Red Letter Days/Chapter Nine

Previous Chapter: Chapter 8: Tactical Retreat

Chapter Nine: Trapped in Alienville


 * ''Epsilon Indi System
 * UN Colony: Second Base
 * Pvt. 1st class Leonard Schaeffer
 * Retreating to Fort Darkat''

Schaeffer swiveled the machine gun from side to side, more to stave off the paranoia that the dead trees and piles of rocks gave Schaeffer. He just imagined any second, a small monster like the one that had attacked him earlier that day would slither out of one and shoot him right off the turret. In an attempt to stop the horrifying thoughts, Schaeffer thought of nice things, like the oddly pretty flowers poking out of the ground, defiant against the cold, or the pretty stars. Yet every time he thought of something to help keep the edge off, his thoughts slid back to the possibility of ambush.

He despised being on the turret, his legs still ached from all his action during the day and holding his arms to the weapon made his shoulder wounds throb. With all the wounded though, especially those blinded from the nuke, the Marines had been all but forbidden from using the transport hogs which were now, as Red had put it, mobile morgues. Every turret had a Marine, and two others sat on the edge of the vehicle's flat bed.

They had been driving for an hour now, the mushroom cloud slowly dissipating into atmosphere, painting the dark sky a greasy gray. He had gotten used to phasing out the moans of the wounded, or the sobs of the survivors, he found listening to Masih and Kelano chatting about rainbows and assault rifles or whatever girls in the corps talked about in their free time fairly comforting. Their voices were too hushed to make out what they were saying, further muffled by the sound of the convoy.

“Next stop Leo, we'll switch out,” Red assured him from the passenger seat, just loud enough for Schaeffer to hear. Schaeffer couldn't manage much more than a nod, the cold having sapped out any strength he had ages ago. The only thing that was keeping him on his feet was the turret, which he leaned himself into as if he was frozen to it. As far as he knew, he was.

The major occasionally hopped on the radio and seemed to try and give words of advice or encouragement, though it was clear that no one in the convoy was listening. It sounded like he was reading the words out of a book he read in the academy. The convoy turned a corner and the forest began to thin, and in the distance Schaeffer could see lights, far off and shrouded by the fog. He found himself gripping the machine gun tighter (if that was possible) and holding his breath in anticipation.

The lights got larger as they approached, beams breaking through the fog which had fallen on the valley and pointing out to the road. The front Warthog’s headlights flashed on as they approached, probably trying to let anyone on the other side know they were coming. After a few minutes of driving, they were slowing down at a set of barricades.

There were spot lights behind piles of sandbags pointing out into the road, machine guns set up next to them with scared looking Marines leaning on the weapons or hiding behind the fortifications. The guns looked like they hadn’t been fired all day and the Marines all looked confused at their sudden arrival. Metal barricades sat in the middle of the road, blocking the convoy from continuing down.

Schaeffer even spotted the silhouettes of Scorpion tanks behind some of the cover, and decided it was an outpost to defend the fort.

A man in a field cap who must have been the leader of the barricade walked out from behind a barricade and stepped up to the lead Hog. His uniform was clean and crisp, but Schaeffer could see how tired he was from the way he moved. He stumbled on a stray sandbag as he walked up, his posture slouched and his movements sluggish despite his obvious attempts to look attentive. The driver of the first hog exchanged some words and then the man shuffled to the second hog, where the major was seated in the passenger seat.

"Can I ask who you're with, sir?" the man asked, the rank of lieutenant emblazoned on his shoulder pad. The major rubbed his temple.

"I'm Major Sorelsky with Second Battalion, I got refugees from Garmed in here. You want to get in my way or do I have to tell General Manfreed about you holding me up?" The lieutenant just stared at him vacantly.

"General Manfreed is presumed dead, along with most of the regiment, Colonel Lorrie is acting commander. Fort Darkat is now the last UNSC garrison on this planet. Now move along, sir." the lieutenant glared at the line of Warthogs before walking off, the major looked stupefied and then angry but the captain shouted over the radio before he could get a word in.

Red slid out of the passenger seat while the captain and the major exchanged some words. Schaeffer hopped out of the back and nearly buckled over if it were not for Red running over to support him. Once he felt his legs again, he stumbled into the passenger seat and buckled up. The major and the captain seemed to reach an agreement and the lead Hog began to rev up again.

