“Are you okay?” Tye said.
“No,” Mal said, “this whole city is in danger because I couldn’t do what’s necessary: people are going to die because I failed to do the one thing I have ever been good at.”
Tye shoved Mal against the door.
“You’re a fucking legend for a reason old timer,” Tye said, “when I was in training: Carpenter talked about you like you were a god. Like you could solve a problem that no one else could, we don’t need a fucking hero because god knows, you’re not a hero. We need The Wolf, the man that the Russian’s called the Angel of Death. I don’t want you to fight fair, I want you to fight unfair: even the odds.”
“I already did,” Mal said as he wiped his nose on his sleeve.
Mal stepped out the room.
“Wait, what?” Tye asked as he followed Mal.
“You’ll see on that one,” Mal said, “It’s important you learn that one in real time.”
Mal walked into the command and control center.
“What’s the size of the group now?” Mal asked Wallis.
“Growing,” she said, “I will try and get a pigeon drone there.”
Mal turned around to all of the soldiers and leaders that he had dealt with before, looking back at Wallis. Wallis mouthed back some words back to him.
“Pep talk,” She mouthed at Mal as he rolled his eyes and turned to the twenty-six people in the smallish room, with tv’s showing troops from Evansville pulling up on the scene.
At best, this fight would ten-to-one agains tthem
“Look guys, I have been in some bad spots before, all over the world. I have killed dictators, terrorists and enemies that wanted to strike our home. You know what they all have in common?”
The crowd murmured but no one had an answer.
“I am still here and they are all dead. Follow my instructions. Take care of one another, we will be okay. Hold the line, Hooyah?”
Mal caught himself saying the famous US Navy saying, that clearly no one but Jace knew.
“AIR POWER!” Jace screamed.
“What the hell are you guys on about?” Tye asked.
“Nothing…nothing at all. Carry on.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
And here we go...
Mount Vernon, Indiana
1530 PM
“That is a lot of assholes,” Said Mal looking at the long row of supporters of the Son’s of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the other side of the wall.
“Sir, they have armor too,” Said Amanda Wallis as she pointed at the feedfrom the small surveillance drone.
The Bi-pedal tank was a weapon that Mal had nightmares about. It was an American made tank that was copied by the Russian’s before the original ever made it to market. The Bi-pedal tanks, unlike the Kraken models, were slower but carried enough weapons to call hundreds of men on their own. They were extra tough and terrain wasn’t an issue for them, they didn’t have the weakness of most armored units when it came to requiring a road.
“Fuck, where did they get a Bi-ped at?” Asked Mal.
“Fort Campbell had a requisition ofthembut it would require someone above your classification to get into them.” Wallis said. “I almost thought about having you guys…borrow one.”
There was a silence in the room that could be cut with a knife as all eyes amongst the staff turned to the temporaryCO. The attack on their home the night before left them blind to the attack’s build up.
“I need everyone to calm down, they have no way across the wall as currently constructed. We have nothing to....” Mal stopped as a large explosion rocked the entire town of Mount Vernon rumbling the city’s wall in a section.
“Okay, what was that Jace?” Mal asked to the woman now sitting on top of the tallest building looking down at the invasion point, a hole about twenty feet high but not that wide shot through, pieces of a train spread throughout the street.
“Looks like they rammed a train filled with explosives into the wall and made a hole.”
Great.
Let me out. The Wolf said.
“I need everygun on the street between the hole on First and main, and I need the demolition team to follow my exact instructions...” Mal looked over toTyefor a response and he gave him a thumbs up. “I want our armor position in the firing lanes.
“Sir, I am not sure if that’s a great idea…” A member of the demo team started to say.
“My exact fuckin’ instructions,” Mal said with exasperation to the demolition team leader.
“Sir, that’s a ton of work…” The Leader said.
“What do you think is more work? That or all of us being dead?”
Mal slipped onhis XM-24 series rifle and looked at the board as he exitedthe briefing room along with everyone else. A small blinking light in the corner of the room flashes as thelights turn off:
“Active radar pings north of Indianapolis.”
Mal raced outside and down to the street where he could see the hole the wall had been broken through at and men were currently stomping towardsthe BANS side of the wall.
“No one is to enter any buildings above the first floor,” Mal screamed at theline of BANS troops as they ran down the street.
Smokefalls out of the area where the train hit as the sideways turned over train sitsoff the road into the park next to the wall. Mal lines up his rifle next to the wall on the left hand side dipping his body behind the building as they saw the first shadow of a human being dip out of the smoke, a hatchet in one hand and a grenade in the other one. Mallined up a shot on the first man, leading him into a shot asthe man’s body shot to the left and the unique sound of Jace’s .50 Caliber rifle kickedin the distance.
Guy didn’t even know he was dead.
The earpieceshot to life.
“Sir!” Wallis interrupted, “I need to tell you...”
Brickexploded feet up the wall from Mal as he returned fire at the menas they broke through the wall.
“I amgonnaneed you to shut up,” Mal said, “I give you authority to do whatever you need to.”
