• Emily lost track of where she was for the world around her was a blur as she ran as fast as she could, behind her where shouts of Russian paratroopers chasing after her. Her lungs stung as she heaved air while trying to keep her pace as to keep ahead of the invaders.
    She turned a corner, the turn almost made her tired legs lose their footing, making her stumbled, holding herself up against the nearest wall, she looked around. Hearing the shouting getting closer, she quickly willed her legs to move again; she threw herself against a door, making it open. Falling to her hands-n-knees she quickly scrambled back to her feet then pushed on through the abandoned dinner.

    Knowing that there will be no time to hide here, she quickly turned to go out of the kitchen, no sooner she reached the double doors, she herd gunfight and bullets ripped around her. She fell through the swinging doors.

    Hitting the floor, she cupped her hands over her ears as rifle fire tore through overhead. Keeping her head she crawled along the floor, she willed herself from breaking down in fear; getting clear of the gunfire, she got back to her feet then started to run for the front door, shoving them open she got out while a striker roared from behind her.
    Ducking down she heard the door’s glass shatter by buckshot, keeping herself on the move, she kept running up the sidewalk as mixed gun fire made holes through the windows of the restaurant. Bullets hissed around her as she kept her self running.
    Her body wanted to stop but her mind made it keep moving as she believed that if she stopped she was dead. She ran passed an alley way, more shouting came from the other end. She felt that she was running out places to go, she couldn’t keep running forever.
    Finally stopping, she hunched over as to catch her breath, however, she then herd a door open to her left. She looked up to only see the black blur of a butt stock. A sharp pain blanked the hole left side of her face as she felt herself fall to the concrete sidewalk. Her vision blured as her ears could hear a faint ringing, the faint shouting of the Russians that where around her, as well the sounds of the war going on around her.

    Turing onto her stomach she tried to crawl away only to be stopped as a boot came down on her back, pinning her to the ground, she tried again as another butt stock was slammed against the back of her head, another boot came from the side, kicking her in the ribs; She then, was force to roll over by the same foot. She blinked as she rolled onto her back; looking up, she only stared down the barrels of several rifles of the paratroopers, she could only look on as troopers shouted and cursed at her in their native language, then a man who bared the markings of an officer walked up as the grunts stepped off to the side.
    The maskless officer only glared at the American as he stood over her. He spoke to her in Russian yet she couldn’t understand him while she watched as he drew his sidearm. Her eyes widened as the pistol was planted against her forehead, she closed her eyes awaiting her fate, the rest of the world went quiet as she could only hear her pacing heart and heavy breathing as the cold metal planted itself against her head.
    Suddenly, there was a gunshot that made her jump. Strangely, she realized this as it wasn’t her that wasn’t shot. She crawled backwards as she looked as the officer was shot through his vest. He fell backwards as the soldiers looked off in the direction behind her as gunfire came from somewhere.

    She rolled off to the side against the wall as the gun battle erupted around her. Pulling herself up against the wall she looked around in a daze as her head was still a buzz by the butt stock minutes before. Hot tracers tore by from her left as troopers around her started to dash for cover, but the sudden wall of rounds from almost nowhere where cutting men down one after another.

    The Russians where in a frantic rush to pull back as their death count began to rise, soon, after the hail of rounds stopped, leaving killed troopers strung out about the street. A single trooper peeked up from behind a busted up (now bullet riddled) car then turned to make run for it. However, a single rifle shot fallowed by a PING noise as the bullet ripped into the Russian’s back, his arms shot out to the sides as he fell to the ground.
    Emily was blinked as she could only look on as the small squad of paratroopers where shot down by unknowns, the same ones that wanted her dead for being a part of the country that was framed. “Over here!” a voice called out and soon, a over coat clad, masked man with an antique rifle ran up and knelt down in front of her.
    The look of the man scared Emily and even more frightened as he reached a gloved hand to her, it gently gripped her head and he turned it side to side, his blue eyes examining what must have been the damage done by the Russians. Looking off to his right, “Just a crack to the dome, but she’ll live.” The voice from behind the Neoprene mask spoke, he looked back at her, “you’ll be fine, we just need to get off the street.” He then reached off to his left and grabbed something off the ground, “here, you’ll need this.” He took her hand and planted something in it, “The man tried to kill you with it, I’d think you’ll put it to better use than he would of.”

    Emily looked at her hand and noticed that it was the same pistol that almost killed her, gripping it, she looked back at the masked man, behind him, and several other men came into view. The mask man took Emily by the hand and helped her to her feet. “Found another.” He spoke looking towards the other, “Good, now we need to keep moving, more russkies might of herd the gunplay and might come sniffin’ around to see what happened.” The man near her nodded, “right,” looking to her, “Come with us, as of now, your fighting with us.”
    “With you?” she could only manage before, “Oh s**t!” a fighter looked off in the distance, “More of them!” before he raised his M4 and fired at the squad of troopers that came out from the dinner.

