Blue Plague: Decisions, page 27
Bruce reached down to a ground crewman and grabbed a mic that went to the speakers around the air field. “Gamma, load up, fly your flags proudly … Let’s start this war!” Bruce yelled out. Gamma took off to their vehicles, piling inside, many still yelling. At the southwest corner section, the truck forming the corner pulled forward, opening the mobile air field.
The assault vehicles of Gamma pulled out one after another until all forty were out. Then the truck forming the corner backed up, sealing the wall. Bruce walked among his warriors as they cheered him. He was proud of them. No matter what he asked of them they were willing to fight. He knew this war would take some if not a lot of their lives, might even take members of the family, but they were committed no matter what. Bruce was certain this war would not take him and he would live a long time to die alone. He was certain God hated him and just wanted to keep him away from Debbie to make him pay for his sins. Illusions did not fill his mind. Debbie had told him there was a heaven, but he wouldn’t end up there. She had told him he would see her one last time before he died, that’s why he knew it would be a long time. God hated him.
He would fight this war and do what he could to save mankind, keeping his promise to Debbie. He couldn’t leave the kids and Bruce knew if he hurt Angela and Stephanie, when next he saw Debbie she would bitch at him. So, sealed to his fate, Bruce walked forward among the men until some picked him up, putting him on their shoulders and carrying him around the still cheering crowd. There were only a few decisions that had to be made and this war was already starting. Bruce only hoped he could keep the cost in lives down.
Chapter 19
The formation of helicopters flew at one hundred feet with the doors of the Blackhawks open. Sitting in the left side of the Blackhawk with First and Second Squad, Bruce listened on the radio as Mike reported the outpost had been knocked out and they were moving forward. Looking outside, Bruce saw the twenty Blackhawks; to their front were the eighteen Apaches.
Bruce watched the land rushing by in the moonlight. It was bright out but Mission Control reported the compound was down for the night with no more than the usual guards out. No blues were within miles of the compound, but Bruce knew that would change when the noise started. At fifty miles out, the Blackhawks slowed and let the gunships pull forward. Then the Blackhawks split up into their formations. Bruce looked at the megaphones hanging off the pylons outside the door. Before they’d left, he’d pointed at them and asked Steve what they were for. Steve had replied, “We’re going to ‘Apocalypse Now’ their ass.”
Glancing down at his watch, he read 0448. Bruce took off the flight helmet and put his combat helmet on and made sure his NVG was on. Then he turned on his thermal scope on the big SCAR. Waving his hand, Bruce motioned for everyone to turn on their equipment. When they had done it everyone gave a thumbs up. The door gunner held up his hand with all five fingers extended, meaning five minutes.
‘God, you may hate me but let my troops survive and let me know I made the right call,’ Bruce thought to himself as he unbuckled his straps, getting out of the seat and moving toward the open door. The chopper rose slightly going over the dam then moved down to twenty feet off the water. Looking up, Bruce watched as his chopper went under the gunships, then he looked forward and could make out small lights ahead in the blackness. He realized they were small pinpoints of lights in the compound. Looking back to the gunships, Bruce saw each one release a Hellfire. Bruce even thought he saw the flash of a Hellfire off a Reaper.
Bruce watched the land getting closer, the explosions lighting up the night as the warheads exploded in the compound. Then two huge explosions ripped open as two Reapers dropped two, five-hundred pound bombs on the largest barracks. Then he heard ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ over the helicopter noise. ‘Damn that’s loud,’ Bruce thought as he looked forward to see the next explosions rip through the area his chopper flight was heading. Then he saw tracers streaking overhead from the gunships and hitting the compound. That was when he noticed flashes and tracers coming from the compound and passing them.
The door gunner leaned forward and opened up with his mini-gun. Like a red stream of lava the line of fire hit the compound and ricochets went off into the night sky. Then another huge explosion went off to his front and Bruce swore he saw bodies flying through the air. He knew another five-hundred pounder had detonated. The pilot flared the chopper as they crossed off the lake onto the peninsula. Flipping his NVG monocular over his left eye, Bruce saw the ground close and when the chopper stopped a few feet off the ground he jumped off, followed by everyone else.
