Belinea

by Andrew Mack

  Taz was in the treeline. All he could see was the back of the Ambassador and the two guards looking around for anything unusual. Taz adjusted his scope a bit, relaxed his muscles, and squeezed the trigger.

  Trujillo saw the flash of light come from the trees. In a second, there was another flash from the explosion hitting Bird’s condo. It was immediately followed by a deafening boom. Everyone on the detail stopped. The DAG soldiers rushed to Bird and got him on the ground. Trujillo, Tunsall, and Orlando started running towards the explosion. Trujillo was first in line running along the path.

  The explosion from the rocket shattered the window in front of Willits and Jones. They were lying on the floor, with broken glass all over them and Ambassador Yi’s condo. Willits looked at Jones and said, “You alright?”

  Jones reached for his side pistol and said, “Yeah, what the fuck was that?”

  Willits reached for his side pistol and said, “That was a handheld rocket launcher. Ready…”

  Jones nodded, and both started blindly shooting through the window frame across the foggy treeline some twenty meters towards where the rocket came from.

  Trujillo, still running with Tunsall and Orlando, who were about five meters behind him on the path, saw a few people in the treeline firing at a condo. He stopped about ten meters from Bird’s condo, which was now in flames. In front of the doors were the remains of the three dead bodies, including Yi, all charbroiled and still on fire. Trujillo could hear rounds coming from the condo that was fifteen meters down from Bird’s. Pistols from the condo followed by rifles from the treeline. Trujillo took out his rifle and began firing at the treeline from where the rocket came from. Tunsall and Orlando stopped right behind him and started doing the same.

  Some of Taz’s soldiers now began to fire upon Trujillo, Tunsall, and Orlando. Trujillo could see through the trees that whoever shot that handheld rocket launcher was reloading. He looked closer and could barely make out it was Taz. Trujillo, not knowing who was in the condo, decided Taz was an enemy of everyone. He yelled at the top of his lungs, “He’s reloading!! Get out of that condo!!!”

  Willits and Jones looked at each other confused. Willits said, “Was that Trujillo?”

  Trujillo yelled again, “Now!!!!”

  Willits and Jones took one last look before Willits went through the door, and Jones went out the window. Jones took a round in the shoulder and rolled down the path. Willits took three steps on to the path and jumped into a creek in front of the condo. Trujillo, Tunsall, and Orlando kept firing, laying down recovery fire. Taz launched the rocket a second later, and it exploded Yi’s condo.

  The firing stopped for a second, as the dust and flames settled from Yi’s condo, which was now on fire. Willits was laying in the creek, but managed to roll over and get behind a tree. He yelled across the flames still coming from Bird’s condo. “Trujillo?”

  Trujillo looked over at Tunsall before he yelled, “Willits?”

  Willits yelled, “Bird safe?!”

  Trujillo yelled back, “Yeah. I got Tunsall and Lieutenant Orlando.”

  A few more shots fired around them, but again, visibility was poor because of the fog. After ten seconds, Willits yelled, “Jones?”

  Jones had crawled over and gotten behind a pine tree. Sitting with his back against the tree, he had blood coming from his shoulder wound. Clearly in pain, he yelled, “I will live.”

  Willits yelled again, “Trujillo, ready?”

  Trujillo said, “For?”

  Willits said not quite as loud, but just loud enough for Trujillo, Tunsall, and Orlando to hear him. “Our turn….”

  Willits stood up and came out, firing his side pistol. Trujillo, Tunsall, and Orlando did the same as they got up with their rifles. They crossed over the flames of Bird’s condo and saw Willits, who was in a full sprint up the path. Willits passed Jones, who was struggling to get up from his wound. Willits weaved in and out of the walkway path. Through the trees, up and down, he finally got to a clearing where he could see forty meters ahead of him. Taz and his soldiers were running the other direction. Willits stopped and shot at them, barely missing. One of Taz’s soldiers stopped, turned around, and began shooting at Willits, causing him to jump behind a tree. When he got up, he looked over at the door of one of the condo’s and saw an explosive device in front of it beeping.

  The firing stopped as Trujillo, Tunsall, and Orlando came running up. Trujillo looked over at the door and saw the same thing. He asked, “What is that?”

  Willits responded, “Probably their exit strategy.”

