Location//: Near Kandahar, Afghanistan
Local time//: 00:57 Hours
Date//: xx/xx/2013

“Fall back! Fall back!” Vlad shouted as he and the others made their out of the warehouse. They bolted through a small back lot and hurdled over a waist high concrete wall at the end of it. Bullets flew past their bodies, kicking up dirt as they hit the ground all around of them. The men scrambled to a road eighty or so meters behind the warehouse. A section of the road was dug like a shallow trench into the ground, providing the team with cover. Vlad pressed up against the dirt wall, bullets hissing right over him. He peaked over the dirt, he could see the muzzle flashes of rifles coming out of various places in and around the building. Boris and Vasily took up their firing positions and began to fire back. Vlad looked back to the team and noticed they were a man short.

“Hold you fire!” Vlad ordered. Everyone ceased fire and ducked into cover.

“Why? What is it?" Vasily asked,

"Because they can see our muzzle flashes too?” Boris guessed,

“Yes! But more importantly–” Vlad was interrupted by a bullet hissing past him. He popped out of cover and fired a few short busts from his weapon before ducking back down.

“Because Dima is missing!” He said over another hail of bullets. “We have to go back!”

“Are you insane?” Boris said. “For all we know he's dead!”

“We leave no man behind Boris! Dead or alive!” Vlad shouted,

"Vlad's right." Vasily said, "But how can we get to him?"

Vlad had no idea; he peaked above the dirt ledge once more. By the muzzle flashes he could tell the majority were still around the building, but he spotted a small squad advancing on them. One of the insurgents raised his weapon. The muzzle flashes from his buddies around him revealed it to be an RPG. A small flash erupted, Vlad felt a chill of terror go down his spine. He immediately ducked his head below the dirt berm as the rocket flew over head a split second later, overshooting and detonating elsewhere behind them. He looked back over and saw the man loading a second shot. Vlad knew the chances of him missing a second time at this range were slim. And with the anti-personnel rockets they were using, he didn't need to hit very close. The man stood again and shouldered his RPG. Vlad glanced over to Boris and Vasily who were firing at the man in the warehouse. Their faces full of fierce determination, with a dash of fear. They were soldiers without a doubt. But they would die without even knowing what was coming. He looked one last time to the man with the RPG, just in time to see his body drop to the ground.

“Sorry I'm late, had to adjust for wind” Kiril's voice came over Vlad's headset. Vlad heard a bang over the radio, another man from the advancing squad dropped.

“I'll take care of the ones flanking you.” He added,

“Kiril, when we get back I owe you a drink.” Vlad said.

"Remember, i don't like the cheap stuff"

Vlad looked over to Boris and Vasily, he whistled to get their attention. He held up three fingers, they nodded and waited. In Vampir squad, holding up three fingers means “When I count to three. follow my lead”. Vlad loaded a fresh mag into his weapon and pressed up against the dirt.

“One” Vlad started,

“Two” Vasily cocked a round into his weapon's chamber and Boris opened the bi-pod on his PKP.

“Three!”

All at once, the men raised their weapons, took their firing positions, and began returning hot lead. The enemy fire drew closer as they fired back, chipping away at their already deteriorating cover. The relatively close range and dim lights outside the warehouse made seeing their targets much easier. The enemy began to fall back into cover. Vlad managed to drop one insurgent with a short burst as he stood up from behind a wall. He suddenly saw muzzle flashes coming from inside the warehouse, numerous bullets began kicking dust into Vlad's face as the fire drew closer. He ducked into cover as bullets hissed overhead. He peaked over his cover, but was met with another burst of fire that fell just short. Boris began laying suppressing fire on the window, but it failed to deter the enemy gunner. Vasily had to pull Boris down into cover before the insurgent could home-in on him.

“Kiril!” Vlad called into the radio.

“Yes?”

“Top floor, far right window, he has us pined! Do you have a shot?”

“On it” Kiril said. After a few moments Vlad heard a faint crack in the air.

