Charlie’s training took over and his gun snapped up. He dragged himself in against the truck’s protective cover. ‘Heads up! Blood!’ Swearing greeted him but he wasn’t paying attention. Charlie flicked out the scope in his pocket that he’d yet to attach and clipped it onto his Chisholm. Dropping to one knee he surveyed the area in slow sweeps, back and forth, back and forth, focusing in on more detail each time.

‘Anything?’

‘Nein,’ the reply came. Wasn’t that fucking German?

‘Nothing here.’ That was Baz.

He lowered the scope from his eye and took his first tentative steps forward. They were always the hardest, knowing that somewhere out there, another person might be looking down a scope at you, about to place a coin size impact ring on your forehead, and a bigger-sized one on the back.

‘Lieutenant Simeon, are you on that com? Report contact! Baz, sweep round left, I want to be front side of this truck and covered.’

Charlie moved forward, slowly, then with more surety when his life didn’t flash before his eyes. Behind him, Simeon worked the radio. Click. Click. ‘Base, Copy? Over.’ His limited English was not going to make that conversation an easy one.

Dust and sand settled back to the earth as Charlie approached the first of the blood piles. His insides clenched in shock. Half a man was looking at him from the ground, face fixed in a mask of horror. Charlie gasped in a half breath, but regretted it instantly; the taste was strong and horrid. Rancid meat had a rough smell when roasted in the sun, or exposed to flies and God knew what other creatures might have stopped for the free snack.

‘Baz,’ he wheezed around a breath. ‘You seeing this?’

‘Yeah mate,’ the big Australian replied. ‘It’s a massacre.’

As Charlie extended his eyes outward he was mortified by the extent of the injuries. He wasn’t just looking at a simple killing, a well-placed bullet through the head, or chest; he wasn’t even looking at a savage abdominal wound. It was like something had simply decided that bits of humans didn’t belong together and then proceeded to rend them apart. Bomb victims without the evidence of a bomb. In fact, the only evidence of concussive force was the extent of the mist that spread out from half bodies in metre-long streaks.

But there were footprints. Human footprints, thick tread and heavy enough to press the mingled combination of sand soaked blood and dirt deep into the ground.

‘Haven’t seen shit like this before,’ he said quietly to himself.

‘Corporal Rodgers?’ Simeon queried from behind you. ‘Report!’ Charlie turned to watch him hold out the radio. Really, what good was an officer who couldn’t even speak fucking English?

He walked back through the blood-red sand. There wasn’t any point tiptoeing, it was everywhere and already coating his shoes. Taking the radio, he pushed in the switch and spoke.

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‘Base, we have found the Marines. AWOL is discounted. They are KIA. Repeat, KIA.’

‘Copy that Corporal Rodgers. Total count?’ It was a female voice this time.

Charlie did a quick scan. ‘I can make out at least… I dunno, maybe four partials. There’s a lot of blood. Whoever did this was brutal.’

The radio in his hand, he waited for the reply: ‘Cause of death?’

No fucking idea! ‘Looks like a concussive force, explosives maybe? It’s been raining blood and these bodies are missing pieces… Fuck me...’ He wasn’t sure how to finish that sentence. After thirteen years fighting in a desert he was used to seeing a dead body, hell, he was even used to seeing bomb victims and missing limbs. That just wasn’t what this was though, this was something else entirely.

‘Corporal,’ a male voice came on the line; the General, Charlie assumed. ‘Maintain your decorum soldier. I have your file here.’ Well that was enough said. A warning to pull his head in. Wasn’t like that was the first time though.

‘Yes, Sir.’

‘Corporal, inform the Lieutenant that you are to leave that grid position and make for base ASAP.’

‘Understood, Sir,’ he snapped. He was always good at following orders. ‘But we may be delayed. There is substantial damage to the truck.’

‘Corporal, get that truck out of there now! Consider yourself in extremely hostile territory.’

No shit. ‘Copy.’

He threw the radio back to Simeon who plucked it out of the air with a nod. Baz came back across to him with a raised eyebrow. ‘What’s the game plan?’

‘Get the fuck out. Fast.’

‘Agreed. We taking them with us?’ He indicated the bodies.

‘Only if you can do it before I get this truck started. Grab their chains. We’re hot here and have no defensive perim’. See what you can do to stop anyone taking us from behind while I work my magic on what’s left of the truck.’

Baz nodded and moved off while Charlie turned to Simeon. He was already inspecting the truck they’d driven in on, which Charlie immediately noticed was not going anywhere. Dark coolant was dripping onto the sand and with it the very life of the vehicle. The impact had driven the radiator into the engine block. It reminded him of a job he’d done on his Dad’s pick-up when he was a kid. They were meant to be built to last, yet he’d managed to destroy that and walk away.

‘You know anything about trucks?’ He asked his Lieutenant. Simeon shook his head. Of course he didn’t, he didn’t seem to know nothing about anything.

Charlie sighed and switched his attention to the first truck. While it had been rear-ended and crumpled to a degree, at least the engine hadn’t copped a battering like his own. He yanked the door open and pulled himself into the seat, thankful that standard military procedure was in place. The keys sat, in all their shiny glory, right in the ignition. He cranked it over and it started with a much nicer purr.

‘Sweet!’ Then out the window. ‘Lieutenant, Baz, we’re getting back onto the road, hurry up.’

‘I’ve got tags, but the bodies?’ Shit. Procedure would be to try and recover, but not if they were in danger themselves.

‘Base says to leave ASAP and didn’t mention collection. Let them send out a better equipped team for recovery. We’ve been ordered back in.’

‘Rightio,’ he replied, and jumped into the back of the truck. Simeon pulled himself into the front seat and in the same moment, Charlie kicked the truck into gear and set it out onto the sands trying to ignore bits of body he appeared to be driving over.

‘Shame to leave our other baby without even blowing it up,’ Baz murmured to nobody in particular. ‘She deserved that.’

‘Just lob a grenade as we pass.’

Baz instantly smiled.

‘Kidding, you moron, how do you think Base will like seeing a fireballed truck and no explanation over why? Or you can explain that you’re a pyromaniac. Your choice.’

Charlie put raked the truck back up the dune and put them on the path back.

‘Why did I join the military?’ Baz moaned, ‘they take away all the fun.’

‘Because for some reason they let you have a gun. Now shut the fuck up and let me get us out of this sandy shithole while – ’

His windscreen folded in on itself as a dark shape passed by and sliced it in half.

‘Fuck me. Did you…” Charlie slammed the accelerator to the floor. “Baz! Gun up, we have a hostile!’