Enhanced

by Ben Brown

Vladimir screamed as the blade tore from his body. Zac landed on his feet about five feet from the screaming mass of anger. Vladimir held his stomach as he turned slowly to look at him. The on-lookers’ laughter had ceased, the giant grimaced as Zac smiled back. He charged again.

  Zac turned on the spot and dropped to his knees; his blade opened a massive gash across the giant’s thigh.

  The giant turned again, this time even slower. Zac was already back on his feet and waiting for his next attack.

  Vladimir swung his giant fist wildly at his head. Zac stepped aside, avoiding his blow easily. He swung his blade again, severing Vladimir’s arm at the elbow.

  The giant dropped to his knees as his arm hit the ground. He looked up and roared with anger and pain.

  Zac swung one last time. This time, his blade found the Russian’s neck. His massive head flew high into the air, its roar cut short.

  The head hit the ground as Zac turned to look at the remaining subjects.

  They started for their guns.

  Suddenly, from the distance, Zac heard gunshots and tribal screams. Reinforcements had arrived.

  The subjects bolted back in the direction of the battle as Zac headed back towards the path that had led him to their flanks.

  He holstered his sword as he grabbed his remaining gun. He was low on ammo, but he still had enough to make a mess of the advancing subjects.

  He readied himself for the next onslaught.

  32

  “Matt, this is Jacobson — we’re about to engage the enemy. Be aware of friendlies in the kill zone.”

  “Roger that Captain.”

  Jacobson moved quickly through the dense undergrowth, closely followed by two hundred local men, all of whom were ready to drive out the advancing enemy, or die trying.

  Jacobson halted about a hundred yards from the battle and turned to Bosede.

  “This is it, tell your men to stay low and keep shooting. These people move like lightening, so be ready.”

  Bosede nodded and repeated the order to his men in his native tongue. The big man then nodded to Jacobson.

  Jacobson released the safety switch on his gun and led the charge into the battle.

  They burst into the clearing that held Dominic’s subjects just as a hail of bullets tore in their direction. Jacobson instinctively dropped to one knee and opened fire.

  Bosede, who wasn’t so quick, fell to the ground screaming in pain as a bullet hit the side of his head, tearing off part of his left ear.

  His men began to falter at the sight of their leader being injured. This hesitation cost the lives of at least twenty men. The others began to back away as the gunfire intensified.

  Jacobson knew he had to do something, or else this was going to end up being a massacre. He moved over to Bosede’s position as Dominic’s men advanced. He grabbed the large man by the shoulder. He lay screaming, clasping the side of his blood-drenched face. Jacobson rolled the man over so he could look him square in the eye.

  “Listen to me! You need to suck it up or we’re all going to die. Tell your men to return fire and advance or we are going to be overrun in seconds.”

  With blood still pouring from his open wound the large African scrambled to his knees and shouted at his men. Then he picked up his rifle and returned fire on the advancing subjects.

  Jacobson knelt beside him and opened fire. This was enough to spur on Bosede’s men; they raised their weapons and charged headlong into the battle.

  The scene was bedlam. Jacobson and his men were beginning to gain some ground, although it was costing them dearly. Almost half of his team had been killed or injured. Jacobson looked around as bullets flew in every direction.

  Bosede had regained his composure and even managed to wrap a rag around his injured head, stopping the flow of blood. He was now fighting like a seasoned soldier.

  “We need to hold this position,” Jacobson screamed over the din. “Tell your men to stop advancing and take cover. Tell them we need to hold until Martinez gets here.”

  Bosede nodded and shouted orders to the men closest to him. They, in turn, repeated the orders to the men closest to them. Within a minute Jacobson’s team had taken cover and were holding Dominic’s men at bay. However, they could not hold for long.

  Jacobson keyed his throat mike. “Martinez what’s your ETA?”

  * * *

  Zac ran as hard as he could back down the path that had led to the flanks of Dominic’s force. He heard movement to his side as he ran. He dropped to one knee and pointed his MP5 in the direction of the sound.

