Irregulaire

The Look Out

We pretty much enjoyed that evening, hanging around with the Marines. I had a little chat with the Lieutenant, about what he did before the war. Well, he was already an officer back then, so that hadn’t changed. He used to be a respected family man, graduated from officer school. But then he lost contact with his family after this thing started. Last thing he knew, he was called to action and his family had to move somewhere. From then on, he lost touch.

“I haven’t the slightest idea of where they are now, or how they are. I can only hope they are alright. Stubs has this similar problem. But at least he knows where his family went,” Poor guy. Tears started rolling down his face, his hand shook a little. “You're in love with Colonel’s daughter, right?”

“Sort of, yeah,” I answered rather awkwardly.

“Your family safe?”

“That, I don’t know either. Last time I contacted them was before I got here,”

“At least you get to be in touch with them. Let’s hope they’re okay, both our families,”

“Yes sir,”

As the sun started to disappear, a little silhouette of a man was visible on the caved in house, seeming a bit hidden by the trees behind it. Anna saw it first, then called to me like she didn’t see him. “Hey Mick,”

“Yea?”

“Come closer, I’m telling you something,” she said, walking towards me.

“What’s up?” I took a few steps closer, too.

“There’s someone on that house. Don’t look,” she warned. “Right between those roof beams, with the tree behind him,”

And there he was, his eyes reflecting the inner compound’s dim lights. I then encouraged her to take the shot, but she hesitated. She’s afraid he’ll realize and run away. That EOTech sure is a little tricky to align with the target when it’s dark. “Okay then, let me try,”

I read about this shooting technique the American Frontiersman used to master. I forgot what they call it, but basically it looks like you’re toying with your gun while what you actually do is trying to intuitively aim between the enemy’s eyes; it’s the only body part showing up reflecting lights when they spy on you near a campfire. You don’t actually pick your rifle up to your shoulders and fire it, though. You have to fire the gun while toying with it, looking like an accidental discharge. If you do pick it up to your shoulder, your adversary will run into the darkness, never to be seen again.

I unslung my rifle and wielded it with both hands, muzzle facing down. Do I want to do it? Of course. It sounds very cool if you can actually pull it off and hit the target right between the eyes. But can I do it? No. I’m not that good of a shot. So, I just swiftly aim my rifle towards his general direction. Four loud bangs popped out. Wait, it wasn’t me. I looked to my right—it was Buck. I gave him a quick thumbs up, it was indeed a good shot.

Everyone was alerted. A marine even launched a flare to illuminate the area beyond the inner compound. “What was that?” a nervous corporal shouted. “Who did it?” a Marine sergeant asked with a seemingly panicked voice. Everyone scattered, scrambling towards their positions. The flare then lighted up the compound. Nobody else was seen. The light from the flare dimmed, and it went out. Sgt. Stubs then led four of his men to check out behind the house after being pointed out by Anna. No one—or rather no more—was found. It turned out Buck managed to hit that man twice, one in the shoulder and one in the right chest. Apparently, the round pierced one of the roof tiles he concealed himself with. He lied down behind the mortared house after falling down from the roof.

“Who are you?!” asked Sgt. Stubs. The man had little to no gear, it’s almost indistinguishable whether he’s a militiaman or a Lib. But there was one dead giveaway. Stubs saw it, too. The man appeared to wear a shriveled up black arm band with a white sword on it—the insignia of a low-level Liberator fighter—concealed under his short sleeve. He had an AK with him, too. Stubs pointed his AG-2 up to the man’s head. He didn’t answer.

The Marines then lifted up the man, bringing it to the inner compound for interrogation. At least he’s still breathing. Also, he had no bomb strapped on him for last resort. Because we’re not Marines, they don’t seem to allow any 5th Squad member to watch the process. It should be quick, as the man’s dying anyway. Not long after, Stubs came towards Anna and I, while both of us were about to talk about what happened. Ruud and Steph followed.

“You guys wouldn’t believe what we have here,”

“What was it?” Anna said curiously.

“Bastard back there said we would be dead,” he said, letting off a sigh. He’s upset, I figured. “We just have no idea when. Man passed out and died,” he added.

“Well, at least we know what’s coming,” I commented.

