Part 10 - How few remain

Match report by Mr. M- B- & Mr. A- B-. Captions & titling by Mr. D- W-. Initial photographs by Mr. M- H-.

Situation
The squad were making for the Helipad and once there, planned to radio for a chopper for evacuation. They needed to collect as much fuel as possible for the chopper en route so the gas station was a high priority for a visit. They were short on ammo, having had to dispose of several ragers already. All they needed now were some lucky breaks and not to be slowed down rescuing survivors.
National Guard Squad

Jack Simms SAW
Mike Rocks AR16
Buck Cooper AR16
Josh Queeb AR16
Dave Vasilevski AR16
Quint Jorgesson AR16
Fred Holmes AR16
Reg Watson AR16

The patrol advances into the area where a few ragers are initially milling about rather aimlessly.

The squad advanced cautiously down the main street towards a burned out bus. Nobody said a word; all communication was by gestures and hand signals. Ragers may be dumb, but they have razor sharp hearing. Any noise attracts them like a moth towards a flame.

Ragers head towards the sound of the advancing patrol.

Suddenly, a rager charged from behind the broken down bus! Frazzled nerves means no fire discipline and a fusillade of rifle fire from everyone who could draw a bead first knocked it down then finished it off. However, the noise was bound to draw more ragers.

Even more ragers head towards the advancing patrol.

Sure enough, with all the gunfire, another rager appeared, rushing towards Quint. Quint kept his cool and dropped it in its tracks with a short burst from his trusty AR16.

Reg and Fred fired at another rager, but nerves got the better of them and they missed by a mile. They quickly fell back firing as they went and just managed to dodge the rager’s grasp. Meanwhile, another rager popped up from behind the bus; Josh and Buck were prepared for it and they filled it with bullets. By this time, everyone was running short on ammo.

Reg and Fred finally shot their rager and advanced into cover. The squad really needed to start searching the buildings for ammo and fuel, but there were just too many ragers.
Dave and Quint popped a cap in another rager’s arse and fell back as they flee.
Mike checked out one of the buildings hoping to find ammo, but instead found five survivors. Four were unarmed while one, Lana Turner, had picked up an Ingram MAC10 from somewhere and it seemed she knew how to use it. Buck and Josh moved to cover the civilians.

Troopers Mike Rock and Jack Sims advance towards the bus road block barricade while Buck Cooper and Josh Queeb move into position in the background.

Lana, Mike and Jack moved forward towards the burned out bus with the civilians following behind. Fred and Reg shot another rager, but it wasn’t killed. Mike and Jack stayed in their position - lock n’ load!!!

Ragers move past Café 401 to attack the leading members of the patrol.

Fred killed a rager, but the group is low on ammo. Quint and Dave fired, missed and fell back. Buck and Josh did the same. Jack blasted a rager as it came for the civilians. Lana shot, missed and ducked into cover. Mike knocked a rager down with only one shot. The civilians hid behind a destroyed bus, but a rager saw them and killed one of them.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the barricade Troopers Rock and Sims leading their rescued survivors prepare to open fire.

Quint and Dave fired at the rager attacking the civilians, but they MISSED! Fred and Reg did the same but their aim was no better and the rager kept coming. Mike knocked the rager down and pulled the civilians back, while Buck finished the rager off - it’s eaten a lot of lead in the process! Meanwhile, Jack knocked another rager down and moved to cover the civilians.

The rager that Jack had knocked down jumped up and rushed the civilians; however Jack shredded it with a solid burst from the SAW before it got close enough to attack.

Lana got in on the act and nailed another rager with her MAC10 as it emerged from behind the broken down bus. With no ragers nearby the civilians were safe for now.

Thirty yards away Buck and Josh knocked down another rager while Fred and Reg moved up in support of Dave and Quint.

More ragers came, drawn by the noise of the almost continuous gunfire and heading for Buck and Josh whose fire discipline seems to consist of 'shoot and don’t stop'!

Mike decided it was time to get serious and hurled a grenade into the midst of a group of ragers. One was blown to bits and another lost an arm but was still on its feet. Lana tried to finish it off but she broke a nail and jammed her MAC10! Jack managed to knock it down with a short burst and closed in to finish it off.

Fred and Reg had their own set of problems - they only had one rager to deal with but neither of them could get a vital hit and it kept coming.

Josh and Buck, trying to create as much noise as possible and draw the ragers off, mow one down and then duck into cover. The remaining roaming ragers head for the sound of their rifles...

Troopers Holmes and Watson watch as Officer Bruce fires at a charging rager.

Fred and Reg, backs to the wall, panicked and fired wide. The rager was nearly upon them but Dave picked it off with a well-aimed single shot from the flank.

Jack blasted a rager by the bus as it scrambled over a pile of wreckage, Mike and the civilians moved forward, inching closer to the helipad and safety although it is still a few hundred meters (and several ragers) away.

Buck and Josh, separated from the rest of the group, knocked down one rager but several more closed in on the sound of gunfire.

Fred, Dave, Reg and Quint, seeing no more ragers, headed towards some of the nearby buildings in search of ammo and fuel. Lana tried a door and finds a full jerrycan inside!

