Mercy in darkness

I looked over toward Flash, who has his tail in between his legs, teeth seriously showing, and growling. I know what he thinks it is, and i’m pretty sure thats whats behind the grass.

“Lieutenant, take Flash and Father Sam and relocate your RZ. Do it slowly, and very quietly.”

“Locke, what the fu-”

“Lieutenant. Do it. Now.”

Flash starts barking, and bounces each time he lets out a hard bark. He was scared out of his mind. He’s only that scared of one thing in the whole world. His ancestors.

“Alright...where are you gonna be?” O’Hara asks

“Im staying here. You go.” I reply.

O’Hara nods, and grabs Flash by his thunder-suit, and carries Father Sam, and walks off with the both of them. Flash fights with everything he has, barking left and right. The sound of his barking eventually bled off, and I hear nothing but growling and the voices of some men, yelling...and running. I walk back to a farther point of cover, keeping my rifle pointed toward the direction of the noise. I take a kneel behind a tree, as I wait for the first kill. I’m all alone, with only my rifle, and everything else at my disposal.

“Come on...lets get going…” I think to myself.

I eventually see the head of a wolf, and I pull the trigger of my HK. Out the bullet went, and into the face of the wolf, dead on impact. That very second thereafter, I heard more barking and growling, and human yelling. I take my M67 “baseball” grenade and throw it towards the sound, and with that, I take my leave. 4 seconds later, I hear the boom, but not sure if it killed anybody, I was busy running for my life. I long burst of AK47 fire comes flying my way, and stray rounds are smacking into the trees ahead of me. I turn around and pull the trigger a few times into the area behind me, where another wolf rolls in just in front of me, dead.

“Who uses attack wolves, come on…” I think to myself.

The base alarm now goes off, for the second time, as I make my way around the base itself, hoping to make contact with another team nearby. Then I remember I have the radio that I completely forgot about...silly me.

“Team Two, this is Team One, we have split up and are currently being hunted down by wolves and squirters, are you in any position to assist, over??” I practically yell into the radio

“You cannot hide american soldier! weeee willl fiiinnndddd yooouuuuu!!” I heard in the crowd behind me. It was broken english with an african accent, but who, I haven’t a clue.

It feels like forever later, but Two finally gets back to me.

“Team one, we are able to assist but it will take a small while for us to reach you! Be prepared to wait for us, we are on the way, my friend!” Harrison II said. “Are you alone??”

I turned to a kneel and pumped a few more rounds into the trees behind me, and I heard screaming, along with a return-fire sequence, and more screaming. I must have done about a few laps around the enemy base and an extra half a mile.

“Roger that, Two! O’Hara was sent back to an alternate LZ with Flash and Father Sam, im drawing fire away from him while he gets out of here, copy!?” I yell into the mic.

Only a second or two later I see a huey descending to the ground to pick up O’Hara, Father Sam, and Flash. The huey rose back up and eventually disappeared into the night sky.

“Was that O’Hara in the helicopter just now??” Harrison II asks.

“Affirmative, Two. I’m going to make my way to the roof of the base, I will launch a signal from there, be ready to look for it!” I reply.

“Solid copy, One, we are on the way! Please mark your position so we can see you!” Harrison II replied.

I knew exactly where to go. I threw a Flashbang back toward the crowd, and hear the sharp crack of the grenade go off, followed by more screaming, and more gunfire. Is that all these guys do is scream and shoot? I move back to the enemy base and scale the wall, grabbing the top of the wall and pulling myself and all the extra 40 pounds up and over...strongman style. More gunfire presents itself as the stray rounds smack against the wall and chip some of it off. Back into the hole that we blew open and down the endless hall. I couldn’t hide in the same room I was in earlier because there was a greater chance of being found...with the wolves. The dead guy was still impaled in the wall, with O’Haras note still jammed in him. Now theyre gonna think I did it...not that I care or anything. Out of habit, I almost go downstairs to look for Father Sam, but I realized that O’Hara has him...and Flash.

