Turn 6: Road to Hell

[Cartwright]

The convoy drove down the road, eliminating any Strogg within its path. The situation was not deteroriating for once. But that was about to change. A rocket flew past Kilo Two-Eight, who narrowly avoided.

"Damn. Those bastards must have a thing for pilots'! Chalk One, I am pulling out. I'll stay on station, though. Over." The pilot said.

The drop-ship flew away and the lead GEVs turret opened up as Strogg poured into the rode. They downed multiple Strogg. A Strogg Tactical with a rocket launcher appeared on a rooftop. It's head was caved in by a massive bullet piercing its skull from Hoot, whose weapon was still smoking from the shot.

Bullets pinged off the GEVs and the Marines returned fire. Their situation was going from better to worse.

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[ToxicJones]

((just wondering, but can I drive?))

[Dire Wolf]

Hoot flipped the selector switch on "Hannah", his scoped AR, to "semi-auto" and engaged passing strogg targets, every Squib down meant a better chance for the Hell Hound's survival. He looked back at the hounds and said "So what is the plan, the brass obviously over looked a minor fuckin' detail in their planning." He turned back and sent more squib to whatever god they pray to, waiting for someone to answer him.

[Cartwright]

((OOC: No. A Marine NPC is driving for you. You are riding in back.))

[Corporal Hicks]

Lieutenant Sharpton was firing his sidearm and any Strogg that were close enough. "Just hold it together marines, we're gonna make it out of this."

[Mr. Death]

Godchild opened up with the hellish fury of the GEV Turret. He may have been a Medic, but now he was a Turret Operator, and he was damn good at it.
One down. Two down. Three down. Did he need to keep counting? He'd already lost track after that thought. Another was shredded into chunks.

Some men were destined for life, he figured, but all were destined for death. Perhaps others' destinies were just shorter than others.

[Matt]

Meyen fired from the passenger seat, suppressing Strogg hostiles. He spotted a Strogg soldier shouldering an RPG of some sort on top of a building. The Sergeant fired a quick burst into the soldiers face. Two of the three bullets impacted in the fourhead, and the other hit the jaw blowing it partly off. Meyen laughed a small laugh and searched for more hostiles to kill...

[Mr. Death]

Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud That's all Elias could hear. Even his comm was drown out by the repitition of the .50 cal turret launching its deadly offspring at the enemy. The muzzle flash was like a constant camera. Perhaps this is what some cultures meant by Cameras stealing their souls? Perhaps they had confused them with guns? It's very possible, atleast Elias thought at that moment of adrenaline and the tilted scales of life and death seemingly not in their favor.

[bullet]

Tomala firing from the passanger seat firing at any strogg tactical he had seen near the GEV. He thought to himself he wouldnt pull a John Wayne move on the GEV like he did last time. He wasnt trying to lose any body parts on this mission. ''Its Chaos out there damn.''

[Cartwright]

((OOC: Just so you know, you AREN'T just killing Tacticals. There are other Strogg out there. Grunts, Soldiers, Berserkers, Tacticals, Brutes, etc.))

[Mr. Death]

A nail soared through the air undetected.
Rip It collided with Elias' neck. Was he dead? No. He had to get his bearing straight, he didn't have time to think about life or death, or it wouldn't be a question. The nail was to the left of his juggular, he got lucky. It was gushing blood like a mother fucker and he wasn't going to stay conscience for long if he didn't act quickly. Would there be enough time? He couldn't think! He had to block his own thoughts, go by instinct.

Morphine. No. He didn't have time. He took out the trust K-Bar and dug into the meat of his neck carefully, until the nail popped out. Normally this would be an ill-advised tactic, because blood spewed forth even more, but Elias knew what he was doing, he knew he could make. His throat gurgled as he choked on his own blood and he dropped into the GEV bed. He scrambled to his med pack and pulled out that silver tube with the orange foam.

No. He wouldn't use that either. The foam would clog his throat and his airway would be blocked. It'd be fatal. Time was running out. Tick Tock Tick Tock Block out the thoughts. He had to. Clock. No. There was no clock, just a practice procedure. Do it.

He sunk his left pointer finger into his neck, stopping the bleeding for the most part. He took a wad of gaus wrap and tucked it neatly in the wound, but the blood flooded the "dam" quickly, and he had to try again. Then he had an idea. He took the metal tube and put some on the Gaus. Then he fit that in his neck, and bandaged it up.

The pain made him woozie, but years as a medic and a soldier helped him to fight through it. He spat out a shit load of blood, and kept working. It wasn't done yet. There was the risk of it ripping open again. Of course he couldn't sew it back up with the gaus and foam still in there, so he had to leave it open.

Tape. There was blue demolition tape in one of the Marine's packs. He was staring right at it. He snatched it and wrapped it around his throat. 1 time. 2 times. 3 times. 6 times. 9 times. 17 times in all. It wasn't tight enough to constrict his breathing, but it would hold the gaus and bandages together through the mission. Hopefully.

