The Eyes of Fate (Currently in Rewrite)

Chapter 66

It was the smoke that clued Fang in on how bad things had gone first. Between it and the rain, he could barely see the trees on either side of the path he was driving down. They had planned meticulously so that Vyper's flame charges wouldn't catch the whole forest on fire, which means they had probably gotten interrupted and had to set them off earlier. He was hopeful that the rainstorm had put out whatever fire had been started. 

The next clue was a little more obvious. The two buses that were splattered with blood, and the bodies around them, were a pretty clear indication, but it was a familiar slumped figure that made Fang stop the truck.

"Ranger!" Fang shouted over the sound of the wind and rain. The sniper was slumped back against a tree, soaked to the bone with no sign of his guns anywhere. He had a nasty pressure cut on the side of his face, a gash on his shoulder, and a burnt hole in his shirt. If it weren't for the slow rise and fall of his chest, Fang would have thought he was dead. Instead, Fang nudged him a couple times with the toe of his boot. "Come on Ranger, up."

Ranger groaned softly, but otherwise didn't move or show he was awake at all. Whatever had happened, he must have taken some hard hits to put him down this deep. It usually didn't take much more than a door opening to wake him up. Fang sighed and took a deep breath. 

"ON YOUR FEET!" Fang yelled, putting the whip crack of command into his voice.

Ranger was on his feet and saluting in less than a second, though his eyes were still closed. The instinct hammered into him by the military overrode any pain or tiredness he had. When an officer stepped into the room, you stood and saluted. Then Ranger staggered like he was off balance, and Fang stepped forward and grabbed him. He helped Ranger to the truck and practically lifted him in.

"Oh, hey Captain." Ranger slurred, blearily opening his eyes. Fang noticed that his left pupil was blown wide open, the crosshairs on that side almost completely swallowed up by the black. "You finally showed up, huh?

"Yeah, I'm finally here. Sorry it took me so long." Fang smiled, and Ranger smiled back at him. He watched closely to see if anything on the rest of Ranger's face moved sluggishly or not at all. Nothing did, so Fang figured he just had one hell of a concussion. He started the truck, "Let's go get the others and finish this." 

"Fang, wait." Ranger said, his voice serious for a moment. "We can't leave yet."

"Why not?" Fang turned the truck off again and faced Ranger.

"My knife and my guns are still out there." He pointed towards where he had been laying. "I need them."

Fang considered it for a moment. He wanted to hurry and get to the others more than anything else, but he knew they couldn't leave Ranger's stuff behind, and if they had to leave in a hurry, collecting it then would be a pain. Plus, concussed or not, Ranger could still shoot, and Fang always felt better with him at his back. 

"Alright, I'll go get them." He said finally. "You stay here and warm up, and make sure you stay awake.

"Yes sir," Ranger saluted him, which really told Fang how out of it he was. Fang got out of the truck and started towards where he'd found Ranger.

The knife wasn't too hard to find, since it was still sticking out of the person he'd hit with it. It was a big woman, even taller than he was, and had enough muscles to put some bodybuilders to shame. Fang pulled the knife out of her chest and surveyed rest of the area.

Behind the woman there were two men, both dead from gunshots to the chest. There were a handful of other bodies scattered around, but they were blown apart by Rangers sniper, so it was clear these three had been killed after. What had Ranger done?