Red Dawn-The Beginning

Day Two
4:15 a.m. PST
Area 51, Nevada

A medic shoots Daniel a glare, tending to a man who is bleeding profusely from multiple shrapnel wounds. He seems to not care about one injured kid. One backs away from a man with his eyes closed, metal poking out from under his helmet. He kneels next to Logan, listening for a pulse. "Sir, please stop shaking him," the medic says, laying Logan gently on the ground as he begins examining his head injury while taking Logan's vitals.

Matt sighs in relief as Mila gets up, and glances over at her friend, who is almost hysterical about a limp child. His heart sinks, and he looks around at the dead and wounded surrounding him, many of them his buddies. A small group, including Sergeant Knowles and other members of his squad, sit aside, weapons ready as they stand guard as a radioman attempts to make contact with the base. More aircraft keep spiraling in towards the warehouses, but they catch sight of one airplane exploding as it crashes into a sand dune two klicks away. A lone Apache has noticed the group and begins circling, but makes no move to land.

As the ringing in her ears wore off, Mila caught a sound that made her stomach knot. Daniel's voice clearly carried above the destruction, his desperation punctuated in every word. Stitches be damned, Mila raced around to the main group and found her friend rightfully freaking out over his son's unmoving body. Boots kicking up gravel, she came to a hard stop above the two who had finally been joined by a medic.

Placing a gentle hand on her good friend's arm, she knelt by his side, concern written all over her face. "Is he... he's still breathing right?"

The medic nodded, his concentration intense and professional as he dug into a singed medkit to find a field dressing. It was quite large for Logan's little head, but it was clean. "His spine is intact and his vitals are steady. I believe he's got a bit of a concussion though, so try to keep him as still as possible for now. When he wakes up, he may experience some nausea and even vomit. This is normal. If he begins to stutter or slur, or suffers any other cognitive problems, come find me. Otherwise, he should be alright. I'm sorry to be brief, but I have to help out over there," he said, motioning to a woman with a gouged arm who was screaming and likely going to go into shock if she didn't calm down.

Thinking Logan was dead or dying it took a moment for him to comprehend what the medic was telling him and hand him over to the medic. Daniel backs away trying to let the medic do his job. He barely hears Mila's question to which he answers simply.

"I don't know. God I don't know." He begins pacing when he notices the look from the other medic that was nearby that had heard Daniel first. Something snapped inside Daniel's head as his anxiety and terror found an outlet and he leaped onto the man snarling. He repeatedly punched the man in the face giving him no room to explain. It wasn't logical but nothing about the last two days had been. He kept pounding the man as hard as he could snarls and growls coming out of his mouth with each hit. He saw all the unfair things that had happened and his son injured and this man became the focal point of his entire being. With all going on he didn't even hear his son's diagnosis.

Tears streamed down his face even as his rage played itself out.

There was smoke everywhere, every single place Sam looked he could see smoke. Smoke or dead people. It was just like being in the middle of Rwanda again. Except this time he could actually understand what people were screaming.

He'd been lucky, he'd managed to pull himself out of the crashed aircraft pretty quickly. For reasons unknown to him he had managed to hold onto his gun and was currently gripping it tightly. Glancing up he saw the Apache circling overhead, it making no attempt to land or make contact. Black Apaches? Something feels so wrong about this. Very wrong. People in black always mean trouble like those men from earlier....oh god. Oh no.

Numbly Sam walked over to where Mila's friend from afar was attacking a hapless medic. Coldly Sam checked the pistol before placing it next to Daniel's head very gently. "Excuse me," Sam slowly, "but I think you need to stop."

He kept his finger pressed tightly on the trigger, "I understand that you're very upset right now and probably a very nice man most of the time but you need to take a step back sir. This won't help your son; it'll hurt him. We're at the mercy of the military here and you're more likely to get yourself shot than to heal your son, you understand?"

The gun was not moving one inch. Sam began to frown, "Also, you need to stop because we need to get inside one of these warehouses. You see that Apache up there? I think it's not on our side. We need to get inside right now."

