The Lost Martian Ch. 04

At the door Edward was hugging the left side of the door so he could be the first to go in, he looked behind him and eyed one of his squad mates still aiming at the window, he clicked his fingers and the squad looked at Edward. Edwards placed his hand in front of his mouth in the shape of a fist and pulled down, then drew a counter-clockwise square, indicating tear gas, and window.

The message was clear and the entire squad equipped their gas masks, Edward looked at the man hugging the right side of the door and pointed at the ground. The man went to the door and tried to turn the handle, a click returned indicating the door was locked.

"Dammit," Edward said to himself. They had to now shoot the door down, hopefully, the element of surprise will still be on their side. Edward lifted his fist in front of him and followed with a cocking motion.

The breacher reached behind his back and pulled out a shotgun and cocked it, he aimed it at the lock mechanism. Edward motioned to him with a vertically flat palm telling him to wait. All around the squad the flakey trees picked up speed and moved with the wind. A shot of lightning and Edward started to count in his head.

"Three, Two, One" BOOM, with the clap of thunder Edward, squeezed his flat palm into a ball and the breacher shot at the lock, meanwhile, a grenade was thrown through the window. The bracher then turned with his back towards the door and kicked it open with his boot and got out of the way for the rest of the men.

Edward went through the door and looked around, the room was blanketed with a light drape of gas, he couldn't clearly see the floor but the room wasn't very big. Edward hugged the wall along a hallway and waited by the door frame in front of another room. His squad followed behind him clearing their section before another squad member approached Edward from behind and tapped his shoulder twice.

Edward once again went through the other room, again quaint and small, with a bed hugging the wall and a small side table next to the bed. Whoever lived here wasn't around, they must have left or maybe they're at the other building. Edward retraced his steps back the way he came, the third room was a bit bigger and held two more single beds. He walked out the house and removed his gas mask, outside the house stood Michael greeting him.

"Clear sir, nothing there but saddling tools, it was probably a stable for camels, oh and an outhouse. Finally, we won't have to use the desert as our bathroom" Michael joked, giggling to himself.

"Alright, we'll stay in the big building, wait out the day before moving again." Edward went to inspect the small building then returned to the big house and saw the some of his men kneeled down on the floor with their flashlights. He changed his firing mode on his rifle to safety and threw his gun behind his back.

Obviously, something must be there, he leaned over and his men moved out of the way so he could see what the problem was. What greeted Edward wasn't pretty, it was a pool of dried blood, the dry stain covered a large area and was a rich maroon color.

"Someone must have bled for a long time, Was there a body?" He looked to his men, and all of them shrugged.

******

Earth - District of Persia - Sunrise

As the sun again lifted itself of the endless horizon of the desert, it's warming gaze covers itself over the land and showing 2 small figures lying down beside a small tent. Upon closer inspection, these two lone figures are nothing more but desert camels, and inside the tent are two people lying prone.

As useful as the tent might be to break the path of the howling winds, it doesn't do much to keep the two inhabitants warm. So nestled beneath the thick fabric laid Clara. She has been traveling for about two days now. Anahita's father loved the desert for all it was and knew he would want is to be buried in its endless ocean.

Clara and Anahita made their journey and are about back to Anahita's home, just a small mountain in the way but soon they will pass the valley and be greeted with small splashes of trees and shrubs.

The rain last night will bring up new rivers and lush green trees for the surrounding valley, at least for a few months. The farming season for the people who live in these valleys has started, for hundreds of years, the welcoming of rain has been their natural indicator for the seasons.

In those few days, Clara has learned a lot of Anahita and her past, Clara tried to hide her own, she never lied to Anahita' yet never told her the truth. Clara learned that the year was 2012, it was her favorite year in history class. She remembered learning about the Curiosity rover and its journey through what will be one day her birthplace, Aeolis Palus.

Clara saw the pictures it first took, where she was from and the pictures she saw in class, it was a real testament to humanity and its technological progress. But not all of that progress and technology had been for good or at least will be. For the memory of Earth and its glassed deserts loom at the corner of Clara's dream.

