《Echo Platoon》 Chapter - 1 - Before Petty Officer 1st class Thomas ¡®Lamb¡¯ Lambert. Why was I, a man in the navy, on goddamn land, you might be asking? Well, it all comes down to my good friend, Wheels. Cohen ¡®Wheels¡¯ Wheeler is a marine that frequents the ship I''m on, so we naturally became friends. Wheels¡¯ squad is tasked with landing in some shit-hole country in the middle east, where there''s a revolution or something going on, and the ship I''m on is in charge of getting them there. That shit hole is where my sister, who''s a self proclaimed ¡°informer of the people¡± , thought she could get the news people needed, or some bullshit like that. So, we''re right off the coast, and there''s a super expansive compound, full of people with guns and people the guns were pointed at. There was also what looked to be a mother fucking coliseum. There are gunshots going off all over the place and as we almost got right on the shore I heard cheering from the coliseum. Fucking cheering in this hell hole!?! That''s when I knew shit was going down and we needed to drop our marines ASAP. Wheels told me he was tasked to extract the president of this garbage dump, but from the cheering getting louder I could already tell he wasn''t getting a gold star. I tried to tell the Marines they weren''t extracting shit other than dead bodies and that they might as well go save the civies in the compound. Of course the dipshits in the marine corps couldn''t understand, so me, Wheels, and another navy petty officer decided to take it into our own hands. I mean what the hell can a few revolutionaries with some jammed and busted 1911s do to the US Navy? I managed to convince the dipshit in charge of Wheels¡¯ group to let Wheels hold down the fort. As soon as the Marines dropped on their dingy we took a safety boat, that no one would notice was gone, and got to the shore a little away from where the Marines landed. We took back streets and ended up making it to the compound without engaging anyone. Dune, a petty officer 2nd class was able to cut through the barbed wire fence that surrounded the whole compound with some wire cutters he brought with him. He seems pretty smart if I put it like that, right? The dumbass forgot to grab an M14 so all he had was an M9 and the wire cutters he found on the safety boat. We made it into the compound and saved about 4 groups of civies without being seen by just shooting the revolutionaries from afar and telling them to follow the scratch marks Dune made with his wire cutters leading to a safe house we found on the way into the compound. We were doing the same thing we had been doing on this group of 2 guys, a kid, and 2 girls. They all had bags on their heads, up against the wall, and crying, like the other groups we had found, we thought everything would go as planned. My gun jammed, Wheels forgot to reload, and Dune was of no help with the distance we were at. We were unfortunate and the 2 of the 6 people we hadn''t killed ended up being special forces or some shit. One twisted around and instantly shot Dune right between his eyes with a high quality AK47 and the other was slower, but was still able to shoot Wheels in the shoulder. Me and Wheels were inside a house on opposite sides of a door. I got my M14 unjammed and Wheels pulled out his M9 since he dropped his M14. These cocksuckers were fucked now. Wheels popped out and shot the slow guy and immediately got back into cover. The Dune killer was surprised so I shot from his stomach to his throat, and when he died he seized up and pulled the trigger. He unloaded a full fucking clip into my foot and it hurt like hell. We obviously had basic medical training so we gave each other tourniquets and got ready to move. The revolutionaries were a different race than us, apparently, as they were able to hear the difference between execution and our gunfight. We heard an old pickup start chugging closer to us, and we remembered the civies. We rushed out and quickly cut the civies bindings and unbagged them. I was surprised. Like a lot more surprised than what that implied. My sister was one of the women. We knew that the civies wouldn''t make it out alive if we just left them there so we brought them into the house we were hiding in earlier. The kid kept on crying and we had some chloroform in the standard issue med kit. We hid the civies in a closet deep in the building, but it was a small closet, so me and Wheels decided to find a different place so we could at least distract the revolutionaries.