This thread is a spinoff of Out of Sight
Posts are all co-written with Shalum unless otherwise specified.
Kravola
Eastern Shalum
12:00 AM
The countryside of Kravola state was known for being particularly plentiful in trees and rolling hills, that often times ended up on the cover of travel brochures produced by various groups within Shalum, and even by the government run tourism board. Here and there, rivers and lakes could be found, and several of the more isolated communities profited from renting out lake houses and hotels to the type that enjoyed spending time out in nature. Hiking was a popular activity for those on vacation, and a number of trails had been established as well as areas cleared out for campsites.
On one particular trail, a pair of tents had been set up, a bit off from the path so that those present would not be disturbed by passersby. Not much could be done to ward off animals, other than a campfire, with the only consolation being that bears were not exactly plentiful in the area. In total, there were four people between the two tents, a pair of couples that had decided to head to the countryside for a group vacation. They were middle class people, all of who worked in an accounting firm together.
At this hour, three of the four were asleep. The last who was awake, a middle aged man by the name of Eric, glanced around blearily, absently reaching for the rifle that he had brought along in case they ran into a wild animal. Honestly, he had no idea what had woken him, but whatever it was, sounded too close, and had apparently been courteous enough to make enough noise to rouse him. An accountant he may have been, but like every able bodied citizen, he had done his four mandatory years in the military -- albeit as a fueling specialist.
-
As with every mission, there were unexpected obstacles. For Alex’s team, the unexpected obstacle right now was a pair of tents right in the middle of their path. Viktor would have likely opted to go around it, if it weren’t for the fact that to both of their sides were known patrol paths for Shalumite soldiers. How did they know? Sitting and watching. Visual confirmation was sometimes the best form of confirmation, and so they’d made the decision to go right in between the patrols.
Viktor made wordless signals, ordering six of the team to go and ‘secure’ the tents while the other six set up a perimeter. The definition of ‘secure’ was a tentative term for them. Generally, it could be assumed as making sure that an area was safe. That was what it generally meant in most situations such as this. However, as Alex had observed, with the Spetsgruppa it usually meant neutralise whatever what was there and make sure there was nothing left that they didn’t want. The meaning of neutralise? Again tentative, but again, experience told Alex that there was a 99% chance that it was a kill order.
And so him, Natalya, and four others advanced cautiously towards the tents, making barely a sound. They had suppressors affixed to their AK-21 and AK-21u rifles in place of the usual definitive flash hiders, all of them equipped with expensive but effective four-lense NV/IR goggles attached to their helmets. As they approached the tent, Alex made the mistake of brushing aside a cloth. A quiet noise, but one that stood out from the noise of the forest around them and thus one that could have compromised them. He paused, as did the other five, before slowly making his way forward again.
-
For a few moments, Eric glanced around, lips pressed into a tight line, annoying clear on his features as he took in his surroundings. Other than the expansive trees and the sounds of insects filling the night, nothing seem out of the ordinary, really. He relaxed slightly, grip on his M47 hunting rifle loosing as he lowered it, though he did not sling it over his shoulder either. “Probably just a squirrel,” he mumbled to himself, wishing that he was still asleep. He would have gone back to his tent too, if not for the fact that nature was calling his name.
With an annoyed, half-asleep grunt, he turned and began to make his way to the perimeter of the camp, inadvertently heading towards the commandos that were nearby. He paused for a brief moment, as the sounds of jingling caught his attention. Looking down, his dog, a mutt as it turned out to be, looked up at him with a toothy smile, apparently wanting to follow. “You too?” He asked. The dog just continued to look at him.
With a shrug, he continued his trek once more, the light cast by the still ongoing campfire fading as he got away from the camp. His wife had bitched about all of this, and he felt no need to give her more ammunition. As he neared a tree, he froze.
’Grr’. His dog looked off beyond the trees, tail up and eyes suddenly intense. Its lips were pulled back, and four rows of yellow, sharp teeth were apparent in what light was to be had. It had apparently seen something.
When Eric looked over, his own green eyes widened in surprise. Even in the dark, and with his sleep affected vision, the five silhouettes no more than fifteen feet away were apparent to him. It only took him a moment to figure out what they were, he had seen these types before, back in the military. Acreans, it looked like, due to the make of their weapons and gear. That was never a good sign, given that Shalum and Acrea weren’t exactly buddies, though they shared something of a common enemy in the way of Azurlavai. Surely, whatever they were doing here boded nothing well.
