The Memorial Day Murders

Chapter 12 : Paintball exercise

South Korea (Years ago)

After lunch I and Olivia walked back to our barracks as we chatted, passing by several female cadets along the way. "Have you guys heard? The boys are coming back." one of them said. "I do hope that Brian's back too." she added with excitement. Hearing this Olivia and I did not take it to heart and continued walking. The training has went well under my uncle's guidance but our team are trained by our own commanding officers based on our experience. The general had an idea in letting our COs train the recruits but gave up on the idea. 

"What's so special about the boys here? I don't get it." Olivia said. "You know anything about it Isa?"

"No, Olivia." I replied. "I don't have any. Maybe the boys are just... you know... handsome."

"Aren't your cousins superstars?"

"Yeah they are." I replied. "You want autographs from them?"

"No, just asking." she said. A helicopter came flying across our heads and the helicopter, a Chinook, landed on the ground not far from our direction. The helicopter dropped the ramp and a team of soldiers filed out, all wearing combat uniforms and armed with their M4 Carbines. Also hearing the Chinook's landing the cadets maintained their distance but still staring at the group who disembarked. "Kinda handsome." she whispered in my ear. I glanced at the group and some of them glanced at me. A soldier among them looked up at me and they all moved out towards our direction. 

"Hey Brian." one of them said as they stopped in front of us. "Since when did we have American soldiers training here with us?" The soldier didn't respond as he smiled at me. 

"Hello little cousin, I haven't seen you in years." the soldier then told me. His teammates recoiled in shock upon hearing the relative term he used. How did he have an American soldier as his cousin? I can make out the questions in their heads. "I heard that you... you joined the American Army."

"Well... I'm here." I replied. "And the tag on the ACU is already a giveaway." he looked at my uniform and then, out of everyone's reaction, saluted. 

"Lieutenant!" he shouted. "I apologize for the indiscretion."

"Oh." I said, glancing at the insignia. "We're off duty. It's fine."

"Elite team on me!" a loud shout ripped through the air as General Byun walked towards us with our commanding officers. But Olivia and I recognized the voice is from Lieutenant General Forest and we stood straight. The boys were heard running down from their barracks and towards our direction. 

"Don't you soldiers have anything to do?!" the South Korean general shouted. The cadets scurried away, already embarrassed themselves. "Attention!" he ordered. The soldiers then lined up in a single file, awaiting instructions or inspections. "This is Lieutenant General Gerald Forest and General Gordon Duncan from the Burqa Military Base in Afghanistan." he introduced. I swore that I heard someone swallowing down in an anxious reaction. Burqa is the only camp that houses the best of the best in the military deployed to aid in the war in Afghan. "And they, are the team they have assembled for the same reason you all have been sent for further training in the United States." he then pointed at us. "In order to let you all be familiar with each other we will be having a paintball session tomorrow as an ice breaker." he then announced. "Dismissed." at the same time, someone's stomach rumbled.

"Jason!" Dominic frowned. 

"Sounds like you soldiers could use for a meal right now." Forest said. "There will be no more night training. But gather in the tactical room afterwards for intelligence briefings." Gerry and Lincoln burst into immediate laughter as soon as our COs left. Olivia and I couldn't help but share a smile. 

The Next Day

The two teams stood outside the entrance to the forest that acted as a national park. This battle is between the teams as our COs has briefed us on and the team who can take out the most enemy teammates win. "May the best team win." Brian said, outstretching his hand.

"May the best team win." Gerry replied, shaking his hand. We set out in separate directions, heading into the deep jungle. "God, this jungle's big." he said. "Do we have a compass?"

"Uh... are you serious in not bringing one?" I asked him. "You're gonna get lost without it."

"Nah, I have it in my pocket." he said. I joined beside him at the front. Gerry's the team leader for this paintball game. We traversed the dense jungle as we find our way to a vantage point for a better point of view. 

"There's a bridge nearby." I say, holding my paintball gun. "We could use it as a vantage point." then my eyes shifted upon hearing the rustling of bushes and something moved out from the bushes. "Incoming!" I shouted. We ducked down as our teammates ducked down and crawled to separate directions in order to tag the unknown presence that could be our enemy. A shot went off, hitting the tree and the ball burst into a bright red color. 

"Okay, enemy team nearby. Tag'em." Gerry said. Aiming our guns at the direction we fired, two shouts ringing out in the dense jungle. We heard shouts of 'I'm hit!' in Korean and fired two more, both ending up in nearby trees. "Split up! Two man team!" he shouted, if the remaining four can hear them. We ducked back and forth until we didn't see anyone. "Clear?"

"I think so." I replied. "Let's go." We dashed as fast as possible, running between the trees and heading towards the waterfall. The crows squawked as our running disturbed their peace. The tree leaves brushed against our ACU as we ran at a more faster pace, tagging an enemy team member. Hearing movement I turned and fired at the direction without a second thought. 

"Ow! Okay you got me!" Brian said in defeat while lying on the ground. 

"Yeah I got you." I smiled and fired at another team member of his. "This makes two." 

"A little help here Isa!" Gerry shouted. More paintballs were fired and I ducked low after performing a run and slide towards his direction. 

"How many?"

"Three at best. They took out Olivia and Jason!" 

"But we took down their leader." I smiled. We exchanged more than ten shots and hit them with two or three of the balls and they fell back. Before we can continue a flare was shot into the sky, exploding into a light of bright red in color. "We're done?" I asked.

"Dunno. Maybe." Gerry replied, shouldering his paintball gun. We made our way back thanks to the marks we made in order to not get lost and met our commanding officers at the entrance/exit. 

"Game over soldiers." General Byun declared. Then the three men looked at us, possibly counting on who wins and loses. But out of the six for each team four are shot from both teams. "Nobody wins this round." he said. "But you all have proven yourselves. Go back to base and rest, we will go to the place where the real battle will happen tonight."