Chapter 1 - Sunrise Over Fallujah
"Wake up, Miller." I awoke when my closest friend, Lt. Mike Adams, poked me in the shoulder. "Really, dude? I'm trying to sleep. By the way, how long until we reach the HQ?" Mike leaned to the radio and tuned it. "Ghostrider, this is Delta 2-1. How long 'till we reach the base, over?" A short silence fell over our Humvee. "Delta 2-1, this Ghostrider. HQ is about..um...5 clicks north. Sit tight, Delta. The commander will get you guys some food and you can catch some sleep. Ghostrider out." Mike set the microphone down and continued driving. I looked out the window to see our convoy: Three transport trucks, one LAV (Light Armored Vehicle), one M1 Abrams tank, our Humvee and a AH-64 Apache flying over head. We lead our convoy into a canyon that didn't look right. I picked up the radio and switched the channel to all stations. "All units this net, be advised of your surroundings. We caused a lot of trouble back in Baghdad. Stay frosty and watch your six." I didn't have enough time to react to a IED explosion behind us. "All units, halt, halt, halt!" One of our trucks went up flames as bullets flew threw the air. "Ryan, go check on Tombstone!" Mike handed me my M4 assault rifle with red dot sight. "Roger that!" I shot out of the truck with the the sound of 'pings' on the trucks. The LAV fired 25 mm cannon right above me and landed with a 'BOOM!' I ran on pure adrenaline as I reached the burning truck. I saw one survivor trapped, with a melting face that burned into me mind. I've seen a lot of dead soldiers, but seeing one face-to-face is not a nice sight. My stomach felt uneven. "Hold on! I'll get you out!" I kicked the window to no avail. I kept kicking the window but it wouldn't break. "Shatter, damnit!" I then grabbed my 9 mm sidearm and shot the window. A hand grabbed me from behind. A U.S. soldier covered me as a tried once again tried to break the window. "Miller, hurry up! We got a lot of bad guys kicking our asses!" I finally broke the window and stood up. A bullet went straight through me left leg, causing me to instantly fall over. "Where's the fucking medic at?!" A nearby medic ran to me, setting down a large med-pack. "Hold on, I'm gonna get you patched up, bro." The medic had to at lest in his early twenties. He hardly had any facial hair. He wrapped my leg up with a roll of bandage then gave me a hit of morphine. "Come on! We gotta move.!" Mike screamed over the radio. I limped my way back as fast as I could. Every other soldier got into their vehicles while the LAV was giving them suppressive fire. I grabbed the mic and contacted HQ.
"Ghostrider, this is Delta 2-1. We just got hit by a ambush. We lost a truck in the middle of the firefight. We're heading to HQ right now. Over."
"Delta 2-1, this is Ghostrider. We copy your last. Try to get comeback safely, Ghostrider out."
"Copy that, Ghostrider"
An explosion of fire was heard from behind us as our attack helicopter buzzed over us. "That was one helluva firefight, bro." Adams quickly noticed my screwed up leg. "Oh shit. You got hit?" I winced at the pained of my leg as I touched it. "The bullet went through, though. I'm one lucky son of a bitch, ain't I?" We both laughed as we pulled into HQ. It was an old factory with tents and other things inside. Mike turned into a makeshift garage when he asked me this question, "What are you gonna tell your wife?" I chuckled even though that's a bitch to tell your wife or loved ones that you were wounded in action. "Shit, I dunno. Hopefully she can forgive me." We both laughed again as we were greeted by a squared face woman. "Who are you?" I asked. She looked like she's seen some shit, a scar on her face along with stitches on her forehead. "I'm your new commanding officer, Col. Amanda Bishop. I don't recall seeing you two scumbags before. Tell me your rank, name, and what hellhole you were born in. Mike was the first to start.
"Lt. Mike Adams, Prim, Nevada."
"Sgt. Ryan Miller, Brooklyn, New York."
I could tell by the look on hr face, she was mean as hell. "Looks like we got a city boy." I hatted the word 'city boy'. It made me mad every time I heard it. "Anyways", she said. "I've got a new mission for you; Search and Destroy. It's only you two that are going in. Medivac will be on standby as well as air support. You got 5 hours to sleep or whatever you wanna do. Dismissed." We saluted her and made way to the barracks. As we walked, I saw what seemed to be a blue aura over a canyon. Everyone else watched in awe as two F-35 fighter jets flew over and dropped napalms on it. "What the hell's going on?" Mike shrugged as we tried to find Bishop. "Col. Bishop, what's going on?" One soldier asked behind me. She had her arms folded as she spun around to us with a face of hell staring me in the eyes. "We've got Intel that Al Qaeda is working on a EMP or something like it. Sgt. Miller and Lt. Adams will be going in as well as a medic. Any questions?" I quickly raised my hand. "Why not bring another squad or so? We could be out numbered and it'll be 3 to 1,000 maybe." She looked back to the firefight over the horizon and started to speak when an large explosion rattled the HQ. "No time. You three, get to your Humvee and move out." We rushed to the truck and drove to the action. "Something doesn't feel right." I said. "No shit." Said the medic. We traveled a good 2 miles until we reached the site. We all got out and crouched behind a roadblock. The place was a big hole in the ground with barbed wire along with the smell of flames and gunpowder. "It's clear, move up." I found a freight elevator and ordered everyone in. Us three rand down a dark corridor when another flash of blue blinded us. "I just wanna get this done with." Mike said as we found a door, leading to the source of the light. We bunched up beside the door as Mike Pulled out a strip of explosive tape. "3...2...1..BREACH!" We rushed in as five enemy soldiers stood up and were ready for action. I put two shots into one of them as Mike and the medic finished off the rest. "Everyone alright?" Mike had blood running from his arm. "I'm fucked up but I'm good." I nodded at the response. Before us was a oval shaped antennae on top of a steel platform. "HQ, this is Delta 2-1. We found what appears to be a project of some sort. It's not a EMP or WMD what so ever. How copy?" Nothing. The radio was filled with static and Mike couldn't tune it right. "The compound has 2 ft. of titanium fiber all around the place. Radios are useless. I walked to the object that sat on the platform. A female AI started talking. "Start up sequence in 5...4...3...2...1." Nothing seemed to happen until a stretch of electricity zapped the medic and he just disintegrated into ashes. "Please tell me what the fuck just happened!" I said as one last blinding light lit the whole room up. I felt like we were being lifted up by some sort of force. "Oh shi-..." I was cut off as Mike and I were sucked into the metal object.
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