Prologue

  San Francisco, California
Pvt. Anders Charleson
2341 Hours

“Welcome home Anders,” I look up as my captain says it.
“I thought this was no mans land,” I say questioned by what the captain is trying to say.
The captain stops walking and turns around to look at me. “This is San Francisco, Anders,” He confirms.
I think about if my family made it out alive. I’ve heard of no mans land after this place got bombed but I never knew that it was San Francisco. The captain signals us to move on. I grab my rifle again and keep following the squad. Our squad is four. We abandoned our Humvee about five miles back. Gunshots fire in the distance as we still respond to a mayday call from a squadron of Apache attack choppers. Our orders are: when we get to our destination we are to  call in the pick up squad. Fit with six AH-6 Little Birds, three MH-60 Black Hawks, and one MH-47 Chinook. This pick up squad has had fatalities but has never been defeated before. We will see if they will today since the Apache’s noted many AA weapons.

One Hour Later

“Three enemies, Twelve o'clock high!”, I hear behind me. The glint of two sniper sights shine in front of me.
Returning fire is the only thing we could do. We were able to take out at least one. Where was the last one? A shot rings out, followed by a gentle thud.
“We got a man down!” A sergeant yells out.
I look over to call out... I see the captain laying on the ground with a hand grabbing at a bloody hole.  I zone out, the gunshots muffled. I walk to the captain. He looks at me and reaches up to grip my shirt.
“Save San Francisco. I make...” he says as he pokes me, “You captain... of this... operation.” He threw out his last words. His hand drops from where he was holding my shirt. Everything comes back.
“Alright. Me and Galegier will move up right flank. Loop and Mist.  Go left,” I yell out orders. Me and Ice or other known Galegier move through the dark. Using it’s void  as our cover.
“Alpha Two-Three to Home Command. We need a RC-12 Huron to fly above us. Aim to get us a fix on a enemy reconnaissance team. Over,” I whisper into a walkie-talkie on my uniform.
“Huron on the way Alpha Two-Three.” I start walking again, with Ice close behind.
Eery silence. Not exactly a good sign when taking cover. I peek around the corner and nothing moves. A distant ring gets closer as I notice the sound of the Huron.
“This is Huron 262. If we see anyone, we will mark them with flashbangs, Over.”
“Roger.”
I peek around the corner of the building looking for any movement before the Huron comes over. Nothing is spotted until a flash of light comes from the building on Loop and Mist’s side. I get back into cover and command Ice to watch as a distant rumble of the Huron comes into sound.  It was all almost deafening.
“Loop. There’s a light coming from the inside of the last building on your side. Heading towards the spider hole,” I say into the walkie-talkie.
Seconds fly by with no response. Suddenly the Huron flies over, with a huge roar from the engine.
“Enemies spotted coming in for flash round,” the pilot says.
“Hey, did you see Loop and Ice down here?” I ask him.
“Last entry was inside the building you were reporting.”
Worry grips me as I wonder if I lead my team into an irreversible trap. I turn to look at Ice. Staring off into the distance, he looks almost puzzled.
“I need you to look for them in the building. Watch for flashes.”
He nods and goes back the way we came. “Coming in,” the pilot says.
I take one last peek when I hear the missile fire. Dirt flies through the air. Gun shots in the distance seem so subtle compared to their frenzied explosions. I look around and see the lights in the spider hole as well as the building. Ice better find them. I quickly dash of into the building that the spider hole was in. Adrenaline pumping through me, it all happened so fast. An already bloodied body comes stumbling down the stars. Not one of my men.
“Goodnight.” I look away when I pull the trigger into the hostile.
I head upstairs cautious of the last man. Poking my head above the staircase I observe the other Sniper has already got back into position. Suddenly shots ring out from the building.Hopefully that’s Ice engaging them. The sniper jumps up and starts to move.
“Hold it!” I say and he stops dead in his tracks.
Turning slowly he starts to look me up and down. I lower the gun slowly as I recognized the man.
“Dad?” I say as he looks at me with hate.
“How cou-could you do this!”, my words trickling into a stutter. He runs at me plowing me over onto the floor.
Throwing a fury of punches at me. Blocking them quickly, he puts gaps in between the punches. I count how many punches he throws until he gaps. Waiting for a gap my arms start to ache. This is it, I think when he gaps. Time has slowed to an almost standstill. I quick jab him in the face making him  lurch back off of me. His nose was now gushing with blood. The look on his face was if he had just seen death himself. Using the butt of my rifle I force it against his jaw. I may have used some pity but it was still enough to put him down on his ass.
“Why?!” I yell, swinging. No more pity.
“Kill my captain. Then attack your own son!” Hitting him again.
The gunshots get muffled again in the background. I pick him up by the neck. Gasping for air, I walk him over to the edge of the building. The look was back in his eyes. As if he was seeing death again. Only this time he was dangling over a 40 foot drop. He stares at me with despair. I turn around and throw him against the wall. Everything goes back to normal. I walk to him and notice, he’s still gasping for air.
“Eel?” A familiar voice says behind me.
“What do you want, Ice?”
“I found them.”
All mourning and fear washed  out of me at that point. Until.. I turned around.
“Wh-where are they?” I ask.
“I found them dead, Eel. I faced heavy resistance the second I got there, and was able to interrogate one of the men. He said an underground passage leads to your favorite city. Downtown San Francisco.”