“No, no no no, nope...not down there. we need to go up!” I say to myself.

There was another long hallway leading towards a set of stairs that go up...it was too quiet down there, and I didn’t like it, but its not like i was being chased by a whole mob of Baas’s followers or anything like that. I ran down the hallway with the absent sound of boots stomping my way...which I didn’t like at all. As I walked down further into the hallway, a nearby door comes swinging full force into my face, and hit me pretty good. Out came another African fighter, who had a knack for hand-to-hand combat. I stepped back enough to throw my rifle back and throw out my fists. I blocked and repelled his every punch and kick, with some of them hitting my sides and gut. He was obviously a trained fighter, and he knew his way around hand combat. He was a b***h to take out. He caught me off guard with a fake kick, leading upwards to a fist striking my head, and landed on a few more punches afterward. He kicked me to the ground and began the process of holding me down and mangling my face by punching the s**t out of it. I stopped him short by kicking him back and getting back on my feet. At one point, he made the mistake of throwing a right hand punch, which in turn caused me to react by sliding his fist out of the way, rushing toward his back, and hold him in an armlock stretching across his neck. I ripped my knife out from its holster, and slammed it into his chest, while covering his mouth, out of habit. Eventually he stopped moving, twitching a little bit before he died only seconds later. I wiped the blood off my knife on his uniform jacket, and throw the body away from me.

“Dead men tell no tales.” I said to the deceased fighter.

Throwing my rifle back to my front, I continue down the hall, with the sound of rampaging boots and yelling and some barking flooding the rooms behind me. I was beginning to run clean out of breath, but I had to keep moving. My breathing turned into wheezing, and my heart was beating fast, I could feel it. Eventually, I made it to the staircase and moved onward, where I get to the roof. The roof was covered by a few cheaply-made makeshift electric generators, leaves from previous seasons, and blood. The blood must have been from the African fighters interrogating some of their enemies or something...I don’t know. I loaded the Sierra-40 with a signal bolt, and shot it in the air, where the fuse eventually lit, and the arrow shined brightly in the sky like a firework.

“Team Two, One, signal bolt is in the air. can you see it from your position?” I said into the radio.

“uhhhh….Roger, One, we see it. We are not far from you. hold your position my friend, we are on the way!” Harrison II said

I looked behind me at the sound of a single man, yelling. There was an African fighter holding an AK47, with the barrel pointed at my head. He wasn’t more than 3 feet from me.

He was yelling in broken english, “American Soldier! you have no where to run! lay down on the ground!”

“It’s not me you’re looking for, man. I’m just trying to get home.” I said, holding my hands in the air.

I backed up to the edge of the roof, with only a single step left before the fall. The African fighter was stepping closer to me, with the barrel of the AK also getting closer to my face.

“You no go home! you stay with us!!” Yelled the African fighter.

He got to a distance where he was reaching out his hand to try and detain me.

“That was your worst mistake.” I said to the fighter.

I took my hands and slapped the barrel away from me, and threw it off the roof, where I tossed him around to make him a human shield, where I took his pistol from his holster and pointed it at his head. In that time, the rest of the mob came in onto the roof, all of them pointing AK47’s at me. Some of them were trying to hold back the attack wolves

“You put him down! Put him down!” I hear in the crowd.

“HA! you think i’m gonna do that!?” I say as I back a little further towards the edge, pushing the pistol further into his head.

“Im gonna f*****g shoot him!!” I yelled. “IM GONNA PULL THIS TRIGGER!!”

“You will do no such thing, American.” I heard from the crowd.

African fighters move a little to the side, to make way for a single man to walk through. He was wearing the same uniform as the others, with a 2nd Lieutenant bar on each of his collars, and a gray dress cord on his shoulder. He was wearing a beret that had a gold star pinned on the center. He had a deep voice, much like that of Captain Flint.

