\n (Just a quick note here, I've had this floating around for a while, just not uploaded. Bear with me, I had a massive case of a twitchy finger over the shift key. Long abandoned habbit. Anyway, Enjoy! ^^ ~A Fox)

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\n Chapter 4 – “Marathon”


\n Somewhere in the Sadr City Area
\n Baghdad, Iraq
\n ???? Hours (Local Time)

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\n Henry Townsville Groggily opened his eyes, looking at the plain sandstone walls that made up a wall in front of him. A Large Black Flag with a Pair of Crossed Sabers Hung on the Wall. His hands Were Bound Behind his Back, Secured to the frame with Zip-ties. His Head Rang With Pain. A Door Was Set in The Wall Next To The Flag. He heard Voices in Arabic Coming From Behind It. His Equipment Was Nowhere To Be Seen. A Lone Light Bulb Hung From The Ceiling, Flickering occasionally. It Was Then, The door swung open, and a angry wolf in a ski-mask stormed in, shouting at him in Arabic, Before the butt of the Wolfs AK-47 Came down into his face, Sending him Back into Unconsciousness.



\n Sadr City Market Square
\n Baghdad, Iraq
\n 0830 Hours (Local Time)5

\n Gant Hefted The LAW Onto Her Shoulder, Taking Aim At The Window Where The Sniper Was Pinning Them Down From, And Jammed Her Finger Down On The Trigger. An Instant Later, Clear Over The Sound of The rest of their squads covering fire, A Deep “Whoosh!” Sounded, s the rocket flew from the barrel of the launcher, Taken not 10 seconds ago from the body of their former squad leader, Under heavy covering fire after she dove from behind the stall’s cover. The rocket left a clear white smoke trail in it’s wake, before slamming through the thin wooden curtain covering the window, and detonating against the rear wall of the room, blowing the occupants to hell in an explosion of debris and splinters of furniture.

\n “Woo! Nice Shot Gant!” Caleb yelled from behind the stall next to the sergeant, still unconscious and with the IV in his arm.

\n A Silence Engulfed the square as the squad quickly moved to the entrances to the market area, taking cover behind the building corners, on watch for any possible hostile.

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\n A Car Horn Sounded in the distance.

\n And Again, Sounding nearby.

\n And then again, Much closer this time.

\n “TECHNICAL!”

\n And with that shout, they broke as one for the southernmost Exit, one man diving back besides the sergeant, Ducking his head and praying to go by unnoticed, as the White Ute Smashed through stalls coming from the northernmost entrance, the PKM mounted on the back tray Firing Wildly at them as they ran, Sprinting onto the main road, sprinting from cover to cover and zigzagging while they ran to avoid fire.



\n Entering Sadr City
\n Baghdad, Iraq
\n 0835 Hours (Local Time)

\n Lieutenant Frank Farrel’s Convoy Cruised Down the main highway into the Sadr City Area Of Baghdad, The M1A1 Abrams Tank At The Head Of The Convoy Knocking Debris And Ruins Out Of Their Path Like A Runaway Bulldozer, Flattening Anything That Didn’t Get Bashed out Of It’s Path As It Powered down the Highway, The V12 Engine Roaring All the way. Ahead, A Makeshift Barricade Of Wrecked cars and Sheet’s of Corrugated Iron Blocked Their Path. The Tanks Commander Quickly Radioed This back The Farrel’s HMMVW.



\n Sadr City Highway (Southbound)
\n Baghdad, Iraq
\n 0836 Hours (Local Time)

\n “RUN DAMMIT! RUN!” Gant Shouted Over The Sound Of The Technical Behind Them, As A Black Painted Vodnik Light Attack Vehicle Rounded The Corner They had Just Passed, Adding It’s Fire To The Chaos.

\n “Where The Hell Did They Get A Vodnik From?!!” One Of The Force Recon Troops Yelled, Quickly Ducking behind A Car To Avoid A Spray of Rounds From The Vodnik’s Roof Mounted PKM, The Turret Swiveling As A Line Of Bullet’s Embedded themselves in the car, Shattering the Windows And Leaving holes throughout the side. The FR Troop Sprinted From Cover Again, Dashing Down The Road At An Olympic Runners pace.

\n A Barricade Lay on The Road, 700 Meter’s away. “Quickly! Get to That Barricade, We Can Climb Over it To Get Away From These bastards!” Gant Barked, No Objections To The Order, Just Another Burst of Fire From The Technical Chasing Them, And Closing Fast.



\n U.S ARMY BASE – BASEPLATE CHARLIE (3rd Base)
\n 20 Miles West of Baghdad, Iraq
\n 0838 Hours (Local Time)

\n The Communications Operator Looked over his Orders Again, Having Came From The Blackhawk Flying High Above The City Acting As Their Spotter. He Pressed down on the All U.S Frequencies Channel, Before Speaking Into The Mike In front Of him For The Situation Update, His Voice Coming Over Every Loudspeaker At The Base, And Through The Radio’s Of All Personal Who Had Them.

\n “All Units, Be Alert, A Large Hostile Force Has Mobilized In The City. I Say Again, Be Alert, A Large Hostile Force Has Mobilized In The City, All Units Are Advised To Fall Back To Extraction Points And Await Further Orders Until We Can Asses The Severity Of The Situation."



