Canalzone
Seven chapters of a battle loosely based on Canalzone (the original) and TF.
— [P]Asphyxia
Chapter 5
The Counterstrike
Let me recap the situation here. First of all, it isn’t good. I have two troops in front of me wounded and pinned down and I am missing five others, all in fifteen minutes. Now you say that seven in a fight isn’t that bad, but when you only start with 14, that’s real bad. How on Earth did the bigwigs expect us to take an enemy stronghold with 14 men. Remind me to kill someone when, strike that, IF I get back.
From behind me, I hear someone coming up the stairs. I turn around and aim my rifle at the door. “Sergeant! It’s me! Q-Ball! Don’t shoot!” Q-Ball is the engineer that was assigned to Bravo Team. He approaches me out of breath from running.
“What the Hell are you doing here? Where is Bravo Team?” I ask him.
“We were ambushed just as we got into the church! There were too many of them! Lazarus and Blaster are dead! A pipebomb trap killed them as we entered the door. By some miracle, I escaped! I heard where you were on the radio, but my transmitter is out, so I couldn’t reply!”
“Crap! This gets better all the time! Well, listen to me. I need you to set up a gun in this position. Cover this street and keep the enemy pinned down. I’ll keep you covered, while you do it. You understand me?”
“Yes, Sergeant! I’m on it!” He immediately sets to work.
“By the way, did you run into Plague on your way in? He should have been here by now.” I ask.
“Uh, yes I did. He’s dead, too. I found him just inside the doorway with a knife wound in his back. I meant to tell you. Sorry.”
“Did you say knife wound in his back? Did you see it? Was it right about here?” Pointing to my back between two ribs.
“Yea, it was. Why?” He replies inquisitively as he continues his work.
I grimace. Plague never knew what hit him. He took that knife in the back and couldn’t even scream. Only a few people know about that and how to do it properly. We have a spy in this town. Things just keep getting better and better around here. Man, I wish I stayed in bed when they asked for volunteers to join the service.
I look back out the window at my men. They aren’t moving anymore. Looking at them through my scope, I see the both of them on their back with their throats cut. I tell Q-Ball to stop building and to keep his eyes open. The enemy troops are beginning to pull out as well. I know what they are doing. They are regrouping for the next attack.
“All units, this is Asphyxia! Heads up! Charlie Team fall back to point one and hole up! Alpha Team, secure the building and await our arrival!” I gather my rifle up and get ready to move. I am beginning to wonder why the spy didn’t kill me. He could have easily come up those stairs and slashed my throat as well. I guess he got spooked when Q-Ball showed up. Lucky me.
“Q-Ball, it’s time to move. Point one seems to be a good bet. Let’s go!” I say. We head down the stairs and towards the door. As we do, I change my radio to channel three and attempt to contact the Lieutenant “Nightmare, this is Asphyxia! Come in, please!”
“Go ahead Asphyxia.”
“What’s your status? Over.”
“Point seven secure. We took the point but Deadeye was killed. What would you like me to do? Over.”
“Can you harass the enemy enough to cover a retreat? We got beat up pretty bad and we are going to regroup at point one. We need some time to set up and wait for reinforcements. Over.”
“I’ll see what I can do, Asphyxia. Nightmare out!”
“Thanks. Asphyxia out!”
We move as fast as we can from the building to point one, which is about 450 meters away. Using rubble as our cover, we approach the warehouse. I see Enforcer standing guard just at the doorway. I make contact with him so that he doesn’t make any stupid mistakes. He acknowledges our presence and we quickly enter the building.
I take a look around the building. It is a large warehouse that has offices on the second floor with windows that offer a good look at the surrounding area. This may be a good place to try and hold them off. I hope so. It’s gonna be a while until the reinforcements arrive to save our skins. I look at the entrances and determine the good places to defend from.
“OK, men! Gather around! We have a situation here. What you see here is all that is left. Let’s get a defensive perimeter set up inside the building and try to hold out until reinforcements arrive. Mangler, you and Pit Bull get the radio from the command post and bring it here. Move! Q-Ball, set your gun up to cover both southern and western entrances.”
The two soldiers move out to retrieve the radio. Right now, that is our only link to the outside world and we need it. HQ must know that our mission here has been compromised. Q-Ball moves to a good spot and starts his work. The sound of gunfire erupts as enemy forces meet the two runners. I head up to the second level to look for a window in hope I may be able to provide some cover for them. I find one but it’s no good. No clear line of sight to the enemy. This is bad for them. I watch carefully as they move to the command post.
Just as Mangler makes it into the command post, I see Pit Bull take a shot in the left leg. Judging by the force, it was a sniper round. I’ve seen enough of those to know what it looks like. Pit Bull limps behind some cover and starts to lay down some suppressive fire. Mangler emerges with the radio on his back and waits for a signal to move. As he moves out the door, I see the telltale sign of a laser sight dancing around him. A small cloud of dust erupts from behind him as the shot goes wide.
