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The following story contains adult content that may not be suitable for some readers. Please do not read unless you are over the age of 18. But if you do I can't stop you XD. All characters belong to me unless asked to be used by another fur. Names may be similar to other characters from other furs stories, comics, or artwork this is all purely coincidental and I have no intention to copy anyone's work. Please rate, comment, and Enjoy!!!

Under the Bullet

Chapter 1:

Loss of Blood

Sweat trickled down Danny Tripe's muzzle and built up at the tip of his muzzle before dripping onto the metal floor. He was crammed into a Humvee with four other furs sweating profusely along with two more in the driver and passenger seats. The desert sun made the Humvee stiflingly hot and uncomfortable to be in to the point that he was about to go nuts.

Boredom hit him before the insanity of the heat did as he caught himself staring at an interesting cluster of a camouflage pattern on the pant-leg of Louie Donavan who was manning the mini gun of the Humvee. Even though Danny couldn't see the top half of his body he could tell that Donavan has enjoying himself in the breeze outside. Donavan was a "Cocky Smartass" as Sergeant Winters would say. Every time Winters would say that, Donavan would always come back with "well that is better than being a dumbass pussy". Even though that was an example of what exactly Winters was talking about the squad couldn't help but to laugh along with the rest of the squad. Danny agreed that if it wasn't for Donavan most of the platoon would have depression by the time they made their first patrol. He talked a big game, even though he was a 5'0" Snowshoe cat and a lousy fist fighter. He made up for it with his smooth talking he learned in California and his expertise at using a grenade launcher.

Seated in the front passenger seat was Sergeant Winters, a snow-white Pyrenees from Maine. No body in the Squad knew much more than that about him. What everyone did know was that despite his poofy fur he was a force to be reckoned with. He was a combat tactics genius. When the fight began to get hot, heavy, and horrible he would be able to find a way to win the battle with just five furs. Even though he had a good reputation as a great fighter he never would accept promotions to higher ranks. He would always say "that is for politicians" whatever that meant. He was a fur that demanded the utmost respect of his men without even asking for it but then he was also a very easy going grunt like the rest of them were. He connected really well with the squad and saw them all as little brothers, that he had to look out for and like a big brother would occasionally get into a tussle with Donavan or Danny just for fun. Danny gave him a quick glance and could tell that he was getting just as irritated as the rest of them were.

Seated to the right of him was a friend Danny made during Hounds training. Will Garson was a patient fur. Well he had more patients than most furs in Beta Company. He was a quiet Great Dane who would rather sleep than to talk. Even in the cramped quarters of the Humvee his eyes were closed with a calm expression on his face. Danny respected him, not for his patients but for his strength. Will was always hassled by the Drill Sergeants during training for being too quiet in his exercises and answers. He made up for being a nasty fighter when it came to close quarters. During training Will tossed a 220-pound Pit-Bull out of the arena like he was a pebble. He even out ran the entire platoon without loosing his breath. Apparently being a 6'8" farm boy from Nebraska had its advantages.

"FOR FUCKS SAKE!" yelled the fur in the driver seat, "How long does it really take to get orders for a patrol?"

"I hear ya Billy boy," Sgt. Winters said.

Billy was Danny's older 'by a minute' brother which was ironic in the since that Danny acted more mature than Billy did half the time. They were twin black mutts, with little red streaks in their fur and a white underbelly. They had the body of a Pit-Bull, which made since their mother was a Pitt bull-Labrador mix from whom they also got their red streaks. They never knew their father and their mother died before they were old enough to ask. The only conclusion they could make of what their father looked like, was from their own looks and the comment their mother would say, "You two things look just like your father" with a huge smile on her face. They assumed that he must have been a husky mixed with something else. They had the head of the husky only a lot more streamline along with the trade marked stunning blue eyes that always got them a date when they needed one back in high school.

They grew up with their Aunt in Texas, but she died in a car accident when they started high school. They lived either with friends or in apartments with the little money they made. They weren't farmers by any means, but if they needed some money there was plenty of work around. They did everything together and nobody told them otherwise. Not even the army kept them apart. When the two of them went into basic training at the age of 21 they didn't know if it was a coincidence or if the Army did it on purpose, but they didn't care as long as they were together. They challenged each in all aspects of their training. This helped them become well respected in the company as crack shots, and they were both very skilled with knives.

The only difference between them was that Billy was very out going and made good friends with Donavan right off the bat, and Danny was very solemn and easily paired up with Garson. Back when they were young Billy would get into trouble and Danny would end up getting him out of it. In the Army it got a little more hectic with Billy teaming up with Donavan. It got hard without the help of Garson to keep the two under control. When they were deployed it was a lot easier since they actually had work to do. Danny also took initiative more than Billy did. When ever they got into a situation Billy would just stand there like a deer in the headlights while Danny figured out a solution. Whenever Billy made a decision he used the big brother angle to force it upon Danny.

All of them except Sgt. Winters qualified for Hounds training as soon as they got out of basic. The Hounds were like the US Marines only better trained, and better equipped. The idea behind them was to create large counter-terrorism units to fight the increasing activity of terrorist cells in mass. Only one battalion was ever established due to the fact that you didn't fight terrorist in mass. Now the Hounds were just used to make sure terrorists didn't reestablish control of liberated villages.

They were all waiting on Lieutenant Smalls to join them for their first patrol as a squad. He would be in the Humvee just behind them since they were the lead vehicle and had no more room for him. No one really liked Lt. Smalls do to his history of making stupid decisions and cracking under pressure. He wasn't a Hound but was assigned to them so that command could keep him under wraps. That never stopped him from trying to show off to his superiors wanting to get a promotion. This was what he was doing now but he was really taking too long making his unit wait on him. The longer they waited, the more pissed off they were getting.

"Its like Balls Soup in here," Billy said gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"I don't know what you're complaining about, it's pretty nice out here," Donavan said with a little chuckle. Billy turned around in his seat and punched Donavan in the calf muscle making his leg buckle a little. "Ouch Fucker, just saying," Donavan, continued still laughing.

