Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2005 16:53:13 -0500
From: Gstrdr15 <Gstrdr15@msn.com>
Subject: KOMBAT KIDS 28

Disclaimer; If you are under 18 years of age, or material such as this is
illegal in your locale, please do not continue reading. All persons, places
and thing depicted in this story are purely fictional, any resemblance to
people, living or dead, past or present, places or things is purely
coincidental.  However, I will admit to there being a Washington State.


Kombat Kids
By; GhostRyder15

Chapter 28

Be Vewy, Vewy Quwiet, Weaw Hunting Wecon


        It was the last Sunday of April and the meeting of the Unit had
been over for two hours, as soon became their habit, Keener and Matt were
sitting at the bar in Chaney's Inn.  Well into their forth or fifth beer,
or maybe it was their seventh or eighth beer, what the fuck,..... over, who
kept count anyway.  The men had been discussing the Unit and how well
everything was going when the door opened and in walked Delbert Prince,
dumber than dirt and twice as ugly.

        Eddy, Chaney's bartender came out from behind the bar and got
between Delbert and the two men sitting at the bar. In a calm quiet voice
Eddy spoke to Delbert; "You gonna have to leave Delbert, you got a
restraining order on ya and they were here first.  Don't make me call the
police on ya, they'll drag you down to the county jail and lock ya up, so
do us both a favor an leave quietly, please."

        Delbert smirked at Eddy; "Sure thing Eddy, I don't want to cause no
trouble, I wouldn't a stopped in if I'd a known they were here."  Saying
that, Delbert turned and left the bar.

        Back behind the bar, Eddy wiped the sweat off of his face with a
piece of paper towel and let out a breath of air.  He didn't mind seeing
Delbert get the shit kicked out of him; it was the damn mess he always made
when Matt or Keener made him go outside.

        Up until Delbert entered the bar, Matt and Keener had been talking
quietly to each other, Eddy knew it was too good to last, Matt proved his
last thought when he heard; "Hey Eddy, can you tell me why Marines wear a
round hat on a square head?

        Looking at the clock on the wall behind the bar Eddy sighed, it was
only 9:30, he still had two and a half hours before the bar closed; "No
Matt, why?"

        Matt chuckled; "Shit man I don't know, I was hoping you could tell
me."

        Before Keener could respond to Matt's opening shot Eddy called out;
"Time, last call."

        Keener got indignant; "You can't do that, it's only 9:30."

        "Oh yeah I can, I ain't paid enough to listen to your lousy jokes.
If you want to sit here and drink, no problem, BUT, No, More, Jokes."

        Matt looked at Keener and then turned to Eddy; "OK, OK, you win,
how about another round."

        When the beer was served Eddy asked; "How you boys getting home
tonight, if you want anymore to drink after this round, I need you to give
me the keys to your truck."

        Matt and Keener smiled at Eddy; "No problem little buddy, Tommy
Martin's gonna pick us up when he gets off work at midnight.  We had James
drop us off here so we didn't have to worry about leaving the truck in the
parking lot over night."

        The two friends sat at the bar drinking quietly until closing time,
Eddy let them wait inside until Tommy showed up.  Naturally they had one
more beer and bought one for Eddy so he could sit down and relax for a few
minutes before doing his closing routine.  Around 12:20 Tommy stopped in
front of the bar and parked his late model ford Explorer in the parking
slot nearest the front door, entering the bar he walked over to the three
sitting at the bar; "Hi guys, how they hangin?"

        Matt and Keener looked up and smiled, Keener said, "Hangin low,
ready to go."

        Tommy sat on the bar stool next to Eddy; "They been giving you a
hard time tonight Eddy?"

        "Naw, I had to threaten to cut them off once, but they quieted
right down."

        Matt puffed up and said; "Yeah ya did, God's gonna get you for
that."

        Keener asked Eddy; "How bout givin us one more round so's Tommy can
wet his whistle?"

        After getting them all a beer, the four men sat quietly talking
until the beer was gone; "Thanks Eddy, we'll be seeing you later."  With
that Matt and Keener followed Tommy to his car.  While they were waiting
for Tommy to open the doors of the Explorer, a shot rang out, followed by a
grunt from Keener who fell to the pavement.  The shot was rapidly followed
by seven more, while no one else was hit; all the windows in the Explorer
were blown out.  After the third shot had sounded, Tommy was crouched down
by the rear of the truck was returning fire with his Glock 40.  Then there
was quiet, Matt was lying on top of Keener trying to shield him from the
incoming fire with his body and heard an engine start, then the screeching
of tires as a pickup hauled ass away with no lights on.  Tommy was in the
process of reloading his Glock with a full magazine and was unable to get a
shot off at the escaping truck.