“He's done. Oh, that's another drink Vlad.”

“Bill me later.” Vlad replied.

Vlad raised his weapon and began firing, Boris followed suit. Vasily tapped Vlad on the shoulder. Vlad fired another burst into a man's torso before he reentered cover with Vasily., killing an insurgent

“What is it?” Vlad asked,

“There is a small hill over there” Vasily pointed to a hill to their left. “Cover here is getting thin. I'll move up to there and flak them, you and Boris cover me.”

“Your not going up there.” Vlad started,

“If you let me up there, I can–” Vlad cut Vasily off,

“Not by yourself.” Vlad said. He moved over next to Boris, who was laying fire on a group hiding behind a wall.

“Boris, me and Vasily are moving up. I need you to give us cover.”

“My pleasure!” Boris said as he shifted his machine gun fire.

Vasily hopped over the berm first, Vlad followed after him. They sprinted towards the hill, a few shots landed a bit to close for comfort, but Boris' fire did it's job and kept a majority of the insurgents preoccupied. As they approached the hill, Vlad and Vasily dropped to their stomachs and crawled to the top it. The hill turned out to be higher that what they had thought. It over looked the back lot that was about five meters away. It provided a clear view of five insurgents hiding behind the concrete wall firing at Boris. In fact, they were the only ones left. Vasily pulled a grenade from one of his vest pouches.

“You want to do the honor?” Vasily asked Vlad as he passed the grenade to him. Vlad took the grenade and pulled the pin.

“A present from Russia!” He shouted as he released the spoon and tossed the grenade. Both men ducked back into cover.

After a loud boom, all was now silent. Vlad peered over the hill to see what happened. By the scorch marks on the ground, he could tell that the grenade overshot by a little. But the fragments did their job. He looked into the back lot and saw numerous bodies littered every where. Many lay on the ground; the ones who weren't dead were laying on the ground bleeding out. A lucky few were attempting to crawl away, dragging their blood soaked bodies at a snails pace along the dirt. They were desperate to escape the horror surrounding them. One lay in the ground with his head missing (courtesy of Kiril). Vlad looked towards the building. He saw the gunner from earlier with his torso hanging out of his window, and a giant hole blown through his chest (also courtesy of Kiril). Vlad and Vasily stood up and walked towards the back entrance of the warehouse. He feared what might have become of Dima, or, what might be left of him.

“Please be alive.” Vlad said to himself,

“He's a tough man. It will take more then that to kill him” Vasily said in a comforting tone. Vlad hoped he was right.

Suddenly a burst of rounds flew behind Vasily. The two dropped to the ground just before another burst passed over head.

“Dammit Boris! It's us!” Vlad called into his radio,

“Sorry about that.” Boris replied.

“I swear...one day I'll...” Vlad muttered. Feeling too pissed to even finish his sentence.

Vlad and Vasily picked themselves up and walked into the now dimly lit warehouse. Vlad looked around the warehouse for Dima while Vasily went to look for a light switch. Vlad slowly approached the nuke area. He saw what seemed to be a trail of dried blood across the floor. He reached into his bag and pulled a flashlight and followed the trail. It went next to the bomb then back out and through the front. He turned his attention to the nuke, he then noticed something. While the bomb itself matched the known design specs that Vlad had seen; there was some writing. Although Vlad knows little to nothing about the language, he could tell wasn't Korean. In fact, the strange symbols didn't seem to match any language. It was such a strange collection of glyphs, alien almost. A variety questions kept occupying his mind. What is a North Korean warhead, with inhuman writing, doing in the middle of Afghanistan? And why was just Vampir squad the only ones out here? He pulled a camera from his bag and began taking photos of the warhead. Something is not right. The warehouse lights began to flicker and hum back to life.

