The wind’s currents are much more aggressive that afternoon. The engines revving as the vehicle’s tracks sweeps across the desert breaks the silence of the cold barren wasteland. I sat there in the cabin along with other personnel whilst gripping my rifle firmly. It was literally my second day to the job yet here I am, about to be battle tested.
We’ve finally reached the location of where the distress signal is coming from, it was just the caravan truck, destroyed, rendered useless. The goods were gone, there was no one either, even, corpses are nowhere to be seen. Trisha was pissed that we are late and ordered her troops to return to their respective vehicles. Suddenly, a crying noise made by what it seems to be a child was heard coming from the destroyed Caravan Truck. Trisha ordered 3 of her troops to come investigate.
As the troops approached and searched the truck thoroughly, it was revealed that the crying noise was just a decoy played by a radio; one of the troops approached the radio closer only to trigger a mechanism that would blow up the whole truck. We watched in horror as the truck along with the troops were reduced to cinders. Trisha’s got more frustrated to the troops she instantly lost.
She didn’t waste any time and ordered the convoy to proceed to the raider base as quickly as possible, assuming that the goods along with the other caravan runners were taken there. Every troop I’m with sat in silence as we continued cruising the wasteland, some are left in shock, probably because of what happened, you can hear the convoy’s vehicle revving and tracks sweeping the terrain in unison. The convoy was halted by a sudden explosion, all of the troops I’m with were startled as we all felt the explosion’s shockwave, it was so loud that I can’t hear anything for a moment.
Truck A ran into an anti-tank mine, Trisha immediately ordered the medics to accommodate the wounded troops, I suddenly realized that it was the truck Ren was driving, I panicked for a while and quickly left the truck to go check on her, I sighed in relief when I saw that she was fine, she was accommodating our wounded troops along with the medics, three of our comrades were severely wounded due to the incident and can no longer fight.
Trisha ordered the troops to discharge from the vehicles. “MEN LISTEN UP! We can no longer use our ride, the base is protected by a minefield, mines are scattered everywhere, Anti-Tank mines! You step on one, you die, we need to saunter the terrain carefully, Caravan Officer First Class Macready will lead Squad A to the main entrance for direct infiltration while I’ll go lead Squad B to the higher grounds for sniper support” she said fiercely
Squad A was composed of troops who carry either an assault rifle or a machine gun, I was one of them, Squad B on the other hand was composed of troops who carry sniper rifles.
I gazed a far, it seems to me that the fortress is only made with reinforced wood and scrap metal materials, it was hard to distinguish due to the darkness, mist and dirt, it was also very far from where we’re standing, it’ll be a long thorough walk.
We began to walk carefully and steadily, Corporal Watson took the lead since he was the one who’s holding the mine detector. Suddenly we were greeted by a very malodorous stench, dead bodies were scattered everywhere, some were decomposing already, one of the troops puked due to the strong putrid smell. By the looks of it, the scattered corpses appears to be wastelanders and escaped slaves, it doesn’t seem to have bullet wounds nor doesn’t look like it was killed by an anti-tank mine. The corpses seems as if they were severed, butchered, devoured of some sort of beast. I was stunned by seeing such gory image once again; my body starts to shiver slightly.
“Poor bastards…” Ren said with a concerned tone in her voice, “Some of these corpses looks fresh…odd” Corporal Watson added. We got a call from the radio whilst consecutive hearing gunfire in the distance. “This is Squad B, threat has been eliminated, you can now enter the base with ease, over” “Copy that, over”
Squad B also informed us a much safer route that is direct to the fortress’s left wing entrance, it seems that this the path where all of their vehicles enter and exit, that’s why there were no mines. The squad’s movement became faster though we were still careful and steady. We are getting closer with each and every step; my gaze of the fortress became clearer and clearer. We heard a loud screech from the distance, our steps were halted, the sound of the screech alone was enough to make me and the other troops shiver. “Stand on your ground, Remain vigilant” Ren said as she reaches for the radio. “This is Squad A, requesting for immediate for immediate support, we got some unknown anomaly nearby, Ove-” suddenly a flesh thread emerged from the darkness, piercing one of the troops and dragging it back. It was so fast that none of us could react properly.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
We heard the screech again with the sound of flesh and bone being crushed and blood splattering. There was a brief moment of silence, not until the thread emerged again as fast as the speed of sound though Ren was fast enough to cut it with a machete, we hear another screech, as if the creature was in pain for getting its thread cut, There was silence again yet we feel as if the ground is shaking. “What the heck is that?” said one of the troops. “run…” Ren said. “ma’am?” one of the troops answered. “RUN! IT’S GOING THIS WAY!” Ren shouted as the stomps get louder and the ground shaking more heavily. We ran as fast as we could without looking back.
