Liam watched helplessly as the woman’s body fell toward the floor. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. If she smacked against the wood flooring, the other prostitutes would likely wake as well. Luckily, George was already close enough to quickly step over and prevent the woman’s corpse from falling past the bedside.

The three soldiers looked at each other through their helmet visors. While George carefully and quietly lowered the bleeding corpse to the floor, Liam and Fitz skulked closer to the bed. All of them prayed that the other civilians would stay asleep. As soon as the corpse rested on the rug surrounding the bed, Liam gestured for George to resume his job. The man nodded and aimed the barrel of his M4 squarely on the target’s head.

Before he could pull the trigger, another of the prostitutes stirred, though not from any accident. She simply rolled too close to the edge of the bed and startled awake. Again, they were spotted. Again, Liam fired a round.

Although George grimaced behind his visor, he did his job by firing a burst round through the skull of the target a moment later. This time, both bodies fell on the messy covers. The squad waited…

They worried that the last remaining prostitute would wake, but she remained deep in slumber, perhaps a drunken one, much to their relief. George lowered his weapon and stared in solemn silence at the corpses of the two women. On the other hand, Fitz raised both hands to his face in frustration. His weapon clinked against his helmet in the process, reminding him to lower it and simply press his free hand against his visor in frustration. A slew of whispered curses came over the comms from him.

Liam made a mental note to address the issue once they escaped, but for now, he tapped on Fitz’s shoulder and gestured for them to leave with due haste. Reluctantly, the man nodded. With that, Liam led the way back to the hallway, though his two men looked back at the corpses and then at each other.

Upon rejoining with Thomas, the squad hastily skulked down to the bottom floor. However, shortly before reaching the back door, they heard a commotion upstairs.

“Did we miss a guard somewhere?” Thomas asked.

“Possibly, considering we were ordered to make haste and avoid checking every room,” Liam answered while creaking open the back door just enough to make sure the perimeter guard was out of sight using the body heat sensors. Assured of the safety, he gestured for the squad to follow and dashed toward the wall. As before, they climbed over one by one. Before running up to vault over the wall, he glanced back at the mansion and saw a flashlight pass by a window. Two men ran past yelling into radios.

Shit…

Grimacing, he sprinted toward the wall, pushed off his dominant foot in order to grab the ledge, and hoisted himself over. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he broke into a sprint and sharply ordered, “Go! Run!”

Fitz, George, and Thomas all bolted after him. In between huffed breaths, Thomas asked over the comm, “So, we made a mistake?!”

“Blame our orders,” Fitz retorted. “They didn’t give us time to be more thorough.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Liam said while darting into a nearby alley which the plans on his visor pointed out. Then, he glanced at Fitz and ordered, “Send one of the drones ahead of us.”

As the small hovering device whizzed past, Fitz immediately warned, “There are armed men exiting several buildings ahead of us. I’ll look for the best route.”

The squad halted between buildings. While Fitz sent the drone down several roads, the other three kept an eye out for hostiles. Eventually, he said, “No good way out without combat, though I’ve narrowed down two routes with the fewest enemies.”

“Lead the way,” Liam said.

With that, they checked their corners and dashed out with Fitz in the lead as soon as the coast was clear. They encountered zero enemies on the first street. However, before turning down an ally, Fitz gestured to slow down since there were hostiles ahead. With practiced precision, they took positions near the corner and took aim.

Five men who obviously hasted in throwing clothes on stood at the ready in front of a condemned storefront which now likely served as a hideout for the enemy. They never heard the subtle pop of the silenced firearms before dropping to ground one by one.

Liam’s squad followed Fitz down the road. They hugged the buildings as much as possible. Once more, Fitz lifted a hand, though this time they hid in an alley to wait for a group of hostiles to run past, most likely heading for the mansion. As soon as they were out of sight, the squad moved onward to the stone wall that surrounded the village.

After hooking their weapons to the mechanical hosters on their backs, Liam boosted George over the wall, followed by Fitz. Then, to their dismay, while helping Thomas over the wall, an armed hostile noticed them from the street. Before they could do anything about it, he dashed behind the nearest building while shouting into his radio in a foreign tongue.

