Last Orders

This is a short piece of creative writing, about a Fiction Fantasy world. This is just a small sample and I have not decided whether to develop this story further.

  Look left, look right.

This was his call, this was his judgement

He crouched down next to the others, pulled down his scarf with a gloved hand and uncovered his mouth.  He squatted, keeping his balance by digging the end of his assault rifle into the ground. He looked desperately into Kelvin’s eyes.

“Boys, we need to move forward. This is our best chance, our only chance” Oscar instructed, he had to be firm. He needed to get into Kelvin’s head. Kelvin was the problem; both Oscar and Russell knew that.

“I can’t, I can’t! I don’t want to move! I’m not going! I aren’t, I swear!  You can’t make me. I’m not ready. Check again! Please check again? I don’t feel safe, I want to go home. Please dear god just let me go home already” Kelvin squeezed his eyes tight and shook his head furiously; his gun fell at his feet.

“We need to go and we need to go now. If we don’t, they’re going to find us. We’re sitting ducks right now” Oscar turned to Russell.  Russell knew Kelvin was holding them back, but his heart ached for Kelvin. He was just a young man, a boy even. A war zone was no place for him. It hurt Russell to watch Kelvin being pushed to his limits every day. The things Kelvin had seen had broken him.

Oscar’s radio crackled, a stern voice spoke “C42B, this is C22C, message, over “

“C42B, received, over” Oscar replied, a look of dread and desperation fell across his face as he looked at Russell, then Kelvin

“We have received data that enemy is approaching from the west, I repeat enemy approaching from the west. Over”

“C42B, repeat, over” Oscar sounded concerned, he knew this would happen. Kelvin wasn’t going to move easily, the enemy was fast approaching and again it was his call.

“We have received data that enemy is approaching from the west, I repeat enemy approaching from the west. Over”

“C42B, received, heading to the north, over”

Oscar stood up to scan the terrain, it was clear. Look left, look right, “Russell, we need to move urgently!  The enemy is approaching, Kelvin, we have to go!”

Kelvin didn’t reply but continued to shake his head.

“I promise you kelvin. I promise you, I will get you out safe. Trust me, we all have each other” Oscar reached out to help kelvin to his feet. The tone of Oscar’s voice had made Kelvin somehow find faith.

The three men climbed over rubble from what used to be support beams of the building.  They crept slowly forward, guns at the ready.

Oscar’s heart was racing, he was at the front. Kelvin shaken, remained in the middle. Russell was at the rear.  The men needed to jump down from the broken rubble, across the road of debris and to the building on the other side. The terrain ahead was dry. Open and bare in places. Oscar and Russell were both capable of crossing; however, they had to protect Kelvin.  Explosions in the distance made Kelvin flinch, he was traumatised. He was just a boy.

“On your call Osc,” Russell nodded, sounding stern and maintaining confidence.

 Oscar gave a nod then scanned the land ahead once again. He plotted three steps. Firstly to the white car, just below where they currently stood. Secondly, to cross the road covered in debris that separated them from their final destination and thirdly, to enter the building on the other side of the road and to continue their path through to the other side. After Oscar informed the others, they jumped from the building down to the debris-covered road below, “Stay close. Move quickly and quietly!” Oscar commanded.

They reached the white car, step one achieved.

 “Wait!” Oscar shouted raising his left hand as the three men crouched behind the car. “Did you hear that?” Oscar’s focus was now hard and intense.  He thought he could hear gunfire close by. Silence fell all around the three men.  Russell could hear Kelvin’s whimpers beyond his own heavy breathing, yet the eerie silence still lingered. Nobody spoke.

Before they knew it, a ball of fire lit up beside them, blowing the cars surrounding them high into the sky. Petrified, Kelvin covered his ears dropping his gun. Rounds were being shot from all directions.  They had been spotted and Oscar was sure as hell that the next target would be the white car they were crouched behind.

“OH SH-! RUN FOR COVER!” Oscar bellowed as he hinted towards their final destination. He raised his arm to cover his face and grabbed his gun with his other hand.

Russell pushed Kelvin forward to get him on his feet so that they could run for cover. Bullets were hitting the ground all around.

“YOU NEED TO MOVE KELVIN, YOU NEED TO RUN! RUN KELVIN! RUN FOR THAT BUILDING, YOU CAN DO IT” Russell needed Kelvin to listen to him otherwise they wouldn’t make it to the other side. Russell ushered him to follow Oscar’s lead, but Kelvin seemed to shut down. He couldn’t hear Russell’s voice anymore. The gunfire around him echoed in his ears. He squeezed his eyes tightly, as tears began to run down his cheek.

