“Staff Sergeant the following approach looks clear. We should reach the end of the forest, and then the settlement by the end of the day, over?”

“Copy, the rear-guard is secure. How’s Captain Thompson’s status with the princess, over.”

“She’s secure. We’re waiting till the next phase line to check in, but I’m sure he won’t mind some light talk…Just don’t get Randall jealous, over.”

“Fuck you, out.”

Thanks to the clouds deciding to shed rain all over the frontier, the sky held the constant downpour that had lasted for over two hours. The only break from the downcast weather was the second day of their journey. The air was humid, but thankfully the heat from the sun attempting to break through the clouds was mitigated by the tall trees that populated the forest.

Several raindrops fell from the dark grey heavens and splattered upon the greenery and rain-filled soil. Droplets of water fell onto his clothes, and the sleeping young man awoke the feeling of the water seeping through the multi-colored combat shirt he had equipped.

Shaking his head three times, and letting his sense adjust to the semi-familiar environment, the man looked around. To his right, the drag marks left by the carts and carriages only stretched so far before it blended in the water-covered ground, yet those marks were remade by the four other carriages that raced over the growing puddles to not get stuck in the mud.

Shifting under the lingering wetness that had dampened his shoulder, he looked around the carriage he sat it. Green and Sergeant Malkovich sat across him Marco and Eugene sitting next to him, sleeping. He felt as though he was being judged by this new world.

Did it make sense? No. Such a line of thought was nonsensical, and could only lead to hurtful thoughts, let alone actions.

Flexing the muscles in his hands, his eyes remained just ahead towards the empty seat that only held the bags of the men inside the covered carriage. The cold wind battered against his body carrying rain droplets across his face and body. One could say it cleansed him, yet her felt dirtied.

“You think we’ll ever get out of here in one piece?”

“Huh?”

In the fall breeze, his loose dark-brown hair shuffled as his multi-colored pants, shirt, and khaki boots dragged against the wooden frame. His vision slowly focused from the brown-green forest that sat outside, and now he found himself looking at PFC Green.

Calming his breath, he blinked several times as he returned his attention to the boy that had spoken. Though his mind was still elsewhere, he surveyed his surroundings and soon found himself staring at Green. The twenty-year-old let out a short, curt cough as he fiddled with his gloved hands. His brown eyes and jet-black hair were hidden behind his currently equipped helmet, and his AVS-30 NVG goggles that were currently turned off.

“You okay, Randall?” Malkovich’s deep, sweet voice spoke to the sergeant catching him off guard.

“No-I—uh! Yes! I’m fine! Did you say something?” Becoming flustered as he recovered from a sudden fit of coughing, the man composed himself as he begrudgingly accepted a canteen of water provided by Green.

“Yeah, but-” Green cut himself off as he was given back the canteen of water he had given, “It’s nothing important…”

Shaking his head excessively, Randall kept himself steadied against the tarp behind him as he recovered from his sudden coughing fit. For some unknown reason, even in this moment of rest, he felt haggard and fatigued.

“Mike?”

“I’m okay! I’m okay! Just the wrong tube.” Randall said frantically gaining two unsure looks from Green and Malkovich.

“Okay?” Malkovich said, “Just don’t die on us.”

As the rain began to lightly let up, and forming from a thunderstorm to a light shower, the wind began to die down, and the voices of the forest rang out as rays of sunlight broke through the darkened clouds. Just as the forest came back to life, a calm silence broke out between the three men that were awake within the carriage. Fixing himself, Mike glanced at the FDE watch that adorned his left wrist.

Every tick was a second that passed. He was enthralled by the simple mechanic, almost loosing himself as a sharp noise came from the head of the convoy.

“Ambush! Contact front!”

An eruption of screams awoke the knights next to Mike. Orders from the Volunteer Corps members were strung about the cries of those injured by a large explosion that eviscerated the lead wagon at the head of the convoy. As Marco threw off the blanket that covered his face, and Eugene keeping his hands on the hilt of his blade, the three Rangers across from the two had already clambered outside to observe what had happened.

With Mike and Green behind him, Malkovich walked forward several steps as Corps members flooded the muddied roads around him and raced towards the epicenter of the sudden attack. Taking his microphone and bringing it to his mouth, he spoke it a harrowing voice, “Thompson! Corporal! What the hell is going on up there!?”

Nothing ever responded. With no answer, Malkovich led the four behind him to the front. As their boots collided into the ground, and their visions of the pine forest turned into nothing but a green blur, fifteen multi-colored lights flashed.

The world almost slowed as Malkovich breathed heavily. The Corps members that rushed ahead moments ago, three of five; the lights collided into their bodies. It only took a single second, but gaping holes appeared in their bodies.

No blood was ever shed. No bodily parts were ever recognized. All that remained were gaping holes in the once alive bodies of the corpses. Throwing his weight forward, Malkovich’s body slammed into the dirt where a nearby crated had been formed by one of the bolts of light. Green let out a shrill scream as he and Mike did the same as another barrage of lights hit the carriages and carts behind them.