A frustrated sigh slipped from Liam’s lips as he watched the man run away. There was no doubt in his mind that the guy would bring back reinforcements. Then, he climbed the wall and jumped off the ledge, rolling into a sprint upon landing. The others anticipated it and were already running ahead of him and up the mountainside into the forest.

In between pants of exhaustion, Liam ordered, “From here on out, maintain radio silence as much as possible.”

“Yessir!” the others replied in unison.

A few minutes later, they stopped to catch their breath. As usual, Thomas heaved more than the others.

During their moment of rest, Fitz ripped off his combat helmet and slammed it against the dirt. In a fit of anger, he exclaimed, “Dammit, Liam! I’m sick of this! Why did those civilians have to die? Again! I swear it’s every other mission for this team!”

“Not now, Fitz,” Liam sternly chided. “Wait ‘til we’re out of the woods.”

Fitz’s eye twitched. “No. Now is the exact time to bring it up. Do you think what we do is okay? No, nevermind. Of course you wouldn’t get it…”

Sighing, George muttered, “It’s okay. We get it. But, we’re not the ones you should be angry at.”

Lowering his gaze, Fitz obviously understood, but his entire body shook with unbridled rage. With a shake of his head, he swiped his helmet off the ground while mumbling to himself about how wrong it all was, about how this wasn’t what he joined the military to do. He signed up to protect those he cared about, not to go out and murder or abet in it.

“Hold up, I hear something,” Liam whispered, raising a hand. The others fell dead silent to listen to the surroundings. A moment later, they all heard yelling in the distance. Grimacing, Liam said, “We’re still too far from the rendezvous. Hide in the brush and activate the Chameleon Gear.”

“I still don’t trust that tech,” Fitz complained. “Those new silencers are incredible, but that setting leaves us as sitting ducks.”

“Just do it,” Liam ordered.

Immediately, Thomas and George crawled below nearby bushes, but Fitz grumbled a bit before following suit. Once all of them situated themselves in the brush, they activated the setting built into their combat suits. Inch by inch starting with their heads, diamond-shaped segments of their suits adjusted to the colors around them. No matter how many times he saw the spectacle, Liam still felt impressed when the people around gradually blended into their surroundings, effectively becoming invisible. The only downside was the suit-lock that prevented movement while the setting remained activated. He hoped a separate deactivation system would be added at some point other than the voice recognition.

With that, the squad patiently waited, perfectly hidden from sight. Even as the sun peeked over the mountainside, they remained completely motionless. Every once in a while, armed guards ran by them, blissfully unaware of their presence.

“How long do we have to wait?” Thomas whispered after turning on his helmet speaker.

“Until they give up the search,” Liam whispered in reply.

“That could be days…” Fitz muttered, voice laced with irritation.

“Shh… do you hear that?” George quietly interrupted, though his helmet speaker crackled with interference, lowering the volume of his voice almost to the point of not being heard.

Briefly, they listened to the surroundings again. Not far away, they heard the yapping of dogs.

Shit, not good… Liam thought. The others likely thought similar things. Sighing, he considered his options. Honestly, he had not seen animals used in warfare in many years. Even so, he could only think of one way to complete the mission without losing his men. They all had skills which would be necessary for the next mission. However, Liam himself only brought combat skills to the table.

“Alright, head for the rendezvous,” Liam ordered.

“So, in the end, we’re going to fight our way back despite everything…” Fitz muttered.

“No, you guys head for the rendezvous,” Liam corrected him.

“Uh… wait, what?”

“We don’t exactly have many options,” Liam muttered.

“I agree that it seems rather, well, out of character for you,” George noted through his crackling speaker.

“We can’t leave a man behind, sir,” Thomas said, clearly uncomfortable with the idea.

Liam deactivated his Chameleon Gear and stood. The barking grew louder by the second. “We don’t have all day. Go.”

“Can’t say I’m all too keen on this either,” George added while deactivating his own cloaking mechanism.

