Chapter 4
The next day was the day of the mission, waking up early I prepare myself for a hard day. I put on dark clothing that masks me in my environment. Dark brown trousers, a dark green long-sleeve shirt and a dark green cap. My hair is in a high bun to prevent hair falling before my eyes. Combat boots ready to let me run and kick if necessary. I grab my Walkman and go towards the tents of my team. "My team." I mutter, it's still unreal that they need me. Once there, I see them waiting, all dressed for a mission. "Good morning gents." I quip as I salute. They mutter a good morning and we take off towards the vehicle.
We drop off B.A. at the haven for his ferry-ride and continue riding towards the airport. A chopper stands ready for take-off. We lay our stuff we don't need away, so there goes my Walkman. We get in the chopper and Murdock takes the pilot's seat. In it are our weapons, so I instantly go check out the sniper. I mutter some things while checking it, looking through the scope for a little to check its range. As I put it away, Murdock announces that we are taking our leave. I strap myself in my seat and we take off.
"You nervous?" Face asks. I turn my head and slowly nod. "A little, it's my first mission with you, plus a heavy one to start with." I say, but inside I'm freaking out a little. Hannibal and Face talk a little as I crawl into my headspace, thinking about the plan. I look towards our equipment and see the bulletproof vests we need to wear. Mine has pockets, thank god. After our flight, we land at a local airport. Face, Hannibal and I are dropped off before Murdock goes up in the air again. "Good luck Murdock!" I yell. He responds and salutes as he takes off.
Half an hour later, we are all in position. With my sniper, a pistol and an Assault Rifle strapped to my back, I'm laying on a hill. "B.A., what's your situation?" I hear Hannibal ask through the comms. "There are more than 30 terrorists here, and I already took out 7. They stay together, I can't get to them. Ferry is almost at the haven." B.A. grunts. I sigh and ready my sniper, looking through the scope, aiming at the haven. "How do they look like, I'm ready to pierce a bullet through them if necessary." I question. After a brief explanation, I see the ferry arrive. My nerves pick up and I clench my hand around my gun. The first vehicles get off the ferry, not one of them looks like the ones B.A. described.
Cars pass and the first recognizable vehicle gets off, I ready my sniper and see that it parks a little to the side. "Suspected vehicle is waiting for others, permission to shoot the tires?" I mutter. "Permission granted." Hannibal's voice rings out. I scope towards one of the tires and shoot. The tire pops, I reload my gun and I smirk. "One tire down, the next vehicle is going to park." I repeat my actions and the second tire pops. I repeat with the other vehicles before getting up and moving towards the second hill, a kilometre further. I jog towards it and set up my position. "I'm in second position." I quip.
"Murdock, how's the sky?" Face questions. "Windy with a cloud of bullets. Boom! There goes one of their choppers." Murdock answers, I can hear the grin in his voice. "B.A.?" I scope towards the road. "They changed the tires and pulled out their guns. I'm going to follow them." "Be careful and mark your vehicle with something." I mutter. After a few agonizing minutes, the first vehicle comes into sight. One of them sports a red handkerchief, B.A.'s sign. Again, I pop their tires and move to my last position near the road block that Face and Hannibal made. "I'm in last position and your eyes." I state. "They are coming and suspecting something." The Seargent lets us know. "If they start shooting on us, hit them." Hannibal orders. I answer shortly and ready my sniper.
As the vehicles arrive, I see the men coming out with their guns. A minute passes by, and another. Then a gunshot echoes and I hear Face yell. I scope on one of the men in the back of the group and open fire. That man gets a bullet in his shoulder. The others are alarmed by it and start moving. I smirk and scope another one, hitting him in the leg. The men move faster and I can shoot 3 more before I'm out of bullets. "I'm out of bullets, coming closer to give them a taste of their own medicine." I state as I unstrap my Rifle and strap my sniper.
I run down the hill and sneak towards the chaos. Face is knocking out a man as Hannibal has his back. B.A. has come out of his car to assault the terrorists with his fists. I see the right moment and jump out of my hiding spot to get fighting. 2 men see me and go towards me, gun aiming at me. I zig-zag, hide behind a car and give them a run for their money. Shooting one of them in the leg and the almost hitting the other. Moving away, I hit others till I'm out of ammo. I grumble and strap the Rifle by my sniper. I hurry towards our blockade and unstrap my used guns to get new ammo.
