District 42-Chapter 193: Suicidal mission part 2

Ana was hidden behind a pile of wood they had inside the camp. She was aware of how bad was to hide behind something like that since the shots could easily go through it, but there was nothing she could do.

She and more than 5 people were trying to hold the soldiers of the Black Widow, preventing them to take that path and reach the others who were trying to open the doors of the operation base. It was being more difficult than they never could imagine, though. Rather than defending the path, they were just surviving against forces that they couldn’t fight with.

"These soldiers could advance in a rush, maybe lost some people, but still overrun our defense and hurry to the operation base... Yet, they are being colder and smarter than we thought... We were in nine here, counting with me, but three people are already dead by them. How many will die until we can finally retreat and go to the operation base? I mean, if we can retreat..."

Ana, just like Casper did, was worried about the number of troops they lost at that point. They were supposed to hold on and try to reach the inside of the operation base with, at most, thirty casualties.

She could notice that, probably, all the 10 scouts they had, died trying to clean the walls and watchtowers for them. They did an awesome job being just 10 people against so many soldiers, and the casualties of the other troops weren’t as high as they should be just because of them. However, it wasn’t enough to fulfill their part of the plan completely.

The troops who were in the frontline, as predicted, had a lot of casualties as well, but she didn’t know exactly how many people really died until the way there.

All she knew was that, when they got near from the operation base and saw that the group encharged to open its door was still working on it, she decided to gather some people and prevent that the Black Widow soldiers could approach them and get in their way.

Ana wasn’t sure of how many minutes they were doing that defensive task, which was being really harmful to everyone, but she couldn’t back away until the signal was made and she was sure that they did everything they needed already.

The brigade captain heard the sounds of steps under the shots and shouts in the background, and her instincts started to alert her that something was off.

She got out from her cover, positioning the barrel of her rifle out of it, and shooting. She was basically gambling there, she didn’t know the position of the enemy coming from that side, but she couldn’t afford to lose time aiming just to get shot by someone else.

Thankfully, Ana was a good gambler, and her shot pierced through the throat of a soldier who was approaching.

She covered herself again, and a bunch of rifles shot at the same time against the pile of wood and in the point where she was before. Out of cautiously, she laid on the ground, preventing being targetted by any means.

The captain concentrated again on the sounds, and she was sure that, this time, not just one but a bunch of them were advancing towards her direction.

"Now!" She yelled, raising from the ground and running crazily to another spot to hide.

Once she got out of her cover, the shots started. The woman pushed her body forward like a cheetah, her strides were long and strong, she was using all the muscles of her leg and her elasticity to reach the max speed she could.

None of the soldiers could get her, it was incredible how she could run so fast with a gun in her hands.

As soon as Ana disappeared in another cover, her shout from before started to make sense. It wasn’t a word spelled to motivate herself or something, it was an order.

The other 5 soldiers who were with her appeared from different spots, their rifles already well-aimed at the enemies, who had just a second to think of what was going to happen before those 5 began to shoot and ended with them.

Ana saw that, again, they could pull through another wave of soldiers coming their way. She leaned her back against the container she was hidden behind and sighed hard. For that single moment, she allowed herself to just breathe and close her eyes for some seconds.

"I thought we would die... again... Well, when you work with something like this is just reasonable to think all the time that you might’ve died, hehe." She was muttering to herself and looking to the dark sky above, which had not even a good amount of stars that night.

In times like that, the brigade captain usually thought for a while that it could have been good for her to just live a normal life, working in an office, having children and eating junk food some times, having someone she could love without restrictions, and resting in the weekends.

"For now, that’s just a far away dream. I will need to wait until I retire to do it... If I can retire." Ana quickly brushed off that matter, shaking her head.

Soon, things would start to get hard again, so she couldn’t be rambling about those useless things.

She reloaded her gun while standing up.

The brigade captain heard more steps, and people shouting at each other.

Someone could get beside her. It was one of the five soldiers defending that path with her.

"There are a lot of them. At least 3 times as our numbers..."

Ana narrowed her eyes. She was concentrated enough to the point where that news didn’t shake her. Her heart was beating slowly and steadily in her chest.

"Prepare yourselves." She ordered. "Don’t back away, don’t let them pass. We are standing here until we die."

...

The colonel was crossing the battlefield like a lightning bolt, deviating from the tents and other obstacles on the way. He was crazily looking for the groups of remaining troops of the Yanke Forces. He needed to arrive in time to gather everyone together and come back to the operation base.

"If they are holding the enemies here, then, most likely, they are defending paths not too far away from here. I know the ways that connect to the operation base, so I will just search in all of them!"

He was hearing shots here and there, and he was sure that he followed those sounds correctly. If anything, he was, at least, going into a near path.

Just as he was thinking for how long he would need to run, the colonel saw someone running between the tents. Because of the clothes, he knew that it was a soldier from the Yanke Forces.

Casper didn’t try to approach slowly, he had not the time to do so. The best way to go was to continue his rush.

"If this soldier is running that way, then behind him...!" He crossed the field as fast as he could, stopping suddenly and pointing his gun to the path which that soldier just had run away from.

In his aim, four soldiers appeared, and one of them was very close, nearly at the range for a point-blank shot.

Coldly, and without a second of hesitation, Casper pulled the trigger and killed all of those four.

He didn’t wait to confirm the deaths and just ran after his comrade, reaching him in no time.

"C-Colonel!" The woman shouted in surprise and relief, stopping to run and turning to him.

"Ok, soldier, I will need to be straightforward here... Where are the others, and how many of them are still alive?"

She delayed for a bit but started to answer as soon as possible.

"I don’t know exact numbers, sir! But they are spread around here, trying to hold the Black Widow’s soldiers! If you keep going for this path you might find more of them!"

He tapped her on the shoulder.

"Go now! Towards the operation base! There is no need to hold them anymore. I will take care of the rest who are still fighting. Run as fast as you can."

The woman saluted him, also thanking Casper, then turning her back to him and disappearing into the night.

Casper turned to the path she indicated to him, his face was serious behind the black ninja mask, every time that his heart beat, a wave of shock was sent through his body.

"I will be relentless now... There is no need to hold back. I can even end up hurt, but if more than 40 people die, then we won’t be able to proceed with this plan and all my comrades who gave their lives for this mission will be dishonored, their efforts will be in vain..."

The soldier ran again at full speed.

"Ana, please, be alive... If everything goes wrong here... at least if you are the only one remaining... I can keep going somehow..."

Later, Casper thought if those selfish words may have had infuriated the gods.