Arriving at the village entrance, we found the gateway arch in shambles on the ground. We vaulted over it and rushed toward Tenzin's home. I could hear gunfire and explosions echoing throughout the mountains, shaking the ground beneath us. The three of us armed ourselves with our pistols, ready to fight.
As we made our way through the town, I saw bodies of villagers and soldiers strewn about, many of whom were crushed under rubble, leaving small streams of blood flowing out, which gathered into small maroon puddles. I forced myself to ignore them, using the thought of rescuing Elena as my inspiration to move forward.
A squadron of soldiers emerged from a building to continue their onslaught. One pointed us out, causing the rest of them to take aim at us. We dove behind some bits of a destroyed building just before a barrage of bullets rained down upon us.
"Wait for them to reload!" shouted Nate, ready to return fire.
We crouched there as the soldiers' attack continued. Then, suddenly, silence.
"Now!" Nate commanded. The three of us stood up and opened fire on our foes, who fell to the ground like tissue paper as our shots tore through them.
"Let's go, we have to get to Elena!" Nate urged.
We fought our way through the village until finally arriving at Tenzin's house. Within we discovered Elena and Tenzin's daughter, Pema, safely huddled behind some furniture.
"Oh, thank God you're alright!" Nate exclaimed as he embraced Elena in a tight hug. Tenzin ran to his daughter and hoisted her into the air, his face beaming with joy. I felt relief at seeing everyone reunited, although viewing Tenzin and his young daughter brought up the unhappy memory of not having a father for all that time, but I reminded myself I have Nate now. Smiling at the joyous scene, I ran to Nate and Elena and wrapped my arms around them. Before I knew it, the hug ended, Elena's face fading to a more serious tone.
"Nate, they took Schäfer. What're we gonna do?"
"We're gonna get him back, obviously. C'mon, let's go. Coming, Tenzin?"
Tenzin glanced over, obviously not sure at what Nate said. Elena translated, to which Tenzin responded with a slight grin, patting Pema's head.
Turning back to Nate, Elena said "He'll be staying here to take care of Pema and will be barricading the house as soon as we leave. They'll be fine."
"Sure," Nate responded. "See ya later, buddy," he waved with a smile. Tenzin returned the wave, and we returned to the battlefield, ready to rescue Schäfer.
This section of the village had become quiet, as the fighting had moved further toward the other edge of town. We made our way up toward Schäfer's residence. After walking for a few minutes, I looked down and noticed tread marks in the ground which looked like they were left by a tank.
"Uh, hey Dad…?" I said, motioning to the marks underfoot.
"Why in the world would they bring a ta-?"
Nate's words were cut short by a sudden explosion that had burst from an adjacent brick wall. Soldiers came spilling from the rubble, immediately opening fire upon us.
"Tank?!" exclaimed Nate.
"Run!" shrieked Elena.
Nate grabbed my arm and pulled me into a sprint.
"We're not going to fight them?" I inquired.
"Are you kidding? There's at least twenty guys back there, and they have a freaking TANK!" Nate yelled over the gunfire.
We dodged the assault as much as possible, ducking through buildings and alleys. Despite our best attempts, the tank stuck to our path like glue, breaking through every wall we ran behind.
Continuing our escape, we finally arrived at the village square where the rest of the residents, who were fighting the soldiers with archaic wooden crossbows, which were surprisingly effective in taking down anything they hit, as the razor sharp arrows pierced through body armor like butter.
Nate pulled us over behind a small brick wall with a line of crossbows leaning on it.
"Here, take these," he said, handing us the weapons. "It can only fire once before needing reloaded, so be sure to make every shot count. I'm gonna try to find something that can deal with that tank."
Before I could get a word out, Nate kissed Elena and ran off into the mess of buildings.
Elena and I glanced at each other with a nod, then stood up to join the others in fighting the soldiers. We were able to hold our ground, with each shot striking its target with deadly precision.
