Sunday 28 December 2014

JUNIPER'S DAUGHTER - The Final War

JUNIPER'S DAUGHTER - The Final War
They reached Broadway without incident. Again checking that the area was clear they took up position and waited, Sarah on one side of the road behind a concrete bollard, Lee and John did likewise further down, on the other side. This ensured that no one would be hit by their mates’ crossfire, plus gave a deadly field of fire. Three hours later the low hum of an engine came through the night, out of the cold night air at speed came an armoured car, its dark grey camouflage making it barely visible. As it slowed slightly at the junction Sarah fired her all use rocket launcher, she programmed the smart warhead to miss the vehicle by fifty yards to explode in front of it as it drove forward, to stun the crew. In a whoosh of rocket flame lighting up the entire scene, the rocket propelled warhead shot on its way, in a cacophony of noise and violence it hit the tarmac in a searing blast of yellow flame. Bits of tarmac, rubble and concrete flew in all directions, closely followed by shrapnel singing through the air. The armoured car skidded into the crater as bits of falling debris rattled and banged onto the armour and the ground, luckily the vehicle didn’t roll over writing it off. If the warhead exploded any closer and had not dug into the road surface sending the blast up and down, the car would be fucked with a cooked crew. Deafening silence was now destroyed by John and Lee running from their positions firing off their Uzi’s from the hip on full auto, muzzle flashes framed each figure like a photo flash gone mad. Nine milli rounds sparked and bounced off the armoured hull, anyone left alive would be keeping their heads down and hatches shut. Lee reached the askew vehicle and climbed onto the commanders position on the turret top, he threw the hatch open after turning the emergency access handle, grunting with exertion at the heavy hatch. The thick cunts hadn’t disabled the system from the inside. It didn’t need blasting open. A shocked face came into view, frightened wide eyes staring up from the command position, framed by a bloody head wound. Lee stared in horror at the raised pistol in the officer’s hand; Lee was just about to say, “Get out!” when the gun went off. A loud bang and the round caught Lee in the chest, a scream of pain came out of his clenched jaws as he fell backwards onto the debris filled road, then rolled slowly into the crater.
“You fuckin’ cunt, I’ll kill you! English army scum!” an outraged John shouted.
“Lee are you okay?” from a concerned Sarah. John fired his last of his mag at the armoured car, hid by the side and reloaded, jumped up onto the front wing, onto the turret and aimed gun into the open hatch, firing the full clip into the enclosed space. His rounds ricocheted down into open compartment, hit in the face by the spinning bullets the desperately brave officer was killed outright after trying to save himself. For his folly he paid the ultimate price, death. John dragged the bloody corpse out of the car and threw him down next to Lee, as Sarah rushed over to check him out.
“That was close. Fuck me, how lucky you are, any higher and you’d be fuckin’ dead! Your bulletproof vest Lee stopped the round. Good job you had it on. Other than the wind knocked out of you, you’ll be fine. There’ll be some bad bruising in a few hours but count yourself lucky!” she said.
Lee managed to stand and was unsure of himself; he slowly became aware of what happened. “I thought that was it then, I was so sure that I’d get him first but he got me instead. Aaah, it fuckin’ hurts like a cunt. It aches like fuck and hurts at the same time. At least he’s dead now but he could have told us some useful info. Fuck it!”
John answered, “I had no choice, he would have been more dangerous and used the cars guns on us. I’ll check to see if anyone else is alive, if there is they wont catch me out, no bloody way!”
He reached into his inside pocket and pulled a single stun grenade out, pulled the pin, counted to three and tossed the grenade into the armoured car. Nothing happened but a clank as it bounced around, then Flash! Bang! Smoke wafted up and out of the hatch. As it cleared John placed his Uzi next to a large piece of tarmac and withdrew his pistol, a 9mm Walther, flicked off the safety catch and chambered a round. When it was clear John climbed up onto the wing in an athletic movement, onto the sloping front, into the hatch to see who had survived. For a couple of minutes he was inside the tilted vehicle, till he opened the side door with a clang that had Sarah aiming her Uzi at it, just for anything out of the ordinary. Everything was okay it was John. She lowered her gun.
“The driver is dead. His neck is broken, nothing but silence from him. The inside seems okay Sarah. Can you please help me move his body; he’s wedged over the controls. We can get going then,” John spoke loudly, “How’s Lee? Is he okay?”
