by Steven Bird
“Here,” he said. “Use both hands. Climb up behind me. Stay close.”
Doing as she was told, Britney felt with her hands and climbed up the strange, limestone formations. She could feel the breeze getting stronger the higher she went. “That’s fresh air,” she said, her excitement beginning to build.
When Yuri reached the top, he climbed through the small opening and turned around, reaching for Britney’s hand, saying, “Here, I help you.”
As Britney reached out into the darkness in search of Yuri’s hand, her heart skipped a beat as a large hand grabbed her around the ankle, jerking her violently down the rock formation she had just struggled to climb.
Britney’s head bounced off the limestone, nearly knocking her unconscious, and she felt her body slide down the damp stone surface, being pulled by one of them in the darkness.
“No!” Yuri shouted as he quickly climbed through the hole and began sliding down the limestone toward Britney and her abductor.
Scurrying to his feet, Yuri saw a figure to his left through the green image of the night vision. The figure drew back and swung a long object at him. Realizing the object was an axe, Yuri dropped and dodged. Barely getting out of the way in time, he felt the blade graze his forehead, causing blood to spill into his uncovered eye.
Leaping toward the figure to mitigate the risk of the axe by getting in close, Yuri tackled him, taking him to the floor. Grasping the axe handle, Yuri forced it to the figure’s neck and began blocking his attacker’s airway by bearing down on the axe with all his weight, while his profusely bleeding head wound dripped onto his opponent’s face, momentarily obscuring the beast’s vision.
He suddenly felt the axe handle lower several more inches into his fur-clad attacker’s throat as it weakened from strangulation. Along with the feeling of movement in the axe handle, Yuri felt the distinctive crunch of the figure’s trachea, and the fight left its body.
Hearing Britney’s screams grow more distant, Yuri stood up, now holding the axe with both hands, and began running through the cavern in pursuit. The water running along the floor of the cave splashed beneath his feet as he ran as hard as he could to her aid.
Hearing Yuri’s charge, the large figure released Britney and turned toward Yuri, raising a weapon of some sort toward him. With no time to act, Yuri swung the axe, connecting with the figure just as a deafening blast erupted from the figure’s weapon.
Staggering backward, Yuri was stunned and overcome with a burning sensation as he felt a warm, wet substance begin to run down his side.
Hearing his attacker thump onto the cave floor, Yuri snapped back into the moment as he saw Britney’s attacker lying still and lifeless. His axe had struck a fatal blow to her abductor’s chest, smashing through his sternum and into his heart.
“Are you okay?” Britney shouted, her ears ringing from the report of the muzzle blast in the tight confines of the cave.
“Get gun,” Yuri said, wincing in pain.
Quickly picking the gun up off the floor of the cave, Britney handed it to Yuri, who immediately identified it as a sawed-off Mossberg 500 pump shotgun.
“Hurry. We go now,” Yuri grunted through the pain as he reached out in the darkness and took Britney’s hand.
Pulling her back toward the source of the breeze, Yuri stopped at the body of the figure he had strangled to death with the axe. He started to bend over to inspect the figure, but the pain in his side was too great.
“Search body for weapons, and take optics from head,” he instructed, tugging her hand in the direction of the corpse.
Doing as Yuri had asked, Britney knelt down and began feeling around. She was startled at first by the fur that covered the man from head to toe. It felt as if he was a beast of some sort, more than a man. Opening what seemed to be the front of a fur coat, she felt around and located the man’s belt. Running her hands around the belt, she located a large, fixed-blade knife in a sheath. She drew the knife from the sheath and placed it on the ground beside the man.
Continuing her search, feeling her way up the dead man’s body, she reached his face and was started by his open mouth, and wet, blood-soaked beard. She had no idea the blood was from Yuri’s gaping head wound, and simply assumed it was the blood of Yuri’s victim.
Reaching the top of this head, Britney removed the headband that held a monocular optic to the man’s right eye and handed it to Yuri.
