Stephen approached the source of the guns, with us walking behind him.
We reached it, leaves strewn all around with the bushes torn up, on the ground were 7 corpses, rifles were scattered around, bullets covering small patches on the ground.
Stephen bent down, examining one of them.
"Nothin on em to identify them by, probably a local insurgent group." Stephen stands up.
"Command just said a medevac arrived, earlier than expected, drones haven't gotten any movement yet, it's best that we head to the transport and bring Sebastian back to the academy, we gotta make it fast though." Stephen took the tablet from Marcel, pressing a few times before returning it to him. Not long after, we quickly headed back the way we went, keeping formation with Stephen leading the front and me still keeping the rear.
We hastily moved past the still burning wreckage of the ship, the whole forest was silent, all i could hear was the crunching of our footsteps and the noise of foliage as we hit them while we moving. This place is a silent death trap, it took out Sebastian and injured us, what more will we get hit by? And where is that guy now?
We reached the landing area, where we were deployed. The ship was small and had no external lighting, with the lights from the inside shining. The door swung open with 3 people running out, carrying supplies with them and a stretcher.
With the stretcher on the ground, Marcel and Alina gently placed Sebastian onto it, with haste, 2 carried Sebastian back to the transport.
"What about you guys? Need to be sent back?" The last man asked. Everyone stayed silent.
"No, we can hold, we'll finish the mission." Stephen replied, breaking the short time of silence.
"Alright, good luck." The man departed, running back to the transport. The door of the transport shuts as it lifts up from the ground, leaving us in the dark once more, and Sebastian safely taken back.
"I hope he's alright when we get back." Thalia said.
"He will, now we need to finish the mission, keep cautious, there might be more traps on our way. Let's go." Stephen ordered.
We moved back into the forest, speed walking as we carefully moved around, using the same route my legs were riddled with sharp pain, getting worse and worse with each step, but i must continue, it'll heal in time.
The wreckage still burned as we passed with little signs of stopping.
Soon, we returned. The area still looked the same, the bodies were still in their same positions. Looks like nobody came here to check.
"Drone said there's movement north of here, come on." We left the corpses, moving past them and through foliage again. The area became more and more obscured by leaves.
As we ran, I felt something grab tightly on my leg. In a second, my body felt weightless as it slammed onto the ground, as my vision turned to the side and I felt myself get dragged away from the group, dropping my gun on the ground.
"Damon!" Thalia's voice shouted.
The rope stopped, I didn't know where i was, all i could see were thick bushes around.
"Fucking servants of the fake revolt." A voice whispered behind me, twisting around, almost by instinct, my hands grabbed a knife headed for my neck. The man and I struggled for the knife, the fight stayed stagnant until the knife fell out of his hands, thrown down, the man's hand, no longer holding the blade, struck me in the face, dazing me for a short time. In a split second, my hands grabbed the pistol from my holster and fired, my finger kept pulling the trigger until the man fell lifeless on the ground, his attire was irregular as well, no noticeable allegiance visible, just regular civilian clothing.
I breathed deeply, relieved, I holstered the pistol and looked around, nothing but large thick bushes and trees for miles.
"Damon are you ok?" Stephen questioned.
"Yeah, i don't know where i was dragged to though." I replied.
"Alright, try smacking a bush, we can try to hear it."
I fired at the rope still stuck on my foot, cutting it off. I stood up, walking towards one of the bushes. After a few smacks, leaves flew around me as i continued.
"Alright, we hear you, just stay there. Luna get him."
In a minute, one of the bushes rustled, out emerged Luna, holding my rifle, after tossing it to me she signaled her hand to follow keeping silence.
We went through, returning shortly to the group.
"Let's keep moving, drone said more movement was reported."
We returned to moving forward wit haste, still keeping caution, this time i looked down to the ground as well, seeing if there is any sign of ropes or traps.
The familiar noise of a vehicle's engine became louder and louder while moved.
"Guess were here already, we need the guy alive, dunno if he's disguised so just disable them and check." Stephen began planning as we approached the growing sound. A glint of light pierced through the many gaps of leaves, blinding pats of my goggles. I put them up, readying my rifle for an impending fight.
As we got closer, we crouched down, moving slowly now to the bushes.
We dispersed from the line, peering through to what was causing the light.
A truck, its headlights aimed near to us with an extra set of lights shining on it's side, beaming at a table. The area was a clearing, the sky now less blocked off by the dense treeline. Multiple insurgents stood by, one of them though was recognizable. The hostage.
"That's him, there's a driver in the truck, I'll take him out, The rest of you take out the other guards. But be very careful in your shots." Stephen gave out his plan. We all nodded at him after talking.
I aimed my weapon at one of the guards, preparing to fire.
I heard something fall behind me, I turned around, a grey cloud blew up in my face. Obscuring my view.
Gunshots began ringing out.
"GET DOWN!" Stephen shouted, I threw myself on the ground, crawling on my stomach outside the smoke. We can't stop now. Bullets flew by as shouts began. The fight begins.