Fang: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 3)

  FANG

  A World at War Novel

  By Mitchell T. Jacobs

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  FANG

  Copyright © 2014 by Mitchell T. Jacobs

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing, 2014

  To Kyle and Theresa:

  May D.C. Suit you as

  well as N.Y.

  CHAPTER 1

  Emergence

  Alarms. Zach hadn't heard that noise in a long time. In fact, he had never heard them under this type of situation. He had listened to them when they were tested, but never under combat conditions. The last time they had sounded Zach was away in Old Chicago, when Ragnarok Company had launched a blistering attack on their stronghold at Lerna Bastion.

  It was a different time and a different place, but the sound was unmistakable all the same. They were under attack. But from where?

  They were in the Eagle Creek district of Indianapolis, too far south for their Ragnarok enemies to reach. No one else had come this far south either, and even if that had, they didn't have the firepower to breach the walls. The Hydra Alliance had only managed to get inside the city by way of boat, and they had secured the shoreline to make sure no one else could try it.

  He soon got his answer. A broadcast went out from Hydra Command in the city.

  “Attention everyone, we are under attack from enemy NPC forces infiltrating from the east. I say again, we are under attack from the east.”

  “Crap,” Zach said. Black Wolf Company was in no condition to fight at the moment. Most of their troops were back at Lerna Bastion, packing up their old base to move it down to the city. Nora was in charge and had taken almost all of their fighting strength with her; the only Black Wolf members in the city were currently in the briefing room with him, having a meeting.

  Beside him Danny spoke up. “Well, we can form up a squad, at least,” he said,

  Zach nodded and looked around the room as he got up, thinking. At least they had a bunch of veterans. There was him, an engineer, and Danny, a heavy. From Danny's platoon there was Xavier, a soldier, Javy, a medic, and Karen, another soldier. Selene was up north with Nora, but two of her squad leaders were also present; Gavin, an assault, and Ethan, another heavy. They also had their lone wolf, Miko, a sniper.

  Perfect. They had a full strength squad, and they even covered all the classes.

  “OK guys, we'll form up into a single squad and head east. Gavin, Xavier, Karen, you're with me. We're going to be the attack section. Danny, take Javy, Ethan and Miko. You'll be the support section. Understood? Good, let's move.”

  The streets were chaotic, filled with troops heading east. There was some semblance of order, but it was tenuous at best right now. Everyone was confused.

  Zach was as puzzled as anyone. What was going on? NPCs were always guards, except in a few places where they acted as bandits and highwaymen. If they showed any aggression it was only to drive players a certain distance away from the objective they were guarding. He had never heard of them launching a large scale attack like the one that was apparently happening.

  Then again, they were in completely uncharted territory. The Hydra Alliance had been the first players to capture any part of a major city about two weeks ago. There were eight more districts to capture, but they had believed that it was only a matter of time. They would have the time to rest and refit, to rebuild their armored company which had taken such heavy losses capturing the district. But maybe they were wrong. Maybe they didn't have that kind of time.

  And if they were wrong, that changed everything.

  He could hear the crackle of gunfire ahead as they neared the eastern end of the district. On his HUD he saw a marker hovering over a three story building. Assemble here, it said. The sounds of a fierce firefight echoed through the area in front of it.

  Zach and his squad closed the distance and headed inside. David, Sacred Sword's commander, was busy directing traffic, coordinating troops from a half-dozen different companies. He saw them and motioned them forward.

  “The enemy is making a push from this section. There's no gate here, so I have no idea how they got in. But they're strong. Company size, at least,” he told them.

  “Do you have them contained?” Zach asked.

  “Yeah, but that's it. We're trying to get ourselves in position to launch a counterattack, but it's chaos right now.”

  “Where do you want it?”

  “Along the right flank, but we don't have the troops in place for it yet.”

  “We'll take care of it.” Zach told him.

  “With a single squad?”

  “We're rangers. Fighting outnumbered is kind of our thing,” Danny said.

  David shrugged. “OK, if you want to try it, be my guest. You'll buy us time for more people to get here, at least.”

  Zach nodded. “Alright, we're headed that way. Let's move.”

  “Great,” Gavin commented as they sprinted toward the right flanks. More troops were coming in from all sectors.

  “Right,” Javy added. “This is the last place where I thought we would be attacked from.”

  “I know,” Gavin said. “Of all the places.”

  “How did they get in?” Karen asked.

  Zach frowned. “That's the question we're going to answer.”

  The enemy was clustered around a few buildings, trading fire with the main line. The Black Wolf squad moved up with nary a disturbance. Zach was quite pleased with their efforts. They couldn't match the expertise of their Redd Foxx counterparts, but Black Wolf was becoming quite adept at stealth work, truth be told.