"Alright everyone move! We got ten minutes before we reach the fort!" The major glowered at no one in particular as the Warthogs rumbled down the road without him even speaking. The captain pointedly ignored him and the major just sunk further into his seat. Marines from the barricades scrambled to push the barricades out of the road as they passed.

Schaeffer saw more lights in the distance, much brighter this time. As they approached the military base, he could see dozens of flood lights pointing out from the town, the shapes of Scorpion tanks became clear, dug into pits and covered with whatever leaves, rocks and branches the defenders could scrape together. Sandbags were piled in a perimeter around the military town, up to a head high in places. Schaeffer was thankful the base was so oversupplied.

Another group of Marines came out to meet them, this time the captain introduced them. As they chatted, Schaeffer scanned his surroundings with his machine gun, he noticed two of the Scorpions were actually wrecks, blackened shells. The more he looked around, the more signs of combat he had seen. Glancing back to the front Warthog, he overheard someone say the word airstrike. The convoy came to a halt just outside this set of fortifications as well, several Marines walking out from behind the fortifications and observing the convoy..

Schaeffer began debating whether or not he should ask one of the nearby Marines what had happened, some of the bases defenders walking down the line of Warthogs as if taking inventory. He didn't get a chance as the lead Hog revved up again and they drove into the town.

Schaeffer felt a sense of Deja Vu as they drove, the town was much the same as it had been that morning. The buildings all lit by a mix of regular street lights and the flood lights the defenders had planted at crossroads. Wherever they drove they passed civilians, the last few stragglers who had not yet made their way to the base. They all seemed to have given up on holding out and were all going inside the defenses of the fort, luggage in tow. Every once in a while they passed the wreckage of a Banshee or a burnt out building, testifying to the airstrikes. Schaeffer wished they would get into the base sooner.

The base was the only area that seemed exactly the same to Schaeffer, the perimeter of AA guns had protected the base fine, and not a mark was to be seen. If the defenses on the outer perimeter were gratuitous than the defenses on the inner side were downright ridiculous. Dozens of machine guns pointed out at the town, several tanks seemed to be guarding every major entrance and the convoy passed at least a company sized force of Marines marching into town.

"Looks like the whole planet is coming here..." The driver said, Schaeffer had to agree. As they drove into the base proper it became clearer and clearer that the area had turned into a refugee camp. Hundreds of civilians stood huddled as Marines attempted to direct and organize the groups.

At one end of the airstrip, a battered looking Pelican landed and civilians began pouring out the back. As they drove by the base prison, they saw fifty or so men and women kneeling on the ground with their hands tied behind their back, Marines walking around the prisoners. One of them was grabbed by a burly looking Marine and thrown into the doorway leading to the prison.

Schaeffer wondered what they were going to do with the prisoners, there certainly were not enough vehicles to evacuate all the civilians, let alone the Marines and prisoners, and if they ended up trying to make a last stand at the fort than the Marines would have to worry about the prisoners breaking out and the Covenant blowing through the defenses at the same time.

Schaeffer wasn't sure if he imagined the sound of a gunshot echoing out of the building or not.

The convoy began splitting off as Marines standing in the roads directed the vehicles. The civilian vehicles were taken off by ones and twos and sent to different evacuation sites in the base while the convoy slowly lost its most damaged vehicles to be either repaired or scrapped for parts to repair other vehicles with. The entire evacuation seemed amazingly well organized for the circumstances, but Schaeffer detected the tension in the air. They all knew what was coming.

A large building slowly came up on their left as they drove onto a landing strip, Schaeffer wondered why he felt such nostalgia when he realized it was the exact building he had entered when he first got to the planet.

"Oi! Everyone out! We're reorganizing and resupplying inside, everyone to your bays!" Gaffer's distinctly angry voice filled Schaeffer's ear and he found himself hopping out of the side of the Warthog before the vehicle even stopped fully. The thought of laying down on a cot was amazing, and for an actual doctor to check the plethora of life threatening wounds he had gathered over the day was even better, though paramount of all was the thought of heat. He had not felt the warm air of a heater since they had stormed the bank.

Red came up beside him, followed by Masih and Kelano, he saw the hulking form of Riley shuffling up behind them. A line had formed in front of the double door entrance of the building and Schaeffer's feet began to ache as he began to anticipate the minor comforts the base had to offer.

After almost five minutes, Schaeffer found himself stepping past the double doors and into the building. The moment he moved in he came face to face with a bored looking Marine with the rank of lance corporal visible on his fatigues. The man held a clipboard and pen, horribly outdated, but probably a bit safer to use when electronics could drop any minute.

