by Steven Bird
Nodding, Yuri replied, “I am good, Master Sergeant. Just shaken from losing team.”
Yuri returned to Nate and Britney and said, “I am sorry. There are none to be spared,” before turned and walked back to an old log where he took a seat to watch them from a distance, unable to stand for long periods of time due to his weakened and injured state.
“Five more minutes and we move,” Senior Lieutenant Romanoff proclaimed. “If the prisoner does not have strength to walk, we will dispose of him. I will not jeopardize my team for insurgent.”
Squeezing Nate’s hand tightly, Britney said, “You’re going to make it. I’ll help. Don’t worry.”
With a chuckle, Nate said, “It’s a long walk out of these woods. Don’t worry if anything happens to me. Just take care of yourself. You’ll make it out of here and be okay. I can feel it.”
As she leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder, Nate asked, “So, what’s with that UF guy, Kovalenko? How did you end up with him, and why do you seem so hurt? It’s like your puppy died or something.”
“The horrors I faced in the cave are something I don’t care to relive,” she explained. “It was worse than any nightmare I could possibly imagine. It was a true horror movie. Two other captives…”
“There were more?” Nate asked.
“Yes, two young men were down there with me, at first. They didn’t make it, and their deaths were something that will haunt me for the rest of my life. Anyway, Yuri, or Sergeant Kovalenko, was captured after his unit was ambushed by…them. He was the sole survivor and was brought into the caves and held prisoner with me. I would have been next to go. They seemed to have an almost ritualistic method about how they did things.”
Pausing to regain her composure, she continued, “Anyway, Yuri fought one of them and killed him in the darkness. He could have left me. He could have made his escape much easier, but he didn’t. He freed me and led me out of that living hell, but not before facing more of them and being injured himself.
“Once we were free of the caves, he still didn’t leave me. He promised me he would not allow me to be sent back to the camps. Once the cave people found us, he fought and killed another of them, and while we were running from the others, we ran into this group and found you.”
“He seems to have lost his allegiance with you, now,” Nate speculated.
Shaking her head, Britney confessed, “I don’t know. It’s heartbreaking. I don’t know who to trust or believe anymore. You and Jessie were the only two people, other than my parents, that I’ve been able to trust without hesitation for as long as I can remember. I thought Yuri was one of those people as well. But…”
“It’s okay,” Nate interrupted, seeing that she was losing her composure. “You’ve still got me, and Jessie is out there somewhere. He won’t leave us.”
“I hope you’re right, but forgive me for questioning my faith,” Britney mumbled as she wiped her nose.
“I promise you…” Nate began to say before being interrupted by Senior Lieutenant Romanoff.
“Kovalenko, get the prisoners ready to move,” he ordered.
~~~~
Quietly working their way around to their assigned ambush location, Jessie and Daryl found a suitable spot behind thick briars and vegetation to provide visual cover, as well as a large, old tree stump to act as physical cover if they were to become pinned down. The stump was about forty meters from their targets and looked as if it were the gravestone for a tree that had once stood tall and proud, much larger than the trees that currently populated the area. This must have been logged long ago, Jessie thought.
Whispering to Daryl, Jessie said, “I’ll take the stocky fellow on the left. You take the tall guy on the right. Q and Tyrone will most likely take their counterparts on the far side.
Nodding in the affirmative, Daryl took aim, and held his sights on his chosen target, patiently awaiting Q’s initiation of their attack.
Doing the same, Jessie placed his sights on his man and thought to himself, Okay, Q. Any day now.
~~~~
Lying prone and taking cover behind an old, rotting log, Q turned to Tyrone and asked, “Who do you want?”
“The guy on the left, the one who looks like he’s carrying an RPK-74, looks like the best choice for me. That, and it takes out their light machine gun at the same time.”
“A fine choice, my friend,” Q acknowledged. “I’d like to smoke that lieutenant first, but our best bet would be the soldier with the mustache to the right. After we smoke these two, you go for the number two man, and I’ll take out the lieutenant.”
