Overrun Read online

  "Wagner!" Kirken screamed from where he hid behind the phone booth. "Get the transport to the front! Get the word out! Shoot for cover only! Not to kill! They're just kids for Christ's sake!"

  "Are you fucking crazy?" Wagner screamed back his voice drowned out by a new batch of firing.

  Kirken dropped to the ground as the phone booth shattered into a mist of exploding glass. He covered his head with shaking hands until the firing again suddenly stopped.

  "Just do it!" Kirken screamed again. "Tell them now!"

  Kirken didn't wait for Wagner to question him again. He bolted to his feet and dashed down the deserted sidewalks in front of the storefronts. Behind him, the transport roared from its idle and with a cloud of dust lumbered towards the end of the street. Kirken ran closely next to it using its large side panels for cover until he reached the wounded man.

  The truck pulled away, and Kirken dove face first into the sandy terrain. Flying dirt kicked up behind it temporarily hid his position. It lingered in the air and settled slowly back to the ground.

  He could hear Wagner barking orders through the soldier’s headset. His voice shrieked to be heard over the noise.

  Kirken crawled closer to the injured man across the scorched earth. The heat burned through his uniform and across his chest. It pounded against the unprotected portions of his face making it nearly impossible to breathe. He lowered his head and scurried closer to the soldier lying helplessly on his back beneath the harsh rays of the sun.

  The firing from the rooftop stopped again allowing Kirken to look up to see the figures leaping from the top of one building to the next. Their small thin bodies were chased by weapons fire from the soldiers scrambling to board the truck.

  "Cover fire! Cover fire!" Kirken reached the soldier and screamed into the transmitter across his face. He grabbed him by the shredded material covering his shoulders and pulled him from the dirt.

  The young soldier screamed.

  A new flurry of weapons fire thundered from the rooftops. Exploding slugs ripped a trail next to Kirken’s side. Kirken hoisted the soldier’s limp body over his shoulder and turned to run towards the transport.

  More weapons bursts tore up the dirt around him.

  With the rest of the team already onboard, the transport moved slowly towards the outside of town. Two soldiers balanced on a brown metal ramp that dropped from its rear and dragged along the ground. Ferocious blasts from their weapon barrels tore madly into the sky.

  Kirken sprinted for the ramp. His lungs wheezed from the burden of his human load.

  Hands stretched out to help him while others fired cover over his shoulder. He reached the ramp, shifted his weight and stumbled up. Two soldiers grabbed him and the man he held and hauled them inside.

  When they had taken the wounded soldier from him, Kirken turned his head at the heavy firing still coming from the street.

  Wagner was pinned to the ground by fire coming from the nearest roof across from him. He had wedged his large frame behind a thin piece of shattered metal from the destroyed telephone booth waiting for it to subside.

  "Back it up! Back it up!" Kirken screamed to the driver.

  Bodies fell to the floor as the vehicle suddenly reversed. Kirken stepped further back inside the transport to get out of the way of the five soldiers that crouched at the opening and blasted the rooftops with fresh weapons bursts.

  Kirken kneeled on the floor to catch his breath. From over their shoulders, he watched Wagner lift his sidearm and release a fury of shots at more young faces appearing above.

  The transport stopped before they could reach him. Building wreckage ripped loose by the firefight blocked the center of the street. Wagner was about a hundred feet further away. When the transport stopped, he fired two more quick shots and turned to run.

  The soldiers continued their assault from the rear of the transport keeping their attackers pinned down on the rooftop. Wagner bolted from his hiding place and sprinted towards the truck.

  He covered about half the distance back to the transport when a body dropped from the air and landed in a cloud of blood and dust at his feet. They were all close enough to see it was the body of a small boy.

  Wagner didn't stop.

  Kirken felt his heart fall. A fresh layer of sweat beaded across his face.

