The day looked grim. The sky was gray, even though it was early morning. The clouds were dark and ominous. The Russian air was cold and the wet, soggy snow added to the mood of depression among the fields on which these men stood. But despite this all, General Steve Marks was in a solid state of concentration as he looked down onto the town.
"There is no sign of life, or anything, Steve." said Monty.
"What does that mean?" asked Junior.
"Nothing, we go along as planned." replied Steve.
"Agreed" said Tom.
"We ready?" asked an excited Rickshaw.
They were. The five men shivering in their full BDUs on a hill of dirt and blood were ready, as they always were. These men were the five Generals of the Australian Special Air Service, or ASAS.
The lowest ranking one was Junior, the Brigadier General. He was an ex- Force Recon Sniper with the U.S. Marines. On a burning day in the sands of Iraq, Junior had been with his spotter tracking a line of enemy vehicles as requested by the SOCOM. He spotted something wrong in the movement of the vehicles. They were supposed to be taking the east road back to camp, but instead they were retreating unusually fast. Before he could analyze the situation and understand what was going on, the noise of a large explosion rung through the desert. Then another, and another. The infantry led by the Army Rangers had prematurely invaded the camp. The full fury of the U.S. Air Force struck the enemy camp. F-16's roared over where Junior and his spotter lay and seconds later dropped a "Daisy Cutter" over the camp. Then another dropped a unguided cluster bomb which struck dangerously close to Junior. He jumped up and ran back, desperately trying to get in radio contact with HQ. But nobody could hear him. He ran but he knew he was trapped. Enemy re-enforcements were coming and Junior was right in the middle of the firefight as the enemy advanced. He lay helpless until a sharp pain struck him. He screamed and looked down to find that a bullet had hit his leg. Luckily it was a random shot and the shooter was not targeting him. For the first time in his Force Recon Career, Junior was scared. Then, like a beam of hope over the horizon, a UH-60 helicopter flew over his position and stopped a few meters from him. They landed and out came a man in full desert camouflage holding a pistol. He came over to Junior and yelled over the noise of the battle and helicopter that he was friendly and was here to help. He said to him “What did they forget about you?” Junior was blacking out from pain and readily got on the gurney that the man's team was bringing over. Junior would later find out that this man was none other than General Steve Marks. Junior never reported back to SOCOM and was declared M.I.A (Missing in Action).
The next man of the five was Major General Rickshaw. Rickshaw, ever since he was a kid had a large problem with the military. He hated the discipline policy and was constantly involved with riots and protests that were mostly violent. But the one thing that he loved the most was flying. He didn't have enough money to learn how to fly privately, so against his own accord he joined the Australian Air Force. He was supercilious and was constantly getting yelled at by his peers and officers, but none could deny that he was exceptional. One of Rickshaw's commanding officers noticed the talent that Rickshaw was showing and believed that with a little molding he could be a great pilot, so he turned him over to the best pilot he knew, who was also the commanding officer of the Air Force; General Steve Marks. Steve was the only officer that let Rickshaw do the two things he did best; be a smartass and fly. Rickshaw is now the second highest Ace pilot, next to Steve.
The third man was Monty, the Lieutenant General. Monty was a sniper, that's all he ever was, as far as he's concerned. He doesn't talk much and why and how he joined the military is still unknown. But that doesn't matter because Monty was good at what he does, which was killing people from a distance. Back when General Steve Marks was a Sergeant, he used to train constantly whether it be in hand to hand combat, or close quarter combat, or anything else. Every day he would spend quite a few hours on the rifle range. And every day, no matter what weather or condition, so was Monty. Sergeant Irwin would ask him why he was there every day and rarely got any other answer besides "I want to". Then one day in combat Sergeant Irwin found himself in a foxhole, dangerously close to a patrol of about 5 or 6 men. Steve prayed and sat in the hole expecting the worse, when he heard 6 loud bangs. Steve immediately recognized the sound as 50 caliber bullets being fired from a Barret 50 Caliber Sniper. He peeked over the brim of his foxhole to find the patrol all dead. He looked behind him to hills and saw Monty standing with his sniper. Needless to say, they became friends. Pretty damn close friends.