"Shut up Don," Danny said wiping the sweat from his nose.

"Can you see what is going on up there?" Winters asked.

"Yeah. LT is kissing the Colonels ass again," Don said with yet another laugh, "Oh, Hey we're in luck. Here he comes. Start her up Billy Boy."

Billy turned the ignition making the Humvee roar to life. Danny could hear the rest of the Humvee's in the convoy as they revved their engines. Lt. Smalls came on the COM built into the Humvee and said, "Ok boys lets roll. Sgt. Winters take us to Town Echo 432."

Winters picked up the COM transmitter and said, "Rodger that," he put down the transmitter and pointed to the left and told Billy to take a certain road leading out of the Firebase and to the mountains.

"Alright boys," Lt. Smalls said over the radio, "We are going into the Town Echo 432 to locate any possible enemy out post. This out post is considered heavily armed so we are going to do this my way. Remember rules of engagement: don't fire until you are fired upon first. We are going to roll on in full force and quickly secure any prisoners we can, and then find the outpost ammo dump and blow it up."

"Rodger that," Winters said while shaking his head.

"Wait a second. I thought this was a patrol?" Danny said.

"Apparently not little bro," Billy said, while keeping his eyes on the road. Every once in awhile looking at a map he taped to the stirring wheel. He was a good driver, but had a bad since of direction. Back in high school Billy would always be the get away driver whenever they got into trouble. He never knew where he was going but he always lost the cops.

"That's fucked up! Our first assignment is a possible death trap," Danny said as he wiped another bead of sweat off his muzzle and sunk into his seat.

"What's the big deal? At least we get to see some action," Donavan bent down a little from the hatch to add his two cents.

"Be careful what you wish for Don," Winters said while leaning back to yell out of the hatch. He settled back down into his seat and looked back at Danny who had a worried look on his face. "Hey, buck up Danny Boy. Remember it is a 'possible' outpost. So for all Command knows it is just another empty building that belongs to a simple farmer."

Danny a little bit of a reassured smile on his face. In the short time he had been with Sgt. Winters, Danny felt like Winters became almost like a father to him. He was sure Billy felt the same way too since he would call him Pops every once in awhile. Winters' words did comfort Danny enough to let him get through the hour drive to the small town.

Beta Company arranged the Humvees in a circular formation about three hundred yards from the town. Billy and Danny both set up their M-14 rifle on top of the Humvee to scout out the town from a distance as the rest of the Company listened to Lt. Smalls plan. Danny looked back behind him to take a glance at Lt. Smalls. He shook his head at the foolishness of the plan. He sighed and went back to looking through his scope.

"Can I ask you something Bro?" Danny said as a goat passed by his crosshairs.

"Hm," Billy replied.

"Why is the Lieutenant.... The Lieutenant?"

"I don't know. You have a better chance of asking the LT himself."

"I know why," Don said as he popped up through the hatch of the Humvee startling both of them.

"Damn. Don't do that you tiny sum bitch," Billy said.

"Anyway, I know why Smalls is are CO," Don continued

"Really? Do enlighten us." Danny said not breaking from his scope thinking that it was going to be another one of his jokes.

"Ok, well you know how you have to go to great lengths to get somewhere in this fine outfit we got here, right?" Both Danny and Billy nodded, "Ok well good old LT actually found out how far and where those lengths have to go," Don stopped leaving the answer open to the wind. Both Danny and Billy looked between them at Donavan. A huge grin was on the Snowshoe's face like he was waiting on a gift.

"Well... Where?" Billy said.

"Up his tight Labrador ass," Donavan said as he busted out laughing.

Billy immediately started laughing hard and Danny just smirked and gave a loud chuckle. While Billy and Don continued to laugh uncontrollably Danny went back to work and looked through his scope. He was right about Donavan yet again, but it was still funny.

Nothing was really going on in the town from what he could see. No movement could be seen because of all the two story buildings.

A glimmer of light from one of the buildings caught Danny's attention almost immediately. He quickly zeroed in on it through the window to see what it was. He remembered back in training that you looked for a glimmer like that to find enemy snipers. There was a small silhouette with a long rod coming from it. He knew right then he was looking down the barrel of a sniper. His adrenaline coursed through his veins making everything around him seem to slow down. Eyes were dilated, heart pounding and his trigger finger was getting twitchy. He wanted to just shoot but he knew he couldn't do that. Not yet anyway.

"Billy," Danny said nervously loud.

Bill snapped to attention and looked into his scope, "What's wrong."

"Sniper, 320 yards out, fourth building from the left.... The one with the hole in the roof," Danny whispered letting his training lingo take over.

"Confirmed," Billy said a second later.

"Sgt. Winters," Donavan yelled out. Winters came to the side of the Humvee looking up at the group of furs.

"What is it Donavan?" Winters said.

"Possible enemy sniper in the town approximately 320 yards out shaded under in a hut." Danny relayed to Winters, "Orders sir."

Winters sighed, "Stand down we have orders to not fire on the town unless they fire on us first."

"Sir, I can see the gun pointed at us," Billy protested.

"I don't like it either but we are under orders. If it were up to me I would let you shoot the son-of-a-bitch," Winters sighed.

"This is fucked up," Donavan said.

Bill and Danny both looked at each other then back through there scopes to continue to stare down the enemy sniper. He was gone which made Danny's heart jump a little.

"He's gone," Billy said.

"See that," said Donavan, "He's scared of you two."

He patted both of their backs as they lied there on the roof of the Humvee. Winters smiled but then quickly put his game face on once again, "We leave in twenty minutes so gear up light. Take only what you need and leave everything else in the Humvee. 4th squad will be taking the humvee on our patrol with us, 2nd and 3rd squads will be on foot. AROO?"

Everyone responded back to him with the Hounds' AROO and began to get their stuff together. Danny put his M14 in its sleeve and got his M4 carbine ready to go. He nearly forgot to switch out his M14 magazine from his vest. As he made sure all he had on him was ammo, rifle, combat knife, and a spare med kit Garson was meticulously stripping his SAW cleaning every part before he assembled it sitting against the side of the Humvee. Danny knew enough about him to know he only did this when he got nervous. He walked over and sat down beside him.

