A Soul to the Wind
This was a side project that formed out of my writers block for All In A Day's Work. I was inspired to write this by an old friend of mine who gave me inspiration.
Disclaimer: If you do not like blood, gore or excessive swearing please leave. if you do not like heartbreak please leave. Otherwise enjoy the fruits of three days worth of work.
The wind beat against the grass, long delicate blades caressed my cheek. The pool had finally stopped spreading out, the color staining the once green blades a deep crimson. As my eyelids got heavy, I could feel my life slipping out of me. Resigned to my fate I laid in the grass.
"I'm...so sorry." I felt my eyelids close and my last breath was lost to the wind.
3 Days Earlier
"Don't look at me like that." I put down the shirt I was folding and stared at my wife. "I won't be gone for long. It's an easy job I'll be go one, two weeks tops and when I get back we can go on that cruise you've been talking to me about. We'll have the money and more." I went back to folding the shirt, tucking it into my black duffel bag. Zipping it shut I went to sling it over my shoulder when I felt something warm and soft touch my shoulder. I turned around and our lips met, fur blending together as our forms became one entity.
"I love you." She said, her brown eyes blinking away tears. Her paws clenched together as if she was going to get down on her knees and pray.
"I love you too."
I hefted my duffel bag onto my shoulders, looked in the mirror one last time and slipped my wedding band off.
"You know I have too..."
She didn't speak, only nodded blinking away the tears taking the golden band into her paws.
I gave her one last kiss before heading out the front door and into the waiting car.
1 Day earlier
"Alright, your cover is a military advisor you're just here to scout the site as a possible forward base for allied forces in the area. Find the target, neutralize him and then get back into the town. The chopper will pick you up and you'll be homeward bound."
I nodded my head at the German Sheppard. Strangely I felt out of place, the dog shouting into the microphone and the pilots were all dressed in uniform while I was given a pair of blue jeans, a red shirt and a baseball cap. A 9mm was in my duffel bag, the clothes I had so painstakingly packed were somewhere in a hamper back at base. It had taken me a day to cross the ocean and I wasn't even allowed to a minute to rest before I was pushed into a briefing room, given my gear and pushed onto this helicopter. The inside consisted of extra clips, rations, a folder consisting of information about my target, accessories and a few I.Ds.
"We're almost ready...and...GO!"
The helicopter came to rest a few feet above the ground and I jumped out onto the dirt, breaking out into a run I sprinted to the closest cover I could find; which turned out to be the wrecked chassis of an old Volkswagen. I saw the black form of the helicopter disappear behind the mountains, the whir of blades lingering in my ears. I was on my own. Hell I didn't even exist to my government anymore. I had to complete my job, send the radio signal and wait in the village. The village wasn't on any map; it didn't even have a name which is what made it perfect for my target to hide in but also worked in my favor. There was nowhere for him to run. As I walked down the dirt path I took a moment to observe my surroundings, despite being so high up in the mountains the land was covered in trees and beautiful grass. It was a paradise, once you got past the fact that one of the most dangerous men in the world resided here. I left the charred chassis and started to walk down the road to the village humming softly to myself. I reached into my duffel and took out the manila folder and flipped it open.
Name : Alan Husain
Below his name there was a picture, a tan skinned reptilian wearing an Arabian garb with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail, toting an AK in his hands and two .45's in shoulder holsters.
Description : 5'5, Blonde hair, Reptilian species unknown.
Background : Has numerous connections to Al Qaeda, GIA, FARC and RN
Responsible for supplying these groups with armaments, explosives and at times man power. Grew up in an unknown third world country, father is unknown. Mother was a prostitute who sold him to a slaver to pay rent. Moved from country to country; until finally running away and joining a local gang.
Notable attacks include: U.S Embassy in France (1999), U.S.S Abraham Lincoln Destroyer (U.S.N. 2003) and St. Mary's Orphanage in New York (2010)*
There were two foot notes at the bottom.
Several children were left unaccounted for in the aftermath of the explosion and have been presumed missing or dead.
_ Sorry Alex, this is all we have on him. After he joined the gang is where the trail stops until his first bombing._
Mission : Terminate the target and any of his followers, return to village and use local radio to send coded message written below.
I reached back into my duffel back and drew out my lighter. Taking one last look at the code I felt confident enough it was memorized in my head. Moments later I left the small pile of ash the side of the road and continued on my way. The sun was setting behind the mountain by the time I reached the outskirts of the village. It looked like something straight out of my old history books. Brick and mortar buildings that have withstood the sands of time, stained white by the wind and time.
