Rescuing Hostages
#5 of Stories in Shorts
Come in, Warwing," I heard the male voice of my sergeant say in my headset, "What's the status of the opposition?"
I was sitting hidden in a tree, overlooking a large camp about a hundred yards away that housed ISIS fighters. "They're walking around like wannabe thugs," I replied lowly as I observed the camp through my binoculars, my AUG assault rifle in my lap, "it's payback time."
"Whoa, easy there, Specialist" Sergeant Nighthawk said coolly over my headset, "we will go in and take them down as soon as HQ gives us the green light to move in. Contact you back until then."
I sat in the tree in silence, calming myself down and trying to find my inner peace. Damn, this humid heat is outrageous! The operation was taking place in the jungles of Vietnam, located near the border of China. We have been tracking the ISIS militants that captured our citizens for months and finally, we found them in this humid place of hell.
I breathed out a soft sigh and I glanced around, making sure no one has spotted me or taking aim at me. I looked down at my jungle fatigues, swiping off a spider that was on me and then returning to performing recon on the camp. The ISIS fighters made themselves look obvious, wearing "acquired" military gear and parading around with AK -47s as if they were the "A-Team" of terrorism. "You'll all pay for preying on the defenseless," I made the comment in a low, dark tone as I heard a few pawsteps near me.
"Star?" I hissed silently, not moving in order to not give away my position. Please say Texas! After a few heartbeats, I turned the safety off of my AUG, which made a clicking sound like a branch snapping.
"Huh?" a male voice inquired, the sound of a weapon being loaded. Floof! I stayed still, my paws on my AUG. "Warwing, we have the green light," a familiar male voice said as the pawsteps approached the tree, "What's your status?" I didn't reply as I watched a male anthro lion, who was armed with an AK-47 like the rest of the militants, look around. He glanced over where I was hiding before he shrugged his shoulders. He muttered something in Arabic as he walked away from my position, hitting himself in the back of the head with his paw as he and his pawsteps disappeared.
"Warwing?" Nighthawk asked again, starting to sound edgy. "I just avoided being caught," I blew out a relieved sigh as I scanned the camp again with my binoculars, seeing some ISIS fighters moving around and on top of that, identifying our two American citizens being led to the center of the large camp, "they're distracted and moving Firehead and Oreo to the center." As I heard the GO command being issued, I hopped off the branch and made a dash to the camp, the sound of choppers beginning to be heard in the distance.
With my AUG raised, I rushed into the camp and immediately ran into two of the armed anthros, who were looking around confused. Immediately, I fired two rounds into their heads and charged forward as I heard the rest of Task Force White rush in. I eventually found my way to the middle of the camp, seeing both the hostages unharmed and on the ground.
"US Army!" I yelled out as I ran to them and immediately shielded them, scanning around with my AUG at the ready. Two more ISIS fighters ran in my view and before they could fire their assault rifles, I reacted quickly and dropped them both with my assault rifle. A chopper touched down near me and four anthros in woodland digital camouflage hopped out, their weapons ready. They made a security circle around me and the citizens I was shielding as the battle around us began to die down.
The rest of Task Force White assembled at the center of the large camp, helping us load both the newly liberated hostages into the Blackhawk. "Well executed," Sergeant Nighthawk, a male husky wearing the same camouflage as me, complimented. "Thanks Sergeant," I thanked the twenty-two year old sergeant, giving him a smile.
I felt as if something was wrong and I whirled around, my AUG raised in the direction away from the chopper. The rest of the task force did the same, scanning. Time came to a snail's pace as I identified a figure running at the chopper from behind a building. I took aim at the anthro, who wore an oversized vest strapped to his body, and fired one round; a clear shot to the head. I ran to the fallen anthro, making sure the bombs were not on a timer.
After a few moments of searching through the camp for any hidden tangos, we all embarked on our choppers, ready to return to base and get some sleep after the three day mission. "Thank you all for saving us," Dusk Moonlight, the black and white female canine "Oreo", thanked aloud. "It was our job," I smiled at the female, who brushed off her khaki pants and black polo shirt. The other anthro, who wore a pair of jeans and a black shirt, smiled at me. "Thank you," Chris Koza, the male cheetah "Firehead", thanked me as well, brushing his red, short hair, "we wouldn't have made it through without you all."
I nodded to the male cheetah and laid back, making sure to put my AUG on safety. Another successful mission, I smiled to myself as I drifted off to sleep, the sound of rotor blades sounding like ocean waves to my ears.