Emergency HQ, Phase Line Delta
Location: Undisclosed
Personnel: Classified
Command Line: Lieutenant Colonel *Redacted
~~~~~
"Alright, Mission parameters, Listen up." a man with special unit gear bellowed inside a large tent. "Got any updates?" Another soldier asked. "Not yet, mission objectives are still the same." the former man said, clearly the the captain of said unit.
"We've been chasing breadcrumbs for weeks now and we haven't found a single solid lead." another soldier said while reloading all his magazines full of 5.56 rounds. "Any news in other available units in our dispatch captain?" the other soldier asked while fastening some custom arm guards.
"None." the captain answered, "SEAL Team 6 was last dispatched to retrieve HVTs with the president as priority one and head down from down there." the captain added.
"So it's only 3 of us then?" the other soldier who was reloading magazines asks. "But the command structure and communications in tatters? Yes, but not necessarily Goose." the captain bellowed.
"Any requisition for support from the lieutenant colonel cap?" the other soldier asked while fastening a custom shin guard. "Yeah, and he was not happy about us dropping by and taking what we can in this situation." the captain replied.
"Resupply and get some grub. We are leaving within the hour. Switch, you're going to be babysitting." the captain said to Switch. "Fuck me." Switch groaned while Goose laughed.
A few moments later, as the captain was checking all the documents and data they gathered for the past few weeks, 2 soldiers with ranger tabs entered their tent. One was a woman with a specialist rank carrying a custom M4A1 with a silencer attached and a man who was clearly an assault rifle specialist carrying a modded KAC LAMG with a silencer.
Goose whistled as he saw the heavy gunner. "I'd like to get me one of those," Goose said longingly. "What? Compensating for something bud?" Switch said to Goose. "Fuck off," Goose replied while laughing.
The clear distinctions between the two units are many but the most obvious difference is their night visions. The DELTA unit has the standard Ground Panoramic Night Vision Goggles (GPNVG) while the new arrivals had the PVS-15 night vision goggles. A clear difference between the 4 protruding tubes with the standard 2.
The 2 saluted making their standard ranger gear rattle. "You know what's going on?" the captain asked the rangers. "Yes sir, we are to link up with Task Force Dagger and provide any assistance necessary. We are to follow orders of the commander in charge of the unit." the female ranger replied while still in salute.
"At ease," the captain ordered. Both of the rangers followed on parade rest. "What are your names?" the captain asked while still reading the portfolio and not looking at the two. "Specialist Miriam Bermund, explosives." she stated "Assault Rifle Specialist Benjamin Verdana." the soldier with the machine gun answered.
"Too long. Miriam I'll call you Cupcake." finally the captain looked at them and raised an eyebrow. "Benjamin was it? You're Beans from now on." the captain said while striding to them. "Sir! yes! sir!."
The captain stood before them, "Rangers lead the way." the captain said crisply. "OOHH RAAAA" the Rangers replied. The captain nodded. "75th?" the captain asked while looking at their emblem.
"Sir! Yes! Sir!" Cupcake answered. "What are you guys doing here? Where's the rest of your unit?" the captain asked confused. "Gone sir," Beans answered a bit solemnly. "We were out on a routine border patrol when it went FUBAR, sir," Beans added. "We were in a fighting retreat in the desert until we stumbled upon the emergency outpost sir," Cupcake commented.
"So the Lieutenant Colonel sent both of you to me because you don't mesh well with the jarheads." the captain said with certainty. "Probably sir." Beans replied. "This is Goose and Switch. My call sign is Buck but you will call me Captain. You haven't earned the right to call me that yet."
"Get your game faces on. If you ranger heads lead the way, we DELTAs go down and dirty." Buck said to the rangers while going back to the makeshift desk.
"These guys don't fuck around," Cupcake whispered. "Neither should we," Beans affirmed.
