Teen Ink

Four

On-Route to Mebeme
Brunner jumped forward and pushed everybody off of the truck as the RPG shell hit the engine, causing it to explode. Brunner, Holly, Kabins, and Meenen jumped out just in time. As the truck continued to burn in the scorching daylight, the Sabeem Habalas came rushing over the hilltops, guns blazing. Holly took position behind a large boulder and began picking off targets. Brunner started firing his Imploder at anything he could see, to his surprise, the gun was exceptionally accurate at first. But all of a sudden the weapon jammed and would not fire. He tried to pull the cartridge out to see if he could water cool the machine, but the cartridge was stuck fast to the gun itself and even after pulling with all his might, Brunner failed to yank off the magazine. Feeling the barrel of the Imploder, he instantly realized it burned his hand.
"Damn it, Josh Greene. He should have known that M16 stocks are plastic."
"What's wrong?" Holly asked
"The barrel overheated, it must have altered the plastic stock and somehow caused it to jam. I guess Greene forgot to consider that mini-RPG shells produce much more heat than bullets."
Brunner pulled out his Beretta pistol and started picking out single enemies. Another RPG shell was fired, this time hitting another supply truck, causing it to blow up with its contents flying out in all directions. The U.S. Army soldiers moved quickly to try to defend what they have, but it was obvious to the P.S.A. that they were all outnumbered three to one. Meenen threw a PPS grenade into a small group of terrorists, the blue tinged explosion sent body parts and sandy dirt high into the air.
Seeing the ambush in progress, the attack helicopter above them started to spray its machineguns on any terrorist it can see. The bullets blew arms and legs right off the bodies of the enemies, others killing them instantly as it hit them.
"Yeah, looks like we are pushing them back!" Kabins shouted.
"Move up! They are retreating, push them back!" Brunner told everyone still alive.
"Copy that." an Army soldier said, he then commanded the rest of the team to move up.
The terrorists began fleeing back into the city of Mebeme itself, fearing that it will hit civilians in the city the helicopter did not pursue them, instead, it continued to pick out single targets that were out in the open.

