Second Chance

[Ranger]

I wrote this story over a year ago and posted it on FTT. I'm still editing it, so any comments and suggestions are welcome and encouraged. Just a quick warning, this is a babyfur themed story, and includes: coarse language, and violence.

[Ranger]

______The sun rose slowly over the mountains, banishing the shadows of the night and slowly warming the valleys and streams below. Down in a small mountain valley, smoke slowly rose from the homes and in the nearby fields, flowers gently nodded in the breeze, and birds began singing to the new day. All in all, about as close a picture to paradise as you could get, except for one little detail.
______This is not paradise.
______This is not some small, picturesque mountain village in Europe and the flowers were not grown just for their beauty. The village is located in the one place that is furthest from paradise: Afghanistan. Captain Ryan Martin took it all in as he led his patrol along a ridge that bordered the town, trying to stay out of sight, and keeping an eye out for hidden explosives.
______As he stood to the side, scanning the area for possible enemies and remembering what he had done to ‘volunteer’ for this mission, Ryan watched his men walk by. First in line were the twin corporals Kyle and Jayson Stevens. Each were trouble on two legs, combined, they were a force of nature. If a prank was pulled or a practical joke was played on someone, these two were almost always behind it somehow. Despite their sometimes odd behavior, they were the two best trackers he knew. Before joining the military, they had been guides for their dad’s hunting resort, and had been called on from time to time to find lost hikers or skiers, so tracking was second nature to them.
______Next in line was the Captains’ second in command, Lieutenant Tyler Ellison. At just twenty-four, he was only a year or so younger than the Captain. On top of that, Ellison was one of the best snipers in the army. Ryan had seen him take out enemies from over a half mile away with a detachment that made Ryan thankful he was friends with the Lieutenant, and not on the business end of the Lieutenant’s sniper rifle. This day he was in a rarely seen good mood and had an even rarer smile on his face, because he had just learned that he was the proud father of a healthy baby boy, and he had named Ryan as the boy’s Godfather.
______Bringing up the rear was Private David Jackson, the radioman. If there was a picture of a stereotypical west coast surfer, Jackson would have fit the description perfectly. Tall, blond haired, and blue eyed, Jackson was the newest and least experienced member of the patrol, having just come out of basic training. As the youngest member of the team, he hadn’t been in country long enough for the war to grind down on him. The enthusiasm he showed was something the unit hadn’t seen in a long time, and was a welcome change from the usual dull monotony. Before they had left for the mission, David had shown Ryan a picture of a tall, beautiful brunet named Karen who was Jackson’s fiancé. As he passed the picture around, David talked about how they had met in high school and planned on getting married as soon as his tour of duty was over.
______Ryan sighed as he rejoined the formation in the rear. He would have liked to be anywhere else but there, maybe a sunny, white sand beach somewhere, surrounded by beautiful women and lots of cold beer or even back at base, doing weapons training or paperwork, or better yet, sleeping. Despite his current location and assignment, Ryan was glad to be in the army. It was better than being homeless and constantly hungry, which he had been before he had enlisted.
______As he walked behind the private, the radio’s antenna swaying from side to side, Ryan heard the occasional report come in from other patrols. “Private, call HQ and tell them sector five-nine-one is clear and that we’re moving on to sector five-nine-two.”
______“Yes sir” Jackson said as he dialed in the frequency. “Alpha Whisky, Alpha Whisky, this is patrol two-seven-five, do you copy over?...Sector five-niner-one is clear, repeat clear. We are now entering sector five-niner-two over…Roger that Alpha Whisky, two-seven-five out.” He turned to Ryan as he finished the call, “HQ says there are some sketchy reports of enemy movement up ahead and to be on the lookout.”
______Ryan expected HQ to say something like that, but before he could ask any useful questions like how many enemies they were talking about, Ryan saw his two trackers waving in his direction. Jogging to reach them he saw them pick something off a small bush. “Sir, take a look at this” Jayson said, holding their find up as the Captain arrived. **** Ryan thought as he took the cloth fiber and felt a cold knot form in his stomach like it usually did when something was about to happen.
______“How old is it?”
______“Recent sir” Kyle said as he looked around the area after screwing the cap back on his canteen, “Within the last twelve hours or so. Any older, and it would have blown away.”
______“Anything else?”
______“A few broken branches and overturned rocks.”
______“****,” Ryan said as he saw the rest of the twin’s find. To the untrained eye, everything looked fine, but to his eyes, everything was anything but fine. He saw the bruised and battered brush, the overturned rocks that were wet when they should have been bone dry and the almost invisible foot prints. “How many do you think?” Ryan inquired as he crouched down to study one of the near invisible tracks.
