A Shadow Company Tale

The Sky is Falling!

An explosion occurred distantly in the sky, drawing the attention of every American soldier at the crash site. A strong gust of wind slammed the entire city, breaking glass and knocking trees over briefly.

Katana looked up as the small arms fire completely stopped. "What the hell?"

Immediately all the streetlights blacked out as electronics went down causing the MI-28 to spiral out of control and crash into the BTRs in front of the squad. An out of control MIG crashed into the building in front of the squad as the Russian survivors ran.

Sandler moved in front of the helicopter and pushed the blocking blades out so Ramirez could escape.

Dunn shouted, "What the hell's goin' on?"

Foley stood up and pointed to the building with a decent sized hole in the wall, "Get off the street now! Go!"

Helicopters began to literally rain from the sky as the squad continued to run through the gauntlet.

"This isn't good, man! Whoa!"

"Don't stop! Keep moving!"

"Holy shit!" A little bird crashed onto one of the disabled BTRs, exploding destroying both the vehicle and helicopter.

"Go go go!"

"What the hell's goin' on?!" McCord shouted, following the group.

"EMP!" Dunn replied.

"Just keep moving!"

"Look out!"

"Go! Go!"

The squad made it inside the building with the wall blown out, revealed to be a bookstore as a Little Bird crashed behind them knocking everyone over briefly.

Dunn stood back up, freaked out. "What the hell are we gonna do now, man? Russians got us out numbered, shit's falling from the sky, we're screwed, man! We're totally-"

Foley turned and shouted at Dunn. "Shut up! Get a grip, Corporal! Our weapons still work, which means we can still kick some ass, hooah?"

A very large explosion echoed from further down the street as a large jet engine came tumbling down the street.

Sandler whispered, "What the hell was that?"

Everything became quiet as Angel began to whimper as Katana started to consult her. "You're going to be okay. Stick with us, refill your ammo and keep moving with me." Angel slowly nodded, regaining her senses a bit.

Foley poked his head out, "Stay here." He continued to move outside.

"You're goin' out there? Are you nuts?" Dunn spoke as he looked at Foley.

Foley turned around as the chaos was over. "It's over. Come on, we still have a war to fight."

Sean groaned, "Fuck me man..."

The squad pushed outside as the entire world just seemed to stop, there wasn't any gunfire too.

"What the hell happened here?" McCord muttered.

Dunn shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, man it's quiet. Hey, is your red dot working? Mine's out."

Sandler shot him a look, "Mine's down too. This is weird, bro."

Foley scanned his surroundings, "Looks like optics are down... comms too. There's not even a street light for blocks."

The squad reached the end of the street where the crashed passenger plane lay.

"Woah, check it out man." Dunn pipped to the rest of the group as Foley moved to a fallen soldier, checking his vitals.

"Dammit. Alright. We gotta regroup with whoever's left out there. Corporal Dunn, take point."

"Hooah."

Dunn moved forward a few paces, spotting a moving soldier running down the stairs of a building in front of him as rain began to fall lightly.

"Star!" Dunn waited for a moment, repeating himself again. "Star, or we will fire on you!"

"I don't remember the damn countersign, alright? I'm just a runner! Don't shoot!" It was a young private who ran to the group, armed with an MP5K.

Katana rolled her eyes as the rest of the squad let their guard down.

Foley spoke up to the soldier as he made it closer to the group, "The proper response is 'Texas', soldier. What'dya got?"

"Colonel Marshall's assembling a task force at Whiskey Hotel. You guys need to keep heading north."

Dunn raised an eyebrow, "So where are you goin' then?"

"To tell everyone else! Get to Whiskey Hotel! Go!"

The squad, puzzled, just shrugged, noting the soldier's valiant attempt.

"You heard the man. Let's go." Foley pointed to the building where the runner emerged from. Dunn nodded and took point as the squad continued to move. Angel and Katana stuck into the middle of the formation as the squad finally made it inside.

"Dunn, you're up."

"Hooah. Clear."

McCord whipped around to the rear, "I got our six."

"Copy that." Foley spoke as Ramirez and Katana followed Dunn and Sean closely from behind.

Dunn and Sean stacked up on one of the closed doors as clatter was heard on the other side. Dunn nodded to Sean who opened the door, "Star."

Seven shots quickly echoed out and struck Sean throughout his body, immediately he fell limp.

"Son of a!"

Foley shouted, "Contact!" The squad moved up to the door and pushed into the room, dropping many of the Russians without taking any more casualties.

"They're dead, right?!" Dunn shouted.

Angel scanned the surroundings, "Clear!"

"Room clear! Let's go!" Foley shouted as he hopped outside into the rain that was pouring harder. "There's the Eisenhower Building. Whiskey Hotel's on the other side."

Dunn quickly groaned, "Aw man, we gotta go out there?"

They pushed up to another fallen Ranger, "Dunn, check for vitals. We'll cover you."

Dunn moved to the fallen Ranger and quickly did a brief assessment of his vitals, he shook his head looking back up at Foley, "He's a goner."

Foley locked his eyes on three Russian soldiers on top of a BTR attempting to break the magnetic locks. "Keep quiet."

"Got a visual on three tangos." Katana whispered.

"Stay low, move into position." Foley whispered back.

"Smoke 'em."

The squad immediately opened fire on the three Russian soldiers, downing each of them quickly.

"Move up."

"What about the guys inside?"

"What about 'em?"

Sandler fell to the back of the formation as they spotted the Eisenhower building, "I got our six."

Dunn shook his head, "It's clear. I don't know what's worse, man- dodging falling helicopters or freezing my ass off in this monsoon."

McCord chuckled. "Hooah."

A large squad was seen briefly in front of the soldiers, "Quiet - I think I see something. Hold your fire." Foley whispered.

"Are they friendly?" Dunn raised an eyebrow also raising his weapon in preparation.

"I don't know...Star!" He shouted, reaching for a flare. "Cover me." He shouted again, throwing the flare. "Star!"

Dunn aimed down his sight, "Say Texas, dammit...just say it."

The flare flew at the feet of a soldier which made him jump; the red glow illuminated the red and white pattern. It was a squad of Russian soldiers. The Ranger immediately opened fire.

"Contact!"