  Wagner stepped over the boy and ran for the transport. Weapons rounds ripped across the ground after him tearing everything violently apart. Wagner never broke stride or turned to look back. A volley of the heaviest firing yet kicked up more dirt and settled across where the boy fell.

  "Son of a bitch!" Kirken screamed.

  He lumbered down the ramp past Wagner who scrambled up. Rock and sand flew around. Flying metal seared through the air.

  Kirken reached the boy in two quick strides, scooped him in his arms and scrambled madly back towards the transport. The truck shifted gears and moved forward again. A fury of bullets sliced through the air and across the ground. The soldiers providing cover fire ducked back inside.

  Kirken was almost to the back of the transport when its brown ramp suddenly started to pull up from where it dragged along the ground.

  He pumped his legs and gripped the body he held tighter in his arms. He couldn't see anything through the flying earth except for the scared faces of a few soldiers reaching to pull him up.

  With a last surge of strength, Kirken tossed the boy over the ramp and then threw himself inside. His legs and waist scraped across the ramp’s edge when his body sailed through. He landed across three of the soldiers knocking all of them crashing to the truck floor.

  Kirken untangled himself from the pile of bodies and dragged himself over to the boy who laid eyes closed and still next to the soldier he had rescued in the street. The soldier was unconscious. Blood seeped from a series of wounds.

  "Just what the hell do you think you were doing!!?" Wagner shrieked.

  Kirken picked up the boy and placed him on a stretcher. His hands shaking and his breathing coming in violent gasps, Kirken tried to tend to his wounds. Two soldiers with bandages and medical kits came to his side and pulled him away.

  His knees wobbly, Kirken stepped back and watched them work. He leaned back against the transport’s metallic wall and slid tiredly to the ground. He ripped his protective glasses from his eyes and tried to stop the hammer of his heart.

  He ignored Wagner’s glares as he stood over him, and he tried not to notice the others scrutinizing him out of the corners of their eyes.

  Kirken just sat there and let his recent dose of medication take him while the truck rolled from town. He looked for peace in his own medicated thoughts far away from the world around.

  "That was the most irresponsible thing I've ever seen," Wagner said his voice low and his eyes blazing at the unconscious boy.

  Kirken didn't look up. He felt his body rock as the transport bounced along the corroded ground. The medication muffled his hearing, but he sensed the roar of its giant engine as it raced back towards the dome.

  Kirken didn't respond. He sat there on the floor, closed his eyes and just tried to sleep.

  Chapter 2

  Three U.S. jeeps drifted silently to a stop near the front of the warehouse located somewhere on former Soviet soil now controlled by Japan’s Great Union. According to recent espionage reports, the warehouse was actually an illegal dome technological research facility.

  Six men pounced from the jeeps. Each looked quickly around silently in the dark.

  “Squad Leader,” Commander Edward Knight whispered to the man next to him. “What do we got going on inside?”

  "Ten men, most likely scientists, working with atmospheric processors on the roof,” Squad Leader J.J. Slavik answered softly struggling to keep the excitement hidden from his voice. “Security station on Level Five. The whole building including the roof is monitored from there.”

  It was Slavik’s first outer-facility mission. In fact, it was the first time he had ever been on the outside at all. H
e had been training inside the domes since he was sixteen years old for this night. He could barely contain his tone.

  “We expect a six-man military guard in the security room and two more on the roof with the scientists. Another two at the main entrance.”

  The surge of the protective medication coursed through Slavik’s body and blasted at his senses. Along with the new rush of adrenaline, it was all he could do to keep his hands steady and the rest of his body under control. His eyes burned wide and bright while he waited for his commander to speak.

  "Good. That’s good,” Knight said and turned to face his eager counterpart. “We shouldn't have to call in another squad."

  Knight’s expression did not contain the same excitement and eagerness the soldier next to him tried so much to contain. Only a dim light came from behind his eyes. His only desire was to bring his men home one more time.

