Plissken's glider had barely touched down in the deserted snow field before he was opening the hatch. The gulfire slid to a halt and he jumped out pulling the snow camouflage over the dark hull. They had made it across the pacific to Siberia but their objective still lay miles off.
"What's our position?" He called over the radio as he set the tarp into the ground.
Barely a minute passed before a female voice returned. "Half mile due north."
"Good" Snake answered over the radio as the group gathered around his glider. Three minutes post touchdown and they were ready to move. Snake grabbed his gun and pack leading the squadron north toward the target. He could just see the black dot of a building when he hit the top of the rise.
There were no guards on the outside when he too a look at the place through his binoculars. Plissken knew that was not good. No guards meant that someone was waiting; they were trying to play his confidence. The Snake was a veteran of this kind of mission, they were fools. Snake glared as he let the binoculars drop against his chest.
"What is it man?" Sarge whispered.
"Keep a sharp eye. I've got a bad feeling about this place." Plissken made his way down the slope and toward the objective. Time was of the essence this mission could not be failed. Five pairs of eyes watched the desolate flat as they worked their way to the building. There was nothing, straight to the front door and there was not a sound or a movement. Snake wanted to run. Everything about this situation stank. Slowly he cracked the door and peered into the darkened hallway.
It stood empty. Glancing back at the other four he nodded and gave a series of hand signals before slipping inside. They would follow when the time was right. Snake paused in the hall allowing his eyes to adjust to the faint incandescent bulbs. He was greeted by silence. The place was like a tomb. The thought caused a shiver of fear to crawl up his spine as he made his way along the wall to the next corridor. Pausing at the intersection he pulled out the tracking device and schematic. Sarge moved up beside Plissken, eyes darting between the tracer signal blip and the map.
Snake glanced down the branches of the T-intersection and the map and device were stashed in their places before he signaled direction through the maze of halls. Moving around the corner the Snake was watchful straining to hear anything in the silent halls. Plissken started to worry as they turned down the last corridor before reaching the pulsing red blip on the tracer. His stomach started twisting in fear. Someone had the jump on them and now he was just waiting for them to slink from the shadows.
Plissken observed the door while the other four took up position. The anxiety grew the longer he contemplated what lay on the other side. His confidence or more appropriately his impatience pushed his hand to turn the handle quietly. The door gave way to an even darker room. His eyes strained in the inky black beyond. He flicked the light on and only one other person stood in the room.
"Commander?"
The man looked up from the chair, expression unchanging as always.
"This is…."
Snake cut him off. He knew the completion of that sentence; trap, set-up, did it even matter how that string ended?
"We're here now. Too late to think about that commander."
The older man stood and nodded to Snake, "Lieutenant." And to Taylor, "Sergeant"
"We've got gliders stashed. We should move." Snake turned and started to move before the trap door had a chance to slam on them. The running started, boots pounding through the hall as they pushed toward the exit. Snake burst through the door first into the blinding glare. He kept running blindly toward the rise behind which the gliders were hidden. His eyes cleared from the snow blindness and filled with a black string of smoke rising from the ground into the clear blue sky.
"FUCK!" Snake muttered. The Ruskies had torched the gliders. Changing directions running for the sparse cover at the far end of the bleak plain.
"Come on." He stopped waiting for the others to catch up.
"Geisha get us a flight." He called as his radar and communications specialist ran past. He followed after they passed by. He froze in his tracks only a few strides later. It was the unmistakable Thwump, thwump of a chopper.
"Get to cover." Snake called as he took off toward the shrubs. Sophia was already on the radio calling their back up but what good would that do with an enemy chopper here now? He was running for all he was worth when the shadow started to catch up with Commander Hauk and himself.
"Take it down." Came the call from his squadron.
Bullets started to fly from both directions. Snake jumped Hauk taking him to the ground as the helicopter passed overhead. Snake got to his feet and reached for Hauk when the velocity of and impact threw him back. At first he wasn't sure what happened until he struggled back to his feet and saw the red snow he left behind.
"Come on Plissken" It was Hauk who grabbed his arm pulling him forward toward cover. Snake fell under those shrubs feeling hot liquid pouring down his chest under his coat.
"We got transport, five minutes" Sophia reported. "Chopper coming 'round." Tiger called pointing at the chopper mid a wide arc. Snake turned seeing it heading straight for them. This wasn't enough cover.
"Give me a gun." Snake ordered. His own lay out in the snow field near the red blotch in the sea of white. A gun hit his hand and he stood walking into the open.
"Snake NO!" Sophia called but Hauk caught her before she cleared the cover. Plissken leveled the AK47 on the windshield and pulled the trigger. The glass shattered under the armor piercing bullets and the chopper began to fall from the sky. Snake dropped the gun wide-eyed once his mind calculated the trajectory of the metal hulk.
"Run!" snake turned and fled the bulk of twisting metal that was flying toward them. HE didn't stop until he felt exhausted. He had long before outrun the crashing helicopter but his mind had locked into running and he didn't have the energy to change his mind.
Snake dropped to the ground panting. Laying there in the snow he heard the second chopper and the call "Lieutenant!" Fear hit Snake through the dizziness form blood loss. He was on his feet moving again because he had to be. Panic set in as they all stood in the open staring off toward the sound of blades cutting air.
He looked for a place to hide but there wasn't one and the building would be suicide. The prop started to rise over the hill and they all froze with fear staring at the rising black behemoth. Worried glances were exchanged and even Hauk's stern face seemed to be cracking under the stress. It continued to expose itself over the snow covered rise. Plissken was about to give the order to run when the nose came over the bank emblazoned with the stark white eagle on the black matte body.
The tension drained away in a vocal sigh of relief. They were all going home one more time. Snake urged his body to move forward as the Apache glided to the ground. Nothing worked right. Even his vision was doubling up, tripling. He couldn't count how many choppers he was seeing and it was quickly replaced by the glaring blue sky as his body gave way to the blood loss. To Plissken hitting the ground was surreal like feeling someone else's body hitting the ground. He was so detached from everything even the voices he could hear nearby. Everything sounded like the thumping of the chopper and the pumping of his heart.
The blurred faces of Sophia and Taylor appeared first but he couldn't speak or make out what they were saying. They disappeared and Hauk and an unknown man replaced them. Snake watched Hauk's lips moving. He said something about Snake's life and about someone being saved but Plissken couldn't concentrate on what the words meant.
They lifted his body and Snake's head swirled. Plissken felt like he was flying or floating in water. The darkness of the helicopter compartment filled his vision followed by the white mass of a parka. It should have been white but as it moved through his vision it resembled the snow. The coat had a huge red mess on the front like it had been splattered with paint. Blood" his mind barely recognized the fact it was his before he fell into darkness.