After the morning briefing, I returned to the room I shared with Morgan and managed to get a few more hours of sleep. I know this is going to be a long night and I don't know how long it will be before I could get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep again. When I woke up again, I had an MRE before I started to get all of my gear in order. All of my vest pockets were loaded with extra magazines and I made sure to tuck the one grenade I brought with me into the extra pocket on my belt. Just as the sun started to get lower, I gave the order to the team I wanted to move out of the house in an hour.

Everyone took the news in stride and moved to get ready. Morgan and I were able to steal a few moments alone together with the door shut again. She held onto me tightly and when I pulled away, I pressed a few hard kisses to her lips.

"This is going to be hard, when I give you an order, please know I'm asking you to follow it for your own safety." I said.

"You know that I'll follow you into hell if I have to to also keep you safe. No heroic cowboy shit Daniella, there are people at home who are counting on you, hopefully including an almost ten-year-old who we pulled out of the ruble." Morgan said making me clench my jaw.

"I'll try. Just know I love you, that is what I wanted to say, love." I said.

"I love you too babe, now we need to finish getting ready, you might want to dress warm, it's going to be chilly tonight." Morgan said and pressed a kiss to my cheek.

I could only smile at her before I started to layer some clothes before I pulled on my dark camos. Once I was dressed, I made sure to put everything I didn't need in backpack before pulling on my body armor. After I was put together, I secured my vest then buckled my thigh holster for my pistol before making sure my night vision goggles were good to go before attaching them to my helmet. When I was all done I turned to get a look at Morgan and found her strapping her vest to her chest. Once it was in place, she shouldered her pack and turned to find me watching her. She gave me a nod and gave her a smile in return before leading her out of our room.

When we got into the living room, I found most of the team was ready and waiting for us. It only took a few minutes for the remaining stragglers to fall in but once they did, I ordered one final sweep of the house before we all moved out. We quickly got into the trucks and started them up and pulled out of the backyard of the home we stayed in for the night.

As we were pulling out of the neighborhood I spotted a gas station and made the decision to try and fill up the trucks. I gave the call over the radio and as we got closer I could see that there is a Russian flag on the flag pole sitting on the edge of the property. Still wanting to take the chance I had Warren pull up to the pump and I hoped out and rushed the store. Once I got through the door I felt someone tap my back and I knew I wasn't going in alone. I swept left while my teammate went right and we made our way through the store quickly. Nobody was here but I didn't want to run the risk of them showing back up while we were still here.

"Fill the trucks as fast as you can. Guns up and ready." I radioed back to the team and turned to find it was Morgan who was behind me. "You should have stayed in the truck." I told her and picked up a few packs of gum.

"Funny, I distinctly remember telling you not even an hour ago not to do any cowboy shit and look at you now." She said annoyed and picked out a pack of gum for herself before sticking a piece in her mouth.

"Sorry" I said and gave her a small smile before looking out the windows again on to the other side of the street. Out of the corner of my eye a few people walked out of a house and started walking in our direction.

"Status on the trucks?" I asked keeping my eye on them.

"Alpha truck done; Bravo almost full." Rob said.

"We might have company everyone be ready to move at a moments notice." I said and gripped my rifle tighter.

"Copy that, starting Charlie truck now." Rob answered.

The group were all fighting age males but had no visible weapons on them. I kept my eyes on them as they continued to walk closer to the gas station but just as they were about two blocks away, they turned down another block and I took another breath.

"Charlie's topped off, good to move." Rob said a few seconds later. I turned to find Morgan posted by the door. When I got up behind her I tapped her shoulder and we moved out together to get back into the truck.

Once the doors were closed Warren took off. We were back on the road on a route that is going to follow the coast. We are hoping coming in from this direction won't draw as much attention as if we would come in from behind. So I got settled into my seat as the sun started to set for the three-hour drive.

The three hours were more eventful then I wanted them to be. The roads up the coast were battered from artillery strikes and ruble. We had to take the trucks off road a few times and then completely change roads as a few of them weren't passable. It was slow going but finally, just as the sun set, we were approaching the town. The mostly green farm land was giving way to the town and I knew that we would have to find at least one building that was safe for the night to call a temporary base. I picked up the radio after looking at the map for a few moments.

"We are on the edge of the hurricane and need to find a place for the night and for a possible alamo. Charlie truck, take the first left. Bravo, you guys get the second right. We are going to take the third left. You guys know what to look for. If you find it, radio us back so we can clear it as a team." I said and made some notes on the map before tucking it back into my vest.

Both trucks gave a good copy so I knew we were good to go. Warren slowed down as we turned down the street and I asked him to kill the headlights that turned on. We went down a good part of the block and didn't find anything that could hold all of us and have an area to park the trucks. Just when I was going to ask Warren to turn back the radio crackled.

"I have a possible alamo, when you guys get close we can crash it." Monica said and Warren didn't even wait for my direction before drove the rest of the way down our block and turned to make his way towards Monica's position.

"Driver's are going to stay inside the trucks, everyone else is going to crash the alamo just like we normally would." I said into the radio as Warren got closer to where Monica's truck was parked. I had Warren idle down the block a bit so we weren't all sitting ducks in the same location. When I saw Robs truck pull up behind Monica's I shouldered my rifle and turned to the three in my back seat.

"Morgan, don't you dare get out of this truck until we finish clearing the house, am I understood?" I asked as I snaped the chin strap of my helmet closed.

"Understood." Morgan said not happy. I turned on the radio in my vest and tune in to the right frequency before putting my hand on the door handle.