"Ouch," Danny exclaimed as he pulled a sharp rock from underneath him. Garson chuckled a little as he put the last piece in its place and cocked the gun.

Danny leaned up against the side of the Humvee and sighed, "You think we are ready for this?"

"Nope," Garson said as he loaded the SAW getting ready to go.

"Then why are we here?"

"Cause we are under the command of a control freak want to be officer willing to do dumb shit to get his next promotion," Garson said in a sour tone. Danny huffed a sarcastic laugh. Garson never bullshitted about anything so Danny knew that wasn't a joke. It didn't make him feel any better either.

"Don't you worry my giant brother from another mother," Donavan said as he bounced around the corner of the Humvee with his M16/M203, "Cause with this sweet sexy 16 in my paws nothing is going to survive messing with us."

"They know we're coming Donavan," Garson said in his calm low tone, "They are probably setting up an ambush as we speak," he sighed, "I hope for our sake your right though."

Donavan lowered his gun letting it hang from its sling with a depressed look on his face, "Damn you sure know how to kill a mood."

Billy came around the corner with the same gear Danny had in the same vest arrangement. His expression was the same as the rest of theirs nervous and scared. Every one in the squad including Sgt. Winters who was sitting in a folding stool a few feet from them had a worried look on his usually stern face. Donavan glanced over at Billy and noticed he was rubbing something that was around his neck. He took a step toward to get a better look seeing it was a beer bottle cap. "What's that?" He asked.

Danny looked up and chuckled a little, "That's his lucky bottle cap he got back in high school."

"Does it do any good," asked Donavan.

"Well it was the first beer I ever drank and I ended up loosing my virginity that night. So yeah I think it works," Billy said with a small grin.

"Yep, to the hottest girl in school too. Do you even remember who it was?" Danny said raising an eyebrow.

Billy nodded chuckle, "Michelle Michaels," he looked up for a second remembering the young sexy little coyote that he enjoyed his first time with. She was a nice fur that he dated for three years. Sadly she moved away just before they graduated high school. In times like these he really missed her and would rub his bottle cap to hold onto special memories.

"See that boys. We have Billy Boys lucky cap of lost virginity on our side. There is nothing that can stand in our way now," Donavan said returning to his normal self and putting an arm around Billy. Every one chuckled a little as there mood lightened up a bit.

Sgt. Winters got up from the stool putting his fingers to his ear listening to the company COM channel. After a second he nods and looks at his fledgling squad, "Alright boys, look sharp. Remember your training and you will be fine. And don't forget... You are HOUNDS!"

"AROO!" the young squad of brothers howled their outfit's battle cry lifted their spirits, even though it was only for a moment they felt better by it. They formed up with the rest of the platoon to head into the surely enemy occupied town. The ride to the town entrance was the longest ride of their lives.

As the Humvee that Danny and his squad were riding on came to the first building of the town an old fur came forward speaking in a language Danny didn't understand. Danny and his squad hopped off the Humvee and approached him with their rifles pointed to him. The old fur kept on talking while Billy started to pat him down and put him in zip-cuffs. A translator was brought from one of the other squads to get some info from the old fur.

The patrol was held up for about 5 minutes while the translator rambled on with no success of getting information out of the old fur. Lt. Smalls hopped out of the second Humvee vehicle of the convoy. He joined in the interrogation of their new prisoner before calling over Sgt. Winters.

"Ok Winters I want you to take 1st platoon and patrol the town to see if anything stands out. I am going to go back to stay here with 2nd and 3rd platoons and see if we can crack this guy for Intel," Lt. Smalls said with a glorified tone.

"Sir wouldn't it be better if 3rd platoon came...," Sgt. Winters said before he was cut off by Smalls.

"That's an order Sgt. Winters," Smalls said.

"Yes sir," Sgt. Winters said through his teeth. He swung to fingers in the air to tell every one to form up a line with him.

Now with only one Humvee at their disposal Danny's squad along with two others went into the town. Sgt. Winters lead the foot patrol so he could direct the Humvee driver and the other squads if problems arose. He ordered Danny and the rest of the team to cover the rear. Danny felt like it was because Sgt. Winters didn't want to put them in harms way. Never the less, it did not stop Donavan from complaining.

"Man. Why are we the ones in the back of the bus?" Donavan wined.

"Just enjoy the fact that Pops is looking after us," Billy said his eyes never ceasing to come away form the buildings that surrounded them.

They walked for about thirty minutes not seeing a soul. Donavan was getting restless. He started to kick a sizable rock around like a soccer ball as they went on. He kicked it one final time harder than he normally did making it bounce into a ditch.

"I don't know about the rest of you guys but I am bored as fuck," Donavan said in a winey tone.

"Just keep walking Donavan," Garson said swinging his SAW back forth as he made sure nothing was behind them.

Danny was on the left side of the Humvee as it crept slowly down the narrowing streets of the town. Billy was about 10 feet behind him with Donavan and Garson on the right side of the Humvee. It was getting ridiculously quiet until Donavan spoke up again.

"Why are we even bothering with this POS town? There is nothing here," Donavan said.

"Cause our country thinks it needs to solve everyone else's problems," Danny replied.

"Because we are trying to get a seat in the UN," Garson explained, "If we get a seat in the UN we will be able to have better trading rights with other countries as well as promise of Military protection from our enemies. So our great leader decided the best thing to do was become an American copy cat."

"I am still a little fuzzy on what the mission is exactly," Billy said to change the subject.

"We are supposed to find an enemy outpost whether it be a terrorist one or a bunch of soviets still bunkering down and didn't get the memo," Donavan said.

All of them looked at Donavan with a look that said 'he really isn't that stupid'.

Donavan looked around at them shrugged his shoulders and said, "That is the way the LT put it anyway."

Everyone then nodded in agreement understanding Donavan feeling for the stupidity of their CO.

