Canalzone
Seven chapters of a battle loosely based on Canalzone (the original) and TF.
— [P]Asphyxia
Chapter 5
The Counterstrike
“Asphyxia! Wake up, you stupid SOB! C’mon, snap to!”
I slowly open my eyes, fighting the sunlight that pours into the room. My head is pounding and my mouth tastes like I have eaten an old shoe, complete with the sock. Must be an after effect of the tranquilizer drug. Groggily, I look around the room to see Totentanz kneeling to my left administering drugs to counteract the tranquilizer. The enemy spy is lying face down on the floor to my right with a gaping wound to his head. Junebug, Tot’s assistant, is tending to a deep laceration to my right arm caused by the spy’s knife. He must of cut me as he fell. Standing in the doorway, Deadeye is holding his rifle looking at me with some concern.
“What happened? By all rights, I should be dead now.” I say as I sit up. I wince as my head lets me know that it’s not too happy with me right now.
Tot looks at me with a wry grin on his face. “It appears that we arrived just in time. Deadeye over there took the liberty to explain a few things to this chump before he eviscerated you. He radioed your position and told us that you were about to be attacked. We drove them back and managed to secure six of the points. We are regrouping and preparing to take the rest of the town. HQ has two brigades on the way, but I don’t want to wait for those slowpokes to show up and take all the credit.”
“What about the rest of my men? Did any of them make it?” I ask.
Tot looks at me and says, “They are fine. The stuff that this guy had was just some knockout gas. They are up and around. We have some ammo for you and your men.” He pats me on the shoulder and gives me a reassuring smile.
I look at Deadeye. “Wait! What about Nightmare? Has anyone seen or heard from him? I sent him to take Point seven. He reported to me that you bought it and he was fighting a nuisance battle with the enemy.”
He shakes his head. “I lost him about halfway there. He never said anything to me and I figured that he stepped on a mine or something. So I went rogue and started harassing the enemy myself. I noticed that the enemy seemed to be making precise movements to cover the positions that you were heading. They looked like they knew where you were going, when you would get there, and how many of you there were. I then saw Nightmare moving towards the enemy base waving his arms. He was greeted by someone from inside the base and just walked in. That is screaming enemy agent to me!”
“Damn! He’s been tipping them off! There is no other explanation for it. They were ready for us at points two and three and they knew that we had holed up here. It’s a miracle that we are alive. That bastard will pay! I will personally see to that!”
I rise to my feet. My head throbs massively for a short period as I stagger around. Once I have gathered myself, I walk out of the room and see several men hauling around supplies. It appears that we managed to get a foothold in this town long enough to bring a supply chopper in. How long was I out? I look at my watch, 0844. Man, that was some mean stuff that this spy used!
I walk down the steps and find a crate in a dark corner to sit on. As I sit, I begin to sweat profusely and quiver. No amount of Marlboros will stop this. I should be in a black vinyl bag with a dog tag shoved in my mouth. Morphine looks over and approaches me with a disarming demeanor. “You all right, Sarge? You look a bit rattled.”
“You bet I’m rattled! By all rights, I should be a statistic, now. That guy had me and I was very fortunate that someone was there to save me.” My hands shake as I raise the cigarette to my mouth. “Someone up there must really like me to keep me around.”
Morphine nods his head and reaches into his medkit. Pulling out a pill he says, “Here’s something that may settle you down a bit. This is a small dose of Valium to get things back under control. It’s not enough to seriously chill you out, but it’ll do the trick. I use it on people that get bad cases of shell shock. Take this and then try to get something to eat. Sounds like we are gonna need all the strength that we can get.”
“Thanks, Morphine. You are doing a bang-up job here. Keep it up.” He nods and I watch as he walks away and attend to other wounded troops. I remove the pill from the wrapper and swallow it with a swig of water.
Fifteen minutes and three Marlboros later, I have gathered my nerves enough to eat. I examine an MRE that was issued to me, Chicken Ala King. A better description would be regurgitated cat food. This stuff is nasty and I wouldn’t feed it to a starving animal, but I need all the strength I can get. I choke it down with ample amounts of water. The best part of the meal is the Ranger pudding that I make from everything in the accessory packet. Cocoa, coffee, creamer, sugar, crackers, peanut butter, and a small amount of water mixed into a paste. It’s smelly, it’s not too tasty, but it’s potent and good for a quick shot of energy. When you are in the field, you need every bit of energy that you can get.
Once I have completed my gourmet meal courtesy of some guy in a laboratory that I would like to beat senseless, I set out to gather my supplies and find Tot. I find him in an office planning out the next phase of the attack. It looks like he wants finish this now. I can tell because he has a very serious look on his face.
“We are going to rout them here and now! I want to leave three guys back here and take everyone else to attack. Currently, we have a front established in the town near point six. We will rally there and split into two squads. Asp, you take your squad and move into point seven. We need control of the boathouse and seal them off from escape. You will take it, or die trying. I will take my squad to point eight. Once we have both points, they are trapped. From there, we will take over their command post and hold there for the two brigades of reinforcements to arrive. When they do, our jobs are done and the first round back at base is on me.”
I give him a grin. I then remember that Nightmare said he had secured point seven. I hope he’s still there so I can really let him know what Jessica and I think of him. I look at Tot and say, “If Nightmare is still out there, he has some of our commo gear. We should try to feed false information and catch them off guard if he’s tipping them off.”
“Good idea.” He says. “I’ll take care of that”
I smile. “And I’ll take care of point seven.”
He shoots me a grin. “I’m counting on you, my friend. Don’t make me save your tail again.”
“Not this time!” I reply
I walk out of the office and gather up Q-Ball, Morphine, and BB. “We got this far together, so let’s finish it. You three are coming with me.” I brief them on the plan and I get a nod of approval from each of them. They all gather their weapons and equipment and we prepare to move out.
I light a cigarette and load my clip with some fresh ‘Viper’ rounds. I then check my submachine gun and make sure that it’s ready. Sniper rifles suck in close quarters, so this thing may be useful. I reassure myself that if we win this fight, we will be very close to ending this stupid war and going back to Sunday football, steaks, cold beer, and my easy chair.
We quickly move out and rally the troops at point six. I choose my squad and tell them to disperse into concealed positions. The signal soon is received.
“All units! This is Totentanz! We are pulling out! Everyone return to point one for evac! You have five minutes to get back here or you are on your own! I repeat! All troops rally at point one for evac!”
Tot’s squad picks up their gear as if they are moving out. I see them run towards point one as rapidly as possible in an attempt to sell our plan. Two minutes later, I begin to see enemy troops closing on our position. It looks like we have accomplished what we set out to do. It also confirms to me that Nightmare is a double-dealing sidewinder that needs to be exterminated.
ShowTime.
 Back: Chapter 5: The Counterstrike
 Next: Chapter 7: End Game
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