"CHARGE!" I yelled. "We can win this war!"
The men were with me and rushed into the residential zones of our town. Perhaps it was here that I made my first grievious mistake as a leader and commander. In Marcello's last words, he had warned us about the clanking noise that had been going on through the night. Now that it had stopped, I had not given it much thought until this very moment, as I stood, stunned watching my men fall to the ground one by one to the Sentinels until Vincento came and pushed me aside.
There had to be no other name for them. Marcello had said 'sent' but stopped abruptly. And true to his words, the sentinels were cruel and merciless machines. They lived up to their names watching over the entrance, and cutting down anyone foolish enough to get in its way. If it was not for the quick reactions of Vincento, I would have been dead by now.
Still the men fought on relentlessly. Everytime they managed to scath the gun, the enemy would quickly repair it. Seven of such rocket launching minigun wielding monstrosities blocked us from entering the residential zone. One of my men suggested throwing grenades inside but it was no use. Two brave men dashed inside with heavy kevlar and heavy machine guns but got cut down before their gun even had the chance to fire. The Sentinels were just too heavily armored and nothing, NOTHING escaped their sights...
Unless... they thought I was one of them. An idea struck me. I returned to the market and examined the lifeless body of the spy. Much to my relief, he wore his own garments inside and I quickly put them on. Hoping for the best, I called forth my men to create a diversion while I snuck inside. Vincento argued that it was too dangerous but I had to anyway, to redeem myself for the men I had unwittingly sent to die.
Vincento and the others starting flooding the entrance with grenades creating a diversion. At the precise moment when their first wave of grenades explode and the next wave is just dropping out of the entrance, I slipped past and into enemy territory. Vincento and gang have done their part. Now it was up to me.
Cautiously, I walked up the pathway that led to Garcia's house. Garcia was a good friend of mine and his mother made the most delicious pasta. I shuddered when I passed by what looked like a hand sticking out from underneath some rubble. Slowly I approach the hand but I do not touch it because already I see the ring on the finger. The ring Sophia gave to Garcia last month. I almost vomitted and I needed the fresh air, so I moved to the window to look outside.
The churched loomed directly in front. And in the surroundings, many Sentinel guns as I call them. Whispering a silent prayer to Garcia, I walked out of his house and further down to his carpets stall. A Sentinel was here, waiting for any unsuspecting enemy to pass by. It stared at me, for how long I do not know, but it felt as though the Sentinel looked right through me. Sweat trickled down my puffy cheeks and to my relief, the Sentinel turned away, uninterested in me.
Some enemy passed me by, believing me to be one of their men. To this I smiled, knowing that I had an upper hand here. At once I thought to rescue the hostages first. My beloved Maria, I hope she was alright. Though it was not part of the plan I had explained to Vincento, still, the hostages were more important and if I could rescue them first, it would be all the better. Silently, I walked from the carpets stall up the path to the church.
A feeling of dread filled me because a band of men were coming down, with heavy machineguns in hands. They were the big burly type who could bite you in half if they really tried, and I was not too sure my disguise would hold. I tried to act as normal as I could, and I hoped for the love of God that they could not hear my thumping heart.
Again, the lady luck must have smiled on me because they did not even notice me passing by. They were too busy, something they were saying about not being able to break out of the defenses. Which meant Vincento and the others were holding up very well. I was happy to hear that but my happiness would cut short too soon.
"Hey!"
I turned around. It was one of the big machine gunners. They were already by the carpet stall. I stood frozen.
"You dropped something," the guy said as he approached me, with my locket in his hand. I sighed in relief though inside I was cursing myself for being so careless.
"Whoa... pretty lady you got here," he grinned, a hole in his teeth, as he began flipping open the locked. I smiled shyly and nodded retrieving my locket from his dirty grimey hands
"Wait a minute..." he said as if realizing something, "Bring that back here... she looks familiar..."
By now we had drawn enough attention that the rest of the machine gunners were looking back at us. "She's a famous dancer," I managed to mutter before hurriedly walking off, leaving the guy dumbfounded. Within moments of my hasty departure, there was a loud commotion and alarms were sounded. I knew I had been detected, quickly, I ran around the church avoiding anymore faces, and playing dead once near a set of dead bodies to avoid being detected. I suddenly had an idea, but it was a dangerous gamble. Quietly sneaking up on a grenadier, I lifted the knife; the same knife that killed Marcello, and thurst it deep into the grenadier's neck. Tell them I sent ya, I whispered in the dead man's ear. Quickly I bent down and searched his back pack for grenades hoping that he had not used up all yet.
A bullet hit the spot where my head was a fraction of a second later. I realized I had been seen. Grabbing the grenades, I ran like I'd never run before and threw them in the direction of the Sentinels praying to God or whatever is out there that the grenades would be enough to take out the Sentinels. This was it, I realized, and pulled out my shotgun returning the sniper's fire while I make my getaway to the back of the church.
It was a big mistake as I bumped into the chest of the burly machine gunner I had fooled earlier.
"Well, well, look who's come back into Gonzales' hands. Thought you could esc-" Not even giving him the chance finish his words, I hit him hard in the nuts with the shotgun and ducked around the corner as heavy machine gun fire whizzed by. As I looked back at the residential zone, I was delighted to find that Vincento was there, leading the rest of the men and cutting down the enemy with their own equipment. The more foolish ones tried to rebuild a new sentinel but before they could even make it halfway, one or more of the men would come and smite them down. This time, the burning bodies that ran past were the enemy and I believed if Marcello were around, he would be smiling as well.