\n Sadr City Highway (Northbound)
\n Baghdad, Iraq
\n 0839 Hours (Local Time)

\n The Voice of An Angry And Impatient Husky Who Outranked The Tanks Commander Blared back Through the Headset he Wore, The Lt. Had been Driving Them Like A Pack mule since they Got The Order To Move in And Secure The Crash Site.

\n “Goddamnit! I Don’t Give A Rat’s Arse What’s In Our Way! Drive Through It! That’s An Order! Out.”

\n The Abrams V12 Roared back To Life, And It Ploughed Onwards, Hitting 40 Miles Per Hours In A Few Short Seconds, Driving Straight At The Barricade, As The Gunner On The Mounted 50’cal Ducked into the Turret, Closing The Hatch Above him.



\n Sadr City Highway (Southbound)
\n Baghdad, Iraq
\n 0841 Hours (Local Time)

\n A Sudden Pain Shot Through Gant’s Left Shoulder, As the 7.62mm Rounds Punched clean through her Flack vest, Causing her to lose her footing suddenly, Falling to the ground and rolling to the side of the street, behind a parked station wagon, not 20 meters from the Barricade, the rest of their remaining squad taking cover also, As the Vodnik And Technical Skidded to a stop, Blocking the Highway, with no way out of the street except behind them or over the barricade. Their Mounted PKM Machine Guns Continued to Spew rounds At The Force Recon Troops. And Then, Everything Happened at once.

\n Like A Wave Of Water unto A Sand Castle, The Barricade Simply Exploded Outwards, As The Massive Form Of An M1A1 Abrams Tanks Ploughed through it, Jarring to a Halt on top of one of the cars it had knocked down, the turret Swiveling and immediately Locking It Sights On The Vodnik.

\n “Gunner! Target Hostile Vodnik, 1 O’clock!”
\n “Target Acquired!”
\n “FIRE!”
\n “ON THE WAY!”

\n “CRACK!”
\n The Tank Skipped backwards As The 120mm Smoothbore Cannon spat Forth A High Explosive Shell at something close to the speed of sound. The Vodnik’s Crew Scrambled To Escape Moment’s Before the Tank Fired, But They Were To Slow. The Vodnik Exploded In A Massive Burst Of Fire And Metal Fragments As The Shell Exploded Inside The Crew Compartment, Throwing The Vodnik Back Down The Road In A Blackened And Crumpled Heap. The Technical’s Driver Was Already Turning The Ute Around As It’s Gunner Fired Franticly At The Troops And Tank, Screaming In Arabic For The Driver To Speed up.

\n “Target Destroyed.”
\n “Target Hostile Technical At 11 O’clock!”

\n The Turret Swiveled To Face The Technical.

\n The Gunners Frantic Yelling Sped Up Even More As The Technical Finally Faced Northwards And Began To Speed Off Down The Road.

\n “Target Acquired!”
\n “FIRE!”
\n “ON THE WAY!”

\n “CRACK!”
\n The Tank Lurched A Second Time, As A 120mm Shell Came Down on The Technical Like A Ton of Brick On A Tin Can. One Second, It Was There, The Next, It Was A Flaming Wreak, The Crumpled Remains Of The Ute Rolling End Over End Down The Road until It Came To A Stop, Also Crumpled And Blackened.

\n “All Hostiles Down Lieutenant!” The Tank Commanders Voice Came Over The Radio, as it Drove off down the road enough to let the rest of the Convoy Over The Crushed remains Of The Lowest Cars In The Barricade.

\n “Excellent Work, Hold Here For A Few, We’ll Move On In A Moment” Farrel Replied as his HMMVW bounced And Juddered over The Flattened car, coming to a stop Next to The Car’s the Force Recon Marines had Been behind, along with the HMMVW behind his, the Troops disembarking, A Shout Of “Corpsman!” Calling A Field medic To Gants Side, As They Folded Out A Stretcher And Placed Her On It, Her Tail swaying Gently over One Side, As The Young Fox Medic Above Her Worked To Stem The Bleeding From Her Shoulder, Placing a Gauze Patch over the bullet wound and Pressing down on it.

\n “You’ll Live. It Went Straight Through,Hell, Il'd Even Say You Were Lucky.”

\n She Gave A Cough And Gave A Short Thanks To him, As A Large Husky Bearing Lieutenants Bars On His Flak Vest Appeared in Her Field Of Vision.

\n “Where’s The Rest of Your Squad? I Count Only 5 here.” Asked Farrel.

\n “Their A Few Blocks Down.” Gant Gave A few Coughs, clearing her throat. “In The Market Area On The Left Side of The Street. 3 Dead, 1 Wounded and 1 who stayed to keep an eye on him.”

\n Farrel Barked A Few Orders That Gant Didn’t Fully Hear, Just Looking At The Sky Peacefully. “Put This One In The Hummer, And Get Her back To Baseplate Charlie Double Time.”

\n The Medics Quickly Lifted Her Stretcher, Moving To A HMMVW With it’s boot open, Sliding The Stretcher In, And Climbing In After Her, Shutting The Hatch As The HMMWV Turned about in the Street, Driving back Over The Barricade And Speeding Down The Highway.