Damon
All I can hear are the waves as they hit the small inflatable we’re in. The night is pitch black. The air is hot as it hits my face. The gear we have to wear is suffocating. But it’ll protect us from fire if we encounter any.
The other members of my team sit in silence as we go to the shore. From there, we’ll have to hump it about ten clicks and then we should come upon the caves that’ve been spotted with satellite images. For a month, we’ve been tracking the movement in the caves with satellite surveillance.
A large group has been confirmed to be hiding in the cave system. Our job is to tag the places within the cave that have things, including people, that need to be destroyed. Then bombs will be launched off the ships that have congregated secretly. Bombers will fly in after that and take out everything else they can.
We have to be like ghosts when we go in. Nothing will be easy. We’re trained to use hand signals so we can remain silent. The small boat hits the shore and I give the signal to get out and get on our way. The guns we carry are not light. But they’re all we’ll have to protect us if anyone tries to stop us.
Moving like a band of mimes, we head into the darkness with our heads clear, minds sharp, and the knowledge that what we do counts. A lot more than you get with most jobs.
The exercise we all do makes this part the easiest of everything we must do. The fast pace we keep gets us to the cave in no time. We move into the places we’re supposed to, with me bringing up the rear, making sure everyone is accounted for, and being the guy who’s watching out for all who go before me.
The first part of the cave is empty. One red light lets us know we have something to take out. In complete silence, one of my men uses black paint to cover the lens of the camera. In we move.
As we get further back into the cave, we can hear things. Snoring, a tapping sound, and someone talking quietly. I’m afraid the people who are awake will have to be the first to go. At least the rest of the people in here will die in their sleep, from the bombs that will soon be approaching.
We make our way into the room of sleeping people and place the marker on a wall, then get moving as fast as we can while remaining quiet as mice. We find the people who are talking quietly and the first two Seals take them out with their knives, keeping things quiet and moving forward. We have to get as far back into the cave system as possible. We don’t want to leave even one section of this cave viable.
Room by room, we go and mark them, then it’s time to get back out. Again, I take the rear as everyone heads back out. It’s going as smoothly as we’d hoped. I watch as one, two, three of my teammates exit the cave. Four, five, and six get out. Only three more.
A loud cry has me turning back and I see a person running at me with a hatchet raised in their hand. They’re all in black. I have no idea if it’s a female or male, or how old they are. I fall back as quickly as I can while letting the other three get out before I do what I have to do to take this person out as silently as possible.
Placing my gun on the dirt floor, I ready myself for the attack. I outweigh the person by fifty pounds or more. If I can get the weapon away from them and use my knife to make quick work of them, then I can leave and join my team as they head back to the beach.
The hatchet hits my upper arm, making a laceration in my right bicep. That’s not good, but it’s not awful. I manage to turn the person around and can use my right arm to put them in a choke hold as I fight to get the weapon away from them.
I get it done and toss the hatchet as far as I can, then take my knife off my belt and do what I have to. Only I find another person coming, and there’s more behind him. All have simple weapons, but all are sharp, and all are deadly if they hit some place vital on my body.
“Hey,” I hear a female voice come from behind me.
I turn back and all I see is a green orb. It’s glowing and is about the size of a quarter. It moves and I grab my gun off the ground, taking off after it.
It moves away from the direction I came from, and I stop for a second. I don’t want to get lost. The sounds of the people chasing me have me looking back, and I open fire on them all, dropping every last one of them. Then I get a message. “Sands one, move.”
They’ve sent the missiles. I have to get the fuck out of here now!
“Come!” I hear the same voice plain as day and turn to see that green orb moving again. I follow it, as I don’t know what the hell else to do.
The screams of the many missiles are coming toward the cave, and I have to be as far away from it as I can be. And I’m nowhere near far enough yet.
Running after the green light, I find myself praying that I make it out of this alive. The sand makes it hard to run and then the green light is gone. It’s just disappeared!
And then I fall into a hole …
What the hell?