The men were with me and rushed into the residential zones of our town. Perhaps it was here that I made my first grievious mistake as a leader and commander. In Marcello's last words, he had warned us about the clanking noise that had been going on through the night. Now that it had stopped, I had not given it much thought until this very moment, as I stood, stunned watching my men fall to the ground one by one to the Sentinels until Vincento came and pushed me aside.
There had to be no other name for them. Marcello had said 'sent' but stopped abruptly. And true to his words, the sentinels were cruel and merciless machines. They lived up to their names watching over the entrance, and cutting down anyone foolish enough to get in its way. If it was not for the quick reactions of Vincento, I would have been dead by now.
Still the men fought on relentlessly. Everytime they managed to scath the gun, the enemy would quickly repair it. Seven of such rocket launching minigun wielding monstrosities blocked us from entering the residential zone. One of my men suggested throwing grenades inside but it was no use. Two brave men dashed inside with heavy kevlar and heavy machine guns but got cut down before their gun even had the chance to fire. The Sentinels were just too heavily armored and nothing, NOTHING escaped their sights...
Unless... they thought I was one of them. An idea struck me. I returned to the market and examined the lifeless body of the spy. Much to my relief, he wore his own garments inside and I quickly put them on. Hoping for the best, I called forth my men to create a diversion while I snuck inside. Vincento argued that it was too dangerous but I had to anyway, to redeem myself for the men I had unwittingly sent to die.
Vincento and the others starting flooding the entrance with grenades creating a diversion. At the precise moment when their first wave of grenades explode and the next wave is just dropping out of the entrance, I slipped past and into enemy territory. Vincento and gang have done their part. Now it was up to me.
Cautiously, I walked up the pathway that led to Garcia's house. Garcia was a good friend of mine and his mother made the most delicious pasta. I shuddered when I passed by what looked like a hand sticking out from underneath some rubble. Slowly I approach the hand but I do not touch it because already I see the ring on the finger. The ring Sophia gave to Garcia last month. I almost vomitted and I needed the fresh air, so I moved to the window to look outside.
The churched loomed directly in front. And in the surroundings, many Sentinel guns as I call them. Whispering a silent prayer to Garcia, I walked out of his house and further down to his carpets stall. A Sentinel was here, waiting for any unsuspecting enemy to pass by. It stared at me, for how long I do not know, but it felt as though the Sentinel looked right through me. Sweat trickled down my puffy cheeks and to my relief, the Sentinel turned away, uninterested in me.
Some enemy passed me by, believing me to be one of their men. To this I smiled, knowing that I had an upper hand here. At once I thought to rescue the hostages first. My beloved Maria, I hope she was alright. Though it was not part of the plan I had explained to Vincento, still, the hostages were more important and if I could rescue them first, it would be all the better. Silently, I walked from the carpets stall up the path to the church.
A feeling of dread filled me because a band of men were coming down, with heavy machineguns in hands. They were the big burly type who could bite you in half if they really tried, and I was not too sure my disguise would hold. I tried to act as normal as I could, and I hoped for the love of God that they could not hear my thumping heart.
Again, the lady luck must have smiled on me because they did not even notice me passing by. They were too busy, something they were saying about not being able to break out of the defenses. Which meant Vincento and the others were holding up very well. I was happy to hear that but my happiness would cut short too soon.
"Hey!"
I turned around. It was one of the big machine gunners. They were already by the carpet stall. I stood frozen.
"You dropped something," the guy said as he approached me, with my locket in his hand. I sighed in relief though inside I was cursing myself for being so careless.
"Whoa... pretty lady you got here," he grinned, a hole in his teeth, as he began flipping open the locked. I smiled shyly and nodded retrieving my locket from his dirty grimey hands
"Wait a minute..." he said as if realizing something, "Bring that back here... she looks familiar..."
By now we had drawn enough attention that the rest of the machine gunners were looking back at us. "She's a famous dancer," I managed to mutter before hurriedly walking off, leaving the guy dumbfounded. Within moments of my hasty departure, there was a loud commotion and alarms were sounded. I knew I had been detected, quickly, I ran around the church avoiding anymore faces, and playing dead once near a set of dead bodies to avoid being detected. I suddenly had an idea, but it was a dangerous gamble. Quietly sneaking up on a grenadier, I lifted the knife; the same knife that killed Marcello, and thurst it deep into the grenadier's neck. Tell them I sent ya, I whispered in the dead man's ear. Quickly I bent down and searched his back pack for grenades hoping that he had not used up all yet.
A bullet hit the spot where my head was a fraction of a second later. I realized I had been seen. Grabbing the grenades, I ran like I'd never run before and threw them in the direction of the Sentinels praying to God or whatever is out there that the grenades would be enough to take out the Sentinels. This was it, I realized, and pulled out my shotgun returning the sniper's fire while I make my getaway to the back of the church.
It was a big mistake as I bumped into the chest of the burly machine gunner I had fooled earlier.
"Well, well, look who's come back into Gonzales' hands. Thought you could esc-" Not even giving him the chance finish his words, I hit him hard in the nuts with the shotgun and ducked around the corner as heavy machine gun fire whizzed by. As I looked back at the residential zone, I was delighted to find that Vincento was there, leading the rest of the men and cutting down the enemy with their own equipment. The more foolish ones tried to rebuild a new sentinel but before they could even make it halfway, one or more of the men would come and smite them down. This time, the burning bodies that ran past were the enemy and I believed if Marcello were around, he would be smiling as well.