Dancing With Bullets

Night Shift

"GAH!!" I breathed heavily as I shot up in my bed abruptly, kicking the covers off myself. The image of the man I'd killed that day still lingered in my mind's eye. I rubbed my eyes to clear my vision of any grogginess and focused on my surroundings. For a moment everything appeared foreign until a wave of understanding and ease fell over me. I and a handful of other soldiers (including Rune) were stationed here to make sure the enemy wouldn't come back. Heaving a sigh, I whipped my head to look over at the analog clock. 6:34pm, it read. Right, me and Rune were permitted to rest until our night shift, which we were due to  attend in around half an hour. I peered up at the bottom of the top bunk and grinned to myself with the devious idea that came to my mind. I lied back down and began kick my legs into the mattress poise above me. That was sure to shake Rune awake if he even was asleep. Not a moment passed before a shout came from above,
"EARTH QUAKE!!" The red head kept from the bunk and landed in a karate like pose.  This garnered bouts of giggles from myself as I held my stomach.
"Y-You shoulda seen your face!!" I said between laughs, brushing away tears of joy from the corners of my eyes. Rune was clearly displeased and huffed,
"Not funny! I thought we were under attack!"
I cocked my head to the side, holding in stray laughs,
"Really? Under attack from an earthquake?" I spat out a few more giggles, only to get a face full of pillow moments later. I decided not to retaliate since I deserved it, but kept a steady smirk nonetheless. Might as well begin prepping for this night shift that I was dreading.

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We walked in the dark with night vision goggles, able to see just that bit better with them equipped. I was once again lightly armed with nothing but an AN 94 and a trench knife. Rune decided to get a little inquisitive and prodded me with questions about it,
"Sooo, why exactly do you go everywhere so lightly armed. Aren't you scared you might die?" The man said quietly as to not draw attention to ourselves, since who knew if anyone or anything was lurking about in these woods. I stopped in my tracks and stared at him dead on.
"I don't like the extra weight."
I turned forward and began to walk again, leaving him behind a little.

"Well isn't it better to have something, and not need it. Than to not have something and need it?" Rune caught up to me with a slow jog that made me cringe at how loud it could be. A crack, somewhere off in the woods alerted me of a presence other than ours. Rune was reckless, and kept blabbering on so I twisted around to face him and slapped my gloved hand to his mouth.
"Shh! Do you want to get us killed?" My voice was a barely audible whisper, but my menacing expression made him hush. I then scanned around, removing my hand from his face. Another rustling of leaves. It could have very well been a wild animal, but those don't really give you the feeling that you're being watched. I turned the safety off on my rifle and turned the flashlight on, shining it where I heard the noise. There was nothing to be seen but a few broken branches and crumpled grass. A fresh trail had seemingly been stamped out in the woods. I signaled to Rune for him to follow me, I was willing to take on any trap if there was one. However as we walked further, a faint golden glow began to shine through the trees. Someone had set up a small base and had the fire lit not even a mile away from the overtaken outpost. We approached the small camp with great hesitation, but after a few minutes everything seemed to be fine. I removed my goggles and Rune followed closely after, letting his dangle around his neck. I must've spoke to soon when a few bullets began to tear up the ground and trees around us. I looked to my side, seeing Rune get pelted with several bullets. His body jerked a little from his muscles contracting to the pain before collapsing. A shout of agony left his lips while I looked visibly shaken. I turned just in time to see a bullet ricochet off me- Wait, ricochet?? The man that had stepped from the shadows and into the light looked utterly annoyed that I wasn't dead yet and unloaded another string of bullets at me. All either crumpled or glanced harmlessly off my skin. I stood there, dumbstruck, facing the man who was now shouting in Norwegian. After a moment's I began to register who it was. It was the brunette with the peculiar style of hair. My gaze went between my heaving friend, and the man who just murdered him.
"Hva i helvete er du?!" He let out a string of Norwegian words, which I could not perceive.
"What?" Was my curt answer as I slowly shifted sideways to get closer to Rune. My eye never left the Norwegian as I dropped down to my knees and felt my comrade for a pulse. My heart sank, not a heartbeat could be felt in neither his neck or wrist. I peeled my stare away from the brunette to put my attention on Rune.
"No- you have to be kidding me right??"
From my peripheral vision the man stood observing me, lowering his gun a little. I shook my head in disbelief as my hands grasped Rune's.
"Rune..-"

"I asked, what the hell are you?" A heavily Norwegian accented voice spoke. I whipped my head to face the Norwegian.

"I'm human- what do you think I am??!" I spat to which he just stared.

"Well from my knowledge, humans do not deflect bullets like the armor on a tank." The brunette began to step forward, but I pulled out my trench knife and twisted it towards him.
"Stay back!! You already killed him." A forced back the tears that began to sting the corners of my eyes. I was the one who was supposed to die, not my closest friend. The man looked at his rifle and set it aside, I peered back down at Rune, shaking my head.
"I...I have no clue why you can't kill me-" my eyes then grew wide as realization overcame me. I stared at the Norwegian, who was staring back while calmly sitting on a log.
"Unless you're my-" I couldn't spit the word out. The man peered at me quizzically.