“Ah, you do not yet know me, American. I am Folami Baas, and you have walked too far into our territory. You will suffer the consequences.” Baas says.

He begins to step closer to me, “But we can work this out, between us. No one else.”

“STAY THE F**K BACK!” I yell, shoving the handgun into my shields head once more.

“Oh, you are upset. Very well then, we can take you in by force.” Baas concludes.

He begins to walk back into the crowd, giving a hand signal that must have meant, “do what you can”, because the African fighters begin to walk forward towards me, with the exception of the wolves, who were being restrained by other fighters.

“Team One, we are in position, we have eyes on Folami Baas, taking the shot…” Harrison II informed.

“Negative, do not engage, too many targets. wait for the signal, then open fire.” I reply.

I look down from the roof, looked about 20 feet high. F**k.

“So long, a******s.” I speak.

I jump off the roof, putting the shield to my front, so he takes the full impact of the fall. The impact on the dirt ground was very rough, and I felt the sharpest pain in my leg...I think I broke it.

“FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!” I yell, in agonizing pain. I shoot the former shield in the head so he doesnt get back up.

“Heard that, One. hostiles inbound to your position. Hang on, we are coming for you!” Harrison II over the troop net.

“F**k...f**k...fu-f**k....” I whispered to myself.

I tried crawling away from the enemy base, but I didn’t get very far until I had to stop, because it hurt so f*****g bad.

I heard in the distance, “GET SUPPRESSING FIRE ON THE ENEMY! I AM GOING TO GO GET LOCKE!”

Holy s**t, hes fast. I could make out the faint sound of two suppressed rifles being shot somewhere out there. They were close. As I was laying on the ground, I heard boots stomping closer and closer to me. I looked up, and it was Lieutenant Harrison II.

“You are going to be alright, my friend.” I heard him say as he picked me up, with a few grunts and groans, and got me on his shoulders.

“INCOMING!” I heard another SEAL say.

I look over to where the shout came from, and there was Paul, part of SEAL Team Two. He aimed his rifle and shot a nearby African fighter in the face. Good aim.

“Paul, how did you…”

“Talk later, Locke. We’re getting you out of here.” He says.

I nodded in agreement, as I pulled my USP .45 handgun. I shot a few rounds into the crowd behind us, as Harrison II was running up a steep hill, while calling for CASEVAC over the radio. I could hear command getting back to him through my troop net.

“Negative, CASEVAC is currently unavailable, Two. We’re scrambling Ranger assets to your location, standby.”

“GOD D****T!” I heard Harrison II yell.

We get to the top of the hill, where a bullet must have smacked Harrison II in the leg. I heard Pauls suppressed rifle go on full auto and spraying an entire magazine into the crowd, killing almost 14 guys...out of like, 7 million behind us. Harrison II almost fell, when he started to kind of drag his leg back to standing. I saw that blood was spitting out of the wound, but he smoothly pushed it out of his mind, and continued running.

“Rangers are descending, get our brother out of there.” I heard over the troop net from command.

“Do you hear that? Backup is coming, Locke. We will be okay. Do you have any smoke pops?” Harrison II asked.

“Yeah, set me down, I’ll pop smoke for the Rangers, You guys take position and get ready for a fight.” I reply.

He led himself to a small field, no bigger than a half a football field, with rocks and trees, some dead and others alive, some cut in half, dotted along the field and can be used as cover points. Harrison II set me down nearby a tree. I heard my legs screaming in pain, as I reached in my recon pack and pull out an IR smoke pop, and yanked the pin out of its place. I threw it next to me as Paul readies his rifle and crawls to prone next to a nearby tree. Harrison just finishes getting his equipment ready for a fight, but notices he had a marksman rifle, not an assault rifle.

“Locke, do you have a rifle i can use?” He asks

“Yeah man, take it. the recon pack is full of its ammo, just take the whole thing.”