  "Can your squad hit them all before detection? Every last one?”

  "Yes, sir,” Slavik answered his tone suddenly sullen and cold. “We sure can.”

  The excitability of the medication was in one moment soundly subdued by the realization of why they were there. As long as rivals to the U.S. in terms of dome construction existed, the threat of war and a dome takeover was a very real and relevant fear. It was why his division came to be in the first place and the reason he had joined the military not so many years ago.

  The Vulture division was covert dome military dispatched about the globe in search of foreign threats to U.S. dome construction and technology. Once an area was deemed a threat, it became a Vulture target. Squads like Slavik’s then slipped in and out leaving everyone behind mysteriously and anonymously dead.

  "Alright Slavik," Knight said coming out of his own thoughts. He struggled to keep his voice from reflecting the increased nervousness he felt each time he worked with fresh dome troops.

  Half the squad had been with him through several missions on the outside. The other half, like the unit commander he was breaking in, were seasoned and trained but new to the environment out here. These were the ones that brought the gut-wrenching nervousness verging on fear each time he took a new batch out. The potential for something to go wrong was just so great.

  They still risked a reaction to the medication while their systems acclimated to the new physical strains caused by first exposure to the unfiltered solar rays.

  It affected performance and judgment. It always did, and it always would. Decisions made in combat were fraught with risk. The overall secrecy of their existence was always threatened. But with the number of men dying on these missions each day, half a squad of fresh troops was the only way to maintain a full combat-ready unit and stay on top of the growing threat of foreign dome construction.

  The zealous enthusiasm that came with their youth put them at the greatest risk of all. All of them wanted to save the world. Knight just wanted them to get through each day saving themselves.

  Knight grabbed Slavik by the thick gear hanging from his chest and pulled him so close their noses almost touched. He could feel the rapid beat of Slavik's heart even through the many layers of equipment covering it.

  "Son, do you understand what happens if your team is detected?”

  “I do,” Slavik said swallowing hard. Knight released his grip. Slavik took a step back and saluted him silently in the dark.

  “Orders must be carried out. No one gets left behind here. Not alive. It is your responsibility to make sure of that.”

  “Yes, sir,” Slavik said again. “I understand.”

  Knight tried to ascertain the look in Slavik's eyes. They were wide with a hint of fear, but his composure seemed to still remain.

  “Son, our presence in this region is considered an act of war," Knight said again. “No one will come to get us if we run into trouble. Anonymity must be ensured at all costs. Nothing can come back to us."

  Slavik drew in his breath and saluted Knight again. Knight saluted back and returned to the situation at hand.

  "Take your team to the roof. I want it done fast and quick. We’ll take care of the security level. I want your men in the incinerator room ten minutes after we go in. All bodies are to be accounted for and brought down. Understood?"

  "Yes, sir," Slavik said.

  "And Slavik,” Knight said before Slavik could turn away. “No one gets left back here alive. Their tortures will be thorough and brutal. Prisoners are interrogated for as long as possible. All eventually break. There can be no captives. It is your responsibility to ensure that."

  Slavik returned Knight’s rigid stare.

  “At all costs, Slavik.”

  Slavik nodded slightly and left to gather his men. Knight thought he could hear the hammer of Slavik’s heart while he walked away through the dark.

  * * *

  Slavik's team left the jeeps at a dead run. They approached the front of the building and became lost in the black of the night. Two guards with assault rifles stood at the entrance.

  Gloved hands reached from the darkness and covered their mouths. Thin precise blades opened their throats before they had chance to cry out. Their bodies were dragged inside and dumped away from the entrance.

  Slavik turned to see Commander Knight lead the second team sprinting silently for the doorway just behind them. Knight’s team would drag the bodies to the incinerator room while Slavik’s men brought the rest down from the roof.

  Knight's group entered the building and joined Slavik's men waiting for them in the shadows.

