Mary-Kate wanted to come along. It would be a good distraction for her too.
***Brett***
We ran with bullets flying by. Explosions from grenades occured every few minutes. We ran with our heads ducked down until we reached a squad of soldiers that looked like they had been there for a while. They were banged up pretty bad. The Captain ordered them to head for the 'copter to take their wounded and re-arm. He learned from another captain that the only enemies left were up in the school. His men were too tired to assault the school, so it was up to us.
He got Marc-Andre, Matt and myself and told us. "Ok boys, get the troops together. We will approach the structure and clear it floor by floor."
"Yes sir!" I said. "We are familiar with the layout of this structure. This is Campbell Hall high, our school."
"Ok, you will co-ordinate what goes on inside." He said to us. "Move out!"
***Mary-kate***
"Aashley!" Samara said jumping up and down excitedly she said something undecodable but for some reason Ashley was able to understand her.
"Sure Samara I'll read to you"
I stared at her amazed. How'd she do it?
I walked over to the window and looked out, as Ashley started reading the story... 'The tin Soldier'.
***Marc-Andre***
We kicked the doors open and entered the school. A few soldiers appeared around the corner and fired at us. We dodged behind some fallen lockers and fought back. They couldn't win against a squad of fresh soldiers and were taken down. We split up into two teams and walked around the main floor of the school. We took out any enemies that we found.
Brett looked around to make sure no one would surprise us as we walked down the quiet halls. He told us to stop as we neared a corner. He signaled me that he heard something and was going to check out the corner first. He silently walked up and looked around the corner. He took a grenade and pulled the pin. He threw it around the corner and turned away from it. A loud bang was heard and debris flew from around the corner.
***Mary-Kate***
By the time Ashley got to the part of the story about the Soldier and Ballerina falling in the fire, I had to get out of there. I truly felt like I couldn't breath. I raced outside and leaned against the wall trying to calm myself down.
"Mary-Kate!" Ryan called out to me walking over "Are you ok?"
"F-fine" I gasped
"Are you sure? You look like you're about to faint." He said.
***Brett***
Well all gathered at the main entrance. The main floor was cleared. Now was the hard part. We had to go up the stairs and fight the people on the second floor, whom have had time to prepare themselves.
We ran up the stairs and saw the door was opened. Captain Gibson took a grenade and pulled the pin. He released the clamp and the grenade started it's 5 second countdown. At the 3 second mark he threw it into the opened doorway and another explosion echoes through the halls. We all charged up and were welcomed by incoming fire. We ducked behind the shelters the soldiers made before they were killed by the grenade. We slowly pushed them back into a corner and finished them off.
***Mary-Kate***
"I'm ok" I said sinking down to a sitting position.
Ryan knelt next to me and took my wrist "Your pulse is really fast. you're panicking. What's wrong?"
***Brett***
My pulse raced with the adrenaline that was running through my vains since I jumped off the helicopter. We had successfully re-captured the school. I leaned against a wall and slowly slid to the floor, out of breath. I was trying to take it all in. Captain Gibson walked over to me and knelt down.
"You did good son, you did good." He said. He then walked off.
Matt and Marc-Andre came over to me and sat down.
"Now I truly understand why they say war sucks." Marc-Andre said.
***Mary-Kate***
"I'm fine, really" I insisted "I just need a few minutes to breath" I was feeling a lot better.
As night set in I was starting to calm.
"You sure?" Ryan asked once more.
"Positive" I said with a smile.
***Brett***
"Casulties?" Captain Gibson asked.
"Three dead and two wounded sir." A soldier said.
Gibson got a radio and informed the main base that they had recaptured the school. He spent a little while on the radio talking tot he commanding officer. He then addressed us.
"Ok squad, we are ordered to hold the school until forces are redeployed here tomorrow morning." He said. "This isn't going to be easy, but we will get it done. I want you all to split into teams of three and take a position at critical points. The people on the main floor will have location rotation every two hours. Same for the people on the second floor."
Marc-Andre, Matt and I made up team Delta. We took position on the second floor above the main entrance and surveyed for enemy movement.
***Ashley***
Mary-Kate had disappeared quickly, I was just starting to get worried when she soon reappeared.
"Mawy-Kate!" Samara said pointing to her.
Levi, Samara's brother, raced over to her. "Can you spin me around?" He asked.
I explained to Mary-Kate he wanted her to hold him by his arms and spin him around. She did so, Levi laughed a ton as did Samara. Their laughter was infectious and we soon found ourselves joining in for a much needed laugh.
Chapter 22
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