"Everybody dismount!"
I quickly ordered as I took a picture of the situation with my phone, something Karl gave me a year ago. It had a good camera, which really helped in the darkness of the night.
"Take this to Commander Lakhrov, immediately!"
"A-Are we taking the BTR with us?!"
"Of course, you want to run all the way there!? Go!" I snarled as I turned, but stopped halfway as I followed up, "Tell the Commander too to inform Nichols, he owed me a favor!"
Nichols is an American attaché who mainly worked on commanding foreign rocket artillery vehicles and helping by doing tactical strikes. I only met him twice, but he owed me a favor before.
"G-Got it! Take care out there!"
The BTR quickly reversed and sped up as we slipped into the forest.
"Those are bridging vehicles…!"
Karl is the first one to recognize the threat ahead.
"What do we do?" Lukas asked, looking rattled.
We kept our pace as we trudged by the forest canopy by moving closer to the trees, and we found a good spot with an open clearing that has a sight on the crossing
"Mira."
"Uh-huh. Got it."
Mira is our AT specialist. Back when we first fought, she mainly handled the old RPG-7s, though now, she carried a Javelin.
Sabel carried four more missiles for the Javelin, and the two of them aimed at the bridging vehicles
"Lukas, open fire with me.
Karl ordered Lukas as he put his PKM atop a low-hanging branch, aiming by the lights across the bank
"Yes…
As soon as they're in position, I gave a nod to Mira and Sabel.
"Backblast clear." Sabel cleared her for fire.
"Firing."
The missile streaked into the night sky, and immediately got the attention of the enemy force
"Now!"
Karl fired off a burst as Lukas followed, his AK ringing in the dark as they sent in rounds towards the crossin
Mira left her initial position followed by Sabel, who was reloading her Javelin as I joined Karl and Lukas on firing towards the crossing
They fired back this time around, and the tree I took cover from got hit several times causing several splinters from its bark.
"Tch!" A few splinters streaked across my face, but we kept our fire.
Karl fired from different positions. It's clear what he's trying to do—he's trying to deceive the enemy that they're facing are more than a handful of people
That way, they won't attempt to storm through the river, and we'd at least keep them here on a stalemate...
Or so I thought.
"Firing!
Mira fired another Javelin downwind, hitting one of the tanks nearby.
But these T-80s don't move alone. We've known these for years. They always have a group with them…
And sure enough, from the darkness, a glint erupted from the other side.
"Take cover--!"
The high-explosive shell blows up nearby, and when I turned, I saw Karl's left arm shredded off.
"Karl!
He didn't respond, instead, kept firing into the dark. His face betrayed his calm demeanor as his expression scrounged into one of anger, perhaps, adrenaline.
A second round came in nearby, collapsing a tree nearby as it exploded past our position.
"The tanks got our position zeroed, we need to move!"
"We're pulling back, let's go…" Lukas tried to move Karl.
"No, I'll stay here. I'll make sure they don't cross the river—"
His words were cut off as he unleashed another salvo downwind, and Lukas, who looked at him with concern, had nothing else to say.
After all, he's right. If we took him off, we'd be chased.
"…I'll follow once you guys make some distance, go!"
Karl, perhaps noticing the unease on Lukas, told him a beautiful lie.
I can't help but agree, but I know for a fact that Karl is dying here.
"Let's go." I said to Lukas as I began to move back and fired a few rounds in.
"He'll follow soon."
"…Yes."
Lukas followed as more rounds whizzed through us, and Karl intensified his bursts as he kept shooting.
We caught up with the two women when I heard a burst from the PKM, followed by what seemed to be a blast--
"They got drones…?"
Just as Mira and Sabel finished packing the javelin for moving, I heard a familiar sound of rotors closing i
"Fuck!
But the first one to move was Sabel.
She shielded Mira from the majority of the blast of the drone by using her body, getting thrown into a tree nearby as Mira fell to the ground.
"Sabel!
"I can hear more of them!" Lukas yelled as he began to look around,
"Shit, Sabel!"
She didn't respond, instead, her head, which barely remained intact, looked at me with a nod as her eyes move towards Mir
"…Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
I can only gnash my teeth in anger as I followed what she motioned for.
She couldn't speak because her throat is straight-up gone, but I understood. She wanted Mira to get out.
"Lukas! Help me here!"
"Y-Yes!"
The two of us lifted Mira up as we moved further into the forest, the sound of drones are audible in the dark.
I can hear a few rounds off, and I turned my head to see Sabel with her only intact arm, her left arm, firing her pistol off.
I'm not sure what she's firing at, but I could only hope that we can get out…
No, we're getting out.
No matter what
"Get in!
Not far from the distance, a BTR arrived.
It's not the same one that sent us here, but it looked like a second team, probably to probe the enemy positions on another crossing.
"Watch out, there's drones!" I yelled out as we slowly trudged towards them.
It didn't take long until I heard another explosion, not far from here. It's…definitely where we left Sabel.
"The net is going full blast; they're trying to cross already!?" One of the soldiers nearby comments as he offered his hand to take up Mira's left.
"Yes, we need to move out—"
But before we can even finish talking, a loud hum filled the ai
A sound we all know and dread
"Fuck, a Kinz—"
The soldier exclaiming that was abruptly cut off as the cruise missile struck the BTR, which had several more behind it.
The blast sent me, Lukas, Mira, and the soldiers who tried to help us flying across different directions
My fading consciousness, which I tightly clung onto, looked at the two I managed to shield with my body.
Lukas and Mira, who sustained slightly lesser damage than I did, looked like they'll make it…
Of course, fate isn't that kind.
That's what I always knew
I watched as my now-defunct ears barely heard the buzz of a suicide drone that is headed for us.
"Sorry, you two…I tried." I said as I hugged both of the unconscious duo.
"Fate has always been against me, after all."
I didn't even feel the explosion—but instead, everything vanished within a flash.
Then, everything went dark.