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The truck¡¯s doors slammed and it''s engine stopped guzzling fuel so we had to deal with at least 5 people since there were 4 door slams and I saw someone in the flatbed. We couldn''t find a place to hide, so we went to the side of the house opposite my sister and were going to make a last stand. Wheels had taken one of spec ops aks and sat behind a bed with his gun trained on the only door. I made sure both my guns were reloaded and was behind a tall dresser with my AR pointed at the door.We heard the revolutionaries going towards the civs, so Wheels decided to try to shoot them through the wall. Wheels hit surprisingly, and I was able to hear 6 people''s worth of footsteps coming towards us. One guy ran in with a glock and was taken down with two shots in the head. The next guy was a whole lot more cautious and set up near the door, but he set up on the wrong side, and I saw him and shot him with my pistol. Three people ran in at the same time, and me and Wheels gunned them down. I listened as much as I could but I couldn''t hear the last guys footsteps so me and Wheels got up and then both of us heard 5 gunshots. Me and Wheels froze for a moment of realization, but my moment was a lot shorter than Wheels¡¯. I was mad. I was infuriated. But, the emotion that covered me the most was fear. I jumped up and ran to where the closet I hid my sister in was. I reached the room and I saw what I didn''t want to. All five of them had bullets in their heads. My sister who tried to rush the gunman? Dead. Her friend who was scared frozen? Dead. The kid that was unconscious? Dead. He had shot and killed every single one of them. Who are the marines saving the president from? I don''t care who. I''m going to rip their throats out. The shooter didn''t go anywhere. He was still in the room. That''s where I was going to start first. Was¡­. He shot me. The gunman shot me. He only shot my knee though. He didn''t kill me, I wasn''t going to stop just because I lost a leg. When I was standing up, Wheels ran in and got shot in his hand. The rifle in his hand fell onto my head and knocked me down to the ground again. Wheels was shot in both knees and collapsed onto me. I couldn''t reach my pistol now that Wheels was on top of me. I was done. The gunman put a gas mask on and walked out after throwing a gas grenade. I stayed conscious for a little but I wasn''t able to breath so I went down, Down for the count. I swear I could have heard gunshots just now though.
It''s been a while. How am I still thinking? Is this death? ¡°WAKE UP RECRUITS.¡± Maybe I got sent to hell? Boot camp was bad but I didn''t know I thought this lowly of it. I think I can hear someone yelling again. Welp, I guess hell is better than nothing at all. ¡°LAMB! WHEELS! ON YOUR FEET!¡± What? Well I guess this is boot camp. I''m in a room with three rows of bunk beds and it seems I have one in the middle row. Well shit. ¡°LAMB! WHEELS! DON¡¯T JUST SIT THERE LIKE YOU¡¯RE SLOW! ON YOUR FEET.¡± This voice sounds pretty feminine. Who''s yelling? Seems to be a 5¡¯11 flat girl. Not my type to be honest. Might as well stand up. She keeps on yelling at Wheels too but I haven''t seen him. AH. He was under me the whole time. He''s always said he was a bottom. Now where do we stand? Oh there''s already a ten person line. I guess the we''re waiting on me and Wheels. I can''t forget my jacket¡­. I think? Do I need the jacket? Not everyone''s wearing it so I guess it''s a personal choice. I''ll wear it then to contrast Wheels. ¡°Alright privates. We have two new recruits as you should have been able to see. Wheels is the one with blue eyes and black hair, Lamb is the one with grey eyes and brown hair. We''re going to the conference room for the introduction speech and introductions. Everything''s indoors I guess? I haven''t seen a single window or ray of sunlight. The walls are a very pure white. Did they paint recently? The floors are wood and there''s not a spot of paint on them. I guess they got professionals. ¡°Hey Lamb! Stop daydreaming, we¡¯re here. You''re in seat 11F.¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am!¡± The room we got to looks like one a professor would give a seminar in. There is a wooden half circle and then white marble stairs with rows upon rows of chairs. Do they even use half of these? Here''s my seat. I''m sitting right next to Wheels. The flat bed is standing near the door. There goes the lights. Is that a hologram!? It''s just a square with a symbol on it, but it''s still a hologram! ¡°First of all,¡± Is that hologram supposed to symbolize the guy who''s talking? ¡°Welcome to Echo Platoon; we''re glad to have you.¡± Chapter - 2 - Introduction ¡°I¡¯d like to introduce the two, new recruits.