“Not really,” said Anna, “We don’t know what they’re bringing to us. Of course, it would be an attack, you don’t say,”

Lichtsteiner sent out a patrol, covering areas up to 800 meters out towards the civilian residence. These would serve as our scout, too, in case they encounter enemy activities with significance. They are expected to report back after finding whatever it is. He then also considered requesting a squad from the next platoon to be placed outside the wall, guarding it close. It was kind of weird leaving the wall unguarded for such a long time, a man even climbed up and over it. “We already placed mines and claymore,” Staff Sgt. Anfield, from 2nd Squad claimed.

The Colonel came out of his house, a little startled. Men are still scrambling here and there, checking out on ammunition and stuff. He then asked Sergeant Major Weiser to assess the situation. He stepped off his porch, coming closer towards us, “Was it you who fired the shots?” he asked

“No, sir, it was Buck,” said Anna.

“Good job,” he said. “Where is he?”

“Right by that house, sir, he wanted to stay there for a while,” I added.

The Colonel sighed. “I’m not sure if I can go out tomorrow, but division needs me,”

Now a pilot isn’t supposed to be in charge of anything beyond their aircraft and their squadron. But apparently, he was about to retire from flying. A few days ago, a roadside IED struck the car of one Colonel George Rhodes, commander of the 1st Marine Division, killing him. Col. Rhodes was his friend, and in his paranoia, Rhodes supposedly gave him a copy of an intelligence report about the Diorne’s Liberators and their positions all over East Seedland. This intel must reach headquarters before they can put any measurable offense against the Armed Forces, or something along those lines. I don’t know much about the details, I never seen that intel.

“What if you send someone else, rather than risking it, sir?” Lichtsteiner suggested.

“I don’t think HQ will buy it if it isn’t me who delivers it. Everyone’s suspicious now,” he said. I don’t really get it. Aren’t the enemy, even the Libs wearing different uniforms? Or had there been some espionage type thing where Libs had tried to undercover with the Armed Forces Unit?

“Well, not that you’re going to send these guys, sir,” LT said, “no offense,” he turned to me. I just nodded. There’s nothing offensive about that, really. It makes sense. We didn’t even wear uniforms; we just happened to wear the Armed Forces vests and shoes. Only these flag patches on our chests distinguished us as fighters on the Republic’s side. Sending us to HQ—apart from the fact that we had no idea where it is—is straight up waste.

"It's not about who carries the information, it's about the integrity of the information. If these gets intercepted, we’re screwed. I need to make sure this thing reaches HQ," The Colonel said.

Colonel Metsker was pretty adamant about that. Well, at the very least, we did try to keep the Colonel alive. For now, that is. The whole four people, the Colonel, Grace, her mother, and Ian, are under our care. Tomorrow, with the Colonel away, we have one less VIP to worry about. But then again, not as many people will be here to take care of them, at least for a while.

A radio broadcast roared that night, and the news it brought made some of us uneasy. We heard that the entire city of Florence has fallen from that local channel. That was the first city in the province to fall into enemy hands, and it was towards our southeast. They also said that some elements from the army are starting to break off. The men are now more cautious, as there could be more intrusions or probing to our compound, now that our position had been scouted for we don’t know how long.

“I think we need to fall back,” Stubs said, suddenly appearing beside me.

“Well, I guess so,” I replied. “We’re compromised already,”

“I don’t think Colonel wants to move yet, though,”

“At any rate, we’d have to,”

That night, guard shifts were improved, and sentries had more people. If usually they have a pair of guards per shift per sentry, they had two pairs after the probing incident. We sort of believed, then, that it was not only one guy. There was supposed to be another one, at least, who jumped back outside and escaped before even the flare got launched. At around 8.15 PM, we were having our dinner. It was better than the rations before, it had Mackerels and eggs and stuff. Some people even had meat stew. Grace’s mom cooked tonight; to thank us, probably.

“Damn, Mick,” Buck said to me. “I can’t actually believe I killed a guy,”

“How does that feel?” Anna asked, quite proudly. “Finally, our MG Commander killed a guy,”

“It’s quite weird, you know. Still a little bit excited now,” he said. “This stew is great, by the way,”

“That excitement kind of makes you hungry, isn’t it?” I commented.

“It’s not hunger, Mick,” he said, with a mouthful, “it’s appetite. Also, it is delicious, damn,”

Well, it was our first home-cooked food in last couple of days. In my place there were little resources, although Ryan can cook. The meals in the compound were rations if not bread. No wonder the guys missed such food, especially being made by a mother. That night, although eerie, had this sort of calming vibe to it. Maybe because of the food, I don’t know. But something tells me that we’re going to be okay. I chose not to believe it, though, that I needed to be alert at all times.

