Chapter 1: My Final Hour

 

“KATSURO! TEN O’CLOCK! SECOND FLOOR.” I hear my brother Shuji yell. 

I peek over the pile of rubble that I’m hiding behind and I see a machine gun position spraying torrents of lead out of a hole in a wall. There were other holes as well and I could see flashes of gunfire coming from those holes. The hole is on the second floor of a building, the holes is too small for me to throw a grenade in without risking me missing and bouncing the grenade back down towards me.

This means I’m going to have to get in through the ground floor and fight my way up. The problem is that the building is almost thirty meters away. There is some cover on the way but it’s going to be tough. I could go around but judging by the fighting I’m hearing from the other streets I don’t think things’ll be much better over there…

I look over to the two kids kneeling to my left. They both wore the uniform of the JSDF, their helmets were too big for their heads and their tactical vests also looked a few sizes too big. I could see that they didn’t have any armor plates in their vests as well. There isn’t much resources left and even my own plate had the damage from two bullets. Japan no longer has the resources to equip all their soldiers, even me, a veteran of two years of fighting can’t get everything I need. 

“We need to move.” I say to the pair.

They both nod and I could see the cold fear in their eyes, their teeth were clenched and I could see their rifles shaking in their hands. A spray of fire hit the rubble around us and the pair flinched as they ducked even lower to the ground. One’s a boy and the other a girl, they were probably about fourteen to fifteen years old. They were replacements that were sent a week days ago, not many people left to send to the frontline. I’m eighteen in a few months and I’ve been fighting for two years so.... do the math. In Japan there were no sons or daughters anymore, there were only soldiers…

“But… the guns…” the boy said. I make it a policy not to learn their names until they prove they can fight, no point getting attached.

“Well if you want to live, those guns need to stop shooting at us.” I snap in reply, as I check my rifle to make sure it’s in working order.

“I’m going, if you want to hide here and die be my guest. Keep up or I’ll leave you behind.” I say as I turn to get ready to run to the next bit of cover.

“SHUJI!” I shout at my brother who is a few metres away firing at the enemy.

He looks at me and I see that slight hesitation in his eyes that is always there before I do something like this. I get it, he promised mom he would keep me safe and here he is sending me to charge a machine gun. I narrow my eyes and give him a look and the hesitation fades.

“COVERING FIRE!” Shuji roars as the rest of the platoon rise and fire at the enemy. 

Seeing this I begin sprinting to the nearest piece of cover while trying to keep my head as low as possible. It’s a toppled over truck, as I turn to see the two kids join me, it looks like these two found their nerve. I give them a nod as I turn away and examine my next dash. It looks like I have four more dashes until I can make a break for the building. The last dash would be a problem. There was an enemy position next to the door…

Nothing a smoke grenade couldn’t solve. The problem was that the enemy soldiers will catch wind of what we are doing and rush into the building after us. I’ll have to buy me some time…

“Hey you two still with me?” I ask as I look at the pair who both nod. Their faces were pale and eyes were wide in terror but they looked lucid at least. 

“Four more to go. Same as the last one, keep your head down and run.” I say to another pair of nods.

“Alright.” I say as I ready myself.

Things went well for the second and the third dashes. At the fourth dashes as I rolled behind a pile of rubble I heard a shout of pain from behind me. I turn to see the girl throw herself into the dirt beside me. Looking back I see the boy had been hit in the thigh, he’s on the ground clutching his leg and screaming in pain. 

“No…” I hear the girl say as she tries to stand up to go out and grab him. I reach up and grab the back of her vest and yank her back into the dirt.

“You go out there, you die too.” I hiss at her.

“I can’t just leave him there! He’s my friend!” I hear the girl shout tears in her eyes. 

Then I heard the screaming stop, we both turned our head to see the boy now lying still and twitching on the ground. Then another spray of gunfire raked the ground around him a few hit him small clouds of red dust puffing out from the impacts. 

“Don’t ever leave cover in a fire fight for something like this. Staying low gets you home. There’s a reason nothing rhymes with charging out like an idiot.” I say as I grab the back of her neck.

“He’s dead. We need to make sure the rest don’t join him.” I say as I watch as she calms slightly and her gaze refocuses.

The girl pauses as she looks at me. She bites her lips and I see her nod as tears flow down her cheek.

“One more dash, then we go for the door.” I say.

