Ambush at East Ridge
#6 of Operation: Liberation
"Hey, Endrico?" Sergeant Nighthawk broke the silence, "I notice you don't speak a lot." The conversation that Bluefrost and Whirlwind were having in the back ceased. A few minutes ago, the convoy stopped to rest and get fuel from our supply trucks, and now we were back on the road with Sergeant Nighthawk and I in the front, and Bluefrost and Whirlwind in the back. It was raining hard at the moment.
"I know, Sergeant, I usually don't say a lot," I said, looking over at him.
To the front of us, another Humvee lead the convoy. Lieutenant Katie Greystone, who was the daughter of General Westin Greystone, was in the Humvee with her squad. She was a native to Tennessee and knew all the safer routes to East Ridge instead of taking the main road there and risking an ambush or running into a minefield. This route she chose was the bumpiest route I've ever been on, but the tanks to the sides of us don't seem to be affected. Lucky tankers.
"Tell us a little bit about yourself," Petty Officer Third Class Bluefrost told me, "MORE instead of where you were born and raised, like yourself in general."
"Well, I'm a polf," I spoke, "my dad is a panther and my mom is a wolf." I saw Sergeant Nighthawk glance over at me, looking confused. I don't know if he was confused that I was a hybrid, or confused that he was trying to see if I was mixed with wolf.
"I can see that," Sergeant Nighthawk said to me, "at first, you looked like a feline from far away and when you got closer to me at the CDC, I looked wolf-like and that kind of confused me."
"Or a feminine wolf,"Airthro First Class Whirlwind commented.
"Helena, that was rude!" Bluefrost exclaimed.
"What? I was just saying that he looked like a feminine wolf!"
"I don't care, you probably hurt his feelings. Now apologize."
"You aren't my mom, Bluefrost."
"Ladies, please chill out," Sergeant Nighthawk told them as he focused on the Humvee in front of him. To be honest, I didn't take offense to that comment. I usually get that a lot.
I took off my Kevlar helmet and ruffled my muddy, electric blue fauxhawk hair, "I get that comment a lot." Everything fell silent again in the vehicle after I placed my helmet back on my head.
Whirlwind and Bluefrost went back to talking to each other, mentioning my name a few times. I really didn't care for their conversation, I was too busy taking in the soothing sound of the rain that was hitting the windshield. "Why do you grow out your hair that long?" Sergeant Nighthawk asked me as we being to arrive on a road that lead into a neighborhood, "I keep mine cut short."
"Just preference, Sergeant," I replied, "it's something I've had since I joined the army and I never thought about cutting it short." The wolf nodded his head and focused on the road.
Whoa, what's going on up there? The lead Humvee stopped, getting over to the side of the road. "Whirlwind, contact Lieutenant Greystone to see what's going on," Sergeant Nighthawk also drove off the road, putting the vehicle in park. We were about fifty meters away from the lead vehicle.
"Typhoon to Tiger-Two-One," Whirlwind talked into the radio attached to the back of Rapier's seat, "What's happening up there?" The radio reminded me of what the radiothros carried during World War II; most likely, there weren't enough of the advanced radios, which resembled house phones, to go around.
All the other vehicles appeared to have did the same, getting off the road as the M1 Abrams tanks stayed in the middle of the road. "This is Tiger-Two-One," a female voice answered over the radio, "we may have a potential IED about sixty meters in front of us." Are you kidding me? Russians leaving dirty surprises?
"Ma'am, are you sure?" Sergeant Nighthawk took the talkie from Whirlwind, "I mean, it's raining pretty hard right now."
"Come up here and see for yourself, Sergeant," Lieutenant Greystone sounded snappy and annoyed, "and hurry before the Colonel throws a tiger tantrum. You know what? I'll tell the Colonel, you just get your damn squad up here since you have an EOD tech with you." She did not sound too happy.
"Come on, let's go," Sergeant Nighthawk was annoyed as he grabbed is HK416 from beside him, unbuckling his seatbelt and stepping out the Humvee. We all did the same, following the Sergeant to the lead vehicle. At the moment, all the anthros in the other vehicles are outside, pulling security.
After the male anthro spoke to the female platoon leader, he lead us into the woods. "Here's the plan," Sergeant Nighthawk spoke to us after we met up near a tree, "Warwing, you and Bluefrost approach that pile of trash bags near the entrance of the neighborhood. Whirlwind and I will move forward and clear the nearest house. Let's make this quick, alright? And Warwing, lose the crazy look before I smack it off of you."
I quickly fixed the expression I gave him, "yes, Sergeant."
The rain continued to pour down as Petty Officer Bluefrost and I walked back out to the road, approaching the potential "IED" from an angle. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a regular pile of trash that probably got thrown around. Out of all the things that littered the ground, which were dead, burnt bodies, destroyed cars, and debris from buildings, a pile of trash posed more of a threat. "This thing has wires sticking out," I heard Bluefrost say as we got within twenty meters of the pile of garbage.