  Jones looked at Tunsall and said, “Grab it.”

  Tunsall said, “Are you kidding?”

  Jones replied, “No. Throw it into the trees.”

  Very reluctantly, Tunsall grabbed the bomb and chucked it into the trees. Willits then said, “Come on.”

  They continued to run up the path, which split into two, a right and left fork. Willits said, “Orlando, Tunsall, go with Jones that way. Trujillo, come with me.

  Tunsall, taking off down the left fork, was in front of Orlando, followed by Jones, who was struggling along with his damaged shoulder. When they got to a hill, Tunsall and Orlando could see forty meters to the bottom.

  Matching the surroundings, a thirty-meter high, five-meter wide tower, all in green camouflage, stood at the bottom. The tower was in the middle of a clearing that had twenty pads. BRG soldiers ran to the eight attack Valkyries still on the ground while the other twelve were already airborne flying above the treeline towards the blazing condos. Next to the Tower were four small buildings that provided housing for BRG soldiers. Tunsall could see two of Taz’s soldiers talking to a BRG officer. One of them pointed at Tunsall and Orlando. The officer yelled, “Up there!”

  At that moment, twenty armed BRG officers whipped their rifles around and began shooting to the top of the hill. Tunsall, Orlando, and now Jones, who had just come up from the rear, all took cover behind the trees. Orlando yelled, “Why are they shooting at us?”

  Two armed Valkyries circled back around, hovering above them. They began shooting down on the three of them. Orlando yelled, “Shit, any ideas?”

  Tunsall yelled, “Drop your weapons.”

  Jones yelled, “Are you fucking crazy?”

  Tunsall yelled, “No way we shoot ourselves out. Drop them, put your hands up.

  After a couple of seconds, they could hear more soldiers coming up the hill. Reluctantly, Orlando threw his rifle onto the path after Tunsall did it. Jones immediately followed by throwing out his pistol. All three soldiers got up and put their hands on their heads. Tunsall kept repeating, “Do not shoot, we are unarmed. Do not shoot, we are unarmed.”

  One of the BRG soldiers, with his rifle pointed right at them, yelled, “Get your hands up!”

  Orlando yelled back, “They are up, asshole! The culprits are getting away!!!”

  One of the BRG officers punched Orlando right in the stomach, causing him to fall over. He said, “Shut up!”

  Tunsall yelled, “That is a DAG officer. We were guarding an Ambassador when the rockets exploded.”

  Another BRG officer, who was now pointing his rifle right at Tunsall, said, “Sure you were.”

  Two of Taz’s soldiers that went left on the fork had just taken off in a medical TC. A mere three meters above the ground with all four rotor blades pointing upwards, the medic asked the soldier, “Alright Commander, where are you hurt?”

  Taz’s soldier, disguised as an SS officer, said, “Here…”

  He took a dagger out and stabbed the medic in the chest. The pilot turned around, but it was too late as the other soldier had sliced his throat. He dragged him out of the pilot’s chair and climbed in himself.

  Trujillo and Willits continued another kilometer down the right fork of the path winding through the trees. They could occasionally see two soldiers and Taz, still
running, sometimes shooting back. The track had circled back to the BRG base, on the other side of the landing pads opposite where Tunsall, Orlando, and Jones were being held. Taz and his two soldiers waited. The medical TC his other soldiers had taken over was descending upon them. One of the soldiers was on a knee, scoping the area behind them. As Trujillo got forty meters away, he lined up his rifle and took a quick shot that went straight through his head. The other soldier whipped around and fired at Trujillo. He was met with more rounds from Willits side pistol. As the medical TC next to them landed, Taz and his soldier jumped in. Taz grabbed a tablet from his backpack.

  On the other side of the BRG base, Orlando, Jones, and Tunsall had been escorted down the hill. Approaching the base, they still had their hands on top of their head. They stopped next to a refueling truck parked at the edge of the forest. Ten armed BRG officers were still yelling at them to “Shut up, get down, make a move, and I will kill you,....”

  Tunsall, Jones, and Orlando kept yelling at them. “We are DAG, you are letting them get away, check with your other officers.”

  Finally, Tunsall, who was looking off to the side, noticed a bomb sitting next to the refueling truck. Tunsall yelled, “Hey assholes, that’s a bomb over there!”

