The Red Alert Story

The Red Alert Story.
by Gareth Bird

CHAPTER XV
Jack continued to rest until nightfall. Having found a store, of sorts, he nibbled at his rations to keep up his strength. His ammunition was scarce. He checked the 6 bullet chamber of his pistol again. It was full, but he had no spare rounds after that; when they ran out he was down to the knife he had tucked down the side of his leg.

The air became more visible with every breath and Jack decided it was time to leave. He took his tattered rucksack and scaled the gates out of the compound.

After an hour or two, Jack saw a couple of lights piercing the darkness in the distance. As the vehicle neared, Jack hid in the ditch at the side of the road. He could see from the bright moonlight that it was a small military Jeep. Deciding that he needed transport, he emerged from the ditch. With his heart in his throat, he stood facing the Jeep with his hand outstretched.

The Jeep slowed to a stop and Jack thought he could make out two occupants. The passenger stood up and peered over the windscreen. He called out something in Russian. Jack couldn't understand. He lowered his arm and inched towards the pocket with his gun. The driver leant around the windscreen and yelled at Jack while the passenger got out of the Jeep. He threw his rifle strap over his shoulder as he made his descent and Jack felt this would be his best opportunity. He grabbed the gun and pulled. Then nothing. It had become snagged on the pocket lining. "Fuck!" he croaked. The driver peered forward and called his comrade. He raised his rifle, as the driver yelled at Jack.

Jack grasped the gun in his pocket and turned it towards the passenger and fired through his coat. The bullet whistled passed his assailant and Jack threw himself down the ditch into its icy depths. He freed his gun and peered over the edge and saw the driver climbing out. Jack fired and hit the windscreen sending the driver flying into the back of the Jeep. Jack quickly turned to the passenger who had taken cover by the far side of the Jeep. He fired at Jack who fell back down the ditch. He picked himself up as bullets slammed the top of the ditch. He looked over the edge but could not see the soldier because of the brightness of the headlights. More shots were fired at Jack.

Jack cursed himself for not letting the Jeep pass and him carrying on walking. Jack side-stepped along the ditch until he was in line with the Jeep and peered over. He could see underneath the Jeep that the passenger was still standing on the other side. Jack aimed his gun at the man's feet when he heard the sound of broken glass from above. The driver reached for his rifle, clutching his side as he did. Jack pointed his gun and shot the man twice. He fell back again. Jack looked under the Jeep and could not see the other man. He looked all around. Still there was nothing. Suddenly a couple of shots flew from underneath the Jeep and Jack jumped for cover behind one of the wheels.

Gingerly, he looked over the bonnet and could see the man in the opposite ditch, who again fired. Jack ducked as the headlights blew out in turn. Jack took several breaths before scrambling over the door of the Jeep. Several more shots ricocheted around the front of the Jeep, sending shards of glass into the air. Shielding his eyes, Jack grabbed the pistol of the dead soldier from its leg pocket. With that in his right hand and the 6 shooter in the other, Jack crawled over the seats and pointed both weapons over the edge of the passenger side Jeep. He fired a couple of times into the darkness.

Then there was silence. Jack felt his breathing become irregular as his adrenaline threw his body into a frenzy. He was still lying facedown across the floor of the Jeep, but he slowly turned around so that his hands were on the pedals. Dark clouds started drifting across the moon and the last drops of light caught the keys sitting pretty in the ignition. Gingerly, Jack reached up and with his free hand started working on the pedals as he twisted the keys. The vehicle jolted and Jack floored the accelerator. The wheels spun and churned up the snow and mud before the Jeep roared off. With his knee pressing down on the pedal, he peered over the steering wheel. He couldn't see the road at all, and rather than risk crashing his new found transport, Jack brought it to a standstill.

He looked back towards the scene of the shooting and peered through the gloom. Satisfied his assailant was no longer in range, he took the opportunity to turn around the jeep. With the jeep facing his direction and his head low down, Jack charged forwards. After a few seconds, the Soviet soldier shot at the jeep as it slithered by, but to Jack's fortune, neither he nor the jeep appeared to be damaged.

Jack drove very slowly for about a mile before stopping to examine his find. He checked the lights and removed one of the rear light-bulbs and manhandled it into one of the front sockets. His new headlight was far from perfect; every bump jolted it. At best, it would simply flicker, although on several occasions, it would go out completely. Jack completed several miles in this stop-start fashion until he neared Kalinin. He knew he was close when he saw the strong military presence ahead.

He ditched the bullet strewn jeep having stripped it of valuable ammunition and supplies. For a moment, Jack was concerned that the powerful searchlights surrounding the complex would highlight himself and his Jeep, but as they swept the countryside he was able to spot the route they took. Unfortunately for him, Jack could not see how he would be able to pass them without at some point being spotted.