“But sir...” Wallis started to say as she heard the clack of gunfire as the two forces engaged with each other.
“Just fuckin’ do it Wallis,” Mal said, “I am a little busy.”
Mal fired off another three rounds as Wallis picked up the radio comm set and spoke intoit.
“Enemy combatants to the west, Friendlies to the east,” She sa
Malemptied magazine after magazineas he dropped them onto the ground as the Sons of Nathan Bedford Forrest inched closer and closer.
Shooting a man off to the right as he ran up the line towards other troops and the man’s headexplodedas Malcolm felt the presence of someone to the left as stepping back into the alley way as the large man’s axe clanged against the brick wall as Mal raised his rifle to fire.
Click.
Mal turned his rifle and saw he was out of ammunition as the Axe wielding man pulled his axe out of the Brick wall and began to scream as he ran forward. Mal dropped his rifle to the ground and pulled on his sidearm, it got stuck on the holster.
Bang!
The man’s head exploded as the large caliber revolver’s bullet ran through the Son’s soldierran throughitshocking Mal.
“Hello Mate,” Said Johnson as he turned the corner with his thick Australianaccent, “You called 911 how can I help you?”
Mal’s mouth was open like he was in shock.
“Whar are you doing here? I thought the UN forbid anyone from coming here?”
“The UN doesn’t give me my orders, a legend called for aid. As an ally we answered,” The Australian Marine said as his fellow squad-mate laid down covering fire behind him.
“Who did that?” Mal asked.
“A Malcolm Daniels, The Wolf. The King of England wrote his name on a cornerstone of Buckingham palace. That’s a legend,” He said as he turned and fired seven shots from his pistol, “where’s he at?”
Looking back with shock spread across his
face, Mal seemed confused. He had taken that shot in the dark, that he was told about. That UK Royalty had their own private line for allies.
“You’re looking at him,” Mal said.
The Aussie looked him up and down like he was measuring him, Mal was coming up short in the gigantic Royal Australian Marine’s estimation.
“I thought you were six foot five?” He asked jokingly.
“I also, shoot lightning out of my ass.”
Mal leaned down and pulled three magazines from the dead man’s vest and re-racked his rifle. Austin noticed that very few of these men actually had guns, nor were they kitted out like they were members of the Sons of Nathan Bedford Forrest but they all had a large amount of Ammo. Turning he spotted four men in the distance as he started moving his scope left to right.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
All of them dropped to the ground from singular shots above the right eye, in the sniper’s pear. An area that is an off-switch to the human brain, only a very skilled shooter could hit that target from this distance.
“Wolf-1, Overwatch,” Wallis said.
“Send traffic Overwatch,” Mal retorted.
“As you can see we got a team of Royal Australian Marines of fifty-five, another thirty Canadians are on their way and the British are sending a battalion of SAS and SBS via a HALO jump, they won’t be here for an hour though.”
Mal walked up to one of the dead men, pulling the magazines out.
AK-47 Ammunition. The few Gunmen I saw weren’t using AK’s why are they running them in here with Ammo? Why are they not bringing their armor in?
“What are they doing out there?” Mal asked.
Wallis scrolled through the footage from the small UAV just outside the wall, the men were re-organizing their assault Armor upfront with the biped up in the very front of the attack lines. Two regular Abrams tanks behind it and infantry spread out throughout the group of armor.
“They’re getting ready for an attack, a real one,” She said as Mal began taking the ammunition out of their vests and tossing back towards the defensive line or at least where the defensive line would be.
“They’re setting up ammo dumps,” Mal said, “retreat down the street, prepare a firing line at the intersection behind the barricades.” Mal said.
This was just the beginning of a longer drawn out engagement. Mal was going to do what he did best but he had to force David’s hand first to send in their tanks.
“You wonder why this happens when you have a country that has more guns than people,” The Australian, Grimly, his name tapes say, said.
“French GIGN on station, Friendlies dropping to the North,” said Wallis as Mal viewed the black clad Special operators landing up the street.
Pierre Lemeure was technically an American citizen but joined the French military after the US fell apart and he was on vacation in Paris. His gigantic frame stood in contrast to his other GIGN members six he was six foot four inches tall.
“We are here at the behest of an ally,” Said Pierre, “a…Malcolm Daniels.”
“That’s me, come over here,” Mal said as the thirty French men lined up their rifle down the road.
“Please tell me you brought some booze,” Mal said as he scoped up the hole, waiting for the next strike.
“There’s a drop of meals a mile away,” Pierre chuckled as Mal knew…
French MRE’s have booze in them.
The first man exited the hole as Mal’s rifle kicked a round into the hole, not the man. The zip of a sniper round kicked through the air as Jace killed the first man, Mal killed the second, third and the fourth. His strategy was to make him drop the wall, an all out assault so he could kick the first domino. Knock over the first part of the plan.
“Mal, we have a very serious problem,” Wallis said, “there’s a second train.”
“Good,” Mal said, “take cover. Brace for shock!”
The second train dropped the entire section of the wall as it exploded, crumbling to dust.
“Don’t bother Jace, go guard the football,” Mal said to the Sniper whose position was less advantageous.
