TOP OF THE HILL
By
Nelson Martinez
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PUBLISHED BY:
Nelson Martinez on Smashwords
Top of the Hill
Copyright © 2010 by Nelson Martinez
Second Edition Copyright © 2012 by Nelson Martinez
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
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I would like to foremost thank my family for all their support in me following my dreams. And I would like to thank all my friends and family members who went through the grueling process of being my guinea pigs, reading all of my works and telling me the God honest truth. I would also like to thank Crystal Kosmicki for being my most helpful resource in writing this story and egging me on. Thanks. I would also like to thank my best friend Celida for always being there for me and pushing me.
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Top of the Hill
“Come on, don’t die yet! Not here, not now. We’re almost there. Hang in there!” He was fading, fast.
I did all I could for the wound again. I was supporting him up while we were walking through the desert. Blood trickled down his torso staining his desert cammies, he held it and coughed up blood
“I know… my family is waiting…I will see them,” He put his head down and closed his eyes.
“Up, no resting till we get there,” I held back the tears as I felt my best friend’s life slipping away in my arms. His eyes flickered open as he fought away death with his bare will.
“There is the hill, we have a few minutes left, hang in there,” his eyes were closed.
“Jersey?” He went limp and I laid him on the sand.
“Jerz! Come on, don’t die like this!” I took out my med kit and began to work on him.
Two Days Earlier
“New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Front and Center!” The commanding officer barked. We ran up in line and stood at attention. I’m New York. I was young, had short cropped dark hair, green eyes, tan skin and fair features. I was yet to be changed by the stress and the job. The Marines usually did that to people but I seemed to be the exception of the rule, for now.
The man to my right was New Jersey. His hair was a tad bit longer than regulation. By a tad, I meant a lot. After the war, which evolved into anarchy, regulation things such as hair went out the window. He had gentle features and the only thing that really stood out was the long vertical scar on the right side of his face that went over his eye. The injury that cause his scar did not damage his eye. Even though he suffered that injury he was very humorous and had the most infectious smile that I have ever seen even prewar. We have been together from the very beginning.
The woman to my left was little, young, New Hampshire. She joined the Corps shortly after the war started. She was appointed to our team after what happened to Old Florida. She weathered most of the war with us and that made her a part of our family. She looked too pretty to be in the Corps. She had long light brown hair (that looked really nice when out of its usual ponytail) and had light eyes. She was petite and cute. But appearance is definitely not everything. This little one was like a Spartan warrior of old. She had to be one of the most brutal and hardcore marine that I have ever known or seen. She was probably even more brutal than our C.O. Lieutenant Colonel Oklahoma.
You might be wondering about our names, yes? Well after the States got hit pretty hard our Battalion, Battalion of the Fifty States, exchanged our names for the names of the states. Most of the time we used the place we were from and some people just got some states by default. After the war fell into anarchy everyone seemed to stop using their names.
“You three will now be known as Fire Team Sigma. You have your first assignment tomorrow at 0600 hours. Details will be appointed then. Understood?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” perfect unison.
“Dismissed,” he turned on his heel and walk out of the briefing room.
“Time to kick some rebel ass,” said Jersey as he let out a low chuckle
“Oohrah!” New Hampshire of course.
Back at the barracks we were getting ready for our mission the next day. I had my Designated Marksman Rife in front of me disassembled. This model gun was not a very popular gun at all. I’ve yet to meet another person who has favored the same model as a personal gun. I got this gun before the war on the market. Now it is with me everywhere I go. I reassembled my gun and attached an Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight scope on to it and looked down the sight. Perfect. I just got the gun back from paint so I made sure I cleaned and greased the weapon.
“York, why don’t you switch to one of the regulation pieces? Then you would be able to share clips in the field.” New Jersey spoke.
“It has value to me and has taken me out of one too many snags for me to part ways with it now. You already know the deal,” Jersey had the regulation rifle and always had it set to full spray. He shot in short bursts but he liked the feel of the full spray. I preferred to have the semi-auto setting on. I believed that if you conserve ammo then you conserve your life. New Hampshire felt the same way. She had a Carbine and she would switch from semi-automatic to three round bursts depending on the situation.
“Fine, but do know my piece will get more kills then both of yours combined.”
New Hampshire looked up from her Carbine and raised a cynical eyebrow, “Now you’re just talking shit Jerz. Between master head shot over there and brutal little me, you have no chance of getting more kills than any of us.” She just smiled and went back to her gun.
“Yeah whatever, we’ll see on the mission how the numbers rack up,” he said as he shrugged off her comment trying to save his manhood.
“Yeah whatever,” Ham and I said together then we all laughed and continued talking nonsense for the rest of the evening.
When it was nearing lights out New Hampshire left us and that’s when he took out a picture. A lot of Marines kept photos of family. I had seen the photo many times. Enough times that I could recall the faces in my head, the faces of his wife and two children, a boy and a girl. He has only spoken of them scarcely. The faces of my family have long since faded since the bombing of New York City. My team was my family now.
“I can’t wait to see them again during my next leave or liberty,” I raised my eyebrows. I was unaware that his family was still alive. All those years that I partnered with him and the one thing he never opened up about was about his family. I was determined to hear him out. He would never mention where he would go to on his leaves or liberties. He even got disciplined because an Unauthorized Absence. Got demoted because of it too, that’s the reason we were the same rank.