He sighed heavily and stared through his icy breath as he crouched down trying to find a way through. As time passed he began to feel his eyelids become heavy. He shivered a couple of times, coughed again as he had done a thousand times that day, before slapping himself in the face a couple of times. Rubbing his eyes with one hand, Jack reached for the packet of cigarettes he'd recovered off one of the Jeep soldiers.

Having plucked a somewhat sorry looking cigarette out of the crumpled packet, Jack proceeded to search for his lighter. It didn't work. He flicked his numbed fingers along the case, but there was no response. For several minutes, Jack tried the lighter until he finally gave up, tossing it into the darkness. With his cigarette still protruding from his mouth, Jack buried his face into his hands and simply cried.

An hour or so later, Jack was startled by an alarm from the complex some five or six hundred yards ahead. He could make out several running around as if in tune to the siren, buzzing around the accompanying red lights. A truck drove straight passed Jack, but apparently did not spot him. He noticed that the soldiers in the back looked slightly different - perhaps it was just another Soviet uniform?

Another truck passed Jack, as he peered from behind a rock: more men - and a few supplies. Then a jeep drove by, headlights ablaze. Jack pulled out the binoculars he had looted from his jeep and could see the first truck arrive at the base. A guard walked over to the driver, who leant out of the cab and engaged in conversation with the guard. An eager soldier started to open the perimeter gate, but the guard pointed back at him to close it.

The guard walked past the second truck to the jeep and talked to him. After a minute or two, the guard nodded and motioned to the gate man to let them through. He guard looked back down the road towards Jack, who instinctively ducked for cover, before remembering that he could not possibly see him.

A distant rumbling became ever more audible moments later. Jack looked up expecting helicopters, praying his cover would not be blown. Instead he saw in the distance, another convoy of headlights. A short while later, a truck, a couple of tanks escorted several larger trucks. At first Jack thought they were V2 rocket launchers. But as they drove by Jack could see they had no ordinary cargo. Their missiles were huge - bigger than Jack had ever seen. Maybe they were rockets? To be sent up into space to give the Soviets a GPS system - something the Allies had investigated previously.

Then another missile truck drove past. Then another - each churning up more snow than the last. A total of ten rockets were driven past before several other military vehicles brought up the rear. Jack had never seen a rocket before, so knew little about their size or properties. However, was still unconvinced they were rockets. They were much smaller than he'd imagined they would be.

Jack shifted his attention back towards the compound and swore to himself. Up ahead, he could see several men rush out of the compound with dogs. Even at that distance, he was sure he could hear the angry growls of the canine soldiers. The convoy was let into the base, and Jack froze, unsure what he should do. Still staring towards the dogs, he noticed their behaviours change. The dogs, began to run around in circles, and he definitely could hear them start to howl. A couple lay on the floor as their masters tried to get them to hunt.

Jack pulled his eyes from the lenses with disbelief and was about to take a second look, but noticed something equally strange on his wrist. On his outstretched left arm, he noticed his watch had started to tick irregularly. Jack realised something was amiss, then it hit him. It wasn't the fact that his watch was playing up - but the fact he could see this in pitch darkness.

During the following seconds, the light of a magnesium inferno became ever brighter. Jack dropped the binoculars and buried his face into his hands. A warm sensation swept over his body as he felt the white light through his gloves and eyelids. With an earth-shattering boom, the episode came to a climax quicker than it had started.

Jack paused, daring not to move his hands. Then he heard the noise of tanks, or was it helicopters? Or maybe it was a plane - he just couldn't tell as his senses slowly regained themselves. He began to lift his now warm head from his hands and looked over towards where the sounds appeared to emanate. Jack could scarcely believe himself.

There in front of him just a few hundred yards away sat an Allied tank. Not on its own though, but with more tanks. Jack turned through 360 degrees. Not just a few tanks, but many tanks - a whole army. Jack was so ill-prepared for what had struck him, he knelt down and vomited into the melting snow.

He finally looked up and saw a building. "That's wasn't there - it just not possible - it wasn't there!" he blurted out. Jack groped around for his binoculars, not taking his eyes off the new base. Another building appeared, erected in seconds. Jack gaped open mouth and finally was able to put his binoculars to his eyes.

He saw hundreds of men running around, throwing together simple buildings - little more than corrugated iron connected with scaffolding. More men wrestled with packages, opening them to reveal machine parts which were rapidly assembled.

Jack's awe was interrupted abruptly by an explosion as Soviet shells exploded close to the Allied tanks which had manoeuvred into a strategic position. They advanced and covered ground very quickly returning fire. Allied soldiers armed with RedEyes ran forward to give the tanks covering fire against the Soviet HINDs which had quickly littered the sky like insects around a streetlamp.

