"Set us down a bit off the city Falcon," Buck said to the pilot of the black hawk. "Roger." the pilot replied. "Are we not gonna take them, sir?" Cupcake asked. Buck looked at her, appalled. "Op Sec," Buck replied.
"So tell me private." Switch asked while keeping his weapon at the ready just in case one of the security detail turned on them. "How'd you chicks end up with that guy?" Switch asked.
"S-sir Reyes dragged 6 of us from our platoon saying he needs us for information extract. He outranks the leader of my squad so we got assigned to him. Albeit begrudgingly." the private answered. "I bet." Switch replied.
"So where's the data or something?" Goose added. "We don't know sir, we were just dragged here and there just guarding him." the private replied. "He ordered us to clear a path to the rooftop in the nearby corporate building." another private added. "So you lost two huh?" Switch clarified. "He must've been bitten there." Goose added.
"Probably sir, the streets were hell. If the zombies didn't take the time to overwhelm our two guys. All of us would've probably been dead right now." the first private explained. "Sucks to be you." Switch replied. Cupcake knitted her eyebrow.
"Touchdown in two!" the pilot bellowed through the headset.
"Sorry, kiddos you gotta get off. We are on a different mission. Relink with your squad or any command left and tell them to get to the major dams. Most of the boys are staging in those areas. No civvies, the military doesn't have enough manpower to look after them right now." Switch added. The security detail didn't even ask to come with them. They were sure, based on the difference of gear that they were not your typical military personnel aside from the two rangers that were with them. "If you don't want your team to be compromised, make sure to check for bites, always." Switch reminded the detail.
As the black hawk slowed down and landed. The security detail saluted Buck and his men. "Good luck boys. You're gonna need it." Buck saluted back and they were off.
~~~~~~
"Be advised, we are fast approaching the port city." the pilot exclaimed on the headset. " We have a quarter left on the tank. That should be enough to get us back to the RP." the pilot added.
"Roger that," Buck said as he looked outside the door. The port city was blanketed with darkness. Only fires from wreckages or barrels that are being used as a makeshift light source were visible from the distance. Down below they can see the roads stir up of the sleepers. Slowly following the sound of the black hawk thumping. "Survivors?" Goose asked. "Probably, every city would become like this if the government won't get their shit together," Buck answered.
"It looks like anarchy down there," Cupcake added. "Without the local government to mount up any kind of response before the national government does. It's Wild West anywhere in this kind of situation. I doubt the local authorities mounted up to something when politicians tend to cut corners at the expense of their security. To be honest. I'm kind of thankful this happened. We were living at peace for too long that people didn't appreciate anything they had until now." Buck explained himself with a sigh. "It doesn't feel good to see it that way though," Buck added,
"Do you think vegetarians survived this shit? or women asking for equal rights or something." Goose asked. "I'm already sick of people asking about pronouns. I hope they were the ones to fucking go. Feels like walking on glass just to talk to somebody outside of the military." Switch added. " I tell yah those people? Only has the fucking leeway because the government wipes off their asses. I kid you not, I bet when this shit exploded? Their shit didn't even matter. Whether they got a dick or an oyster, the sleepers would eat them all." Switch explained. Goose chuckled. Even Buck smiled.
"Amen to that brother." the pilot agreed. Cupcake and Beans were silent but also agreed. They weren't saints. They were soldiers trained to eliminate threats external or internal. They were kind of happy that they could get the missions done without any censure or backlash now that society has fallen. Not with the media breathing down their necks.
"Sir, what..." Cupcake was about to ask but was cut off by an alarm ringing inside the cockpit. "Tracker! Tracker! Tracker!" the pilot shouted over the headset. Buck was on the right side of the door so he was the first one to see it. "Rocket! Right side!" Buck shouted at the radio. The black hawk immediately banked to the left and just dodged a rocket streaking across its right side.
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"Flares!" the pilot bellowed and a trail of flares started to emit from the black hawk illuminating the night sky. "Get us around and above! Fucking rats were hiding behind walls!" Buck shouted. The black hawk turned around a building and over the top of the one that the rocket was fired from. The rangers were rattled and it took some moment for them to get their bearings after the emergency maneuver the black hawk did. Buck's team didn't, they were already switched on.
As the black hawk went over and down a flight of windows, it steadied its flight. Shots rang out from Buck and Goose, suppressing the group. Cupcake and Beans joined in once they saw the targets running about, trying to turn around on their backside trying to find good cover. "Seven!" Buck shouted just indicating the number of threats he saw on his goggles.
Just as the first gunshot from the threats inside the building rang out, the M134 Minigun, the greatest example of maximum violence for infantry, started to scream. Switch fired 100 rounds per second to the threats, it didn't leave anything left to chance. A 15-second burst was all it took to shred an entire floor with lead. The threats that were trying to fire back got their bodies shredded. The ones that were trying to escape were picked off by the rangers. The ones who tried to reload the rocket at the nearby window had their bodies riddled with bullets.
"Hold your fire! Scan sectors, make sure we don't have another rocket incoming!" Buck ordered. A few seconds later, all was quiet again, aside from the mass of sleepers that were trying to get inside the 5 story building and below the black hawk. "Get us out of here Falcon," Buck ordered.
As the black hawk reached the outskirts of the city, Cupcake finally spoke up. "Where the hell did they acquire those armaments?" she said while checking her ammo count. "It doesn't take a genius." Switch answered while looking out on his side of the door. "It's nearly everywhere just lying about." Beans answered while reloading his machine gun. "Military checkpoints, gun stores, overrun bases, even police station armories, abandoned military vehicles, and even the walking sleeper soldiers may have them. Take your pick." Buck explained while looking out on the other side of his door.
"Not every soldier survived the first contact of this outbreak Cupcake. Military equipment will get into the local population's hands whether we like it or not." Goose added. "Nah! At least we will see a drastic drop in oil. We won't be hearing from those oil activists I always see in the news and social media too." Switch added. They all laugh about the idiots who are always protesting about something but can't seem to find an alternate solution for it.
~~~~~~~
A few hours in travel Switch spotted something.
"Eyes up!" Switch warned the group. "Facility ahead," he added. "What kind? Is it our target? It should've been at least a few miles from the port city." Buck clarified. "No, it's not on the map. Looks abandoned." Switch scanned ahead with his weapon scope.
"Movement," Goose said while scanning from his side. The rangers positioned themselves ready to shoot at any time. They will be ready this time. "Two unidentified. One is wearing some military equipment. The other looks like a civilian." Goose explained.
"Keep your eyes open if they try something or even move funny. You have the discretion to fire." Buck explained while he mounted himself on the minigun. A few moments passed as they were about to fly over the facility, the civilian waved his one arm like waving hello or goodbye to the black hawk as it was going to pass by. Without thinking Switch also waved back albeit in a robotic manner.
Goose looked at him. "What? At least they know the military is still here fighting. At least we can give them a bit of hope for the government." Switch answered. "As if you believe that yourself. Mr. Good Guy." Goose interjected. "Yeah, you're right. I don't believe the government has their shit together or any of those fancy pants guys at least." Switch explained. The group of soldiers laughed and even the pilot smiled in front.
Even Buck who was on the minigun agreed.
There were no ground rules now. No red tape. Their bills and so-called constitution won't matter if the whole nation was burning, and if they don't get their sorry asses in order. There won't be a nation to enact their so-called constitution.
"We are 5 minutes to drop." the pilot muttered.
Time to get some answers, Buck thought.