Chapter I

San Francisco 
                           Com. Anders Charleson
                           0036 Hours
            

I hit the ground in the tunnel and look the only way possible. Towards downtown San Francisco. I start moving down the tunnel when Ice hits the ground. The tunnel is long and dark. The only thing visible  is the light at the end of the tunnel. Moving forward, the light almost seems to being moving farther away from us.
"It's a fake!" Ice says.
I look back to see Ice holding a flashlight to a hole covered by a paper. The odd thing is that the paper blends in with the wall. I signal him to go into the hole. The crunch beneath my feet tells me that the top is above us somewhere. I watch as Ice waves his flashlight around the small room. On his last pass I see something shine.
“Hey,” I nudge him and point to where I saw it.
I look at him and all he did was shrug. Ice hands me the flashlight and I continue to shine the light on the object. He reaches up and to grab the object. Ice pulls down and light floods the room followed by a rickety sounding ladder.
“Good work Ice,” I say to him.
He smiles for a second and then gets back to business. I climb up the ladder and look around. I begin to recognize the surroundings. Tears appear in my eyes as I look at my barely standing house. It is at an extreme angle which could fall any minute.  I grab my head in agony.
“We need to get inside of there.” I make my way across the street with Ice close behind.
“How did the city get destroyed in the first place?” Ice asked.
“We got intel the other day that in a space...”

One Month Ago...

“This is Breaker 1-1. I am heading back to the station for follow up.”
I jump through the motionless air. The Earth displayed below beautifully. I look ahead as the air compressed door opens for my arrival. I grab a bar to pull myself into the chamber. I press a button and air fills the room. The door on the other side opens and I flip my visor up to see an old friend, roughly built man named Ron, in the doorway. My childish side always picture im as a hockey player. I’m getting carried away.
"We got word on the Russians coming in in about' a minute.”
I nod and float into the station. When inside I quickly take off the suit and float into the cafeteria. A very distant echo rings through the place telling me that the Russians docked.
"Well. Let's go meet ‘em", Ron says willingly.
I shake my head no.
"We’ll meet them in here."
"Your choice," he says and he goes towards dock number six.
We recently put up a satellite named JUDGE. The satellite watches the world as it rotates. I look at the monitors to look over the Russians. I watch bay six as a group of both built and scrawny men come out of the ship. Something catches my eyes. One of the men have a gun visible, clearly trying to hide it. I get over to an emergency button but then think twice. If I were to push it they would open fire. If I weren't they would be normal. I get away from it. I head down the hallway and avoid the Russians by afar. I open a door at the end of the hall past the Russians that lead to a weapons room. I look at the guns shining on the wall. I pick out an SC-2010 a Assault rifle and a MTAR-X submachine gun from the wall and sling them over my back. I get out into the hall to come face to face with Ron.
"Why were you in there?"
"One of them is hiding a gun," I say pondering what the Russians are planning to do.
I toss him the MTAR-X and the clips that go with it. I point to the hallway I came down and scurry him away. I close in on the loading bay where the Russians came in. As I come in I hear talking. When I come around the corner our Commander is talking to, I assume, the leader of the Russian group. My commander notices me in the distance and beckons for me to walk over.
"And this is our best man on the station. He had just recently fixed a oxygen leak on the ship," he says dramatically.
The Russians converse and then start clapping. I bow my head sarcastically and shake hands with many of them. Surprisingly none of them have taken note of the assault rifle on my back. Someone behind me pokes me and it's the Russian leader.
"How could you have done it?" He asks me really wanting to know.
I explain how I noticed an area hard to breathe in the station. How I went out and patched it up. He excitedly congratulates me. He walks way to talk to another Russian. It feels off. They have guns but they're here to talk.
The station shakes similar to an earthquake. Everyone stumbles around me as I attempt to maintain my balance. Alarms go off and as I expected the Russians pull out their guns. I slide the SC-2010 around my back and start firing back at the Russians.  We push forward as the Russians lose many of their men. We get to a window when I see the tip of JUDGE glowing.
"No. No. No."
"What's wrong?" One of the men say.
I point out at JUDGE.
"They're using our own weapons against us!" I say and run to the nearest exit.
"Stay in here!" He says but I’m armed well enough to move on.
I can handle it. After stumbling into one of the suites I unpressurize the room and the door opens. I head out into the black world towards JUDGE. I stabilize myself and head right toward the satellite.
"JUDGE to ground control. We are under attack by what looks like a group of Russians. JUDGE is firing against us. What are your commands?" I say to Houston.
"Lift the gas pressure chamber and find a way to disable the satellite."
I don't say anything after that. I will die out there. I will do it to save the country. I grab hold of a bar on JUDGE. I go towards the top and look at my cause of death. I pull off the cover and a canister is in front of me. I point the gun at the canister and pull the trigger. The bullets deflect off  and a fire spout shoots up to the air. I made the mistake of continuing fire. An explosion rings out in front of me. I fly through the space. I struggle as I try to find something to grab a hold of but nothing is there. I watch the space station pass by and disappear in the distance. The only thing and the last thing I can see is the firey ball of JUDGE.
                                 

                        "And that's how this all came about," I say as we look through the house for any valuables that my parents left around.
"Wonder where your parents went," Ice says and looks at me.
"The same thing crosses my mind too, Ice." I say looking towards my feet. I can’t tell him.
We rummage through boxes that were packed but never taken. I hope they made it out. It looks like they were in the middle of packaging.
"What?" Ice says looking at me. Must’ve noticed my discomfort.
"Check the area for two bodies. They shouldn't be badly injured but beaten up."
Ice nods and heads off throughout the house. I continue going through boxes. Paperwork is all that are in the boxes. I throw another one off on the side. The last one sits in front of me, bigger than the others. I cut the tape open and flip the two sides open. A shotgun sits inside with several shells scattered throughout the box. Tears fill my eyes. Dad never went anywhere without his shotgun.
"Anders," I hear Ice's voice in the distance.
I jump over the box and throughout the house but can't find him.
"Where are you?" I say into the air.
Seconds pass until a answer is given.
"On the patio." I rush out to it to see Ice standing over a body.
A female body. Looks like my mom. My eyes water and Ice looks over to me. He runs to me and shakes me.
"Get it together Anders. We have a whole city to go through. This can't be the first to get done with."
I realize what he says is true. San Francisco needs us. We will save the town. Nothing will stand in our way. We will secure the Battlefield.