We all run from the unidentified anomaly, the screech and stomps gets louder and louder despite how fast we ran, as if it was pointless. “GO TO THE TRENCH!” Ren shouts as she orders me and the other troops to hide. We sat there in silence, covering our mouths to lessen the noise of our heavy panting, the creature was still out there, we cannot contact squad b because the soldier who got devoured was carrying our radio, it seems that all hope is lost.
“Yo kid, gimme that” Ren said as she grabbed the satchel charge from one of the troops. One of the troops said that we are going to need the satchel to make an entrance to the fortress, but Ren insisted that it’s not needed; after all, it’s only made with reinforced wood and scrap metal.
Our covers won’t hold for a long time. “Alright Listen Up! I’m gonna take care of that mutie and ya’ll stay here ‘till I come back…and in case I don’t come back, it’s up to you knuckleheads to finish the mission, Got it?” Ren said whilst trying to keep her voice down. None of us responded probably because they are trying to keep quiet, unsure if the plan will work, or in shock for everything that has happened. “I’ll take that as a yes” Ren said confidently whilst arming herself.
I don’t know what kind of plan Ren has in her mind, I’m a little bit worried but knowing she’s a veteran on these kinds of stuff, I can’t confidently tell that the chances of her failing on whatever plan she has on her mind is utterly low. She left the trench; some of the other troops and I took a peek though it was hard to see due to the limited light, mist and dirt. The anomaly was still nearby because we can still feel the ground shake as it stomps, Ren sneaked her way into the minefield and stopped on the middle, she looks and checks her surroundings for a while.
She then whistles and fires her machine gun to get the creature’s attention, we heard consecutive screeches and stomps get closer and closer. I can tell from the creature’s silhouette that it walks in all fours, it was humongous! Ren aims and fires her machine gun to the creature but it deals little to no damage. We all hold our breaths and felt anxious as the creature approached Ren closer and closer with such speed. Ren ignited the satchel and throws it to the creature. The explosion caused by the satchel triggered a chain reaction that caused all of the mines in the field to explode. We watch in awe on the destructive yet beautiful pyrotechnic display, silence, smoke and debris took over the scenery right after.
The other troops and I emerged from our covers; we can’t see Ren due to the dirt and mist of the wasteland as well as the other debris and smoke caused by the large explosion accompanying it, it was hard to breathe. We all felt anxious as we search for Ren. “Where are you knuckleheads goin’?” We heard a familiar voice in the distance. “Didn’t I order you morons to stay on your ground ‘till I came back?!” It was Ren! I sighed in relief, the squad and I was glad that she was okay. They started complimenting Ren about her bravery and courage. “Save the pansies when we get home, we still got work to do BAHAHAHAHA” Ren answered jokingly.
We continued our stroll to the fortress left wing entrance, we saw people staked on poles, some are already decomposing and releasing and awful stench, some are staked for a very long time, their skeleton is all that’s left, this may serve as a warning that we shouldn’t mess with them. The fortress seems like it’s built around an old church using wooden and scrap materials, we saw 5 deceased raider guards lying on the ground, all of their heads blown off, it must be the Squad B snipers.
Ren kicked the door and it was opened easily, we entered the room whilst staying alert and keeping our weapons ready in case of hostiles, oddly enough, no one was there. It seems that we entered the fortress’ armory. Numerous weapons, ammunition and grenades can be found. It seems that the armory is adjoined to the fortress hangar or garage since there was a garage door adjacent to the door we entered. We finally found our stolen supplies; the only thing to worry about now is to find and rescue our enslaved comrades.