Chapter One

(John Fairmore's POV)

The patrol consisted of three vehicles with one squad of four in each. My squad was the third vehicle in the back. When we reached the town center we were stopped by the lead vehicle. When we got out and looked around I saw two men from the first squad walking over to the fountain, I walk over to my sergeant.

“What’s going on”, I asked.

Pointing to a pile of debris next to the fountain he said “We’ve got a suspected IED, first squad’s going to look at it. When I looked back at them neither of them were wearing any protective gear. "They're getting lazy." I thought, and I didn’t blame them. Every suspected IED we came across was either a dud or we've eliminated the detonator.

A few seconds later one of the men gave a signal that it was a confirmed IED, as one of them got up and took a few steps towards his vehicle to get his EOD gear the IED went off. I stepped back in shock and looked around and saw figures forming on the roofs of nearby buildings. As I ran back to my jeep to get my gun I heard someone yell “CONTACT!” and then I heard shots being fired. "Shit, ambush!" I thought to myself as I grabbed my M16 from my seat and ran for a nearby fruit stand as civilians fled the scene. I look over the stand and spotted two men with AK-47s on a roof across the street. I aimed my gun and fired ten rounds and saw them fall. As I look around I spotted the man who was still at the bomb when it went off. It was hard to notice but I saw his chest moving up and down.

“He’s still alive” I muttered to myself.

I looked around and spotted two of our men behind a low wall; I took the risk and made a run for them. When I reached them they just looked at me with a worried expression on their faces. This was obviously their first actual firefight, as I saw that they were PFCs.

“It’s going to be fine” I told them, “I need you two to provide cover fire for me when I say”.

“Why?” one of them asked.

“Our man over there is still breathing, I’m going to get him but I need you two to cover me, got it?” I explained. They just nodded.

I waited a few seconds and then began to count down from my fingers 3, 2, 1, after one I yelled at the top of my lungs “COVERING FIRE!” and hopped over the wall while the other two got up and began shooting. As I crossed the street I could hear the bullets of the insurgents whistle past. I neared the first vehicle and heard from my left someone yell “RPG!” that’s when I looked to my right and saw the projectile cross me and impact the first jeep next to me sending me back a few feet and on to my back. I laid there for a few seconds while my head was ringing from the explosion. After that stopped got up and gathered my thoughts, and began to make my way towards the fallen soldier. When I got to him I noticed that half of his right arm was missing. I carefully picked him up and threw him over my shoulder and ran behind the second jeep while dodging more bullets from enemy guns.

I made it behind the jeep and I was met by two men from second squad, but I ignored them and set my gun down to tend to the wounded. After further inspection all that seemed to be wrong was his missing arm and a couple bruises, I tore part of his sleeve and then tied it around the wound to try and stop the bleeding as best I could, I then looked at the other two next to me.

“Get this man somewhere safe” I told them as I handed him over to one.

He picked him up and ran back into an alley while his partner followed him close behind. When they were out of sight I decided to help out in the fight now. I go to look over the hood of the jeep but I’m then back behind it as bullets ricochet off of it. I tried again and was able to spot one man on a roof down the street, I lifted my weapon and aimed at them man then fired off three shots. I grinned in my mind as I saw him grab his chest and fall to the street below. As I looked for more targets the gun fire seemed to die down. After a few minutes of silence me and a few other men stood up and began to walk to our squads.

I found my sergeant over by the rest of my squad; I got the usual greeting from Greg when I walked up to them. "That's going to make one hell of a video." then gestured to the camera mounted on my helmet. I simply smiled and looked over at the Sergeant.

“You ask’n for a death wish corporal? That was one hell of a stunt you pulled.” Sarg greeted me. I just looked at him with a smirk on my face. He chuckled and looked at Greg, “So... any other casualties?”

“Two more sir, one of the men from 1st squad was wounded by shrapnel from the RPG and the other was shot three times in the leg. Only the private in 1st squad was left untouched, he’s a lucky one. We’ve already called for med-evac.” He replied.