"Not bad, should buy a vacation home here."
I entered the small village and found what I assumed was the local bar. I wasn't going to find Alan easily; this place may be isolated but that doesn't mean he's safe. I'm sure he knows I'm coming and has gone into hiding somewhere in the mountains. His men would probably frequent the area for supplies or as lookouts. I intended to get some information from a soldier, maybe even impersonate him if we were close enough in species. The bar wasn't anything special, the bar stand was just a table with various drinks on it while the tables looked like they were dragged through the mountains. I went up to the bar and ordered a shot of rum and found a place at one of the tables watching the group of soldiers at the bar. They'd been there when I had arrived but paid more attention to their drinks than me.
It wasn't until my drink came that they noticed me. High on firepower, low on intelligence it seems. My clothes would have set off alarms in any well trained soldiers mind. They surrounded me; I could feel their eyes roaming over me trying to look tough. I was the first to break the silence.
"Can I help you gentlemen?"
"Why are you here American?" A short but muscular fellow spoke for the group, his voice muffled by the cloth covering his face, accent thick in my ears.
"I'm here to see the sights."
I felt the cold steel pressed against the back of my head, recognizing it as a Beretta 9mm the same model I was carrying in my duffel bag which had fallen under the table.
"Answer the question."
I sighed slightly, this wasn't going the way I planned and the cover given to me by my employers wasn't exactly a safe bet but it was all I got.
"I'm a military advisor. I scout places out as possible forward bases for the Allies. But this is the third dud I've hit this week. I came in for a drink before I went back down the mountain." I felt the pressure on my head gone my story seemed to satisfy whomever was pointing the gun at the back of my head. I could see the assumed leader thinking it over in his mind.
"Ok, I believe you. But listen and listen well American." He leaned onto the table; the aged wood creaking underneath his weight. "Be gone before the sun rises again...or I will kill you."
"You got it Chief." I downed my drink, paid the tender and left to find someplace to spend the night. I found my bed or should I say cot in what passed as the hostel in the town. I knew I could only catch a few hours of kip before I had to move so I slept while I could.
I dreamt of her.
My watch threw me off my cloud and back into the real world. I woke up with the moon shimmering through my window.
"It's time to go." I muttered to myself and slipped out of the room and onto the street. I had left my duffel bag, didn't need the extra weight or the sound. I found that the armed patrols were few and far between but that didn't make them any less dangerous. If I was spotted they would shoot me on sight. No questions or anything just bam and that's it. As I moved from street to street I tried to figure out what exactly what I was going to do. If I found a guard on his own then I could take him down and impersonate him. But there were plenty of factors that played into that: was he the same species? Could I get his accent right? As I moved from building to building pondering these questions the answer found me. When I was about to move to another building I happened upon a guard taking a leak against a building. His turban was on the ground, showing his wolf like features to the night. He was perfect, in almost every way. My height, build and species although I believe the accent would have to be improvised.
I moved into the alley and kicked him square in the back knocking him into the wall; I could hear his nose (and another organ) slap against the wall. He turned around, anger filled eyes and a flash of recognition looked at me.
"You, you're the American from the bar!" His accent was plainer than I had imagined.
"Right you are buddy."
"How dare you!" His paws balled into fists, his lips pushed against his mouth showing off a set of dangerous canines.
"I'm going to ask you nicely and if you comply I won't have to hurt you. Strip down and give me your uniform, take my clothes and start a new life." I stared him down, muscles tensing; ready for his inevitable attack. But what came next surprised me, instead of charging forward the soldier unclenched his fists.
"I do not want to die...I have family, wife and two kids."
"Then give me your clothes and forget that this night ever happened. Go back to your wife and kids."
He was silent for a moment; I could tell he was weighing his options. Maybe he could take me or maybe he couldn't, after a few more moments of deliberation he calmly asked me to turn around and I complied. You could say I was easily trusting but I saw it in his eyes, he did not want to die this night and soon enough I was wearing his uniform, walking the streets with his weapon. I had trashed the bag after emptying the contents and filling my uniform with what I could carry. The wolf had been kind enough to give me the location of Alan's safe house too. It was a small cave in the mountains overlooking the village, a little obvious but that didn't matter. After a few hours of walking I found myself on the outer perimeter of a small cave. Two guards were on duty outside, smoke rising from their cigarettes as they chatted idly. I took a deep breath and spoke.
"Where is Alan?" I prayed my accent paid off.
The two guards looked at me, silent eyes looking me over the guard on the left spoke in a heavy Russian accent. "Why?"
