Brothers in Arms: Journey Through the Unknown [ONHOLD]

Chapter 14: Heroes' Return

Tired. Tired was the only thing going through Evan's mind at the moment, and he did not have a single energy to move his eyes away from looking at the sky. He found himself falling deep into a strange situation where his muscles were completely fine, but his brain was trying to send a message that he had been through enough, it was time to rest. With his back resting against the cold hard steel on top of the turret, he gazed at the clouds slowly drifting across his vision. The weather was perfect too. It was cool and refreshing. Reminded him a lot of his uncle's farm in Texas during October, although he only visited there twice.

However, he never had his peaceful time, especially among the rowdy men who followed him into battle and placed their trust on him. He carried the burden of bringing them back home in one piece. How in the living Hell did they have so much energy?

"What cha doing?" WarPig appeared from the corner of his eyes, but she only appeared as a humanoid shadow because of the bright light shining behind her back.

Evan squinted and saw a smiling woman, "Resting. Now fuck off, WarPig."

"Aw, isn't that something you should say to me? What about all the amazing jobs I did and... protect you again?"

"Alright, thank you for saving me again," Evan sighed since she was totally right about her accomplishment and he was just being a bit grumpy, "If it weren't for you, I might have lost my men and my life."

"You're welcome, Mr. Jackson," Warpig flashed an appreciative smile for once, and for some reason, she decided to pat his head, "Good boy. I hope we'll work together more often in the near future."

Evan sat upright since he wanted to break off the weird mood going on and viewed the carnage in front of him.

All four tanks in the platoon including the M88 recovery vehicle were all sitting in a straight line just outside the western wall of Arsinia City. Despite fearing for a counter-attack from the Hurken, he was convinced the rocket barrages was enough to strike fear into anybody from this world and annihilated any remaining troops in the killzone. Not to mention, their UAV did not detect a single living soul who dared to tread upon Arsinia City's perimeter, so he ordered his men to take a chill pill and relieved them from any watch duty.

Some of them blasted music and danced around like a bunch of maniacs, each with their own terrible taste. Some just sat and chatted around while chucking down energy drinks or hidden alcohol they stashed away. Not that Evan cared. They should celebrate this moment, since their platoon managed to finish an impossible mission and get to live to see another day. Fending off over three thousands strong infantries with a mere tank platoon was already a feat of its own. He should be expecting a medal after this shithole. At the very least, gave his unit a week break until their military gained 500 miles radius control from FOB Apollo!

When he thought their small victory party could not get any livelier, he heard a vehicle engine revving from the city main entrance and a JLTV came out. The armored car was not the only vehicle that went through the west gate. To his surprise, a rather fancy looking black carriage was following behind the JLTV. As Evan closely studied the former vehicle, he realized the carriage looked more like a coach since the box was entirely enclosed and heavily decorated with lots of bling-bling along the edges. At the side of the door was probably the emblem of whatever noble family it represented, an emblem that was awfully familiar to the Saint Rows. Evan did not even think twice that he was looking at a coach belonging to whoever in charge of this city.

The JLTV arrived first and Mason jumped out from the passenger seat. Despite Mason smiling and waving at him, Evan could tell the man also went through the same harsh ordeal despite staying within the safety of the wall. After all, Mason must have done something inside the city so they could repel the west gate breach.