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_ _Readers,

I am sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out. I was putting words to print, but it never felt quite right to me. The pacing would always seem off, or something would never just quite fit.

This chapter is a bit shorter than normal, but honestly, nothing I added after Angel's sequence seemed to fit. That being said, I've got tons of material for the next few chapters, so fret not!

I hope you enjoy it. After this one, things start to get real for our heroes and heroines, as the Russians consolidate their positions around Thuringia and begin branching out.

Just who was that high-ranking Russian that Madison offed in Pressath?

What happened to Senior Sergeant Dygalo and his men during the Pressath attack?

Will Elisa be okay after her freak out?

When will Jake come to?

How do Utahraptors not have horrible breath after all that killing?

Stay tuned for the answers to these questions and many more in the weeks to come!

As usual, your comments, discussions, and questions are what keeps me going! Leave some below!

Also, some of you may have noticed, RSH has some cover art! Well, almost, as it's still in the WIP stage, but I figured I'd put a crop on it now so that you guys could get a little preview. Angel never looked so good! It's done by Dr. Nowak, so head over to his FA and show some love.

~Redfield

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***German National News Services wire report***

1130 Berlin, 22JUN11 ----------------------- FX45PNNG

Brandenburg, FRG—Russian Ground Forces launched a surprise attack against the forces of NATO this morning, taking the mainly-US supported coalition by surprise.

The attack, consisting of three elite Russian Guards armored divisions and supported by thousands of motor-rifle infantry personnel, drove dangerously towards Berlin before being halted by the heroic efforts of armored and rotary-air units of the combined German-American defense. Now, a pitched battle rages over what appears to be a crossroads junction that holds the key to Northern Germany. The crossroads, connecting the Autobahn to several other major German highways, is a key tactical objective for Russian forces operating in the vicinity.

Rumors indicate that US Army Special Forces had hit several 'targets of opportunity' as quoted by senior ranking officials in SOCOM and could possibly include fuel and ammunition stores. Reports are coming in from reporters embedded with US Soldiers that hostile forces and friendly forces are intermixed throughout the area, making fire support a nonviable option for fear of so called 'blue on blue' casualties. As reported at the beginning of the conflict, the Air Forces of both sides have been decimated by a mixture of special raiding units and some until now unseen anti-aircraft equipment. Air superiority is out of the question.

In the south, American and German troops stationed at Grafenwöhr were driven back by forces of the 4th Guards tank army, and at the time of this report, pitched battles between Allied forces and elements of the Russian Airborne forces are still taking place, with no end in sight.

“All we can expect now is to buckle down and prepare for a long struggle." CinC-EUR was quoted as saying as he rushed to his headquarters in Berlin under an intense barrage of low-flying short-range aircraft bombings that have been plaguing the capital since the beginning of the ground campaign. As for the US's allies in Europe, all have unanimously declared the EU neutral amid promises by the New Soviet government for lasting peace and sovereignty. As for the Soviet Naval blockade of the European continent, they have effectively closed the Atlantic to all American shipping. For the time being, the Navy will have their battles, while the brave men and women of the German and American armed forces will have to do their best to hold off the New Soviet onslaught.

The only question now, is which party has more blood to bleed?

****End GNNS wire report FLXRIN****

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***112th Congress, S.J. Resolution 116***

_ _22nd June 2011

Joint Resolution

Declaring that a state of war exists between the Government of the New Soviet Socialist Republics and the Government and People of the United States and making provision to prosecute the same.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

That the state of war between the United States and the Government of the New Soviet Socialist Republics, which has been thrust upon the United States, is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the government to carry on war against the New Soviet Socialist Republics; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States.

The resolution is unanimously approved, 100-0.

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_Burgruine Weissenstein _

June 26th, 2011 0120 Local

Angelina

Pack Alpha, Lucky 7-7

Angel used to laugh when her pack referred to her as the “Unshakable Angel", rolling her expressive eyes in mock disgust every time the moniker was uttered in her presence. It never made sense to her why they were so insistent on it.

By very definition, the Alpha is unshakable. They were the hook that supported the pack in times of crisis, the pillar that supported the pack in times of sadness, and the raging river that led the pack in times of violence. It was her steady thoughts and decisive decisions, coupled with that of her partner, that had kept them alive since their world fell apart just a few short days ago.

