Shot Throught the Heart

thirty-one

***TRIGGER WARNING FOR WAR LIKE ACTION AND INJURIES***

Petro hopped into the bed of our truck and once the tailgate was closed, I had Warren punch the gas. Once we started to drive through the field, I made the rest of the team open there windows incase there is an additional airstrike. Riding into the unknown, I pulled down my ear protection and snapped my night vision goggles in place. Just as we came over the ridge is when I heard it, a loud hissing coming from above, another missile.

            "Missile inbound, all units stop, everyone down!" I yelled into the radio as Warren slammed on the breaks as I watched the red tail of the missile come down from the sky and hit the ground. The blast was muffled by the headset but we could feel the shockwave from here. We were lucky the windshield on the trucks withstood the impact, but that we were too close for comfort. From here, we could see the town. Cresting this ridge without the trucks would have taken to long.

            "Warren lock it up, we need to get down there on foot. If we have another blast come in like that one, it can seriously damage the truck and we still have a mission to get too." I said before throwing the door open.

            Everyone followed my lead and we watched as buildings started to crumble in the town below. Petro came out of the bed of the truck behind me and looked down.

            "If you have a plan I would love to hear it, otherwise I'm taking control." I said and tighten the straps on my helmet.

            "My team will follow your lead commander." Petro said looking back at me.

            "Alright, breakout teams. Search and rescue is primary objective. If another missile is inbound, get out of any building you are in and hit the deck. Gloves, ear and eye protection a must, neck garters too if you have them, I don't want everyone to breath this stuff in for long unprotected. Petro, have your men split up into teams of threes or fours and spread out to search for survivors. Emmett and Cosima, you will set up a triage sight at the edge of the town by this grass, bring anybody you guys find to them for assessment. Clear?" I asked looking around.

            When nobody had any questions I turned around and started to speed down the hill. The ridge top was about half a mile from the edge of the town, though it didn't take long to get down to it. Once we reached the streets, everyone split up.

            "Morgan, if you are not on my ass at all times, I will kill you myself." I yelled behind me as I pushed my team of five towards a row of apartment buildings that looked unstable from a shell that went off next to it. People were already walking out of the building as we showed up but Morgan took the lead and directed them towards the triage area where Emmett and Cosima were waiting.

            It didn't take long for us to clear this building. As the last apartment was evacuated I pulled the door shut and pulled a thick red marker from my pocket to write a giant zero on the door. The symbol was for two reasons, one to show that this building was already searched and emptied and the second was to show that there were no causalities.

            The row of apartments next to this one, wasn't so lucky. The airstrike hit one of the apartments directly and half of the building has already collapsed under the tremors of the second blast. Pushing my rifle behind me, I used the back of my arm to check the door to see if was hot to indicate a fire inside. The door was cool so tried the handle. The door was locked so while holding onto my rifle so it wouldn't move, I kicked the door. It took a second strike for the door to splinter open. Morgan was right behind me with her flashlight to light the way into the apartment.

            She started to speak Ukrainian while I pulled my rifle back around my body to use my own flashlight as I stepped into the house first. It didn't sound like anybody was moving inside but we had to check it anyway. The living room was clear, followed by the kitchen. Next we moved onto the bedrooms. Lucky, nobody was home. Once this one was clear, I marked the wall next to the door and moved to the apartment next door that had more damage.