Post by Damon on Feb 28, 2016 4:33:29 GMT
(02/27/16 : 19:30:56)
||One Mind, Any Weapon||
.D A M O N -A P E X- T H O R N T O N.
.Mercenary || Normandy Squad.
|-|In Syria, Somewhere between Resafa and Al Kasrah|-|
-A land of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts. Syria is a country in Western Asia, and Syrian territory borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the North, Iraq to the East, Jordan to the South, and Israel to the Southwest.-
-Twenty Seven Days Later.-
-Syria Still sucks. One day had bled into another ever since that shoot out. There had not being another incident after that incident. We had walked to the vehicle and found our way to our location. Doing what needed to be done and helping the local militia set up a base of operations. Most of the work had entailed seeking out usable lands and overseeing the set up of small farming patches, as well as helping with the construction of piping to connect wells together and such. It was peaceful work and I was glad for that. Today was just the same as any other day and currently we were driving along a road on our way back to camp after dropping off some food hampers at one of the villages. We travelled in a convoy of three vehicles. Up front was a local militia soldier behind the wheel of a white pick up. I had been calling him John because I could never pronounce his proper name. John was driving with another local called Ned for short. In the small, old and yellow hatchback behind them were Christian and Macintosh. And finally taken up the rear, I drove the white, rusty transit van with Rea as my wing man.-
“Three more bloody days, mate. And then we are out of this shit hole.”
-It would not be a moment too soon. I wanted to go home and get back to giving civilian life another shot. I wanted to remember what it felt like to sleep in a proper bed, on an actual mattress. I wanted to take an actual bath, and piss into a proper... Clean... toilet. I wanted to eat something that didn't come in a foil bag or give you the shits for the rest of the night. I wanted some Electricity, to watch a bit of television and drink a cold beer... “I can't wait to see my kids.” …Confessed Rea as he smoked on a roll up cigarette and peered out of the window, watching a whole lot of nothing. I couldn't imagine what it must be like to have kids and yet still do this. It must be very hard, to leave them behind like that.-
“I bet they are excited. Did you manage to get in touch?”
-It was very difficult to make contact with anybody from out here. We all had mobile phones but none of us could ever get service except for a very few and very small zones... “I gave Hall a letter for me, he said he was going to get it mailed over to them next time he went to the city... That was a couple of weeks ago so they should have it by now.” … He flicked his cigarette out of the window and started to inspect his fingernail which had cracked earlier in the day. We were all looking a little worse for wear by now. Gruff beards, scraggly hair, dry skin, not the whitest of teeth either. I had cracked and chipped three of Mine out here already. But it couldn't be helped. The mission was what mattered and we were getting shit done... “And I doubt they are excited.” … he added. It caused me to frown as I steered the wheel around the bend in the road and revved it to catch up to the rest of this little convoy. I asked him why he thought such a thing and he just chuckled at Me … “You can't be a family Man, and a Hiker, laddie... it don't work like that... We've shaped ourselves into permanent soldiers. Not fathers, or Husbands. We don't belong in their world. My kids don't hardly know me... how could they? I'm right Here. I'm always somewhere, and it is rarely with Them.. My son hates me and my daughter doesn't even really know Me.” … The words hit me like a punch. I had never thought about that before. What a sad world we live...-
(02/27/16 : 19:57:37)
||One Mind, Any Weapon||
.D A M O N -A P E X- T H O R N T O N.
.Mercenary || Normandy Squad.
