It is one of those very fun things to feel. Especially the pain of being against a flipped vehicle and surrounded by enemy forces. One with crumpled metal and torn apart. This one just so happened to be tearing through my gut. And today was supposed to be easy.

Middle East (Of course)
PMC held Airfield
7:03 20**, 25th July

I laid in bed sleeping soundly with a good dream. In it I was… well, let's just say it was peaceful. Sadly it had to end by some jackass plus a bloody pillow.

*Wham*

“AHH. You Fucking Jackass!” I yell as I jump up and look towards the culprit. Who just so happened to be the jackass from the ground forces... or more commonly known as Hyena… or am I thinking of what his laugh sounds like… who cares I’m awake now and looking at him. He’s definitely a ground force guy if his uniform was anything to go by. Which was a heavy looking vest the man had on. One who was currently laughing his ass off. To which was ended by me taking a nearby box about the size of a 10 pc mcnugget meal and throwing it at his head. Which lead to it comically hitting him in the head bouncing off it. Causing him collapsing onto the ground with it landing on his chest.

Getting up from my small little area I look at him while he gets up and then looks at me with a betrayed face. After about a good 10 seconds of staring we both start laughing. Once we both stop after a good 15 seconds I come up with a question. “So what are you doing here Lancer?” I ask finally remembering and using his nickname.

“Well, Karma, I am to make sure your ass is up and ready to go. Also ‘otta inform you that we’ll be leaving in about 30.” He informs me which makes me notice he is in his full gear. Hmm… Seems like I almost forgot what today was.

“Alright, I’ll be there after I grab something and gear up. Mind giving me that box that conked you.” I reply as I start to get my gear from beside my bunk. My gear consisted of a Black Cap, a mixed camo over shirt, grey cargo pants, and black combat boots, a black knee pad, a holster. Lastly a black combat vest with some ammo pouches, a grenade pouch and a small built-in pack on my back. Grabbing all of these I drop them on my deconstructable bed. Which was a cot with some adjustments for easy transport. Turning I catch the small box and opening it I pull out my phone and earbuds. Which I keep in an unmarked box for the hell of it. REALLY… Alright Fine. I keep it in there to fuck with people.

Anyways Lance nods to me and exits the room while I get to work gearing up. I start by getting on my pants and belting it on. Then I slipped into my camos. Next, I slipped on then tied my boots like it was a double tied garbage bag. I reached over and grabbed the knee pad the secured to my left knee. Standing up I fasten the holster onto my right side then place on the vest. Once finished tightly securing it I walked over to my little footlocker and took out a radio. Buckling it onto my vest I reach back in and grab an MP7A1 which fit my vest snuggly on my front. I then took out an Mx4 Storm with an ACOG, laser/flashlight attachment and an angled grip. Not to be confused with its sister the Cx4 Storm since this was made specifically for military use as an SMG. Followed by a Beretta M9 that got put into the holster.

Once all were on and in place, I took off out of the room and headed three doors down to a set of double doors. Breaching the door and finding my target I walk over and see what Baker is offering today. He really likes to cook us random crude. Just my luck it so happened to be sausage egg and cheese on a croissant/beagle. Oh and a side of hash browns. Freaking hell for all I know we could be being served our last breakfast.

Anyways I get a grab and go while making some small talk with Baker. “So any reason for the last meal request finally coming through?” I asked while grabbing my food and finding a napkin to wrap it in. Which upon finding it I triple wrap it. Baker turns around to continue his kitchen things.

“Well we finally got them in and I figured everyone would appreciate it.” He replies back after a quick glance. He then looks back at me. “Do you really still have that damn 9mm?” obviously staring at the rifle.

“Yeah because it gives me an excuse to carry more small arms ammo... Fuck I forget something. Well, I gotta go man see you later” I then turned and took off putting my precious into a pouch while heading back to where my cot was.

Entering the room I looked over to the clock and seen I had a good 25 minutes left. Good still got some time. Running over to my cot I slap on my cap and then deconstruct it with it rolled up into a pole the size of my pack. I then attach it to my pack opposite the rifle. It was an easy fit only taking about a foot in height and a good couple inches to the sides. Then moving to the footlocker I dig through it and take out the necessary field supplies putting it into my pack and grabbing necessary ammo. This including throwing many MRE’s and food into it.

