Things gradually grew silent. The casual conversations soon became echoes, as the calm began to settle in. A calm of discomfort before the great storm. The ambience of metallic shackles rocked his guts, as with each stride he felt himself getting closer and closer to a thin treadmill above a huge mass grave. It would soon prove to be their greatest challenge of all. But the danger wasn’t just reserved for that.
The brief silence had been slewn, the molecules blasted into the ears of the tunnel squad of pummeling artilleries. This was no ambience of war. The continuous and relentless bangs echoed deafeningly and closely that everyone knew its meanings. That hundreds or even thousands of lives would be lost in a couple of hours. That the tide of this battle would change in the near future. The battle for Amone had begun.
The tunnel squad was still making their way through the empty streets of Amone towards the tunnel, away from the front line - from the enemy’s front line. And that meant detection right now could blew the entire operation before it even started. And worse, envelopment would be entirely possible, if not likely. They must maintain discretion.
And that fact was quickly came to a head when shouts echoed from down the street where they were heading. Shouts that resembled languages that most of the tunnel squad had little knowledge of. The Imperial language.
”Oh no...hide!”They were just briefly crossing the path that the tunnel squad was moving, but Michael knew that if some, even just one of them, with good enough eyesight, looked down the street, they would be able to spot an enemy behind the line, and the squad would die. So he quickly edged himself into the doorstep of a building, hoping to use the small bit of wall that was there to keep himself away from their line of sight.
Quickly, Reyna dashed behind a gray slab of concrete and laid prone behind it after hearing Michael’s words and reacting nearly at the same time as him. It wasn’t the best cover for the scenario, but it was the closest and any more sudden moves were risky. Staying quiet, but having eyesight on Michael and a free hand, Michael. Spotting the empty houses, Reyna made a small wave toward Michael then pointed to some empty houses they could use that she saw to have less of a chance to be detected. And all the while she was doing this, Reyna’s heart was pounding.
His breath was disappearing, but his pulse was racing. Please, don’t let anyone look his way. Every sound of boot clapping on the stone hard concrete was another pound to his mind. He only had his companions to look at, a certain number of faces, just as terrified as he was, edging into whatever covers they could find. And then, he saw Reyna on the opposite side of the street behind a slab of concrete flashing him a wave. Then she pointed at the house on his side of the street.
At first, Michael didn’t get it. What was she pointing at? He was curious as to what was the message, but he knew what she pointed at was not in his line of sight. He needed to peek out to see. But peeking out right now, when Imperials were marching down the streets like that, the fear of detection forced him to push his back against the door again, waiting for the sign of boots to die down.
Eventually, the sound did die down, a bit. And Michael finally found the courage to peek out a little, bit by bit. And he saw what Reyna meant. An empty house. Or rather multiple empty Gallian houses, made with Gallian architecture and design. And most importantly for the squad right now, it is interconnected. Or it seems so from the outside. Of course! That means they could use that to move down to their objectives more silently.
Taking full advantage of the downtime, Michael crept out of his hiding spot and moved to the house. The door was closed, but desolation had worn down the place. Michael resolved it with a single kick, bursting the door open, and went in. There, his rifle swirled around the room, checking for any Imperials, to which there were none. Unlike the last excursion, the Imperials probably were rallying for the Federation assault, so none were loitering around here.
With the safety assured, Michael peeked out of the house, looking at both Reyna, Senja, Anneli and the rest of the escort squadron, flashing them the signal to come. A quick glance down the street saw no Imperials crossing by, for now. And he flashed harder. This was their golden chance!
Reyna had held her breath while the Imperial patrol sauntered by, glad that Michael got the message she was trying to give to them. Wasting no time, Reyna got up from her belly and went inside the house while they still had time, making sure everyone else knew what they were doing. After getting in, she nodded to Michael as they continued forward.
Going through the houses and sometimes out of them, Reyna spotted an anomaly: three Imperial soldiers. One of them appeared to be one of the sappers on the Imperial side, but the other two seemed to be basic riflemen. What made this an anomaly to Reyna was the fact that the sapper was making a small barricade facing outward from a makeshift alleyway with two entrances into it, the other guarded by one of the riflemen. Even more interesting was the fact that she spotted a few Imperials going into that entrance with large backpacks and crates.
“Hey, think that’s it?” Reyna quietly said as she pointed out the activity she saw carefully. She had to assume one thing: if she saw them, there is a chance the Imperials could see them at any moment and so caution was necessary.
After Reyna was the rest of the squad. Each soldier through was a sigh of relief, but also another prayer that the remaining ones would not be dealt a poor hand. They were close, and to fail here would arguably be even worse than failing from the get go. And once the last man was through, and the door quietly crept its way shut, Michael finally threw down all his immediate burdens for now, and thanked whatever or whoever kept them from being spotted.
