The jeep pulled to a stop, Jay and James disembarked, looking at the footprints on the sand. 2 other instructors remained on the jeep. One is prepping a scout drone, the other resting his hands on the FN EVOLYS light machine gun mounted on the vehicle.
Jay bent down, slinging his SIG MCX CSAW rifle to one side, taking a closer look and touching the footprints.
"Fresh, must be our 3 idiots," mused Jay. "There are a 4th and 5th set too, guess they met 2 others."
James raised his Barret MRAD, looking into the Leupold Mark 5 HD scope on his sniper rifle, scanning the area in front of him. Another one took a sentry position.
Meanwhile, the 4 cadets are trying gathered around a quicksand pit. They found Clara who had dropped in, and the 4 are trying to help her
Clara struggled, trying to break free, only for her to be pulled in deeper. The most lethal way quicksand kills people is not by swallowing them however, but rather by trapping them in the sun and letting the heat be the executioner using dehydration or heat stroke.
The clay and water continued to pull Clara in. Internally, Sean commended Clara for her determination, not pulling her smoke dispenser even in such a life-threatening situation.
Sean extended his hand, grabbing her rifle sling, asking her to hold on tight and keep her body flat and pull her legs up towards the surface. Clara did so, he and Giorgio then pulled her out of the quicksand. Louis and Vera kept a lookout, ensuring the instructors did not see them.
Clara's clothes and gear are all muddy, she stood up, heavy.
"Thanks..." she muttered.
"You need to clean the mud and clay off your clothes, if you try to move it is going to rub against your skin and discomfort you with infections, not to mention the heat rashes," said Giorgio, his combat medic expertise talking.
Clara nodded, removing her gear with Vera's help.
"Ahem?" she coughed at Sean, Giorgio and Louis. Understanding her cue, the 2 turned around, backs facing her. Sean also ensured that the Clara's helmet camera is not facing her, and Vera did the same to her helmet cameras.
Clara then took off her clothes, wearing only her underwear, scraping and wringing off the grit with Veral's help, doing it quickly to limit exposing so much skin under the blazing sun to prevent sunburn.
"Damn," joked Vera as Clara dressed. "Your abs are very well developed."
A flustered Clara threw sand at her. "The boys are still here!" she snapped.
Sean, Giorgio and Louis tried their best to hold their laughs, though it was unsuccessful, and then burst out laughing, much to Clara's embarrassment.
"Now what?" asked Giorgio, turning to Sean who is looking through his Vortex Razor LPVO optic, moved to higher magnification.
"Hide, or shoot?" asked Louis.
Vera bit her lips. "They are going to find us sooner or later, I suggest we take a shot," she said, looking into her ELCAN Specter scope on her AK-201, now at 6x magnification.
"Agreed," smiled Sean. "See that tank of water on the jeep?"
Giorgio's face lit up. "Great, let's hope they have food too. I am not eating scorpions, or snakes."
Sean focused. "I got James, Vera take care of the drone, Clara can handle the machine gun since we have magnification optics. You 2 move up closer to Jay and the last instructor."
Louis asked for the strike signal, Clara suggested that they can use the visible lasers on their laser sights. She then flipped up the 3x magnifier on her KAC KS-3, looking into the now magnified Aimpoint Micro 2 red dot sight.
Giorgio nodded, grabbing his HK-416A5 and gestured Louis to follow him as they slowly crawled through the sand, careful to not make any big movements that will catch either the attention of James or the drone. A scorpion appeared in their path; Louis quickly used a wind blade burst to kill it before it can sting Giorgio.
"Thanks," whispered Giorgio. "You got my back?"
"I do," smiled Louis. Giorgio grinned.
The 2 are now close enough. Both raised their HK-416A5s out, Giorgio's left hand on the his angled foregrip, thumb on the pressure switch, ready to activate his LLM Varioray laser. Louis doing the same for his PEQ-16.
"You ready bro?" asked Giorgio.
Louis nodded.
"Go," whispered Giorgio as their lasers illuminated, landing on Jay and the last instructor.
"AMBU—" before the last instructor can react, a burst of automatic firring from Giorgio took him out, yellow smoke rising from his body.
At the same time, 3 shots rang out, head-shotting James, the machine gunner and the drone operator.
Yet Jay has no yellow smoke rising out of him, as Louis messed up, he fired a bit too slow. That split moment gave Jay the time to react when James is hit, he quickly hid behind the jeep, and true to his expertise as an elite Delta Force operator, he had figured out where Sean Clara and Vera's sniper shots came from, and selected his cover such that their vision is obstructed by a big sand dune.
"Cyka," cursed Vera. "We need to move!"
