Ben’s walk back to the village was long. He grew accustomed to his journey back to safety after every fight, even as each step he took sent a sharp pain through his body. In a way, he found a sort of peace on the walk. It gave him a purpose, a reminder of what he was fighting for. Not some sort of idea installed into him by the army about loving the idea of dying for a country that barely cared about them. But something smaller, something far more personal. The last surviving member of his squad, the last survivor from the village his team came to investigate, and an interpreter who had joined him on the mission to deal with the mysterious monster. People who were strangers to him were something worth fighting for.

  When the village came into view. It would be his last walk back to safety, and Ben accepted it. For a while, they tried to figure out the safest path back to base without encountering the monster. Which was a day’s walk from the village. They all had weeks of planning, but no one wanted to follow through because they knew it would be costly. Someone had to stay behind. Someone must be willing to die fighting the monster so the others can travel through the desert during the early morning and under the cover of darkness. That day was the last day they had to decide who would stay behind, and with the wound in his right arm. Ben understood it had to be him.

  There was a bitterness in his breath when he walked past the empty graves of his fallen comrades. Bend understood that his sacrifice would be buried under layers of red tape and secrets, and his final moments would be told to the public as a tragic but standard death in the line of duty. The Jinn, which he believed to be some sort of deranged experiment created by the Chinese Military, would never be known to the public. He suspected that it would cause some sort of diplomatic crisis or mass panic, but really, he also believed that his government was also trying to create its own super soldier with similar tech. Even though it wasn’t close to reality.

  Curly waved at Benjamin when he came into view. A bald man leaning back on his chair during the watch was delighted to see Ben’s return. ‘Looks like the bastard roughed you up a bit. Did you find their next meal, and did that meal go “meow”?’

  Ben chuckled at Curly’s racist remark before gesturing for him to get the med kit. There was no point in calling out what he said, not when everyone was on edge and so close to death. He found a twisted sort of amusement in the joke, finding it funny no matter how wrong it was. But it took some weight off his shoulders and numbed the pain in his arm.

  ‘They put up a fight, I injured it, but that is the extent of it. Honestly, I think I am getting a better idea of the enemy and how to potentially overcome them.’ He professionally said to Curly. ‘But enough about that. How is the kid and Bahnam doing?’

  ‘Same as always.’ Curly responded before tending to Ben’s wounds. Removing the dirty bandage that was hastily put on to give it a clean and sew it together. ‘The kid likes to hang out with that guy, and Bahnam is a bit of an angry cunt as always. Yet beyond our mutual understanding that I don’t like them and they don’t like me. We are still in a pickle.’

  ‘That we can both agree.’ Curly turned around to see Behnam leaning against the wall, a Kurdish man with a short black beard gave the young soldier a frown. ‘We need to figure out what to do. We are low on food and water, and we can’t rely on the resources around here anymore. It isn’t ideal, but we have to make a decision now, or we’ll all perish. Your friend can’t fix the radio, not because he is too stupid to solder correctly, but because everything is broken beyond repair, as we expected. I also spotted a few people out east before sunrise, all of them armed. None of whom was wearing any uniform. Which means we have to worry about a possible enemy presence.’

  ‘So what do you suggest?’ Curly sarcastically replied. ‘Walk through the desert while that thing is out there?’

  ‘I prefer you to stay behind to be useful and keep the monster at bay. But with that chest injury of yours, and because I doubt you can hold it off. You won’t fight. If we all want the kid to survive this nightmare, Sergeant Earl has to stay behind.’

  ‘Like that will happen you…’

  Ben raised his hands at Curly to stop him. While the revelation about the reality of the situation was devastating, Behnam was correct. They ran out of options, and neither of them could figure out a safer option that could ensure their safety. And unlike everyone else, Ben had more experience against the Jinn than any of them. He could slow it down long enough for the rest of them to escape. The journey through the desert would be dangerous, but it would give them a chance to survive.

  ‘How is the kid doing?’ Ben said to Behnam, trying to get his mind to drift away from the fact that he would die. ‘Is he sleeping well?’

  Behnam nodded. ‘He is still restless but a lot calmer than before. I worry about him once he gets out of this mess. He doesn’t have any extended family. So, no matter what, he will be alone again after all of this.’

  ‘That is not my problem,’ Curly said coldly before packing his med kit up. ‘If he survives, that is good and all. But all I care about is getting home.’

  Before Behnam could sock Curly in the jaw for making such a cold comment, the three men heard cars in the distance. Reaching for their weapons, Curly and Ben took up defensive positions while Behnam rushed to the young boy’s house to defend him in case the strangers were looking for trouble.

  As the roaring engines drew near, Benjamin tensed up. He could tell from the sound of the engine that it had a lot more power than any car or pickup truck readily available for any civilian, and there were multiple vehicles. A military convoy was passing through, but Ben wasn’t sure who it might be. All creating a symphony of oiled metal, thirsty for war.

  Curly bit his lower lip, making himself look like a crazed animal, unsure if it would be best to fight or let the convoy pass through. Seeing this, Ben tapped his shoulder and shook his head at him. Telling him to be calm and not to do anything foolish.