Not stopping when he hit the ground, Bruce took off to his left. Reaching the edge of the compound, he saw men moving toward him and dropped down to his stomach and started firing bursts into their chest. Second Platoon was to take out the gang in the area as First went after the four buildings holding the prisoners. Feeling his bolt lock, Bruce pulled a grenade off his vest. Pulling the pin, he yelled, “Grenade!” as he threw it with everything he could muster. Laying his head down, he felt the earth shake as the grenade exploded.
“First Squad with me!” Bruce yelled. His squad was to hold the area between the barracks and the hostages. The only member on his squad he had never fought with before was Adam Cole; the others had been in Omega from the beginning. Then there was David and Mindy, like always side-by-side. Ted had told Bruce he’d spent time in the sandbox and the ‘Stan with Adam and that he was a good troop. Taking Ted at his word, Bruce had put him over the platoon. When they reached the dirt tracks that ran between the buildings which passed for roads, Bruce yelled out, “Form up, Adam, hold the line. I’m checking on the rest of Omega.”
“Form a fire line facing west five meters between each of us. Anything not wearing a wolf tail (a UV chemlite and two nine volt batteries connected together) light up like a Christmas tree!” Adam yelled out as the others spread out. As he kneeled down, he saw a large group coming at them. “Contact three o’clock!” Adam yelled out as he dropped down flat and opened up. Several of the attackers dropped as his bullets ripped into them, then his magazine went dry.
Hearing Adam yell out, Bruce spun around and with the rest of First Squad cutting down several dozen that were sighting in on Adam. Just for good measure, Bruce shot a grenade from his grenade launcher. Then he heard a machine gun open up and saw his squad machine gunner open up on another group trying to charge them. “Adam, we need to move further in, this position sucks!” Bruce yelled out.
“If we move further in we will leave the hostages exposed when they’re pulled to the shoreline!” Adam yelled back as Bruce opened up on the new group and Mindy threw a grenade and yelled it out.
With short bursts, Bruce moved from target to target, knocking down four, then dropped down and rolled to his right as the grenade detonated. Coming up on his right knee, Bruce picked up where he’d left off, dropping the three that were left from the grenade. “Adam, we either need to open up some distance or close it. We don’t have the number of weapons to stay at this range!” Bruce yelled out. Looking back at the buildings that were still standing in the barracks area, he saw one suddenly blow up and Bruce dropped down to his belly.
“A Hellfire only has a twenty-pound warhead. What are you dropping for? That building is over a hundred yards away,” Adam yelled.
“I had a building try to kill me when I blew it up one time!” Bruce yelled, and looked to his front. He could see about forty men trying to stand up between them and the blown-up building. Raising his rifle, Bruce snapped off quick single shots till his bolt locked back. Rolling to his right, Bruce pulled a magazine out of his vest and had it in as he finished his roll and sighted back in on the targets coming at them. Only seeing six left, Bruce started fixing that problem. When he dropped the last one he heard a ‘whop’ and yell to his left.
Turning his head, he saw Adam fall back from a kneeling firing position, hitting the ground hard. Looking back to the front, Bruce saw a dozen more targets start charging them. Pulling out another magazine, Bruce started dropping the ones he could with what was left in his magazine. Three were down as he felt his bolt lock back and he dropped the empty and slammed in the new one he had grabbed. Then his SAW gunner finished off the others. Bruce low crawled to Adam. “Adam, how bad are you hit!” he yelled out.
“I don’t know but it fucking hurts!” he yelled out, rubbing his chest and feeling for the wound.
Bruce reached him and saw a bullet hole in the middle of Adam’s interceptor vest over the trauma plate. “You sissy, it hit you in the plate!” Bruce yelled out, turning back to the area where the targets were coming from.
“Hell I don’t care, that fucking hurt!” Adam yelled out as he rolled into a prone position as Bruce opened up on another group charging them. The group was running past the building that had been blown up a hundred yards away. It was a big ass group of fifty plus.