“Who the fuck are you guys?!” He holled, quickly moving towards the nearest tree, grip tightening on his rifle as he readied it. He hadn’t shot a gun in a while, honestly, but he wouldn’t simply go down if they tried anything. If he got lucky, the 7.62 x 39mm rounds he had loaded would scare them off, or at least get them to leave him alone.
-
Natalya and another member of the team, Dmitry, had been sent around to the side. And for good measure, evidently, as the man had walked nearly right into them after the damned dog alerted him. The four froze, slowly moving towards the only cover they had- the trees- in the darkness. They didn’t respond to his challenge, and the fact that they didn’t have a clear shot was an issue.
To their right, behind where Eric was, Natalya and Dmitry had their rifles trained on him and the dog, which was focused on Alex and the rest of the fireteam to their left. Dmitry tapped Natalya on the shoulder, signalling to her that he would get the dog and she was to take the man and disarm him- or kill him. She nodded, readying herself to move quickly. She was no more than seven feet behind Eric, hidden behind some light brush and shadows. The second she heard the suppressed discharge of Dmitry’s rifle she ran forward. While Eric was still readying his weapon, she hit him hard on the side of the head with the solid butt of her rifle, then allowing it to fall to her chest on the sling as she chopped at his wrist, causing him to release the grip of the rifle and removing his hand from near the trigger. The force of the blow to the head was enough to stun him alone, evidently, as he fell back against the tree, the rifle quickly wrenched out of his hands. Throwing it to the dirt, Natalya drew the closest weapon to her trigger hand- her handgun- and trained it on Eric’s forehead.
Anger boiled in Eric’s chest as he heard his companion go down with a suddenly pitiful whimper, and he knew that the animal was dead before it hit the ground. Livid would not properly describe how he felt, and as irrational as it may have been, he made motions to raise his weapon and fire. Of course, he didn’t manage to actually pull it off, as he was taken to the ground before it ever could happen. Suddenly, everything was blurry again, due to the force of the hit that he had taken. A groan escaped his lips as he rested against the tree, seemingly unable to do much more due to the pure amount of force that had been generated during the surprise attack.
When he finally looked up at the handgun pointed at his head, some irrational part of him caused his eyes to narrow. Fucking bitch, she and her comrades had killed his dog, and he was surely next, probably to be followed by his wife and friends. The movies would have told him to try and work this out, but the world was a much crueler place. “Ye fucking witch.” He grunted, seemingly still stubborn, even in death. “Damn Acreans, always pulling this stuff. What is this, an invasion?” He grumbled. “I would try and give you some ‘spare me’ speech, but you and I both know this is my end.” He finished roughly, in a rather matter-of-fact tone.
Natalya spared a glance towards Dmitry, though he wouldn’t be able to see the amused look in her eyes.
“Be quiet,” she told Eric, as the rest began advancing quickly over the tents and the campsite, going gun barrels first in opening the tents as they began to secure the rest of everyone else and drag them out in the open. Dmitry gave a quick statement to Natalya as he passed.
"Prosto izbavit'sya ot nego (Just get rid of him).”
Eric glanced up at her, eyes still narrowed, but confusion now present in his orbs as well. What the hell kind of game that she was playing, he really didn’t know. Maybe they were going to round them all up, and kill them together, for all he knew. There was nothing that he could really do to resist at this point.
At the campsite itself, several squeals and noises of surprise were heard as the rest of the group was rounded up. There was little resistance among the two women and one man. The later had reached for his 357. magnum that he had been sleeping next to, but the AKs in his face that caused him to stop short. At least they had not shot him for it.
“What the hell, dude?” The young man, named Justin asked in a mix of surprise and annoyance as he looked around. The other two women did not look especially happy either, but they were probably smarter than their husbands in the sense that they were at least compliant.
Christie, the wife of Eric, looked over at her husband with fear in her eyes as she saw him against a tree, his damn prized rifle at his side. “Are w-we going to die?” She asked the nearest commando, not really sure why she was speaking at all.
Having been signalled, Viktor walked in cautiously with Dmitry at his side. He looked at the four in the campsite, guns trained on them all. He looked over at Eric, the rifle on the ground next to him, Natalya’s handgun in his face. He had clearly been the first, judging from his distance from the campsite and the rifle, and he had been told that Natalya had taken him down.
“Vy ne ubit’ yego (You didn’t kill him)?” he said in a bit of surprise. He knew that if it had been him or Dmitry, the man would have been dead by now.
“Mne bylo prikazano obezvredit' (I was ordered to neutralise). On neytralizuyetsya (He is neutralised).” Natalya’s young female voice in stark contrast to Viktor’s deep baritone.
