by Aidan Colyer
“I think our mysterious killers are up here too.”
Her eyes went wide, and they both turned to check behind their position.
Chapter 7.
They waited to see if any muzzle flashes gave away positions. None did. Roland raised his rifle and played his scope across everything that was in view. A patch of ground shimmered behind a large pile of low boulders.
He nudged Watts and pointed. She looked up to where he indicated as she tied a bandage around her hand. Roland remembered the pain in his side. The stabbing pain came back as he dropped his rifle. He reached under his armour and tunic and felt the blood. There wasn’t much, but the shrapnel was still stuck in him. He gritted his teeth and pulled out a bandage. Taking a deep breath and then regretting it he grabbed the piece of metal and tugged pulling it free. He stuffed the bandage into the hole of his tunic and cinched his armour tightly to hold it into place. It wasn’t much but when he checked his health bar; he noticed that it had been dropping steadily. It had now stabilised at 76%, which was far too low for Roland’s liking.
“We go now. I don’t want to find out who they are but we can’t wait around to find out.” Roland agreed with a nod and they raised themselves into a crouch. With a look, they both started running. They headed back to the place they had climbed up the slope of the mesa. Without stopping at the edge they leapt from the side hitting the slope and sending a small avalanche of material flowing down in front of them. Dust rose as they slid towards the bottom. Roland coughed as he rolled to a stop in the cloud of dust they had created. Watts was up first running towards a stand of gnarled trees. Roland pushed himself up and ran as fast as he could. His vision blurred as he hit the edge of the trees and collapsed to the ground in their shade. He checked his stamina bar and it was flashing red with only 5% left.
He tried to control his breathing as he pulled his canteen out of his pack. His hands shook as he unscrewed the cap and gulped down water. He almost choked as it pushed the dust in his mouth down his throat but carried on, regardless. He drained half of the canteen before stopping to check the surrounding area. They hadn’t been spotted or if they had no one was firing at them.
He looked down at Watts who was sitting next to him similarly holding her now empty canteen. Her chest was heaving as she tried to calm down.
“We need to get back to the battle or at least secure the position,” Roland wheezed out forcing himself to screw the cap back on his canteen.
“We can do that in a second,” Watts replied as she finally slowed her breathing to a decent pace.
“I’ll start,” Roland replied and rolled to his side. He raised his rifle and wiped dust from the scope. The lens cleared in the centre leaving dirt at the edges. Frustrated he swore and vowed to invest in a cap on his scope as he blew more dust from its recesses. He looked towards the mesa and relaxed as the ridge remained still. Whoever those phantoms were they weren’t coming after them at least. He switched to look at the village to check how the battle was coming. The enemy squads from this side had moved up to bolster the front line of the defences. Their focus changed to firing at the armoured troops assaulting their positions. Roland watched as the lieutenant and first squad came into view. They were taking a lot of fire, one of them collapsed under a hail of bullets before he had a chance to cover them. Roland aimed at the enemy squad and was about to pull the trigger when Watts placed her hand on his rifle and pushed it down. He looked at her and she pointed to the village.
“What?” he whispered.
“The squads are gone. We can get into the village,” she whispered back.
“Yeah, but we are sodding snipers. Not assault specialists. We all know how it goes when we try to assault anything.”
She rubbed her forearm.
“For me maybe but you tend to do alright.”
Roland thought back and realised she was right. He had survived every close in encounter they were drawn in to. Barely though, and he was saved by the fadeout on two of those occasions. They had a mission that need to be completed. Much as he hated to admit it. It wasn’t all about the kill death ratio. He nodded and slung his rifle across his back.
Watts did the same, and they drew their pistols. Roland checked his stamina bar and saw it had risen into the orange zone. At least it recovered fast enough for him to continue fighting. He made a mental note to look for ways to increase the stamina bar‘s recovery rate. Perhaps some type of stim he thought as he checked to see if their coast was clear. Watts tapped him on the back and then moved forward. He made sure his hood was up and followed her in a half crouch with his pistol pointed low. They rushed forward to the sandbagged bunker in front of them without incident. Keeping low they crept around the side relying on their stealth skill to keep them hidden as they peered into the building. The stifling heat of the desert seemed more oppressive as the blessedly cool air of the room hit Roland‘s face. They raised their pistols and moved inside. Sandbags lined the walls in haphazard piles of split hessian leaving a hole carved into one side so that the enemy were able to move freely in cover. The cover meant to protect from attack would now be helping them attack. Roland smiled at the irony as he stepped into the building. The single room felt as cold as he thought. The heat wasn’t making it inside although the plastisteel gave off heat like radiators where the windows should be. There were rugs scattered across the packed dirt floor. Broken tiles poked out in places suggesting this place had once been habitable by more than an army. They crept across the room to the single wooden door on the far side. Roland put his face closer and peered through one of the many cracks in the sundried wood. A truncated view of the street outside devoid of enemy units greeted him. Ahead of them stood another building, but the crack didn’t let him check up and down the street. Watts put her hand on the handle and twisted the knob. It wasn’t locked, so she turned the handle all the way and pulled the door open a crack raising her pistol to point through the gap. She looked up the street as Roland waited. Satisfied there weren’t any guards immediately outside she let go of the door and let it swing inward. Roland got more of a view as he moved round next to her. They could make out the back of several enemy squads engaged with the armoured force further up the street. The artillery had all but stopped firing as both sides were now intertwined in the rubble at the edge of the village. Roland waited until the door swung fully open before he moved to the far side and checked the other way up the street. The artillery position at the other end of the street lay abandoned. Roland nodded to Watts, and she nodded back.