"Ok next question. Why is only one Platoon doing this?" Billy continued looking for a comforting answer.

"To be cannon fodder," the gunner of the Humvee said to them from over his shoulder.

Billy regretted ever asking the question after he heard that. Like all good brothers do Danny stood up for him.

"Thanks asshole, go back to looking like a retard and let us have our conversation," Danny said getting pissed off.

"Hey I am just tryi..," the gunner stopped mid sentence for some reason. He fell into the Humvee limply as the bang of a gun sounded in the closed quarters of the buildings.

One of the furs yelled out 'contact' as a hail of bullets hit the front of the platoon. Sgt. Winters and the squads in front of the Humvee dove into a shallow ditch on the side of the road but some of the furs were too slow. Three were instantly gunned down dead while one was left screaming in agony with a piece of hot lead in his gut. Winters was the only one who dove to the right and watched helplessly as the ones who dove to the left get mowed down by an enemy's machine gun emplacement. He waved to the driver to back up and the driver acknowledged him but a storm of bullets smashed through the windshield of the Humvee painting it red with the driver's blood.

Danny and is squad dove into the ditch on the side of the road and were able to get behind the buildings for cover. Danny looked across the street to see Garson pulling Donavan into cover. At first Danny thought Donavan was hit but was relieved to see him quickly get up and stack on top of Garson. Garson looked back over to Danny and Billy giving them a thumb up. He then turned the corner of the building and let loose 1,000 rounds a minute.

A few puffs of dust were made as bullets hit the building face making Garson get back into cover. He looked over at Danny and tapped his ear telling him to check the COM. Danny nodded and switched his COM on. Instantly he was hearing cries for help and furs yelling to fall back. He got the nerve to speak into his transmitter barely remembering to talk in code.

"Come in BETA-1 ACTUAL over!" Danny said trying to remain calm with his heart pumping adrenaline through his veins. A few horrible seconds as the worst thoughts came to mind about Sgt. Winters.

"Come in BETA-1 ACTUAL this is BETA-1-3 please come in over," Danny said as panic started to set in.

"Rodger BETA-1-3 this is BETA-1 ACTUAL, I am pinned down in the ditch in front of the Humvee I need you boys to lay down a surprising field of fire so I can fall back to your position," Winters yelled into the COM.

Relieved to hear his voice Danny looked around the corner of the building to see Winters on his back taking cover in the ditch as much as he could. He shot off a few rounds from his semi-auto SPAS-12 before looking down and nodding at Danny. Danny got his M4 ready to go and looked down at his brother who was crouched at his feet getting ready as well. Danny looked across the street and saw that Garson and Donavan were ready. With another surge of adrenaline he turned the corner sparking the others to do the same. They all fired at once letting a roar of firepower fly toward the buildings where they saw flashes coming from.

Winters immediately got up and dashed to get behind cover. Bullets whizzed past him with a few going through the flap of his pant legs. He cut side-to-side dodging whatever lead he could. He was no less than five feet from Danny and Billy's position when an RPG was fired from the second floor of one of the buildings. The rocket screamed down the street, and hit the Humvee causing a huge explosion. The force of the blast knocked Winters off of his feet just with in reach of both Danny and Billy to drag him behind the building with them.

"God damn it," he yelled as got up supporting himself against the wall. Billy looked over at him just to find blood running down his pant leg.

"Pops is hit!" Billy yelled. He stayed knelt down as he tried to find the source of the bleeding, "FUCK! It's pretty bad and he is bleeding heavily." Winters fell over face first as he found it harder to stay on his feet.

"Damn I can't feel my leg," Winters said as he gritted his teeth to keep from yelling out in pain. Billy tore up his bloody pant leg so he could apply pressure with the gauze from his med kit.

"Shit," Danny exclaimed. He looked around for a way to get out of their situation. He looked down the alleyway of the building they were beside and saw a 12-foot high wall. There was not any way they were going to get Winters over that wall with a bad leg. There was the possibility that Garson and Donavan had a way to, but that would mean Billy and him would have to carry Winters across thirty feet of a lead gauntlet.

"Call for backup," Sgt. Winters yelled to Danny.

"We have to get him out of here Danny," Billy yelled from over his shoulder to agree with Winters.

Danny nodded and began to yell into his COM, "BETA-4-1 this is BETA-1-3 we are pinned down.... 2 clicks east of your position. The platoon is shot to shit and Winters is hit a need of emergency EVAC. Our Humvee has been blown to bits we need back up ASAP."

There was a few seconds of silence making Danny panic a little more. He yelled into the COM again trying to get someone's attention, "4-1 do you read? Do you read?"

After a few more seconds Lt. Smalls came on the COM, "Rodger we are sending a Humvee to come and get you. ETA 10 minutes."

"Fuck we can't stay here for that long. We have to move," Billy said, barley getting the bleeding to stop.

Danny knew the only way they could make a defensive position was by regrouping with Garson and Donavan across the street. Garson fired off a three second burst and got back to cover with Donavan shooting a quick burst right after him. Danny came up with a plan that he hoped wouldn't get them killed.

Danny turned on his squad COM and started talking to his parted teammates, "Garson I need you to lay down suppressive fire. We are going to regroup at your position and see if we can get out of this shit hole."

"Copy that."

"Don can you see the machine gun position?" Danny asked.

"Yeah its on the second floor," Donavan confirmed.

"I need you to nade it when I give you the signal," Danny explained.

"Got it," Donavan replied.

Danny helped Billy get Winters to his feet and together they got underneath his shoulder's and lifted him up to get the weight off his wounded leg.

"I can't believe we are about to this," Billy said.

"Nut up son," Winter said faintly.

With the help of Winters motivational speech Danny nodded letting Garson know to let loose with his hail of bullets. Garson turned the corner and swung his SAW across the forming enemy line keeping their heads down as Danny and Billy hauled Winters to the wreckage of the Humvee to be used as cover from the MG emplacement. Loud thuds hit the destroyed Humvee letting Danny know that they had the machine gunner's attention.