I grabbed 4 4.6×30mm mags, 10 15 cap, 9mm pistol mags, and two .45 ACP mags. I then moved onto grabbing a smoke and m67. Hopefully, these will be enough to last the week, anyway, I then plucked up a watch, gloves, and a headset. Making sure everything was secured and my personal stuff was also in the pack and organized I moved on towards the door. Once in the hallway turning right I ran down to the only sets of doors there.

Opening them I am caught by the morning air of the desert and a nice view of a runway. Looking to the right I spot a group of humvees and a little bird not far from it. Setting that as my direction I make my way towards it and once there I joined up with a group of people.

“Alright everyone here and geared up?” A higher ranking member asked. Who looked around at everyone. Instead of waiting for confirmation though. “Alpine?”

“Yo” Replied a PMC member in similar gear to most of us. Who was carrying an M4A1, a grenade launcher and had a helmet. He looked over to me while taking out a bandana and tossed it to me.

“Foxer”

“Cheery Oh Sir” He had a SMAW on his back and SA 80 while wearing a beanie. I catch the bandana and brought it up to my head.

“Karma”

“I’m here” I reply while putting on my headgear and the bandana I grabbed on.

“Alright and …” he is currently looking through all of us there. Which becomes a bit unnerving for those who weren’t called.

“Cheeki”

“Da Sir” Replies a Russian accented voice of which was wearing a similar gear set and a helmet. Except he was carrying a PKM.

“I want all of you up in the bird for this and you’ll be Rango 1. Pilots should be over soon. The rest of you are to split up into the humvees from there and make your squads then wait for the radio check. Now get moving and remember it should be an easy day till tomorrow.” With that said we all started off to our respective places.

“Did I say you five can move… NO! You freshies are going to stay here and stare at this map.” I have only moved a good 2 meters before this was said and upon turning around I can easily see the new guys. They had more of the basic setup on gear and was in a good looking condition. Noting that I must still have some time, my feet lost the will to move from its spot unless it was for comfort. “Now as you can see this is MY glorious map! NO this is a graph! Which is beautiful and as you can see flawless. Now you might forget what we do. Hell, you might forget your training. But you will not forget this graph for it might save your life's one day.”

Damn, he was giving them the speech. Which he was showing them a graph that I hadn’t noticed till now. The troops are stood there at attention. None dared to move anything but their eyes to follow along.

“Now if it doesn’t... then it’s not my problem for your incompetence. Now graphs like these are important to us because we can’t afford any fancy dancy Overlord crap. Now-”

“Permission to speak Sir.” the freshneir on the right asked.

“Go ahead you misuse of my time.”

“Why can’t I recognize any of the terrains on that graph sir.”

“Because maggot this ain't no made up fantasy setting from a d&d you wish you were playing. This is where you will be going on your mission so if you had paid attention maybe you would have known this.”

“I’m sorry, Sir, that is why I’m just a Private from the National Guard, Sir.”

“That is wh- Wait a minute your just a bloody private from the NG. How did you get here and get that gear soldier?”

“Ahhhh….”

“Bloody ‘ell did you steal that from the armory?”

“No Sir. I was given it when I got here, Sir.”

“That’s it! You are all sentenced to 20 minutes of staring at this graph.”

He then turns and looks at me. “Hey, you want to do this too Karma. I know you would just love to.”

Shaking my head at him and starting to chuckle. “No Sir. Besides, that is not just a glorious graph. That should be put in a museum and sold for millions.”

“Alrighty then,” he says while we’re both laughing at the joke. “You’ve humored me. So~ that lets you off. Now get a move on before I change my mind.”

Turning and walking over to the bird I make sure that my stuff is secured one last time. I walk over to the left side followed by the Russian. Who finished talking with the other two guys and one of the pilots. Jumped up onto the bird towards the back blades. I followed him and sat up towards the front with a considerable amount of space between us. I looked back to the man with an already answered question. “So am I helping you hold that thing?”

