DEATH FROM ABOVE

The Reapers. A fitting title for a Spec Ops group. It's sad to say we were nothing close to a special operations unit, let alone be an independent group. Needless to say, we weren't fit for the name, but we were determined to earn it if it was the last thing we did! As a teenager, I. used to be obsessed with strategy based video games such as Command and Conquer, and StarCraft. So it was inevitable that I would be able to plan out well organised raids on the enemy camps. And so, we continued to slaughter small camps of soldiers. Not to say it was easy, considering that they had magic, and they just seemed to never die. It takes us five bullets to kill a single foot soldier. So we decided they were on some sort of drug, like methamphetamine, or morphine.

Well, it turns out our speculations were right, the enemies were on some substance, and it looked like morphine. Only there were cups filled with it. We took three cups, and filled it with the substance we found, hopefully we will be able to find out what drug they're on. Why is this important? I don't know myself, but this might come in as helpful in the future.

While gathering the drug, we were disturbed by one of the guards "Sir, we heard footsteps by the South Gate, it seems as if there are only 5 of them." The guard said.

"I see, they could be scouts." I calmly said. "Everyone, get ready for a possible scout attack! We will not let the enemy regain this point! Is that clear?" I exclaimed.

"Yes sir!" Everyone said in perfect unison.

We all got to our positions, and aimed our guns at the gate. We waited, and waited, our sweat, dripping to the floor, our eyes wide with nervousness. That was when the gates finally made noise. Someone from the other side was banging at the door, not just a knock, but as if a ram was being used. Once again, we waited as the gates began to cripple, as our hands began to shake, fearing what was on the other side. Was it a battle ram? A chimera?? We all thought the same thought, what was on the other side?

Suddenly, the gate fell unto the ground, blowing dust into the air, disrupting our view. Then, we heard a can-like object roll on the ground. It finally came unto my side of the ground, and that was when I saw a flash bang.

"FLASH BANG! GET DOWN!" As soon as I said that, there was a bright flash, blinding me, bringing me to the ground, ears ringing from within. As soon as I was able to get on my feet, I shouted, "Don't shoot!"

A figure emerged out of the smoke, "You Americans?" The person said in a thick Russian accent. He was covered in very protective gear, it's like something out of a post apocalyptic movie. He was wearing old, dusty knee pads, a motorcycle helmet, paddings and all sorts of protective gear, and most notable of all, he had a gun that I didn't recognise at first, but then I realised that it was a make-shift gun.

"Yes, yes we are." I said, as I gestured everyone to come out with caution. The man took off his helmet and a familiar face was put before me. Walking towards me, his face became clearer and clearer.

"What's your name?" I asked while shaking his hand.

"Artur." He replied.

"Artur?"

"Artur Innokentiy Markov" He answered.

I froze in place as I heard the name. Markov? The Markov? The expert strategist and survivalist? The war criminal? I finally snapped back to my senses, as I pointed my gun straight at him. The others were shouting in worry, wondering why I was doing such a thing.

"GET ON THE GROUND!" I yelled. Artur calmly complied, as he knelt down just ask had told him to do. Steve tapped my shoulder to get me to stop pointing my gun at Artur.

"What's gotten into you man?" Steve said.

"He's Artur! Artur Innokentiy Markov!" I exclaimed.

"I know, but does that really matter now? I mean, if he really wanted to kill us, he could've already done it you know." He reasoned.

"I mean, if you put it that way, but I'm still keeping an eye on him." I replied while pushing Steve off of my shoulders.

We got back to the rest of the group that was still confused on what to do. I saw Artur, and with a bitter heart, I said sorry. Even though I was furious at him, although I didn't really know why, but it was probably because he was a Russian and a general of some sort, and he's one of the main reasons we got stuck in this war. We decided to continue to plunder the base's supplies, including their equipment. Swords, bows, arrows, staves the whole shebang. Wow when was the last time I said that. Anyway, we're getting sidetracked. By the time we finished, it was already passed midnight. Thank God the torches were still well lit, cause I can bet you 50 bucks almost no one remembers how to start a fire. We all sleep in a tent the enemies left for us, and when we woke up, we decided to get back to moving to another enemy camp of course, before after we spray painted our signature R on the gates. But that was when we realised that our ammo was almost gone, we each only had 2 magazines each excluding Artur, who was wielding a home made gun of some sorts and had the bullets that the gun required.

