141 Enemies Within 3

"This is Squad Leader Alpha, Squad Leader Beta please respond. Over," said a soldier to his communications radio. Ahead of him were four uniformed army in fatigues and three people in civilian clothings. They're walking up the dirt road in 3:2:2:1 formation.

Receiving no response from the other side, the team leader decided to investigate the matter. He didn't believe that five trained soldiers would lose to civilians. Every information about Jun's group was already gathered and based on that, there were only few people they should look out for.

Jun Reyes, a self-made warlord trying to oppose the government. His right hand man, a trained killer who specializes in stealth, Adrian Santos. It was also reported that he was training an energy user who will guard him with his life and recruited a nurse for his personal health. These four are their targets for this operation including his private army.

After trying a few more times, he finally accepted that something wrong went on. Even though they planned this for days, the operation still encountered some mishaps. The plan and information was supplied to them by their VIP, who they were supposed to extract from this town.

The only reason the army came here, despite problems at the Capital, was to extract some relatives of the higher echelon. The order also include to bring back any useful individuals like doctors while eliminating future threats.

"Something bad happened on the other team." said Alpha. "We'll set up an ambush near the camp site, then get out of here. Our main mission is to elimate future threats, so we can reclaim the country in peace. We can't let individuals like this to rise in power. Understood?"

"Yes, Captain!" simultaneously answered the soldiers. The three police officers in the front answered back, though a bit delayed.

Lieutenant Cedric led everyone up the mountain road. He had mixed feelings with this operation since he knew personally that Jun doesn't really care about power nor an evil person. It's true that he's not a good person and would sometimes do inappropriate things, but he never did anything that should warrant his death. The only bad thing that happened was the mayor's death and he doesn't understand why the army was placing a huge importance about the matter.

Although he stand witness to the mayor's death, together with a few other policemen, there was no proof that it was Jun's right hand who did it. The only thing that matched based on their reports was a silhouette killed the mayor. And besides, Jun's group managed to save a lot of people more than the police force could rescue! Was that not even considered to lighten their sentence?

"I saw someone!" someone said from behind him.

"Where?" the squad leader asked and hurriedly scanned the area ahead of them but couldn't see anyone. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir." the man said with confidence and pointed straight ahead. "A civilian appeared over there, then quickly disappeared. According to town map, that should be the old camp site."

"Good job," said the team leader. "Everyone, peel your eyes out and make sure that we kill each and everyone of them. If they're already up there, that only means that Team Beta's already compromised. That means they now have access to guns and could fire back, but that doesn't mean they're good at it. Let's show them what the army can do, okay?"

The squad members enthusiastically answered and made preparations on their own. Each of them checked their weapons before moving forward.

To prevent pre-emptive strike from the other side, the squad leader used one of his active ability, Automatic Aim, to watch and look for any movements above. The skill allows him to adjust his aim automatically once an enemy appears on his sights. Together with his passive, Veteran's Instinct, his vision moves in random directions but he knew that there's a high chance of an enemy being there.

At the moment, he could only see soil since he was aiming directly at it. That means that some people were really hiding up there.

They moved in a straight line with the three policemen in the lead. When they reached the top, the sun was already setting on the horizon. The final rays of the sun shone brilliantly before succumbing the world to darkness. The only source of light was the dim sky and several houses on the town. As he scanned the treelines, his senses told him that there are people at the camp site but he couldn't confirm their numbers.

Squad Leader Alpha took the lead and divided the group into two. He took the three police officers and scoured the buildings starting from the middle. The other group also strated from the middle and made their way towards an outdoor kitchen.

As they cleared buildings after buildings, some of the members started to relax after finding no one. Well, the same couldn't be said for the squad leader. The more buildings they cleared, the more it felt weird to him.

The detachment group just finished checking the outdoor kitchen and found nothing. They started walking back to the group when all of a sudden, they saw light coming from the back of the building. They stared at each other with a look of understanding! So those people were hiding behind the buildings! That's probably the reason why they can't find anyone at all!

They formed  a line formation and cautiously moved forward, sticking to the buildings wall. The one infront kept his gaze forward while the others behind him covered the sides. After nearing the corner, the man in front swiftly came over the corner with his fingers on the trigger. Without asking any questions, he shot twice, one on the legs and one on the side of the stomach. The man in front of him smiled bitterly while shaking of the bullets that couldn't dig past the barrier over his body..

At the same time. several people rose from the nearby bushes and threw long objects at them. These people used the shadows and blindspots of the area since there's barely any lighting on the back of the building. They hid behind bushes and waited since it was impossible to see through them in the darkness.

The bonespears struck the soldiers chest and those who weren't hit were able to fire back. Two lucky people who didn't die frenziedly returned fire. They knew that they were being ambushed and seeing the people next to them falling down, they were angered and risked it all.

The bonespears being used as throwables was a new battle technique Jun's group just invented, so it wasn't known to the public and in no way would be provided in the information given to these people. Even if some people used the bonespears as throwables, it would be those who have bit of earnings or already powerful since they have to collect them again to reduce cost.

The man in front of Edward didn't hold back anymore and pulled the trigger. Numerous metallic sounds were created as the bullets created sparks after hitting the barrier over his body. The bright light the soldiers saw was Edward activating his energy barrier around his body. Thanks to him focusing the energy in front of him, he didn't feel any pain.

The shots roared like thunder in the serene camp site. His fellow soldier behind him started shooting the people who appeared on the bush. When suddenly, a yellowish glass appeared infront of them, blocking the hail of bullets. Before the two soldiers magazines could run out, a figure dropped down from the roof and landed on the rear soldier's shoulder.

The soldier heard his shoulder bones cracked followed by unbearable pain that coursed through his body. He spat out blood and his vision darkened while slowly falling forward. The front soldier, who had no knowledge of what was happening behind him, continued firing at Edward until his rifle made clicking sounds.

Just as he was about to take a clip and reload, something sharp poked his back and went through it. He slowly looked down as blood gathered on his mouth. He stared at a white sharp object sticking out from his stomach and couldn't help but spat out the blood on his mouth. He watched unwillingly as blood started dripping from the objects tip.

Edward looked pale after simultaneously using barrier and felt nervous since he almost run out of energy. He forcefully sat down from where he was standing, before checking the others.

"Are you guys okay?" Edward said worriedly.

Sheila looked around and recounted everyone before she answered, "Yeah, we're fine... thanks to you."

Just as they were talking, something produced sound from one of the bodies.

"This is Squad Leader Alpha. Report your status. Over."

On the other team, the squad leader nervously called on the radio as he scanned his surroundings. Together with the three police officers, they managed to search half of the living quarters and was proceeding nicely when they heard the gunshots.

When no response came from the other side, he suddenly felt that the place become colder even though there's no wind blowing.