Grimoires & Gunsmoke

Grimoires & Gunsmoke: The Ohio Incident Ch. 2

After Corporal Santiago's little outburst, no one in his platoon could even formulate anything resembling a reasonable answer. They all had the very same question as they sat there staring at their machines of war: rows of M2A4 Bradley Infantry vehicles locked and loaded ready for a combat drop.

"I mean, let's face it. It's aliens," the Corporal and driver of one of the vehicles continued, turning his head to his Sergeant First Class (SFC). "We're definitely being invaded by aliens."

Santiago's SFC vehicle commander, Erik Hofmann, let out a deep breath as his pale face reddened in irritation. Even though his Corporal made some good points, not even their commanding officers truly knew what the hell was happening. The only thing anyone knew what was happening was that there were attacks on the mainland and they all needed to dog pile into C17 Globe Masters with enough ammunition to level an entire city. "Shut the fuck up Santiago," Hofmann retorted, leaning back against the wall of the cargo plane.

"C'mon LT, get my back here," Santiago replied, unphased, as he looked to his platoon leader this time and gestured to the 3 Bradley IFVs. "No one can just pop out of nowhere other than Aliens!" He yelled down the line at the Lieutenant, who seemed more exasperated than anything else.

The Lieutenant was bumping his head against the wall in an effort to suppress his agitation with Santiago's ridiculous harping over aliens. The man finally straightened up, his dark skin contrasting with the dim, metallic surroundings of the plane, and looked towards his Corporal. The deafening clangs of chains rang out as their aircraft hit a spot of turbulence, and everyone waited a beat until they could hear again.

"We don't know that, Santiago..." Lieutenant Jayden DuPont replied in a monotone voice when it was once more down to merely a deafening roar. "Now do what Hofmann told you to do and shut the fuck up."

"I'm just sayin', sir," Santiago shrugged, leaning back in his own seat. "They just popped out in the middle of nowhere and started blasting, you know?" The corporal's voice trailed off as he raised his hands like his favorite History Channel 'expert'. "Those little green pendejos? Or maybe the tall gray-"

"Santiago, if you don't shut the fuck up, I'm gonna throw you out of the back of the goddamn plane." Sergeant Daniel Kim, the Bradley's Korean-American gunner, growled in anger. "Do yourself a favor and stop while you're ahead."

The Corporal put his hands up in surrender after receiving Kim's glare. "Alright, alright, I get it," Santiago said as he reclined in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. There was muffled laughter from a handful of the 40 men on board, but it was cut short by a harsh look from Kim.

The cargo bay of the aircraft soon fell into silence, filled only by the droning hum of the turbofan engines and the occasional creaking of the 3 nearly 30 ton war machines crammed inside. Santiago looked up at Bradley as his face turned serious for a moment. The man's gaze drifted all across the features of the vehicle and noted that there were two live missiles stowed away and ready to be fired from the pylon on the side of the turret. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly they were heading into. They were an armored unit, not an airborne one, so a combat drop wasn't exactly standard procedure, at least not one that they were trained to do. But despite that, here they were.

"He has a point though... What if it's actually -" Private First class Lukas Kowalski suddenly broke the silence, but was immediately cut off.

Lieutenant DuPont didn't even bother looking at the man when he barked out, "Shut up, Private," eliciting laughter throughout the cabins once again.

Kowalski sank further into his seat, deciding that it was better to keep his thoughts to himself for now. "Roger that, sir," Kowalski responded, adjusting the rifle slung across his chest. His fingers grazed the cold metal of the firearm, tracing the edges as a strange comfort against the uncertainty that hung in the air.