        Tommy holstered his pistol and ran inside the bar to find Eddy on
the phone, at the first shot he had called 911; "If you haven't already
asked, tell them we need an ambulance, Keener took a round, I don't know
how bad it is.

        Running back outside he found Matt holding his shirt to Keener's
head, it looked like when he went down, he smacked his head on the bumper
and cut it open pretty badly.  When Tommy started checking the rest of
Keener over to see where he had been shot, he found a big bloody spot on
his ass, Tommy pulled a first aid kit out of the back of the Explorer and
applied a compress to the wound and pressed it firmly to try and staunch
the bleeding.

        Eddy came out of the bar to see if he could help, Matt asked him to
call his brother and tell him to meet him at the hospital.  While he was
talking to Eddy, he heard a shit load of sirens coming toward them from
several different directions.  First, two Sheriff Patrol units slid to a
halt near the rear of the Explorer, the deputies immediately bailed out,
shotguns at the ready taking cover behind their vehicles and watched the
surrounding area; "What's going on Tommy?" asked one of the deputies, still
facing away from the two men trying to help the one lying on the ground.

        "Someone just shot Keener Webb, then hightailed it out of here to
the west down old 12, all I could see of it was that it was a pickup, no
make, color or plate."

        As Tommy was briefing the two deputies, three more Sheriff Units
and a Highway Patrol car arrived, followed shortly by the ambulance.  The
Paramedics quickly took over and started working on Keener, he was still
bleeding from the gunshot wound and the scalp laceration when they put him
on a gurney and shoved him in the back of the ambulance.  Not even
hesitating, Matt jumped in the back with him and the ambulance moved out
towards town and the hospital.

        Tommy briefed the newcomers on what had happened and what he knew
of the vehicle that took off after the shooting stopped.  Just as he was
finishing his briefing, James Bateman drove into the parking lot, slamming
his pickup into park he bailed out and ran up to Tommy; "What's going on
Tommy, where's Matt and Keener?"

        "Matt's OK, Keener took a round and cut his head open when he fell
to the ground.  Matt went with him to the hospital in the ambulance that
left just before you showed up."

        James was practically vibrating; "You got any idea who did it?"

        "No James, I returned fire, but I don't think I hit anything.
Whoever did the shooting was about a hundred yards out over there." Tommy
pointed down West State 12.  "All I could make out of the vehicle was that
it was a pickup, the Highway Patrol Forensics Unit should be here anytime,
maybe they can find something."

        James nodded and got into his truck and headed to the hospital.  He
parked near the Emergency Room Entrance and went immediately to Triage.
The nurse on duty took him in to the area where he found Matt watching as
Doctor Davidson was working on an unconscious Keener, James saw that Matt's
T-shirt, arms and hands were covered in blood; "Matt, are you OK, that
isn't your blood is it?"

        Matt looked at his older brother and shook his head no; "No, this
is from trying to stop the head wound from bleeding, I'm OK."

        "Come on Matt, Doctor Jeff is taking good care of Keener, let's get
you cleaned up."  For a second or two, James thought Matt was going to
argue with him, and then he nodded and followed his older brother to the
nearest washroom.  It took Matt ten minutes to get cleaned up and when they
got back to the Emergency Room they found Keener awake and in obvious pain.
Keener had been stripped out of his clothing and lay completely naked on
the gurney; the only thing covering him was a big bandage on his left ass
cheek.  Doctor Davidson was in the process of sewing up the gash in
Keener's forehead.

        Matt started shaking; James took him by the arm and led him
outside.  Taking deep draughts of air into his lungs he stood there for a
few seconds then ran over to a trash bin and vomited.  Matt kept heaving
until he had nothing left in his stomach, and then heaved some more.  When
he was finished being sick James pulled him in to a hug, Matt started
crying; "Jesus Fuck James, I could a lost him back there, I couldn't do
anything man.  I don't know if I could go on with out him, I love him so
much and I couldn't protect him.  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."

        James took off his long sleeved shirt and put it across Matt's
shoulders, Matt continued to sob and James continued to hold him close
letting his younger brother cry it out of his system.  After about fifteen
minutes Matt pulled away; "Thanks Bro, I'm sorry about breaking down like
that."

        James nodded and led Matt back into the Emergency Room.  Doctor
Davidson had finished working on Keener and was completing some paperwork.
Matt went over to see Keener and James went to talk with the Doctor; "How's
Keener doing Doc?"