~~~~~~
Day 5 10:05 AM
"Do we have enough fuel for the trip?" I asked Bennie who was in the driving seat. "Yeah, but I think we're gonna be running low when we arrive there," Bennie answered through the broken back window. "We need to stick to the city's edge if the highway is congested," Bennie added. "Oh it will be," I said with conviction.
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"Keep your eyes peeled for those bikers or any sign of bandits," Amber added while keeping a lookout.
As soon as we started to go around a bend. The telltale signs of the unclean started to show. Burnt cars with corpses still inside them. The unclean that starting to lumber towards us. The highway wasn't crowded by the unclean but there were a lot of corpses strewn about.
After a few minutes of driving through the narrow congestion and heading through the first buildings of the city. I started to have a bad feeling. They were unclean but not to the point of overwhelming us, unlike the border town. It is a bit quiet or calm? Which unnerved me. The unclean was loud but there is something unnatural about the silence. The way the car wrecks were. That's when I realized it.
I pounded the roof "Ben speed the fuck up! Max speed! Now!" I screamed at Bennie. "What!" Bennie retorted but still did what I asked. Just as he was about to go through a set of wrecked cars An abandoned car was sliding down the slope creating a blockade. "Fuck!" Bennie screamed. "Hold on!" Bennie screamed as he stepped on gas even if it was already at full speed.
Just before the abandoned car could box us in, the pickup got through but skidded through the abandoned car. We swerved but I was glad Bennie got control of the pick-up again. Abigail and I nearly got thrown off by the sudden crash.
"I think we're o.." *thwuack! a certain zipping sound resounded and pinged the signpost. "Get down!" I said to Abigail while I lunged at her face first. "I got to stop saying that. Fuck!" I interjected at myself.
I was on top of Abby shielding her with my body from any kind of ricochets. *thwuack* this time the bullet hit the side of the pick. I laid down flat instinctively and I felt two whoopy cushions on my chest. Good heavens! I want to be shot if I can feel this every day. Abigail was hugging me at this point. Thinking that it was pointless, we could both fit while lying down. The truck bed was wide. But hey I can't say no. I laughed inside even in this situation.
I slowly pushed Abigail away while lying down opposite her. "Bennie! Swerve as much as possible! Make it unpredictable!" * schuap! another shot rang out this time, hitting an unclean by the road.
As I felt the car swerving and peeking at Bennie, I saw Ambers lying low on the passenger seat while cradling the heavily breathing Amy. "Get us out of here Bennie!" I shouted while I was hearing the sounds of motorbike engines closing in.
"We got incoming!" Amber shouted as she peaked through the back window. Fuck! How I wish we had firearms right now. Wait, we do but we are out of ammunition. This fucking sucked. Then another shot rang out. Probably from a shotgun and I heard it pinging the tailgate. "Use the alleys!" I shouted to Bennie then I felt the pick-up turn a sharp right as Bennie tried to pass through the walkways through a wide back alley. The unclean were starting to notice the disturbance and more and more were starting to swarm the main roadway.
Plastic chairs, tables, and umbrellas were flying over the pick-up as Bennie drove through the walkway to avoid crashing into the congested road. I heard another shot but it wasn't aimed at us. Our chase was starting to wake up the unclean. But as we were keeping pace, the bikers behind, were the ones starting to be swarmed by those whom we woke up. As long as we don't stop. This will be more dangerous for them than for us.
"Hold on!" Bennie shouted. As I looked forward, I saw a ruptured pipeline that erupted on the side street. Half of the main road was blown off but there was a protruding metal that exploded to a nice curve. Making it a good ramp for us. The other side of the wrecked road though is the unclean. They started to swarm the road and buildings ahead and tried to get to us but fell down the crater where the pipeline blew up.
"Bennie!!!" I screamed as I grabbed hold of Abigail and gripped the railing for dear life. Amber hurriedly fixed the seatbelt between her and Amy. Bennie just gripped the steering wheel hard. Abigail also grabbed hold of me and gripped the railing. I saw my life flashing before my mind as two soft clouds kept pounding my face.