Only, she wasn't sure if she'd kept the most important person alive yet or not. Her guardian had suffered because she'd not seen the Spetsnaz that had attacked them until it was too late. Jake had caught a grenade fragment in the lower part of his abdomen, a lucky throw by an unlucky enemy soldier. They'd surprised her just as much as she'd surprised them, a fact that not even her blood-curdling roar as she attacked could not change. It was a testament to their discipline as a fighting force that they were able to charge through it, quite literally into the jaws of death herself.

Everything that had happened to Jake was on her.

The raptoress chuffed quietly in her partner's ear, moving the soft scales of her nose over the sharp stubble that was beginning to manifest on his face. It prickled against her hide, the rough texture making a sound akin to a matchbook being struck. She was not used to seeing the growth, especially since Jacob kept his morning shaving ritual religiously, even in the field. She'd be lying if she said it wasn't disheartening. The smile that the soft sound had brought didn't reach her eyes.

The alpha female curled her tail around herself, settling back down next to Jacob's cot with a quiet grunt. More soft croons echoed through the stillness of the tent, her warm breath washing over the man's face as he rested. The female hoped against hope that the gentle sounds would wake him, as they had so many times in the past, but they were ineffective.

“I hope you're having good dreams, Jake." She muttered quietly, voice digitizing gratingly as the Speech Impulse Belt fought the sobs that were hanging in the back of her throat.

Tears ran freely down the sides of her head, stopping only when they met her lips. The saline taste was sharp, only serving to coax forth more from her tired body. Her nose found his limp hand, lifting it slightly off the bed as she attempted to replicate the feeling of his delicate touch on her face, to little success. His freshly washed skin was smooth, but the feeling that was always present behind it was gone.

The Unshakable Angel had kept herself mostly together to this point, hiding her grief from her packmates to the point where it had become akin to an overheated pressure vessel that was ready to burst. Since she'd met Jake, this was the longest she'd gone without talking to him, and it was like a warm spot in her heart had suddenly died off and gone cold.

She'd never really thought about losing him before. Never really thought about a world that she would wake up that didn't have Jacob Dixon in it. The alpha had thought about the possibility, sure, but she never thought it would happen to her.

He was a constant, the part of her that always was, and always would be. The person she'd trained to work with since the day her eyes opened to the bright light of the artificial world that raised her. The lengthy and thorough education she'd been subjected to had prepared her for many things since she reached maturity at eight months, but they had never talked about the cost should they ever be put into action. She'd learned all too well what the human toll of war was in the past few days.

It was a meat grinder. The claws of a great raptor that served to shred indiscriminately, friend and foe alike, spitting out the gristly remains and spreading sadness in it's wake.

The alpha hadn't fretted when the raid warning had flashed across their computers a mere half an hour before New Soviet Paratroopers had started falling from the sky like a plague of hungry locusts. Even as the light of evening turned into the smoke-choked, inky blackness that pervaded on the night of the war, Angel had stood above her pack, resolute and focused, as she began the defense of what was now her pack's territory. She hadn't been shaken then.

The acrid smell of burned propellant, diesel, and burning plastic that had overtaken her that night hadn't shaken her one bit, either.

She'd jumped headfirst into the fray with her human at her side, calling out adjustments to fire commands and ranges as they rained death on New Soviet positions from hidden artillery far to the rear. The horror of the heavy shells shredding enemy man and machine alike hadn't shaken her, even as the scent of burned meat, heavy like burning bacon, and the sharp iron smell of spilled blood reached her nostrils.

It wasn't until she felt Jake's hot blood running down her sides, seeming to burn her skin as if it was molten rock, had the Unshakable Angel been shaken to her very core.

She could still feel his grip getting weaker and weaker around her neck, the dark shapes of trees flashing by on either side as she pleaded with him to stay awake.

“Stay with me, Jake." She heard herself say once again, memories echoing back to the dark woods as she fought to keep him awake.

Her feet had moved more swiftly than they ever had before, trees flashing past at speeds that would make a fully alert human ill.

The flash of panic that began to overtake her as his heart started to beat faster than she'd ever heard before, something that doc had called 'tachycardia', had most definitely shaken her.

The urgent shouts as he frantically set up the transfusion to save her Guardian's life had shaken her, too. She'd watched the needle pierce his ghost-white flesh, the flash of blood in the butterfly barely visible as her human fought for his life against a body that wasn't cooperating.

In that moment, under the harsh white light of the medical tent, the Alpha was reminded of a memory from the tunnels of her youth.