Sam turned around and spotted Mila and Mike, "Did you not hear what I said?! GET THE KID AND GET FUCKING MOVING! NOW!"

It seemed cliche to Mike that the plane had to explode, it wasn't enough that it had to crash but it had to follow the cinematic lines of it exploding into a fireball. At least they didn't land in a chemical factory or something else to make the matter worse then ever. Ducking out of his restraints after he heard Mila's shouting, he was quick to get out of the wreckage as soon as he could without even waiting for her. In his mind the first thing to do was to at least find the best way out before anything and then go back if there was time. Then again Mike wasn't too fond of the idea of returning to the inside of a ticking time bomb.

When the explosion did happen, Mike hit the ground face first. Though he wasn't hurt beyond a ringing in his ears he did get a good helping of Nevada sand and dirt. Coughing he stood up and nearly regretted from the smoke coming from the plane. He coughed more at the smoke and stumbled away from the fire. Spotting Mila on the ground he limped over and was quickly surpassed by Matt and York rushing to her. When he finally did arrive he saw her to be fine and had no cause for alarm. Though Daniel, his situation was much worse. "Oh no.." Mike muttered as he noticed what was in his arms.

Luckily a medic had noticed and intervened Daniel's hysteria to check Logan. He ran with Mila to see how the child was holding up. The relief Mike felt upon hearing his fears proven false he breathed a sigh of relief and turned to try and calm Daniel down. Upon turning though he was gone. Frowning, Mike looked around and stopped his gaze," Oh hell... Mila.." He said, tapping her shoulder and gesturing to where Daniel was pummeling some poor medic. Mike was about to run over to stop them when Sam calmly walked over. He couldn't see what was going on, straining his eyes he managed to catch a glimpse of a gun.

Suddenly he was distracted by the helicopter flying over head. It had lowered its altitude for some reason. Mike was about to shout something but Sam cut him off. He wasn't sure what was going on but Mike couldn't worry about it. Looking back to Logan he carefully picked him up," I have no idea what the hell is going on but I'd rather he be safe instead of sorry." Mike grunted as he carefully lifted him up," Mila, go get the others and I'll meet you inside."

By the time Mike tapped on her shoulder, Mila was already turned toward the scene. It happened in a fairly quick sequence of events. One minute Daniel's fists were flying, and the next Sam had a gun to his head. She felt frozen. Several people who possessed weapons had lifted them, undoubtedly more than a few suspecting her friend of having suddenly turned into a wreaker with the way he was snarling and carrying on.

Only now that the cold steel of death was pressed to his temple did Daniel relent, leaving the medic in need of his own services. "Okay...how about everyone just calmly move on, shall we? I think Sam here has a very good point," she said shakily, watching the strange helicopter circle closer menacingly. At that point, most of the others lost interest and didn't need to be told twice. A few of the soldiers, however, stayed to back up the medic if something else should happen. Mila took slow, deliberate steps toward Sam and Daniel.

"Daniel??"

He hadn't said anything, and she was truly afraid because there was no indication of what might occur next. Everyone was at their wits' ends.

Some of what Sam said had gotten through and Daniel stopped pummeling the medic. Standing up slowly as Sam backed off a bit he wiped some of the medics blood off his face before looking at the youth coldly. He was growing really tired of his emo bullshit.

"Wow big Sam to the rescue. You must really like pointing guns at people. What are you some sort of sadistic little shit from across the pond? That's always your solution except when it matters isn't? You pointed a gun at Mila the second you got the chance and you put a gun to my head cause I'm beating the hell out of someone who wouldn't move an inch to save a four year old. But what about on the roof? Then you couldn't point a gun at a wreaker to save your life. That is my fucking son. Maybe you don't get it. But I don't need a fucking lecture from a stupid punk ass emo kid. Guess what everbody else's family is probably dead too. Grow a pair, shut the fuck up and get out of my face."

He shouldered past Sam before looking back at him as he was walking.

"Next time you point that gun at me you better shoot and kill me because if not I'll tear your head off and shit down your neck."

He headed over to Mike and took his son heading towards the building.

Sam watched unthinkingly as Daniel shoved past him and went to meet with Mila and his ill son. He actually said punk ass. I always wondered if people actually said that.

