Rogue

Chapter 4: Behind Enemy Lines

           "Good job, Gentlemen," Storm said after the dust had settled.  "Shut the gates and start burning these bodies." Without hesitation, the men that had been fending the Lurkers off starting stacking the bodies into pile. 

"Nice job, Sketch," Storm said, patting me on the back, "You did really well."

"Thanks," I said, looking at my weapon.

"I think you're ready for a bigger challenge."

"What exactly do you have in mind?" I asked. I did not like where he was going. 

"Well," he said, with a slight smirk on his face, "there's been numerous reports of a Creek Clan outpost to the south," he said, "I think it would be a perfect job for you and that other rogue over there," he said, pointing to a guy stacking Lurker bodies.

"You're asking me and another Rogue to take out a whole outpost?" I exclaimed, "Lurkers are easy to shoot, but armed opponents are a different story."

"You can handle it," he said, "Anyways, I got something else to handle right now. Can you let the other Rogue know you guys are heading out soon?"

"Sure," I said.

"I'll let you know when you guys have clearance to leave. " Storm walked off and I was left by myself. I noticed that the other clan members had set the pile of bodies on fire and were walking away from it.

"Hi," I said, to the Rogue as he walked past me.

"Umm... Hi..." he replied. He seemed very cautious.

"Storm wanted me to let you know we're heading out in a while."

"What for?" he asked.

"Supposedly, we're going to take a Creek Clan outpost down on our own."

"Own our own? Crazy son of a gun..." he said under his breath.

"Anyways," I said, continuing the conversation, "what's your name?"

"Well," he said with a sigh, "everyone calls me Dumbo; because of my big ears." He did have pretty big ears.

"They don't look big to me," I said, lying.

"Thanks man," he said, "stuff like that makes me feel better." At that point, I had nothing more to say. I was pretty much talking to the Human Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. I started to rub my shoe in the dirt;  it was something I did when I was nervous.

"Hey guys," Storm said, running up to us; he was covered in blood, "I'm back."

"What's with the blood?" Dumbo asked.

"It's nuthin'," Storm said,  "You guys better head out." 

"Right," I said, "are we taking a quad."

"You guys should walk," he said, "It's not far and you don't wanna make too much noise."

"Okay," I said. I turned to Dumbo, "let's go."

"Alright," he droned and followed me to the gate.  In front of us was the chain link fence I had seen last night. Weird; I was on the other side this time, well fed and clean.

"You guys heading out?" the man in the tower asked.

"Yeah," I said. He nodded and pressed the button, slowly the gate opened and we walked through the space that opened up.

                 Outside the fence was forests, fields and road. Grass grew through the cracks in the asphalt. Everything was silent except the occasional gunshot or conversation from the base behind us or bird calls.