March 9, 2134
Lafayette, Louisiania
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I sat at a window, keeping my eyes on the street in front of me. I heard a baby crying. Its cries echoed through the empty streets. It sent cold shivers down my spine.
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My hand began to shake, so I grabbed onto it. I shook my head and whispered to myself, “not now. Please not now.”
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Anton kneeled down beside me, “we need to get Carter out of this city.”
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I nodded, pushing my thumbs together until they began to hurt. I dropped my arms to my side. I told him, “I’m gonna go get help.”
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“I’ll come with-”
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“No. I’ll go alone. I need you here to keep Carter in check. I can get around a lot better on my own. I’ll bring help.”
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“Okay. I’ll stay here. Don’t die out there.”
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I took some mags from Carter and told him, “I’m gonna come back with help buddy. Okay?”
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He nodded with a smile, “go get’m Cap.”
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I patted Carter’s shoulder, “I will. Stay alive, yeah?”
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“Yeah. I’ll try.”
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I walked out of the house and crossed the street. I had many options, go back to the FOB, move towards the factory district, or push farther into the city to possibly link with my team. I decided on moving deeper into the city just to see if we were making progress. If I didn’t find anything, I’d head back to the factories. I was worried about getting suspected of treason or a Confederate if I went back to friendly lines.
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I moved down a side street, following alleys and slipping through cracks in walls. I got to a road where the highway was visible. Two of our LAV-25s were burning on an overpass. There were four Panzer IIs on the exit ramp. Something took out the LAVs. It wasn’t a damn Panzer II though. I ran across the street towards two gas stations. Behind the gas stations was open ground and trailer housings.
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I hopped over a chain link fence and made my way through the trailer park. A dog barked from inside a trailer. I aimed my rifle at it, scared the dog may come out and attack. I backed away from the trailer and stopped by another one. I took a breath.
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Two A-10s screeched overhead. They dropped bombs and fired their guns at the ground, making the infamous brrrt-errrt. As they were returning, four Su-27s swooped down from the clouds and launched missiles at the A-10s. One A-10 was hit immediately, while the second managed to pop flares to deter the missiles. The first A-10 pummeled towards the earth and disappeared behind the buildings. The second A-10 was taken down shortly after. The Su-27s darted back up into the clouds, vanishing.
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I made my way to an eight foot fence. There, I grabbed a nearby milk carrier and used it to pull myself over the fence. I dropped down into a suburban neighbourhood. I stood, shocked. It was quite odd. Seeing the up-scale, nice housing with smoke plumes and an orange sky behind it. The distant sounds of firefights and echoing explosions didn’t fit with the wind chimes and whirling of porch fans.
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At the end of the street, I saw a Confederate halftrack. There were a few soldiers around the halftrack chatting with each other. I got behind a house and watched what they were doing. There were six soldiers and two on the MG-60s in the halftrack. I propped my rifle on a porch step. Before I could fire, a boot stepped down in front of me. I pulled my rifle towards my body.
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A Confederate soldier walked out into the street with a large bag over his shoulder. He waved at the six other soldiers, and they waved back. I twisted back. I let out a sigh and waited for the halftrack to leave. Once it did, I got up and began to move down the street.
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Four soldiers decked out in armor and face visors, walked around the corner of the house in front of me. They were Tigers Breed. Tigers Breed was the most elite infantry group of the Confederate Army. They were highly trained in firefights, long-range recon, and even underwater sabotage. I knew they weren’t as good as me in hand-to-hand. So, I turned around and ran into the closest house behind me.
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They shot at me, but a few missed. One round caught me in the side plate, but I could tell it didn’t pierce through. I slammed my body into the front door, knocking it off the hinges. I fell to the ground. I checked my side, confirming my thoughts. I quickly got up and ran up the stairs. I waited at the top of the stairs, aiming at the door. One soldier walked in, and I shot him three times in the torso. He dropped to a knee. Before he rolled over, he lifted his rifle and sprayed bullets towards me.
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One round caught me in the chest, one in the shin, and one in the stomach. I collapsed backwards, dragging myself around the banister. Blood drained out from beneath my vest. I slid my fingers underneath it and felt a hole in my core. I slid my fingers in through the vest collar, feeling a smaller hole. I looked down at my shins, seeing my bone exposed.
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I began to cry. This was it. This was my last fight. This was the last time I’d get to make up for Tent’s death. This was the last chance I’d get to avenge Kate. This was the last time I’d get to fight.
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I dragged myself towards the corner of the banister, and waited for the soldiers to come up. A single pair of footsteps began to come up. I used the stock of my rifle to prop myself up. I hung my body unto the banister, and shot the soldier in his back. He dropped, and slid down the stairs. The other two soldiers sprinted up the stairs.
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I moved away from the banister and pushed my back against the wall. The two soldiers aimed their rifles, and I shot at them. One soldier dodged by moving into a nearby door, and the other was hit in his hip. That soldier shot at me, hitting me in the leg and forearm. I fell to my side, holding my rifle up. The soldier ran to me, but I shot him before he could even raise his rifle. He fell backwards, sliding down the wall. I shot him again, and heard my rifle click.