A moment later, Fitz and Thomas followed suit. Although Fitz began heading uphill with a lowered gaze, Thomas approached Liam and said, “I won’t forget your sacrifice, sir.”

“It’s not a sacrifice,” Liam said, totally believing his own words. “However…” He removed his combat helmet and unzipped the Dyneema body armor suit and handed them over, though not before taking his rifle and sidearm. Without the suit, he remained in only a white tank top, tan pants, and his combat boots. “Best to avoid letting them get their hands on this stuff.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Now go.”

After a brief and hesitant nod, Thomas chased after the other two. Liam checked his magazine and grimaced upon realizing he forgot to grab a spare one. However, it was too late to worry about it. He took a position behind the largest tree he could find in the vicinity and waited. Seconds later, a handful of men led by leashed hounds came into view. With the advantage of a higher position, he waited for a clear shot.

The quiet pop of a burst round sounded next to his ear. Immediately, one of the hounds dropped dead with three holes in its side. The enemies all shouted to each other in their foreign tongue. However, it was too late. Liam fired consecutive rounds into each of the hounds. Once all of the dogs lay bleeding on the grass, he shot down as many of the handlers as he could before running out of bullets.

From there, he set down the rifle, pulled out his silenced Glock sidearm, and unsheathed the combat knife from his boot. Unfortunately, armed enemies began firing their own weapons in return, though most of it tore into trees and bushes not even remotely close to him. Only a few rounds tore into the bark of the tree he hid behind.

Since the sun had yet to fully rise, some element of darkness remained. Hoping to take advantage of it, he darted through the undergrowth in an attempt to close in on the enemies. Minutes later, the first man fell to a stabbed neck. Before anyone noticed, Liam skulked behind another and dropped him the same way. Unfortunately, someone noticed the body before he could return to cover and fired at him. Liam spun and took cover behind the nearest tree. The dog tags around his neck clinked against each other with the movement.

He winced. Lowering his gaze, he saw blood trickling from his abdomen. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Gunshots echoed around him. A few bullets whizzed by much too close for comfort.

One more deep breath. A pained wince. Liam crouched. He aimed around the tree and fired two rounds through the man’s chest. Two more men showed up to take his place. Liam rolled his eyes.

Before long, he ran out of ammunition. He also had two more bullet wounds. One pierced his left collarbone and the other his right thigh. Looking around, at least ten bodies littered the ground, excluding the dogs. Again, he sighed, though it pained him to do so. The blood loss also began to affect him. Dizziness set in.

A stick cracked behind him. He spun on his good leg, knife at the ready. Unfortunately, three gun barrels were pointed right at his face and too far away to stop with his hands to boot.

Well, shit…

* * * * *

Sweat pouring down his forehead, Liam jolted upright. Each breath came out sharp and ragged. Confused, he looked around. He was in a tent. A scratchy blanket covered his lower body. A white-haired woman lay next to him.

Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply several times. It didn’t hurt. Gradually, his muddled mind settled and he realized where he was. He ground his teeth together while wiping the sweat from his face. The fact that this was the second time he dreamed about the past in only a week bothered him. On top of that, the realism of them made it feel like he actually relived those moments.

Glancing at Nora, he realized she somehow remained deep in sleep. Perhaps the medicine affected that. Either way, Liam knew he wouldn’t fall back asleep anytime soon and did not want to risk waking her, so he quietly threw on his shoes and exited the tent. As soon as his feet touched the grass, Scath lifted his head and opened his eyes. His gray pupils visibly asked if anything was wrong.

“Don’t worry about it. Didn’t sleep well,” Liam muttered. However, Scath obviously didn’t buy it.

Sighing through his nose, Liam wandered off beyond the treeline. Unsurprisingly, Scath followed. Strangely enough, Liam found himself appreciating the company. A little ways into the woods, he started a small fire and pulled up a small fallen tree next to it as a seat. While poking at the flames with a stick, a familiar voice spoke within his mind.

‘Hey, Liam. How long's it been?’