DaDaDa Da daaaaaaaaaa
Merrrey Christmas TWHL
Amber, Dan, and Fitz started heading away. Mark stepped in behind them. He followed them to the other side of the complex, back near the garage. Tom and Josh were waiting at the spot they were headed toward. There were a few people gathered in front of them, and more were arriving. They were all armed to the teeth, a few men had pre-combine era weapons, eight assault rifles and two machine guns. Tom and Josh were wearing full armor, bullet proof chest pieces, leggings, arm pieces, gloves. They almost looked like part of some military strike team, but what set them apart from the era they appeared to be from were the pulse rifles in their arms.
There must have been forty men in the squad by the time they had stopped arriving. A few of them don't look like they were meant to fight though, they were to lightly armed. The squad looked bigger then it was supposed to as well, but Josh answered all the questions that were forming in Mark's mind when he addressed the squad.
"Well everyone, you?re all lucky enough to have a special job to do."
"We gotta get these things..." continued Tom, patting a missile the size of medium sized tree trunk, they were about three feet long and 1/6 around. "...to a nice little location to launch them, these babies are destined for the three major combine supply points this side of the city. They?ve been deemed to well defended to take for supplies, so we're just going to level the fuckers."
"We got thirty missiles, ten per target. The launching equipment has been under the location and in the sewers for a few days now, so we don't have to worry about lugging that too."
"We got the eight techs, but we need seven others, two per. how about...you, you, you...you and you. And you two. You guys don't have the best of weapons. Everyone else, all you guys have to do is keep any stupid combine bastards away from the carriers."
The fifteen guys had the missiles tied at an angle to their backpacks, as to not truly encumber them. Mark saw a sunbeam slide into existence and dispel some shadows. He looked up through an east facing skylight, Day was breaking.
"Ok, we gotta go."
One of the mechanics that had been in the area opened on of the garage doors at Tom?s request, and everyone started leaving. Josh noticed Mark and came over.
"You want to be acting Demo man?" he asked
"Sure" Mark answered, he didn't have any objections to this.
Josh handed him two backpacks, they looked to be the ones he had filled with explosives from the Halls hideout. Josh gave him directions before he could think anything else "Stuff has been moved around, one now has grenades, the other the bombs and their detonators. Pass out the grenades while were moving."
Mark and Josh stepped in behind the crowd of people in the squad. Once they were all out into the loading courtyard Tom started organizing everyone. The fifteen carriers were put in the center, with ten guards on either side. Mark could see that Tom had put two of the heavily armed men in the center and two of the assault rifle armed ones at both the front and the back. That left four of the assault rifle guys without places. Tom sent two to be their rear guard and put the other two on point. He put himself at the head of the carriers. Mark was again left without instructions. So he just stepped in line behind Josh, who merged into the rear of formation.
Josh looked over his shoulder at Mark "Why don't you start handing out the 'nades"
Mark complied; he swung the pack from his back and onto his chest, so he could access the contents. He saw that in the bag was a mix of the weapons he gathered at the Barn. He took the nine Mp7 grenades out, stuck three into his gun, and put the others in his belt. He walked down the line, handing a standard grenade to everyone who was assigned to guarding the missile carriers. On his return back down the other side of the line he passed Amber, Dan, and Fitz.
"Here," he said, as he pulled three of the Mp7 grenades out of his belt and handed them over "Friend's arm each other heavily."
The four of them chuckled at Mark's comment as three standard grenades came out of the pack to be handed to them. The sound of distant gunfire increased exponentially as he did this, a rise from what could only be called ambient levels. Although Mark realized there wasn't much ambient about people getting killed. Mark looked around trying to find the source, and saw that less then a mile away two gunships were strafing a spot of city. Meaning that whoever was there either needed firepower or feet that can run.
Mark shrugged off the thought of the people being harassed by the gunships. He finished handing out grenades to the guards, and left without a place in line, he let himself just zone out and allow his mind to analyze what it would. His mind, caught on the task he had just finished, had Mark take inventory. He looked into the forward mounted backpack and took inventory.
In the front pouch was a remote detonator, a wired detonator, all eleven blue HE blocks of explosives, three of the red Incendiary?s, and three of the orange supermelt?s. Left in the main pouch was just five of the small mines and two grenades. And after he opened the side pouches Mark found he had a total of nine grenades left over even after handing them out. Mark decided to give a few to the rear guard of the formation, who he was practically speaking distance from. As he slowed down and closed the ten pace distance between them he moved most of the explosives into the main pouch and threw the remote detonator in his left pocket. He didn?t want to be fumbling around if he needed them.
?Hey,? Mark said ?I wonder if you guys would want some grenades??
?Grenades? We have a few as it is, but more are always welcome.? Said the first, Mark could tell he knew what he was doing. It wasn?t only the armor, or the weapons, that gave it away. It was his air, like he had been fighting since before the Combine came. It was also his appearance, he was taller then Mark, and had broader shoulders. And even though everything but his face was covered with either black cloth or Kevlar Pads, Mark could tell he had a lot of muscle on him.
Mark handed him two grenades, and he slotted them into his belt, which already had three frags from long ago in it, along with a few clips for the G36K assault rifle he and his buddy held. Mark wondered where he got ammo for the thing, Mark had recognized its distinctive design from an age past, where he had known stuff like that. 5.56mm rounds weren?t used in any combine guns.
?I?m Lieutenant Dan Duret, and this is Corporal Paul Smith. Nice to meet you.? Said the tall guy.
?Im Corporal Mark, err?? Mark started to reply.
?Can?t remember your last name?? asked Smith, who also had that air of knowing. Although he was shorter then Mark.
?No, I can?t. Haven?t had more then a glass of the resistances water yet, residual effects of the combines stuff I guess.?
?Ya, that?ll do it.?
?You two wouldn?t happen to have a canteen on you would you. I haven?t had anything to drink since last night?? Mark asked.
?Here.? Said the Lt.
Mark took it and had a few gulps from it before handing it back to Duret. And, still having no place in line, just kinda took up a place as a pre-rear guard. And as they moved over the dried out canal that separated the industrial compound from the rest of the city Mark saw that there was movement up ahead.
?COMBINE!? yelled on of the forward guards, as he fired off a burst into the three combine who had been spotted coming out of a side alley in front of him.
A) dive behind the trash can just a few feet from him.
B) Knell and try to pick off the combine with bursts from his Mp7
C) Run into the side alley and flank the combine.