New World, Old Fight

by SGTBRONY

A Line in the Sand

4 years ago…

1425 Hours

Coronado, California

NSW Training Depot

BUD/S class 285

Hell Week

I can barely see from the sweat pouring into my eyes, we've been up since Monday, and the instructors show no sign of letting up. "C'MON BOY! I KNOW YOU WANNA QUIT," the lead instructor roars in my ear.

I was engaged once. She was anything and everything I could've asked for in a woman, and many a night I sat awake wondering what an angel like her was doing with someone like me. One morning about three weeks after I had proposed, she called me from work and asked if I would meet her for lunch, that there was something we needed to talk about.

The tension was thick as we sat in silence for a few moments, then almost as if a dam was breaking, she began, spilling out the truth to me. She had, for years, dreamed of joining the military. I encouraged her to pursue her dream, assuring her it wouldn't change anything between us.

A few months later, I was kissing her goodbye as she boarded a plane headed for Afghanistan. She was part of a Medevac aircrew stationed out of Bagram. For months her wing conducted operations supporting various combat missions, I won't say I wasn't a wreck the whole time but the happiness in her voice every time she called, joy at doing something that mattered overrode most of my fears.

The night she died, I was at work, always at work… her brother told me her helo had been delivering supplies to an Army Special Forces team in Khost when the FOB had come under heavy fire, that my angel had given her life dragging a wounded SF soldier out of the fray.

My whole world had been shattered; for months afterward, I refused to leave the house. I still find it mildly amusing that my salvation appeared at the mall of all places, in the form of a US Navy recruiter called Petty Officer Taylor.

And so here I am, pushing for all I'm worth. Determined to get some serious payback, I had no idea what I was in for…

Present-day minus 20 minutes

"YO, MIKE!"

I looked up, snapping out of my daydream and into Chief Riley's grinning face, "What's up, Chief?" I shot back over the roar of the chopper's blades,

" We're dark and 15 mikeS from the target AO, in case you weren't listening."

I nodded and began checking my gear, first my primary: an MK18 CQBR (An M4 carbine cut down to a 10.5-inch barrel for ease of movement inside structures), my secondary: a Sig Sauer P226 9mm handgun (fitted with a Surefire X300 weapon light, the damn thing was so bright I had blinded an insurgent in Iraq the year previous… burned that asshole's retinas out) and various odds and ends of the special operator, grenades, IR strobes and the like. Once my weapons and gear were accounted for and verified hot ( A round in the chamber saves one from being super dead… in the words of my weapons instructor), I ran over our objective and mission parameters.

About 16 hours ago, Langley had received viable Intel that Muj were going to try and sneak an old SS18 Thermonuclear warhead into Afghanistan, bad business indeed. A nuclear blast inside the country would destabilize the region yet again and derail the peace talks in progress between moderate Taliban leaders and the new Afghan government, now for the good news, 5 hours ago my team had been pinged by NAVSPECWARCOM that the highers had found a convoy heading to the border under cover of night, A quick check had confirmed that, yes these were our guys and they had the package in tow.

So now the men of Gunfighter Platoon, SEAL Team 10 were en route to lay down some serious hate, There was Ryan our team leader and one hell of an officer, Andrew the team's chief and 2IC, Bobby, a sniper and medic, Jackson our comms and weapons man, and me.

Now 10 minutes from our objective, all chatter inside the chopper ceased as we put our game faces on.

"Convoy sighted, final approach to target," the pilot shouted over the team freq.

Ryan caught my eye and nodded; I gave him a quick thumbs-up as the helo dipped closer to the deck. The moment the skids touched, we were out, weapons up, scanning the immediate area for threats, when nothing presented itself, we began to move, double-timing it to the target location just over the next dune.

The first thing I saw upon cresting the small hill was an insurgent staring me in the eyes, his AK slung on his shoulder, two years of training kicked in immediately, and I dropped him like liquid with a double-tap to the head. The fight was on as the insurgents tried to rally around their vehicles and mount an effective defense, but no one can shoot like us, and they were put down without incident.

Now we had the nerve-wracking and challenging task of making safe a 30 kiloton warhead; we were about five mike (or minutes if you prefer) into our search I came upon a bone-chilling sight, the weapon itself, armed and active, to make matters worse it had been played with, mercury tilt switches all but assured detonation if the warhead was jostled in any way plus what I believed to be a microwave transmitter attached to the side of the casing itself.

Now the tilt switches were concerning, but the microwave emitter was goddamn terrifying, as it functions on proximity, and the fact the weapon was armed and counting down proved beyond a doubt that I had passed inside its envelope.

"LT! GET THEM BACK" I yelled as loud as I could, I didn't want any of my guys to get near this fucking thing,

"What's up, Mike?" Ryan shouted from about 25 feet away

"Microwave switch LT, it's active and counting down, we've got about eight mikes left" I called back,

Ryan's face went pale, " Any way to disarm?"