“Ochen' khorosho (Very well).” Viktor then addressed the rest of the team present. “Izbav'sya ot nikh. (Get rid of them).”
“Podozhdi (Wait)!” Natalya found her cursing herself after she let the outburst out. Viktor paused and looked at the young girl. Dmitriy nodded, training his rifle on Eric and taking Natalya’s place as she stepped away towards Viktor, raising her goggles so as to look him in the eyes as he did the same.
“Yesli my ub'yem ikh, to prichinoy dlya voyny. Eto ser'yeznyy risk, tak kak my ne mozhem izbavit'sya ot nikh (If we kill them, it is a cause for war. It is a serious risk, especially since we can’t dispose of them),” Natalya explained.
As he leaned against the tree, Eric could only watch the two Acreans go back and forth curiously, wondering what the two subhumans were bickering about. Probably about how to get rid of the bodies, or something similar to that. They were probably too far gone by this point to be saved. The pragmatic part of him knew that he had witnessed too much now. The enemy was at the gates, well past them really, but not in any sort of invasion numbers yet. In any case, the commandos probably knew the risk. If his people were left alive, it would only be a matter of time before someone contacted the local authorities, unless their satellite phones were taken. Eric liked to think of himself as a patriot, even if he hadn’t reenlisted, and alerting Internal Security was the least that he could do.
Nearby, Justin was sweating bullets as he looked around at the enemy commandos, fearing that his life was about to end. He didn’t want to die, hell he didn’t even want to go on this bloody camping trip on the first place, it just so happened that his wife was one of those nature people. At twenty-nine, he considered himself to be too young to go to the grave, especially with the fact that there was a child in his wife’s still taut stomach. Next to him, she whimpered and nuzzled against him, probably thinking something similar. They were not warriors, no, they were accountants that had met at college and had served in the reserves.
Kneeling alone, eyes locked on her husband, Christie nibbled on her bottom lip nervously, glancing at Viktor, the apparent leader of the group. She loved that man, she really did, but he could be stubborn as a mule, and a xenophobic bastard when he wanted to be. If anyone was going to get them killed, it was probably going to be him, even if he had good intentions. But alas, she could not find it within herself to speak, not that it would have done any good. If anything, these Acreans probably didn’t want to hear anything she might have had to say.
Viktor carefully weighed the options. They were a risk to detain, a risk to leave, and a risk to kill- unless it were with a weapon that could not be traced back. He looked at Natalya, shaking his head with an actual sincere look of apology.
“Slishkom mnogo riskov. Mne zhal (Too much of a risk. I’m sorry.),” he said. He then once again addressed the rest of the team, drawing his knife. “Nozhi tol'ko (Knives only).”
Dmitry drew his knife while keeping his weapon on him, the other two who drew their knives turning towards the three huddled together. Natalya only cursed rather loudly and angrily as Viktor grabbed the other man.
Annie, the pregnant woman, cried out and reached for her husband, though she knew it was in vain as she saw him drug off. Tears that had been in her eyes now began to fell, as her hands fell to her stomach, which was noticeably round, though not necessarily large enough to say that her due date was any time soon. “Please don’t do this,” she pleaded in a beginning tone. “I’m pregnant, he-he-he is the father. Please.” She begged. Some dark part of her knew that things were far too gone already, if they were going for their weapons.
The pleading escaped Viktor’s ears, but not Natalya’s or Alex’s as they both said ‘Podozhdite!’ at the same time. This time Viktor only looked at them, but he was intuitive enough that when his eyes saw Annie’s hands on her stomach he told the rest of the team to stop as well. He cursed, dragging Justin and throwing him back with the two women while Dmitriy threw Eric with them as well. Viktor looked at his watch. Even he and Dmitry were not cold-hearted enough to kill a pregnant woman or orphan an unborn child where it wasn’t necessarily needed.
“Zaderzhite ikh (Detain them),” he ordered. The team quickly set upon securing all of them with zip-ties, tying their feet together with paracord. Viktor crouched down in front of them all, his voice thick with an accent.
“Listen to me carefully. I am going to leave two of my men with you. If you scream, if you try and call out for help, they will kill each and every one of you. If someone comes by here, they will hide you, and the same rules will apply. Remember that they have automatic rifles, and your lives are expendable. If not for yourselves, then remain quiet for your unborn child. Am I understood?”
