The Silent Killer of The Everfree Forest

0547, Middle East, Iraq.

SSGt Lopez

Operation: Morning sun

-0500, Earlier that morning-

The walk to the debriefing tent was short; the crisp autumn air cooled Roberto’s cheeks as he walked. The man was adorned in his regular vest and sand shade camouflage.

He had a German Shepard following at his side. The dog’s name was Duncan. Roberto wasn’t Duncan’s trainer, nor did he have anything to do with his training. He knew what commands to tell Duncan and how much he could handle. He never really did much more than pet Duncan whenever the dog was close. Duncan, on the other hand, had taken a liking to Roberto and was always by his side. No one really understood why, but Roberto didn’t really mind.

Entering the tent, he found several other servicemen inside waiting for him.

“Sorry, had to take Duncan out to uhh, you know, kill the little grass there is.” He apologized, rubbing the back of his head while Duncan panted.

“It’s fine. Now let’s get started,” First Lieutenant Holloway said. He pulled down a chart from the stand next to him. “Ok, so as you all know, anthrax is a bacteria that travels as spores. These spores can live in the ground for years and are extremely deadly. Our intel shows that a small house in the deepest part of the Dohuk Forest is stockpiling the stuff. The house is located roughly 10 miles in. Your job is to go in and take it out. There is roughly 300 gallons of anthrax in that house. I need you guys to take it out. This house will consist of guards here, and here.” He pointed to two dots standing to one side of the house. “There will be five guards on the roof, one of which is a sniper. Lopez, that’s where you come in. You’re going to take out that sniper before the rest of the squad moves in. Once you take out that sniper, mop up the rest of the guards patrolling the area. There should be guards posted in the woods in this vicinity.” He pointed to two smallish circles that covered roughly 20 yards around. “Watch for IEDs on the way over. Have Duncan sniff them out if need be. Once you all have secured the anthrax, I want you to bury it three feet deep and torch it. Am I clear?”

“Sir, yes sir!” They shouted in unison. Duncan even barked.

“Good, now move out!”

They all left the tent, headed towards the armory to ready themselves for the upcoming mission. Roberto walked into the armory and the first thing he got, was his M40A5. This weapon shot a 7.62X55 NATO bullets. He had several attachments to his weapon; A Tactical 8x - 80x56 scope, a straight pull bolt, suppressor, and bipod. His secondary weapon was Beretta M92FS. This little pack of power, shot 9mm bullets. He had equipped a laser attachment, as well as an extended mag designed to hold up to 30 rounds. He grabbed the rest of his tactical gear, survival gear, etc.

Soon they made their way towards the humvees, Duncan sat with his trainer between himself and Roberto. On the top, manning the .50 caliber machine gun was a new grunt, fresh out of training.

This is gonna be a long day, thought Roberto before the humvees took off down the road.

-0547 Dohuk Forest-

The sound of the three humvees’ engines roaring through the desert was the only sound Staff Sergeant Roberto Lopez could hear. He was in the last humvee in the small squad sent out on this mission. The sun had yet to come up over the horizon as they kept driving.

The humvee slowed to a stop. Roberto knew what he had to do; he had been thinking about it for several minutes.

“Lopez, remember to take out sniper first. Then take out the other four guards before they can alert anyone else,” Murel, the driver, said.

“Ok, I’ll make sure to hit them right on the dot.”

“Ok, Johski, you’re going with him. We’re leaving you approximately 900 yards away from the target. You have 50 minutes before the sun comes up, do not disappoint me.” Roberto and Johski climbed out. “This is your stop. We’ll be up the road. You’re about 950 yards away from the target, make it count.”

“Yes sir.” Jumping out of the truck,  Roberto led Johski over to the vantage point. It was a small hill, with a clearing that was just above the tree line. Grabbing some dead bushes and weed vines he started to weave together a ghillie suit for himself.

After  37 minutes, he had his suit prepared and ready.

“Ready?” He asked Johski, setting up his rifle.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” said the spotter, looking through his tripod telescope.

“Ok, give me the first target.”

Scanning the roof, Johski spotted the first target. “Rooftop, center, bipod placed. He’s wearing all green making him blend in slightly. He’s lying on top of a crate.”

Roberto trained the cross hairs on his target. “Give me the wind direction and the altitude.”

“Aim high, we have, uhh, 2 miles per hour wind direction coming in from the East.”

Aiming, high and slightly east, Roberto took his shot. The bullet cut through the air with ease, passing through the target’s right cheek, a red mist exploding outwards.

