The Gun Bunny Chronicles - 1: Welcome to the Jungle
1530, 25 Miles east of Kabul, Afghanistan.
Beneath the fading desert sun, a group of soldiers, Marines and Army, went about the task of passing out school supplies with the usual light hearted banter that befit those who had shared their lives together. Smirks and quick quips were passed down the line, thankfully not understood by the children they were currently passing notebooks and pencils to. It probably would have caused an international incident.
The company was scattered in random places around the one street village, each edging towards the shade whilst trying to complete the task at hand. The vehicles, a neat line of MRAPs, sat outside the village entrance, still running and guarded. It wouldn't do to have Aladdin's house flattened by a 58,000 pound truck. From the entrance, every building in the town could be seen. Houses lined the left and right sides of the dirt path and lead, almost guard like, up to the meager mosque that sat as the towns square, with the school just beyond and to the right of it. It was bright white and brand new, though humble and small. it would have made the first American school houses look almost like an Ivy League. Goats grazed along a small patch of grass next to the fenced in rows of crops that had been planted to the left of the mosque, a small hut dedicated to holding fertilizer and other farming implements sitting just outside. All in all, the village would never appear on a map outside of the US Military.
Just outside the schoolhouse, a small group of Marines and Army stood in a loose circle next to the entrance, watching as small children ran in and out of the door, laughing and giggling all the way. Sergeant Elise Reinhardt watched from beneath her sunglasses as a lion cub ran off with a foxes doll, the latter running after him with determination shining in her little eyes. Her hands cupped the edges around her body armor, adjusting the unforgiving weight to better suit her ample bosom. With a roll of her shoulders, the white and blue bunny eased some of the tension then settled back against the wall.
"You know, when I was a cub, my momma woulda whooped me good for taking my little sisters doll."
Her eyes darted forward to the deep southern voice that rang out amidts the laugher. Her eyes settled on their squad leader, Staff Sergeant Spivy. Even at 6 feet even, Elise could never have attempted to intimidate the hulking bear, who stood well over seven feet. His armor had to be special ordered by the Corps. Although, 'Teddy' was a good way to describe this particular beast. His gold eyes slid to hers, then to the Fox standing to his left.
"Staff Sergeant, How do you even remember that far back?" Corporal Michael Sellers had been with her since A School, and was due to get his third stripe sometime soon.
"Fuck you, Sellers." The words came from the bear in a light hearted chuckle.
"Aside from Staff Sergeants memory, there isn't anything amusing around here." Elise said through the malboro red stuck between her lips. The ashes had long since fallen off, and the cherry was almost to the filter. Slender fingers reached up and plucked the cigarette from her lips and held it out, aiming. "Sellers, open your radio pouch."
"Again, Sergeant? I'm going to be dumping ashes out of this thing all the way back to the FOB."
"Dude, it's not like you carry a radio in the damn thing. Open it." She smirked.
Sellers obliged, releasing the clap on the front and lifting the pocket up. Her ring finger flashed forward, slapping the cherry away from the butt and sending it flying into the pouch. Sellers, who never got used to the fact that she didn't miss, quickly slapped the pouch to put it out.
Just then a nicely built grey wolf walked up to the group, an Army Lieutenant, and their platoon leader. Damn Army terms.
"whats up LT?" Spivy asked, twisting his bulk to look at the wolf. LT Marcus Rockwell was an easy going guy, and one of the first to easily integrate with the addition of Marines to his command. He was also one of the sexiest wolves Elise had laid eyes on. He glanced at Elise and Sellers before turning to Spivy. "Alright Spivy, grab your guys and head back to the trucks. We're headin back to the house."
Spivy nodded and turned to Elise and sellers. "Alright, you heard him. Lets roll." He walked off after the LT.
"Baller. Come on Sellers." Elise followed soon after.
