Page 72 of See You Soon
I've been around death so much we've become close friends.
The night had just begun, and the villagers were all asleep. We're all on foot with Apache's on standby. Adrenaline is coursing through my veins, as we get closer to the back of the building. Zeke is our new breacher. He's taken Rooker's spot until he recovers and he begins to assemble the bombing device. I give him a nod before he plants it onto the wall.
My mind drifts to Ari. And I swear I can smell her sweet perfume as if she's right next to me. Her scent could bring me to my knees and I wondered why this was starting to become a routine thing.
All the men are crowded around the wall, holding their rifles, strapped with multiple weapons, knives, and grenades.
Ari's sweet floral scent is replaced by something burnt. The smell of wood burning fills the air. My team starts to sniff the aroma, all of us questioning the origin.
This can't be good. Something's burning.
What the fuck are these monsters up to now?
It doesn't take long before the breaching device goes off and it hits all our bodies hard even when we stepped back at a safe distance. All of us flinch, the bomb rattling our bones and ears ringing. Still, I make my way in first and the others all follow.
The first thing I see when I enter is smoke. I clutch my rifle ready to use it. I expected to see men scrambling but nothing yet. I head for the staircase across the end of the hall, quietly, stealthily. It was quiet in the building when we entered but not for long. A man starts to scream with so much terror. The sound erupts in the building and rage starts to blind my vision, seeing red.
Damon Hawk.
Shit. We have to move fast.
Kane is behind me, followed by Lopez, and Zeke. Our boots are quiet as we start to jog toward the stairs. A man appears jumping out in the open into the center of the hallway. He's holding an RPG.
I don't hesitate. I put a bullet right in between his eyebrows. His body immediately goes lifeless, falling to the ground along with his weapon. I didn't even give him a chance to blink. I was fast, accurate, and lethal. My team trusts me to lead them into battles with their lives and I validated their trust every single time.
Death, here's your first soul of the night, do your worst.
The mics in our ears go off, shouting from the teams outside hounding me for questions on where the shots were coming from. Lopez immediately answers them with details. They relay to us that smoke is now seeping into the air from the building. They suspected a fire is about to take the whole place down.
Meanwhile, this is happening, the screaming doesn't stop. It just gets worst and worst and I'm doing my damn best to find Damon before it's too late. My thoughts travel to the worst and I know they're torturing the shit out of him or worst. I didn't want to fail him. I didn't want to fail Damon's family. I want to give Ari good news when I come back from this and I promised myself I would.
The screaming is blood-wrenching, my stomach curls, and I want to cover my ears from the sounds of pure agony that almost sound demonic.
"Motherfuckers." Kane snarls behind me. I sensed that he was just as disturbed as I was.
We couldn't just rush into any room. Everything had to be calculated and careful or we would pay the price with our lives.
The smoke thickens and it's constricting our breathing. We all begin to cough and smell burnt flesh. I shake my head, coughing into my rifle. The smoke starts to burn my eyes and I'm blinking fast. Trying so hard to keep them open. One blink at the wrong time meant my life or my teams.
I reach the top of the stairs and do a quick scan for threats.
Nothing.
"Clear!" I roar. Kane, Lopez, and Zeke are a couple of feet away from me, on the stairs waiting for my orders. The smoke has gotten so bad and something catches my eye. There's a black fog of smoke pouring out from under a door and I'm positive that it's Damon. His screaming is starting to fade, his voice hoarse. Still, I'm hopeful that it isn't him.
Suddenly, a shiny machete encapsulates my attention, I'm on high alert, and I manage to dodge the attack but I'm getting tackled to the ground, deeper into the hallway away from my team. My rifle flings out of my arms and a massive amount of weight is on top of me, snarling.
A man just about the same size as me is attacking me, with no remorse, spit flying into my face, as animalistic noises spill out of him. He punches me in the face, busting my lips open. The asshole raises his machete over my head but I react so fast, I return with a punch, and we're both exchanging hits. This son of a bitch is fighting back and we're wrestling on the ground.
"I can't get a fucking shot Grim!” Kane calls out to me, panicked. His laser pointing straight at us. If he misses his shot, he risks shooting and killing me. If he takes a shot killing the threat, the bullet could penetrate us both. It's a lose, lose situation.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” I laugh, as the darkness takes over my body.
I'm not panicked.I'm fucking excited.I've trained hard for moments like this. In fact, I'm relishing every single second. I start laughing harder, sinisterly, grinding my teeth. Blood and spit fall from my lips and I love it.
I hold him back with one of my forearms supporting the man's entire weight with one of my arms. It gives me enough time to reach for my six-inch knife that's tucked into my kit. It's amazing what adrenaline could do in a fight-or-flight situation. His eyes are burning holes in me, holding so much darkness and hatred.
The man wiggles out of my hold, yelling, cursing at me in a different language. He's fast but I'm faster.
