Brink

Chapter 7: Rain, Sweat and Blood

Chapter 7

Chausiku

03-12-2021

Three minutes after Chapter 3

Chausiku felt the cold mud of the ditch at the side of the road under her knees. She had been awake for 22 hours now. It wasn't anything she wasn't used to, but she had had a long and active night, and she was starting to feel tired.

The rain was no positive boost for the morale of the group either. The heavy drops of water clattered on Chausiku's head. The rumbling of the engines was becoming louder and louder. Chausiku held up her gun and looked through the scope. Her crosshairs hovered over the windshield of one of the cars. She could not see the driver. What if the glass was bulletproof? There was no choice. She had to let the cars go past her, otherwise the convoy would be alerted.

The rest of the group were positioned 100 metres up the road, prepared to ambush the convoy with gunfire and gas. The first car passed her. The second car, with the machine gun placed on top, armed by a soldier, covered by steel plates from the front, passed her as well. The third followed. The fourth, with the second machine gun, passed her as well. The dirt of the road splattered up from under tires every time. Chausiku covered her face with one hand to protect her eyes and mouth, whilst holding her gun with the other. The fifth and final car passed. The agreement was that the group of warriors, led by Kaiyan, would not let the cars pass in any case whatsoever.

Chausiku was not surprised to hear blasts and cracks of gunfire a few seconds later. She did not hesitate. She climbed out of the ditch and onto the road. She looked swiftly through her scope and prioritised her targets; machine-gunners first. In the flashes of the gunfire, she saw the silhouette of one of the men behind the machine guns. He opened fire, and the bullets ravaged the bushes in which the warriors were hiding. Chausiku did not waste any more time. She pulled the trigger, and the thud of the silencer sounded softly in the hail of distant gunfire. Chausiku saw only the silhouette of a liquid splattering from the man's head, and his body disappearing into the darkness. The machine-gun fire stopped.

There was still another car with a machine-gun, but she couldn't see that one in the chaos. The other men got out of their cars and started to fire at the bushes and shrubs. The warriors were attacking from both sides, and threw canisters of the gnawing gas at the men. Screams filled the air and the gunfire started to die off. Chausiku aimed at one of the men, who had started to run in her direction, out of the gas cloud. She shot. The projectile crushed the man's pelvis. He screamed loudly. Some repeated automatic gunfire followed. The warriors were starting to kill off the remainder of the convoy. Was that the end of the assault? Had they stopped it in its tracks?

Chausiku ran up to the man she had shot.  He lay on his back, breathing heavily, holding one hand on gaping wound in his hip. His gun lay out of his reach.

'Are there any more of you coming this way?' she asked him, holding the barrel of the gun against his face.

The man rambled a bit in a foreign language. Chausiku sighed. He would be no use to her. She looked away and pulled her trigger. The unnecessary sound of crushing bone and splattering brain tissue filled her ears and punished her for her merciless judgement. Kaiyan came running towards her. Chausiku was happy to see that he was still alive. Not many warriors had survived the ambush. He, however, had a much different expression on his face.

'The second car! It's gone further! We could not stop it!' he shouted, a little out of breath.