Chapter II

Ritz Carlton, San Francisco
                                                Sgt. Jeff "Ice" Hanglk
                                                 1645 Hours

                  "This place is wrecked."
I stand outside the Ritz Carlton Hotel. One corner of the hotel is crumbled down and all the windows are smashed out.
"I've always wanted to be in a Five Star hotel for free," Anders says smiling.
I smile to thinking of the time when this city was back in business. Streets were littered with people and cars. They all had somewhere important to be. Hotels like this were always full of people who thought their importance put them above everyone else. Police everywhere on nights trying to stop the intoxicated. I lived in his town just like Anders did. I was in this hotel for most of my life. My parents and I were the more fortunate I suppose. I wish that this world would be normal. I would be in  a mansion with a beautiful wife and hopefully some kids. Living the rich life. The thing is that I'm in the military and I'm hanging out with a long time friend. We enter the lobby, Ander’s knocks over a crate that was sitting on the main desk. Birds fly frenzied out of the vines and bushes that occupied the room The lobby was a mess. Sand and dirt fill the floor and counters. I look around as the place looks so familiar.
A sound comes from upstairs that gets Anders and my attention. He points to the stairs and I nod. I go towards them slowly trying to pick out where the sound is coming from. The second floor is neater than the first. A carpet covers the floor and rooms litter the right side of the hall. A glass shatters in the second room. I come to it and point my gun in the room and what is there surprises me. A military dog from a bravo squad is there scavenging through the room. He sees us and jumps on us with a happy delight. I laugh as he licks my face. When he gets off he starts walking down the hall. Without Anders's command I follow it. It walks throughout most of the hotel until it enters a room. When I turn the corner their squad leader is sitting just on the opposite side of the room. The handler of the dog. I pull off my backpack and head to the handler. He looks at me and smiles.
"I knew someone like you would come along," he grunts.
He then shows me a wound in his side which he had covered for a long time. His hand is bloody and he was shaking a little.
"Don't worry. I'll patch you up," I say and wrap his torso with gauss. The blood leaks through the gauss slightly but I made sure not to look worried. I look up at Anders and he is petting the dog.
"We need to get him out of here Anders," I say as he looks over at me. He beckons me to him and we go out in the hallway.
"The rescue team only has enough for the helicopter crew. I have faith that they are still alive. Don't you?" He says to me. I nod as quickly as I can.
"We would have to order another chopper. Another day out here. I miss San Francisco but with the way it is, I can't stay here anymore." He looks enraged and tired.
With the lack of sleep we have been having, I am tired too. I also wanted to find the helicopter crew, but we don't leave a man on the field.
"So you're saying you want our man to die here. A dog lose his handler!" I say getting mad by the minute.
He huffs and thinks. Seconds fly by. Minutes.
Then the answer, "I'm leaving him."
"You're crazy you see. Crazy!" I yell at him.
I turn back into the room and pull the handler to his feet.
"I'll get you out of here," I say to him calming down.
When we reach the hallway, Anders is nowhere to be found. That man. Anders changed from when we first went into the war. He wants to get his objective complete but leave dying men on the field. I hate him now. I don't want to say this but I hope he gets away, far away.

Chapter III

                                             Home base
                                             Unknown Soldier
                                             1200 Hours

               "You all depend on each other. All of you guys each have a life that the others need to protect. This man is hiding out in Times Square," the speaker man gestures his hands to the screen and our main enemy, Balashov, is on the screen.
  I tighten my grip, remembering the last encounter I had with him.
"All of you guys will be leaving as soon as this presentation is over. Most of you will be transported in a plane. Lucky ones will be in helicopters. Look under your seat and if a paper is attached you are in a helicopter." I reach under my seat keeping an eye at the speaker. I feel nothing.
"Dang," I whisper to myself. I hear people in the place say yes to themselves as they are in the chopper. "Now get out of here guys. Get into action."
I jump up from the chair and run through the place. I don't want to go into action. I know it’s my duty.

Later that day...