“Yes, sir,” Tyrone whispered as he placed his sights on his selected target. “I think I may just take that RPK back home with me,” he added, only half joking.
“Take whatever you want, my friend,” Q responded with a sly grin.
“Crap, it looks like they’re getting ready to pull chocks and move,” Q grumbled as he saw the officer giving orders and pointing in their previous direction of travel.
Placing his sights on his target, and preparing to initiate the attack, Q slowly eased his finger into position only to see his man flinch and stumble backward.
What the…? he thought as he saw the man stagger and place his hands around an arrow sticking out of his chest.
The fatally wounded man’s plight went unnoticed by his comrades, and he fell forward and onto the arrow, shoving it through his body and out of his back.
Before Q could react, gunfire erupted from all around them.
Hearing hoofbeats through the woods behind them, Q and Tyrone looked over their shoulder to see a fur-clad man race past them on horseback, only to be taken off his horse by a barrage of automatic fire from the RPK-74.
Hearing a primal scream behind them, Q rolled quickly to his left to see one of the troglodytes running at him at full speed and wielding a spear. Unable to bring his gun around in time, Q heard a deafening shot ring out from beside him as Tyrone placed a round into the man’s lower torso.
When the large, fur-covered figure fell forward, still clutching the spear, it pierced the ground next to Q, grazing his side and opening a deep laceration in his flesh. The large man fell on top of him, knocking the wind out of him with his nearly two-hundred-pound body.
Unsure of the extent of his wounds, Q struggled to push the man off, then he felt Tyrone roll the body to the side.
“C’mon!” Tyrone shouted as he reached out his hand to help Q to his feet.
On the far side of their intended targets, Jessie and Daryl watched as a swarm of the cave dwellers ran through the woods toward the UF hunter patrol, Nate, and Britney.
“Holy hell! How many of them are there?!” Jessie shouted as he and Daryl scrambled to their feet, each of them engaging one of the attackers while they tried to get a mental grip on what was going on around them.
Jessie watched the UF soldiers fighting feverishly to repel the attack. Nate! he thought as his attention turned to the tree where Nate and Britney had been kept. “C’mon!” he shouted to Daryl, and they ran toward their captive friends.
When one of the attackers came rushing out of the woods to Daryl’s right with a large, Damascus-bladed knife, Daryl used the length of his .45-70 to his advantage and smashed the stock into his attacker’s face, knocking him backward. Swinging the large rifle back around, he gripped the rifle firmly and let one of the hotly-loaded 405-grain flat point bullets fly, smashing into the man’s face, exiting the back of his skull, and taking most of his head with it.
Seeing that the UF soldiers were busy fighting off their mysterious attackers, Jessie ran to the tree to find Nate laying on his side.
“Nate!” he shouted.
“I can’t get up!” Nate cried out, having succumbed further to his wounds.
Daryl ran up alongside Jessie, and Jessie shouted, “Grab an arm!” as they dragged Nate away from the melee.
Getting him a safe distance from the heat of the battle, they laid him back against a stump and Je
ssie said, “Hang in there, buddy.”
“What the hell is going on?” Nate asked, confused by Jessie’s arrival during the attack. “Daryl! Holy hell, Daryl!” Nate exclaimed with excitement when he recognized his friend. “Where are the rest of the guys?”
Turning to Daryl, Jessie shouted, “Get him a weapon!”
Doing as Jessie had asked, Daryl retrieved a pump-action shotgun from one of the dead attackers and placed it in Nate’s hands.
“Where is Britney?” Jessie asked.
“I told her to run and never look back. She went off in that direction,” Nate moaned, pointing. “We had no idea you were here. We thought it was just those bastards from the caves. I didn’t want her taken by them again.”
Patting Nate on the shoulder, Jessie assured him, “I’m gonna go after Britney. Daryl, you stay with Nate. Nate, Q and Tyrone are here also, so be careful who you shoot at.”