        The doctor looked up from his paperwork and said; "He'll have a
sexy scar to match the ones on his other cheek, and he'll be on crutches
and limping for a month or so.  We did some imaging on his skull and his
hip and we couldn't find any damage to the bones.  He lost a hunk of meat
is all, it could have been a lot worse if the bullet impacted an inch or so
nearer the bone.  We'll keep him here for a couple days. Right now he's
hurting pretty bad, he suffered a concussion when he hit his head on the
way down and we aren't going to allow him to sleep for eight to ten hours."

        James thanked the Doctor and went over to Matt and Keener; "Hey
Keener, nice ass."

        Keener blushed scarlet and, with some difficulty, shot James the
bird.

        Shortly after, Keener was moved to a private room and Matt stayed
with him the entire time he was in the hospital, only leaving him for a
quick shower or a bite to eat in the cafeteria.  The three days he was in
the hospital, he had a constant flow of visitor's from the unit as well as
the local police and military CID personnel.  When he returned home, he was
ordered to bed by the Gunny and told to stay there until the doctor told
him he could move around.  Once again Matt was with him, bathing him,
feeding him and taking care of his bodily needs.  Keener was embarrassed
with all the attention he was receiving from everyone and was worried about
Matt.  One of the few times Matt wasn't with him, James was and Keener told
him of his concern about Matt.

        James sighed; "While you were still out in the Emergency Room and
after Matt got finished puking his guts out, he told me he didn't think he
could go on if anything happened to you, he said he was in love with you
and felt bad about not being able to protect you."

        "When I get out of this bed, I'm going to beat the fuck out of him;
you know what that big dumb son of a bitch did when I was lying on the
ground after taking that round?  He was lying on top of me, shielding me
from the incoming we were taking, if that's not keeping me safe I don't
know what is."  Keener started crying then, crying for the mental pain his
lover was suffering, crying because he loved Matt with all his heart and
crying because he couldn't say or do anything that would convince Matt that
he couldn't have done anything else than what he had done to safeguard his
lover.

        James ran his hand up and down Keener's back trying to comfort him,
letting him know that he understood.

        After spending four days on his stomach in the house, Doctor
Davidson allowed Keener to start moving around, but with strict orders to
refrain from lifting or walking too far.  By the first meeting in May,
Keener was about ready to go out of his mind with the forced inactivity.
Even Matt was about ready to strangle him for his constant bitching.

        After the posting of the colors and the morning briefing, James
called Phil Martin and David White over; "How you guys doing."

        Phil smiled; "Fine James, what can we do for you?"

        "Keener is on limited duty and I need to have someone take over his
job as armorer, he suggested you two.  Do you think you can do it?"

        "Sure no problem.  If we run into a problem we can ask the Gunny or
Sergeant Babcock for help."

        James smiled; "Good, thanks for helping him out, he's been going
out of his mind because he can't do anything and is worrying about weapons
maintenance.  If he tries to do anything, I expect you to get with someone,
The Gunny, me or Matt to pull him back, OK?"

        "We'd kick him in the ass, but then we'd be back a square one and
have to start all over." Phil laughed

        "Scram, you rotten little dirtbag.... I mean why don't you fine
young gentlemen go to the arms room and get started, hmmmmm?"

        Phil and David rendered James a salute just shy of insolence and
ran to stairway laughing.

        Arriving at the arms room, they found the door open and Keener
leaning on his crutches, standing over a disassembled AR15; "Yo Kee,
what're ya doing Dude?  I mean James just told us you were supposed to be
on limited duty, like not doing anything, nada, zip, zilch...."

        Keener looked at the two boys; "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I heard ya, I
ain't doin nothin.  I'm just checking this 15 out; Bart said he had a
couple of misfires with it and I figured I'd replace the firing pin."

        David looked at Keener sternly, well as sternly as a fifteen year
old could look ad an adult male; "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that counts
as doing something, which is the opposite of doing nothing, am I right, huh
am I right?"

        "Fuck, you guys are as bad as Matt and James.  Give me a break here
bud, I'm going crazy not being able to do anything, you two of all people
should know how I feel."

        Phil blanched at Keener's last statement; "Yeah we do, but if I
remember correctly you were one of the guys who made sure neither one of us
did anything until our doctors said we could." David threw his two cents
into the pot; "Yeah, and you guys were right, if we hadn't followed orders,
it woulda taken a lot longer to get better.  So we're going to give you a
chance to hightail it outta here before we call the Gunny."

        "Aww you guys suck, you know it?"

        David and Phil chorused; "Yep we sure do, and we're proud of it."

        Keener threw the rag he was using on the table and left the arms
room, grumbling under his breath about kids, assholes and other things that
made his life unbearable.

