She widened her eyes in surprise when the enemy spotted her swiftly. Almost a millisecond flashed by as she darted from try to tree, almost sure that the foliage would shield her from prying eyes. And yet here she was, pinned down by enemy fire as strips and chunks of bark flew by her face almost getting into her eyes if not for her glasses. Scowling, she took one hand from her rifle and grabbed a smoke grenade from her vest. Pulling the pin with her teeth, she let it drop into the ground. Waiting for moments to pass by before the smoke started releasing in full, forming a pale cloud that was slightly illuminated with the background of a raging fire as well as with actual flashes of muzzle fire from the enemy..
Lurching her head back, she could only look wistfully at the night sky before going into action. Racking back the bolt of her rifle, she formally enters the fray. Repositioning herself as she runs from tree to tree. She finds herself being lulled into a dangerous calm.She doesn't know why, nor want to know exactly; but for some weird, ludicrous reason. She feels at home.
A sense of nostalgia fills her head as she peaks behind a tree and takes a shot at an enemy. The fact that the bullets hit, and he dies fast doesn't help her either. Was it the night? Maybe. Was it the thick jungle foliage? The bushes with leaves so thick you could practically cut yourself on them? Maybe. Or was it perhaps the fact that she was fighting people in the jungle? Much like she had done prior a decade back for something so stupid as ideals and personal will?... yeah, that might have been it.
She guns down another three men as she nonchalantly keeps to her thoughts, bubbling; threatens to burst, to pop as she makes her way to yet another tree. Now the only thing missing was her uniform. A set of cheap green military fatigues that looks so beaten, so old; that it was most likely either passed down or bought at a market stall for an extreme discount. Good god she hated those days. And yet here she was, reliving them. If her past self saw this, she might just very well shoot herself due to the hypocrisy and pain of it all.
She pulls back, luring them deeper into the jungle. Causing them to hesitate for a brief moment before deciding ultimately to pursue. Their orders are absolute as they charge towards her. Their zeal urges them onwards as they keep laying down fire on her, making it harder and harder to fire back as the moments pass by. Gritting her teeth she tosses a flash bang, her hand almost getting hit from a hailstorm of bullets as she does so. She keeps her eyes closed, practically forcing them shut. As the bullets and debris around her fly freely. She waits for the seconds to pass and then it hits.
As soon as she feels the sensation, hears the explosion, she runs, keeping a low profile as she slinks into a bush. Ignoring the jabs from the sharp thistles and branches. Then she waits, keeping her breath steady as she slings her rifle, letting it rest against her shoulder as she pulls out a knife. She was clearly outgunned here, so she'll do something that they don't expect her to do, she'll force them to fight her on her ground. And what better ground to do then this?
Soon the enemy makes it to her location, their fingers resting on the trigger anxiously as they fan out and search for her. One man gets too close to her bush, and pays for it. A yelp, a desperate cry for help, and then he gurgles on his own blood as he free falls onto the ground; a cold sensation engulfing him as he never even saw his killer.
The others hear this and frantically run towards the source of the noise. But it's two late. And they see their fallen comrade. As one of them steps forward to inspect the body, another yelp could be heard in the distance. They run towards the yelp this time as well. Only to find their effort in vain as their comrade also lays dead.
A short burst illuminates the night, catching three men by surprise. Wounding two and killing one on the spot. Open firing, they attempt to suppress her as they back up against each other. Buying time as they close ranks
They huddle together now, keeping close as they raise their guns in caution. Whatever was happening here, it was surely most certainly not up to their expectations. They ordered where to fetch and carry, they thought they were fetching a rabbit; but it seems to them now that they've been ordered to fetch a bloodhound.
Something is tossed at their feet.
By the time they jump, it's too late.
The bloodhound is out.
And it's out for blood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crap, more guys.
They almost notice me before I just barely manage to duck behind a bunch of boxes. Keeping my silhouette low as I subconsciously hold my breath. The hairs on the back of my neck stand in alert and terror as they run right past me, shouting in panicked orders as nobody knows what exactly is going on. Figures, I slipped out of my own personally assigned quarters too easily. So that bastard Takenaka must have redirected a bunch of his men to be positioned in a wide radius around me, keeping me boxed in but also giving me the illusion or false hope that they weren't. And that I just got lucky.