"Name, rank," the Marine asked, the I-don't-want-to-do-this-but-I-was-ordered-to attitude clear in his voice. Schaeffer sputtered out a response before the Marine nodded and checked something off on the clipboard, he looked to Red and asked the same question as Schaeffer stepped away.

A minute later the group was walking down the hall again, towards their barracks.

"Fucking newbies, never seeing a lick of combat..." muttered Red, Schaeffer glanced over.

"Yeah, acts as if he's in charge when we've been doing the dying." Masih added, Schaeffer wondered if they remembered that he still thought war was glorious until a few hours ago.

As his teammates chatted, Schaeffer picked up his pace and stepped into the barracks ahead of them. The cots still sat in the back, room for the entire company, and in the front sat a holomap. Smaller than those used by the higher brass, but large enough to show a good view of the smoking crater that was now Garmed. Schaeffer could see the base of the orbital elevator still, with the chord floating in mid-air as the station still floated on in the gravity well.

The barracks was much as he left it, though in a much more messy state than before. Papers flew around as Marines unloaded their lockers and got their things ready for the evacuation, caring little for neatness or subtlety. Marines shoved by him as they attempted to squeeze into their lockers and the entire room was in an uproar. Schaeffer could hardly hear his locker slam open, the metal clanging against metal, and focused solely on tearing the pack out of the container.

His old book fell out, he took a single glance at it before shouldering the pack and stepping away. Reading would waste time he could spend sleeping or not dying. A few short steps and he found himself stumbling towards one of the many open bunks, it wasn't hard to find one, there were extra bunks even when half of the men weren't dead.

Schaeffer sat on the matress and decided to stare blankly at the wall on the other end of the barracks, the Marines milling about like confused animals around him. Red and Busy gave a few hushed words in a corner, every once in a while glancing back at Schaeffer. He pointedly ignored them.

"Oi, Newbie, wake up." Schaeffer felt someone pat him on the shoulder, he recognized Gaffer's voice easily enough, and continued staring forward with the hope that he would go punch a baby somewhere or whatever Gaffer did in his free time. The pat turned into a slap, straight into the shoulder wound from the morning and Schaeffer tensed up in pain.

"Ack! You fuck!" he cried out, some of the Marines looking over at his exclamation. Gaffer walked around the bunk to face Schaeffer.

"Sleeping Beauty, 'bout damn time, how 'bout you come with me, you're like a mini god damned facking celebrity with the brass." Schaeffer glared up at him but slowly found his feet. Gaffer nodded to him, more out of satisfaction than respect Schaeffer supposed, and began to push and shove his way to the door.

Schaeffer had expected the crowd to part of the sergeant, but saw that he was met with a significant amount of resistance as he walked. One Marine dared to shove him straight into the holomap in the center of the room, and quickly moved away before the sergeant could deliver punishment.

Schaeffer met with much less resistance and found himself wondering if the Marines liked him more or if they were just too busy giving Gaffer a hard time. Schaeffer was almost through the door when he felt a hand grip his shoulder, glancing over he saw Rat with his trademark grin.

"Break a leg Schaeffer, I'm sure you can take a few more hits..." Schaeffer felt the mans long and thin fingers digging into his shoulder, he flinched in pain yet again and tried to shove the drug dealer off, Gaffer just looked over his shoulder with a confused expression, amusement and then anger slowly moving across his face. He was about to say something when Schaeffer felt the hand suddenly loosen and then disappear. Gaffer's eyes widened while Schaeffer spun around, stumbling to the side as he did so.

Riley had his hands around the gangly Marines shoulders, Rat's eyes wide open in a look of pure horror. Schaeffer could see Riley's fingers tighten their grip on the man's shoulders and the cloth of his fatigues begin to indent, he was sure that he was going to hear cracking any second.

"Rat... give it up," the hand began to tighten even more as Rat's thin legs began to buckle. Behind the crowd of Marines in the barracks, now still and silent, Mouse tried to shove his way towards his friend, shouting a curse as Red walked in front of him and blocked his way, Gaffer continued looking indecisive.

"Hey, hey, hey! Hold it up damn it!" Busy screamed from the lockers and began running towards the scene as well. The Marines parted for him like the Red Sea for Moses, Riley released Rat immediately.

"God damn it Riley! Quit picking fights!" Gaffer yelled in a desperate attempt to save face, Schaeffer was done with politics.

