[Zoner]

I unscrewed the cap of my dented metal canteen and drank deeply. The sweet coolness of the water was slightly tinged with the salty taste of sea water and the metallic coppery taste of my own blood. Popping a fresh clip into my Thompson, I began to think of what to do next.

A young private from 2nd Rangers dove in the trench behind me, under a hail of tracers.

"Private Sparkes here, sir.", he wheezed as he tried to catch his breath. "Half my squad is gone, sir. I guess I'm with you now."

I gave the kid a quick nod of my head (christ, he couldn't have been more than 17 years old) and tried a strained smile. I signalled to my men to stay low and gather around me. I hadn't the slightest clue what to tell them.

I popped my head up out of the trench, quickly surveying the surroundings. Two MG-42s on the cliff's edge about 100m away, claymore mines straight ahead and to the left.

I ducked back into the trench with a better idea of where to go from here.

"Alright, listen up. We've got one shot at this. Layton, Morris, and Harvey, you proceed east down this trench about 50 yards. Sparkes, Pearson, and Paul, you go west, 50 yards. On my signal, put some fire on those MG-42s. Haynes, Pack, Robertson, and Gonzalez you're with me. Mind the claymores, there's a crater ahead that should give us defilade from those crews. Stick close and keep your heads down. Everyone clear? God be with you."

On my signal, the two groups of men proceeded down the trench to their points. Halfway down the trench, Sparkes suddenly dropped to his knees, then collapsed completely. There was a stream of blood oozing out of the right side of his helmet. Sniper.


Alrighty..take it from here!
Zone