Steady, Steady... Ryan held his breath. He ignored the drop of sweat that ran down his forehead. He focused on keeping his scope on the BLU medic’s head as he walked across the bridge. Wait for it...
The medic came to a halt at the end of the bridge and glanced around. “Ivan? Vere are you my freund?” Another drop of sweat rolled down Ryan’s face. Just a touch to the right, a bit up...
BOOM!
The BLU medic fell to the ground, blood gushing from his head. Ryan took a deep breath, leaning back, a smirk forming on his lips. He took out his Kukri and made another mark on the wall of his sniper’s nest. “Let’s see... That makes two, three, four. Four in one day, that must be a record.” He placed his rifle down and wiped the sweat from his brow. The battle was going smoothly so far, though it had only started five days ago, Ryan felt like it wouldn’t be long till a victory. He had been send to watch over the bridge while the majority of his team defended alternate routes. Ryan didn’t mind, he liked working by himself. Most of the time it was dull work alone in the sniper’s nest, but it was all worth it for those glorious headshots.
“Bloody hot isn’t it, Silver?” He smiled at his owl who sat perched in the rafters. “How are you doing, mate? Catch any juicy mice last night?” Ryan took a swig from his canteen. “You know when I can tell I have been here too long? When I start talking to you. What do you think, Silver? Think the solitude is driving me crazy?” The owl hooted. “Alright then, it's decided, I will go back to the base tomorrow.”
The night Ryan tossed and turned in bed, sweating and grumbling to himself. It felt like ages until he fell asleep.
Boom. Crash.
Screams filled the air. Ryan tried to breath through the smoke. The whole building was burning down and he could hear rockets firing. He scrambled around, coughing looking for an exit. Bits of the ceiling started falling down and soon the whole building would collapse. Ryan heard gasping at his feet. Peering through the smoke he saw, Markus, his friendly, RED spy on the floor. He had a large gash that ran from his forehead, through his eye, and ended mid-cheek. Blood covered his face, suit, and hands. His leg was broken. “Help...” he said weakly. Ryan didn’t hesitate to lift Markus over his shoulder and continue stumbling through the burning building. He was able to make it outside just as the ceiling caved in. Ryan, breathing heavy, placed Markus down a safe distance from the fire. As Ryan was catching his breath, he heard a scream from farther up ahead. Looking forward he saw his friendly medic, his leg stuck under a fallen beam. Ryan got up and started running towards him. “Wait...” he heard Markus say, “Don’t leave...”.
“Don’t worry,” Ryan said quickly, “I will come back for you, I promise.” Ryan dashed to the medic. It took all his strength to lift the beam enough to slide the medic’s leg out. A friendly soldier found Ryan and wrapped the medic’s arm around his shoulder to help him walk forward. Ryan turned back to get Markus, but he felt the soldier grab his arm.
“Its too late,” Said the soldier, “BLUs are already here.”
“I have to go back,” Ryan said pulling away, “I have to go back.”
The soldier tightened his grip and yelled, “Ryan, for ****s sake, it is too late! You will come with us or you will die.”
Ryan glanced back, then forward again. He felt his stomach churn, but ran forward with the soldier and medic.
Ryan woke up with a start, the light from the window burning his eyes. He rubbed his temples, “Same nightmare every night,” he said to himself, “If only I could forget that day.” Ryan served himself a cup of coffee and started reading his newspaper. A few minutes later he thought he heard a noise and looked out the window, but saw nothing. All of a sudden he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck, and everything went black.
