Harry walked through the woods in his position of left flank of the formation. He held his rifle at the read and continually swept his vision from left to right. One step at a time. The forest continued on, almost an endless number of plants.
The plants had swallowed multiple small structures and paths. Harry came across a small collapsed shed, with a metal toilet in it. The concrete pad of the shed was set parallel to a broken and cracked asphalt path. At another point a twisted coil of metal was laying on the ground, Harry couldn’t fathom what its purpose was. Near the coiled metal were twisted tubes, with a chain and rubber scraps.
Disregarding the strange metal contraptions Harry continued on. After many more steps he brought his foot down and heard a crunch. He had stepped into a rib cage, the skeleton appearing similar to a human. It was in relatively good condition, meaning it had only been inside a body a few short years ago. The jawbone was jutting fourth, with sharp spikes protruding from it. The eye sockets were smaller, and offset with one higher and the other lower. One of its arms was thicker than the other, a bludgeon shooting off the elbow. The fingers in that arm were sharper, and longer. The spine of the skeleton had spikes on every other vertebrae, jutting into the dirt. The legs of it were shattered, with a small amount of healing, it had clearly been left to die where it was injured.
Leaning down, Harry pulled a rib off the skeleton with a snap, and tucked it into his backpack. It was Harry’s first time seeing a mutated human up close, dead or alive. Harry figured taking a souvenir from it wouldn’t hurt. He sped his step up for a moment to catch up with the line. Back in his place he returned to the searching the trees with his eyes.
The platoon continued to advance onwards. Harry only met one mutant, a small avian creature with a wicked beak. The beak looked sharp, and was hooked at the end. It never strayed close to Harry, much to his relief. As the avian buzzed into the tree tops Harry returned his attention to sweeping the forest.
Harry had been walking for nearly half an hour when his radio crackled to life. The soldiers talking on the radio had found the canyon edge. The platoon had been called to gather near the edge of the canyon. Harry marched over, reaching it in about five minutes with the rest of his squad.
The canyon stretched out in front of Harry. There were more variants of stone and rock lining the walls than Harry could identify. He could maybe see basalt, but everything else was foreign. Several scraggly trees dotted the walls, clutching to boulders and soil. The canyon also made a sharp turn several miles away, making it difficult to see the entire thing.
Along the bottom of the canyon a sharp, fast river ran, the banks being flat drop offs. There was a dirt track along the floor of the canyon, vehicles having cut through it. Here and there a section of road was shored up with logs or stones. To the south of Harry’s position was a narrow path down the canyon, not able to let vehicles down.
As soon as everybody was present Lieutenant Yorkshire told the platoon the situation, “Alright, looking at the map the train bridge was three miles north of our position. The road bellow the canyon allowed vehicle access to help build the bridge. The closest vehicle path down the canyon is all the way down at the south end, so that’s not viable. Sergeant Watson’s and Sergeant Ronald’s squads will be approaching the position in the canyon base, while Johnson’s squad and I will be staying up here to provide cover fire and keep contact with command.”
“Yes sir.” Chorused back to him.
Harry joined the file heading down the path. The path had several switchbacks on the way down, with steep stone walls on either side of them. The descent to the bottom of the canyon took forty five minutes, with the two squads emerging onto the banks of the river. The banks of the river were about wide enough for a truck to dive along. The river in this section was wide and lazy, meandering down towards the south.
When Harry reached the canyon floor he gazed out at the flowing river, having never seen so much moving water in one place. As he gazed at the water a glint of light caught his eye. Moving closer, he leaned over the shallow river and looked for the source of the glint. After a moment of looking he realized it was just the sunlight sparkling off the river top.
Backpedaling Harry tore his gaze from the river and returned to the rest of the formation. Rejoining the file Harry continued down the embankment. As Harry walked he cast his gaze about, watching for any signs of danger. While he found no threats, he did find some of the natural wonder of the canyon. As he walked he could see the canyon walls reaching skyward around him. The layers of stone and rock were visible to his eye, giving him a history of the landscape. The different varieties of rocks told him of how the land was created, and the different ages that passed by.
The plant life also flourished, trees scrambling up the sides of the canyon. Grass sprouted in gravelly soil between the everlasting stone. Tumbleweed hung onto jutting stone and blew through the breeze. Avians fluttered about the air, and land dwellers scurried across the boulders. The river had fish, swimming through the water. The fish were all vibrant colors and exotic shapes, with very few being the same. The avians fluttering about were small and harmless, going from flower to flower and eating insects. The land dwellers leaping from rock to rock had razor horns, pointing directly forward, but stayed well clear of the soldiers, for now.
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Harry’s idyllic observations of the canyon were interrupted when Sergeant Johnson’s voice burst through his radio, “This is over watch. We’ve spotted a truck leading fifteen insurgents with supplies towards your position. They should reach your position in five minutes.”