  The BRG officer that was guarding him pointed a rifle in his face. Never attempting to look for the bomb, he yelled back, “Shut the fuck up before I make you shut up.”

  The other BRG officer was holding his earpiece more closely now and said, “You got Ambassador Bird safe? Copy that, please.”

  Another few seconds went by before he spoke again “Yi is dead, as are two DAG soldiers. The rest of his detail went into pursuit down the path. Copy that. Can you give me the name of the head of his detail?”

  Orlando was standing but with his hands on top of his head. He looked at the BRG officer with the earpiece having this conversation and said, “It’s Orlando asshole.”

  The BRG officer listened to his earpiece and then dropped his rifle. He then looked at the rest of his soldiers and said, “These are not our guys…”

  Another BRG officer asked, “Then who were those SS soldiers?”

  Orlando had enough. He said, “The enemy, you dumbass!”

  Another BRG officer said, “Cool it. We need to work together..”

  Meanwhile, Jones had gotten up and started to walk towards the parked Valkyrie. Tunsall looked at the guy guarding him and said, “You still got a bomb over here, shitheads….”

  The BRG soldier guarding Tunsall walked right up to him and said, “I do not care who you are. Nobody talks like that to…”

  But Tunsall cut him off and head-butted him right in the nose. He then punched him in the gut, took the rifle out of his hands, and with the back end, struck him across the head, causing him to fall. Four BRG soldiers immediately pointed their rifles at Tunsall. Because of Tunsall’s ruckus, Jones had jogged to the Valkyrie, practically unnoticed. As he climbed into the Valkyrie, Jones yelled, “Tunsall….”

  It caused all the BRG soldiers to look over at Jones, but still keeping their rifles on Tunsall. Jones climbed into the pilot seat of the Valkyrie. Tunsall, still holding the rifle he had taken out of the BRG soldier’s hands, looked at another soldier. He tossed it in the air toward him, and said, “Fuck it.”

  Tunsall immediately took four quick steps toward the back of the Valkyrie. One of the BRG officers shot a round into the air, trying to stop him by scaring him. Tunsall pulled the hook attached to the cable on the back of the Valkyrie. He took three steps back to where the bomb was and hooked it onto the cable. The BRG soldier that shot the round into the air yelled, “Stop!”

  Tunsall raised his hand and waved at Jones. He yelled, “Go!”

  Jones saw Tunsall wave through the rearview mirror and pulled down on the throttle. Another BRG soldier yelled, “What are you doing?”

  Jones had the Valkyrie one meter off the ground, dragging the bomb behind him from a two-meter cord.

  On the other side of the base, Taz kept the door open on the medical TC as the soldier next to him picked up his rocket launcher. He aimed it back at the surface, where Willits was shooting his pistol. Taz was hitting buttons on his display while the soldier fired the rocket launcher. As the rocket soared towards Willits, he jumped to take cover. The explosion sent him flying in the air towards the trees.

  Jones never got the Valkyrie more than two meters off the ground. As he accelerated across the pads, away from the BRG soldiers, he flipped the Valkyrie in reverse and spun. He hit the lever on the hook dragging the bomb, which uncoupled and rolled into the forest.

  Inside the medical TC, Taz hit one last button on his tablet, and all the bombs went off at once. The two in the forest next to the Ambassadors condos and the third one that Jones just sent rolling into the woods. The bombs caused a massive explosion, a fireball forty meters high. As the Medical TC began to climb higher, Trujillo got on one knee and aimed his rifle. He kept firing on the rotor blades of the TC until he finally connected on one. He switched aim and hit another blade, causing the Medical Rotor Rover to spin and spiral towards the ground. The pilot managed to pull up at the last second and crash land it.

  The Medical TC was slightly on fire, smoke pouring out of it. Jones had gotten out of his Valkyrie and started walking to the crash site thirty meters away. Tunsall grabbed the rifle he tossed on the ground and started running toward the crash site as well. Several BRG officers followed, still in awe over the explosions. From the other side of the crash site, Trujillo began walking towards it, thirty meters away, rifle drawn. After a moment, the door to the Medical TC opened up, and Taz walked out. Bleeding through his red suit, he took out his ring and made it into a diamond. Trujillo, Jones, and Tunsall all stopped at once. The eyes on all three of them got huge. They turned around and yelled, “BACK UP!”

