Soldier Down

The five of us sat silently in the semi-deserted playground. We weren’t talking, there was nothing to talk about. I just sat there watching the others. Scout was kicking a pinecone up and down trying to beat his underwhelming personal best of 7 kickups. Annabella was nestled up against Artur’s chest on the bottom of the rusty old slide as she stared solemnly at the heart-shaped locket that he had given her before everything went to shit. Then there was Kingshark, doing pullups on the monkey bars one after the other as if there was still a point in trying to better ourselves. I admired him for that. For me, that point was long gone. Watching them as I sat on the old swing set, as the metal chains creaked more each time I swung back and forth, I was reminded that even though we were not supposed to be here, we desperately needed to be. Our supervisor would be pissed if she found out we weren’t in our beds, let alone across the Divide. But enough is enough a kid can only take so much arguing and fear. We needed some time in the peace and quiet.

I looked over to Scout as the pinecone rolled off his boot and plopped onto the sand.

He looked at Kingshark who was now just hanging on the bar in exhaustion.

“There you go! 12 in a row, I can officially do more kickups than you can do pullups, your dessert packs are mine for a week”

Kingshark started to laugh, Anabella and Artur began to giggle as well.

That was the last thing I could remember before the missile hit.

I was thrown to the sand by the explosion. Ears ringing, heart beating faster than I could track as smog started filling the air. But we didn’t have to see to know what was going on. We knew it was the Renegades. I stumbled to my feet to search for the others. I found Artur first, he was stumbling around like a mad man shouting into the distance.

“Anabella!”

“Anabella Smith where are you!”

I noticed the heart-shaped locket that she was holding gripped in his left hand. The blast must have knocked it from hers.

I ran up and hit him on the back.

“Johansson” he said as he grabbed my shoulder, “where are the others?”

“I don’t know” I replied, looking around the smog-filled playground.

Suddenly a figure emerged from the smoke. It was Scout. We called him over and the three of us began shouting for our two missing companions.

“Anabella!

Kingshark!”

We shouted. No response.

We searched through the grass on the hillside, then we saw them. At the bottom of the hill. They must have been thrown from the blast and rolled down. Artur shouted for them.

“We’re coming!”

He then began in a blaze towards them. Scout and I followed closely behind. I looked down the field and I saw a dozen or so Renegade officers sprinting across the valley.

“Artur stop!” I shouted

That’s when the second missile hit.

Since we were further from the playground this one did less damage but the three of us were still knocked down by it, nonetheless. We tumbled into the thick coverage of the cattails. When the three of us finally got to our feet the Renegades were already dragging Anabella and Kingshark away.

“Artur!” Anabella called out.

“Artur help us!”

Artur bolted towards the dozen or so Renegade officers who were roping them up into shock nets. Then Scout tackled him to the ground.

Artur tried to push Scout off him.

“What are you doing! Get off me! We have to help them.”

“Getting yourself captured is not going to help them” Scout shouted back at him.

Artur looked to the locket he had gripped in his hand. He pushed Scout onto the grass.

“So you're just going to let them get taken?”

“We have to be smart Artur! remember our training.”

“Screw training, It’s them! It’s Anabella, it’s Kingshark we have to save them.”

All the shouting had directed a couple of the Renegade officers to our position. Three of them immediately took off in a blitz towards us.

Scout sprinted in the other direction.

Artur hesitated.

He knew we had to run for it. He knew there was no way we could help our friends now. But I mean it was Anabella of course he was holding back.

“Artur – we’ve got to go…NOW!” I shouted at him.

He looked down the valley where Kingshark and Anabella were already being put into the Renegade's ambush vessel.

He finally nodded at me, then the two of us took out in a full dash behind Scout.

Of the three of us, Artur was by far the fastest, so he was well ahead of me within a few seconds, I was pretty fast too, just a bit slower than Artur but each of us was a lot faster than Scout. It wasn’t long before we had caught up to him just on the other side of the playground.

The Renegade officers were still on our tail, it’s a good thing the playground was just a few yards from the Divide.

Artur was the first one to it. He ran up to the graffiti-ridden bricks and was immediately able to explode up the side of it and pull himself up to the top of the wall. He sat on the edge and reached down his hand to help us over. Scout was first. I boosted up his feet and he reached up and grabbed Artur’s hand to guide him up the bricks. Scout jumped over and then Artur dropped down his hand for me. I looked back, the three officers were running towards us, their gas masks and heavy black uniforms slowed them down enough, but we still had to move. I jumped up and grabbed on and he guided me to scale the brick wall until I climbed onto the top of it. Artur and I jumped down and started sprinting behind Scout who was now halfway to the rover.

