I…had lost three of my best friends. I had lost three comrades. I had lost three soldiers. I had lost.
The empty carcasses of Ferry lay in front of me. His head was in a pool of blood. And his eyes had tears of blood. My eyes were opened, and I had nothing to say. Only to look and feel disgust at myself. I had failed as a leader, as a friend.
"Lieutenant?" The sergeant asked. He was shocked himself.
"Martin! What are you doing?" Michaela shouted at me.
His voice brought me back to this world. We were attacked. I picked up my gun and began to engage the enemy. The time I got back to my senses, two of the guards were dead. On Michaela's demand, I handed him my pistol. The enemy numbered nearly 20. The attack was sudden, and Ferry was dead. I was taken totally off guard.
The fight continued for five minutes, and by that time, two of the special corps's soldiers were killed.
"What do we do?" A sergeant asked me.
I didn't know. I couldn't think of anything. Ferry's face was constantly flashing in my mind. I tried to think of something. And only one thing came to my mind. Retreat.
"We will fall back," I said, firing at the enemy.
"Roger," The sergeant responded.
But as I stood, my gaze fell on Michaela. He was captured, and the enemy was about to kill him. A bullet came and hit my shoulder. I fell. The enemy rushed towards me. He stood, looked at me, and was about to kill me, then there was a rustle in the bushes behind me. The enemy soldier looked up, and a bullet hit his head. It was Alfred.
"Martin!" He shouted, grabbed me by the collar and dragged me back.
The lieutenant threw a flashbang at the enemy. And killed four hostiles. I took out my spare pistol and killed an enemy. Under two minutes, all enemies were neutralised.
I stood up while tightly pressing my shoulder, and stood beside a tree. Alfred came towards me.
"Martin, are you alright? Where's Ferry?" Alfred asked me.
I couldn't say anything. I looked at him. He understood from my hopeless eyes. Then he looked to his left and saw the corpse of Ferry Ferling. Then he looked at me. His eyes were wide open.
"What should we do now?" Michaela came towards me. "Your stupid emotions caused this. Now tell us. Captain Martin!"
"The distance is too much, 16 kilometres." The lieutenant spoke.
Alfred grabbed his knife and took out the bullet in my shoulder. I groaned with pain. Then he wrapped a bandage around my wound.
"Get back to your senses," Alfred said as he tightened the bandage. "Ferry isn't your fault, but the rest are." He looked at me. "You are still the leader."
I walked back and sat on the ground. I was overcome by my emotions. I shouldn't have done that. I took a deep breath and held it. It worked again. Whenever I held a deep breath, my mind always cleared, and I was able to focus. Only one thing came to my mind.
The road to the extraction point is straight. Of course, the enemy would be on the highway. But not all of them will be without a vehicle. An armoured vehicle, an APC, or a jeep would be obviously present. The chances are low but not zero. I stood up and looked at our condition. I was the only one who was severely injured.
"We will move towards the extraction point through the highway. The enemy would be there, but they will have a vehicle." I knew what I had to say next, although it pained me, but I had to say it. "And just like before, we will leave the corpses here," I said while looking at Ferry.
"And if we don't find any vehicles?" Michaela asked me.
"Then we keep walking."
"Yes, sir." Alfred and the soldiers spoke.
I examined my magazine. I had enough ammo in my bag. None of us was short on resources. I headed towards Ferry and closed his eyes.
"Let's go!"
We were 5 hours into the mission, and ten kilometres from the extraction point. In the past two hours, we encountered 25 enemy soldiers. And none of them had any vehicles. I walked towards the edge of the cliff. And examined the area with my binoculars. I looked as far as three kilometres and saw nothing towards the north. Towards the south, I could see explosions and multiple cannons firing. The offensive was escalating. I understood that our time was short. The window may close soon.
"Are you blind?" Alfred asked me as he stood beside me.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
He pointed towards a pickup truck down the small cliff. I looked at them through my binoculars. There were five soldiers and a pickup truck. They were probably a reconnaissance team. They were almost 500 metres from my position.
"I didn't notice..." I said to Alfred, but he wasn't there. I looked around and then below. He was already down the cliff, heading towards them, with only a pistol in his hand. Alfred walked quickly towards them, and when he was under 100 metres, he said something. The enemy turned. Alfred shot the first two, then the leg of the third. A soldier emerged from the truck, and Alfred shot him as well. Then the driver came out, but Alfred first kicked him in the testicles. He then grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head against the door. He broke his neck. He entered the jeep, drove it near us. The path up the cliff was wide enough for the jeep, and it climbed the cliff.
"Here is your vehicle," Alfred said as he handed me the key.
I could only nod and look at him.
"Good stunt," I said, and gave the key to the lieutenant. "Lieutenant, you drive."
Michael, the brigadier, Alfred and I sat inside. The sergeants and the guards climbed the cargo bed, and we got on the highway.
"Lieutenant…Give full throttle." I said.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"Yes…don't stop till we reach."
He nodded and gave full throttle, almost hitting 120 kmph. We drove for almost 20 minutes. In that whole journey, we didn't face any resistance. Their intention must be to kill us in one blow. But they failed. Although I didn't return unscathed either.
When we reached, the extraction team wasn't in the condition they were supposed to be in. The 15 soldiers who were supposed to be there weren't 15. They were only 6. We got out of the car, and bodies were lying on the ground. Their leader, a lieutenant, was sitting beside a tree. His head was bandaged, and his leg was full of bullets.
"What happened?" I asked as I got out of the truck.
"An enemy chopper attacked us. They opened fire on us when we were three kilometres ahead. As you can see, we lost 9 soldiers. And the rest of us aren't in good condition." He said it with pain. Then he noticed our small number. "What happened to you? Your numbers are smaller."
I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Well…things took a bloody turn," I said this and sat beside a tree. Michaela walked towards me and crouched in front of me. The lieutenant sitting near me stood up because of him. But Michaela signalled him to sit down, very unlike him.
"Thank you for saving me. You are a good soldier." He had a faint smile.
I looked at him. This isn't the Michaela I knew. Maybe he was doing it in front of other soldiers. But…still, he isn't that type of person.
Then I heard an echo of gunfire. A bullet came from Michaela's back, it pierced through his heart and then hit the right side of my chest.
Michaela was dead.
But was I?