After the wounded were loaded onto the chopper the private hopped into our jeep. I looked at him and he seemed worried, I leaned over and put my hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring look that seemed to calm him. I smiled and leaned back hoping to catch a few Zs.

A few hours later when we got to the base Greg woke me up with a flick to my forehead, I opened my eyes and gave him a blank look that made him frown. When I wore my sunglasses, it was fun to mess with the others since they never could really fiqure out the look I gave them. I chuckled and got out of the jeep. I looked up at the sun though it didn’t faze me since I was wearing my sunglasses, then Sarg walked up behind me.

“Do you ever take those things off, sometimes it’s hard to look at you and know if you looking back or staring at the sky and daydreaming.” I just shrugged and looked ahead.

“Anyways…” he started, “meet in the briefing room in 30 we got a special mission tomorrow night.” I nodded in reply and he gave me a pat on the shoulder.

After putting my gear back in the barracks by my bunk, I used the time I had to clean my rifle and check my equipment. While doing so, I couldn't help but wonder what are mission was. We've never gone on a mission at night, so I was quite curious to find out.

After about 25 minutes, I made my way to the briefing room. I walked in and sat next to Romeo, he looked at me and just smiled then looked forward at the board. "Does this guy ever talk?" I thought, I don’t think I’ve heard Romeo talk except for the time he introduced himself, and when he gave the occasional yes, no, maybe, and so on.

Later the Sergeant and Greg walked in and sat next to me, I asked Greg what he thought the mission was about but he just shrugged, which didn't help at all.

For the next hour or so, we were told that we were going to join a SEAL team and infiltrate a Russian compound 10 miles north. At first it was just an abandoned town but now it’s been seeing more activity over the past month. Satellites have shown pictures of Russian vehicles in the town, transporting what appeared to be computer hardware. So our job was to join up with the seal team and extract any information from the database there. The seal team will sabotage and distract the Russians so we could get in and get out.

After the briefing was over I walked up to the sergeant with a question that’s been bugging me. “So why were we picked for this mission?”

“Command got word of you did earlier during the ambush and thought having you and your fast feet would be good for the mission.” He said with a smirk on his face. “If you had paid a little more attention to the briefing, you’re the one who’s going to retrieve the info. So if we get into a tight situation, we’ll cover you and you can make a mad dash to the evac site.” I frowned at the fact that I'll be the one getting shot at the most. He saw that and laughed as he patted me on the back and left.

We prepared the next afternoon for the mission; we were given NVGs and suppressors for our M16s, as well as suppressors for our M9s. And like earlier, I was tasked with retrieving the info and was given a laptop to download the files to it; I needed the software on it to hack the terminal in the base. I placed the laptop in my backpack with my other stuff and place metal plate in front of it so it wouldn’t get shot, I had plenty of room in my bag so I didn’t need to take anything out.

A few hours later, at about 2030 hours, we loaded up into a Blackhawk and took off. After about 45 minutes we were dropped off a mile from the compound, we then took a 15 minute walk the rest of the way. We stopped a few hundred meters from the base and waited for the signal from the SEALs. While we waited, I looked at the town.

The walls surrounding it were about 15 feet tall, but didn't look very sturdy. There were no towers, witch would make getting in easier, and no guards posted outside the front entrance.

It was only a few minutes later that we got the signal from the SEALs. "Foxtrot 2-4, you are a go." With that we made our way to the East wall, as it wasn't as heavily guarded, and found a weak spot. We bashed a hole in the wall, and made our way into the base.

When Greg got through he turned to me as made my way through the hole. “Why are you wearing your glasses this late at night, can you even see?” he asked in a low whisper, and he had a good point, it was dark out and I was wearing sunglasses under my NVGs. The reason I wore them was because they were like my good luck charm, I only took them off when I met with my superiors.

I was about to respond but I was cut off by the Sarg, “you two quiet down, we don’t want to get noticed.” I just nodded and followed him throw the hole.

When we reached the end of the alley Sarg gave us a signal to stop, he peeked around the corner and looked back at us. “So. What do you see?” I ask in a low tone.