There was no resistance among the group, and more than a few looks of relief were present as they were bound. It at least meant that they would not die today. They all did as told, and listened carefully, even Eric, who harbored no sort of sympathy for these men and women before him. Surely, they held no good intentions if they were here, and he would have loved a chance to take a shot at them, even if he was going to die. But he also had to take into account his pregnant friend, who didn’t deserve any of this. Funnily enough, this was supposed to be her last ‘big trip’ before the she was too big to do anything overly physical for months.
The group all looked at each other, and a series of nods were exchanged. It was more than acceptable to them, not like they were able to dictate the terms anyways. “Yessir. Perfectly understood.” Justin said quickly, looking much lighter as he glanced at his wife, wishing he could do nothing more than give her a hug. They weren’t going to be slayed, it was more than he could have asked for.
Viktor nodded, standing. He motioned for Natalya and Dmitry to stay and guard them. Natalya, because he knew that she would take proper care of them. Dmitry, because he knew Dmitry would kill them without a second thought if necessary for the preservation of his life and Natalya’s. The two nodded.
“Poydem. Vyydi!” Viktor said, and the rest of the team once again disappeared into the night. Natalya and Dmitry both removed their helmets for the moment, removing their masks to breathe the crisp night air, their faces illuminated in the shadows by the campfire that was there Dmitry crouched next to the tree while Natalya sat, her eyes scanning the others.
The campers tried to relax, which was about as easy as it sounded, given the fact that they were still being watched by commandos that were going to kill them no more than two minutes prior. When the two finally removed their masks, a few eyebrows rose up. Natalya looked, well, much younger than they had been expecting to see. Thirties is what Justin had mentally placed her at, but in person, she looked no more than twenty if he had to guess. Of course, he was probably wrong, but it was still interesting to see.
On the other hand, Dmitry seemed to fit the role of evil, Acrean killer with no heart to be found, even if he had spared their lives. He looked just as intimidating to them all, with the scars and facial hair, almost as if he had been born for this line of work. No one would have minded if you left the mask on, Eric thought in only a half joking way. Still, he was in no position to actually talk, especially when it was as insulting as that particular thought.
Looking around, none of the group moved to speak, for that matter. What was there to be said? ‘Thank you for not killing us?’
Natalya scanned their surroundings, eyeing the body of the dog. She looked up at Dmitry.
“Nakroyte telo, ne tak li (Cover the body, would you)?” she asked. Dmitry sighed, but otherwise complied, going to retrieve a blanket from one of the tents. Taking it over to the body of the dog, he carefully and gently wrapped it in the blanket, taking it back over to the campsite and setting it down. He then looked over and nodded at Natalya. She reached behind her, pulling out her canteen and then into Dmitry’s pack which lay on the ground, pulling out a straw from one of the MRE packs. She placed the straw in the canteen still full of water, walking over and crouching in front of Annie.
“Water?” she questioned.
With nothing better to do, the group watched the burly Acrean lumber over and cover the deceased animal. Yet again, the baddies had managed to surprise the group, by showing at least a small amount of caring, and covering up the canine friend that had fallen in the line of duty. He had lived a good, long life, something that was only a small condolence to them, but one nonetheless. Secretly, Justin at least had to give the man some credit for being gentle with it.
Meanwhile, Annie looked up at Natalya and the briefest hints of a smile formed on her lips. Sure, she was very much wary of these people, but it seemed like the woman was at least trustable for now. “Yes please, thank you. Sorry, I am a bit tied up, so I can’t handle it myself.” She tried to joke. Leaning forwards, she carefully sipped on the drink, relishing in its coolness as it went down. When she was done, she leaned back. “Thank you. You’re very kind.”
Meanwhile, Dmitry went about securing the rest of the campsite. He noted what resources were there in terms of food and water, and also secured the weapons and ammunition. With the .357, he threw it into the woods after removing the ammunition. He then picked up Eric’s rifle, and went about disassembling it in the form of removing the bolt completely and placing that in his pack, before throwing the rest of the rifle onto the ground. As Annie drank, Natalya sang quietly to herself.
“Prosto v etoy zhizni net smisla bez tebya, i moya melodiya uzhe ne moya, i svobodi net, kak i, net prichin, ya ne' odnoy, ya ne' odnim…”
Dmitry looked down at Natalya, noting the song as one of her favourites. He then placed his helmet on his head, flipping the goggles down. “Ya voz'mu pervyye chasy (I’ll take first watch).”
Natalya merely nodded, not breaking the song.
The smile on Annie’s lips grew as she listened to the young girl before her sing. Honestly, she didn’t speak even a word of the girl’s language, which was a shame, given the fact that she had done better than her husband when it came to the language courses the army reserve had forced them to take back in the day. Admittedly, a decade was more than enough time to forget.
