Lance Corporal Alan stared at the campfire. Around him were 7 other soldiers. Varying branches, Two guardsmen, Three infantrymen, Alan The only shock trooper, and a Commando. They were waiting for their breakfast.
The group had been lost for a good Week after a particularly heinous blizzard, they got separated from the rest of the combat group of a brigade and three separate battalions.
They had met with the Commando less than a few hours ago. he carried a corpse with him, and after a long discussion. now they are here.
"It's all we have." stated a Guardsman, wearing the usual guardsman kit, Steel helmet, flak vest and Alice gear.
"I know... But do we have to?" Questioned an infantryman. His gear consisted of A Kevlar helmet, plate-reinforced vest and similar load-bearing gear.
"There were some dogs back near that intersection," Said another Guardsman. his helmet sitting on his lap.
"They are already in someone's belly." The Commando finally added. his gear consisting of no armour, a Simple white parka and Skis strapped to his back.
Alan stared at the meat roasting over the fire. After a minute the Commando started passing around sticks with the meat wrapped around them.
Alan grabbed one and stared at it for a while. they all did. although the hardened Spec-For next to him kept glancing at his watch. A Guardsman took the chance and took a bite. a string of flesh holding onto the bite he took. He started chewing and gagged once.
"Don't think about it." The Ski Commando tried reassuring the Guardsman.
"I-it Tastes like Beef!" The Guardsman cried out after swallowing his share. "I love beef" he weakly said after the outburst.
The Commando looked at a watch on his wrist once more. "It gets better the more you don't think about it."
Alan felt the pain of hunger and swallowed his morals as he took a bite. He began chewing and frowned. it was stringy.
"It's more like Veal..." Another Infantryman added, that he had an armband and a thin ballistic glass visor attached to his helmet.
"It's still Beef..." With that, they all reluctantly started eating.
The Commando untied the Skis from his back and began equipping them. Alan looked at him as he threw the stick into the fire.
They all noticed there wasn't a single bite into the piece of meat.
"you gonna eat?" Alan asked. and the Commando shook his head while standing up.
"Don't have to," The man said Giving the group an Odd smile and using the ski poles to propel himself.
"Tule, tule, tyttö, nyt kanssani tanssiin" He sang as he slipped away into the darkness."kun meillä on riemu ja suvinen sää-" he grew too quiet to decipher what was said next but After that was said and done. The Group of misfit Soldiers heard an engine in the distance.
Six heads turned to see a large half-track driving towards them.
They stared. Even when they see figures exit the vehicle. One heavily Armoured Individual in particular gives Alan a little comfort.
"God damn y'all managed to follow us pretty close," The voice of his team leader, Corporal Johnathan Woodrow sounded from the half-track.
They all stared in silence as he and a few other soldiers walked up to them.
"You good?" he asked. then a sudden movement as one of the Infantryman turned and stuffed his fingers into his mouth, trying to vomit up the recent meal. "Damn I don't smell that bad do I?"
Alan grabbed his rifle and ran up to the trail that the Commando left.
Running with his rifle one-handed he turned on the flashlight and slid his rifle forward then grabbed the rear grip. the light illuminating the area he saw nothing but trees and snow.
Alan turned back and walked to Woodrow.
"what's up, bro?" He questioned and Alan handed him the meat he was still holding. He looked at it and Alan went to grab it when the Corporal raised it to his mouth.
"No no!" Alan exclaimed and took it from his grasp. "It's not beef."
Woodrow's eyebrows raised and he suddenly punched his shoulder. "The Fuck you mean it's not beef?" John pointed at it "Is it Deer? Pork? Dog?" Alan Shook his head.
Woodrow's face fell into realization "You cooked up some fucker didn't you?"
Alan stared.
"Jesus Big Red I thought you just cut people's scalps off"
"It wasn't our Idea!"
"Some Asshole convinced us to eat it!"
"It tasted like beef" were some responses.
"And you Listened to him- I Don't give a shit Right now, Load up!" Woodrow ordered. All the soldiers got up and put out the fire, plunging the woods back into darkness.
Alan was stopped by a hand placed on his shoulder.
"Hey, I need you to write a report for me... mostly about who fed you the dude and what y'all did in the past week."
"Sir!" Alan responded and began walking to the half-track.
Being the last to climb in he sat at the entrance to the canvas-covered truck bed. The six sat in silence. Alan was told to give The corporal a Report on what the lost soldiers did. he thought it would be simple enough.
