0717 hours
“Move out, convoy, turret pointed to 10 o’clock” Aguerre’s voice sounded from the radio.
I was standing on my seat watching the movements, we exited the garage and the sun hit the Legendario, we did this before but now this would be the real deal,our squadron was composed of 2 platoons 4 tanks each, 8 tanks in total, I was the third in the row.
The commander saluted us on our way out, we were the first to leave, while we were leaving the base i could hear the bugle play, it was “Cavalaria avançar e degolar’’ (Cavalry advance and cut their throats)
I only ever heard that on basic training, but I knew exactly what it meant, we all knew, Manuel did a ‘’Woohoo’’ Inside the tank that was louder than it should but we were all in the same spirit.
We took the old Imperial time roads, our orders were to establish a perimeter in the nearby town and hold until the armored infantry arrived. We didn’t know what to expect but I doubt the Fantasy folks could pierce our Osorios.
Now playing on the Manuel Player 3: https://youtu.be/WjfuLpoRy6k
0736 hours
The travel was idyllic, that was the worst part the sheer alienation of hearing birds singing and the cool wind on your head while everything you know and love is on the verge of destruction, it’s like God is playing with us, the sound of the tracks reverberated, our guidons flapped on the wind.
We saw jets pass over us. They were going to the major population centers probably to bomb those places out of existence, the flyboys must be as concerned as us down here.
0756 hours
“Squadron, HALT!” The voice of Tenente Aguerres was heard on the Head phones
“Objective at 150 meters northeast, I want three teams, Legendario, Pernambuco you’re with me…”
As Tenente Aguerres continued organizing and preparing our advance into the built up area ahead, I prepared the REMAX turret, a Brazilian CROWS so to say, i cocked the bolt on the Browning, and returned inside, closing the hatch, a feeling of “I can do it” overtook me, i was ready, Manuel was glued on his gun screen sights, Jacson was sweating even though we have an AC unit on-board.
“Sargeant anon, Wedge formation you take point” Aguerres commanded
“ACO!” I responded with the natural enthusiasm of a cavalryman
As Tenente Aguerres, Pernambuco and The Legendario were going for the main entrance of town following the road, the rest of the column divided itself, 2 were going to the right, 2 to the left, a classic pincer maneuver, the enemy would not survive.
The terrain was flat, the town was beautiful, you could hear a shootout down in the center of it. The PMs must be trying their best, no time to waste the weapon of heroes will join the fray, God help us.
“Bino, Avançar” I exclaimed on the microphone, and the Legendario moved.
Now playing on the Manuel Player 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtV4blc489c
0802 hours
Small puffs of smoke could be seen coming from the city, as we closed the distance and finally entered the city i ordered Jacson to keep an eye out using his Camera, and advised Bino to go slowly, screaming could be heard through the deserted streets, cars were destroyed and abandoned, fortunately we could still move our way
“Squadron, subjugate any enemy resistance and rendevouz at the center of the city” Agurres said, he was right behind us.
Bino was moving expertly through the Abandoned cars when we saw movement at around 65 meters to our front by one of the streets. Something was observing us, I was sure of it.
“Team, be advised, possible enemy movement 65 mikes 1 o’clock,Permission to fire, sir?” I said over the radio
“Permission granted, fire” Aguerre’s voice said, after a short moment of deliberation
“Bino, HALT. Manuel, target, 1 o’clock, 60 meters, street corner wall, enemy, engage, LOAD HEAT.” I said, almost tripping over words as pure energy flowed through my veins
The tank quickly halted, the turret turned so quickly i almost lost my balance, the sounds of a brass case entering the breech was heard
“PRONTO!” Jacson said, adrenaline flowed through his young voice.
“Firing!” Manuel said, his eyes glued to the LCD screen while his finger pressed the button and the screen flashed white.
The fighting compartment was filled with a small quantity of smoke, the vibrations could be felt for some time after, when the blast and smoke cleared i could see blood and guts spilling to the street where the brick wall once stood, the car alarms were beeping loudly, if the enemy didn’t know about us before he sure do now.
The shooting from the center of the Town could still be heard, no time to waste
“Bino, Advance” I said, marking the end of the engagement.
