The Thin Dead Line by Shane Greis

Author:Shane Greis [Greis, Shane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: Cannon Publishing LLC
Published: 2022-11-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Park Hill South High School

2242 Hours Local

Mark swept the weapon around the corner, using the light mounted on the front handgrip to see. There were rows of grey lockers, punctuated by bulletin boards, water fountains, and doors leading to classrooms. Nothing stirred and the only sound was their own gentle footfalls.

He wore a helmet and body armor, with night vision goggles mounted but flipped up and not in use. He preferred to use “white light” when clearing buildings but kept the nods ready in case they needed to go dark. The gear belonged to the lieutenant’s gunner, Fernandez but he wouldn’t be needing use of it any more.

He waved the others forward and they took a knee next to him. He whispered, speaking only as loudly as he needed to in order to be understood. They hadn’t secured the entire building yet and there was no telling whether or not one or more of those things was inside with them. If there was, he didn’t want any nasty surprises. “This area appears to be clear. Set up security and I’ll report in. Dubois, you’re in charge. I’ll be back in half an hour. If any of those things come this way, hold this position. If you can’t, fall back to the rally point in the gym. Understood?”

“Roger, sarn’t.” When the MP was well out of sight he turned to his buddy, Johnson. “What does this place remind you of?”

Johnson wiped a bead of sweat from the tip of his nose. His ballistic glasses fogged up again and it was getting difficult to see, so he took them off and shoved them into a cargo pocket. “This is reminding me of that campaign we did while at NTC. When our party was hunting for the maiden’s treasure in Draken Castle.”

“That’s the one. Remember when the party was moving through the dark subterranean caverns with nothing more than torches to light the way. The sounds of dripping water and the occasional screech of a rat, with the smell of death in the air.”

“Then we got ambushed by those orcs… that was a close one.”

“Are you two seriously talking about Dungeons and Dragons right now?” Gray lay on her belly in the prone, her light machine gun shouldered while she scanned the darkness with a night vision monocular lowered over one eye.

“Yeah, so? What’s the problem?” Dubois answered indignantly. “You don’t think we should participate in role-playing campaigns?”

“Is that what you call it? ‘Engaging in role-playing campaigns?’ It’s playing Dungeons and Dragons. And you’re insufferable nerds. You should be pulling security, not talking about elves and shit.”

Johnson smirked. “Keep it up, Gray, and you’ll never get invited again to one of our sessions.”

“Is that a promise?”

“Whatever.”

***

Mark entered the teacher’s lounge and found the other NCOs gathered there, bathed in the glow of a battery-powered lantern one of them had brought from the tracks. Most of them sat around the table, all of them bare-headed, some with arms crossed and heads lowered, grabbing a little sleep before the platoon sergeant arrived.

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