He sucked in a breath and ran across the street. He flattened himself against the far building’s wall as he reached it. Watts slammed into the wall next to him cracking the sun-baked stucco. They moved along the building until they were at the corner. Roland looked around and realised what the building was. It was the HQ. As he prepared to turn the corner he froze. A runner appeared in his vision running towards the front. He calmed his breathing and waited till he was sure they wouldn’t be turning back. He swung around the corner raising his pistol. There was a soldier stood directly in front of him. Roland pulled the trigger as they went for their rifle. The bullet hit the centre of the soldiers face sending them to the ground. Roland moved quickly away from the building to get a better angle on the door and make room for Watts. She turned the corner just in time as the door burst open. Three guards ran out and were cut down as Roland and Watts fired into them. Roland didn’t wait for them to fade and ran forward vaulting their bodies and moving inside. He shot at a guard who sat inside and heard the automatic fire of Watts’ pistol behind him as she fired into the far corner. Scanning the room he saw only a few chairs and a similar floor to the last building they had been in. A comm set sat on a table at the far end of the room. Roland turned to the door near the set and fired at it tearing chunks of wood from the frame. He reloaded as quickly as he could hoping they would think twice about exiting. The click of the magazine sliding home in his pistol coincided with the door opening. Roland dived to
the side as a submachine gun poked around the corner and sprayed the room with bullets. Watts followed suit throwing herself to the floor at the edge of his vision and fired back. Chunks of plaster flew from the wall as he pulled the trigger again and again firing and moving around. The submachine gun clattered to the floor followed by the body of its owner as Roland’s ammunition counter reached zero. Roland rushed over as Watts jumped up and reloaded. He crouched and put his pistol around the doorway firing into the room blind. He fell back and reloaded as Watts moved up. They waited for a second and then burst through the doorway. There was a table in the room’s centre with a cracked hard light device flickering a cracked picture across the table. A soldier sat in the chair on the other side of the table. They were holding their chest and staring. Roland moved forward and saw their rank insignia. This was the officer. Roland raised his pistol to finish the job.
“You fool there is more at stake here than you know.”
The officer spat blood onto the table staring defiantly up at Roland. He had never had a chance to see who it was they were fighting before. It was always ‘the enemy’. The man had Scandinavian features with a heavily tanned face and bright blue eyes that bore into Roland’s face. Roland always assumed they would be fighting non-European nations. He shook his head to get back into the game.
“Don’t shoot,” Watts shouted as Roland was about to pull the trigger. He pulled his finger away and glanced at her.
“Explain?” he asked his aim never straying from the target.
“Do you remember the last battle and the injured? If we kill him he respawns. He is essentially neutralised if we control this building and keep him alive,” Watts said checking back outside.
“You have a point I suppose,” Roland replied. “We have orders though.”
“Yeah to neutralise the command element not kill them. We could interrogate them.”
“Is that even allowed?”
“We shoot people and stab them. Do you really think they will complain about a few questions?”
“I suppose not,” Roland replied and holstered his pistol.
He regretted it as soon as his hands were empty. The officer raised a stubby pistol and fired at him hitting him square in the chest, he flew back into the wall the wind rushing out of him. Watts turned and fired. The automatic pistol spat a hail of bullets that tore the officer apart. She dropped the gun and crouched next to him.
“You okay?” she asked panic in her eyes.
Roland looked down at his chest and put a hand over where he had been shot. He gingerly pulled it away and looked. There was no blood.
“Well there is no blood, but it doesn’t feel okay,” Roland replied as he checked his health bar. The shot had taken 20 percentage points off of the bar. He was still in the game as long as it held stable.
“So much for interrogation,” Roland wheezed as he watched the officer fade over Watts’ shoulder.
“Well, it was only a thought anyway,” Watts replied helping Roland to his feet.
“I say we interrogate that messed up map though,” Roland said pushing towards the table. He leaned on the edge as he tried to keep his breathing shallow enough to stop the pain of his clearly broken ribs.
Chapter 8.
