Fallen Angels

Chapter Four

The door wasn't breaking down due to an assault. Explosions ringed through our ears, and that must've knocked it down. Plumes of smoke and fire flew all around outside, Chinese soldiers quickly running inside for cover.  Many of them were covered in piles of ash, probably from buildings falling apart. Baker stood up and punched the officer across the face, then quickly ran over to me. The soldiers aimed at him, waiting for the officer to call the shots. Just before the order, however, the explosions stopped. The bombing run was over and, for some reason, the church was not destroyed. The officer seemed to noticed and paused before giving the order. I started thinking about this as well, why had they not destroyed the church? 

Then someone shouted something, I couldn't tell, but the next was far easier to hear. "Goddamit Mat!" They yelled. Americans. The US was here. In the middle of my thinking, the door leading outside opened slightly, and something was quickly thrown into the room. Baker looked over at me, slightly confused. Then another explosion. A grenade. Multiple Chinese soldiers were killed, others quickly scrambled for cover. Then the door bursted open, gunfire flying everywhere in the large room. 

They weren't ordinary soldiers, not army at least. They wore some sort of UCP camouflage, marines. Chinese soldiers in the open fell to the ground with smoking holes in their chests. One marine ran to a pillar closest to the doorway. The Chinese started yelling at his men, ordering some to blindly charge and others to cover his retreat. One Chinese soldier threw a grenade at the marines, blowing a hole into a wall. The wall collapsed on itself a few seconds later, showing the church wouldn't be able to handle the pressure.

Gunfire flew in all directions, and a small shell blew a hole into the churches roof. Wood and shrapnel flew all over, burying several soldiers both Chinese and American. Baker and I watched as if this were some movie from a cinema, and in a way it was. A marine sprinted and took cover behind rubble. A Chinese soldier tried to counter him only to have a hole blown into his chest. Curses were exchanged from both sides, and the Chinese were clearly losing in this skirmish. 

A marine tried moving up and using this to his advantage, only to have a bullet pierce his arm and fall backwards. Another marines grabbed his arms and pulled him back to cover, then began to bandage him up. Typical medic duty, I thought.

The same marine who had taken cover behind the rubble get covered in dust. The man looked exactly like those weird races where you get covered in colored smoke. This was real, however, and soon enough a man started to approach him. Before he could react, however, the marine smacked him across the jaw and sent him flying backwards. He continued forward, a smaller marine close behind. He tossed a grenade, killing several Chinese soldiers in front of them. 

"See that?" I said, pointing at the two men. Baker must've been phased out, he wasn't paying attention. "What?" He said, looking over at me. "Those men there are working as a team to help us. Do you even care?" Baker nodded. I could tell he didn't, though, based off his posture. "You would be dead if it weren't for them." Baker seemed to think about it, but didn't seem to care nonetheless. "If I died, who would care? Government doesn't need me, even you don't need me. I'm replaceable." I grabbed his shoulders and shook him. Pain echoed through my body, but I didn't give a fuck about it.

"Are you blind? Of coarse I care! Francis is dead, and I cared about him. Do you even-" 

The church shook rapidly and ash sprayed over me. I looked up to see a pillar about to collapse on us. I instinctively rolled over Baker to protect him from the rubble. I felt the pillar break apart on the ground, stone and concrete flying everywhere and the makeshift cage falling apart. 

The rubble completely covered us both, and at this point I doubted rescue. I yelled three times for the marines, getting no response. Baker was awake as well, luckily not unconscious. Suddenly the rubble on top of us lightened up a little. Someone lifting it perhaps. Then light poured in and I raised a hand to be lifted up. I saw a hand lower down to lift me, ad I took it and was lifted away from the rubble. The man was wearing a marine uniform, several others around him trying to help Baker. "Thank you! Thank you!" I said, thankful to be out of the rubble. Then I looked over, eyeing a marine who looked Chinese. "No, please don't." I fell backwards onto the rubble, covering Baker. I shook my head. "I'm not letting you do anything else to Baker." 

