While Claude, Clancy, and the other rookies watch over the wide, 4 lane road leading straight into the Demon Occupation Zone, Sergeant Jake Skinner was busy in the back of the APC, trying to contact the other reinforcements that seem to be running a little late.
There were supposed to be 4 other squad units; to both help the experienced soldier to clear the wave they were fighting back, and to replace them so the men can head inside to take over the territory, and rescue civilians. Once the experienced soldiers capture more territory, the rookies will close in and help escort the civilians out. At least, that was the plan.
However, this plan cannot be executed when the other 4 squads aren't present in the area. It made Sergeant Jake question why; why are these reinforcement squads late? Where the hell are they?
He suspected that there had been some sort of miscommunication between the squads, telling each of them a different location. This might be a result of the fragmented state the platoon was in, as it was separated throughout west of Chicago to help guard the area, at least until more recruits or experienced soldiers filled in. However, without any information regarding their whereabouts, all Jake could do was sit and theorize.
Thus, Sergeant Jake was forced to sit in his uncomfortable seat as he fiddles around with the plastic knobs, and the greasy buttons of the boxy, crude radio built into the armored Personnel Carrier. After he had adjusted the frequency, he pressed a few buttons before picking up the phone speaker and microphone, and placing it near his ear.
"Hello? This is Sergeant Jake Skinner of the 25th Platoon of the Demon Extermination Force. I am requesting to speak with my superior officer, Second Lieutenant Don Murphy. Over," he talks into the microphone, and then waits for a response.
"This is Second Lieutenant Don Murphy. What is going on, Sergeant? Where is your Armored Personnel Carrier? You have failed to join the convoy. Over," he hears a high-pitch voice, crackling through the radio speaker into his ear. He threw Jake multiple questions, yanking the opportunity for Skinner ask hi superior about his location.
"My apologies, sir. We are currently on West 103rd Street, between West Beverly and Mount Greenwood. Over."
"What are you doing over there, Sergeant? Over," he throws another question, further confusing Sergeant Skinner.
"We… We are here to help the soldiers here, with the barricade. My men came here and saw them fighting," Jake claims.
"We have engaged and dealt with the demons, and right now our squad has taken over control of the perimeter, while the others rest. Over," he replies, packing in as much information he can before he stops responding.
The radio goes silent for a minute, as if the Second Lieutenant is not there. He wonders if the man was scrambling through his map, realizing they had been told the wrong location, and thus weren't able to find the barricade.
"Is there something wrong, sir? Over," Jake speaks, probing for a response.
"Yes. I am sorry for not responding Sergeant. We appeared to have been misled," the second lieutenant claims.
"We went down and took a left on East Beverly. We have been going around big circles ever since," he continues.
"We'll be making over to your location now. Wait there and hold your position. Over," the Second Lieutenant replied, confirming Jake's suspicions.
"Alright, sir. I'll do just that. May I ask what's the ETA, though, sir? Over."
"Eta is around 12 minutes, according to the GPS. Can you handle the demons till then? Over," the second lieutenant replied.
"Well manage, sir. Over," Jake replied, before putting the phone down.
Once Jake turns off the radio, he rests his back on the seat and facepalms over the situation. The was dumbfounded at the sheer lunacy of his situation, and the disastrous consequences it had on the whole operation.
It appears that all but their squad had been given the right information, and thus caused the other operatives of the platoons astray. Now, they have to wait around 12 minutes until the soldiers can move into the DOZ, and rescue any civilian that are trapped inside.
Though this was in part a failure of the communications department of the Demon Extermination Force, it solely affected the people in the ground; the ones fighting the demons, and the civilians trapped inside. He is going to make a complaint about this, to get that department in order.
Jake let out a huge sigh, before jumping out of the Armored Personnel Carrier. Once he grabs his rifle, he heads over to join his squad guarding the barricade, to inform them of the situation. He walked behind them and clapped his hands, grabbing their attention.
"Everyone, listen up! The rest of the platoon will be here in about 12 minutes or less. There have been communication issues, but that has been solved. I want you to continue looking out for any demons, until the others arrive," he speaks up.
"Got it?"
"Yes sir!" they collectively yell. The sergeant walks away from the barricade, and the rookies return to watch over the road.
As Jake walks back, Claude looks at him before turning to Clancy. Being the more experienced man in the group, he whispers in his ear, asking him for what that was all about. Clancy quickly explains his take on the situation, which was close to actual answer.
"They probably told the other squads a different location. Sergeant called them up, and corrected the mistake. That is all," he states calmly.
"How could that happen? I thought this was a professional organization," Claude retort.
"Look, just because it is the government doesn't mean it is professional. You should know this by now. They are quite literally making it up as we go, because nobody on this planet has ever fought an enemy that can teleport behind our lines in an instant," Clancy explains.
"What about paratroopers?" Claude interjects.
"They are different. At least with paratroopers, we would know the general area they will land. Here, nothing. So, they had to style this organization differently to make it work," Clancy argues back.
"Listen, I know it sounds like we don't what we are doing, but we do. Think of it as being a little rough around the edges, alright?" Clancy adds. Claude gives a time to process before replying.
"Hm, alright. Whatever you say."
"You see anything?" Claude adds. Clancy looks through his scope.
"Nothing so far. What about you?" Clancy replies.
Claude leans his head to look through ACOG scope and scan the area he was currently looking at. So far, he has only seen a bunch of suburban houses, with some parked cars on the driveway, and a lot of broken fences.
"Nothing so far. So eh… all clea…" just before he could finish that sentence, he spots something move from the corner of his eye, dashing from one house to another, hiding right behind it so Claude wouldn't see it.
"You found something?" Clancy asks.
"Maybe? I think so. I don't know," Claude replied.
"It was in the corner of the scope, so I couldn't make out what it was exactly," he elaborates.
"Maybe, I don't…" Claude disrupts himself again as he spots a little eye, attached to some meat tube, leaning to the side of the house and staring back at them.
"Oh, wait! No, I see something! It looks like… an eye? Yeah, an eye. Must belong to that demon behind the house. Thought it doesn't look like anything I have ever seen," Claude claims.
"Where are you looking, exactly?" Clancy inquires before turning his rifle in the direction of Claude.
"Behind the white little house, with the Toyota parked on the driveway. It has a little black dot around a yellow ring," he elaborates. Clancy scans the area Claude points to, and locates the eye as well.
"Do you see it as well?" Claude asks.
"Yeah, I do. I see a couple," Clancy claims.
"What? Where?"
"The house behind it, and the one before that, and the before that one as well," Clancy explains. Claude moves the rifle and spots the other eyes Flynn was talking about. They all looked about the same, as if it belongs to the same creature.
"What do we do now? I mean, shouldn't we inform the others?" Claude asks.
"Good idea," Clancy remarks, before yelling off the top of his lungs.
"Sir! We might have made contact! To the ride side! Possible Demonic beasts are analyzing our moves!" As Jake walks over to Clancy, Claude looks at Flynn with a puzzled expression.
"Demonic beasts?"
"New demon that got spotted around a week in New York. Think of them as ordinary animals, but look like they had been experimented on by some mad scientists," Clancy quickly explains to Claude.
"Now get ready. If they are demonic beasts, things are about to get ugly," he warns.
"How's that?"
"You know how these demons tried to march towards us?" Clancy asks.
"Yeah? And?"
"Well, expect these guys to run."