The Story Of Soldiers

Chapter 32

Ashton, Mason, Bailey, Izzy, Bella, Lea, James, and Mia moved through the forest.
Mason and Mia were fighting about...something. Petty fights were common between them, so none of the others paid much mind.

"Cats are better," Mia snapped.
"No! Dogs!" Mason challenged back, his accent thick in his voice.
Izzy perked up suddenly, looking around. She blinked and crouched lower on the ground.

"Shut up you two!" Izzy snarled at the pair, "I hear something."
"Get down," Bailey hissed, crouching down lower beside her friend.
The others followed, pressing themselves to the ground.

Bella looked up slightly, narrowing her eyes to try and see what was happening.
"Wait a minute," she mumbled, "That's Amber and Isabella! They look worried."

"What's happening?" Mia and Mason asked in unison.
"Stop copying me!"
"Shut it," Ashton spat, pushing their heads back down.
"Ow, Ash!"
"Shut up!"

Lea looked up, blinking rapidly.
"Wait, guys. I smell smoke... somethings wrong."
With that, Lea jumped up and ran towards the two, all but ignoring the yells of her team.

Amber and Isabella met her halfway.
"Hurry up," Isabella snarled, grabbing Lea and forcing her to turn around.
"Move it!" Snapped Amber, her voice filled with panic and eyes filled with tears.

Without another word, Isabella scooped Lea up, running toward the rest of the team.
"Move it! We need to leave," Amber yelled to the rest, who didn't have time to question before being dragged along.

Before anyone knew it, they were surrounded by a wall of fire and smoke.
James coughed, his lungs rapidly filling with smoke as he tried to shove the rest of his team lower into the dirt.

"Get down here!" Ashton snapped, reaching up to try and pull his friend down, only for his hand to be shoved away.
"Stay down," James snapped, panting heavily, "Where are Amber and Isabella!?"

In the confusion, the team had been forced away from the soldiers. Their sight of the two had quickly been stolen as a wave of molten fire shot up between them.

"All of you stay down!" They could hear Isabella yell from the other side.
When they looked up, Amber could be seen climbing up a tree and looking over them.

"Stay there!" Amber yelled, and all the terrified trainees could do was stare at her.
Amber's head whipped to the side to look at the other woman on the ground.

"Isabella! Do you have it!?"
"Yeah! Hurry up!"
Suddenly a large spray of water cleared a brief path in the wall of fire, allowing Amber to jump over, just barely making it as the fire flared up again.

Amber gasped a quickly dropped and rolled, quickly distinguishing the flames that had caught on her.
She stood back up with a cough.

"C'mon!" Amber yelled, pulling the entire team in droves of rapid pulling.
Another spray of water, followed by dozens more, eventually put out the fire long enough to make a clear path for the group.

"Go!" Amber shrieked, shoving them all out rapidly. The trainees fell to the ground, only to be pulled up by Isabella, who was continuously using a strange device to spray the flames, soaking the team in the process.

Ashton and James stayed behind, being sure to make sure all the others got out safe.
"Move it you two!" Amber snarled at them.

This led to James giving Ashton a hard shove on his back, the flames beginning to close up the path again.
"Not until you're out," Ashton snapped, pulling on the others boys' arms.

"Move!" James shrieked as a tree came crashing down towards them, shoving Ashton from its path.
James sucked in a violent gasp, head was thrown back with pain as the tree came down on his leg.

"James!" The horrified cries of his teammates came, scrambling to try and help him but being held back by Amber and Isabella.
"No!" Isabella yelled, "It's too dangerous to go in!"

Ashton broke free from Amber's grip with a yell.
"I don't care! He's my friend and I'm not leaving him!"
Ashton charged forward and flung the tree off his friend's leg, heaving him away from the fire before collapsing.

"Hurry!" Isabella screamed, grabbing Ashton as Amber grabbed James.
The team was rushed to the nearest shop that had been parked a ways away from the base, throwing themselves into the ship.

"Headcount!" Amber panted, looking over the group.
"Wait," she muttered, horror overtaking her face, "Someone's missing."
"Zane!" Bailey shrieked, trying to run out of the ship only to be dragged back by Isabella.

"It's too dangerous!" Isabella yelled over the horrified noise of the team.
Amber slammed the button to close the door, sealing them inside as tears streamed down her face.

The team rushed to the window, screams of terror filling the ship as they looked at the scene before them.
Zane was fighting Dajjal.
Dajjal.

"We need to help him!"
"We can't!"
"Let me go!"
The ship began to lift, the group watching in absolute horror as Zane was thrown to the ground.

He looked up and his eyes went wide, shaking his head as if he was his sister throwing herself against the wall.
Suddenly, just as Dajjal slowly, tauntingly made his way forward, their vision was obscured by the wall of fire.

Bailey backed away, hands covering her mouth as she fell to the floor.
"Bailey," Lea tried softly, eyes watering and trying in vain to hold back tears, crouching down to wrap her arms around Bailey.

With a heaving breath, Bailey let out an ear-shattering, heart-wrenching scream, echoing off the walls.
Ashton had fallen to the ground and curled up on himself in the corner.

James sobbed, crouching to wrap his arms around Ashton, ignoring the flaring pain in his leg where he'd been crushed and burned.
The team grouped together into a large huddle, tears falling unimaginably fast as they tried fruitlessly to comfort one another.

"It should've been me," Amber whispered.
Isabella wrapped her arms around her lover, shaking her head.
"No, dandelion, there's nothing we could've done. There's no point in regretting the past, heartbreaking as this is."

Isabella and Amber's faces were both streaked with tears, holding each other close as they cried.
Isabella picked up her radio.
"Is anyone there?" She mumbled.

The radio crackled.
"Commander Diaz from base one. What do you need?"
Isabella let out a shuddering sigh of relief.
"He attacked the base," Isabella said, voice trembling, "We've lost everyone except me, 417, and eight of the nine members of Fire Team Green Alpha."

Diaz was silent over the speaker for a moment, the only noise his quickened breathing.
"Is he following?"
"No sir. We'll stay updated."
"What happened?"

Isabella sniffled, tears flowing faster than ever.
"The base was burned down. Me and 417 barely made it out and found Green Alpha along the way. Zane 955...didn't."

They could hear Diaz take in a sharp breath from the other side.
"How many dead?"
"We expect about 400, including teachers and trainees."

Diaz sighed calmly.
"Move to base one. Do whatever you must to keep him off your trail no matter how long it takes you."
Isabella suppressed a sob.
"Yes sir."