Misfit Compay

Chapter 1

   Specialist John Martinez was riding shotgun in a Humvee traveling with a convoy across the Afghan desert. He was wondering when his squad would be done with this bullshit escort mission. His unit was tasked providing extra security for some precious cargo he wasn't allowed to ask about. It's "need to know" they said. It gave him a bad feeling. He didn't like having to do something and not know why he was doing it.
   Every mission on every deployment had a direct and effective purpose for it, except this one, and it made him uneasy. On one deployment to Iraq, he was tasked with using his E-Tool to dig foxholes around his Forward Operating Base. The reason was to provide cover for the guys who would be pulling guard while he slept.
   Factor in the ever-present probability of getting ambushed, shot and killed at any second from anywhere, out in the middle of nowhere, and it's a small wonder why Martinez was so uncomfortable. He just wanted to reach the rendezvous point so his team could hand off the cargo to another unit and it would no longer be his problem.
   "Hey Martinez", called a voice from behind him.
   Martinez lowered the visor above the dashboard and used the mirror on the visor to see Private First Class Allen sitting behind him.
   "Yeah, what's up?" Martinez replied to the PFC.
   "You feeling alright man? You're looking all shaky up there dude."
   "Yeah man, I'm just tired of taking this God-knows-what to God-knows-where to hand it off to God-knows-who."
   "Well, we're almost to the rendezvous so we should be done soon."
   "Yeah, well, not soon enough."
   "Ah, come on Martinez", said Sergeant First Class Gray. "Look on the bright side."
   "What bright side?" Asked Martinez.
   "We're in Afghanistan, you can pick any direction and it would be the bright side."
  "Ha ha", said Martinez sarcastically.
   "I don't get it", said Allen.
   "That's cuz you're an idiot Allen," said Private Thompson, who was seated behind the Sergeant.
   Martinez cracked a slight smile.
   "Plus", continued SFC Gray. "You're getting paid a lot of money and all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride."
   Well first, I'm only making E-4 which isn't much. It only seems like a lot because we don't spend it on anything. Everything we need is issued to us. Second, we're 11 Bravo, we should be kicking down doors and killing bad guys, not acting as a goddamn delivery service."
   The convoy entered a small populated village. They drove up a large street where the rendezvous was supposed to be, but there weren't any vehicles or other troops to meet it.
    "Sergeant!" called one of the squad mates. "There isn't anyone here!"
   "Gee, no kidding. I mean it's not like I have my own fucking pair of fully functional eyes. I wasn't aware I was blind. Thank you Private." said SFC Gray with heavy sarcasm.
   "Yes Sergeant", the Private replied somewhat intimidated.
   John Martinez chuckled lightly at the overheard exchange of words.
   Martinez was watching the civilians around him. They seemed panicked and scared. Parents were yelling at their children to get inside. The villagers were locking their doors and closing their curtains.
    Martinez noticed that the civilians were not hiding from the soldiers because as they were rushing themselves inside, the villagers were not looking at him or his squad mates in fear but rather in fear for them. The civilians were looking were looking at the rooftops of houses and the alleyways of the village, as if something evil were waiting to emerge from those areas. In the next second Martinez put two and two together and recognized the situation he and his team were in. It was a situation he'd been in before and every time he hoped he'd never be in again.
   He was a sitting in a killzone.
   "It's an ambush!"
   "What?" asked one confused Private. "What are you talking ab-"
   Before he could finish his sentence, there was a snap that echoed through the air, and the soldier who was just talking, hit the ground in a pool of blood.
    Martinez looked in the direction the bullet came from and saw a man in a brown man-dress on a rooftop holding an AK-47.
   "Contact right! Hostile on top of the house!" yelled Martinez as he ran for cover. He ducked behind the Humvee he rode in on, pulled out a smoke grenade from his fighting load carrier and pulled the pin.
   "Popping smoke!" Martinez yelled as he tossed the grenade.
When Martinez broke contact, he raced to the nearest house, kicked in the door and cleared the building on his own. Inside the house was only a scared woman and a terrified child cowering in the corner of the main room. The constant pop of weapons was still filling the air with the sounds of war.
   There was a loud explosion and a red-orange flash of light but Martinez didn't know what it had been. Before he could turn around and exit the house, the woman began crying and begging the soldier for her life while the child still sat in the corner in fear.
   He spoke in Arabic and proceeded to attempt to calm the woman down. He asked her if there was a way on to the roof, she told him there was a ladder behind the house near the back door.
   Martinez ran through the door and quickly climbed the ladder to the left of him and hopped up on the roof with a sense of urgency. On the roof he swiftly eliminated two hostile insurgents who had been firing on his squad below.
   Allen was on the mounted minigun of one of the Humvees. A hostile on the West side of the village came out from behind the cover he hiding with an RPG over his shoulder.
   "RPG!" Martinez yelled out in warning.
   Allen brought the gun to face the hostile and opened fire on him. After Allen ceased firing, all that remained of the hostile was a a cloud of red mist and the hostile projectile heading straight towards the vehicle. The enemy had fired the RPG before Allen could turn him into human Swiss Cheese.
   Allen quickly tried to dismount off of the Humvee but wasn't able to escape before the vehicle was turned into a fireball that spewed flames that reached into the bright sky.
   "ALLEN!" yelled Martinez, his voice a mixture of shock and anger.
   There was another explosion and the roof Martinez was standing on began to crack and collapse. The ground fell out from beneath his feet. Before he could realize what was happening, the world went dark. Martinez was buried beneath the rubble of the house.