Chapter 35

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t he engine roared as we barreled down the rough road towards Helmand Province. Raven was behind the wheel, her eyes locked on the rough road ahead. Dust and dirt kicked up by our wheels, blending with the arid, sun-baked terrain.

The horizon was a blur of jagged mountains and endless, barren stretches of land. The villages we passed were little more than clusters of mud-brick houses, the occasional goat or child wandering aimlessly. This place was a far cry from home. It reeked of death and despair.

Helmand was notorious for being a fucking hotbed of insurgent activity, and the tension in the vehicle was so thick you could choke on it. Everyone was on edge, locked and loaded, eyes darting out the windows, waiting for something to go sideways.

I glanced around at my team—everyone was tense, Viper included, sitting in the back with the others. I was up front, next to Raven, keeping an eye on the map and GPS.

We all knew how fucked this could get if things went bad. And for some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this mission was going to be a fucking disaster.

The sky was a relentless, cloudless blue, the sun beating down on us like it had a personal grudge. The heat seeped through the vehicle, making the air inside stifling and thick.

“Hey, Rogue,” Viper called from beside me, dragging me back to the present. “Where’s Pyro? Thought he’d be with us.”

I didn’t even bother turning my head. My mind was already miles away.

“I asked him to stay back at the base,” I replied, eyes flicking to the horizon. "Needed someone reliable there.”

Viper raised an eyebrow but didn’t push the matter. He just nodded, accepting my answer. I knew he probably had his own thoughts about it, but I didn’t give a fuck.

Pyro was back there for one reason—Red. He was one of the few people I trusted to keep an eye on her, and I needed that peace of mind.

The vehicle jolted like it was about to fall apart as we hit a rough patch of road. I gripped my rifle tighter, my eyes scanning the horizon. We were deep in enemy territory now, and there was no turning back.

We finally rolled into the outskirts of the village in Helmand Province. Dust was fucking everywhere as we slowed to a stop, and I could see the locals gathering, drawn by the promise of supplies. The place was a mess—war had chewed it up and spat it out, leaving nothing but rubble and desperation.

Raven killed the engine, and we piled out, stretching our legs and taking in the scene. The kids ran around barefoot, their faces caked with dust, while the adults stood back, hesitant yet curious about the supplies we were bringing. It was clear these people had seen hell, and we were just another set of armed intruders.

We started unloading the supplies—food, water, medical kits. The locals moved in slowly at first, then, when the word spread, it was like a flood. One kid, maybe ten years old, stared up at me like I was fucking Santa Claus as I crouched down and handed him a bottle of water. He grabbed it with both hands, clutching it like it was the last thing he’d ever get.

“Thank you,” he said in in heavily accented English before scurrying back to his family.

I ruffled his dirty hair, forcing a smile that felt as fake as it sounded.

“Stay safe, kid,” I said, moving on.

I kept handing out supplies, all the while keeping an eye on Raven and Viper. They were doing the same. The air was still tense, but manageable. We were here to help, but these people had been through hell. To them, we were probably just another part of it.

An old man, weathered as fuck, with deep lines carved into his face and a turban that looked like it’d seen more wars than I had, approached me. He spoke in Pashto—thanked me, maybe welcomed us. I caught a few words, but most of it was lost in translation. I gave him a nod, hoping it conveyed whatever bullshit feeling I was supposed to give in return.

Raven was off in the corner, talking to some women using half-assed phrases and a lot of hand gestures. They seemed to understand, nodding and smiling, though their eyes said they didn’t trust us for a second. Viper, meanwhile, kept his eyes on the crowd while handing out antibiotics and painkillers, his face set in that usual ‘don’t fuck with me’ expression.

After about an hour, the crowd thinned out. The supplies were nearly gone, and the locals had mostly backed off. I motioned for Raven and Viper to head over as I finished up.

“Alright, we’ve done our part here,” I said, lowering my voice. “Now we need to get some intel. Split up and see if you can find anything. Not many of these folks speak English, so use your best judgment. We meet back here in two hours.”

Viper raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. “You think these people know anything?”

I shrugged, though my gut screamed yes. “Better than sitting on our asses, waiting to get blown up. Just be discreet. We don’t need any unwanted attention.”

Raven nodded, scanning the crowd like a hawk. “Got it, boss.”

She slung her rifle over her shoulder and headed toward the far end of the village.

Viper gave me a brief salute, adjusting his gear. “Time to play detective, eh?”

He turned and walked off, blending into the throng of villagers. Both of them disappeared into the dust, and I stood there, watching the locals eyeing us like vultures.

I parked my ass on a broken wall, pulled out a cigarette, and lit up. Took a deep drag, letting the smoke calm me down. We were running out of time, and my brain was spinning with too many damn thoughts.

