Pillars of Glass Read online

  He shook his head as he began to read what each packet was. Who was in charge of these people who have brought a war upon this world? Who was their leader? Hell who was Aaron’s leader? His concentration broke with the laughter of those around him. He looked at his watch, 13:34, still plenty of time.

  The first bite was always the worst, the taste most resembled a mixture of dust, sweat and whole milk. The grunts bread and butter. Aaron thought of all the Civilians back in the cities and temporary housing at various FOB’s around the country. He wondered what they were eating, wondered if maybe they had some fresh chicken, or beans, or bread for that matter. He assumed that those would be rationed, as Command had no real expectations for how long this state of emergency would last.

  Again his concentration was broken by the laughter of a few of his squad mates. He watched them and wondered how they could sit there and laugh. Was it to keep one another from experiencing other emotions? Aaron speculated that even if they had some cares for his fallen classmates on that day seven months ago, he was one of the only few that watched as his brother sacrificed himself to save so many. They awarded Aaron a Metal of Valor in his brother’s stead, but the few ounces of brass did nothing to fill the holes that were once Alex. Aaron was Fourteen now, spending his birthday on patrol two weeks ago helping to relocate civilians from the FOB to a temporary settlement 15km away. Hours after his brother died, Aaron volunteered for the S-2 Unit, though they wouldn’t allow him to be in a Combat unit till he was Sixteen, he had more military experience than nearly all the other 12 men combined in his unit. None of the grunts had attended the school and only three of them had any type of ‘advanced’ weapons training.

  “S-2, round up we leave in two minutes. Rodgers, Ulkamp, and Ortega, You’ll be out on point in this rotation. We will be heading north for 22 blocks then cut west for six where there should be a large building that we can set up a scout post in and hopefully radio back to the FOB.” The squad commander was in his late twenties and been assigned command only a few days before they set out. Their old squad leader had been reassigned as medical detail to be of better use to the corps. He had shown enough promise in the MASH units, assisting in several surgeries, that command thought it better to keep him there. He was polite in communicating with his men even if sometimes it came at the price of discipline for the unit. The new Staff Sergeant wasn't as polite. With the tone of his voice, he made sure his Orders never came across as requests and were always followed. Aaron couldn't help but wonder how this man would stack up against his brother in a command.

  Aaron grabbed his pack and his weapon from its perch and checked to make sure the safety was off. He vowed he would never let himself be caught in a firefight with his safety on ever again. If he had to fire, he rather shoot first and ask questions later, than lie bleeding in the rubble of a hot zone needing medical support from any member of this ragtag unit.

  The ants went marching two by two down the narrow passages as they explored the area around their concrete pick-nick grounds, hoping not to find a kid with a magnifying glass waiting for them a few kilometers further into the city.

  ___

  “Shade-Tree this is Phantom-Three do you read?”

  “Phantom-Three go ahead.”

  “Shade-Tree I have one squad moving northeast about half a kilometer from the city center.”

  “Can you identify?”

  “Standby”

  There was a pause as he observed their movements. They had some training, but it was obvious that this unit was not made of regulars. Must have been from the National Volunteer Corps.

  “It looks as if they are NVC attempting to sweep the city one block at a time.”

  He watched the unit move up through the next block, and then raised his goggles for a better look at the faces of the men standing out in the open. They are going to get themselves killed out here like this he thought, about midway through looking at the faces he was interrupted by the voice.

  “Phantom-Three track and assess. Target is not due to arrive in the area until 16:00. Divert the NVC Unit if necessary, we don’t need civilians screwing this one up.”

  “Copy, Phantom-Three out”. He placed his goggles back to their neutral location and moved to the rooftop. He waited for them to be a few hundred yards further up the road before flowing them.

  14:59 Zulu-

  Aaron felt a tap on his shoulder, “Hey, Ehlinger,” it was Ortega, “why have you been so quiet today?”

  “I guess I’ve-“

  “Ehlinger, Ortega. Come with me.” Their Squad leader barked out and they obeyed.

  They were right on schedule; they had made it to their target, a few kilometers north of the city center, one of Anderhill’s hospitals. They moved quickly into the half dilapidated building and started clearing the first two floors before the rest of the unit was brought inside. Once the entire unit was present the rest of the men were divided into three man teams and told to hold a floor each, Aaron’s group ascended to the fifth floor.

  They quickly cleared it and made their way to the southeast corner to set up radio communications with the FOB. While their leader unpacked the radio, Ortega tried to continue the conversation from before.

  “Don’t worry about it man. We all have our days, just thought I’d let ya know I noticed is all.”

  “Stingray this is Seeker-Two”

  “Thanks ‘Tega”

  “No problem, hey you want to hear something I was told last night at the FOB by one of the radio operators?”

  “Seeker-Two what is your status?”

  “We have arrived at Checkpoint Beta with no resistance, it is empty but still fully stocked”

  Aaron nodded to Ortega “I was told that this is a pretty hot zone, north of the Highway. In fact Black Ops have been going on patrols into the area and finding armored carriers and enemy troops destroyed, and a few days ago they intercepted a Mayday call in the middle of the night stating that they had been engaged by some TAC-Unit they were hunting. When asking for confirmation there was a loud explosion and radio silence for nearly a minute before a voice came on the other end. The voice identified himself that they had terminated all ground troops and transports, and would continue to do so whenever they were sent into ‘Their City’.”

