FSE

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"Here they come." Jas, the older coyote, said.

"Hun... whah?" Bryan, the younger one, mumbled in his sleep,

"Damnit Bryan, wake up!" As Bryan was shaken out of unconsciousness, the first thing he opened his eyes to was a broad black face, with malicious red eyes staring at him.

The young coyote yelped in alarm and was awake instantly. He held a paw to his chest, as if he had nearly had a heart attack, as he caught his breath.

"Jesus-" Bryan began

"Can it, Bryan!" Darren hissed, as he turned back around to peer over the crest. Darren was a Badger, but he didn't look the part; he had painted the white stripes on his face over with black, so as to be less conspicuous in the woods. "Have they seen the trucks?" He whispered.

Jas, who was looking over the crest of the hill with a pair of binoculars, nodded affirmative. From their position on the hill, they could only see a small stretch of the road that snaked through the Fairfax river canyon, but the Balfor Confederate Army's presence was obvious there.

The unmistakeable shapes of Urbane heavy tanks could be seen on the road, and there was movement in the trees near where the road would be. Listening to the best of their abilities, the trio could make out a commotion by the road. Darren glanced downwards towards the edge of the clearing. There were a dozen or so blackened metal skeletons in the clearing, which 2 hours before had been road tankers. The lone intact tanker was still leaking fuel, causing him to wonder momentarily about how much the truck held in the first place.

"Hul-lo, there." Jas said.

"What's up?" Darren asked, turning back towards the road.

"Take a look." Jas said, offering Darren the binoculars. When he had focused them on the road, Darren saw an interesting scene. Pulled onto the side of the road, there were three Urbane tanks, presumably all the ones in front of them had done the same. This was to allow the advance of an APC sporting a red and white flag; a command tank.

"Bryan, get me the rifle." Jas said "I'll light up the truck if anything gets close."

"I'll spot for you." Darren said, refocusing the binoculars.

As quietly as possible, Bryan opened a black duffle bag and pulled out what resembled a submachine gun, then a stock, a scope, and finally a long barrel. In just a few seconds, he had assembled a collapsable sniper rifle, which he handed to Jas.

"The bipod, Bryan, I need the bipod." Jas said, annoyed.

Bryan opened the bag again, and handed a metal bipod to Jas, who quickly fixed it to the rifle and set it on the ground. Jas and Darren were now in prone position, with Bryan squatting behind them.

"Mag please, Bryan." Jas said, extending one of his hands behind him. His request was soon granted, as Bryan placed an ammunition clip in his outstretched hand, which Jas quickly loaded into the rifle.

"Targets, 30 degrees left." Darren said.

Jas swung the rifle to the left, and adjusted his scope. Sure enough, several wolves in Balfor infantry uniform were creeping through the trees where Darren had indicated.

"Got 'em, hold fire." Jas said. As he watched them, they stopped moving, and turned their heads around, as if some odd spectacle was unfolding behind them. A few seconds later, Jas, Bryan, and Darren all faintly heard a bout of nondescript shouting from the clearing below.

"What's going on?" Bryan asked. From his position behind them, he could see nothing.

"Hush already!" Darren whispered. "If our cover gets blown by your rooky ass I'll shove you down this hill and let them soldiers hang you from a pine tree!"

Bryan said nothing more.

Putting the binoculars back to his eyes, Darren met with a strange and confusing sight. A brawny human, in the uniform of a Balfor tanker, was walking into the clearing towards the intact road tanker, something clenched in his hands.

"What in hell's name?" Darren queried, his voice trailing off.

"What?" Asked Jas, still staring into the rifle scope at the wolves, who were now looking out towards the clearing.

"Gimme that gun, boy!" Darren said, yanking the rifle out of Jas' hands and dropping the binoculars.

Without protest, but with some confusion, Jas picked up the discarded binoculars and focused them at the clearing, quickly seeing the source of Darren's surprise; a furless, light-skinned creature walking towards their booby trap.

"What is that thing?" Jas said, his voice shaky with fear at this unknown creature.

"That'd be a human, you stupid redneck." Darren said. Darren had never been known to hold his usually-dignified manner when combat was imminent.