|-|In Syria, Somewhere between Resafa and Al Kasrah|-|
-A land of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts. Syria is a country in Western Asia, and Syrian territory borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the North, Iraq to the East, Jordan to the South, and Israel to the Southwest.-
-We didn't talk much more than that. I could tell that Rea was brooding, tormenting himself about his failure as a parent, and a husband. A Failure that now had him divorced with kids who appeared just fine without him. But I couldn't believe that.. My own Father had been a Captain in the Royal Artillery and he had been gone a lot. But I still loved him, to this very day. And every time he had gone away, it had made me sad, but I was always excited to see his face when he returned home. Rea was a good man. My best friend. And I knew that both of his kids loved him greatly.... However... The longer we drove across that baron wasteland, the more my own demons started to scratch at Me. His words shook me to the bone and I couldn't help but think about my own life. I had never been married, nor had kids. I had been in two relationships in my life and both of them had failed very miserably and left me with more scars than an actual battlefield ever could. My first love had turned out to be an abusive whore and my last love had broke my heart on a daily basis. I could still remember after we broke up, and I had nowhere to go. So she let me rent the room in -our- house until I could find my own place. We had been broken up -after a six year relationship- for only three weeks when she brought her first man home. I had still loved her... very much so... but I had sat in that rented room, listening to them fuck on the couch downstairs... time and time again it had happened... my heart hardening each time until... I felt Nothing...-
-After two failed attempts at love, I had switched off. I had shut down. I was Titanium now. A brick wall that nothing could breach. And I knew now, without a slither of a doubt, I would never love again. I would never be anybody's husband, and I would never be a Dad. Rea was right, we are just Soldiers. Our only purpose in this world was to soldier on. I was completely detached from this world and those in it. I was not a person, I was just a Weapon.-
-I continued to feed my demons all the way up until the Final checkpoint. It was a couple of hours until nightfall by now, but this quaint little village was our final checkpoint and that meant we were only an hour away from the base. Even though we considered it a village, it didn't have a name, or much to it. It was simply two rows of ten buildings that lined up on either side of the road. A Road which continued straight on through the middle. There was no need to slow down, but sure enough.. the convoy began to drop in speed. I eased off the accelerator and pressed on the brake until eventually coming to a complete stop... “What the heck?” … Asked Rea, and I wondered the same thing. I wound my window down all the way and leaned out of it, I couldn't see up front but I called out to the driver in front of me.
“Grapefruit! What's happening?”
-I saw the sunroof being wound open and a few seconds later, Christian's head poked out as he stood up inside the car and turned to face me... “A Goat herd is blocking the way.” … I didn't like it, We were stationary on the road and that was a vulnerable thing. My eyes scanned the buildings all around us. They were dark and glum inside, but some of the locals were out and just staring at us like we were aliens from another planet... “Come on John!” … Shouted Christian, calling out to the front vehicle... “Get them out of the way and let's move!” … Macintosh -aka Grapefruit- started to honk his horn and it was making me uneasy... eventually Christian got out and moved up front, out of sight. We waited for around five minutes until I saw the goat herd being ushered between the buildings by a few locals... a moment after that and Christian appeared, walking back towards the middle car from up front... “Alright! It's all clear.” … The front Vehicle started to move at last... and that was when it triggered the I.E.D (Improvised Explosive Device) and exploded in a -B O O M- Of Hellfire.
(02/27/16 : 20:24:42)
||One Mind, Any Weapon||
.D A M O N -A P E X- T H O R N T O N.
.Mercenary || Normandy Squad.
|-|In Syria, Somewhere between Resafa and Al Kasrah|-|
-A land of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts. Syria is a country in Western Asia, and Syrian territory borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the North, Iraq to the East, Jordan to the South, and Israel to the Southwest.-
-The white pick up truck was thrown several feet into the air. Straight up, lifted by an inflating ball of fire before it crashed back down onto the road. An amazing sight in itself. To see a TRUCK do that. The impact of the blow shattered all of the windows of the other vehicles, including ours, and for a moment it even lifted up the front end of Macintosh's little car... I leapt from the van, amidst the shower of glass and stumbled towards the side of the road, quickly dropping into a ditch and checking all directions for a sign of ambush. But I was in shock. My ears were ringing loudly and I couldn't hear anything. Somehow my nose was bleeding and my head felt like it was it's own bomb, about to explode. I could see the locals, shouting, screaming, and running around in all directions... Macintosh staggered out from behind the wheel of his car and was shouting something, but I couldn't hear what. I couldn't do anything, I was frozen and my mind refused to function directly... I could hear John and Ned, screeching like monsters sounds from horror movies. Burning alive. I could smell it... Rea was screaming at me and rushing in my direction. He snatched me by the bergen and started to drag me out of the ditch just as Macintosh's car exploded... it flipped over onto it's side and landed in the ditch, exactly where I had been laying only a second ago.... He pulled me up against the outside wall of one of the buildings and crouched in front of Me...”Can You hear me, lad!? Come on, now!” … The second explosion had kind of popped my ears back into sound again. They were still ringing, But I was able to fix my senses onto the hook of Rea's booming voice.-
“I'm fine you big oaf... stop shouting at Me.”