The next dash was close; a bullet grazed the girl’s helmet and knocked her off balance. I managed to pull her behind the cover as a few shots narrowly missed her. I watched as she patted the helmet, eyes wide in panic and shock. I reached up and pushed her head to the side and checked the hit on the helmet. It looks like it just scratched the paint…

“Just a graze nothing serious.” I say as she nods mutely.

“Ok, I’ll throw a smoke grenade, then we run for the door. The doorway is open so we shouldn’t have any trouble. I throw a grenade at those guys so they think twice about following us. You still with me?” I ask her.

“Yes…” she replied shakily.

“What’s your name?” I asked and a surprised look appeared on her face. I make it point not to ask for the given names of the replacements when they first arrive. I have their family names which are stitched onto their uniforms, that’s enough for me. 

“Akiko.” She said.

“You can tell me more when we get back. Alright?” I say a nod from Akiko.

“So stay alive I want to hear where you’re from and what’s your favourite food.” I say as I give her a pat on the shoulder. Akiko gave me a small smile and I gave her a smile of my own.

“Ready?” I ask.

“Yes Sergeant Onaga.” Akiko said with as strong a voice as she could manage.

“Alright, let’s go kill those Russians.” I say as I grab a smoke grenade that is hanging from my vest.

I toss it over the destroyed taxi and the white smoke begins to spread. I wait for a moment as a spray of bullets fire out randomly from the smoke. Then I rise and run for the door, as I do so I toss a grenade towards where I remember the Russians were. I hear a shout of alarm just as I enter the first floor followed by Akiko. Then I hear an explosion and screams as the grenade goes off. 

I should have some time before they check this building, they won’t charge through the smoke after I threw a grenade at them like that. Humans don’t want to die and that fear is something I can leverage on to buy me some time. 

I scan the room and I notice there’s no one guarding the ground floor. Incompetence at its finest. Not surprising considering most of the best soldiers were either pushing towards Tokyo or sent to the european front. Japan has been reduced to sending children to fight, no need to tie down too many veteran soldiers here.

After all in Europe they had to deal with the German Bundeswehr and their armoured battalions which are supported by the French and British Army. Last I heard the Germans took the crown of the best armour in the world from the Americans. Considering the reputation of German armor in World War II I guess history has a habit of repeating itself. 

The new Leopard 3 from what I heard were monsters on the battlefield, outclassing the Russian Armata and their new Varsuk heavy tank. I’m not sure how much of this is propaganda but it’s nice to hope that someone at least is beating the shit out of the Russians. Well all that means for me is that the enemy I face is incompetent with the exception of the handfew of expeirenced units here in Sapporo. 

“Stay sharp and please don’t shoot me in the back.” I say to Akiko as I raise my rifle and move towards the stairwell. 

We climbed the stairwell and still no sign of any enemies, then as I reached the second floor I could hear Russian voices echoing out into the corridor. I crept down the corridor and approached one of the doorways. I peeked around the corner and I saw the machine gun position still raking my platoon with fire. From below as far as I can tell there’s only fire coming from one room which means this is it. There’s about six of them in the room firing out into the street through the small holes in the wall. I don’t hear anything from the other rooms, if there were other combatants they would be firing so I would be able to hear them. There is a possibility that a few might be just sitting around somewhere, but I needed to deal with these guys first.

I pull the pin on a grenade and toss it in. I heard shouts of alarm as the Russians noticed the grenade from the sound of it hitting the ground. Then there was the blast and a cloud of dust flew out from the doorway. I raised my rifle and entered the room. I spotted one of the Russians still alive on the ground and I look over at Akiko who was standing there, rifle raised.

“Kill him.” I say as I walk over to one of the corpses and begin searching it for grenades and other throwables. 

With so little supplies I have to make do with what I can scrounge up. I grabbed a pair of grenades from the Russian’s vest, there was only one problem. I don’t hear Akiko shooting…

“What are you doing? Shoot him.” I say coldly as I look at her pale face.

“But he’s not a threat…” Akiko said shakily.

“Do you know why you are here?” I growl as I storm over to her and grab her by the collar. She yelps as her face is brought a few centimeters from mine.

“You’re here to kill him.” I say as I drag her so she’s looking at the dying man on the floor.

“Do you know why he’s here?” I say as I pull her face back towards mine.

“He’s here to kill you.” I hiss as I shove her back.