“SAW gunner, targets front, what the hell are you waiting for!” Bruce yelled out, knowing there was no way they could take down that many. Then all of a sudden an explosion went off in the middle of the group, sending many skyward. Then Bruce noticed red tracers ripping through the barracks as one of the Blackhawks sped overhead with the door gunner sending out streams of death. “Fuck with me again cocksuckers, even my transports are getting some of this!” Bruce yelled out, changing magazines. Looking down his line his noticed his SAW gunner holding his right arm with blood coming out. “Adam, cover me!” Bruce yelled as he got up and ran to his man. Reaching down, Bruce saw a bullet had hit the man under the shoulder plate that started at the top of the shoulder and extended to the elbow. But underneath was where the bullet hit Bruce’s SAW gunner.
Reaching to examine the wound, Bruce felt through his gloves that the bullet had hit him under the arm in the tricep. Grabbing a bandage, Bruce plugged the wound and tied it down as the man yelled, “Behind you!” Dropping down and turning, Bruce saw four figures running at them from fifty yards away. When he hit the ground on his stomach, Bruce squeezed the trigger, seeing two drop and the other two swing their weapons at him and open up. Bullets impacted to his front as Bruce squeezed the trigger, holding it down and spraying the two targets across the chest, taking one’s arm off. Looking at David and Mindy, Bruce saw them engaging a group trying to low crawl up to them from over a hundred yards away. They just shot them in the head one after another.
Changing magazines, Bruce turned to his SAW gunner and saw he was holding his left thigh with blood coming out between his fingers. “Are you fucking shitting me! I just patched you up!” Bruce yelled at him.
“Well kill them faster next time!” the gunner yelled back at Bruce.
Risking a glance at the rest of the squad, Bruce saw they were changing magazines. “Adam, get on the fucking SAW and send some hate downrange at the assholes. David and Mindy have the end of the line. My fucking machine gunner is bound and determined to catch every bullet thrown at him!” Bruce yelled out, pulling another bandage out. Looking at the wound, Bruce saw the bullet had hit the outside of the thigh and blown out the back. Bruce grabbed one of the gunner’s bandages so he could bandage both wounds. When the dressing was in place, Bruce looked back to the barracks and saw another group coming. “Don’t catch any more bullets, we’re out of dressings,” Bruce told his gunner as he spun around in time to watch Adam cut the group down. “’Bout time you did something!” Bruce yelled.
“I took down twenty that were coming on our right while you were feeling up a wounded man!” Adam yelled back.
“Adam, we’re leaving. We’re taking him back to the rally point with the hostages,” Bruce said, changing magazines. Bruce looked for the rest of his squad and saw his sniper with her head blown apart. “First Squad, we are leaving now, grab Rachel!” Bruce yelled as he grabbed the machine gunner and started dragging him to the rally point. David and Mindy stayed in place, firing at the gang as Bruce pulled the wounded gunner past them. Bruce saw wolf tails ahead through his NVG and saw someone waving and running at him.
“Boss, get your ass over here. The locals are pissed off big time!” Ted yelled out. When he reached Bruce, he grabbed the wounded man’s other shoulder and helped Bruce drag him back to the rally point. Second Platoon had formed a fifty-yard perimeter with the lake to their back and were firing into the compound. Turning around, Bruce saw Adam fireman-carrying Rachel’s body.
Looking around him, Bruce noticed women and kids lying on the ground everywhere. “You did a count yet?” Bruce asked.
“Working on it!” Ted yelled back.
“Keep these fuckers off of me for two minutes so I can find out what the hell is going on!” Bruce yelled to everyone. “This is Big Daddy One to Wild Willie. What is your sit rep?” Bruce yelled into his radio, asking for a situation report as the perimeter opened up on another charge of attackers.
“Big Daddy One, this is Wild Willie. Objective is clear at command area,” Willie reported.
“Willie, how is Carl doing with the hostage area!” Bruce shouted as he kneeled down and sighted on four men sneaking down the shoreline to the team’s right. Squeezing the trigger four times, Bruce dropped each with a burst as Ted looked at what Bruce was shooting at and started barking out orders.