They mostly followed the evidence of armoured vehicles through a forest. Ran out of food on the fourth day, and got into a firefight with some disgruntled old man thinking they were actual bandits.
He Absentmindedly raised his hand and took a bite of the meat.
"Alan!?"
"Alan!"
Alan Spat out the bite and chucked the stick out the back. looking back into the truck he saw he was alone.
Looking down toward his hand he held the stick once more. His rifle was nowhere to be seen. A feeling of defiance grew in his chest.
"Oh, just gonna Fuckin Send it!" and he took a big bite and jumped out of the back. Acutely aware of something staring at him in the darkness behind.
Alan awoke sprawled out on the floor. Looking around he was in the space between his and Amin's beds.
He heard some shuffling and he saw light-blue eyes glowing in some non-existent moonlight.
An Apparent glare is being sent his way.
"Three times."
"Sorry?"
"Three God damn times tonight!" The Private Exclaimed
"Sorry," Amin's Eyes softened at Alan's response and he disappeared over his bed.
"Go rub one out or some shit," he suggested and Alan began thinking
"I'm gonna go for a walk, Clear my head and climb a tree or something."
"Why a tree?"
"I'm not sure," he replied, as he began to free himself from the space.
"Copy Actual... Just get back before breakfast" Amin finished
Alan stood up and dusted himself off.
"Yes Mother" he received a pillow to the back of his head.
Alan reached for the pillow, Grabbing it he spun and threw it at Amin. Hearing a solid hit. he looked and saw Amin motionless. The Pillow slid off and Amin's unimpressed gaze greeted Alan's eyes. They stared at each other for a moment. Eventually, Amin turned away from him and covered himself further in the blankets.
With that done Alan Walked to the end of his bed and began clothing himself. Deciding to don the lower parts of his uniform and a T-shirt. Grabbing his helmet and only taking the Armour pieces for his forearms. He stood and grabbed his rifle and Cloak from the chair. Leaving his load-carrying equipment.
Checking his rifle and confirming it was in mint condition. He took a magazine, rocked it into his rifle and without loading the chamber he left the Safety selector up.
Putting on his cloak, and letting his rifle sling to his side. He began putting his boots on. After that was done he patted himself down, mentally checking his gear, '.380 Handgun, Rifle, knife One through... three!?' he began to think about where he could've misplaced it.
"fuck" he decided it would turn up later. Their room wasn't the most organized.
Standing up and looking at Amin, seeing he had turned back to face upward. his face showing clear boredom while staring at the ceiling.
"Half-breed." "Maize-muncher," they said simultaneously
Alan made his way to the door, grabbed a water bottle from the minifridge And then tossed it toward Amin. He caught it and gave a thumbs-up.
With that done he walked out of their room into the night-filled street. Looking out toward the street, he understandably saw no one. glancing at his watch he saw it was four in the morning.
Giving a sigh he walked down the stairs. he contemplated where to go. He got an idea, deciding to go to the forests nearby. These woods were considered 'safe' but every time Alan was told about something being safe. It wasn't.
Alan for no apparent reason, decided to start sneaking around the woods. Yelling to himself every time he jumped between trees, doing a tactical roll over some bushes. jumping into some tall grass and crawling around.
"Hiya!" he exclaimed as he jumped out and kicked an old discarded and faded soda can off the branch he set it on.
"take that!" he spun and karate chopped another Can held up by its tab on a different branch.
"Get Fucked- Aagh" he stopped as he slammed his elbow into a tree trunk. He could see clearly in the darkness, Thanks to his newfound abilities. But, Despite all that. He missed the can by a whole meter and hurt himself. looking at the hanging can he grumbled. Pulling out his trench knife he punched it, sending it further into the trees.
"shit," he cursed and sheathed his knife. He began collecting the discarded cans. setting them on the branches of A bush along a footpath. leaving them to be discovered by someone else.
Alan decided to find that tree he said he'd climb. Sleep-deprived determination clouding his judgement. He spent a good ten minutes wandering around before he spotted one. It was close to the coastal cliffs of the southern part of the island. Reaching the tree. he saw some cut branches and some parts he could hold onto.
"Here we go," Walking back, He readied himself. Then began running. Using the momentum to go farther up the tree and onto a Y-shape part of the tree and step off the right and then left. Getting to its peak he stopped. Seeing a branch at the perfect angle, he sat down.
