Canalzone
Seven chapters of a battle loosely based on Canalzone (the original) and TF.
— [P]Asphyxia
Chapter 5
The Counterstrike
As we lie in wait, I can see some of the troops beginning to get edgy. I signal to them to hold tight until I tell them. The enemy troops are closing quickly. I take aim at the lead man and line him up. I squeeze the trigger and he is thrown backwards. Just as he hits the ground, my men open up in a hail of gunfire that would impress even the most battle-tested soldier. At least, we impress the enemy. They start dropping like flies in front of us as most of them freeze in panic. It�s a slaughter as we lay waste to them. It�s over as quickly as it begins.
As the last soldier falls, my men spring to their feet and begin to advance towards the boathouse. We move with speed and spring in our steps with the satisfaction that we have paid them back for some of the pain that they caused us when we first got here.
�GO, GO, GO!� I shout. I am near the rear of the ranks so that I can provide cover. I watch with interest as my men reach the door of the large boathouse that is the primary means of ground transportation in and out of this town. Cabal, a demolition expert, sets a charge at the base of a set of heavy wooden doors.
�FIRE IN THE HOLE!� he shouts as he scurries behind cover. A massive explosion rocks the area and the doors disintegrate from the force of the blast. No sooner than the doors fall off the hinges, five men storm into the building. The sound of whining and gunfire is the next thing that is heard along with the sound of screams of pain.
Q-Ball, who is sitting next to me, shakes his head. �Sentry gun. Sounds like one of the big ones, too.�
Two of the troops manage to escape the wrath of the gun. One of them is seriously wounded and is yelling for a medic. The other one is not hurt, but is pale white from fear. I don�t blame him. I hate sentry guns since they finally perfected optical tracking devices and retrofitted them to the guns. They just don�t miss. I watch as Morphine makes his way towards the wounded soldier. Just then, a large object about the size of a hubcap comes sailing out of the door and lands in the area of the two soldiers. What happens next is even more frightening.
It explodes with a yellowish light and sounds like a large electrical zap. Just as it goes off, I notice that the backpacks of the two soldiers explode as their reserve ammunition detonates in a fireball. They are killed instantly. I look at Q-Ball. �What the Hell was that?�
�Uh, I�ve heard of it, but I�ve never seen it until now! I think that is one of those new EMP grenades that the enemy was developing! Pure evil!�
�Obviously! Now what? No telling how many of those things he has! And now we have no idea where that gun is. Well, let�s see what we can see. Cover me, I�m moving in for a look.�
I begin to advance on the doorway. Morphine is moving right along with me as BB lays down covering fire. I advance to within 50 meters of the door as another hubcap sails out of the door and lands 30 meters short of me. It again pops with the electrical zap and I feel a couple of my rounds touch off. They explode and cause a few small wounds on my back. I wince in pain. I notice that Morphine has experienced the same sensation. That�s enough of that! We have to take this guy out before he frags my whole squad.
I peer through the scope of my rifle. I�m figuring that he has to show himself to throw those grenades. That�s when I�ll have to get him. I wait him out. After about two minutes of waiting, he shows himself with another EMP in his hands. I see him pulling the pin out.
�Blow him a kiss, Jessie!� I say and squeeze the trigger. I hit him square in the chest just as he was motioning to throw. The EMP drops at his feet as he hits the ground. There is a huge explosion as it detonates. Looking through my scope, I see the remains of a sentry gun fall all around his body. He must have been directly underneath of it as I shot him and his EMP must have destroyed it. What a break for us.
�Gun down! Move in!� I shout. My men move in with guns blazing. They storm into the building and cut down several enemy troops that decided to try and hold this point. The gunfire ends as quickly as it started.
�Enemy eliminated! Area secure!� BB says to me. I walk in to the boathouse and examine the bodies, hoping that Nightmare is not one of them. I have a score to settle with him. He�s not one of the casualties.
�Excellent! Secure the perimeter and stand by!� I grab my radio. �Tot, this is Asp. Point seven secure. Five lost, one wounded. No sign of that snake here. Awaiting orders.�
�Good job, Sarge! Point eight is also secure. Establish guards and move on enemy command center in two.� Tot replies.
�Roger that! Asphyxia out!� I then look around. �Killjoy! Q-Ball! X-Man! Sentry duty here! Everyone else move to enemy command center! GO!�
We quickly move out and head across the 400 meters towards the enemy command center. We encounter a small amount of resistance from several enemy troops that are hastily retreating towards the command center. I expect them to be dug in like ticks in the command center. It�ll be the toughest fight yet. They know that if we capture it, they have lost the town.
�All units attack!� comes the order across the radio. There are two large explosions as detpacks act as doorknockers for us.
No sooner than the debris stops falling, gunfire erupts from all angles around the command center. They have established several blockades inside the doorway and have troops manning all of them. Mainly rocket soldiers, but the distinct whine of an assault cannon is heard. Along with the hail of gunfire, several grenades have been thrown in our direction. My troops scramble for cover as they try to avoid the blasts.
Cabal has managed to sneak up into position next to the door. He is lying on his back cradling something that resembles a box with four bulges on the sides. He has a wickedly evil grin on his face as he removes what appears to be a pin from the top and heaves it inside the doorway. He then dives behind a pile of rubble and is laughing maniacally. There is a small explosion, followed by screams of terror inside the building. After about two seconds, there are four large blasts in rapid succession.
�Unbelievable! I absolutely love those things!� He screams in a fit of sick pleasure. �Sarge! Door�s clear! Move in!�
I look at him and acknowledge his message. I then signal the troops to move in. I am fourth inside the building and I see what I feel is the most gruesome sight that I have ever encountered in my military career. The remains of six troops are scattered all over the hallway amidst their defensive positions. They have been blown apart.