Before Aguerres could ask for confirmation i energetically exclaimed “Tenente, kill confirmed, possible enemy scout, he’s no more”
Aguerres quickly responded “No time to waste gentlemen, double time it, pass over the cars if need be”
“Yes, sir” I answered it through the radio, a beep punctuating it.
“You heard it Bino,have fun, just don’t get us stuck here” I said to Bino over the intercom, the sound of the tracks moving over the asphalt and sidewalks could be faintly heard from outside.
0820 hours, 1 round spent
The sound of crushed cars could be heard alongside the screaming, and blaring alarms, the usual feeling of being observed was felt, after that show of force the enemy knew he couldn’t stand a chance, mobility, firepower and shock capability was the name of the game.
Whatever remains of this city is making their last stand downtown, and i hope i can reach it on time, The strondous sound of a 105 mm gun could be heard coming from our right flank, the boys on there also found their scouts, the remaining enemy must be trying to finish the resistance downtown quickly then retreating to the left flank or to our 12 o’clock, that direction is covered by a big “Serra” no way they will be able to scale that hill, they have no choice but to die to our guns.
It felt good
“Sarge! enemy up front they are making barricades and preparing some kind of catapult” Manuel exclaimed
I relayed the information to Alguerres, the Street wasn’t wide enough for a combat formation and those guys were blocking the way to a roundabout.
A whip like sound was heard and there came a small pickup truck flying in our direction, i instinctively put my head down and looked away, a rookie mistake, fortunately Bino managed to steer us away from the point of impact, it ended up hitting a house to our left leaving a big hole in it, blood could be seen spilling out of the smashed pickup doors.
“Manuel fire at will! load HEAT and HESH!”
I couldn’t see the enemy at the other side of the barricade, the barricade was composed of trucks and cars stacked on-top of each other, whatever was there was big and strong, that’s for sure.
I started Firing with the REMAX, short controlled bursts i aimed for the gas tanks on the barricade cars, the tracers would ignite the fuel, Manuel hit the barricade with HEAT shell, unfortunately it passed through, inhuman screams could be heard on the other side, the Barricade started burning with the ignited fuel smoke obscuring the recent made hole.
“Bino full speed ahead, smash those putos out ‘o there” I exclaimed ecstatically, the adrenaline was overwhelming.
The mighty sound of the Osorio's heart reverberated through the street and we passed through the burning barricades. I could feel the tracks smashing something soft when we touched the otherside.
A big mistake, when the smoke cleared from the optics we were face to face with a big minotaur (É uma cilada Bino)
The creature was almost as tall as the Osorio, the damn beast must have been hiding, waiting for us, a big concrete telephone post in its hands. The beast was ready to strike the gun barrel.
I quickly swerved the REMAX and pushed the button, the Browning perforated his chest, blood spilling over the tank and dirtying my REMAX sights, the beast fell and the tank advanced,seems the HEAT shell destroyed their catapult, i scanned the area and saw many other small creatures routing, they were running downtown, i managed to get one of the smaller ones with a single shot the others climbed the roofs and escaped our sights.
“Squadron, advance, downtown, no time to waste” Aguerres reminded us “Seageant anon, good fucking job killing that Goat thing”
Now playing on the Manuel Player 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWPmU3dEncc&t=0s
0820 hours, 2 rounds spent
The risk of another ambush was real, we moved as fast as we could through the straight street leading us downtown, the sounds of the shootout could still be heard, police and ambulance sirens were becoming louder, smoke could be see rising from downtown, seems like their last stand is about to end, time is running low, the sound of the Osorios’ engines filled the street, Tenente Aguerres told us the other 2 groups were converging downtown at the same rate as us.
I wonder where everyone went, maybe they are hiding, or maybe dead, but if so where are all the bodies?
I alerted Aguerres and Pernambuco about my sights and climbed my hatch with a small cloth in-hand. I had to clean the REMAX, blood from that minotaur was obscuring my sights.
“Sarge, get down!” I heard Jacson yell and was quickly pulled back into the tank falling ass first back into my seat, the sound of broken glass and Browning MGs could be heard outside.
“Fuckers are throwing molotovs” He said, a hint of desperation in his voice.
I quickly closed the hatch, the REMAX monitor was still obscured by the blood, not a lot could be seen, I will have to rely on Jacson, Manuel and the other tanks for awareness.
