, I'm gonna flank 'em. Give me some cover and get Joey out of there!"
Nick immediately began cover fire and after making sure it was safe, Jason leaped over the wall, firing back as well as he ran for cover behind some barrels where he could cover Nick as he got Joey. When Jason got into position, Nick leaped over the wall and ran for Joey, rolling as he picked him up. Nick carried Joey on his shoulders to safety behind a truck. On another part of the battlefield, Eric was ordering the marines to spread out. Eric turned on his earpiece and called to all call signs.
"All call signs, this is Dropkick. Silence lifted. Can someone give me a sitrep? Over." Eric spoke into his earpiece.
"Dropkick, this is Killjoy Two, we are under fire and going down! Targets have advanced into the LZ." a marine, in a still airborne but burning helicopter called back.
The helicopter began to retreat, just missing being hit by another RPG.
"Could this get any worse?" Eric wondered out loud.
As Eric said that, he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet begin to rumble. Meanwhile, Jason moved through a gap in the wall near the barrel he was behind and hid behind it. When he moved in to fire at the enemy, he came face to face with another shepherd, who cowered before him.
"Get down on the ground or I swear I'll put a fucking hole through you!" Jason ordered the shepherd.
However, the shepherd began running. Jason raised his rifle, ready to shoot, but then thought back to the shepherd he killed earlier and about the checkpoint and hesitated. Those two incidents made him hesitate to shoot, not even if it was a warning shot as he worried he might accidently miss and kill the shepherd anyway.
"Fuck! Doesn't anyone speak English anymore?" Jason cursed as the shepherd got away.
Suddenly, Jason heard the clicking of a rifle behind him.
"You better not miss." Jason warned the Iraqi soldier aiming their rifle behind him.
Soon after Salim shot down the first of the American's helicopters, another one turned back around and began firing at them with a mounted gun. Salim shouted for everyone to get to cover, tackling a fellow soldier out of the way before he could get gunned down.
"This is going badly." Salim said as he ran up to Dar. "We need to flee."
"No! We push forward! They can't shoot us if we're among them!" Dar said before commanding everyone to charge down the ridge.
When they got to the bottom of the ridge, a soldier got shot, but was still alive. Salim grabbed the man and leaned him behind a large rock where'd he be safe. Salim, Dar and the rest of the soldiers ran and took cover behind a wall.
"Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!" they all heard an American soldier yell vulgarly as he fired at them.
"What now?" Salim asked as he looked towards Dar.
"Now we finish the job." Dar stated. "Spread out and open fire! Kill every last one of these dogs! The Americans are shaken! We need to strike harder!"
"This is suicide, Captain!" Salim again tried to persuade Dar as they were still too outnumbered.
"No, Lieutenant, this is glory." Dar said.
Salim didn't say anything and turned to reluctantly start firing at the Americans, but was suddenly turned around and backhanded by Dar, who took his silence as disobeying his orders.
"Your son is nothing but a thief and a stoner." Dar venomously stated. "He's a lost cause!"
"Bring my son's name out of your mouth again, I dare you." Salim dared in a calm, yet angry voice.
Zain may have had his problems, but Salim knew he was still a good boy and he had made him very proud.
"Your son is a lost cause." Dar said slowly.
Salim threw a punch at Dar, but the captain ducked and tried to right hook him. Salim grabbed his captain's arm and punched him in the face. Dar landed against the wall and tried to go for his smaller sidearm, but Salim grabbed his hands to stop him from drawing it. He elbowed Dar in the face and threw him to the ground, holding him there. Salim drew his arm back, threatening to punch Dar again if he tried something.
"Stay the Hell away from me." Salim warned his captain.
Suddenly a grenade landed close to them and exploded, sending them back. Salim and Dar got up, going in opposite directions. Salim ran and hid behind some boulders. He looked over them to see an American soldier who had his gun trained on an unarmed shepherd.
"Get down on the ground or I swear I'll put a fucking hole through you!" the soldier threatened the shepherd.
The shepherd began to run and the American soldier raised their rifle, ready to shoot. Salim quickly, but quietly ran up behind the American soldier and raised his rife, ready to shoot to save the shepherd if he had to.
"You better not miss." the soldier warned Salim when they noticed him behind them.
Salim thought for the briefest of seconds about shooting, but when he saw that the American soldier had let the shepherd go despite their previous threat, Salim lowered his rife.
"No more killing." Salim spoke in English.
The American soldier slowly turned around, he and Salim staring each other down, but before any of them could say anything else, the ground suddenly started to rumble violently. Soon, angry cracks began to appear around them and before they knew it, the ground opened up and they fell into the earth below, right into a new world.
-Next chapter, we finally get to the horror elements of this story. Until than please leave a review and have a good day.