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I was roused by Firedrake, who was shaking me slightly. My eyes started to ease open and I could see the truck, and Flynn's lifeless body on the side of the road. "Come, on Taro, we need to move." Firedrake said as I managed to stand. "Wh....what about Flynn?" I asked, still trying to recover from being launched into the air 40 or so feet. "He's gone." Firedrake said letting his gaze drop to the ground.

Faline, followed by the others then appeared from behind the truck. "The closest is about half a mile from here." she said. I looked up from the ground and noticed that we were in the middle of the desert, we were in the open. "We need to get to cover." I said as a voice crackled over the headset. "Talon, where are you, those mortars are still tearing us up out here!"

I looked up at everyone, then replied, "We've hit an IED, Flynn's dead." a long sigh then came through the headset. "OK, what's your ETA on the first mortar?" I looked up at Faline, and she replied to the man, "About 15 minuets." "Copy, base out." the man said as the headset became quiet.

"Where's the closest mortar?" I asked Faline. She then pointed to an area with a flash coming from it every few seconds. "Ok, lets go." I said, glancing at Flynn's body. "For Flynn." "For Flynn."  they replied. In a matter of minuets, we were at the outskirts of Baghdad, about 75 yards from the mortar and could clearly see it.

It was being operated by 2 men and the whole setup was in a foxhole about 3 foot in the ground. We were beside a large wall, out of view of the city, looking at the men, trying to decide what to do. I was thinking, what can we do to make this fast and clean when Firedrake tapped on my left side. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to get into close combat." he said looking at the men thoughtfully.

"What are you suggesting?" I asked him in a confused tone. "Well, there in range of our M249's, I say we take them at the same time." Firedrake replied. "Ok, me and you." I replied as we stepped out from behind the wall and got onto our stomachs. "On three." I said and focused my sight on the man loading the mortar.

"Ill take the loader, you take the supplier." I said. "One,", "Two," he replied, taking a deep breath in. "Three." both of our M249,s rang out, and the men collapsed. I then stood up and noticed that I was shaking, Firedrake was also shaking. "Lets go." I said as we started to run toward the first mortar. When we reached it, I noticed a trench system, It lead toward the next mortar.

"How do we get rid of the mortar without drawing any unwanted attention?" Blitz asked "Like this." Tyson said before knocking it over and stepping on the tube, crushing it with his weight. "OK, where to know?" Faline asked. I looked toward the trench, then back at Faline. "We take the trench."

We had walked maybe 50 yards when we came across the second mortar. We quickly dispatched the men working it and crushed the tube. Then a sound caught my attention, silence. "Wait, why isn't the last mortar firing?" I asked as the others took head of the ere silence. "Maybe there out of ammunition." Tyson replied before we started to walk down the trench toward the last mortar.

As we reached it, I noticed that there was no one working it. We crushed the last mortar and a bad feeling washed over me. We were in complete silence, in an enemy foxhole, something just didn't add up. I then walked toward the trench we had come from and stopped, not sure of what was going on.

"BRAAAAAAAAK" the sound of gunfire broke the silence. I spun and saw Blitz collapse, as Firedrake started to fire into a concealed spider hole inside the foxhole. I jumped toward Blitz and started to pull him out of the line of fire as everything became quiet once again.

Blitz was screaming with agony as I let him go and walked to the spider hole, slowly peaking inside to make sure everyone was dead. I then noticed that it wasn't a spider hole, but a weapons cache. I turned to Blitz, "Come on Blitz, it was just an AK." He then moved his paw from his right flank, only to revile a large amount of blood coming from 3 holes on his right flank.

My heart stopped and I rushed to his side. "Come on, we need to get him out of here!" I ordered the others as Firedrake crouched down, allowing us to lay him over his back. "How's he hurt, aren't we able to take bigger rounds than that." Tyson said in panic as we got Blitz settled on Firedrakes back. "Yeah we are." Faline replied.

I turned and walked into the weapons cache and started to quickly look around. I was glancing over everything as an AK-47 magazine caught my attention. It was full of a round I have never seen before. The bullet had a type of needle on the tip of it. I quickly grabbed it and exited the cache as a voice came over the headset.

"Good job Talon, were sending an evac bird to your position." "Can you make it fast, Blitz is wounded!" I replied into the mic, glancing at Blitz who was out cold. "Copy." the voice said before the headset became silent.