Well, jokes on him. I never get lucky. If anything, I always get unlucky. I've said this before, and I'll most likely say this until the day I die. When you receive a gift horse, always look it in the mouth. You might just catch the signs that it'll bite you and manage to dodge just in time. That's essentially what I've done here. I've dodge being bitten. Now I have to dodge being kicked too. I've seen far too many guys then I care to remember getting kicked by a horse. And lemme tell you something, it looks devastating, probably feels devastating too.
Gritting my teeth, I crouch run to the next set of obstacles that can conceal my form. Many trails of sweat already running down my my face as I frantically glance around like a fucking squirrel. Desperate to not get picked off by all these predators as I find myself lunging through a bush at the sight of yet another patrol. The bristles and wood poking and prodding at me, causing me no end of annoyance as I quickly got off the ground. Dusting myself as I focus on my body, checking for any cuts or splinters.
But before I can fully fucking stand I find my self back on the ground once more. A cold hand on my mouth as I try to struggle out of this sudden pin hold. One look at her face and I stop, the shock freezing me in place as those ocean blue orbs stare back at mine. Her eyes also wide in shock as she stared at slack jawed. No doubt not expecting to run into me here either. But it only lasts for a second. One second it's wide eyes and an open mouth, the next it's with furrowed brows and a scowl on her face.
She doesn't say anything. She can't really, we're surrounded by all of these people. And unless we want to be found and summarily be lined up against a wall and shot, no one is going to so much as utter even a single word. So that was it. We found ourselves in an impasse. Just the two of us, staring at each other. One with righteous fury and one in pensive resignation. What? I'm not getting out of this pinhold, even if I try and struggle, she'll either choke me out; or I alert the guards and both of us get a lead shower.
A twig snapping gets both of our attention. And my heart nearly stops as I hear footsteps getting closer to us, Each nearing step almost certainly spelling the end for the both of us. I can see Sofiya now, a look of focus on her face as she stealthily draws a knife from her boot. Her eyes are drawn to the source of sounds that's approaching us.
…Sigh. I'm most likely going to regret this aren't I?
Thinking fast, and moving faster; my right hand slides into my pocket where the pistol I picked up earlier was. And fiddles around the pistol grip, trying to find the magazine release button. It took a second but I finally found it. Unfortunately for me, Sofiya notices what I'm doing. But It's to late, and before she could even move her body, I tossed the loaded magazine towards the opposite direction from us with as much force as I could muster. With my hand accidentally grazing the side of her stomach as she shot me a dirty look.
The loaded magazine makes a loud enough noise and the footsteps stop. A second passes by. And we hear the person that was looking for us hesitantly walk into the direction of the discarded magazine. Their steps now slow and deliberate as they start to trail off from us. I can't help but let out a small sigh of relief at this, my hot breath catching her by surprise as she struggled to contain a yelp. Removing her hand from my mouth in the process.
I find myself unwittingly smirking at this, only for her to grab me by the collar.
"You find this funny don't you? You fucking bastard!" She says with an ill contained whisper. The venom is clear as day in her words.
"Funny? No. Amusing? Yes. The fact that I run into YOU of all people while trying to leave this wretched place is amusing to me. It's so amusing and absurd I can't help but crack a defeated smile." I say in a hoarse whisper, the words barely managing to leave my throat as I see her scowl break, replaced with confusion for the briefest of seconds before she puts on her facade again.
"Explain." She whispered coldly. Giving me a look that told me that she really was going to stab me right here, right now if I played any games with her.
"The guy who 'rescued' me and captured you. I don't like him. He plays too many games. Plans and calculates too much…He uses people. And I don't like being used. I don't like being a puppet, dancing to his tune only to be thrown away once he finds a new one."
She only scoffs incredulously at this.