The combat vests Bluefrost and I were wearing were thick enough to absorb seven-point-six-two millimeter rounds from an AK-47. Sadly though, if this thing was to blow, we would instantly obliterated, as well as anyone else in the vicinity of the blast.
It felt like an eternity as the female panther and I crept forward, being careful of anything that could trigger the probable IED. After reaching the garbage bags, the female anthro stopped and halted me, "here, hold my rifle, " she turned to me and gave me her M4A1 carbine and kevlar helmet. She took a deep breath before turning back around, creeping a little closer to the pile of garbage.
"First time defusing a bomb if I find it," I heard the female say after kneeling down in front of the trash bags about five meters in front of me. My ears perked up and I gave her a disturbed look. Did I hear that correctly? Or am I hearing things? I was already on edge about coming closer to the IED, but now I'm with someone that's never defused a live bomb? I just wanted to drop all my gear and run. Then, chuckled to myself, why am I panicking? Way more life-threatening things happened to me in Florida and Georgia, so what am I afraid of? _I watched the female panther cautiously move one of the garbage bags, leaning forward with the claws on one of her paws out. The rain continued to fall and our uniforms began to become soaked, sticking to us. _This little rain or whatever is being a female dog..... Well, it already was.
I couldn't help to notice, but Bluefrost had a NICE body for a panther; the anthro looked as if she worked out A LOT. With her natural body features, she looked more muscular and toned than the average panther, her combat shirt forming around her upper body and her combat pants showing off her thighs.
I saw the female look at me out the corner of her eyes, her arms pausing for a few seconds. Instinctively, I looked somewhere else with my M4A1, scanning the area. How long has she been looking at me? I looked back after a short time, seeing that she returned to inspecting the suspicious pile of garbage.
She tossed a black trash bag aside, which made me flinch. "Relax, silly!" the female laughed as she stood up, brushing her knees off, "stop being so tense, it was just a random pile of trash!" I growled to myself and gave her back her M4A1 assault rifle and kevlar helmet.
Out of nowhere, a gunshot rang out. "Contact! Contact!" I heard one of the anthros back at the convoy scream out. The quiet afternoon suddenly turned into a chaos as small arms fire and explosions filled the air.
Immediately, I found the nearest piece of cover I could find, which was conveniently a low, concrete wall to my nine o'clock. "Marines! Head into that neighborhood and take those bastards out! Tanks, you need to reposition yourselves for covering fire!" a familiar rough, country accent yelled over the sounds of the skirmish, "watch your avenues of fire! We have friendlies in that neighborhood!" Behind us, I could see the humvees spinning out of the middle of the road while the tanks began to form a wall of armor.
I felt Bluefrost pat my shoulder and I looked at her. "See that house ahead of us?" the female asked me over the gunfire, "I hear the sound of an American made weapon in there. Do you think it's Nighthawk and Whirlwind?" I shrugged my shoulders, "let's go see."
With that, the female and I hopped over the low wall, rushing straight into the yard of the two story house in front of us. Luckily, we were assaulting from the side that had less windows. The sounds of yelling and fighting can be heard around us, the smell of death and gunpowder being crystal clear. I_s there a such thing as a break these days?_
Petty Officer Bluefrost and I rushed the backdoor, the female anthro leading the way. Instead of kicking down the wooden door, she literally smashed through it with her shoulder, her weapon raised. I wasn't too far behind her, clearing the left while she went right and up a flight of stairs. Inside the building was a little dark and hot, with sporadic muzzle flashes from outside flashing through the windows up front.
I then heard it: an M16 assault rifle firing to my twelve o'clock. I continued forward with my M4A1 raised. "United States Army!" I yelled when I rounded a tight corner, seeing an anthro female feline firing her rifle outside of a broken window.
She immediately looked at me. The female wore a police officer uniform, as well as black body armor. Before I could say anything to her, she was shot dead from a bullet entering the window in front of her. Then, the door behind me was kicked down and I whirled around, my M4A1 at the ready. Russian bastards. I double tapped both of the anthros, who carried AN-94s and wore the weird green camouflage that Russian paratroopers normally wear.
I quickly inspected the police officer, looking for a wallet and anything else that can identify her. "You okay, Warwing?" a familiar female voice asked from behind me. I looked back, seeing the female anthro behind me with her weapon in her paws.
"Yeah," I replied, standing up with the dead anthro's wallet and dogtags in my paw, "the police officer was the friendly you were talking about."
"Okay, good," Bluefrost said to me, "come on, we've got to move. The Russians are all over the southern half of this neighborhood." With that, I followed her out the back door and we rushed the next house, which had the familiar sound of AK-47s and AN-94s of the enemy.