Chapter four, Evasion

Narrator: >From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered - We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother.

September 23rd, 2nd year of the 3rd Era of the Hyperiums Protectorate.

Three days. That's how long it been since the battle for Hill 167. That brutal, bloody battle, where many of my friends had been killed. I had been with some of those guys since Basic, nearly two years ago, and now three of them were dead. Seabs… Perkins… and Rico, my three best friends in the battalion were dead. We had fought the Protos uprisings together, we had lived together, we had laughed together, we had killed together, we were brothers, now I wish that we had died together. I felt like just lying face down in the mud and joining them, at least it would be a better place. But I knew I couldn't. I had to regroup with friendly forces, any friendly forces. The Azzies had mentioned where they were taking Seabs, and where they kept the rest of the prisoners. I had to survive, if just to pass on the message, then I could die happily.

I was one of the few people who spoke Azterk, my mother had deemed it necessary, thinking the Azzies would one day rule the galaxy. But not if myself and the rest of the XIIth had anything to say about it. The bastards had taken everything from me, my mother and father had been diplomats on Beta-Centauri, one of the few planets to actually put up a fight against the Azzies. The planet ended up being glassed because of it. After they were killed all I had left were my three buddies, and now they were dead too.

I had been wounded on Hill 167, shot through the Shoulder. If I hadn't had my First Aid Kit with me, the wound would have been infected and probably gangrene by now. I had been crawling through the mud for three days, evading the Azzies. After I had been shot, I crawled out of the foxhole I was in and moved away. I don't know whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, but as I looked back to see where the Azzies were I slipped and rolled down the hill. Hill 167 had an elevation of 167 feet, hence the name, which meant I rolled for 167 feet. It hurt like hell; my shoulder felt like it was on fire, I had to bite down on my shirt to stop myself from screaming. God, how it hurt.

Getting rescued was my chief concern, but judging by Azzie density in the area, it would be easier said than done. I needed a drink. I then heard a sound I never thought I would hear again; the distinctive hum of drop ship engines. Human drop ships. But it wasn't meant to be, they were leaving as fast as they could.
I had to get up, had to keep going. The Human drop ships were just over Hill 124 and it looked like they were leaving fast. I could see them dropping something, I couldn't tell what though. I figured it couldn't be bombs since there were more drop ships on the ground.
I got up from the mud pile I had stopped rolling in and trudged on. I hadn't taken more than 15 steps when a bullet whizzed past my head. I hit the dirt as fast as I could.
"Take one more step and your ass is grass you fucking azzie," said an unknown voice, presumably the one who shot at me.
"You dumbass! I'm not an azzie how could you mistake me for one of those friggin squid-heads?"
"Oh shit, I'm sorry dude, where the hell are you coming from?"
"Hill 167, where the hell are you?"
"I'm 35 feet east, the giant grass pile numb nuts."
As I look over I noticed the "grass pile" stand up wielding an M5 Assault rifle.
"So who are you grass man?"
"Private Johnson. You soldier?"
"Private Mus. Wheres the rest of your squad Johnson?"
"There are only 5 of us left now there at the base of hill 24"
So we kept moving towards hill 124. As we neared it I could spot movement right at the base of the hill. We were no more than half a click out when I heard the all too familiar click of a land mine, but not under my boots. Before I could yell "stop!" I was flat on my back, ears ringing, covered in blood, guts, and God knows what else. Someone picked me up and I felt the bliss of weightlessness. I passed out as the pain from my shoulder was more intense than I could handle.
I woke up covered in a cold sweat. Someone was holding my shoulders down, pinning me to the ground.
"Private Mus, its ok, your safe, there's no one else around here" Said the person that was holding me.
"How do you know my name?"
"Your tags, I'm private Cole, this is Sergeant Johansson, we call him Bow because the first thing he did when we met in training was shoot an Azzie with a crossbow. That's private string bean, you can see why we call him that. And last but not least Lieutenant Gobi. He's just, Gobi."
"And since you got our scout killed, you're our new sniper and scout. Gear up soldier!" Said Gobi.
I got up with my newly patched shoulder, took the gear they had salvaged from the remains of the blast. It consisted of one half of a ghillie suit, an M182, M5, and a C22. I picked up the remains of the ghillie suit thinking that it would help at least a little. I was leading as all of a sudden I heard gunfire and I hit the ground and spun around garnishing my M182 scanning for the source, Cole and Bow were hit, Gobi was also scanning the horizon with his scoped M5. Then I heard two more shots and Fat Man and Gobi were gone. I located the source of the shots. About 5 clicks out there was a sniper and spotter. I shot the sniper first in where I thought was his head and his torso exploded covering his partner in blood. I take aim at his spotter who was scrambling for the snipers gun. I pulled the trigger. "Click." I pulled again. "Click." By then the spotter had the sniper rifle and was searching for me. Then he takes one step to the right to presumably get a better angle. All I see is a blue mist. I figured it was one of those damn mines again. But this time they were good damn mines. I walked over and checked everyone's pulse. They were all gone. I "borrowed" Cole's binos, thought I may need them. As I walked over the peak of the hill I saw someone moving. It wasn't just one person it was 3, two of which were supporting the third. I took out the binos and found out that it was my best friend. He was still alive. I ran down the hill to meet them.