"I must speak with him, it is urgent."
"What is it about?" The guard on the right spoke.
"The American from before, there has been a new development."
They almost jumped out their seats, weapons clutched in paw. "What, what is it?"
"I saw him in the town, after curfew. He was looking around and I think I saw a gun!"
They looked at each other, terror then courage passing between them. "Go, Alan is at the top we will head into the village."
I nodded and headed into the cave while the two men went on their snipe hunt. The cave wasn't much; dank and grimy but at the same time it gave off a sense of security. No one, no government with its satellites would ever be able to find you in here and you could continue your never-ending war against the nations without fear. Well not anymore, I chambered a round into the Ak-47 and kept walking. I passed some makeshift bunks and what I assumed was the latrine judging by the smell. I ascended a flight of stairs and found myself in the communications room. It bustled with activity, furs of various species moved around communicating in different languages on radios and computers to what I assumed were different cells spread out across the world. My finger instantly went to the trigger; I could cripple his entire operation here and kill him. My train of thought was interrupted when someone bumped into my shoulder.
"Watch where you're standing asshole." A hulking Doberman dressed in some kind of desert camouflage turned to face me.
"My apologies, but may I ask a question?" The dog looked annoyed but allowed it. "Where can I find Alan? I have been in the village for a long time and had too much to drink last night." The Doberman rolled his eyes muttering idiot under his breath in German.
"He is one story up in his office as always." I thanked him and began to move through the crowd before I heard of him call out my name, or at least the name of the wolf I was impersonating. "Hey, Erick did you hear anything about that last shipment? I heard it was good stock ja?" I looked back at him and froze; the wolf had never mentioned any kind of shipment so I lied.
"Ah yes it was excellent stock." The Doberman laughed and slapped me on the back.
"Das good ja, wish I could have had a taste!" I nodded sheepishly and started to move to the stairs. Just as I was about to open the makeshift door I was called for again. "Erick...did you do something with your tail? It wasn't that bushy the last time I saw you. "
I felt every nerve in my body tense up as the Doberman advanced on me paw moving towards his sidearm.
"Your accent has been funny as well." He had finally caught up to me and began looking me over. "Something is not right here." By now almost every soul in the room had turned to look at us and I knew where this was going to end up. The Doberman had un-holstered his sidearm and had it by his side, he moved his other paw to take off my mask. "No, something is not right here at all." The rooms artificial light flooded into my eyes as the Doberman tore away my mask. He opened his mouth to speak and swung his arm up to shoot me but never got the chance before his stomach exploded and his guts littered the ground. I pushed past him and opened fire into the room, spraying and praying that I could take out more men than equipment. By the time I had emptied the clip and the smoked cleared not a soul was stirring but me. The ground was covered in spent shells and blood; sparks flew from a destroyed console. No doubt everyone in the cave had heard that commotion and were mobilizing to find me so I had precious little time to dump my clip, reload and booby trap a few of the bodies with the grenades the wolf had given me. Once that was done I moved up the stairs to find my objective.
When I reached the top I was met with a long hallway with five doors, two on each side and one at the end. Instinct told me that Alan would be in the room at the end but something was pulling me towards one of the rooms at the right side of the hall. I kicked the door open to find it empty; against the wall were three filing cabinets. Forgetting my mission for a moment I decided to rifle through the files, perhaps there was a list of contacts I could come back with, plus I wanted to know more about the shipment the Doberman had asked me about. The first two cabinets were duds, but I struck gold and oil at the same time in the last cabinet. Not only was there a list of his contacts in Europe and Asia but there were multiple manifests detailing his weapon shipments. I pulled the files out and laid them on the floor, but as I went to close the cabinet I saw something else. There was a chink in the wall and with a little effort I was able to pry it open to find one last folder. Laying it on the ground I flipped through it looking for some kind of manifest or list. At the very end I found it; but what I found at the end chilled me to my very soul. It was a shipping manifest but not for guns or explosives but for people, no children! The sick son of a bitch had been kidnapping children and selling them for profit. When I first came here I was going to just put a bullet between his eyes and leave but now, now I was going to make him suffer. Not just for the children but for those families who went through so much grief because of this one man. I placed the files in a corner and grabbed my Ak-47 where I had left it. No longer did it feel like an instrument of death and destruction but a great weapon of justice.
The door flew inwards from my kick, I heard it slam against the wall and when I looked in I saw that I had taken someone down as well, blood seeped from under the door as it lay against the wall. Suddenly the rock next me exploded from a hail of bullets, shards of rock cutting into my face before I could duck behind the doorway.