  Four black armoured cars rolled into the village. On the sides, Ben noticed the group’s logo, which was a stylised D inside of a U. Men and women of different races and nationalities hopped out of their cars. The diversity of the unit threw away any possibility of a mercenary group made up of any nationality Benjamin knew off by heart. He could think of a few military companies, but with the equipment they had, they had to be part of some sort of standing army. The armoured cars reminded him of the Bushmaster, but none of the soldiers seemed to be part of any coalition force. Either way, Ben was unsure who they were and why they stopped in the abandoned town.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  The Order took time to gather some sort of information about the monster, but it was inconclusive in determining whether it was a Jinn or not. So, Disposal Unit, Unit 781, was sent to figure out who it was and either report back or neutralise the horror. They knew the monster’s presence disabled or destroyed any electronic equipment, so they made it to shield their devices before arriving. A previous unit was sent, but without any useful data, the Order Horrfica wasn’t confident enough to send any specialists. Another unit would need to be sent to finish the job.

  ‘I know you are here!’ A woman with her blond hair tied back and a scar over her left eye shouted at the centre of town without carrying a firearm. ‘We know your situation. We want to help.’

  ‘This is strange!’ Curly whispered to Ben. ‘Are they the guys Behnam was talking about?’

  ‘No, they are not. They are all uniformed soldiers, just not something I recognise. I’ll talk to them, cover me in case things go south.’ Ben put his rifle down before walking out of his hiding spot to speak with the strange woman with his hands in the air. ‘Who are you and what do you want?’

  ‘I am Agent Ell.’ The woman said with confidence. ‘I am here to hunt down the monster terrorising the area.’

  ‘Yeah, the Chinese Super Soldier?’

  Ell blinked, confused about what Ben had just said. If there was one thing she knew very well, it was the fact that China was not interested in or attempting to make super soldiers. But besides correcting him and announcing who she was a part of, she decided to play along with the strange conclusion Ben and the survivors had made.

  ‘I see you are well familiarised with the problem we are all dealing with, and seeing your injury, I think you had a few run-ins.’ Ell approached Ben. ‘So, besides wasting my breath, I’ll make this short. My team is part of the APS, and we are here to kill it and extract the body. I think we both know that this information is only known between us, so secrecy is necessary. All I ask is information about where the super soldier is; in return, we’ll provide any aid and transport to safety. Since, from the look of things, you might need our help.’

  ‘So you won’t shoot us in the back for knowing?’

  ‘No, you have my word. Though keeping this under lock and key isn’t ideal, it is for national security. But besides that, Sergeant, we are on the same side.’

  Benjamin examined Ell and her team for a moment, trying to determine if they were putting up a ruse to make him and everyone else put down their guard. However, trusting his gut, he determined that they were good people and meant no harm.

  He approached the woman and shook her hand. ‘I’m Sergeant Benjamin Earl. There are only four of us here. Not including me, there are two soldiers and one child.’ After announcing himself, he called out for everyone to come out of hiding and reveal themselves. There was nothing to be afraid of.

  Curly chuckled to himself as he walked out of cover to stand by Ben’s side. Examining the Disposal Unit’s equipment and how they all had better equipment than he could imagine. Behnam, on the other hand, stood on the sidelines and trusted Ben to negotiate on his behalf. While there was no verbal agreement beforehand, he had faith in his abilities to negotiate for a better outcome.

  ‘Thank you for trusting us, Sergeant.’ The agent calmly said. ‘Now, is there anything you can tell me about the threat in the area?’

  ‘We can tell you how the fucking bastard killed our squad while…’

  ‘Shut it, Corporal!’ Benjamin cut in, enforcing discipline that had been lacking ever since they were stranded in the village.

  Instead of mouthing back, Curly took a step back and kept his mouth closed. Even he realised it was time to get serious.

  ‘I don’t know what they are or how they function. But from my understanding, we are dealing with someone who is almost entirely immune to bullets. I managed to wound them a few times, but they always come back the next day healed up. Whatever the Chinese did to him, they really turned him into a monster.’

  ‘And does he have a base or hideout of sorts?’

  ‘He does, me and Corporal Dicklish found it two weeks ago after our first engagement. We both managed to fight it off, but he was gravely injured. Ever since then, he and I have been constantly getting into a scuffle. But with your help, I think we can finish it off. The Corporal and I will take you there and assist you with the operation.’

  Ell smiled at the information and at the fact that the two men would help her team out. Two more capable fighters were not something the Order would turn down. More guns to fight a horror that the Order had little information on was always a plus.

  Curly frowned, frustrated that Ben had essentially volunteered the two to fight when they could go back to safety and forget all about it. However, it would be a waste of time and breath to argue with his boss about it. Best to bite the bullet and follow orders to survive. Though the Disposal Unit was more capable of handling the task than he and his squad, that didn’t mean Curly was comfortable tagging along to fight again.

  ‘In that case, let’s not delay any further and go after it. You two can debrief me on everything else you know about the target and how you first encountered them. But first,’ Ell pointed at Bahnam and the kid he sat beside. ‘What about those two? I assume they are under your command, Sergeant.’

  ‘They are. I recommend you take them to base or at least to safety. Serebergemser Bahnam was attached to my squad as an interpreter, but given the situation with the kid. I feel he should stay with the kid for the time being. Just so we don’t cause any unnecessary stress on either of them. Poor fella survived the night when his entire village was attacked. He needs to get out of here.’

  Agreeing with his decision, Ell gestured for her team to bring Bahnam and the kid to one of the armoured cars and drive them away to safety. ‘That will be sorted. Now, come on. We have a “super soldier” to kill.’