(Quick sum up of what’s happened for those who’ve only read chapter 1: After tensions between NATO and the PAF reached a breaking point, the PAF recognized NATO as hostile and killed most of them. They then reveal that they’re becoming a colony of Zeloria. Alone and cut off, Echo squad took shelter in a cave resting on a cliff side)

The four men that made up Echo squad sat around each other, making sure they had what they needed. Black was sorting out his ammunition, taking all his rounds and splitting them evenly in the magazines he had. In total, he had 3 full magazines and a few extra rounds in a fourth, just shy of a hundred shots. Shaw was fiddling around with his long-range radio pack. He was carefully turning each knob and listening carefully for anything that stood out among the uniform waves of static. Hughes was sorting through his pack, as he took stock of all his medical supplies. Altogether, he had three bandages, two morphine shots, and a tourniquet. Kelly was tying his boots and making sure they were on tight, but it was nothing more than an attempt to distract himself from his fidgeting.

“Alright lads, gather ‘round. Here’s the plan,” Shaw said. He took his map of the island out and unfolded it onto the cave floor. “Our objective is Point Gaines. It’s the closest outpost to our position, about two klicks to the northeast.” He pointed to it on the map. “Now there won’t be much in the way of supplies, but that also probably means that there won't be much of a garrison there either. We have the element of surprise on our side, and we're going to use it to our advantage.” He marked a spot on the map, about three-quarters of the way between Point Gaines and the cave. ”Once we reach this position we’ll split into two teams. Black and Kelly, you'll flank left. Hughes, you and I will flank right. We'll surround and overwhelm them. Once it's clear, we'll grab everything we can get our hands on; food, weapons, ammunition, medical supplies, and a vehicle if we can find one. It’s pretty isolated so we should have a decent window to grab what we can before reinforcements show up, but we’ll need to be fast. Any questions?” He glanced at each man, who shook their heads. “Good, let’s move out gentlemen.”

They walked up the cliff one at a time, to make sure they didn’t fall off. Once they reached the top, Shaw pulled out his compass and oriented himself. He pointed northeast and they got on their way, moving in a basic wedge formation. After all the chaos and confusion from the day before, it was unnaturally quiet. No distant gunfire, no panicked radio chatter, no explosions or vehicles speeding down the road, nothing but the hiss of the grass in the warm, Mediterranean breeze. They were a kilometer out when they heard a low chopping sound coming from the East, and it was slowly getting louder.

“Shit, everyone hit the dirt,” Shaw said in a hushed tone.

They dove to the ground and stayed as still as they could. Out of the corner of his eye, Black saw a Pithorian helicopter glide through the air in their direction. His grip on his rifle got tighter, and the helicopter got closer. His heartbeat quickened as the helicopter came to a stop right above them. The agent of their potential demise hovered only a few hundred meters above them. Black’s mind raced with too many thoughts to keep track of, as he prepared himself for the end. Luckily though, the helicopter turned and headed south. Everyone stood up and breathed a sigh of relief.

“That was way too fucking close,” Black said.

The rest of the walk to Point Gaines was excruciating. Echo squad decided to move slower in order to stay undetected, and creeping through primarily open fields, put Black on edge. The paranoia that a single bullet could come from anywhere and cut his life short messed with his mind. He wanted to keep his finger resting on the trigger of his rifle, so he could respond to anything within a split second, but the weeks of training back home were engraved into his brain, so he kept it on the trigger guard instead. Finally, they made it to their break off spot. They could see Point Gaines in the distance. It rested on the top of a hill, which was less of a hill than it was a glorified mound.

“Jesus Christ,” Kelly whispered. “How are you so calm right now?”

“Truth be told I’m not.” Black said. “It’s something you get used to. Before I was stationed here, I served two tours in Iran. That’s where I learned the truth about war, but like I said, I got used to it.”

“How the hell do you get used to this? This is a nightmare.”