Both of them manage to make their way to our position with the enemy hot on their heels. As they do, I see a couple of soldiers round the corner heading for us. Time to make them regret that. I quickly drop both of them with two well-placed shots to the chest. Both of my men dive into the warehouse and collapse, Mangler in exhaustion, Pit Bull in pain. Morphine, our remaining medic, attends to the vicious leg wound.
Whit the radio secured, we can hopefully get those reinforcements here sooner. If they decide to stick with the plan, we are really screwed here. Maybe Totentanz can convince someone to scramble the troops and get here ahead of schedule. I know that he will try and should succeed. He can be quite the convincing fellow. I head down to the floor and grab the handset.
“Firebase Victor, this is Asphyxia! Mission in jeopardy! We need reinforcements, over!” I shout into the mic.
I’m discouraged to hear the sound of gunfire in the background as the mic is keyed. Apparently, the enemy has some thoughts about recapturing some territory that they had lost. I don’t think that the timing could have been any better. We must have flown right by them just after we left Firebase Victor. I hear Tot shouting orders and then speaks to me. “We copy you, Asphyxia! Report your status! Over!”
“We captured two points before encountering heavy resistance.” I respond. ”Six KIA, one wounded. We have retreated to point one and are preparing for enemy attack. I think that we can hold them for a while, but I don’t think that we will be alive when you are scheduled to get here! What happened at your end? Over.”
“Roger that! We were attacked not ten minutes after you left. They brought in about two companies of troops with some support, but we held them off and are mopping up now. I’ll rally some troops and get there ASAFP! You dig in and hold on! Firebase Victor out!”
That was easy enough. Tot must be in charge there now. I check my watch. It’s 0643. I figure five minutes to rally and load up on the plane, 45-minute flight time, and ten to reach us. ETA of reinforcements is 0745. I look at my men and say, “Dig in, boys! This is going to be the longest 60 minutes of your lives!”
I get back up to the second floor and begin to move from room to room serving as a lookout. As I reach the southwest corner, I see them massing on both fronts. About two dozen on each side. Hopefully, they don’t rush us at once. I don’t know if we can hold them, even if we are dug in. I head out to the walkway and shout, “Get ready! West and South! About 20 each side!”
My men explode into activity. Pit Bull, Enforcer, and Mangler move into position behind shipping crates, Q-Ball checks his sentry and loads the last bit of ammo into it, Morphine grips his weapon tightly and watches, and BB, the Heavy Weapons specialist, takes the safety off the assault cannon and is ready. I quickly top off the clip in my rifle. My job is to cut down as many of those bastards as I can and let my men know where they are.
As a sniper, I could not ask for better conditions. Two avenues of approach, no wind, and no smoke. This could turn out to be a very good day for Jessica. I crouch down so that as little of me is exposed as possible. More than likely, loads of suppressive fire will be thrown in my direction once I open up. I take aim at my first target.
I squeeze the trigger as fast as I can and still maintain accuracy. In my first ten shots, I’ve managed to hit only five. Accuracy suffers when you try to dodge fire and line up a steady shot. I swap clips as rapidly as I can but I have noticed that they are closing awfully fast. Six of them have already reached the door. “INCOMING WEST!” I yell. My shout is answered by the sound of assault cannon/sentry gun/rocket fire. It’s deafening but I try to remain focused on the task at hand.
After ten minutes of fighting, the enemy pulls back. Looks like we held off the first wave. They are only regrouping though. I head back to the walkway and call for a status report. Pit Bull took another one in the leg, but he’s still around. Enforcer was the victim of a grenade and now covers the walls. BB is scratched but fine. Another one down, but we are still holding on. 15 minutes have passed, 45 until the reinforcements arrive.
Things become eerily quiet for five minutes. I watch intently out the window to see the enemy regrouping and bolstering their numbers. Looks like they will try to send twice the number at us this time. I check the clip of my rifle and yell to the troops on the floor, “Lock and load! Expect twice the number as before! Both sides.”
The enemy begins to advance on our position again. This time, instead of a full out charge, they are going to try and preserve their numbers and slowly move in. I don’t blame them. I killed ten of them before they even hit the door and three more on the way out. Suddenly, I see a shimmer of red dance off the barrel of my rifle. Damn! A sniper has locked in on my position. I quickly pull the rifle back and hit the floor in a fully prone position. I roll onto my back and try to track the laser’s movement against the wall as it searches the room for me.
Judging by its movement, the laser originates from the southern side of the warehouse. I crawl to the southeastern corner of the room and peek out of the window, trying to locate the source. A shot rings out and a bullet narrowly misses my head and impacts the wall. I’m pinned down and I can’t help my troops! I need to take this guy out so that I can get back to action. “ENEMY INCOMING! BOTH SIDES! NUMBERS UNKNOWN! I’M PINNED!” I shout to my men.
I take a deep breath and peek again, hoping that I can get his attention. The laser beam dances across my eye originating from a building across the canal. I duck as the shot sails past me. I got you now, you bastard. Gunfire erupts in the room below me as my men engage the uninvited troops trying to bust up our little party. I then crawl to an adjacent room keeping in mind where that sniper is. Reaching that room, I look for the laser. None to be found. Hopefully, he’s still scanning the other room and won’t notice me. I make my way to the window. With one swift motion, I set my rifle on the windowsill and take aim. It takes me about two seconds to find him standing in a room behind a filing cabinet. He doesn't even see me. I give Jessica a little squeeze.