“Put a big fat hole in his chest.” I say coldly as I point with my rifle at the dying man.

“I can’t… it’s wrong…” Akiko replied as she shook her head tearfully.

I don’t reply, I just raise my rifle and shoot the Russian on the ground. I hear Akiko let out a scream as she covers her mouth in horror.

“I’m trying to teach you something. Do you really think your morals matter here? All your morals, your compassion, they’ll just get you killed or worse. If you can kill you still might get killed. What do you think’s going to happen to you if you can’t even kill an incapcitated enemy?” I say as I reach over and put my hand on her helmet.

“If you want to survive you need to perform. If you can’t kill, you’ll end up dead if you’re lucky.” I say.

“Lucky?” Akiko asked, her voice trembling. 

“What do you think they’ll do to pretty young girls like you if they capture you? Next lesson, save the last bullet for yourself.” I say as Akiko’s face goes pale.

“Their animals, rabid dogs, kill them and you will be doing the world a favour.” I say as Akiko lowers her head and starts staring at the ground.

Well I don’t have time to play war tutor. I can hear shouting coming from down below. I look to the left side of the room and I see a hole in the wall. I peer out to see six Russians below shouting at each other as they pointed up at the room I’m standing in. I turn and run over to the light machine gun, it looks mostly undamaged somehow in spite of the grenade blast. 

Well only one way to find out. I grab it and carry it over to the hole in the wall. I point it down, I pull the trigger and the gun roars to life as a burst of lead sprayed down onto the Russians below. I manage to kill three but the rest have the sense to run into the building and out of my cone of fire. 

“Get ready for some company.” I say as I drop the machine gun and I bolt for the door. We take position at the top of the stairwell guns trained on the crest of the stairs waiting for them to run up.

As I expected I soon heard the sound of boots stomping. One of the Russian’s heads popped out and my bullet found his head in an instant. His body crashed onto the ground tumbling down the stairs. I heard shouts echoing up the stairwell from below, they were shouting at each other. Their shouts told me they were right under us right around the bend of the stairs. 

“Give me one of your grenades.” I say as I extend my hand. 

Akiko nodded as she handed me one of hers. I pulled the pin and walked over to the railing. From here I can toss it down right to the bottom of the stairs. I let the latch popoff and I wait for a second before chucking it down the stairs. I heard the grenade bounce twice off the floor before going off. 

I grip my rifle and rush down the stairs to see the Russians dead on the floor except for one that was clutching at his bloodied chest.

“Kill him.” I say to Akiko as I cover the door.

Akiko hesitates for a moment but she raises her rifle shakily. She hesitates as she aims at the mortally wounded man.

“DO IT!” I roar and I hear the shot go off.

The bullet punched right through into his chest. He gasps as his body twitches then stills as his blood pools onto the floor. 

“Good job, it gets easier the more you do it.” I say and I see Akiko nod shakily, her face a little green. Her eyes were slightly glassy as if she was struggling to process that she just killed someone. She’ll learn… she has to if she wants to survive...

Then I hear the sound of a large engine rumbling coming from outside. I could hear the sound of armoured tracks grinding onto the rubble. I know that sound…

“Come on!” I shout as I sprint for the door. Once I exit the building I turn my head in the direction of the sound and I see what I expected. I feel my blood run cold as I see the metal monstrosity roll out from around a building.

“VARSUK!” I hear Shuji shout.

“RUN!” I shout at Akiko as we dash down the street. 

Then I hear the roar of the Varsuk’s 125mm main gun. I glimpse the afterglow of the shell tear past my right and slam right into a destroyed car that two of the soldiers in my platoon were hiding behind. The shell punches right through and I see one of the soldiers is turned into red mist as the shell hits him. The shell then hits the ground a few metres behind the other soldier, the shell explodes and blasts the soldier's body into bits out over the wreckage of the car. 

“RETREAT!” I hear Shuji shout as he grabs one of the soldiers next to him that was hit by shrapnel and puts the soldier over his shoulder.

With that the whole platoon bolted back the way we came. The tank let off one last cannon shot at us, it missed thankfully, flying over our heads and hurtling down the street. When we finally dragged ourselves back into the beat up supermarket that we were hiding in the day before we were all completely and utterly exhausted.

As I have a look at all the pale and panting soldiers I take stock of our losses. We had twenty seven when we left this morning. It looks like we were now down to about fifteen. I look at Shuji who is laying the wounded boy against the wall.

