1 Chapter 1 - Betrayal

Delta leapt from tree to tree, holding a grenade in his hands. He ripped the pin out of the grenade and waited a few seconds, before dropping it into a crevice in the tree he was standing in. He continued running, listening out for the screams of agony behind him as a few of his pursuers got blown up in his trap.

He grinned tiredly, but he knew it would make much of a difference to the seemingly endless numbers of pursuers. Delta started to feel his body falter. He had been running for several hours and he had dipped into several packets of Kratom, a drug that kept him awake for far longer, however, would damage him in the long run.

Delta reached a crossroad and decided he'd have to throw them off his trail, running to the left before using his grapple hook to swing onto a tree and off of the path. If the pursuers looked carefully enough, they could probably see what he had done, but it was the dead of night so he could only hope they fell for it.

He continued travelling down the right path but moved lightly so that there wouldn't be any obvious tracks. Delta listened for any signs of being followed, but the sounds seemed to have diverted to a different path.

He sighed in relief before looking for a place to stay the night in. Looking around, Delta found a few possible hiding spaces for the night. There was a hollow tree trunk that he could slip into and spend the night in, however, he could also take the more obvious options like the cave on the side of the mountain.

If he took the tree trunk option, he would be harder to find, but if he was, he would be dead meat. If he took the cave, however, he may be easier to find but he would be able to fight back or escape again.

With this in mind, he decided to take the Cave option, just in case he hadn't thrown them off his trail. He moved towards the cave, being careful not to make any sounds and attract any attention.

Upon arriving, Delta set up a few mines and barbed wires around the outside of the cave then took his rifle off of his back and set himself up at a small outcrop, training the gun at the area where the mines were. The gun was black and blended into the darkness behind him. He was also wearing his dark green camo gear, along with night vision goggles and was armed with all of his weapons, so he was rather confident about being able to make a stand if he controlled the terrain.

Suddenly, Delta felt a cold knife pressed against his neck, and heard a snarl from a familiar voice.

"Drop the gun."

Delta slowly and calmly started to put the gun down from its post.

"Now hands in the air"

He put his hands in the air slowly, palms facing out to show his surrender.

"Good, now lay on the floor with your arms and legs spread out."

Delta did as he said, but as he started to lay down, he grabbed the arm of his aggressor and used it to swing the man over his head, throwing him onto the mine he had dropped earlier.

A suppressed explosion ripped out, causing waves of sound to erupt from it. Delta covered his ears and slacked his jaws as the man flew through the air, protecting his ears from the ultra-high frequency sound waves that couldn't be heard but would destroy eardrums.

The man who had tried to kill him was the henchman of the man he had just betrayed. He used to work under the Mob Boss Caligula, however as his mind became less stable and he started ordering forces to attack the ocean or kill children in orphanages, Delta decided that the man's reign had gone on too long. Whilst the mercenary worked in a profession where he had to kill on a daily basis, he still had a rough sense of morality and wouldn't do anything below his bottom line.

Delta had worked hard to rise through the ranks, soon becoming a close confidant of the man. He took his opportunity in a festival in Caligula's name, getting him drunk before taking him outside for a walk. Upon reaching a cliffside, Delta stabbed him thirty times for good measure, before burying him at the base of the Valley where the river would flow in high currents.

He then took off, fleeing out of the country and heading south to start a new life with less murder out in the countryside. He had been betrayed by a friend of his, however, who claimed to have seen Delta kill Caligula before taking off. Delta had already left at this point and thus could remain to clear his name. He had considered remaining but decided against it after deciding he wanted to change his life from being a mercenary.

Delta realised he had to flee the cave he was in as the sounds would've revealed his position to the others who were after his life. He made sure to keep an extra bullet in case he had to take his own life, as he would rather die quickly than get caught for a round of torturing.

Delta leapt up from his encampment, leaving his jacket posted up on a mound of rocks to leave the impression of him being there. He also left the traps where they were to further support the facade and dragged the body of the subordinate away from the mine where he had died, leaving him behind the rock where he had left his jacket to get a last jab at the forces he was leaving.

Delta fled further south, soon reaching the border of the country where he had arranged with a friend to be smuggled through.

He used a cloth to clean up the blood on his clothes, before stepping out towards the border where several vehicles were being checked before passing through. There had been increasing numbers of weapons being passed through with the increasing possibility of war, and the government and authorities were rather tense.

Delta walked confidently towards the border, hiding his weapons under the folds of his clothes. He went round to a wall near the entrance and pressed his hands against a brick, pushing it further into the wall. The wall opened up and Delta entered, where he was greeted by his friend Brutus.

"Is everything prepared?"

"As you asked. You sure you want to go through with this?"

"Never been more sure"

"If you say so."

With that, Brutus led him over to a small hatch down to an underground tunnel.

"Follow this through and you'll reach where you want to go," he said.

"Thanks for your help, Brutus. I'll never forget this."

With that, Delta climbed down the ladder and into the tunnel through which he would be travelling. He took a match out of his pouch and lit it, before setting alight a piece of wood he had taken from Brutus' fireplace. He held the light in front of him and started moving forwards.

He would've used his flashlight, but it had been smashed during his earlier escape. He walked for a few minutes, before hearing footsteps behind him.

"Brutus? Did you need something?"

He automatically assumed it was Brutus as there was no one else who knew about the tunnel.

Suddenly, Delta heard gunshots coming from where he had assumed Brutus was, ripping past his ears with a few crashing into his shoulder and his calf. He felt his arms go slack and his legs felt limp, failing to hold his weight and causing him to fall to the ground.

Delta crawled and struggled over to the side of the tunnel, posting up against the wall and using his one working arm to pull out a pistol. He couldn't handle his rifle's recoil with his current tiredness and his one working arm, so he had to resort to a less powerful weapon.

He felt his skin crawl as flashlights were trained towards him, and shuddered when he saw who had come. It was the subordinates he had been running from and amongst them stood Brutus, smiling smugly as he counted a large wad of money in his hands.

"And you, Brutus? You... you betrayed me?"

"Sorry old friend, winter's been difficult and I needed some extra income. Besides, you should've seen it coming, being so versed in betrayals."

The other subordinates laughed at his crude joke, whilst Delta felt a rage build up in him. Brutus had been with him from the very beginning since they were in the slums without any source of income. They had been through thick and thin together, relying on each other to get through life.

Delta hadn't had even the slightest suspicion of being betrayed by the man he had called his closest friend, and yet here he was, in the one situation he never would've thought possible.

He grits his teeth before speaking these words.

"Then you can all go to hell with me!"

He ripped off his bomb vest and used his pistol to shoot the grenade, causing a chain reaction that caused an explosion so strong that the entire tunnel collapsed, squashing everyone in it.

Authorities quickly surrounded the area, finding the secret rooms and the tunnels found in the border, and over the next few months, the blame was shifted towards the government of Ishfania, who had had nothing to do with the occasion.

This led to a war that devastated the lands for years, causing the great recession where countless died and suffered... but Delta wouldn't be alive to see it.