“No. You put on,” Yuri urged.
Placing it over her head, Britney found it to be too loose because it had been adjusted for a much a larger person.
“Let me help,” Yuri said softly as he assisted her in snugging it tight, then wiped his blood from the lens.
“I can see!” she exclaimed, excited by her first visions since being brought into the cave. Looking down, she flinched from the ominous sight of the large, bearded man whose face was completely covered in blood.
“Come,” Yuri said. “You carry knife. Let’s go.”
Releasing her hand because she could now see on her own, Yuri led her back to the small opening, where they both climbed up and through, into another chamber, deeper in the cave.
“Breeze is coming from this way,” he noted as he slid down the limestone slope leading down into approximately two feet of cold water below.
“Is not deep. Come,” he said, urging Britney to follow him as she slid down beside him.
Leading her through the tightening confines of the passage, Yuri stopped when he felt the breeze blowing down from above. Looking up, he saw a crevasse that was barely large enough for the two of them to squeeze through and explained, “There. We climb through. Hopefully, it lead to surface.”
Struggling through the pain, Yuri began feeling weakened and dizzy from the combined loss of blood and trauma from his wounds. He wasn’t sure if he was going to make it, unable to take the time to survey the extent of his injuries, but he knew he couldn’t stop until Britney was free from her underground hell.
Boosting herself up to the opening above, Britney climbed feverishly as dirt and debris fell onto Yuri beneath her.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
“Is nothing,” he replied, attempting to smile.
Once she had climbed several more feet, Yuri heard her say the beautiful words, “Stars! I see stars!”
“Go! Climb free. I follow,” he insisted, struggling through the horrific pain of his side and his throbbing head wound.
Once Britney was outside the cave, she reached down and took Yuri by the hand, pulling, trying her best to help him reach the freedom and the fresh air of the surface above.
Crawling free of the opening between the rocks, Yuri surveyed their surroundings, and he heard Britney begin to cry tears of joy. Seeing the relief and pure elation on her face, he looked up and said in his native language, “Спасибо господин.”
“What does that mean?” she asked softly.
“Thank you, Lord,” he replied.
Chapter Twenty-One
Working their way through the darkness of the woods, Q looked up at the sky and saw that the moon was about to be obscured by a broken layer of clouds that was starting to form.
“Great,” he grumbled. “That’s the only light we have.”
“We’ll be okay,” Carl responded. “How about we try to reach the others with the radio. We need to link back up in a bad way. I don’t like being separated out there.”
“Good idea,” Q said conceded, reaching for the radio. “Ah, hell,” he grumbled as he felt around his belt where the radio had previously been clipped.
“What?”
“The damn radio. I… I can’t find it. Dammit to hell! I must have lost it back there somewhere when we had to crash through those briars in a hurry.”
“Well…” Carl said, pausing to collect his thoughts. “Let’s just keep moving. By the way, do you reckon the guys were actually engaging back there, or just running interference for us?”
“I’d like to think they engaged and
won,” Q replied. “But who the hell knows? Regardless, it got us out of a bind, and I thank them for that.” Pausing to look around, he said, “C’mon. Let’s go. Just sitting here makes me nervous.”
~~~~
Hunkering down between the trunks of two closely spaced pine trees, Tyrone held the thermal imager to his eye and scanned the area until the unit powered itself down due to lack of battery power. “Damn it,” he said, shoving it back into his pocket.
Retrieving the radio, he hit the vibratory alert button once again. After waiting a few tense moments, he started to send another alert tone just as the ominous sound of a horn bellowed throughout the woods. To his horror, the horn could also be heard transmitting through his radio. Shit, he thought as he frantically clicked the volume knob to the off position. Remaining perfectly still, Tyrone listened as he heard the sounds of movement in the distance behind him. They heard it. Dammit, they heard that damn radio. And if they’ve got Q’s radio…
Clearing the thoughts from his mind to deal with his most immediate threat, Tyrone moved as quietly as he could away from his current position. Doing a low crawl to avoid being seen by the night vision of his mysterious foe, he approached the large cluster of briars and curled up against them at their base, attempting to blend in as part of the terrain. He knew they had the advantage of sight, but he also knew the limitations of non-thermal types of night vision, and hoped he could simply remain out of the picture as they searched the area.
