Post by Remarkable Mark Keaton on May 22, 2020 13:17:07 GMT -6
An unknown village deep in the African forest was quiet as the night fell. A small stream was the only noise anywhere as it ran to the west along the perimeter, providing the residents of this village water and various cleaning opportunities many of the other villages in the area did not have. There was approximately thirty rectangular mud huts with straw roofs surrounding a larger rectangular hut in the dead center of the village, this one was used for mass gatherings and had a green grass roof, angled higher and made with much more care than the rest of the huts.
Across the stream a black gloved hand moved a branch of heavy leaves out of the way and the barrel of a Colt M4 Carbine extended out. From the view of it’s night vision scope, it looked over the whole village.
“It’s too quiet,” A voice whispered, “Where the fuck are they all? Are we too late and that sick bastard got here before us?”
Commander Morden McBride slowly brought his gun back inside the cover and looked at his small Black Ops team of six. They were all decked out in black face paint, black clothing and plenty of equipment to take down the local Warlord who has been wiping out hundreds of villages in Africa.
“We’re going to need intel,” McBride whispered,“we’ve been one step behind this bastard the entire mission, let’s learn what we can and move on. Crimson, you take point, I’ll lead us across this stream then break out, three left and four right, move fast and quiet.”
The men nodded and pulled on night vision goggles, McBride noted the darkness in the village and pulled his on too. They quietly crept across the stream then broke off into two packs. McBride pointed to his wrist, made a five, then three with his fingers, did a circle and pointed downward signalling to return to this spot in 8 minutes exactly. His unit broke away, they inspected the first hut, immediately he saw signs of a struggle with spilled food and drag marks on the ground. He kidnapped every last one of them. They quickly moved on to the next hut, more signs of dropped items, no bullet holes yet or blood. Hut after hut was nearly identical, some even showed no signs of a struggle at all. Still no blood, spent shell casings, explosive blast marks or signs of anything being used to threaten them, just seemingly grabbed and hauled away. No bodies, that’s the good part. McBride pointed to a section of huts further away and his three men followed orders, then made their way twenty yards to check on those huts.
There had to be at least two hundred people here, woman and children, old and young men, grandfathers. It would take a long time to gather them up, we should have caught right up to him while he was snatching them. I don’t understand.
A gust of wind blew his hair over his face, when he removed it he had turned slightly to the left and saw the main hut in the center of the village, beckoning him to search it.
No. We’re moving on now.
He quickly looked at his men, they were being thorough in their searches but he knew it was a wasted effort.
Nobody here, signs of a struggle. He took them all hostage and we have to move on or we’ll never catch him and his sadistic army.
McBride took a breath and strapped his gun to his back, he kept glancing at the main hut now, trying to will himself away from it. He kept taking measured breaths, but now he found himself taking actual steps towards the main hut. His separate units were still very busy inspecting all the individual huts surrounding the main one. He made his way around the large, windowless hut, looking closely at the ground, there were dozens of drag marks here and articles of clothing, dropped food items, tied straw toys abandoned.
Everything before now will be erased, turn back and forget this village.
He couldn’t convince himself to stop, he had to know what happened here. He turned in to the main door and stopped. Tears immediately streamed down his face, clearing off trails off his black makeup, his lip quivered and his mouth fell open as he tried to scream but he was in so much shock that he couldn’t…….
“Where’s the commander?”
“Not sure, thought he said to be back here by 8.”
“Keep that chatter down Wilson, he’ll be here, he must be caught up searching.”
“We’ve waited 5 minutes here Clark, let’s go see what he’s doing. He’s got to be in the center, that’s the only spot we never looked.”
“O.K, keep it quiet.”
“Where is he? You see him yet Clark?”
“No, I’ll try to get him on comms.”
“Heading in the main…..no...no…..”
“Oh my god! Oh my god!” Puke noise.
“Don’t come in here Garrett! Don’t you dare….don’t you dare...come in here!” Puke noise.
“There’s so much blood! What the fuck is wrong with these people!” Gagging noise.
“Commander, commander come in. Are you there? Come in Commander McBride, sir. Please respond!”
“Commander, please respond, come in. Sir, we need you to respond now.”
“Garrett, I don’t care how much noise you make, you find Commander McBride now, do a perimeter search as fast as you can, we’ll break off to the east, meet us there, get on comms if you find him!”
“Go, go, go, go! Commander, please reply, come in! Come in!”