Chapter 172: Beachhead

"Rush them!" Ernest shouted as loud as he could from the helm of the center barge.

Immediately the silent, infantile morning broke out into a ruckus of war cries and gunfire! The decks of the three barges were loaded with Mad Dogs armed to the teeth and they flooded onto the dock shooting at any Skull or civilian unlucky enough to be nearby. The few Skull gangsters on guard tried to fight back but their efforts were in vain.

They were hopelessly outnumbered and out gunned as a Skull gangster with a fully tattooed and shaven head turned to shout out their retreat. “Hurry, someone go and inform…” His words were cut short as a blade suddenly grew out of his mouth from the inside! Seeing this bloody death, every other Skull gangster panicked and started to flee.

“Don’t let a single one escape!” Ernest ordered as he marched confidently down the gangway onto the dock. His dagger’s blade had found a juicy target and he wasn’t done yet. “You all heard the boss yesterday, he said everyone of these b******* must be eliminated. No prisoners, just kill them all!”

The Mad Dogs took over the docks on the waters edge in mere minutes. They hunted down anyone that ran along or trying to leave the docks and quickly entered the first block of the downtown area. Yet they didn’t get far into the city for two reasons.

One, there was no one left to chase. The several hundred Mad Dogs had spared no effort or ammo to kill anyone they saw. The waters under the docks were dyed red from all the carnage that had taken place. The initial gun fire had also perturbed anyone else from coming closer to the docks.

Two, Martinez had specifically told them not to go into the downtown area, they were to lure out any Hands that were nearby and get them to come to the docks. The plan after all was for the raid on the downtown docks to be a distraction so they could kill as many Skull member’s in more favorable terrain and burn their source of future supplies. As well as to get the Undertaker to come out of their base and fight Martinez.

“What now boss?” One of the gangsters asked coming alongside Ernest.

Ernest was looking rather satisfied as he stood on a stack of crates that were piled at the end of the center most dock. Their initial attack couldn’t have gone any better. There wasn’t even a single boat that tried to escape from their attack, which made everything quick and concise. From under his hoodies hood he smiled an eager, devilish grin and dished out the orders.

“Split into three groups according to the boat you came on. Boat one, loot anything that might be worth keeping from the docks. No low-quality stuff, just anything that looks expensive will do. Get what you can quickly find onto the boat asap before the Skull show up. We can only take a little bit while the rest needs to be used to burn the dock.”

“Boat two, get ready to defend this place from an attack from the city. The buildings nearby will be infested with sniper or machine gunfire, if they are smart enough to think of it. I want all the useless materials piled in the road and in a way that we can use as cover to get back to the boats. Also, get the mortars ready. They will be our biggest advantage in removing any cover they might take.”

“Boat three get into the surrounding area and monitor for any Skull coming our way. No need to signal us, just open fire on sight. There is no need for us to hold back or be sneaky. Remember we want all of them to come at us!”

The excitable Mad Dogs, invigorated by the start of their quick and easy invasion, got to work at their tasks. Ernest in the meantime, yelled out the occasional order or improvement to the defenses. Everything was going well, until nothing started to happen. The minutes turned into an hour and still no Skull forces showed up.

“This is odd.” Ernest thought to himself as he eyed the tall buildings looming further in town. “There should have been some reaction by now to our takeover here.”

One of the guys from boat three suddenly appeared from behind a shop and started jogging casually towards Ernest. He had his rifle resting on the shoulder of his long-sleeved blue shirt as he called out to Ernest, “Boss Ernest, there has been no sign of any Skull coming through the streets. There were a few locals, but they all ran away after they saw us.”

“Well, if they ran away, why haven’t they reported to the Skull yet?” Ernest asked impatiently.

“I don’t know.” The blue shirted gangster replied coming to a stop at the foot of Ernest’s crates. “The people here don’t act like the ones under our supervision. Normally we could ask them stuff before they ran off, but these guys, we can’t even get close to them.”

“What do you mean?” Ernest asked.

“They seem skittish, even before they knew who we were. It’s almost like they fear the Skull just by being near them or they already know who we are.” The blue shirted gangster replied.

“That’s not too surprising, I guess.” Ernest replied taking out a dagger from out of his hoodie pocket. He fiddled aimlessly with the handle as he continued speaking, “Perhaps the rumors we heard about them eating civilians or skinning them in the streets might be true.”

“I hope not!” The blue shirted gangster shuddered in reply.

“In any case, go back and tell everyone to go one block further into the town. If they don’t see anyone else or anything suspicious, have them start shooting out any windows. Hopefully, the extra noise will attract them to come.” Ernest ordered.