Scout called back to us.

“Johansson get in the driver seat, I left the keys behind the dumpster, I’ll grab them, then we’ll get out of here.”

It didn’t surprise me that he wanted me to drive. I had gotten the best score on our land escape trials. Well Anabella got a higher score but…anyway I ran to the rover, and I jumped in the driver's seat. Artur stood behind shouting.

“Report the breach Johansson, signal our location for the drones.”

“The comms are not going to work until the engine is running” I said back to him.

He looked over to Scout

“Did you find them?” He asked Scout.

“I got them” Scout replied

“Toss em here”

Scout tossed Artur the keys. Artur then threw them to me, I scanned the keyfob onto the engine light and the radio lit up. I flipped the red switch marked “Communication” and grabbed the small black talkie that Scout had left on the dash.

“Attention Dominion this is M. Johansson of squadron 9 reporting a breach in sector 14. 13 renegades traveling by ambush vessel. Two soldiers captured, three soldiers returning to camp”

I flipped the switch back over and I turned back to Artur

“Are they breaching the Divide?” I asked him.

Artur turned to look to the wall “The Divide is cle…..”

That was when the third missile hit.

I gripped onto the rover to avoid being tossed out of it.

“Artur!” I called out blinded by the fog.

Artur jumped into the passenger seat coughing into his shirt.

“Where’s Scout?”

Artur tried to speak to me in between his coughs.

“Drive!”

“What?”

“Johansson go, drive! NOW!”

“What about Scout?”

“The missile hit the dumpster.”

“Directly?” I asked.

He nodded

“And Scout?”

“He’s gone!”

“Gone?”

“GONE!”

“Fuck!” I stomped my foot on the gas as the fog began to cover the village and I heard the stomp of Renegade officers marching onto the cobblestone.

As I drove through the streets, I reached again to the comms.

“Attention Dominion this is M. Johansson of squadron 9 reporting update. Multiple Renegades have breached the Divide and are taking Village 4.

Two soldiers captured, two soldiers returning.”

I bit my lip and looked again towards Artur, he looked at me silently, waiting for me to finish my update.

“One soldier down. I repeat soldier down!”

I put down the talkie and began to floor it through the village streets. The locals were running onto the road and screaming at the car trying to get us to take them back to the compound. I just kept driving.

Finally, the drones flew overhead coming north from camp. Immediately they started releasing the foam onto the village and outside the Divide trying to clear the fog and push out any Renegades on our tail.

I looked at Artur. He was staring at the heart-shaped locket gripped tightly in his hand, I didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say. We both knew it was my idea to sneak out and cross the Divide. I mean it’s not like they put up a fight, but it was still my idea, so all of this would be on me when we got back.

Then I noticed her, a girl from the village ran out onto the road. She held a baby in her arms. Like the others, she waved us down trying to get us to stop and pick her up as the drones dropped the foam onto her village. Normally I would just drive by but…there was something different about her.

I turned back to Artur.

“I’m going to stop”

“What?”

“I'm going to take her back to the compound”

“No, you are not!” He yelled back at me.

“That is rule number 1– never pick up a villager, never bring anyone back.”

“She is going to die if we leave her - the foam is toxic.”

“If we pick up them every other villager will run up to the rover for a ride.”

“Then I’ll drive away”

“Even if you get her to camp, they're not going to let us bring her in.”

“I don’t care I’m gonna stop.”

I slowed down the car next to the girl and gestured for her to come in.

Just as Artur predicted all the other villagers began in a full out sprint to the rover pleading for us to stop to take them too. I stomped on the pedal and the rover sped up through the narrow streets. I refused to look behind as the foam covered the village and the locals’ cries turned to silence.

Artur was quiet. The baby boy began sobbing and the girl quickly covered his mouth, as if she was worried I was going to stop and kick them onto the streets if she made too much noise. I didn’t bother to reassure her. I mean we couldn’t communicate with them anyway and even if I could…I really couldn’t make her any promises. I looked over at Artur as we approached the bridge to the compound. He put the locket around his neck and tucked it under his white shirt.

I drove across the bridge, avoiding the landmines. It was easy, we were taught the correct entrance pattern when we were old enough to reach the pedals.

We approached the gate. Artur sat up and looked at me, He looked back at the girl who was still covering her brothers’ mouth as tears rolled down her eyes.

As soon as we were in the vicinity our comms lit up. A familiar voice appeared on the radio.

“State your name and cause”

“M. Johansson squadron 9 – fleeing a Renegade attack.”

“Those damn rebels!” he sighed.

The gates began to open. “Come on through!” He said “All hail the Dominion”

“All hail the Dominion” Artur and I replied.