“Fourth Platoon is in deep shit, Boss. There were more bad guys there than we thought. He has hostages pulled to the shoreline and the Blackhawks are covering him from a distance,” Willie reported.
“Tell the fucking Apaches to get in here!” Bruce yelled.
“They’re all empty and the five relief choppers will be here in ten minutes!” Willie yelled over the radio.
“Tell Three to move to Fourth Platoon and Two to swing by here, we are in deep shit!” Bruce yelled back.
“Want me to head to you?” Willie asked.
“Negative, head to Fourth and the hostages!” Bruce yelled back, watching a group of targets run to a mobile home one hundred yards to his right front.
“Copy, moving to Fourth,” Willie called back.
“Big Daddy Two this is One. Where the fuck are you at?” Bruce yelled into the radio and saw a man a hundred and twenty yards away step out from behind a tree. Fire erupted from the end of his rifle and Bruce felt like someone kicked him in the chest, knocking him off his knee to the ground.
“Bruce!” Ted yelled and ran for him but Bruce jumped up as the man ducked back behind the tree. Taking off at a dead run, Bruce headed for the asshole behind the tree. Gunfire erupted behind him as his troops fired to cover him. When he was ten yards away, Bruce dropped his SCAR and pulled his tomahawk off his back as he rounded the tree with his arm swinging down. The man looked up and jumped, seeing Bruce come around the tree. Just as shock filled his eyes, the tomahawk blade buried deep in his skull, dropping him and pulling the tomahawk out of Bruce’s hand. Letting the handle go, Bruce grabbed his SCAR and looked around. Seeing two running at him Bruce raised up, sending two bursts into their chest.
Then Bruce remembered the group behind the mobile home. Kneeling down as he turned to his right, he saw a shitload of targets behind the mobile home. It was fifty yards away and twenty yards to his front. ‘Damn, was this stupid.’ Bruce thought as the mobile home exploded. The concussion hit Bruce, knocking him back. Rolling from the explosion, Bruce jumped up and took off running to his team. When he reached the line, Ted jumped in his face. “What the fuck is your problem?” Ted screamed at him.
“That fucker shot me!” Bruce screamed back.
“Well shoot him back dumbass, don’t go tomahawk him!” Ted yelled as Bruce kneeled down.
“Big Daddy Two, this is One, did not catch your last,” Bruce said.
Mike yelled over the radio, “Will you shoot motherfuckers and quit trying to shank them. Gamma is pinned at the gate. I got one platoon through to Fourth. Second linked up with them and they have pushed the bad guys back!” Mike yelled over the radio as 30mm rounds started impacting a hundred and fifty yards to Bruce’s front followed by 2.75 inch rockets. The earth shook and Bruce was knocked on his ass.
“I’m getting sick and tired of getting knocked on my ass!” Bruce yelled out as Mike tried to talk to him over the radio. “Big Daddy Two, we have Apaches dropping shit close. hold,” Bruce said, looking at the impact area. With each flash he could see masses of hostiles in the woods surrounding them. “Holy shit, that’s a lot of motherfuckers out there!” Bruce yelled as he lifted up his rifle and sighted through the thermal and started squeezing the trigger. The 30mm and rockets stopped, then all of a sudden started up again. Turning one of his radio channels to Mission Control, Bruce yelled out, “How fucking many are to my front? This is Big Daddy One in case you are wondering!”
“This is Little Foot, you have close to a thousand to your front,” Angela called back.
“Are you shitting me? What were they doing, sleeping in the woods?” Bruce hollered back.
“Not far from the truth. Some were sleeping in hide holes with thermal blankets over them but we way underestimated hostile troop strength. Little Red had been watching and is putting hostile strength at six thousand. Hostage area has seven to eight hundred around them but we are holding them off. Gamma has about the same around them. At your location we are putting the strength at fourteen hundred. Do you copy?” Angela asked.
In a calm voice, Bruce started, “Let me get this straight. They were almost double what we thought, they hid a large group in the woods to hit us when we attacked their troops. We have killed three thousand but have another three thousand to go,” Bruce finished.