Hearing the sounds of movement coming dangerously close, Tyrone gripped his M4 tightly, preparing to deploy it once a threat target presented itself.
Listening carefully and letting his ears paint the image in his mind, Tyrone identified the sounds of two distinct threats moving through the woods as a team. Come and get me, you bastards.
Hearing them stop at the base of the trees where his radio had transmitted the sound of the horn, he listened for signs that they were communicating, but heard nothing. The two figures working their way toward him in the darkness were separating from each other, one working its way quietly downhill to his right, and the other working its way across and above him.
Realizing they were trying to box him in, Tyrone decided to take the fight to them before they could get themselves into the positions they sought. Raising his rifle and approximating the location of the threat up the hill from him, as Tyrone began to fire, he heard a large figure crashing through the dead branches and vegetation behind him.
Caught off guard when the blade of an axe came crashing down through the briars, Tyrone rolled over on this back in an effort to employ his rifle against the threat.
Blocking the axe with his rifle, Tyrone nearly lost his grip from the impact as the rifle thumped into his chest, with the blade of the axe missing him by a mere inch.
When the axe-wielding figure raised the axe to take another swing, Tyrone quickly rolled away while his uphill pursuer came charging down the hill toward him.
Hearing the crack of a 5.56 NATO round behind him, Tyrone fired twice at the charging threat, failing to stop him because the attacker was nearly upon him.
Approximating the location of the figure’s head in the failing light of the moon, Tyrone quickly fired two more shots, whipping the assailant’s head back, and dropping him to the ground.
Scurrying to his knees, Tyrone looked to his immediate left to see that the axe-wielding man was lying face down in the dirt, having been shot in the back by an unknown source.
Hearing the familiar signal from his group, Tyrone shouted, “I’m good!” just as he noticed the other attacker, who had moved downhill, charging toward him.
“I’ve got him!” Carl’s voice shouted from the darkness just before a series of gunshots erupted from both Carl and the attacker.
Momentarily night-blinded by the series of muzzle flashes, Tyrone struggled to focus through the spots in his eyes while the attacker continued his charge up the hill.
Sending six rapid-fire shots into the barely visible figure, Tyrone watched as the large man dropped to the ground with a thud. Immediately turning toward Carl, Tyrone saw no one there.
“Carl!” he shouted, hearing no response.
“Friendly!” Q yelled as he rushed toward Tyrone’s location.
Tyrone watched as Q stopped short and knelt down to look closely at something on the ground.
With the spots of color in his eyes from the muzzle flashes in the darkness beginning to clear, Tyrone could see Q and quickly moved to join up with him.
Reaching Q’s side, Tyrone dropped to his knees at the sight of Carl’s lifeless body lying in a contorted position, having taken a round directly through the neck. “Son of a bitch,” he growled as he placed a hand on his dear friend. “He took one for me,” he said, wiping a tear from his eye.
“Any of us would have, brother. That’s what we do. He died well,” Q proclaimed, regaining his composure. “Now, c’mon. This ain’t over. More are on the move behind me. We’ve gotta go.”
~~~~
Hearing the sounds of gunfire, Daryl exclaimed, “They’re on them. Let’s go!” He and Jessie hastily worked their way through the darkness of the thick woods toward what they assumed to be their friends in distress.
“Slow down,” Jessie shouted, having concerns about Daryl’s emotionally-guided, reckless pace.
Seeing no change in Daryl’s charge, Jessie followed, keeping a keen eye out on their surroundings, hoping Daryl’s desire to help his friends wouldn’t lead them right into the hands of their enemies.