Within minuets, 2 V-22 Ospreys approached us. After they landed in a safe spot we boarded and started to fly back toward the base. We landed outside the base due to the runway being destroyed. A few people then came and took Blitz to an infirmary which was full of wounded men and women.

We followed him to the infirmary, but Dunlap caught my attention. "Go with him, ill be there in a few minuets." I ordered Faline before splitting away from the others. I came to a stop in front of Dunlap, who had been crying. Where's General Patchilo?" I asked her. She pointed to a building about 24 yards away.

I entered the building and immediately caught Patchilo's attention. "What happened to Blitz, and Flynn?" he asked me. This sent me into a rage. "Flynn's dead, and Blitz was shot with an AK-47!" "That's impossible, all Project Draco members are able to take higher rounds than that." He said calmly. I removed the clip from my vest and slammed it onto a table, leaving a large crack in the it. "This is what they used.' I stated before storming out.

I started to walk to the infirmary as a familiar face approached my side. "What happened here Jack?" the man said causing me to stop and turn to him. "Holland, what are you doing here?" I asked in surprise. "Trying to find General Matthew Patchilo." he replied, looking around the base with a scared expression. I pointed him to the building I had come from, and then started toward the infirmary once again.

When I entered, the scent of death hit me like a freight train. I stopped, and started to shake at the scent, before entering the overcrowded tent. The cries of the wounded pierced my heart, and I wanted to help them but knew that I couldn't. I finally found Faline, who along with everyone else was crowded around Blitz. I lay down beside her and asked quietly. "How his he." "I'm fine OK!" Blitz said aloud causing me to jump.

"There going to keep him over night and perform surgery to take the bullets out of him tomorrow." she replied as a combat doctor came and ordered us out of the room. We complied leaving the room, then the infirmary, as none of us wanted to smell the stench of death.

We all laid outside the tent waiting to hear on Blitze's condition as day grew into night. At around 7:30, Dunlap approached us. "We ran an analysis on the bullets you brought to us." she began. "We've found that these rounds can kill a dragon." I stared at her in disbelief. "So, what you're saying is that now they have something that can put into any low caliber weapon and kill us?" Tyson asked in an agitated tone.

"Yes." she replied. "Well, why don't you just kill me now!!!" Tyson yelled to her. "I thought we could take anything up to a 50.CAL?" I asked her still not believing what I was hearing. "Well, that was the thing, but the round has a type of point that replicates a hypodermic needle, thus breaking the scales and allowing the round to enter the body." I looked away from her not completely understanding the factor that lay before me. Now not only do we have to worry about snipers, but also insurgents armed with any type of weapon.

"Holland asked me to take you to your barracks." Dunlap said breaking an awkward silence. We stood and started to walk toward a few buildings lined up beside each other. "You will share a barrack with 3 humans in which you will work with." she said as we came to a stop in front of a barrack with the number 3:16 written on the front door.

"Firedrake and Taro will be in this one, and the others will be in the next one." Dunlap said, pointing toward the building beside the one we were at before wishing us a good night and walking away. Firedrake and I entered the building and the three humans who were in there beds looked our way. They stayed silent, and watched us. I looked at each of them, then over to a rack that stood beside my bed.

"You need some help getting that vest off?" the black man from the C-l30 asked. I smiled, glad to see a familiar face before nodding my head yes. They then helped Firedrake and I out the vests and set them on the rack. I lay in my bed, ready to sleep at any time when the black man asked. "So, what's your names?" I looked up at him and replied. "I'm Taro, and he's Firedrake."

The man nodded. A white man who was bunked next to me then took out a guitar and started to play a song that I knew very well, Blurry by Puddle Of Mud. "I'm Joseph Thomas," the black man said. " I'm Aaron Reynolds." the white man beside Joseph said. The man beside me just kept playing and singing, so I joined in.

"Can you take it all away, can you take it all away. Would you shove it in my face, explain you're game to me." he then stopped playing and looked over to me. "How do you know this song?" he asked in a confused tone. "It used to be one of my favorite songs." I replied. "What about you?" "This was the last song I listened to before my brother was kidnapped." he said as he started to play again.

"He went with me to a recruiting station, all the way he played this song over and over again." He said laughing slightly. "They called me into the recruiters office, and when I came out..... He was gone." he said as he stopped playing and looked over to me. "My names Sam Wheeler."