Wolf

Chapter 26: Operation Easkerton Fortress

Five years ago, I was a rookie in Wolf. There was a senior female sniper called Sergeant Lilian Wee. She was my mentor and someone I looked up to, the skills I had honed were partly from her tutorage. She was strict, unrelenting and loyal to her country.

And I wanted to be just like her.

I used to be her spotter whenever we did overseas covert missions, hiding on rooftops, sniping down on enemies. It was on one particular sandy mission that resonated well within me, it caused Sergeant Lilian to retire and for me to gain a set of nasty scars that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

The mission was called Operation Sand Dune. We were to rescue a hostage from insurgents, and we were to take out any targets we deemed necessary. I was Sergeant Lilian's spotter for the mission, and we were based a kilometer out from the target location.

One of our own soldiers leaked our position, and as we left the rooftop to head to the rendezvous point in a Humvee; a kid launched an RPG. I saw it by the corner of my eye, grabbed Lilian by the scruff of her vest and dragged her out from the vehicle.

We did not make it out in time. The explosion threw us back, spraying us with hot metal and brought down a building on top of us. Unconscious and delirious with pain, the insurgents managed to dig us out and drove us back to their hideout, tied us up on poles so they could torture us.

I woke up in pain. Every part of my body hurt, more so on my back. It was hot, and dusty. It filled my lungs and throat, scratchy on my tongue. I realized that I was bound on a thick wooden pole and hanging with my hands tied up, so I tried to get up on my shaky feet.

This is hell, I thought. I died and went to hell.

Straining my neck to look around earned me a lashing, the whip cracking against the side of my face. The sudden sound of the whip cracking surprised me, and then the searing pain came. It split my back open, the scream splitting me into two. The pain shot up to my head – exploding, pounding and relentless.

I begged for death.

The one who held the whip shouted, and gave me another round of his whip, then another, and another until I could no longer feel anything on my back. I could barely keep myself conscious, nor standing. The screams had dwindled to murmurings. My back felt wet, the wounds were pounding, and I was slipping in and out of consciousness.

Please just kill me already.

Please.

But I was still alive.

It went silent behind me, and then a mix of voices on my left. Sergeant Lilian appeared on my left, her uniform a mess and riddled with blood. Raw fear filled me, and I tried to reach out to her, but the bonds held me. I received another lashing for moving and I blacked out.

I woke up in a cold sweat, heart hammering and gasping for breath. A nightmare, I thought as I sat up and looked around in the darkness, surrounded by the sleeping boys. Remnants of the nightmare, bits and pieces of it weighed heavy at the back of my mind so I got up to wash my face, trek a few meters away so I could have a breather.

A few minutes after, a voice appeared behind. "Lieutenant, what are you doing there?" Benjamin sounded uncertain. "I- is ... everything alright?"

I turned around to look at him and gave him a reassuring smile. "Yeah, don't worry about it," I said as I climbed back up to stand next to him. "Let's head back to the camp before they wake up."

The forest was in a lull at this time of morning, and it was a peaceful walk back to the camp. "Can I ask you something personal, Lieutenant?" Benjamin asked suddenly, his eyes were glued to the ground.