______“Hard to say sir, they were probably walking single file to hide their numbers, but from what we can see, there were at least fifty people walking through here, probably more.” Jayson said as he looked over the evidence again, hoping and praying he was wrong. “And I doubt they were up here just to enjoy the scenery, which sucks.”
______“Great, just ****in’ great” Ryan said sarcastically as he issued orders to the squad. “Listen up gentlemen, we are going to complete the mission, and to do that, we need to go through that canyon” Ryan continued, gesturing to the canyon in front of them, “I want eyes in the back of your head as we go through there. I don’t think I need to tell you what a perfect ambush site this is. If you see anyone, and I mean anyone who isn’t on our side, don’t hesitate to take them out. Let’s go.” As he started for the canyon’s mouth, Ryan took his weapon off safe and heard the clicks of the others following suit.
______As he walked, Ryan kept the muzzle of his weapon pointed at the canyon walls and rim knowing that if they were going to be ambushed, this would be the place because of the numerous cracks and small caves the canyon offered. Behind him, the others were doing the same thing, looking for anything out of the ordinary as they made their way through the canyon at a quick, but steady pace.
______At the base of a rise about half way through, Ryan signaled for the squad to stop and take cover behind some boulders. Once four sets of eyes were on him, he pointed at Jayson, then at the small cave at the base of the canyon’s wall. With only a nod of his head, Jayson made his way over to the cave entrance, which was about Ryan’s height, and threw a grenade into the hole. A muffled explosion and a cloud of dust came from the cave’s mouth a second later.
______Ryan signaled for the group to continue moving, but before he could move, a gunshot rang out through the canyon. Time seemed to slow down for Ryan as he saw David collapse to the ground, a gaping hole where his forehead should have been. Seeing movement above him, Ryan brought his weapon in line and fired off two rounds, which caught David’s killer in the chest and neck, causing him to fall from his hiding place to the unforgiving ground below with a sickening thud.
______Signaling for Kyle to check out the body of the attacker, Ryan rushed to where David lay; knowing full well before he got there that the radioman was dead. “What do we do now?” Tyler asked as he covered David’s face.
______“We could just leave him here for now and come back later” Ryan sighed, trying to stifle the tears that were beginning to form as he watched Kyle come back from the attacker’s body carrying a rifle, an AK-47, extra ammunition for both and several knives, “or a better option would be to call for someone to come get his body while we go on ahead.” Before he could list other options, several shots rang out, and Ryan felt intense pain as a bullet grazed his leg. Reacting immediately, Ryan fired at the two gunmen on the rise in front of them, dropping one. Getting behind cover, he glanced at the top of the rise and saw more muzzle flashes than he could count before he had to duck behind cover. “Or we could get into a ****ing firefight instead!” He yelled sarcastically to his second-in-command as they returned fire.
______The hill soon came alive with the sounds of -what seemed to Ryan- hundreds of guns. As his team returned fire Ryan wrestled his backpack from his back and opened it, pulling out grenades that he could launch from his gun, which was the only one in the team capable of doing this. Ryan yanked out the now empty clip from his gun and loaded one of the larger rounds and put a piece of bubble gum he had grabbed from his backpack in his mouth and started chewing. The other members of the patrol knew what to do. As soon as Ryan gave the signal, they increased their rate of fire, giving their Captain cover. Ryan stood up, the boulder covering everything from the middle of his chest down. He aimed at a scrawny tree that was growing halfway up the rise and fired at the two gun men behind it. As soon as he fired, he took cover again. The team repeated this, and Ryan never shot from the same place twice, always moving around, so the enemy couldn’t predict where he’d fire from.
______Once he was out of grenades, Ryan pulled out a small survival mirror from one of his pockets and his bayonet as well. Once the gum was sticky enough, he used it to stick the mirror onto his bayonet, which he attached to his weapon and used the jury-rigged device to look at the enemy position. He noticed small craters in the ground where his rounds had landed and the mangled bodies of several enemies who had been unfortunate enough to be in the way. As Ryan tried to count the remaining muzzle flashes, a bullet hit the mirror, shattering it.
______ “I’m gonna call in support, cover me!” Ryan yelled over the gun fire, once it had become clear to him that they couldn’t handle this on their own. Ryan ran towards and dove behind the boulder closest to David’s body. Grabbing the former Private by the ankles, Ryan pulled so that he could get at the radio without getting shot. Like ambushing us eh? Well, that’s the last mistake you’ll ever make. Ryan thought as he got the correct frequency. “Thunder six, Thunder six, this is Wolf three over!”
______“Wolf three, Thunder six, go ahead over.”
______“We are under heavy enemy fire! Requesting immediate fire support in vicinity grid QG two-three-eight-three-three-seven-five-six-eight-three over!” Ryan screamed into the receiver.

