Out Of Darkness

Chapter Twelve

Aleksei

With a roar, the jeep ahead of the convoy launches into the air in a burst of smoke and dust. It completes a full rotation and crashes onto its side. The pressure wave rocked our SUV as the sound of the exploding bomb hits my ears.

A loud whoosh followed by an explosive blast rang out as rocket-propelled grenades struck the jeep ahead of us. Metallic pieces of aluminum in flight.

A scream came from the coms inside my ear came. "We're hit! We're hit!"

We had to get out of here

"Get us out of here, Walsh!"

"I'm trying! "

"Trying won't cut it. Get us the fuck out of here! Faulkner move your ass also!" I screamed

"We're too close! We're too close! I can't move!" His panicked voice screamed

I slapped him to stun him out of his catatonic stupor.

A conflagration quickly engalfed the car ahead. There was a loud and echoing boom as a second explosion blasted the jeep in front. It was at that moment that I knew that half my team were wiped out right in front of my face.

I gaped, uncertain whether to breathe or scream. The blood drained from all our faces. Skin losing all color, becoming white-chalk. Our eyes grew into large wide circles as we watched transfixated with numbing horror at how our team mates were burnt to crisp. The muscles around our eyes began to twitch, unable to blink and unable to look away no matter how much we wished to.

Skylar slapped one hand over her mouth to stifle the short scream that emitted, while her other grabbed onto Ash. A sickening wave of terror welling up from my belly as all our eyes darted to each other searching for confirmation, seeking reassurance that what we had just witnessed was not a figment of our imagination.

Everyone's breaths were hitched, caught in our throats, a suspended moment of silence as if shock had momentarily stolen the very sound of our voices.

The shaken voice of Ash came out in a suffocated whisper as he stammered on words that wouldn't come out.

"We...I...Wha...We...We have to get them out"

I blinked rapidly, trying to clear the fog of disbelief that clouded my vision, surprise momentarily distorting his perception of reality. I then felt a jolt surge through my body. Adrenaline sent my senses into overdrive, as if the shock had heightened my awareness, sharpening my perception of the world around me

"We have to get them out. We have to get them out. We have to get them out! We have to get them out!" Ash' voice raising in octives.

Everyone in the SUV could hear Ash's breath came jagged uneven gasps. Almost like his lungs struggled to draw in air amids the suffocating grip of fear, each inhalation a battle as panic hijacked his rationality.

My eyes darted around looking out the windows, pupils dilated, searching for an escape route. My entire being now on high alert as my own panic set my nerves ablaze. Fght and flight responses were starting to kick in.

"Walsh, drive" I said, my voice stoic.

A knot had formed in my throat, but I had to withdrew myself to that lowest corner of my mind. Present, but separate to do whats necessary. Half my team were dead, but I still had three of my other mates to look out for and I still had a job to do.