-Rea laughed and I noticed that his mouth was bloodied. He was also bleeding from the scalp but it seemed superficial... “Wait here, okay? … I'm going to check on the others” … But I wouldn't wait anywhere. I pushed myself up to my feet and shook it off. I was Good to Go. Rea gave me an objecting glance but he knew I wouldn't listen. We moved back out into the street to assess the wreckage... “What a fuckin' mess.” … Rea muttered, more to himself than anybody else. It was admittedly... an unbelievable sight.. You just could not imagine seeing this kind of thing … until You did... Our transit van was fine, other than the shattered windscreen. But the other two vehicles were not so lucky.. The small yellow car that Macintosh and Christian had been driving in was now upside down in the ditch and a burning wreck. Fortunately, neither of them were inside. The lead vehicle -that pick up truck- had been completely destroyed. It was just a twisted pile of metal that burned twenty feet into the air.-
“Do you hear that?”
-I asked, looking to Rea with a frown. We both listened. Amidst the crackling flames, and loud ramblings of the frightened locals we could hear more screaming. It wasn't John or Ned, they had fallen to silence now. It wasn't a scream of fear, it was a scream of pain... We rushed around the edge of that burning truck and saw something more horrifying... Christian was lying on his back, screaming in agony as Macintosh knelt beside him in a panic, trying to calm him.. “Jesus fuck.” … breathed Rea when he saw what I saw. A large shard of bodywork had torn from the truck and skewered Christian through the arm, pinning him to the dirt, and what's more, the sharp of metal appeared to be literally... smoking hot.-
(02/27/16 : 20:43:59)
||One Mind, Any Weapon||
.D A M O N -A P E X- T H O R N T O N.
.Mercenary || Normandy Squad.
|-|In Syria, Somewhere between Resafa and Al Kasrah|-|
-A land of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts. Syria is a country in Western Asia, and Syrian territory borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the North, Iraq to the East, Jordan to the South, and Israel to the Southwest.-
-This couldn't be happening. Christian was injured. Christian... The Medic... the one who took care of the injured ones.. was injured... This was Bad. I knew it. Rea knew it. We All knew it.-
“Check the locals.”
-I said. Despite the terror of the situation I faced, I knew that I had to take over now. Christian looked near death and screamed out every time he moved, Macintosh was a rookie, and Rea never liked to be in charge. So that put me once again in a leadership role, at least for the moment. I didn't want to be. I would rather just get my orders from somebody else, keep my head down, and get it done. The last time I was team leader... Well... That was two years ago... But, despite my own skeletons in the closet, We didn't have time to question it and I focused on keeping my head in the game as I always tried to do.-
“Find those goat herders and check them too.”
-Rea nodded and hurried away whilst I rushed to aid Macintosh with Christian... “What do I do?” … cried Macintosh, tears were streaming down his soot ridden cheeks. I unstrapped my Kevlar and let it fall to the ground, quickly unbuttoning my shirt and wrapping it around the shard of metal. I didn't know what damage it was going to do, but the piece of metal could not stay inside Christian and we couldn't move him whilst he remained impaled like this, so we had no choice and procrastinating could make the difference between life and death.-
“Help me with this, only touch the parts wrapped with my shirt or it is going to burn your hands.”