  Redd Foxx had taught them well, and they were using one of they lessons they had been given right now; their goal was to be stealthy, not silent. In the chaos of a firefight no one was going to notice the sound of twigs snapping, or the crunch of gravel. Trying to be silent now would actually hurt them by slowing them down when they could use the confusion to move quickly.

  They took cover in a three story building directly to the south of the enemy positions. The main line was doing a good job of keeping them busy.

  Zach's alert buzzed. “Wolf Lead.”

  “Wolf Lead, this is Sword Lead. Marauder's here with an assault gun. They're going to bust through the front of the line.”

  “Copy that. We'll hit them from the flank as planned.”

  “Right. If you want to wait I'm sending two squads from Grizzly around.”

  Zach looked up as he heard an especially loud commotion. Marauder was on the attack.

  “Tell them to come in behind us and exploit the confusion. We're going now. Time is of the essence, after all,” Zach said.

  “Copy, Wolf Lead. Good hunting.”

  Zach looked at his team. “Alright, let's get this done, shall we? Miko on the roof giving cover fire. The rest of us, storm assault across the street. Danny, Ethan, cover fire until we're across, then move over to join us. Got it?”

  His squad moved into position without a word. That was their greatest ad
vantage right now. All of Hydra was accepting new members, trying to increase their strength for the next push into the city, but their backbone was still their veteran elites. Sacred Sword, Black Wolf, Crimson Eagle, Grizzly, Marauder, a dozen more, each company had a hardened core of veterans they could call upon to carry the day. And right now Zach had most of the best in his squad.

  Marauder was tearing at the main enemy line, taking casualties but wreaking havoc at the same time. He smiled. No subtlety there. Marauder had one way of fighting; controlled, but vicious and angry. That would certainly grab the enemy's attention.

  Zach looked at the others and gave them a hand signal. Miko would figure out what was happening soon enough when they started crossing the street. They moved across quickly, meeting no resistance. Marauder was really sucking in the enemy, Zach thought to himself.

  They cleared one set of buildings before they found the enemy moving through a plaza, guns aimed toward the west. Zach signaled his troops and then opened fire.

  The enemy never knew what hit them. Zach's troops were effectively at point blank range, about fifty feet away in the first floor of an office building, and they were all good shots by now. Even without Miko the amount of lead they could throw down range was immense; two machine guns, a submachine gun, two assault rifles and two carbines. Black Wolf gunned down almost a dozen enemies before they even had time to turn. The next dozen managed to get partway around before they were scythed down, and the next half-dozen started to head for cover when they were shot as well.

  But there were still enemies left. Dozens, scores in fact, and more of them seemed to be emerging from somewhere that Zach couldn't pinpoint. And now they had a bead on them.

  Zach flinched as a hail of bullets came right back at them. He toggled his radio. “Sword Lead, we've hit the enemy on the right flank, but their numbers are huge.”

  “How huge?” David asked.

  Zach leaned up out of the window to look and take a shot. He barely made it back into cover before machine gun fire tore through the space where his head had been seconds earlier.

  “Several companies, at least. I think we might be facing down a battalion, and they keep coming,” Zach said. “Might want to alert Marauder.”

  “Jeeze, will do. Grizzly's headed to your position now. Gina's leading them.”

  Good news, at least. Zach wasn't sure how long his squad could hold off this number of enemies. They could distract them, however, and the last thing they needed was for the enemy to break through and spread out through the district. Here, at least, the attack was contained.

  “Zach, I'm moving up to the second floor. Ethan's going to follow me up once I get in position,” Danny said.

  “Copy that,” Zach said. He needed no explanation. Danny was going to try to get in an elevated position where he had a more advantageous angle and his machine gun fire would be more effective.

  “Wolf Lead, Wolf Lead, this is Bear Lead. We're coming in behind you right now, so don't get spooked and shoot us in the face,” Gina's voice cut in over the radio.

  “Copy.”

  “Oh, and you might want to duck and cover,” she added. “There's going to be some fireworks.”

  “How big?” Zach asked.

  “Enough that I wouldn't want to be standing in the open when they hit. They didn't elaborate,” Gina said.

  Zach had scarcely passed the order to his squad when the mortar rounds started to drop. They were at the smaller end of the scale judging by the explosions, but to the tightly packed enemy they were deadly nonetheless. The amount of fire coming from the other side slackened considerably.

  Grizzly showed up soon after and lent their support, pouring fire onto the survivors. Zach took the opportunity to check in with command. They were pressing the enemy hard, and a containing force was holding them to the east and north. Marauder was still driving hard from the west, pushing the enemy back with ferocity.

  “Zach.”

  “What's up Danny?” he answered.

  “I think I can see where the enemy is coming from. It looks like a dip of some kind...”

  “It's a subway tunnel,” Miko said. She had arrived with Grizzly and had taken up a position on the roof.

  “Are you sure?” Zach asked, surprised.

  “Yup, it definitely is,” she confirmed.

  “How did we miss that?” Zach asked.

  The other end of the line was silent for a moment.

