(CH9) From Soldier's Rifle, To Dragon's WIng's (Book 1)
There are many things we don't know about in the mysterious world of the military, Project Draco is one of them. I was recruted into this project against my own will at the age of 14. My life went from normal to dodging bullets everyday of my life. You could say that I know death personally. But when you have wings, scales, talons, and can breath fire, you already have a target on your head It's just a matter of time. This is the story of my life, as a Project Draco recruet............as a dragon.
Sam and I grew closer than ever before as brothers, by blood and by combat as the months passed. We had been on multiple missions with each other, but we took extra precautions due to the new dragon killing bullet we found on our first mission. The bullet was simple, the casing was smaller but still had a punch to it. The bullet itself was different though, at the tip of the bullet, there was a long sharp point, like a hypodermic needle.
Blitz made a quick recovery after the doctors removed 3 of these new bullets from him, and was back with us on the third mission. By the fourth, we had our first causality, Joseph was hit in the chest by an insurgent sniper, the bullet killed him immediately. We were all shaken by this loss, but a new member, Carson Bogart, quickly took his place.
Holland became the Commanding Officer of a base close to Pakistan, Camp leatherneck. The base was smaller than Sadr City, but we found comfort in the base and its members days after we arrived. Within days we had our first mission, to escort a dragon who had been sent in to recover Intel from an abandon American military outpost, out of the area. Trick is, he has no clue we are coming.
He had been told that he was going in alone to reduce the chance of being caught, but the area quickly became hostile. Within minuets, we were in a V-22 and on our way to Pakistan, our mission, to get the dragon named Hunter out with the Intel, with 3 humans from our squad, Sam, Aaron, and Carson.
DATE: March 27, 2011
TIME: 5:30 A.M.
LOCATION: Karachi, Pakistan
MISSION: Search & Escort
TARGET: Hunter Firechaser
We had landed deep within Pakistan, and were looking for a dragon named Hunter. The only problem, we only had his last location, which we were lucky enough to be close to. We started to walk deeper and deeper into enemy territory, looking for a ghost when Tyson decided to break the silence.
"So....where do you think this Hunter guy is?" Tyson asked as we came to a stop in a small part of a village. The buildings were lined neatly on each side of the road. The road led about 93 yards and led to a left turn. I stood in silence, scanning the area for any enemy movement, but a light fog that had settled on this part of the village didn't help in the process. "Wherever he is, we need to be cautious. Remember, he doesn't know that we were sent in to help him." I said to the others quietly.
We then started to walk down the road, but as we neared the turn, I felt something troubling me. I stopped and started to look around. Faline quietly approached my side. "What's wrong Ta......BRAAAAAK BRAAAAAAAK!!" Faline was cut off as gunfire started to come from a door about 50 yards in front of us. We were immediately sent into action, and started to fire on the house.
After a minuet of firing, everything grew silent. We were all inside buildings. Firedrake, Sam, Aaron, and Tyson were in a building with me, and Faline, Carson, and Blitz were in another across the road about 10 yards from us. I slowly started to peak around the door to get a look at the building. As I did so, more fire started to come from the building, the bullets hitting the wall just inches from my head.
"SHIT!!!" I yelled, jumping backwards and out of the kill zone. I then started to look around and saw a door that led to an ally behind the buildings. As I noticed this, an idea came into mind, "if we go through here, we might end up behind them." I thought to myself.
I grabbed Firedrake and spun him toward the door. "Tyson, stay here and draw there fire, we will try to flank him." I yelled over the fire. "Make it fast!" Tyson replied as he leaned out of the door and started to fire his SAW. "Come on." I said to Firedrake as we turned and exited out the back of the room and into the ally.
We cautiously made our way to the building in which the fire had come from. As we neared it, I ordered Firedrake to take the front ,where the fire was coming from, when I caught there attention. He nodded to me and disappeared into a building beside me. I started to walk toward a door that was already open.
"it's a trap!" I told myself as I scanned the door from afar for any wires. After checking it, I eased my head into the door to see what was inside. There was a dragon, but not just any dragon, an Anthro dragon. He was crouched in the doorway, firing what seemed to be a UMP 45 at the others.
There was no doubt he was Hunter, but before I could stop him, he glanced my way and spun. Before I knew it, I was flying through the air at him. I hit him hard, pinning him to the ground as he struggled to break free from my grasp.
