Unknown Enemy

  UNKNOWN ENEMY

  BROKEN E ARTH BOOK 1

  By Nick S. Thomas

  Copyright © 2018 by Nick S. Thomas

  Published by Swordworks Books

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  PART 1

  Chapter 1

  “I can’t see a damn thing,” Private Pope complained as he lugged his heavy M240 machine gun through thick foliage and up a steep incline.

  Donny Shaw stopped to look around for himself. He didn’t like to admit it, but Pope was right.

  “We can’t always rely on NVGs.”

  “Why not?”

  “What happens when you don’t have them anymore?”

  “Put in a request for more.”

  Donny smiled, though he wondered why Pope had ever joined the Army. He was a big strong fella, and yet complained about everything. But not Shaw, he was ready to go for Ranger selection. Something he intended to do the moment he got back to base. He loved this. He was made for it. Donny Shaw was a young man, but keen eyed, his head shaven, square jaw, and the piercing eyes of a wolf.

  “Shut up, both of you,” their team leader, Corporal Owen snarled.

  There was a hissing sound in the sky, and then a crack like thunder. The sky lit up as if a lightning storm had struck.

  “Down!” Owen yelled.

  They dropped to their knees, vanishing into the dense forest. The scene around them was lit up beautifully for a moment before plunging once again into darkness.

  “This wasn’t forecast. It was supposed to be a clear night.”

  “Quit your whining, Pope. You’ve been doing it all day since the rain came in,” said Owen.

  The light burst had destroyed their night vision, and they briefly lost sight of the other two in their team, Copeland up ahead, and Wilcox bringing up the rear. None of them moved and waited for the inevitable next flash of light. But before it came they heard what seemed like an electrical surge, and then sparks, followed by a loud crack, like a sonic boom. Something soared past in the sky soon after, but they could not see it.

  “What the hell was that?” Pope asked.

  The whole fireteam looked up for the next flash of light. Finally, it came. A green flash above them, with sparks rippling from it like lightning, but it reached out horizontally across the sky. It looked otherworldly, and none of them had any explanation for it.

  “What the hell?” Wilcox swore out loud.

  “That ain’t like no storm I ever seen,” said Pope.

  “Is this part of the exercise, Corporal?”

  Owen shook his head. “No idea, Copeland. I suppose it could be.”

  But there was doubt in his voice. They were a young team, Owen twenty-two, and the oldest among them. They looked to him for answers.

  Another green light flashed in the sky, and lightning bolts stretched out from it as they had before. The sky lit up long enough for them to see the silhouette of two craft fly overhead. Before anyone could get a good look, they fell into darkness once more. Nobody said a word for a moment, feeling a chill run down their spines, as if they had seen a ghost. They heard rustling at their backs and turned sharply, lifting their weapons. They were jumpy and breathing heavily, but another soldier stepped into view with a smile on his face.

  “Jumpy much?”

  “Hood, you asshole,” replied Shaw.

  “We could have shot you,” Pope complained.

  “But you didn’t, did you?” He knelt down, and the rest of the fireteam joined him.

  “Did you see that? We’ve got birds in the sky. That wasn’t part of the op.”

  “What are you talking about, Pope? Ain’t gonna be nobody up there in this.”

  “You kidding me? We saw it with our own eyes.” He looked up in time for another lightning crack. The sky lit up, but there was nothing to see.

  “Spooked by lightning, you kiddin’ me?”

  Pope looked jumpy, and that made Hood shake his head and smile as he mocked him.

  “Come on, you guys saw it, right?” Pope asked.

  None of them were sure of what they’d seen. The rain and wind crashed into the branches around them, and visibility was poor. When the sky did light up it was for seconds.

  “Get your shit together. We’re on home soil, so how you gonna manage when we gotta do this for real?”

  Hood looked to his team for support. He knew they had seen something, but they had nothing to explain it, “Come on. We’ve got work to do. Quicker we do it, the quicker we get out of this goddamn storm.”

  He signalled for them to go on.

  “I don’t like this. I don’t like it at all,” Pope said once he had vanished into the bush.

  “You don’t like anything,” replied Wilcox.

  “I’m serious. There is something up there, and it ain’t one of ours.”

  “Who? Who the hell would be overhead if not one of our own?” Shaw tried to reassure them all, but they could see there was some concern in his eyes, too.

  “Probably a surprise for us along the way, you know how they like to screw with us in exercises. Keeps us on our toes,” said Copeland.

  Shaw didn’t like it at all, but there was nothing they could do or say. They had no comms equipment of any kind, and nothing to go on besides an odd sighting that spooked them. He had to keep telling himself they were home. They were still in the United States of America. This was no war zone. There were no hostiles, only the targets and traps set for them for the exercise, and yet it still didn’t feel right. His fingers clenched around his rifle, relieved to know that he had it to hand. With that, he could fight anything. His trigger finger was twitching as it tapped the side of the receiver. He was anxious. They all were, apart from Hood. He and his team had long gone.