  Then he heard a familiar voice: “Zac, hold your fire. It’s Martinez.”

  As he got back to his feet, Martinez emerged from the jungle. Two young African men flanked him.

  Zac jogged over to him, holding out his hand. He took it and shook it with all his might.

  “Damn, am I glad to see you, Zac,” he said warmly. He pulled Zac into a hug, slapping him hard on the back as he did so.

  “Okay, okay, we can do our catching up later. We need to get a move on.”

  Martinez released him and quickly introduced the two men at his side. “These are Zuberi, and Obi. They’re the cousins of the two girls you helped. The girl’s father is with Jacobson.”

  Zac nodded quickly and asked, “How many men do you have?”

  “I have about one hundred and eighty men in all,” Martinez replied as he nodded to one of the cousins.

  The young man shouted something in African, and silently, a large group of heavily-armed men appeared from the bushes.

  Zac wondered why he hadn’t sensed these men? Maybe the kicking he had just received at Vladimir’s hands was still affecting him in some way. Or, was it simply the fact that he couldn’t stop thinking about Lea and the others. Those thoughts clouded his mind more than he cared to admit.

  “We need to get on their rear flank, so we can pin them in,” Martinez said.

  Zac nodded as he headed back in the direction from which he’d just come. “Follow me!” he shouted over his shoulder.

  Martinez and his team followed.

  Zac came to a halt in the clearing where Vladimir’s dead, decapitated body lay. He waited for Martinez and his team to catch up.

  Martinez looked at the dead man and said breathlessly, “I see you’ve been busy.”

  Zac looked at Vladimir’s body. “For some reason, he didn’t seem to like me. Anyway, if you head just through there —” He pointed in the direction he had seen the subject’s heading. “ — it will take you to the rear of Dominic’s team. They’re less than two hundred yards from here, so you need to be ready.”

  The two young Africans stared at Vladimir’s corpse, then one of them said, “This man has terrorized our village for over a year, and he has killed many of my friends and family. I rejoice in his death.”

  Martinez spoke into his throat mike. “We’re on our way. We’ll be there in less than a minute.”

  He looked at Zac. “That was Jacobson. He wanted to know our ETA — he sounds like he’s in trouble.”

  As Obi shouted to the following men in African, Martinez flicked off the safety on his gun.

  A roar went up as Zac pulled his sword and the MP5. “Let’s do this!” he shouted, and charged off in the direction of Dominic’s troops, closely followed by Martinez and his team.

  Zac burst into the clearing and stared at the battle before him. All of Dominic’s forces were focused on Jacobson and his men.

  That quickly changed. Dominic’s mercenaries, still at the rear of the group, turned and opened fire. Zac ignored the hail of bullets as he charged into their midst. He hacked and fought his way into the middle of their unit as bullets tore into him from every direction.

  Martinez and his men opened fire.

  This drew the attention away from Zac long enough to allow him to push on through their ranks, cutting men down as he went. Within seconds, he had broken through to the front of their line.

  Two subjects made a lunge for hi
m. One met with a bullet, the other his blade.

  Then he spotted Jacobson — a subject had him pinned to a tree by his throat. Zac could tell he only had a few seconds to live.

  Zac moved faster than he ever had before — he reached the two in what seemed like milliseconds, grabbed the subject by the hair, and ripped him off his friend, throwing him back into the clearing.

  Jacobson collapsed to the floor holding his neck.

  Zac knelt beside him for a second. “Are you all right?” he asked. Zac could hear the subject charging back towards him.

  Jacobson nodded; Zac turned and drove his sword into the chest of the attacking subject.

  Just behind the now impaled subject, two others opened fire.

  Zac placed himself between them and Jacobson. Their bullets tore into the dead body, which still hung from his sword. Using the dead man as a shield, he returned fire on the two, dropping them where they stood.

  As he pushed the body from his blade, he turned to check on Jacobson, who was kneeling over the body of a large man who lay dead on the ground.

  Zac went over to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. “James, we need to move. I’m sorry.”