"Hunter!!" I managed to blurt out before he planted his feet onto my stomach. With one thrust, he sent me flying through the wall by the door I had just come through. I quickly recovered and got back onto my feet, ready to attempt to take him down again, but froze in my tracks when I saw what was pointed directly at my head, a SPAS-12.
He held it with one hand, and was ready to fire. "Who the fuck are you and how do you know my name!" Hunter commanded to me. "Relax were here to get you out." I replied to him. He cocked the gun and raised it. He had a look in his eye, he was going to kill me, right here right now.
"Shit!" I said to myself as Firedrake came through the door behind him and stopped. "Drop the weapon or ill split you in half!" Firedrake commanded. Hunter started to laugh. "That pussy 7.62 wont do much to me." Hunter stated with his gaze still locked onto me. "It may not do much, but a 105 from point blank will." Hunters smile went away as fast as it had come, and he through the Spas on the ground in anger.
"You never answered me," he asked after I had come back into the room. I started to look him over, he was jet black with blood red scales that ran from his head down to his tail. He was wearing a military flak jacket with a large knife holster on the shoulder. He also had a Glock 19 with a silencer on the end of it. "I'm Taro, the leader of dragon squad Talon. We were sent on a mission to escort you and the Intel safely back to base." I said kicking his SPAS-12 back over to him.
The others then came behind Firedrake and into the room. "That's Faline, Firedrake, Tyson, Blitz, Aaron, Carson and Sam." I said pointing to each of them. "So, you were sent to get me out of here, how come I was told that I would get no help during this mission?" he asked as he picked up his SPAS, he sounded confused. "That was before the area became hot, now we need to move if were to be at the hotel by 8:00." I said to him as the others went into a defensive position around the house.
Hunter walked over to his UMP-45 and picked it up. "You Project Draco recruits?" he asked as he shouldered his SPAS. "Yeah, what about you?" I replied to him. "Area 51." was his reply. I opened my mouth to ask him something, but was cut off by Faline. "Taro, we got 4 technical's incoming!" I moved to the door, and could see multiple technical's, each was filled with insurgents.
'We need to move, now!" I said pushing everyone into the alley where Firedrake and I had come from, just as a few men on the ground entered the building.
We walked for a few hours, deeper into a more populated part of Pakistan as the EXFIL point came into view. The EXFIL point was a 15 story hotel smack dab in the middle of Karachi. We used the city sewage pipes to get as close to the building as possible. When we came out of the sewage pipes, we were beside the building in an alley out of view from prying eyes.
We were all looking up at the building when Hunter broke the silence. "Well.....see you at the top." he said before starting to free climb up the side of the building with ease. We watched him till he reached the 6th floor, then started to make our way through the hotel. Lucky for us, it had been closed down for cleaning, but the alarm was set, so as soon as we burst through the door, an earsplitting screech rang out.
We made our way to the stairwell and eventually to the roof. We were all panting when we reached the top, and Hunter was perched on the concrete barrier that stopped you from plummeting to your doom looking down on the city. "We got the fuzz coming here at a high speed." Hunter said as I stopped panting.
He was right, over the sounds of the city, I could hear sirens. "What's our plan Taro?" Sam asked. I started to look around. The only way up was through the door we had come through, so if one of us could guard that we would be fine, but we need a backup plan. I looked from the door and to the area surrounding it. There was a large antenna and billboard on an elevated platform at the end of the building.
'Were at the EXFIL point, but the area is going to be hot in a few minuets." I said, radioing our EXFIL V-22 pilot. "Copy that, be there in 10 minuets." he replied. I turned to the others and started to tell them my plan. "Ok, here's what were going to do. Blitz, and Faline will watch the door until the evac bird comes, but if things get to hot, I want you to switch out with me and Firedrake. I want the humans to set up some rappelling cables for if things get complicated, now go!" I commanded to each of them.
Sam, Aaron, and Carson started to walk toward the wall that Hunter was standing on, but I stopped Sam. "I want you to plant C4 around the door, and blow it when we leave." I told him "Yes sir!" he said giving me a slight salute before going to the door. "What about me?" Hunter asked. "I never said you couldn't join in if you wanted to." I replied to him. He smiled at me before running over to the door with Sam.