-Macintosh just stared at me blankly and then back to Christian who had now succumb to the pain and passed out. It was better that way, all his squirming and panic had been doing him no favours.. Macintosh rose to his feet and grabbed hold of the sharp of metal with me. Even through the cloth of my shirt we could still feel how hot it was, who knew what it would be doing to the inside of his arm... “Aren't you supposed to leave it in until you can get a doctor to look at it?” … He asked nervously...-
“Priest -is- our doctor you bloody idiot.. do you want us to just leave him here to cook on a spit? … Now do as you are fucking told and get ready to pull. Don't stop until it's all the way out or you are going to make it even worse.... Ready? …. On Three …. Three.... Two....................... One!”
-We both yanked up on the long splinter of metal and tore it out of the dirt, It ripped up out of Christian's arm and he woke up with a deafening scream. We tossed the scrap aside and dropped to our knees, holding him down and trying to keep him under control whilst he kicked and screamed.
(02/27/16 : 21:03:07)
||One Mind, Any Weapon||
.D A M O N -A P E X- T H O R N T O N.
.Mercenary || Normandy Squad.
: |-|In Syria, Somewhere between Resafa and Al Kasrah|-|
-A land of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts. Syria is a country in Western Asia, and Syrian territory borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the North, Iraq to the East, Jordan to the South, and Israel to the Southwest.-
-Most of the locals had gone into their homes. None of them wanted to be involved with the situation and to be honest, I couldn't blame them. After a fit of screams, Christian passed out once again and I was able to use my shirt to tie that arm up the best I could, cutting off the blood supply and hoping to stop him from bleeding to death until we could get back to camp. But I was no medic, I knew only what common sense dictated and had never taken the time to study too much medical stuff.. “We should load him into your van.” … Suggested Macintosh and I nodded in agreement. As Carefully as we could, we picked him up and carried him around the back of the transit van. Macintosh took his legs and I tried to take his arms without irritating that injured arm too much.. Just as we were loading him in, there was a commotion and I looked around to see Rea dragging a young man in his early twenties... What surprised me the most was that in his other hand, Rea was holding a fake beard... He shoved the man forward and onto his knees, then threw the beard at my feet... “This wanker isn't even a local. It's just a bloody costume. He's English!” .. Macintosh climbed into the back of the van with Christian, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. I looked at the white man in front of me and couldn't believe it. He was dressed like the local Syrians. But he was definitely not from here at all.-
“Who are you?”
-I asked quickly. We didn't have much time and needed to get going. The man looked afraid and was holding his hands up... “Please... They told me to do it... I just had to plant the box and then ring a number when you guys tried to drive over it.” … That explanation told us everything we needed to know. He had used the goat herd to hold us back whilst he had buried the box in the middle of the huddle. And that number he had called, would have been the detonation trigger.-
“You did this?”
-I asked, motioned over my shoulder at Christian and the wreckages... The young man just started weeping uncontrollably and begging us for forgiveness... “I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to do it! Please! They made me! … Rea spat at him and told him to shut up... “We should arrest him and take him back to the base with us” … suggested Rea... upon hearing that, the silenced man began to cry loudly... I pulled my pistol free of it's holster at my right hip and pointed it at his head.-
“Stop Crying. Look at Me.”
-The fear of the pistol made him pay attention and he tried to push back his sobbing. He slowly lifted his head and he looked at me. His hands high in the air. When his tear soaked, glistening eyes looked into Mine, I saw all that fear, all that terror. He had felt so big and tough during the bomb planting, but now that he was faced with actual danger, he was pissing his pants in fright... literally. I watched in silence as that puddle began to form beneath him. I could tell that he was not faking anything. He wasn't a fighter. He was just a fool.-
“Take a deep breath, and calm Down.”
-I said in a quiet voice. He nodded and started to take in a slow deep breath... And then I shot him in the face.-
-The body didn't launch backwards like you see in the movies, instead, it simply slumped down and fell forwards towards me. When it stilled upon the dirt, I shot another round, into the back of the skull for good measure. When I looked up at Rea, he was stoic. He didn't question it, and we didn't talk about it. We never would. The Young man had chosen to be a terrorist. He had killed both John and Ned, injured Christian in what could be critical condition. And he had found no mercy in Me... I holstered the pistol and turned away.-
||One Mind, Any Weapon||
.D A M O N -A P E X- T H O R N T O N.
