Retired

Chapter 7

  Chapter 7

We were just arriving at an intersection when there was a flash and a boom. The sergeant and platoon leader were torn apart as a torque grenade exploded. The corporal just stood there stunned as he saw what had happened.

"Hit cover!", I yelled at the top of my lungs. Soldiers scrambled to hide behind anything they could find. The corporal just stood there. I dove for his feet bringing him to the ground as another rocket-propelled grenade sped right through the space his head had occupied a moment before. The grenade traveled on to crash through the window of the house just behind us. The screams of pain from the house as the grenade exploded snapped the corporal out of his stasis.

As we dove behind a car, radio chatter started flying over our headsets. Several platoons had been attacked. It was a well organized attack and casualties were being reported all over the city. There were several calls for air support and my heart sank at the answer. It would be fifteen minutes before the carrier could position for launch to cover us. They were on the other side of the planet, conducting drop launches.

The corporal just kept repeating, "Oh, God!", over and over.

I shook him. "Get the men under cover and have them return fire!"

"All we have are hand guns! We are dead!", he moaned.

I shook him again, "Get them under cover and hold off till we get air support."

He nodded to me and started to shout orders to withdraw back up the street. As he did, I ran across the street and leaped to the top of a car. Two steps later, I leaped again and caught the edge of the roof for the house behind it.

My scramble onto the roof was not graceful, but it got me up there. I ran across the roof and leaped again as I came to the edge. I landed with a roll on the flat roof of the corner store and headed to the far edge. Cautiously, I looked over to see the insurgents gathered behind a low concrete wall. I was just about to target and fire when a noise behind me caused me to roll. Randall had followed me.

I nodded to him. "Target the men. Try not to damage their weapons -- we need them," I spoke in a hoarse whisper. I knew this day would likely end with us dead, but I could not stand by and let the rest of my squad get picked off one by one.

He nodded and drew his side arm.

We popped up and opened fire. The six insurgents went down with a total of nine shots. They never got off a shot in return.

We both dropped off of the roof to retrieve the weapons. That is where I made my mistake. I had not checked to see if there were any insurgents on the other side of the intersection. The explosion behind me threw me across the street and I landed on the small strip of lawn near the concrete wall. I managed to roll over the top of the three foot wall and then looked back to help Randall. What I saw will always remain one of my worst memories. There were pieces of my childhood friend lying all over the street.

In a screaming rage, I pulled up the grenade launcher that lay there next to me. I rapidly fired both grenades and dropped to look for more. Once I had reloaded, I popped up again to find the first two had done the job. The hovercar they used for cover was a smoking ruin. Their bodies were scattered all over the street.

I spun to look up the other end of the street. Another group of insurgents had another platoon pinned down on the far end. I did not pause to think. I fired the grenades into the two positions. A few seconds later and there were more bodies to my credit.

I whistled the all-clear signal to the soldiers behind me as I picked up a rifle and the bag of grenades. Men came around and started to gather heavier weapons that could be used.

My platoon moved forward as we worked our way down the street. By the time the air support arrived, we had taken down twenty-one groups of terrorists. Along with the air support arrived supply shuttles with our weapons. The clean-up took four days. At the end of that time, I had seventy-two confirmed kills and over a hundred assists. Even the veteran platoons watched me with respect.

I received my first medal a week later, "Bravery under fire". Randall received a medal, too. His was sent home with the pieces we could find.