“Hit. Aim further east and take out the lone guard on the right side of the house.”

Aiming where his spotter indicated, Roberto took aim and lowered his scope. He took the shot. The shot went straight through the air and lodged itself through the guard’s chest. He fell back, dead.

“Hit. Another guard approaching on the right side of the house.”

Roberto watched the guard patrolling the rooftop. He hadn’t even needed to change the placement of his scope as he just waited for the clueless man to walk straight to his doom. Pulling the trigger, watched as the bullet implanted itself in the back of the guard’s head. Poor fool never knew what hit him.

“Hit. Out to the woods, by the entrance to the house.”

Aiming to the woods he noticed a small glint of light. Before he could even take aim a bullet slammed into the soldier next to him. He died on impact. Aiming back down his sights he took aim and shot at the sniper, the first bullet hitting in front of him. Pulling back the straight pull bolt he aimed higher as a bullet whizzed right past his ear, he could feel the air distort as it passed. The blood splattered out from his scope as the bullet went straight through.

The next target was harder to hit than anyone could admit. The soldier had planted itself up in a tree. He was aiming down on the road, waiting for something to happen. He was holding a large shoulder-launched Multi-purpose weapon, otherwise known as a SMAW.

“Crap, if he gets an aim on those humvees…” Checking his watch, he took aim for the sniper. “Only five minutes left, this needs to be quick, and clean.

It took him several minutes but eventually he was able to get a shot off. The bullet went straight through his shoulder causing him to fall off of the tree. Unfortunately for Roberto when he fell, the soldier had pulled the trigger while falling toward the ground, causing a large eruption to come from the projectile. The sound of an explosion had alerted the rest of the guards on top of the building. They now noticed the dead sniper on the crates just above them as blood trailed down it. He could hear distant shouting but not much.

“Դիտեք ծառերը եւ պատրաստ պայթուցիկ.!” was all he could make out. (English: Watch the trees and ready the explosives!)

“Crap!” Roberto swore, and grabbing the dead soldiers helmet talked through the SINCGARS RT-1523E Radio to warn his fellow troop members. “Sierra One to Alpha Company. We have a situation. They’re armed with explosives. I don’t know which kind, and I’ve been compromised.”

“Understood. We’re approaching the stopping point.” the mic crackled in his ear. “Make your way to us.”

“Roger.” he planted his rifle on his back, loaded the rest of the equipment and picked up his fallen ally and making the long walk towards his squad.

-18 minutes later-

Slowly, on top of a hill roughly 30 meters from the house, SSG Lopez looked down to find the military troops fighting off the enemy. Dropping the body of Lohski, he took out his rifle and lined the scope. Looking through, he a muzzle flash in the top window. Aiming quickly, he fired one bullet before seeing an all too familiar flash. He had hit the gun. Reloading, he lined up his scope again. Taking a deep breath, he fired again, and saw a red splatter appear on the window.

He focused his aim towards the house, firing round after round as guards appeared in doorways and leaned out windows. After about thirty minutes of the firefight, the sound of gunfire stopped. He grabbed the body of his dead partner and headed towards the small group waiting by the house.

“How many did we lose, sir?” he asked walking up to Sergeant Major Murel.

“We lost two, Jensen and Freeman. Looks like 3 now.” the man replied, looking over and seeing Johski.

“Tagged by a sniper near the entrance.”

“Damn shame,” Murel replied.

“I know sir. I didn’t want to leave him behind.”

“Good, and thank you. Now let’s go finish clearing the rest of the house. Lopez, you and Garcheski, go cover our asses and make sure that no one comes from the bushes.” he ordered.

“Sir yes sir!” the two replied in unison.

Grabbing the dead soldiers M4A1, a carbine rifle that fires a .223 caliber 5.56 NATO round. It has several options and attachments such as, a single shot and full auto capabilities. The attachment on the weapon he picked up was a supressor, a harris bipod, an M203 40mm grenade launcher, and a ACOG reflex sight.

“C’mon, Garcheski.” Lopez said, picking up the weapon and planting himself by the door, behind a few crates the terrorists had just used as cover.

Soon the small squadron made their way inside the house, clearing rooms as they went. They searched the entire house.

The search lasted for several minutes. SSG Lopez stocked up on ammo for his weapons in case things got dicey. He could hear Duncan inside, barking and growling, but ultimately stopping when the team made it to the roof. Duncan came down to his trainer as Lopez heard the order to don gas masks. Lopez put on his mask, and watched as Garcheski put a small gasmask on Duncan.