Letting his legs dangle, he stared out into the ocean. leaning against the tree he began spacing out enjoying the peace, trying his best to not think about anything.
Alan saw it was still dark out. Deciding he would try to sleep up here.
He barely reacted as he heard someone humming below him, it was soothing. Alan began to drift off... he realized he was slipping off the branch.
"Oh Fuck!" and down he went.
Hitting the ground with a heavy thud, Alan heard a scream next to him, the sound of a mecha shift weapon changing. As he opened his eyes all he saw was a vaguely familiar pole Glance off his visor that had fallen down at some point.
Alan reacted without thinking. Grabbing the Pole, He pushed it back and then towards him. wrenching it out of the attacker's hands. He tossed it away. seeing but not comprehending the scythe-shaped weapon embedding itself into the dirt.
While still lying on the ground he spun his body to Kick out the assailant's legs and as they hit the ground he grabbed at their neck. picking them up he rolled slamming them into the dirt. jumping on them, using his body to pin the assailant down. Using his free hand to grab his knife he drew it and right out of the sheath it was held to the attacker's neck.
He stopped at a pair of Silver Eyes staring up at him with fear.
"Ruby!?" Alan exclaimed.
Her face seemed to calm for a moment. "Alan?" Alan let go and used his free hand to raise his visor. She looked into his eyes. "woah"
"You Green?" She nodded. Alan began standing up. after sheathing the knife he grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her up so she could stand. After he'd done that he turned around, walked up to the scythe and picked it up. feeling it was around 20 kilograms.
He didn't know how to put the thing into storage mode so he turned back. walked toward Ruby who was still standing there, eyes following where he walked.
Handing her weapon back she grabbed it and still stood there.
"Are you okay?" She looked around and Alan realized she probably couldn't see very well. Under tree cover in the middle of the night? yeah, it was pretty dark out.
"I'm alright," She affirmed again.
Alan dug around in his pockets. look of realization dawning on his face, he had forgotten his scroll.
"You got a light?" he asked, and Ruby Took her scroll and opened it, the Light illuminating the area.
"Faunus eyes are weird"
"hm,"
"oh, I didn't mean it like that-"
He stopped her by placing a hand on the top of her head and gave a: "Hm,"
"So... what are you doing out here?" she asked.
"What are you doing out here?" he responded.
She gave him a blank stare.
"Alright, I got the random urge to climb a tree what do you want?" He admitted. "Shouldn't you be asleep?"
"I couldn't sleep,"
"Fair enough"
"Can you take your hand off my head?"
"Yeah," he did as requested. He turned around and walked toward the cliff. He made it near the cliff and the light from the moon was enough to see without the scroll.
He saw the little blue light disappear. Making his way to a tree. he sat down, leaning against it.
Ruby sat down next to him.
"So how have you been?" she asked.
"Bored," he answered. It had been a week since the incident at the cove and he'd been constantly working and training without a break, Mostly Alone or With Amin. "what about you?"
"Yang and Dad aren't letting me go anywhere, I keep telling them I'm fine but it's like they don't believe me." She said bitterly.
"You know they care about you right?"
"I know but They constantly coddle me now"
The two stayed quiet for a moment, Alan staring out toward the ocean beyond the cliff.
"Well... since you're here, Do you want to help me use this?" Ruby asked as she pulled out his knife.
He stared at it for a moment. He remembered he promised to teach her how to use it. "Yeah, sorry I forgot because I'm a little retarded"
Ruby put the knife back, grabbed his helmet and turned his head to face her. A pout adorned her face
"Alan, you not R- re- Slow, And Stop using That language!"
"no," She stared for another moment before she let go and returned to her spot. they sat and enjoyed the quiet once more.
After a while, Ruby pulled out her scroll once more and held it up to him.
"You have some fans by the way." She said
"What do you mean?" Alan asked.
Looking at the Scroll he saw the words 'The Cloaked Warrior' sprawled on some page. He grabbed the scroll and looked through the page, they talked about how he was so 'mysterious' and how he seemed to appear one day. which is really how he got here.
Scrolling down and saw them talking about some footage they got of him, The video of him singing, Him at the trainyard, and some photos taken of him working at the docks, his training. "God damn I knew someone was watching me"
"It's a little Creepy,"
Alan nodded in agreement
"There's someone who said they're from Patch, and they see you walking to the docks almost every day" She added.
