Blind Eyes, Black Hearts - A GWOT Story (On Hold)

Chapter II, Part III - Savior

Corporal Rick Salvade

1st Bn. 75th Rangers

Rick heard footsteps from inside the building, so he went alone inside while CPL LaHoye, PFC Stark, and SPC Adams guarded the entrance. He opened the door that led out of the room the machinegunner had been positioned, and he scanned the corridor, that led to another doorway on the other side. Its door, however, had been broken down. The footsteps continued. “Who’s there?!” He shouted. Then he heard louder footsteps from his left side. He took several paces forward, gun pointing to the front, and he saw a staircase on his left. Heavy footsteps of around 8 men could be heard going down that staircase, and Rick never heard any Taliban with footsteps that heavy. It was either friendly troops or heavily-armed Taliban… and worse, a suicide bomber. “Who’s there?! Respond!” The steps continued. They were heavy, and they were jingling.

“Respond!” Rick shouted again.

“Friendly!” An American voice replied from the staircase, and not long after, Salvade, who was crouching with his weapon pointing front, saw that a group of five men in pixilated gray- carrying two non-uniformed men, who were wounded- stepping down the stairs. Rick sighed in relief and lowered his gun. “I thought I was fucking alone.”

“What unit are you from?” Asked a large man, dressed in ACUs and pushed-up NVGs. He carried a backpack and an M4A1 Carbine and the man had a beard. Normal American soldiers aren’t allowed to have thick beards, though British soldiers were allowed to. But implying that there were no British regulars here, he assumed the man was obviously an American Spec Op. These were the men who were sent to capture the HVTs, Rick realised, and the two wounded men were the HVTs themselves.

“Dagger. Task Force 105.” Rick replied.

“God bless us. A ranger. Where’s the rest of your team?”

“Out there. It was an MG Nest, but we took care of it.” Rick replied.

“Great. One less Taliban in this complex.” The tall man walked towards Rick. He shouted to his men to go to the building’s side to wait for extraction, and all the men, except for one, a clean-shaven man with the Task Force’s patch on his sleeves, which was a skeleton with crossed knives, stayed and went over to the ranger. Both had American flags on their sleeves and vests.

“What the hell’s happening?” Rick asked, a bit authorative.

“I’m Matt. People call me Chief in the SEALs; and this is Chuc, Delta.” He referred to the man next to him. Rick gave a questioning look at the delta operator. “Yeah and that’s his real name.” the SEAL replied.

“There’s another one, our commander, Rodent, is on second floor, out to see what’s happening. Honestly, nobody really knows what the fuck is happening here. Operation’s gone FUBAR.”

Rick paused and sighed.

“Is that WP outside?” Rick realized that an IED had exploded, and when he tried to contact the rest of his platoon, it was only static. A small cloud of white smoke also came from where the rest of the rangers were, and he suspected it as White Phosphorus.

“Probably. Just hope that your friends are alright. Have you tried contacting them?”

“Of course, I have. Static. Contacted the Captain too. Static. I assume they’re all dead.” Rick said, but he hoped they weren’t.

“We tried the same thing, corporal.” Chuc said, who had noticed the velcroed emblem on the man’s upper sleeves. “We even told them to get out. You didn’t get the message?”

“Squad leader was supposed to get it… He didn’t pass it over, somehow.”

“What about you tag along with us for the mean time, heh? Try to check out what’s happening over there. We’re moving out once Rodent gets down stairs.”