Suddenly, a loud roar could be heard from the sky above all the action. The P.S.A. all looked up to see an AMG missile fly downward, at first the team thought it was a friendly predator drone giving support. But instead of hitting any enemy, the missile directly struck the friendly helicopter, sending it crashing to the ground. Another missile struck the Humvees in the lead, and yet another destroyed the second and third trucks in the convoy.
"What the hell is that?" Holly got out.
"Don't know, looks like a drone, not a friendly one though."
"We need some back up for help." Kabins told the group.
"Call for support, there should be a radio around somewhere." Meenen said
"Use your cell phone." Holly suggested.
"Good idea." Brunner replied back.
He pulled out his phone and dialed for Djimbi Airbase. However the line turned static and disconnected a split second after it turned on. "Damn, they are using a jammer, where the hell is it? We need to destroy it if we are even going to bother getting help."
"Watch out!" a soldier shouted just as the ominous shape of the enemy drone plane finally shows up against the blue sky. The plane flew straight for the Army soldiers exposed and dropped a few activated C4 charges on top of the exposed Army soldiers. The deafening explosion killed over two dozen of them.
“Get the hell out of there!" Brunner commanded the group. "We need to take that thing out."
"How do you propose we do that?" Meenen asked, "You're going to end up with a few bullets in your ass if you are to run out in the open."
"Well, why don't you think of a plan?" Kabins asked.
The drone flew back for a pass, firing its automatic thirty caliber machineguns at their position as it zoomed past them.
"With that bastard spewing out a thousand rounds a minute, we would die out in the open. We can't kill the pilot, this one is unmanned." Meenen spat out to the crowd
"We could wait it out here until it runs out of fuel or bullets." Kabins suggested.
"Liana Kabins, that plane has two extra fuel cans attached to it; it will be coming after us for the next twelve hours if necessary just to get rid of us. We are low on ammunition and supplies, so we aren't going to be here for too long." Holly said.
"Wait, that's it!" Brunner said
"What?" Holly asked with a confused expression
"The fuel barrel attachments, it allows the plane to fly longer but one hit on them and the plane goes boom.”
“So you are going to try to shoot the thing down? With What?”
“I don’t know, what weapon lying around has the largest caliber?” Brunner asked.
“I would say an RPG or that hydrogen accelerator thing Greene made, but you’re not going to get that thing with a slow projectile.” Meenen said.
Brunner scouted the area to look for usable weapons. “Wait, has the Imploder cooled down yet?”
“Don’t know, it is way out there near the destroyed trucks, between these boulders and those trucks are about seventy feet of space for that sucker to kill us.” Holly told the group
Brunner scratched his arm, “Some of us need to draw its fire on the next pass. Once it passes I will sprint out there and grab the gun, then hopefully make it back here.”
“Watch out, we got bogies at our twelve!” Kabins screamed out as the group watched the mercenaries walk over the ridge. “Take them out!”
Holly laid suppressing fire on the group, killing three of the enemies. After the friendly chopper was downed by the drone, the terrorist mercenaries came back to finish the group.
"Kill them all, leave no survivors." Brunner told the crowd, "And where's the drone?"
"It's on our eleven o' clock, it should be returning for a strafing run soon." Meenen said through binoculars.
"Incoming armor!" Someone yelled as an Armored Personnel Carrier drove over the grassy ridge. It was just a big armored vehicle for carrying soldiers and infantry.
"I'll get rid of it." Kabins said.
She grabbed a nearby RPG and fired at the APC. Seeing that the P.S.A. has weapons capable of destroying it, the APC began backing back behind the ridge. Kabins reloaded the weapon and fired a shot which hit the bottom of the APC, causing it to explode.
"Hot damn, I got it." she told the group as the armored vehicle lit on fire, "Just got your own weapons turned against you!"
"Hold up, the drone's making another pass at us, get to cover." Brunner shouted.
"Crap, looks like it's going to strafe us again." Holly burst out.
"Go and take out those three terrorists." Brunner commanded, "I need to get a clear shot of the Drone."
"What the heck, that's going to get you shredded! Please, we can't let you do this!" Holly cried out.
"I'm sorry, I must."
"Wait, I am going with you."
"No, you stay here with the rest of the group. If the drone stays we're all going to die. If we try to take the drone out, at least you guys would have a chance. The third supply truck is still intact, once the drone is downed; you guys make a run for the truck and get back to the base."
"You can't do this!" Holly protested.
"For your safety, and your survival, I can't let our team down. You can trade one person for the lives of three and go off with a sense of pride."
"Please don't do anything stupid." She said.
"No worries, I will be back before you know it." He told her. "Give me covering fire." Brunner shouted to the rest of the group.
Holly reluctantly raised her rifle and started firing at the approaching enemies, the bloodbath continues.
Brunner waited for the drone to pass on its strafing run, right as the plane passed; he rushed from his hiding spot, sprinting for the open areas in order to get a good shot on the drone. His teammates gave him covering fire behind as he dove into the sandy soil. Brunner knows that he needs to line up the shot perfectly if he was to even take out the drone. He also knows that to take out the drone using the Imploder, he needs to hit it right in the fuel tanks in order to disable the weapon.
The terrorists arrived; wave after wave they came, but did not came as the earlier militia had come. These were trained mercenaries that spare no life. He watched desperately for the silhouette of the drone as he avoided the gunfire from above the ridge. After a good minute, the drone plane finally can be seen coming straight for him, he readied his gun to get an accurate shot on the fuel tanks, a miss could mean the death of him and his team. Suddenly the dirt around him started to ring with the sound of bullets. He could feel the sand and dust fly onto him as the plane fired on him. Brunner struggled to aim his Imploder.
At the last split second, Brunner fired the gun right at the drone; most of the bullets simply flew right past the plane without even scratching it while some manage to scrape some of the paint off. The drone fired more rapidly as it dived down lower and lower. It was spewing out bullets so rapidly that the earth around Brunner seems to be splashing around like fish out of water. Figuring that he only has a few bullets left, he held on until the very last second, firing directly for the engine and fuel tanks. One single bullet slammed into the fuel tank and exploded, causing the fuel tank to catch on fire and ignite. The predator drone crashed straight into the ground. Brunner looked at the burning aircraft for one last second. All of a sudden, the waves of attacking mercenaries stopped. And all of a sudden Brunner felt a piercing pain in his leg. Looking down, he saw that one of the bullets he scratched a section of his skin off his leg. He saw a small stream of crimson blood roll down his leg.
The rest of the team rushed to Brunner's position. "Looks like you did it" Meenen said, "I can't believe you just did that you stubborn bastard."
"Great work Captain." Kabins told him.
Holly slowly walked towards Brunner, and then she sprinted forward and hugged him hard. "Thank you" she said in over a small amount of tears, "thank you..."
"No problem, anyone else make it?" Brunner asked as he scanned the area.
"No, everybody else died. Looks like we lost, Hobbart, Roster, and Castine. Also we lost over three dozen Army soldiers."
Brunner continued to look, "Anyone alive other than us four?"
Meenen, Holly, and Kabins stared at the mess of tangled bodies, destroyed trucks, and the wreckage of the fiery helicopter. Then the three simultaneously said the word, "No..."