“Roger that. Take my rifle and its ammo, you might need it.” Harrison II finishes.

I hand him my HK assault rifle as he takes the rifle and the recon pack along with it. He unzips the pack, and takes out the crossbow and the quiver of bolts. He hands it to me and says that I might need it. In that process, he also hands me his MK11 marksman rifle, complete with a normal rifle scope, a suppressor, and a bipod. He hands me his utility belt, holding nothing but his MK11 ammo. Then he disappears with my rifle and recon pack into a cluster of trees nearby. We all heard the enemy get closer, as Paul pulls his trigger first, sending a hostile combatant flopping back to where he came from. Then the rest of them pour on to the field and spray their AK and RPK rifles. Harrison II and Paul calmly pulled their triggers continuously, with a “pff” sound every 3 seconds, indicating that they are indeed, opening fire at the enemy.

I hear over the troop net, “We see your smoke, Rangers are almost there, ETA is 2 minutes. hang on, we’re coming!” I wondered if it was a higher ranking Ranger or something.

I aim my USP pistol at an African fighter, cowering nearby a tree, as AK rounds are smacking the trees and rocks around me. I pull my trigger, as an unsuppressed .45 ACP bullet ripped right through the barrel and into the chest of the enemy. Center mass.

“Kill confirmed” I say over the troop net.

The number of hostile combatants seemed endless. For every one person that died, there was another one that took his place. Paul and Harrison II kept pushing lead out of their barrels and into the heads and chests of the enemies in front of them, with endless return-fire sequences occurring for each friendly trigger pulled. I looked over at Harrison II’s MK11 rifle, sitting next to me, peacefully undisturbed. I take his rifle and adjust the stock to fit my shoulder, and look down the scope of the rifle, it was the perfect magnification for easy headshots. Multiple times I pulled the trigger, and made nice holes in the heads or chests of the enemy combatants.

“Your heresy will stay your feet.” I whisper

Over the troop net, I hear “Rangers have arrived, 5 seconds…”

I look up to see multiple parachutes descending quickly, one parachute had the SEAL trident painted on it. The SEAL landed first, along with the other Rangers, who instantly ran to a cover point and unleashed their loaded beasts, big guns, LMGs. The SEAL turned around toward me. That SEAL was LTJG O’Hara.

“There was no f*****g way we were leaving you behind!” He yells.

He then turns around to the Rangers he was commanding, “START PUSHING THEM BACK!” He screams. He pulls his MP7 to his front and opens fire on the enemy.

The Rangers got up and pointed their weapons towards the enemy, slowly walking towards them, with the constant sound of their unsuppressed weapons flooding the area around us.

“BOP BOP BOP BOP!!!”

There was literally no break in the sequence of firing. The Rangers kept moving forward, while O’Hara was kneeling towards Harrison II and Paul. Never have I seen so much gunfire in one area before. I saw O’Hara look at me, then rush towards my position.

“You broke your f*****g leg???” He tried yelling over the gunfire.

“Yeah, long story!” I reply.

“You crazy b*****d! you wait here, and I’ll get on the radio to command!” O’Hara finishes.

I look around for a bit, switching to my crossbow, loaded with an incendiary bolt. I got the feeling that someone was gonna flank us. I saw the slight gleam of an AK barrel with a pair of black boots walk away from a treeline. I instantly put my crossbow sights on the targets chest, as the bolt flies out of the chamber system, and into the chest of the target, impaling him into a tree. He was hopelessly trying to get the bolt out from his chest. I look over toward the others, where Harrison II, Paul, O’Hara, and another ranger all had their guns pointed at the fighter.

“Hold fire. let ‘em burn!” I yell, in attempt to talk over the gunfire.