After that, the journey through the interconnected house was largely uneventful, yet the tension still hung around in their chest. They had to avoid those windows, moved silently, creeping their way through the old wooden floors, hoping these planks would not let out an alarming screech with each footstep. And then there was the occasional crossings between houses. It was much less terrifying as the first time, as all the houses they were traversing were all on the same side. Still, the heavy feeling of being constantly watched still tormented them all.
The uneventful trip was finally broken when Reyna peered out of the windows and spotted something. Hearing the call, Michael crouched down near the window next to him, using his small size to his hiding advantage. And what he saw and what she said goes too well.
”It looks like it.”He couldn’t see the tunnel entrance from this spot but the moving crates and guards seemed too suspicious of a location. But he had to be sure, it could be their barracks. So Michael briefly told the squad to stay and he personally went to the upper floor, where a higher window was present. Again, he minimally peered his eyes over the window and there it was. Eureka! The entrance of the tunnel, barely covered by the view of the house on the other side of the street. But his delight of finding his target comes with concern. How could he pass those guys anyway? Sure, the rest of the squad could overwhelm them easily, but that may trigger those close by and those inside the tunnel. And that would blow the whole discretion part of the operation.
”Hmm” Michael pondered for a moment, before leaving his position and ran downstairs to Reyna and the rest of the squad.
”That’s the place, but we need to get rid of those guards. Any ideas?””Hmm.” Reyna started to go into thought. The situation was not ideal for them to get into the tunnels. If they made too much noise or hassle, there’d be a response by the Imperials. On the other hand, this would also mean the other entrances were just as likely to be guarded, maybe even by more than just three. This would be their best chance to complete their objective.
The sudden boom of artillery in the distance, however, gave her an idea as much as it felt like background or worse to her. Maybe….just maybe….
“If there’s an explosion close enough, we could all shoot at the same time?” ”That’s...” Echoed in his ears among the sound of thundering death an opportunity.
”A great idea.”There are three guards. They need at least three shooters. Each for one life taken.
”Anyone here shoot well?”Michael glanced at the escort soldiers all hidden beneath visible windows. The question rang out among the ranks, as these youngsters began to look among themselves. You? No you? I’m not that good. Those were the unspoken message beneath their shaky eyes. None of them seemed to be willing to take up the command earlier, so there were considerable reasons behind the assumption that they weren’t very experienced in this.
Except for one.
”Thank you Senja.” He said, waving her over to the observation window.
”Pick your targets guys.”The fact that no one in the escort squad was confident in their ability to shoot, or even willing to kill at this time, told Reyna all she needed to know: she was going to have to pick and choose one of the Imperials to shoot. This time, it wasn’t going to be the heat of the moment. It’d be colder, more calculating. Unlike any other act she has done. Still, it must be done for the good of the mission and she was confident in her ability to shoot despite not being the most accurate soldier.
Three guards…..one was near the side entrance, if one could call it that, and the other two were on a patrol near the “main” entrance.
“ I- I’ll take one on the right.” Reyna silently said, her hands trembling only slightly as she nodded to the “main” entrance. The guy was sitting on a crate, with his rifle by his side. It was the sapper, who seemed eager to take a long break from his job. It should be an easy shot for her.
After Senja’s reply, Michael had no options but the last one; the one that was not particularly difficult, but he wasn’t an easy kill. He was casually making strolls around in a circle, seemingly bored, in spite of the huge fight going on right now. Perhaps that’s why. Everybody he knew was fighting for the so-called ‘glory’ while he was stuck dangling his guns around his shoulders, with no enemy in sight. But if his movement was significant enough during the execution, they’d be screwed. So Michael had to be extra careful with his shot.
With almost an unspoken command, Michael immediately got into his firing position, a few windows apart from Reyna and Senja.
”Fire when the next artillery goes off. Don’t wait for anyone.”And then was the process of waiting. Minutes of silence dragged in his mind. The signal of death was just around the corner, but no one knew when they would bell.
The three guards were especially ignorant. They weren’t aware of how the situation on the frontline were raging, thinking that they were safe, with the trust that their Imperial comrades would secure the fatherland a heroic victory. They weren’t aware that three sights were on them, and that they were on the doorstep of hell.
And inevitably, the artilleries raged.
BANG!
Michael’s gun rang out first, but not far ahead of the two. The guard was fortunately still at the time, and he took a bullet on his chest. His collapse came as quickly as the bullet. If the shot didn’t kill him, he’d have no hope of reporting the tales.
Reyna’s shot fell in either second or third. She was not sure, but her hands shook when she pulled the trigger. As a result, the barrel moved slightly to the left, just enough for her to miss her intended target, which was the chest. However, the Imperial moved his head in the same direction and it just so happened that the missed shot went straight through the side of the man’s head, blowing open a ugly hole.