"DON NOW," Danny yelled.

Donavan turned the corner for only a second and launched a 40 mm Hellhound grenade. With remarkable precision the grenade hit the machine gunner in the shoulder turning him into a red mist and damaging the machine gun to where it could not be used anymore.

Danny never saw the shot hit its mark. He just hoped that his teammate was as good as he boasted. He kept his eyes on his target destination and didn't stop moving until he got there. The last few feet seemed to be the longest ones as they approached the loud roar of Garson's singlehanded assault. As soon as they got behind cover another RPG came flying past them and hit further down the road.

"That was too close," Garson said as he began reloading his saw switching places with Donavan.

"If we wait here long enough they might hit us," Donavan said.

Danny immediately looked around for an exit but the same 12-foot high wall was on this side of the street too. The only difference was a door leading into the building they were using for cover. The building was going to have to serve as there defensive position.

"Garson get this door open," Danny ordered still holding onto Winters.

Garson pushed off the wall after he finished reloading and shot a three round burst into the lock of the door. Billy left Danny to hold onto Winters so he could help Garson breach the building. Garson's heavy boot hit the door with enough force to fling the door wide open giving Billy the chance to storm in with Garson and Donavan right behind him. Billy went right, Garson went left, and Donavan taking the center in the breaching formation. The building was the size of a small diner but offered enough hard walls for cover.

Danny hauled Winters into the building. He had to nearly drag him as Winters began to loose consciousness. Danny set him down so he was sitting against one of the walls in the building. He got his own med kit out to give Winters a shot of artificial adrenalin to help keep him awake just a little longer.

Winters head rolled to the side knocking Danny in the head. Danny held his head as he slapped Winters a little to stir him up as he stuck Winters in the arm with the syrette and clipped it to his collar.

"Stay with me Pops. We need you to stay with us," Danny motivated him. Winters mumbled a 'yeah' and nodded letting Danny know he was back. With that conformation Danny went to redressing his wounded leg as best as he could.

Billy, Garson, And Donavan had all chosen a window to take cover at and look out of to watch the hostiles shoot up their previous position. They knew better than to start randomly firing at them when they were perfectly hidden. Donavan took this time to reload his M203.

"I got two of these puppies left and 3 mags," he said setting off a chain reaction of an ammo count.

"I got 4," Billy echoed.

"Two drums," Garson relayed.

Danny looked down to see what was left in his vest pouches. He had used two of his mags leaving him 4 and what ever was left in his M4. He added is count before he shook his head. They needed that back up now.

Another RPG went flying across the road hitting the corner of the building they were at previously. A cloud of dust filled the room making all of them cover their eyes. Danny shielded Winters from the little bits of flying rubble. The dust settled and the firing stopped.

Danny checked on Winters by looking him in the eyes. Winters lazily stared back assuring Danny he was alive. Danny then got up and joined his brother looking out the window. There were 60 to 70 furs wearing thoubs and turbans armed with AK47's all broke cover and started moving in on their position probably to check if they were dead.

"Fuck. We can't take on that many furs. We will get slaughtered," Billy said.

"But we can't just let them walk up on us," Garson whispered.

Danny thought for a moment and looked around. The building was still sturdy and aside from the hole to there rear. They didn't need to defeat them they just needed to hold them off long enough for their back up to get here.

Danny was about to state his plan when a well-equipped Panther walked out of the building the MG was in. There was no way he was a terrorist fighter. He wore a blood red beret with thick black sunglasses dressed in black fatigues and body armor. He puffed on a cigar as he talked to one of the terrorist furs. He looked like an American Officer but he didn't have the US flag on his left soldier. Instead it was an odd shaped circular emblem with a cat skull in the middle.

"Danny," Billy snapped to get Danny's attention. Danny looked at his brother and back to see the mysterious fur depart into an alleyway.

"Ok everyone throw a grenade into a grouped up team of furs. Garson I want you hose those in the open road that are closest to us. Donavan get those guys hunkered down next to that group of cars with your nade launcher. Billy you and me are going to pick of the ones that scatter. Got it?" Garson and Billy nodded while Donavan put up the 'ok' paw sign. Danny looked over at Winters to see if he was still kicking. He looked back giving an approving nod.

All of them armed a grenade in one paw and waited for second so they all could time their throws together. They threw their grenades lobbing them into small clusters of furs. Donavan actually threw his like a baseball hitting one in the head. The delay time for the grenades allowed Billy and Danny to line up their shots and Garson to rest his SAW on the window seal to become a MG emplacement.

The grenades exploded in rapid succession. Billy and Danny's landed within three feet of each other causing a massive explosion knocking several furs to the ground that were out of the lethal blast radius and sending the closest one flying across the road killing him. Garson randomly threw his causing it to roll underneath a car. The explosion lifted the car ten feet in the air flipping it over and landing on an unfortunate young fur. Donavan's killed the fur it hit in the head before it exploded. When it did three furs tried to scatter but were cut down by the shrapnel.

Garson immediately began firing upon the closest group of furs. Two went down immediately scattering the rest. Billy and Danny had a good angle to start picking off the ones that went into cover. Billy used three rounds and was successfully getting hits with each burst. Danny was more conservative using single shots. He wasn't getting hits with every pull of the trigger but he was keeping the enemies heads down.

The large horde of furs all got back into cover after loosing about twenty of their numbers and began to return fire. Danny had hoped that more would take cover behind the cars before Donavan fired his last two 40mm grenades but it served its purpose of making the firefight that much more chaotic. The exploding cars killed two more terrorist furs and wounding five more.

Garson was keeping up the fire not letting up. He shot his last twenty rounds in his current drum and quickly took cover underneath the window, "RELOADING," he yelled as he started the meticulous process. Billy got into cover and quickly switched his magazine. Danny did the same a few seconds later. Donavan ejected his last 40mm grenade and joined in the suppressive fire.

