There is an End

“And what do you mean it is over?” Calvin asked as he shook the rifle haphazardly. “This fight isn’t over by a long shot, especially with reinforcements on the way.”

“Calvin, those are the enemy reinforcements,” Evan noted.

Calvin leaned over the log and took a long look at the small army that was crossing the bridge. Indeed, their black uniforms with red neon lights gave the impression that they were more Red Eyes than Legion.

​“Well...would you look at that,” Calvin murmured.

“Do you think now we should retreat?” Lucy asked crushing her cigarette with a stick as if stabbing it with a sword. “Quite frankly, this tower isn’t exactly easy to defend. We’d be better off on the attacking side.”

“You’re just saying that because we’re outnumbered 10 to 1,” Calvin replied.

“Well...yeah, actually.” 

“Did I ever tell you guys about General Lazarus?” Calving asked.

The two groaned, but not too loud or the foot soldiers in the forest behind them would hear. Evan and Lucy had heard the story, several times, and Calvin knew that. However, the story did carry some weight with the team. Evans, their crack medic, had met General ‘Lazarus’, but he was no different from any man. Much older than most, which was rare in the Legion, but still, a normal man.

“General Ryker, a man of conviction in the most dire of time,” Calvin began.

“Led an extraordinary team on a suicide mission that would save the entire Legion during the one of its most important battles,” Evan and Lucy replied in chorus.

“That’s right. During that fight he was up against three garrisons of the Red Eyes and in order to defeat these garrisons he did something nobody thought of. He brought the dead back to life.”

Calvin paused for effect. Lucy yawned.

“General Ryker placed a radio booster in a forest, a nice target for the Red Eyes especially since it was uncloaked. The Red Eyes massed their garrisons together and bombed the radio from a distance. When the Red Eyes closed in to confirm the kills they found the broken radio, destroyed camp and three dead soldiers. What the garrisons didn’t know was that their bodies were covered in wet ash to give the effect of severe burns. Once the garrisons passed their heavy vehicles followed. The three, now so close to these heavy vehicles, commandeered them and rained hell upon the Red Eyes. It was glorious. Of course, some may call that a cowardly act, playing dead and losing a radio, but in the act of doing so, they stopped a battle from turning bad for the Legion and indeed the rest of the living world.”

Calvin sat proudly, feeling true to the Legion. Lucy lit another cigarette and trained her rifle on the marching soldiers.

“Cal, as much as we appreciate the story...again...there are a lot of shadows in the night, if you catch my drift,” Lucy murmured. “Mind giving an order?”

“Evan, deal with the soldiers in the forest. Shouldn’t be too much trouble for you,” Calving ordered.

“Aye, aye, captain,” Evan replied drawing his knives and sneaking into the darkened forest.

“Lucy, you need to cover down their on the bridge. When I give the signal, drop the three at the back.”

“Roger that.”

Calvin leapt off the cliff and descended towards the forest below. As he fell he sent a signal down his spine to the activators in his suit. By the time the first branches collided with him they shattered or he bounced off. The first time he pulled a stunt like that was in the academy. It resulted in a dislocated shoulder and a cast that used to itch like hell on his left leg.

Now, his feet hit the ground running. Calvin ran amongst the trees, knowing that the visibility was too low for a Red Eye siper to spot him. Once he neared the bridge he went up the left embankment towards the front of their camp. The Red Eye soldiers thought they were clever setting their camp on the highway bridge, but it really just narrowed them, making them easy to pick off with rifles.

Calvin felt more than confident that if his whole team had long-range rifles they could have cleared the bridge. For now, they had rely on each other to clear the bridge as soon as possible. As he climbed the embankment he drew his knife and approached the first guard from the side, out of sight. The Red Eyes word advanced armour, but nothing like the Legion. Calvin dashed across the ground with light feet. By the time the Red Eye realized he was being stalked there was a knife lodged in his through to prevent a yell for help.

Calvin crouched over the body feeling a small sadness for the soldier that was once a survivor like everyone else. With that saddening thought he activated the comm-link.

“Charlie team?” Calvin asked.

“Sir,” Lucy and Evan replied.

“The reason I tell you that story so often is because it is a reminder that even though there are more bandits every day and less Legion, we will always outnumber them, not the other way around,” Calvin told them. “We are fighting a war uphill, true, but like all wars there is an end. We’ll be there when this one ends, I can assure you that.”

There was silence on the other side for a brief moment.

“Sir,” Lucy began. “I speak for both of us when I say, we will be back to farming in no time.”

With that, Calvin gave the signal and five Red Eye, not three, fell dead at the otherside of the bridge. Lucy started taking extra shots as Calvin rushed in guns blazing. The surrounding fire wasn’t much, but Calvin threw enough explosives amongst the Red Eye to make them think they were being surrounded. The resulting chaos was enough to turn the Red Eye into a tornado with Charlie Team standing in the eye of the storm.

It wasn’t a General ‘Lazarus’ maneuver, but it was a classic Charlie Team victory against all odds.