"Do people have anything better to do?" he said as he found the post in question, "Well I can't do anything about it,"
He began to stand up while handing her scroll back. Rising to his full height he walked out further into the clearing.
he heard Ruby walking behind him. he pointed to a spot "Stand there" he said and she followed his order. and he took his place not too far from her, "hand to hand," he stated and Ruby nodded a not-so-confident look on her face.
"Alan I am not too great at that" she admitted.
"This is just to see how you fight."
He raised his fists into a ready position and waited.
"Attack first" He said
"o-Okay"
With that, she gave a yell and suddenly closed the distance. jumping she sent a fist toward his face. Alan Knocked the hit away and used his leg to trip her.
Ruby fell and rolled to a stand, turned and was suddenly set upon By Alan, Blocking one good hit.
Seeing and opening Alan Kicked her to the ground.
"Use your semblance"
After saying that there was a burst of petals and Alan had to block multiple hits sent to his face. upon the fourth, he grabbed her arms and threw her onto the ground. Alan looked at his handy work and Realized he had his work cut out for him.
"Ow"
"Alright I can see what I am dealing with, I have a vague plan," he said and offered her a hand. Taking it she was hoisted back upright.
"You'll have a hard time beating anyone outright, so." He bent down and reached into his boot. Taking his spare pistol. "Along with using that knife, You should also carry a backup,"
She nodded, staring at his pistol
"Like how I carry a Rifle, two handguns, and Four knives," He Checked the chamber, seeing one grey-cased round with a Red Glow in the cutout.
Taking out the Magazine racking the Slide and catching the ejected cartridge left him with an empty sidearm. Alan spun it around holding it by the Barrel.
"Here, It served me pretty well and you should have it," her face showed delight as she took it.
"Wow Thank you!" she began inspecting the handgun, her mood seemed to shift as she looked back up to him, "Why are you giving me this?"
"Well, you're my friend, And I want to see you be able to protect yourself after what happened, you know?" he said honestly. inserting the discarded round into the magazine "You also helped me and Amin," He finished and handed her the magazine. After that, She walked up and pulled him into a quick hug.
"Thank you, Alan"
"no problem," he awkwardly patted her on the back. "Alright, Let me show you how to stab someone," he said.
She took a step back and Alan began to show her how he was trained to fight with a knife.
'Fortunately, she picks up fast' he thought to himself.
Later
Alan dodged a red flurry of Petals, Jumped back and watched Ruby appear and fly towards him at breakneck speed. Alan moved to dodge again and felt the knife slice at his inner arm near an artery, Aura flashing.
"Good," He sidestepped another and another.
She appeared once more in front of him, Stabbing at his ribs, just barely where a gap in his vest would be, where it would puncture A lung.
They weren't far from the Xiao Long home, it was still morning. His watch read around 8AM.
After their spar earlier he taught her about points she can stab and slice at to either disable or cause serious damage to an attacker. Also telling her to use her semblance more, and here he was dodging a ballistic missile of a girl.
Stepping back and barely dodging another slice, she used a tree to stop herself. Suddenly she stopped altogether and slid down the tree to rest.
"Alan, this is exhausting." She complained
"The more you use it, the better it gets... But you should go get some rest."
"You should too," at this Alan nodded.
"Alright, Familiarize yourself with that handgun, rest up and I'll probably see you later." He said this and walked away.
"Okay, Goodbye!" she said, standing up. she began making her way home.
While she walked, Ruby pulled out the handgun. Alan promised to give her more ammo for it later.
Inspecting it, she realized it looked like a smaller version of his own handgun in his holster. She took the magazine out of her bag and slid it into the gun.
Looking at the slide she saw some engraved markings. Of which included the calibre and the model name.
"M1911-380, 380 Auto" she read. other than that there was a faded seal of some company, Turning it over she saw more markings along the slide.
"Browning Arms Company, Morgan UT USA?" she wondered where that could be. The handgun was all black and held a Rail at the bottom just in front of the trigger guard.
Ruby narrowly avoided a tree as she walked, Realizing walking while distracted was a bad idea. she stored the handgun next to Crescent Rose. her belt barely held onto it.
'I'll have to fix that soon' She began contemplating how she would make a holster for it.
It wasn't long before she made it home. Her dad was waiting at the front door, shoe tapping impatiently.
"And where have you Been?" he asked
"I went for a walk,"
"You left at four in the morning, And you look like you got into a fight!"
"I fell?" She lied.