The terrorist recovered from the loss of the first initial strike and began to fire back in full force. Danny and Billy had to take cover or risk being killed by a stray AK round. Donavan braved the hail of bullets and kept firing. A bullet smacked through his right ear so fast that he barely felt any pain. The sudden shock of the hit forced him to duck into the corner of the building.

"Fucking assholes," Donavan said cupping his ear, "They shot my fucking ear."

"You look better," Garson said laughing.

"Shut the fuck up Jowls and get to shooting," Donavan said apparently getting pissed off enough to brave the hail of lead.

Garson set up his SAW on the window seal again but this time used short controlled bursts to conserve ammo.

"Eat lead you towel head mother fuckers," Donavan screamed, as he sprayed the area with bullets not even caring to aim. He seemed to be living his dream of becoming the soldier he wanted to be. Another surge of lead hit the building making all of them take cover.

"Dammit where is our back up?" Garson said.

Danny took the time to bring Lt. Smalls back on the COM, "BETA-4-1 we are taking heavy fire from enemy forces. Where is our got damn back up?" he yelled into his headset.

"We are on our way ETA 5 minutes," Lt. Smalls said over he COM seeming not to care.

"You said that fucking 10 minutes ago! We need that extraction NOW!" Danny said getting mad. They had just gone full force using most of their ammo and Smalls had dragged ass getting there. Danny didn't believe they could hold out much longer.

"We are on our way. Hold off the enemy forces until we get there," Smalls said calmly.

"If we last that long," Danny said cutting off his COM completely not wanting to have any more contact with the CO.

"They are going to over run us if they don't get here and quick," Billy said almost panicking.

Danny looked over at Sgt. Winters to check on him again. He was definitely alive seeing he was slowly putting shells into his SPAS-12 staring straight ahead at the hole in the wall left by the RPG. Even at his weakened state he was ready to keep fighting to the death.

The terrorist fighters were closing despite the constant pressure Garson kept up. Donavan's ear continued to bleed turning his fur on the side of his head red. He ran out of ammo about the same time Billy did. They both took cover next to their windows trying to find an extra clip somewhere.

"Fuck I am out," Donavan said.

"So am I," Billy relayed.

"Half a drum," Garson added as he continued to fire.

Danny still had three clips and what was left in his M4. He was mentally breaking down in the hopeless situation. He felt regretful for not ever living life the way he wanted outside the military. Thoughts of what his life would have been flooded his mind as the world around him seemed to fade away.

A loud roar of an engine snapped Danny out of his delirium and back to the real world. He looked out the hole in the back corner of the building to see a Humvee pull up with the mini gun on top firing in full force. Donavan cheered then cursed them for not getting there sooner. Danny looked over to him and tossed his M4 and slid a mag across the floor. He then gave Billy his last two mags.

"Cover me while I get Pops to the Humvee," Danny said.

"We got you bro."

Danny quickly went over to Winters to help him up. Danny bent down to throw him over his shoulder so he could move quicker. He nearly sprinted to the Humvee, easily running over the rubble. The door of the Humvee shot open with a tabby firing his M4 at the horde of terrorists. A well-placed shot hit him in the throat killing him and clearing the way for Danny to set Winters in the Humvee.

To Danny's surprise Lt. Smalls was driving with another fur in the passenger seat. The fur manning the mini gun shifted his legs so that Danny could get in with Winters on his shoulders.

Smalls watched as the battle ensued. He knew he had messed up sending them out here knowing it was a hot spot. He was however determined to fix the problem while at the same time getting some war hero credit. That was the plan until a T-62 tank rounded the corner further down the street. Lt. Smalls widened as he looked down the massive 115mm barrel. Fear took over his actions as he put the Humvee in reverse and gunned the gas.

The sudden acceleration forced Danny into the Humvee slamming the door behind him forcing him into an uncomfortable position. It happened so fast the he didn't know what was going on at first. After he regained his bearing he realized what Smalls was doing. His anger overwhelmed him as he yelled at his CO, "What the hell are you doing? We can't just leave. My brother is still in there!"

Lt. Smalls ignored his cries as he continued to drive down the road backwards. He saw an intersection behind them and swerved into it just in time to dodge the tank shell that was intended to destroy them. Smalls took the tanks reload time to put the Humvee back into drive and speed down the road back to the rest of the Company at the town entrance.

---

"Where the fuck is he going!" Donavan yelled with a mixture of panic and anger.

Billy felt a chill go down his spine as he heard the fading noise of the engine. For the first time in his life he felt alone. His brother was not there to help him like he normally was. He froze, nearly giving up. Something in the back of his mind told him not to give up. It told him to keep fighting. It felt as if it were his brother telling him so.

With that driving his actions, he pushed his fear aside and began to return fire. 'I will be back for you' said that same feeling as he continued to fight to stay alive.

"I am out," Garson said. He crouched down keeping tight to the wall as he began to eject the drum. A rustling sound of rubble caught his attention. He looked up to see a terrorist fighter come through the hole in the back of the building. Using the only thing he had Garson took the empty drum and threw it at the fighter at the same time he rushed towards him. The drum knocked the fighter in the head dazing him that allowed Garson to hit him across the face with the butt of his SAW. The blow crushed the furs face and cracked his neck killing him.

Another fur came through the hole in the wall and tackled Garson to the ground. Billy came to his aid by popping a round into the fighter's chest. Garson grabbed the dead furs AK47 and got back into cover. Donavan did the same with the other dead furs rifle. Billy thought they were about to hold out long enough to get out of this jam.

The T-62 then rolled into view of the pinned squad. The turret turned toward the building they were fighting from. Billy eyes widened as the horde stopped firing and waited for the tank to finish the job.

"GET OUT!" He yelled as the tank fired its shot.

---

Lt. Smalls hit the breaks of the Humvee making it skid into the rest of the company's position. With the random turning of the ride stopped allowing Danny to get recover in the Humvee. He saw that Lt. Smalls was shaking in fear and knew that he wasn't going to be of any help. Smalls opened up his door and quickly ran up to the radio operator and began calling in an air strike for the tank.