"Not a chance LT, get the guys outta here if you haul ass you can clear the blast zone."

"We don't run Zaz, and we don't leave men behind," Ryan affirmed, his face set in a mask of grim determination.

" Ry, Maggie needs you, and I won't have you guys kill yourselves on my account, now get the FUCK out of my AO Lieutenant!" I barked

Ryan stared back for a second, indecision playing on his face before Chief Riley put a hand on his shoulder, "C'mon LT, we gotta move"

Ryan snapped out of it and gave the order I'd been hoping and dreading to hear "Nighthawk 03, this is Gunfighter 1, we need an emergency extract, we've got live nuclear ordinance down here! T-minus 7 minutes and counting!".

I glanced over at him " I guess this is it huh, LT?"

Ryan shot me a baleful look. "People are gonna know what you did here, Mike."

I smiled as I leaned against the truck. "Somehow, Ry, I don't think so."

I looked at my brothers standing 30 feet away, might as well have been the moon for all the help they could offer," Go, guys, take care of my folks" I smiled, and they offered a nod here and a short wave there as they double-timed it to the waiting MH-6, there was no time for heroic goodbyes, that shit only happens in movies. The second they were away, I looked inside the truck, 5 minutes, and counting.

"Sonofabitch" I muttered, "Well, I guess since no ones around…" I dug inside my IBA (body armor), pulled out a beat-up pack of Camel's and lit one up, savoring the last smoke I would ever have, each drag seemed like a gift from God as I waited for the inevitable.

I risked a look at the weapon, 15 seconds…14...13...12, at that moment I felt utterly at peace.

10... I wondered what they would say when I was gone

9...I hope I was a good man

8... I hope it doesn't hurt

7... Heaven or Hell?

6... No sense worrying about it now…

5..

4...

3...

2...

1...

Detonation… my whole world was consumed for an instant by a blinding white flash then… nothing…..

What the hell..?

I felt grass tickling the side of my face, I cracked one eye and saw brilliant sunlight, I wiggled my fingers and toes almost afraid to try and assess the damage, nope all accounted for. I was in a forest, lush foliage, and massively tall trees as far as the eye could see in every direction under a beautiful blue sky all but devoid of clouds.

Off in the distance, I could barely make out what looked like the turrets of a medieval castle. "That's a plan," I muttered to myself.

"Get to the structure, check for inhabitants, and figure out where I am".

I'd deal with the ridiculously unexplainable feat that was surviving a nuclear blast later; for now, I better get walking….

Comments

[white_raven]

good intro.

[Regidar]

Ok, let’s get right into this-

"I guess this is it huh LT", Ryan cast me a baleful look, "People are gonna know what you did here Mike" I smiled as I leaned against the truck, "Somehow Ry I don't think so"…..

OH GOS
MY EYES
What this little snippet should look like:

“I guess this is it, huh, LT?”
Ryan cast me a baleful look. “People are gonna know what you did here, Mike.”
I smiled as I leaned against the truck. “Somehow, Ry, I don’t think so...”

4 years ago…
1425 Hours
Coronado, California
NSW Training Depot
BUD/S class 285
Hell Week

Bold or italics

"C'MON BOY! I KNOW YOU WANNA QUIT"

Comma after “quit”.

She was anything and everything I could've asked for in a woman and many a night I sat awake wondering what an angel like her was doing with someone like me. One morning about 3 weeks after I had proposed she called me from work and asked if I would meet her for lunch, that there was something we needed to talk about.

Again, it should look like:

She was anything and everything I could’ve asked for in a woman, and many a night I sat awake wondering what an angel like her was doing with someone like me. One morning, about three weeks after I proposed, she called me from work and asked if I would meet her for luch. She said there was something we needed to talk about.

A few months later I was kissing her goodbye as she boarded a plane headed for Afghanistan, She was part of a Medevac aircrew stationed out of Bagram AFB. For months her wing conducted operations supporting various combat missions, I won't say I wasn't a wreck the whole time but the happiness in her voice every time she called, joy at doing something that really mattered, overrode most of my fears.

cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/28853689.jpg
“She’s dead, Jim.”

Present day minus 20 minutes

Bold or italics.

-Regidar, top commenter, signing off.

[ArguingPizza]

This is really good, but you used commas where you needed periods a few times.

Ex:

I felt grass tickling the side of my face, I cracked one eye and saw brilliant sunlight, I wiggled my fingers and toes almost afraid to try and assess the damage, nope all accounted for.

It should look more like this;

I felt grass tickling the side of my face. I cracked one eye and saw brilliant sunlight.or 'and' I wiggled my fingers and toes(comma) almost afraid to try and assess the damage, nope all accounted for.

Though overall this is very well written.

[DayShadowMysteriumPON3Y]

Good job man I have to say you have got my attention with the first chapter. Im going to keep going and see where this goes