“You’ve seen them? They’re out there?”
“Yes and the next time we have leave together I want you to come with me. I want you to meet them.”
“Of course Jerz. I would love that.”
“Well we need our rest for tomorrow, night.”
“Night”
That was the first and last time he told me about his family until he told me where they were when he was almost killed during the assault of an enemy basecamp. He knew it would be his last chance to see his family before he died.
I was able to patch him up with the last of the first aid supplies. I gave him a blood substitute and I was able to revive him after his pulse had gone. The bleeding had stopped momentarily as we slowly made our way up the hill.
“York?” his voice was weak and was almost lost in the grains of sand that floated along with the wind.
“I’m here Jerz.” I said as we take slow and deliberate steps up the hill. His weight was crushing and I was losing my strength.
“I don’t think I’m gonna make it,” He was shaking slowly as he seemed to be crying.
“Don’t talk like that Marine. We are going to make it and those are orders Sergeant!” I struggled not to make my voice crack. He didn’t look like he was going to make it and there was nothing I could have done to save him
“Yes sir,” he said weakly as his fist clutched my shoulder tightly and he began to put more effort into his steps/
One day earlier
Bullets flew overhead as we were pinned down by enemy fire. Fire from the enemies’ guns pinned us against the tireless armored truck that was guarding us from death. We were ordered to infiltrate the enemy outpost and recover a package. What HQ refused to tell us was how heavily guarded the place was. We were pinned down by an enemy fire team and they seemed to have an endless supply of ammunition. The bullets were slowly tearing through the armor plating at the metallic pings rang in our ears.
“If we stay here we are dead!” screamed Hampshire over the enemy fire. She stood up and shot some rounds then returned to cover. I followed up and shot some rounds and injured an enemy soldier taking out an RPG.
“RPG! Flank out!”
Ham and I went left and Jersey went right. As we dove for cover behind a thick tree the truck was hit and it exploded sending the shockwave through my body and rattling my teeth.
“Flash bang!” I heard Jersey yell as we covered out ears and shut our eyes. The grenade exploded and my ears began to ring. I stood up and I could see the Rebel soldiers disorientated and firing wildly, one of them even shot one of his comrades. We swept in and ended their existences. It was gruesome work but it was them or us. As the enemy laid dead we looted their wares and opened up communications with Fire Team Charlie.
“What the hell was that? The Colonel did not advise for this,” Jerz complained as he changed the ammo clip of his gun and checked himself.
“I don’t know. We’re not prepared for this many patrol groups. Good thing we were concealed most of the time. Sigma to Charlie, come in.”
“Eagle,” said a voice from over the radio as it crackled and hissed with the usual amount of interference.
“Warrior,” I replied with the correct pass code.
“Damn it’s good to hear from some freindlies. We got some Intel from the enemy base. It is heavily guarded, unconfirmed number of unfriendlies but roughly around twenty visuals and another fifteen on passed foot patrol, over.”
“Damn it, copy that. I’m sending some coordinates for us to rendezvous to regroup, over.”
“Copy that, en route to location. Charlie over and out,” the radio went dead.
“Ugh, damn this guy is heavy, what the hell do these rebels eat,” complained Jersey as he was concealing the bodies with Hampshire.
“Shut up and stop complaining you big baby. If you want I could do this myself,” She smiled as they tossed the guy to the side.
“Na, I’m good,” He just smiled back as I set up a com link with command.
“Shut up you two before I cover up the bodies myself. Sigma to HQ, over,” I said as I radioed into headquarters.
“Eagle,” said a different voice over the radio.
“Warrior,” I replied again.
“Go Sigma,” The voice was cold and uncaring.
“Target is hotter than we anticipated, please advise, over”
“We will send in Fire Team Omega. They are on standby nearby, send your coordinates. Also because of the situation send one man from your fire team to rendezvous with Bravo to keep the LZ clear, over.”
“Copy that. Why can’t you send in for air support? Over.”
“Negative Sigma, we do not want to damage the package, over.”
“Copy that. Coordinates sent, over.”
“Copy that, HQ over and out.”
I sighed as I knew I would have to send away one of my men, “Jersey, gear up, HQ is sending you to meet up with Bravo to make sure that the dust off runs smoothly,” I said as I made my decision.
“Gotcha, see you guys at the LZ,” he said as he covered up the last body, “Kick some ass!” He held up his fist in a friendly gesture.
“Oohrah!”
As he ran off into the woods New Hampshire turned to me and started to voice her opinion, “What can be so valuable that they would send more than four fire teams when we need each man spread out doing different missions to try and get this nation back together. By concentrating our forces we spread them thin elsewhere. Usually if there was a concentration of forces on the Rebels side, no matter what the package, if we were outnumbered enough, they would take it down with an artillery strike or an air strike. Something feels funny,” she sounded worried.
One hour later
“So when is Omega supposed to get here?” Wisconsin of Charlie complained after waiting for half an hour. He reassembled his gun for the umpteenth time before any sign of Omega showed up.
“Check your fire, Friendlies two o’clock,” Kansas screamed to everyone.