                  I look around at the other people in the plane. Most are looking at the ground, nervous. Some are looking ahead, confident of what they were doing.
"Drop point in thirty seconds."
I take another look around. Trying to look at most of the people in the plane. I want to make friends with them. Sooner than I thought the loading bay lowers to show other planes and blue skies. The men in front jump and disappear from my sight. My turn comes. I run and jump from the plane. When I look below me I see New York spread out in front of me. As the city gets closer to me I grip the cord to pull my parachute. When I think I'm out of sight from Times Square, I pull the cord. The force pulls me up and I glide down to a roof top. Quickly I take off the parachute and take my rifle from my waistband.
"Anyone who can hear me is in Foxtrot squad. Stick to the plan, meet at the Group Health Dentist joint in Times Square. Enter through the back," I hear through my headset.
I know exactly where it is. I’ll to run to get there in time but it’s not too much. I run through streets and alleyways until I find the right building and enter through the back. After I close the door soldiers point guns at me. I raise my hands in surrender.
"Put it down," I look as the speaker comes from another room in full uniform and armor. I would of never thought that he was actual military personnel. I look at him as he puts a clip into his Honey Badger.
"Balashov is our man as I explained earlier," he says almost under his breath. 
"He is in the building at our one o'clock," I go to the window and crack open the blinds to look at the building in front.
It is a very tall building. Exceeding way over fifty floors. I look at the windows trying to see if we’re alone out here. I squint as I see someone holding a rifle. Looking right at me. I close the blinds and back away from the window. I turn around and everyone is packing up, putting armor on and putting clips into their guns. I start to pack up when he speaker comes to me.
He looks at me with a calming look, " What is troubling you?"
I huff and give him the answer. My dad had died here in the NY when the Federation first attacked. When he died I was getting into the military just for him. The speaker looks at me and pats my shoulder.
"If you follow all my commands. You won't end up like your dad."
I nod more confident about myself. I finish packing up and follow the speaker out the door.
"And by the way. Call me Wilson," he says.
I nod hoping he will steer me the right way. I walk after him as we enter the middle of Times Square. I look up at the lookout hoping he wouldn't see us. He is not in sight though. 
"Charlie. Into the building, go," Wilson says to a man ahead of him.
We all stack up at the door and Charlie opens and enters. Seconds fly by and there is no sound except from sirens in the distance.
"Clear," Charlie says over the radio.
Wilson signals and everyone enters. I bring up the rear with Wilson. He pats my shoulder and when I look back he is giving me a thumbs up. I smile and continue walking with the squad. The building is empty so far on the bottom floor. Every single corner had been covered and Wilson found a staircase.
"New guy," he says and I know he's talking about me, "take point. Trust me. We all got you covered."
I watch everyone nod at me. I feel trusted and open the door ahead of me. I look around on the floor and nothing is to be found. This is the floor that I saw the lookout on. My heart is pounding even though I know these guys have my back. I walk along looking through all the doors and paths we come across. Then I find him the lookout sitting in the same spot he was in earlier. When I take a good look he is taking a nap. Good for me. It's my prize, I think to myself. I wave the squad to stay back and I take my combat knife out and hold it in my hands. As I approach he yawns and starts to move. I startle and throw the knife at him. The knife misses and goes through the window. The glass smashes. My squad and I don't move any muscle. I know he's awake. I hear him start speaking and I swing my Honey Badger around and take him out. I really hope his message never went through. Wilson approaches from behind. Before I let him touch me I say thanks but he gives no response comes. I turn around in confusion. Balashov.
He punches me and I fall to the ground. He kneels above me and raises his arm. When he moves down for a  hit I grab his hand and hit him with my other hand. He doesn't flinch and I hit him again. He stands up and steps on my chest. Balashov then pulls his magnum from his holster and aims it at my head.
"You have some punch in you kid. A punch that I would really enjoy on my team. The only thing is that you work for the US military. So this will be goodbye," he pulls the prime back and I watch as the barrel spins.
Then one of the squad members hits him in the side and knocks him over before the bullet can hit me. It hits the floor next to me and I scramble to my feet. While I get up I hear another shot. Balashov is now standing over the dead body of the squadmate. I gasp. This is it. He is done for, I think to myself. Quickly I run to his side and he grabs my shirt. With my feet still on the ground I grab his arms and run towards the window. He smashes through with me behind him.. He hits me and I hit him, even while free falling.We had swung at each other to the point of drifting away from one another. Now I focus on the ground getting prepared as it gets closer and closer. When the time is right I pull the pin on my parachute. I feel a yank on my back and the parachute is open. As I glide a shot sounds and I fall faster. Quickly I look up and notice a hole in my chute. Balashov had shot my chute. Falling I think about what decisions I made in life. Opening fire in the space station holding JUDGE. Finding the Russian space station and getting help from them. I basically got help from the enemy. Now I am going to die by their leader. Wind hits my face as I am parallel to the ground. I hear stray reporters below gasp as I get closer. I hope Balashov meets the same demise it seems I will. If not, he will  be wanted by the world.

Chapter IV

Somewhere In Nevada, Destination: Las Vegas, Nevada 
Sgt.  Jeff “Ice” Hanglk
2154 Hours

The cold of a desert night has set in. I sit in front of a barely burning fire. The dog handler and his dog are sleeping soundly at the edge of our camp. Unfortunately I couldn’t sleep. Dreams of Anders being shot down flood my mind. He still has to be in San Francisco. His mission was to find the crash and send in the team of Rescue agents to find any survivors. I ditched him to save a man of ours and his dog. I am happy of the decision I made but I still think about what Anders said. It still shocks me he wants to leave someone dead to see if another two people are dead or not. I look up as  a rustle in the sand catches my attention. A small figured body in the distance has come over a sand hill. The dog starts to growl waking his handler up.
“What’s happenin’?” he says.
I tell him to shut up and I quickly put out the fire. The man approaches closer and closer. His hand raises into the air and a shot fires off. I get up with my M1911 in hand.
“Star,” I yell out to the man. “Star or I will fire upon you!”
He stops dead in his tracks.
“Well, you made it this far and not any farther. You both and the dog will become one of us.” I freeze as I see Balashov’s face come into sight. “Hello there Sergeant,” he says walking up to me.
“No you can’t do this,” I yell as Balashov picks up the dog's Handler.
Balashov puts hit .44 Magnum to his head and twists the barrel making the soldier flinches.
“Tell me where Anders is and I will let him go Ice.”  I think and I see the handler shakes his head.
I look at Balashov and say, “The last I saw him he was outside of San Francisco. He was on his own, nobody else with him.”
Balashov nods and drops the soldier to the ground. He raises his hand and holds two fingers up. He moves them in a circular motion and many people come from the other sides of the sand hills. Balashov is about to walk away from us when he stops. My heart stops racing when he turns around.
“I almost forgot,” he says.
He raises his gun and shoots me in my waist. I yell out as the pain clenches my whole body I look down to where I covered the wound and blood rushes out. The dog comes over to me and barks at me. Almost like it feels my pain. When its handler comes over i am just about ready to pass out. The handler shakes me, “Stay with me. You’ll be fine.” He unrolls a large roll of gauze and wraps it around my body. He puts the whole roll on and sits back on his heels. Then a worried look pops onto his face.
“What?” I ask.
I look down to see the blood still rushing through the gauze. My sight dimmers and I head into a black world.

