Chapter 4 #2
He snapped his carbine back up to his shoulder, eyes locking down the sights, but the whirling mass was on him even as he held down the trigger one more time.
*****
Corporal Menendez stumbled to a stop, looking over his shoulder as the echoes of shots going off faded away with no new reports to fill the silence.
“What are you doing!?” Lopez yelled at him, slapping him on the back. “Keep moving!”
Menendez shook himself from his moment of concern and started running again, “The Sarge…”
“If he’s alive, his only shot is the Ma Deuce’s on the FAVs, if he’s not…” Lopez panted, “our only chance is the Ma Deuces. So keep moving.”
“Right, right.”
The team was bolting through the dust and rock-filled terrain, heading for the modified sand rails that had been left parked far enough from the target to allow them the opportunity to approach undetected.
Now they were wishing that they’d parked a bit closer, detection be damned.
The silence behind them now was more unnerving than all the previous explosive discharges of firepower combined, and through the deafening beating of their own hearts, rasping of their breathing, and the crunch of the gravel and sand under foot…
each man strained to hear something… anything…
from the enemy behind. Every step brought the utter certainty that they were being pursued, and they could all feel the heat on their backs like someone breathing down their necks.
“There’s the FAVs!”
Lopez wasn’t sure who shouted it first, but they all surged forward as the vehicles came into sight.
The modified sand rails had been mounted with a M-2 “Ma Deuce” Browning machine gun, a weapon older than some countries, but one that had been serving reliably since its introduction in nineteen thirty three.
The men of the Delta squad leapt onto the vehicles, drivers hitting the engine start as the gunners racked the heavy bolts back with a loud metal clank.
“Locked and loaded!”
“Punch it!”
Sand and rocks sprayed out in rooster tails from the pair of FAVs as they spun around in place briefly, before roaring into motion.
“Eyes peeled, boys!” Lopez snarled. “We’re going to find the Sarge!”
*****
Piotr Vennick couldn’t muster the strength to groan in pain as he held the slash in his guts stolidly shut, hoping to keep his insides more or less where they were supposed to be.
Those things are monsters.
He laughed, painfully, then immediately regretted it as the spikes of stabbing pain shot through him.
Whatever those things were, monsters just about covered it.
They’d swarmed his position, shrugging off everything his M4 could deliver, then…
then, well the rest from that point was honestly a bloody blur of motion and impacts.
He didn’t even really feel much pain.
Just… hammer blow impacts, coming one after another so fast that he couldn’t count, and then it was over.
The monsters, the enemy… whatever they were… just left him for dead, his juices soaking into the desert ground.
He didn’t know if he’d lost consciousness, or how long he’d been out if he had. That was all just a blur.
Then, in the distance, a slow staccato thump could be heard.
Piotr smiled. He knew that sound, the steady beat of the finest lady in the Army. Ma Deuce Browning didn’t need an introduction, and she sure knew how to clear a room.
Give them hell, boys.
He felt light and didn’t have the strength to do much more than clutch at his wounds as the dark overtook him again.
*****
“Holy crap it worked!”
Lopez swore under his breath, not because he was unhappy with the fact that the enemy… things… were seemingly dying, but because nothing that lived should be able to take multiple hits from as M2 Browning before going down.
This is insanity.
However, insane or not, the things they were engaging faltered under the hammering blows of the big machine guns. Two splattered across the Libyan landscape before the rest gave up and withdrew.
“Celebrate later,” Lopez called, “when we’re clear of the combat zone. Keep your heads on a swivel and look for the sarge!”
“Over there! On the hilltop!”
They skidded the FAVs to a sliding stop, men leaping out before the vehicles fully stilled.
“Oh shit.”
“Ok, he’s hurt bad. Wrap him and strap him to one of the seats. We don’t have a choice, we need to unass this AO and get to the dust off ASAP,” Lopez ordered. “Do your best, he’ll make it or he won't, but if we hesitate he’s dead for sure and the rest of us might join him. Move it!”
*****
For Seb, writing had always been as close to meditative as any activity he’d ever tried.
That didn’t mean he could fully lose himself in it at any time at all, however, and now was one of those times when it didn’t come so easily.
His mind was spinning, focused on the threat.
The threat to the world, to the Delta Squad, to everything he knew.
It was so much, he didn’t know how to deal with it.
In his younger days, this would have left him frozen. Indecisive. Unable to map a path forward, not because he didn’t want to move, but because he couldn’t figure out what the next step should be.
Not knowing what step to take, when he was younger… he just wouldn’t move.
Spending time with the people he had in his later years, though, had left him with a different view of things.
When you have to move, just move. Didn’t matter what direction if you weren’t sure, just put one foot in front of the other and move.
Worry about the direction when you have more information.
It was a good way to live.
You couldn’t be sure of being right, of course, but at least you’d never be left standing behind as the world moved on without you.
Breaking the problem down into solvable pieces helped, but sometimes you couldn’t do that. So… just move.
He couldn’t do anything for the Delta unit, and really couldn’t do anything for the world just then, so Seb focused on what he could do.
He could prepare himself.
“Al, do you have the diet and workout routine I asked for ready?”
"Jawohl, mein Herr.”
“Good, integrate it with my schedule, including school going forward,” Seb said with a reluctant sigh.
The last thing he wanted to do was bother with school at the moment, but doing anything else would, like as not, wind up taking up and wasting even more of his time.
“Then… Al, do you remember that kick I got off on about a couple decades ago?”
“You shall have to be more specific, Mein Herr,” Albert told him dryly. “Even I managed to lose count of your various kicks over the decades.”
“Don’t be a smartass,” Seb rolled his eyes. “The gamification plan.”
“Ah, that one. Yes, I still have the files.”
“Load them up, let me see them.”
"Jawohl, mein Herr.”
Seb checked the files over briefly before nodding to himself.
“Alright, Al, new file. Let’s call it, Captain N.”
*****
Interlude 2 : Prompts with Al, Project Title : Captain N
Give me a map for a gamification app, customized to the current conditions and my needs. I should have some smart wearables in inventory, a watch and/ring should be inconspicuous enough.
Of course, mein herr. Suggestion : You have a set of smart glasses available in inventory as well. Using those would allow me and the app to provide better support.
I do? Huh, I forgot I even had those. It’s been years since I needed glasses. I suppose my eyesight will start going bad again soon, but it’ll be a couple decades before I need them, even for driving. Alright, we’ll use them, I’ll just say they’re sunglasses and run a tint.
Excellent, mein herr. Using gamification design points as the base, I will designate your current body as ‘Level 1’. Points will be earned with activities, practiced skills, exploration…
Hold on, exploration? Not much left to explore, last I checked, Al.
Incorrect, mein herr. Most of the world is completely unknown, to you. My records indicate that you, while fairly well traveled, certainly did not go ‘everywhere’.
Fair point. So, fog of war? Do we have a decent digital map?
Of course, mein herr. Local data points are most certainly out of date… or, not yet in date, I would suppose is more accurate. However, the geography is constant.
Right. Don’t use it for turn by turn navigation yet, but the barebones work. Ok, fine. If we’re going to do this, let’s do it. You’ll run the whole thing, of course.
It will be a pleasure. Base app structure, and concept images are available. Gaining levels will unlock new exercises, achievements, and other bonus materials. Concepts on screen.
Hmmm… looks cheerful, but it’ll work. I really hate that the psychology of this actually works, but compile it then send it to my wearables and we’ll get to debugging and making final adjustments.
As you wish, mein herr.
*****