Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! that was all that ran through Daniel’s mind as he sprinted across the open field,
Shit! Shit! Shit! Shiiiiit! another mortar popped behind him just as he dove for cover into the ruined building’s ground floor. “Shit! Whose bitchin’ idea was this anyway!?” he called out as three more bodies fell in line beside him, hiding behind the counter of the reception desk, bullets pinging off the wall.
“Give it a rest, there’s no use complaining about it now!”
Anora commented as she peaked over the edge of the thick concrete slab following a break in the enemies fire, only to have to duck again as the shooting resumed with greater zeal, “We’ve got to hold off until-yikes, ricochet!- until the General gets into position! You knew what you were in for when you joined this stupid unit didn’t you!?” she jumped up at another small break and put her hand forward, a blue orb of energy amassed in her palm and launched off a beam of thick light that jest melted into a blue spot on the broken concrete where their opponents hid. They burst up in response and fire again, forcing her to take cover again, “Bastards, take this!” with a snap of her fingers the blue spot of energy detonated, bring down the already crumbling floor the shooters occupied, along with two more above it.
Concrete shards came scattering into the building as its neighbor groaned under the explosion, the second man behind the cover grabbed at his face, “OW! Watch it Anora, those kinds of spells aren’t the best to use in a crumbling city!” he commented before looking over the wall himself to see the damage. He brought his sword up just in time to block an incoming bullet, a slug by the slow speed and shape of it, which grazed his ear on its deflected path. “More of ‘em” the man swung his sword ar a line of rocky debris on the top of the counter, sending the shards of stone flying as if hit by a bat at extreme speed to crash into the area their opponents were occupying. Another bullet grazed his arm and he yelled as he fell back behind the barrier, “Ah! I’m hit. Damn that stings.” He hissed knowing the wound wasn’t fatal but still it was just adding to the situation.
“Hang on, Colonel, I’ve got you.” The fourth man slid to the other’s side though a break in the cover put him in the open for a split second, drawing more fire to the visible movement. He ignored it though and held his hand to the wound, a soft golden glow irradiating as multiple complex circles scribed in runes appeared in thin air, “Nothing serious, but it looks like you got a nerve cluster hit, I was more worried, you’re normally not a baby like this.”
“Up yours, Cap, I’m normally able to hit back, instead of being stuck here feeling useless…” he began to put his head up and another volley hit, “Jeez! They are pretty gun how on those damn triggers… Daniel, I count five. Think you can take ‘em if we run decoy?”
“Are you insane!” the captain who was healing the Colonels wounds asked as two more rounds hit the space next to him. “Damn it Artemis, this isn’t funny, I can’t raise the dead you know!”
“We don’t have much choice Sam, if we miss the rendezvous the General is bound to come looking for us and that’s the mission, gone, we got to try!” Artemis looked over to Daniel, “You got this right?”
“
Chuu… Just who do you think you’re talking too?” Daniel smirked as he brought his two pistols up to the ready, three circles appearing floating above the barrel. “On your count, Colonel…”
“One…” Artemis cocked himself to the ready, Anora doing the same with her fist already sheathed in blue energy.
“Two…” Daniel’s left eye was covered by the same seal that floated above his guns’ barrels as he too got lower in preparation of the assault. The other man, Sam, was muttering something with his eyes closed, several glowing seals appearing over the vital areas of the Colonel.
“Go!”
Artemis burst into the air, roaring, sword held high. He swung the blade at a column, sending more chunks of stone at their opponents, yet that did little to nothing. As the opponents jumped up and took aim Anora let fly with a bolt of energy, sending one of the foes into the dark behind them. He wasn’t going to get up. The other four, however began to fire, aiming for the Colonel who was rushing in a serpentine pattern toward them.
“Six left, you’re count was off , Colonel.” Daniel commented as he raised one gun and fired, without truly bringing it to his eye. He repeated this five times until all of their opponents fell. The colonel had reached their entrenchment and with a mighty swing took out the column holding up the room their foes had taken shelter in. The roof collapsed sending a flurry of dust and a gust of wind out; blowing the shoddy clothing they wore behind him.
“
Phew! That was a close one, next time I’ll bring some projectile weapons.” Anora commented as she stretched toward the dusk filled sky with a groan of stress. She looked to the Colonel who turned about, several spots of his clothing showed red stains form wounds he’d received in the charge, and as the golden seals faded a faint clinking could he heard as small dark pellets dropped form the air before him. Right between his eyes a pellet stood fast, held by some invisible force, that bullet was the last to fall.
“Thanks for the shields, Sam, you’re a literal lifesaver.”
“Next time you want to do something stupid, Colonel, find another med corp to drag into it!”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be more careful… Anora, let’s move out, the rally point is three blocks north.”
All the others stood and nodded, “Sir!”
-=-=-=-
The group gathered up and began to march again, heading deeper into the bombed out city. The summer breeze of the lower plains didn’t reach this far north, didn’t come near these border cities that had been destroyed and abandoned during the current war with Kleznia, the huge country to the north east (think soviet union). These militia men and insurgents were a real pain in the ass. But it wasn’t them that Daniel had on his mind as they turned the bend to the next street. He saw the around three hundred yard stretch of open street before him and gulped. The others were slightly on edge by it too but they weren’t snipers, not like him, they had worried about the pillbox they ran into back a few clicks, but the moment he’d seen this stretch he’d got chills up his spine. “Delryn…you got visual right? This place is a sniper’s paradise…” Daniel called over the radio, hearing a burst of static from the other end.
The street dead ended at a destroyed church, only the old bell tower remained. Now that he got a look at it Daniel doubted that the sniper would be in there, the tower was too damaged, unstable, and with the bell sitting right in the line of fire he’d only be able to see one side form that location, not to mention the range was incredible, he could do it but how many insurgents could? No, if it was him he’d be in the office building to the right, which is just where he’d suggested Delryn go. “On your toes guys, there’s little to no cover to speak of here, if it were me this is where I’d have set that pillbox.”
“Good thing the enemy isn’t you.” Anora commented, Artemis grunted in agreement.
Sam looked form building to building as they walked, each one more bombed out and unstable than the last, he’d never set foot in any of them, they were bound to come down form a rat scurrying over their floors, “Come on Daniel, this place isn’t habitable for even you, that church tower is about to-”
Crack!The world slowed as Daniel looked to his side, a streak of red splattered the concrete, a single plash marking his cheek as Sam’s body fell back. Daniel didn’t need to be in the medical corp to know that he was dead. That shot was perfectly placed, right through the neck. He cursed as his instincts took over and he dove right, jumping behind a burned out husk of a bus. Artemis had grasped a shocked Anora and leapt into the second story of a nearby building, his powerful legs making a jump like that easy.
“Shit! Sam is down! Repeat! Squad mate down! Delryn, did you see the source?” Daniel had been watching the right side building but hadn’t seen a flash, maybe the eye in the sky had. Another shot rang out and a pang indicated the buss had been hit; he was aiming for Daniel, lucky sucker had picked the right targets, the medic and the sniper.
“Shit, not our lucky day.” Artemis commented over the short range com.
