"DOWN!!"
"Huh?"
Turning my head around to check above my shoulder just to feel a violent pull on my left ankle, so hard i felt like the ground was pulled from my feet.
Followed by a deafening crash, as I land face first in the dirt.
"Arghh.." raising my head i saw huge boulder about 4 metres across heading towards us.
Unable to move, i just froze up. Hoping, just praying by a sliver of a chance that it misses as i stared at the rock .
"Fuck". VROOM.. the sound of passing rock as it barely missed me even while I was laying flat; next was the sound of the rock landing, then the sound of the bone been cracked,crushed and slowly grinded as the boulder rolled on the dirt before stopping.
Dead silence for what felt like an eternity before cries and scream erupted all round.
"James! James! " in between sobs "His dead" a female soldier cried .
"Not only him, more than half the battalion gone; including the fucking commander" a man screamed.
Gathering the courage to look behind me, to be honest, the scene was worst than I imagined.
The boulder crushed most of them, living them complete mutilated, disfigured, unrecognisable ;Body parts everywhere, horses fleeing in every direction, the grayish black soil completely crimson.
Dwindling our number from 50 just to 15. Suddenly I felt my breath hitch, then blurry vision, it felt like the air was been crushed out of the lungs, no... more like the world collapsing on me.
Then I felt an arm on my shoulder.
"Bro... Relax, deep breaths, calm your mind..."
I visible relaxed then let out the breath I was unconsciously holding.
"You good now"
"Yh, am fine"
"Shit what a mess,but surprisingly, seems like no soldier let out a scream before dying.. guess the death was instant."
"Yh.. maybe" staring blankly at the ground.
"Attention " said the second in command; a man in his late 30s about 6 foot built like a tank, light skinned wearing green with black irregularly shaped spots.
"I will taking over as the commander; currently as you can see, we have suffered many casualties. You were informed of this. Weren't You?"
Taking in a deep breath before he continued to speak.
"Most of you won't return and that's a fact. We may have lost many but it's no time to grieve."
As he stared at all of us, for some reason his stare felt like he look straight into my soul.
"Our priorities have changed. Now soldier,
We have to only map where we currently are, regroup with the rest of split team and get back home to families. That's enough exploring. "
"Are we good" the commander asked.
"Yes sir"
"One more thing, i need to split you soldiers into two groups."
He divided us into two group of 7 members each.
"Groups A would find and track the horses in the area. They where on the flanks guided by the two shepherd dog... Track the dogs also."
"Group B, you will have to gather the supplies and equipment from the body of the fallen; guns, swords, dog tags anything reliable" He stared; then looked at us like we grew two head.
"Now get going, you need and order to start" he screamed as the rest of the soldiers started scrambling.
_ _
"Kvara wait up" someone called out, it sounded familiar after everything that went on. Turning my head
"Ohh.. it's just you jubreel"
" So how you holding up"
Taking a gun and opening the barrel before packing it with loose gunpowder and clicking it shut then igniting the gun powder.
BOOM!!
"It still works; that's good.., don't worry about me. Am fine."
"That's good to hear" he replied.
"Thanks"
"For what exactly"
"I know you were the one who dragged me to the ground"
"... ohh that. Don't worry about that; just a bro help a bro. You can pay me back later when we get out of this shit den... Picked any dog tags.."
Genuinely deep in thoughts.....
"Nope, apart from you, the rest of my closest comrade were already separated from us before whatever that was that happened. You?"
Jubreel gently stroking his chin.
"Same... Any hint".
"On the rock?"
"Yh. Was it a landslide or what?
"Pretty sure if it was a landslide, we would have seen it coming. We have been taught to monitor topography and notice small changes... Tha... that was instant,calculated,launched with pure accuracy for maximum area of effect and for some reason I saw the boulder curve. No... more like dip before clearing the horses and soldiers at the back."
"So are you trying to imply that we were attack. "
"No, but that is the only conclusion I have right now.."
"What a day and its still not over; this night is gonna be a long one."
"Shit. What i would have done for a pack of cigarettes right now."
Looking at the night sky, it was surprisingly bright out with the eerie silence of no conversations being made as the violet with a bit of blue light illuminated everything.
Continued to gather supplies for about 30 mins before heading back.
"Commander ." a soldier called out.
"Yes."
"Both groups are back and a dust storm seems to be coming up fast."
"Ok, I will address them and we would set up camp then continue in the morning hopeful the sergeant would respond to the morse code by morning."
"In the rear.."
"No survivors sir; only the 15 of us" the soldiers replied.
"Horses".
"Only 11".
"The shepherd dogs".
"Just one".
"Well, could have been way worst".
"What of the guns"
"At least 20 are functional; lost a lot of gun powder but still have enough." Kvara replied
"Good. Hope all of you have said your goodbye?.. Now we set up camp for the night and wait out this dust storm. "
"Done? I need you all well and rested for tomorrow and that's an order; if today was long , it's not the last of it ,just the beginning. "
I stared absentmindely into empty space completely zoned out from the distractions around me.
"Kvara kvara!!"
Turning to look at my moron of a friend.
"Get in the tent, you won't reject an order from your superior." He said.
"Fine."
As i crawled into the tent, laying on leaf made out to be mattres. "Seem like plant still grow in this god forsaken desert ass landscape."
"Just get some sleep. Talk about that tomorrow. "
After a few minutes, I heard snores then I closed my eyes and drifted into my own.
A violent rumble that shaked our tent, not only us ,everyone and manage to undo our tent. Making everything come apart. Then a pocket of dust landed on my eye.
"Fuck, shit, rubbing my eyes vigorously. What happened; how long was i asleep."
"Dude."
"What."
"Look at that"
As i looked ahead of me... it was mostly dust until a saw a glint of something reflecting and what came out to my horror was nothing I could have imagined.
A beast, a monster, mystical and terrifying; it had only two arms with terrifying talon that looked more like a death scythe, a long, slender and agile body that fit/looked more of a serpent.
Even from this distance i knew it was humongous. Covered in pitch black scales layered on top one another in patterns. With two whip like part protruding from it sides.
With the bright morning star illuminating ever edge of it.
Then it slowly went underground as the dust storm continued raging.
"What was that" i asked
"Not waiting to find out " as he scrambled out of the dirt.