Nodding, Daryl said, “Take care, brother,” as Jessie turned and ran off into the woods in the direction Nate had pointed.
Daryl spun around to scan the area for attackers, but the attack seemed to be ending almost as quickly as it had begun. Hearing Q shout in the distance, Daryl looked to Nate and told him, “Q and Tyrone are still in the fight,” with excitement in his voice.
Hearing no reply, Daryl shook Nate but got no response. “Nate! Nate, buddy. Hang in there,” he pleaded, shaking his friend.
Checking Nate’s pulse, Daryl found it to be weak, but present. “I’ll be right back, buddy.
Working his way toward Q, Daryl shouted, “Friendly!” as he approached Q and Tyrone while they held their rifles on two of the surviving UF soldiers.
Looking around, Daryl saw several dead fur-clad attackers, along with the dead master sergeant and two other UF soldiers.
“We’ve got five here,” Q called to Daryl. “Where are the other two? Where are the lieutenant and the guard?”
“I don’t know,” Daryl responded, replaying the events that had just happened in a blur through his mind.
“Where are Jessie, Nate, and the girl?” Q then asked.
“Nate sent the girl running. Jessie and I dragged Nate over there,” Daryl reported, pointing. “Jessie then ran off in pursuit of the girl. Nate needs help, bad. He just lost consciousness.”
“How bad is he hurt?” Q asked.
“I dunno,” Daryl shrugged.
Turning to the two UF soldier, who now sat on their knees with their hands behind their heads, Q shouted, “English!?”
“Yes. Some,” one of the soldiers answered.
“Do you have any medical gear? First aid? Medicine?”
“Yes. Master Sergeant Popov kept it in pack. Is over there,” he stated, pointing, and then quickly returning his hand to the top of his head in fear of the rage he could see clearly in Q’s eyes.
Gesturing to Daryl, Q directed, “Grab the pack. Tyrone and I will lead these two bastards over to Nate. We don’t know where the other two UF guys are or if any more of those furry bastards are still around. They seemed to disappear like ghosts. We can’t let our guard down.”
“You’d better take a look at that as well,” Daryl insisted, pointing to Q’s blood-soaked side.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Running through the woods, and attempting to follow Britney’s tracks as best he could, Jessie recognized the boot prints of a UF soldier heading off in the same direction. Damn it to hell. Those bastards never quit, do they?
Considering the fact that the soldier might be lying in wait ahead, ready to spring an ambush on whoever should come after the girl, Jessie slowed his pace and visually scanned the area intently.
Reaching a small stream, Jessie waded through the four-inch-deep water, pausing to cup his hand, taking several drinks before crossing over to the other side.
Inspecting the damp ground along the edge of the creek, Jessie saw that both sets of tracks led off together. Is he pursuing her, or does he have her and is forcing her along with him? If he’s pursuing her, I’m gonna have a hell of a time catching up to them. If he has her captive, I’ve got a chance.
Continuing to follow the trail left behind by Britney and her pursuer, Jessie resolved to not give up until she was found.
~~~~
Running frantically through the woods, Britney’s heart pounded in her chest, and her lungs burned with exhaustion. She hadn’t eaten a real meal since Jessie had fed her prior to her capture, and in her weakened state, her legs were quickly growing shaky and tired.
Stopping momentarily to rest, Britney brushed her long brown hair out of her eyes and looked around, terrified of the threats she might face next.
Hearing a twig snap behind her, Britney spun around to see Senior Lieutenant Romanoff standing there with a MP-443 Grach Yarygin 9mm pistol in his right hand, pointing it directly at her stomach.
“You little bitch! You have caused me more trouble than your life is worth. I should just kill you now,” he snarled, gritting his teeth with anger and rage. “Do you know how many UF soldiers died in pursuit of you and your insurgent trash comrades? I should just take your head back with me as prize.”
Shaking in fear, Britney wanted to turn and run, but she knew her tired legs could not carry her away from this menace.
Pointing with the pistol, Romanoff ordered, “Lay on ground. Face down.”