  Following silent finger signals by the leaders of both squads, the two teams noiselessly climbed the stairs. After a short ascent, Knight’s team exited the stairwell onto the security level. Slavik’s men continued on in the dark.

  * * *

  Knight's men stepped cautiously into the hallway of the security level and waited while their eyes adjusted to the darkness. They raised their weapons and slowly walked towards a dim sliver of light at the end of the corridor.

  Knight reached the door to the security room first. Six men were inside. The only way out was through the door in front of them.

  "Go," he whispered.

  Matthew Baxter, one of the more seasoned combat specialists on the squad, kicked in the door and dove to the ground. Three flashes of light popped from his weapon. The same number of bodies crashed to the ground.

  Vulture Squad Member William J. Arnes charged in close behind and fired at the remaining security team members. Two more bodies dropped, and another fell wounded and screaming along the floor.

  Knight sprinted the length of the room and dove to cover his mouth and silence his cries. Still lying on his stomach, Baxter slid his weapon around and discharged a quick round into the base of the screaming man’s ear. The room became dark and quiet again.

  Knight relaxed his grip and leapt to his feet. He wiped his bloody gloves across his pant leg and scanned his weapon around. Five soldiers laid dead across the floor leaving one still remaining somewhere within the room.

  Knight walked silently back towards the door. When he reached the room’s center, a hand stretched through the darkness and pulled him to the floor.

  Kneeling next to Baxter, he stared towards where his black-gloved finger pointed towards the back of the room. One of the security guards held Arnes from behind and jabbed an assault rifle into the center of his throat.

  "Hang tight there, Arnes." Knight said standing and taking slow steady steps towards them.

  The J.G.U. soldier pressed his back against the wall and slid towards the open doorway dragging Arnes roughly by his hair next to him.

  Knight continued forward and dropped his own weapon to the ground. He raised his hands and followed them out the door.

  Behind him in the darkness, Baxter aimed his weapon over Knight’s shoulder. His finger rested rigidly across the trigger waiting for a signal from Knight or for the J.G.U. to leave himself open for an easy shot.

  Panic began to creep across the J.G.U. soldier’s face. He backed quickly awa
y to the end of the hallway until he reached a brick wall. Desperation and defiance wavered across his eyes when he realized there was nowhere left to go. Thick sweat beaded across his face and trickled down his brow.

  "What are you going to do now, you fuck son of a bitch?!" Arnes twisted in his arms and jabbed an elbow deep into his stomach.

  A quick flash came from the soldier’s weapon. Before Arnes’ body dropped to the floor, Baxter sprayed the entire area with a torrent of automatic fire. The J.G.U. fell down across Arnes’ body in a smoking bloody heap.

  "Goddamn it, Arnes," Knight cursed silently in the dark.

  Knight and Baxter quickly gathered up the fallen weapons and secured them to their backs. Each grabbed one of the bodies and dragged them towards the stairs. No words were exchanged while they went back again to retrieve the bodies of the security crew. Alongside the other members of their squad, they hauled the dead down the stairs towards the incinerator room.

  Despite the first KIA of the mission, their progress was still on schedule. Alarms remained silent and the hallways continued to be still while they pulled their loads quietly through the gloom.

  * * *

  Out on the rooftop, Slavik and his squad inched into position. They had exited the building through windows on the top floor and scaled the walls towards the top of the building. They perched across the doorframe of the only entrance to the roof and watched the circle of scientists working diligently below.

  There was a guard on either side of the doorway beneath them. Both stood tiredly at their posts and watched the scientists with half-open eyes. Neither saw the three men who dropped next to them and ended their lives with quick shots to the sides of their heads.

  Commander Slavik stood at the doorway for a brief second trying to balance himself on unsteady legs. He had jumped too close to the guards before the shots came and was surprised by the blood splatter and pieces of bone that covered his eyes and face.

  This was the first time the mission was real. He struggled to keep his mind from being overtaken by the shock.