“Trust me, once you get enough experience, you will,” Black assured him.

“I don’t want experience. I’m only here because my dad pressured me into it.” Kelly said with a bit of venom in his tone. “I’ve got a girlfriend to get home to. What about you? Don’t you have someone to go home to?”

Black shook his head. “My mum ran off at the first chance she got, and my dad died when I was three. After living in foster homes all my life, I was kicked into the streets for about a year. It wasn’t until I enlisted that I found my purpose.” He cut himself off before he got carried away. “We’re almost there, let’s get into position.”

They kneeled behind a boulder. The outpost was surrounded by sandbag walls, and the only thing Black could see from the base of the hill was one man in a watchtower, looking away from them into a pair of binoculars.

“Shaw, we’re in position,” he whispered.

“Roger, hold your fire until I give the signal, Hughes and I are scoping things out.”

“What do you see?” Black asked.

“12 guys. There’s one on a static machine gun on your side of the outpost, and one in a watchtower.”

Black looked down the sights of his rifle and fixed the red dot to the sentry’s chest. He took a deep breath and tried to relax his nerves. He flicked the safety off and waited.

“Open up,” Shaw said.

Black squeezed out a single shot and the sentry dropped dead.

“C’mon, we’re moving up,” he told Kelly.

Staying crouched, the pair moved up the hill and pressed themselves against the wall. They started moving carefully along the wall trying to find an entrance. A PAF soldier came running out of a gap in the wall, weapon raised, and Kelly sprayed him down just as he turned their way. Black’s heart pounded against the plating in his vest, and adrenaline pumped through his veins. He leaned around the corner of the entrance to see a PAF soldier waiting. He took a shot, but Black leaned back and the bullet ricocheted off the ground at his feet. He pulled his only grenade from his vest and pulled the pin. He let it cook in his hand for a second before tossing it over the wall. He covered his ears and waited for the explosion before pushing in. Black heard the deafening sound of the static machine gun to his right, but he couldn’t see it. He leaned around the corner of a building to see its operator firing in the direction of Shaw and Hughes. Black fired a shot at him, but missed, and as the gun turned his way, Black sprayed another five shots into him out of panic. They met up with Shaw and Hughes.

“How many have you gotten?” Shaw asked.

“Four.”

“Same here, that leaves four left. We’ll sweep around and check-“

After the gunshot echoed around in Black’s brain, he stood there in disbelief as Shaw fell to the ground, with blood starting to stain his vest. He barely had time to register the bullet that missed him by a few millimeters before Kelly put three rounds into the assailant’s chest. Hughes was already kneeling down next to Shaw, taking off his vest to inspect the wound.

“Kelly, go sweep the outpost, find the last three guys!” Hughes barked. “Black you stay here and keep me covered.” He threw his pack off his shoulder and rummaged through it to pull out bandages.

“C’mon Shaw, stay with us,” Black said kneeling next to him

“I’ll be fine,” Shaw winced. “The bastard just grazed my side.”

“You got lucky,” Hughes told him. “A few millimeters to the left and he would’ve put a hole in your intestine.”

They turned their attention to short bursts of gunfire before hearing Kelly come over the radio.

“Area secure,” he reported.

“Good, get back here and let’s start grabbing what we can,” Hughes said. He turned to Black. “We saw a truck on our way in, next to the armory. Grab everything you can and load it, we’ll take that out of here.”

Black nodded. “On it,” he said, before standing up and running over to the armory.

He grabbed a few crates of weapons and ammunition and brought them over to the truck, a simple 4x4 off-roader painted to match the PAF’s camouflage pattern. Kelly came over to help him load more crates into the truck. In the end, Black just decided to grab everything he could get his hands on and sort through them later.

Black sat down in the driver’s seat and started the engine, luckily for them, the PAF left the keys in the ignition. Hughes laid Shaw down in the back and Kelly sat shotgun. As soon as everyone was in, they drove off, heading back towards the cave.