Ducking beneath a low hanging tree branch, Daryl straightened and continued to run, only to feel an arm clothesline him in the throat, taking him off his feet and smashing him to the ground with a heavy thud.
Looking up, trying to make sense of his situation, Daryl saw the reflection of a blade from the moonlight as the clouds drifted on, allowing its light to shine down on them once again. Daryl cringed, expecting the worst, just as he heard Jessie’s voice shout, “It’s us! It’s us!”
“Shit, man!” Q exclaimed, as he pulled back the blade and slid it back into the sheath on his belt. “I almost gutted you,” he said, reaching out his hand and helping Daryl to his feet.
Coughing, Daryl grunted and wheezed, “Damn, man. You took the wind right out of me.”
“Sorry, but you’re a big ol’ burly guy just like them. And that beard, well, at a glance in the dark…”
As Jessie joined up with them, Daryl looked around and saw Tyrone standing a few yards behind Q. “Where’s Carl?” he asked.
Seeing Q look down to the ground, and reading the look on Tyrone’s face, Daryl’s gut tightened as he had realized he’d lost his close friend. Taking a deep breath, Daryl pleaded, “Sam? Where’s Sam? Did you see him up the hill before you were turned back down?”
“No, we didn’t make it to the top before they rousted us,” Q explained. “Thanks for the artillery, by the way. You saved our bacon.”
Seeing the disappointed look on Daryl’s face, Q insisted, “Sam may still be out there. We don’t know anything just yet. Keep the faith, brother.”
“Right,” Daryl sighed, getting a grip on his emotions.
Looking around, Q said, “We can’t keep heading back up the hill and taking hits. We’ve got a mission, and we’ll never achieve it if we keep letting them run us in circles, picking us off one by one. Sam knows the mission. Hopefully, he’s working his way down the hill now. I think we need to press on. We’ll come back for Carl once we’ve secured Nate and the girl.”
“Right on,” Daryl said, nodding in agreement. “You okay, T?” he asked, looking at Tyrone.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Thanks to Carl, I’m fine,” he answered in a solemn tone.
“Were you able to get anything off the ones you encountered?” Jessie asked.
“Tyrone checked out one big guy that came at him with an axe, but he didn’t have anything of added value. We had to move on too quickly to search the others that are dead deeper in the woods. They wer
e still coming down on us.”
“No night vision on that guy, huh?” Daryl asked.
“Unfortunately, no,” Q replied.
Turning to Jessie, Q got the men back in the game, saying, “Lead the way. Let’s get back on track. We need to move in bounds. Let’s double up. Daryl, you move with Jessie, and Tyrone and I will be moving in bounds close behind. One covers and the other moves. We’re in the thick of it here. We have to assume there are eyes on us from all possible angles.”
“Roger that,” Jessie agreed. “You ready, Daryl?”
“Yeah, I’m ready,” Daryl replied.
“Okay, then,” Jessie explained. “It’s not much farther to where I left Nate. We have to work our way down the hill, probably another half mile or so. When it starts to level out, you may come upon a wash. If we follow that wash or at least parallel it as we work our way down, we’ll be in the ballpark.”
“Are there any other details you can give us?” Q asked. “You know, in case we have to find Nate without you?”
“Yes, of course,” Jessie replied. “We made our way to the surface at a large outcrop on the side of a hill. We found a water-carved entrance to the caverns beneath the rocks. Rainwater must have flowed down through the gaps in the rocks and into the hole we climbed out of. We worked our way up the hill and slightly east until we came across a level area where there were several large, downed trees. They looked like they had gone down in a windstorm, maybe a year or so ago. Nate was resting behind the downed trees, just out of sight. You wouldn’t see him unless you walked right up on him. The downed trees provided good visual cover and protection from the wind.”
“Copy that,” Q said with a nod. “Thanks. Now, let’s get on with it.”
Continuing down the hill toward Nate’s location, Q, Tyrone, Daryl, and Jessie covered one another with each bound forward. After advancing, they would stop, listen and observe for signs of trouble before proceeding.