chp 4a

The rain was falling heavily and it was hard to tell friend from foe in the darkness. Raymond was kneeling behind a section of wall that had been blown away leaving just enough height for him to take cover from small arms fire. His rifle was equipped with a scope and its night-vision capability was a great help. However, he knew that looking through the scope for too long would hinder his awareness of his surroundings. And right now, he needed superhuman awareness for an enemy could appear from any side.

The sounds of guns exchanging fire came from somewhere in front of him. Occasional stray rounds ricocheting off his wall. Yes, he thought grimly. Whatever the current situation was, this space was his. He had been fighting for hours and though he had gone from being protected in an armoured transport to fighting in the open, he had yet to come across a single dead enemy. Not one body was left. Perhaps it was the heavy rain, but still, not even a body part after a grenade had gone off? He had seen them through his scope and they looked like very disfigured humans and their clothes were filthy. Some wore skins of creatures over their armour plating. He knew they had armour plating for some of them could not be brought down except by a headshot. But, no bodies!!!

“Get over there by the wall!”

Raymond heard that command and tensed. But so far, only humans from Oasis City had ever shouted commands. Not that the enemy could not suddenly decide to mimic them. So he got ready to get a snap shot off if it turned out to be some ugly monster.

Then came the sound of running feet and a silhouette came almost flying over the wall. The grunt of pain as the body landed sounded feminine. “Who’s there?!” Raymond ventured. “It’s Shirley!” came the reply and then she joined Raymond behind the wall. More running feet and then the medical officer came around the corner of the wall with both his and her bags. His rifle was gone.

The last to arrive was Shaun. He had a bandage around his left arm, but his left hand was holding the straps of two rifles. His own rifle was held ready in his right. His field pack was still on his back.

Raymond was amazed. His field pack had been shot through some time after they had abandoned their transport. Then the team had been separated in the ensuing fire-fight. But here was Shaun, complete with field pack and holding two other rifles?

“Hey man, where’ve you been?” Shaun asked Raymond.

“Wherever you weren’t I guess. I haven’t seen anyone else from our transport since the fire-fight,” Raymond replied.

“We’ve got to get out of this rain. Find some shelter. The temperature is already beginning to go down,” the M.O. said.

“You’re the ranking officer here, Sir,” Shaun replied.

“So we stay together, but we have to move. Is that a building over there?” The M.O. said, pointing to a dark shape in the distance.

Raymond used his scope and zoomed in. It was a building. And he could make out some figures moving toward it too.

“It is a building. There was movement. About two or three people just went into the shadows there. Distance is about 300 meters,” Raymond reported.

“Ok, we’ll have to take a chance that those people you saw are on our side. Let’s go,” the M.O. said, as he picked up the bags and started moving.

“Let me help you with the rifles,” Raymond offered, reaching out a hand toward Shaun. Shirley intercepted him and grabbed one first before handing him the other.

Grinning, she held it low and moved off at a run, crouching as she went. Shaun shrugged and took off with Raymond close behind.