The Altian Chronicles

Chapter IV: Five Dead Soldiers

We hugged the Hunter, as silenced bullets whizzed past. The survivor next to me was Sental, the first volunteer for the rescue mission. With out contact from base we were on our own, but pinned down behind a hunk of metal. It was only a matter of time before we were overwhelmed.

"Hey" I said "I've got an idea". It was daring but their was chance. We would have to flank the enemy. By crawling down the hill, then under the ridge line, it would give us a fighting chance to take out the machine gunner and the rest of the ambush squad hiding in the bushes above. In silence, I went prone and shimmied my way off the road into the bushy forest below. The soldier followed behind mimicking my path.

It took us five straight minutes to crawl all the way round get behind the gunners position. The journey was slow for the bushes around us were near but thorny and well populated along the valley's walls. By poking my head up a fraction above our leafy cover I could scan the road with ease. Across the street, a gnarly faced figure lay lazily hunched behind a wall of rocks. He had his gun resting on the ground and the man just lay there watching the recently demolished Hunter with empty eyes.

Turning back to Sental I whispered softly. "We'll take him out silent." I drew my PO1 and attached the matte black muzzle to the end of the gun. Next to me my partner copied me. The crisp 'click' confirmed the silencers attachment. My head appeared out the side a tree trunk. The man shifted to get comfortable. The enemy was right behind him and he had no clue at all.

I held up my fingers as I mouthed the words. Three. Two. One. We moved into the middle of the road, we were ghosts to our unsuspecting victim. Advancing to the bank on the side of the road, Sental was right behind me. Then my boot clipped my heel. I couldn't do anything but fall. As my hands spread in front of me I looked at the CSAT soldier. He turned, his head twisted into his neck whilst his empty eyes filled with shock... "Pfft, Phft." Two bullets entered his skull sending a stream on scarlet slime somersaulting across the dirt in front of us.

I stumbled against the dirt mound, thanking Sental, as I regained my balance. Down the road, shouts of confusion hung in the air as the five remaining soldiers patrolled around the shattered car. We crawled up the bank, stomached glued to the grass. As we passed countless trees, the talking got louder and clearer. We had reached the place where they had ambushed us. And now it was time to ambush them.

Sental peeled of the the left as I carried on crawling. The men were now circling the wreck and two of them were digging around inside, taking the stored magazines and med-kits. The air was as quiet and the leaves were motionless in the wind. I snuggled up next to a think tree trunk and put my bipod down in a crack in the rocks. A bush leaned over my like an overgrown umbrella obscuring my view only slightly. A pebble rolled down the slope in front of me. I followed it back to a split in the rock covered ridge. I leaned forwards to try and spot my ally. He was hidden on the lip the ridge, with an arid hedge engulfing him in a green mess.

It was hard to see him, and I could only see his eyes. The smallest man of the CSAT group spun slowly on his heels. He looked down at the stone that had just hit his heel, his face screwed up in a moment of perplexity. He started walking in the direction of me and Sental. He signaled to his friends to join him.

A quartet of confused characters advanced on our location. When they were about twenty yards down the hill, the first round was squeezed off. The bullet of dulled lead flew supersonic through the air. As it travelled it left a trail of hot wind in its wake.