The blue shirted gangster nodded and reshouldered his rifle before jogging off to issue the new commands. By now Ernest noticed that the morning sunlight had fully dispelled the night and the temperature was starting to rise. Looking down at his wristwatch he saw that it was already seven o’clock.

“This is taking too long.” Ernest grumbled. “What could they possibly be doing? If they were already this weak to deal with, we should have attacked them long ago.”

The sun slowly rose warmly behind the Mad Dogs that were now hunkered down behind the dock defenses as another hour rolled by. The boat one group had already picked over the meager supplies left on the dock and the boat two group had finished up the defenses. As they waited together for any action to unfold, they could hear the distant gunfire of the boat three groups shooting out windows. They could tell the boat three gangsters weren’t fighting because the gun fire was evenly spaced, and no rapid fire could be distinguished.

“This is so boring!” Ernest shouted out into the silence that had settled over the dock. “Screw the plan, it’s been two hours already. Half of boat one stay here with the mortars and barges. Everyone else get ready to join up with the others in town. We are going after the Skull ourselves.”

The thoroughly bored Mad Dogs murmured in agreement and anticipation as they came out from behind cover and started towards the town.

…

“That didn’t take long. They are too impatient!” Steel Fist laughed to the other three Hands with him as he lowered his binoculars.

The four hands Steel Fist, Stitches, Bone Dust and Crows Beak had all gathered onto the helicopter landing pad roof of one of the tallest buildings nearest to the docks. They were the ones in charge of monitoring the area and their bases were not far away. This landing pad was their previously agreed upon meeting location incase the docks were ever attacked. In the building’s levels below the entirety of the four Hand’s Fingers and Feet were awaiting orders.

“Ke-ke-ke, what would you expect from silly dogs like them, hmm?” Crows Beak cackled as stood on all fours leering over the buildings edge. His black feathered cloak glistened with an oily sheen in the sunlight and wind as he spoke. “I’m impressed those mongrels even waited for an attack from us at all. Now we can finally have a bone to pick with them!”

“Yes, it is rather curious and concerning.” Stitches remarked as her icy blue eyes narrowed. True to her name, Stitches had every bone tattoo outlined with stitching designed tattoo’s. This, however, was done to mask the numerous scars that her body was cover in. “I suspect they had some kind of plan in store for us. Wouldn’t that have anything to do with the second group of Mad Dogs that are outside of your jurisdiction, Bone Dust?”

Stitches and the other two looked at the oldest Hand in the Skull ranks expectantly. Even though they were all the same rank it was clear that the old man had the most experience and knowledge in battle. After all, he was alive and still leading the largest number of Fingers and Feet of any other Hand. Even the Undertaker respected his opinion from time to time.

Bone Dust stroked at his long, pointy while beard as he replied in a crackling voice. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. Likely they were waiting for us to attack the docks and then that group would try surrounding us. Not a bad plan, but too easy to suspect.”

“So, what do we do then?” Steel Fist asked raising his binoculars again to look at the Mad Dogs shooting out random windows two blocks ahead from their building. “We just going to leave them be, let them get bord and leave?”

Bone Dust laughed dryly, “Absolutely not! We are going to do what they want us too and attack the docks. Only we will not do it the way they suspect.”

“Plan C then?” Stitches asked.

“No, lets do plan E!” Crows Beak cut in as he hoped up and down still on all fours.

“Neither.” Bone Dust replied to the disappointment of the two Hands. “Steel Fist and Stitches are going to deal with that lot shooting below and with those still coming from the docks. Go after them using a two-sided plan F. Crows Beak and I will intercept the second group when they come to help their allies. We will ambush them with plan F as well when they reach the 9th and Dawson Streets. The buildings there will be most suitable.”

“Ke-ke-ke, that works for me!” Crows Beak cackled. Then scampering away uncannily like a rat, he called back to the old Hand, “Come on and let’s get moving now!”

“Coming, coming.” Bone Dust sighed. “My back would be killing me if I moved around like you did. Oh, one more thing, Steel Fist.”

“Hmm, what is it?” Steel Fist asked looking back at the old Hand.

Bone Dust continued to stroke his while pointed beard as he spoke, “What are you going to do about that brat that’s leading the Mad Dogs from the dock? He’s the one that nearly cut out your eye last time you two fought.”

“Ha, ha! Same as the last guy that failed to kill me the first time.” Steel Fist laughed as he turned to face the old Hand. There was a wild look in Steel Fist’s eyes that made Bone Dust glad he was on his side. “I will flatten that kid with my weapon into a mushy pulp so badly that no one will even know there was a body!”