Russian translations are in brackets. ( )
* January 14. 2014 *
I was infiltrating a base to capture hostile intelligence, along with a fellow veteran of nine years. The man was a 2nd Lieutenant who had been transferred from the navy a year back.
" In position command." I said over the radio.
" Roger Stranger 0-1. Stand by for visual." A voice replied.
A few minutes went by before we heard command again.
" Stranger squad, we have a problem. Delta squad has been captured. Save them if you can, but the intel is top priority."
I looked at my teammate, John, and told him to stay here.
" Stay here on overwatch. I need to get Delta out." he nodded.
I began moving to the prison and some tons of guards. 'Shit. You guys need to make a challenge for me.' I thought.
I took out my throwing hatchet and threw it at one of them, hitting him in the head.
" Контакты! Пожар на цель! " They yelled out. (Contact! Fire on the target!)
I smiled as I took them out silently, little did I know, they had raised the alarm.
" Jack! Multiple foot mobiles moving towards you!" 'Fuck!' I yelled in my head.
I stopped firing and started running to Delta, grabbing the key on the way in.
An AK-47 stock swung at me and I was out cold.
I woke up around an hour later next to Delta team and John.
"Fuck..." I mouthed to myself.
The room was about 20 by 20 feet, made of steel, and had no way out.
" Shit. They got you too?" I asked John.
He nodded. He looked like he had been tortured half to death.
" I tried to radio you, and they found me. Put me in a chamber and tortured me. Looks like you got hit good to huh? You got a gash on your eye." He said to me.
I touched my eye and felt blood as a Delta team medic crawled over to me, and helped me out.
"Ahhh... Fuck. I can't see out of it." I said as I tried to get up, but just fell on my back.
" Don't try to walk mate. You're hurt real bad." The medic told me. He had an australian accent.
Four hours past before a soldier walked in.
" Что вы хотите? " I asked him. ( What do you want?)
He shushed me.
" Shh. I'm an ally. " The man said, with a french accent.
He helped us up and came up with a plan.
" I can get you guys out of here. I can tell the guards I'm transferring you to another base, but really help you escape. Sound like a plan?" He asked.
" Allons-y" I said. Delta stared at me.
I threw my hands in the air. " What? I speak multiple languages. I need to."
One man sighed as we walked out of the building. " Damn you Russia. It's freezeing out here." John stated.
We walked out of the base chained together. A Russian soldier stopped us.
"У меня есть грузовик готов передать этих людей." ( I have a truck ready to transfer these men.)
" Где?" (Where to?)
" Воркута." (Vorkuta.)
Vorkuta opened back up on August 29, 2013 as a prison camp for the Russian military. Brutal place.
We hopped into an army truck with some weaponry in it.
" Oh fuck yes!" I yelled out, grabbing an Israeli Desert Eagle, the same one I have today.
" Don't worry. I'm a good shot. I can hit a hummingbird from one-hundred meters while sprinting." I told them.
* Russian command base. *
Spetsnaz Soldier Viktor Moskvina
" Что вы подразумеваете они сбежали!?" The commander screamed at the Spetsnaz troops. ( What do you mean they escaped?!)
He stared at us in disappointment.
" Виктор. Вы находитесь в заряда. Убейте их. " (Viktor. You're in charge. Kill them.) I nodded at my commander.
" Хорошо. Следуйте за мной. Захватите свои винтовки." (Okay. Follow me. Grab your rifles.)
We hopped in a jeep and sped off to intercept, who commander called " Morgunov ".
We wanted to kill him. We needed to kill him.
* Some road in Russia. *
Back to Jack
" Hey. I have a safe house in Ukraine. Right here." I told the driver, pointing to a spot on a map.
" You have guns and food?" He asked. I nodded.
" We'll be safe there."
A long six hour drive and we arrived at my safe house to find dead men everywhere.
" Dammit! AMBUSH!" I yelled out as a rocket blew up near us.
" Out of the truck! GO GO GO!" I screamed as another rocket blew up the truck.
" Holy shit! AC-130! Identify yourself!" I yelled in my radio.
" We are Russian Rebels! We are not hostile!" They yelled back at us.
" Mind helping us out?!" I asked them.
A Howitzer round came screaming down, exploding around a hundred feet away.
" Tangos! 10 o' clock!" A Delta member yelled.
" They're all around!"
" I need to get to my armory!" I blurted out, firing into the Russians.
" Go! We'll cover you!" The French man told me.
I ran over to the steel door, and punched in the pass-code and sprinted downstairs to the armory. Luckily they didn't find out the code.
"Shit!" I yelled out as I looked around, seeing destroyed weaponry all around. Thank fuck I have a hidden backup armory.
I grabbed as many weapons as I could hold and sprinted outside.
