The camp came alive in a feverish activity. Those asleep scrambled to get their gear on, while those on watch tried to see what Marcus was calling out.

All the while the dust cloud got closer, and closer.

"1,000 Meters! Two trucks with technicals, four without! Four buggies, and two jeeps! 800 METERS!"

Marcus continues to give out information about the attackers while sighting in his rifle for maximum range shots.

At this point the rest of Dagger Squad gathered in front of their armored truck with Rain giving out orders.

"Scorch you get on the 40 cal, Rook we need a barrier."

"On it!" "Yes ma'am."

While scorch hops onto the truck, Rook takes his tower shield and slams it into the ground. The shield starts to expand until it makes a half circle around the squad. The barrier is strong enough to stop most small arms fire, with slots to shoot out of. With the armored truck behind them, they are practically shooting from a small fortress.

When the attackers advance to around 500 meters Marcus reaches into his satchel and pulls out a flare gun. With a loud POP he fires the flare strait into the air. A small red light arches into the sky before it glows bright like a small sun, enveloping the surrounding area in a red hue.

Now with a clear line of sight, Scorch fires the 40cal while Rook shoots his SAW. A veritable wall of bullets strikes one of the trucks with guns on them, shredding apart the driver and gunner. The now out of control truck swerves into a buggy, causing both to tumble widely 4-5 times before stopping.

Marcus shoulders his rifle and takes aim at the gunner on the other truck. Breathing deeply, he slowly shoots four rounds getting closer to hitting each time. On his fifth shot Marcus hits the man in the throat, causing him to clutch at his neck and fall back into the truck bed.

As the convoy of attackers come within 200 meters of the caravan, they start showering the caravan in a hail of gunfire. The guards and Red Scarfs return fire killing everyone in another buggy, while one of the guards fall, choking on blood.

The hairs on Marcus's neck tingle as he sees at least three people point their guns his way. With a curse he rolls off the side of the cargo truck just as dozens of rounds hit the spot he was shooting from.

Landing on his feet he slings his rifle onto his back, and draws his pistols. Using the cargo truck as cover he peaks out in time to see two attackers with grenade launchers shoot six smoke grenades at the caravan.

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The light from the flare makes the smoke engulfing the area an ominous blood red color.

"SCARFS AND GOGGLES NOW!" Rain yells over the comms.

Marcus pulls his scarf over his nose and tightens it. He then pulls out a pair of goggles from a vest pocket and puts it on.

As smoke fills the area, the gun fire starts to wine down since neither side wants to accidentally shoot friendlies.

Marcus hears Rain speak quietly over comms.

"Flank left everyone, and make your way to the cargo truck. Viper just sit tight."

"Alright, i'll hold here."

Marcus crouches down behind the engine block of the cargo truck, and tries to catch his breath. His heart feels like it's trying to burst out of his chest, and his ears are ringing, making it hard to hear anyone approach.

'Wait, can't see, hard to hear...the cargo!'

Realizing his mistake, Marcus whips around to to see two silhouettes in the fog approaching the back of the cargo truck.

Sprinting down the length of the truck Marcus gets close enough to recognize them as enemies. He shoots the two people in the head with his laz pistol before they can react, causing them to flop to the floor in a heap. Marcus hears shouts of warning at the end of the truck as he continues to move.

Just before he turns around the corner Marcus leaps at the truck, and kicks off the side vaulting himself fifteen feet in the air. Marcus flew over the gunfire of four goon that were waiting for him, and responded in kind. Unloading more than a dozen shots, he riddled the four of them with bloody holes, and burnt flesh.

Landing with a roll, Marcus holstered his now empty revolver, and pulled out his knife. Hearing more people approach from multiple directions, he dove underneath the cargo truck just before gunfire hit the ground where he stood just moments before.

As he starts to crawl towards the front of the truck, Marcus's body screams at him from overexerting his augmented muscles.

"Viper, give me a sitrep." Rain says over comms.

Marcus replies in between deep breaths.

"Multiple squads are converging on the cargo... I won't be able to hold them off much longer!"

"We are almost their newbie, just hang on!" Scorch says over the sound of shotgun blasts and screaming.

Having crawled to the front end of the truck, Marcus rolls out from underneath the truck facing the inside of the camp and scans the area for hostiles. Before he can get his bearings, and faster than his senses can react, a sledgehammer appears from the smoke and slams Marcus directly in the chest.

In that brief moment Marcus was able to go with the hit by leaning back slightly, but was still sent flying by the impact. Marcus flew backwards dozens of feet until he slammed into the driver door of a jeep. The same jeep Dagger Squad just so happened to be taking cover behind.

"WHAT THE FU- Its Viper! Viper's Down!" Scorch exclaims.

"Rook get him behind the jeep! Everyone give them covering fire!"

As bullets start to fly over his head, pain rockets through Marcus's body. He felt something in his back crack, and it's becoming harder for him to breath. Then the pain begins to fade as his thoughts become hazier.

With his vision blurring, and the smoke starting to clear, Marcus can faintly see a group of people fight their way into the cargo truck, and drag a girl out. They load the girl into one of their trucks, and make a hasty retreat under the cover of machine gun fire.

Marcus has one final thought before his consciousness starts to fade.

'Cass was the cargo?'