¡± I hear the voice say, as I see the hologram pulse, ¡°Thomas Lambert, please stand and introduce yourself.¡± Instinctively, I stand up and salute yelling, ¡°Petty Officer First Class, Thomas Lambert, Sir!¡± ¡°Nice enthusiasm¡±, one of the other people sitting in the room says sarcastically, which results in two other people sitting near him failing to hold in their chuckles. Christ, this is hell. ¡°Alright,¡± the hologram-voice says, ¡°settle. Cohen Wheeler, please introduce yourself.¡± Wheels stands up much more casually than me, then says, ¡°Lance Corporal Cohen Wheeler, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you all.¡± And ends by offering up either a smirk or a scowl to the people who laughed at me earlier. The hologram pulses and shines and out comes the words, ¡°Alright, alright. Can I have everyone introduce themselves, without the drama?¡± Damnit, couldn¡¯t you have not said that? Here comes the first one. A guy with blonde hair and olive skin stands up first. ¡°I¡¯m Vinzenz, nice to meet you both, sorry for the obstruction those asshats over there made¡±, he says with a smirk and a slight tip of his head towards the hecklers, then sits down. The next person to stand up is the first person who said something, a man with a bowl of neat hair on his head and an English accent. ¡°I¡¯m Kenton Banks, it¡¯s a pleasure for you to meet me¡±, he says in a sneering tone, does a bow, then sits back down with his leg crossed over his other. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. A Polski looking woman with decent sized breasts stands up and introduces herself with a smile. ¡°Nice to meet you, I¡¯m Carla Gorecki, a friend of Vinzenz¡± Next, a young Japanese man gives his greeting sitting down by merely saying his name, Honda Jiro. Still like him more than that Kenton asshole. An even younger man, who can barely be called an adult, stands up next to Kenton, and says, ¡°Bet you won¡¯t last a week. Name¡¯s Arrigo, by the way.¡± With a sneer, he almost sounds like he is trying to mimic Kenton¡¯s way of speaking. A reserved looking woman stands up and quietly gets out the words, ¡°My name is Konstanty, I look forward to working with you.¡± She is pretty cute, so, given the chance, I would probably say, ¡°Hell yeah¡±. ¡°I¡¯m Viktor Ohme¡±, says a guy who kinda looks like a Himmler with longer hair, who is sat near Konstanty. Finally, Kenton¡¯s last lackey stands up and announces himself, with an Irish accent, by saying ¡°Tristan, better keep yourself clear of me.¡± Yeah, yeah, yeah, like you¡¯re going to cause me problems. ¡°And I¡¯m Rosa¡±, a voice says from near one of the entrances of the room. Whoops, forgot about her, but I guess it isn¡¯t over till the flat lady sings, ¡°I¡¯m the Operational Captain of the platoon.¡± My eyes are drawn away from Rosa because the hologram starts flashing and pulsing again. ¡°Alright, There are still a couple of support specialists, but you¡¯ll meet them later. Now I¡¯ll talk about why you two are here.¡± Finally getting to the good part, I was wondering why I was sent to hell; I mean, I was a little prideful and at times wrathful, perhaps lustful even, but I didn¡¯t think anything I did was that bad. ¡°Despite what you both may think, you are not in hell. You¡¯re both still alive.¡± ¡­I¡¯m alive? That can¡¯t be, I remember my skin feeling like it was burning off, and yet I still have it. Wait, I see what¡¯s happening! This is just another piece of hell trying to give me hope: hope that I¡¯m free, hope that Dune¡¯s alive, maybe even all the other soldiers I fought with, but mostly, hope that my sister could still be alive. I could go on with the hope that my whole life was a dream; with the hope that one day I¡¯ll just wake up and no one will be dead or hurt. But I won¡¯t, because this is the real world, not some figment of my imagination. I¡¯m never going to get anyone back. ¡°Well, whatever, believe what you want, but you work for me now.¡± Was he¡­ talking to me? Did he read my mind? ¡°And what do we do for you?¡±, Wheels ask ignorant to what I was thinking and what our new ¡°Boss¡± was saying. ¡°You¡¯ll kill our enemies. It doesn¡¯t sound very fun, I know, but I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll both be happy to know that our current enemies are the people who tried to kill you.¡± I can almost hear his smirk, and can also almost hold back my own, but I guess I don¡¯t have that much impulse control. Even If I am dead, even if I¡¯ll never see another loved one again, I think I¡¯ll still enjoy this. Wheels and I look at each other and we both know that these dictatorial- anarchist guys are going to go through a world of hurt, by our hands.