Sam looked round to where the medic was with his fellow soldiers, his face a mess. He winced at Sam and nodded thanks. Sam frowned, "Oh fuck off you cunt. I didn't do it for you."

Holstering the pistol he walked towards the warehouse, although some distance behind the group. What he had done was neither correct or proper but now was not the time to think about it; it was definitely not the time to follow right behind Daniel and give the poor guy a excuse to turn on him.

"So," Sam muttered, mostly to himself, "What the fuck do we do now? Wait for another plane and take a hop to another supposedly friendly area? Great. Brilliant."

Mila felt mixed emotions as she briskly followed everyone to the nearest warehouse. She wanted to stick up for Sam, and tell Daniel to lighten up, but he'd seen the same shit as everyone else; he'd been under the same stresses. She knew he was a good person deep down, and he probably hadn't meant what he'd said to be so coarse. Still, it was very unsettling to see the infighting. There were other things they could take their anger out on. They didn't need to be wasting it on each other.

Shuffling along, the hum of the Apache grew louder and Mila watched it do another circle. It reminded her unnervingly of what a dying animal might see when it looked up to find vultures overhead. She quickened her limping, but stayed behind most everyone else. Still, she was close enough to hear Sam's lament.

"I don't care what everyone else does, but I refuse to do any more flying," Mila mentioned softly, staring at her brother's old boots as she walked. If what she said meant living in a cave out in the desert somewhere and surviving on dune beetles, so be it. She vowed then and there to never willingly get onto another aircraft ever again.

Who was she kidding? If it came down to eating bugs , she'd probably end up starving to death.

AJ looked at the group and at the destruction that seemed to be unraveling all around him. 'Some top secret base.' he thought over the situation while he also noticed more impending death and destruction as another plane just crashed head long into the runway that been set up.

AJ heard the other young man make his case over the situation and he felt much the same. "I say screw this crap, hasn't been working for us before so why should it start. I say we cut our losses, salvage anything we can from the Osprey and head for Vegas. It might be crawling with the creatures but at least they'll be a lot of areas to hide, food, and I'm willing to bet we could find any supplies we needed. Probably going to be a trip though so I suggest we find us some wheels from the base." AJ realized it was the longest he'd spoken and a helluva opening introduction to those around him but it wasn't like their earlier trips had ended up any better than when they'd been on their own.

Daniel almost stopped and went back moments after he had made his little speech to apologize. He didn't really dislike Sam, hell Mila thought he was ok so that was something. Daniel wasn't a bad person he liked to think and he was about to go apologize if he could have swallowed his pride at that exact moment. He was just so....scared. Yeah scared was the right word. Angry was just a byproduct of that fear. His son seemed to be fine, the doctor had said, but maybe this time he had just gotten lucky. Maybe next time they wouldn't be as lucky. Besides that he was tired of being ferried spot to spot with no idea what was really going on onboard planes that seemed to crash on a frequent basis. He heard AJ's plan as they were heading toward the warehouse their pace quickening as the Apache circled.

"Hell, I'm all for getting away from the military as soon as my son is better. We've spent more time crashing than we have anything else."

Day Two
Area 51, Nevada
4:25 a.m. PST

The soldiers regroup and Matt can feel their anger, after watching in shock as the civilians beat up and disrespect the soldiers. The beat up medic yells and charges, slashing Daniel lightly while his comrades raise their weapons, two slamming their rifle butts at Sam and knocking him to the ground as his nose cracks. They then withdraw, weapons cocking. "Time for you civilians to leave. Gibson, you're either with us or them," a man with the nametape Harrison and a Sergeant's insignia on his shoulder says. Matthew raises his weapon halfway, clearly torn. Besides that, his head is swirling, and now adrenaline is pumping through his body, making him light headed. "I...." he trails off, staring at Mila.

He had nothing against the other civvies, but he was now sure that that they were all crazy except the reporter and Mila. They were dumbasses to stand up to the soldiers like that. In his mind, they deserved the shit they had received. It could've been less violent, but it was efficient. They should've been grateful. They were only a few that survived, and all by the military's compassion. He had lost buddies to protect these people. Rage begins to surge through him, but it cools as he thinks of Mila. He knew he would stand with her. Not with the others, but only with her. That was the only way he could justify it.