[Dire Wolf]

Hoot saw Death go down, he immediately hoped onto the GEV's Turret and began to Rock and Roll on any targets that were stupid enough to pop out. Bullets pinged off of the GEV, ricochets hurt like a mother fucker, but Hoot has had worse. He felt the shear power of the HMG, the recoil it had even though it was practically bolted to the GEV, it may have been a '50, but it's cartridge was a helluva lot bigger that his sniper rifle's cartridge. He felt the concussion wave of the various sonic booms as the bullets shattered the sound barrier inside the barrel. After a few minutes, all he could hear and think was thud thud thud .

Strogg were ripped in half, legs were torn off, heads were exploding, limbs were flying, blood was spraying. Hoot yelled into the comm "Damn, I love the Corps!!"

[Matt]

"Hell yeah, Marine. Can't get enough!" Meyen screamed into the mic.

He was killing Strogg left and right. He was glad Hoot was on that HMG, because it was fucking Strogg up.

[Cartwright]

The Marines tore up the Strogg with hails of red hot lead. It was raining bullets. Some of the Marines felt it was like the fourth of July with the amount of weapons fire and explosions going around. They were definitely doing an excellent job of eliminating the Strogg. Suddenly, however, the entire convoy came to an abrupt halt.

The frontal GEV driver keyed his communicator, and Hoot ceased firing in order to hear a bit better. The other Marines were covering him just in case any Strogg decided to be heroes and attempt to down the Marine as he listened in. Though, he could already see the threat ahead of them.

"We've got mines blocking the road. We need a demolitionist to disarm 'em." The driver said.

"GEV One, this is Chalk One, we do not have a demolitionist, over."

"Chalk Two here, negative on demolitionist."

Suddenly, the voice of Krause came over the communications'. Everyone remained silent as his German accented voice came over the radio waves.

"I can disarm them. I took a few classes in the disarmament of mines back when I was in technical school. Knew it would come in handy. Over." The young Marine said.

The lieutenant considered this. He definitely thought he knew what he was doing. And he was their best bet on continuing on, so he did not have much of a choice in the matter. It was pick Krause or go on foot.

"Sauerkraut, go ahead. We'll cover you. Over." The lieutenant said.

"Roger. Hoot, cover my ass. If I die, I'll kill you!" The Marine said, then closed the communications.

The weapons' fire resumed, the machine gun rounds pinging off of the environment. Strogg were falling like flies and Krause finally made it onto the road before the convoy. He got to work on the first mine, being covered by Hoot. The fifty caliber rounds tore the Strogg to shreds. He was enjoying himself, to say the least. The other Marines downed any Strogg aiming for Hoot.

One down. Krause ran to the second mine and got to work, bullets flying over him. He ignored this and kept working, his concentration centered solely on the disarmament of the mines. He did not want to lose any more Marines to the Strogg's nefarious traps. He would eliminate this threat and the convoy would high-tail it to their next objective. The thought of their objective came to mind. He opened his objective indicator in his helmets' HUD and looked at it. They were to capture the City Hall still. Beautiful. A long drive ahead of them.

Two down. Two to go. He ran over to the next mine, shooting down Strogg as he approached it. He then got to work in disarming this mine. All had been fine so far. He had not been shot and the Strogg were dropping faster than anyone could imagine. He was thankful for this. He was not one who wanted to die young. He was only a private and this was his second campaign so far. He wanted to live and continue fighting. He had been through Hell and back, figuratively and literally. Last thing he needed was to die.

Three down. One to go. He ran over to the final mine. It took him quite a bit longer to disarm due to the heavier amount of enemy fire coming his way. This was due to Hoot reloading the machine gun temporarily. Once the machine gun fire resumed, the enemy fire died down a bit. Done. He had disarmed mine number four and just in time. He began to move away when it happened. A stray bullet struck with disarmed mine he had left on the ground. He was thrown off his feet from the explosion, large fragments of shrapnel piercing into his body. He was bleeding heavilly.

"Shit! Saurkraut is down!" Gunny Hayek exclaimed into the communications'.

Mr. Death arose and moved into the crossfire. He dragged the young private back to GEV One and set him on the back flat bed. He then hopped on the back and the convoy resumed movement. Hoot continued firing, his anger at the Strogg renewed. One of theirs had been critically injured. They would have to MEDEVAC him soon.

"Kilo Two-Eight, requesting a MEDEVAC. Over." Lieutenant Sharpton said over the communications'.

"Affirmative, Raptor. Kilo Two-Eight, heading to MEDEVAC LZ being designated in your mission objective indicator. Check it now, over." The pilot said.

The lieutenant checked his HUD's objective indicator. The directions to the LZ had been listed inside the description of the objective. He ordered the driver to take them there, in which he happily obliged. They reached the LZ and managed to get Krause on the MEDEVAC transport. Kilo Two-Eight ascended into the clouds. They all prayed Krause would live. The Marines then went back on track, heading to the main road. They had a capital of the local government to capture.

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[Mr. Death]

Elias stared up after the Medevac. He knew that with his injury that he should've been on it. His injury still had a high chance of reopening, and that would be fatal. He should've been on it. He turned his attention from the clouds and back to Earth.

That was the reason he stayed. The Marines were crowded in the GEVs and heading for the City Hall. That was why he stayed. The wound had been fairing well enough so far, but how long would his luck keep him alive? Not long. The unbearable pain in his neck was almost driving him crazy, and he didn't have time for Morphine, nor did he want it. The other Marines would need it soon enough, he figured.