Cursed Doll

-- FEBRUARY 19, UNIFIED YEAR 1923, NORTHERN DISPUTED TERRITORIES, DEMILITARIZED ZONE.--

" Eli!, Mika! You two! Grab some men and make sure our contact to northern Command Post is going back up as fast as possible!" Yuri shouted out orders and had to keep low while rounds were flying around and hitting his cover.

"Nataly! Ricochet this grenade!" Yuri threw an unpinned grenade out of his cover and Nataly shot it at such an angle that it was sent flying towards their attackers.

After the explosion rang out and it got quieter for just a second, Eli and Mika instantly shifted their positions and went ahead reestablishing radio communication. They had to build a makeshift radio and the electric powerline that was close by was perfect for that.

Yuri and the other troops also didn't slack off and proceeded onward in covering the radio group some distance to the enemy entrenchment. Soon they could see some heads peek out from some trees as well.

A clean shot from Yuri´s rifle pierced one unfortunate guy's head.

He was also not the only one that died at that assault. The good thing was that they somehow managed to overwhelm them with just that simple grenade distraction.

Jumping over the stone cover where the grenade exploded, Yuri could now see that the grenade actually killed 5 men. It was an unbelievable true shot.

A sixth guy was still gurgling with blood in his mouth that possibly came from his destroyed lungs or other internal organs.

Looking at him Yuri made a quick draw with his handgun and ended his life.

"Yuri! We are back online!" Just at the same time, Eli was shouting over the radio signaling that they have juice back.

"Good job, Eli! Regroup ASAP. CP this is Rabbit 01, please come in. I repeat, this is Rabbit 01, please come in. We encountered rebel activity and are under fire!"

"-This is CP, we have received your emergency call. Well done in contacting us. How is your status?-"

"All new recruits are engaging in combat as we speak. Our group is advancing forward to other small entrenched units. We have already picked up Rabbit 2, 3, 5, 8, and 9 alongside some MP personnel that was not originally from our groups. We have no losses currently and can engage further. Asking for orders."

"-Roger, please continue to advance and save the rest of the Rabbit units and any other comrades in distress. We have already sent reinforcements to quell the revolt. Hold out long enough until they arrive. If you seem in danger you have the permission to retreat.-"

"Copy that. Because our radio was jammed and could possibly be hijacked again we will go radio silent until further news is available. Over and out."

Breathing out calmly Yuri waved one of his arms forward.

"Alright men. Time to save some sorry asses from this little skirmish!", he shouted and started running in the thick snow from one cover to the next. All doing so while going closer towards the gunshot sounds that were still ringing out in the distance.

Arriving at what looked like a deadlock his glance traveled over the surroundings.

He could see some people gather up behind covers on various locations. The weird thing being the eerie quiet surrounding these camps after the shooting has ceased.

Not even a single shot was fired again after they came this close.

"Das Vaterland über alles! (The fatherland over all else)" To make something sure, Yuri blatantly shouted out those words in a voice that was sure to be heard from afar.

"Und dem Kaiser alles Wohl der Welt! (And the best of health to his Majesty.)", shouted a somewhat high-pitched voice back from one of the groups.

"Alright, we found more friendlies under all that chaos."

Yuri nodded to not only himself but his group as well.

"We are moving in! Try to cover our way in!", shouted Yuri again and stormed with his group of about 30 men towards the other group. Each unit consisted of about 4 men each plus the military police.

While they ran they also opened fire and let lose some shots at a location that was being fired towards by their comrades that engaged in suppression fire for them.

That seemed to be the location of the enemy and Yuri already figured that out. He was not a fool that would just run in without being sure that those friendlies were actually friendlies.

He basically only wanted to make sure there was still someone alive over there.

When they finally reached their location they took cover as well and the other cadet group instantly stopped the suppressive fire.

Yuri looked around and saw another 15 men gathered up.

"What a surprise. Looks like we have Rabbit 4, 7, and 10 here? And even at a full count with a few other MP's? I guess that makes our units complete. Who took over command here?" Yuri only glanced over the people and made some assumptions.

Suddenly everyone from the other group was looking at a small girl that looked like maybe 9 at best?

Yuri widened his eyes. 'What the hell is going on here? Why is a small girl like that in the army?'

"Tanya Degurechaff, reporting, sir! I was leading these soldier's out of danger." Her shrill high voice was full of enthusiasm.

"Yuri Romany..." He nodded lightly to her and had to let his thoughts run wild. There were some rumors about her and he did hear them.

A little girl has joined the army and even gained a somewhat cruel reputation.

But even though he believed she was a child soldier like himself, he didn't think that she would be so much younger than him.

For christ's sake, she didn't even look to be 10. Just how far does cruelty and disregard for life go in this new world he lives in now.

Were was the minimum age requieremnt for recruts again? Right, he remembered that he himself was only accepted because he had a magical aptitude. Was that the same case for her?

But this was still an unbelievable thing to see. At that very moment, it just made him remember Rasputin's words back at the palace when he was six...

No, he should forget that lunatic...

Looking at her again more closely she seemed to be the same age as his little sister. That made him frown more and let his thoughts drift towards his sibling.

But Yuri had to continue and not dwell too much on this. He could perceive some of the men already noticing his behavior.

"...Now, we already reestablished contact with HQ and received the order to hold out until reinforcements arrive. This position looks good enough so we will fortify it. I presume all of you don't have any complaints?"

Seeing no one saying anything he nearly assumed it was a done deal. But the small girl with such a sickly white complexion had another thought to that matter.

"What about our comrades? Should we not try and rescue as many as we can? With this amount of men, we could even try to vanquish this rebel force." Her silvery blue eyes stared at him as if they wanted to pierce his soul. It would make many feel uncomfortable.

Yuri only looked over at the MP´s and one of them shook his head and pointed at himself and his other team members. "We are the only ones that were patrolling here as far as I know. So we should not worry about other people struggling in this area."

"Then the question is whether we take a risk moving and attack or keep safe. I would say we keep safe. Any useless heroic acts would be foolish at the current point. We don't know how large of a force the rebels managed to gather up."

Tanya seemed to narrow her eyes slightly. She was probably annoyed that her idea was shot down like this. But she did know that the soldiers around her would only listen to that boy. They seemed to know this other kid that was barely any older than her.

And the trust they seemed to radiated towards him showed her that he was a capable leader. Nothing she could do to undermine his authority but to suggest things.

What made her so frustrated was that he, sure enough, stole her opportunity to amass some easy achievements. This little rebel group was easy picking. Especially now!

So she only gritted her teeth lightly and averted her gaze.

"I don't think her idea is so bad, Yuri. We could get rid of two birds with one stone." It was Eli that was now saying this and Yuri looked over at him.

That got Tanya's attention back on them as well.

"Does anyone else have that opinion?" When Yuri asked that, there were a few other soldiers that did raise their hands.

"Fine, then we will try and vanquish these rebels. Let's move systematically and always stay in the vision of at least two guys from our group. We can sweep a larger area with that and don't lose track of friend and foe."

He reloaded his rifle and placed it at the ready with a smile. "Well, then. Let us have some fun, shall we? Oh and if anyone of you dares to die now I will make sure that something nasty will be written on your gravestones!"

"Move out!" When Yuri started to lead he could not see the creepy wide grin the girl called Tanya had. Even if she did not lead here, the outcome would still serve the same purpose.