  “Alright Seeker, continue with the rest of your mission, transport will meet you at Checkpoint Alpha and bring you all back to the FOB, Stingray out”

  “Rodgers are you in the motor pool”

  “Yes Sarge”

  “Perfect, find a vehicle with a large storage area and get it running”

  “Ehlinger take Ortega down the main stairwell and you two tell Doc to enter the pharmacy and stock all he can into the packs and then have Rodgers and Ulkamp load them in the motor pool.

  “Yes Sir”

  The two friends moved down the stair well and Ortega kept on with the hearsay.

  “Apparently this TAC-Unit has no command and has no communication with us at all, but all they do is kick enemy ass. So Command hasn’t sent anyone out looking for the Unit, as if they could find them anyway. However now the enemy is sending out missions during the day so they can attempt to flush out the saboteurs before nightfall. Ghosts can’t fight in the daytime right? They even call them ghosts, they nicknamed the unit Eidolon.”

  ___

  “Shade, come in. The NVC has moved into a hospital and look to be retrieving medical supplies. The door to the motor pool seems to be opening and a vehicle is on its way out”

  “Phantom, this is Shade, continue to observe from a distance.”

  “Copy”

  They only had a half hour to move out and get south of the Highway before he moved them himself. He understood his mission parameters and it stated clearly, they must have zero civilian casualties.

  “Shade, I see smoke coming from the northeast about 4km out, and moving this way,” he raised his goggles and saw the cause. “I have Visual on an enemy Demo-Team looking at clearing out the nor
th part of the city. Must have been Air Dropped and hidden in the mountains north of here.”

  “Copy that Phantom-three, what’s their pace?”

  “Looks like they’ll get here close to when the target arrives”

  He lowered his goggles and looked over his shoulder at the NVC. “The NVC though is moving similar as long as their vehicle doesn’t run into any problems.”

  “Shadow divert their vehicle to the Highway and then rally with the rest of your unit, We can’t miss this one. The Demo-Team is not in our intel or a priority. It looks as if they are going to attempt to flush us south. We will reassess tactics and find a suitable location for us to remain as we are. Phantom one has left our location and will meet you on schedule to assist.”

  He put his goggles back to his face for one quick glance and replied the affirmative, then switched to his sort range radio. “This is Phantom-Three, has anyone else seen an enemy Demo squad moving towards the city center?”

  “Three, this is Five. Six and I are a half click from them. They are about eighty deep and have 12 armored carriers with them. Looks like they came from the mountains and are making a clean sweep. We intercepted a short transmission that they are looking to meet at the city center and then make everything from two blocks south of center and north of the highway, rubble. We are going to meet up with the rest of the of the unit on the north side and make our way to the Tree and e-vac. You and the rest of the guys go south look after that squad and make it out safe, See you back at the Tree.”

  “That’s a rodge, Five. Keep clear Two and Four you hear that? Get south.” Phantom-Three took a deep breath and started following the NVC. Finally his thoughts made their way out. “Shit,” he said quietly as he looked at his watch. “We’ve lost Anderhill”.

  16:00 Zulu

  Ehlinger was in the driver’s seat while his Staff Sergeant attempted to navigate a route out of the city. They weren’t hauling ass out by any means; half of the unit was still on foot attempting to keep up with the slow craw of the ambulance while others were spread out in front of them scouting a way out. Crumbled buildings and flipped vehicles created barricades along their initial route making it impossible to drive down some of the already narrow corridors. The zigzag pattern was time consuming and they wanted to make sure and get back to the FOB before nightfall. Aaron knew his squad was about to approach a very open area, but it was looking more and more that the Highway maybe their only way out of the city.

  “There isn’t much out here sir, we may have to stick to the wider roads.” A voice came over the radio to break the silence in the cab

  “Copy that. Ehlinger, in a quarter kilometer take a left onto the road heading east, It’ll be the main highway but we are going to have to use that to get out of here.”

  “Sarge,” Aaron spoke quietly, as he looked up the road for his turn “I heard a rumor about a rouge TAC-Unit that-”

  “That’s all they are Ehlinger, a rumor. They are probably barely trained in any form of combat outside of a scuffle at a bar. They don’t have hundreds and hundreds of men. Look, all we need to do is-”

  The high-pitched whistling noise was unmistakable to Aaron. His brother Alex use to describe them to him whenever he was home from school, it was a Tank round.

  “Gun it! All Troops get ready for-”

  He was once again interrupted, but this time it was by the cackle of rifle fire. Aaron looked to his right and saw why. It was a full platoon marching down the highway outfitted with armored support vehicles. He had almost turned right in front of them. As the small arms fire continued as the rest of his unit crossed on the opposite side of the vehicle as he used it to shield them. Once he had gotten them across Aaron turned sharply and headed east. The men were in front of him running in a cluster, they had forgotten their training and were running out of fear. The enemy was closing.

