3 days later...
"How in the world did you get this many of men?" Hakeem asked Amirul. He was impressed that Amirul managed to convince nearly 600 men to follow him.
"News spread fast. They all have a relative in Medan. Most of them haven't returned; so when they heard there might be a way to save them, they didn't hesitate to volunteer." Amirul explained to Hakeem. "More importantly how did you get that many weapons?" In front of them, a pile of weapons were left on the ground.
"Most were in the bunker, that was actually a munitions supply outpost. I noticed that sometimes loaded truck came in and out of here. The rest were collected by the other incoming trucks." Hakeem explained.
"Wait, wouldn't they notice they're truck drivers weren't coming back?" Amirul asked Hakeem but his question was answer sooner than he would expect.
*Boom*
Hakeem pointed towards the recent explosions. "Apperently the resistance also have explosives. But still, I don't think these weapons are enough for all of us." The amount of weapons he managed to get did not even reach 100. He thought the newly recruited and untrained people would get uneasy but he was wrong.
"Don't worry man, almost all of them have atleast a parang or an old hunting rifle." Amirul showed Hakeem that most of them were armed but Hakeem was still worried.
"No, no. Those stuff won't last long even against the relics those empirial loyalist are using." Hakeem had to improvise. If they were to last against an assault of highly trained and experienced soldiers, they would need a better plan.
*bssh bsssh t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-- chk chk*
Hakeem heard the sound of the mounted machine guns on the distant posts. 'Well those might work, if we take out the eventual retake attempt...'
"We'll attack on my signal..." Hakeem turned to Amirul and notified him. Hakeem then proceeds to walk towards the most isolated post near them.
"Hey, where are you going?" Amirul asks Hakeem.
"To do something dumb!" Hakeem did not look back as he continued.
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"This job is getting more boring by day." An empirial soldier says to his friend.
"We're gunning down cowards. What do you expect? If you really want some excitement then transfer to the Baltic Sea." His friend responded to the whining.
"No thank you, I don't like swimming." He says as he slumps onto his chair.
"Then get to work!" The empirial soldier yelled to his lazy friend.
"It's not my shift to gun them, I'm taking a nap." The lazy soldier pulled down his cap and immediatly fell asleep.
"You lazy son of b-" His words were cut short when Hakeem came up behind him and covered his mouth. Hakeem proceeds to slit the soldier's neck and silently lays him down.
Hakeem looked towards the soldier who fell asleep and raised his rifle. He took the shot and the sleeping soldier motionly falls towards the ground. 'At least his body didn't splatter like the last one.' Hakeem thought as he moved towards a window.
"Oi! Come over. It's safe now!" Hakeem screamed and waved his arms.
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"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Amirul said as walked towards Hakeem.
"What?" Hakeem asked since he does not know what he did wrong.
"What is wrong? Look around you! Everyone died in really terrible ways. I know they're our enemies but shit... That guy there is missing his lower half!" Amirul pointed towards a soldier that had his body stuck in between the gears of the mounted artillery.
"He noticed the thing stopped firing and saw me kill someone, I couldn't get my knife out of the dead body and my rifle is too heavy to lift that fast. So I'd just pushed him. Into the gears..." Hakeem explained himself.
"...what in the world have to been through?" Amirul ask Hakeem as he moved towards the artillery to remove the dead body in hopes that the artillery might still work.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"..." Hakeem did not say anything and went towards one of the trucks in the post.
"10 of you get a gun from any dead soldier and get on. We're going to take out the artillery of other one on our left then move towards the right to do the same. The rest check the ground level there should be an armoury, so get armed. Don't worry if there is not enough, we're also going to loot the other post." Hakeem explained what he had in mind.
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"I think that's all of them!" One of the volunteer said as he turns towards Hakeem.
Hakeem instead raised his rifle and took a shot, the mana bullet barely missed the volunteer and instead hits the presumed dead soldier behind him.
"No, that guy was still alive. Don't just check their breathing. You need to make sure there's no pulse. He made a sigh of relieve when you moved away from him." Hakeem told the volunteer.
The volunteer just stood there in shock of the bullet that brazed by his head.
"We're done."