"You think you can kill me American? Do you have any idea who I am?"
"A terrorist, a murderer and a pimp, I'm going to the world a favor today."
He was silent for a moment; I had struck a nerve apparently. Another burst of fire tore away at the stone; thankfully none of it hit me this time. "Who sent you, the Americans, British? Tell me god damn it!" He fired at the wall again and I could hear the sound of the shells bouncing off the stone as they exited the gun.
"I was hired by everyone...and no one." I leaned out of the doorway and fired off a few shots. I heard them slam into the wall, Alan returned fire and I felt a sharp pain run through my arm. I looked at my uniform and watched as the hole in my arm overflowed with blood. It hurt like hell but I had enough adrenaline searing through my body that I could ignore it; I leaned out of the doorway and fired again. This time I was rewarded with the sound of his gun dropping and a string of curses reached my ears. I ran out of cover and fired wildly at him before I heard the clicking of an empty clip, but instead of reaching for my Beretta I closed the distance and punched him square on his reptilian maw. He fell back against the wall and looked at me.
"You must be insane. Just shoot me."
"No, I'm going to make you suffer for your crimes."
I need only survive until the rest of my men arrive." As if on cue, the cave rumbled and shook and the screams of men rose up from the communications room. "No..."
"Yes my reptilian foe, a few grenades courtesy of your comrades."
He charged forward, throwing me to the ground. Before I could defend myself, he had straddled me and wrapped his hands around my throat. He squeezed as hard as he could on my throat and I quickly felt all the blood rushing to my head. My paws scraped against the floor, desperately searching for something to use to get him off me and I found it, a shard of rock. I picked it up and jammed into the closest piece of skin I could find which just so happened to be his eye. His screams pierced my ears and I felt a heavy weight lift of my chest, gasping for air I rolled to my side and gasped for air. The world went blurry for a moment; I struggled to my feet and tried to get my vision back but when I did I felt an shot of pain run through my jaw and I tasted my own blood. Alan had recovered quicker than me, the shard still buried deep in his eye socket.
"You son of a bitch, god damn it LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO MY EYE!"
I grinned slightly. "You sure don't look any more attractive."
He roared and charged at me, a fist rose in the air to strike me and I could feel time start to slow down, I dodged his punch easily sending a strike of my own to his stomach then a kick to his knee. A pop sent me back into the real world and I found Alan cradling his knee.
"I figured someone as revered as you would be a lot tougher. Instead here you are with one eye, broken knee and a shattered hand."
He looked up and spit out the words. "Shattered hand? I have no such thing." A quick stomp from my boot changed that and his screams echoed throughout the room. I reached into my uniform and withdrew my 9mm, pointing at his legs I fired off two shots and put two more into his arms. He jumped with each shot no longer being able to scream and that is how I left him, in a pool of his own blood while I tried to make it down the stairs without being shot. Things went smoothly until I reached the old communication room; I was making my way over the bodies when I suddenly jerked to the side and saw the wall in front of me splinter and crack. Looking down I saw a sizeable hole where a chunk of my stomach used to be. I couldn't even breathe; I just fell to my knees first looking at my stomach, to my horror I found my rib was not broken , it was simply gone. I turned and looked for my attacker I found him sitting against the blood splattered wall was one of the apparent survivors of my grenade trap, a smoking barrel of an M-16 was held in his paws, he collapsed afterwards and didn't move again. Clutching my side I stood up again and started to move out of the cave and into the light.
So here's where you found me, bleeding out in the grass field. How did I get here you wonder? Well, after making my way out of the cave I was assaulted by the soldiers returning from the village. I ran as quickly as a man missing a rib could run and I managed to avoid them until I got to the edge of town, then all hell broke loose, I suddenly felt that my other arm was completely numb and when I looked down I saw that it had been riddled with multiple wounds. I must not have noticed it when I was running that I had been shot at all. My uniform was now stained with my own blood, and I staggered my out of the village feeling my strength leave me with every step. A group of soldiers did catch up to me eventually, they surrounded me but to my surprise they did raise their weapons only looked at me with sad eyes and so I continued on down the road, the men parting as I passed. I knew my time was up and decided to find a nice plain of grass to lie in my final moments. So here I am, the pool of blood has finally stopped staining the ground and the grass and the world is becoming harder to hear. My eyes are heavy and every breath takes more effort than it should but I have resigned myself to fate and my only regret is not seeing her again. So as I close my eyes for the last time, I mutter my last words of love, sorrow and affection and feel my soul cast to the wind.
"I'm...so sorry."