This story is fictional, I'm sorry (actually I'm jelous) if it resembles your life in any way shape or form. Constructive criticism is welcome. If gay relationships offend you, then "How did I manage to start reading this story?" is a good question to be asking yourself. However you're still welcome to read it!
This story is owned solely by Gaco and may not be copied by any means by any unlicensed individuals, groups, or organizations.
Copyright 2020 Gaco. All Rights Reserved.
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Chapter 26
Justin led us to the basement where he had specific gear laid out for each person. I noticed that there was one extra set laid out next to mine and squeezed my eyes shut tightly as I battled with the urge to cry again.
"The guys need me to keep my shit together. I can cry later." I told myself while taking slow deep breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth.
I opened my eyes and saw the all of the guys were watching me. The room felt warmer than it had before.
"Sorry..." Justin said meekly. "I didn't mean to... I had hoped... Sorry."
I nodded and removed my clothes quickly, and got dressed in the urban camouflage uniform Justin had laid for each of us. After tucking my shirt into my pants I slipped into the tactical vest. It felt sturdy but had some flex to it.
"Kevlar?" I asked Justin who was making sure everyone was properly attired and helping those who needed assistance adjusting their vests.
"No, it's actually a new ceramic composite material. It can take more rounds before failing, is rated for rifle protection, protects against handguns, stabbing, and slashing, and covers your entire torso instead of only the most vital areas." He said with excitement. "My army buddy had just gotten them in when we went yesterday. It's a good thing we took extra cash because they're over two grand each!"
After I adjusted the straps on my vest I moved around in it, stretching to make sure I had a full range of motion.
"It feels heavier than I expected." I said.
"Yeah, still lighter than steel though!" Justin exclaimed.
I felt even more bulky once I added all of the extra magazines and a couple of flashbangs to the various pockets and clips.
"God I hope we don't get pulled over on the way there. We'll never be able to explain this." I said examining each member of our pack. "Not to mention the less than legal hardware we'll be carrying."
"Just tell them we're returning home from a prepper conference!" Jackson said with a laugh.
"That may actually work!" I responded, pleased with his quick reply.
I strapped on my belt, attaching both a small of back concealed holster as well as the holster on my right hip. I inserted a magazine into each pistol on the mat in front of me, dropping the slide forward to chamber a round. I slid the tactical forty five we had recently purchased into the holster on my hip and tucked my trusty personal compact forty into the small of my back just in case I needed a backup weapon. Finally, I picked up the rifle and remaining magazine from the mat and slammed it home into the fully automatic assault rifle. I checked that the safety was still engaged and pulled the charging handle all the way back before releasing it. The loud clack as the bolt slid forward, chambering a round, was somehow comforting.
"I almost forgot!" Justin exclaimed after he looked around the room one more time.
He ran over to the leftmost safe and reached in, pulling out a canvas bag. He walked to me first and reached in, pulling out the long cylindrical suppressor for my rifle. I quickly screwed it onto my rifle, making sure it was not loose and wouldn't come off easily. Once everyone was ready to go I made a pass around the room inspecting everyone's gear for myself, adjusting a couple straps along the way.
"Everyone knows the plan. It hasn't changed since this morning. We go in, take out Seth, and get out. I want every single one of you coming back home in the morning." I said as the reality of what we were about to do suddenly hit me. "Don't take any unnecessary risks. Call out if you need assistance or see anything that we might need to know. Seth doesn't know that we're coming. We have the element of surprise. We can do this."
"Yeah!" All the guys cheered at once, causing me to smile in pride.
I was proud of our pack for coming together and putting aside their grief to complete the mission, and I was also proud of myself for being able to buoy their spirits. We tested the comms quickly and grabbed a couple more bags of supplies before heading upstairs and into the garage.
"Justin, you ride with us." I gestured towards Alexi, Jackson, and myself. "We'll drop you off at the building you selected and wait for you to get into position before we go in."
Justin nodded and got into the back seat while I took the passenger seat. It took us several minutes to find the most comfortable way to stow our rifles once inside the car. Alexi cranked the car after Jackson finally got situated and used the remote to open the garage door. I looked over to Zeke, who was in the passenger seat of John's car, and noticed he was watching us. I caught his eyes and gave him a reassuring smile and a nod. He nodded in return and turned back to John when their car cranked as well.