[Ranger]

______“Negative Wolf three, unable to fire on those coordinates over.”
______“‘Unable to fire on those coordinates’?!?! What the **** do you…hold on a sec!” He threw the receiver down, then picked it back up and yelled, “Over!” noticing the Lieutenant waving at him. As soon as he got his Captain’s attention, Tyler tossed him a pair of binoculars and pointed at a hill about a kilometer behind them. Ryan looked at the hill and the cold lump in his stomach immediately cooled down to cryogenic levels. We are so ****ed. Ryan thought, a smile forming on his face as an idea developed, unless…Ryan picked up the receiver, “New coordinates Thunder six, hit vicinity grid QG six-two-four-three-eight-four-zero-seven-four-eight with everything you got over!”
______“Roger that Wolf three, artillery is on the way over!”
______“Good! Wolf three out!” Ryan yelled as he turned and watched the hill as it got hit by the artillery, the sound of the explosions reaching their position a few seconds later. On the hillside, the enemy reinforcements scattered like smoke in the wind. Back in the canyon, the gunfire slowed down as the ambushers saw what was happening to their reinforcements. Ryan and his patrol used that momentary lull to take out several more enemies. One down, two to go…
______Unbeknownst to anyone on the battle field, something began to glow in the cave that Jayson had cleared, barely visible behind a thin layer of rock.
______Meanwhile, the situation was looking desperate for the ambushed patrol. Kyle had been hit in the leg and was bleeding despite the field tourniquet he applied. His brother had taken a bullet to the left hand and was doing what he could with his right. Lieutenant Ellison was fine, save for a few minor cuts and a bullet grazed arm. “Sir, we can’t hold out much longer!” Jayson yelled to Ryan as the Captain finished with his calls.
______“Help is on the way along with evac!” Ryan yelled as he threw several flares in front of their position, watching as they twirled in the air, the smoke billowing from them. “Take this and give me the forty-seven and ammo” Captain Martin roared, throwing the others in his command what ammunition he had left. “And while you’re at it, fix bayonets.” They all knew the seriousness of what this now meant. They all knew that Captain Martin would order bayonets only if he felt that they were about to face hand to hand combat. With the odds being what they were, this meant the squad wasn’t likely getting out of the canyon alive, or at all, if help didn’t arrive soon. Picking up the AK-47, Ryan expended half the clip, taking several enemies out of the fight permanently, when he heard the radio squawk.
______“Wolf three, this is Avenger two, do you copy over?”
______“About ****in’ time” Ryan muttered to himself. “Avenger two, Wolf three, where the ****ing hell are you?!? Over!”
______“We are two clicks south of your position. ETA in twenty seconds. Over.”
______“We got several flares marking our position. We are on the south side of them; everything north of the orange smoke needs to go away. Over.”
______“Roger that. We are on final approach over.”
______“Great to hear. Wolf three out. We have incoming fighters, get down!” Ryan yelled as he got off the radio and followed his own orders. Around him, the others followed suit and took cover, Jayson using his body to cover his brother. Even though Ryan knew almost down to the second when the fighters would be overhead, he was still surprised at their sudden appearance. He watched as the jets roared over head, their guns blazing as they roared down from above and released their payloads. In less than a heartbeat, the bombs hit the enemy position and exploded, showering the patrol with rock fragments and other assorted debris. The nearly simultaneous twin explosions echoed throughout the canyon, leaving the patrol’s ears ringing. Once the debris stopped raining down, Ryan looked at the impact site and saw a large, smoking crater where the bombs had hit. What surprised Captain Martin even more than the size of the crater was the fact that as soon as the rock shower ended, the enemy gun fire resumed.