He sighed and pointed to the door "Breakfast is ready, Go clean up please."
"Okay!" With that, she entered the house, ran upstairs and entered her and Yang's bedroom. walking up to her desk she took out the knife and handgun and opened a drawer. inside were various tools and study supplies.
Placing the gun and knife next to the gunsmith tools, taking Crescent rose she placed it on the desk. but before she could close the drawer.
"And where have you been?" she was interrupted
She jumped letting out a yelp.
Turning around she saw Yang had been watching over her shoulder.
"I was out..." she paused and Yang raised an eyebrow.
"you look like you fought an ursa" She looked back into the drawer, "don't those belong to Alan?"
"Um, Yeah he gave them to me, as a thank you for helping him when he first arrived on Patch"
"and why do you look like that?"
"no reason" Yang silently stared at Ruby.
for Yang it was simple. For Ruby, it was like torture.
"Okay I asked Alan to train me to use the knife" she admitted after a moment.
She expected Yang to get angry so she prepared a defence.
"Okay," She spoke, and Ruby stopped and looked at her sister.
"Really?"
"Yeah, If Anything that psychopath can do right it teach you how to better defend yourself" Stated Yang. "now you should go eat breakfast." she finished and began pushing her toward the doorway
"Yang he isn't a psychopath," she retorted and they made their way downstairs
"You are right, He's a sociopath"
"Yang,"
Alan Walked up to the diner side of the Inn, opening the door a jingle announced his presence.
Looking around he saw there were some people around. Spotting Amin in the corner, Wearing full kit. Amin Had his Cloak tied to the side, where it covered his left arm and hung down toward his knees.
Amin's armour only consisted of Kevlar-ceramic plates on his forearms. Shin guards, a vest, and his helmet. the helmet itself is very similar. the only difference was the cut-out on the visor's sides so you can wear gas masks under it without much problem.
The helmet itself was just a Titanium Lynx-T and the face mask of another similar helmet he affixed to it.
Remembering the reason they were using these helmets, it was simple. Their gear was getting worn and because they were mostly cut off from the rest of the brigade all the time, they resorted to using enemy equipment.
For reasons of not getting shot, they wore the Cloaks. He'd even seen friendly guard troops in the area using Capes or similar garbs along with their AK rifles and captured vests. the only thing remaining from what they were issued, were the helmets and uniform.
Alan realized he had been standing in front of the door. He made his way toward Amin.
He gave a quick Greeting and sat down.
"Corporal, what have you been up to?" he asked curiously.
Alan explained what happened in the past few hours, and Amin understood.
"that's good she wants to improve," He said. Alan looked at the table and saw his breakfast in a take-out box.
"I want to include her in our training," Amin nodded, "You already eat?" he received another nod. "Alright... I'm taking my food and eating in the room, Gonna try and sleep"
"Yes sir," Alan grabbed his food and they both stood. making their way outside.
Exiting the building Alan saw Qrow walking toward them. Qrow spotting the two waved them over.
"Hey Troopers, I have to leave for a while, you two can handle yourselves right?"
"Yeah, we can, Where are you headed?" Amin questioned.
"just a mission, Gonna be gone for a while though, so take care of yourselves." Alan gave a thumbs up and the three parted in different directions. Qrow to the docks, Alan to the room, Amin further into town.
The Corporal Entered the room, set his food on the table and began taking his gear off, he lazily set it on the floor next to him.
Alan sat and began eating in silence. He began to think about the dream he had. The memory it was attached to.
Alan shivered at the memory. Looking at his food, he'd lost his appetite. 'I'll just eat this later' he thought and covered it back up.
Standing back up he walked to his bed and laid himself down. He slowly drifted off to sleep. Hoping he wouldn't wake up randomly.
2102
Alan stared out into the darkness. He had just finished writing up a basic report on his group's little adventure.
Nearby the sound of Artillery, Jets, helicopters and gunfire accompanied the darkness
his group wasn't the only ones to get lost. Roughly 120 other soldiers were separated with around 20 not being recovered.
Alan thought about the Ski using Commando. wearing friendly markings he spoke a clear English accent and knew every exact unit nearby. Managed to convince him and the others they were still a week away from anybody.
Sighing He leaned against the APC, letting his rifle hang on its sling.
He wanted to rest, but they needed to immediately prepare for an assault. he he heard a whistle over most of the camp's racket. looking over he saw Woodrow signal for him to come over.