“3 man patrols and an LMG on the top floor down the street.” He responded. “We’ll wait for the SEALs to create the diversion and then we’ll take out that LMG and move to the target building.” We all nodded.

A few minutes passed then we heard a large explosion, “that’s it” the Sarg said. We waited till the patrols moved to the diversion then Sarg looked around the corner and aimed his gun I heard the *pft** pft* of the suppressed gun, then Sarg gave us the signal to move up. We met no resistance while moving up the street. The seals did a good job, but I still kept a close eye on the alleys and roofs.

When we reached the target building me and Greg went to the left entrance while Sarg and Romeo went to the right entrance. Sarg gave us the go over the radio and me and Greg burst into the room from one side while the Sarg and Romeo entered from the other. There were 3 enemies I shot the one going for the pistol on the table while Sarg and Romeo shot the other two. When the room was clear I ran over to a terminal and took the laptop out and plugged it in. I began to download files and information ranging from weapon blueprints to times and dates. One file caught my eye; it looked like some kind of portal the Russians were working on, and that was the last file I downloaded. As I began to unplug the laptop and put it back I heard voices coming from outside.

“Hurry John!” the Sarg yelled over his shoulder. I zipped up the bag and gave him a thumbs up signaling I’m good.
When I turned around four men came barging through the main door but, with the others in a defensive position, were taken out before I could pull up my weapon. I ran to the Sergeant and patted him on the shoulder. We left through the main doors, to meet a group of ten armed men. We made a run for it with them chasing us and yelling “ostanovis'!” We were able to run into a nearby house and waited till they passed.

When we thought the coast was clear the wall between us blew up bringing down the center of the roof separating me from the rest of the squad. As the dust cleared Sarg spoke up.

“Is everyone okay? Corporal where are you?”

“Over here Sarg, I’m okay, but I’m separated from you guys.” I responded.

Greg and Romeo walked up to the ruble and tried to clear some of it, only to have more of the roof fall. “Wait, you're going to bring the rest of the roof down on us. I’ll look for another way out, you guys get out and I’ll see if I can meet up with the seal team.”

“Alright, but be careful John, I don’t want to deal with a soldier gone MIA that has intel on the enemy.”

“I will, but if you get no response from me or seals in five mikes then go ahead and leave.”

The Sergeant was about to interject but was interrupted by gun fire coming from outside. I waved my hands in a shooing motion at them, they nodded and left.

When I exited the building onto the street I looked to my right and saw a Russian T-90 and more men heading my may “You have got to be fucking kidding me.” I mumbled. Then one of them pointed in my direction and yelled “Vot on!” and began shooting. I ran down the street as the tank and men followed.

I was about to make a turn into an alley but a bullet hit me in my right shin, going clean through as I felt it exit and making me stumble past the alley. I tried to ignore the pain as I began to limp at a fast rate. I was coming to a building under construction when I heard the tank behind me fire a shell and blow up a pile of 2x4s a few feet from me. A few seconds later I felt a deep stinging pain in my side but shook it off as getting shot again.

I saw a stack of barrels and used them to get to the roofs of the buildings. I finished climbing and began rooftop jumping trying to get away from the T-90. One man came out of a hatch in front of me on one roof and began to shoot a Draganov SVD at me. He was a horrible shot as I came up to him and threw a right hook at his jaw and grabbed his weapon with the other, hoping it would come in handy.

That’s when I heard the tank fire another round at me and I could hear it wiz past me. “Just won’t leave me alone will you, huh fucker!” I yelled.

When I look back in front of me I saw that I was running out of roofs to run on, but I kept going. As I got to the last roof the tank fired one more shell but missed as I jumped off and, in mid air, a blue portal that seemed to spit out electricity opened right in front of me, and I fell right into it.

"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-"

Author's Note

My first story, so constructive criticism is welcome.
Ok, so I cut this chapter down, and am going to put John arriving in Equestria in the next chapter, and I went ahead and put a little more detail into this chapter.
I'm changing up the beginning of the story a bit, just because I wasn't happy with what I had.