14. Marcus: An unexpected visit

With the cache of supplies ruined in front of us it seemed any hope of escaping the area was extinguished. My men sought to the wounded or scavenged desperately through the remains for anything that survived the explosion for food, ammo or medicine yearning for something to keep them going but I knew it was futile to join them. Looking ahead into the forest one of my men approached disheartened awaiting for orders.

“Marcus, what do we do now?” Continuing to look into the the forest I unloaded my magazine inspecting how many rounds were left.

“We need to do something. We aren’t going to survive another week with what's left.”

“Get everyone back to the checkpoint.” Loading in a fresh magazine I began walking towards the forest from where our aggressors attacked. “I’m going out to find them. Line, you're in command until I get back.”

“What point is there? We need to focus on leaving with what we have there's nothing left for us here. Hunting them is just a waste of time.”

“I have a plan. If I’m not back in 3 days make for the perimeter.”

Entering the trees my subordinate returned to his duties. Now running hoping to catch up to our aggressors the Lee enfield bullpup assault rifle jostled against the armor on my side. With only the bare essentials of one day's worth of food and six loaded magazines I was able to cover ground quickly if not discreetly. Running out of breath I could hear a loud mechanical metal snap as well as a cry of pain. Crouching down in the grass with rifle ready I steadied myself against a tree aiming down the scope of my rifle.

Four men could be seen in the field ahead, our attackers no doubt. One was stuck in a bear trap furiously agitated yelling out something along the lines of ‘not again’ as a larger man approached him to open the trap effortlessly in an impressive display of strength. Surprisingly the man trapped only had a slight limp rather than crushed shin as expected. The trap must’ve been faulty or worn. A significant stroke of luck for him.

My finger hovering over the trigger it was so tempting to put a lethal shot into the wounded and large man. Burning to avenge the men they wounded and the hopes they crushed it was so tempting to take the shot. Lowering the weapon I observed them as they caught up with the other two in their group. Killing them would murder any chance of escape. Our last hope lay in a ridiculous gambit more likely to get me shot than to help.

Stalking the group through the terrain from a safe distance they cleared out any resistance on their path leaving me to focus on staying concealed as they occasionally glanced behind them. Following for hours I found their base of operations. The pioneer camp Ilovniza village. Putting away my rifle slowly walking towards the camp cringing as I recalled the status reports from other mercenary groups. This was one of the main areas to destabilize and the job had been done sloppy. Indiscriminate killings put everyone on edge and at each other's throats but also us in the cross hairs. Maybe that was the point. The contract seemed strange to begin with.

At first it seemed someone was just desperate for operatives to act on their behalf in the zone. Reconnaissance and ecological reports and such were the original orders though it became much more than that. Orders came through that we were to set up at key points and defend them and any disobedience would leave us stranded without exit. Without any other escape we followed the orders without question trying to ward off anyone who attempted to enter the areas designated hoping for the promise of evacuation to come through once more as supplies dwindled.

Next came the supply drops. While they were a godsend deep down it excavated a deep pit of despair that our employers had no intention of having us leave any time soon. Holding our ground the money continued to flow into our accounts. Most days at least one man could be heard going over all the cars, guns, mansions and women he’d enjoy once we got home. Those conversations became rarer and rarer as time went on and home seemed more impossible to reach.

Finally came the kill orders. To murder anyone we came across. The other mercenary squad leaders under the same contract sounded ecstatic with the promised reward and positions they’d receive. I couldn’t share their enthusiasm. The contract was becoming shadier by the day and the promises kept coming to try keep us enthralled by the payout rather than what might really be going on.

Worried for the safety of myself and my men I briefed them on the situation as to how I saw it and most agreed with my sentiment. So we planned to escape ourselves. Take the final supply drop and find a way through the perimeter. Even though capture seemed more likely than escape prison was a better alternative than being dead.

So now found myself at the door of the pioneers my colleagues were so happily slaughtering hoping somehow I would be able to reason with them to barter some equipment in exchange for supplies. Placing my hand on the bulkhead handle I wondered if whether it was worth even bothering to try and just escape on empty stomachs without medical supplies. Any wounds sustained would mean anyone injured trying to leave would most likely perish and being unfed they wouldn’t have the strength to press on. I was responsible for their suffering in accepting this contract and I owed it to try give them a better chance at facing the horrors of tomorrow.

Sighing deeply expecting to be shot on opening the bulkhead I walked in. Taking a few steps and looking up I saw the four men who attacked us with two crates of medical equipment and rations respectively. Turning to my right five pioneers were drawing their weapons and cocking them ready to fire. Prepared for the end turning to face them they continued to stare at me as if waiting for an attack of some sort. A minute of silence passed as the pioneers theorized a purpose for my arrival until an old man inspecting the disturbance arrived.

Recognizing him instantly his hand went trembling to his pistol. Not drawing it simply sitting on the handle should the need for it arise at any moment. The man known as Noah was as twitchy as described in the dossier. Maybe he even knew about the order against him. Regardless of that I sought out to acquire what I required for my men and broke the tense silence with confidence addressing Noah to hopefully begin negotiating with the pioneers.

“I know who you are old man.” His voice uneasy he eventually replied.

“I imagine you do. What does the Arbitrator want with us.”

A name I’d never heard though I assumed it to be our contractor who organized our movements. Turning over the name in my head while I honestly laid out the situation of myself and my men saw a few pioneers relax. Though it might have compromised all of us proving we were weak to being struck I had to trust them to show some kind of mercy and for them to believe we didn’t take part in the attacks against them. Easing his hand off the pistol after a moment of processing all of what I said his voice became steady.

“We haven’t had any attacks from that area so I’m inclined to believe you. Don’t think you're safe though. The other mercenaries will most likely have received orders to attack you in that last drop.”

“We will prepare for that. To do that though we need the supplies stolen from us that the man is holding over there.” As the man was about to argue Noah interrupted him immediately.

“Agreed. The condition being you stay to face those mercenaries alongside us and accompany me on a raid.” Taken back by his sudden agreement and demands he left me at a loss for words for a moment. Noah continued on before I could collect myself to reply.

“We need to deal with this threat and you need these supplies but I need someone like yourself to reach what I’m looking for. Agree to those terms and your men will be able to escape. That's what you want isn’t?”

Standing to repel the other mercenaries would put my men in harm's way but with the aid of the pioneers we might just be able to wipe them out and prevent them from hunting us down. His request for me to remain with him though was surprising and I had no intention of staying in the area. I’d been fighting with my men for years and fire forged them into brothers. Leaving them seemed impossibly daunting. The only way to get them out though was to accept Noah’s demand and that was more important than anything.

Accepting his terms not knowing what he wanted with me he tore the supplies out of the man’s hands leaving him outraged and handed them over to me following to brief the pioneers on the battle they were about to fight for their safety against the mercenaries with our help. It didn’t take much convincing to prove this was the right moment to strike. They prepared for the morning's march to our checkpoint much to the initial horror of the lookout posted at spotting the forty man troop of pioneers that had volunteered to fight the threat.

Setting up in camps in the woodland surrounding the compound my men and Noah with four other pioneers, two unknown soldiers and outlaw occupied the compound ready to react to any alert from the surrounding pioneers who held their positions concealed. We waited patiently for the enemy as the sun passed through the sky. The tension in the air became as thick as the morning fog.