“Moving!” Jace exclaimed.
The expert sniper left her fifty caliber sniper rifle and ran off with her MK14 Enhanced Battle rifle, dashing across the the rooftops.
“Drop your altitude by the way,” Mal said as he flipped his rifle from semi-auto, to full auto and shot out into the early evening.
The war had begun.
Command Center
Wallis was typing so fast on different consoles it was hard to follow. She had a blinking light on her right that was a video channel opening. She opened the channel to see a red and gray haired man, with a red uniform on.
“This is the King of the United Kingdom Harold the first, I am sending you direct aid but I wish to speak to my relative.”
“Mr. King, I appreciate your help but Malcolm Daniels is a little busy, he’s fighting the enemy.”
“They are backed by the United Asian Federation, based on our intelligence assets on the ground, they are the same group who attacked my country twenty-two years ago. Malcolm’s age isn’t one of a person who should be at war, he’s an old man.”
Wallis rolled her eyes.
“That old man is one of the best warriors I have ever seen and he’s still the best one here.”
He smirked at that.
“You know, I have never had an easier call to our allies. When I mentioned Malcolm Daniels was there, they sent every unit they thought could get there. He inspires that type of loyalty, doesn’t he?”
“He’s pretty good at that yes,” She said as she continued typing.
“The Russians launched a fighter wing to back up the UAF, as the administration there has allied themselves with them but it was quickly attacked by the Germans as they were backed up by Morrocan Air force when they tried to outrun the Germans. That is a man I want to meet, I will be there by the end of the day.”
The channel clicked off.
“Hope we are here to meet you, King.”
Water station
When the assault began and Mal had Jace go to guard the president, part of her wanted to say no. It took her time to get to that side of town and she saw that another Sons unit was local, already having deduced the president’s location. One of the two big ones was entering the facility when she arrived and aiming her MK-14 squeezing off half a magazine of shots left to right, killing all of the Sons outside of the facility.
“Dumb mother fuckers!” She said to herself as she grappled down the building.
“Jace, we have four inside the water station, should I send Tye?”
“Bitch, I operate.” She retorted.
Jace lodged another magazine into the Submachine gun as she walked towards the door of the water treatment facility.
“Three around the perimeter and one big one by the vault door.”
Jace changed the frequency on her radio.
“Martha, you skynet looking motherfucker, we need you! We need you to stop sitting on the sidelines…” She said as she squeezed off a round into the head of the first man’s head as he dropped to the floor, “and get in the fight.”
Jace waited for the next man to check on his friend as she saw him first. She emptied the rest of her magazine into him as he fell back onto the stairs, covering the stairs in his blood. The second to last man, a tried to get a bead on her as her clicked the trigger, her rifle was dry. Dropping it to her side and drawing her pistol, she rolled through and near the man as bullets buzzed over her head. The soldier killed her pistol out of her hand and but he disarmed her of the pistol, she showed her left hand. A pin of a grenade. She kicked him back down the stairs as Jace ran down the stairs to the giant who had his hands around the president of the united states.
“Excuse me Andre, but,” Jace said as she pulled a small cylinder from her hip and extended it, showing the collapsible carbon baton, “I am going
to need you to put down the president before I break all of your bones.”
The man threw back the president as he ran towards Jace, she remembered the training sessions she had with Mal years ago.
Twelve Years Ago
“Look, you’re not big enough to fight with strength so you have to use your speed,” Mal said as Jace jokingly danced like she was Muhammad Ali, “Not like that. Stay in the pocket.”
“I would get wrecked,” She said.
“No because you can sidestep and dodge, you can provide four strikes before they can attack once, fight side-to-side.”
Present day
The giant step-kicked forward as she spun around him and slammed her baton into his achilles tendon as it snapped and broke, sending him to his knees. Attempting to grab her, Jace dropping her knee across his face as she wrapped the baton around his throat and pushed with her boot across his back until the snap of his neck breaking.
“Ms. President,” Jace said as he saw that she was mostly fine, “We need to get out of here.”
“To where?” She asked.
“The only safe space I know, Mal’s house.”
They raced out of the water infiltration building and into a jeep, shooting off into the countryside.
Frontlines
Mal and his Special operations friends had held the line well as hundreds poured into the area.
“Bi-ped!” Grimly screamed as he pointed forward the hulking behemoth firing an auto-cannon.
“Catch cover!” Mal screamed as he motioned to retreat to the courtyard.
He fell for it.
The Bi-pedal tank raced forward as Mal turned and pressed the detonator. Takin a lesson from his past, Mal took advantage of the weakness of all armor: a lack of agility. The roads around the area began to collapsed, as two buildings slammed into the side of the tank.
“Eat shit!” The Lemeure said as he spat at the tank.
“Missiles inbound to the city,” Wallis said, “They are unguided, homemade. Not chemical.”
“GET TO COVER!” Mal screamed as the missiles hit the first building.
He was planning on me doing that. Smart.
The explosions were largely benign but they hit the front line of the BANS soldiers as blood and bone snapped.
Monsters Page 29