BB turns to me and reports in. �All clear, Sergeant.�
�Search all of the rooms and capture any remaining enemy troops.� I order.
I see each of the men team up and search all of the rooms in the command center. As Cabal passes me, I ask him what exactly he did to cause such carnage. He looks at me and gives me a grin that frankly frightens me. �MIRV grenade, Sarge! Need a room cleared? These babies will take care of that for ya! Really nice! Best thing that I have played with in quite some time!� He laughs as he and his partner head off to search the command center. I shake my head and begin to wonder what kind of training that these new soldiers are getting. I have suspicions that it involves some sort of sick, twisted psychology.
I team up with Morphine as we begin our search, sling my rifle, and grab my MP5 that I have been carrying around. We move into the basement into an area that appears to be a stockade. There are several thick metal doors with small barred windows. It�s very damp and dimly lit down here so I signal Morphine to use night vision and grab my goggles. Donning them, we proceed carefully down the hallway, peering into each door before opening it. All but one of them appears to be empty.
Inside the last one is a man wearing the tattered remains of a stealth suit. He is tied tightly to a chair in the center of the room. We carefully open the door and approach the man, keeping him covered with our weapons.
�Stop, please.� He moans weakly. �I�ve told you everything that I know.� The voice, as feeble as it is, is very familiar to me.
Morphine approaches him and gently lifts his head. It�s Nightmare. His face looks like he had a fight with a meat grinder and lost. His eyes are swollen shut and ringed with huge black bruises caused by what might be a broken nose, several large cuts on various areas of the face that is caked with dried blood, and his lips resemble two grapefruits. He moans again.
�Help me, please!� He says weakly.
�Morphine, back off and cover him.� I say to the medic. He complies. I then look at Nightmare, �You have some explaining to do first, chum! I have evidence that you are on the wrong team! It�s too much of a coincidence that they had a good amount of men at our positions and that they seemed to know every move we made. The last piece of the puzzle came to me when we say them move to intercept us when we broadcasted we were evacing the town!�
In a pitiful voice, he replies, �Please! Look at me! They captured me and beat the Hell out of me for the codes! I�m telling you the truth!�
�Then explain to me why you ditched your man and then he tells me he sees you approaching the enemy base waiving your arms without armed escort?� I say to him as I drop my submachine gun and begin to unsling my rifle. �Come on! I want you to deny it!�
Just as I am doing that, he leaps out of his chair with lightning speed at Morphine. The boy is too stunned to react and Nightmare is on top of him before he can even react. In one swift movement, Nightmare disarms Morphine by grabbing his gun and twisting it out of his hands and delivers a slash to the kid�s throat with his knife. As Morphine grabs his throat and drops to his knees with a look of shock on his face, Nightmare leaps at me. I can�t react at all as he grabs my left arm and pins it behind my back, throwing my rifle across the room. The move dislocates my shoulder and breaks my arm with a very loud popping and snapping sound. As I begin to scream in pain, his knife is at my throat. I am completely at his mercy now. I begin to flail my right arm wildly in an attempt to grab anything on him that will give me a chance to save my live. It�s hopeless, however. These Special Ops people are trained for this sort of thing. He�s forgotten more about hand-to-hand than I�ve been taught.
He whispers in my ear, �If you stop squirming, I�ll make this easy for you! You have no chance of escape and I don�t like to make people suffer any longer than I have to. I may have to make an exception for you, but I�m a kind and forgiving soul. Be still now!�
I stop resisting and see my life flash before my eyes. I feel some pain as his knife presses deeper into my neck and it begins to bite into my flesh. He�s gonna really savor this moment by doing it slowly. He then says to me, �That�s better. Now, it�s time for me to end your pain. Goodbye, Asphyxia!�
I hear Nightmare yelp in pain and his grip on me suddenly loosens. I open my eyes and seize the opportunity to escape. As I push his hand holding the knife away and collapse to the floor. Rolling onto my back, I see Tot standing behind him with his medical kit open and a syringe in his hand. Nightmare begins to turn pale.
�Enjoy the sauce, scumbag!� Tot says to him and then looks at me, �That�s twice that I�ve needed to pull your ass out of the fire. I think that the first round will be on you!�
I look at Nightmare and see red lesions rise on his skin and burst open in a bloody mess. He collapses, lets out a gurgling scream, and begins to convulse violently. After 30 seconds, he stops breathing, vomits blood, and then ceases all movement. Tot kicks him to make sure that he�s dead.
�What did you do to him?� I ask with a mixed look of puzzlement and pain on my face as I rise to my feet, clutching my left arm that is basically hanging from my body.
Tot puts the syringe into Nightmare�s thigh, looks at me, and says, �Just a little black magic that I have concocted. Fast acting hemotoxin. Basically, it turned his blood into an acid and ate him from the inside out. First time that I got to use it. Looks like it worked.�
�Remind me not to get on your bad side. Looks like he did get his just desserts. Thanks, I really do owe you. How�s everything topside?� I ask.
�Secure. We managed to get the commander alive and he forced the rest of his troops to surrender. Brigade has radioed and they are touching down now. Let�s get that arm treated and get out of here.�
We gather our gear, leave the room, and head upstairs. I can�t help feel sorry for Morphine. He was a good kid, but now he�s dead. We should have just shot that bastard in his chair, but, as they say, hindsight is 20-20. His death and this battle will haunt me for the rest of my life. I would be a cold, heartless bastard if it didn�t. Hopefully, our victory today will convince the guys on the other side to give up soon. But I don�t think so. It won�t be that easy. It never is.
 Back: Chapter 6: Reinforcements
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