As the sun climbed higher, turning everything into a fucking oven, I leaned against the vehicle, taking a swig from my canteen. Water. Not booze this time. Warm as piss, but it did the job. Sitting still wasn’t gonna cut it. I needed to move, shake the cobwebs out of my head.

Without much of a plan, I started wandering through the narrow, dusty streets. The locals watched me like I was a loaded gun ready to go off. Their faces, beaten down by years of this shit, didn’t have a drop of hope left in them.

Kids played in the dirt, men stood around in little groups, glaring at me like I was about to ruin their day. I tried talking to a few of them—big mistake. Most of them just stared at me like I was speaking alien, or maybe they just didn’t give a shit.

One old woman clung to a kid like I was the boogeyman, shaking her head like I was about to snatch him up. Another guy just stared at me, not even bothering to pretend he cared.

I spotted an old man hunched by a crumbling wall, figured I’d give it another shot. Tried to strike up some kind of conversation, but he just muttered in Pashto, shaking his head like I was wasting his time. Fucking language barrier was a bitch.

Frustrated, I moved on. A woman selling vegetables at a makeshift stall seemed a bit more willing to talk, but all I got were half-baked rumors, no real intel. She mentioned some new faces showing up in the village recently, but that was all—nothing I could use.

Next, I found a group of men huddled outside some rundown shack. They watched me like I was a walking target.

“Salaam,” I greeted them, hoping to break the ice. “We’re here to help.”

One old guy nodded, a wrinkled face breaking into a suspicious smile. “Thank you,” he said in halting English. “We need...many things.”

I squatted down to his level, hoping to seem less like a threat.

“We’re doing what we can. But I need your help too. Have you seen any unusual activity? Anything strange?”

The old man’s eyes darted around like he was being watched.

“Many soldiers...come and go. Not your soldiers. Others.”

That set off alarm bells.

“Can you tell me more?”

He shook his head, fear clouding his eyes. “Dangerous. Cannot speak here.”

“Why not?” I pressed, but he just shook his head and stepped back, ending the conversation.

By the time the sun was dipping lower, casting long shadows, I made my way back to the meet-up spot. Raven and Viper were already there, looking as grim as I felt.

“Find anything?” I asked, but my viewpoint made it clear I wasn’t expecting shit.

Raven walked up to me first, glancing around and making sure no one was within earshot.

“Got some info. Nothing concrete, but people are talking about a group of insurgents moving through the area recently. Could be connected to the captain’s so-called ‘secret mission’.”

Viper chimed in. “Same here. A lot of whispers about unusual movements. Locals are scared shitless. Nothing solid, but enough to be worried.”

I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. “Alright. We’ll regroup and figure out our next steps. For now, let’s pack up and get the hell out of here.”

I scanned the gathering dusk as we headed back to the vehicles. The villagers had fucked off, leaving us with the ominous quiet of an Afghan twilight. As we got closer, a soldier broke from the group and rushed over, looking like he was about to shit himself. The rest of the team looked like they’d rather be anywhere but here.

“Sir,” he started, his voice cracking like he was back in fucking puberty, "we’ve got a situation.”

I wiped the sweat off my brow, already bracing myself for the worst. I didn’t need a crystal ball to see that coming.

“What now?”

The soldier hesitated before spitting it out. “We’re out of gas.”

And I was about to be out of my god damn mind.

My brows slammed together so hard I felt it in my skull. “Out of gas?” I echoed dumbfounded. “How in the absolute fuck did that happen?”

The soldier looked like he’d just swallowed a live grenade.

“It was stolen, sir,” he confessed, his eyes locked onto a point somewhere over my shoulder. “Someone siphoned it while we were distributing aid and helping the wounded.”

For a second, the words didn’t even compute—they seemed too absurd to be true considering all this fucking madness we were in, trying to tame with band-aids, blankets and good intentions wrapped in Kevlar vests and camo paint.

Raven stepped up, her arms crossed over her chest in a way that suggested she was two seconds away from throttling someone with her bare hands if necessary—preferably whoever was responsible for this clusterfuck we were now neck-deep in because of their idiocy or negligence.

Or both.

“Are you fucking with us? How could no one have seen anything? We had people watching, didn’t we?”

The private swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing like it was trying to escape his throat.

“We were all busy, ma’am. There were kids crying, people needing medical attention. We couldn’t watch the vehicles every second.”

I took a deep breath, trying to keep my shit together. Here we were, a group of highly trained soldiers, brought to our knees by something as mundane as a fuel theft.

“Viper, get on the radio, see if we can’t get an airlift or a refueling team out here.”

