Slaughterhouse

THIRTY-FIVE.

“Six, this is Wizard. Over.”

Lee almost missed Walker’s transmission in the heat of battle. The battalion was fully engaged, with two companies on either side of the Hays Hall defensive perimeter, slowly rolling back the Klowns. It was a tough fight. The Klowns weren’t afraid of getting killed, but they weren’t interested in dying needlessly, so they were getting crafty. The military members in their ranks were rising to prominence, and they were clearly directing the rest of the crazies as they rallied and counterattacked.

Since Lee had deployed forward with the rest of the combat troops on the eastern engagement area, he had lost most of his overall situational awareness. As such, he’d ordered Walker to hang back with the rest of the headquarters company staff to coordinate resources while Captain Hayes oversaw combat operations in the western engagement area.

“Go for Six,” Lee said. He hunkered down behind Murphy and fired his M4 over the soldier’s prone figure.

Murphy was still working on the Klowns with his SAW. He had already gone through a couple of two hundred round ammo pouches.

“Six, this is Wizard. Mountaineer Five wants a heart to heart on foxtrot four three three. Wants to discuss retrograde options.” Walker paused. “Six, Mountaineer thinks Prince is still commanding the battalion. Over.”

Lee heard a quaver of nervousness in Walker’s voice. As the battalion XO, Walker had willingly stepped aside to let Lee assume command. While that wasn’t illegal—Lee had much more direct field experience than Walker—the fact that he had encouraged Lee to also assume the rank of lieutenant colonel was doubtless weighing heavily on him. General Salvador would certainly wonder just what the hell was going on, with a captain pretending to be a lieutenant colonel, and he’d probably expect a really good explanation from Walker.

“Roger that, Wizard. Listen, I need you to put some Ravens over the far side of the engagement area, over Sexton Field. Are any of the Klowns breaking off for an envelopment attack? Need to know that right away. Over.”

“Six, this is Wizard. We’ll have a bird in that area in about two minutes. Over.”

“Roger, Wizard. If there’s a breakaway element down there, see if Thunder can hit them. And let’s get some trucks staged forward. I’m sure Mountaineer doesn’t have much in the way of transportation resources. Questions before I flip over to four three three? Over.”

“Negative, Six. Wizard is good. Over,” Walker replied.

“Roger. Switching now. Talk to you in a few. Out.” Beside him, Murphy grunted and stirred uneasily on the ground. “What’s up, Mike?”

“Other than the fact that these fuckers keep coming, and I’m running out of ammo? Nothing, sir,” Murphy said.

“Oh, stop your bitchin’. You’ll still have time to fix your makeup, sweetheart.”

Foster crouched down beside them. He had three bags of ammunition for the M249, and he dropped them on the ground beside the gunner. “Here, don’t say I never gave you nothing.”

“Dude, I could kiss you,” Murphy said.

“Really? You know, this is like the tenth time you’ve suggested we get into a tongue fight. I’m starting to get worried about your orientation, man.”

“Blow me,” Murphy said as he reached for one of the pouches.

Foster looked at Lee. “See what I mean, sir?”

“When this is over, the two of you should go see a couples counselor,” Lee said. “Keep them back, guys. I need to check in with Mountaineer.” Lee switched frequencies. “Mountaineer, this is Wizard Six Actual. Over.”

“Wizard, this is Mountaineer Five Actual. Prince, is that you?” The responder’s voice was vaguely Latin-sounding.

“Mountaineer, this is Wizard. Negative, Colonel Prince was Kilo India Alpha. We need to pull you guys out of there, Mountaineer. How many faces do you have left? Over.”

“Wizard, this is Mountaineer. We have about eighty troops left, and several are injured. Wizard, if this isn’t Prince, is this the XO? Why are you using Prince’s call sign? Over.”

Lee chose to ignore the question. “Mountaineer, we have to abandon this post. We don’t have sufficient mass to hold on to Drum, so we need to get the hell out of Dodge. We’re holding the north side of the emplacement, and we have trucks staging nearby to take you out. Start rotating your troops to that side, and we’ll take it from there. Over.” Lee had to shout over the chatter of the SAW nearby, plus the crackle of over a hundred assault rifles and dozens of exploding grenades. Farther downrange, mortars began impacting the area. He figured the drones had identified a Klown staging area, and the mortar team was servicing it as directed.

“Roger, Wizard. How long can you hold the Klowns back? Over.”

Lee looked around. He was only able to view his flank, and it appeared secure. Captain Sommers was leading Charlie Company, call sign Chaos, into forward positions, where they could start segmenting the Klowns and chopping them into pieces. He didn’t doubt that Hallelujah Hayes was doing things any differently.