        While Phil and David were working their way through the Unit's
firearms and fitting them with Miles Gear laser emitters, Gunny Mcnaughten
was working with his two fire teams.  The Gunny has selected the 20 boys
carefully and had been training with them during the month of April. Today
they were setting up an ambush out in an arroyo about a klick west of the
house, as he watched, the two Squad Leaders were supervising the placement
of the laser Claymore's that Steve Petersen had built for them.  The
Claymores had been spray painted a light tan and then the desert MarCam
pattern had been hand painted on them by several of the more talented boys
of the unit.  So far, Steve had constructed eight of the prototypes from
material he had purchased from Radio Shack and several different electrical
and electronic supply houses in the Moreland area.  Matt and James had
provided funding for their development and construction, originally the
brothers had tried to pay for them and had told Steve he didn't have to pay
them back.  After throwing a fit, saying there was no way in hell they
would get away with not being paid back, and then threatening to pull `his'
claymores out of service, the brothers agreed to receive ten per cent of
any net profits realized from the future sales of the simulators.  The
devices, like the real thing, were simple to use, effective and reliable.
JJ Townsend and Doug James, the two Squad Leaders for this ambush, along
with four other Squad Leaders had been trained extensively by the Gunny on
the use, capability and camouflage of the devices.

        The Gunny had left it up to the two Squad Leaders to determine the
location of the ambush and the placement of the `Claymores.'  Gunny would
have chosen another location to spring their first ambush from, but decided
to see what the boys would do if everything fell apart.  Failure can be a
good learning tool, even if it sometimes bruises tender egos.  As this was
a training exercise, the Jumpers would jump on a pre-set LZ near the
western edge of the property shortly before sundown and then march in for
their attack on the compound.  The seismic sensors from two klicks from the
house to the western boundary fence had been deactivated; the first
knowledge the ambush team would have was when they hit the two-klick sensor
line.

        The boys had a total of eight Claymores to use during the exercise,
and they had to determine the location and how many of the mines they would
use.  The jumpers, while still using their colorful jumpsuits, were now
dropping with jump bags; the jump bags contained their rifles, extra
ammunition, Kevlar and LBE harnesses.  Once their chutes popped, the bags
were released on a 30-foot line to dangle beneath them so the extra weight
wouldn't cause them problems when they landed.  It was about an hour and a
half before the Jumpers would be inbound and the two fire teams still had
one more location to prep.

        The gunny thought to himself; "Well shit, as much as I want to tell
the boys that they're on their ass for the next ambush site, I guess I got
to let them make their own mistakes.  What the fuck, maybe they'll get
lucky on one of the other two locations, I woulda picked them if I was
setting this up, oh well we'll see."

        When the Claymore's were in place and armed, JJ asked the Gunny to
inspect their positioning.  Gunny did a walk about of the ambush site and
took notes that he would use in the critique of the exercise at its
completion.  The attack and the defense of the compound were to be run by
the squad leaders; none of the adults were involved except as safety
observers.

        Back at the compound, a series of prepared fighting positions
around the western side of the house had been constructed by equipment
donated by English Heavy Equipment and manpower supplied by Beck
Construction of Yakima. The fighting positions were basically trenches the
LAV's could drive into so their M60's could be used while not exposing the
main portion of the vehicle to incoming fire.  This effectively masked most
of the vehicle's Miles Gear sensors from anti-armor fire.

        After the two fire teams returned to the house when the third
ambush site was prepped, the Squaddies ate a hasty meal and then stood down
to await the attack.  All of the magazines and ammunition to be used had
been inspected to ensure that only blanks would be available, six different
adults had checked to insure this was the case; they were taking no chances
on an accident occurring.  The Squaddies were issued six 30 round magazines
each and were told to aim not spray, because when they were out, they were
out.  The boys were also told to scavenge ammunitions from any of the
others who were hit in case they did run out, which wasn't likely to
happen.  This ambush would be over in a matter of minutes, especially if
the aggressor force (the Jumpers) used one of the prepped routes to the
house.

        Gunny didn't know who was having the hardest time waiting, the boys
or the adults.  The boys knew what they had to do, but it was the first
time they would be involved in an exercise and like all young men who had
waited for battle from the beginning of time they were afraid.  Not for
their lives, but that they would screw up.

        The adults were worried because while there was little chance of
anyone getting hurt, but the chance was still there.  They wanted it to be
over with, they wanted their kids and their kid's friends safely back in
the Unit's environs.

        JJ remembered a joke he had heard his father tell, actually it was
a true story but at the time he thought it was funny.  During the early
days of manned space flight, when Alan Shepard was making the first
sub-orbital launch, he was heard on the radio praying; "Dear God, please
don't let me screw up."  Since then the words he spoke have come to be
known as the `The Shepard's Prayer', and used by many people from many
countries and religions.

