Door 2 - The Wasteland

[SirBayer]

Smith shook his head. "Is it alive? Can we get it to stay alive?"

---

Juliet nodded. Slowly, almost unsure of her balance, she stood, picked up the gun, and walked back to the other soldiers. "Let's go," she told them, shaking her head and getting properly ready.  

[NativeForeigner]

The medic shook his head, "I...I'm not sure, I can't...tell. He doesn't have a pulse, his blood is just...flowing. It doesn't seem like he's breathing, either."

***

The squad leader nodded and advanced towards the door. Another soldier took place on the side of the door, gun ready. The remaining, along with Juliet and Alastair.

The leader carefully opened the door, the first soldier on the side peered through the crack, scanning for any enemies.

He held up three fingers and moved in, firing a single shot. An enemy soldier fell. The leader was right behind, firing a second shot, downing another soldier fell. The first soldier fired one more shot and the third soldier fell.
The rest filed through and took cover behind some nearby pillars.

Orion's magazine: 9/12 (HG)/ 9/12 (rifle) Battery life: 90%
Juliet's magazine: 19/24 (SMG) / 12/12 (HG)
Alastair's magazine: 30/36 (AR) | 12/12 (HG)
Gwen's magazine: 10/12 (HG) / 2/5 (Rifle)
ROUS: 0/6
M82: 10/10
Smith's Men (1): 4
Smith's Men (2): 7
Enemy soldiers (2): 1 medic (DEAD?)  

[Elesariin]

Gwen shifted uncomfortably. It was strange, considering how nervous she'd been about this, but she wanted to go in and help. Listening to the sounds of gunfire inside the building was somehow so much worse than being in the thick of things. Maybe when the adrenaline was flowing, she didn't have time to consider what was happening on a really deep level. Anyway, she knew that she had to stay put; it was common sense. You didn't abandon one secured position to go help other people out. Still...  

[NativeForeigner]

Cindy scanned the area one last time. "All clear." she stated quietly.

"Looks like we're all done out here." Mark went on, "We could either remain outside and keep an eye out, or we could provide assistance inside, what do you think?"  

[Elesariin]

Gwen automatically went to push her glasses up onto the bridge of her nose, only to realize that she couldn't because of the gas mask. "Logically," she replied uncertainly, "We should stay put. We have the higher ground, should any backup arrive, and we could provide cover fire if everyone else needs to retreat..." Still, it was very clear from her tone that she wasn't really sold on what she was saying. Gwen was pretty spectacularly easy to read.  

[SirBayer]

Juliet sprinted through the door, throwing herself against a pillar for cover. She checked to see that her weapon was in working order, then looked again to see where if any there were opponents.

---

Smith stared down at him. "Just... flowing? Weird. Back up from him." Smith placed one foot on the medic's chest, and experimentally pushed downward, as though attempting to perform CPR. He kept the ROUS leveled at the Medic's head, prepared to blow it clean off if such an action was called for.  

[NativeForeigner]

After a short survey of the area, Juliet saw a door on either side of the one that she and the rest came through. Directly in front of the door she came through was a large pillar, two, smaller ones were positioned in the middle of the room supporting the catwalks that ran on either side of the large, open room.

Juliet could see the main entrance at the other side.

In the middle, on either side of the expansive room, there were windowed booths.

The room was rather cleaned out, there was almost no debris anywhere on the floor.

Juliet noted several enemies. Some in the booths, some on the floor, several on the catwalk and the small grated bridge connecting the two catwalks.

A quick tally revealed there to be eighteen visible enemies, three in each booth, three on the floor, and seven up on the catwalks. One soldier on the bridge could be recognized as the officer from outside with the spike gun.

Alastair moved up next to Juliet. "Looks rough." he commented quietly, "We're gonna hafta be careful."

*

Cindy smirked beneath her gas mask, "Well, I think you wanna go in and help." she pointed out, "If you want, we could go through the back like the others, they've probably already cleared out the garage and these guys will be charging through the front soon enough.

Orion's magazine: 9/12 (HG)/ 9/12 (rifle) Battery life: 90%
Juliet's magazine: 19/24 (SMG) / 12/12 (HG)
Alastair's magazine: 30/36 (AR) | 12/12 (HG)
Gwen's magazine: 10/12 (HG) / 5/5 (Rifle)
ROUS: 6/6
M82: 10/10
Smith's Men (1): 4
Smith's Men (2): 7
Enemy soldiers (2): 1 medic (DEAD?)
Enemy soldiers: (1): 18 Soldiers (1 Officer, 2 Steamers, 10 riflemen, 5 unknown gunners, probably shotguns.)  

