Domgre

10

Her handler said little as they walked through the woods. Their companions were apparently trackers as well, Evie was only needed to point out which direction.

"So this was the second compound they took you to?" She nodded and her handler continued, "Perhaps we can find the locations of their other bases at this one." She nodded again. They'd been walking all day. The heat was just as bad as last time. They set up camp near a stream. If they continued like this they'd reach the compound in no time. The maps the trackers were drawing up would then be given to Inaki and soon an attack would be launched. For now, Evie at, sitting in a hammock above her handler. The trackers looked to be asleep.

"I think that some of them may join us." A hum below was the only sign she was listening. She took it as permission to continue. "They do not treat their people right." These rebels wanted so bad to overthrow him but she failed to find what he'd done wrong? They excluded people from their forces based on things they could not change. Half of them were over-confident in their abilities, thinking they were underdogs when they were merely losers. Their ignorance made her angry.

"I don't know how they haven't been crushed already." Silence. She wondered if she'd said anything wrong. Movement beneath her had her handler appearing beside her hammock. "They've managed to stay hidden. Working in the shadows, stealing our technology, hiding in difficult to reach regions. But not any more. I'm proud of you, Evie." She was speechless. Proud. She'd been told she was good, great even, that she had done an excellent job, so many other things. Never proud. It made her heart sour. Her handler continued, "You're becoming everything you were meant to. We were all effected when we believed you were killed. I'd be proud to one day call you my superior. Now go to sleep, tomorrow is a big day. We need you at your best."

She fell asleep easy. Proud. She replayed the words over and over in her mind. She dreamed about leading the charge on the base. She dreamed about being a general. She dreamed.

Nothing woke her up but she couldn't seem to get back to sleep. She sat up, quietly getting out of her hammock to take it down as the sun rose. She'd make breakfast for everyone and then they could head on their way. Still, a feeling of uneasiness lingered as she went about her morning. She found herself clutching her gun, feeling rather exposed in the unfamiliar woods.

She looked over at her handler, now working on putting her hammock away, and then to the woods. She went over to her quietly. "I'm going to circle the camp, ma'am." She grabbed her gun, setting aside her hammock. She hadn't meant to alarm her. "Did you see something?" She shook her head, scanning the woods again. "Something jus feels off."

She ended up going with her. The two held their guns close. Evie went first with her handler watching her back. They walked a circle around the camp. On the second circle Evie was whisked into the air in a mess of rope. It swung back in forth as she hung upside down in the air, looking down at her handler. "Hunters." Evie groaned, grabbing a knife from her waistband as she swung upward to grip the rope, cutting herself free and making a less than graceful landing on the ground below.

They walked back to camp to find their three companions on their knees, guns pointed at their heads. Her handler pulled her to the ground, resting beside her as they listened. Evie looked up as best she could from the poor angle. "Five." Her handler nodded, trying to quietly roll onto her back. They continued to listen.

"Where are the rest of you?"
"It's only us."
"Then why the extra hammocks?"
Silence.

"Plan?" Because neither of them wanted to risk talking longer than needed. "Are they taking prisoners or lives?" Evie looked up again, watching two of them keep their guns trained on their trackers. The other three circled the small campsite, a few of them even entering the trees. "Looking for us." She nodded and pointed further into the woods, crawling slowly until they ended up in the roots of a massive tree. She moved her gun to rest across her back and took out a knife, "No noise. Go." Evie copied her, gripping her knife right as she watched the others move in a wider circle, searching the woods for them.

She moved from tree to tree, the light of day making it much harder to hide. She kept light on her feet, trying to keep track of her target and her surroundings to avoid any unnecessary attention. She caught the soldier, stabbing him in the throat when he tried to speak. He choked and she pushed him to the ground, forcing his mouth shut as she tried to force off his jacket to preserve it. It could help them later.

Without medical attention he would die within a few minutes. She cut every artery she could locate and made it a minute. She left him there and looked for another soldier. She saw her handler putting one in a headlock, the two disappearing behind a tree.

She looked back in time to find herself in a headlock. She bit him and he yelled, he only got louder when she pushed her arm back, plunging into his shoulder and dragging the knife back toward her to cut it open. He dropped her and she turned, slicing his throat as the other soldiers caught onto the fact they were being picked off. "Come our or your friends are gonna get it!" She scanned trees for her handler. She found her looking right back at her through the trees, holding up her gun. Evie got the message. They aimed, having not been spotted yet, and her handler pointed to the one of the right and then held up five fingers. Counting down.

She leveled the shot at the soldier's head, glancing at their own soldiers below them. How they hadn't thought to use them as shields was beyond her. She hoped she was as good a shot as she remembered. Her finger fell to the trigger as she got to one. Two shots rang out. Their soldiers brought them to their knees. Evie got up to check her work. She'd been a little off, a little further right and further up than she'd wanted but it's gotten the job done. She'd have to practice more when they got back.

Their trackers had only begun dusting themselves off when her handler spoke up, "Let's get a move on." They all looked at her but said nothing. The five worked to pack up the little camp and they got going again, moving through the forest. They'd be closer to the compound now. Evie was on high alert.

"Stop." They froze. Evie moved ahead, "There's the tree line. They have shooters watching the field." They moved further into the woods and the trackers mapped it. They started back. Evie could already imagine the look of Inaki's face. Her handlers words played over in her head.

Proud.