Jas relaxed instantly, as he knew what a human was, but strangely, had never seen one. He had recalled terrifying rumors about Balfor scientists using genetic engineering to create monsters. But his mind was now set in motion about what this might mean, as he was sure Darren's was as well. What was this human doing in the Altama? Had the Karlov Republic joined forces with the Balfor Confederacy? Was the Balfor army hiring mercenaries?

Jas shook the ideas out of his head, and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. He put the binoculars to his eyes again, and looked at the human with curiosity and wonder.

More questions popped into his mind, this time about the human himself. How do they stay warm in winter? Maybe they hibernate? And where were their ears? (The man's helmet covered the sides of his head). But most of all, Jas noticed that the human was clutching a suspicious-looking block as he wrenched closed the valve of the tanker.

"That's plastic explosive! He's gonna blow the truck!" Jas exclaimed, turning to his armed companion.

"I'll blow that truck alright." Darren said under his breath "I'll blow the mutherfucka!" He adjusted the scope, and, ignoring the bipod, brought the stock to his shoulder.

Looking back to the truck, Jas saw that the Human was dragging out the dead truck driver; one of the victims of their long-absconded comrades. Then, Jas heard a metallic click as Darren pulled the rifle's trigger, then another as the rifle jammed.

If looks could kill, Jas would be dead, as Darren pulled away from the gun to give him a malicious stare. This only lasted for a second, though, as Darren quickly fell to cursing unintelligibly and prying the ammunition clip from the rifle.

After some seconds of cursing, Darren reloaded the rifle, and as he pulled back the bolt, he said "Adios, hombre." He pulled the trigger, and with the typical loud crack, the bullet exploded out into the still air, and punched a hole in the tanker truck, which resumed its leakage of fuel instantly.

For a split second there was an odd silence, before a tumult of yelling came from the assembled Balfor troops below. Darren, in the meantime, pulled back the bolt of the rifle and fired again with the bullet hitting the truck and causing the same result; nothing.

"What the fuck..." He began. "You stupid son of a... Gimme the tracer rounds, retard!" Darren directed this order at Bryan, who was croucing behind them still, cringing at the sounds of automatic weapons which echoed over from the clearing.

With the swiftness of the terrified coyote he was, Bryan grabbed the requested cartridge from the bag and tossed it to Darren, who caught it nimbly, and immediately shoved it into the rifle.

Bullets were hitting the trees around them, as the Balfor infantry fired blindly into the woods, attempting to suppress the concealed snipers. Darren popped over the crest of the hill quickly, aimed another shot at the tanker, and fired. Jas was pressed as low as he possibly could be while still being able to look over the rise. The human below continued slowly dragging the corpse, seeming to notice nothing of the skirmish unfolding around him. The white phosphorus projectile penetrated the tanker's metal skin and ignited the fuel inside, as well as the pool of spilled liquid, in an enormous fireball. The shockwave of the blast knocked over the human, and as he fell, the fuel soaking his boots ignited.

Jas dropped back below the crest, exhilerated and shocked at the same time, but as Darren popped back up again, rifle in hand, he regained his nerves and crawled up again. The truck and everything within a score of yards of it was on fire, and the fireball was now an enormous smoke column. A squad of infantry wolves rushed out to quench the flames on their fallen comrade, and Jas examined them with the binoculars. Jas caught a glint of gold as he swept the binoculars to the left, and when he found it again, he quickly noticed it was the rank patch Lieutenant Colonel, on the sleeve of a Black fox.

"Officer, 11 o'clock!" Jas said to Darren, who swung the rifle in that direction instantly.

"Got 'em. See ya later, brass." Darren said, as he squeezed the trigger. Through the scope of the rifle and the binoculars, respectively, Darren and Jas saw the bullet blow the brains out of the Fox in a perfect head shot.

At that moment, the trio heard the scream of an artillery shell, then heard (and felt) its impact somewhere nearby, presumably it was from one of the tanks on the road.

"Time to go, boys!" Darren said, gripping the rifle as he hopped up. Darren put the binoculars around his neck and followed suit. "Get up, boy!" Darren yelled at Bryan, who had curled up with his hands over his ears tightly. As if he had been hit with a cattle prod, Bryan stood bolt upright, and soon enough, the trio sprinted into the woods, as the bullets continued to fly after them.