  Jacobson stared at the dead man for a second longer, and then stood. “He was Mary and Elisa’s father, you know, the two young women you saved. His name was Bosede. If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have all these men.”

  “We need to move. I’m sorry,” Zac repeated.

  Jacobson raised his gun as he nodded.

  The two headed off into the battle.

  Martinez and his men had cut off any chance of retreat to the rear. Dominic’s forces were trapped — this made them very dangerous.

  The mercenaries had all but surrendered. Once it became clear that the battle was lost, most gave up, or fled. This left the subjects fighting without support. Even though they were greatly outnumbered, they had no intention of surrendering.

  Jacobson threw himself into the combat; he clearly intended to make these people pay for Bosede’s death.

  As Zac took on subject after subject, a sensation grew in him that Lea and Doc needed help.

  He looked over his shoulder and saw a group of seven subjects climbing towards their position. All that stood between them and his small group of friends was Michael.

  Zac shouted over to Jacobson. “James, call up Matt or Jason. Find out why they’re not firing at those subjects.” He pointed up at the subjects fast approaching their position.

  Jacobson quickly obeyed as he watched the subjects climbing higher. “Zac, they’re out of ammo! You had better get the hell up there man!”

  33

  Zac holstered his weapons and sprinted towards the base of the rock formation just as two large subjects placed themselves in his path. He looked up just in time to see the first of Dominic’s subjects attacking Michael. Zac returned his attention to the two men blocking his path.

  At that moment one of the subjects lunged at him with his knife, the second man moved at the same time.

  Zac grabbed the wrist of the knife-wielding assailant and twisted it to one side, halting his attack. He turned his attention to the second assailant. With the palm of his free hand he punched up, hard. His blow caught the other man’s chin, causing him to fly backwards through the air, then he finished the one he had pinned. Zac brought his elbow down, smashing the bridge of the knife wielder’s nose. His attacker finally released his knife as he dropped to his knees, unconscious. Zac released his grip and began to advance once more.

  This brief confrontation had cost him precious seconds. He looked up and saw Michael fighting two of the seven subjects who were now on the rock formation. The others were already fighting with Lea and her team.

  Zac could see that Lea and the Platt boys were trying to protect Doc. They had no chance, not with Lea being blind and the Platt boys being un-enhanced.

  He scrambled up the rock face like a mountain goat on speed.

  He reached Michael in a few seconds. Grabbing one of his attackers from behind, he threw him from the rock face.

  Michael looked at Zac with panic in his eyes. “Go! I can handle this one.”

  Zac was already moving before the final word had left his mouth.

  He heard Lea scream, so he launched himself up and into the air, flying clean over the ledge that had offered so much protection less than twenty minutes earlier.

  As he flew through the air, he assessed the situation.

  Lea had two subjects bearing down on her.

  The Platt boys were fighting the others, all of whom were women; they were trying to get to Doc.

  Jason looked badly injured, he needed to help them first.

  Zac drew his sword as he landed.

  One of the three women turned from the cousins and looked at him. With a snarl, she threw herself at him.

  He raised his sword and cut her down. As she fell to the ground, two large bullet holes appeared in his chest. He stumbled forward, staring at the massive holes that now spewed blood like a burst water main. The gunshots had come from behind him. Zac struggled to suck in air as he turned in the direction of the shooter.

  A second woman held a large gun in her hand. She pulled the trigger again; it clicked — she was out of ammo. The woman threw the gun at Zac as she charged.

  The gun smashed into his face. He was still gasping for air as his lungs struggled to repair themselves. The impact from the gun was enough to knock him off balance again. He stumbled and the sword fell from his hand. Blood from his head wound filled his eyes. Then she was on him like a wild thing. Within a second she had Zac pinned to the ground and rained blows down on his already injured face.