Matt feels sickened, but indecision rushes through him at the last second. Betraying his men....he had an obligation to stand by them. They had fought and bled together. Was that bond stronger than the frayed, small one he had formed with this civilian girl? He grits his teeth, his head swinging back and forth, though the soldiers seem to be getting impatient. The Apache begins to hover, weapons pointed at the group, but it doesn't fire. Overhead, a Blackhawk flies in, and also hovers, miniguns trained.

Mila finally looked up from the Nevada dust in time to see the bloodied medic rushing at Daniel. She shouted something in surprise but before the man could do any real damage he was pulled back by his buddies, who raised their weapons to the group of civilians. The click of safeties turning off was lost to the swirling rotors of the choppers but nevertheless became a visible threat. As Sam was shoved brutally to the ground, Mila clenched her fingers into fists, only to let them go quickly as she felt the soreness beneath her hand bandages.

"So one of us loses his cool and the entire lot of you turn against us? It's not like you all are perfect. I'm sure there have been fights among you plenty of times. Now imagine it had been your son bleeding on the ground. How would you have reacted under that stress? Go on and leave us if you still think you're so high and mighty. But that makes you no better than the ones who ditched us back in DC."

Mila then turned her back on the soldiers who were effectively doing the same to her, and shook her head, limping away. "And they call themselves Americans..."

Day Two
Area 51, Nevada
4:26 a.m. PST

The soldiers turn red and angrily take a few steps forward, though the medic is still being restrained. "Look here," one says, Knowles. "Sorry for my buddy. Now listen. The kid here has a weapon. He was disabled. I apologize. Now hand over all your weapons now, and we can continue. Doc here is all smashed up because this man was too 'emotional.' Unacceptable. He helped his son. Now turn over the weapons for now, we'll return them later. You need to sort yourselves out. We died, bled, and fought for you. We would appreciate your cooperation in the least." As a gesture of faith, he lowers his weapons, and the other Rangers slowly, reluctantly follow suite.

Matt stands closer to Mila, holding a hand up weakly for her to stop. The Blackhawk lands, and a team of medics and a squad of MPs rush up. An MP Lieutenant looks around. "What happened here?" "We had some trouble," Matt grunts out. "Some rough patches," he says weakly before collapsing, the world spinning far too fast. Two medics rush up and begin to check him out as the MPs stand uncertainly, waiting for who will make the next move.

Mila stopped in her tracks.

She distinctly remembered jumping out of a moving bus to save the ass of a soldier she'd known nothing about less than twenty-four hours ago. "You think we just stood idly by while you did all the work?" she demanded, looking over her shoulder in time to see Matt fall. While she hoped he was okay, she knew the medics would take care of him. Besides, he hadn't yet picked a side. "Like it or not, we're all soldiers now. Regardless of your status during peacetime, every person left alive is now being lumped into the same category: survivor."

She'd started moving back toward Knowles, hands in her pockets. "That means fight or die. So no. You can't have my weapons. Not while those things are still out there," she said firmly, still pacing back in his direction calmly. In all honesty, she had no weapon on her at the moment. But they didn't know that, and it was the principle of the matter anyway.

Mike deposited Logan into his father's rightful hands without a word. Instead he looked over to a newcomer and after a moment Mike reconized him from the plane. To his surprise he voice his opinion to get away from the military and Daniel swiftly agreed. That, Mike had not been expecting and he cocked and eyebrow on impulsive surprise. He wanted to say he agreed but said nothing, he wasn't sure if Daniel was in his right mind after what happened. Mike could understand the trauma of seeing your four year old son unconcious. He shouldn't be making any decisions, not yet, Daniel had already reached his breaking point and there was enough anguish on his part.