______Ducking behind his boulder, Ryan looked in the direction the fighters had come and saw the most beautiful sight he could think of: a transport chopper being escorted by a pair of attack helicopters. “I think its time we left this party.” Ryan yelled as the others saw their ride approach. “Jayson, you and Kyle get on the transport first. Tyler, grab David and get onboard after them, I’ll cover you guys.” Behind them, the Apaches opened up with their machine guns and rockets as they passed over head, clearing the landing zone for the transport chopper and giving the enemy gunmen something new to shoot at. The transport descended quickly and hovered just off the ground, kicking up dust, and as the back hatch opened, several marines jumped out with their guns drawn and firing. Ryan watched as the twins made their exit, with Jayson supporting Kyle. As soon as they were on board, Tyler shouldered his weapon and picked up David in one smooth motion and ran for the chopper. The members of the patrol made their exit each time an Apache flew overhead and opened up on the enemy position with its guns and rockets.
______While this was going on, the four marines formed a semi-circle around the back hatch with Ryan in the middle and slightly ahead of them. As the marines boarded the chopper, with their guns still drawn and firing, Ryan saw an enemy soldier with a rocket propelled grenade stand up and aim at the transport chopper. The captain fired at the man as he took aim and hit him several times in the chest. As he fell down, the dying man’s fingers tightened on the trigger, sending the explosive flying towards Ryan and the chopper. Fortunately for everyone onboard, the explosive glanced off a boulder before it hit the ground and exploded, detonating before it could reach the chopper. Lieutenant Ellison watched in horror as the blast wave of the grenade hit Ryan and picked him up, throwing him like a rag doll. When the dust cleared, the lieutenant’s friend was gone.
______Ryan felt the grenade’s explosion hit him and lift him off the ground, along with the rock and metal fragments as they forced themselves into his body. Flying through the air, Ryan was thrown through the entrance of the cave and he hit the back wall, which gave way upon impact, and Ryan was swallowed by, for lack of better words, a glowing hole in the wall. Seconds later, another enemy rocket that missed the transport helicopter, exploded just inside the cave, collapsing the entrance and sealing off the cave permanently.
______Captain Martin didn’t know what to think as he looked at the swirling walls of the tunnel he was in. If he had to guess, this was some kind of hallucination brought about by his wounds and was better suited for a science fiction series. Off in the distance a rapidly growing light appeared. I sure hope that’s not what I think it is Ryan thought as the light engulfed him. As suddenly as it appeared, the light disappeared, and the sensation of flying returned to Ryan. Grey walls replaced the swirling walls of the tunnel, and at the speed he was traveling, Ryan had no time to react to the large, solid looking wall that appeared in his path. Closing his eyes tight, Ryan hit the wall and felt his left shoulder dislocate, along with several ribs give way. As he hit the ground, Ryan heard a snapping sound and felt fire radiate through his left arm. As soon as he stopped moving, Ryan drew a knife from a sheath strapped to his right ankle and slowly tried to stand up, using the wall for support. Ryan’s legs had another idea and buckled as soon as he had gotten to his knees. Ryan was unable to break his fall, and as he blacked out, he was convinced he was hallucinating, because what he saw was simply impossible.

[Lone_Wolf]

Great Story, i hope their is going to be more.

[NARU]

lotsa dashes.....