The boy coughs as blood flows from wounds in his chest. 

“Stay with me.” Shuji said as he tore the shredded vest off the boy.

His chest was a mess, his uniform stained red from multiple shrapnel wounds. He wasn’t going to make it…

Sure enough the boy starts to gasp as blood starts leaking from his mouth, then he coughs and blood splatters from his lips onto his chest. Then he slumps forward as he takes rasping gasps of air, blood most likely pooling in his lungs. I can only watch as his gasps get shallower and shallower before he finally stills.

We all paused as we looked at the corpse, then I watched as Shuji reached up and tore the dog tags from his neck. 

“Everyone get some rest, Katsuro send a runner to HQ. Tell them we failed.” Shuji said, I caught the slightest tremble in his voice. It was subtle but there, I’m probably the only one who noticed. He is my brother after all…

I turn and point at a replacement that doesn’t look too beaten up and I send him on his way. Our radio is broken and yes our ONE radio is broken. Resources are so depleted we are fighting like we’re in World War II. Actually they had radios in World War II so we were worse off than those the soldiers from a hundred years ago. 

“You take first watch.” I say at one of the new replacements in my squad, who was in the other fireteam. They were pinned by the machine gun which was why I had to try and take the building with only three soldiers.

“Why? So you can get me killed too?” the boy spat in response.

“Keep that up and I’ll kill you.” I growled in response as I walked towards him.

“YOU LEFT HIM TO DIE! I SAW IT!” the boy shouted tears in his eyes.

“Hey cool it.” I hear the leader of the other fireteam say as he grabbed the boy’s arm.

The leader of the other fireteam is Corporal Tanaka Hayato, we call him Bible because he’s Christian which is rare for a Japanese. He’s a year younger than me and has been in the platoon the longest next to me and Shuji. He started out as just another scared kid but now he’s a capable soldier, although I still feel he’s too soft for his own good.

“Why? He doesn’t care about us, you don’t even want to know our names. What was his name? The human being that you left to die?” the boy snapped.

“No idea.” I replied curtly.

“Saigo, his name was Saigo. You left him to die, he’s dead because of you!” the boy shouted tears in his eyes.

“You listen to me.” I say as I grab him by the vest and yank him towards me until our faces were a few centimeters apart. I see his eyes colour with fear as his gaze locked with mine.

“This is a war, people die, I suggest you get used to it. Crying about it isn’t going to bring anyone back. You better get a grip unless you want to join Saigo.” I hiss into his face and then proceed to shove him back.

“So what? Is that it? You’re just going to use us until we die?” the boy choked out in sobs.

“Can someone explain to him that there’s a war going on?” I say in exasperation as I look at the boy's tear streaked face.

“There’s still war on kid.” Bible said wearily. 

“You know what, forget it, I’ll take the first watch. Akiko you were trained with him right?” I ask as I turn to Akiko who nodded in response.

“Calm him down and keep him quiet before he tells the whole island where we are.” I say as I turn away and walk over to the opening in the wall that serves as an entrance into the building.. 

The main entrance to the supermarket has collapsed, so the only way in was this hole in the outer wall. Only one way in and one way out, easily defensible but also a death trap if we get caught out here. Well the other buildings are just ruins with barely any cover so this is the best we got.

I sighed as I gripped my rifle and stood at the gap in the wall. The Russians have snipers that used to be hunters in Siberia, they could hit a coin at 500 metres and me standing here gave them an easy shot. If I took cover I wouldn’t be able to see much as I needed to see down both sides of the street. so I don’t really have a choice…

Then I heard movement from behind me and I saw Bible walking over. 

“The kid ok?” I ask.

“Yeah, Akiko’s talking to him. You alright?” Bible asked.

“Yeah fine. Just need to break these kids in. Some make it, some don’t, I just do the best I can.” I reply as I feel my mouth go dry.

“You got that right…” Bible said with a sigh.

“Hey listen… it’s not your fault. You didn’t kill that kid, the Russians did.” Bible said as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

“Well I didn’t save him either…” I reply softly.

“God called him that’s all. It’s just not our turn yet.” Bible said.

“Well hopefully he’s satisfied with that kid for now.” I reply.

“God doesn’t play dice Katsu, he has a plan for us.” Bible said.

“Well he needs to hire someone to do some better planning.” I snap in response and I watch as Bible flinch.