“Already on it,” Viper said, heading towards the comms gear.

As he walked off to try and reach HQ, the rest of us just stood there in the fucking desert, thanks to some opportunistic sons of bitches who saw fit to screw us over.

We were stranded in the ass-end of nowhere, surrounded by locals who might or might not want us dead, with nightfall creeping up on us and the prospect of being sitting ducks for any hostile fucker with a hard-on for American targets.

Fucking fantastic.

I ran a hand over my stubbled chin, feeling the grit of the day’s sweat and dirt. “While Viper’s trying to get us some help, we need to figure out what to do. We can’t just sit here with our thumbs up our asses.”

Raven was pacing, kicking up little clouds of dust with each step. “We need to secure the perimeter, make sure we don’t end up with our backs blown out. We also need to keep an eye on the locals. Someone here knows something.”

The soldier who brought the news still stood there, looking like he wanted the ground to swallow him. “Should we set up a perimeter, sir?”

I nodded, resisting the urge to rip his head off. “Do it. And spread the word. We’re on high alert until we get this sorted.”

As he hurried off, Raven moved closer to me. “You think this was planned?”

“Feels like it,” I replied. “Someone knew we’d be distracted. They took advantage.”

Viper came back, shaking his head. “Radio’s dead. Either the signal’s blocked, or we’re out of range.”

“Great. Just fucking great,” I kicked at a stone, sending it skittering across the ground.

The sun was beating down on us like a damn drum, the kind that gets under your skin and rattles your last nerve. Sweat trickled down my spine, and I could feel the grit of the desert clinging to my face. The situation was a solid five category on the fuckery scale, and the heat was the least of our worries.

I gathered everyone around because if we didn’t get our shit together fast, we might as well slap targets on our backs and call it a day. They all looked at me, waiting for answers, questions practically buzzing around their heads like flies on a pile of shit. Same thought in everyone’s mind:

What now, boss?

I cleared my throat, feeling every grain of sand that was taken up residence there.

“Listen up,” I barked, my frustration bleeding into my voice. “We’re going to split into two groups. Group Alpha stays here to guard the vehicles and keep an eye on the locals.”

A murmur ran through the ranks, but I held up a hand to shut it down.

“Group Bravo,” I continued, pointing to the rugged terrain around us, “you’re with me. We’re doing a sweep of the area. I want eyes and ears on every approach. We need to know what’s coming before it’s shoving a boot up our collective asses. Clear?”

There was a chorus of gritted teeth and hard nods, a shared understanding that this wasn’t a suggestion; it was an order.

Good. They were still with me.

“And also, start prepping for a potential evac on foot. We might have to move out fast if Viper can’t get us that fuel.”

Viper, ever the optimistic dipshit, piped up. “I’ll keep trying with the radio,” he said, though we all knew our chances of getting through were slimmer than a supermodel after a juice cleanse.

“Good,” I grunted, acknowledging his initiative.

I turned my attention to Raven, her eyes sharp as flint. “Raven, I need you to start inventorying what we’ve got left—supplies, ammo, everything. We need to know what we’re working with.”

She gave me a thumbs-up already moving towards the crates and packs, ready to take stock of our lifeline.

With the plan laid out, the group started to disperse, each person knowing their role. My team was ready, geared up and waiting for my signal to move out. I was just about to rally with them when Raven approached me. She had that look in her eye, the one that said she was about to drop some news that could either screw us or save our asses.

“We’ve got those empty jerrycans. A couple of us could head to the nearest town, try to barter for fuel.”

I sized her up, considering the risks. “Know any Pashto?”

She just smirked, the corner of her mouth twitching upwards in that infuriatingly confident way of hers. “Enough to get by. I can swear like a trooper and ask where’s the toilet. That usually opens doors.”

I chuckled, giving her the green light but not without laying down some ground rules. “Alright,” I conceded, the plan solidifying in my mind. “Take two men with you. Be careful, keep your comms open and if things start to go sideways, you get the fuck out. No heroics. Understood?”

“Loud and clear, boss,” she said, then turned on her heel to gather her men.

As she walked off, I felt this knot tighten in my gut. It wasn’t just the usual shit—hunger, thirst, or the fear of getting our heads blown off by some trigger-happy warlord’s goons.

No, this was worse. A sense of dread that clung to me like a bad smell after a night of heavy drinking and worse decisions.

I signaled the rest of my team, and we moved out, deeper into the belly of the beast. I needed to stay sharp, to be ready for anything. But the tension coiled in my gut, and no amount of mental preparation could completely dispel it. I knew the risks, we all did, but knowing and accepting were two different monsters.

One thing I knew for sure—this place might be hell, but it sure as fuck wasn’t going to be our grave.