"I spy with my eyes something red." A grizzly driver said over coms.

  "Uh, that sign, right side of the road?" A gunner said.

  "Yep. Nice spot. Now, your turn."

  They had been traveling for a few hours, and we had been roped into private coms to play the game. It helped keep the crews vigilant and watchful, so the officers, her included, ignored it.

  Hell, she remembered playing the game a time or two. Guard duty is monotonous as shit, after all. As she swiveled around, she amended her statement. It still is monotonous.

  The road was a straight 8 lane high way, with a divide in the middle and barriers to the sides. There were cut outs in the middle every so often, allowing the insane to go back and forth between.

  As they trundled, the occasional vehicle passed by in the opposite direction. Compared to us though, they were flying. At the next through-way, there was a red car, a sports model. It was 400 meters away when it gunned it towards us.

  "See- wait. Inbound vehicle! It's speeding towards us! Orders?" The lead grizzly spoke through coms.

  The car was rapidly coming towards them. 300m, 200. The coms were conflicted. Either the person was mad, or they had ill intentions. The recalled the warthog interspersed and to the sides of the column, and made a call. She sped up, passing the 2nd grizzly in line, and fired into the asphalt.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  The car swerved, but kept coming. Ya, no. She opened up with her 40, the lead grizzly firing with both its machine guns. No matter how precise we tried to be, some rounds went through the windscreen, and the car swerved just past us, missing by a few feet. I tracked it all the way as it slammed the side barrier and crumpled.

  An explosion rocked the side of the leading elements of the column, doing cosmetic damage, but leaving everything intact.

  "GOD FUCKI-, SHIT, SITREP NOW, ALL ELEMENTS SITREP!" The captain barked.

  "First platoon clear, no casualties!"

  "Second Clear, no casualties!"

  "3rd is the same!"

  "Good, Lieutenant Nivka, report! Just what the fuck happened?" The captain demanded.

  "Sir, I made a judgment call. I fired into the road ahead of the car, but it kept coming. Seeing this, I fired directly on the vehicle. Seeing my efforts, convoy lead assisted. The vehicles driver seems to have been eliminated, causing it to swerve past the column." Nivka reported.

  The captain took a second to reply, chewing on the info. "In my opinion, good call. I'll put it through to Battalion, who will put I through to brigade. Again, good call." He said on company coms.

  "Be advised all ele-" A rocket streaked from the side barrier and struck her in the right leg. Her shield took the hit and dropped to 81%. A yellow field engulfed her mech as she turned her cab while maneuvering herself to dodge any secondary rockets.

  "FUCK IM HIT." She called on coms. She found the the rocket trails end and began firing into the general direction. She could see a person running and turned. She saw the rocket launcher on its back, and fired. The person blew up, and started raining down in the area.

  "AMBUSH AT LEAD! SPREAD OUT! WARTHOGS DISMOUNT!" The captain barked. "LIEUTENANT, STATUS!"

  "Shields at 80 and slowly raising, Captain. No permanent damage sustained. Only issue, sir, is we have a terminal case of innies."

  "No shit, Lieutenant. No shit." He said sarcastically. Then he called out on company coms. "Spread out and advance at previous speed. Hogs, mount up and watch the sides. Mechs do the same. Move out!" He said.

  We did as ordered now. There were no more games, now. They had barely dodged a tragedy by luck, experience, and superior hardware. They were vigilant now that first contact had been made. Too bad it wasn't the aliens.