I decided that I’d sleep a little late that night. Franz even volunteered to stay up all night, manning his Machine Gun. That calm vibe I told you about didn’t last very long, apparently. Just as I walked off the porch, around 10 pm, there came that eerie atmosphere again. But this time, it was silent. The dreaded battlefield silence, I thought to myself. I went up to Ruud and tried to talk to him.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” he said

“How is that?”

“This is our job, Mick. It’s not like you guys are interfering or anything, but it just... it’s like we have a little more burden to keep you guys alive, too, especially with your relation to the Colonel’s daughter,”

“No, man. Don’t worry about that. We, too, are trying to keep all these people around here alive, though not by actively trying to save you,”

The crickets sound louder now. This kind of silence always makes me uneasy. There were even ringing bells in our ears. We would have liked to have music, but such tune would give our position away. Well, not that they don’t know it yet or anything. Music would also distract us from any noise that the enemy would make when approaching. We already had a close one, for crying out loud. Out of nowhere, someone tapped me on my shoulder.

“Wouldn’t you like to go to sleep?” she said. It was Grace. Ian was standing behind her.

“I don’t think I can, for this little while,” I answered. “How do you do?”

“Fine, I think. A bit panicked when I heard those shots,”

“Well, it was my guy anyway,”

“Yea how on earth would we know,” Ian joined in. He seemed more accepting towards me now.

“What are you guys doing outside? It’s dangerous, if you haven’t figured it out,”

“We’re just making sure that you’re okay,” Ian said.

“It’s my job to make sure you’re alright. Not the other way around,” I chuckled, “Now you two get inside and go to sleep before things get worse. And thank you,” I waved at them while they both smiled. I nodded as Grace smiled at me again just before closing the door.

“Why don’t you go get her?” said Mark.

“No way. They’re already engaged,” I said, “If it wasn’t for this damned war, they would’ve gotten married,” I continued. He chuckled.

“Have you heard about Cleavess being taken over?”

“Wait what? No,” although it’s no surprise. “The whole territory?”

“Yes. They overran the armed forces there. They say they’re gonna get support from those Cleavessi boys. More of them troops coming towards us,” he said, quite bitterly.

“Don’t worry, man. We’ll be fine,”

“How long would it be until this position is overrun, you reckon?” he asked.

“I don’t know. How long did Cleavess hold before being overrun?”

“Diorne took over Cleavess in just six weeks. Cleavessi population is not as big as us. I’m sure there were militias like us there, too,”

“There should be. But being overrun, their irregulars might not be able to hold,”

That night, I was finally able to get a good sleep. But just before sleeping, I thought to myself that I’m having a bath. That mortared house across the street apparently still had water from an underground reservoir. There was a little electricity, even. I proceeded to take my clothes off when a rat jumped out of the toilet. “Bugger!” I almost screamed. I don’t really like being surprised, to be honest. I then opened the door to let the rat out, when another guy stood there in the doorway.

“Who is it?!” he shouted.

“It’s Mick!” I shouted back.

“The hell are you doing there?” it was Steph. She must’ve heard me.

“I’m trying to use the bathroom here. I was going to have a wash,”

“Okay then, make sure you remember the passwords. We ask ‘flash’, you say ‘thunder’”

“A’ight, man,” that’s a darn old password.

I let myself sleep after that whole thing, right under the porch. Everyone else slept to the sides of the porch. It was quite of a good sleep. Grace’s cat woke me up around four hours later by licking my face. The sun was not coming up, yet, but the sky is already bright. Here it is, the house of the rising sun, I thought to myself. It looked beautiful, though, with the Sun shining directly into the windowpanes as it rose. The golden light struck at the right angle; it was majestic. Not really a best idea to put your front door in the way of the Sun, but it could be worth it.

Everyone else also woke up around the same time as me. We then scrambled for either water or breakfast, at least tea. But I stood there, as I saw a glimpse of Grace’s shadow behind those glass panes, seemingly greeting me with her smile. But just as I saw Grace through that glass window, I heard a faint thump in the distance. As I came to realize what that might be, a shell fell right between where I stood and that window.