The fourth and fifth men were Generals Tom and Steve Marks. Tom and Steve were the youngest of 8 kids, and they lived happy lives with their parents in a farmer's home in the fields. They laughed a lot and never stopped playing. Growing up with older brothers and constant field work was not easy but Steve and Tom always enjoyed it. They were only a year apart with Steve being the older. Their common days consisted of them tending to the fields, wrestling with the older brothers, and working on a plane that their father had been making from scratch for 3 years. Life was simple and that was good. Then one fateful evening, everything changed. The day had been normal and Steve and Tom were coming in for dinner. The older brothers had all moved out except for Bill who was in town. Then two cars pulled up and 9 men got out dressed in street clothes holding guns. Steve's attention was caught and Tom saw too. They were scared; they were only 10 and 11 years old. The men entered the house with facial expressions that were unrecognizable. Facial expressions that could explain these men’s lives to Steve and Tom. What they had seen and done; terrible things. Facial expressions that Steve and Tom would carry one day. They heard a scream which belonged to their mother. Then gunshots; so many gunshots, that seemed to never stop. Steve's blood was burning with anger, despair, and horror that he could do nothing to help. He wanted so much to run into the house, but sheer fear paralyzed his body. Soon the noise stopped, and Steve, not knowing completely why, ran into the house. Tom followed without hinder. They went in and Steve called for his father. Steve wanted more than anything for this to be a dream, for this to be unreal. He wanted to go to the kitchen and see his mother cooking dinner, and father sitting at the table drinking coffee. At that moment his father limped down the stairs bloodied and beaten. He told them to run. They wouldn't move. Then another gunshot rung through the house and the boy's father dropped to the floor lifelessly. Steve stared at the body, his eyes bloated from tears. He never saw a man get killed, let alone his own father. It was not like the movies. It was not a dramatic and heroic death. The bullet struck and immediately killed their father. Steve felt sorrow. Then anger struck. An unknown man walked down the stairs staring at the boys with cold, lifeless eyes, with the same facial expression the boys had seen before. He held the gun, pointing downwards, expecting no resistance and called to his friends. Steve didn't know how, but he ran at the man with full rage knocking him to the ground. He then unleashed a fury of punches to the face without hesitation. When he finally stopped the man was dead. Steve didn't care. His hands were bare and scraped from the beating but the pain wasn't being the felt; the terror of the situation wasn't being acknowledged. The adrenaline had kicked in and to Steve and Tom there was no future; nor past, just the present and what was happening now. He took the gun and pointed it to the door as the man's partner arrived. He pulled the trigger 4 times unloading the clip into the other man's body. He dropped the gun. Tom ran upstairs and went to his room, and took out the hunting knife his father had given him from under the bed. He ran back downstairs only to see a man holding Steve. He yelled and ran towards the back of the man and drove the knife into his back. There were now 4 dead bodies surrounding the boys. Steve knew more men were coming. He ran to the garage outside with Tom and he got a bottle of gasoline that was used for the plane. He ran over to the cars. One had already pulled away and was driving fast down the dirt road. Steve went to the other and dumped the gasoline on the car and inside too. He then got out his match and lit a stick of wood. He then lay hidden in the bushes with Tom; the stick still burning. Four men came out of the house running to the car. Steve got a good look at one. He was short, muscular, and had a shaved head. He had a menacing face that had eyes that had seen things you would never want to see. But more distinctively, there was a tattoo of a snake wrapped around a knife. Steve never forgot that image. They got in and started the car up, and as they did Steve jumped out of the bushes and threw the flaming stick at the car. The car exploded in a magnificent "boom". The car still rolled slowly flaming, and the cries of the men still alive burning inside were barely audible. What would they do next? What could they do next? They had just killed 7 men. What was there to do next? They ran, and ran, and ran. And never looked back.