San Francisco, California
Com. Anders Charleson

I walk down the streets of the town. It is all crushed into a pile of rubble. Most of the places I knew as a kid are not there anymore. Like I said before, just rubble. Downtown is still somewhat together. Buildings on their sides caught by other buildings. Some split in half. The only thing I know is that I’m closer to my objective. The crash site is near by me but I don't know how close. I look at my belt for the GPS device and grab it. When it turns on the shows where I am. On the road ahead is where the GPS says the crash took place. I look up to see shadows looming in the dark. I put my hand on the back of my handgun. Watching them watch me. I move forward looking at the shadows which appear to be some sort of dog.
“Alpha Two-Three to rescue team. You have a go to come in for the take. I still have an unknown amount of survivors recorded,” I say into the radio that replaces the GPS in my hand.
“Roger that Alpha Two-Three. We are inbound to your position. Good to hear from you.”
I keep walking until I see the remaining light from the fire. I click the radio back into place on my belt and run to the Choppers. I pop open the window to the cockpit of one of the choppers.
“Drop it!” A driver reaches out and grabs my shirt. “Oh, Anders. Its you. I don’t know about everyone else,” he says as he points to a line of destroyed and wrecked helicopters.
I gasp while trying to keep cool. The Russians couldn’t have done this single-handedly. They had to of had some help. In the distance I can hear the ringing sound of helicopters.
I look back at the pilot and say, “Do you have a flare?” 
He nods and climbs back into the Helicopter's cockpit. He ruffles around through an object in the chopper and then comes up with a flare. I put my hand out as he tosses it to me. When I get it into my hands I aim up into the air. The trigger gets pulled and the bright red flare flies up into the sky. I expect to get a answer but nothing comes across the radio.
“Alpha Two-Three this is Rescue Team Four. We are about half an hour out, over.”
I worry now. Since they are thirty minutes away then who do we hear? I move around the destroyed chopper looking in the direction of the noise. From nowhere many helicopters appear over the horizon. “No, No, No! Not now, “ I think to myself. I turn around and head back to the cockpit where the pilot is eating an MRE.
“We need to go now,” I say as I put a clip into my G36C.
“Why? What’s up?” he says.
He climbs out of the chopper and turns around to see nothing but vehicles. He looks at me.
“Now that is a good reason to go!”  The pilot says starting to run in the opposite direction.
I watch as the choppers fly over. Each one passing with an extraordinary roar. I notice one slows down and lowers to a height just above me. I start to run the other way when the Miniguns and the side start to turn. Bullets then shatter on the ground behind me. Cover. Where can I find decent cover?  I think. The worst of this battle flies through the sky towards northern San Francisco.
“EMP!” I yell out even for the chopper driver to hear, but he doesn’t hear it. The pilot continues to fire at me missing each shot. I wish Ice would’ve stayed here in the town. He probably would have that chopper down by now. All because of a  dying handler. I watch the EMP explode in the air. A wave of wind hits me and the engine of the chopper behind me starts to die. I walk now. Just walking. Looking at the buildings once again. Thinking still what would’ve happened if we never went to the hotel and found the handler. No noise fills the air except some gunshots in the distance. This town has never been this quiet before. It’s never been so eery.