  Corporal Owen pulled out a small map and pulled over a hood so he could use a torch. They had to use old school skills here, and that was all part of the exercise.

  “We’re right on time, half a klick from target. Let’s move.” He put the map away.

  None of them were eager to move. They could all feel that something wasn’t right. None of them were cowards, and not men to hesitate, but today was different.

  “Come, let’s get this done,” said Owen.

  His usual enthusiasm was not there. They were go-getters, and yet not today. They continued on through the forest, soaked to the bone. They’d been through plenty of exercises like this before, but never in such extreme weather. Shaw tried to tell himself that was the only difference. That is why they were spooked, but he didn’t believe it deep down. He was kidding himself, so he could keep it together. It seemed like a much longer trek than it should have, but finally Owen raised his fist, and they dropped to their knees. He checked his watch, and they all knew it was time.

  Shaw was breathing deep and slow to calm his nerves, when he noticed a coarse smell in the air. It was almost like chlorine and irritated his nose. He looked around for any clues as to the source of it, but couldn’t see anything. Whatever it was, it didn’t belong out in the wild. He noticed a glimmer of movement and saw Owen counting down the seconds with his fingers. This was it. He counted down in his head with each finger.

  “Three, two, one…”

  His breathing paused as he waited for the inevitable. A loud crack rang out as the first shot was fired. He saw the muzzle flash in the distance, quickly followed a second shot, and others joined in.

  “Move, move, move,” Owen ordered.

  “They rushed forward with weapons raised. The first target was obvious. Wood cut outs of shooters that had been assembled as their targets. Owen was the first to fire, two shots into the centre of the target. Shaw was quick to aim at the next one. They were static targets, but the weather and visibility made it a challenge. Especially live firing with so many friendlies about.

  “Clear!” Copeland yelled after taking down two.

  The sky lit up from a flash of lightning crackling nearby and thunder followed. Shaw couldn’t help but jump and felt a shiver run down his spine. He was not a jumpy man, but something was wrong this night and he knew it.

  “Clear!” Wilcox shouted.

  The forest fell silent. It was half a day’s trek over difficult terrain for these few moments of action. It was a monotonous exercise, one they had gotten used to, although this weather made it a trying experience. They were soaking wet and battling the atrocious weather and ground all the way.

  “That it? We’re done?” Copeland asked.

  “It’s about time,” grumbled Pope.

  But gunfire rang out once more, first a burst of three shots.

  “That’s Hood’s sector,” said Shaw.

  Panicked cries rang out but were soon drowned out by automatic gunfire. They all looked to Owen for answers, as if hoping this was part of the exercise they had not been privy t
o. The cries rang out louder as the fire became more intense. There was a loud electric surge sound before a flash of light amongst the woods. A ball of light flashed among the trees, followed by two more. Full auto fire followed it.

  “What the hell is that?” Pope sounded more than a little scared.

  They all felt as shaken as he did.

  “This isn’t an exercise. We’ve got contact with hostiles.”

  “What? That’s crazy!” Copeland shouted.

  They heard voices cry out once more as gunfire continued to ring out.

  “Come on, let’s move!” Owen yelled.

  He rushed forward to Hood’s aid. None of them liked the man, but they would never hesitate to support him. They crashed through the sopping wet undergrowth. Were it not for the gunfire they’d be making a racket, but speed was of the utmost importance. They had no idea what they were running into. Shaw checked his selector switch as he ran. He’d never seen combat before, despite having trained for it for a couple of years.

  “Spread out, eyes open for friendlies!”

  The gunfire reduced until one final burst rang out. A flash of light lit up the forest briefly, and all went dark and quiet once again. The bright light had blown out their night vision, and they could see nothing. The whole fireteam came to a halt; each dropped to one knee, and looked around for one another. They were all scared, and they had every reason to be.

  Shaw’s sight was slowly coming back. He could make out Owen ahead of him, and Copeland to his right flank. Owen was gesturing for them to go forward. It was the last thing any of them wanted to do. Shaw’s instincts were telling him to flee. Like they were prey near a predator. Yet his training told him to get going forward.

  There was an acrid burning smell, and the faint wisp of a chlorine-like substance once again. Several of the trees ahead were smouldering where something was causing them to burn. Smoke rose up into the black sky, but the forest was too wet to catch alight in any way that would worry them.

  A flash of light reached out across the sky once more, and in those few seconds that the forest was lit up, Owen caught a glimpse of a figure beside a large tree. It was towering over the bodies of two soldiers. It looked almost three metres tall, and was standing on two legs, but didn’t look Human in shape. He had a brief glimpse of the silhouette before darkness returned. Not long enough to really see any of its features properly. He shook his head as if he was imagining things. He blinked, but it was too dark to see now.

  “Did you see that?”