“Eagle,” Atlanta called over to Omega.
“Warrior,” I knew that voice anywhere. We meet prewar and we were in the same squad. That was California and his men: Nevada and Texas.
“Hey Cali, Nev, Tex. Welcome to the upcoming shitstorm,” yelled over New Hampshire as she sharpened her knife on her whetstone. The interruption did not cause a staccato in her movements.
“Well, well, well, Wisconsin, Kansas, Atlanta, New Hampshire, and New York. Where is New Jersey?” asked Texas in his deep southern accent as he approached. All he was missing was a cowboy hat and some straw in his mouth.
“He is with Bravo watching over the LZ,” I replied to keep them in the loop.
“Oh well he is gonna miss the fun parts,” said Nevada as he took out a tube of paper.
“Whatever, let’s just get on with the operation,” California said as he got in front of the blueprints. And put his finger on the second floor of the building and on a room that was in the center of it. He pulled aside the blueprint for the third floor, “We have intel that says that the package is being held in this center room.”
“How the hell would you know that?” I shouted in anger.
“We have a man on the inside,” he said calmly.
“Why were we not informed?”
“It was…need to know,” he said so nonchalantly and smug.
I clinched my fist and held my tongue. Why would HQ withhold information and send us in blind while they had information that could have prevented any fuck ups. I was pissed.
“So Omega will infiltrate through here, Charlie will cover our six when we leave the base with the package. Sigma, you will take this and you will give preemptive and cover fire from this position. Afterward you will enter the building and rendezvous with us here. Understood?”
“Yes sir,” we all said.
“Well take your positions, we act now,” He stood up and his men packed up the maps. He walked away and held an air of authority and leadership that was strong but not real. He was being smug and arrogant yet he was no higher in rank than anyone there.
“Oohrah!”
Later
I unpacked the sniper rifle and set it up on the cliff overlooking the building. The gun came with the DOPE taped to the side of the stock. I used a laser range device to get the range to the building. It was 256 yards. I plugged in the data in to my ballistic computer and compared it to the DOPE of the gun. From there I worked out a firing solution.
“He is such a dick!” Ham said.
“Tell me about it,” I said as I was working the calculations in my head.
“I mean, there is no reason for him to act so shitty that’s all,” her voice was hostile and I was afraid what would happen if I were to leave her alone with him in a room for a few minutes.
“Yea, but I always choose to ignore him,” I said even though I barely managed that.
New Hampshire was set up as my spotter. On the way there we ran into two enemy patrols that we neutralized. Hopefully the enemy was not yet aware of their lost patrols.
“Sigma, you have permission to open fire on the enemy. That means now!” Cali said over the radio.
“See what I mean,” said Ham. I just shrugged
“Just give me some targets Marine,” I said as I got into position.
“Fine,” She looked into her scope and gave me targets.
“Top right window of the building. Two tangos. One has an RPG. Two clicks to the left for the wind.”
“Got it,” I lined up the scope with the enemies and they were talking. I hoped it was something good because it was the last words these two would ever speak. With two successive shots both men fell hard as I could feel the life leave there body with each shot. I was in auto fire mode. I became one with the rifle. Firing into windows and taking out targets. She was giving me targets and I was dealing death. Shortly after I started to fire New Hampshire alerted me of Omega moving in from the south. They entered the buildings and they had tango’s pursuing them. I cleaned up shop until there were no more tangos on the outside.
“Come on let’s get moving York!” Ham shouted as she began packing up. I packed up the gun as fast as my human hands could go. We were running not a moment after. We ran into a few patrols from their back and they were easy targets.
We got to the building and swept back and forth trying to keep all our angles covered. We could hear fire from the inside of the structure. We entered the building from the side and we spotted a pair of guards on alert at the end of the hall.
“Take the one on the right,” I said to Ham as I had the guard on the left in my crosshairs.
I pulled the trigger and a single bullet flew across the hall and hit the guard in the temple. It was a perfect shot. That’s when the rebel next to him looked our way and then he had a hole in between his eyes not a second later. We headed to the stairs and we encountered no resistance.
“Claymore,” I just pointed at the base of the stairs. She obeyed silently and took the explosive off her back and planted it. We walked up the stairs and the first room we walked into was filled with carnage. There were dead rebels everywhere. I scanned the floor three times over to make sure nothing was moving. My heart dropped at what the barrel of my gun came across. It was the limp body of Tex. I stepped over rebel bodies and headed over to the downed Marine. I searched his chest for his tags and ripped them off and pocketed them. I bowed my head for a split second and moved forward following the dead. We would try our best to return for his body but in this era tradition was falling apart.
I looked in the next room, “Clear,” I said to New Hampshire over the fire that came from down the hall. She quietly took point and looked down the hall.
“Clear,” she said in almost a whisper.
We moved toward the fire and looked down the rooms. About half way through the hall way we looked through a door way and we saw Cali and Nev in cover through another door. They were trading fire with rebels down the hallway parallel to ours. I reached for my radio and clicked it twice. He didn’t respond, he must have been in a high adrenaline state. I clicked it twice again and he looked down at his radio for a moment. He finally recognized the meaning and he looked around and spotted us. I pointed down the hall and he just nodded. We continued down the hall way and rebels came out of the end of the hall heading to flank Omega. There were four of them. Then there was none. Four shots and four tangos down. We advanced to the end of the hall and turned right to flank the enemy. There they were, all firing down range at my fellow Marines. There had to be at least seven of them. We opened fired until they were all dead. The firing stopped but there was still that tension in the air.