"Let's just go, sergeant," he said as he shoved past Gaffer, the bald Marine managed to sputter out some insult before rushing ahead of Schaeffer, leading the way once again. The two passed through some halls, Marines still pouring in from every nook and cranny on the planet.

A column of ODST's jogged past at one point, their armor stained with blood and coated with dust. Not long after that he saw some off looking Marines pass through, he recognized some of them from the hospital immediately, one of them was the corporal with the skull and crossbones from the elevator. The two exchanged a look before they carried on.

Another hallway, up some stairs, they walked into a large and well furnished debriefing room. A table sat in the middle of the room, with most of the stallion’s brass surrounding it. Major Sorelsky stood at one side with a self satisfied smile on his face, his fatigues still brown from when they blew a hole in the tunnel. Next to him and at the head of the table was a chubby looking man with a uniform that seemed slightly too tight, Schaeffer saw the rank of colonel on his arm, his name tape read Lorrie.

Around the table were cards such as the captain, who Schaeffer saw without his armor for the first time, the name Saliat was displayed. The lieutenant was next to him, Hartfield he reminded himself, and around were some other assorted brass from the company.

Meyers leaned against the table, just next to the lieutenant. Schaeffer paused when he saw her, she offered a quick smile that Schaeffer didn't return. He took a second look at the colonel and suddenly felt a sense of dread overwhelm him. This wasn't child play anymore, he was in trouble.

"Private First Class Leonard Schaeffer..." read the colonel from a TACPAD he carried, the brass who knew him nodded, and after the silence dragged, Schaeffer confirmed that that was his name. The colonel nodded absentmindedly before looking back up with a glare.

"You've been charged with the assault of a superior officer, attempt to overthrow the chain of command and disobeying direct orders." the room seemed to erupt into noise as half the officers at the table began to voice their dissent and then the rest began to argue with his supporters. Schaeffer glanced around quickly to figure out who was on his side, the lieutenant seemed to be arguing the charges, Meyers did as well, the captain was fairly neutral but Schaeffer saw him glaring at the major more than anyone else which gave him a bit of hope.

One of the other lieutenants from the company was on his side, and her first sergeant. Schaeffer had little idea who they were. The rest were neutral or demanding they take off his head, it wasn't hard to figure out who his biggest opponent was as Sorelsky whined and moaned about the laws and rules that good Marines had to follow or something, Schaeffer gave up on counting the odds of him being chained in the brig and decided to just roll with the punches.

The colonel shouted for silence like some sort of judge and the room quieted immediately, he stared straight at Schaeffer.

"I'll hear this straight from the source, thank you." Sorelsky began to say something when the colonel raised his hand to tell him to shut up and the major's speech quickly sputtered out and died. The colonel never once stopped looking at Schaeffer like some sort of burger, and asked him to explain why he punched the major.

Schaeffer was delirious from his long day and had not expected to be stared down by a gang of people who could take his job in the blink of an eye and be roasted on why he punched the major in the chaos of the day. He started recounting the events in the tunnel and then doubled back to the morning convoy and the major's role in leading them straight into an ambush, then he went to the rooftop and the Covenant invasion, then the hospital, and then him first entering Second Base, and by the end of it he was sure he had confused everyone more than he had helped.

The colonel nodded however, and Schaeffer couldn't help but notice a spark of intelligence in the fat man's eyes.

"Some of this... tale of yours. Contradicts the major's own rendition..." a quick glance to the side showed the lieutenant's eyes slowly narrowing, it was obvious they had been arguing since before Schaeffer got there, but it seemed like Sorelsky had managed to tell the story to the colonel with no outside observations. "You're telling me that Sorelsky did not in fact debate for the tunnel to be blown, and what is this about an ambush on the road to the bank... that has yet to be mentioned."

Lorrie continued to list several contradictions in the two's stories, Schaeffer could swear he saw Sorelsky sweating, he had no doubt expected Schaeffer to be buried without being able to contradict him. He looked at Schaeffer's supporters with the look of a man about to be hanged.

And they were holding the rope.

"If I may sir, Schaeffer's... account, if we can call it that. Is shaky at best," the lieutenant glanced between Schaeffer, the colonel and Sorelsky intermittently before finally settling on Sorelsky, "but it is far more accurate than what Major Sorelsky has brought to bear, his story is at best nothing but self congratulatory drivel, and, with all due respect, outright lies at the worst." the major's face went beat red immediately. Meyers joined in before he could start screaming.