" I got th-" I stopped dead in my tracks. Dead. Dead everywhere. Bodies blown in half. People missing heads. The most alive person was John. I ran over to him and dropped the weapons.
"What happened?!" I asked him, half-panicking.
" That... AC-130... Is... inaccurate as.. fuck...They shot...a howitzer... blew up everything..."
" Son of a-" I cut myself off, grabbing a Anti-tank Rifle and aiming at the plane.
" Fuck you." I said over the radio, firing the Rifle, blowing a hole in the wing.
" We are going down! I repeat we a-" The radio cut off. There was an explosion and I went to check it out. I found a living man.
" You the gunner?" I asked.
" Y-yes..." He coughed up.
" This is something I wanted to do for a long time." I told him, pulling out a hatchet.
" N-no! Please!" He begged as I raised the hatchet.
I swung it and struck him in the arm, almost chopping it off.
I swung repeatedly, mutilating him. I didn't care that I was covered in blood.
I had done this before. Twenty bounty hunters. Twenty murders. I was a troubled man.
* A bar in Nevada. *
2 A.M.
" Hey asshole. You took my seat." A biker said to me.
I turned around. " I don't care." I told him. He tried to hit me. It didn't work, as I grabbed his fist.
I saw rage in his eyes. I had no expression.
He pulled a knife on me. I pulled a bigger knife.
He pulled a gun. I pulled my fists.
" Your gun, versus my hands."
I swiftly disarmed the biker, taking his gun. He pulled his knife out again.
" You don't fuck with a man who escaped military prison, nearly got blown to smithereens, and shot down a military gunship."
I saw terror in his eyes.
" He-he's joking! He's acting like a tough guy!"
" No. I've seen shit you couldn't DREAM OF!" I yelled in his face.
" I Cut apart the bastard who killed my squad. Cut him into pieces," I started, pulling out the bloodied hatchet.
" With this axe." I saw Pure terror in his eyes. " And I can do. It. Again." By this time, I think he shit his pants, as he was out the door in three seconds flat.
I sat back down. " Vodka." I said to bartender, who was frozen in place.
" Y-you didn't really do all that did you?" He asked. I looked around.
I saw terror in peoples eyes.
"I did. Fourteen years in the marines. Takes away your life." I told him.
" You look like..." He thought. " The man that single-handedly took down a base with no support. Because I am."
I saw fear in his eyes. I can tell what people are thinking just by looking into there eyes.
The bartender handed me a large glass filled with Vodka. One of those huge ones.
I chugged it down, seeing my good eye in the reflection. I saw depression in my eye.
I sighed. " I never had a family. Grew up on the streets, getting food from a garbage can."
" My mother died giving birth to me. My dad abandoned me." I had a tear in my eye. " One guy from the marines, Kyle Johnson. He was a brother to me even though he's a spy, working for Korea."
I saw loneliness, in my eye.
" Plus I can't see out of my left eye." He examined the gash.
" Must've hurt." A voice came from behind.
" Spetsnaz Soldier Viktor Moskvina. Do not worry. I am here to help you." He said to me. "Though, I was sent out to kill you." He added.
"Why don't you?" I asked.
" Because. I can help you." He stated.
"Bullshit." I told him.
"There are Spetsnaz soldiers surrounding us right now. I can get you out. You and me, we are not so different."
I just kept looking down, the tear in my eye dropping into the glass.
" You were abandon by society. I was abandoned by Moscow."
" There's a large difference between those two." I stated.
Suddenly, a bullet ripped through the window. Every person in the bar, including Viktor, dropped to the ground.
I stayed sitting.
" It takes strength to do that." He said, I guess trying to cheer me up.
" Do what?" I asked.
" To not even flinch when a bullet goes by your head." He said.
I laughed a bit. " I thought that was a fly."
" I can tell you are sad." He got up.
" I can tell you have seen some shit." He added.
I saw anger, in my eye.
I saw fear in their eyes.
I slammed my hand on the bar.
" Meet me behind here, in the alleyway. We can talk there." I told him, slapping a hundred dollar bill on the bar.
We met behind the bar ten minutes later.
" What do you want?" I asked him.
" I want you to come and live with me in Ukraine. How do you say... No homo. I want you to have a life. I have a wife and two kids." He looked at me, almost like a brother would. Not that I know what that's like.
" I'm a wanted man. The Russian Government wants me dead." I looked back at him. Anger in my eye.
" No. That's what you think. They want to leave you alone. What do you say? Housemates?" He held out his hand.
I stared at him. " I'll tell them to go away."
I saw worry in his eyes.
I shook his hand, but he pulled me into a hug.
" I'm going to have to adapt." I Said as I broke off the awkward hug.
" To?" He asked.
" Everything. Life, society, Russia."
' I... I have a family?' I thought.
'I have... a family. They're not really my family but... Fuck it.'