The reconstructed World War II holdovers constantly had moisture problems, and noisy pumps with automatic activation features were a part of daily life underground. A faulty switch had activated one during the dry summer season, running said pump without any water to keep it cool. The scratchy, rhythmic beating had terrified the young raptoress, running full tilt until the bearings had overheated and seized, the silence almost as deafening as the tortured noise had been. She made the connection at that moment under those harsh lights, as she listened to her human's heart frantically trying to pump blood that he no longer had enough of, that the tunnel pump was once again running dry.

The weak pulse that had thumped in her sensitive ears was almost nonexistent.

At that moment, she'd known he was dying. If it hadn't been for doc, he'd be laying ashen and pale on the cot, heart and blood silent, and no longer would she feel his soft touch, hear his soothing voice, or smell his sharp, distinct scent that had brought comfort to her on so many quiet nights. She'd no longer sense his body heat when he'd come to find her.

As a predator, the raptoress was no stranger to an animal in the midst of their death throes. Many a roe deer had fallen to her and her pack's talons, their lives draining out of them in much the same manner as her jaws ripped through their jugulars.

When she'd heard it happening to Jake, it had drawn the last of the Unshakable Angel straight out of her.

The raptor stood abruptly, unintentionally ripping the dirt of the tent floor in front of Jake's cot with her ebony claws. She turned away from him and rushed through the tent flap, barely allowing the inside flap to close before she burst out into the damp night air, eyes clenched shut in a pained grimace.

Her heart was racing not unlike Jake's had been, pulse throbbing in her temples as she sucked in short quick breaths. Her nostrils puffed steam into the evening air, the strangled warble of her vocal chords as she hyperventilated echoing through the quiet castle grounds. Her tail flicked behind her in agitation, the bullwhip-tip slicing the air as it escaped her conscious control. She choked back a roar, painfully restraining the air that wanted to announce her frustration to the night sky. Instead, a guttural, scratchy warble echoed from between her teeth, a truly evil sound that had she been fully aware of what was going on, would have surprised the raptoress.

The Unshakable Angel fought inside her own brain, desperately trying to take control of the frantic animal that had pushed itself front and center. The Alpha part of her psyche had been overwhelmed, and she frantically used every trick she knew to try and wrest control back to where it needed to be.

Her human, and her pack, needed her.

Angel had overcome the fright brought on by that old pump by counting in her head. It allowed her to stand atop the frightened animal inside, driving it back where it belonged, and not allowing it to endanger the pack that she led, the humans she protected, and the man she adored.

It had served her well when those men had been raining from the sky. It had served her well as she raced home with the dying human. It HAD to serve her once again, right now.

One.

It's after one in the morning, on the 26th of June. The stars are out, shining bright.

Two.

Just the two of them. Jacob and Angelina, one panicking as the other fights for his life only feet away.

Way to keep yourself calm, Angelina. Focus.

Three.

Three days since the war began. Three days since her world changed forever.

Four.

Four days, it's after midnight and the beginning of the fourth day.

Focus, Angel!

_ Five._

Five more hours until sunrise. Five more hours until the sun lights up the death and destruction of what was once the most amazing place in her world.

Six.

Six. The callsign of the man she needed right now. The man that was her entire reason for life. The man that she thought of when she closed her eyes. The man that would have his hands wrapped around her neck if he were here, comforting as best as he knew how.

Seven, eight…now nine times she's thought of Jacob in the last few seconds.

His brown eyes and gentle smile took over her mind, forcing both the animal and the alpha down, and bringing…well…bringing happiness. She could almost feel those arms around her, his strong, caring voice whispering to her that everything was going to be okay.

The fragile human soothed the savage beast.

The raptoress inhaled a few deep breaths, calming her frantic inhalations as she focused on the light in those comforting eyes. She pushed aside all the other thoughts in her head to the recesses of her mind. The thoughts of war, of the smells and sights of carnage, of a worried and struggling pack, of an uncertain future, and just lost herself in him.

It worked.

Angel's eyes snapped open, alertness flooding into her like a computer system coming back online after a reboot. One by one, her senses reconfirmed to her that everything was fine. It took less than a second before the Unshakable Angel was back in control.

Her nose smelled the distinct earthy-cinnamon scent of male Utahraptor off to the far side of the castle perimeter. The unique identifiers pinned it as Bo, patrolling the castle grounds as he did every night since they'd made camp there. The dampness of the night air only served to highlight him more.

Her hearing was awash with the shrill sounds of tree frogs, desperate mating calls mixing with that of crickets. She could hear the silent spot most of all, following Bo as he moved on his patrol pattern, hiding from the predator in their mist as he walked carefully through the dense wood.

Her eyes, however, were focused skywards.

