Continued off "I'm not dead yet."

Chapter Four: There is no glory in war, only bloodshed and regret.


Smith was a giant compared to other people including men or women, he was roughly last he checked which was two years ago six feet and three inches. His hair naturally a dirty blonde however when he was young it was considered so blonde that it looked white and many thought him bald. The mans eyes were a pale blue that had a steel edge to them; as this was he was generally a passive man though he had been in a few brawls of his time. Though a brawl meant life or death for him now a days at this point, he was a Master Sergeant however most called him Smith or Sarg' a few even called him by his real name, Rick which he generally chose to reserve for civilian use. Both of his nicknames had reasons for existence as for the obvious one Sarg' was his rank and Smith was because he made his opinion very well known he would take a Smith & Wesson over anything else. He was nearly denied permission to join the Marine corps due to his excessive height, though through friends and connections he made it in regardless. Smith however was a great Marine by all fields, which made him the prime candidate for the rescue of a Air Force S/R (Search and rescue) within the company of one hundred men, he had rank over at least eighty percent of them. He reported to a few however in this task he was set to lead the charge figuratively, they were just a few minutes away when the convoy of ten M1 Abrams tanks and fifteen HUMVEE's approached the gates they heard what sounded like a tank shell being fired. Following the shot Smith put out a message to the convoy slowly rolling through Kunduz to watch the alleys and pay special attention to anything that looked like it was carrying, following that he put out a request for a Apache to circle the air should they need to douse a entire area with rockets. Regardless of this they pressed on until they were less than fifty yards from the crash and fire-fight site, Smiths Humvee was behind a M1 when they arrived. Hearing only the sounds of cackling fire and occasional rubble falling he got out; his men following in suit though the M1's keep searching the roofs and buildings. Smith hated the lull in the fire, Kunduz was never this quiet...the initial crash site was just over a few blocks while the fire fight in the market was straight ahead; there was bodies covering almost every inch of the damn street. Slowly the Marines would file out and begin to search the area a squad of eight send to go check the crash for anything alive still though according to Command the only pilot that made it out was in the apartments pinned down or worse. He sat back leaning on the front of the tank looking at the apartments as a few marines checked the farthest one from the site; a pile of rubble had been blown off the roof of one apartment. Smith sighed then rounded up his own team of soldiers: Hale their driver who doubled as a light machine gunner, Ian whom rode shotgun was also the Doc' as Smith called him. Then there was Eric and Zach whom were both support gunners that one gunned on the roof of the Humvee while the other sat across at the door with Smith. Hale was by his measurements five feet and eight inches with dark gray eyes that had even made Smith fold from a game of cards, light brown hair that was like everyone elses cut down.
Doc' was barely six five with true gray eyes, his nose was busted to the right from what Smith knew; the Doc' had been in a fight or two before the Marines got him sobered up. Coming from the same part of Texas Doc' too shared the brown hair color as Hale though his eyes seemed to always be searching for something he would never find. Eric stood around five feet and seven inches however he always hunched to some kind of degree even if he stood at attention, so he looked rather close to a six. His eyes were a odd amber like color that in the right light looked like a cat. Eric came from if Smith recalled correctly...Kentucky and his voice clearly gave it away Smith himself being from Wisconsin did not know if he had a tint to his voice but it was possible. The Man's hair was a dark coppery yellow of sorts, his closest friend being Zach whom was from the big Apple. Zach was not nearly that friendly to anyone but Eric when it came to friendly soldiers, he was cold. When it came to enemy soldiers he was colder yet, though it never really showed unless they talked for sometime which was rare even when it came to higher ranks. Zach drew close to six foot and stood straight up the only time he hunched was when he went to grab something off the ground or duck into a vehicle. Height was not a good thing in the Marines, it just make your head an easier target and your bigger body a moving bulls-eye. Smith did not address his team as soldiers but people with a death-wish. He very well knew that when you stepped into Afghanistan you were on the line, but when your foot enters Kunduz your kicking down the Reapers door while he drinks coffee...no person likes to be interrupted when drinking their morning brew; especially the Reaper.