Jack and Mike also looked inside a shed but it was empty. No ammo or fuel but no ragers either. Things seemed to have gone quiet with no ragers in sight so they urged the unarmed civilians forward.

Buck and Josh however had plenty of ragers to deal with! They blew one away and then ducked behind a shipping container, but they could hear the sound of several more ragers closing in.

Ragers charge after Troopers Cooper and Queeb unaware that they are just about to be bombarded by a hail of grenades.

Dave and Quint heared a noise off to the side and turned to see a rager charging! They both fired and missed so turned and ran! Fred and Reg also seemed to be low scorers in marksmanship, missing as well.

Jack and Mike joined in and the rager went down, falling right at Dave’s feet!

Buck and Josh suddenly remembered they had a satchel of grenades! Peeping out from behind the container they saw four ragers at a perfect throwing distance and made them a present of two frag grenades which left one rager in pieces, two on the deck and one still coming. Nice work!

The ragers, their ranks considerably thinned by grenades exploding amongst them continue to pursue Troopers Cooper and Queeb.

Reg and Fred, no ragers in sight, searched another building but came up empty handed. As they closed the door a rager popped around the corner, catching them flat footed. Luckily it barely seemed to notice them and Dave picked it off with a single well aimed shot.

Jack and Mike also searched a building and found it packed with civilians, 4 with guns and 6 unarmed. “Tag along with us and you’ll be OK. Those with guns, use them any chance you get,” said Jack and punctuates his words with a short burst taking down a rager as it turned a corner.

Buck and Josh threw more grenades. Another two ragers were fragged but one somehow survived and closed in! The grenades were good but the ragers homed in on the noise. However at least the rest of the party were getting an easier time of it.

Dave, Quint, Fred and Reg all headed for the gas station, civilians in tow. Two more ragers appeared, one in front and one behind. Mike fired at one of them but missed; Jack took a shot and knocked it down - it’s still dangerous though.

Josh and Buck swore off grenades and went back to plain old hot lead, dropping another rager before ducking into cover again.

Cooper and Queeb get that sinking feeling as they run out of grenades and take to their heels.

Yet more ragers appeared in front of Fred and Reg - they shot, missed and fall back. Dave and Quint also scored misses and hid behind a small building. Lana got her rager and massed fire from the other armed civilians scored a kill - weight of fire tells.

Josh and Buck checked their front: no immediate dangers in sight, so they sidled along the wrecked bus to try and flank the ragers which were still coming and heading for the civilians. One gets too close and a real estate salesman has sold his last condo.

Dave and Quint seized their chance and made a run for the gas station. With all the civilians they will need all the fuel they can get for the chopper.

Fred and Reg got the rager that killed the civilian and the other armed civilians killed another one and knocked down a third.

Josh and Buck, guessing the oncoming crowd of ragers had reached the other side of the bus, lobbed their last grenades over the top of it. Score: 1 rager killed, one knocked down.

It's not looking good for Fox News reporter Barbara Bimbo as a crowd of ragers close in.

Dave and Quint raided the gas station for fuel and came up trumps. They’d left the ragers and the civilians behind but needs must.

Lana, weighed down by the heavy jerrycan, couldn’t outrun a pursuing rager and went down fighting. Fred killed the rager but too late. Reg and Jack each knocked another down in the confusion.

Josh and Buck popped out from behind the bus and sprayed the group of ragers with bullets - two knocked down but no kills. They tried to put as much distance between them and the ragers who all turned towards the sound of their rifles.

Dave and Quint headed for another large shed lugging jerrycans of gas as they went.

Fred and Reg urged the civilians on and killed another rager between them.

Jack and Mike got one too. Mike and some civilians headed for the gas station as it seemed to be safer in that direction. Jack tried to get the rest of the civilians to move forward but they panicked and head away from the rest of the group back towards the start line. Several ragers homed in on them.

Josh and Buck saw this and opened fire on them getting a knock down. Will it be enough to draw them off?

A mass of ragers, drawn by the combined sounds of gunfire, screams and exploding grenades, run towards the patrol.

Dave and Quint found a shed empty of anything useful - not even a Molotov cocktail.

Jack sprayed a group of ragers with the SAW but only one went down. Mike and the civilians were confronted by several ragers - everyone shot and everyone missed! The ragers pounced on three of the civilians and they were dead before they know it. Luck was definitely running out, as well as ammo and grenades.

Josh and Buck tried to provide fire support but the range was too great and they didn’t score any hits. More ragers closed in from all sides. It’s not looking good for our heroes!

One of the last shots of the conflict as troopers Dave Vasilevski and Quint Jorgeson run through the Shell garage while the only two other possible survivors, Troopers Holmes and Watson, make their way towards the garage with a view to escape.

Postscript:
From after action report by private David J Vasilevski, Able Company, 23 Illinois National Guard Btn.
"Quint [Jorgeson] and me were sent ahead to scout for ragers. We got separated and took cover in the gas station. We could hear firing and grenades going off, and several times tried to get through to the others but were cut off by ragers. We had to shoot a few and lay low to avoid others. After a while the firing died down - even the SAW stopped - and we made for the helipad. We had no way to contact the helicopter so we headed east and ran into a patrol in Humvees who picked us up. I think it is unlikely any of the others made it out."