2 Hours later, one the way to Kabul
The Army and the Marine Corpse had come to an agreement that maybe a few task forces scattered around with manpower from both branches would be a wonderful idea. In most respects they were wrong; soldiers and marines tended to get hotheaded and brawl over nothing of great importance. The end result of this was a lower morale and decreased mission capability. This was for 90% of the companies that were formed. However, the company Elise belonged to seemed to get along very well. In their squad they had two Soldiers. Lt Rockwell was assigned to them on the outset of the deployment, and Specialist Simon Lachner was a white rat who was the newest addition to the squad. They were the 3rd Squad out of six in Charlie company, with Firelord as their callsign.
The seven trucks stood in a neat line, faithfully awaiting their operators like the inanimate objects they were. Elise walked directly to the third truck in the line, an MRAP she had called her own. The spray painted letters on the drivers door said 'Gun Bunny', referring to her radio sign, and the one above the windshield said 'Party Rock', indicating the name of the vehicle. By no means were these slight modifications to radio ettiquet and truck badging in accordance with Army or Corpse standard, but no one gave a shit about it.
Elise gave a quick tug on the handle and let the pneumatic door open itself before hoisting herself up, planting her firm rear end into the semi soft cushions. Quick movements of her hands bucklet the safety belt across her chest, her left reaching out and tugging the door handle to close the door. A few switches flipped and a big red button pushed and the turbocharged International roared to life. A smile split her lips. One could say she was almost in love.
A loud thud from behind told her that the rear ramp had lowered, and bootsteps quickly followed afterwards. She turned her head to peer at the soldiers and marines that walked in. Sellers took up his usual position in the turret behind the M2 .50 cal. Lachner took a few quick strides up the steps before settling into the seat behind hers, buckling in as he did so. Spivy's bulk filled up the rest of her vision, and she just saw him hitting the button to raise the ramp as she turned back to the front. The side door opened with a hiss of pneumatic pressure and LT Rockwell climbed in. She was glad her eyes were hidden behind her sunglasses; she caught herself staring at the predator a little more than she should. So what if he had a sexy voice, a sweet physique and a grin that would have made Little Red Hood forget to make her stupid comments.
"Spivy!"
"Sir!?" The bear rumbled from the back.
"We got everybody?"
"One sec sir." The bear cleared his throat and panned his gaze around the interior of the truck. "If anyone ain't here, raise yer hand." A few seconds passed in dramatic flair before he added. "We're good sir."
"Alright. Gun Bunny, how we looking on your side?"
A small shiver passed up her spine. He had a sweet way of saying things that made her go 'Oooh!' "Good here sir."
"Brain. SincGars, Duke and BFT update."
Simon smiled lightly. "All three are good sir. No faults here." Of course they were good. Simon didn't earn the nickname 'Brain' for being a dumbass.
"Good. Todd, hows the Ma Deuce?" Ma Deuce was one of the many affectionate nicknames for the venerable M2 .50 Cal.
"Ready to dump bullets into whatever I point it at sir." The fox got his nickname from the main character of the movie the Fox and the Hound.
"Excellent. Papa, final checks then we wait on the rest."
Spivy nodded and looked around, doing a final check on the rear ramp and various other systems that no one else could get to because of his size."We are good to go sir."
By that time the radio buzzed with chatter from the command vehicle. Captain Hines' voice filtered through the squawkbox and into the cabin.
"Firelord Six to all vehicles, hurry up and sound the hell off, we gotta get this shit moving."
She loved the no bullshit way these Army guys did things, even if they were the only ones in the Army who were like that.
The command vehicle was an MRAP that contained Captain Hines and his guys. They were obviously accounted for.
"This is Priest in lead vehicle, Genesis, all up." "This is Vulcan, Hellfire is up."
Her hand slid to the mic and brought it to her face, thumb hitting the transmit button so they could hear her. "This is Gun Bunny, Party Rock is up."
"This is Seburo, Bad Romance is up." "This is Toasty, the Dragon Wagon is up." "This is Banjo, Kazooie is up."
"Alright, confirmed. Genesis, you're up."
