A lesson in morality

Origin

"They are onto us, sir! They outnumber us ten to one. There is no way that we will make it by running away."

"Have some faith in God Simon. I don't want to hear another negative word out of your mouth."

Commander Javic said but he was not fully convinced himself. He knew Simon was right, but he could not let the team lose hope. That was the last thing keeping them alive. He clicked at his communicator, and said,

"X-ray two-three, this is Alpha one-two, radio check, over."

There was no response besides the static that pinched the ears.

"X-ray two-three, this is Alpha one-two, radio check, over. Do you read?"

He had no luck it seemed. If they could not communicate with the base, they were as good as dead. They couldn't outrun the enemy that pursued them, and they were not going to receive backup of any sort. In fact, back at base, they could have assumed that their Operation Squad had been killed. Having received no contact for so long, it was a reasonable line of thinking. The commander assessed the situation. He had five able soldiers with him, who were all highly trained. But it would not matter with the number disadvantage they were at. Besides, the layout of the land had no spots where they could stay hidden and wait. The only way they could survive was clear to the commander.

"Gentlemen, we have performed our service to the word. We have done absolutely everything today and we have done our country proud. Now it is time for us to return to our families, and to our children who wait for us endlessly and restlessly. You may have realised that there is no way that all of us can make it out alive from here. There is only one way for us to survive. One of us needs to stay here and hold them off. As your commanding officer, it is my duty to sacrifice my life to save yours. As it is all of yours, you may all feel. But the call is mine and you will respect it. It has been a pleasure working with you men, and I will see you all on the other side."

The men did not move and were rooted to their spot. They couldn't think of leaving their commander behind after all the life and death situations they had been through and all the people they had lost. But they saw the look in the commander's face and decided to respect his decision. It wasn't one of fear or hopelessness. It was one of resounding confidence and pride, one that made anyone feel that there was no way he wasn't making it out alive. He had managed to look excited. The men saluted him one last time and continued ahead, leaving their leader behind.

Commander Javic was not a coward, and his mind was already calculating the best chance he had to survive. He was outnumbered, so he could only fight for so long before he would be killed. As of now, he had a major disadvantage – He was the one being hunted. If the enemy had that mindset, his chances of survival were slim. He decided his only option was to flip the table. To change his strategy from surviving to hunting. He would take the fight to the enemy. As a lone soldier, Javic was dangerous. He knew the enemy had as much to fear as he did. He charged his laser gun and put on his goggles. He checked his supplies to see what all he could use that could possibly help him. He had his trusty dagger, some first aid, some smoke grenades, a stun grenade and a pill. He also had some proximity mines (which could come in handy). Being captured alive would be worse than dying in his situation. The pill could provide him with an immediate and painless death. He stuck it to the neck of his armour – he needed to be able to take it quickly, if he ended up in a sticky situation. Having checked his supplies, his confidence grew a little. He moved forward, while he said to himself,

"And I have nothing to lose."

There were close to fifty armed men who would be out to kill him, but there was one advantage he had. They were coming to him. Which made them sitting ducks for an all-out attack. He would have to think of a creative way to distract them, if they all reached him at the same time. He couldn't stray too much from the middle, for the risk that the enemy go after the rest of his men that were retreating. He decided to create a layer of smoke in front of him. The smoke combined with the pitch-black night would make it impossible to see anything. One would have to rely on their other senses – which meant that for the enemy it would be tough to distinguish between their own soldiers and him. On the other hand, he could shoot at anything he heard.