He hated this.
"001, your mission is to take over this town." Mad Dog threw a map at him with a flick of his wrist. He was barely able to catch it by the corner before it fell to the ground.
He hated him.
There was a heavy stone in his stomach when he realized that it was the town they had passed by a few weeks before. The town that was just full of women and children, but despite the fact that they were missing their husbands and sons, they had still found it in their hearts to give him and the other numbered food. Especially 032, who was the youngest numbered.
They were going to have to take out the same women that showed them kindness, an act that was exceedingly rare in the land they lived in.
"Get it done before sunrise." He wanted to curse under his breath. That wasn't that a lot of time.
"Yes sir." He kept his tone even and monotonous, even though he wanted to do nothing more than disregard his orders.
He walked out of the tent, turning sharply to the right so he could get to their living area as fast as he could.
It was sunset, and the town was at least three hours away by foot. It was probably going to take around thirty minutes for him and his men to get ready for such a trip. Once they got there, hopefully, the women would just accept their purpose and leave without a fight.
Assuming they did, it was going to take an hour for them to sort that out. If they didn't, it was going to take an hour, or an hour and a half, depending on who he took with him.
Then it was going to take them three or four hours to return, depending on if they have to get into a firefight or not.
Eight hours to complete the mission assuming everything went well, ten hours to complete it assuming the town fought back.
They going to be cutting it closer than he would like. If they weren't in view of the camp by the time the sun came up, everyone, including him, was going to be in deep shit. Mad Dog hated it when they didn't complete the mission to his standards or in the time limit, he gave them. He hated it even more when they would get hurt in the slightest since that meant they were going to be 'worthless' until they healed.
That was a bitter part for 001 since he was sure that they would heal faster if they actually got some help rather than a roll of bandages being thrown at them.
More often than not, it was him and 006 who helped the other numbered when they got hurt. since no one else was willing to show favor by doing it. 001 usually explained it away by stating that he couldn't work efficiently if one of them was hurt. 006 explained it away by stating that he didn't want an invalid to be watching his back.
He thought over the men he should take.
004 was a man who liked killing and also liked the hunt. So, he was out of the question.
He knew that he was going to be taking 006 and 032 since they often showed the same disposition in not being a piece of human shit.
Chewing on the inside of his lip, he deliberated over the fourth member. The other first ten of the numbered had just returned from a mission that he and 002 led, so they were out of the question. The others were currently in the middle of eating or maintenance so if he asked them, it was going to take even longer to leave.
Hmm…
015 had always been a night owl, chances were high that the Hispanic was still geared up and ready to go.
015 it was then.
He walked into the living area, holding up the map as he said," 006,032, 015," The three snapped to attention, already standing up for their mission as the rest of the numbered stared at them," We're leaving in 30 minutes. We're going to the Cerian province."
"Cerian?" 006's tone was just short of being groaned out," what are we doing all the way over there?"
"We're taking over the town. Hurry up."
That made him shut up.
006 was the only one who knew how much he hated taking over towns. It was rare for the inhabitants to just go peacefully. So more often than not, taking over a town meant completely wiping out the local population.
It took him a few minutes to get his stuff together since he hadn't been given the chance to unpack after returning from the mission, he and 002 led together.
With a frown, he took out a piece of paper and scribbled on it. He made the message short and simple. He couldn't risk making the message any longer lest anyone notice that he was writing a message and throw him under the bus.
032 came up to him first, looks like his bag had been ready as well.
As he usually did, he tucked the note away into the map as he handed it over to the younger boy," Towns labeled, go and scout it. Meet us by the waterfall when you're done."
He saw 032's eye slightly twitch as he got the message.
Just like that, 032 was running into the forest, taking a head start so he could go ahead and deliver the message to the town leader so they could at least get a warning.
He was pretty sure that one of these days, someone was going to connect the dots between deserted villages and him sending 032 ahead.
But he would deal with that when the day came.
Twenty minutes later, and the three of them were running through the jungle, running and jumping over obstacles as they started their trek to the Cerian province.
His gear was heavy as always, his small bag of magazines thumping against his lower back as he jumped over some rocks. The harness to his knife dug into his leg uncomfortably as he ran.
006 caught up to him easily, leaving 015 behind him as the older boy took up the position to watch their backs.
"They're gonna find out eventually." He could barely hear 006's words over the sound of their breathing.
He didn't say anything.
It was going to happen one day. They both knew that. And they both knew that chances were high that Mad Dog was going to order for him to be killed when he did find out. Since instead of being an obedient soldier, he had been doing actions such as that of his own accord.
It was only a matter of time.
006 sighed at his silence.
It was silent for the rest of the trip to the town. None of them spoke even between breaks when they took sips of water before taking off again.
Everything was normal until they met up with 032 again.
Just as 001 was going to start informing his three teammates how they were going to take over the town.
A large shock nearly knocked them off of their feet. A loud boom made them slap their hands over their ears reflexively.
001 would never forget this night for the rest of his life.
Instead of evacuating quietly, or giving up.
The women of the town, the ones that 032 confirmed to be there with absolutely no men to help defend their town.
Decided that if they couldn't have their town.
No one could.
Distantly, he realized that he was going to be in some deep shit. It was going to be overwhelmingly obvious that he had sent 032 ahead to warn the town, which caused the women who lived in the town to decide that they were going to set off a bomb. He could probably play it off so all of the blame was placed onto him instead of 032.
He was going to deal with the consequences, that was for sure.
But at the moment.
He could barely keep the grin off his face as he stared at the flaming buildings of the town.
As 015 was saying.
Those crazy bitches.
He was seriously impressed.
"What are we going to do?" he could just barely hear a nervous tone in 006's voice. And 001 couldn't tell if it was out of concern for his teammates, or if it was out of concern for him.
He kept his voice monotonous," There's no point in taking over rubble." The flames were huge, and he could feel the heat of the burning buildings even from their position just inside of the tree line. There was no doubt that they had used a bomb along with some type of accelerant for the buildings to be burning so quickly.
He tucked that piece of information away. Telling himself to remember that a fire could be a distraction that could save his life one day.
"I'll take full responsibility for this," He could feel the stares boring into the side of his head.
Mad Dog was probably going to beat the living shit out of him.
Bring it on.