"Hah...hah...hah..."
The scorching afternoon sun hung high overhead, as a figure sprinted through the woods.
Panting loudly, he occasionally glanced behind.
His facial features were obscured by blood, mud and soot, but the dirty jungle camo tactical attire on his body as well as the M13 rifle in his hands marked him unmistakably as a soldier.
'An ambush as soon as we arrive. They were aware of our arrival time.'
Three other soldiers ran beside him with the third carrying their wounded teammates over his shoulder.
All wore expressions as grim as his.
Rat ta ta ta ta!
WOOF! WOOF!
"Hurry we can't let them escape"
Far behind them, the sound of gunfire, barking of dogs and shouting occasionally echoed, evidently from pursuers.
"Baby, What's our status?" The man in the lead with a bushy beard asked the first figure.
"Bad... huff... really bad Captain..."
"Rhino... Weasel... Rider... and Blade are gone sir..."
"Eagle Eye's status is unknown..."
"Huff... and Sugar's losing a lot of blood."
"Comms are down. We can't... huff... call for backup or evac... huff..."
"We're on our own sir."
Their eyes were all bloodshot, teeth grinding as they listened to the name's of their fallen comrades in silence.
The sole female among them suddenly looked at the captain and asked.
"What's the plan now, sir?"
"Right now, priority's to lose these guys and find a safe place to stabilize Sugar's injury. Zero keep putting as much pressure as you can on that left side." Captain said as he glanced at the guy hefting the other individual who nodded.
His hand pressed firmly on the mangled and bleeding left side of the guy he was holding.
"Baby keep trying to get through to HQ. They are jamming out signal but if we get enough distance in, we might be able to leave the jammers range." He commanded again.
"Roger..."
"Put me down."
At that moment, Sugar's deep voice growled from zero's shoulder.
"Shut up Sugar." The female soldier barked.
"Just put me down already." His voice raspy and full of pain.
"I said shut it..."
However she couldn't complete her sentence before Sugar suddenly pushed himself off Zero's shoulder slamming onto the ground with a pained groan.
"The hell do you think you're doing Sugar?" Baby shouted in anger and exhaustion.
The incident forced them to a stop.
They had just climbed over a little hill in the woods giving them cover from their pursuers.
"I'm done for, you guys go on without me." He groaned as he pulled himself to lean against a tree.
"This ain't time to be playing hero dipsh*t. F*cking pick him up Zero." The female soldiers cursed in annoyance.
Wasting no time, Zero moved his muscular figure forward to lift him, but Sugar slapped his approaching hands away.
"It's not about being a hero Lady, I just can't hang on anymore." He paused grabbed his rifle and adjusted his direction facing the hill they just crossed.
The sound of dog barks and voices were drawing nearer beyond the hill.
"You guys go on without me, I'll buy you some time."
Sugar pulled magazine after magazine from his vest and layed them on the grass beside him..
He dislodged the one already in the rifle, inspected it, slammed it back into place and racked the weapon.
"Don't be such a bull and listen for once..."
Squatting before Sugar, Jason had barely spoken when Sugar grabbed his vest and yelled.
"We don't have time for this! There's a lot of things fishy on this mission already and I need you guys alive to figure that out."
"Now get your a*ses out of here."
"What do you...."
"He's right. We gotta move." Lady who was just about to speak was suddenly interrupted by the captain who fixed his gaze on Sugar.
"I'm sorry Sugar."
"It's ain't t on you Captain. You noticed it too didn't you?" He asked and the captain silently nodded. "
"My times up that's all. Sparta is no more."
"No, no, no, not you too Sugar, we can all still make it if we..." Baby started speaking when Sugar pulled him closer and rested their foreheads together.
"Shhhh... Easy little guy, don't let it get to you."
"You've gotta survive this, get rid of the bloody unit and live yourself a normal soldiers life. Get a girlfriend or two for us eternal singles alright." He tried chuckling but broke into a hard cough instead.
"Only you are crazy enough to laugh in the face of death." Lady scoffed in sadness.
"What can I say Lady? I'm Sugar, I'm sweet to to the very end."
Tugging off the dog tag on his neck, he placed it into Baby's palm and closed them.
"Hang on to these for me will you?" Jason eyes were already teary at this point as he nodded.
"I'll see y'all on the other side."
"Move out." The captain order and they all sprinted away.
Jason glanced back one more time before moving out of sight.
Adjusting his lean, Sugar lifted his rifle and aimed towards the top of the little hill.
"In this cruel world, ruled by cruel fate..."
"Dear Lord, do not let me die tonight."
"But if I die before I wake..."
"I accept my fate."
"Hell yeah."
As soon as he recited that short prayer, the first of the pursuers surfaced. Without any hesitation or delay, Sugar delivered a bullet right to their forehead.
Rat ta ta ta!
BOOM!
Hearing the gunfire and explosions behind them, the rest of the unit gritted their teeth and kept running with bloodshot eyes.
After another hour of running, they suddenly arrived at a cliff end.
"Shit, dead end"
"Long way down." Zero complained, but at that moment Baby and Lady each pulled out a bundle of military ropes from their bags.
Captain leaned forward, examined the drop and turned around.
"Tying them together should take us almost down. Lady you do that, Zero secure the end on that tree over there, Baby on me, perimeter watch."
"Roger"
"Roger"
"Roger"
The ropes were effectively secured and thrown over the cliff in no time going all the way down.
"Baby goes first, Lady yorey next, then zero. I'll go last. Move."
Baby hooked his belt to the ropes and started rappelling down.
However the moment he made his first rappel, the sound of spinning helicopter rotor reached their ears. A helicopter was currently approaching them from a distance.
They froze for a second before the captain moved.
"Baby?"
"Negative, That's not ours"
As if to confirm Baby's words, the chopper immediately released missiles all heading for them.
"INCOMING!!!"
Captain, Zero and Lady tried running back into the woods but it was all futile.
Booooom!
Explosions rocked the cliff top with one of the missiles exploding not far from Baby, the rope snapped and he plummeted through flames and shrapnels.
Tumbling down the cliff and smashing through any and everything, pain exploded all over his body, his vision blurred, sounds fading.
The last thing he saw amidst the ringing and blur was the bright flash high up on the cliff.
A mangled body on fire shot from the cliff darkened and unrecognizable but he could tell who it was just from the immense muscles.
'Zero'
At that moment,
Bang!
Total darkness.
*****
His eyes snapped open in the darkness, his upper body shooting up from its previous lying position.
Amidst heavy gasps he tried to climb off the surface he found himself, but discovered that he suddenly couldn't move his feet.
Panic sets in as he hurriedly scanned his immediate environment for any signs of danger.
For thirty seconds, his senses scanned the darkness around him for the faintest sign of danger but none existed.
Then reality slowly began to settle in as he shifted from gasps to heavy breathing.
Reaching his sweat covered hands to the side, he turned on the bedside lamp.
The darkness receded revealing a lone male figure sitting on a bed with body trembling, both hands covering his face.
An able-bodied male one would say until they looked beneath the blankets where his calves are.
Or more accurately where his calves should be.
Lifting his head he revealed the face of a handsome young man with captivating blood-red pupils.