"Drop trooper helmets come with built in cameras sir, I have a recording of me fighting the major over the situation in the tunnel, the major was arguing we go straight to New Luxor." The major's face sunk immediately as he realized he was caught. Schaeffer enjoyed watching him squirm.

"That won't be necessary Lieutenant Meyers. Thank you." he glanced at the brass and sighed, glancing down at his TACPAD he frowned and looked back up. "Well, no reason to extend this little meeting. Sorelsky, we're going to have a long chat after this, Schaeffer, you're not getting out of this a free man, I assure you, but that's not here nor there." the group of Marines almost exploded into arguments again but the colonel quickly put down their protests.

"The Covenant have finally organized a decent sized counter attack. Outpost Foxtrot just went dark and Echo and Golf are pulling out. This is it gentlemen, the final stage of the evacuation is now being forced. Captain, organize your people, I want your company ready to move. Fort Darkat is the last bastion we got on this planet, and it looks like it is done for, it's time to jump ship. Dismissed."

The captain nodded immediately and dragged the lieutenant after him as he swept out of the room, Gaffer close behind. Schaeffer took one glance around as the staff all left or began planning before he realized he was forgotten and quickly made his leave. With no idea where to go, he just made his way to the barracks.

--

Bullets laced through the sky, far enough from Schaeffer for him to feel safe, but not far enough for him to feel comfortable Blue plasma slowly lowered down on the source of the bullets and whenever they went low enough, the sky lit up and Schaeffer heard a boom, though it was too far for Schaeffer to see the impact. The Marines had all suited up once again, replacing their lost or damaged gear. Schaeffer had to get new shoulder pads and a new helmet, but was otherwise fine.

Cameron was back with them now, they needed every able bodied Marine and if Schaeffer was able to walk and shoot with burns all over his body and more lacerations and holes than a torture victim, then Cameron could do the same with some chest burns.

The corporal whined and moaned about his chest near constantly, but no one paid him much mind. The tall Marine walked back to the warthog he was ordered to and glanced at the occupants, his team were killed over the course of the day, he was all that was left. With a sigh he found a seat.

Schaeffer was told to take the fifth Warthog in the column and when he walked up he found Riley in the driver seat. The big Marine looked like he was several times larger than the seats maximum size, but just smiled when Schaeffer waved at him. Red was trying to relax in the passenger seat but Schaeffer could see how tense he looked, the Marine looked like he was ready to bolt at a moments notice. That only left one seat, the turret, again.

But when he walked to the back he saw Masih sitting in front of the turret, Mackenzie snoozing next to her. She gave him a small wave and a smile, Schaeffer just nodded and climbed onto the back of the Warthog.

The base had tons of Warthogs spare, but they also had to evacuate the whole civilian population, there simply wasn't enough room to keep things safe. The transport Warthogs and Pelicans were almost exclusively being packed with civilians, with only a handful getting a Marine complement. Even then, Schaeffer suspected that they weren't taking everyone with them.

The blizzard had stopped, replaced by a gentle fall of snow, Schaeffer tried to find some metaphorical meaning in the change of weather but quickly gave up, opting to instead keep his mind on how cold it was. It was a nice scapegoat.

"Alright! Let's go! All convoys have your routes mapped, do not stop moving no matter what. The Furious Five is promising to pick us up at the orbital elevator in New Luxor, but we got a tight schedule. Anyone not there when the Five arrives will be left behind. God's speed gentlemen!" the colonel himself radioed the message in, no doubt on the furthest Warthog from the enemy, but Schaeffer couldn't exactly blame him, and felt much better when the base began receding from the background.

Schaeffer glanced back and saw that the tracers were still flying into the sky, he frowned in confusion, there had to be a Marine firing those.

"Are we leaving somebody behind?" Schaeffer mused to himself, not really expecting anyone to answer, Masih looked up at him and then back to the sky, shaking her head slowly.

"Guess someone had to buy us some time," she replied, Schaeffer waited a moment before nodding.

"Yeah. Sucks to be them." Masih's face slowly revealed a sad smile as she looked back up at him.

"Better than us, I guess,” Schaeffer finished. Mackenzie mumbled in his sleep at her words and Schaeffer shook his head before turning back to the road ahead.

--

New Luxor dominated the view in front of them, the smaller buildings of the outskirts showing up more and more frequently as the road went on, reaching into the skyscrapers that dominated the port city. The view was similar to the one had had seen at Garmed, scorched buildings, smoke rising in several places. The damage was still less severe than he saw in Garmed, probably because the city hadn't been bombarded from orbit like the capital was, and the orbital elevator was more or less intact.

