The sounds of bullets exploded from every direction.
"Nicole!
Run!"
As soon as Damian shouted as he fired covering fire, Nicole rushed running, making cover for the opposite tree and then throwing herself behind her.
I took a short breath, then pulled the safety pin from the grenade, and threw it with all my might towards the direction from which the shots had been fired.
The explosion resonated behind her, and she started running again along the valley.
Damian was running close to her, along with the rest of the platoon, each separated in a different location.
However, bullets and shells flooded the space, and the dense forest obscured the vision, so no one knew where his companions were, or what he was doing.
Then, a number of soldiers who were ahead of them in the enemy turned back and saw Damian lying on the ground, shooting.
One of them approached him and said:
"Lieutenant!
We have apparently reached the point of mission."
"Good!"
They lured the enemy to the point where they wanted to bring him.
All that remained was to withdraw to the safety zone.
"Blow smoke!"
As soon as Damian ordered the nearby soldiers to throw smoke bombs, the space was filled with a dense cloud.
Then the rest of the platoon started running towards the safety line.
But the bullets did not stop.
They pierced the clouds and fell adrift.
Damian dragged one of his comrades, blinded by a bullet, until they both rolled to the safe zone.
Then he quickly counted the faces with his eyes, and saw that some of the companions had not arrived yet.
“Tell me the tally.”
Sergeant Vince said sharply:
“One is missing, and four are martyred.
As for those seriously injured and life-threatening, none of us are among them, but six are no longer able to fight.”
"It's easier than I imagined.
So eighteen men can fight and keep going.
Not bad."
The damage was light considering the gravity of what they went through.
The enemy was tempted and entered the killing zone, so all that remained was for missiles to be rained down on him.
Damian exhaled a sigh of relief.
Soon, the soldier in charge of communication came to him and handed him the radio.
He quickly picked it up and said:
"This is Delta Platoon.
We request a command response.
We have entered the safe zone.
We request bombing according to plan."
The device was silent for a moment, then a harsh, intermittent voice came:
“This is the command.
Is this Damian?”
Despite the confusion, Damian knew from the tone of voice who was speaking.
"Yes, it's me, Colonel Jessica."
He had hardly answered when he heard a murmur of curses, then Paul shouted in an disturbed voice:
“Damn it!
Damian, get out of your position now!”
"What's wrong?"
“No bombing!
The plan has failed!
We have no bombers to send you!”
Damian furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief and said:
“No bombing?!
So what will be our fate?!”
“Withdraw with your own efforts.”
“This valley blocks our passage to the north and south, and from the east there is a great river blocking us.
If there is no bombing, we have no way out!”
“I'm sorry, Lieutenant Stern.
There's no way.
But if you meet with the General Headquarters, then the retreat can take place regularly.”
“Where is the guarantee that we will meet the leadership at all?!
At least send us a support force!”
"Do you think the leadership is fighting easily after the bombing failed?
Sending support is not possible.
We have no way to get you out."
Damian paused, biting his lower lip.
"That's all I have.
I bid you farewell, Lieutenant."
Then the connection was cut off.
Damian lowered the device from his hand, covered his eyes with his palms, and whispered:
“How I begged for them to provide us with additional men...”
One of the soldiers said hesitantly: “Lieutenant, what’s the matter?”
They saw the anger in his eyes as he spoke to the leadership, so they knew that something had gone wrong with the plan, but they did not know what it was.
When he spoke, he said:
"No bombing.
The plan failed.
The bombers won't come."
"What?!"
The soldiers' faces changed and their colors changed.
"So what do we do?
Do we have other support?"
“No support.
They want us to withdraw alone until we gain leadership.”
"Fuck…"
There was astonishment, then the whispering began to rise:
"Is this possible?!
Isn't that a sign of doom?!"
“So the leadership has abandoned us?!”
“How is it possible that there was no bombing?!”
Damian sat deep in thought, not paying attention to the commotion around him.
'How do we get out of here?
Get out of the valley first?
But the river is in the way, and the bridge has already been blown up.
Crossing the valley is very exposed, so we are exposed to the enemy...
Is there another way?'
But the noise interrupted his thoughts, so he pursed his lips.
Then Nicole shouted at the soldiers:
"Shut up!"
Then the voices died down, but there was still something in the eyes that was full of words.
Then Sergeant Vic said:
"Do you have a plan, sir?"
Damian passed his hand over his forehead and said:
“Not none, but all of them are fraught with danger.”
They kept watching him with eyes full of hope, as he had repeatedly escaped death, won two medals and was promoted twice until he became a lieutenant.
Who is like him, then, to lead them from the clutches of apostasy?
He said, sighing:
“I admit that the achievements I achieved were on my own, but as for leading men who are all destined to survive, that is what I do not claim to be good at.”
One of them said: “But you said you had a plan!”
He said: “Yes, but it requires some of us to fall behind.
But for everyone to survive?
There is no way.”
There was a cold atmosphere.
Then a soldier raised his hand and said:
"Why don't we surrender?
It is better for us to be prisoners than to be annihilated.
Perhaps we will be released one day."
But Damian interrupted him sternly: “No.
Surrender is out of the question.
It may be better than death, but it is not our choice.”
Another protested: "Why not?
Our army cannot handle a long, attritional fight.
Let us at least preserve our lives!"
Damian said: “Do it if you want, if your resolve is sincere.
I will not prevent you.
But men only, but not women.”
"What does this mean?!"
He said: “Consider what happens to women when they are captured.
The enemy we are fighting is famous for its brutality, so what do you think it does to female captives?”
The faces froze, both men and women.
Everyone knows the ill-treatment that prisoners face, but women suffer double woe, as they suffer a kind of humiliation that the enemy does not inflict on men.
Damian looked at Nicole and said, “What do you think?”
She smiled sarcastically and said: “Ha!
It would be better for me to kill myself than to be taken prisoner.
But whoever wants to surrender may do so, as it is his choice.”
Then she indicated that the women were counting: “If the men surrender, this means that we women will penetrate the enemy’s ranks alone.
This means that there are only five of us?”
Damian said: “Yes, you will.
I am with you.”
Vinas said roughly: “Then we will be the ones who will be labeled as having betrayed our comrades and surrendered them.”
Damian hesitated for a moment, then said, “Then let us resort to my plan.”
Nicole raised her eyebrows and said, “Didn’t you claim there was no plan?”
He said: “I said that I do not know of a plan that will save everyone, but as for us to save some of us, that is possible.”
She said: “Some of us…?”
---
Oh, he's right...
Paul really intends to get rid of him