Her luck was so high in this circumstance that it took Reyna off-guard. She froze, not believing her luck at the moment before looking to see if anyone saw or heard the shots very quietly and still in disbelief.
Senja also finished her shots seemingly without issues either. And then the few seconds of results...no alarms, no Imperials...good.
”Your training did us a big service.” Michael turned to Reyna with a thumbs-up. He didn’t see exactly how the shots line up, but the headshot was pretty neat, if you did not count the terrible mess it left behind.
”Nice shot too Senja. You know your stuff well indeed.” He also had no compliments left unspoken for the Nordic huntress.
”Alright, let’s go.”
The entrance was soon brought under Federation control as soon as the tunnel team moved out of the building. After making sure no Imperial was in the vicinity, Michael quickly addressed the rest of the squad.
”We’ll be off now. We’ll be seeing you in around an hour or so, hopefully in tact. If we don’t come out...you may leave us. Good luck.” Michael saluted the squad with two fingers before going over his equipment for the last time. Shovels, explosives, magazines, bayonet,...all present. He was ready to go.
“Stay safe, everyone.” Reyna spoke to the escort squad after Michael did, giving them a nod as she followed Michael.
Their time of running away from the inevitable had run out. Here and now they will have to come face to face with the darkness that threatened to consume their frail mortality. There was no going around them; only courage, skills and luck can carry them through the day.
It wasn’t the danger of tunnel fighting that hurt the most. It was the threat of it. They had predicted that the tunnel would be dark, but theorizing couldn’t predict the hazy, cold and claustrophobic darkness that enclosed them. Lightings were barely enough to attract moths, not to mention some parts of the lights were also broken, deemed not significant enough for replacement, making whatever part of the tunnel that came after that completely in the mist.
Michael’s pace slowed and converged as he moved through the tunnel, his mind reciting the direction he had spent hours memorizing the days before. There were times his memories fail him, and he prayed it wouldn’t be this time. And on the while, his eyes peered into the blackness before him. With each step, his arms held back the desire to flinch his bayoneted gun, afraid of the entity that might be behind the veil of darkness. His heart raced, but his mind calmed his breathe. His teeth were clashing, but his mouth kept shut, grinding two jaws into each other. Occasionally, his hand would open the pocket-watch Anna had given him, adjusting his strides with time ticking, the very few sounds in this madness-inducing silence.
Reyna didn’t know how much she truly hated caves and tunnels until she entered them. She was not claustrophobic, but there was just something eerie about these tunnels in particular. The danger was obvious as she gripped her rifle, not having a bayonet on it so she wouldn’t stab her comrade accidently, but the danger was not what scared her. It was, as was the case with Michael, the potential danger. The potential of these tunnels not being well-supported and not need their intervention to collapse. She hoped that they did for now.
And before he even realized it, his memory ran out. And as he looked up the familiar landmark clicked another part in his mind. If it hadn’t checked out with it already, the wooden sign saying ‘Infirmary’ hung on the side of the tunnel pointing deep further in was the obvious sign that they had arrived at their destination.
”We’re here.” Michael placed his hand on Reyna’s shoulder as a signal. He quickly took out his pocket watch to check the time.
”We still have a few minutes. Let’s get our explosives ready.” He swung both his rifle and his backpack down before opening the surprise gift the Imperials hadn’t known they were on the receiving end. These were no shocktrooper’s grenades. These were demolition explosives. It could destroy an entire room if not multiple. And this could highly backfire if not calculated. They must be reserved.
’Let’s see…’Two on each side was probably more than enough.
”I’d say use one, if you have no objections.” “No objections here. Let’s get this done.” This was all Reyna needed to say as she got to setting the explosives carefully with Michael.
Once they’re done, the backpack was on their back again. It would be haphazardly closed though. He’d need it for later.
The clock’s hand was slowly reaching the designated point. Their preparation was complete.
The only item outside the backpack was the pocket-watch firmly on his hand, and the lighter on the other. Michael waited intensely as each strike of the clock sync with his racing breathe.
”Wait…....Now!”The spark was lit. The rope burned. It was set. There was no going back now. In 40 seconds, this part of the tunnel would be buried in the dirt.
Michael quickly grabbed the rifle on the ground and made a run for it, finding cover in one of the corners. The remaining time: counting.
BOOM!
One explosion.
BOOM!
Two. Not far apart.
Anna and her squadmate made it as well.
The dirt falling from the ceiling sent adrenaline racing in his veins, but it died as soon as nothing followed. His calculation was perfect, or at least good enough to work perfectly.
But this was no mere grand finale. This was just the opening. Now the Imperials would be alarmed, and they would be racing over to see what was going on soon enough.
”Good luck Reyna!” He knew this was the time. No time for fancy encouragement. Just the same salute he gave the squad before he raced off towards his intended targets.
“You too, Michael!” Reyna returned the salute before making haste to her target area.
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