  He was beginning to lapse into unconsciousness, when one of his hands found one of her wrists. He was almost blind; his eyes were swollen and filled with blood. All he could see were hazy outlines. If he could stem her blows, even a for few seconds, it would give him time to heal. Any respite in her attack, no matter how short, would help. However, before he had a chance to retaliate, she lunged. Her head swooped down, mouth wide open. Her teeth sank deep into the side of his neck.

  He roared with pain as she ripped a large lump of flesh from him — she was aiming for his jugular. Her head whipped back as she spat the lump of flesh from her blood-splattered mouth.

  Zac had regained some of his sight; he looked up at her face. She looked like some kind of blood-crazed vampire, and then her head swung down again, trying for a second bite.

  As her head dipped towards him, he brought his up to meet it. Their heads collided with a sickening thud and she went limp. Blood poured from her nose, eyes and ears.

  Zac threw her dead body off him and struggled to his feet.

  He turned to see Lea wrestling with a man. She clung to his back as she struggled to keep his gun hand high in the air and away from Zac’s direction.

  Michael had also made it back onto the rocky ledge. He was now fighting with the second of Lea’s attackers.

  Zac grabbed up his sword and headed for Lea, she was only just able to contain the man who she rode like a bucking bronco.

  “Lea, I’ve got him!” he shouted. She released her grip and fell to the ground.

  He tried to bring his gun down in Zac’s direction, but he was too slow. Zac swung his blade at his mid-section, cutting him clean in half where he stood.

  Michael’s assailant was starting to overpower him. He was in a bad way — his face was bloodied and he had a badly swollen eye. He looked like he was on the verge of collapse.

  Zac rushed past Lea as she slumped against a rock, spent by her exertion.

  Michael’s attacker had one hand around his throat, while the other fumbled at his belt for his knife. His fingers wrapped around the handle of his blade and he drew it.

  Zac couldn’t get there in time!

  The subject plunged the knife deep into Michael’s stomach.

  Michael roared with pain as he lashed out at the man. His blow caught his attacker square
on the chin, knocking him to the ground.

  He landed at Zac’s feet and looked up, just as the heel of Zac’s boot hit his face. His head did a one-eighty degree turn as the bones in his neck snapped.

  Zac ran towards Michael, who still had the knife protruding from his stomach.

  Zac stopped in his tracks as he heard Doc shouting. “Zac! Quick. Please help!”

  He turned to see the last of the subjects on top of Jason. She was pounding the brave young soldier’s face with both her fists clenched together in a ball. Matt was on the subject’s back. He had his arms locked around the woman’s neck in an attempt to pull her off his cousin. Even Doc was wrestling with the woman, but to no avail. This subject wanted Jason dead and no one was going to stop her.

  “Move out of the way, Matt!” Zac yelled, as he bore down on them like a charging bull.

  Matt and Doc threw themselves clear just as Zac hit the subject’s side. He and the woman flew clear of Jason, smashing into the side of a rock.

  Zac looked quickly back over his shoulder; Matt was already at Jason’s side.

  He turned back to the last remaining subject.

  The woman looked Middle Eastern in appearance. She scrambled back to her feet and pulled a large scimitar shaped knife from her belt.

  Zac reached for his sword, but it was gone.

  With a scream, the woman charged — she was very fast. She swung her blade — he dodged, but not quick enough. A large gash opened from his right shoulder all the way down to the left side of his stomach. As the pain shot through him, he stumbled and dropped to his knees. His body had taken a pounding and it was struggling to keep up with all the injuries.

  During the battle, he’d endured countless bullet wounds, knife attacks, and had even been bitten. Now he’d been laid wide open with a knife.

  His head was spinning as she came at him again. She raised her hand high over her head, and then with lightning speed, swung at him again. Her blade hurtled towards his neck.

  Zac had no time to think; he raised his left hand to catch her knife-wielding arm, he then kicked her hard in the abdomen.

  As he caught her knife hand, her knees began to give way. He swung his right knee into the back of one of hers, to speed her collapse. As her body hit the ground, Zac twisted her arm behind her, and rammed her knife into her back. Her arm cracked as he applied pressure to the knife, forcing it deeper into her body.