//------------------------------// // Chapter 27 // Story: The End has Begun // by Bronycommander //------------------------------// Chapter 27 Perspective: Peter “Primary exfil point has been compromised. Proceed to Secondary Extraction South of bridge. Enemy presence... substantial.” Central reported. “It's just too hot, man...But room temperature? Please, a beer should be ice cold!” Jackson told us. “A lager maybe, or a glass of water like you drink. But a martini?” Tom replied. “Heh, I'm gonna have to school y'all both when we get back stateside” "Yeah, well, either way we're stopping at Berlin first. And I'm buying.” Müller added. “Well, at least we saved innocent lives...Hit it.” We were in a UAZ-469 driving down the mountain. We turned into the road. “Hang on!” Jackson said to the kids. Ural-4320s with open roofs with Bears and Wolves chased us. “Enemy truck at 6 o'clock!” Jackson called out as he held the kids so they wouldn’t fall out. A truck speeded up to us and I fired at them. “Central, this is Broadsword! What's the status on our helicopter, over?” “Broadsword, the bird has been delayed, E.T.A. fifteen minutes.” “Not good enough, central! We'll be dead in ten!” “Truck moving up on the left!” Müller shouted as another truck replaced the first after I took the hostiles down. We entered a tunnel. “Cover the rear! We're being boxed in!” A third truck came in, attempting to trap the jeep with the other 2 trucks. However, the first truck collided with the tunnel's wall and flipped, causing the second truck to hit its brake and flipped itself. The remaining truck leaved the tunnel with us. “Hostile with an RPG! Take him down!” Said, done, Jackson. “That’s a kill!” We entered another tunnel. As we leaved the tunnel, Jackson shouted, “Another RPG on that truck!” I took him down before he could fire. “Nice shootin'!” “We've got more company! Troop truck closing fast! There's an RPG on that truck! Open fire! He's taking hits! Keep firing!” I took him out. An AH-1 'Cobra joined the chase and fired missiles at us. The third truck was caught in the fire and flipped, falling off the highway and down the cliff. Other Combat Engineers fired at the Cobra but he avoided it by taking evasive action. A Fourth truck caught up to us. “Take out that truck! Shoot that truck!” It wasn’t necessary, as a yellow car driving the opposite way we took, scratched the truck, and causing him to be unbalanced. A tanker, also going the opposite way, brushed past the jeep, hitting and flipping the fourth truck, creating an explosion and smoke. We had now no more trucks on our tail but the Cobra. “Cobra, 6 o'clock high!” The Gunship fired a missile, the Cobra's missile hit a cliff, missing the jeeps. Jackson handled me a RPG. “Fire on that Cobra!” I fired at the Cobra to throw off its aim. Every shot missed but he had problems of avoid them and firing at us at the same time. The jeeps entered a tunnel supported by columns and pillars. The Cobra destroyed the pillars one by one, attempting to crush the jeeps with the tunnel's ceiling. The kids screamed in fear of being crushed. “Hang on!” “Cobra, at nine o'clock!” I continued to fire the RPG while the other Combat Engineers continued to fire their missiles at the Cobra, but they missed as the tunnel's wall blocked their view. The convoy leaved the tunnel as the Cobra came into view again in the front. “Cobra at 12 o'clock!” The allies, once again, fired at the Cobra but it avoided the missiles by taking evasive action. He appeared to slowly leave. “The Cobra's buggered off!” Tom pointed at it. “Must've run out of ammo! Good enough for me!” Müller added. “Yeah no kidd - oh, crap! He's about to take out that bridge!” The Cobra fired missiles at the bridge and destroyed it. “Stop the damn truck!” Müller shouted. Wait a minute. He was the driver the entire time! To whom is he talking?! Our jeep flipped over and I blacked out. I woke up immediately, in the middle of the slowly collapsing bridge. I took my MP12 as Tom helped me up. “The bridge isn't going to hold, move! Move! Move!” You don’t have to tell me twice buddy. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle used a destroyed car as cover. They were still stunned from the crash. “Where’s Dinky?” I asked. “Help!” She grabbed a pier of the bridge but began to lose her grip on the pier. "I'm slipping!" She yelled. "Coming! hang on!" I ran as fast as I could to her. She slipped more and more. "Hurry! I can't hold on much longer!" In the moment she would have fallen to her death, I grabbed her and pulled her up. The bridge collapsed along with the pier she was holding on. I got her to the other girls. A tanker blocked our way. We were trapped and met heavy resistance of Ultranationalist vehicles and troops. “Central, this is Broadsword! We are under heavy attack at the highway bridge at map grid 244352. Request gunship support! Over!” Müller fired at the enemy. An Ultranationalist truck came in, hit the brakes, rammed a car, and reversed. Troops jumped out of the truck as helicopters dropped more troops from the bridge's far end. The truck leaved, and more came. “Workin' on it, Longsword. Forces of the Alpha Brigade in the area may be able to assist, but we cannot confirm at this time. Central out.” “Useless Idiot!” Müller cursed. “Müller! Gimme a sitrep on those helicopters!” “Lieutenant Tom! We're on our own, sir!” Jeeps and IFVs carrying more Ultranationalists arrived and the soldiers got off to attack us. We held them off. I turned to the foals. “I’ll keep you alive! You all will go home today! I promise!” Their safety had top priority for me right now. They didn’t respond, just holding each other for dear’s life. It pained me to see them like this. Then I got a radio chat. “Locksmith, this is Sgt. Kamarov, I understand you and your men could use some help.” “It's damn good to hear from you mate!” “Standby, we're almost there. E.T.A. 3 minutes. Kamarov out.” The battle continued for a little while, we managed to hold them of so far, as the Cobra came out of the trees and fired at the tanker. “The tanker's about to blow! Move!” Jackson warned but it was too late. The tanker exploded, I was knocked unconscious again. As I woke up, I was in front of a red car. I was wounded, bleeding from the chest. Tom and the girls were also next to me, injured. Everything went in slow-motion and I could barely hear. My vision was blurry. Jackson pulled me away as he returned fire with a nickel-plated M9. He switched to his SCAR A1 and fired. But then as he looked at me, he was killed by a bullet to the head, falling to the ground in a puddle of blood. I looked to Tom. He suffered from his own wounds. The girls were luckily not so seriously injured as I and Tom, they'd suffered shallow gashes across their legs and bellies. Turning back in front of me, The Colonel along with two Riflemen approached Müller and two other Enforcers. Müller raised his hand to beg for mercy, but Makarov killed him with a shot to the head, while the other members were shot by the Wolves. This is the end. I closed my eyes, making a final prayer, hoping that the ponies could forgive me for failing to safe the kids before opening my eyes again. They walked towards me, the Cobra exploded, and they were distracted. A Ka-65 Howler appeared and Makarov fired at him with his men. I looked to Tom again. He took out his sidearm and slid it to me. Wanting to end this, I took first the Colonel down as revenge for what he did to Dinky, then his men. Looking up, a Mi-55 Locust stopped at the end of the bridge as another hovered on top of me and my friends, dropping troops. Kamarov spotted us. I could a little bit Russian, so I could understand what he was saying. “This man can hardly breathe!” They ran to me. Kamarov knelled down to me. He spoke in English, “You're going to be alright my friend!” He turned to one of his men. We found survivors! Take them away! Quickly, come on! We must take them to the hospital immediately!” He ordered in Russian. I turned to Tom and the kids. A medic whispered comforting words to them as he placed them into the helicopter, while another tried to revive Tom. As he had no success, he tried even harder by using his fist to hit Tom's chest. I was placed into the helicopter as I fell unconscious from my wounds. My vision began to white out.