“How the hell should we find the cave now?” Bertrand asked to no one in particular. “We couldn’t even find it with our system fully operational.”

It had proven more difficult to find path in this messed-up settlement, especially with their tablets unresponsive. Mountains of gravels and splinters replaced what once should’ve been a beautiful village. Perhaps not too long ago some people could’ve been dancing on where Suwarni was blown to pieces. Perhaps a couple used to stare at sunset on the log where they left Leeno. And perhaps someone’d taken a huge shit where Hades was now walking.

“I’m not sure. Digging?” Hades answered Bertrand.

“One of you stupid get my phone from right pocket,” said Chaleed. “Maybe it still got battery, hopefully it can still show the way to us.”

The cadets fell silent hearing it.

“Now you’re telling us you have a means to pinpoint the location this whole time?” said Reiner. “After two of our team members are dead and your friend is joining them, you preferred screaming about our incompetence?”

“It slipped my mind,” Chaleed said with a hoarse voice.

“It’s hard I suppose,” said Hades, “to remember such an important detail when losing your life. Especially when that detail can save your own life. Complaining is always easier.”

“Stop bitching, la!” Chaleed said. “Come take it and find that shit cave. You wanna live or not?”

“And to think I’d considered myself too hard on you,” said Hades. “Now kicking you feels much better.”

“Here,” Bertrand said, handing the mobile phone she fished out of Chaleed’s pocket to its owner.

They took a moment to stop and let the man down to tinker with the gadget. Bertrand stayed by Chaleed’s side while Hades and Reiner watched for threats. Because the four of them grouping in the middle of vast ground was like ducks swimming on a wide lake during open season.

The moon was shining on them as if they were actors in a play, showering the group with cold light. Through the clouds, the silver rays highlighted several other areas on the site like they were a drama set. Patches of shadow elongated from the ruins, fires crackling here and there, and the entire highland appeared to Hades like a set for an overly dramatic scene. And truly, it wouldn’t be completed without the whispering of soft winds and haunting music of the forest ahead.

But Hades didn’t let himself distracted by the peace. He knew it was only temporary.

Because not too far from where they came from, heavy footsteps ground the rocks on the soil and the air rustled with dread. Then, coming from the shack they just left, two loud bangs broke the night.

The gunshots prompted the group to look back to where they came from

The militia had found Haz and released death penalty on him.

“Shit!” Chaleed said.

Hades recognised pain in Chaleed. He’d heard such voice before, and he knew what Chaleed must be feeling.

“Kepala otak kau, Haz,” Chaleed went on saying, “Babi, apa pasal kau mati dulu?”

The one bead of tear that followed the cursing rolled down Chaleed’s chin and dropped lifelessly on his shirt.

Hades cleared his throat. “Bertrand, you found it yet?” he asked. “Let’s hurry, mate.”

“Yeah,” she said, hoisting Chaleed back to his feet, “This way.”

After they headed up westward, they turned right and followed a bushy trail until Hades found himself looking over a canyon. And a bit to his left Hades could see the roundest moon, undisturbed by any cloud, and lit up the sky bright in front of the darkest sky.

Finally, they stopped by the edge of a ravine.

“Alright,” said Bertrand. “Let’s climb down.”

They heard the bullet before they realised the bullet had hit the target. It was sudden, and tearing the night’s silence, the voice of the firing slit the air and hit Bertrand on her left calf. The bullet had gone in and out of Bertrand’s muscle, breaking her bones in the process.

“Fuck!” she screamed.

Hades quickly closed in on her with Reiner covering Chaleed. They searched for the shooter; in the woods, or behind them, and even below them.

But then they looked up and realised it was from above.

Hovering above the canyon, far and high until she seemed like she was standing next to the moon, the sniper watched upon them, her rifle ready to unleash another round. The vulture was carrying her, the talons safely held her shoulders while she was aiming at the cadets. And together, with the combined set up between a human and her kompanion, they appeared as an angel of death.

#

Bertrand’s painful cry had become a beacon for the soldiers. Their drumming footsteps echoed through the woods as they pursued the cadets.

