The Winter Tyrant-Chapter 41: First Blood

Paradise Falls had been hard at work, despite being under siege, to continue with reconstruction efforts. There had been complaints, and a very poor attempt to organize a labor strike.

But the reality was that Dean controlled the food, water, and power supply. Those who did not work, did not eat, regardless of the existential circumstances he and the boys were keeping just beyond their borders.

But today there were no laborers in the field. There was only Dean and the Phalanx. Dean sat beneath the protection of a tower.

It had been constructed from makeshift bastion barriers, sandbags, and camouflage netting. His position was more or less concealed from the world outside, and if bullets started flying off, it gave him solid protection.

Currently, he was conducting reconnaissance outsider the perimeter with one of his drones.

And then he spotted it. They crept within the woods, trying their best to lay low and unseen, but their thermal signatures were as bright as day.

Dean pressed the PTT on his shoulder and was quick to give out an alert.

"This is Archon-actual. Enemies spotted on the south side of the polis, half a dozen hostiles confirmed, Phalanx-Beta wrap around to the Agoge and prepare for contact. Phalanx-Alpha standby for rapid deployment, and Phalanx-Gamma, cover the north side until further notice. Over and out."

Dean piloted the drone until it was right above a group of hostiles he had alerted the others to. And then he pressed a button on the controller attached to his plate carrier.

The release mechanism provided an audible click before a loud explosive blast kicked snow up into the air nearby, while bloodcurdling screams filled the air.

He could see the aftermath of his attack from a first-person perspective. After dropping the fragmentation grenade between the first group, he sped the drone off, flying it away.

Shots rang out through the woods, but missed the drone by a mile. But it didn’t matter, it had been seen. And he could clearly hear the raiders panicking from the woods nearby.

"Drone! They have drones! What the fuck is this shit, man!"

"Shut the fuck up and open fire!"

The raiders began to fire wildly towards the barricades. Each bullet striking into the bastion barriers, and doing little to penetrate its depths.

Under arid conditions, small arms were practically useless against such defensive measures. But now, they were even less effective.

The soil inside the barriers wasn’t loose, it was frozen solid. They might as well have been shooting at bastion barriers filled with permafrost.

Every bullet sent wildly at the defenses was a munition wasted. And then as the enemy began reloading their weapons, gunfire erupted from nearby.

---

Todd had quickly received the message. As the fireteam leader of Phalanx-Beta, he was eager to prove that Phalanx-Alpha was not his superior. He was tired, but not nearly as exhausted as Dean was.

Sleep had been a burden during this siege. They may have technological superiority when compared to their foes, but Paradise Falls was severely lacking in manpower. While under siege, the Phalanx rotated just enough to ensure that each boy received some degree of sleep.

Dean appeared to be the sole exception among them. Despite the fatigue, Todd and his team moved effortlessly through the snow. Bearing down on the Agoge, they arrived just in time to witness muzzle flashes coming from the tree line.

He silently motioned to the boys in his fireteam to advance and intercept the enemy before they could bypass their defenses.

There they found the survivors of the group Dean had dropped a grenade on, pushing forward. The two sides stared at each other for a moment before opening fire.

Despite only receiving training for a few weeks, the boys had been focusing on nothing but shooting, maneuvering, and basic combat medical, they had managed to get their weapons raised and online before the enemy could do the same.

But the fatigue of both the mind and the body still slowed them down. They fired a burst into the enemy ranks, cutting them down on the spot. But not before they could get a few shots off themselves.

One of the boys was grazed and groaned as he checked his biceps, the layers of his clothing shredded by the bullet that had barely missed his arm.

Only a slightly visible trail of blood could be seen beneath it as he complained.

"Motherfucker, did you see that shit?"

He looked over and found Todd struggling to stand as he fell to the ground, clutching his thigh. The blood rapidly stained the snow red with each second that passed.

"Fuck... my leg... my leg is fucking bleeding guys!"

One of the boys instantly rushed forward and pulled a tourniquet straight from his IFAK. Wrapping it around Todd’s wounded leg, while shouting at the boy who had been grazed.

"Don’t just stand there with your dick in your hands! Tell the others where we are and request immediate medical support! The rest of you hold the position!"

The boy who had been grazed instantly realized the severity of the situation and got on the radio.

"This is Beta-3, team leader has been hit, he’s bleeding pretty badly, we need to get him out of here immediately!"

The boy then began to shout the details of the location over the line, which was followed by static.

But that static didn’t last. A voice responded calmly on the other side.

"Roger that, Beta-3, Phalanx-Alpha is moving into position for immediate assistance, get behind some cover, help is on the way. Over and out."

One of the boys instantly shook the squad awake, as his rifle went off, a short controlled burst heading downhill straight into the skull of another raider that had popped his head up.

"We got hostiles!"

The boy who got grazed quickly grabbed Todd by the handle on the back of his plate carrier and dragged him across the snow.

"Don’t worry, man, I’ve got you... Daniel is on the way. You’re going to be alright."

Despite the confidence in his words, the boy’s tone betrayed him, all the while, Todd groaned in agony, while the rest of his fireteam continued to fall back further into the tree line.

Any attempt not to cross back to the fortified section of the Polis would be suicidal. They could only hold their ground and pray that Daniel and his team arrived in time.