“God, please make it stop, please make them go away”, he began to rock back and forth.

 “KELVIN RUN TO ME” Oscar shouted firing shots back towards the enemy and trying to guide Kelvin to safety.

Kelvin didn’t move.

“KELVIN RUN!” Oscar shouted from ahead

“We’re going to f*****g die! You need to move!” Russell shouted, now becoming impatient.

“KELVIN YOU NEED TO RUN! MOVE TO COVER KELVIN! Save yourself!”  Oscar tried to plead with Kelvin but it didn’t seem to work.  Oscar had made it to the shelter. He searched the rubble and grabbed a medium sized rock and then chucked it Kelvin’s arm. Being hit made Kelvin flinch and brought him back to reality. This was Oscar’s perfect opportunity to get Kelvin’s attention.

“KELVIN! KELVIN!? KELVIN, FOLLOW MY VOICE” Oscar shouted.

Russell had now resorted to trying to drag Kelvin, they’d had already made it half way. Russell just needed to get them to the other side.

Oscar was firing shots back at the enemy. Russell was panicking; he could see the bullets hitting the sand around him. Russell and Kelvin were in the centre of the crossfire. They were open to all the bullets.  The realisation hit him that there were becoming some extremely close near misses, Russell’s adrenaline rush was high and he found that extra strength to pull Kelvin to his feet.  Kelvin stood, leaving his gun on the floor and instantly clasping his hands over his ears before following Russell.

“He’s up” Russell thought, then ran over to cover with Oscar.

“Come on Kelv, just a little further my man” Oscar encouraged, as both he and Russell were firing return shots to protect Kelvin.

Then, Kelvin collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Russell froze mid-fire, “Kelvin?”

Everything seemed to fall quiet again; Russell’s adrenalized tunnel vision focused on Kelvin’s body on the ground. The gunfire stopped. Then it stuck him what had happened. Kelvin had been hit.

“NO! KELVIN! ARE YOU OK? KELVIN?” Russell dropped his gun then went running back into the crossfire, but Oscar grabbed his arm.

“LET GO OF ME! HE’S A YOUNG BOY! He’s somebodies son! We need to get him here!” Russell forcefully tried to pull himself free staring wide-eyed at Oscar, but his grip was too tight.

“You ain’t going anywhere” Oscar shook his head, calm yet serious.

Russell continued to try and free himself from Oscar’s hands.  “I need to save him!”  He pleaded

“Are you crazy?” Oscar frowned then squared up to Russell “You can’t just run back over there unarmed!”

 “Look, leave him. It’s too dangerous and we need to leave! We need to leave Russell before another one of us gets shot down”

Russell’s face was hot and burning with anger, he felt a tear begin to run down his face. He was sweating and his tear felt like fire burning his skin. “You’re a f*****g c**t Oscar, I can f*****g save him”

“We can’t all be a hero” Oscar snapped, picking up Russell’s gun and shoving it at him “Move”

Oscar hinted towards the exit on the other side of the building, before taking the lead.

 “That-,  That, was your god damn call, Oscar!” Russell shouted, throwing his gun down on the floor “you really messed up; for god’s sake we need to save that boy! If you don’t want to then fine, but we made a promise to him. Remember? We made a god damn promise, and I’m going to keep it”

Oscar looked back, but before he had the chance to speak Russell had run back into the crossfire.

“You son of a b***h” Oscar muttered to himself.

All Oscar could do now was watch in silence. He spotted the enemy base and then watched Russell in the crossfire. He was breathing heavily.  This had been his call and this had been his judgement.

They’d both followed his orders and he’d got them into this mess; he needed to get them out. Russell was right. They had made Kelvin a promise yet the trip back would be easier without him, especially now he was wounded.  Oscar could see how much it meant to Russell, yet Oscar didn’t want to see the boy suffer anymore.   

Oscar sighed. Pulling his scarf over his mouth, he aimed his gun, his target on Kelvin.

Get rid of the boy, get rid of the problem, Oscar thought to himself as he maintained focus on Kelvin.

 Russell was now dragging Kelvin back to where he and Oscar were sheltered.  He was only about four meters away.

“You’re one cold-hearted son of a b***h!” Oscar said to himself “but not today….”

Oscar turned his gun and began firing shots towards the enemy.