The shot hits him in the left eye. A look of surprise and pain takes over what is left of his face as he hits the wall behind him. Now that I have taken care of my problem, it’s time to help my men. I stand up and run out of the room onto the walkway to quickly survey the situation.
Looking at the floor, I see Pit Bull prone firing his weapon at anything that comes near him. He took yet another hit in the leg, but this time, it was taken off. I guess there wasn’t enough left to hold on. He’s just about finished. Mangler is also lying on the ground, but he isn’t moving. BB is standing there with the barrels of his assault cannon spewing death. I see that he has taken a couple of hits but he refuses to go down. Then I see why.
Morphine is crouched down behind BB, jabbing him with injectors filled with drugs to keep him wired. BB now has this menacing look on his face as he hoses down the room. Glancing up at the position where Q-Ball’s gun is, I see him attempting to make some repairs on it. It’s still functioning, but it has taken a hit. Q-Ball himself is bleeding from a wound to his left arm, making his work a bit difficult. Nonetheless, he’s giving it his best.
I look back on the floor and start taking aim at the enemy troops. I rip off a dozen shots before they decide to retreat. As they do, I see them begin to panic and trip all over themselves. It’s almost funny. As the last man leaves, I breathe a sigh of relief.
As I make my way down the stairs, BB winds down the gun and stands panting with a wild look on his face. Q-Ball collapses to his knees grabbing his arm and calls for the medic. Pit Bull has ceased all of his movements. I guess he finally bought it due to loss of blood. Poor guy. I gather the three men around me and glance at my watch.
“Everyone give me your ammo status.”
In the heat of battle, you can quickly lose track of what you have expended and what you are carrying as far as your payload of ammo is concerned. I’m praying that everyone has enough to last us. I eject the clip from my rifle to discover that there are four rounds remaining to go with the five that I have in my ammo pouch. Damn!
BB looks at me and says, “I’m almost dry and I barely have enough juice in the batteries to keep the cannon spinning.”
“The gun is running low and I’ve got about 12 rounds left for my shotgun.” Q-Ball states.
Morphine is the worst of them all. “I’m out of drugs, Band-Aids, and bullets.”
“Men, I would like to commend you on your efforts here this morning. They are nothing short of spectacular. However, as you probably have guessed, we have a long way to go. Our second wave will be here in 30 minutes and I can assure you that these bastards are not going to give up. I need all of you to gather up what you can use from these bodies and prepare for the next wave. Go!”
We begin to gather all of the weapons and ammunition that they find. Unfortunately, the enemy army is not as well equipped as we are. We do manage to scrounge up enough ammo to reload the sentry gun, shotguns, and submachine guns, but I’m out of luck, along with BB, who is in need of power cells for is assault cannon. Along with the ammo, we do find a couple of medkits in some crates that somehow were not discovered
“Reload your weapons and take what you can use.” I grab a submachine gun from a dead body and check the clip. “We are going to have to make do with what we have. From this point on, we are going to have to make every shot count. Back to your positions.”
I return to the rooms upstairs to continue my watch duty. I have serious doubts that we will be able to survive another attack. Just then, I remember Nightmare. “Nightmare, this is Asphyxia. Report status, Over!”
Silence. I repeat the call and again it is answered by static. I suppose they got him, too. I guess he wasn’t as good as I thought he was. So much for him. I turn my attention back to the battlefield. To my surprise, I see no one approaching. This is strange. I figured for sure that they would attack again since we are down to only a couple of men. What are they waiting for?
Fifteen minutes pass and still no one has approached the building. I am becoming a bit curious. I better tell my men what is going on so that they don’t get too anxious. As I begin to make my way back out of the room, I hear a dull pop coming from the floor of the warehouse. I step outside of the room to see a cloud of yellowish smoke forming in the area of my men. I watch as BB and Q-Ball stagger a bit and collapse, apparently passing out. Morphine is already on the floor.
I dive back into the room and reach for the door to close it. Just as I start to close it, I feel a sharp pain in my leg. Looking down, I see a dart sticking out of the area of impact. Almost immediately, I begin to feel tired and sluggish. Tranquilizer! I begin to stagger around the room, eventually collapsing against the far wall. The door opens and in walks an enemy agent.
“Ah, the great sniper has finally met his match. It appears that I finally get to make you pay for all of the problems that you have caused us. It will be a pleasure to see you die by my hand.” He gloats as he unsheathes his knife and examines it. “Once I have finished with you, I shall deal with your cohorts in slow and painful ways befitting of the dogs that you are.”
“You bastard! If you are going to kill me, do it! Get it over with!” I say to him. My vision begins to blur and my body slumps as the drug takes full effect. He slowly approaches me as I fall into unconsciousness. The last thing I remember is a sharp pain and heavy pressure against my chest.
 Back: Chapter 3: The Attack
 Next: Chapter 5: Reinforcements
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