The one thing he noticed most of all though was the lack of tracers in the air. The city was dead, with only the occasional muffled bout of gunfire in the distance. Garmed had the benefit of a Marine battalion being in the city when it was attacked, plus a small army of armed citizens, New Luxor had no such luck. The Covenant must have killed almost everyone.

Their convoy was the only thing making any real noise, twenty Warthogs being tailed by four Pelicans in all, each Pelican with a Scorpion attached behind its undercarriage. The entire convoy had nearly a hundred Hogs and about half that in Pelicans and Scorpions each, with a complement of Mongooses, APCs and other assorted vehicles.

As they drove down the the road to the city, another convoy began driving down a highway exit which connected to the road and the two convoys quickly combined with each other, doubling the size of the column. The city was close, and he saw other convoys moving between buildings in the distance.

"Erm... all units, we have reports of friendly militia units holding the city square with a good number of civs. Convoys are to converge on the are and hold it until we can get a confirmation of the Five moving in. We'll pick them up on the way there." Schaeffer recognized the voice as the bored radio operator from that morning, though he hardly sounded so tired now.

"Always something..." Mackenzie sighed from the back of the Hog, having just waken up.

"Yep, now we're all going to die, I bet you," Schaeffer groaned, Masih glanced between the two of them before shrugging and checking her rifle.

"Gonna be awfully hard to collect the bet if we're dead." Schaeffer laughed before spinning the Warthog's gun nervously.

"You guys need to stop being so depressing, I'm sure we'll be fine," Riley piped in, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically, before adding, "right, Red?" Red just grumbled something before stretching.

"I'll stop being depressing when shit stops exploding wherever we go," Schaeffer shot back, Riley didn't bother replying.

The convoy continued in silence as they entered the city proper. Schaeffer saw shapes moving in the windows.

"Uh, unknown contacts on sixth floor of that pub. Look human to me," said some Marine from the front of the convoy, he was quickly told to keep an eye open but to not fire. There was a good chance there were still some survivors.

"I'm getting a bad sense of Deja Vu..." Mackenzie warned, nervousness clear in his tone, Schaeffer agreed. It was almost exactly like the convoy from the morning, just that they were expecting trouble this time.

"Uh, I'm seeing more movement, up in that uh, police station," warned the Marine again, once again he was told to be careful but not to fire.

Schaeffer looked around once again and saw movement in the window of a shopping mall, wide open with the glass shattered. There were clear shapes in it, and Schaeffer could hardly make out...

"Oh shit!" he cried before opening up on the window, he was too late however, and just as the rebels cover exploded from his fire, the rocket left the tube of his launcher. A Warthog down the line exploded and the entire column swerved to avoid, just making things worse as the vehicles slammed into each other. Someone screamed on the radio to open fire but Schaeffer could hardly hear it over the explosive noise of his machine gun.

A corpse fell from the window, wearing armor and covered in blood, the shapes quickly disappearing into the background, Schaeffer shifted his aim to another window as a Warthog even further down the line exploded.

Masih, Mackenzie and Red were halfway from jumping out of the 'Hog when bullets began pouring out from the windows at ground level. Mackenzie cried out in pain and fell to the ground, Schaeffer was about to say something when another rebel position, just a bit down the street, opened up and sent a spray of gunfire at the front of the Hog. The windshield shattered and Riley slumped over, blood spraying the inside of the vehicle.

A Marine dragged him out of the seat but Schaeffer hardly noticed, instead opting to shoot at his attackers. He didn't see any die, but they stopped shooting and that was good enough. One of the Pelicans hovered down in front of a building, level with one of the machine gun nests, and unloaded its missile pods straight into it. The entire front of the building exploding, then falling into the street in front of them. The Pelican then hovered even lower to drop off its Scorpion before flying back in the opposite direction.

Schaeffer's hands began to go numb from the constant vibrations of the Warthog's chain gun, hearing muddy from the pure sound of the weapon, his legs turning to jelly under him, he could even see the barrel of the Warthog began to turn red from the heat.

Another rocket spun out from another window, not far away and Schaeffer realized that it was going towards his Warthog. He was halfway out of the gunner seat when it exploded in front of the vehicle, the Hog lifting from the ground and propelling him off the side. He hardly felt anything when he landed face down in a gutter, gunfire erupting around him, and felt even less when his vision went black.

Next Chapter: Chapter 10: One Last Shot