It shook her awake, in front of her was a beautiful young girl whose life was flipped upside down, she'll let Anahita sleep a bit longer, Anahita needs it more than she does. So she did her morning routine, stretched a bit, and stood up straight, she left the tent and was greeted with the amber sun. She laid both her arms out in front of her, their palms flat and open, she had to trust her strength again, she needed to fully control her body, the loss of her implants didn't help.

She stretched around but still kept her arms where they were, after feeling ready she leaned her body forward, shifting her center of mass forward and soon she was falling. Her arms caught her fall and she immediately dove into her push up routine, quite literally.

She did not have the opportunity to do this while she was in the desert before, she needed to preserve strength back then and couldn't afford burning energy. But now it's a different story, Anahita and her packed more than enough food and Clara need not worry about all that.

She finished her push-ups and got back to her feet, she must have lost track of time, for it took her longer than usual to do her routine as the sun's different shade of ember indicated to Clara the large change in time, she needed to regain her strength sooner rather than later.

She returned to the tent and saw Anahita sitting there with a blank expression on her face, losing a loved one isn't easy, Clara kneeled down and smiled at Anahita while reaching out and grabbing her hand.

"Everything is going to be okay" Clara tried to reassure the girl, but she couldn't even assure herself.

Anahita gave a half-cocked smile, but who was she kidding, Bahadur will be coming back, and next time she will have to be ready.

"Let us return home" The conversation between Clara and Anahita wasn't colorful, the two were not fluent in Russian, their vocabulary basic but they got along.

Clara reached to the far edge of the tent and grabbed her satchel, the contents since she first arrived hasn't changed much, the gun and dagger was still in it. Anahita got up and started to pack everything inside the tents into a separate bag.

After a while everything was done, and as Anahita mounted her camel, Clara looked down at herself, she was completely covered, her golden hair hidden. The part of her body showing was her hands and glowing blue eyes. Clara still had her satchel strapped to her, she wouldn't lose sight of it again.

*******

The journey Clara and Anahita took was a long one, but it needed to be done. It was midday when Clara and Anahita finally returned to Anahita's home. Anahita got off and took the large supply bags off went off into the house. Clara took the camels out back to where the dike connected to the stable so the camels could drink from the stream.

"Such innocent creatures," she thought to herself, a life of ignorance is a life of bliss and Clara resented this. She took made her way back to the front of the house and turned the wall of the small compound. She had a clear sight of the main house and something was out of place.

The window was broken, and the door had a chunk of it ripped off. Someone broke into the house, Clara made her way towards the door when she heard Anahita scream from inside. She was about to run through the door when she stopped herself just meters away. She then dove against the wall and hug the side of the window.

Voices were coming inside, and they were in commanding and none of them Anahita's. Having tactically dove to the side of the window she heard footsteps approaching the window, obviously, they are checking to see if anyone else was coming.

"SIT HER DOWN!" shouted a voice and Anahita's muffled resistance was clear to Clara, her blood boiled with hate, she wouldn't let anything like last time happen to Anahita again.

Clara waited by the window until the shuffling inside died down, she peeked through the window and she could see 7 men. All armed with rifles, and heavily fitted out, some of them shaved and some carried thick beards. She saw their insignia, it was an eagle holding onto bullets.

She noted their flag on their uniform. It was clear to her they were US troops, but their flags striped and starred hung to their shoulders. She reached into her satchel and pulled out her dagger and gun. She took off her head scarf and tied it around her hand, it might be useful later.

Looking back through the window she saw 3 more men enter the same room as Anahita who was still sobbing in the corner as 3 men stood over her, they were obviously asking her questions but they were no longer in English, they had an interpreter with them. Clara knew she couldn't take them all down with a pistol, let alone with them holding Anahita as a hostage. What could she do? Bargain with them? Go in guns blazing and shoot them all? Her gun only had 7 rounds in its clip and one in the chamber, meaning she had to shoot 8 of them will all killing shots and reload and shoot the last guy or go and stab him?