“Clear,” yelled Cali as he walked up the hallway to our location, “Let’s get moving,” there was blood on his person that could have been from anything but he appeared to be unscathed.
We went upstairs and approached the target with little resistance. We reached the door and everything in my field of vision turned black and white. Noise was almost drowned out by the adrenaline and the walls felt like they were closing in around us. Cali signaled that he was going to open the door and I was to take point. I nodded. He opened the door and I swooped in to the left. Nev went right, Hampshire followed me and Cali went the other way. Inside the room there was no movement. There was a stationary figure in the middle of the room tied down to a chair.
“Hold your fire,” I said as we approached the figure.
We got closer and the figure was limp. There were no other entrances to the room so we swept the room again and approached the figure. I put the gun strap across my body and took out my side arm. I raised the head of the person and my heart skipped a beat. It was Old Florida, my old partner from back in the war. He has been missing for years. What the hell was he doing here? I looked back at the others and New Hampshire was as shocked as I was. Cali had an irritated face and said, “Is he alive? Check so we can get him out of here!”
I checked for vitals and I nodded to Cali. I cut the bind on his wrist and threw him over my shoulder. I was in the middle of the group. On the way down we heard fire from the outside and Charlie came on the radio.
“Omega and Sigma, this is Charlie. We are taking heavy fire from enemy reinforcements. We have the situation under control but we advise that you get your sorry asses out of there ASAP!”
“Copy that Charlie, Over and out,” yelled Cali over the radio, “Double time let’s go.”
We ran down stairs and we were passing the body of Tex. Ham went to get him when Cali yelled, “Leave him! We have no time, we have to get the precious cargo out of here. His body will weigh us down. Leave him.”
The man didn’t even go for his comrades dog tags. It didn’t matter to Ham, she picked him up anyway and tossed him over her shoulder and then flipped him off. For such a tiny woman she could pull her own weight. We left the building and we saw fire team Charlie open fire on a group of rebels. New Hampshire turned her body and fired her Carbine from the hip taking down a few unsuspecting targets. We ran into the trees and Charlie followed us. We ran for a few minutes and met up with Jerz and one member of fire team Bravo.
“I got him Ham. What’s his status?” Jerz asked as he took Tex from the shoulder of New Hampshire.
“K.I.A.” she said while lowering her head. He sighed as he continued to take Tex. She gave a sigh of relief when the heavy weight was taken from her. She shook the tension from her body.
“What did I tell you!?” screamed Cali as he pulled out his handgun and ran up to New Hampshire gun at eye level. I immediately pulled out my even bigger handgun and held it up to his temple really quick. Nev pulled out his glock and pointed it at me. Then Jerz pulled out his Magnum and pointed it at Nev. Then Nev pointed it at Jerz.
“What the fuck man! She was just doing what we’re supposed to do. No man left behind. Remember!” I screamed as I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Everything seemed to be falling apart again.
“Oohrah,” Jerz said in a mellow voice looking right down the barrel of the gun pointed at her face.
Cali began to lower his weapon and that is when Ham attacked. She grabbed his arm, stepped in, got a single collar clinch, kneed him in the groin, disarmed him, and then flipped him. She took out the clip and emptied the chamber then crouched with the empty gun in her hand.
“If you ever, ever, do something like that again to me, or any of my comrades, you better pray that you kill me because if not this gun will have to be surgically removed during your autopsy. Understand?” He laid his gun on his chest and walked toward me.
I have never seen a man so humiliated. He just got up and began to limp toward the LZ. She snarled as she turned toward me. Her face was still in a grimace but I was in complete shock. I put my gun back into the holster and continued moving forward. We approached the LZ and they called in the chopper. We had no more resistance and we got out of there fast and without a snag. On the way back to the base Florida tapped me and he was awake. He dug in his pocket and pulled out a folded envelope and just stuffed it in my flak jacket. I looked back at him and he was passed out again. He didn’t wake up for the rest of the trip. They brought him to the hospital wing and he went into cardiac arrest. They tried to revive him but failed. His last words were stuck in my flak jacket and it was going to change everything, I knew.
Back to the Hill
Gun fire came up from behind us. I looked over my shoulder and they were back. I put Jerz down and he began to fire from his laying down position. I went into prone and fired down. I saw one of the figures drop and my heart sank. But now was not the time for sympathies. A loud click came from my gun. I took out the clip and reached for another. There was none. I dragged Jerz into cover and he laughed.
“I told you, you should have switched your gun to one with the same clip. Here you can use the gun better in your condition. I would only waste ammo. It’s my last clip. Make it count.”
“Oohrah,” I stood up over cover and fired three round burst. A few more people dropped when the clip emptied, “Damn it,” I took out my side arm and got ready.
“I guess this is hell.” Jerz joked. He was joking all the way up here. It was the drugs I gave him to counteract the pain. I took the scope off of my rifle and slid it onto my handgun. I got up and looked down the scope. Before I fired a round off I heard a gun from uphill fire and then the person in my scope dropped from a head shot. I looked up and someone was firing from behind the suns glare. That’s when a familiar voiced yelled down.
