Task Force Trilogy #1: Bullet

Chapter 32

NEON

After 2 months

"ALPHA team, Alpha team, come in! Alpha team, COME IN! SHIT!"

I flinched when Lieutenant Martin suddenly threw his handheld transciever against the wall. Hindi naman iyon nasira pero nagkalas-kalas ang mga parte. Pasimple kong naikuyom ang mga kamao ko para pakalmahin ang sarili.

Nasa camp kami. A make-shift tent. Lahat ng Charlie ay nandito. Napahawak ako sa ba-ba ko at naramdaman ko na roon ang kaunting tumubo na bigote. I felt my rough and tiny stubbles around my chin that made me remember how many days we have been here. It's almost more than 6 weeks.

"I told you," One of the privates spoke. "Dapat ay pinuntahan na natin ang location ni Zamora. Dapat ay pinindot na ni Bullet iyong pampasabog! Para namatay na ang hayop na iyon!"

I opened my bottle's lid and drank of what's left of my water. I looked at the soldier. "The Bravo team is in charge of that, private. Ang kailangan ay mapuntahan natin ang lugar na sinabi ni Zamora. Sundin natin ang plano. Walang magagawa ang pagrereklamo mo."

"But sergeant, it's been two months. Hanggang ngayon hindi pa rin natin nahuhuli si Zamora at iyong mga taga-Guerilla. Are we stalling on purpose? May iba pa bang plano na hindi namin alam?" Sergeant Juan said. Stress is laced on her tone.

We've already had small operations since then. We've already located small camps of the terrorist. We've already rescued a lot of civilians. Pero hindi pa rin namin nahuhuli si Ulysses. Hindi pa rin namin nagagawa ang totoo naming misyon.

And it looked like the comms had been cut today.

"Wala," Padabog na umupo si Lieutenant Martin. "I can't reach any of them!"

"How's the Bravo team? Lieutenant Santiago?" Tanong ko sa commander namin.

Lieutenant Martin sighed audibly. "I can't reach him as well. Check your rifles and ammos. Baka bigla tayong atakihin. Tapos wala na pala kayong bala. How about the snipers? Any visuals?"

"None, sir."

"Okay."

My ammos are full, and my rifle is in safe mode. Mahigpit itong pinag-uutos sa amin dahil baka aksidente kaming makaputok at makapatay ng isang kasamahan. I was only about to check if I have additional ammos and pistol when suddenly, a gunshot went through our tents.

"SHIT!"

"Sir, we're under attack!"

"Defense! Our sniper?!"

"Our sniper is dead!"

"Fucker!"

Agad kaming dumapa at mabilis akong gumapang patungo kay Lieutenant Martin. My heartbeats are incomparable to my normal ones. Halos hindi na ako makahinga dahil sa matinding kaba. Samahan pa ng adrenaline rush dahil parang gusto ko na lang ipapaputok ang baril ko nang maubos ang mga kalaban.

"Stay on the ground or your heads will be fucking shot! You hear me?!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Alpha team, Alpha team, we're under attack! I repeat, we're under attack! Bravo team, COME IN!"

Lieutenant Martin tried his best to reach the other teams but to no avail. Nang panandalian kong ipikit ang mga mata ko ay mukha agad ni Deon ang nakita ko. My son's smiling face quickly flashed inside my head and that gave me much strength to fight. I did a sign of the cross and then crawled outside.

"KILL THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS!"

Tila nasa action movie kami dahil rinig na rinig ko ang mga nakakabinging ingay ng mga baril. Some of the Guerilla terrorists even had their machine guns. That decreased so much of our numbers. We had a lot of casualties.