The man kneeled beside me, speaking in plain English. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm American." My expression eased. He couldn't be Chinese. How could I be so stupid! I quickly apologized, trying not to look embarrassed even though I felt like it. 

I looked behind me. Baker had gotten clear of the rubble without the help of the marines. Another marine behind the first walked over, a woman. Draftee probably. "What's your name?" She asked. I took a deep breath, finally seeing Americans again. "I'm Captain Devin Porter, I'm with the ninth Air Force." More marines emerged, one asked Baker his name and he stated almost everything about him. "They don't need our life story, Baker." I turned to a marine. He looked Bolivian almost exactly like the natives. If he wasn't wearing the US uniform, I would have said he was from the Bolivian army. 

"Thank you." I said. "We are part of the Fallen Angels, or erm-" I pondered for a second. I forgot the name of our group at that moment, only the name we came up with. "Devil One." I said. "We fly FA-18 hornets, so we can assist you if we get our fighters back." The man reached out to shake hands. "Valkyrie One Five, Corporal Chacon, and we would be glad for that." I smiled. "Glad to be of help." I said. Soon a medic ran over to Baker and I, tending to our wounds. He finally gave up and told us to follow him. 

We left the church, the medic trying to guide us. I could hear yelling from inside the church though, something about flares and a death count. I didn't pay attention to it, though, but I felt like I should have. 

The medic lead us to a tank regiment, which lead us back to a forward operating base not far from the front lines. Appearently the commander of our detachment would be there. We were quickly bandaged up and met with the commander. We entered his tent, wearing several bandages and casts. We literally looked like runaway prisoners, but isn't that what we are? 

"Welcome, Captain." The commander said. He motioned for us to have a seat. Baker sat down first, pulling out a chair for himself and then waiting patiently. I sat down a few seconds after, and truthfully I just wanted to get this over with. All he needed to know would be our names so he could write us down as alive. 

"You call me by Frost, Colomel or sir. Everything else will be ignored." 

He was straightforward, asking us our names and using his computer to change our status. "You two lost pilots yesterday, correct?" I nodded, but Baker looked confused. I couldn't tell why because we lost Francis. But then I remembered, he was shot down before Francis died. Shit, I didn't tell him. "Baker, we lost Francis..." I said, patting him. He shrugged off my hand. "I know, but he said Pilots, plural." Plural. 

"Yes, Lieutenant Thomas Francis and Lieutenant Rachel McKenzie. Is this correct?" McKenzie, she must've been downed after I did. The Fallen Angels were certainly falling on their first mission. "May I ask how, colonel?" I asked. The colonel clicked several times on his computer, then started talking. 

"Shot down over the city itself, trying to knock out SAM sites who were firing on our transports. Confirmed dead, no ejection." No parashoot. Two pilots downed, and nearly four. Shit, is the church had been destroyed in the bombing run Fall Angels would be a distant memory. 

"Anything else?" The colonel asked. I shook my head, but Baker certainly had a question. "Where to now?" He asked. The colonel thought for a moment, went to a phone and called someone. I could hear him over the phone. "Hello, is this Garrison? Yes, I have two of your pilots. Devil One, they fly F-18s. Yes, I just updated their status, where do they go now?"

A long pause, then he started talking again. "You have more? Good heavens, they don't call your base a super carrier for nothing. Yeah. What about their wingmen? You sure about that? Alright then, I will get them to the location I'm sending you now. Alright, once their on your boat they are not my problem. Alright alright! Goodbye." He hung up. The colonel walked back over and rested his hands on the table. 

"You two are getting a jeep exfil through Peru. There isn't a better option, unless you feel like going through Chile." He walked over to us around his desk. He looked directly at me, then Baker. "Then, once you pass the border, you will get picked up by a helicopter and dropped off at the USS Typhoon." He tipped his hat. "Good luck gentlemen."