“Get up here! I’ll cover you!”
That Morning
“York, are you ok?” Jerz asked while I was in bed. It was very early. He knew why I was up and he was probably just as bothered as I was.
“I don’t know. What was Florida doing at the base?” I shook my head in disbelief.
“Maybe you should open the letter?”
I had the letter in my hand. I sat up and faced Jerz. I didn’t want to open it. Not one bit. I didn’t want to know the truth. What would it say? What would be on it? Why would he give it to me? By this time Jerz was up on his bunk and facing me. Then we heard a knock on the metal door. Jerz got up to open the hatch and Ham was at the frame.
“Can you guys sleep?”
“Nope,” we said at the same time. New Hampshire sat on my cot next to me and all three of chatted for about an hour but the letter remained unopened.
“Come on open it,” Ham pleaded with me. I didn’t know what to say. I just decided to open it. I opened the letter and took out the small note that was inside of it. I began to read it out loud.
“For whomever this letter lands in the hands of. I am Florida, former of fire team Alpha. If one of my teammates comes across this please listen. I have found something that has shook my world. The chain of command of the Military is not what you think it is. After the war the Military became a tool. Where is your commander? Have you ever seen him? I thought so. The commanding officers are paid in luxuries. I could not let this stand. I would not be a tool for some power hungry civy. I confronted them but I was warned. I threatened to expose him and they tried to hunt me down. I took refuge with the rebels. As I write this on my death bed please heed this. The base I am at is now under attack. They are finally here and after me. They don’t want this information out there. I asked the rebels to tie me to a chair to throw off whoever comes here. Please continue my quest. Oohrah. Signed, Florida,” my mind was spinning.
The room was quiet. There was another rap at the door. The door swung open and a Marine in dress blues came in.
“New York, the higher ups want you for a mission brief.”
“Tell them to get California.”
“No, they asked for you specifically.”
I looked around the room and they had this look that I could not explain. Almost like they knew something bad was going to happen.
I walked out with the Marine and he took me through a number of metal corridors and tunnels. Then I saw the dreaded double doors. The doors opened and a blinding white light shone through. A black silhouette made its way out the doors and in my direction. As the figure approached his features became clear. It was California.
“Hey New York, they are waiting for you. Have fun,” He just smirked and kept on going. So smug, it made me sick.
I entered the room and there were a council of uniformed officers. It tripped me out for a second because of the time of the day. It was so early in the morning and it looked like they have been here for a good part of the night. A Marine motioned for me to sit in a chair that was at the epicenter of the focus. I took my seat and looked at all of the council members. I have seen all of them but one. And the one that I have never seen before was dressed in a business suit rather than Dress Blues. So it is true, were my exact thoughts at the time.
“Welcome Sergeant Rivera,” said the man in the business suit. I jumped at the sound of the name that I have not heard in ages. I was flustered at the fact and it felt as if all of my defenses were stripped when he said my name. I felt naked. Memories of a past that was ripped from my grasping hands flooded my mind in a flash. That was the reason I gave my name up, to rid myself of these memories. I fought back the tears as the faces of loved ones passed went through my minds eye.
“Please, call me New York,” I said in the strongest voice I could muster. My marine training allowed me to do this.
“New York,” He said so condescendingly, “we wanted to hear your side of today’s events. Brief us.”
So I did. I said everything as unbiased as I could from the beginning of the mission with the heavy resistance to the end where we found Florida. I left out the fact of the fight that happened thinking it was something that can stay between my team and California.
“Is that all?” he asked
“For the most part,” My face was stone.
“Where there any conflicts during the mission between any soldiers?”
“Not anything that was unordinary, no.”
“Fine,” at that point I had a feeling the California hinted at it but gave no details, he was most likely still upset, “What about Florida, did he tell you anything?”
“No he was unconscious the whole time.”
“Did he give you anything?” He asked with an air of sureness. I knew that this ‘commander’ knew about Florida giving me something. California must have snitched.
“Yes he gave me his tags,” I pulled out the tags I get from his pants pocket.
“Very well, that will be all,” I stood in my place unwavering. He looked at me with resolve.
“What is your rank sir?” I asked trying to verify Florida’s story.
“Excuse me?” The man in the business attire asked taken aback by the question. It was as if a round was fired in the room.
“What is your rank?” This time I said it slower and with authority. He just smiled and was about to laugh.
“Commander,” the words shook me as much as it did when I read them. His nonchalance made the facts dig deeper within my veins, “You are dismissed, Sergeant,” He said with revulsion.
I stood up, turned on my heel and almost double timed out of there. My mind raced with a plan to get out of the base. I knew too much and the ‘Commander’ probably knew it. I got back to the room and the other two were waiting for me with extreme apprehension.
“What happened?” said Jerz.
“York,” was the only word out of Ham as she saw the expression on my face.
“I have to get out of here before the sun touches this place,” I said with a really low tone, “He knows I know too much.”
“What? Who?” they both asked at the same time.
“The ‘Commander’. It’s all true. Everything that Florida said in the letter was true. I have to get out of here before they come. You guys don’t have to come with me but they know that I know everything.”