"Here we go." Alexi's voice held the apprehension we all felt in that moment.
We pulled into the street, John and Zeke keeping up with us as we began the hour long drive to our destination. We rode in silence, as everyone seemed to have something on their mind. I was attempting to play out different scenarios in my head of how things would go down. I tried to think of what could go wrong, and devise the best solution to use if those situations presented themselves.
Before any of us was ready, we exited the freeway onto side streets as we neared our destination. As we got closer to the warehouse I tried to take in as much of the area as possible. I noted that there was no one walking on the sidewalks, and that there was also very little traffic. These were good signs. Just after eleven PM we turned onto a street that led to the building Justin would set up on. Alexi pulled as close as possible to the side of the building that Justin believed an access ladder would be. He stepped out of the car and removed the bag with his additional gear from the trunk. He tapped the trunk twice and Alexi turned around, and parked next to John's car as we waited for Justin to reach the roof.
I rolled down the window when I noticed John had lowered his own.
"You two ready for this?" I asked.
"Not really." John said apprehensively. "But as ready as we're going to be, I think."
I nodded in agreement to the sentiment.
"You guys have practiced with similar weapons. These shouldn't kick as bad since we have the suppressors on them. Remember to control your breathing, and to only fire in controlled bursts. You'll likely panic in the heat of the moment. I certainly did my first time. Watch each other's backs and you will be fine." I said firmly.
The comms in my right ear crackled before Justin's voice came across.
"I'm in position. There doesn't appear to be any activity outside at the moment. The thermals show that there are a few vehicles out front which were recently used though. I'd say we're in the right place." Justin said. I pulled my rifle from between my legs and laid it in my lap.
"Roll the rest of the windows down." I said softly to Alexi. "We don't want to have to struggle with them if we need to react quickly when we're pulling in."
He nodded and hit the buttons on his door to lower all of the windows at once.
"We've got this." I said to reassure myself just as much as Alexi and Jackson.
"I'm ready." Jackson confirmed.
"Me too." Alexi agreed.
"Let's go." I said with more confidence than I felt.
Alexi turned back onto the road and drove a couple hundred feet until we reached the entrance for the warehouse Seth was in. I checked to make sure John and Zeke were still behind us before nodding in confirmation to Alexi. It was time.
Alexi cautiously pulled into the drive leading to the warehouse, turning off the vehicle lights as soon as we were off the main road. I watched behind us to confirm John followed suit. I propped my rifle up in the corner of the window so that it would be ready more quickly if it was needed. I smiled when Jackson and Zeke did as well.
"I have you in sight." Justin said over the comms. "No activity so far."
I felt like things were going too easily and expected for something to go horribly wrong any second as we pulled near the loading docks.
"Stop there, Alexi." Justin said. "You'll have a little cover from the loading docks as you get out of the car."
As quietly as possible we opened and closed the car doors as we got out. Alexi and Jackson walked around to the trunk. I kept an eye on the corner in front of us, but did not have the rifle to my shoulder as I trusted Justin to have us covered. I heard the truck close behind me with a soft click and then the lightest scuffle of boots on the asphalt parking lot as Jackson and Alexi joined me just behind the corner.
They both had rifles in hand and ready to go. Jackson had a satchel with him as well, tucked around and slightly behind his left hip. I silently nodded to them both and we made our way to the loading dock as quietly as possible.
"There's slightly more heat on the infrared from the third door. Probably the best choice considering there are over twenty. That one is the only one that stands out." Justin said and I waved in thanks, knowing he would be able to see from his vantage point.
We approached the third door and I slung my rifle to my back and opened Jackson's satchel. I grabbed the four small charges of plastic explosive and the wound loop of det cord. As quietly as possible I placed them against the door. I couldn't reach all the way to the top so I placed the top two as close as possible to the top corners, and placed two more at the bottom corners. I then wound the det cord around all four charges until I had used it all. I quickly reached back into the satchel and grabbed two more items. I attached a blasting cap to the det cord and connected the shock tube to the blasting cap and strung it a dozen feet back toward the direction we came from. I jerked my head to indicate Jackson and Alexi should join me if they wanted to live. Once they were behind me I connected the detonator to the shock tube.