A couple of helicopters hit the deck as their respective enemy tanks took direct hits. Within seconds, a full scale battle had commenced. From his vantage point, he could watch it unfold, well out of the way of both factions. Men, tanks, helicopters and static defences began bombarding each other in a part-organised, part-chaotic way. Jack looked back towards the Allied base, which had sprouted new small buildings as the hundreds of engineers continued to construct their field factories.

Then, as suddenly as before, the bright light returned with the familiar sounds and pains. Again, without warning it was over. Jack looked up at the Allied base once more - several supply boxes and trucks had materialised out of nowhere. But there was something different this time. Jack looked around and realised that the light had not gone - or rather the light had not gone completely. He felt a beam of light glide past him.

What he saw next was as incomprehensible as before - the beam of light originated from nowhere - absolutely nowhere. As the night sky dawned daylight, and the fighting increased in hostility, Jack's visibility became less impaired. So he could not understand how a light could shine from within 10 yards of him, yet be produced by nothing. Jack strained his eyes trying to grasp the secret of this other new obscurity. He crawled over to it without taking his eyes away from it, pistol drawn.

He began to hear a faint noise - possibly that of an engine. Jack felt he could no longer be surprised by anything else - after all he'd seen it all now, but by the time he was a few feet from the light source, he would again drop his mouth even more than before. Right before his eyes, a vehicle became visible, almost like a heat haze, which became coloured as he got within touching distance.

He made it out as an APC, but with rocket launchers fitted instead of a chaingun. Jack felt he had finally gone mad, but his curiosity forced him to investigate more closely. So engrossed with his find, Jack did not notice the stray shell land nearby. Instead, he opened the cab door and peered inside. "Eugh!" he spat, as he saw the driver, sitting disfigured, motionless and clearly dead. He was in Allied soldier uniform.

Jack walked slowly around to the back of the APC and opened up the hatch. Inside, he was greeted with the same sight over again. There sat four men and a woman in heavy military gear - all similarly disfigured. Jack began to feel sick again, but held back and looked inside again. There was something familiar about the woman, as maimed as she was, but he couldn't put his mind on it.

He took some supplies off the soldiers and closed the door, before staggering off a few yards and vomiting again. Wheezing, he stood up and took another glance at the APC. It wasn't there again. He shook his head and walked back over to the light. It was where a headlamp would be, and as he approached, the apparition solidified and Jack noticed that it was damaged. Scared the light may pinpoint his position to the enemy, Jack jabbed the butt of his newly acquired rifle into the lamp, putting a permanent end to the mystery light source.

With that, Jack headed off from his precarious position. He walked a few yards, but didn't know which way to roam. Should he walk towards the Allied troops, and run the risk of being shot accidentally? After all, he was wearing enemy clothing. Or should he meander through the shells and gunfire towards the Soviet base, where he may get caught by the dogs, but may be able to help the Allied cause from inside?

Another few stray shots landing nearby helped hurry up Jack in making a decision. Rather than try to get to the Allied base cross-country, he opted for keeping to the road and trying to get inside the base. He threw his rifle back over his shoulder, and walked a few yards down the road. "What the hell am I doing?" he yelled out loud to himself, "I've got the perfect weapon right here!"

He turned on his heel and ran as best as he could back to the APC. It took some time to find it, but by searching for the tracks, he finally found it again. Clambering into the cab, he dragged the corpse of the driver out and left him by the side of the road. The engine was, of course, still running as no-one had been alive to turn it off. Painfully, Jack's battered body got the vehicle moving and he made the journey towards the base.

A HIND flew close above, causing Jack to duck instinctively, but it appeared not to notice. He was able to drive right up to the base, before a couple of dogs started barking wildly, but they were chained to their kennels and Jack was able to drive straight by and past the flame-guard towers. To his horror, on the other side of the gate were several Heavy tanks headed straight towards him. Travelling two-by-two, they took up the entire gateway, and would certainly drive right over the APC before they would see him. Jack threw the machine into reverse and sped backwards.

A soviet soldier yelled and pointed at the snow and slush being thrown into the air by apparently nothing, but no one took any notice, for the Allies were advancing. Jack drove far enough back for the tanks to get past, before once again heading into the base.

He got past the outer gate with no problems, and the secondary gate, which was also open. By now, though, it was the start of a complex maze of gates, walls and roads. Jack had no idea which way to drive, but could see something up ahead being raised against the lightening skyline. Looking up he saw the rockets being positioned for take off. He couldn't go that way because there was another couple of wire fences in the way, and Jack pondered how to get there.

Suddenly, there was a thud on the side of the APC followed by a lot of commotion outside. "Shit!" thought Jack, and looked around to see a very surprised pair of soldiers screaming at their countrymen. Jack thrust the APC forwards amid a stream of rifle fire. Crunching down the fences, Jack could see the men stop shooting then simply pointing at the rear of his vehicle. Jack stopped for nothing leaving a wake of destruction and bemusement behind him, until he came to a concrete wall, several layers into the enemy base.