    Quickly loading the rifle, the man slapped the action shut, “come on, fallow Travis and goon. Bowie, Jacky and me will bring up the rear, now MOVE!” he gave Emily a slight push before he brought the heavy M1 up. The old rifle came to life with a loud bark, Emily could only keep her head low and fallowed the two fighters into a building. She couldn’t tell what it was as she was more concentrated on not getting shot.
    The man and the other two distracted the Russians as they fired back at the oncoming fire. Goon kicked the door in and Travis fallowed right after, Emily caught up, clumsily fallowing the fighters. “Taylor! Come on!” Travis shouted, “We have an exit!” Taylor looked up from his M1 then signaled the other two to go, “GO, GO!” he then brought up the rifle and fired his last shot, another PING and a small metal jacket clip spat out of the action. Catching it, Taylor hurried into the building.

    “Where’s the exit?” Taylor asked loading another en bloc into the Garand. “Right there-“Travis pointed to the back door through the kitchen before a loud blast and the door flung up, “s**t!” The fighters scattered, Emily stood froze as a paratrooper stormed in, Taylor ran up and lunged with his bayoneted rifle. The long blade ripped through the vest and stopped the trooper in his tracks, “Not today Ivan!” he shouted before kicking the dead trooper off his rifle’s bayonet.

    Peeking outside, he looked both ways as Bowie closed their rear with a heavy book case in the front door way. Taylor came back, “this way!” he then cleared the way as the fighters went through, he grabbed Emily by the arm, “come on, and don’t freeze like that again, “ he scolded her, “you’ll get killed doing that.” He then led her into the alley way. Emily and the fighters moved up the alley way, the sounds of battle have yet to stop.
    Clutching the gun in both hands Emily could only keep her eyes forward, watching the fighters, as they kept themselves checking the windows, roof tops and branching off alley ways with their weapons scanning along with them. She could only wonder how she ended up like this, one minute she was about to be executed, gun metal inches from her head then the next holding the very same pistol fallowing some street fighters that seem to know where they’re going not to mention a hole army trying to chase them down and kill them.

    “Man, if only we could get some light in here.” Goon grumbled as pointed both eyes and gun at a vacant window, “Boy, you forget that all of the north eastern coast is in permanent black out.” Bowie smirked swaying the auto shotgun from the hip, “Keep it quiet,” Travis interrupted stopping at a corner, a break in the alley path and onto a street, it sounded too quiet near them while the war raged on in the distance. “You think the russkies be trailing us by now.” Jacky thought aloud as he took a steep out into the open. Taylor came up to Emily, he knelt down near the wall, Emily could only mimic his actions, “I always hated street crossings…”

    “Why?” she asked, no answer came from Taylor; Jacky looked both ways before looking back at the group, “Ok guys the way is clea-“ a loud boom, his head snapped to the side, a blood spray out the side of the head, “God damn it!” Travis pulled himself back in, “Anyone saw where that came from?” He asked while Bowie pulled Jacky’s body back into the alley way. Taylor gestured to Emily to stay where she was as he came up to take Travis’s place at the corner, Taking his hat off he peeked around the corner.

    He then dug into the inside pocket of his coat, pulling up a pair of small binoculars, bringing them to his eyes, he looked at the buildings down the street, “I see’em.” Goon was digging into his pack before looking up, “where?” he asked, “Gray Apartment building second floor window.” Taylor replied as he looked back, “Still got a LAW handy?” Goon detached a small metal tube from his pack, “Way ahead of ya sir.” He smiled as he pulled the rear tube out, then flipped a few switches, coming up beside Taylor. Peeking around the corner, “Yep, if I were a lazy Russky para, I’d be there to cover the hole street.” He looked back to Bowie, who was pulling the dead man’s gear off of the chest, “Hey Bowie, think you can pepper the para so I can smoke’em?” the burly man looked up, “You bet, Give me a moment.” He grabbed the auto and came up, “Fine then, Travis, Bowie, cover Goon till he can blast that sniper at least out of his hole so we can cross.” Emily couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “You can’t be serious!” she spoke up, all of the fighters looked back at her giving her a weird look, she slowly glanced down, feeling a little embarrassed to of spoken up.

    “Get ready.” Taylor looked around the corner again; he dug into another pocket and pulled up an empty clip. “On the en bloc,” he told them before chucking the small metal jacket out into the street. The clip clanged off the ground a few times, seconds later the sniper took pot shots at the car near where the en bloc landed, “NOW!”
    Both men came around the corner, Travis dropped to a knee and fired his weapon at the window, while Bowie let loose a hail of buckshot with the jackhammer. “Goon, do it!” Travis shouted as they noticed a faint figure shift backwards from the window. “Ya got it!” the fighter went out further into the open, dropped to one knee and took quick-but-careful aim with the launcher. “Got it, now get back!” Goon shouted over the fire. Both men pulled back into the alley while Goon pressed the button, with a loud pitched blast, the rocket sailed from the tube in an instant fog of smoke, Goon recoiled slightly as he sent the rocket at the building.

