@ The violence kicks in in this chapter. If War Literature is hard for you, don't read any further. I may have exorcised a personal demon writing this though I did manage to avoid describing gore and keep it roughly PG13. To date, the Graphic Violence label has been an advanced warning but it starts this chapter.
@heroup2112@waezi2@stupid1@cbishop@impurestcheese@prinzessinsilke@AssertingValor@poeticwarrior
1500
Shining Refuge Compound Police Perimeter
The wind blows steady from the south kicking up dust devils as the riflemen of the the West Texas Rangers hold their weapons steady on the towers and walls of the gate to the Shining Refuge Compound. Its halo crowned cross looms large in the sights of the breach tank as they stand by in case the Daystar Refugees pull a fast one, ready to dump a fucillade of fire on their walls and consign the place to a very mundane and earthly inferno.
Captain Stephenson stands behind his truck using it for cover, armed with a loudspeaker and .30 Winchester similar to Jesse's personal one. He stares at the gates, the sounds of children on the other side of the gates being herded along with women are the only significant sounds at the moment. The arrangement was for the children to come first, he would see this through personally.
The gate swings open under the power of a man with a slung Uzi submachine gun, the tactically geared men of the Texas Rangers SWAT team and their Highway Patrol support tensing as a small tide of boys and girls is ushered forth. A few patrolmen and women hurry forth to lead them back to a large tent where they would be out of sight and well behind cover. Never was the illusion that this would end peacefully erected but for the moment there was a small victory.
Jesse watched near the front, her personal winchester in hand as she watched next to Jamie who had her own twelve guage pump in hand. They weren't sure how many came out but eventually they were all herded into the safety tent. Only then was it announced that the women were being sent out.
Jesse figured they must have sent out all of the children, because there were only thirty ish women and a few men who had some sort of problems. These looked like cripples and lames. As soon as they got to the firing line to be met and escorted, the world became a place of terror as the worst became reality with a declaration over loudspeaker from within the compound of,"Open fire!"
The machine guns up in the towers had been trained on the women and cripples as several went down immediately in an eruption of crimon and screams that sent the rest panicking amidst the paramilitary assault lines. Confusion ensued as some tried to take cover amidst the Rangers pleading for protection, and others tried to make for the tent with the children but order had been utterly compromised. Captain Stephenson issued his own order to return fire then brought up his rifle to join in as he loudly cursed Father Holloway to hell.
A psychological tactics team keyed up a set of loud speakers behind the firing line that made the hellish scene of combat all the more surreal, Danzig's How the Gods Kill began to play. The slow melody of the opening lines ringing out amidst the harsh chorus of automatic weapons fire and louder shotgun and rifle blasts. Two poor saps were cut down trying to close the gates, then three before whatever madness that gripped them was abandoned. It occured to more than one that these people must really believe themselves under some sort of protection.
Jesse's hat came flying off at some point as she tried to get a bead on a machine gunner up in the tower to the right of the gate. She never noticed it until she put the man down forcing his ammo man to replace him at which point one of the Highway Patrol trucks went up in flames.
By this point several of the police officers from the Highway Patrol had been injured and were being pulled out of the way. Captain Stephenson was livid, every epithet he knew in his almost sixty years of life was flying from his lips as he described his hatred for the men he stared down through scope of his rifle. One shot, then two and a man went down in a fine red mess before he turned and yelled,"Somebody get me a damned phone with the governor on the line! Now!"
About that time the guitars kick up in the wailing scream familiar to the song as Jesse looks to Jamie and utters,"Cover me," Then yells to the men of the SWAT nearby,"Follow me! We're cutting their jugular."
She sets her rifle next to Jamie with that and draws her hand cannon, cocking it in the same motion while she races with the SWAT hot on her heels. The break had come with the termination of the machine gun towers, Captain Stephenson would be kicking down doors after this to find out what failure of bureaucracy had landed such hardware in their hands whether Fast And Furious or something else. Jesse drew her .40 in her off hand and snapped off a pair of shots to force a Refugee back behind cover as they cleared the last of the distance to the wall.
Captain Stephenson sees all this and lets off another round of curses. Snapping the phone shut he shoves it at the chest of the officer who'd given it to him and yells,"Rangers, fall in at the gate! Patrolmen, on cover!"
About that time, a loud shot rings out signalling another dead Refugee before the SWAT pour in and the battle for the Shining Refuge Compound swung fully in the favor of the Texas Rangers.
***
1630
Inside the outskirts of the Shining Refuge Compound
By the time the gate had been taken, fully a dozen patrolmen had been injured in the gunfire. Danzig's screaming guitar rang out in the absence of gunfire, a twisted irony n the part of the psychological tactics unit having the music of an open and avowed Satanist ringing out against the likes that they faced here. 'If you've found the answer, if you know the truth...show me...How the Gods Kill...'