Suddenly, I saw a shadow appear on the ground in front of us, emanating from the roof of the building behind us. I looked up and saw Nate standing proudly with an RPG.
"I'd say this oughta take care of that tank!" he called down. Not a moment later, the tank burst through the gates closing in the area, its machine gun mowing down several villagers.
"Get down!" I shouted, pushing Elena behind cover. I heard the rush of a rocket soar over my head, striking the tank and releasing shrapnel into the air. I peeked over our crumbling cover to see if the tank still worked. It sat smouldering, seemingly devoid of life. Shockingly, it sprang back into action, sparks shooting from its vents and its top grinded toward us. We ran from our cover just before it fired another round, destroying part of the building upon impact. As we sprinted to find more cover, I glanced back to see if Nate was okay. Having been knocked down by the blast, he scrambled back to his feet, attempting to reload the RPG as quickly as possible.
Not noticing Nate was still alive, the tank continued chasing after us. We rushed into a building, narrowly missing being struck by another tank round which soared into the mountains, striking a faraway building and knocking it off its support beams. Nate jumped across rooftops, rushing to our aid. He slid down the window cover, landing just behind us. Suddenly, a soldier appeared from a building wielding a combat knife similar to my own.
"Nate, watch out!" Elena shouted as she ran toward Nate. She tackled him out of the way as the soldier dove at him, ready to strike. As they landed, the RPG fired, flying passed the tank and striking the remainder of the gate arch behind it. It's barrel cranked toward the ground, ready to blast them away.
As Nate glanced back at me with a worried smirk, it quickly disappeared behind a building smashing down on them. I peered up the mountain and the horrific sight of the destruction it left behind; it had tumbled down here after having its supports smashed by the tank's shot.
"Dad! Elena!" I shouted as I sprinted toward the collapsed structure. Before I could get there, I looked up and saw the tank barreling over the pile of rubble, its machine gun barrel spinning up as it prepared to shred me to pieces. I froze.
Glancing down at where my family once laid was the grim sight of a hand sticking out from the rubble. The horror of not knowing who its owner is- or was- shocked me out of my fear. I rose to my feet and fled from the tank, its bullets trailing mere inches behind me. I ran as fast as my weary legs could carry me, despite the burning pain in my foot. I retreated into a building and ran up the steep stairs held within. On the second floor I found the body of a soldier with an arrow through his heart. I wearly knelt down next to him and looted his body of its grenades and pistol. I sat propped against the wall to catch my breath as I heard the machinery of the tank grinding toward me.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly exhaled, focusing on how I could take the tank down.
"What would Dad do?" I asked myself. I glanced down at the grenades in the holster I had wrapped around my waist.
Looking out the window, I could see the tank hunting me, its barrel swiveling in every direction. Bearing myself for what was to come, I slowly stood, ready to return to the fight. I ran onto the balcony and dove onto the tank below. I opened the hatch leading to the inside of the tank and tossed a grenade in. Clambering away, I pivoted onto the tank's gun, and chucked a grenade into its mouth. I felt my hands singe as I hung onto it.
Needing to escape the oncoming explosion, I swung to the ground and dove behind the nearest cover. As I crouched behind the meager stone wall, a deafening explosion shot tank parts into the sky, covering the entirety of the square, the noise leaving my ears ringing.
The world went quiet.
I sat there, tears leaking from my eyes as I tried to think of what to do next. Schäfer is the only other English-speaking person I know in this place. Elena said they took him, but I thought they might just be holding him captive in his home. I stumbled through the rest of the town, climbing through collapsed structures and tripping over corpses.
Arriving at Schäfer's house, I pushed open the small wooden doors. The room was silent and cold, as the fire had long since died. I shuffled to the table and slumped into a chair. My whole body felt numb as I felt my world crumble around me. As my weariness overtook me, I closed my eyes and faded into the comforting arms of sleep.