  Taz let the diamond fire blade go over his neck. He got on both knees. A couple of BRG soldiers did not back up. They broke out their rifles and tried to shoot Taz. Taz took a deep breath, and the firewall came out, going in every direction, forty meters around him. Jones had taken shelter behind his Valkyrie. Tunsall had gotten behind the Tower. Trujillo had made it back to the forest and got behind a tree. The fire extended for fifteen seconds before it stopped. The four BRG officers caught in the wake burned to a crisp. The ten that had listened to Jones, Tunsall, and Trujillo had managed to take cover, the worst only getting minor burns. Taz stood up and looked around.

  A ship appeared from the sky. It was breaking through the fog. Taz, delighted to see it, was convinced this was his way out. The ship came down and landed ten meters from Taz’s crashed Medical TC. Smoke, from the crashed TC to Taz’s fireball, seemed to be everywhere. Combined with the fog, the entire area was a smokey blur. As the dust settled, Malovex walked down the opening ramp from the ship.

  In his all-black robes, Malovex continued towards Taz. Malovex grabbed his ring and suddenly stopped. He had an instant flashback to Serpia, twenty years prior. It was a clear vision, as if he was looking into a cockpit, he could see the controls. He could see the helmet, a reflection in the glass, and hands moving frantically, shooting. Malovex continued to keep his eyes close, not moving. In the vision, he could see the troubling flight through the cockpit glass, everything moving in a flash of light. Ground artillery fire and explosions went off right next to the craft, but it barrel rolled out of it. And for a quick second, he could see the eyes in the reflection. Just as quickly, the eyes blinked, and the vision disappeared.

  Malovex opened his eyes, and Taz was still in front of him. Only a few seconds had passed. He extended his ring to a silvery sword and continued towards Taz. Taz raised both his arms. His fire blade was a dagger, and he did not bother extending it to a saber. As Malovex kept getting closer, the speed of his steps increased. Taz caught off guard by the whole thing, took a step back. Taz extended his dagger into a fire sword just as Malovex was running toward
him. It caused Taz to go reeling back with a swing, as Malovex struck him with an overhead blow. Taz defended it with his blade, as the two connected. One with a fire blade, the other with a thin silvery sword.

  They continued their fight, blow for blow, Back and forth they went. At one point, Malovex got Taz on the ground. As he was ready to strike, he put his blade up and made a stream of fire. It set Malovex’s hair ablaze as he narrowly missed it. When he went to swing, Taz rolled over and got another stream of fire off, this time blocked by Malovex, making a two-foot wide shield with his sword. Taz got to his feet, and the striking continued. Back and forth they went. Taz finally got Malovex on the floor. When he went for the striking blow, Malovex made a semi-circle ring with his sword around his body. Taz’s flaming saber connected with it, but it did not penetrate his semi-circle shield. Malovex kicked out Taz’s foot, causing him to stumble, which allowed Malovex to jump back to his feet.

  The two continued to exchange blows. First, Malovex had a long narrow strike with his extending sword. It did not connect, as it just missed Taz’s head. Then Taz tried a fire burst that burned Malovex’s hands. They took a few seconds catching their breath, Malovex flip-flopping his sword between his burnt hands, Taz pacing around him with his fire saber. They went back at it, blow after blow. This continued for another thirty seconds until Malovex watched Taz lunge. Malovex stepped sideways and rolled over on his shoulder. When he came out, he was sideways with Taz, slightly behind him. He swung and slashed him across both calves.

  Taz fell to the floor. Malovex took a step forward after the swing, and then another one. Taz rolled over, unable to get up. Malovex took a step to the side and turned around. He was now facing Taz, standing in front of him almost two meters away. Malovex went for the striking blow, but Taz, closing his eyes, held up his fire saber, and it let out a stream of fire one meter wide. Malovex had taken a step before his crushing blow and had managed in one clean motion to flip over Taz. When Malovex had landed, he was behind Taz, sword drawn. Taz was finishing his fire stream. When he opened his eyes, he couldn’t see Malovex until it was too late. Malovex had positioned his sword in between Taz’s helmet and chest armor. From behind Taz’s head, he kept extending his silvery sword until it pierced through his neck, just above the chest. Taz began to wiggle during his dying moments.