“Mountaineer, I think we’re good for at least ten minutes, but let’s not put that to the test. The quicker you can pull back, the quicker we can hit the road. Over.”

“Roger, Wizard. Stand by. We’re hitting the northern wall by squads. Over.”

“Roger, Mountaineer. See you soon. Wizard, out.” Lee switched frequencies. “Wizard, this is Wizard Six. Over.”

“Six, this is Wizard. I heard the conversation. I was listening on one of the other radios. We have six empty trucks lined up, but we’re starting to get a little light on transport. We can’t take multiple losses and still move effectively,” Walker reported. “Just the same, we’re ready for Mountaineer. Over.”

“Roger that, Wizard. There are more trucks in the Sustainment Brigade’s motor pool. We’ll fall back there and resupply on our way out. I’m looking to pull back inside of ten minutes, so make sure we have adequate transport for our troops, as well as Mountaineer. And pass on to Thunder that we’ll be counting on them to cover our retreat, so they better start pacing themselves. Over.”

“Roger all. I’ll get it squared away,” Walker said. “Uh… Six, stand by.”

As Charlie Company continued its advance, rolling up the Klowns with judicious use of firepower, Murphy suddenly stopped firing.

“Sir, we’re going to have to move forward—Charlie’s in my lane of fire. I can’t keep firing without the chance of blowing away some of the good guys.”

“Hold your fire for a moment. I don’t want you moving just yet,” Lee said.

“Six, Wizard. Over!” Walker was back, and he sounded mighty excited—but not in a good way.

“Go for Six, Wizard. Over.”

“Six, we’ve got a good-sized element of Klowns rolling up on us from the east-northeast. On foot, several hundred in number, coming out of the barracks on Fifth Armored Division Drive, heading down Fifth Division toward Euphrates. Looks like a good portion of their force was taking a nap while the other portion was pressing the attack. I’m going to uncage Echo on them. Over.”

Lee turned and looked down the line. “Muldoon!” When he didn’t get the response he was hoping for, he loosened the straps of his face mask and lifted it, exposing his face. The tang of combat hit him like a sharp slap, making his nostrils burn. “Muldoon!”

Muldoon stepped around one of the trucks and trotted over.

“Don’t tell me—you need me to save the day again. Right, sir?”

“We’ve got another force coming. Get ready to jump out. Get your team together.” Lee lowered the mask back over his face. “Wizard, Six. Hold Echo in place. Order Thunder to redirect fires for three minutes on that formation on command. I’m sending out a harassing force to slow them down. Over.”

“Roger, already passed word on to Thunder. They’re standing by to shift fires away from Sexton Field. Not so sure holding Echo in place is a good idea. This is a big dismounted force, we need to bring enough firepower to bear to stop them. Over.”

“Walker, we don’t need to stop them, just hold them up. Hold onto Echo. Break. Wizard Seven, Wizard Six. What’s your pos? Over.”

Sergeant Major Turner responded almost instantly. “Six, this is Seven. We’re providing security for the trucks standing ready to evacuate Mountaineer. This area is secure for the moment, and we are in line of sight of Echo. Where do you need us? Over.”

“Seven, this is Six. Say equipment. Over.”

“Six, Seven has five uparmored Humvees ready to go, mix of TOWs, Ma Deuces, and Mark Nineteens. Over.”

“Roger, Seven. Displace to Tenth Mountain and Riva Ridge. Stick close to the trees. Don’t expose your vehicles unless you have to. I’m sending a silver bullet element led by Sergeant Muldoon to link up with you. They will engage the Klowns from the trees and slow them up. Over.” As he spoke, he looked at Muldoon. The big sergeant shrugged and nodded, then turned and started yelling at the remainder of his element.

“Roger, Six. Seven is on the move. Over.”

“Muldoon, you clear on the mission?” Lee asked.

Muldoon gave him a sardonic thumbs-up. “Crystal clear, sir. You just stay here and make sure Mountaineer gets out. We’ll save your bacon.”

“Murphy, Foster, go with him,” Lee said.

“Fuck, sir, you’re already saddling me with Turner. You want me to take your personal chauffer and luggage porter, too?” Muldoon asked.

“Knock off the shit, Muldoon. You’ll need the firepower.”

“Yeah, Muldoon. You might’ve noticed I’ve got a SAW, man,” Murphy said.

“And I’ve got really bad gas,” Foster added. For effect, he rolled onto his side and let a big howler rip.

Murphy groaned. “Thank God we’re already in MOPP.”

Muldoon looked over at Lee and shook his head. “Seriously? These guys? With me?”

“It’s the Army of One, Muldoon,” Lee said. “Embrace the suck, and get going. You don’t have a lot of time, so take one of these trucks with you. And remember, shoot the fuckers in the face.”