"What the fuck are you doing," Danny said as he jumped out of the Humvee and running up to Smalls, "My brother and my squad is still out there fighting for there lives. We have to go and get them."

Lt. Smalls stopped for a moment to respond, "Your squad is a highly trained Hounds unit they can handle themselves a little longer. Besides we extracted Winters like you requested."

"They are low on ammo and are fighting against a fucking tank and a platoon of terrorist furs. We need to get them out of there," Danny yelled in his face.

"I am not about get myself killed for you or your dead squad mates Private," Smalls yelled back in his face letting his anger take over his words. He then stepped back realizing what he said.

The entire company heard this and was shocked to hear their CO talk like that. Every single one of them started whispering to one another saying stuff like 'did he really say that' or 'that's fucked up'.

Danny tried to hold back his furry as much as he could. He turned away to help get Winters out of the Humvee. He opened the rear door that Winters was at. His control of his anger broke as he punched the side of the Humvee. He looked down to see a pool of blood in the floorboard of the Humvee. Quickly looking up he saw that the bandages of Winters wound had come undone and his wound had opened up during the chaos of Lt. Smalls retreat. His nose had become pail and his eyes were glossy. He weakly handed Danny his SPAS-12 and weakly said, "Go get them son," before his body went limp.

"MEDIC," Danny screamed as he saw the life leave Winters. He began to nervously try and wake him up again. The medic pushed him aside as he rushed in to help. Danny already knew that it was too late.

He backed up against a near by Humvee and cover his face with his blood soaked paws. He was about to break down in grief when a random Shorthair soldier in the Company walked over to him. Danny looked up at him and saw the fur drop keys into Danny's lap. Danny picked up the key then looked back up to the fur.

"No one is going to stop you," the feline fur said.

Danny looked up to see the entire company encouraging him to go do what he had to do. He didn't ask for any help nor did he want it as he jumped up gripping Winters SPAS-12 in one paw and the keys in the other. He hopped into the Humvee he was just sitting against and started it up. Lt. Smalls watched this happen and ran over to the open window of Danny's Humvee trying to stop him.

"Private I order you to sto..," Smalls said before Danny knocked him out cold with a quick punch.

Danny gunned the gas and peeled out of the Company formation. His adrenaline was pumping hard. In the back of his mind he felt like he knew that they might still be alive. This only further drove him to rescue them. Danny carefully planned out his attack. He knew that the tank was there and he knew that he was no match for it in the Humvee head on. He was going to have to find a way to take it down from behind.

Not wanting to head into that same death trap he turned left at an intersection and traveled until he got to another intersection and turned right. He hoped that this would give him the advantage he needed.

---

The buildings where the infidels were in crumbled into nothing but rubble soon after the tank shell exploded. The Saluki tank commander opened the hatch of the T-62 with a smile on his face. His new toy had done its job well the only thing he regretted at this point was not hitting the Humvee that randomly showed up.

He bummed a cigar from his fatigues pocket and lit it with a silver lighter. He took a long drag from the cigar and observed his losses. He had about 27 willing martyrs left under his command. Not bad for a bunch of poorly trained cannon fodder. He wasn't pleased at his blind followers however he was more satisfied in how his tank was able to scare off Americas ally. His employer would be pleased.

The commander continued to enjoy his cigar as he watched his men collect their dead in the streets. The noise of his tanks engine over powered the roar of Danny's Humvee as he charged in from the tanks right flank.

Danny gunned the gas one last time and timed his jump from the vehicle. He hit the ground hard forcing him to roll with his momentum. The Humvee continued on toward the tank not stopping for anything. The Saluki tank commander turned around to see what was the sudden noise just in time for the Humvee to skip over the tank as it hit. The front end of the bumper of the Humvee nailed the Commander in the face nearly taking off his head.

Danny looked over to see the Humvee roll back of the tank. He sighed as he hoped it would have exploded destroying the tank. Shaking off the disappointment he quickly got up and ran up to the side of the tank as the Humvee rolled off the tank exposing the open hatch. Danny climbed the side of the tank quickly seeing the hatch and got ready to fight who ever came out of it. When he got to the top of the turret he saw the mangled body of the Tank Commander along with the rest of the shocked horde of terrorist fighters.

Danny quickly took hold of the mounted .50 cal. MG and used the turret as cover and began to unleash his hatred upon the fighters. The heavy thumping of the high caliber machine gun unlocked some sort of internal furry that surged through Danny. For reason he couldn't explain Danny felt like he was unstoppable, like he was indestructible.

The massive forty-six gram slugs ripped through the soft flesh of the fighters like they were not even there. Baseball size holes were blasted through the torsos of the fighters to slow to react of the onslaught. Limbs and heads were blown apart as well as Danny followed them as they took cover.

One of the fighters was able to get his hands on an RPG and aimed it at Danny. Danny saw this and instinctively jumped off the tank just as the RPG hit the top of the turret. The concussion of the blast knocked Danny off balance sending tumbling down the tank. The explosion set off the fuel tank of the T-62 sending hot molten steel into the cockpit containing the crew burning them alive.

Danny slowly recovered from the blast of the tank. His ears and bones were ringing in pain, hot smell of burning fuel filled his nose, and black smog clouded his vision. The wind changed direction for a few seconds letting Danny get a glimpse of the once standing building his brother and squad were supposed to be in. Horrific thoughts filled his head followed by anger. Danny ignored the shock his body was experiencing and grabbed the SPAS-12 winters had given him and stood up waiting for someone to cross his path.

The wind changed again revealing the remaining fighters standing before him. Three raised their weapons while the other four went for cover. Danny quickly fired four shells from the hip killing the ones that stood in his way. He then dove for cover behind the tank as the other furs fired on him. The fighters, Danny knew, was complacent and kept firing at the spot he had disappeared from their sight. Danny quickly used this against the fighters as he moved behind the tank staying out of sight of the fighters. When he rounded the end of the tank he stopped seeing that one of the fighters was using it as cover. Smacked the butt of the shotgun across the back of the head cracking his skull.