Alan walked over. Standing in front of Woodrow he saw the rest of the team
"Alright, our orders are to sit in these shitboxes while we cross an open field," he pulled out a map case and stared at it "I can't read my own fuckin notes, so we're less than 70 kilometres from New Yellowknife." he put the case back "Just before that is an Ammo depot, little more than a click from here, the enemy is a battalion size plus, our job is to break through and cause damage." He motioned everybody to mount up and even the nearby guardsman moved to mount up.
"Corporal, where is Sarge?" Private First Class Stephen asked, the 20-year-old, wondering where the old man went.
They walked into the back of the APC, It was an Old Grizzly. this variant was missing its turret. Having long been replaced by the commander with a 7.62 machine gun.
"He and the Lieutenant are off to convince the Major to send us in with the tanks so we aren't just a bunch of useless Cannon fodder." He looked off toward some rumbling. "we need to be useful Cannon fodder"
"The British Columbian Republic has sent us some armour, along with our ally the Midwestern Republic has reinforced us finally," he said, Then pointed outside. "The Quebecois sent some air power so we got that."
Alan raised himself to peek out the roof hatch, Alan heard the things before he saw them. The unmistakable sound of a gas turbine. The high-pitched whining, large figure. He saw an Abrams, It was a 105mm but still was a modern MBT, the sides covered in blocks or Reactive armour.
"These are old ones right?" Trevor asked, "Where are the 120 guns?"
"Just like everything else Glassed in Europe" Alan stated. "My Great-grandpa once explained how all the newer equipment was lost somewhere in Europe before he came home. Saying it was either vaporized or left behind in the '30s," Alan explained. "these are just straight M1s with the SEPV3 package."
Alan felt a tap on the back of his helmet "Nerd"
He ignored Trevor and watched the convoy of armour drive by, most likely They would sit back here and take out targets at range. While the British Columbian armour would be with them.
He continued to watch multiple six-wheeled Drones drive by. One was sporting an Autocannon, another a Machinegun Grenade launcher combo.
He sat back down, He thought about his Great-grandfather. the old man left him with some money before leaving and saying he was 'gonna give them the hell' up north.
He fought in Europe, then the Midwest USA and later left the army to help protect their people when shit hit the fan back home.
Alan felt happy when he received a letter one day, telling him he was somewhere in Nunavut. Just knowing he might still be out there fighting, Just like him.
Alan gave a smile as he thought about this. Only for it to disappear when the APC lurched, "Were Oscar Mike!" he heard the voice of the Platoon sergeant somewhere outside.
"aight, when we break their lines and exit the vics, Ya'll find cover, we regroup somewhere close and Mop up any survivors!" he received a round of confirmations, Alan felt a tap on his shoulder and looked toward Dom.
"You Good!?" The man asked, yelling so Alan could hear him.
"I'm fuckin tired and I ate a dude!" he responded Dom's face fell as he processed the words.
"Fair Enough!"
After a minute of vehicles doing vehicle things, Alan was aware of the outside exploding in activity.
Outside, the Armoured charge was illuminated by tripwire flares. Giving The Northern European battalion they were facing an early heads up.
The American tanks upon seeing the flares, opened fire. Sending a Volley of Tungsten darts onto the boxy forms of enemy armour.
The Attacking force Outnumbered the Defenders nearly seven to one. It should stay like this before they reach New Yellowknife itself.
The line of BC Tanks consisting of locally refurbished M60 Patton tanks and Leopard C1s began their assault. The Storm of 26 mismatched MBTs fired upon any visible defences.
Behind the tanks rolled the group of APCs and lighter vehicles. they had been borrowed from the Local mechanized battalion for the Shock troopers and Guardsmen reinforcing them.
Alan was nearly sent to the floor as a missile landed near their Grizzly. He was held up by Dom before he could fall further.
"We're hitting Phase line Alpha!" he heard his team leader yell to the Grizzly commander.
"Roger Crossing Phase line Alpha!" After a moment he felt the Vehicle slow.
"Sparrow One One on Approach Keep your head down." The team heard a loud roaring outside nearly drowning out the sound of tanks exchanging shots.
Flying Low, Two Harriers belonging to the Republic of Quebec made their run. Dropping four bombs each, Upon release they split and launched small Cluster bomblets. Covering the Area with explosions.
"Sparrow two one on approach" There was another Roaring as two more Harriers, flew by, Before they could get their munitions off, A line of red tracers lit up the sky and tore one of the planes asunder.