.Mercenary || Normandy Squad.
|-|In Syria, Somewhere between Resafa and Al Kasrah|-|
-A land of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts. Syria is a country in Western Asia, and Syrian territory borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the North, Iraq to the East, Jordan to the South, and Israel to the Southwest.-
-Twenty Seven Days Later.-
-Syria Still sucks. One day had bled into another ever since that shoot out. There had not being another incident after that incident. We had walked to the vehicle and found our way to our location. Doing what needed to be done and helping the local militia set up a base of operations. Most of the work had entailed seeking out usable lands and overseeing the set up of small farming patches, as well as helping with the construction of piping to connect wells together and such. It was peaceful work and I was glad for that. Today was just the same as any other day and currently we were driving along a road on our way back to camp after dropping off some food hampers at one of the villages. We travelled in a convoy of three vehicles. Up front was a local militia soldier behind the wheel of a white pick up. I had been calling him John because I could never pronounce his proper name. John was driving with another local called Ned for short. In the small, old and yellow hatchback behind them were Christian and Macintosh. And finally taken up the rear, I drove the white, rusty transit van with Rea as my wing man.-
“Three more bloody days, mate. And then we are out of this shit hole.”
-It would not be a moment too soon. I wanted to go home and get back to giving civilian life another shot. I wanted to remember what it felt like to sleep in a proper bed, on an actual mattress. I wanted to take an actual bath, and piss into a proper... Clean... toilet. I wanted to eat something that didn't come in a foil bag or give you the shits for the rest of the night. I wanted some Electricity, to watch a bit of television and drink a cold beer... “I can't wait to see my kids.” …Confessed Rea as he smoked on a roll up cigarette and peered out of the window, watching a whole lot of nothing. I couldn't imagine what it must be like to have kids and yet still do this. It must be very hard, to leave them behind like that.-
“I bet they are excited. Did you manage to get in touch?”
-It was very difficult to make contact with anybody from out here. We all had mobile phones but none of us could ever get service except for a very few and very small zones... “I gave Hall a letter for me, he said he was going to get it mailed over to them next time he went to the city... That was a couple of weeks ago so they should have it by now.” … He flicked his cigarette out of the window and started to inspect his fingernail which had cracked earlier in the day. We were all looking a little worse for wear by now. Gruff beards, scraggly hair, dry skin, not the whitest of teeth either. I had cracked and chipped three of Mine out here already. But it couldn't be helped. The mission was what mattered and we were getting shit done... “And I doubt they are excited.” … he added. It caused me to frown as I steered the wheel around the bend in the road and revved it to catch up to the rest of this little convoy. I asked him why he thought such a thing and he just chuckled at Me … “You can't be a family Man, and a Hiker, laddie... it don't work like that... We've shaped ourselves into permanent soldiers. Not fathers, or Husbands. We don't belong in their world. My kids don't hardly know me... how could they? I'm right Here. I'm always somewhere, and it is rarely with Them.. My son hates me and my daughter doesn't even really know Me.” … The words hit me like a punch. I had never thought about that before. What a sad world we live...-
(02/27/16 : 19:57:37)
||One Mind, Any Weapon||
.D A M O N -A P E X- T H O R N T O N.
.Mercenary || Normandy Squad.