The situation wasn't looking good for her, she needed to either break them into two smaller groups or find another way about this problem. She turned her attention towards the stable, she needed a distraction.

*******

"What is your name and are you alone?!" Hassan the squad interpreter shouted at the sobbing girl below him.

"Yes I am alone, my name is Anahita, please don't hurt me!" Anahita squirmed at the three men standing before her, none of them looked to please with her intrusion.

"Is this your home?"

"Yes, it's mine, please I don't know anything ju-"

"Who's blood is that on the floor!?"

"My fat- Fathers, he died protecting me" Clara eyed the floor where her father died, the wood still colored in red.

"From who?"

"Bahadur Balaj!- he raped me and my father died to protect me please don't hurt me!"

Edward looked at the girl beneath him, did he hear her right, she just said the name Bahadur Balaj, one of the lieutenants for the rebels in this country, he looked at Hassan and nodded.

"Alright, when was he here-" As Hassan started to question the poor girl a noise came from outside, Hassan stopped and looked over his shoulder, the men were against the door and window looking at the compound entrance, it was the only way in out and of their small compound.

Edward looked out the window and saw two camels quickly brush past the entrance, he noted two saddles amongst them, there must be another person with the girl. He marched across the room and back to the girl.

"How many are with you, tell us now before it is too late," Edward said to Hassan who translated his message for him.

"Please don't hurt me" Anahita replied. "Alright there's two of them, she's not even denying it, she's too scared" With that Edward returned to the window and looked at each of his men, Michael was by the door and Hassan was still standing over the sobbing girl.

He motioned to Hassan to keep the girl quiet and her tears muffled down. He clicked his hands and his squad quickly turned their gaze to him. He motioned to Aaron and Fernando with two fingers and pointed at both of them, then to his eyes, then out the window.

He then pointed his trigger finger up and made a swirling motion, Edward then flattened his palm and cocked it back and forward then swung it behind his back, he pointed to Michael and pretended to knock before drawing a square clockwise, and motioning a thumbs up while gesturing behind his back.

Like clockwork Aaron and Fernando had their guns aimed out the window. The rest of the men were lined up behind Edward in a single file.

He hugged the door frame and looked back at his men, all of them grabbing the shoulder of the man in front of him. When Michael got the very back of the file he was the last man and tapped the shoulder of the man in front of him twice. The tapping of shoulders followed through all the men and finally reached Edward.

He went through the door with his gun aimed at the entrance, his men in tow behind him, he ran up to the wall of the compound and hugged it. Michael took his position by the small stable and had two men with him, the rest still followed Edward. Edward looked back towards the entrance and stretched his free arm out, another signal for his men to stand beside him instead of behind when they leave the compound.

Edward waited for Michael and his team to clear the stable then he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned the compound wall, looking around he saw the two camels further down the dike drinking from the stream. The sun still blazing down on the compound and the village below still oblivious to the presence of Edward and his team.

Something still feels out of place, but Edward can't put a finger on it, Edward turned to his men and made a hook with his pinkie then swung it around. Michael and his team turned to the right and went around the right side of the compound, Rodriguez, Kyle and Richard stuck to Edward and they hung the left wall of the compound.

Edward went up the edge of the wall and waited for Rodriguez to tap his shoulder. Two taps were felt and Edward turned the corner, his gun aimed at the last corner. He moved forward, crouched down and rifle at the ready, two taps and he looked around the corner. He saw Michael and his team walking up to him, there isn't anyone around.

Maybe Edward read the woman wrong, regardless it won't derail their mission. Maybe she knows something about the events in the desert.

"Let's return to the building, false alarm". With the cue the men followed Edward back to the front of the house, they switched the safety of the gun and was about to turn the second wall when all of a sudden.

Shouts could be heard coming from the house, Edward and the men looked at each other, they ran past the first wall and entered the compound and Edward and his men stopped outside the door, he signaled to his men to wait by the entrance of the compound. He removed the strap from his holster but kept his pistol in its holster with the safety off, and entered the house with his rifle drawn.

