Blessings of Anathema

Chapter XXIV: Odessa III

We headed out in an armored Jeep toward the location Ray was stationed at.
"So where are we going?" Ken Asked. I took a heavy sigh. "We came out here to find Ray. Me and him joined a mercenary group a while back. I only take high paid jobs but he seems to be addicted to his work. Anyways, we tried to make communication with him but his line has been cut. So we're going to him." I said.
Ken looked dissatisfied but sat back and remained quiet for the remainder of the drive.
Ray... I wonder how he's doing. Last I remember of him, he was all worked up about something that happened during his mission.
Regardless of his state, I know that he uses his Yurie to fight. That could make him useful in achieving Kens goal.
The desert heat is slowly dying as the sun begins to set. The sand smacked against cloak as it flopped in the wind. Too bad this thing doesn't have any windows.
We were on the drive for about 2 hours before nearing the location. I looked
back at Ken. He had his hands in his lap and his head down. I wonder what's on his mind...
We began to see smoke in the distance. "Jenny, is that their location?" I asked. She continued to focus on the road ahead before hesitating to answer my question. She slowly nodded before pulling out "Yes.." from her vocal cords.
We reached the location and it was a complete disaster. It's a landfill of stones and smoke.
We stepped out of the Jeep and started walking toward the inside of the walls. I heard a gasp and thud behind me so I turned around. Ken was sitting in the sand.
"What are you doing?" I asked him. He grabbed the back of his cloak and pulled it, reveling it to be shut in the door. "This stupid cloak got stuck and pulled me when I tried to walk." He said. "Stop acting foolish." I said before turning around. I cracked a bit of a smile. That's actually... kinda funny.
We made our way inside of the walls. Jenny gasped at all the bodies. She began to gag.
I walked over to the bodies by the fire. They're all our men, alright. However Ray isn't a part of them.
Jenny made her way to me after gaining control of herself. She still had tears in her eyes. "This is awful." She said. The building they were paid to protect is a pile of rubble, now.
We suddenly heard the sound of struggle. I lifted my head and looked around. It's hard to make out any living people in this collection of bodies. That's when I noticed the hole. What!? How didn't I see that before? Well I guess that explains how they got inside.
I began to walk towards the circle when I saw slight movement from the corner of my eye. I walked over to the person it came from. They weren't moving. Not even breathing.
"Come on, I know you're alive." I said before kicking him in the side. He gasped out and began coughing. Jenny ran over to us. Ken remained by the entrance.
Jenny jumped on top of him and grabbed his shirt. "What happened here, you bastard!!" She shouted with tears filling her face. He didn't answer, just starred at her in fear. "Where happened!!?" She shouted, shaking him. Tears fell out of her eyes.
I grabbed Jenny's shoulder. "Let me handle this. Go calm yourself down." I said. Jenny dropped the guy and got off of him. She stared at him with an expression of murder.
I kneelt down beside him. "Look.." I said. "I have no interest in hurting you. And I'll protect you from her. All I need to know is what happened to a specific person. Okay?" He began to node his head frightenly "Yes...yes.. yes sir." He said.
I put my hand on his shoulder and lifted him up to where he was sitting on his butt. "Good." I responded. "I don't think we need to tell you who."
He lifted his arm up and pointed behind me. His body was shaking. I turned around and was met by the rubble of the building. "Oh so he's underneath there?" I asked while turning back to face him. He nodded his head. "Alright, don't move." I said and then stood up.
I looked over at Ken and waved him in. "I need your help. Ray is buried underneath these stones." I yelled out to him. Ken looked startled and ran over to help.
We dug through all the stone for an hour before spotting anything. "I found him!" Ken shouted. I ran over to him and there he was. Still mostly covered but his bloody black hair and face was exposed. We hurried up and undid the rest of his body. His uniform was ripped in many places. Blood stains dyed his body. However, he was still breathing.
Jenny ran over. "Quickly grab the stretcher from inside the humvee, we need to get him back and treat him as quick as possible.
We gathered Ray on the stretcher and put him in the back of the humvee. I looked around for Jenny. She was with the one guy who's still alive. She started wiping blood from his arm that had bone sticking out of it. She put the towelettes in her bag and took something out. She handed the guy it. "Listen up." She said. "This is a tracker. You're going to do exactly what we ask. You're going to go back to your base. You're going to hide this tracker inside the base and then you're going to get out of there. If you fail to do this, then that's fine. I have taken dna of yours. We can find out who you are and kill everyone close to you. Do you understand?" Jenny said.
He booted his head yes frantically. Jenny smiled "Good." She said before walking back to us. She stopped halfway and turned around. "Oh, and if you warn anyone, our threat will be put into immediate action." She then turned back around and walked to the Jeep.
"Alright." She said, getting into the driver seat.
"Let's head back."