|-|In Syria, Somewhere between Resafa and Al Kasrah|-|
-A land of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts. Syria is a country in Western Asia, and Syrian territory borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the North, Iraq to the East, Jordan to the South, and Israel to the Southwest.-
-We didn't talk much more than that. I could tell that Rea was brooding, tormenting himself about his failure as a parent, and a husband. A Failure that now had him divorced with kids who appeared just fine without him. But I couldn't believe that.. My own Father had been a Captain in the Royal Artillery and he had been gone a lot. But I still loved him, to this very day. And every time he had gone away, it had made me sad, but I was always excited to see his face when he returned home. Rea was a good man. My best friend. And I knew that both of his kids loved him greatly.... However... The longer we drove across that baron wasteland, the more my own demons started to scratch at Me. His words shook me to the bone and I couldn't help but think about my own life. I had never been married, nor had kids. I had been in two relationships in my life and both of them had failed very miserably and left me with more scars than an actual battlefield ever could. My first love had turned out to be an abusive whore and my last love had broke my heart on a daily basis. I could still remember after we broke up, and I had nowhere to go. So she let me rent the room in -our- house until I could find my own place. We had been broken up -after a six year relationship- for only three weeks when she brought her first man home. I had still loved her... very much so... but I had sat in that rented room, listening to them fuck on the couch downstairs... time and time again it had happened... my heart hardening each time until... I felt Nothing...-
-After two failed attempts at love, I had switched off. I had shut down. I was Titanium now. A brick wall that nothing could breach. And I knew now, without a slither of a doubt, I would never love again. I would never be anybody's husband, and I would never be a Dad. Rea was right, we are just Soldiers. Our only purpose in this world was to soldier on. I was completely detached from this world and those in it. I was not a person, I was just a Weapon.-
-I continued to feed my demons all the way up until the Final checkpoint. It was a couple of hours until nightfall by now, but this quaint little village was our final checkpoint and that meant we were only an hour away from the base. Even though we considered it a village, it didn't have a name, or much to it. It was simply two rows of ten buildings that lined up on either side of the road. A Road which continued straight on through the middle. There was no need to slow down, but sure enough.. the convoy began to drop in speed. I eased off the accelerator and pressed on the brake until eventually coming to a complete stop... “What the heck?” … Asked Rea, and I wondered the same thing. I wound my window down all the way and leaned out of it, I couldn't see up front but I called out to the driver in front of me.
“Grapefruit! What's happening?”
-I saw the sunroof being wound open and a few seconds later, Christian's head poked out as he stood up inside the car and turned to face me... “A Goat herd is blocking the way.” … I didn't like it, We were stationary on the road and that was a vulnerable thing. My eyes scanned the buildings all around us. They were dark and glum inside, but some of the locals were out and just staring at us like we were aliens from another planet... “Come on John!” … Shouted Christian, calling out to the front vehicle... “Get them out of the way and let's move!” … Macintosh -aka Grapefruit- started to honk his horn and it was making me uneasy... eventually Christian got out and moved up front, out of sight. We waited for around five minutes until I saw the goat herd being ushered between the buildings by a few locals... a moment after that and Christian appeared, walking back towards the middle car from up front... “Alright! It's all clear.” … The front Vehicle started to move at last... and that was when it triggered the I.E.D (Improvised Explosive Device) and exploded in a -B O O M- Of Hellfire.
(02/27/16 : 20:24:42)
||One Mind, Any Weapon||
.D A M O N -A P E X- T H O R N T O N.
.Mercenary || Normandy Squad.
|-|In Syria, Somewhere between Resafa and Al Kasrah|-|
-A land of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts. Syria is a country in Western Asia, and Syrian territory borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the North, Iraq to the East, Jordan to the South, and Israel to the Southwest.-
-The white pick up truck was thrown several feet into the air. Straight up, lifted by an inflating ball of fire before it crashed back down onto the road. An amazing sight in itself. To see a TRUCK do that. The impact of the blow shattered all of the windows of the other vehicles, including ours, and for a moment it even lifted up the front end of Macintosh's little car... I leapt from the van, amidst the shower of glass and stumbled towards the side of the road, quickly dropping into a ditch and checking all directions for a sign of ambush. But I was in shock. My ears were ringing loudly and I couldn't hear anything. Somehow my nose was bleeding and my head felt like it was it's own bomb, about to explode. I could see the locals, shouting, screaming, and running around in all directions... Macintosh staggered out from behind the wheel of his car and was shouting something, but I couldn't hear what. I couldn't do anything, I was frozen and my mind refused to function directly... I could hear John and Ned, screeching like monsters sounds from horror movies. Burning alive. I could smell it... Rea was screaming at me and rushing in my direction. He snatched me by the bergen and started to drag me out of the ditch just as Macintosh's car exploded... it flipped over onto it's side and landed in the ditch, exactly where I had been laying only a second ago.... He pulled me up against the outside wall of one of the buildings and crouched in front of Me...”Can You hear me, lad!? Come on, now!” … The second explosion had kind of popped my ears back into sound again. They were still ringing, But I was able to fix my senses onto the hook of Rea's booming voice.-
“I'm fine you big oaf... stop shouting at Me.”