The bolt began glowing from inside the guys chest, as his whole body was later engulfed in fire. He was screaming in agonizing pain, as his time to die was coming closer and closer. He eventually stopped moving like a maniac, and twitched a little bit before he eventually died, with the fire still burning the black carcass of the now deceased African fighter. O’Hara and the others put down their rifles, and looked at me with a smile. The Rangers at the front, the ones letting their LMG’s sing their song to the enemy, suddenly ceased fire. One of them reported “all clear!” as I could hear the chains of bullets and the ammo boxes being reloaded. O’Hara got on the radio and called for extraction.

“Azimuth, Team One, requesting immediate CASEVAC over grid coordinates Sierra One, One, Seven, Charlie, One, Niner, how copy?” O’Hara spoke into the radio.

“Solid copy, Lieutenant. CASEVAC is on its way, standby for Close Air Support, out.”

O’Hara looks around, then gets the Rangers’ attention. “CAS is coming on station. CASEVAC is on its way, you Rangers will be getting on a second flight back home, hooah?”

“Hooah” The Rangers replied.

“How do you know the army cry?” Harrison II asked.

“My dad was in the Army, he always said that when I was around.” O’Hara replied.

“Bro, he must’ve been a little hurt when you joined the Navy” I said.

“He was, up until he found out I was trying out for Special Warfare. Then he was gung-ho.”

A RECCE Sniper attached to the Rangers came back from his post with news about the African fighters amassing in a huge platoon for a counter attack. We heard the rotor blades of the CASEVAC helicopters cut through the air. The CASEVAC birds were all AH-6 Littlebirds, and one MH-60 Blackhawk. An A-10 was circling the area and came in over the radio.

“Punisher 1-2 spots targets at 160 meters bearing one-seven-zero, requesting permission to engage.”

“Punisher, you are cleared for contact.” O’Hara replied.

“Roger that, coming in for a gun-run.”

Next thing we know, we see the A-10 unload its payload of rockets and bullets all the way down to the ground in the form of a strafe-run.

“BRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!”

In that time, the Blackhawk made touchdown in the field, and medics were jumping out, getting a stretcher ready to go. Once the A-10 gunfire was over, the pilot came back on the radio.

“Concluding attack run, good effect on target, hold for BDA.”

“Punisher, circle around and hit ‘em again.” O’Hara ordered.

“Roger that, Punisher 1-2 is approved for immediate re-attack.” the pilot finishes.

The medics finally got the stretcher ready, and picked me up with the help of Harrison II and Paul. They got me on the stretcher as the medics rolled me to the bird, I could see the Littlebirds keeping overwatch over the area. Harrison II and Paul followed me onto the Blackhawk. I noticed O’Hara wasnt on, so I called for his attention.

“Lieutenant! you coming on??”

He looked at me as he just finished getting a BDA from the RECCE Sniper. “No, dude. this is MY detachment, and im staying here to take care of these guys. you get back home and rest up, i’ll see you back on Azimuth.”

“I KNEW I LIKED YOU, YOU KNOW THAT!?!” I tried yelling over the sound of the blackhawk rotors getting louder and louder.

He smiled back, and waved goodbye. I felt the Blackhawk lift up off the ground a little bit. I could hear over the troop net, the A-10 pilot was informing us of his second attack run.

“Affirm Punisher 1-2 has zero on your target at 150 meters bearing Two-Three-Zero. Weapon away, time of fall, 5 seconds.”

5 seconds later, we hear the boom of the missiles, and the machine gun hitting its targets.

“BRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!”

I could hear the after-sound of the engine roar past me as the A-10 pilot completes his second attack run.

“Good effect on target, BDA to follow.”

I looked up at the ceiling of the Blackhawk, while the medics are tearing open my pants legs trying to get an assessment on my wounds. The pilot came in on the radio to report his BDA.

“Good effects on target, 40 down.”

Nice kills.

Author's Note

This is just the beginning of something big!! If you guys have any opinions on the chapter, be sure to slap a review on that little box right there, many thanks and much appreciated!
cheers! :)