Operation Military Run (In Progress)

(13) Within the Tall Grass

The sweat was beading down my face. I was obviously in distraught at this moment, but it was because I could sense the sudden irritation that overcame Elton and Beck.

The pair both knew that making it across this field was a fifty-fifty shot of surviving, but it was a risk that I was willing to make. My eyes were narrowed and focused as Zipp went ahead of me, his pink tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, his deep brown eyes focused forward, pulling his leash, continually looking back to me.

This was the moment of truth. Was I going to trust Zipp over the other four men that were behind me?

The answer was simple.

Yes.

But there seemed to be an internal battle that was getting to Kent, Elton, Beck, and Sam. They weren't going to trust Zipp as easily as I do, and they were mules at this point. All four of them were staring at Zipp and I blankly. Zipp paused his running and looked back at me. He knew what he was doing and he knew what he was seeing. Obviously we didn't understand what was happening in his small canine brain, but this canine was smarter than the five of us together. He had gotten me out of plenty of situations in the past and that was enough for me to crouch down and begin running toward the mountain side he was running towards.

I continually looked back, my brown eyes squinting in the bright sun that was beating down on all of us, the sweat trickled down my forehead as I could see the only one wanting to move. That was Sam, himself pleading with the others as a slight breeze picked up and the tall grass around us swayed. It was rustling like a rattlesnakes tail, and it was enough noise to mask the sound of the rocks crunching beneath our feet

Elton and Beck were low to the ground, their eyes not leaving the spot where Zipp was looking and where Sam was moments ago with the SAT phone. I didn't want to keep stopping for them, but the boys were not wanting to move forward, my eyes widening and myself mouthing to them, "Hurry the fuck up!"

The four of them watched the panic on my face as I could hear the sound of someone speaking the Arabic language off in the distance, and I didn't move from where I was, my hands pleading for them to at least get down below the grass, and that they listened to. All of the men dropped low and when I turned to look to where Zipp was standing moments ago, I had lost him in the brightness of the sun. 

My heart began to pound heavily as my eyes darted around the small area that I could see, everything surrounding me was tall yellow grass with little bushels at the top. Elton was starting to crawl his way towards me until we heard the voices get closer, and not only were there voices, but there were sounds of baa's coming from the direction they were coming from. 

Goats was all I though as the sound of bells hit my hears. It was definitely sheep and goats that were coming our way, and we knew if the animals were to walk in the field, they would get spooked by all of us laying in the grass and that would expose our location. I knew that Zipp sensed this, or at least he was trying to warn us that something would happen. This is exactly what he felt. The baa's and hoof sounds got closer, the many thuds against the dirt made the ground almost vibrate. I was hoping that there were more than I was thinking that there were, because the more there were, it wouldn't be as obvious that there were four men and a woman and somewhere a dog laying amongst the tall grass.

Elton stopped moving when he felt the ground shake and Kent whispered towards Beck something, and then the game of telephone commenced until it got to Elton, the three men behind Elton trying to make their way towards me. I didn't know what to do in that moment but take deep breaths.

"There's fucking goats." Elton whispered as I rolled my eyes at the comment.

"No shit, dumb fuck." I whispered back, my eyes watching the men behind Elton finally get to where they could be in a line. They were all looking at me, their guns underneath them as the hooves clicking on the ground got even closer and the talking from the trail was getting closer. My heart was pounding as I watched the sweat drip down all of their faces that were in front of me.

I kept looking to see if ZIpp had made his way back to me, but he hadn't. I knew he was safe. He always was safe, and I knew he was watching all of us. If he could speak, he was probably laughing at us right now and shaking his head. Like I had stated before and many times, he was so much smarter than any human I knew, and his wit was unlike any human's or any other creature on this earth. He was so unique in his own way, and especially serving like he does. Elton was also looking around, I could tell that he was worried about my Malinois to which I shook my head, "He's fine." 

"How do you know?"

"I just know."

Those few minutes we were laying there felt like hours. It felt like the sun was taking all of our energy even though we hadn't moved a muscle. My hands were firmly on my weapon as the sound of the goats hooves were finally near us, and I started to see their little brown and white bodies make their appearance. Kent didn't move a hair and neither did Beck. Sam was trying to move as close as he could towards Elton and I even held my breath. I could hear my brothers voice at this moment telling me "Just stay calm. No matter how stressful the situation is. It will test how much you're wanting to survive." and that was my motivation in this very moment. 

The hooved creatures seemed to pass right over us, not even noticing we were there, stepping over us simultaneously. There were a few that made a B line around us and made sure to avoid us, but it seemed that we hadn't spooked them, and the talking was directly behind the boys. One off move from us or the animals, it would be a messy explanation for us and I wasn't wanting to have to explain why I slit the throats of goat farmers that should have minded their own business. For all we knew though, these men could have been from the same town Mohammed Uday was from, and if they didn't show back up, it would be a lot of people out here looking for us. 

The baa's became to grow farther from where we were laying, but we still did not move as the sun  beat down on us. We were running behind the time we were supposed to be, but all I cared about for the moment was that all of us made it out of the yellow grass alive, and it seemed that the men were on the same page as me. 

The talking also seem to fade, but we couldn't have been too sure, therefore, we laid there. We laid there for around what felt like an hour, it may have been longer, it may have been shorter, but it was what we were taught to do. If we couldn't see that they were gone, they could be anywhere near us. Everything was a threat even if it was kids that just passed us. No one was innocent out here and we had to keep that in our mind and as we laid there, the sweat pool that formed in front of the men was disgusting. It was a literal pool in front of them all and I knew as soon as we would stand up, our bodies would be outlined by the liquid coming out from us, and whether they had used the bathroom or not wasn't something I wanted to ask either.

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The shortest chapter I feel like I could have written, but guess whos back :)