11 Run!

Mark ran with his life as the fuel, because he knew if he stayed there, he would die. The runners had breached the circular formation, people were dying like flees, and wyverns appeared. The transportation mission had failed and now was not a matter of killing the beasts but staying alive.

Mark ran, and seeing the trucks ahead, he threw himself and slid under it. Once he stopped, he rolled and continued running, leaving behind a line of trucks and a few confused soldiers that kept screaming at him, but he could not hear them.

Without looking behind, Mark ran, the tank was ahead but a troll was slamming on it, Mark changed directions to avoid the troll and the tank, but he saw a runner coming from the corner of his eyes, the runner changed targets and was aiming at Mark now, without thinking Mark jumped and time froze for a few seconds, enough for him to aim right at the temple of the beast.

~bang~

The shot hit the beast eye and Mark fell to the ground, laying with his backs on the rocky soil, but he could not care about the bruises, he quickly stood up and continued to tun in the direction of the forest, always trying to avoid a direct line, by now, there, was the only place without beasts, because all of them were already slaying his platoon.

While running, a bullet hit Mark's leg, and he fell to the ground. He knew it would happen, eventually. Desertion was akin to treason in the army.

'If was not because of those morons inside the tank, dammit!' thought Mark, but he didn't stand up anymore, with the dark of the night as cover, he knew it was better to stay low now, he already ran a mile away from the slaughter.

'I bet with my life that all the lieutenants are inside that dammed tank!' thought Mark, remembering that since the battle started he never once heard a command from them.

'Those fuckers stay safe inside the tank while we are used as cannon folder outside!'

Mark knew why this mission went wrong. The army would never risk a transportation mission like this on a permanent route. All went wrong because of the meteor shower in the previous day, Mark was sure that the meteor shower must have increased the number of beasts in the region, but since there was nothing around for them to eat they end up going to the only forest close to them, the forest that they just saw, the same forest that Mark was aiming to reach now.

'If at least I can reach the forest before the slaughter ends, I think I will be safe. I still have my backpack and a camouflage kit. I can hide inside the forest, but out here in the open? I'm doomed.'

But what was worrying Mark right now was the shot he got on the leg. He knew it came from inside the tank. It was a protocol of the army. A tank always had a sniper inside it to take down the flamethrower beasts, but also to take down any deserters.

'If I stood up, the sniper will see me. I need to wait for them to leave or be distracted, but I can't wait too long, otherwise some beast will see me.'

Mark put his hands on the leg to feel how bad was the shot, 'Thank god the bullet only grazed my leg!', but it was still bleeding, he grabbed a bandage from his backpack without moving too much, and still laying down on the rocky soil wrapped his wounded leg.

'This bandage should last a few hours.' It was the best he could do now. The bandage was not exactly a bandage, but just a clean cloth in the format of one that Mark cut to be used in emergencies.

A few minutes passed and Mark raised his head a bit and looked in the tank's direction, but it was still there, surrounded by three trolls now, all slamming their big hands on it, it would not move so soon.

The dim light of the trucks illuminated the area around them and Mark could clearly see that the number of the soldiers was lower now. Three atop of a truck kept shooting at anything that came closer to them, two were running for their lives just like Mark did a few moments ago, and another one was hiding under a truck, Mark could see his legs shaking in fear under the truck.

'No, that one is dead already,' thought Mark when he saw a runner head under the same truck, chewing the body of the man. The shaking was not because of fear, but the beast having its meal.

'I need to wait for the moment when they deal with those trolls' thought Mark, looking again in the tanks direction, trolls were a bit harder to kill than a usual human, because if you didn't shoot them in the head they would keep healing themselves, they were slow, but strong, and had many arms. The usual way for a tank to deal with them was by throwing grenades outside, because they could not aim the head from the inside of the tank. Once the trolls fell to the ground, a soldier would come out of the tank and finish them off with a bullet in their heads.

Mark was waiting for that moment, the moment the people inside the tank threw the grenades, at that moment, the tank would be surrounded by debris and the sniper inside would not be able to shoot at Mark, also, the explosion of the grenades would be a good cover for him to run more, because all the beasts would look in the tanks direction when they heard the noise.

'Calm down and wait,' thought Mark, refraining his urges of just standing up and running.

For a guy with barely 19 years, Mark had a lot of experience in battles already, not that he was glad about it, never, but this was the apocalypse. Either you learn to fight, or you become a beast's meal.