"Okay!" Hakeem yelled. He then turns towards the volunteer. "Come on let's go..." He noticed that the volunteer was still in shock.
"You... you purposedly let that lived?" Hakeem asked the volunteer. The volunteer still paralyzed managed to nod.
"Come one. You're a Batak! Fierce warriors who fought against the colonial powers. Take pride in that. In this war, you have to fight the empire who are attacking and killing your people." Hakeem told the Batak youth. "Look, if you can't take a life. Then, go home." Hakeem continues.
Hakeem exits the room leaving the youth.
"I- I will save her..." The youth says silently.
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*boom*
The truck left after they've finished looting the third post. The second time went as well as the first one and they managed to loot it fully, but the second and third got out of hand really quickly and the group were forced to charge in and attack. As a result, 2 people died but they had to move on.
They moved the explosives they found the armoury of each post towards the artillery and shot at it from a distance.
"I think that is enough. Let's head back." Hakeem says as he drove towards the first post.
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"Oh god... I miss calculated." Hakeem saw that the empirial loyalist already noticed the first one was taken over and already started an assault to retake it.
"EVERYONE SWITCH TO AUTO-FIRE MODE! I'M GOING TO DRIVE THROUGH." Hakeem screamed to the back.
The empirial soldiers at the back noticed the truck and thought it was reinforcements but soon realized that it was not slowing down. They still didn't open fire thinking it was some sort of plan but they quickly threw away that thought when the people on the back fired at them.
*p-tink*
The bullets hits the front of the truck. But Hakeem didn't slow it down and instead increased his speed.
"APPROACHING THE ATTACK LINE! I'M GOING TO RUN THEM OVER! BRACE YOURSELVES!" Hakeem told the back of the truck.
Soon enough the amounts of gun shot coming from the back slowly dim down with the occasional short bursts.
*thwack* *thwack* *thwack*
"AHHH!"
'Oh god, that sounded terrible.' Hakeem continues to drive towards the base while the empirial loyalist were shooting at them. But instead of the people being welcomed by the base, they instead started to open fire upon them. 'Oi. It's us you dumbass!' Hakeem didn't take this into thought at first but now they were being shot by their own allies. He then opens the side window and poke his head out praying that the bullets won't hit him.
"STOP SHOOTING! IT'S US!" Hakeem screamed at the top of his lungs. And thankfully the bullets that were shooting at them came to a stop. They were still being shot at back so Hakeem pressed onwards and reached the base.
Hakeem got out of the truck and so did the 8 people at the back. "Hand out the looted guns to those with old ones. We need to reinforce our lines!" The 8 people started handing out guns while Hakeem walked towards Amirul. "Hey! How many casualties?" Hakeem demanded to know.
"Thanks to you! Nearly 200 of us died! Where were you?!" Amirul was furious at Hakeem. They suffered heavy losses, and the morale dropped down low.
"I was taking out the artirelly nearby, they could have shot at us from that distance." Hakeem explained his lateness.
"Have they managed to surround us?" Hakeem asked Amirul wanting to know the situation.
"No, the there is still a gap at the back-" Amirul told Hakeem who interrupted him.
"I WANT 200 TO COME WITH ME! WE'RE GOING TO MOVE TOWARDS TO THE CITY AND OPEN UP A LINE FOR THE CIVILLIANS!" Hakeem screamed loud enough that even amidst the chaos, his voice could be heard clearly.
"What?! Are you insane? That's nearly half of the people here!" Amirul yelled.
*trut* *TRUT* *TRUT*
"We don't have much of a choice! We need to save those people still trapped in that raging inferno!" Hakeem pointed towards the burning city.
"You and the rest here have to advance southwards. Secure that empty gap! Make sure we have a safe way out" Hakeem told Amirul as he and the 200 men moved towards the city.
*Thwack*
"Man down!"
Amirul turned around and faced south. He could see the soldiers trying to close the gap. 'Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.' He cursed in his mind as he got a weapon from the truck.
"Men! See that gap? We have to move a lot of people so secure it so that the civillians could escape safely!" He yelled towards the leftover men.
"Come on! Your families depends on it! MOVE OUT!!" He and around 100 people moved towards the gap to ensure that the empirial loyalist won't successfully surround them.