  “We're going to have to storm the place anyhow,” Danny said.

  “Right.” The enemy in front of them was scattered, vulnerable to attack. “Assault team with me. Let's move!”

  Zach leaped out of his window with the others close behind. He knew that Grizzly would follow behind shortly. At least, he hoped they would, otherwise they were going to be shredded.

  His group didn't have to bother firing as they moved toward the subway tunnel. Their support team was doing a good job of laying down fire for them. He could see Grizzly's blips moving on his radar coming up behind them, and then some more appeared from the west. Marauder must have broken through the main enemy line.

  There were still plenty of enemies around, but Zach ignored them. His mind was focused on the subway tunnel. They needed to get there to stem the flow of enemy troops into the city.

  “Danny, bring your team and join up with us at the entrance,” Zach ordered. He and his troops descended down the stairs. Xavier and Gavin took the lead. At the bottom the doors to the subway were mysteriously closed.

  “What's that about?” Gavin asked. “Shouldn't they be open since that's where they're coming from?”

  “Yeah,” Zach commented. Something was very wrong here.

  He knew it, and he could tell that the rest of his team knew it as well. There was a palatable sense of unease in the air. There were too many questions right now. How had they missed this? What was down here? And probably most importantly, where did it lead?

  Danny's team joined them. Ahead, Xavier kicked in the door. Gavin tossed a grenade inside and waited for it to explode before he went through. Smart move, in Zach's opinion. They had no idea what was lurking down there. They could be walking into an ambush for all he knew.

  “Lights,” Gavin said. “It's pitch black down here.”

  Everyone switched on their gun lights and stepped through the doors. They were in a subway station. Ahead of them was a decrepit, rusted ticket counter and turnstiles to access the train platforms. The rails themselves were empty.

  “So which way did they come from?” Karen said.

  “There's no way to tell,” Miko said. She was their best tracker by far. “Too much disturbance of the ground and such.”

  “We came from the south,” Xavier began. “I'm pretty certain that they came from another district, and the only direction that leads that way is east. So we should probably head down the eastern end of the tunnel.”

  “So does the western end of the tunnel lead anywhere?” Ethan asked.

  “Not a question we really want to think about right now,” Karen said.

  Zach agreed with that. There were too many troubling possibilities, and they needed to concentrate. Who knew what was lurking down here?

  “Alright, let's get a patrol file going,” he said. “I'm going to be up front to search for traps and the like. I want a machine gun up front, so Ethan, you're with me. Gavin and Xavier as well. Danny, take Miko, Karen and Javy and cover us from the rear. If I'm shot, chain of command goes through you.”

  “Are you expecting to get shot?” Danny asked.

  “Considering we're walking through the dark waving lights around, I'd say that's pretty likely. But we need to figure out what's down here,” Zach said. “Besides, that's what we have Javy here for.”

  “Uh, I don't have many cures for a bullet in the face,” Javy replied, nervously fingering his medic's kit.

  “Come on.”

  They set off through the dark gloom of the subway tunnel. Zach had loaded up a grenade into hi
s launcher. If they ran into trouble they would need firepower as quickly as possible, and it would take precious seconds to load. He just hoped that they wouldn't have to climb through any tight spaces. That would be an inglorious way to die; killed by your own grenade when the trigger snagged on something.

  “Just how big is the subway system in Indianapolis?” Javy wondered aloud.

  “Noise,” Karen said.

  “Like they're not going to see our lights,” Javy said.

  “OK, I'll concede that,” Karen said.

  “They're pretty extensive,” Xavier said. “I think I remember looking at a map when I was there for a basketball game.”

  “Maybe that's a good thing?” Ethan suggested. “It could give us a way into the other districts without having to blast the walls.”

  “That works both ways,” Gavin said. “And judging from the size of the attack up top, they're not just going to let us have this place without a fight.”

  That in itself was an unsettling prospect. The alliance had thought they were safe. The only way into the district was over a long bridge bracketed by artillery and machine guns, and the rest of the city was held off by thick walls. There was no way that an enemy could hope to break through by a frontal assault. The defenses were too strong, maybe even stronger than those at Lerna Bastion. But if there were other ways to bypass the walls...

  They were flying blind, Zach thought ruefully. Everyone had been so focused on getting themselves established in their new holdings that they hadn't properly scouted the place. Oh, they had explored the city, looking for the ideal spots to set up bases. But their eyes had been on searching for prized locations, and it was very easy to miss things with blinders like that on. Say, for instance, the presence of a massive tunnel system under their feet.

  They had gone about fifty yards when he heard a noise coming from in front of them. It was faint at first, but it steadily grew louder and louder. It sounded like scratching. And Zach knew what that probably meant...

  A shape appeared for a moment in the beam of one of their lights, then disappeared again into the darkness. Zach caught a glimpse of something long. It was enough. He pulled the trigger of his launcher.