“Fuck!” Mike screamed as he tried to crawl further into the piping hot-and wet soil. “Keep your head down!”

“Fucking-A!” Green said sarcastically. He chamber-checked his rifle and made sure his optics still had enough battery life.

Taking his gloved hands and pressing them on the button of his goggles, the view that Malkovich saw the world, flashed a bright green as it equalized into a black-white hue. A flood of information flooded his eyes and his eyes alone. Just peeking above the crater’s edge his vision adjusted downrange.

“Pop smoke!” He suddenly ordered.

Green took a smoke grenade from the side of his pack and threw it ten feet ahead of the crater’s edge.

“Engage all hostiles! Move to the VIP!”

“C’mon! Let’s go! Let’s go! Pick it up!” Green shouted as he was the first to climb out of the crater under heavy fire from more beams of light.

The smoke obscured the line-of-sight both the five and the hostiles had on the battlefield. Propagating in the wind, Mike moved under the cover of the smoke as he concealed himself behind one of the wagons with four large crates. Just ahead the sound of gunfire broke the monotonous screaming and pulled his attention to the front.

With Captain Thompson using himself as a shield to cover the princess, and Corporal Richard and Simon right behind him, the four crawled against the ground against the endless bolts of light that collided into the burning wagons around them and the dirt.

“Captain, friendlies approaching from the south! Thirty meters!” Malkovich called over the radio.

“More inbound! Danger close!” Green called out as he shot three bullets into the tree line.

“Focus on them! Let’s go!” Mike said as he ran on the left side evading both friendly and hostile fire.

Keeping his weapon in the high ready, Mike sprinted towards the four on the ground with Green tailing behind him. Two more Corps members were cut down by the bolts of light as three figures emerged from the trees with blades in hand.

Their green skin, bulging eyes, and foul smell made them easily identifiable. Goblins. Yet these foes that were commonly depicted as uncontrollable monsters were different. Quick moving, fast minded, and blood thirsty. Covering each other, the three used the trees and burning wagons as cover.

“Captain! Blue! Blue!” Mike said as he approached from behind.

Lifting himself off the princess and forcing her towards the sergeant, Thompson roared in a strong voice, “Get her out of here!”

“Wait-” Before the princess could protest, she was yanked off the ground and dragged behind Mike as he withdrew his pistol.

“We got company!” Green said as he shot one of the goblins dead with five bullets.

“Mike get behind us! Diamond formation, let’s move!” Malkovich screamed as he moved to the front.

Knights Marco, and Eugene drew their blades as the fell in behind Mike and the princess. In a steady pace under indirect fire Mike guided Lecca behind both himself and the scattered carriages and wagons. Two stray bolts of light skimmed over the top of a carriage and the white cloth caught on fire creating an intense heat. Letting go of Lecca’s arm, and covering her head with his torso, Mike moved with the group away from the wagons.

“Contact left!” Green called out raising his rifle.

Three members of the Corps engaged a total of five goblins that rushed an opening within a defensive line established. The three killed two of the goblins, yet they were not fast enough to catch the other three. Being smacked in the face by one of the goblins, Malkovich fell to the ground as Green swiftly shot his attacker in the head. Mike moved backwards while firing his pistol at the second goblin that rushed him. He missed his shots and he stumbled and fell with Lecca on the ground as the goblin jumped on him. Wrestling with the monster, it was only when Lecca manifested a short dagger that he had any fighting chance. Reaching over Mike grabbed the knife and repeatedly stabbed the goblin, red blood squirted out and covered his, and Lecca’s hand.

“Keep moving! Off the ground!” Eugene said as he punctured his sword through the abdomen of the final goblin killing it instantly.

“Son of a bitch!” Mike said as he pushed the dead body off him while grabbing Lecca by the forearm. Fumbling with a magazine, he momentarily let go of Lecca to reload his handgun.

“On your feet! On your feet!” Marco yelled.

“Fall back to the forest! Get out of the kill-zone!” Malkovich groaned as he forced himself off the ground.

Moving right, the multi-colored bolts emerging from the forest slowly shifted towards their location in the convoy. Miraculously, perhaps due to the range and foliage around, no one was hit directly, but a single piece of molten wood slammed into Lecca’s breasts making her fall to the ground screaming in pain.

“I’m hit!” Lecca cried out as she gripped onto the point of impact.

“Baker be advised we have friendly elements moving into the western tree line. Location is marked with grey smoke!” Mike said over the radio. He withdrew a smoke grenade and pulled the pin as he tossed it into the burning wagon.

“Copy, I’ve got hostiles at least one-hundred meters inside the forest, break… providing small arms coverage to the east forest.”

“Copy! Legging it to the settlement 600 meters north! Out.” Mike said in return as he let go of Lecca’s arm. Grabbing her hand, he placed the handgun in her palm with an additional magazine. “Seven bullets per magazine. Press this button to release it, then insert a fresh one and rack the slide. Basics, finger off the trigger until you aim at an enemy, stick behind cover, and let us know if you need help.”