  “Everyone make their way down the next corridor then take a left at the following block, there is an aqueduct there that will lead you to where our extraction is at Alpha, Ortega, Ehlinger and myself will attempt to get this supplies out another way. Rodgers you are in command, lead these men home.”

  Aaron turned down the corridor and watched as the rest of his unit cut off and jumped into the aqueduct as the pinging continued from bullets hitting the now frail metal box that housed their cargo. Just as he was preparing to make another turn the vehicle started to shake. Aaron was about to ask if it was the engine when he heard a pop and the ambulance lost control and toppled to one side skidding along the pavement for several yards before coming to a screeching stop.

  Ortega opened the small door into the cabin and started yelling. It seemed as though Aaron was moving through a vat of syrup as he unbuckled his seat belt and nodded towards the Staff Sergeant, Suggesting that Ortega tend to him first. All he could hear was a high pitched pinging sound and the muffled rumblings of the other two men, until he felt the glass break behind him.

  They exited out the hole where the windshield once covered and tried to regain their legs. Chipping noises and debris clouded Aaron senses as he tried to assess if they were in any danger, oblivious to the rounds chopping away at the air above him. A sliver of the platoon had followed them down the road and kept up the suppressive fire, but what was most alarming to Aaron was where their transport had stopped. It was a narrow corner with only way as an escape for them, to the left, crossing uncovered in front of their hunters. If they attempted to run they would be mowed down by gunfire, however there was no side entrance to the building either. They were pinned. Aaron looked at Ortega, who was still attempting to help their Sergeant to his feet, and when they made eye contact the both of them knew it, they weren’t cheating death this time.

  The gunfire was getting louder and more focused with each passing moment and all that was left to do was hope they wouldn’t perish. And then it came. The high whistling pitch of artillery was unmistakable in ever facet but one, it wasn’t getting louder. An explosion vibrated the pavement below Aaron’s feet causing him to fall to one knee where he looked up and saw the smoke trail of the rocket, it was coming from the wrong direction. He kept following the trial to a window in the building behind him when he saw another flash of light and the whining noise start again. This time he could follow the rockets path and saw it make impact with an armored carrier, catapulting it into the air and spinning like a gymnast coming off the vault.

  As he peered back at the window Aaron saw a man leap from the eighth story and start repelling to the ground firing rounds into the enemy patrol. He watched as the man descended to the world below, gliding as though he had wings. He was dressed in black and gray camouflage fatigues with matching boots and helmet and upon impact he quickly detached himself from the rope and tossed Aaron a rifle, running to the fender of the ambulance. The enemy fire had become looser, and less accurate; now there was help, and with it a chance.

  Aaron looked up as he heard glass break in the building on the corner across from where his guardian had descended. A rocket was fired from the corner building this time causing more commotion when it impacted the troops attempting to retreat from the mouth of the corridor. Aaron pointed his rifle down range and squeezed the small lever in the stalk of the rifle it was fully automatic. A type of weapon he had not yet had any training in and it showed. The first six rounds went down range in an arch much like way the momentum carried the weapon in his hand. It shook in his arms for a moment until the man pulled back into the cover of the ambulance. He then took Aaron’s non-trigger hand and placed it on the grip towards the front of the barrel and gave him a nod. Then looking through his mask he made a motion that stated he would crouch and shoot while Aaron stood tall and shot over his shoulder. They took a deep breath and rounded the front fender shooting down range once again. Aaron looked for individual targets, this time squeezing in short three round bursts, but the smoke was starting to get thick from the fire protruding out the vehicles that lay in ruin. Out of the corner of his eye Aaron saw another man
repel, this one from the corner building and upon hitting the ground he motioned for them to come across. The covering fire was just enough to clear a path for Ortega and the Staff Sergeant to traverse the thirty feet from cover to cover.

  Fire from the buildings continued with a barrage of rockets and automatic rifles. Aaron thought to himself their had to be at least twenty men up there helping save them. There was a tap on his shoulder interrupting his thought, as it was his turn to cross.

  He took one deep breath and yelled. As he ran he felt as though he was covering a thousand yards. His boots felt slow and weighed heavy as he pressed on, finally making it to cover. He turned and started shooting down range and motioned for the unnamed man to follow. Watching him cross the man looked as if he was walking through the war-zone as one walks down the isle of a church, a sense of calm that one should not have when a hundred men surround your home.

  After he reached them he spoke for the first time. “What is in the transport?”

  Aaron couldn’t tell if he was looking at him, the helmet was dark and it was impossible to see his eyes. He tried to raise his voice over the covering fire.

  “It’s all medical supplies we are just a NVC Scout team.”

  The man placed his hand up to stop Aaron. “Three and Four, continue support fire and try and press those troops back, limit the rockets. Two will stay and protect the wounded man. While the two able and I will go below for the truck.”

  He nodded to Aaron and Ortega, “ You two follow me.”

  Ortega looked at their sergeant and then back at the new man in front of him giving orders. He was unsure as what to do until Aaron spoke.

  “He knows we aren’t enemy combatants, if he wanted to kill us, he would’ve done it already.”