Or so Mike thought. He turned at a sound coming from behind, the medic, his face a bloody mess from the vicious pummeling he had received, had gotten up to brandish a knife to charge at Daniel. Before Mike could fully get in his way, he had slashed Daniel lightly before Mike shoved him back with a punch to his throat. The medic had been thrown back into the arms of two other soldiers who restrained him though Mike still had his fists up to prepare for another attack. He gave a vicious look to the soldiers around them, cocking their guns ands and watching them. Nearby was Matt, looking very uneasy. Mike only cast a glare at him before raising his hands to show he meant no more harm. He merely stepped forward to help pick Sam up," We're gonna need to give your gun up, 'ere Sam." He muttered," You punk-ass," He said with a chuckle as he looked at his noise," Don't touch it for now, broken noises really suit your style. Chill for now." Taking the gun from Sam, he pulled the clip out and hung the gun loosely from the trigger ring from his finger. He tossed it to the ground in front of the men at their demand for their weapons. Mike didn't want to mention it but he still had the handgun stuck into the back of his pants. Miraculously it had remained where it was.

Mila had stepped forward to refuse, he admired the girl for her bravery but she forgot an important detail. These guys were soldiers but they were just as scared as they were. They were just as panicked, maybe even more so then they were seeing all their weapons fall in the face of a strange and unusual monster. Nearby he spotted Matt tumbling to a fall, collapsing for some reason. At first Mike was worried but at the sight of the two medics he realized he was with his own kind, they'd take care of him. He might of liked Mila but Mike didn't trust the man beyond that. He sighed, the situation was getting a little too tense, tugging the back of her shirt to stop her from leaving just yet, Mike said," Easy does it there girl, let me get a word in." He stepped forward and placed his hands up to plead his case.

" Listen real quick Knowles. First, I suggest getting your bitch-Harrison there some better manners before he opens his mouth, talking to his superior, Matt, like that. Insults aside I do respect you and we thank you for the help though some of us have an odd way of showing it. We all need to relax, we're all still in shock from the crash and a lot of good people were lost. Now, we 'civies' died, bled, and fought just as much as you and your other soldiers, seeing what we're in I doubt anyone is a civilian anymore like Mila pointed out.

Our friend was emotional, it was clear of that and we're sorry for it, though your doc pulling a knife out on the poor man, a father damn it, for a bruised ego and a some pain is much. Damn, i'm probably making this worse but I'm not much of a diplomat. My point being, we 'will' pass on our weapons. For now."

He looked to Mila to emphasize his point.

" You guys are probably tired of us and we're not in the best condition as you can guess with the whole wreakers incident. I think we should keep seperate for now, you see, we'll keep to ourselves for the time being. We might leave, we might stay, I can't say right now but lets all calm down for a time while we all reform what we do. Your MPs can monitor us or what ever, doesn't matter. All I think is your soldiers need some time to themselves as well. We're too different from them to really understand each other. Hell, I just called your friend a bitch and he's got a gun. Shows how smart I am and I doubt any soldier would be stupid enough to do that."

"Oof, hey," Mila sputtered as she was tugged backward by the shirt, though she honestly didn't put up too much of a fight as Mike spoke his mind. When he got to the part of his monologue that contradicted her the most, about complying with their demands, she crossed her arms over her chest with an unhappy sigh. Still, a weaker part of her mind had to agree with what he was saying. As long as some guns were returned to them in the end, it would be alright. Even if shit hit multiple fans while they were unarmed, they could easily get their weapons back in the chaos, provided there weren't any trigger-happy grunts with a grudge.

Day Two
Area 51, Nevada
4:28 a.m. PST

Knowles nods, though Harrison seems to be glowing red. "Thank you. And apologies. I hope we can work this out, but I agree that separation is best." He holds out his hand for a shake. "Again, my personal and sincere apologies. We're all strung out here," he says with a wry grin.

The MPs seem happy that the situation has been defused, at least for now. Matt is lifted by stretcher onto the Blackhawk, and the rest of the group is hustled aboard. The pistol and any other weapons turned in are placed in a secure suitcase for safekeeping. "Don't worry, it's like a half mile trip," Knowles says, seemingly have caught on to their discomfort. "It seems today is one for crashes." It's clear the man is trying to make amends, though the rest of his men seem to have settled into ignoring the group, sitting aside and checking their weapons over and talking in the usual low tones. Matt is stirring, and mutters something a few times but remains unconscious for the moment.

