First Strike, - [best free ebook reader for android TXT] 📗

few seconds, they stood still and listened. Barely audible over the titanic fight, they both heard a kid crying out for its mother. Cole pointed to the destroyed house beside theirs. Sheridan nodded. They all dashed over to the building and came to a sudden halt when they found a room littered with dead civilians. It looked as if they had all died when a shell struck their house early on in the fighting. 

In the dark, a child whimpered and then called out for its mother. Garcia heard the cry and walked over to a turned over sofa. She bent down, stuck her head underneath and saw a young girl, probably no more than five years old hiding there. “Hey there, hon, my name is Isabel. I’m here with my friends to help you.”

The girl lay there with tears in her eyes, staring at Garcia. 

“You can trust me, hon, now why don’t you come out from under there and we’ll take you away from here.” Garcia waited a couple of seconds and then gently reached out for her with her hand.

Unsure if she should, the young girl hesitated for a few seconds and then took Garcia’s hand. Slowly, she crawled out from under the sofa. Fear and disbelief filled the scared child’s eyes. For a second, she looked as if she was ready to bolt back under the couch when she laid her eyes on Roberts’ dog. “Doggy,” she said, reaching out for the animal.

Right away, the dog stepped forward and let the girl pet her on the nose. The girl smiled as she leaned forward and tightly wrapped her arms around the dog’s neck. The animal just stood there and took it all in stride.

“Do you like Tammy?” Roberts asked the girl.

She nodded and kept her hands tight around the dog’s neck.

“What’s your name, hon?” Garcia asked.

“Danika,” answered the young girl.

Garcia brushed the girl’s matted hair away from her dirty face. “Danika, it’s not safe to stay here. There are bad men all around here. My friends and I are here to take you to safety.”

“What about Mommy? I can’t wake her up.”

Sheridan felt a lump in his throat when he saw Danika look over at the body of a woman lying facedown on the floor. The thought that she had been all alone for days while her family lay dead on the floor tugged at his heart.

“First, we’ll take you somewhere safe and then we’ll see what we can do for your mother after that,” explained Garcia. “Would that okay?”

Danika meekly shook her head and then looked up at Roberts. “Can I walk with Tammy?”

Roberts smiled and handed the young girl his canteen and what was left of a candy bar.

“Sure thing, Danika, but Tammy prefers things to be nice and calm so were going to have to be extra quiet until we reach our friends. Can you do that?”

Danika enthusiastically nodded as she devoured the candy.

“Why do we seem to attract all the stragglers?” Cole whispered.

“I guess it’s on account of your warm personality,” quipped Sheridan.

The sound of a Kurgan tank firing its rail gun a few houses away shattered the couple minutes of calm they had been enjoying and brought the war back onto their doorstep.

“Time to leave,” said Sheridan.

Cole warily edged to the shattered doorway and peered out into the darkened street. It was clear. Waving everyone to him, he pointed at the next house they were going to all run for. 

Roberts swept Danika up in his arms. “Just until we reach the other side,” he whispered in her ear. She wrapped her arms around his neck, closed her eyes and held on tight.

“Now,” said Cole. As one, they darted across the street and straight into the darkened building. They stopped for a moment, listening for the sound of anyone following them or perhaps moving around in the dark. When he was sure they were alone, Cole looked over at Sheridan who indicated for him to continue.

They repeated this routine for nearly an hour until they were close to the fighting. The smell of burning wood, explosives, and ozone from the Kurgan’s rail guns hung thick in the air. With Garcia, Roberts and Danika taking cover in a cellar, Sheridan and Cole crawled through the wreckage until they found a vantage point to observe the fighting. A long street marked the furthest extent of the Kurgan advance. It was easy to make out the Chosen warriors in their white camouflaged smocks lying in heaps beside the burnt-out remains of several destroyed tanks. They couldn’t see their own people, but the occasional muzzle flash from a window or firing port showed them where the Marines were firing from. It was obvious that anyone stepping out into the open was a dead man for sure. If the Marines didn’t kill you, the Kurgans would.

Sheridan looked up at the night sky and was surprised to see that there was half the number of drones hovering above the Marine’s position as there had been just two nights ago. He wondered if the Kurgans were having problems keeping them going in the cold weather.

Cole tapped Sheridan on the arm and pointed to a smashed tank sitting lengthwise across the road. “Sir, I think I just figured how we’re going to make it to the other side.” 

Five minutes later with everyone briefed up, Cole stepped off and led the group through the ruined remains of a store. Its shelves had been looted. There wasn’t a thing left on them. 

Sheridan was becoming uneasy. It was too quiet where they were. All of the fighting seemed to have suddenly shifted to the next block over. 