-Rea laughed and I noticed that his mouth was bloodied. He was also bleeding from the scalp but it seemed superficial... “Wait here, okay? … I'm going to check on the others” … But I wouldn't wait anywhere. I pushed myself up to my feet and shook it off. I was Good to Go. Rea gave me an objecting glance but he knew I wouldn't listen. We moved back out into the street to assess the wreckage... “What a fuckin' mess.” … Rea muttered, more to himself than anybody else. It was admittedly... an unbelievable sight.. You just could not imagine seeing this kind of thing … until You did... Our transit van was fine, other than the shattered windscreen. But the other two vehicles were not so lucky.. The small yellow car that Macintosh and Christian had been driving in was now upside down in the ditch and a burning wreck. Fortunately, neither of them were inside. The lead vehicle -that pick up truck- had been completely destroyed. It was just a twisted pile of metal that burned twenty feet into the air.-
“Do you hear that?”
-I asked, looking to Rea with a frown. We both listened. Amidst the crackling flames, and loud ramblings of the frightened locals we could hear more screaming. It wasn't John or Ned, they had fallen to silence now. It wasn't a scream of fear, it was a scream of pain... We rushed around the edge of that burning truck and saw something more horrifying... Christian was lying on his back, screaming in agony as Macintosh knelt beside him in a panic, trying to calm him.. “Jesus fuck.” … breathed Rea when he saw what I saw. A large shard of bodywork had torn from the truck and skewered Christian through the arm, pinning him to the dirt, and what's more, the sharp of metal appeared to be literally... smoking hot.-
(02/27/16 : 20:43:59)
||One Mind, Any Weapon||
.D A M O N -A P E X- T H O R N T O N.
.Mercenary || Normandy Squad.
|-|In Syria, Somewhere between Resafa and Al Kasrah|-|
-A land of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts. Syria is a country in Western Asia, and Syrian territory borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the North, Iraq to the East, Jordan to the South, and Israel to the Southwest.-
-This couldn't be happening. Christian was injured. Christian... The Medic... the one who took care of the injured ones.. was injured... This was Bad. I knew it. Rea knew it. We All knew it.-
“Check the locals.”
-I said. Despite the terror of the situation I faced, I knew that I had to take over now. Christian looked near death and screamed out every time he moved, Macintosh was a rookie, and Rea never liked to be in charge. So that put me once again in a leadership role, at least for the moment. I didn't want to be. I would rather just get my orders from somebody else, keep my head down, and get it done. The last time I was team leader... Well... That was two years ago... But, despite my own skeletons in the closet, We didn't have time to question it and I focused on keeping my head in the game as I always tried to do.-
“Find those goat herders and check them too.”
-Rea nodded and hurried away whilst I rushed to aid Macintosh with Christian... “What do I do?” … cried Macintosh, tears were streaming down his soot ridden cheeks. I unstrapped my Kevlar and let it fall to the ground, quickly unbuttoning my shirt and wrapping it around the shard of metal. I didn't know what damage it was going to do, but the piece of metal could not stay inside Christian and we couldn't move him whilst he remained impaled like this, so we had no choice and procrastinating could make the difference between life and death.-
“Help me with this, only touch the parts wrapped with my shirt or it is going to burn your hands.”