The Blackhawk lands on a pad outside the warehouse, and everyone piles out. Matt finally wakes up and is able to walk out. "Is everything fine now?" he asks groggily. "Are we all good?" Meanwhile, the warehouse are is filled with activity, men setting up defensive perimeters, and there are two fresh rows of body bags.

*****

Jonathon finally slammed back onto terra firma. His parachute fell onto the ground and he ejected it from the pack as his Secret Service agents and other staff members landed around him. Right on time, three Humvees drive up, and they pile in. Jonathon hadn't parachuted in years, and even under the circumstances, he had found it immensely enjoyable.

He and his staff had been ordered to bail out of the V-22 from a side hatch once his agents determined that it would be unsafe to remain on board, and he and his men had parachuted down successfully. Now he arrived at a busy set of warehouses. Soldiers look up but only stop for a second. The urgency in the camp is tangible.

((Just so somethings clear and my character doesn't look crazy he didn't attack the medic that did help his child. He attacked the one that acted like Logan wasn't important enough to save unless I read it incorrectly and there wasn't two medics))

Daniel had settled into the blackhawk with little argument though he didn't want to. He didn't want to be on another flight for the rest of his life, but considering the trouble he had caused earlier he thought it was probably a good idea to keep his mouth shut. Besides that his son was starting to come around and he seemed to be ok which brightened the father's mood considerably. Logan's eyes weren't open very long though just long enough to search out his dad's face and grip his hand before falling back asleep. Daniel still couldn't be sure of the extent of damage since Logan hadn't talked or completely woke up but recognizing his father and the hand holding was surely a good sign.

He looked over at Sam over the rotors of the helicopter as they exited and gave him a sheepish look and mouthed I'm sorry. At the moment it wasn't the most moving speech in terms of forgiveness but with the way they were being herded about he doubted he would get much more of a chance. After that he clapped Mike on the shoulder.

"Thanks Mike. Sorry I lost it there for a minute. Thanks for grabbing Logan for me and standing up for me later."

He looked over to Mila who looked rather green around the gills after another flight that they had had ample problems in getting her aboard.

"You ok Mila?"

Feeling more than a little deflated, Mila had sat apart from the others as much as possible, staring out one of the two big windows of the utility craft. She was imagining how they might crash this time, considering if she'd feel the impact or be killed on contact, wondering where the president had gone off to, and other happy thoughts.

When the aircraft finally landed, only hearing her name broke her morbid reverie and she looked over at Daniel morosely. "I'm fine," she lied, making no attempt to hide the deception. Her surliness from earlier was gone, replaced by an air of defeat. No one ever listened to her and she was done trying. As soon as she wasn't being forced onto more aircraft by the military like some beast at the cattle prod, she'd be heading off in her own direction. She never did like being told what to do.

That wasn't to say that she'd go off alone completely, and if some of the others still wanted to go with her, then so be it. She wasn't foolhardy enough to believe that she could take a group of wreakers on her own, let alone survive in the wilderness.

Her face softened a bit as she glanced down at Logan. "Any improvement?" she asked lightly, not having seen him open his eyes earlier.

Daniel nodded in response to Mila.

"He did open his eyes for a bit and grab my hand. I'd like to take that as a good sign though I don't know. I suppose I'll have to wait till he really wakes up to know for sure."

Looking at her it was plain to see she was not only down but feeling utterly defeated.

"Look I know it's been crappy for you. You and Sam have been through even more then myself and Logan. You can't give up though. Look if we ever have a chance I'm leaving. I don't know how long I'll last without the military but their tactic of constantly moving from one area to the next isn't working. I think we should find somewhere to hole up for a bit. If you want I would like you to come with me. Logan likes you and York and I doubt I would do much good on my own."

The faintest hint of a smile crept onto Mila's lips and she gave a nod. "Sure. As soon as we aren't having guns in our faces I think that's a grand idea. I mean, this state is so full of nothingness once you get past the tourist area, I'm sure we can find somewhere to hide for a while. The only problem is supplies but we can adapt. It's obvious everyone needs some downtime though. This whole hardly-sleeping, barely-eating, always-under-attack thing is making our sanity slowly trickle out of our ears."