"Fast and Free, sir." With that the first MRAP pulled out of its spot and started down the road back towards the FOB. A few seconds later Hellfire followed with a roar of turbocharged power. Elise put the truck in gear and took off the brake, foot mashing the gas with steady necessary force needed to send the 58,000 pound truck after Hellfire.
Soon they were rolling at a steady clip, Hines chiming in at random intervals to watch the road and remember their spacing. LT Rockwell had a set of speakers up, Guns n Roses currently sounding out just loud enough to hear over the trucks engine. He set the iPod down on the shelf and leaned back, undoing his helmet and setting it in his lap. "Gun Bunny, you have got the wierdest playlist ever. It goes from classic rock all the way to rap with a little bit of everything inbetween."
Her foot slowly pressed the brake as she turned the corner onto one of the few paved roads in Afghanistan. "Don't knock it sir, I was the only one who remembered to bring their tunes. Besides, I like to keep an open mind about music. It's good for the soul, man."
Papa chuckled and Marcus just grinned. Their mirth was interrupted by the sight of asphalt blooming into a dome like shape off to the left side of the road, multiple cracks and fissures in the substandard blacktop forming within a second. Shrapnel flew at the trucks, pinging off the thick armor and a roar sounded out as the sound of the blast hit their truck.
"Fucking christ!" Gun Bunny yelled as she hit the gas and swerved around the dome that had so rudely interrupted their lovely evening drive. radio chatter blasted out of the radio and Marcus quickly shut off the speakers. Amidst the chatter he made out that Hellfire had a flattened tire.
"Damn it, just perfect enough for an ambush if they are feeling bold." he grimaced and shoved his helmet back on his head. "Sellers, lock that fucking weapon and keep an eye out!" No answer was given, the M2 was already ready to go. His ears twitched as Hines came over the radio.
"Alright chill the fuck out! Party Rock, Bad Romance, flank Hellfire and provide cover, 360 security. Watch for secondary blasts!"
Elise turned the wheel and pushed the gas, bringing her truck up next to Hellfire. She grinned and waved at the guys inside.
"What do you think happened?" Papa asked to anyone who wanted to answer. The guys in the other truck waved back.
"Looks like a blast went off! i might be mistaken though." Sellers shot down from the turret, voice dripping with sarcasm. Spivy gave him a half hearted punch in the thigh as Brain lifted his sunglasses.
"It looks like they buried the bomb too deep. Going underneath the asphalt wasn't a great idea in the first place, but then again neither was placing an explosive where there was no real cover for it. But we shouldn't be worrying about that right now, there is something else that bothers me."
Gun Bunny swiveled her head back to look at him. "What do you mean?" Her eyebrow perked as one hand scratched at a long ear.
"I mean, the signal wasn't jammed by our countermeasures. That means they had a direct link to the bomb, which means they are close."
Her eyes widened slowly. Marcus was about to get on the radio when the telltale sound of 7.62 rounds burst out of midair, pinging off the sides of the trucks, although their armor was so thick, that wasn't going to hurt them. Sellers answered with a blast of M2 rounds in that direction. She hoped that he blasted them all. The volume of fire increased until both sides were flinging massive firepower at each other. Dismounted soldiers fired grenade launchers at the now identified insurgents who were hiding behind mud brick walls and sand dunes. RPG's screamed overhead, filling the area with streams of white smoke. One impacted into the side of Dragon Wagon, knocking off the outer shell of its armor and causing a loud, ear splitting crash to reverberate out amongst the staccato of gunfire already going on.
"Why aren't the Mark 19's firing!? Someone get on those damn launchers!" Hines yelled through the radio. Soon after, loud thuds sounded as grenades impacted around the mud brick walls, sending sand and shrapnel all over the place. A marine went down when a 7.62 hit him int he center of his body armor. he'd live, but he was going to be hurting for a while. Spivy handed up another ammo can to Sellers, who quickly slapped the belt in and double charge the .50. Flames shot out of the boiling hot barrel as rounds were slung at a rate of 500 rounds a minute.