Kneeing down, Lopez started petting Duncan. The long rifle on his back jostled a bit with the movement, thumping against his suit. He continued to pet Duncan, eyes still scanning the surrounding area. Surprisingly, Roberto was calm. Not the forced calm you get when you’re in a ghillie suit in a forsaken desert under a  thorn bush, or blending in with a cacti, barely moving so you don’t get pricked. No, this was the kind of calm that you could only get in the morning when all was silent, and nothing was stirring. He was happy, just being able to pet Duncan. Unfortunately, that all ended when the sound of trucks came roaring through the woods.

“Sir, we have a problem!” Lopez said as a truck was seen in the distance, followed by several more.

“What’s that?” asked Merel, still clearing the anthrax.

“Contact!” Lopez yelled as he ran to one of the Humvees. He drove it over for cover, several soldiers doing the same with the other humvees as the attackers arrived. The two sides shared gun fire as the .50 caliber bullets tore through each group.

“This is Master Gunnery Sergeant Garcheski! We’re under heavy enemy fire and we’re requesting back-” the sound cut off as a .50 caliber bullet passed straight through his helmet and brain.

“Lopez! Duncan’s trainer’s down! Give him the commands!” Murel shouted.

“Yes sir!” he replied aiming his M4A1 back up and aiming at the enemy. “Duncan, here!” he yelled over the gunfire. Duncan ran over and waited for the next command.

“Go! No-” he was cut short as he felt heat envelope him. He could barely see what was going on around him, and he felt a small tugging at his waist. Looking down he saw Duncan; the dog’s paw was missing, his tail singed off, and he was bleeding through several points in his body. The last sight Roberto saw was Duncan lying down on top of him after Duncan had taken another few bullets to the back. The most loyal companion he had ever met was dead. He felt the slow cool darkness of death slowly take control of him as well, the weapons and ammo no longer weighing him down.

-Unknown location, time, and date-

The first thing I felt when I woke up was a strange licking. It was constant, and while annoying, it was surprisingly soothing. After what felt like an eternity, I finally decided to open my eyes. I was not expecting what I saw. From what I could remember, I had just gotten my ass blown up by… I don’t really know. Duncan had died on top of me, and I had bled out. I expected Heaven. I was always a religious man, but I never tried to shove my religion down someone else's throat. I prayed and I got baptized and all that. I tried to be good, to always put a good outlook on things, and to always be as nice as I could, so I kinda expected that. What I wasn’t expecting, was to see trees. I mean I know I just left a forest, but this was different. It was much darker here than the forest I left, and it gave me the willies. I looked down and saw the source of the licking.

It was Duncan! The dog that died by my side was here! I felt overjoyed at his presence!

Standing up, I stretched, checking my surroundings. Something about this place was just… off. It wasn’t like the forest I was just in. It seemed darker, and wilder somehow. There were vines everywhere. It looked and felt more like a swamp but I’m not wet, and my gear doesn’t- my gear! I had been so wrapped up in my thinking that I had forgotten to check if I still had my gear! Feeling my body, and petting Duncan a bit (He really was an amazing dog), I felt my body and relaxed when I felt all my gear, just like it was before. Well, almost like it was before. My helmet was gone. I took an inventory of what I had on me.

Hmmm, let’s see: 9 magazines for my Beretta, 10 for the M4A1 (thank god for taking Johski’s ammo and gun.), and 7 magazines for my rifle. Everything seems fine with these. But where’s the rest of my stuff?

Looking around, I noticed a few gleams in the light. Grabbing the tomahawk that I keep on my vest, I slowly walked over towards the glimmer. I smiled when I found that it was my weapons, backpack and helmet. They weren’t all neat and nice though. They were, in fact, scattered. I found the helmet hanging from a tree branch, and my guns spread across the forest floor. Picking up everything, I checked the weapons, put on my helmet, and slid on my backpack full of MREs. I checked the radio, but all I got was static. I tried several different frequencies for about 30 minutes, but I always got the results.

Enough of this, I thought. I picked up my backpack, called Duncan, and headed towards a small hill I could see in the distance. If I was gonna see how to get out of this forest I might as well have a vantage point. This is gonna be a long day, I thought, heading out towards the hill.

We walked on for several minutes before a loud growl emanated from the woods nearby. I noticed several pairs of glowing eyes, as well as Duncan’s growling, and thought only one thing. “Fuck,” As a beast from legends slowly emerged from the bushes. Growling loudly and raising its scorpian like tail, while the large beast slowly stalked towards me. “Why did it have to be that?”