“Da it would be appreciated.” He says while bringing up the gun and sort of laying it between us. While he starts to do his thing I look over the beauty of the base. It’s a decent sized one with Hesco walls and runway that could fit a cargo jet. The main building for operations was a huge compound that could fit over a good 300 men. Although it is only said and theorized that since we are only at a max of around 120 here. Used to be more of us but they were either killed or the contracts with the group ended. One form of retirement was obviously more lucky than the other. Hell for some reason most of everyone here thinks my rifle is 7.62 with a small 3 cap mag hiding somewhere. So I’m mostly seen as the marksmen even though that one time was lucky especially since it was with a .45 ACP. I am going to hate it when they find out this ain't meant for that long of a ra-

“Hey, Karma. Wake up we’re about to lift off.” A voice said through the headphones. Knowing instantly who it is I look at the cabin and then knock on it twice. The Pilot looks to me then nods and begins spinning up. I then look to my left and nod to the good sir there. Nodding back he moves the PKM over so I can hold onto it by a small attachment made for the little bird. Once we have dusted off the ground we circled the base a couple of times while the convey started up and left the base.

The convey itself was made up of three vehicles. Two humvees were armed with M240s while the third was armed with an Mk. 19. The mission was to move out to somewhere in the desert and just watch for a while then assault. So we spent about the first half of the day moving to the first checkpoint. This point was a small town with some reported activity of increasing hostilities from the UN force stationed there but it shouldn’t be much of a problem since we are passing through.

The pilot takes us on a course to fly around the town while the convey went to drive through the town. I watched it from a good distance away while watching the town. They were stopped at a checkpoint near the middle. We slowed down as some soldiers were looking and pointing towards us.

Suddenly there is an explosion and I see two of the Humvees flipping while the one in the back slammed the reverse. The pilot acting quickly took a swing around and then lined up to fly us down the street to dismount. Flying with buildings starting to slow as we come past slowing down to about 30 m/sec. We spot multiple UN open up while continuing to slow and almost about reaching the two wrecked humvees.

Suddenly I spot an RPG flying towards us from the left, but before being able to react it sailed past me and hit the bird in the tail. With this, we start to spin which throws me off with shrapnel towards the destroyed jeeps. Although I managed to land on my right leg. Sadly a lot of pain flowed through it informing me of my botched landing while I span on the ground the last thing I see was the chopper above me about to slam into the ground.

Waking up after who knows how long I am looking forward with sounds of gunfire behind me and tons of radio chatter. I was also resting on something hard and cold. I try to move but am refrained from doing so by immense pain in my chest. Looking down at my lying form I find my problem. A hunk of metal was sticking out of right through the bottom of my left lung and upper gut. The piece was charred and stained with blood. The Kevlar in my vest had offered no protection from it as it was most likely like a hot knife through butter.

“Repeat… Rango…. All UN… epeat… actual…. Considered hostile…. Reinforcements… available... we are dealing with our own assault right now. We sent for help with the U.S. and their sending support and a trying to talk to them.”

I grabbed the offending spear and then go to adjust my legs to move but am instantly reminded of my source of landing. I was almost certain now that it was broken and I was going to slowly bleed out. Knowing this I smiled a bit and then reached up to the bandanna and brought it down. I started to laugh softly while I started to think. ‘So this is how I’ll die. Hehe… at least it isn’t from execution or anything of the like. He...ah god the pain is too much and that was a good…. Hm… well damn, I forget to eat my heavenly breakfast.’ to which causes me to lose my smile.

I started to black out while I looked up and saw the sun was starting to set. This brought me another smile while I started to lose consciousness and prepare to meet the goddess. The world faded in and out until the darkness took over.

My visions started to fill with white as my eyes open again. First I notice that I’m still laying down like how I was earlier. Secondly, all the pain was still there and from a quick glance down, I could see the culprit still poking out. Thirdly there was a forest around where I was seeing. Lastly, there was a black figure that stumbled out of the forest and started to come towards me before I Finally blacked out.

Author's Note

Like Promised in my last blog here is a story, which is thankfully somewhat posted after a month. Anyways I'd give this possible another month before this updates because I got Essay's to type and driving to take.

Anyways hopefully this will be an enjoyable story and see anyone next chapter "Surviving with... witt?". Reference somewhat inspired this.