Chapter 22
Never before in my life had I seen such a brutal attack. Artillery shells destroyed everything in their path. Buildings, soldiers who tried to find cover, vehicles in flames.
The warning siren was destroyed, only the bottom-half of the pole remained.
Either it was hit first by the artillery or someone took it out from a distance. Unrealistic, but it was the only explanation I could come up with at the moment.
Dinky shivered in my arms, seeing the explosions and the damage and soldiers who screamed in pain.
Explosions missed us by a few meters and I had to dive to prone to protect her from splinter and Metal.
I had tunnel vision, focused only to the kids and the bunker.
Markus reached it first. I expected nothing else, as he was the best in sport.
“Almost there, hurry!” he shouted. Despite my bet attempts to avoid getting hit, an explosion right next to me threw me to the ground. Recovering quickly, I picked Dinky up who was unharmed.
Inside we gently placed them on the ground. They lost their nerves.
“ENOUGH! STOOOOOOOP!” Sweetie Belle screamed.
“No, please, no more…” Dinky was covering her ears. This reminded me of the cut scene of Company of Heroes when the USS Texas opened fire. It was almost identical with the real life scene we had right now.
I had to cover my ears too. “Lieutenant, what’s happening?! We see explosions and smoke from the mountains!”
“We’re under fire by artillery!” my voice cracked slightly from my nerves as i answered Twilight.
After the artillery stopped, Pablo shouted, “The Russians!” before firing.
Dinky wrapped her forelegs around me with tear filled eyes. “Please don’t leave us here.”
“I’m not leaving the bunker, I’ll be right there. Nothing bad will happen to you.”
They all hugged my tightly, fearing for their lives. Tom, Pablo and Markus fired at the hostiles. “They’re attacking with Riflemen and tanks! Good that air support is on its way!” Tom said as Cheetah Gunships were on the scene.
They managed to take out many Wolves and tanks, but it was too many for them. It didn’t take long until the Gunships crashed to the ground and exploded.
“WHERE DID THE RUSSIANS GET ALL THOSE TROOPS?!” Pablo screamed his lungs out.
Tom reloaded. “THIS IS NOT WORKING!”
Markus despite the chaos was still taunting the enemy. “You should have stuck to the cold war!”
Despite the sounds of battle, my little friends relaxed a bit as they knew that the bunker shielded them from the battle and that I was here to protect them. Still, they were nervous and scared.
But then something happened. Something worse. A regular soldier tried to reach the bunker but was shot as he reached it. “Mother… please, help me.” He cried in pain as blood came from his chest.
“I fix you up in no time!” I quickly pressed my hands onto the wound to slow the bleeding. But it was too late. He went into shock.
Scootaloo's eyes widened and her jaw dropped in dismay. The young man began to writhe uncontrollably in short, violent spasms. “Is he…is he…?” Apple Bloom stared at the deceased man.
Another young life taken by this war. But there are worse things than death. Right now for me, it was what happened right now.
The blood came into contact with Dinky’s hoof. “What?! Get it off, Get it off!!!” She fell to the ground, eyes focused on her blood-strained hoof. She crawled backwards against the wall, leaving blood stains all over the place. Her friends were too shocked to do anything; they stared at Dinky’s hoof, eyes wide, breathing heavy and shaking.
I got on one knee, and grabbed my canteen to wash my hands. Then I tried to get the blood off. Dinky relaxed but still was scared. Getting PTSD or war trauma was much worse than to die. But getting that as child, when your life is still ahead of you is the worst thing that can happen.
The rest of my men got into the bunker to destroy the tanks. They were exhausted and bloodied, their faces covered in greasy sweat and ash, their breathing was heavy. Also their hands were shaking and so did I. Adrenaline, a curse and blessing.
Without saying a word, they helped my comrades to fight off the enemy. But I had something more important in mind.
I hugged all crying foals tightly, patting them and humming something to comfort them. I peeked out the bunker. Waves of Wolves and T-100 attacked. It couldn’t be a raid; otherwise there would be no artillery at the beginning.
“Take no prisoners comrades! Show no mercy! Kill them all! Spare no one! The women of Europe will weep tonight!” a Wolf shouted.
I rubbed the back of the kids, saying that everything would be alright. Their eyes were closed, their breathing rapid and their heart rates were at 180 beats per minute.
I also did this with my son after I found him. Just like them right now, he cried his heart out as he was scared. Very scared.
Eventually, he stopped crying as he was just happy to see us again. But the foals didn’t stop as the bunker rumbled from the fighting outside.
Still in the end, the Russians got defeated. I lifted Dinky up and held her close to my chest. Tom took Sweetie Belle, Pablo Apple Bloom and Markus Scootaloo. My men took care of the body. Dinky didn’t sayed anything; she just stayed curled up in my arms.
Outside I overlooked the damage. Nothing important was destroyed, but unimportant buildings that were used as cover were collapsed, vehicles on fire, and bodies of Russians and Europeans everywhere. Both sides took heavy casualties.
“We took Moskau, but still they don’t give up.” Markus patted Scootaloo.
“How did they even found that base?” I patted Dinky.
“Russian intelligence I suspect.” Tom replied.
An officer came to us. “Enforcers, we need you to recapture Rovaniemi. Be ready in 15 minutes.”
“Yes, sir. And what about our guests?”
“Get rid of them.”
“But all transports have been destroyed.”
“We need that base back and only now we have the opportunity to retake it. We DON’T have the luxury of babysitting those foals.”
“Hey! Who you callin' a baby!? We are still foals but no baby’s!” Apple Bloom growled, causing the officer to take a step back.
“I just mean, you can’t stay here.”
“Tell me straightaway.” She surely got that from her sister.
Just then, Badgers arrived. “Let’s get you home, shall we?” the driver said as they got in. I just hope that it will work this time, before I entered the Gadfly.