Doing as he asked, Britney began to cry uncontrollably. She had endured more than any fourteen-year-old girl should ever have to face. Her soul and her spirit were nearly broken.
“Hands behind back!” he ordered, taking a length of paracord from his pocket and hogtying her hands and feet together tightly behind her back with her legs folded.
Picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder, Romanoff looked at his wristwatch and muttered, “Is not too late for extraction. If you fight, I will kill you.”
~~~~
Still hot on Britney and her pursuer’s trail, Jessie came to a place where it appeared a scuffle of some sort had recently occurred. Both Britney and her pursuer’s tracks moved about, and there were signs that someone had been on the ground in the prone position. It appeared to Jessie to be Britney, based on the size of the imprints.
Moving farther forward, Jessie could only see the UF boot prints. Britney’s tracks had stopped at the scene of the scuffle. He spent a moment looking around in all directions to make sure her course hadn’t merely been diverted, but he could find nothing.
“That bastard’s got her,” Jessie snarled, and he took off running once again, following the soldier’s boot prints.
Running for what seemed like another half mile, Jessie felt an impact on the back of his left leg, squarely in the middle of his hamstring, followed by the crack of a gunshot and an intense burning sensation. Stumbling and falling to the ground face first, Jessie struggled to roll over as quickly as he could to face the threat that was clearly behind him.
“Do not move,” a voice insisted in a choppy, Russian accent.
Still lying face down, Jessie ceased his struggles and watched as the boots he’d been pursuing walked around and in front of him, then their wearer knelt down, holding a pistol to the back of his head.
“I have questions for you. If you do not answer, I will kill you as enemy combatant. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Jessie begrudgingly replied, attempting to buy some time to think his way out of his predicament. “Where is the girl?”
“She is safe for now, although that is none of your concern,” the man answered. “I am Senior Lieutenant Romanoff of the Ground Forces of the Russian Federation, acting on behalf of the Unified Forces, the current governing authority of this area. I have complete legal jurisdiction over you. Do you understand?”
Playing along, against his true beliefs, Jessie nodded in the affirmative, muttering, “Yes, I understand.”
“Now. What unit are you with, and where are your insurgent comrades?”
“I’m with the Southern Alliance,” Jessie said, avoiding giving
the man the actual affiliation of his friends. “I was part of a QRF sent to rescue the girl. An extraction force is on its way.”
“And how and when will this extraction force arrive?”
“They’re arriving from the north. That’s all I know. They give us very limited information in order to prevent our missions from being compromised in an occasion such as this.”
Thinking through Jessie’s statements, Romanoff looked to the north, which was his intended path of travel for his own extraction. “You lie,” he said, pushing the gun firmly into the base of Jessie’s skull.
Jessie sternly declared, “I’m not lying. I…”
Interrupted by a strange voice, Jessie heard another man with a Russian accent shout, “Romanoff!”
Stepping out from behind a tree directly in front of Romanoff was Junior Sergeant Yuri Kovalenko. “Where is the girl?” he demanded, pointing an AK-74 at Senior Lieutenant Romanoff.
“You traitor!” Romanoff shouted. “Lower your weapon immediately or I’ll have you hanged, or shot before a firing squad!”
“No! No, you will not!” Kovalenko insisted. “Tell me where girl is, or I will kill you.”
“Yuri!” Britney shouted, still bound and tied, hidden behind a clump of trees.
When Yuri’s attention was momentarily diverted to Britney, Romanoff raised the pistol from the back of Jessie’s head and fired a hastily-aimed shot, striking Yuri in the left shoulder.
Returning fire as he fell backward, Yuri’s rounds missed their mark, but sent Senior Lieutenant Romanoff running off into the woods to escape the barrage of bullets.
Picking himself up off the ground, Yuri ran toward Jessie, who scrambled to retrieve his own weapon, which lay in front of him. Prepared to engage the man, Jessie rolled to his side and raised his rifle, but the man ran straight past him to Britney, who was bound behind the tree.