    The rocket’s impact was a defining roar to Emily as she cupped her hands over her ears, “BOOYAH, Once less red to worry about!” Goon cheered as he dropped the now empty tube, “Alright, everyone on their feet! Cross the street,” Taylor came out into the street, “GO, GO, GO!” he shouted as he crossed the street in a sprint.

    Bowie came back to grab the pack, LBE and rifle from Jacky’s body before darting across, catching up with Taylor; Goon looked at his handy work before turning to hurry across too, Travis looked back and grabbed Emily by the arm, “Let’s go.” The wide eyed girl could only nod before fallowing Travis out into the street. She felt naked out in the open, no security of the tight alleys, just the open street around her where at any moment her life could end just like Jacky, thus she could only run all the harder despite her legs wanting to fall off from her.
    Taylor was first to throw a boot into the door, moving in, he had his rifle raised while Bowie came in next, popping shells into the gun; He dropped the extra gear off on a the counter, “Check up.” Taylor pointed to a flight of stairs. Goon, Travis and Emily came into the building shortly after. The young woman examined the place as to be a sporting goods store, “New girl and Goon fallow Bowie,” Taylor glanced to Emily then To Travis, “We’ll hold here till you can call it clear.” Travis then vaulted over the counter and started checking the sporting good store’s shelves for anything useful; Taylor kept an eye out at the door they came from.

    Getting up to the second floor which turned out to be the roof of the establishment, Bowie worked the charging action before lifting a fist, “Hold it.” He spoke, Travis Goon brought his Ruger to his shoulder, and Emily could only hold the pistol as she looked around nervously, trying not to make any more mistakes.
    After Bowie signaled to move again, they came onto the roof, once there, Goon looked up at a parachute that dangles from the side of a neighboring building. “Keep close and open your eyes, one of them might still be on the roof.” He said turning to the two, Bowie simply shrugged as he walked to check one side of the roof, “doubt that he’ll still be here.” Bowie spat as he walked on.

    Goon looked at Emily who simply planted her back against the wall near the stairs, “Still don’t think it was best that Will gave ya gun.” He said to her before walking off the opposite side, she could only look at him slightly confused; she could almost agree with the guy as she had never touched a gun before, let alone know how to use it.
    After the fighter had walked out of her sight, she slid down the wall till she was sitting. She cupped her face in a hand and tried her best to keep herself from cracking, her face stung, her head faintly rung, her legs where almost numb and now she was stuck with a bunch of gunslingers that took on a bunch of highly trained soldiers. It was almost too much for her- her trail of thought was interrupted when she heard a commotion to her right; she looked around the corner then noticed a struggle.

    Goon had found a straggler paratrooper or he found him and; he had him pinned to the ground with a gun to his head, saying something in his language. “Let go of me you piss-ant coward!” Goon cursed as he struggled to break free from the knee that was holding him down. Then suddenly Goon rolled, shot a leg out and tripped the trooper. The trooper tumbled to the floor then got back up with a knife, taking a swing at Goon, he missed as the fighter jumped back, and then Goon grabbed the trooper gripping the knife hand by the wrist. Soon hands where gripping one another as the two lost their balanced and started rolling along the ground, “BOWIE!” Goon shouted, “GET OVER HERE!”
    “Can’t now, a bit tied up here!” Bowie’s voice replied, Emily looked into both directions, wondering what just happened. She then stood up, her hands shaky as they both held the pistol. She raised the gun as the two soldiers rolled around, punching, kicking and attempting to use the knife against one another, however. The Russian managed to roll himself over and sat up and brought the knife up to give the finishing blow.

    Just before he could send the knife home, three pops came from somewhere the trooper recoiled three times before Goon shoved him off of him. “Bowie?” he got up looking about then looked behind him to see Emily dropping the pistol, she slowly started stepping back, wondering what she just did.

    Goon walked up to her, “Thank you.” He said before they both herd a yell, “Nice ********’ try russky!” Bowie’s voice yelled. Emily and goon hurried over in time to watch Bowie hold a trooper over the edge of the roof, holding him by the vest, “You think you where so sneaky now did ya?” with one hand he drew a large Bowie knife and stabbed it into the exposed stomach of the trooper. With a quick twist, Bowie withdrew the knife and then kicked the trooper off the roof. A loud solid thud indicated that there was nothing to break the trooper’s fall.

    “Ugh…I hate specs.” Bowie growled as he returned the knife to its hip sheath. Looking up he noticed Goon and Emily, “Guessing the chick saved ya?” he asked looking from one to the other, Goon nodded, while Emily only stood in a daze. Shortly after, Travis and Taylor came onto the roof, “what happened?” Taylor asked, “Two of them where lying in wait for us.” Bowie replied, “Almost had us too had not the new girl hadn’t shot one of them.” Both leads looked to Emily, “you did good kid.” Travis spoke as Taylor walked over to the dropped pistol.

    Coming back over, he took her hand then placed the gun back in it, “Welcome to the resistance.” He said closing the fingers around the grip.