I got my black clothes that I used for night ops and put them on. I got my DMR and my side arm and armed up. I had no ammo but the handgun ammo so I had to make a trip to the armory. I had to head to the mess hall and grab some food too. I grabbed my empty black backpack and put my dessert cammies in the bag. When I turned around Jersey and Hampshire had already done the same. I lightly smiled as I put on my ski mask. I left the letter hoping that it would fall into the right hands. Jerz was at the door and gave the all-clear sign. This was home no more and in a heartbeat we went from allies to enemies of everyone here. We became the very thing we hunted. I took point and headed for the mess hall first. No one was here so early so it was a breeze. We packed canned food and water and headed for the armory. As we approached the window I saw it was a Private. Michigan was his name. It was the graveyard shift so I didn’t think it would be too hard.
“Hey Michigan, I need to check out some ammo for a mission ASAP,” I said trying to be as confident as possible.
“Sir! Hey York,” he said under his breath. I helped him out a couple of times so he owed me, “Uh, I don’t have any of the papers here for the release but I’ll call the Colonel and get that order for you,” said the young and promising officer.
“That’s the thing man, the Colonel is waiting for us at the gates and he told us to hurry. I don’t want him to have my ass, so how about I’ll just take it and fill in the papers when I get back. You know I’m good for it Michigan.”
He contemplated for a second and opened the door. When I got in I quickly whacked him in the back of the head with my rifle knocking him out. I did it to protect him. He was a good kid and didn’t need to get involved.
“Go I’ll keep look out,” I said as my two teammates quickly got the ammo. They came with my ammo in hand, filled my bag, and gave me one clip for my rifle. I put in the ammo and my gun gave the most satisfying of clicks. My gun was hungry.
We made our way to the exit no problem there was one guard at the exit that was easily nullified without lethal force. We jumped into a solar powered jeep and drove for hours. We drove toward The Great Plains. The Great Plains was once the lush and verdant plains of America, so beautiful. It was once the home of many people and animals, now just a desert wasteland. Miles and miles of parch dessert. After driving for about two hours we stopped to switch up drivers. As we did that I had the mind to get out and tie a white shirt to the radio antenna just in case we are spotted by rebels. Hampshire drove next for about an hour before we reached a tree line of a forgotten forest near a forgotten city of an abandoned state. There might be civilians in the city but they weren’t our mission. Matter of fact I didn’t even know what our mission was.
“What now?” asked Jersey.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly, “I just knew that we had had to get out of there. Maybe I panicked, maybe I was paranoid.”
“No, what you did was right,” said Hampshire, “We knew too much and there was too much risk. Who knows what might have happened if we had stayed. They probably would have come for us as soon as that council finished.”
“Yea your probably right,” she made me feel better. I looked at her and when I did she sat up straighter in her seat. Then she gripped the wheel firmly. I looked back at the road and there was a rebel check point ahead. I sat up straighter as the vehicle slowed. Their guns were at the ready but not at firing positions when they saw our white flag.
“What now?” Hampshire asked.
“Just stop and we’ll talk to them and see if we can join them,” she just nodded. She was probably thinking exactly the same thing that I was thinking. This was crazy.
We halted to a stop at the rebel check point and their guns were at the ready still. The man at the head of the check point came up with a beret covering the top half of his face. The bottom half of his face was covered in thick and massive hair. He walked to the passenger side of the vehicle but didn’t even look at me.
“What business do members of the Faction have over in this neck of the woods?” The voice sounded vaguely familiar.
“Faction?” I asked.
“Yes, formally known as the Marines. Now know as the Faction,” He said sarcastically.
“Well we’ve gone rouge. Can’t you tell by the white flag,” I said just as sarcastically pointing at the radio tower. The man looked up and looked me right in the eyes.
“York?” He asked.
“Eh?” I replied. How did he know my name?
“Ha! It is you!” he took off his hat and revealed his bicolor eyes. I knew right away who it was and I couldn’t believe it. It was one of the people who everyone thought was gone with Old Florida. It was Old Minnesota.
“Minnesota!” I got out of the jeep and I went to hug him. The rebels raised their weapons.
“Stand down!” Minnesota yelled as he returned the embrace, “How’s it been? How’d you get whiff of the chain of command?” he said while laughing and breaking his embrace. Then Jersey and Hampshire got out and welcomed an old friend.
“We found Florida and he gave us a letter before he died. It told us everything,” I replied.
“Alright, come on in, we’ll discuss this over breakfast. You’ll tell us everything,” He said enthusiastically.
“Us?” Jerz asked.
“Some people from the City Units came with us. You might recognize some of them,” He just smiled as he led the way. We took our packs and followed him into the encampment. We got some very hard looks from people but most people saw who we were with and automatically showed their respect by lowering their heads. It was awkward. A totally different system then what I was used to but it seemed to still get the job done. It seemed more like a pack than a militia.
I looked around the mess hall and I did recognize some people that were once reported as K.I.A. or mostly M.I.A. My perspective of things really did start to mold and shape into different forms. Minnesota really was the top dog around here. He took us to the back where it seemed to be his part of the encampment inside of these woods. He motioned for us to sit down on the chairs near the table and he took his seat after we took ours.