-Macintosh just stared at me blankly and then back to Christian who had now succumb to the pain and passed out. It was better that way, all his squirming and panic had been doing him no favours.. Macintosh rose to his feet and grabbed hold of the sharp of metal with me. Even through the cloth of my shirt we could still feel how hot it was, who knew what it would be doing to the inside of his arm... “Aren't you supposed to leave it in until you can get a doctor to look at it?” … He asked nervously...-
“Priest -is- our doctor you bloody idiot.. do you want us to just leave him here to cook on a spit? … Now do as you are fucking told and get ready to pull. Don't stop until it's all the way out or you are going to make it even worse.... Ready? …. On Three …. Three.... Two....................... One!”
-We both yanked up on the long splinter of metal and tore it out of the dirt, It ripped up out of Christian's arm and he woke up with a deafening scream. We tossed the scrap aside and dropped to our knees, holding him down and trying to keep him under control whilst he kicked and screamed.
(02/27/16 : 21:03:07)
||One Mind, Any Weapon||
.D A M O N -A P E X- T H O R N T O N.
.Mercenary || Normandy Squad.
: |-|In Syria, Somewhere between Resafa and Al Kasrah|-|
-A land of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts. Syria is a country in Western Asia, and Syrian territory borders Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the North, Iraq to the East, Jordan to the South, and Israel to the Southwest.-
-Most of the locals had gone into their homes. None of them wanted to be involved with the situation and to be honest, I couldn't blame them. After a fit of screams, Christian passed out once again and I was able to use my shirt to tie that arm up the best I could, cutting off the blood supply and hoping to stop him from bleeding to death until we could get back to camp. But I was no medic, I knew only what common sense dictated and had never taken the time to study too much medical stuff.. “We should load him into your van.” … Suggested Macintosh and I nodded in agreement. As Carefully as we could, we picked him up and carried him around the back of the transit van. Macintosh took his legs and I tried to take his arms without irritating that injured arm too much.. Just as we were loading him in, there was a commotion and I looked around to see Rea dragging a young man in his early twenties... What surprised me the most was that in his other hand, Rea was holding a fake beard... He shoved the man forward and onto his knees, then threw the beard at my feet... “This wanker isn't even a local. It's just a bloody costume. He's English!” .. Macintosh climbed into the back of the van with Christian, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. I looked at the white man in front of me and couldn't believe it. He was dressed like the local Syrians. But he was definitely not from here at all.-
“Who are you?”
-I asked quickly. We didn't have much time and needed to get going. The man looked afraid and was holding his hands up... “Please... They told me to do it... I just had to plant the box and then ring a number when you guys tried to drive over it.” … That explanation told us everything we needed to know. He had used the goat herd to hold us back whilst he had buried the box in the middle of the huddle. And that number he had called, would have been the detonation trigger.-
“You did this?”
-I asked, motioned over my shoulder at Christian and the wreckages... The young man just started weeping uncontrollably and begging us for forgiveness... “I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to do it! Please! They made me! … Rea spat at him and told him to shut up... “We should arrest him and take him back to the base with us” … suggested Rea... upon hearing that, the silenced man began to cry loudly... I pulled my pistol free of it's holster at my right hip and pointed it at his head.-
“Stop Crying. Look at Me.”
-The fear of the pistol made him pay attention and he tried to push back his sobbing. He slowly lifted his head and he looked at me. His hands high in the air. When his tear soaked, glistening eyes looked into Mine, I saw all that fear, all that terror. He had felt so big and tough during the bomb planting, but now that he was faced with actual danger, he was pissing his pants in fright... literally. I watched in silence as that puddle began to form beneath him. I could tell that he was not faking anything. He wasn't a fighter. He was just a fool.-
“Take a deep breath, and calm Down.”
-I said in a quiet voice. He nodded and started to take in a slow deep breath... And then I shot him in the face.-
-The body didn't launch backwards like you see in the movies, instead, it simply slumped down and fell forwards towards me. When it stilled upon the dirt, I shot another round, into the back of the skull for good measure. When I looked up at Rea, he was stoic. He didn't question it, and we didn't talk about it. We never would. The Young man had chosen to be a terrorist. He had killed both John and Ned, injured Christian in what could be critical condition. And he had found no mercy in Me... I holstered the pistol and turned away.-