Chapter 8
#8 of Operation: Liberation (New)
"Hey! Hey!" I heard someone yelling in my ear and shaking my shoulder, "get the hell up, Warwing!" I felt disoriented as I opened my eyes, waking up from whatever knocked me out cold. Around me, the deafening sound of gunfire assaulted my ears.
I found myself still in the overturned, tan Humvee, the seatbelt still on me and my M4A1 carbine right above my head. As far as I can recall, we were ambushed around the vicinity of Maryville College by an Axis patrol, who appeared to be on their way to the college where the Navy SEALs were pinned down. We must've gotten hit by an RPG and flipped over, but that was as far as I could remember.
I looked over at the wolf, who kneeled just outside the overturned vehicle. His helmet was gone, as well as his face having multiple cuts and a nasty bruise on his left cheek. Just behind him, Staff Sergeant Bates and Sergeant Woods took cover behind an orange barricade, firing at whatever was on the opposite end of their rifles.
I weakly reached for my Honshu kerambit knife on my belt and pulled it out of its sheath, cutting myself from the seatbelt and landing on my back. I clumsily picked myself up, putting the knife back into its sheath and crawling out the broken window of the Humvee. I quickly grabbed my M4 just before the New Yorker yanked me away from the vehicle and tossed me to the side, with him leaping out the way. A few rounds pelted where me and him once were a few seconds ago.
"Dammit, Endrico!" Master Sergeant Tucker cursed as I scrambled to my feet, "learn to watch yourself!" The male wolf then grabbed my arm, leading me to where the fox and panther were taking cover
"Are you alright?!" Sergeant Woods screamed over the gunfire, placing a paw on my shoulder. She and the staff sergeant also lost their helmets.
"I'm fine!" my voice cracked when I replied, checking my assault rifle. It was now daylight and the skies were clear.
"Okay! Everyone follow my lead!" the master sergeant barked over the pause in the gunfight, "there is a straight shot to Maryville college just behind us! Keep low because we need to get off this street!" Sergeant First Class Woods, Staff Sergeant Bates, and I followed him across an open field, running as fast as we could towards a red brick building that looked as if it had seen better days. At this point, Maryville, Tennessee was in total disarray. Burning buildings made up the town as well as dead, decaying bodies littered the streets. The smell of burning rubber and dead was unbearable.
What was the point in invading the United States? The field that the squad and I were running through was littered with bodies of military personnel and civilians alike, as well as the bodies of dead Axis troops.
"United States Special Forces!" Master Sergeant Jack Tucker yelled as soon as we reached the crumbling building, which had sandbags in front of a blockaded, glass door. Inside, the familiar sounds of American made weapons could be heard.
A male anthro lynx, who wore jungle camouflage with a tan helmet, appeared at the door. He looked beaten and worn out, and he held an MK14 battle rifle in his paws. Everything this male had looked scratched, dented, and ripped. "Good thing to see you guys here!" he greeted us, opening the door for us. He kept his head low and we did the same.
"Same to you guys!" Master Sergeant Tucker spoke up, "I thought we might have lost you guys after that transmission cut off!" We all walked into a heavily fortified area, where a female anthro stood in front of a radio. In the same area, there were three wounded anthros, all having some sort of wound.
"Well, the jackasses have somehow blocked communications!" the male lynx yelled, "Commander! Here is our support!" The female tiger, who wore raggedy woodland fatigues, turned around and faced us. If it was one thing all these SEALs have in common, they all wore modified helmets on their heads that didn't protect their ears. It looked more comfortable than the helmet I wore; mine had little ear holes for me to hear. The helmets the DEVGRU operators wore allowed their ears to move freely.
"Glad someone showed up!" the female anthro smiled, her AK47 in her paws, "we've been pinned down going on sixteen hours! We need to move; do you have a contingency plan?!"
"Yeah!" the male wolf replied.
"Sergeant, follow me and bring your EOD specialist!" the commander told the master sergeant, "have your medic look at these anthros here and see if your radio operator can contact anyone. We will try to leave in a few minutes!"
After the commander spoke, she walked off with Master Sergeant Tucker and Sergeant Woods out of the makeshift headquarters, leaving only me, Staff Sergeant Bates, the lynx, and the three wounded anthros. As the fox looked at the radio, the male lynx and I kneeled in front of the wounded anthros.
"So, you're the other doc?" the female border collie in front of me asked as I placed my M4 beside me and took off my backpack. The female border collie wore the same camouflage as all the DEVGRU operators here.
"I am," I replied to the wounded female. I then looked over at the male lynx, "grab whatever medical supplies you need and treat the worst wounded one. I have plenty." The male, who looked no older than I am, nodded. I caught a glimpse of his nametape on his right shoulder as he dug into my black bag.
I directed my attention back to the wounded female anthro collie, who was now looking up at me. Bullet wounds to the right thigh and a bloody bandage on her left shoulder. The thigh looks bad, but at least someone placed a tourniquet on her. The room itself was poorly lit because of the gun smoke, the only light source being the muzzle flashes. I turned on the flashlight on my helmet and reached into my pack, grabbing a fresh roll of bandages and a large bottle of rubbing alcohol.
"You look too young to be in combat," the anthro female commented as I unwrapped the poorly placed bandage on her left shoulder, "I'm Ensign Sel Stone, what's your name?"
"Private Endrico Warwing, ma'am," I replied as I inspected her shoulder. The fur around the wound was mangled and stuck to the wound. Ugh, did these anthros even try to at least clean the wound a little bit?
"Staff Sergeant, what's the status on that radio?!" I heard the DEVGRU commander's voice yell over the firefight as I cleaned my patient's wound. The sounds of war were deafening, the sounds of small arms fire, coupled with what sounded like an M60 machine gun, attacking my ears viciously.
"It's fucking busted, ma'am!" Staff Sergeant Bates replied, "they must've...." I suddenly heard what appeared to be something getting electrically fried, followed by something whizzing past my left ear. I instinctively ducked
"I guess you're right now!" Commander Firebird sounded pissed, "hey, we're leaving! Master Sergeant, lead us out!"