“Sorry…” I say with a sigh.

“It’s alright, we’re all a little upset now, it'll be better tomorrow. Tell me when you're going off watch, I’ll take over.” Bible said with a nod as he turned around.

I stand in silence for hours as I see the sun start to set. As night started to fall I heard a noise in the dark. I raised my Type 32 rifle and peer into the darkness. I see a hand appear out of the darkness holding a white cloth, the figure steps forward revealing the uniform of the JSDF.

“Friendly. I have a message for your officer.” the figure said, in a high feminine voice.

So the messenger’s a girl, the Russians don’t use women in their army. They still have men to fight no need to resort to women just yet. Which means most likely this one wasn’t a Russian wearing the JSDF uniform. Just one thing… the runner we sent was a boy…

“Get in before the snipers get you.” I reply as she hurriedly climbs over the ruined wall.

As she clambers over I get a good look at her. She’s young, probably about 14, the younger ones usually get used as rear echelon troops if they're lucky. If you aren’t lucky you end up here, like the group that were sent here last week...

“Where the hell is the guy I sent? I’m pretty sure I sent a boy.” I say as I look at her.

“He had a breakdown back in camp… they tried to make him go but he just started crying. They couldn’t do anything with him so they sent me instead.” the girl said.

Had a breakdown? At the HQ? That’s odd, usually they snap on the eve of a battle… eve of a battle…

“What are the orders?” I ask as I look at the girl.

“My orders are to deliver the orders to the commanding officer only.” the girl stammered as her eyes darted all over the place refusing to meet my gaze. Something was wrong, I have a feeling I won’t like these orders...

“Follow me.” I say as I turn and begin walking in towards the main room.

I see Akiko sitting against the wall next to the doorway. She’s awake with a thousand yard stare in her eyes. I give her a light nudge with my boot and she flinches as her head shoots up to look at me.

“Take over my watch, stand at the wall, keep a lookout for anything skulking around in the dark and try not to die. I’ll have Bible take over once I get her to Shuji.” I say as I offer her my hand. She takes it and I pull her to her feet, I give her nod which she returns as she walks towards the opening.

I find Shuji sitting at his usual spot, a cup of most likely expired coffee in his hand. He looks up and sees the messenger and wearily like an old man rises to his feet.

“The original runner had a mental breakdown, command sent her instead.” I explain.

“Your message, Private.” I say as I look over my shoulder.

“Err yes! Sir, orders from command are for you to attack the communication station again. You are to take it and hold at all costs.” the messenger says.

“We need reinforcements, I can’t take the station with so little soldiers. When is the attack?” Shuji asks, his voice shaking slightly.

“Orders are for you to attack at dawn tomorrow.” the messenger replies.

I see Shuji raise his hand to his lips, his hand shaking. He bites his hand for a moment before the hand falls listly to his side.

“I can’t take that station without reinforcements. What other news from the command?” Shuji says, his voice shaking.

“Command says the Russians have taken Kyoto and will move onto Tokyo soon.” the messenger replies quietly.

“I can’t take that station…” Shuji stammers his body trembling. 

“Sir, disobeying orders are grounds for…” the messenger began. Then I see my brother’s gaze seemingly shatter into a thousand glass shards...

 

I CAN’T TAKE THE FUCKING STATION!

KYOTO IS LOST AND WE ARE BEING SACRIFICED FOR A STRETCH OF STREET!

 

Shuji roared tears in his eyes. The messenger takes a step back, her face going pale. I grab Shuji by the collar and shove him against one of the nearby shelves.

“You listen to me Shuji, calm down.” I hiss into his face.

“Calm down? Katsuro what’s the point?” Shuji wept, tears now flowing freely.

“Calm down.” I hiss again.

“How many have we lost Katsuro? You remember Naomi?” Shuji asked, a twisted smile on his face, tearing across his visage like a scar.

“Shut up…” I growl.

“She got hit by a tank shell and her head flew right into a fucking tree…” Shuji continued a crazed broken look in his eyes.

“SHUT UP!” I roar, the mental image of past battles flashing before my eyes.

“Why? We’re all dead anyway, command’s just gonna use us until there’s nothing left…” Shuji replied in a cold whisper.

“Yes exactly, we are just going to keep fighting until there’s nothing left.” I reply, I can feel my anger boiling in my mind. The pointlessness of it all, fighting a war we will never win.