"Hale, Eric and Zach you three take the humvee with two other squads and move in on the crashed Heli. Myself and Ian will move in on apartments taking a soldier or two with us then securing room by room, building by building. You encounter tangos you call for M1 support and tank cover, no heros got that? We lost enough men to Kunduz lets not lose anymore." Smith then grabbed Ian pulled up his M4A1 into his hands from his band and then moving with Ian back a few humvees and M1s stopping at the middle watching Hale lead the two to another Humvee signaling the tank between the lead humvee; theirs and the M1/humvee to follow in route to the crash-site. Smith took a deep breath then coughed knocking on the window, two soldiers got out from the side and introduced each other quickly the first one out a few inches shorter than himself and the second not far from that either. The first spoke in a calm and relaxed tone though his pale brown eyes searched the buildings around them "Sergeant Smith? My pleasure unfortunate to meet in this hell-hole. I am corporal Sanders and this-" He said pointing to the male besides him as he spoke "is corporal Mike, may we take it that we are clearing the area?" Smith simply nodded and shook the man's hand without warning and then signalled to the buildings that they had drove past on the close corridor like entrance to the circle of a market. Smith started towards the building watching soldiers leaving their humvees to do as he was, search every building and room for the downed pilot. They had to step over multiple bodies and Smith even saw and heard a man shout "Hey! We got one of own over here!" signaling they had found a soldier's body belonging to the United States. He would find out whose later, they were aware several KIA had been confirmed here by their downed pilot who Command lost contact with a few minutes ago after the pilot reported she had survived a blast from apparently a tank of sorts or something. The UAVs had to pull back when Charlie had reported nothing was moving at this point, so it had been a waste to keep constant resources being spent, so they thought. Smith pulled Ian to the front and sent the corporals to cover their back, Ian had a M4A1 at hip level watching the stairwell as Smith ascended with the other three. They turned the corner and found nothing waiting for them, Ian quietly said signaling Smith to take up the first room with him while Mike and Sanders took the one besides them both of them set against the door. Smith counted down from three with his fingers before the two groups kicked in the doors, Smith took point with his M9 shouting as he saw two children in a corner cuddled up with each other under a blanket "Put your hands to the ceiling, whos all in here!" Smith fell to the left of the wall corridor and Ian to the right weapons raised at the way in. Both of them had seen what happened to Fly as they called him for the way he moved in combat the young soldier against Smiths orders ran out to pick up a child who had been in the middle of a grocery store that was suicide bombed not long ago. The small child had infact been a cell, Fly came to him and the boy pulled a small pistol a .22 if that caliber pistol out and blew Fly's brains out. Thats Kunduz for you, Smith grimaced as the child responded in arabic which none of them had too strong of a understanding, Hale was their language soldier. He knew more languages than Smith thought existed, the children shouted again and a small clack of metal could be heard. Smith shouted for Ian to get the fuck out of there, He pulled Ians collar hard from behind as he jumped backwards falling over as he did but pulling Ian over him and out the door as the explosion rocked the building they probably had every tank in the city targeted on the building as the explosion completely incinerated the entire room and whatever child or thing was in there was gone, the walls on the other side blew outwards and sent a fireball out the front door scorching both Ian and Smith's face & arms. Not even a thirty seconds after the fire they had a dozen or more incoming communications from Command and other squads. Smith coughed hard rolling Ian off who had some burning flesh smell coming from him and forced Smith to pat his shoulder to put out the small fire "Ian, you still kicking?" Smith asked slowly leaning against the wall that was now blackened even though it was the outside of the apartment room coughing hard. Ian eventually stood still holding his Marine like a Samurai a good soldier never let go of his weapon, Ian nodded coughing and hitting his chest as he checked Smith and Smith checked Ian for fatals. Smith reported in struggling to speak as he felt dizzy but refused to pull out yet "Smith here, suicide bomber of sorts was in the room no confirmation on either Sanders or Mike. Someone warned them to pull out saying "Smith, get the fuck out of there we know what building Alice is in, leave the apartments for bomb squads and lets hurry