I walked over to the wall and peered over it. There were 30 plus cop cars outside the hotel. Among the cars were at least 7 S.W.A.T vans. "Man there not going easy on us" Carson said as he secured the cable. "Set!" he said aloud. "Set!" Sa and Hunter said in unison. Faline and Blitz got in there positions, about 45 yards away from the door as the sounds of footsteps started to come from the stairwell.
"Shhhhh!" I said quietly as the footsteps came to a spot in behind the closed door. "Get ready." I whispered into my headset. Moments later, the door flew off its hinges and gunfire started to ring out. Faline and Blitz were firing there weapons into the dark door, not giving anybody inside a break, as a voice came over my headset. "Talon, looks like you've got enemy military forces moving in on your position." I walked over to the wall and looked over. The sight shocked me.
There were at least 42 mobile transport vehicles approaching down the main road, they were followed by 4 tanks. 'Firedrake," I called out. Firedrake ran over to my side. "What you need my for?" he asked as I pointed toward the tanks. "Take care of them!" I said to him. "With pleasure." he said as he fired a round from his 105MM into the lead tank, it burst into a ball of flame and the tanks behind it came to a stop.
"Taro!" Faline screamed through the Headset. I turned to her, she and Blitz were having a hard time trying to keep them pinned down. "Hunter, switch!" I yelled to him, Hunter turned to the door and Blitz moved out of his way, his SAW red hot from firing. Faline jumped out of my way as Hunter and I started our turn in taking care of the humans.
Tyson soon joined us in keeping them pinned down, the sound of his Vulcan just daring anyone to come up the steps. We managed to keep them pinned down for a while as our V-22 came into view. "Ha-ha, were going to make it." Carson yelled in joy, causing me to look over to him. As I did the immediate WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP of a helicopters propellers made me stop moving. Carson was facing us with his arms raised high in victory when a 2 seat Pakistani attack helicopter appeared from the side of the building.
Carson spun around and let his arms drop to his side. The minigun on the front started to prime up when Hunter came into my field of view, he was in a full sprint toward the helo. As he reached the wall, he jumped, and slammed into the cockpit, landing on the pilot and crushing him. He then drew his Glock and got 3 quick shots into the co-pilot as the helo started to spin out of control.
"FREEDOM!!!!" he yelled in joy, as the helo started to plummet toward the ground. Without thinking, I ran toward the edge, leaping off the side of the building, then going into a dive after Hunter. As the helo reached the 7th floor, I heard Hunter yell out "SHIT, IM STUCK" I grew closer to the helo, but had to break out of the dive as the helo slammed into the ground and slid 57 yards down the road.
"Hunters down!" I yelled through my headset as I landed by the crashed Helo. "Hunter, Hunter!" I yelled as bullets started flying toward me from the ground. I took refuge behind the wreckage as it started to move. "Bloody Hell!" Hunter said weakly as he pushed himself out from under the wreckage. "Come on Hunter, get up. We have to get somewhere safe!" I said looking around. that's when I noticed an impound lot, with heavy metal gates about 25 yards away from us.
"Come on Hunter, were going there!" I yelled to him over the fire. He attempted to stand, but yelpe3d with pain as he put weight on his left leg. "AHHHH, Its broken Taro!" he said to me. I then grabbed his flack jacket in my teeth and started to pull him toward the lot. He managed to remove his UMP-45 from his shoulder and started to fire at the Pakistani military and law enforcement.
"Come on you mother fuckers!" he yelled to them, firing multiple rounds before he ran out. We were about 10 yards from the lot as Hunter threw down his Ump and drew his Glock. He fired it until we reached the lot. I set him against a car and quickly shut the heavy metal doors as an explosion from the rooftop caught my attention.
I glanced up to see Faline, Blitz and Tyson leap over the edge of the building, each carrying a human in there arms. "Impound lot to your left." I said to them as they reached the 6th floor. I watched them as Firedrake caught my attention. He had leapt over the side of the building and onto the roof of one about 5 story's lower, he was building hopping.
They all made it safely to the impound lot within minuets. We were trapped in here, what are we going to do?" I asked myself as the V-22 flew past the building. "Talon, I don't see you." the pilot said in a panic. "We need a safe location for a med evac, Hunters pretty banged up." I said to the pilot. "No can do, I'm being told to tell you that the rest of your human team will be dropped off about 11 miles south east from here. You need to rally with them at the drop zone then go to the backup EXFIL point." the pilot said as a silence came over the radio.
