by Chris Lowry
“Fuck your detonators,” he said over his shoulder.
He nodded to Tritt.
“Off your ass,” the soldier grunted. “You are fucking out of here.”
TO BE CONTINUED IN FUBAR – THE SITUATION NORMAL SERIES
FUBAR - EXCERPTS
CHAPTER ONE
“We should hole up here for the night,” Norman said in a low voice.
“Why are you whispering?” Archie asked.
“Never know who’s listening,” Norman glanced around.
They were on Lincoln Boulevard somewhere just north of the airport. Archie tried to recall on a map which street ran all the way to the Venice Pier, but his mind kept drawing a blank.
Not that any street would do them any good.
Cars were locked bumper to bumper in all six lanes that served as an alternative highway to the 405.
It would be an easy path to follow between the cars, sticking to the white lines, and have good cover on both sides, except the brainiac LA drivers had lost their collective minds.
Some cars were crashed into the backs of others, blocking the straight path.
Some smashed into doors, onto hoods.
There was shattered glass all over, and dried puddles of oil, fluid and gasoline that made the slick asphalt a walking hazard.
A few of the cars had rotting corpses in them, but no one could tell if they were dead from impact, or made dead in the ensuing argument.
They found a small open space where five cars careened into each other to create a circle the wagon effect.
Twilight was still an hour off, but Archie wasn’t going to argue to keep going.
He still wasn’t eager to march to his death.
None of them were.
“I’ll scout for supplies,” Norman said as he shed his backpack against one of the cars and looked around at the storefronts.
Most were empty windows of smashed glass, vinyl banners and signs fluttering in the weak breeze off the Pacific.
“Don’t hold out much hope,” he said and disappeared through the narrow opening underneath one of the cars where it propped up on the back end of a trunk.
“Check the cars close by,” Hammer ordered and began demonstrating by rooting around in the car in front of him.
He pulled out a suitcase and a duffel bag, but both were only filled with clothes.
The rest of the squad scattered to the cars in the intersection and rows beyond.
Their scavenging turned up a faded box of stale granola bars, eight plastic bottles of water and wood from the back of a pick up truck smashed into a pole on the corner.
CHAPTER
“Where would you go?”
“Look man, this whole things gone to shit. Hell, even before the god damn Licks showed up, I was stewing in a cell for over a year. The Army wasn’t going to do anything for me. Why the hell should I do anything for it.”
“It ain’t the Army,” Hammer said.
“The fuck it ain’t. I didn’t put my goddamn self in a cage.”
“It’s the guy next to you.”
“Yeah? I killed the guy next to me,” said Boyd. “I killed the guy on the other side of him, and the next one too. Fuck those guys.”
Hammer just stared at him.
“I can’t help him,” he turned around.
“I hear you brother,” said Archie.
“Him or me?” Hammer jammed a thumb at his chest.
“I hear both of you.”
Archie pointed at Boyd.
“I’m with him. Fuck those guys. I don’t even know ‘em and I bet they deserved what they got.”
“Double taps,” Boyd agreed.
He mimed a finger gun to the temple.
“Fuck ‘em,” Archie continued. “Twice in the head, really? That’s kinda harsh I mean. Even for, you know, murder.”
Boyd shrugged.
“Raped me with a broomstick,” he said.
“Whiskey tango foxtrot?”
“Yeah, they called it hazing. Only I was the only one getting reamed out with a broom while they held me down and laughed about it.”
“Shit,” said Hammer. “Maybe shooting them twice wasn’t enough.”
“I would have done more,” Boyd explained. “Only the rest of those fuckers piled on and stopped me.”
“Couldn’t get them all?” Archie asked.
Boyd shrugged again.
“They didn’t do nothing to me. Saw me pop a couple of their buddies, real frat boy motherfuckers, and thought they had to take me down before they were next.”
“So that’s sort of what Hammer’s talking about,” explained Archie.
“Eye for an eye shit?”
“No, not really. They saw you taking out their brother in arms and took you down. That’s the guy next to you sort of horseshit he’s trying to sell.”
“It’s not horseshit, Archie,” Hammer said. “I’m getting ready to die for every other American fighting invaders on our home soil. It’s got to mean something.”
Archie shook his head.
“It won’t.”
“That’s inspiring, Captain.”
“How many people know we’re here? How many people are going to hear about it? As far as we know, all communications are down. We haven’t spoken to anyone since we got here, and from what I could gather scuttlebutt is we were getting our asses handed to us from the start.”
Hammer took a deep breath and sighed.
“Still, it’s got to mean something.”
“But does it?”
“Yeah, Archie, it does.”
It was Archie’s turn to sigh.
“I suppose you’re right. Wish we didn’t have to die though.”
“Yeah, but what are you going to do. Can’t really call it a suicide mission if you get out of it alive.”
“There might be a way,” said Toi in a quiet voice.
The rest of the squad looked over the small pile of glowing embers to where Toi sat huddled in the dark, his back pressed to the door of an abandoned car.
“Well don’t keep us in fucking suspense,” said Archie.
“Yeah take your sweet ass time about it,” Boyd added.
“And he would know about sweet asses,” said FUCKER.
“Hey,” Archie admonished. “Too soon?”
Boyd nodded.
“Hell yeah, too soon.”
“Too soon. That’s too bad,” Archie added. “Ass jokes are practically half my comedy routine.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE: First, if you’ve read this far and liked it, thank you. I’m glad you stayed with it. If you found a mistake, it’s mine. Email me and let me know so I can fix it.