the fuck up. Get your team out of here. We found the helo also, no survivors a few corpses." Smith replied with a simple yes and then switched off his radio telling Ian to stay at his post and taking the M9 holding it weaver style at the time of entry, he inched along the corridor before turning in and finding horror. Corporal Sanders had been against the wall with presumably an attacker using a knife coming at him from what was left of the two the blast had torn them apart. Mike had been stabbed in the throat as he came around the edge of the entrance to the main room and was still alive. Smith swore and did not hesitate to pick up the dying man throwing him over his shoulders tying a piece of torn cloth around the wound, shouting to Ian to cover him and radio for more soldiers to come pick up what was left of Sanders. The Doc' did as he was told covering them as they descended rather quickly finding themselves at the humvees where they loaded the squirming corporal Mike into the humvee, other soldiers had begun to storm the building all apartments in full force being searched by squads. Smith grimaced but told Doc' to stay with the injured man and sent a over the line request to Hale "Hale where you at? Regardless secure that zone and get a line to command tell them to send what we can for the helicopter, we lost one soldier then had another explosion. I'm leaving Doc' with the other soldier Sanders, don't do anything stupid and keep your heads low with your eyes sharp. I don't like this...there is hundreds of bodies but no tangos to claim them...no children no women nothing...there is zero life detected at this time." Smith then cut the line and headed towards the apartment soldiers were currently kicking in to find the downed pilot as it was confirmed she was inside. The front of the building was covered in rubble from a shell or explosion of sorts crashing into the front...there was a human hand on the tip of the pile as if it was reaching up to the sky but a brave soldier already checked for bodies under the rubble and found little. Smith watched the soldiers storm now climbing over the rubble blocking the door his M9 handgun raised as they broke to clear the first floor he took to the second with another squad though they all lined up he went to a seperate door and kicked it in; then like unison a horrible sound erupted which was every door on the first floor and some on the second being kicked in American soldiers shouting but no gun-fire. Smith however found an interesting sight; the entire apartment was apparently splattered with blood and at least two civilians were dead they had faces coated with cocaine, either purposefully OD'd or forced did not matter they were long dead. He was kneeling checking their pulse, another man without a doubt a soldier was slumped against a wall with his head down but he was not asleep. He had several slash wounds across his head and a peice of broken glass stuck in the side of his neck. The AK-47 he had in his hand and his finger on the trigger though it could no longer pull on its own. Smith then found the cause of the broken glass, there was a table thats center once was glass was now shattered and cracked. It appeared that someone had violently taken the table as a battering ram then hit something or someone with it, however Smith then walked into the kitchen to find a mans face smashed into a cupboard the wood smashed and impaling his face there was also three or four knives impaled in his back. The gun could not be located, Smith grimaced again calling on his radio "Found our downed pilots room, two dead civies and two dead enemy soldiers.Proceed with caution, searching now. Smith out." he then cut the line again to search the main room throughly then moved to the bathroom trying the door handle, he found it to be locked then moved to the wall and kicked hard forcing the knob straight off the door letting it slowly open. He stepped back his M9 raised as it opened, there was a person alright. The females body was covered in blood, cuts and open wounds. She smiled weakly and tried to lift the AK-47 to him her sight blocked by a dry patch of blood over her eyes to fire. He had no time to react but she pulled the trigger and only a click came out, only then did he notice the thirty some shells on the ground that were fully loaded. If he had been an enemy they would have shot her instantly for raising and trying to pull a trigger. She hadn't counted on getting out of there alive, a sad but honorable soldier in his opinion Smith knew he couldn't carry her out so he called on the radio "MIA pilot located; we need her out of her now! Shes got multiple wounds and has lost a significant amount of blood." He then left the room heading towards the Humvee to check on Sanders, as far as his mission was concerned he was done and after seeing what he could only presume she had done to protect herself? He wanted out of the war as soon as possible. There is no glory in war, only bloodshed and regret.