"Fire in the hole." I whispered into the comms just before pressing the button to trigger the explosion.
The blast was deafening and I could feel the shockwave from the explosion inside my chest as it shook the entire area. It took a moment to even realize my ears were ringing and not just dead silent. Fortunately, my shifter healing kicked in quickly and things were back to normal in seconds. Not wanting to lose the advantage of our explosive entry, I quickly rushed towards the smoking and gaping hole which was previously a steel rolling door. Before we reached the doorway, I heard the crack of two bullets whizzing past.
"Two targets down. I can't see any others from here." Justin said before adding. "Be safe."
We rounded the corner and I saw the gruesome results of Justin's expert skill. On the ground less than ten feet away from the door were two bodies, blood still pouring out of them. There was no chance, however, of them ever getting back up. I nearly retched when I noticed part of their skulls were now missing.
My wolf prodded me to get a move on and I took in my surroundings. About fifteen feet from the entrance there was a second doorway with hanging plastic slats to help keep the air from leaving the building when the door was open. The plastic moved a little, still disturbed by the explosion. I could see a dim light on the other side of the slats but they were too worn and stained to be able to see through clearly. We approached the entry cautiously. I took the left and Jackson and Alexi were on the right side of the doorway. I could hear faint whispering somewhere in the room beyond but was unable to make out what they were saying or where they were in the room. Additionally I could hear a number of footsteps as well. I made eye contact with Alexi as I took a flashbang off my vest. He nodded and backed away from the opening a few inches.
I pulled the pin on the flashbang and tossed it into the room. I quickly took my rifle back in both hands and seated it snugly against my shoulder. I heard the flashbang skid across the concrete floor for a couple seconds before there was a bright flash of light and loud explosion rang out from the next room.
I pushed into the room. Fortunately, the doorway was wide enough that Alexi was able to enter at the same time, staying on my right side. There were far more targets than I had expected! There were three men with guns, and a shifted were on my left. To the right, closest to Alexi, there were two men with guns, and two more weres. I focused on the non-shifted group on my side first. I fired quick burst into each man, the kick of my rifle ensured that at least one round went into the head of each target when I aimed at center of mass. Unsure if the rounds would penetrate the thicker canine skull of the were, I aimed at the center of his chest and squeezed the trigger. Three quick shots rang out but he only roared in anger and began to charge me, no longer stunned. I held down the trigger, doing my best to manage the recoil as it attempted to drag my aim upwards. Just before its clawed hand reached me it collapsed to the floor. It quickly shifted back into a naked, dead human.
I turned to my right to find that Jackson and Alexi had managed to bring down both gunmen and one of the weres, but the second was on top of them, and had slashed into Alexi's armor. I couldn't see any blood, though. I dropped the empty magazine from my rifle and slammed another one in, and clicked the bolt release to chamber a round.
"DOWN." I shouted at the pair.
They immediately dropped to the ground without question and I fired a several quick bursts into the chest of the were. Fortunately, the first few shots stunned it so that it couldn't continue attacking Alexi or Jackson. My magazine was half empty before it collapsed and shifted back to human. I took the magazine out of my rifle and replaced it with a fresh one, placing the half empty magazine into an empty slot on my vest.
"Damn." Alexi said inspecting his side. "That was close. The armor stopped his claws but it sure hurts still. Feels like I got kicked by a horse."
"We probably should have brought one of the shotguns with silver shot instead of the lead ammo in these rifles." He added after a moment of thought.
"How many wolves did Seth turn?" Jackson asked, looking at the eight bodies around us, and turning to the two behind us at the loading dock.
"Twenty nine." A voice rang out on the opposite side of the warehouse. "And while we did end up with a few who haven't fallen into line yet, they will. Even if it means I have to beat one to death in front of the others to let them know I'm serious."
We turned towards the voice and my eyes widened in shock. Seth was surrounded by over a dozen men, wolves, and weres. I counted five more men armed with rifles and eleven weres.
"You may as well giv..." I did not let him finish the thought before quickly raising my rifle and peppering him and the man beside him with bullets.
I switched targets to the next closest man when everything suddenly went dark.
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