Page 125 of Darling Wildfire
I saw a team already booking it across the field far to our right.
“Ammo cache,” Kane’s voice came over comms. “Headed your way.”
“Copy that,” North answered, not taking his eyes off the ruin. Kane arrived soon after and we distributed the ammo amongst us while North quickly laid out the plan and signaled for us to go. We raced across the field, keeping our eyes peeled for the enemy. There was no sign of the third team.
We hit the ruin and spread out, methodically sweeping it. It was so large; we didn’t encounter the other team until we hit the middle where a large courtyard sat and in the middle was Red’s cage. She’d shut down over the last few months and was sitting dejectedly behind the bars, staring listlessly off into the distance. She no longer had the fire like she had in the beginning and there were no more escape attempts from her. She was always in her cage. The last two wins she’d told us Kai had turned even more violent and when she wasn’t being used as a target in the games, she was available to the guards.
We were all just sotired.
Bullets bit into the stone around us and we ducked back down before returning fire.
“Kane, Vance, Casper—go right,” North said. “Atlas, Preacher—left flank.”
I let Preacher take point, and we made our way around the left side of the ruins. The rumble of thunder cut through the occasional round of gunfire and the first few drops of rain tapped down around us, quickly turning into a steady rainstorm. The landscape grew dim as the clouds thickened and the wind picked up, masking our footsteps. Preacher threw up his hand, halting us and I crouched down, a hand on his shoulder.
He gestured a few hand signs, indicating he saw a muzzle behind some rubble. I nodded, and we adjusted our path in order to hold the element ofsurprise. Preacher took out the nearest one, and I brought down the second, then we advanced down a narrow gap between columns.
“Two down,” Preacher whispered over comms.
“Copy,” North responded.
We came around behind the other team. They must have only sent those two out to scout because the remaining five were spread out along the ruin, firing across the courtyard at random. We saw Kane appear as he closed the loop on the right flank and Preacher signaled to him to move on his mark. A quick nod and he relayed the info to Casper and Vance.
We took out two immediately before the others dove for cover among the copious amount of stone and fallen pillars. I glimpsed North and Nyx make a move on the cage as soon as we engaged and then I had to dive behind a pillar to avoid a spray of bullets.
“Fuck, Vance down,” Preacher called over comms.
The rain was coming down harder now, making a mist rise around us. I moved around the pillar and joined up with Kane who was engaged with two of them. He’d tossed aside his empty AR and was grappling through the mud with one. The other stumbled to his feet and rounded on me. He somehow dodged the shot I aimed at his chest and slammed into me. We went down and the viciousness of his attack drove me backwards against a massive piece of granite. He pulled back long enough to point his .45 at my face and pull the trigger.
Click. Empty.
He cursed at the same time I gasped in relief and finished sweeping my AR up. I pulled the trigger and dropped him.
“Target acquired, let’s go!” North shouted.
I met up with Preacher and Kane and we took off across the field at the same time we saw North, Nyx and Red make a run for it. A gunshot rang out and Kane dropped next to me.
“Fuck! Third team is waiting in the buildings!” Preacher shouted.
We scrambled to lift Kane who was bleeding from his stomach. Another shot and we lurched down again as Preacher was hit in the leg.
“Go, you fools,” Kane snarled, shoving me off him, which saved me from a kill shot as a bullet bit into the ground where I’d been standing. “Go!” He barked at me. “Give me that.”
He pointed at my sniper rifle and I tossed it to him. The rain was pelting around us now, thundering into the ground as he laid prone in the tall grass. Casper dropped next. He was dead before he hit the ground, a bullet throughhis eye. Dread settled in my gut, we were dealing with a dead shot.
“Kane’s down,” I said over comms.
I pulled Preacher along with me as best we could, trying to take a route I knew would make it difficult for the sniper. But he’d turned his attention to North and Nyx. I heard a shot come from behind us.
“Sniper down, go!” Kane said weakly over comms.
“We’ll come back for him,” Preacher panted as we made it to the buildings. I didn’t know if he was saying it for my benefit or his.
North appeared at a crossroads with Nyx dragging Red behind him. North’s side was bleeding from where a bullet grazed him and Nyx was favoring his shoulder, but they were both alive which is all I cared about at the moment.
Preacher shoved me off of him, insisting he could walk just as a grenade exploded nearby, sending us all to the ground. Smoke, mist and rain made visibility shit and as my ears rang, I heard shouting and gunfire. I staggered to my knees and used a wall to pull myself to my feet. A man came through the mist—I fired, dropping him.
Preacher was pulling me with him and as the world rushed back to me, the noise was deafening. Nearly a full team had converged on our location.
