Hawkins fiddled with his binoculars, idly changing the vision mode to infrared, then to night vision, then back to normal, as Reeves and Black stared out at the battlefield with their own pair that they grabbed from the jeep. The two seemed to be making bets on certain parts of the fight. such as which side would win in a particular skirmish, and hissing and 'ahh'ing as the soldiers below died particularly gruesome deaths or made massive turnarounds and comebacks. Personal favorites came and went as they were slaughtered, and Reeves gave a particularly long string of curses as one of the soldiers he'd bet on played hero and dived on top of a grenade. It seemed wrong for them to be doing something like this, belittling the death of so many men, but Hawkins kept his mouth shut on the matter. As long as it didn't impede combat effectiveness, Hawkins didn't really quite care what his men did in their free time. He began to drift off somewhat as he sat there, in the shade of a tree.
Hawkins was pulled from his trance as he heard Private Bryan cry out. "Oh, what the fuck! It's raining fucking fire!" Hawkins glanced over at Hawkins, eyebrow quirked in concern, but as he followed Bryan's finger, pointed up at the sky, Hawkins soon came to understand why it was that Bryan was so excited. Angry red streaks of fire and flame fell from the sky, intent on crashing into the battlefield below, leaving even more chaos in its wake. All around him, Hawkins could hear the others murmur and shout out their own exclamations of surprise.
He stared up at the sky in awe for a few moments before he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, down in the battlefield below. He snapped up his binoculars and zoomed in for a closer look. It was a scout car, seemingly intent on makings its way off the battlefield. Hawkins snapped his fingers towards Reeves, then pointed at the car. "Corporal, eyes off the light show. Look down there. Looks like we've got a couple of non-combatants trying to make it out."
Reeves followed Hawkins' finger, looking through the eyes of his binoculars. "What makes you so sure they're non-combatants?" Private Cross asked from behind them, still staring up at the falling debris.
"I'm pretty sure soldiers don't wear lab coats all that often." Hawkins followed the car with his eyes, watching them go. There was something about that car. "Everyone, pack your shit. We're following that car."
"What?" Black asked. "Why? It's probably just a group of deserters, or some VIPs trying to get the hell out. It's none of our business, right? We're just here to see the big commotion. Hell, there's no guarantee those guys are making it out in one piece anyways."
Hawkins stared out at the car as it swerved to avoid an artillery strike. "Call it a gut feeling. Those men have something important. Besides, we all know how this fight's going to end anyways. Now come on, grab your shit. We're going." Black stared back at Hawkins with a quizzical look, likely wondering just what the hell was going through the man's mind, but she soon gave in, shaking her head and sighing, making her way to the jeep they had hidden a little ways back, following the others.
Reeves sighed. "Well, if you're sure about this, sir."
The jeep rumbled and shook as they drove across rocks and roots, Reeves who was manning the machinegun on top cursing as they hit a particularly bad bump. They'd been driving for a while now, a few hours at least, following the car. It'd run off into a forest, where it was simple enough to follow the trail it had left behind. Hawkins had been keeping an eye out on their surroundings. Wouldn't want to be ambushed by the natives or anything.
A deep and guttural cry roared out from the woods ahead, and Black, the driver, slammed on the brakes. Everyone was silent for a moment as they strained their ears to pick up any other sounds, and everything was silent until they began to hear the human screams. "Everyone dismount... We're investigating... Spread out and stay hidden..."
"I dunno... That sounded pretty bad..." Bryan gave back.
"Quit your whining, Bryan. Come on, we've got mysteries to solve." Reeves snarked back. Everyone dismounted from the jeep and began to move forwards, making sure to keep behind bushes and trees. The going was a little on the slow side as they tried not to make too much sound, but they didn't have to go too far to see what had been going on. It was a small clearing of sorts, and in the center were six figures. Two of them, Canton soldiers, were limp on the floor, likely dead, and one was a native of truly massive proportions, covered in white ash and carrying a native-made blade. The last three figures were scientists, men in lab coats, and one was in the native's hands. The one the native held was tossed into the car, and slammed into its body as the native hissed out in halting English. The native reached into the vehicle, even as the one scientist scrabbled into the car and began to drive away, and pulled out a container of some sort, leaving it on the floor as he turned his attention to the last two men. What happened next was... revolting. Hawkins fought the urge to throw up, and he heard Black gag quietly behind him, even as Reeves put his hand over her mouth to silence her. Still, they stood there and watched, in part unwilling to bring the native's attention to them, and another part in shock at the scene before them.
The native made trophies from their bodies, seemingly to look bored as he finished. It turned its attention to the object it stole from the car earlier, smashing the container open and retrieving the thing. To Hawkins' surprise, the object began to glow, and the native seemed to fall into a trance. Then the metal object spoke. Then the native began to glow too. As the light faded, the native walked off into the forest, dissapearing from sight. They waited for several more moments before they pushed through into the clearing, cautiously investigating the remains while Reeves peered off into the direction the native had run off towards. There was no question as to whether or not they were dead.
"What... Holy fucking shit... What the fuck was that about!?" Bryan cried out, even as he cringed away from one of the corpses, and Black vomited into one of the bushes, as Cross seemed to just stare at the bodies, his facial features hidden behind his helmet.
"I... I don't know..." Hawkins replied. "Reeves... You got any tracks there?"
"No luck, sir." Reeves said, glancing back. "This guy probably knows these woods like the back of his hand... We'd just get lost following him."
"Alright..." Hawkins said, nodding back. "Come on, everyone back to the jeep... We're going after the survivor... I want some answers as to what just happened, and he probably knows best."
"He better fucking know... Fuck that was messed up..." Bryan mumbled under his breath.