“Yes I’ll help you move the body. Lee’s okay, he’ll have some great bruises in a bit!” she replied. They both moved the dead body together with his dead comrade, dragging them over to a storm drain by the side of the road, out of sight except in a proper search. They frisked the bodies for useful items, found some documents that contained maps and text, took spare ammo, a pistol and a small knife. With the crater and spent shell cases it was obvious that something had gone down. But what? Lee was okay but sore. Sarah took up the driving position after they had loaded their gear into the vehicle by the side door. Lee stayed in the hull behind her John manned the command position, keeping his rocket launchers at the ready, it outranged the armoured cars cannon by a mile, such was modern technology. Even so the thirty millimetre cannon could shoot out to two miles with a multi use night sight, similar to the one on the rocket launcher but much larger. Yes they had been lucky.
Sarah spoke in a matter of fact voice: “Cycle the gas system, pressure up, start. Here we go. Automatic gear forward. Three speeds. Power steering on all four wheels. We have over three quarters of a tank of gas. Lets do it.”
She expertly reversed out of the crater without wheel spinning, engaging forward gear like a seasoned driver, “I don’t believe it! We did it, fuckin’ ace. Where shall we go? We have a range of a hundred and fifty miles, maybe more. And if we can find more liquefied gas…” she said.
“What about that armoured petrol tank at the end of Broadway down that rough road. I don’t know what road it is but you must know where I mean Sarah?” Lee asked painfully.
“This thing will only run on liquefied gas unless it has an engine and tank modification. So at the mo it won’t run petrol. Good idea though Lee,” Sarah answered him.
“Oh, right. Hey… lets blow the fuckin’ thing up! It can be payback for that twat winging me. What do you reckon?” Lee went on. John overheard them and he decided the issue, “Yes, we’ll blow it to fuckin’ pieces! I know where the hardened tank is, I’ll direct you Sarah. It’s only ten minutes away.”
So down Broadway and along a rough road that led to an old industrial estate and the target if you didn’t know what to look for then you’d easily miss it, the trio of fighters knew most of the secrets of the area though so now it was target practice. John eyed the squat tank up. It was half buried in a bed of thick concrete. He would take the first shot at it, with the cannon on single shot to see what effect it had, then Lee to take it to full auto, Sarah the first rocket round…
John readied himself behind the gun, adjusted the seat for his height, flipped the infrared sight on and fine-tuned the sight to the target, selected Armour Piercing ammo. And fired one round in a loud Bang! That had the cannon barrel pumping inwards like a mans cock with the recoil. On target the round hit the side of the tank and dug into the concrete in a small cloud of dust and concrete chippings. Nothing – it failed to penetrate three feet of concrete.
Lee was next. He looked at the cannon controls, John showed him how to work the sight and away he went, selecting High Explosive shells on full auto. He held the trigger and aimed, firing after long moments staring through the sight. His quick pull on the trigger sent fifteen rounds at a mile a second forward to explode on target, digging up more concrete in wicked explosions of explosive gasses as the small amount of HE in the shells went off. Anyone near would have serious shrapnel wounds, blast injuries or be blown to pieces if hit. The dust cleared, the tank was intact.
Sarah took up position with the rocket launcher, opening the top hatch to aim it. She looked down at John. “I’ve shot one before. Why don’t you do it?”
He didn’t need asking twice, “Okay, I’d love to. Pass me the weapon.” She did so.
John eyed up the squat shape that misled the eye on its size. From thirty yards away he would take his shot, he took up position, programmed the launcher for depth penetration and aimed carefully. With a press on the trigger the warhead shot forth, illuminating the desolate scene with flame, impact was instantaneous, nothing happening at first but fragments of concrete kicking up. Then Sarah and Lee, who saw the shot from the observation window, cowered in the glare of a mini volcano. John in the turret ducked as the blast wave from the penetrating rocket touched off fifty tons of stored petrol, concrete flew in all directions and a huge stream of petrol fanned across the ground in all directions. Including towards them.
“Sarah get us the fuck outta here, quick or we’ll be burned alive! I don’t wanna die just yet!” John shouted in awe at the scene that he created.
Sarah started the engine wheel spinning in reverse out of the way of flowing, burning gasoline. “I’m on it John, don’t panic, I’m on it,” she replied, the panic clear in her voice.
“What a bonfire fuckin’ ace!” from Lee.
They quickly left the destruction and flames heading back the way they came, even ten minutes and several miles later the burning tank was clearly visible. They had created a small hell and deprived the English army from the main local petrol store for its petrol vehicles. This wouldn’t be the last of this.
“So where shall we head for then guys?” Sarah asked, her voice now calm.
“Leeds. I heard it took a French nuke. I want to see what it’s like,” Lee decided for them all.
“Okay I’ll take you up there. We have radiation meters to see how hot it gets. You fine with Leeds John?” she said. John nodded to himself and shouted down to Sarah from the turret, “Yes, okay with that.”

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