        Sundown came and went, the boys donned there gear, made sure their
rifles were empty and on safe, and then headed up to the ground level to
await the call to action.  Sundown had been at 19:37, it was approaching
22:00 when Phil Martin came running out of the house; "JJ, Doug, they're
coming, they just hit the two kick line."

        Doug asked; "What line are they taking, you got a bearing on them?"

        Phil quickly held out a map; "Looks like you guys are batting
fifty, fifty tonight, the jumpers are heading this way by two separate
routes.  Looking at the map, JJ and Doug could see that one of the groups
would hit one of the prepared ambush sites dead on, while the other group
was heading down a route that had been thought to be too difficult to
follow at night.

        JJ and Doug talked it over quickly; Doug would take his fire team
plus three members of JJ's to the unprepared route and try to catch them
coming in, JJ would head for the prepared site and take that group under
fire.  If everything worked out right at the prepared ambush site, after
the aggressors were rendered ineffective, JJ would reinforce with his
available troops.

        The Unit Commander for the exercise, Tyler English and his XO
(Executive Officer) Justin Tannonligua, would remain with the armor.  The
reason Tyler and Justin were designated as the Unit Commanders was that
they had the most experience with the LAV's and the vehicles would remain
in over watch position to backstop the two fire teams in case the aggressor
force or what was left of it got as far as the effective range of the LAV's
M60's.

        All remaining Squaddies would take up defensive positions at the
entrances to the house.  The Aggressors had entry codes for the house that
were on a forty five second delay to simulate the setting and detonation of
explosive charges, once in the house the aggressors would have to fight
their way to the third level vault door and blow it to be declared the
winner of the exercise.

        JJ and Doug got their troops together, JJ assigned three of his
Squaddies to supplement Doug's and both fire teams headed off to their
ambush sites.  Justin in the gunner's hatch of GhostRyder 25 to the right
and Tyler in GhostRyder 35's to the left, once again checked that the ammo
they were using were blanks and charged (loaded the first round into the
firing chamber) the 60's and then waited to see what would happen.

        At about the same time they heard the detonation of the artillery
simulators going off to the right, in front of them and rifle fire from
both the left and right.  Justin signaled Tyler to remember their safe fire
zones and made ready to engage the aggressor forces.  The rifle fire on the
right slackened off and then stopped.  However, the firing from the left
continued, the screams of Miles Gear alarms could be heard from both the
left and the right more so from the right.  Suddenly the Miles Gear alarms
on GhostRyder 35's were starting to register hits from small arms, Tyler
saw the muzzle flashes of the aggressors and took them under fire with his
60, Justin maintained an over watch of the right side in case any of the
aggressor forces had made it through the prepared ambush.  Tyler continued
to fire in three and four round bursts, pining down the attacking forces,
and then it was over.

        After JJ's fire team had eliminated the aggressor forces in his
assigned area, he led his Squaddies, the five that survived the firefight,
and took the aggressors from their flank.  This action allowed the three
surviving Squaddies from Doug's fire team to hit them from the rear.  Over
the sound of the alarms from the Miles Gear the Gunny could be heard over
the loud speakers yelling; "Cease Fire, Cease Fire, Unload All Weapons, Now
Cease Fire."  At 22:43 the "First Battle of the Bateman House' was over,
Defenders 1, Aggressors 0.


End of Chapter 28
Next;
Chapter 29
Dawns Early Light

I'd like to take a moment and thank Jamie Haze, Author, Mentor, and Friend
for the encouragement he has given me in the writing of this story, and the
editing of it for me.  I encourage you all to read Somerset Farm, Dooby
Rhymes With Scooby and Apartment 141 by Mr. Haze.

Comments are eagerly requested.  If you feel it necessary to flame, go
ahead, but don't expect an answer.  Address all comments to Gstrdr15
<Gstrdr15@msn.com>

One more thing please let me know what state you live in, I like to know
where people are who take interest in my story.  Thanks all.


Keith in Spokane Washington State (above the tree line) USA
Doug, near Atlanta Georgia USA
Darryl in Orland Florida USA
Jerry a Nifty Fan
Alun in London England
Mike in East Texas USA
Jack West of Wichita Kansas USA
Jesse B in Washington District of Columbia USA (better known as Foggy Bottom)
Dale in Florida USA
Owen in Edinburgh Scotland
Nick in West Yorkshire UK
Michael F. in Virginia USA
David a Military Historian
Bertrand in Montreal Canada
Frank in Ontario Canada