The stars twinkled back at her from where they painted the sky, the swirls of the galaxy visible without the light pollution that had obscured it before the war in a soft pattern of muted blue, purple, and silver. She'd enjoyed many nights of watching them with Jake laid against her side, especially after the rest of Thuringia had gone to sleep, and only one or two cars wandered down the many dark roads around where they sat.

Their last year had been like that, a veritable vacation underneath the shadow of the reformed iron curtain just a few miles distant. The pack had trained in the German countryside, remaining unseen and leaving no visible trail or evidence of their presence for the Thuringian populace. It was almost too good to be true; Sleeping by day and running the country by night, hunting deer and learning their pack's territory.

She smiled calmly, the happiness reaching her eyes this time, as she remembered her human's snores as he slept against her belly. She could spend every night like that, watching the headlights of distant vehicles from their perch high atop one of Thuringia's many mountains, and listening to her human's peaceful rest.

She'd lead the pack in his absence or die trying, just as he'd do for her.

The Alpha Raptoress did not understand the flutter in her chest every time she thought of him. She huffed, pushing the thought of her own feelings aside. What she felt wasn't important right now, she thought, not while Jake is injured.

Angel sighed, turning away from the stars before moving over the wooden footbridge and into the castle ruins proper. She took an immediate left when she reached the other side, walking between two imposing, white rock walls that formed the ruin's outer ward. Their surface was covered with green moss, weather worn from seven hundred years of exposure to the elements. The Raptoress reached another staircase that led to the right and up into what would have been the former castle's Berghof.

The keep steps were right next to an arch in the castle rock's inner walls, heading up in the shape of a 'u' to the reconstructed keep tower. Near the steps, an arch that led into another part of the castle also served as the de facto entrance to the pack's underground living arrangements. Instead of down, however, she'd headed up.

The pack tended to avoid the keep, save for night time, as it was the highest point around. On a clear day, one could see for thirty miles from its crenelated top, which also meant that even a dull sentry with a rudimentary set of binoculars could see movement atop it. The castle was going to be hard enough to keep clear of the enemy once they consolidated to risk an early warning.

Angel squeezed through the small square entry way and into the cramped keep tower, navigating the odd triangular shape before stepping onto the last set of stairs, the creak of the wood as it flexed under her weight not bothering her as she emerged out into the top of the building, high above the dark conifer trees of the surrounding Steinwald.

The blanket of stars was even more pronounced from up here, and she took another moment to appreciate them, letting the warm summer wind run along her body. Not a single light was shining, she could see, a chill running down her spine. Even after the night of the war, some of the lights had stayed burning, giving as much of a sense of normalcy as one could expect with Russian boots marching down German streets. At least it had looked the same. Now, it was like something out of another world. It was as though the villages had disappeared from the face of the earth. When the fog rolled in early that morning, it would truly be so.

The raptor pushed that thought out of her head and took another deep breath, getting a hint of fresh air for the first time in days. That clean air was like a drink of cool water, reminding her of the time before the Russians had landed in her life and tried to take everything. It wouldn't be long before the smell of battle started once again, but she'd enjoy every bit of what she could.

Looking away from the sky, Angel made notice of the stone tablet that sat opposite the stairs, an interesting speckled stone pattern that reminded her almost of digital camouflage on it's face. In the smooth surface, the names of various surrounding features had been laser cut, giving the viewer a reference of what they were seeing from atop the ruin. The alpha raptor brought her forepaws up, running her ebony claws over the letters, feeling their distinct contours. She didn't take her attention off them as her radio crackled in her earpiece.

“Foxy to Lucky Seven Alpha, we are RTB with all accounted for, mission successful. I say again, mission successful, over." The deep, synthesized voice of Foxy calmed her further, lifting the worry that she felt for them while they were away off her shoulders.

“Welcome home, Lucky Seven." She responded, another smile coming forth as her claws released the push to talk pad on her armor.

Soon, her family would be home.

Angel looked to the southwest, opposite of the direction from which she knew they'd approach, seeing a faint glow on the horizon. She traced a claw on the stone in that direction, divining the correct one based on where it was oriented to her position, as well as surrounding landmarks.

She'd known where they were going. She'd known what they were going to do. That said, however, she still was not used to the reality of what this war had become. The reality of what her and her family would come to wreak on the enemy.

Utter devastation and destruction. That is what they would bring.

She looked once more to the stone, where her claw rested over the name of the city of Pressath. The city that was glowing with flickering orange and red light in her predator vision.

The city of Pressath was burning.

To Be Continued…