And making sure they did not leave was the flying sniper, whose finger no doubt was eager to squeeze the trigger.

“Motherfucker,” hissed Bertrand, full of agony.

“Exactly what I was going to say,” said Hades. He ducked down to check on his mate, grabbing the phone from Bertrand and leaving Reiner to deal alone with any shooting that may happen soon. He pressed on Bertrand’s leg protector as she grimaced. Finding that small latch along the shin guard, he pulled it and the protector squeezed around the wound. The bleeding may slow and eventually stop, but now they had another one to carry.

That was when he noticed his throat was dry. His lips were cracked, and there was a slightest tingling on each of his fingertip. Hades noticed small, unimportant things as he began succumbing into a mission stress. Suddenly, he became very conscious about his unprotected bare face.

So, he took a very deep and long breath. Then he looked at the phone. A light-blue arrow on the screen was pointing down and slightly right, where a red flag marked the entrance to the underground caves.

Hades licked his lips and slowly stood up despite his quivering knees. He gazed down the ravine and concluded it was more of a sharp-inclined gradient, thick bushes and pebbles painting over it. It was not a vertical climb exactly. And at this point Hades couldn’t really care if his brain was making the right measurement.

“Alright,” Hades said, helping Bertrand to her feet. “Reiner, you cover Chaleed. Bertrand and I will distract the stringcrosser.”

“Where are we going exactly?” asked Reiner.

“Down,” Hades said. “Bertrand, can you slide?”

“I can manage, but why would we…Oh.” She blinked. “You crazy asshole.”

“It makes me nauseous, too,” said Hades. “So, might as well shoot flares at that bitch as we go.” He changed the power pack to a magazine and set the blaster to a flare gun function.

“Oh fuck, no,” Chaleed said as Reiner hoisted him to the edge. “Takde, takde. I’m not sliding down without proper protection. He spat at Hades, again. “Babi gila.”

Hades shrugged. “You’ve called me worse. Reiner, you ready?”

“Can I be not?” he said. He hugged the muttering Chaleed tight and his checked his own power pack. “Let’s go and be done with it.”

“Here comes nothing,” Hades said. And he blasted his guns at the sniper.

#

A streak of red painted the starry sky. Then the second one launched immediately after. And the bright gunpowder that sparked the flares illuminated the night, and thus distracting the sniper’s vision.

Long enough for the cadets to jump off the edge and surf the cold dirt.

Freezing winds slapped Hades as his heart thumped like a war drum. Under the biting cold his ears went hot red faster than constipated gentleman’s face would. His nostril, too, felt expanded into a cold burn and he fought the urge to sneeze. Whyever the fuck he took down the face shield?

“How long more?” Reiner shouted while pointing at the sniper’s direction.

She has moved. The vulture flew around in search for better angle for the sniper.

Hades chose to look at the map instead, with his ass and back ground against the tangling grass and his face skin cracked with every breath. The blue arrow still blinked on the phone’s screen, now closer to the red flag. And in a few seconds, they had to tilt to the right and diverted their path straight into a (hopefully) hole. He saw, where they were supposed to turn in less than fifty meters, a corpse of a tree.

“Guys,” Hades shouted. “Grab a hold to that tree and shift your weight slightly to the left and slide right. Bertrand, reload!”

Once their blasters were ready, Hades and Bertrand released the second round of flares, each at random direction in hope to confuse their predator.

“Hang on!” Reiner shouted.

And one by one they grabbed part of the tree and use a small amount of momentum to change direction.

“Reload!” Hades shouted.

Less than twenty meters into the entrance now. Hades’s chest now throbbed as his lungs emptied out the remaining air.

Let it be there, Hades prayed. It fucking better be there. He took another long breath. And for the third time, Hades and Bertrand shot another set of flares.

Then Reiner and Chaleed disappeared first into the ground. And then Hades embraced himself going into the entrance.

Lastly, Bertrand went in. And one by one, they all had disappeared, swallowed by the vines and ground.