The compound beyond the walls was a strange affair. Dominated by an unusually smooth indention into the sun baked ground, several buildings lay within that they could now tell were the smatterings of a rural survivalist community. Most were segregated, men for some women for others and still others for children. A few seemed like family domiciles and there was a large chapel more impressive than the others. The indention in the ground was clearly deliberate as it was perfectly circular with the sign of their strange faith carved in the center.
The sun is angry in on the evening horizon when the Rangers file in. They organized into three teams to begin sweeping the enemy from their homes. One team of SWAT per captain as the SWAT Captain and Captain Stephenson both fell in. Their movements are the fluid and crisp actions of men hardened by experience with elite teams such as the SEALs and Marine Force Recon, but for most here including them this is the first time they've tasted combat on this scale. Pariah's reward for her decisive assault on the gate is to be given charge of the SRT men.
Each of the teams takes a separate building. Pariah's team was given the dubious honor of securing a large building of uncertain use that was believed to be some sort of administrative structure. By this point the loudspeakers are jamming 'Mother', an even more ironic song for what has taken place.
Pariah's team stages outside of the building after the three units part ways with their orders, they would converge on what appeared to be the chapel last suspecting the heaviest resistance would be there. Pariah has her handcannon at the ready, deciding being able to shoot through most cover would be most valuable at the outset rather than her semi auto .40. The team stacks left from the door, the SRT sporting MP5 submachine guns and armored to the last. Pariah would feel woefully inadequate if she had taken the time to think through what she was doing, but she was in combat mindset. Her Commanche spirit was in charge, these people had shown their regard for life.
Checking the door, she finds it unlocked. Turning the handle, Pariah stays clear in case of a booby trap as she slings it open while the man behind her hands a primed flashbang to toss in. Her ears ring from the explosion in spite of her ear protection, but they are all clear of the bright flash and initial cloud and file in with weapons at the ready. Two had been in there and are incapacitated for easy disarming and securing. Pariah and the rest head to the next rooms with her weapon ready seeing there are at least five to clear in this building.
A shooter bursts from a room at the end of the small hallway they are in, spraying with an M-16 that she doesn't have time to tell is an older model or a newer one modified. She takes at least two hits to her armor that cause her to drop to a knee to keep from being knocked completely down, then she fires off a shot at the section of wall she judges him to be using for cover.
The team of professional paramilitary troops don't bother with pleasantries when she gets right up to verify her target, seeing the man bleeding in the floor with a glance. He was caught in the chest, but he still seems alive for the moment. Sensing movement, she cocks her hammer back with a 'click click' that's audible to her in spite of the world seeming underwater to her with the steady ringing. The staccato of submachine gun fire verifies her combat sharpened senses as the man behind her suppresses the doorway behind her with a burst. She throws herself against the broomcloset door at the end of the hallway bringing the target's profile into view as he brings a shotgun to bear on her with what feels like a tragic slowness. Her shot rings out long before he can even train his barrel and she watches as his eye disappears an instant before the back of his head explodes.
The rest of the building was found to be clear, the man bleeding out that Pariah shot through the wall proving a hardy sort. The team medic didn't know if he'd make it, but he managed to staunch the bleeding which seemed his major problem. Pariah's morbid curiosity was piqued by his possibly bloodloss induced rambling about a Shepherd of Fire preparing the world, but only for a moment as the reality of the task at hand was all too close.
The medic tries to take a look at Pariah, but she waves him away. Her adrenaline is hammering leaving her with the feeling of invulnerability that every soldier feels in heat of combat. When they step outside to move on to the next building, they see that the sun has gone down and darkness has claimed the remainder of the operation. Floodlights illuminate the camp outside the gate, giving them a view of the edge of the odd circular indention. Some of the men can't make up their minds whether the oval over the top was supposed to be a halo, an all seeing eye, or a flying saucer but all agreed it made little difference at that very moment.
Some of the Highway Patrol have moved into the courtyard while the building clearing goes on. The Recon team secures some of the towers to provide rifle cover, which saves more than one patrolman as they discover rooftop shooters trying to take positions against the tide of Law Enforcement. The difference in training has proven a massive edge against the numerical superiority of the Refugees, and Danzig's voice rings out,'Fathers! Do you wanna bang heads with me?! Gonna show you...my wooorld!'
An audible hiss escapes from loft of a building presently being cleared by the SWATs. Pariah witnesses a grey snake slither out, a grey whispy trail following as it strikes out and she shoves the men down nearest her before throwing herself to the ground screaming,"Get down!" A shower of sparks and smoke floods her senses as the side of the building she was next to is sundered and scorched, and she has gone from having ringing ears to not hearing a thing.
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