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Click. Click. Click.
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I dropped my rifle, grabbed a mag from my vest, threw the empty mag away, and pushed the new mag in. I picked up my rifle to see the final soldier standing above me. I nodded, throwing my head back.
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My head fell into Kate’s lap. She held my head in her hands and looked down into my eyes. She smiled, and kissed my bloody forehead. She said, “it’s okay. Go to sleep Matt. Just go to sleep.”
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She brushed my hair behind my ears and said, “you did good Matt. You can sleep now.”
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All the noise faded. The world went still. I rolled my head up to see Tent treating my wounds. He stabbed morphine into my shoulder and held onto the back of my neck, “it’s okay Son. I got you.”
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Marshall tapped my cheek, “it’s okay Son. I got you. You’re gonna be okay, okay?”
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I couldn’t speak. I felt lifeless. Blood blocked my vision. My breathing became drowned by blood. I choked, and began to cough up blood. Marshall sat me up and rolled me to my side. All the blood drowning my lungs fell out like vomit. Marshall threw salt packets over me and said, “you’re gonna be okay!”
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*
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I woke up in a cot, hooked up to IV bags and monitors. I looked around, seeing Carter to my left and Marshall in between us. I held my hand out towards Carter. Marshall looked over at me and smiled, “holy shit. Are you feeling okay?”
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I nodded, looking down to see multiple needles stuck in my leg. I asked, “am I okay?”
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Marshall let out a slight chuckle, “yes, yes! You’re fine.”
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I sat up in my bed, feeling weak but strong at the same time. I couldn’t move my legs due to all the needles, they were probably laced in some kind of numbing gel. I asked, “is Carter okay?”
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“Yes, thanks to you, he’ll live.”
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I nodded. I laid back down, thinking about how I got to that bed. My memory was very fuzzy. I asked Marshall to fill me in.
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“Well, I found you half-dead. You told me about Carter so I carried you out of there and then went back in for him. I joined up with your boys and we got you both out of the city. You did good, Rogers.”
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I rested for a few days. On the third day, I was tired of being held up in bed. I got up, put my gear on, and walked out of the tent. I still felt a bit wobbly and couldn’t walk straight, but other than that I felt fine.
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I walked into another tent that was marked barracks and found Ty, Kyle, and Anton. Ty got up, stared at me, and shook his head, “no shit.”
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He approached me cautiously, “are you good?”
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I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him as tight as I could. It hurt like hell, but god-dammit I missed Ty. He hugged me back and said, “it’s alright mate. I got you.”
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Kyle and Anton laid their hands on my back and began asking me questions, making sure I was okay. I didn’t answer any of them, I just cherished the moment. Coming so close to death made me realize just how important those ‘throw away moments’ really were. After I talked to them and we shared hugs and handshakes, I was ready to get back out into Lafayette.
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Ty and I stayed up all night one night, trying to devise a plan. No one from our Division returned from Lafayette. We questioned everyone on their whereabouts, but no one had a clue.
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The red line in Lafayette was somewhere beyond the factory district. No one had a clue where any of our units were, or if they were even alive. Division Group Alkaline was struggling to push past the two mile mark in the Western Sector. They were continuously suffering heavy losses, and were facing a Panther Division. We had also been given reports from the Wolf Angel Air Wing that there were at least two Panzer Divisions pushing into the city from the East. There was really only one bridge that connected Lafayette and Baton Rouge, so the pilots were ordered not to fire at anything on the bridge.
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We were fucked. The whole operation was a failure. Looking at all the wounded and dead who made it out of the city worried me about the ones who were still alive.
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I left my team once in a conflicted city, I wasn’t going to do it again.
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I picked up a M110 DMR from the armory and replaced my M4 with it. Ty walked in as I was loading mags into my vest. He nodded, asking the armorer, “can I get six mags for a M4 and three 40’s.”
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Ty laid his rifle beside me and began clicking bullets into his mags. I looked at him. He gave me a slight smirk, but didn’t say a word. I nodded, and he nodded back. I slung the M110 over my shoulder and walked out of the armory. We went to a nearby medical vehicle that was fueling up.
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I asked the guy fueling it up, “can we hitch a ride?”
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He said, “next assault isn’t for a few weeks?”
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“We’re going on our own accord.”
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He shrugged his shoulders, “sure hope you know what y'all doing.”
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Ty nudged me, “it was his idea.”
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I climbed into the back of the truck and grabbed onto Ty’s hand. I said, “final chance to stay.”
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He smiled, “I got left in Bell City. I’m not leaving our guys behind.”
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I pulled him into the truck and he said, “even if Valkyrie's an asshole.”
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I patted his shoulder, “tha-”
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He gently smacked my cheek, “thank me by buying me a whore when we get back.”
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