"You would throw away the only people who are willing to ally with you, the only people who want you alive in this entire country. Just because you don't want to be used? Either the years have made you stupid and suicidal or you have a plan. Well? Which is it?" She said, her russian practically seeping with winter's cold, causing me to shiver in fear.
"...L..look. The only plan I have right now is to leave this entire area. And the longer we waste time here, the smaller our chance of escape is…Unless, you want to escape…right?'"
"I..want to escape? What do you think? Does the fact that I'm not in a jail cell right now give you any hints?"
"Wow, okay. First off all calm down-" I barely manage to finish that sentence before I find a knife embedded into the dirt, mere centimeters from my head.
"Say that again. I dare you."
"Okay…Look. We BOTH want to escape this place….So. I propose a…ceasefire. We can try and kill each other AFTER we make it out. How does that sound?"
"No."
"...What?"
"You heard me."
"Yeah I did. Do you want to be captured, woman?"
"Everything you do, goes your way. Every plan of yours; every gambit no matter how small pays off. I guess I'm just like you in retrospect. I don't like dancing in the palm of someone's hand. I've fallen for you…your tricks way too many times." She stammers suddenly for no reason, only to continue.
"So here's what's going to happen. You are going to give me that rifle that you have slinged on your shoulder, and the pistol in your pocket and I am going to take you prisoner. You're not leaving my sight, not for a single moment. Hiki." She said, mocking me as she calls an abbreviation of my last name. Good god not you as well woman!
Before I could say anything in response, she used her left forearm to put pressure on my throat and she used her right hand to pull the pistol in my pocket. Racking the slide with one hand somehow. A mirthless smile on her face as she finds the barrel clear with no bullet in it.
"Really? A 1911? You disappoint me."
"Well, it's not like I had a choice in the matter. A gun is a gun and I picked up the nearest ones I could find." I say through my teeth, irritated by her attitude as she pockets the pistol and uses her right hand to unsling the rifle. Her face uncomfortably close to mine as she leans in towards me to support her right arm while her left forearm is still on my throat mind you.
I could feel her breath on my lips as I tried to focus my attention literally anywhere. With one of her golden locks of hair falling gently on my forehead, causing me to jolt with nervousness as I cringe eternally right now. The woman's got me right where she wants. And I can't do a damn thing! The fact that I can see her cleavage that was revealed by her military jacket didn't help things either. Like, why can I see the outlines of her bra? Where the fuck was her shirt? I am so uncomfortable right now, like holy shit.
Finally, after what seemed to last an eternity; she FINALLY pinched the rifle off of me. Slinging it on her shoulder before we hear yet another set of footsteps near us. Like, right in front of the bush that was concealing us near.
As soon as I heard the sound, I didn't know what came over me; but I acted immediately. My body veered into autopilot mode as I rolled over, now pinning HER to the ground as I kept a low profile as well. The only difference between now and before being that instead of one use practically kneeling over the other, we both were instead laying on top of eachother….like a sandwich. Yeah, like a peanut butter sandwich… Eugh, never mind. I don't like peanut butter sandwiches, either way you get the message!
I try to avert her gaze as I keep my breathing steady and as shallow as possible. With one of our pursuers still in front of the bush, the only thing we could do was wait for them to give up on this area and leave. The moments pass by and I find the situation more and more unbearable. The fact that her face was so close to mine. The fact that her breasts were pushed against my chest. The fact that she looked so incredibly vulnerable right now made me want to just stand up right then and there because this wasn't worth it.
My heart almost stops for real as a flash of light suddenly appears. Had I not rolled us over and Sofiya still kneeled over me, the light would have caught her. But thankfully, since the both of us were prone, the light caught nothing but dirt. A pregnant pause soon followed. A pause that seems like it lasted nine months and then some. But finally, after a terrifying wait. The light is turned off, and they move on.
Exhausted, I collapsed next to her side. A sharp exhale of relief as I stare up towards the night sky.
Through the corner of my eye, I see her face.
And for once, I really did wish that she looked at me with fury.
Because the look she gave me…
For some nonsensical melancholic reason…
I felt a pang in my heart.