******

Clara managed to distract the soldiers by drawing their attention outside, she snuck her way around the back of the compound and climbed the wall, but cut herself during the process, once passing the wall she took the scarf tied around her hand and retied it around her shoulder. It was heavily bleeding, Clara knew she struck an artery and would need the bleeding to be stopped sooner or later.

She pushed that to the back of her mind, at the other side of the wall she snuck around the back to the old room she woke up in. Quietly she went through the window and took out her gun and knife, steadying herself and watching her steps. Through the door, she saw two men by the window and another man standing over Anahita, she held her danger firmly in her left hand and her pistol in her right.

Her eyes darting between the man and the couple by the window, she was crouched low, and she entered the room and Anahita and Clara locked eyes. The three other men were still oblivious to her presence. Clara looked to the man and back to Anahita and pretended to bite her teeth, Clara also pretended to lunge forward, she was trying to get Anahita to distract the man but Anahita stood there oblivious.

Clara pointed to Anahita than the man and punched the air, Anahita's eyes went wide, understanding fluttered her expressions. Anahita looked up, the man was looking at the door with his rifle pointed at it, and his finger was on the trigger. Anahita kicked the man with all her strength and using the wall as a support. It barely moved him, he looked down at Anahita annoyed.

"Sit tight and-" the man's speech cut, Hassan felt the dagger positioned at his neck and did the only thing he could in that moment, shout to his comrades.

"GUYS!" His speech was again cut off as Clara swung his body around so she could use him as a shield, with a knife to his neck and her pistol aiming at his comrades. It caught him off guard, Hassan could tell the gun aiming the pistol was that of a woman's but never had he been manhandled like this.

His friends turned around and aimed their guns at behind Hassan, their expressions were that of shock and confusion. How did she get in? The confusion was her appearance, she didn't belong. Blonde hair and blue eyes, they could not see the rest of her features as she was hiding behind Hassan.

"PUT THE KNIFE DOWN" Aaron shouted at the woman, he was moving to the right side of the room, trying to find a better shot. Fernando did the same but was staying quiet he wanted Aaron to draw her attention away from him.

"Put the knife down and no one will get hurt" Hassan spoke in the region's native tongue still not knowing that this woman was not from around here.

Clara's eyes dart between the two men, they were dividing her attention, she quickly looked to Anahita and shouted to her.

"Davai! Run out the back" Clara's Russian accent still rustic, but still Anahita sat there dumbfounded before Clara had to shout at her again.

"Anahita Run!" This time the girl understood and ran past Clara to the back room, her path protected by Clara and the man she was using as a human shield.

The expressions on the faces of the soldiers were even dynamic, the confusion was more evident. She speaks Russian? Who is she?! But they knew they're training and kept their gun aimed at the girl. She was well trained they could tell, her grip on the gun, and how she hid behind Hassan, it couldn't be a clear shot and they knew that.

"Look at me, put the knife down"

Clara knew Anahita would hide in the backyard, there was an under the tunnel in her backyard which Anahita had shown to Clara before they left. As long as Anahita remained hidden at least one of them would get away unscathed.

"PUT THE KNIFE DOWN"

She kept her gun aimed at the Latino man on her right, he seemed more experience than the kid shouting at her. She could feel the man she was using as a shield trying to wiggle and get her distracted. She kicked his knee and fell to the ground, she, in turn, fell with him.

"Look, sister, no-one needs to get hurt"

Now they were both on the ground and the man had no chance of moving again, but that also applied to Clara, and she knew this all too well. If only she had her bioimplants, she could easily take both of these men out in a second flat and even stop the bleeding from her arms.

The door to the room kicked open and another man had his rifle aimed at Clara, All of 93 seconds has passed since she entered the house. She knew Anahita would be safe now, now she had to worry about herself.

She looked at all three men, she dropped her gun, then her knife and put her hands in the air, the universal sign of surrender. The man she was using as a meat shield headbutted her with the back of his head and she fell. Her arms went to her face to protect it from further harm.