Chapter Text
The moon shined bright that night, illuminating the dark sea of forest. His heavy footsteps in the mud traced back to a small breakout from a bloody bunker. It was already hard to run on a sprained ankle but it didn’t hurt as much as his broken ribs, or so he thinks it’s broken. His breath was uneven as he tried his hardest to run with his lungs on fire. He could hear the barks of the dogs and the sound of men reaching behind him. He needs to find a way to divert their attention to somewhere else.
His legs gave out as he stumbled down a ditch, he let out a painful grunt. His ears were ringing but he could hear the men and dog still on his track. Quickly, he smeared mud and debris around his face and body, hoping it would mask his scent. His sniper hood was already torn from the hours of torture from the bunker. He held his breath as the dogs were sniffing around his hiding spot.
He lay still in the mud, leaves and sticks were covering him, leaving a great camouflage for the human eyes. His hands were gripping a small combat knife he was able to steal from the soldier whose neck was snapped during the escape. He was ready to strike anyone or dog that caught him. He could hear the dogs sniffing getting closer, and his grip on the knife tightened.
A dog started growling once its nose picked up his scent. The dog was ready to pounce on him and he was ready to strike the dog with the knife. But it was able to retract the bite as its owner called out for him. “I saw some movement over there! Give chase!” The dog obeyed the orders and every dog and man went to the sound of movement, away from him. As the sound of the danger faded out, he made his way back to finding a way out of this goddamn forest.
His running turned into limping as he was getting tired of running. He couldn’t believe that this was happening to him. This was supposed to be an easy operation but one silly mistake made his whole team captured by the enemy and tortured for days. Luckily, the enemies were kind enough to let his teammates go in exchange for him to stay. It was a miracle that he managed to escape the torture bunker. He needed to find a way to return to his base but his tracks stopped when he noticed something in the distance.
His footsteps were heavy as he inches closer, his breath labored. “Nein (No)…” His legs give out as he looks at the face-down bodies, realizing these are his teammates. The anger was storming inside of him but he couldn’t do anything about something that had already happened. He ripped off each badge of his teammates. “Your services will be remembered.”
The moment of silence was ruined when he heard the enemy’s voice. “Over here! He’s here!” The sound of dogs barking and boots running made his legs run away from them. The sound of bullets being fired at him made his heart pound out of his chest. Bullets hit the trees before him, inching close to his body.
The sound of rushing water gave him a sign of a great plan of escape. But he felt a sharp pain in his leg, a bullet grazed him, causing him to lose his balance for a few seconds. He stumbles and the dogs run up to him, he quickly gets up and jumps into the freezing, rushing water. The bullets pierced through the water as he was having a hard time staying afloat in the water currents. A bullet was able to penetrate through his leg, making it even harder for him to stay afloat. Maybe he should’ve never gotten into the water.
The fast current of the water was able to help him escape from the enemy. He managed to hoist himself out of the water, his leg bleeding out. He grunted in pain as he made a small tourniquet to stop the bleeding. A sprained ankle and now a bullet wound in his leg, what is his luck? What he needed to do was to find a place to hide and recuperate. He didn’t know how much distance the river carried him out but he knew it wouldn’t be enough time for the enemy to find him.
The smell and sight of smoke gave him some hope, he used a tall branch that was able to support his weight and hobble his way to the source of the smoke. Through pain and tiredness, he could see a sight of a small, neat cabin. A small SUV car parked in the driveway, and the lights were off. The owner must be asleep, a great moment for him to break in.
As quiet as he could be, he checked out the windows, there was no sight of a living being. He could quietly break in, eliminate the owner, and use the place as a recuperation. What could go wrong?