We decided to head to our military camp to restock on supplies and also drop off the drugs we found. We started to move as soon as we decided on it. Of course, I kept an eye on Artur in case he was planning anything that endangered the team. But it turned out we were the ones who were being watched over, as Artur kept an eye on us through roofs and higher buildings, providing us with the "air" support that we needed. He was able to give us valuable information from above. It was as it we had our very own guardian angel, and was quickly respected among the group, including myself!

It was the final stretch, we walked for almost 2 miles. And soon, we arrived at the front gate, which was usually heavily guarded. Which left us questioning why there weren't any guards or patrols moving around. And to be frank, there weren't any people around. Not a single living soul apart from the 30 people in our group was there.

"It was definitely abandoned." we all thought to ourselves.

Fortunately, the supplies stayed where they left it. Guns, ammunition, grenades, mortars, tank shells, were an abundance, but stuff like MRE's and vehicles were gone. Which meant, we won't be able to stay here for long.

"Sir!" One of the scouts greeted. "There are a large multitude of foot soldiers coming from our north side heading straight for our position sir!" He reported.

"How big of an army?" I question.

"It's in the thousands sir!" He replied.

Before I can reply another scout appeard"Sir, there seems to be another army coming from our south flank!" Another scout reported.

"How many?" I question.

"About a hundred or two"

"Got it," I replied.

" Steve!" I shouted "Get your men into the south entrance, the army is small enough for you and your men to hold the line, and also, try to get us a way out of here."

Steve simply nodded in frustration. Why did they have to be attacked now? Is this the reason why the base was abandoned? Does the military know something we don't? Or did they simply think we were dead? Doesn't matter, this isn't the time to wonder what happened here, we have a bigger problem at hand.

I started screaming orders left and right, commanding the mortars, placing troops in strategic points, and so on. The only person I didn't place on the gates was Artur, he had the role of scouting the back lines of the enemies. A role every one knew only he can do.

And so, we got to our battle stations as I liked to call it. We waited, once again. We intended to attack as soon as they reach grenade throwing distance, and in doing so, we can cut off the frontlines from the rest of the army with mortars, and when they're separated, we can mow them down with our heavy machine guns, and the ones on top of the gate, would try to suppress the projectiles thrown at us. Seems like a solid plan doesn't it?

And with the plan all laid out, we waited for the right moment, and at that moment, Artur will simply say the word "Go" and the defending begins. And once again, we waited. The footsteps growing louder and louder, like the Persians in the movie "300", they rattled the ground like earthquakes.

We waited.

The sounds grew louder

My men looked at me in worry. Holding on to the mortar round.

"Go" Echoed throughout the camp.

As soon as I heard it, I yelled, "Fire!"

One by one the mortars fired. Leaving with a deafening boom, then followed by explosions. As soon as the first explosion was heard, the holes that we previously cut for defending, was wide open, as the machine guns fired non-stop. Round after round the machines of mass murder fired. Enemy soldiers fell after each round never to rise again.

At this point the enemies were confused. Which they should be, considering they were ambushed. When the final soldier from the front lines fell, we fired another salvo of mortar rounds, and mowed them down with our machine guns.

This went in a cycle for 2 hours. It's a good thing all the ammo was left untouched, or else we wouldn't be able to survive until now. And as the final soldiers finally fall, we wait for Artur's signal to go again. But instead of a "Go" signal we got a "They're gone".

The whole camped cheered as if we had just won the entire war. The entire camp was in uproar, laughing, cheering, weeping, all sorts of emotions was shown.

I quickly ran for Steve's team, and just as I have expected, they were all fine, we virtually left unscathed.

Amongst the cheering, we didn't hear the radio that was screaming with warnings from Artur.

"METEOR SHOWER HEADING FOR CAMP! EVACUATE!!" Artur screamed but to no avail. Not one person heard the warnings.

I hugged Steve to celebrate our victory. I looked up. And saw what I can only describe as...

Death from Above