She and Sean stood up, moving. Clara cursed in Korean under her breath, also moving after them.
In the meantime, Giorgio and Louis improvised, firing at Jay with their rifles. Jay ducked, aiming into his SIG Romeo 8t red dot sight on his MCX, firing back,
Giorgio emptied one magazine, moving behind Louis to reload. Louis maintained shooting, suppressing Jay down. Giorgio tapped Louis on the shoulder once he is done, signalling he is going to try flanking.
Jay's rifle locked empty, and he crouched down. Louis and Giorgio advanced, rifles raised.
Jay pulled a simulation grenade from his pouch, pulled the pin, let it cook in his hand for a moment. Cooking refers to waiting a while to throw a live grenade so that there is no 5 second delay, and instead explodes in the enemy's face. An effective but dangerous technique.
Counting in his mind to the 3 second mark, Jay tossed it. It flew in the air, and landed right by Louis' feet.
Louis froze.
"GRENADE!" yelled Giorgio as he moved to push Louis away. A loud bang and a burst of smoke then consumed the 2.
Louis groaned, standing up, he panted, still shocked.
A yellow smoke rose next to him. It's coming from Giorgio. The grenade had taken him out, while Louis remained unscathed.
Meanwhile, Jay was fired upon by Sean, Clara and Vera, the 3 had snuck up to him, and soon he has yellow smoke rising out too.
Jay chuckled, looking at Giorgio with an apologetic expression. "You did good number 92, but rules are rules. I feel its fitting for me, a "dead" man to notify you, also a "dead" man that you are unfortunately eliminated."
Giorgio coughed out the sand and nodded, removing his Velcro number plates.
Louis' heart sank, as he realised what he had done. Giorgio is eliminated, because of him. 2 screw-ups in a row.
"Giorgio, I…" muttered Louis, tears in his eyes.
"It's ok, amico…" replied Giorgio with a smile, though it's painfully obvious that he is forcing it, as if suppressing some other emotion, and also trying to convince himself that it's alright.
"I'm…so…sorry…" croaked Louis.
"It's ok, it's ok…" muttered Giorgio, his smile getting more and more convoluted.
Then he snapped.
"VAFFANCULO!!" roared Giorgio, swearing in Italian, as he summoned Cosmic Energy, coating his hands in layers of ice as he lunged, punching into Louis' face, the impact knocking Louis back into the sand.
Number 92!" yelled James as he and Jay prepared to intervene.
Louis lay on the sand, tearing from a combination of fright, pain, and guilt. Blood oozed from a fresh cut on his head.
Seeing the blood dripping onto the sand, the anger from Giorgio's eyes dissipated. The sight of blood hits him like a trigger. He hurriedly reached into the first-aid kit on his belt rig, applying disinfectant and bandages to Louis' cut.
"Are you ok?" he asked worriedly. "Please forgive me, I shouldn't have."
Louis is crying now. "Why…"
Giorgio smiled, he wiped the tears from Louis' eyes. "It's wrong for me to attack you."
He finished dressing the wound, and pulled Louis up. He laughed at Louis' puffy eyes, and then tidied his uniform and equipment, wiping the sand off.
"You take care of yourself, alright?" he said.
Giorgio followed the instructors out. He shook hands with Sean, Clara and Vera, wishing them luck.
When they left, Clara turned to Louis with a glare.
"You did this," she said.
"You did this" stuck like superglue to Louis for the rest of the day as he remained dazed, even as he is in the gun range getting more self-practice. He loaded in his Glock 19 absent mindedly, guilt and stress eating away at his conscience.
"Care if I join?" asked Sean, approaching, putting on his FAST helmet and flipping down the tactical headset. "C'mon, it will be fun, maybe I can guide you a bit too!"
Louis nodded.
"Alright, first we will do a 2-men tactical shooting drill, then a shooting down the 300m range for rifles and 50m range for pistols," instructed Sean loading his guns.
"Copy," said Louis.
The 2 moved forward, shooting, with Sean holding onto Louis' shoulder, using his hand to calm and guide Louis' breathing and tempo.
"Good, keep your breathing steady, pull the trigger unconsciously," instructed Sean.
After finishing their rifle magazines, they switched to their pistols, Sean rapidly pointing and shooting, hitting targets with his FN 5-7.
"You try," said Sean
Louis shakily aimed his pistol and fired as he pointed, missing the shot.
The recoil plus fatigue plus shaky hands plus stress caused Louis to lose his control of the gun, dropping it, and it landed on the back.
In an extremely unlikely event, the pistol drop fired, which shot a bullet straight into Sean's torso, flooring him.
"You did this" Clara's voice came again as Louis looked in horror at what he had done.
"OH NO!" he exclaimed.