His caution was shared by Cole, who had slowed to a snail’s pace. He suddenly raised a hand, indicating a stop and slowly dropped to one knee. He whispered over his shoulder, “Sir, see if Garcia is carrying any powder in her med kit.”

A minute later, a small bottle was handed to Cole, who unscrewed the lid and squeezed the bottle sending a fine cloud of powder up into the air. As the dust began to fall, the floor of the room they were about to enter was lit up with at least six beams of light that crisscrossed the ground.

Cole whispered, “Booby traps. Probably set by our side as they withdrew.”

Sheridan knew from his training that anti-personnel mines could be set up to be triggered if an enemy stepped in front of a laser beam. Backtracking, they carefully made their way out of the building. After a minute’s discussion, Cole picked a new route through an adjacent store. He moved carefully, stopping to check each room for traps before moving on.

The eerie silence that gripped the long, black street was unnerving. Sheridan’s mind began to play tricks on him. Every shadow, every odd shape became an enemy soldier. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. If they were going to make it to their lines alive, he had to stop being so jittery.

With less than ten meters to go to the destroyed tank, Cole told everyone to wait while he checked it out. 

The sound of boots crunching glass underfoot made Cole freeze in place. Like a statue, he didn’t move a muscle as he listened to a couple of Chosen soldiers poking around in an empty shop. He couldn’t understand a word but figured that they were looking for food. After about a minute, the men abandoned their search and left the building, heading back toward their own lines. Cole let out his breath. He removed his finger from the trigger of his rifle and cautiously looked to see if there were any more Chosen moving around in the dark. When he was sure that they were alone, he walked back and told the rest of the group to follow him. Using a nearby burnt-out vehicle for cover, they made their way unobserved to the back of the tank. Cole went first crawling on his belly underneath of the tank. Sheridan ordered Roberts and Danika, holding onto the dog, to go next. As soon as they vanished under the tank, Sheridan told Garcia to follow them while he pulled up the rear. 

With one quick look around to make sure that no one was following them, Sheridan dove under the belly of the metal beast and began to crawl. Because of the size of the large armored vehicle, there was plenty of space underneath to move. In less than a minute, Sheridan was at the far side. He got up to his feet and sprinted to join his comrades. He had barely stepped inside a building on the Marines’ side of the street when a pistol was jammed into his face.

“Hands up, you Kurg bastard!” snarled a man.

Sheridan heard the anger and the fear in the man’s voice. He carefully raised his hands, hoping not to antagonize the frightened Marine. A pair of hands roughly grabbed him from behind, ripped his rifle from his shoulder and then pushed him down a long empty corridor. A couple of seconds later, he was manhandled into a room. 

Cole stood there shaking his head in disbelief. “I guess these idiots think that the enemy has drafted little girls and dogs into the war effort.”

“Are we okay?” asked Danika as she took Roberts by the hand.

“We sure are,” he replied. “These people are just being careful, that’s all.”

A stream of invectives filled the air outside of the room.

Cole grinned. “Gunny Wilson’s still alive.”

The door opened and a chastised Marine waved at them to follow him. They walked through several destroyed buildings until they came to a set of stairs that led down into a basement. Inside, Sheridan saw Captain Rolleston huddled over a map. 

Rolleston turned to face the newcomers. He had a bloodied bandage over his left eye. “Mister Sheridan, I take it that this is all that remains of your platoon.”

“Yes, sir, I believe so. Some could still be alive trapped under the ruins, but I doubt it.” For the next five minutes, Sheridan briefed his commander on what had happened to them and how they had made their way back to friendly lines.

Rolleston said, “It’s truly amazing that you made it back here alive. With your people, we now have a grand total of twenty-one Marines in the company.”

“Jesus,” muttered Cole.

Gunnery Sergeant Wilson said, “We’re being topped up tonight with whatever they can scrounge up. We’re going to receive a couple of platoons of artillerymen to act as infantry.”

“Something is better than nothing,” noted Cole.

“Get some food into you. After that get some rest,” said Rolleston. “You’ll probably be going back into action later tonight.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Sheridan. Before he left, he found out that there was a refugee control center nearby. Roberts and Garcia volunteered to escort Danika to the center while Sheridan and Cole scrounged up some food and ammunition. After grabbing all they could carry, Sheridan and Cole found a quiet room in a building that hadn’t been too badly damaged in the fighting and took a seat.

Cole took off his helmet and scratched the top of his head. He let out a weary sigh and grabbed two ration packs. Before Cole could ask Sheridan what he wanted to eat, he heard the young officer snoring loudly. Cole turned