The fighter closest to Danny saw him attack his fellow fighter but was too slow to avenge him. Danny put three shells into the fighter's chest not able to stay under control. He wanted them to die and nothing more. Danny charged a fighter about forty feet away from him firing of two shots, one hit the door of the building the fur was at and the other hit behind the fur.

Danny didn't notice a fighter rushing him from the side until the fur hit him with the butt of his gun. Danny fell to the ground but quickly rolled over and extended his arm with the gun barrel an inch away from the furs face. The fighter head disintegrated in a chunky red cloud. His blood splashed on Danny's face and the car next to them. The last fighter had discarded his jammed gun and pulled out a machete like blade. Aimed his gun at the charging fur and pulled the trigger but only got a loud click.

"Damn," Danny mumbled as he tried to get to his feet before the fur was on him.

He was only able to make it to a kneeling position before the fighter brought down the blade. Danny deflected the blow using his empty gun and rolled to his feet. The fighter was better with the blade than Danny expected and quickly countered Danny's evasion with a blind sideways slash that caught Danny across bridge of the nose.

Danny grabbed his nose in pain and pulled his combat knife from its sheath on his shoulder. He recovered quickly getting into a knife-fighting stance getting ready for the fighter's next attack. The fighter was waving his blade side to side trying to hide his next attack in the flashy movement. Danny as not fooled by this show and starred down the fighter until he attacked.

The fighter lunged forward intending to sink his blade into Danny's gut. Danny simply moved just enough out of the way to have the fighter miss him by an inch. Danny quickly turned his body and grabbed the wrist of the fighter. A quick slash across the arm of the fighter forced him to loosen his grip of his blade. Danny took the large knife from his grasp and used against the fighter and sunk into the fighter's chest and finished him by stabbing his own knife in between the fighter's ribs puncturing his lungs. Danny felt the life fade from the fighter's once proud heart as his body sunk into the ground. Danny let him fall from him leaving his knife in the fighter.

It was a few minutes before Danny came to his senses. He looked around him at the destruction he had caused. He couldn't believe he just survived his blind attack against a larger force. The bodies of the fighters littered the ground in pools of their blood. Danny felt like he should be dead yet he wasn't. His body began to shake from withdrawals of adrenaline from his body. He could feel the heat from the burning tank burn his skin and fur even though he was a few yards away.

Something in the back of his mind called to him. 'Where are you brother' it yelled. Danny quickly turned and sprinted to the downed building in hopes that just maybe his brother, Garson, and Donavan maybe still alive. He jumped over chunks of bricks and rolled over a car as he arrived at the destroyed building. He began to dig into the rubble throwing microwave sized chunks of brick and rebar out into the street. He dug for five straight minutes, his muscles were beginning to burn and ache but he kept going. He had to know if they were alive.

Danny had dug all the small rubble out and only slabs remained. He lifted an edge piece of rubble that was as big as he was up to move it to the side. He looked down to see both Garson and Donavan crushed to death. Danny dropped to there side and checked for a pulse on both of them but didn't feel anything. His hands began to shake as he felt their cold flesh.

'Over here' said the voice. Danny turned around and went to a piece of rubble that his instincts told him to move. It was heavy almost too heavy for him to lift. He readjusted his grip and used his legs and lifted with all his might the rubble slowly began to move. He wasn't able to completely lift the slab so he moved it to the side as much as he could before he let it dropped. He looked down once more and saw his brother covered in a layer of rocks and dirt. His chest rose and fell showing a faint sign of life.

"Billy," Danny said his voice cracking a little seeing his brother in this condition.

Billy rolled his head over and looked up at him, "Danny?" he said coughing up blood. Blood pulled around his neck and a large lump jutted his body armor up a little. Danny quickly opened the vest to see if he could provide medical care. To his horror a piece of rebar protruded out from his head with his undershirt soaked in his blood.

Not knowing what to do Danny took his brother into his arms, "Yeah it's me, I am here with you brother."

Billy's breathing gargled as more blood flowed from his nose and mouth. Danny went into a nervous break down as he continued to watch as his brothers condition deteriorated. Billy was comforted by the presence of his brother and smiled.

"I knew you would come back. I just knew it," he said before he coughed up even more blood.

"Don't worry brother I am going to get you out of here," Danny said not wanting to accept reality.

"We both know that is not going to happen," Billy said.

"No. Don't say that," Danny said shaking his head, "You can't die. Not here and not like this. We were supposed to do everything together."

"Not everything goes according pla... Aaah. Plan," Billy struggled to say.

"No, I won't let that happen," Danny pulled his M9 from its holster and put the barrel to his head, "You die then I die."

"No you won't," Billy scolded.

"Who is going to stop me?" Danny said pulling the hammer back.

"If you do that then I will hate you for it," Billy said. Danny's hand trembled at those words before dropping the pistol.

"Why did you have to go and say that," Danny said sourly.

"Because I want you to do something for me," Billy responded.

Danny wiped away his tears away and nodded, "Anything."

Billy reached into his front pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He rose up his arm to give it to his brother. Danny grabbed his brother's cold paw into his and held on to it tight with the paper still Billy's hand.

"Give this to Michelle for me," Billy asked. Danny looked surprised. "I found her awhile back. Me and her have been.... Have been writing letters to each other for about two months. I won't you to give her this last letter I wrote. Would you do this for me brother?"

"Yes... I will. I will do this for you Billy," Danny said sobbing.

" I love you bro," Billy said before coughed up a little more blood. His chest rose and fell but didn't rise again as his life faded away. Danny froze and waited for some sort of sign that Billy was still alive. Billy's hand fell limp from his hand leaving only the letter to Michelle.

Danny knelt there unable to do anything. He finally laid his brother's body down one last time. He grieved over the death of his brother gripping tight to the last thing Billy gave him. Danny opened the letter only to find four words written on it. Those words only made more tears flow from his eyes. He leaned over his brother's body sobbing uncontrollably.

"You didn't have to die," he sobbed, "What did you die for? What did you even die for Billy?"