Diminishing Hope

Dancing in Fire

January, 2016

The sun-bleached Syrian sands roll like ocean waves as far as the eye can see, a single cracked 2 lane highway slithers through it.  A large convoy of black trucks emerge from the blue horizon, their diesel engines roaring in this land of nothing. 

William sits in the passenger seat of one of the escort humvees, painted black with the Enclave Corp. logo on its side, a White Wasp facing towards the observer, its stinger long and sharp; Enclave Corporation written underneath it in bold letters.  On the top of the vehicle, a 50.cal HMG mounted in a shielded rotating turret, a soldier sitting behind the weapon, his hands resting on its triggers and ready.  Looking in the mirror, William checks the convoy, a dozen large semi trucks carrying civilians and supplies of every kind, medical, food, and building materials. 

"How much farther?" William says to the driver in a calm, scratchy voice.

"Not much farther, 100 miles atleast." The driver says after a few moments of silence, William nods and stares out the window.  Dressed in his combat uniform, his rifle sitting beside him. 

The Enclave sent this convoy on a mission to repair and rebuild the city of Damascus after the battle with ISIS, who controlled much of the Middle-East before the Enclave Corporation finally got permission from the UN to take offensive action, and once that paper was signed the Corporation slammed the hammer so fast and so hard on ISIS it seemed as if the entire terrorist organization disintegrated, leaving behind empty cities and ruins.  The Middle-East has turned into a wasteland, but the Corporation is planning on rebuilding it. 

A few weeks ago, the Corporation took major oil fields throughout the Middle-East.  Technically, the Enclave doesnt own any territory here.  But the CEO has made backroom deals with the leaders here, and has managed to negotiate deals that are even unknown to many of us.  But one thing is for certain, they benefit the Corporation.

The sun starts to set on the horizon, blanketing the desert with a warm orange glow.  The headlights of each truck of the convoy is now on, illuminating the shadowed highway.  The humvee William is riding in hits a crack in the road and shakes violently before evening back out, waking William up as he smacks his head and helmet against the door with a large thud, The driver and gunner both laugh.

"Hey! Knock it off with the laughing" William exclaims with a smirk, that quickly turns into a laugh of his own once he replays himself smacking the door with his head in his mind. 

The bright sun is slowly replaced with a bright full moon, the desert looks white with its light. William and the other soldiers except for the driver are about to fall asleep.

A Ridgeline comes into view, William eyes it.

The scream of rocket fills their ears, a sudden explosion erupts behind them.  Frantically William checks the mirror and witnesses one of the semi trucks explode, skidding to the right and rolling down the highway.  Debris flies everywhere, but fortunately it wasnt the truck with the civilians. 

The driver rams the brake, and the humvee skids to the left, William kicks open his door and grabs his rifle.  As the driver opens his door bullets rake the side of the humvee, one hitting the drivers neck.  Blood spits everywhere inside the humvee, the soldier slides towards the floor, slowly closing his eyes. 

"No!" William yells as he ducks, bullets flying over his head and into the white sand spewing dust into the air.

The rest of the convoy goes on full alert, every vehicle is stopped and soldiers take cover behind their vehicles.   Gunners on other humvees start lighting up the ridge with a storm of 50.Cal bullets as Enclave soldiers get the civilians out of the trailers.

Another rocket screams past William and his humvee, slicing into a semi's engine compartment and exploding, the entire front-end of the semi bursts open, burning debris everywhere.  William takes off the safety on his weapon, standing up and opening fire on the ridge before ducking again.

The gunner on William's humvee screams for orders, holding fire. "Drown them in fire, melt that barrel!" William yells over the sounds of gunfire.   William peaks out again, firing a couple shots at the ridge.  The bullet shells eject out of his rifle and fall on the asphalt with a ting.  Shortly after, William ducks back into cover, he starts to hear the sounds of screaming jets in the distance.   He squints his eyes, spotting two unknown jets flying towards the convoy from behind. 

The other Enclave soldiers spot them too, and in the assumption that the jets are their own, they cheer.  The big 50.cal guns go quiet as everyone waits for the fireworks to be unleashed on the hostiles.  As the jets make it to clear viewing distance, they launch multiple missiles, cheering stops as the soldiers realize where the missiles were heading.  The missiles slam into trucks of the convoy, tearing them apart.  Humvees roll onto their sides, or upside down killing the gunners under their sheer weight.  William feels something hot and sharp pierce his stomach, and he falls back on his humvee that survived the fire.  He looks up as the jets fly over, and spots a dreadful sign.

The they were two F-18's, with USAF symbol on their wings.

William slides down the side of his humvee, landing with a thud on the ground.  Staring at the ruined convoy, trucks burning, flipped over.  Civilians and Enclave soldiers litter the ground, painting it red.  The fire illuminates the street, William looks down to see his bloody hands on his stomach and coughs up blood.  Tears start rolling down his cheeks, as he stares at this massacre.  He starts getting weak, slowly things start to fade.  William submits to himself, and falls unconscious on the side of his bullet-raked humvee.

HMG: Heavy Machine Gun.
Semi: A large truck, typically an 18-Wheeler, that transports cargo.
USAF: United States Air Force
F-18: the F-18 "Hornet" is a US multi-role supersonic jet aircraft.