"CONTACT! Eleven o'clock. Requesting air support."

The Commander sounds distant. It's as if I listened to him through a thick blanket pulled over my head. Yeah. A blanket would be nice, and a good night's sleep.

I haven't had one of those in a while. Patrolling the Red Sea with all the terrorist threats means long, stressful shifts. My vision is foggy too, and the bullet knocked the air out of my lungs.

For whatever reason, it makes me calm. Before the shot, I had all kinds of intrusive thoughts, what will happen now that the Russians are here? Now that I know the answer, it's not that bad.

Well, it isn't great either. It must have been a Dragunov SVD, 7.62x54R because it hit hard, and might even crack a rib. I'm lucky it bounced off.

An armor-piercing round would have punched straight through a Level III otherwise.

"Roosevelt Actual, come in. Requesting immediate support." The Commander yells, but the only response is static.

As my hearing clears out, there are whipcracks of bullets flying everywhere. The air smells of gunpowder. When did I lay down? It shouldn't have hit that hard. And what is this buzzing?

As adrenaline floods my brain, it suppresses the pain, and I'm able to assess the situation. They shot me, but I'm alive for now. Let's make sure it stays that way.

What about the civilians? The little girl — Athena — still holds my hand and looks calm.

Her grey eyes are curious and calculating. These aren't the eyes of an eight-year-old, but there is no time to analyze them.

The hunter and the cop are already gone, the only reminder of them is the hunter's pouch. He shook it at us when we landed, and it was full of birdshot.

Where did they go? How long was I down? The Commander is still wrestling with the radio, so it's only a few seconds. It's not enough to run away, it's better to say, they disappeared.

Good for them. Shit. I only have a Beretta M9, and we're in the open. The rural dirt road has a short stone fence on both sides and now that I'm on the ground, it gives me some cover.

The enemy remains hidden behind the trees, they ambushed us in this dense forest. They didn't hesitate, no limited engagement or any of that bullshit. They shot me on sight.

This means they knew what they signed up for. They came determined. But why? This will be a question for another time. I have to make sure the girl is safe.

The SEALs aren't lazing around either, and their M27s return fire. Even with the suppressors, they're louder than whatever the Russians have. But their sounds come from closer and closer.

"Nerd, you good?" The Commander finally notices me on the ground. He doesn't even bat an eye at the girl, as if she weren't even there. I cough, but there's no blood in it.

My eyesight clears up too, and I spot something urgent before answering him. I draw my M9 and fire, no warnings. It spooks the Commander quite a bit.

I'd spook myself too, since I aim two inches to the side of his face. He doesn't know I'm a great shot, to him it's a shell-shocked dude pointing a gun at his head.

But if that's what it takes to down that FPV drone closing in fast, that's what I'll do. It carries a grenade, and a lucky hit sets it off in the air, too far for the shrapnel to cause us damage.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

The SEAL's eyes go wide when he finally realizes what happened.

"Fucking hell, Nerd. Nice shot, but don't do that again."

"It's still Odysseus King, Sir." I spit it out between a few more coughs. My magazine is empty, it took all my 9mm bullets to knock that one drone out, and there are already two more.

"Men down!"

"Sniper, one o'clock."

"Come on, Nerd, we gotta move." The Commander drags me up, refusing to use my real name.

I'll forgive him if I can get a gun. Anything will do. Oh, but before that.

"What about the civilians?!" I raise the little hand I still hold, or at least I would, but it's gone.

"What civilians? We turned them back at the edge of the forest, remember? Now focus, if you want to stay alive." That's not right, she was here, holding my hand.

And the pouch with the birdshot. It shouldn't be so near if that hunter didn't come with us. It's in my hands now, I thought it was her hand. When did I grab it?

Right. The drones. The birdshot could work, but I need a shotgun for that.

"Take out the drones, or they'll blow us up together with our cover." The Commander moves on, barking orders left and right.

One of the SEALs wasn't as lucky as me when he got shot. Blood everywhere. It's still squirting from his neck artery, even though he's already dead.

A bullet ripped through his backpack too, the contents spilling on the ground.

Shaped charges. He was a breaching specialist. They have a Masterkey — an under-barrel shotgun attachment you can put on the M4s and M27s.

It should be here somewhere, and he had a carbine too. Sorry, buddy, I need that more than anything. It's strange how calm I am after they shot me in the chest and bullets flying all over.

I had to analyze many situations like this as a staff officer on the deck of the USS Roosevelt. Advising teams or tracking the incoming data taught me that time is key in those situations.

The only difference now is that it all happens around me, and I'm not in the safe battle station onboard the carrier. Well, panic would only kill me anyway.

"Bingo." He had a Masterkey in the backpack. Clipping it on the M27 with all the modular SOPMOD attachments only takes two minutes.

The breaching rounds were already loaded, that's unsafe.

It could cost his rank if he weren't dead already.

I unload them into one of my many pockets and slide in the birdshot once the attachment is secure. The drones still look for targets, floating high above us, but one goes into a dive.

These rounds are only effective at twenty-thirty yards, so I have to wait until it comes closer, then BAM. Clean out of the sky. It feels much safer that I have a proper gun now.

But I better crouch behind the stone wall before the sniper finds me again.

"Íxera óti boreís na to káneis, aftí i iremía eínai aftó pou mou arései se séna." # I knew you could do it, this calmness is what I like about you. # Athena whispers, hugging me from behind.

What the hell? She wasn't here a moment ago.

But as I turn to look at the little girl, I notice someone trying to flank our position. He has a Russian uniform and an SMG pointed at us. Fuck.

I push down the girl and step in front of her before I can raise my carbine to respond.