Aftermath

03

She was breathing pure smoke. As Soojung traversed the battleground as discreetly as possible, she kept a handkerchief pressed to her nose, blinking back the tears from her smoke-stung eyes. Dirt and gravel crunched beneath her boots as she navigated the once-familiar terrain. Beneath her military-issued uniform, she sweated in the late afternoon sun. Maybe it was the infernal heat of the scorched military camp. Or maybe it was her nerves.

The whole place looked strange - scarred. It had the feel of tense anticipation for more ammunition to batter the ruins of hastily erected infrastructure. The cabin she worked in yesterday was nothing more thn bonfire fuel, and the tents themselves were ghosts in eerie poses. Through the thin fabric of her handkerchief, she recognised the scent of charred flesh.

Soojung prepared herself for this, even made sure to tell the soldiers she was with today what they should expect. Still, she hated to think that these people, with whom she fought beside with, were diminished into ashes and crisp corpse.

The earpiece crackled with static and a voice, grainy and textured, burst through the grim silence. "Lieutenant, we have movement by the tarmac."

"What do you see?"

"There's minimum visibility but I see around four - maybe five - shadows moving. There could be more in the hangar. It looks like they're moving in."

"And the west side?" she asked.

"Clear."

"Okay. Get to the area around the hangar. We'll surround them as much as we can and get them to surrender."

"We're not gonna kill them after what they did?" one voice asked. Soojung tensed at the scorn the question held.

Steeling herself, Soojung replied in what she hoped was a voice that carried authority and hope for these people who trusted her with their lives. "No. No lives will be taken today. Not if I can help it. Understood?"

There was a chorus of affirmatives from the other end of the line. Satisfied, Soojung wove through the remains of their camp until she reached the tarmac. Its surface was broken, and the steel skeletons of their planes were twisted to near impossibility.

She took cover behind what looked like the wing of a plane, listening for the quiet footfalls of her comrades. In less than a minute, she confirmed they had secured their positions.

Her heartbeat thundered in her chest as she raised the scope of her machine pistol at eye level. In the haze of dust and smoke, she watched four figures move in and out of the hangar. By the shape of the their silhouettes, it seemed like their guns were slung to their back.

"Does anyone have a line of sight on the inside?"

"Affirmative. We outnumber them two to one."

"Good. Hold your fire. I'm giving my warning shot in three." Soojung aimed at the open doorway of the hangar and took a deep breath, counting the each second in her head. "Three."

She fired two short bursts. The noise was savage and mean, sailing through the air until a distant ping told her it struck the metal walls of the building.

It had the intended effect. The soldiers inside the hangar scrambled in panic, firing in return. Bullets whistled around them, searching for a target among the open space.

"WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED! LOWER YOUR WEAPONS AND NO ONE WILL BE HARMED!"

Still covered, Soojung looked through her scope and watched the figures take off their weapons, kicking them away. She waited for the confirmation that everyone had laid down their weapons before she gestured to the soldier across her to move forward, their own weapons drawn.