“It’s pointless, it’s all pointless…” Shuji wept, as he covered his face with his hands

At those words I feel my rage boil over.

 

THERE IS NO FUCKING POINT!

 

I roar as I drag Shuji by the collar and pull him close until we were nose to nose.

 

THIS WAR IS POINTLESS!

Heroes today, pigs tomorrow.

We are human livestock for the slaughter house.

God has abandoned us.

There is no government, no generals.

It’s just you, me and all these kids behind me.

If we end up as food for the crows tomorrow, FINE, so be it.

BUT I EXPECT YOU TO LEAD US!

 

I finish as I shove him back against the metal shelf with a loud bang and clatter.

“I expect you to lead us all the way down to hell.” I say quietly as I gaze at the broken face of my older brother.

Shuji opens his mouth and takes in a rasping breath. His tears stop and he gets off the shelf and stands.

“Alright…” Shuji said his voice quietly echoing over the silent child soldiers who were gazing at us in fear.

It was then that I heard a crack of a rifle and then a dull thud near the entrance. Then I hear Akiko start to cry from the door. An attack...

Then I hear it, the voices of Russian shouting in their crude language. I hear boots slam onto the concrete as they vault over the wall. I hear a scream from Akiko then a gunshot and her scream is silenced.

I see the kids scramble to their feet scrabbling for their weapons. Bible shouts at the rest to find some cover. Then there was the crack of rifles as the two kids closest the door fell back blood spraying from their chests. Bible was next a bullet hits him in the neck and he falls back gurgling and clutching at his neck. 

I grab the stunned messenger and shove her behind the shelf before taking cover. I turn just in time to see a hole appear in my brother’s head. His life’s blood splattering on the wall behind him. I look to the corpse of the last family member I have left in this world, my father was dead, killed in this stupid war. My mother is in prison for defeatism as she tried to fight me and brother’s forced conscription.

So it seems I am truly alone now, in those few seconds of contemplation I hear the roar of gun fire and then silence. I hear some whimpering in the room, mostly the sound of the girls. The Russians didn’t take male prisoners unless they were officers. The only ones they took were the girls for reasons I rather not put into words.

Then I hear laughing from the Russians and shrieks from one of the girls. I turn to look at the messenger who is as pale as parchment and has her hand over her mouth to stifle her shudders.

I peek around the corner and see the Russians looting the bodies and examining their new captives. Not one of them thinks to check behind the shelf I am hiding behind. There was a saying amongst the girls, “Save the last bullet for yourself.” It seems none of them are going to have that luxury now… unless?

No kind fate awaits the captives and I know I am probably dead. There’s at least fifteen Russians behind this shelf and I doubt I can kill them all....

With things as they are might as well take as many as them down as possible. So I unlatch one of my grenades and pull the pin. I wait for a second and then toss it around the corner. I grab the messenger and duck my head as I hear the shouts of panic. The thin sheet metal of this shelf won’t do very well against shrapnel flying at speeds faster than the speed of sound. Then I hear the ear splitting roar of the explosion. The shrapnel still might punch through the shelf but it was better than nothing.

Sensing no pain I grab my rifle and turn the corner to see the grenade killed at least half of them, injuring a few more. The rest however were prone on the ground and they looked at me in shock. I took aim and gunned down one of the Russians who were on the floor. That snapped them out of their shock and I could see barrels being aimed at me. I ducked and dragged the messenger off to the left as 7.62 Russian rounds tore the shelf I was hiding behind to pieces. I unlatch another grenade and toss it over the shelves in the general direction of the Russians. I hear more shouts of alarm as the grenade goes off.

I throw the messenger down behind some freezer, the kind where they keep icecream and other frozen goods. As I duck behind them, I can hear some of the Russians still talking and cursing with a few crying out in pain.

“Blyat, ubit' etu cyky” I hear one of the Russians say.

I don’t speak Russian but I can guess what they want to do with me judging by their tone. I see one turn the corner and I let off a spray in his direction. He ducks behind the shelf just in time and my shots clatter onto the shelves.

Then I hear the crack of bullets ping onto the freezer and I duck lower as the sparks fly. The messenger starts to scream and cry as I try to crawl to a better position.

 

Granata!

 

I see a grenade land in front of me a moment later. The messenger screams when she sees the grenade and covers her face in terror. I reach out to grab the grenade intent on throwing it back....

A flash of light.

Then darkness…