He found the missile controls and fired a couple of rockets at the wall. Surprised men saw the missiles very briefly appear out of nowhere, before obliterating the wall so that Jack could drive through the rubble. By now, though, Jack was convinced that they would be able to see it. Whatever they used to make it invisible, would be damaged by now rendering it visible again, he assumed.

But now he had made it into the rocket compound. The ten rockets had been positioned vertically upwards while scientists and soldiers alike rushed around, oblivious to the action in and out of the compound, such were they engrossed totally by their work. Shots flew around his vehicle, although only a small number hit it. This prompted Jack to keep moving. He made a mental note of the situation and sped off into another portion of the base.

Much to his surprise, he apparently had no-one following. Evidently the APC's cloaking devices were still operational. He drove slowly and headed towards a dark corner some layers into the enemy compound, away from the Soviet soldiers and the majority of the fighting.

Pulling up and stopping, Jack finally noticed the flashing red LED on the dashboard that had been doing so for several minutes. He stared at it for a second, before removing the radio microphone from its cradle.

"Hello?" he asked, having cleared his throat.

The response was not for some time, but it eventually asked him who he was. Jack replied, and awaited the voice on the other end of the transmission. "Jack Rivers?" asked the voice, questioningly. Jack confirmed and another pause followed. He was asked once again and Jack re-confirmed this before the voice asked about the original occupants of the vehicle.

"They, er, they're all dead." answered Jack, "But they've not been shot or anything, I don't think." Jack paused searching for the correct words. "They, well, just look a bloody mess." he finished finally, unable to think of a better way of putting it.

"Damn!" heard Jack over the radio, followed by a long pause. Jack was about to attempt to re-connect the transmission, when the man spoke again.

"Captain Miller:"

"This is Captain Miller, Allied Forces." came another voice, "I would like to congratulate you on a fine mission in reaching your current location, but I do not have the time so I won't." he paused for breath. "In short, what has happened is that the Chronoshift has taken its toll on the occupants of the Allied Phase Tank, as a result of the materials used in order render it invisible."

"Chronoshift?" inquired Jack.

"Think of it as, er, a teleporting device. It was feared that this may occur. The special materials required to construct the unit considerably increase the likelihood of not surviving the shift. But these risks were considered reasonable in our favour in order to conduct the shift. Based on this evidence of chronoshift failure, my advice is to ensure you are out of the vehicle in T-minus 23 hours 2 minutes and 53 seconds."

"Why is that?" asked Jack.

"That is the time for the return shift."

"But why set a definite time to return? Surely we must stay and neutralise this Soviet base."

"That is desirable, but sadly not possible. At precisely 24 hours after the first shift, all vehicles will shift back to England. If you are not in an original vehicle, you will not shift back. If you are still in the Phase Tank, you will be shifted back, but are unlikely to survive the return shift."

Jack swallowed hard, but was unable to take a breath before being asked to submit a report and brief the Allied Command Centre. "From our GPS, we know you entered the compound, but due to the GAP generators, we have lost your position - another Allied secret lost to Soviet hands."

"Well, I'm not really all that sure, to be honest," admitted Jack, "but I have seen the rockets."

"Rockets?" asked Miller.

"Yeah, I think." replied Jack, now unsure of his find. Miller paused for a few seconds before demanding a description of Jack's rockets. "Well, they're big and long - like a missile - but much too big for that - I mean a missile that big would..."

"...destroy an entire city." finished Miller. "They are the Soviet's A-bombs - and they will destroy an entire city - quite literally. They must destroyed at all costs."

Jack gulped. "How are we going to do this? If it blows up a city, then it would make short work of us."

"It is not a conventional weapon. It is stable until primed and even then, may be disarmed. By simply destroying them prior to arming, they would be no more dangerous than your mother-in-law."

Jack nodded to himself. "OK." he confirmed. "So how do we go about destroying them?"

"The missile silos from which they are launched are technical and complex structures necessary for the continual repositioning of the missile. It is not known, however, from which building they are controlled. There is the Soviet Technical Centre - we have located this to be near the south of the base; also a Soviet Forward Command Post, which is located near the north west perimeter. It is unlikely that this is where they are controlled due to its position.

"So I need you to locate the Technical Centre and relay precise co-ordinates so that our attack helicopters can bomb the building. They need those positions for they will be flying blind without radar due to the interference from the GAP generators."

"Yes," replied Jack, "sir. I'm on my way." he restarted the Phase Tank and checked around for Soviet troops. Slowly, he pulled off out of his hiding place and searched for the building.


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