Chapter 5

Day 1,539, 04:36 • Published in United Kingdom United Kingdom • by Henry Hank Moody

Nothing moved on the hillside. The breeze filtered softly through the trees with barely a noise being made. For all intents and purposes the scene was as idyllic as any you would find on a TV advert. But somewhere out there a sniper lay lurking, waiting for the split second chance to smash Ranflax’s head apart like a rotten watermelon.

“Axeell?” Ranflax risked a quick peak over the top of the Bunker but could see nothing except the slowly rustling grass and the odd buttercup or two.

“Yes Sir?”

“Go with Jmo and Gilmour. Head East along the trench until it ends then cut back into the trees. See if you can’t flush this bas***d out.”

“Yes Sir.” F**k so I am going to die, thought Axeell as he followed the
other two Rampant soldiers.

Hunkering down below the trench top Axeell felt his heart go into over-drive. Somewhere out there someone lay hidden from view with a big bloody gun and a scope trained on the centre of his forehead. For all he knew he was less than a second away from kissing life goodbye and embracing the dark inevitability of the beyond.

With thoughts of the void that beckoned him onwards Axeell didn’t notice the trenches end until he was being pulled onto the grass.
“You ok private?”

“Yes thanks corporal,” his tongue felt fuzzy in his mouth and the words came out garbled but Jmo didn’t notice. Her eyes were already scanning the tree line, the rifle ready to unleash metallic death into the undergrowth if she spotted anything.

“Right spread out, tread carefully and keep those guns ready,” Sergeant Gilmour took the point with Axeell to his left and Jmo to his right.

As soon as he stepped beneath the trees Axeell’s world dimmed and shadows sprang up all around him, shadows that seemed to move as he closed in on them. Sweat trickled down his brow as he struggled to see more than a few feet in front of his face. It hadn’t looked that thick from the outside but looking around Axeell couldn’t see the way back out. Hell he’d lost track of where he was heading. It all looked the same. Taking a guess Axeell loosened his bayonet and hacked through a particularly dense over-hang of vines and shouldered his way through the clawing undergrowth.

The shot was as loud as a cannon in the perpetual stillness of the wood.
Silence slowly returned to the trees but just at the edge of his hearing Axeell heard the sounds of running feet, he pursued them but they slowly died away to nothing. He could feel the eyes watching him, the sight of the enemy on the back of his neck. He dropped just as another shot ripped through the air where he had stood.

Axeell opened fire from where the sniper had fired, his bullets shredded leaves and punctured stems but whether he had hit his target Axeell couldn’t tell. He inched forward slowly, his breath held in his throat and a fresh magazine ready and waiting to be loosed. He found nothing, the sniper was gone.

His radio crackled.

“Axeell are you ok?”

“Yes Sergeant it looks like the sniper’s moved again I’m going after them.”

“Be careful Private."

“Yes Sir.”

“Jmo are you alright?”

Only static sounded from the radio.