  Shaw shook his head. The tree beside whatever Owen had seen obscured his view. He moved up to the Corporal. There was a look of terror on Owen’s face, as if he had seen a ghost. He was frozen.

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  Owen could find no words to describe it.

  “Now you wish we had NVGs?”

  “Shut up, Pope,” snapped Shaw.

  This was no time for jokes.

  “Corporal?” Shaw put a hand on his shoulder. He jumped, and his head snapped around, “What are we doing here?”

  “Spread out, move in,” he said, putting his Infantry head on.

  It’s what they’d been taught to do over and over. Aggression and force projection was their way. Shaw didn’t question it. He signalled to the others and stepped up to the cover of a tree, surveying the scene as they waited for the final order. There was so little light through the dense forest canopy. It was like a jungle out there, especially with the weather conditions. He desperately wanted to know what Owen had seen, and at the same time he didn’t. It clearly spooked Owen, and he wasn’t a man to falter in any situation.

  Shaw was panting heavily now as he could feel his pulse racing. He tried to slow his breathing, but the stress of the situation was too much. Owen finally gave the signal to go forward, and the five-man team progressed with three-metre spacing, weapons at the ready to fire. They looked back and forth for any sign of an enemy, or whatever it was Owen had seen. Visibility was short, but they soon came into view of a body. It was one of theirs. Owen signalled for the other three to keep watch as he and Shaw moved up to the body. They were immediately met by the revolting smell of burning flesh. The body was face down, and Owen turned him over. A hole smouldered in the dead man from his shoulders and across his chest, just beside the edge of his armour.

  “What could have done this?”

  Owen was as clueless as he was.

  “Nothing like I’ve seen before. It looks like he’s been cooked,” he whispered.

  If they were a little on edge before, now they were ready to panic. They’d trained for combat, but not for this. Whatever this was.

  “Find the others. I want to know what happened here.”

  Donny Shaw got up to a hunched position as he searched cautiously for the others. He soon found another body.

  “Corporal,” he whispered back before continuing on to the body.

  As he drew nearer, he realised it was missing a head. He looked about and discovered it two metres away.

  “Sheared clean off and cauterised.”

  Owen checked the body. There was still some blood seeping from the neck wound, but the skin was scorched the same as the other body.

  “Something is going on here. Something crazy.”

  Owen nodded in agreement. But they noticed a glimmer of movement off to their side and nearly jumped out of their skins as they lifted their weapons to fire. But they spotted a hand raised up and shaking.

  “We’ve got a survivor over here.” Owen rushed to the wounded man.

  It was Corporal Hood. His body armour was smouldering where something had struck and burrowed in. It had partially penetrated the armour, but that wasn’t his worst injury. A large part of his neck and collar had been cut away and burnt as the other wounds. He was gasping for air, or maybe trying to get a word out.

  “What happened here? Who did this to you?”

  Owen drew out a field dressing from his webbing. But Hood took his last gasp and was gone without a single word. Owen stopped what he was doing. There was no point in checking for life signs. Hood was gone.

  “The whole team is down, dead, all of them,” said Copeland as he knelt down beside them.

  “We need to get the hell out of here. Whoever…whatever did this, did you see any of them?” Donny asked.

  None of them had given it a moment’s thought.

  “All that fire, and no dead, or wounded? Whatever did this, if Hood couldn’t even scratch them, how are we gonna manage any better?”

  “We’re three clicks out from extract,” replied Owen.

  “That’s a damn sight closer than going back.”

  Owen nodded in agreement. He reached down and took one of Hood’s tags from around his neck.

  “Whatever is out here, where are they now? Why aren’t we seeing them?” asked Copeland.

  “They clearly don’t want to be seen.”

  “This is shit. It stinks, all of it,” said Owen.

  They could only agree. They were all as terrified. It was hard to believe a fireteam could be taken out with such ease.

  “Come on, time to get the hell out of here. Copeland, you’re on point. We’ll head North West till we reach the river, and then follow it on to the extract. Keep your eyes open, keep moving, and we’ll make it out, got it?”

  They both nodded in agreement. Owen got up to gesture towards the other two, but as he waved for them to follow on, a loud crack echoed out around them, and a burst of light shot at the Corporal. It struck below his shoulder and took the arm clean off. He screamed out in pain and dropped down to his knees. Copeland returned fire in the direction he thought it had come from, although he had no target to aim for. His muzzle flash lit up the scene; they could see nothing but more forest.

  "What do we do?" asked the panicked Pope.

  Owen was in shock, gazing at where his arm should be. He couldn't speak or cry out. They all looked to Shaw.

  "We're getting the hell out of here. Keep moving," he said.

  Shaw lifted the Corporal up and supported him as they carried on at a jogging pace.

  "Come on, Corporal. We’re not gonna die here. Keep going. Come on, keep going!"

  They rushed onwards as quickly as they could.

  "Go on. Keep moving!"