People came and served us food, but I didn’t notice who they were because I was still on guard and was still in shock.
“So,” Min said, “Tell me everything.”
I spared him no details.
That Afternoon
When I finished telling the story a set of alarms went off and everyone was moving in organized chaos.
“What’s happening?” asked New Hampshire. The looks in the rebel’s eyes were fearless and it looked as if they lusted for blood.
“An attack probably. The Faction has been trying to get us here for months now. They have a base around here and I have been waiting for them to attack for days now. And now that you are part of the Rebellion you are going to be part of my squad. We four should be enough to plant some explosives and get the attacks to stop for a while.”
I internally sighed at his comment. I was not ready to get back into the heat of battle just yet. I looked at the emptying mess hall and thought that not participating in the coming battle would be a slap in the face to all of the men and woman who laid down their lives in this true cause.
We took the truck that we came in because it already had all of our supplies, guns and ammo in it. We circumvented the battle and started heading up to the base. One thing really struck me as very odd, there was nobody standing guard. I looked to the side at Min and he also gave me a look of concern. We were in Marine Uniform so they wouldn’t know what hit them until they were already a long way down the tunnel. We got out of the truck and kept our weapons at the ready. There was no activity in the front of the base. It seemed that the base was a quick makeshift base and had no surveillance other than the eyes of the troops. The door at the front opened and two guards were casually joking and smoking their cigarettes. They looked our way and one said almost in a whisper, “I didn’t know our men were coming back already.”
The sound of two silenced weapons filled my ears as I saw and heard their bodies hit the floor with soft thuds.
“I got mine first,” said Ham with a little bit of bounce her voice.
“You little monster. Who knew you would be so bloody quick?” said Min with some astonishment.
I took no heed to their conversation and went to go hide the bodies. It wasn’t too hard to figure out that the desert would claim them in little to no time. The winds were picking up and would be of help in the mission. We entered the complex and right when we opened the door a voiced yelled out.
“Forgot something Chi-town?”
We followed the voice to the first door where a group of men were drinking and playing cards. The man looked up and said, “Wait your not Chi-town?” there were five silent shots and five thumps of bodies. We encountered nobody else in the complex. It was eerily empty. We planted most of the charges in the building while encountering nobody.
“Do you guys think we can make a detour when we are going back?” asked Jerz.
“You want to go see your family again?” asked Min
“Yeah, it’s been a while. I was planning on going soon and now wouldn’t be such a bad time.”
“How’d you know about his family?” asked Ham
“We were partners way before you were along toddler,” he teased.
“I’ll show you toddler,” she kicked for his shin but he was too fast for her.
“Be careful I might put you on a timeout,” she gave him an angry pout and feigned a kick. Min tried to jump out the way again and it was enough entertainment for her, she started laughing.
“If it’s alright with the Captain I think it would be a good trip for everyone,” I said reassuring Min if he had any doubts.
“I’m sure we can make a quick journey to the hill once it’s done,” He said while planting the last charge. He armed it and there was five minutes on the clock.
“Time to get out of here,” said Jersey
“You’re not going anywhere!” screamed a voice behind us. It was Nevada. He had his light machinegun pointed right at us. Now we seemed to be screwed and he didn’t know that the charges were set and counting, “You guys sit tight. I am so getting a promotion for…
I took the advantage that he was distracted going for his radio. I fired from the hip and got a good shot to the head. He was too excited; it was the end of him. As his body fell so did my heart. He was a friend.
“Alright it’s time to split up. You two go out the back and make sure the way is clear. Ham and I will get our transport out. Be careful it looks like they know we are here,” I was about to protest when the alarm went off and they began to run toward the exit.
“York come on! Move!” yelled Jerz as he yanked at my arm. They were gone and I there was nothing I could do at the moment. We had to get out we didn’t have much time left. We ran and ran. We found only one other person who we snuck by. When we got to the back we had three minutes left when I saw the butt of a knife coming toward my face. Black enveloped my vision when I heard a second bash and then I lost consciousness.
The next thing I knew I was being dragged and I heard an explosion. I startled up when I saw the complex exploding. I stood up and saw nothing but destruction and no vehicle around.
“Ham?” my voice was hoarse. Blood was trickling down my face from the wound on my forehead.
“No they didn’t make it,” Jerz’s voice was hoarse too. Then I heard him hit the sand. I turned to him and I saw his torso teeming with blood with a knife sticking out of it. I rushed down and took off my pack and took out the med kit.
“What happened?” I asked to myself as I undid his shirt looking at the damage.
“Cali blindsided us and used the knife to knock you out and then came for me but I knocked him out but not before he got me,” The wound was fatal if I couldn’t get him the right medical attention. I couldn’t help the tears from coming. Min, he was a great comrade. Ham, her light eyes were looking at me when I closed my eyes. I loved her. And here was Jersey with his life slipping away from him right here in my arms.
“I’ll patch you up and take you back to the base where they can really fix you up. Just hang in there,” I told him on the verge of sobbing.
“No,” He looked up to me with blood on the side of his mouth, “Take me to my family, There a half a click that way,” He pointed away from the base as I numbed his torso as best I could.