Chapter V

  Las Vegas, Nevada
  Russian Sergeant

  0023 Hours

Tiny drops of blood scatter against the wall as the Captain hits a man they call Ice.
“Tell me where he is!” he says as he hits Ice again.
“I told you already. He’s in San Francisco. The last I saw him was in the Ritz Carlton. Now please let me go,” Ice pleads.
“How come I don’t believe you,” the Captain gets close to Ice’s face.
“I swear that’s all I know.”
The captain nods and pulls a MP433 from his pocket and aims it at Ice’s head.
“Please. I swear thats all I...” The captain pulls the trigger and I look away.
When I look back I find many men dragging Ice’s body away from the area.  I look at the captain as he returns the gun back to its holster.
“Why did you execute him?” I say worried he is going to give away his cover.
He pushes me against the wall then looks behind him. When he looks at me he has his old look in his eyes.
“Remember our mission Fall. We need to find our way to get the Commander alone and kill him,” Ozone says to me.
Balashov, the commander of the Russian and the South American Federation Armies. His killing streak is tremendous, nearly uncountable. Our window is closing before he destroys  San Francisco. Undercover wasn’t my idea but it was Ozone’s. The underground american base was taken over by the Russians at midnight where most of the soldiers were killed in their sleep. I think of Ice. When he entered he winked at me. How could he have known. I look down at my shirt and I notice something that may have blew my cover. The American flag sticks out like a sore thumb against my Russian suit. I panick and Ozone notices.
“What’s up?” he asks me.
Thats when he notices. I can see sweat start to cover his forehead. Then he quickly scans the room. He seems to be looking for something that will blend in with the suit. I also turn around rummaging through items on the shelves. There are absolutely no towels or cloths anywhere in the room. Then something catches my attention. A voice echos down the hallway saying our Russian names. I look at Ozone and he’s already looking at me. He takes his pointer finger and moves it across his neck. Finally I get some action. I tell him to hide and we find good and I mean good spots. I’m behind a post next to the stairwell where I plan to take down the man. As the footsteps get closer I move my hand towards the bayonet in my pocket. I look at the man as he hits the basement floor and says our name again. I move from behind the pillar and kick him in the back. He falls from surprise and he twists around on his back. I jump on him and drive the bayonet into his stomach. He then punches me and I fall back onto the cold floor. He then stands up and rips the knife out of his stomach and the wound heals instantly.
“What?” I whisper.
I look at Ozone and he looks dumbfounded. The Russian bends down and picks me up with one hand. He raises me off the ground and looks into my eyes. I look away so nothing happens to me.
“Nice try, Fall,” he says my name and I grow worried.
He throws me at the wall and I break through it. I land on the cold cement and look around. To my luck,  weapon cabinets line the walls. I look towards the man who is now dealing with Ozone. I get up as fast as I can and open one of the cabinets. A FPS shotgun is up against the back of the cabinet which I grab. Slugs are the only thing missing. I panick. Will he kill Ozone? I go through each locker not finding any slugs until the last. One slug is in the box. All I need. I load it into the shotgun and prime it. When at a certain distance I aim it to the supermans head and fire. I don't watch what happens after because I know what happened is messy. I look at Ozone and he is blood covered. Quickly I jump over the wall, a pain shoots through my lower back and head, and move towards Ozone. He is struggling to get up and is dazed by what happened. As I grab his arm to lift him up, movement catches my eyes and when I look the super man is sitting up. I yank Ozone to his feet and tell him to go over the wall and find a way out. I am right behind him as the super man gets up. This place is strange. Maybe a little too strange. We head down a long hallway to a door that emits outside lights under it. Doors open in front of us and many Russians head out into the hallway. Moving down to where Ice had been executed.
"Do you know about the gun shots?" one of them say.
"No, I never heard them," I say back to the one who asked.
They then ignore us and continue down to the interrogation room. We wait till they are out of sight and we continue. Once we reach the door it busts open and Americans come through it.
"Freeze!" I rip off the suit to make it more clear that I'm an American.
They settle their guns and point us to the helicopter. The cold night air smacks me and I get chilled. The helicopter stirs the wind making it even more colder. Once we reach the helicopter the door opens and a American captain waves us in. I reach behind me and grab a headset so we can speak.
"What happened? Why did you send us a distress call?" The captain says.
"Sir you wouldn't believe what we saw in there. Magic is all that was there. A tall man that had his wounds heal instantly and would never die once his head is on the other side of the room."
The captain looks like we are crazy after Ozone tells him that. He shakes his head and then goes back to talking.
"We are sending you to San Francisco. To help out Commander Anders Charleson. He has sent in the rescue choppers to the wreckage sight. He then shortly after reported an enemy convoy of over five hundred choppers, a hundred vehicles, and well over a thousand of foot mobiles and requested back up," the captain says.
I nod. World War III is about to start in America with the Russians. I am prepared to keep San Fransisco up and not a pile of rubble all together.
"Sir?" I ask.
"Ya."
"Take me to the battlefield as fast as you can."

35 Minutes Ago...

  Sgt. Jeff “Ice” Hanglk

I wake up on a metal bed in someplace I don’t recognize. I look around in the room and see needles and other medical tools. “Ice,” I turn around to see a Russian sitting on a chair behind the bed. I look at his uniform. It is standard Russian colors but one thing stands out. An American flag in the middle of his chest.
  “My name is Ozone from the Zulu squad. I’m gonna get you out of here after we make the Russians happy,” he says.
“We?”
Another man with a American flag on his chest area walks in and closes the door behind him. I look at him but it seems as if I have seen him before. I shake of the thought and he puts his hand out. I grab it and he lifts me to my feet. As Ozone gets up a Russian enters the room. He speaks something in Russian and the other American says something back. The Russian nods and goes back out in the hallway. The man who picked me up gets close to my ear.
“They call me Fall. Just to let you know,” he tells me whispering very softly.
We walk down a long hallway moving past each room that has different things in them. Test monkeys, gun rooms, firing ranges, anything military related. At one door we turn into it and the Russian commander, Balashov, is sitting behind his desk. Ozone says something in russian and Fall throws me down on a chair. Balashov nods and they walk out.
"Well Sergeant. What brings you to Sin City?"
"Nothing that you would care," I say.
He smiles and opens a drawer behind the desk. He picks up the same .44 magnum he used to shoot me earlier on the desk.
"Sure you don’t want to change your mind?" Balashov says.
I huff, "I was just coming back to what was our base. But I guess I got sidetracked.. Still got the wound to prove it"
"So now you're talking sass to me. Sure have changed since our days in the camp, Ice."
Balashov then whistles and four Russians including Ozone and Fall come into the room. The two Russians grab my arm and Ozone grabs my legs. They carry me out the door and Fall closes it behind us. I look into each and every room seeing what's inside them. The last was the most devastating. I try and struggle to get out of their grip and I break my arms free. I hit the two Russians and kick Ozone. I open the door and go into it but a electric shock goes through my body. I fall to the floor and they drag me out the door. Then they pick me up again and carry me down a flight of stairs. They drop me in a wooden chair and it cracks. Ozone waves them off and looks me in the eye.
"I'm sorry. I have to act like this is happening," Fall says faintly.
No. This can't be happening. They can't!
Ozone hits me breaking my nose. Blood splatters the wall.
"Tell me where he is!" Ozone yells at me and hits me again.
Acting as if this has been happening I say, "I told you already. He's in San Francisco. The last I saw him was at the Ritz Carlton. Now please let me go."
Ozone closes in on my face, "How come I don't believe you."
"I swear that's all I know."
Ozone nods and reaches into his pocket. When he takes his hand out he has a MP433 in it. No. Don't do this. He aims it at my head and grips the trigger.
"I swear that's all I..."

