There is nothing like being greeted by the stars. This was the only blissful part of being in the Army. U were never alone. You have the stars above you ,fellow soldiers besides you and the gravity to fall back on at any given time.
I was paired up with Officer Smith and Ankers on one of the northeast rivers to scout out the enemy. Whether I was in good hands or not I was not really sure.
First officer Smith was in his early twenties . Tall enough to kiss the horizon. Blonde with hazelnut eyes . Lean enough to sport a Machine gun . Use it ? I was not yet sold.
Officer Ankers was average height . Short hair but evident that it was curly and black . He was fit was a knight .His downside was that he was too serious for my liking. He was always on high alert and never took ease.
It was not long before we spotted the enemy. Their camp was laid out before our eyes to feast our sight upon. We had spotted all the possible exits and entry points into and out of the camp. They were done for .
As per protocol one of us had to alert our superiors . Surprisingly it was Smith who took up the duty to do so.He returned to join us in our shared solitude , carefully tucked away by the absence of sunlight .
We returned to base during the twilight.
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Bullets began to fly . How did it get to this?
Missile after missile was pounded on the base. First it was here than evaporated. That was the extinction of the base. We had to seek refuge in the lush forestry. Little to our knowledge our refugee status would be stripped away from us by another barrage of missiles. We would become headless nomads.
Each millisecond saw the termination of a radio. The body would kiss the ground . The body would be so engrossed in the grounds warm affection that it was naive to the grounds maleficence. The body would be shattered by the betrayal that it remained immobile and surrendered . Affection had become a vile memory for the body .
We all thought of one another as deceased . I ran north west, covering atleast three kilometres. I stumbled upon a troop . They did not seem like the troops from camp. I realised how correct my guess was when the only view I was afforded was that of a M249.They first poked at me with questions in a foreign dialect . After much fustration on both ends,the finally tried English .
"Where are you from?"
"Who sent you here?!"
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After establishing that I was of no threat for now they borrowed me life . I stayed with them in nature's deep enclosure for a whole week,living- off on any scraps they give me.
On the seventh day I was summoned onto my feet and off we went . First it was like we were delving deeper into the forest than into any place of salvation . After a good five days we were ambushed . The usual gun spatter was exchanged. From the corner of my eye I could see one of the guys we were with was on the ground. Than another ,followed by another. Each cementing themselves to the ground as if distraught widows. All this transpired while I was embracing a fully furnished Oak .
Once the gunmen were satisfied with their work I scouted who else had survived other than myself.To my suprise it was only I and the guy who had shoved a M249 in my face. All twenty or so of his his troops had retired to an eternal slumber.