“Did they get the pricks?” i asked Jacson
“Yes sir, you should’ve seen it, they turned into pink mist, not sure if there’s more stalking us right now, better safe than sorry, i guess”
“Yea, those must been the ones that were manning that barricade we passed”
The sound of gunfire was getting clearer and nearer, we were almost there.
“All units be advised, our Armored infantry platoon has just entered the city, expect them
to be here shortly” Aguerres said.
“FULL THROTTLE!” I yelled to Bino, I was pushed back into my seat by the sudden acceleration.
0827 hours, 2 rounds spent
We finally reached it, the Prefecture plaza, a big park was in the center, the type you would take a good afternoon walk at.
The sounds of gunshots were louder than ever, in-human screams could be heard, i couldn’t see much out of the commander’s cupola or the REMAX monitor
“I see a lot of targets, sarge”
“Engage, Engage” I retorted, the Osorio coaxial came to life, firing in short bursts.
I climbed my hatch, had to clean that fucking blood out of the REMAX, the world outside was burning with action and sound, the main focus of resistance came from a 3 story government buiding, the local police fortified the position and were killing all that came near, lots of black bloated inhuman corpses littered the place, the streets were filled with the damn things, they saw our tank, some were making their way here, building and trees were on fire, a shield line was stubbornly infront of the resistance building trying to assault the place, our line of sight was obscured by the park.
“The other two groups will be here any instant, prepare to charge through the park!” Aguerres said through the comms
I didn’t have much time, i could be hit by a stray arrow or a molotov any moment, i quickly wiped the REMAX sight, those fucking squat black furry things were screaming their way here the machineguns opened up on those fucking rat-things, cut down as quickly as they saw us.
“My REMAX is back in order, ready to charge!” I said over the comms
I got back into the tank and closed my hatch,now with an clear monitor i could see the enemy and the Police resistance clearly, their shooting was getting more and more scarce, their ammo was running low, small fires could be seen from the windows, the enemy shield line was making their way to the entrance i could see another minotaur with them but i couldn’t see much, the park was in the way, around 17 meters of green area was between us and them, it was safe to say the park was infested with them, squat silhouettes could be seen, i shot at them but couldn’t confirm their deaths.
“ALL UNITS, ON MY MARK…. CHARGE, CHAAARGE!” Agurres commanded almost in Jubilation.
“ENGAGE AT WILL KILL THEM ALL, CUT THEIR THROATS!”
The Osorios sprung to life, Jacson loaded a HEAT round, manuel started shooting using the coaxial, a soneto of automatic fire filled the air, the tanks moved forth, running over trees, stone walls and crushing the rats that were hiding in the park, the sound of arrows impacting the armor could be heard alongside the breaking glass and fire of molotovs thrown in desperation.
Now playing in the Manuel Player 3:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGzUqvbv3uI
Finding and engaging any targets that appeared in my field of vision, my ammo was running low, and there were a lot of them.
They were running away from us like cockroaches upon light, the machine guns were cutting them down, Pernambuco was taking the left flank, he was being hit hard by their arrows, some of them were getting stuck into the armor.
The few rats that dared to stand and fight were cut down and turned to pulp by our tracks and guns.
“Sarge, something big is coming, 12 o’clock!”
A big minotaur, charging against our tank, was moving very fast and using the trees as cover, the other tanks were busy dealing with the rats.
“MANUEL, TARGET, BIG GOAT HEADED MOTHERFUCKER, 1 O’CLOCK, KILL THE FUCKER BEFORE HE GETS TO US”
The Minotaur was about 4 meters out and moving at full speed, he had a tree trunk in his arms, probably planning to hit the REMAX and then jam the tracks, unfortunately for him, the Turret was faster
The cannon fired at point-blank. We could have used the damn thing as a club if Manuel took a few milliseconds more to turn the thing, the sound of the Brass impacting the breech-basket was like music to our ears.
His chest was burned into mist, his body fell close to the tracks. I could hear something pop.
Now was the time to deal with the Phalanx, we emerged from the park and they were using the police barricade as cover. Their black shields and armor were like shadows under the sunny morning sky.
I emptied what remained of the REMAX’ ammo on their pathetic line, they didn’t scream, black blood splashed against the white and blue paint of the building and cars.
Screams of the dying were loud along the sirens, jubilation could be heard from the Barricade building, machine gun firing could be heard from the right and left flanks, the other two groups just found the stragglers.