“You can’t go looking like this. You need to get fixed up,” I said again almost crying.
“You’ll fix me up fine. Please. Just grant my last wish,” this time I could hold back the sob, I just nodded as he patted my shoulder. I grabbed a hold of myself. There would be a time to mourn. Now wasn’t the time. I took out the knife and filled the wound with antiseptic foam to stop the bleeding. It worked for now as I helped him up and put his arm around my shoulders for support. He pointed at my forehead.
“Now you are going to be as pretty as me,” as he smiled making his scar compress at his brow.
“You ready?”
We walked through the desert with determination. We were almost there when the wound reopened. He grasped his wound and coughed up blood. He fell over involuntarily and I began to work on him again.
“Come on, don’t die yet! Not here, not now. We’re almost there. Hang in there!” He was fading, fast.
The Hill
Sand got into my eyes as I carried Jerz to where we were getting cover fire. The sun also impaired my vision from the weird angle of mid-afternoon leaving only the silhouette of the person giving us cover fire. I looked back a couple of more times and shot from the hip trying to fend off some of the Faction. I went up and I finally saw the bloody face of Min. He lost his green left eye and he was looking down the sight with his brown right eye. He came down and took Jersey’s other side.
“Min your alive!” screamed Jerz over his highness.
“He’s in bad shape,” He said while he helped me carry him to cover.
“No Shit!” I screamed, “Are there any more?” I asked when I heard no more fire.
“Yea I took them all out but I ran out of ammo,” he said over the howling wind of the desert.
“Me too.”
I looked back and I saw no movement. I begin to look forward when I saw movement out of my peripheral. I turned back and I saw two trucks coming our way. I began to panic and started to move faster up the hill when I heard a voice scream, “Get down!”
An RPG flew over our heads and hit the first truck. It exploded causing the first truck to hit it and flip over. A small body came down and light eyes looked me dead in the face then looked at Jersey.
“Jerz,” she said with sorrow in her voice.
“Ham,” I said with bittersweetness. She came to me and hugged me with her head in my shoulder. She didn’t cry.
“Come on let’s get him up to his family,” said Min.
We just nodded. We carried him up and I check a couple of times to make sure he was still conscience. He had this determination in his eyes now. He knew he was close. There was a small building at the top.
“Are we here?” I asked.
“Yes, we finally made it,” said Jerz in a whisper. We approached the building and Ham just opened the door.
“Shouldn’t we knock?” I asked. I could have sworn I heard Jerz chuckle.
“We…are expected,” said Min.
I didn’t ask. We entered and it was a sizable room with a glass roof. At the end of the room were two tombs. I stopped in shock. They were dead. This is what he meant by seeing his family. The next thing I knew Min hit the floor. I turned to see Cali going for me when Ham tackled him and took him down. I put Jerz down and turned to help Ham. I turned to see Cali hovering above Ham’s limp body. He then kicked her in the ribs.
“Bitch! That’s what you get for disobeying me,” He then spat on her. He turned to me and the look in his eyes were dangerous. He was bleeding from his head and he was bruised from the crash. One word left his lips, “You!”
“I don’t want to hurt you.” I told him. Holding out a hand in front of me for protection.
“I don’t want to hurt you either, I want to kill you,” He said. His resolve was final. There was nothing I could say to change his mind. I had to settle this right here, right now. He came at me and he swung. I ducked and went under his arm. I kneed him in the gut and he doubled over but he swung his foot behind him catching me in the face. Spots jumped in my eyes as I backed away. He came back and whacked me in the face with his fist. Then he tried again but I grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground. I mounted him and unleashed all my fury upon his face. I didn’t stop until his face was gone and my knuckles were raw. He laid not breathing under my pelvis and his blood was mixed with mine and Jerseys on my camouflage shirt. His fist became unclenched and a crumpled up paper fell out. I picked it up and it was the letter that started this all. The letter was smudged but I could still make out Florida’s signature.
I stood and went to Ham. I shook her and she woke holding her ribs. She looked at Cali then back at me. “Thank you,” She said as she used me to get up, “Jerz?” She walked toward the tombs and my eyes followed the trail of blood to Jerz who crawled to the two tombs at the end and lied in between them.
We walked to him and he was gone. He lied in between his family and his face was at peace. He was gone. Min got up and looked around as did Ham. It finally hit her as she fell on me and we went to the ground.
“Jersey,” she sobbed.
“I know, I know,” I cried too.
Min came to us, put his arm on our shoulders as he leaned over and closed Jerz’s peaceful eyes. I looked up and read the tombs. One read ‘Loving Wife and Mother’, the other ‘Loving Daughter and Sister’.
“I looked up to Min and asked, “Didn’t Jersey have a son?”
He nodded, “He still lives. Jerz got to see him once and a while here a long time ago. He hasn’t seen him in years,” I just nodded.
We didn’t leave that night. We found a sheet and put it over Jerz, his body looming in between the tombs. I couldn’t believe he was gone. The door to the building opened. There was a silhouette standing at the door.
“Dad?”
###
About The Author
Nelson Martinez is a new author that is just trying to get his name out there. He is a young college student that lives in NYC and is going places (Well that’s what he likes to think). He is working on other projects that will hopefully be coming out at the end of the year.