"Crash, crash, crash." I said and hopped out of the passenger seat. Lionel and Cosima followed behind me as I rushed up to the door where Monica was already waiting. We all got into line and once in place I nodded and Micah started to pick the lock.

It took him a few seconds to get it undone but once he was done he stepped back and got into line. Monica took the door handle and pushed the door open. Felix was the first one through the door followed by Monica then myself then everyone else. The building looks like an old warehouse that hasn't been used in a while as we cleared the lower level. Once we did the sweep and saw it was empty, Monica used her flashlight to point at a staircase that leads upstairs and down.

I made a few hand signals to the team to indicate I wanted two teams, one with Rob and the other with me. Rob's team was going down while mine was going up. Once we made the adjustments, I counted down and then we took off. I led my team upstairs slowly, using the wall for balance as I took in the upper floor. I was happy to see that there was nobody up here, just an empty office space from what it looks like.

"Basement is clear, moving upstairs." Robs voice came through the walkie.

"Empty hole, looks like we found our alamo. Trucks, pull in quickly." I said and made my way back downstairs to see Rob lifting the gate on one of the doors.

It only took two minutes to get our trucks inside and the door shut again. It looks like the hard part of getting to Mariupol is over. Now we just need to clear the town and make it into the steel plant in one piece. With everyone inside the warehouse space I took a seat on one of the tables that were left behind and pulled my helmet off then my gloves and stuck them into one of the many pockets of my pants. Just as my head stopped spinning the table shook and I turned to see Monica sat down next to me.

"So what do you think?" Monica asked generally.

"The space is good, I wanted to get the trucks off the streets, there is a basement and upper floor and we can most likely get onto the roof which will be good. This place was a great find Monica." I said and patted her shoulder.

"Thanks boss." Monica said and ran a hand through her short blonde hair.

"Now, it would be even better if the electricity was working." I mumbled mainly to myself as I took in how dark the space was getting with the sun now going down. Before it got to dark I knew I needed to check out the basement to see if the space would could be big enough to work and also sleep. So I stood up from the table and nodded my head to have Monica follow me.

We took the stairs down into the basement and I happened to find a light switch on the wall. I flipped the button and sighed in relief when the overhead lights flickered on. It helped me relax the grip on my rifle as we made our way down the rest of the stairs. The basement was cleared out. Whatever this building was used as, they wanted to take everything with them when they closed up shop.

"Can you get everyone down here?" I asked Monica as I took in the space. I heard her footsteps go back up the stairs and it didn't take long to hear the team follow her back down. When I turned around I found the whole team assembled in front of me.

"Alright, this is going to our home base while we are here, A.K.A. the Alamo. If things go wrong, this is the place where we will make our last stand, if it comes to that. First thing first, we need to tape up the windows down here. This is where we will be sleeping. The second level will be our work space. Even though we are towards the outskirts of the main part of the city, we will have around the clock watches while we are here. Tonight will just be getting this place more livable. Tomorrow we are going to head out to do some light patrols and to take in our new neighborhood. First thing we need to do is cover up these windows. Second is to empty out the trucks, bring everything down here. Leave everything on the second floor for tomorrow. Whoever finds a working bathroom in this building will get tonight off from watch duty." I said. Once I waved my hands almost everyone took off in different directions. The only ones who remained next to me were Morgan, Rob and Monica.

The four of us started to tape over the windows with anything we could find. It didn't take long before Felix came running back downstairs yelling he found the bathroom. It was on the main level and when we went to go check it out, I was happy to see it was mostly clean and had a large sink with running water. After the bathroom discovery was found, everyone started to unload the trucks and stack supplies in the basement. Next up, everyone brought down all of our packs.

We had plenty of room to spread out so we all got a bit of space to unpack some stuff from our bags. I wasn't surprised to find Morgan settle down in the spot next to me though. Just as the last of the sun was gone from the sky, I was able to make a little bed on the floor. Hopefully when we get out and go on patrol we can find some blankets to lay on, otherwise I might end up spending a few nights sleeping in the truck.

I did volunteer Morgan and I for first watch of the night though. I made sure she had her gear on before we made our way upstairs to the second level of the warehouse. There was mostly old office furniture up here, a bunch of desk, chairs, a few old computers that look like they came from the early 2000s.The windows up here did have shades though so we made quick work in getting them all mostly closed.

"See if you can find a roof access panel." I said once we were finished with the shades. It didn't take long before I found a ladder in the corner.

"Think I got it." Morgan said looking the ceiling. I grabbed the ladder and set it up underneath the hatch. Once it was stable I started to climb up. It took a few hard tugs on the handle for it to open up. Carefully I pushed it up and out. I didn't have to say anything to have Morgan tap my leg to tell me she was right behind me.

I flipped my night vision goggles on and peaked my head up and out of the hatch. I did a quick 360 and was happy to see that this building had a three-foot wall surrounding the edge. I made sure my rifle was behind me before I pulled myself up and onto the roof. Once I was crouched and made sure there was nothing up here, I turned back down and found Morgan waiting for me. She pulled herself up and got herself together next to me.

"The steel plant is in this direction, let see if we can get any kind of visual." I said and pointed to the east. Morgan nodded and together we slowly made our way over to the edge of the roof.

When we got to the edge I pulled my goggles up and looked around. Most of the neighborhood we were in was a good fifty-fifty split of being destroyed. It looks like this block was spared, the one behind it wasn't so lucky. But glowing in the distance, we could see the tall stacks from the steel plant. Getting all the way there is going to be a long hard road.

a/n: damn, if i knew how quick it would take you guys to get the last chapter to 10 votes, i would have said 15. get ready because the action is in coming along with a time jump to move the story along.