One Jump jet got its bombs off and these ones tumbled on release. Four canisters hit the ground and Fire erupted. the Napalm Inferno destroying the more fortified parts of the depot.
"Passing Phase line Bravo," He heard from above.
"Copy Crossing Phase line Bravo!"
The faces around the Grizzly told differing emotions. Alan, Dom and Trevor blankly staring at the wall. Woodrow was next to the APC commander, and a new private, whom Alan hadn't met yet, shaking. The private didn't have most of the armour he required.
He had a Kevlar helmet with a steel plate reinforcing it, an Infantry Parka and a Simple plate carrier. the flag on his arm showed a Union Jack with a crown indicating he was recruited locally.
Shock trooper teams usually consisted of Four to six Troopers, today they were five. having lost one in Alan's absence.
Their attention was grabbed when the vehicle seemed to cross a trench. the Grizzly APC aggressively rocking.
"Phase line Charlie crossing, Prep for Contact"
"Phase line Charlie Cro-" The APC commander was interrupted as a round shattered his skull. The man dangling from his gunner seat.
They stared for a moment before the APC crossed another trench line.
"Alright, that's our sign Get the Fuck out!" Woodrow Yelled and pressed a button on the blood-splattered console.
Alan checked his rifle, seeing it was loaded. he prepared himself mentally.
Seeing the rear door open up finally, he ran out. his Boots sinking into the knee-high snow and jogging into a dugout. The Fire from the airstrike illuminated the entire area.
Alan looked around him and saw multiple figures Turning on his flashlight with a flick he saw three Bandits, they wore their own Kevlar helmets and vests of varying design.
he picked a target, A short man holding a rifle to his chest. Pulling the trigger he saw him recoil then collapse.
Alan targeted the second man and put a round into his neck. Alan looked to the last and watched him raise his arms in surrender. Alan Ignored this and put a round in his eye socket.
"Alan Dom Take left, Trevor, Michael with me" he heard Woodrow yell over the gunfire.
"On it!" Dom yelled and Alan took point.
His C1 Rifle wasn't Ideal for the tight quarters, but he made do.
Alan Walked forward through the trench as it zigzagged. he saw another wide dugout at the end. looking at Dom, he tapped his own chest.
Dom nodded and grabbed a frag from his belt, Pulling the pin he gave a yell "Frag!" and chucked it in. The two shock troopers flattened themselves on the wall and waited. The frag went off on the fourth second and they went in.
Alan saw two targets, One was lying on the ground screaming. the other was recovering himself and aiming a rifle toward Alan.
A spray of Blood signaled Dom took care of him. Alan took aim at the man on the floor, Putting an end to his misery.
"Got your back," Alan heard and they continued. 'clear the trenches and find Ammo dumps,' he reminded himself.
Looking around he saw this trench was a living quarters. they made their way toward a hallway leading toward the trench into a T-section. Alan pointed his flashlight at some figures and saw some Guardsman. he lowered the light and raised a hand to tell them to stop.
The leader of the Guards nodded and looked back to his team "Get a grenade in there"
Alan nodded at the simple plan.
Alan felt Dom take a frag from his belt. In front of him, The guardsman nodded as well.
the sounds of foreign yelling could be heard and the two pulled the pins on the grenades. As they did this Alan hugged the wall, letting Dom throw the frag into the Junction.
They sat in silence for a moment, The fires from the airstrike were finally dimming down.
An explosion sounded off and the Shock troopers went in first. Looking down the corridor he saw one figure. his foot caught on something while he took aim he fired one shot into his chest and another into his stomach.
the man didn't give up yet and fired his rifle at Alan, The round hit his head and cracked the steel/Ceramic composite plate. Alan Fell back and Dom took his place. taking aim firing a round that ended the only bandit in the corridor.
A Guardsman seeing a man down grabbed Alan by the shoulders and dragged him back.
"On Me!" Dom yelled and the Shock trooper and three guardsman disappeared further into the trenches.
"Hey, you Green!?" the Guardsman Private asked, Alan nodded. "Get up, we gotta catch up," the Private said.
"Augh, shit I'm so fucking tired,"
"Rest later Asshole, get up!" At this, Alan Began to stand up.
"Alright," Alan said under his breath and moved on.
AN
Next chapter will come out within early may then I will take a break to plan things out. it will take either a month or little longer.