Mines erupted as the enemy passed, and thick black smoke poured into the sky, but it did nothing to hinder the enemy advance. Chandra wondered if they felt anything at all. Are they heartless? Are they truly nothing like us? she asked herself.
“Fire at will!”
The Company opened fire, joining in with the other units. Tracers rushed across the battlefield as many of the creatures were stopped in their tracks by the sheer quantity of ammunition striking them, but few were falling.
“Bastards won’t die!” yelled Yorath.
“How can we stop them with this shit?” muttered Suarez as he continued to fire.
They watched as many of the creatures took close to a hundred rounds to eventually stop. The first lines of Mechs were cut down as they closed to three hundred metres, but it was not enough. Hundreds more of the metal clad enemies filled their places, and drones continued on between them.
Chandra watched in horror as a dozen of the Mechs reached the first trenches and leapt in like fanatics, thrashing around and firing as they crushed all before them.
“Grenades and ARMALs into that trench, now!” she yelled.
Several of the Company looked at her with pity when they realised they were being asked to fire on friendly forces.
“There’s nothing more we can do for them, fire now!”
Light pulses continued to flash in the first trench, and they raised their weapons and readied themselves to fire. Screams of agony and pain rang out as they threw a dozen grenades and fired off ARMAL launchers forward into their own positions while the soldiers ran for their lives. Seconds later, the ground shook and earth from the trench blasted into the sky, and all within it were silenced.
The bodies of Mechs and humans together were scattered either side of the crater for all to see. Silva looked to Chandra with a bleak and defeated look.
“We can’t do this!” he shouted.
She looked around to see the first line of trenches had been overcome in several places along the defences. Her mouth was open, and her eyes wide at the horror she was seeing. We can’t hold. We’re fucked, she thought.
“Major!” shouted Parker. “We have to get the hell out of here!”
“Run? Who is going to keep up the fight? Who is going to stop them?”
“There’s nothing more we can do here!”
She looked over to see Captain Jones stood on top of the trench, screaming insults at the enemy and firing as quickly as he could downhill into their positions. Pulses erupted all around him. He wants to die, she thought. It was the final confirmation she needed that their time was over.
“Fall back, everyone fall back!”
Silva turned in relief, and he relayed the orders with his booming voice along the lines. As he did so, he noticed Jones still stood up above the trench, reloading his rifle with no concern for his life. He reached forward, grabbed his ankle and pulled. Jones was thrown off his feet and landed hard on his back. Silva grabbed his webbing and hauled him back into the trench. An explosion erupted where the Captain had stood just seconds before.
The two men were thrown back against the opposite wall of the trench and showered in dirt as they were deafened. Silva stumbled back up to try and regain his senses but was grabbed by Jones.
“What the hell are you doing? That was my time. My time to die! You have no right!”
Silva shook his head from side to side and coughed, trying to regain his senses and make some sense of what Jones was yelling about. He slapped the Captain who stumbled back and stood over him with anger.
“You may not give a shit about your life, but the rest of us do! You are needed here, so get your fucking act together, and start acting like a soldier!”
“Retreat! Retreat!” shouted Chandra.
Silva grabbed Jones, tossed him out the back of the trench and leapt after him. He hauled the Captain to his feet, pulling him along as they rushed back into Ramstein. Chandra looked back to see the survivors of the trenches clambering out and retreating in a frenzy. The armour that was at their backs was already beating a retreat and firing to give them cover.
“Where are we going, Major?” shouted Parker.
“Just follow me!”
The Company reached the first buildings of Ramstein, and enemy fire continued to pound the complex. They knew the tank traps and trenches would slow their advance for a while, but they had little time to escape. They’d been jogging for five minutes when Silva finally rushed up beside the Major. Until then, nobody cared where they were going, providing it was away from the enemy.
“What’s the plan, Major?” he asked.
“The plan is you follow my lead!”
It wasn’t long before they arrived at the military prison that only Chandra had ever seen. The others quickly realised their purpose for being there. Strong metal doors protected the entrance. She stopped them at the door and looked back to Blinker.
“Give me that ARMAL, Private!”
“With pleasure!” he replied with a mischievous grin.
“Major, you sure about this?” asked Suarez.
“More sure than anything in my life!”
She lifted the weapon up onto her shoulder and fired without hesitation. The doors of the building were blown off their hinges, and dust sprayed out over the already filthy troops. She threw down the device and lifted her rifle from her side. Chandra rushed forward into the dust cloud and with a dozen others at her back.
Silva was the first in behind Chandra, with Jones following quickly behind. They stepped through just in time to see the Major’s rifle stock strike one of the MPs and knock him to the ground. She flipped the weapon around and shouldered it with the sights trained on another sat at a desk.
“Major Taylor, release him now!”
“You know I can’t do that.”
She quickly fired two rounds over the man’s head, one of which clipped his cap and tore it off his head. The MP froze in utter shock.
“You heard the lady!” shouted Silva.
“Uhh… yeah… okay, but you’ll never get away with this.”
“Get real, son, have you seen the shit that’s coming our way?” asked Silva.
“Fuck this,” muttered Jones.
He turned and rushed through the prison. Seconds later two shots rang out.
“Go after him!” shouted Silva.
She rushed off down the corridor after the Captain.
“Don’t you know what’s going on out there? All hell’s coming down on us. You need to release any prisoners you have, and get the hell out of here!”
“Release them? We have strict orders!”
“To hell with your orders, do you know what the enemy do to any survivors?”
The man shook his head in surprise.
“Well I do, so unlock the fucking cages now!”
The man stuttered and reached for the keys as Silva gave him some encouragement with the barrel of his rifle. Jones appeared at the edge of Taylor’s cell where the Major was laid flat out on his bed. He got up with a look of utter shock and amazement.
“Jones, you’re back?”
“Damn straight.”
“You busting me out?” he asked.
“Bet your arse, you didn’t think we’d let Schulz keep you locked up forever, did you?”
Chandra rushed into view, as Jones shot the lock off the door of the cell and heaved it back. She was greeted by a broad and cheeky smile across Taylor’s face.
“You’re in this, as well? You know what Schulz will do to you for this?”
“None of it matters, anymore. Ramstein is overrun, and we have to get the hell out of here!” she shouted.
“Run, where?” he asked in surprise.
“I’ll tell you on the way. Let’s go!”
They rushed past as the guard passed them in the corridor, fumbling with his keys.
“You know I’ve done some serious shit in my time, but this? We ever get caught, and we’re goners?”
“If we’d left you any longer, you’d be dead anyway,” replied Jones.
They rushed out of the building to find armoured trucks rolling up. Taylor half expected it to be Schulz coming to arrest them all, but they were greeted by Sergeant Dubois.