“Hey, I found the–”

Bang

All time seemed to slow as single shot cut Vasily's statement short. Vlad turned around and saw Vasily's body slowly buckle to the floor. He tightly clenched his neck as blood spurted against the wall and floor. Vlad turned to his left and saw the shooter. A scrawny person, no older than twenty or so, with a beat up AK held clumsily his hands. He looked terrified, probably hid during the entire fight. Vlad raised his weapon to his shoulder, centering his sights on his target's chest. The young man turned, attempting to flee. The first shot spun him around, the second shot knocked him to the ground with a soft thump.

Vlad dashed over to Vasily side. The bullet had ripped through the side of his neck, severing his jugular. Vlad tried to keep pressure on Vasily's neck. He turned his eyes to Vlad, the look on his face was unreadable. Confusion, anger, fear, and sadness all at once. His breathing became laborious, taking in air as if he was having an asthma attack. Vlad pressed harder, desperately trying to reach for his first aid while still keeping pressure. Vlad yanked out gauze from the bag, wrapping it around his neck as quickly as he could then returning to putting pressure. It was no use. Blood still poured out from his neck. Vlad's eyes burned with tears as he felt Vasily's pulse slip away. Vasily, with his dying strength, gently grabbed onto Vlad's arm. The expression on his face saying it's alright. His heart beat began to slow.

thump............thump

thump...................thump

thump..........................thump

thump.................................thump

thump................................................

Vasily light grip slowly loosened, he looked up to the ceiling. He took a long deep breath; his eyes rolled a little to the side as he slowly exhaled.

“What happened!” Vlad heard Boris' voice coming from just outside the warehouse.

“I heard shots and I got here as soon as I–” Boris stop his sentence as he entered and saw Vasily.

“He's gone,” Vlad said. He gently closed vasily's eyes. “Lets go.”

“Where?”

“To destroy this nuke, and find Dima.” Vlad began,

“I'll be damned if three of our men died for nothing” Vlad said in a unsettling tone.

“Vlad!” Kiril called out over the headset,

“What?” Vlad retorted gruffly,

“I saw a van leaving the area two minutes ago, heading south towards the mountains.”

“Your point?”

“I think I saw them load a body into it.”

“That's got to be Dima.”

“I already have Alexsandar with a med-evac helicopter heading to your location for the casualties.”

“Thank you.”

“Get him back Vlad. And make them suffer.”

The men heard the helicopter landing in the field behind the warehouse. A few moments later a team of four men entered the warehouse, stretchers and body bags in tow. Boris and Vlad assisted the medical team in carrying the casualties to the aircraft. The rotor wash of the helicopter kicked up a large plume of dirt and sand into the air. As they loaded their fallen comrades into the cabin, Vlad climbed into the cockpit, tapping Alex on the shoulder to get his attention.

“Take good care of them.” Vlad said.

“I will. I promise.” Alex said with sincere tone.

With that Vlad exited the aircraft, and both men watched as it took off, slowly disappearing into the starry night sky. The sound of the rotors now replaced with soft chirping of crickets.

“Get a car and meet me out front.” Vlad walked back towards the building.

Boris did as instructed. He found keys on a body in the back lot. They belonged to a pick-up truck that was parked next to the building. He drove around front and waited for Vlad to appear. When Vlad finally showed, he was sprinting towards the truck. He vaulted over the hood and climbed into the passenger seat.

“Drive!” he shouted.

Boris floored the gas pedal. They sped way in time for the charge on the nuke to detonate. The explosives shook the ground, blowing out all the windows in the building and tearing a few holes in the walls

“Where to next?” Borris asked,

“Due south, let's get our friend back”

Author's Note

Greatings my lovely readers! This is just a filler chapter to show what happen after Dima was K.O. in chapter 3. Sorry if it's not that good. There is not much plot here execpt for one part (Your smart enough to figure out which). In other news, chapter 5 is halfway done. Thank you for reading. Till next time...

HOORAH

-Semper Fidelis

P.S. For those of you who are confused as to who the other people are here; Yuri, Ivan, and Vasily are (or were) members of Dima's unit, and Alexsandar is the evac pilot who was waiting to extract the team upon mission completion.

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