“Randall, we’re on the double!” Malkovich said walking further into the forest. “Eugene, Marco, stayed glued to her ass.”

The group sprinted into the forest completely disengaging from the enemy that still took occasional pot-shots at them. Whatever the enemy was using was strong enough to burn through the center of a tree but was not accurate enough to be used more than one hundred to two-hundred meters for anti-personnel combat.

Fumbling with the gun in her hands, but eventually mimicking the way Randall held it, Lecca followed the men in the center of the formation. The burn mark on her chest burned like hell but compared to what she saw her fellow warriors go through, she considered herself lucky to escape with a small mark.

“Contact!”

Green’s voice pulled Lecca’s attention away from the burning sensation on her chest and made her refocus on the hostiles ahead. Her eyes widened as she saw four humans in full armor running alongside three goblins. Her hands tightened around the handgun she held in her hands, as her hearing went deaf from the bullets Mike fired from his rifle as he moved for cover.

“They’re headed for the Princess!” Marco called out as he saw one of the humans begin casting a spell.

“Kill theses bastards fast!” Mike shouted as he shot and killed a goblin with three bullets. Quickly dislodging the magazine from his weapon, he counted the remaining bullets he had, twenty-four, then he slammed it back into the rifle.

Grasping the tan colored pistol with both hands, half of Lecca body emerged from the tree she hid behind. She used the blocky white sights and aligned the with her right eye. Twenty meters ahead stood one of the armored humans that was peeking around a small rock with his sword in hand. Her finger snaked around the trigger, and she tightened her facial muscles.

Squeezing, the firing pin bolted straight into the primer of the .45 ACP bullet sitting within the chamber. A thunderous roar emanated from the barrel of the gun, and a plume of gas escaped as the slide slid backwards. The spent cartridge flew out the side and the bullet had long pierced the metal chest plate that the man was wearing and had long been captured in his chest.

Hunched over with his hand over his chest, the armored man lifted his hand one last time and casted a bolt of fire that headed straight towards Mike. Slimming her finger over and over into the trigger of the handgun, Lecca expended all the remaining bullets within the gun. It only took three seconds, but it was three seconds to late.

Her hands stung, and her eyes burned as she watched the sergeant slump onto the ground.

“Mike!” She cried out springing from her position of cover.

“Peel back!” Malkovich roared as he placed two more bullets downrange.

A fair amount of blood exiting from Mike’s mouth began to mix in the dirt, turning his combat shirt and vest, a deep brown. He laid on the ground gasping for air as he used his hands to claw at the fire bolt that had just been absorbed by his plate carrier. The temperature of the bolt was dangerously high, and it immediately set his chest alight, but thanks to his body slamming into the ground, the fire was extinguished, yet a burning sensation raced over his torso.

Gasping for breath, he watched as Lecca slid into cover right beside him. She held his pistol and another object in each of her hands, but he paid it no mind as a flurry of new brass casings littered the grounds next to him.

“Sergeant! You alright!?” Green asked as he lowered himself, exchange his spent magazine for a full one.

Before he could let out a strained response, Green suddenly stumbled backwards as the last remaining goblin jumped over the log the three hid behind.

“Shit!” Green screamed, shouldering his rifle, and peering down the holographic sight siting in front of his eyes.

Shooting two bullets into the chest of the short-green-monster, chunks of flesh hit the muddy ground behind, yet the demon pursued Green as if the bullets did nothing but piss it off. The goblin let out a tremendous and pained roar as it jumped on top of the Private-First Class, clawing away at his plate carrier with great difficulty.

Fearing for her own life, and the life of the men under her command, Lecca stood from the ground and loaded the only magazine she had with great difficulty. With a shaky hand she completed the reload in five seconds, and aiming the pistol with the white brick sights, she once more pulled the trigger seven times. Three bright flashes came from the barrel at the end of her rage-induced mag-dump; her head throbbed with immense pain, and her ears rang from the gunshots that suddenly came to a stop.

Nine gaping holes laid in the now deceased body of the final hostile, the final goblin. Her breaths were haggard as she fell to her knees, the pistol falling into the mud beside her. Reaching out a hand to the injured sergeant, a blue haze grew around her palm.

Green shoved the dead body off him with a pissed-off expression, but his emotions were shoved aside as he watched the embers on Mike’s plate carrier fade. It only took thirty seconds, but the embers completely disappeared under the emanating blue hue of Lecca’s magic.

“What did you just do…” Green asked aloud. He flinched when Lecca swiftly glanced at him with tearful eyes, and a pale face.

“Nullification magic…” Was all she could muster out as she collapsed unconscious beside the blood-covered sergeant who was grasping at his neck in an effort to relieve himself of his burnt plate carrier.

Green’s mouth was left agape as he stared at his plate carrier. Turning over his hands, he looked at the stained gloves that he adorned before his name was called out in the distance.

Publicly Available Information: Ambush Tactics:

Used by an unknown foe, the main goal of their ambush tactics is to kill any and all personnel in command of lower soldiers, and to eliminate logistical, and support elements.