Ears ringing, Elise lifted up her M4 and peered through the ACOG on the top. Leaning against the door, she brought an AK-47 wielding man into her sights and fired twice, both impacting his chest and sending him flying to the ground, dead before he even met the sand. Gunfire was continually traded by both sides for what seemed like an eternity until a loud succession of booms silenced almost everything. She had no clue who called the helicopters, but she was damn happy they did. 30mm explosive rounds impacted into the insurgent position, sending body parts and red mist flying, coloring the sand in a fine sheet on scarlet. For good measure, a few rockets impacted the remains of the mud brick wall they were hiding behind. She drew up her M4 and climbed back inside of the truck, shaking hands reaching into her cargo pocket and fishing out a cigarette. It took her a moment to steady her poor fingers before her zippo could meet the cigarette, but she did it. She sucked in a full drag of smoke before handing the pack to the now returned marcus, who in turn passed it back to the others.
"I swear to god, if anyone tells me anything about smoking in this truck, i'm going to drive this thing off a cliff." She said, letting her head rest on the steering wheel. Marcus just patted her back.
"Y-yeah..don't worry about that. I'm sure everyone is doing it right now." He said softly, taking a drag of his own. He didn't even smoke.
"Umm...might be a stupid question, but..what happens now?" Sellers said softly. He always did after a firefight like this. Never failed.
"Wait for the tow trucks man." papa said, leaning back as best he could.
3 Hours later, FOB Anvil
Elise didn't even go back into her room after her shower. She was sitting in a fold up chair just outside of it, towell wrapped around her waist length hair. She shook her ears slowly to get the rest of the water off of her fur whilst her hand plucked the cigarette from her lips. She paid no attention to the other guys that went by, admiring the blue and white bunny and her lovely physique so barely covered by the Marine's skimpy PT uniform. Least she had put a bra on. Her chest heaved slowly with her breathing, and she really didn't notice Sellers and Simon until the Rat and the Fox were standing in her light.
"Hey, what the..Oh, hey guys. Take a seat." They did. Folding chairs were a godsend, and both of them had their own. They unfolded them on either side of her and sat down.
"How are you two holding up?" She asked gently. Sellers shrugged but the rat just looked downcast.
"Don't know.." He said softly, eyes looking a little blank.
"Your first firefight. It sucks, but if there is something you're feeling, don't hesitate to share it. It doesn't help."
Simon nodded slowly. They sat there for a few minutes, some spent chatting, some spent in silence. When Elise stood they took their cue and stood as well, grabbing their chairs. Sellers turned with a nod and walked back to his room. Elise turned to Simon and cocked her head slightly.
"Alright, out with it. What up man?" Her hand lifted to rest on his shoulder.
He sniffled, fighting back tears that he really didn't want coming out. It was no use though, for when Gun Bunny pulled him into a tight hug he let loose, her shirt starting to dampen more from the onslought.
"I..I killed somebody! I actually killed someone, I shot him!" he bawled. She patted him gently and nodded, resting her cheek agaisnt his head. After a while she pulled back slowly and looked him in the eyes.
"Look man, just imagine the life you saved by doing that. If you didn't do what you had to do, one of our guys might have died. We all did what we had to and no one was killed. Thats a good thing Simon. It's going to be hard and painful for you, but don't hesitate to talk to any of us about how you feel, ok?"
He nodded softly and smiled. "I'll see you later." He leaned down to scoop up his chair. When he stood she patted his cheek before he walked off.
"Good job today, Simon." Her hands slid to her hips.
He turned back to her. "Thanks Sergeant. Goodnight."
She nodded slowly. When he left, she picked up her towell and stamped her cigarette out int he butt can as a sharply dressed raccoon made his way up to her. After the usual second of letting his eyes wander over her curvacious form, he gave her a brief nod.
"Sergeant, you're supposed to be at the post mission briefing right now."
Her eyes widened..she had forgotten!" You've got to be fucking kidding me!"
End of chapter one. Please send feedback, flames, praises and anything else to [email protected] or to my SoFurry! Thanks for reading!