Chapter VI

San Francisco
              Fall
               1252 Hours

Ozone and I land in the Dana Hills High School parking lot with two other men. The last the squad heard from Charleson was about an hour ago at the Ritz Carlton. He was in a second floor room with another found dog. It kills me what I remember seeing back at the Russian occupied base in Las Vegas. I try and shake the thought from my mind. 
“I want everyone to split up and meet up at the Ritz Carlton. Make sure we head straight there,” Ozone says handing each of us a GPS with the Ritz Carlton as the destination.We head out into the middle of the Stone Hill Dr. and Ozone stops us
I am the first to break off from the group. Each of us heading in a pack of two until we reach a road. Then we go by ourselves. I was told to take the farthest road to the left. Closest to the hotel. As I walk along Stone Hill I see my street on the other side of a yard. I throw my gun over a group of hedges bordering the yard and climb through them. Branches prickle me making me flinch. When I am through I pick up my gun and notice something. The street is lined with Russian Military Vehicles and Tanks. When I look closer I see Anders being talked to by one of the Russians.
“Hey guys we have a problem,” the squad member that went my way says softly into the radio.
“ Ya. We do. Ozone and Harley. Get over to Leeward drive. Many Russians are covering the street. They have Anders.”
A gunshot sounds through the air. I flinch from shock and when I look up at a roof I notice a sniper aiming right at me. Quickly I get up and run across the yard to the side of the nearest house. Many of the Russians have noticed the gunshots and are moving around. I hear one of the many tanks start to move. The noise of the tank gets closer and closer. Until the barrel of the tank peeks out from the side of the house. I move to the corner of the house and then to the back of the tank where I quickly dive under the tank and grab onto a bar holding the tank together. We roll through the yard and I don’t get noticed by the Russians walking right by the tank and the ones in the distance. I struggle to hold onto the tank. Every once in a while one hand slips but I grab the rod again. After a while of searching for me we stop on the road again. Two men in total get out of the tank and walk to the main bulk of hostiles behind a truck. I slip out from under the tank and climb onto it. Quickly I open the roof hatch and climb into the tank closing the hatch behind me.
“Fall? What are you thinking of doing?” I hear Ozone say over the radio.
“I’m going to play the game,” I say back.
I hear Ozone start to say something but I turn down the radio volume. Clanks on the side of the tank start to form and I get into a corner behind the hatch. The hatch opens and sunlight floods through it. The same two men enter the tank and get into their positions in the tank. Not facing my corner. They talk about how awesome it is to be the bad guy and even destroying the city. I think I have had enough of this talk.
I spring up from my corner and wrap my arms across the drivers throat causing him to choke. The reloader spins around and sees me choking him. He starts to reach for something on his side but I stop him.
“ I wouldn’t if I were you,” I say taunting him.
He looks down and notices the gun in my hand pointing right at him. He surrenders and puts his hands up. The guy I’m choking is out cold. Already slumping over in his seat. I carry him over the seat and open a panel in the back of the tank revealing a small compartment. I toss the disoriented one  into the compartment and direct my attention back to my new “friend”.
“Now what shall I do with you?” I say scratching the stubble on my chin.
He looks at me with nasty eyes which looks like he had something planned.
Before anything happens I shoot the reloader and he falls limp to the ground. Alright. I’m now the captain of this tank, I think to myself. Quickly something tickles my leg through my pocket. I reach into it and pull out my phone. When I look onto the screen it shows a text message from my wife. Oh god. I almost forgot about her. I flip open the phone and press the view message option on the screen to see what she had said.
I miss u, she had said.
I type back, I miss u too.
I wait a while before a message comes back saying, Where r u  right now?
San Francisco next to ur favorite beach.
I look up at the monitor and see the convoy has started to move. I kick the tank into gear and start to follow. I guess since I’m in a tank the Texting While Driving Law isn’t in effect. I’m not too sure.
The phone buzzes again with a message from my wife, When r u comin back?
Not sure, I send back trying to be honest.   
U better tell me soon, she sends as we roll down Nigel Shores Dr.
When we roll out onto the Pacific Coast Highway I turn my radio sound back up and as I expected Ozone is still yelling at me.
"What are you doing Fall? Where you going?"
"I told you Ozone. I'm playing the game."
I slide open my phone and send my wife another message. Dont worry. I'll tell u very soon.
Thinking the conversation is over I focus back on the monitor. All I see is downtown San Francisco in the distance and many tanks with military vehicles following behind each tank. Right now off I wanted to I could turn the barrel around and shoot the car behind me. The only thing is that would be suicide. I think of a way to catch all of these Russians off guard but nothing comes in mind. Until a helipad comes into sight.

Chapter VII

"Sweep check. Engines?"
"Check."
"Firing mechanism?"
"Check."
"Forget about the rest, but if those two work we’re probably good to go."
I look at the panel of switches above and flip one of the about fifty there. The propellers above start spinning. As they get faster I hold a joystick in the center ready from my wingman to give the go. Seconds fly and so do minutes.
"Wreck, are we good?"
"Uh. Ya go ahead."
Finally, time to get up in the air. I push a small lever beside me forward and we slowly raise up into the air. I look at the sky looking at all the other helicopters heading for San Francisco. The commander had given the risk to destroy San Francisco to save our men and get us out of there. His plans are to nuke the city and get it over with. We were also given permission to fire onto buildings. Once the main chopper gets into the downtown area we have one day to extract all personnel in San Francisco.

