Continued from here…

With a chuckle, he stood up and resumed his post. The morning chill was relenting a bit, and the sun was coming up. 0500 hours. The shrill call of a bird reminded him of his still surroundings. There was an abrupt interruption in the bird’s call, and it fluttered away. And silence.

He looked in the direction of the disturbance. Stone silence, not a sign of movement. Something was uncharacteristic in the manner of the bird. He watched for a moment more. Then, he swung around and grabbed his night-vision goggles. They may not be the best in the world, but they did the job.

A bead of sweat formed on his forehead. The night vision goggles were picking up six distinct bodies, all of them huddle together among the vegetation. Protocol dictated he give a call of warning to the intruders, and ask them to identify themselves. However, he knew these were no innocent villagers. They were stalking and plotting an ambush.

He was concerned for Pramod, though he had gone in the opposite direction, he sure was taking a long time to get back. But he knew, time was of the essence, he had to act quick.

He slowly slid behind the sand bagged bunker that was his sentry post. He took one more look through the goggles and ascertained their positions. Then, he fired.

He gave a warning shot on a tree trunk, and waited. Sure enough, there was return fire. He then pumped one magazine worth of bullets into the vegetation. Amid screams of agony, the return fire continued, and he ducked to reload. He came back up to see that two guys had broken off the huddle, and were now pacing towards his position, guns ablaze. They had black shawls over their heads and bodies, to blend in with the night.

He aimed and neutralised them with shots to the head and stomach. Unfortunately, one of them had spotted him and fired. A bullet tore through his shoulder and sent him reeling from the impact. He immediately stood back up with the bunker wall for support. Just then, Pramod took position beside him, and started returning fire.

This gave him a moment to inspect his wound. Gingerly, he lifted his arm and moved it around. No broken bone, so far so good. There was an exit wound in the side, so the bullet was not lodged in the body. He got back up and joined in the action.

Just then, he heard the camp siren go off. One of the other sentries must have been alerted by the machine gunfire….

Continued Here

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