If you didn’t like it, you might not like SNAFU the next book in the series.
Situation Normal is going to have the main series
SNAFU
FUBAR
GEAR ADRIFT
2IC
But Unass is a good intro and a parallel series. The events in SNAFU take place a few years after this book. I have a plan for two more in this part of the world to line up with the rest.
You’ll meet Aldean, Tritt, Muir and the General in SNAFU, but they’ll have a few more scars on them.
FUBAR and GEAR ADRIFT are out in Nov. SNAFU you can grab in Oct.
This series will tie in with INVASION EARTH, so to help you check out that series, you can grab a copy of PHALANX here free, then check out:
Beachhead - Invasion Earth
Bridgehead - Invasion Earth
Lodgement – Invasion Earth
Ultima Thule – Invasion Earth
Infiltrate – Invasion Earth
Dustoff – Invasion Earth
Riki Tik- Invasion Earth
Snakebit – Invasion Earth
Defilade – Invasion Earth
If you like the style, I think you should check out the BATTLEFIELD Z series. It’s post apocalyptic, and yeah, there are zombies, but they are not zombie books. Just a normal guy trying to save his kids in a world
gone insane.
And I just want to say thank you again. I enjoy telling stories and making stuff up. I really appreciate you taking the time to hang out with me.
Chris
I post on Blogger and Medium where you can read for free, including an epic sci fi novel in progress.
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Sci-Fi Comedy
All Jacked Up – The Dipole Series
Good Eats Café – The Dipole Series
Whiskey Bent – The Dipole Series
Love Machine – The Dipole Series
Lunar Hustle- The Dipole Series
The Dipole Shield - The Dipole Series
Planet 9 - The Dipole Series
Planet 10 – The Dipole Series
Half Cocked – The Dipole Series
Berserker Brigade – The Dipole Series
Apogee – The Dipole Series
Apex – The Dipole Series
Sci Fi Western
Backwoods Station – Keeping House
Backwoods Station – Bootleg
Backwoods Station – Martian Roulette
Sci Fi Dystopian- Alien Invasion
Phalanx - Invasion Earth
Pyrrhic - Invasion Earth
Beachhead - Invasion Earth
Bridgehead - Invasion Earth
Lodgement – Invasion Earth
Ultima Thule – Invasion Earth
Infiltrate – Invasion Earth
Dustoff – Invasion Earth
Riki Tik- Invasion Earth
Snakebit – Invasion Earth
Defilade – Invasion Earth
Science Fiction Adventure
Moon Men
Epoch - The Future Templar
Eon- The Future Templar
Era - The Future Templar
Super Secret Space Mission
The Herd Shot Round the World
High Steaks
Star Squad – Frag
Star Squad – Nanowarriors
Star Squad – Pogue
Thriller
ASSET – a Brill Winger Thriller
OPERATIVE – a Brill Winger Thriller
SIDEWAYS – a Brill Winger Thriller
CHOKEPOINT – a Brill Winger Thriller
DECREED - a Brill Winger Thriller
IN THE DARK – a Brill Winger Thriller
IN THE WIND - a Brill Winger Thriller
IN THE BLACK - a Brill Winger Thriller
Tin Trooper – a Brill Winger story
Nazi Nukes - a Brill Winger story
Webb of Lies – An action thriller
BATTLEFIELD Z SERIES
Grab your copy of the sci fi comedy about a dad hunting for his kids in a post apocalyptic wasteland where zombies aren’t the worst thing to survive.
Battlefield Z
Children's Brigade
Sweet Home Zombie
Zombie Blues Highway
Mardi Gras Zombie
Bluegrass Zombie
Outcast Zombie
Renegade Zombie
Everglades Zombie
Flyover Zombie - the Battlefield Z series
Headshots - the Battlefield Z series
Overland Zombie
Lone Star Zombie
The Pass Zombie
Dust Devil Zombie
Terminal Zombie
Ronin Zombie
GONE DARK
SILENT RUN
NO ENTRY
RESTRICTED
Urban Fantasy
GUNS AND MAGIC - a Marshal of Magic story
WITCH BLUES - a Marshal of Magic story
BIG EASY WITCH - a Marshal of Magic story
VIVA WITCH VEGAS – a Marshal of Magic Tale
The Marshal of Magic – Hail Fellow
The Marshal of Magic – The Devil You Know
The Marshal of Magic - Small Medium at Large
The Marshal of Magic - Low Elf Esteem
The Marshal of Magic - Big Trouble
CRESCENT CITY COVEN SERIES
Ware The Cats of War
Cat Nip
Historical Fantasy
The Holy War – Blood Bound
The Holy War – Oath Bound
The Holy War – Honor Bound
Western
Fort Smith – Judged by Twelve
Fort Smith - Carried by Six
Evasion - Destruction Earth
Omnibus Collections
Battlefield Z Collected Adventures Volume I
Battlefield Z Collected Adventures Volume II
Battlefield Z Collected Adventures Volume III
Battlefield Z THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES Volume 1
Invasion Earth Collected Adventures Volume I
Invasion Earth Collected Adventures Volume II
Sanctioned – Shadowboxer Files
Unsanctioned – Shadowboxer Files
IRON RATIONS
Incursion
Mobilize
INDIRECT FIRE
DISAVOWED – Free book
Pod – a sci fi thriller
Evasion – a post apoc short