"What do we do know." Tyson said as he slammed his paw down onto a large UPS like truck. I looked at it then to Sam. "Can any of you hotwire a truck?" they all nodded there heads. "Ok, we need this one," I said pointing to the UPS looking truck, "and this one." I said pointing to a large Toyota truck. I then walked over to Hunter and loaded him into the cargo truck as The truck came to life with a sputter. Carson then came to the back and handed Hunter his M-4. "Can you still shoot?" Carson asked him. Hunter snatched the gun away from him and replied. "I'm fine."
I turned from him as Sam started the Toyota engine. "Tyson, your with me, Sam your driving." I said crawling into the back of the truck. Tyson, and Sam followed after the others had loaded into the back of cargo truck. "What about the door?" Aaron asked. "Firedrake!" I yelled to him. "On it!" Firedrake replied before firing a 105 into the door.
The doors flew open and we started to drive out of the lot. As we did, we ran into multiple hostile vehicles before getting onto a clean part of the road. "South east!' I yelled to Carson who was leading the way in the cargo truck. "On it." he turning sharp to go down a back road. The turn nearly knocked Tyson and I out of the truck.
We drove down this road about half a mile before turning back onto the main road. Moments after doing so, we encountered at least 10 police vehicles. They started to give chase to us, there passengers were leaning out of the windows to fire on us with everything from pistols, to assault rifles.
Tyson and I were firing on them, both of us trying to disable the vehicles rather than kill the people inside. We traded fire for about 8 miles, that's when we reached a village on the outskirts of the town. It was similar to the one we had met Hunter in. all of a sudden, the police stopped chasing.
"What are they doing!" Tyson screamed to me. The lead police car then burst into a ball of flame as an RPG from an insurgent in a technical collided with it. "SHIT!" I yelled into the headset. We then took another turn and started to go down a road with a very large ditch to our rights and multiple buildings to our lefts. The technical came into view and stopped.
"What?'' Tyson said in confusion. I glanced to my left as we approached a 3 way stop. "Something's not right." I told myself as we reached the 3 way stop. The cargo truck got through, but as we reached it, a pickup truck with 3 large prongs slammed into the side of our truck, launching me over Tyson and onto the hard dirt road, knocking me out immediately.
I woke up seconds later, only to take in the horror that filled my sight. The truck was on its side pinned against a large pillar that once supported a bridge. Sam was outside of the truck and struggling to stand, but that's not what horrified me. Tyson was pinned between the trick and the pillar with a metal prong going through the truck and into his chest. There was no doubt in my mind that he was gone.
I tried to stand, only to fall back down. The whole left side of my body was in pain, and I could barely move. The sound of an engine being revved caught my attention and I managed to turn my head down the road. The technical that had not chased us was no coming full speed toward us, he was going to run us over.
He came closer and closer to me as I frantically tried to stand only to fail, over and over again. He was about 70yards from me when Firedrake leapt over the top of me and charged the truck head on. They collided and the truck was sent flying into the air. It came down on its cab and slowly came to a stop. "Fuck, Jack." I heard Sam yell as the cargo truck pulled up beside the wreckage.
Firedrake came over to me and managed to help me up and into the truck. After Sam had crawled inside ii looked toward Tyson's lifeless body. "What about Tyson?" I asked as I started to regain my strength. Firedrake walked over to him and tried to pry the vehicles apart, but failed. He then grabbed Tyson's dog tags before jumping into the back of the truck.
We cam to a stop in a field as a black hawk came into view. It landed and dropped the rest of our team, but Firedrake halted it from leaving. I had most of my energy back now and was outside the truck with Hunter laying limp against me. "Take Hunter with you!" I commanded to the pilots. "No can do, were drop off not rescue." The pilot replied. Firedrake pulled on the helicopter causing it to lurch to the left, scaring the pilots out of there minds.
"OK, OK....well take him to Leatherneck!" they yelled to us. With the help of Firedrake, we loaded Hunter into the black hawk. After we strapped his safety line to him, he gave me a light tap on the head. "You better come see me in the hospital." before passing out and falling backwards into the helicopter. I smiled to him and stepped away from the Black Hawk as it started to lift off. "You bet I will." I said to myself as the helo flew away.