GOLDEN REBEL HEART

Chapter 5

The noise outside is what wakes her up. She hears shuffling, people talking, and the sound of feet walking on cobblestone pathways. With a deep breath, she gets up and slips into the light blue uniform, tying the yellow bandana around her waist. She kneels beside her bed, reaching out to pick the assault rifle and all the bullets that lay underneath the mattress. She checks her appearance on the mirror beside her nightstand. Her wavy blonde hair are a little past her shoulders, and she passes a hand through her tresses in order to brush them, since she has no hairbrush with her. The first two buttons of her uniform are unfastened since the shirt is too small for her chest. The pants are a little tight around her backside, but she looks fine. After all, she has to go conquer an outpost, not walk a runway. She doesn't need to look perfect.

Once she's content with her look, she rubs her hands against her face and sighs, when suddenly there's a knock at her door. She turns around and isn't surprised to see Karlie. The leader stops at her doorway, looking her up and down and checking her out. It's the first time Taylor wears the Golden Path complete uniform, and she blushes under such blatant scrutiny. When their eyes meet, she sees Karlie swallow thickly. "You ready to go?"

Taylor nods quickly, picking her weapons and pushing her ammunitions on her pockets. She steps outside her shanty, brushing her shoulder with Karlie's chest on the way out. She faintly smells her woodsy and peculiar scent. The leader follows her and they meet the other soldiers at the first section of Banapur, more than ten technical cars parked alongside the gravel road.

"Guys," Karlie calls, standing on a raised stone and getting a good view of her troop. All the civilians of Banapur surround the small group as the leader continues, "This is the first step towards victory. Remember, the ascent to peace is not a sprint, but it's a marathon. A long way awaits us, and we need to be strong. Always. Today we'll not give our best. We will be better than our best," at that, Karlie's determined but gentle eyes meet Taylor's. "I believe in all of you. And I believe that today we'll come back victorious,"

A loud exultation explodes among the soldiers as they hold up their rifles in an ambitious way. Taylor smiles at the joy around her and watches Karlie move closer to her. The resolution floating around relaxes the American as all the soldiers divide in small groups and get in different cars. Taylor gets on Karlie's vehicle, sitting on the passenger seat as the leader drives. With them there are about four soldiers perched on the back of the technical car.

The journey to the outpost is fifteen minutes long, and in order to not get detected, they park at least hundreds of meters away from it. Once outside, they reunite and Karlie explains the plan: one of their snipers will disable the only alarm, and once they've taken care of it, they will surprise attack them from above, since they will wait on the small mountain that faces the outpost.

They divide in six groups, and once the alarm is down, one of the woman soldiers yells, "Death to Pagan Min!" before all of them launch themselves on the unprepared Royal Army soldiers. Soon, gunshots and exploding grenades are heard, deafening Taylor as she runs towards an unwary enemy, who's looking around himself but doesn't expect an attack from behind. The American thrusts her knife inside his abdomen, the man loudly groaning and trying to fight back to no avail. She pushes him to the ground and as soon as she spots another enemy who has detected her, she runs towards the nearby wall, dodging the few shots sent her way. She checks that her rifle can be used, and after taking a deep breath, she peeks and sticks out only her head and weapon from behind the building, quickly aiming at his head but missing it. I was so close. She groans as she recharges her assault rifle, her hands shaking as she throws the finished refill to the ground. As she finishes reloading her weapon, she hears people screaming, profanations bouncing off the walls around her.