"Mary, catch!" I hear Hannibal yell through gritted teeth. I turn and catch the ammo he threw towards me. I put it in the Rifle and load. I yell at Face, grin and throw the gun. He grins back and starts firing. Then someone grabs me from behind and holds me. I curse, jab my elbow towards my assaulter and yell. I look down to see his foot in the open so I stomp on it. My assaulters grip loosens so I turn around and give him a punch on his nose, followed by an upper cut. The man drops down and I unarm him. "You ok there?" Hannibal yells. "Yep!" I yell back.
The fight was hard but in the end we won, it was 4 against 35 but we survived, albeit with injuries. I sprained my ancle because of a steep hill and got a flesh wound in the arm from a stray bullet after knocking out a terrorist. B.A. also got shot, but in his leg. Face and Hannibal got hurt, but not shot. That was a relief. I help B.A. in one of the vehicles to shelter him from the heat and secure his leg. The others guarded the terrorists as back up is coming to transport them. "Murdock, do you read me?" I ask via coms. "Kinda busy at the moment." His voice rings out. "That damn fool is going to be ok, treat your wound before is worsens." B.A. calls out to me. I nod and wrap a cloth around my flesh wound, the blood trickling down. "That's going to need some stitches." He comments. I freeze and look at him with a startled expression "What? No, no not necessary." I mutter. It's like someone poured a bucket of ice cold water over me.
"Hannibal, enemies choppers are out, I'm on my way, what's your position?" I hear Murdock via coms again. I sigh in relief as Hannibal gives our position. "Why is that fool coming?" B.A. asks. Face distracts him as Hannibal gives him a bottle of water. "Drink something, that wound of yours doesn't look that good." He says. B.A. drinks it and start rambling about the ferry ride he thinks he is going on. Then, he falls asleep because of the drink. "Who is with the terrorists?" I ask. "Back-up is here, they have it under control. Murdock is picking us up, grab your stuff." Face and I do what Hannibal says. I grab the guns, flinching in pain because of my arm wound and limping because of my ancle. Face goes to Hannibal and mutters something before they look at me. I look away and limp outside.
Murdock arrives with the chopper and we get in, sitting down after dropping our stuff and securing B.A. in a seat. The pilot himself comes to us and Hannibal puts a hand on his shoulder. "Well done Captain." Murdock smiles and thanks him. Then he sees the cloth wrapped around my arm. "Wow Mary, what happened?" He walks towards me and grabs my arm which makes me flinch and suck in a breath. "Nothing serious." I mumble, avoiding his gaze. "This is not nothing, you need to get this fixed." Worry spreads over his face as the other 2 men on the chopper also look worried. Annoyance bubbles up and forms into anger. "Guys, leave it for a minute! B.A. has it worse with a bullet through his leg, help him first would you?" I snap. That brings the attention to the knocked out Seargent. They look at the wound and I cool down.
"I'm sorry for snapping." I say once Murdock wants to leave. He pats me on the shoulder and goes back to the cockpit to get this chopper of the ground. After a more silent flight back, we got picked up by one of the army vehicles towards camp. On our ride back, B.A. wakes up again groaning in pain. "It's going to be ok big guy, we're almost there." I tell him in a soothing voice. I try to distract him while we arrive in the camp. Face and Hannibal help him into the sick bay, I try to stand up and get out but my ancle protests. I suck in a breath as I step on it, immediately lifting it up again. "Need any help?" Murdock asks me. I lower my head and mutter a yes. He grabs my good arm and puts it around his shoulder, steadying me. We walk together till a nurse guides us towards a spot for me to sit.
The nurse unwraps the cloth and gasps. She starts cleaning the wound and I hiss in pain. "That's going to need stitches." She says. Again that ice cold feeling washes over me. "Please, no stitches, anything but that." I mutter, fear lurking in my inner self. "It is the only option to treat this." She tries to compromise, but I feel myself entering a state of fear and shock. My heart start thumping as she gets her supplies. Images of needles enter my brain as my heartbeats quickens. The nurse returns with the supplies and takes out a needle. I immediately scoot away, sweat appearing on my head. She comes closer with it and I start shaking in fear. "No, please no." I mutter in fear.
A steady hand on my shoulder rubs a thumb. "Nurse, could you give me a few minutes?" The hand asks. She nods and put the needle down. The hand leaves my shoulder and Murdock comes in sight. "Mary, are you alright?" He asks me. I shake my head. "No, I'm afraid of needles, I have trypanophobia." I explain in a shaky voice. Murdock stands up and jogs away to return a minute later with a bottle of water. The same that was used to knock out B.A. before going on the chopper. "Drink this, then you can sleep through it." He hands me the bottle and I shakily mutter a thank you. "Please don't say anything about this to the others." I plead. He assures me it won't happen so I drink of the bottle. A minute later, the world darkens and I hear a last thing. "Sweet dreams Mary."