Mila heard Matt's voice behind them and turned to find him disembarking the helicopter, one of the last ones. She was surprised to see him walking so soon after having fainted, but that was how he liked to do things apparently. Always pushing himself beyond his limits. It was bound to catch up to him sooner or later. "Eh, 'good' is relative, but we're coping. How's your head?"

Mike happily shook Knowles hand, happy that the situation did decay into something a little more violent then what had happened. He merely gave a cocky shrug to Harrison, the man who had outbursted before. Mike didn't want to deal with him and if he kept away from Mike then Mike would keep away from him. Mike might make insults and provoke people but he didn't physically go for a fight. A sort of unspoken rule with him that the other guy should get they first punch then its free, of course that didn't include guns but still. Beyond a later confrontation that might occur Mike thought the situation was handled pretty well, putting him in a good mood again.

That was until they got on another helicopter. He hesitated before getting on but managed to force himself up on it. Shakily he steady himself towards a seat when someone caught his arm. For a moment Mike thought it might of been Harrison so he braced himself fo a punch or some other pain. Instead none came and he had to see who it was. It was Daniel, Mike breathed a sigh of relief and leaned closer to listen to his apology and thanks. Mike clapped his shoulder, "Any time; course you can thank me later once we're in the clear and all."

Sitting down he looked ready to lose his lunch but he managed to fight the feeling. Shaking his head he called out to Sam, "Hey pal, sit near me. I need someone to puke on if I lose it and I'd rather not do it on Mila."

The Blackhawk landed again shortly and at the moment it did Mike was the first one off and did not even turn to look at the helicopter until everyone was off for some reason. Once everyone was off, Mike turned to see who was with them. It was then he realized something. His eyes widened and he said, "Holy crap, we lost the president.."

Day Two
Area 51, Nevada
4:35 a.m. PST

"Concussion. I'll live," he says with a painful grin. Matt's expression turns to worry as Mike brings the President up, but almost on cue a convoy of Humvees drive by, Jonathon Roth in the front seat of the first. Matt watches the Humvees stop nearby and the group exit, just as an explosion rips through the base. "Down!" "Contact 12 o clock!" Shouts run through the camp and there is clattering of weapons and gunfire. Matt waves his Rangers forward, and all disputes are completely forgotten. The case containing the confiscated weapons is handed to Mike as the soldiers race towards a nearby barricade, taking cover and looking for movement.

There are brief muzzle flashes and screaming, and two missile trails fly out, hitting a barricade and killing four soldiers. The other slams into a large fuel tank, sending raining gasoline everywhere along with shrapnel. Confusion and chaos begin to rage through the camp, and Jonathon is rushed behind a Humvee as his Secret Service agents brandish weapons while seeking better cover.

Matt sights up, but a pounding headache affects his aim as he lets a few rounds fly. The squad sniper, a young man with the name Johnson imprinted on his uniform begins pumping rounds with his M21. Nearby, two Special Forces soldiers begin firing a Mark-19 grenade launcher into the sand dunes where the unseen enemy is lurking. Another soldier suddenly goes down, screaming, and someone yells "Sniper fire!" Matt suddenly remembers his civilian friends and turns around. "Take cover over here!" he yells, waving them over as his squad begins firing in full. A few shadowy figures are moving forward in the sand dunes, and two seem to go down.

Sam had sat on the plane silently, revealing his stupid hair as he held his hat to his nose to help stem the bleeding. His only interaction with everyone else on the helicopter was a quick nod towards Daniel; a acceptance of his apology. The man had only thrown words at him and Sam understood fully why. But to the soldiers Sam felt nothing but hostility. Which was why when all hell began to break lose Sam sidled up to Mike and tapped the case. "Pass us a gun. We're getting the fuck out of here."

Sam looked towards Mila as bullets continued to whizz overhead, "Mila get ready. I think we've all agreed our best bet is to get the fuck out of here, yeah?"