The Crusaders II Bets are places 7.3

1.          Three hours march from Camp Frontier

The two Crusaders had the Major handpicked a squad to go with them to locate the second gate. The squad of four trained soldiers picked up their gear and three days ration.

"Major, if this mission is voluntary; how come my name came up, Sir?" Rico Mende; rank of Sargeant and expert in demolition. He is clean shaven on the head and build with a stout body like a wrestler but he hardly fights besides in training. He's also a devout Catholic, never misses a mass unless he is on field training.

"Sargeant Rico, all of you are picked by me as you are all good men; soldiers with courage and above all, you are part of my flock. I may be your shepherd but sometimes, the sheep can also help me to guide me back." Major Chapman told Kruger that all this men are devout to their faith and if faced with the devil, they might just spit at it and shoot the heathen back to Hell.

"Sarge, am I your sheep?" Private First Class, Pedro Sanchez; sniper and communication expert. He look like a punk you would meet in the street at night if you are lost but Pedro is one clean kid wit no drugs or uncalled for habits.

"Baa," That's Pedro nickname from the Sarge. "Not until you marry my sister, you ain't in my sight."

They both laughed until they saw the FGM -148 Javelin missile launcher. They saw the new warhead its made attached. They nicknamed it Buckshot for the small cluster of mini bombs inside the missile. Its mean wide spread bombing missile. They are carrying two loads per person.

Sargeant Mike Brien; Irish descent with a penchant for reading classics books and quoting them hauled up the M60 Machine gun with the ammo belts slapped onto his shoulder. His sidekick, Private First Class Ian "Paddy" Glam kissed the crucifix on the neck chain before he leaned down to carry the extra ammo belts. He shoved his own M4A1 to the rear of his butt and prayed hard that it would kick some ass today.

All of them are carrying M4A1 as their personal weapon with the two fragment grenades.

Major Chapman armed himself with a Winchester shotgun in addition to his army issued handgun. He also carried himself a wooden stake. He told the boys maybe Dracula could be in the vicinity. That drove the boys to dipped their daggers into the holy water.

Kruger was armed with his sword and the greaves given by the priest while Miles carried his modified cross bow.

They started off with a silent prayer before taking over the walls.

"You would thought the training in Belize was bad but here this is Hell." Pedro was the one who broke the silence after walking for an hour. He was doing point and reckon someone had to start the conversation. The ground they been trampling on was red dry sands with red boulders and streaks of wind blown design on the surface. Every hundred metres or so, they would circumvent a steaming vent or an over flowing lava outlet.

Suddenly Pedro raised up his hand to halt the squad. Major Chapman ran forth from his third position to come alongside Pedro.

"Ten o'clock, Sir. Looks like movement." Major Chapman grabbed his field glass and looked. He had to adjust his eyes to clear off the thin mist of sweat on the eye lids to peek clearly. He saw what may appeared to be a five demons patrol. They been here long enough to call these demons and not enemies. The later you declared war on while the former you just shoot to kill.

"Demons, fifty metres, unaware of us." The Major spoke into the comms.It was then Kruger came to crouched next to the Major. He saw for the first time the so called demons. They looked like ordinary man in build but their skins are all reddish and more to it, its scalded in many places. They also carry metal like weapons that resemble more like cleavers. One of them turned to look at the soldier's position. It facial expression was that of a wrinkled expression with one large orbs for their eyes, and nasty claws on those limbs. Then he saw the mouth at the belly.

"Mapinguari!" Kruger placed the name of the demon. Its a believed to exist in the Amazon forest but never proven. Kruger heard tales of it but never encountered them. "They seen us."

The demons charged over but the soldiers were ready. They fired in succession to bring down the demons, but it took more than five bullets to stop one. One of them got close and Kruger stood up to swing his sword. The cut took off the demon's head and settled the battle.

"Thanks", Major Chapman spoke to Kruger. The creature was approaching for the Major. "They are tough creatures and we normally used the M60 on them for better measures."

"Major, I have neve seen one of them before and the rumors said they feared man more. Are we shooting them because they looked different." Kruger asked the Major.

"Son, I seen them kill and maim many of the boys. In my mind, they are demons. Maybe we are just in the wrong dimension." Major Chapman walked on to catch up with his boys.