Chapter 3: Curse[]
The rocket hit the plane with a distant sound. The plane swerved for a second, and then plummeted, exploding about two-hundred feet before crashing horizontally and coming to a halt at the edge of a cliff. Dust and smoke rose from the burning wreckage. Eagle looked up from where he was sitting, in his dug-out bunker, to see the remaining debris falling down.
“No, no, no, no... no, no... no!” He shouted into the battlefield.
His friends were on that plane, they were travelling north to the frontline. Eagle was in a state of shock, he couldn’t move. He could only think;
‘Darn – All the memories they’d shared, the battles they had won. It all ended like that.’
Eagle then thought aloud,
“Wait! They could have survived... they probably parachuted!” By shouting this, he earned himself several strange looks from his fellow soldiers. He ignored them.
Eagle's senses picked up as he jumped out of the trench he was in and adrenaline rushed through his body. He began running towards the area of the crash site, around five-hundred meters from his assigned bunker, SAWAT bullets thudded into the ground around him.
General Shade shouted, "Get back here!"
But he was oblivious; his one objective was to help his friends, his squad. He had to get to them. A SAWAT soldier charged out of an enemy dug-out and began running and firing towards Eagle. Eagle was too fast and too determined though; as he grabbed his knife and threw the heavily sharpened tool into his enemy's left thigh. He had aimed for the face, but he was running too fast to establish the correct body position the SAWAT had taught him (remember, they found out SAWAT was worse than the Dark Army was, and they turned sides to defeat Goodman and Erin). The knife did render the SAWAT’s leg useless, allowing Eagle to move on without any more trouble from him.
As Eagle got closer to the crash site, he couldn't see any ejected parachutes. He quickly decided that they could’ve landed over the edge of the cliff and in the sea-water below. Little did Eagle know: A SAWAT sniper, positioned in a watch tower about a kilometer away, had his scope reticule directly over Eagle’s head, but a stroke of luck had a bird fly in the way, distracting the sniper and giving Eagle the few seconds he needed to close in on the crash site, where he was just out of range for a worthy shot.
'I can do this: I'm going to make it, they're going to make it. They'll be ok, when I get them out of this we’re leaving the army. We can all go back home and this war can go on without us.’ Eagle thought as he slowly and surely ran out of breath.
The crash site; now directly in front of him, harbored no sign of survivors. Eagle took a few paces, past the wreckage. He dropped onto his knees, as he looked out to the ocean over the cliff. The sound of the water crashing against the cliff seemed calming at first, he blocked out all the explosions, gunshots and sounds of battle. So he could only hear the sea for a few minutes. That is until it slowly faded; to the sound of Eagle’s voice.
"None of them survived... they're all... dead. Thorn, Cesar, Hugo and Flamer, all dead." he mumbled. A tear smoothly ran down his cheek and after a few seconds dripped off of his face, falling into the sea.
He got out his radio, pushed the green button and said desperately, "General Shade, Cooper... Nutty (Cooper and Nutty are two Dark Army soldiers)? Do you copy?"
As soon as he said this, a strange sound came from what seemed like a piece of burnt-out plane wing not far away.
"Do you read me? Guys?" Again the strange sound came from the piece of debris.
"What... the hell..." Eagle said as he slightly shifted over the piece of plane, he saw a hand poking from underneath. After a few more seconds, he found the strength in himself to push it away completely. A soldier lay before him on the floor, pale as moonlight. He coughed and spluttered, then finally said;
"This is, Corpor-” he broke into a coughing fit. “Corporal Cooper, what is your situation?"
Then Eagle started laughing.
"Cooper! Cooper! Cooper... are you ok?" Eagle shouted in ecstasy.
"Heh’, not that smart are you kid." Cooper pointed to the huge metallic spike sticking through his thigh and stomach.
"Oh, oh, god." Eagle said, looking away and retching.
Eagle put down his rifle and knelt down by Cooper's side.
"It's going to be ok buddy.” Eagle said as he put his arms under Cooper’s body and tried to lift. Just as Cooper began to rise off the floor, Eagle felt a sharp, cold, biting pain in his back. He screamed, dropping the corporal back onto the floor. Eagle was lying a yard or two away from him, clutching his bleeding back. The SAWAT who had stabbed him approached him slowly, almost mockingly.
Eagle tried to back away, grabbing at the thick, almost black mud which was present as the ground on the battlefield, hauling himself backwards. Holding on to those last few seconds of life. The wielder of the knife came to him, laughing. Eagle gave up his feeble attempt at survival, dipped his head in defeat and said, "Do it."
The SAWAT halted for a moment. Taking in his submission.
"With pleasure," he replied slowly. Dropping his knife and beginning to unbutton his pistol holster. It was Erin.
As he slowly drew it out, Eagle saw that it was one of the new 'Super' weapons; designed to kill all the more effectively. Eagle had time to raise his hand in one last act of vulgar defiance as the Erin took aim.
Eagle felt a surge of fear and his eyes were forced closed by it.
A gunshot, louder than the others, rang through the battlefield, as a man’s body went limp, and the cold entered his soul. Another’s thirst for final blood was quenched, one more death to add to the toll.
This, is the curse of the battlefield.
END OF CHAPTER 3: CURSE