Hstge. Anders Charleson
0120 Hours

I sit in the back of a military transport vehicle with about fifteen other men all Russians. I sigh knowing that the man they were firing at was Ice. I wish I never disagreed with them. We roll down the road towards San Francisco and a enemy tank pulls up behind us and the window at the driver seat is perfectly see through. Thats when my hopes start to rise. The man behind the monitor is an American. I try to stand up but a chain wrapped around me keeps me sitting down.
“You just sit right there son,” the driver window slides open and Balashov’s driving.
“Let me out of this truck or you’ll all die!” I yell out loud for the tank driver to hear me.
When I look at him I see his grip tighten on the wheel.
“Oh ya. What’s gonna happen?” Balashov tries to taunt me.
I look at the tank and nod, the fun starts to happen. The tank fires it’s machine gun onto my chain and not one bullet hits me. I stand up and quickly jump out the back of the truck and land on the front of the tank. The barrel turns and I see a small camera next to the barrel. I wave at it and the barrel moves back to focus on the truck. I climb over the tank and look at the truck. The tank fires at the truck and it glows in a fiery explosion. Quickly I pop open the hatch of the tank and fall into it as something opens fire on us.
“Welcome back Anders,” the man at the steering wheel ,who I recognize as Fall from Basic Training, says.
“I owe you one now Fall.”
“While you were having your chat with Balashov our mission had been called off.”
I look at him with a crazed look.
“And also.. your friend Ice is dead.”
I then start to think what will happen to San Francisco. Will it be destroyed for good?
“What will happen then?” I ask in a more nosey mood that I was before.
“The President gave orders to a battalion of helicopters coming here to; destroy the town at all costs,” Fall looks at me from his seat.
“We need to find an AA gun. ASAP.”
I have a crazy thought.. but following through  I’ll be wanted by the whole country.

30 Minutes Later.

“Time check.”
“Any second Anders. And I never thought you were a madman.”
I look at him and say, “I never tried to show it.”
I turn back around in the AA gun and look at the monitor on it. Propellers of helicopters are being seen in the distance by the AA gun. I know that once I do this that I’m going to be wanted by the government. Choppers come into sight and I grip the AA gun’s trigger. I wait for Fall to give the go for me to shoot. Seconds flyby and more choppers come into sight. More time goes and even more choppers come into sight. Much longer and I will fire myself.
“Now!”
I press the trigger on the gun and the turrets begin to spin and pour out bullets. Many of them fly into choppers. I fire, and fire. Holding down the trigger. I watch as choppers begin to catch fire and plummet to the ground. I don't care though. I want this city to stay up and alive.  I will stop anyone in their tracks to  save this town. I hold the trigger not noticing that the gun is starting to overheat. Again, it doesn't matter. This town was my objective to save but know they want to destroy it. It is their fault I am shooting at their choppers. The gun stops from the heat being to tremendous. I quickly get off the seat and grab the rifle that I got from the secret compartment in the tank.
"We need to go now!" I yell at Fall.
As I start running I look at the rest of the choppers who are either spreading out or coming towards us. The ones who are coming towards us are priming their rockets.
"Fall. Now!"
Fall just stands there looking through his binoculars. Then he slowly brings them away from his eyes. With a look on his face like he has seen a ghost, he looks at me.
"Anders you need to look at the lead chopper," Fall says to me.
I walk over to him and snatch the binoculars from him. I bring them up to my eyes and look at the chopper. Now I see why he had had that look. The men in the lead chopper scare me with my life. The men are Balashov and best yet, Ice. Quickly I throw the binoculars to the ground and yank Fall's arm to get him to follow me. The lead starts shooting rockets at the AA gun and blows it up with a fiery explosion. We run as fast as we can down the trail as the choppers unload onto it behind us. I then lead us off the trail as he lead choppers swoops back for another run. I land on my bottom and slide down the hill. While sliding I aim my gun at the rockets on one of the choppers. Each bullet hits the rocket and blows up the chopper. I look to where I am sliding and a wall is in front of me. I throw my hand onto the hill trying to grab a hold of something. Trying to dig my hands into the ground but it doesn't dig into the ground. A small hidden ramp launches me into the air and into the wall. Hard. My sight comes in and out. Not seeing clearly well. When it comes in I can see a chopper landing behind the wall. Sooner or later I can hear an explosion along the wall and when I look over I see Ice coming towards me. My vision comes back for good and Ice rolls me over on my back.
"Hello Anders," Ice says and punches my face, causing me to stumble backwards
Daved. All I could say was, "why?"
"I hunt you guys now. The group you expected, we grounded them in Vegas."
Quick as possible I jab him in the throat causing him to fall back. I scramble to my feet and grab Fall. I shake him and shake him but he is out cold. When I look back at Ice he's starting to gather himself. I run along the wall trying to find a exit. The wall is solid for what I can see. I will show my country what I am capable of. I turn around and run back towards Ice. All I could do was keep running until I finally hit him We both get back to our feet quickly and start wildly throwing fists. We slam into each other again falling. Then the game is called. He hits me and I fall. Ice gets back on top of me. He hits me again and then unhooks his holster. I try and grab the gun but he yanks it out and holds it back. I try to hit him, but he aims the gun at me and I stop. He then digs the barrel into my head and taunts me.
"Ice. Please remember. It's me Anders. I know we got on the wrong end. Just... please don't do it. We can both take Balashov down," I try to break through Ice's mind but I can't.
"Anders. Nothing will stop me."

------------–-----------------THE-------------------------------------------------------------END--------------------------------

"'Anders no!' And that was it. Ice had shot and killed Anders," I look up at the tinted glass trying to look for faces behind the glass.
"Ok Sgt. Malleski. Your session is over today. You may exit."
I get up and push my chair in. I then quickly head out the door into the halls of the Denver Police Station. I will never forget the picture of Ice pulling the trigger. Anders was that man I would never forget. Especially that jump he made off the truck onto the tank I was driving.
Pushing the doors into the clear mountain air of Denver, I try to forget of war. Not to think of San Francisco. I know though that Balashov has set up camp with Ice in the nuked San Fran. My phone ringing breaks through my thoughts and when I look at the screen it is a number I don't recognize.
"Hello," I say after answering the phone.
"Fall. We need to meet ASAP."
"And who would this be?"
"Fall, it's Ozone. Like I said, we need to meet.
"What do you want, Ozone?"
"I was thinking we take a trip to San Franciscoo."