Beside Annie, Justin glanced at Natalya, his features softened. He had been expecting the girl to be more of a killer than this behind her mask. “You have a really beautiful voice.” He complimented, leaning back a bit, trying to make himself as comfortable as he could given the circumstances.
Off to the side, Eric just watched the things happening, not exactly pleased that the enemy had taken apart his rifle, which had cost him a little over a thousand dollars, not to mention ammunition and taxes. Thankfully, there was nothing else for Dmitry to really mess up or wreck if he wanted to. They were simply civilians, that had packed for a camping trip. There was plenty of water and food, the later more than the four of them probably needed.
Natalya smiled at Justin. She could understand English, but as per her training she was not inclined to let them on to that. She looked at them both and cocked her head.
“Akaski?” she questioned.
Annie bit her lip, a sheepish look crossing her face. “Nyet,” she replied with a shake of the head. “Shalumite by birth, both of us, though he has some Pole in him.” She said, nudging her husband with her hip. “We were both in the Imperial Army Reserve, they taught us some Acrean...but I kinda forgot it all.” She chuckled. “They said I was good at it too, could have been a translator or something like that.”
Natalya only gave a small smile. She then crouched into a more comfortable position in front of them. She motioned to herself.
“Menya zovut Natalya (My name is Natalya),” she said.
Annie nodded and motioned to herself with her bound hands. “I am Annie, and this is Justin.” She replied, taking the liberty of introducing her better half.
“Its, ah, nice to meet you, ma’am.” He added with a nod. Normally he would have said it was a ‘pleasure’, and maybe in another life, meeting Natalya would have been enjoyable, but due to circumstances, it was clear why it was not. “Over there is Eric and Christie, I think you know the former already.” He said, inclining his head towards the other married couple.
Natalya nodded. “Annie, Justin, Eric, Christie,” she repeated. Behind her, Dmitry gave a sound of disapproval.
“Vy ne dolzhny byt' obshcheniye s nimi (You should not be socializing with them),” he said in a low voice and disapproving tone.
“Eto ne obshcheniye (It isn’t socializing),” Natalya replied, shooting a glance back at him with a frown. Dmitry only repeated what she said in a muttering, sarcastic tone, shaking his head.
“Beremennaya (Pregnant),” Natalya chuckled, looking at Annie. She then decided to switch to English with her rather heavy accent. “How many months?”
Annie smiled, looking down at her stomach with pride in her eyes, as well as love. “Four, close to five, if I remember correctly anyways. Amazing how time flies.” She laughed, feeling as if the tension had passed from earlier, replaced by a less intense resignation to the fact that they would have company for a while. “It was unexpected, but not unwelcome either. It’s a boy.” She explained.
“Congratulations,” Natalya replied. Her own eyes were imbued with a hint of sadness that she herself would likely never have children, particularly if the day they were all dreading would come. If the war came, then there was a very real possibility she wouldn’t live to see 25. She quickly blinked the emotion out of her eyes. “So, Army. How was that for you?”
“Thank you,” Annie replied with a small smile. The look that crossed Natalya’s face did not go unnoticed to Annie, but it was gone before she could mention anything about it. There were a couple reason she quickly thought of as to why she may have looked that way, but she didn’t want to bring them up. With the new subject, Annie quickly nodded. “It was interesting I suppose. It was worse for him then me.” She said, looking over at her husband. “I was in logistics, driving trucks and running a few times wasn’t so bad, especially when it was just reserve stuff.”
“A lot of tense moments for me, since I was infantry.” Justin added. “With all the tensions going on, and since Shalum -is- a buffer state, it seemed like we were always a step away from being put to full mobilization.” He said, not daring to call out Natalya’s nation for being part of the problem. He was sure that she would understand.
Natalya nodded when the radio crackled. She and Dmitry both listened, before quickly moving into action. She snapped up her weapon and affixed her helmet while Dmitry grabbed more paracord. Natalya kept her weapon trained on them while Dmitry untied all of their feet, and proceeded to tie together in a line. None of them would be able to run without dragging the others.
“On your feet,” Dmitry growled as Natalya lowered her weapon.
“Easy, easy.” Justin mumbled, though it was more for Annie’s benefit than anyone else's, given she was slower to her feet with the little one in her tummy. They showed no resistance as they were tied together, all of them knowing better than to try anything by this point. “I take it we’re moving out?” Justin asked, a bit sadly, as he looked over at Natalya. It could either mean good news or bad, or so he believed.