As soon as the report came through the radio the sergeants were barking orders. Watson ordered Harry’s fire squad across the river. From here Harry took control. He ordered Gerald to get behind various piles of rocks. Harry himself took position behind a mound of dirt on top of which a scraggly tree sat. Ronald sent his second fireteam across the river as well. They scrambled to pile loose stones and make a simple barricade. On the main path a remote detonated explosive was placed on a shallow hole, and covered with dirt. The soldier with the detonator hid down the road behind a pillar of rock. The rest of the soldiers on the path scrambled farther down the road, finding boulders to conceal themselves behind. They were told the radio would buzz twice, when they are to open fire.
Not thirty seconds after the last soldier concealed himself could they hear a truck driving down the path. The truck moved slowly, it’s thrumming moving closer. Over the engine of the truck they could barely hear the sound of foot steps, crunching into the soil behind the truck. After two minutes of the truck idling down the path, the radio buzzed twice.
Harry popped up, and quickly spotted the insurgents. There were two in the cab of the truck, with five on the flatbed with the stolen supplies. The ten insurgents were spread out behind the truck, casually walking and their weapons hanging from their hands.
Harry lined his iron sights up with an insurgent behind the truck. He pulled the trigger, and felt a burst leave the muzzle and speed towards the enemy soldier. The first of the bullets hit the insurgent in the arm, the second and third shredding his rifle. Harry ducked back down, leaving only his head exposed. The insurgent he wounded rushed to the side of the truck, crouching behind it while holding the wounded arm. He left his rifle abandoned on the road.
Two other insurgents were stuck by lead as well. One lay unmoving in the river, while the other was left in the road, pulling himself towards cover. The insurgents on the flatbed were jumping behind the truck or kneeling and firing wildly at Harry’s position. So far none of the bullets had landed anywhere near Harry, but the two firing at him were walking the fire closer.
The truck continued to idle forward, going faster than before. The Nevexicans further down the road continued to remain hidden. The mine hidden beneath dirt was fifteen feet further down the road, and the Nevexicans didn’t want to scare them away from the mine. The Nevexicans hiding behind the barricade popped back up, and fired at the insurgents not behind the truck.
One of the insurgents was struck in the legs, and dropped to the ground screaming. Another had machine gun fire walked up her chest, through her neck, and across her head. She fell down and didn’t even twitch. The other two insurgents still not behind cover turned and ran. They were both shot through their backs. One fell on his face, his fragile mask shattering. The other folded in half, and crumpled backwards.
With half of the insurgents already wounded, the truck driver began to panic. He yelled at the insurgents taking cover behind his truck to hop on, and that he was going to gun it. The four insurgents taking cover behind boulders heard this, and began to sprint towards the truck, desperate for a way out. Harry and Gerald both fired at them. Harry’s first two bursts hit nothing, his third a bullet hit the ankle of one, and severed his tendons. He slowed to a hobble, before being struck through the lenses of his mask, and falling to the ground. Gerald gunned down two other insurgents, the fourth one jumping onto the truck bed.
The rest of the insurgents then clambered on, firing at anything moving across the river. Harry and Gerald both ducked down. The three behind the barricade also began to duck down, but one was too slow. Five rounds of 7.62 crashed into his skull, four bursting out the other side with a visceral trail of pink behind them. The top off his skull fell inwards, resting on his brain momentarily, before he went limp and fell to the side. Harry hopped he could forget that image, someday. Hopefully someday soon.
As Harry watched his comrade fifteen feet down die, the truck drove over the mine. And it detonated, sending shrapnel and explosives tearing through the vehicle. Secondary explosions followed a moment later, when the gasoline ignited. The boxes of supplies also exploded, some carrying ammunition. The fireball engulfed all the insurgents, lighting their clothes on fire, before pushing away all the oxygen and extinguishing them. The shrapnel ripped limb and organ away from the remaining insurgents, splattering them across the canyon walls and floor. Smaller pieces of shrapnel hit the ground around the vehicle, sending little puffs of dirt into the air.
After hearing the explosion Harry slowly tore his gaze away from the dead comrade, and brought his gaze to the destroyed truck. He quickly turned away, off put by the charred remains scattered about. The rest of the group gradually popped up front their cover, weapons pointing at the wreckage of the truck. They quickly ducked back down, when more ammunition began to cook off, bullets flying in all directions at random intervals. One soldiers was struck in the breast plate, and fell on his but back behind cover.
Another soldier, Freeman, Harry presumed, rushed over to the soldier and began to check him out. The rest of the platoon was seemingly woken back up by this event began speaking over the radio again.
“Holy shit, that was energetic”
“Did you see the way the-”
“Man, that couldn’t have gone better.”
“Wish I coulda-”
“Damn, we could have used the ammo”
“Fuck, Ronald’s squad lost another, it was Jax this time”
The radio went silent, after this. Following a moment of silence, the RTO spoke over the radio, “I have reported it to command, leave him there and we can get him on the way back.”
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The insurgents further down the canyon looked up, gunfire echoing from down the canyon. They began to walk towards the source of the gunfire, until they heard the explosion. After that, they began to move rocks into barricades on the roads, and prepare hiding spots around the train. The insurgent that picked up the metal case tucked it deeper into his jacket, not wanting to loose his potential spoils.