The cracked hard light projector was showing a map that looked like it was made of shattered glass. The enemy troop placements were all marked out with a few markers for their units. Roland looked at the image and worked his way backwards and forwards trying to make sense of it. All of the enemy squads had been deployed where he expected them to be. The paratroopers were being assaulted again with the objectives flickering between their control and the enemy’s control. Roland checked the battle timer, his eyes widening as he realised it was only day two. The casualty rates had reached levels you would expect of day 7. Another 5 days of this and there wouldn’t be anyone left to fight. As he scanned over the flickering image again an odd formation of troops popped out at him. A concentration of enemy units were assaulting a position away from the objectives. There were at least two companies of troops attacking it. Roland wanted to zoom in, but the image was already flickering and shards of the picture disappeared at random. He memorised the position and stood up. They couldn’t stay here. He needed medical help if he wanted to stay in the fight for a start.
“You saw that as well right?” Watts asked as she backed away from the projector. A high-pitched squeal preceded a bright yellow stream of smoke. The image flickered one last time before the entire thing collapsed in on itself as the machine gave one last large puff of the noxious looking smoke.
“Yeah, I did. What do you think it means?”
“Those invisible shooters. There is a third party at play here.”
“I agree,” Roland said fishing around in his hood for his comm bead.
“Lieutenant this is Mellors. Do you read me?”
“Dammit Mellors. The codenames.”
Roland went bright red and tried to remember them.
“It doesn’t matter now. What is it? I have...” Roland heard a burst of gunfire and then a grunt. “I’m a bit busy.”
“Sir, we have intel and the target has been neutralised.”
“Good work. Now join the attack. Out.”
Roland tied the comm back into his helmet and turned to Watts.
“Lieutenant says we have to join the attack.”
“Let’s get to the roof then,” Watts replied with a smile.
They exited the room and smashed through another door. The room was empty apart from a stack of crates. The stack led to a hole that had been broken in the roof. They holstered their pistols and climbed out into the burning sun. Roland blinked as the light hit his eyes. The dust from the battle covered everything. Their visibility reduced dramatically as they approached the edge of the roof and pulled their rifles around. They set up facing the front line and checked the progress of the battle. Roland tried to ignore the complaints from his chest. With the broken ribs, bruising, and a shrapnel wound in his side there wasn’t much of it that didn’t hurt. He focused and tried to find a target. He found one quickly. A machine gun nest was forcing their troops into cover. He lined his sights up on the back of the gunner’s head and fired. The gun stopped instantly as they slumped forward over it. Watts fired killing the loader as Roland took out the rest of the squad that had been supporting the heavy weapon. As they saw their squads advance, they moved to a different target. They continued to fire allowing the armoured troops to advance into the village. The sun had risen high in the sky now and was making its descent. The enemy were confined to small pockets now and were fighting to the last man. Roland still wasn’t used to the lack of prisoners but understood why having been killed himself before.
The rest of third squad emerged from the dust and smoke down the street in front of them. Roland waved to them to come inside as Watts continued to fire at the enemy. Roland stopped firing and rolled onto his back giving his chest room to expand. He closed his eyes and waited for them to reach the roof. The sounds of his squad working their way through the building past crates and smashed doors drifted up to him as he lay waiting. Hands grabbed him and his body shifted as they settled him flat on the roof.
“Are you injured?” he heard Bywaters ask.
Roland nodded. He couldn’t speak at all now. The pain was becoming unbearable.
“He took a shot to the chest at point-blank range. It didn’t penetrate but his ribs are messed up,” Watts replied for him as he squeezed his eyes shut tighter than before. They blocked sunlight out as they moved around in front of him. Someone stripped his tunic and armour away. A sharp intake of breath as his chest was exposed did little to make him feel better.
“How the hell are you still breathing?” Watts exclaimed.
“He isn’t,” Bywaters said.
Roland frowned and then realised she was right. His eyes snapped open as panic flooded through him.
“Calm down Mellors you’ll be good,” Murden said pressing his sh
oulders back down.
Roland watched as Bywaters ran her device over his chest. He cringed as the crack of his ribs knitting back into place reverberated through his body before breath return to his lungs. He started to cough and was rolled onto his side.
[Fully healed. 3-hour cooldown started.]
Roland ignored the notification as he coughed up bloody fluid onto the roof next to him. He brought the cough under control after a few minutes and let Bywaters gently push him back while sitting him upright.
“That was the fluid build-up in your lungs. You should be fine now. Have a sip of water and rest for a bit while we mop the enemy up,” Bywaters said before turning away from him.
“You asked how he was breathing. Now I’m going to ask you how the hell you were shooting with that shrapnel in your hand?” Bywaters said to Watts.
“With difficulty.”
Roland heard Watts give a little yelp as Bywaters sorted her hand out. He found his canteen and drank the lukewarm water. It washed the coppery taste of blood from his mouth as he felt it roll down his throat.
He finished his canteen and then took a deep breath revelling in the lack of pain.
He pulled his tunic and armour closed doing them up as best he could. With luck, they would stay put for the next three hours so he didn’t have to worry about the cool down time.