[Elesariin]

Gwen hesitated, then smiled her slight, shy smile-- though of course Cindy couldn't see it. "It's probably really dumb, but I do want to help," she admitted, "I hate feeling useless."  

[SirBayer]

Juliet gave it a look. "I don't like this at all. I don't see how we can advance without longer range weapons... I can't possibly hit them from here. Anyone able to get those guys off the catwalks?"

---

Smith, seeing that the medic wasn't doing anything, kicked him in the face in an effort to either wake him up or tear his head off.  

[NativeForeigner]

Cindy smiled beneath her mask, "That's not stupid at all, sweetie! Come on, let's go, the could probably use some range in there, anyway."
With that, she climbed down the tower, followed closely by Mark.
They waited for Gwen before coninuing towards the rear of the factory and entering quietly through the garage. The three spotted the group of friendlies and carefully approached so as to not alarm them.
"Need some range?" Mark asked, overhearing Juliet's question involving the catwalks. He turned to Gwen, "Just stay in here and shoot what you feel most comfortable with, heading out into the firefight isn't a good idea.

Cindy, meanwhile, had climbed up on the rubble and onto a ruined catwalk up above. There was a large window overlooking the next room. "Come on up" she bid Gwen.

***

The latter occurred and the medic's head detached from it's body rather easily, leaving behind a thick trail of brown, clumpy blood with only specks of red left. More and more of this blood simply flowed from the neck, as it continued to flow through the rest of the body as well.
"Weird s**t..." Smith's medic commented as he stood, "The "blood's" still flowing. Just at a lower pressure due to the obvious hole you just made in his body where the blood's escaping."

The rest of Smith's men were waitin anxiously outside, ready to charge inside whenever Smith gave the order. Smith figured it would be best to allow the first team to begin their assault first to allow the forward team to attack from behind.  

[Elesariin]

Gwen nodded to Mark, then turned and climbed up after Cindy. The last thing she wanted was to get involved in another close-quarters fire fight.  

[SirBayer]

"Yes, someone with a long rifle would be useful," Juliet replied, staying in cover, as she had nothing else to do.

---

"Alright... just give it some more time..." Smith checked his ROUS, preparing to reload it if necessary. It did not appear it would be.  

[NativeForeigner]

Cindy helped Gwen up onto the catwalk and led her to the window overlooking the factory floor. She rested the barrel of her rifle on the ledge and carefully knocked away loose bits of glass, remnants of the once intact window. Her targets were limited, much of Cindy's line of sight was obscured by the large, concrete pillars.

Mark had climbed up to the opposite side of the room and was scanning the room through the window as well. Both spotted targets on the catwalks and opened fire. Mark's shot ripped through a rifleman's head and killed him instantly. Cindy's shot had torn through another gunner's chest and he fell, gripping his bleeding chest.

The remaining soldiers instantly dove for cover and turned towards the rear of the factory.

*

The blood began to pool around the medic's severed head. Shots from within the factory could be heard outside.

Juliet's magazine: 19/24 (SMG) / 12/12 (HG)
Alastair's magazine: 30/36 (AR) | 12/12 (HG)
Gwen's magazine: 10/12 (HG) / 5/5 (Rifle)
ROUS: 6/6
M82: 10/10
Smith's Men (1): 4
Smith's Men (2): 7
Enemy soldiers (2): 1 medic (DEAD?)
Enemy soldiers: (1): 16 Soldiers (1 Officer, 2 Steamers, 9 riflemen, 4 unknown gunners, probably shotguns.)  

[Elesariin]

Gwen propped up her own rifle fairly near to Cindy and got ready to fire if anyone poked their head up.  

[SirBayer]

"Dear heavens! Onward!" Smith roared. He hefted the ROUS and made a charge for the factory, looking for the nearest entry way.

---

Juliet recognized her opportunity. "Quietly," she hissed, before moving for the pillars, weapon leveled in preparation to fire if necessary. She focused on the ones in the booths; they would be the ones who would give trouble, as they did have cover. She checked to see if she had any grenades, but it didn't appear to be true, making the people in the booths harder to get out than necessary.