Charley Brindley - The Last Mission Of The Seventh Cavalry

“Hey!” Kawalski shouted. “That’s real blood!”

The wagon train’s soldiers ran to join the battle, swinging their swords and yelling. One of the two attackers in the wagon jumped down, pulling the weapons container to the ground. A foot-soldier swung his sword at the man’s head, but the man dodged away, then stepped in, stabbing the soldier in the stomach.

A hundred more robbers charged in from the woods, and all along the trail, they leapt on the wagons, fought the drivers, and tossed supplies to their comrades on the ground.

The wagon train’s soldiers ran to attack the robbers, but they were greatly outnumbered.

A horn sounded three times in rapid succession from somewhere up the trail.

The robber in the last wagon had knocked the woman to the floor of the vehicle, and now he raised his sword and gripped it with both hands, preparing to run it through her heart.

Kawalski brought up his rifle and fired twice. The man in the wagon stumbled backward, falling to the ground. His comrade’s eyes darted from the dying man to the woman in the wagon.

The woman moved like a jungle cat as she snatched her dagger from the bed of the wagon and went for the man. He drew back his sword and began a swing that would cut her legs from beneath her–but Alexander’s pistol slug hit him in the chest, knocking him sideways and over the weapons crate.

An arrow zinged through the air, passing just inches away from Alexander’s head. He jerked his head around to see the arrow hit a foot-soldier in the throat.

“Spread out!” Alexander shouted. “Fire at will!”

The platoon ran along the trail and between the wagons, firing their rifles and sidearms. It wasn’t difficult to distinguish the foot-soldiers from the attackers; the robbers wore ragged animal hides for clothing, and their hair was shaggy and unkempt.

“Lojab!” Karina shouted. “Bandits on your nine. Roll right!”

Lojab hit the ground as Karina fired over him, hitting one of the attackers in the face, while Lojab took out another one with a bullet to his chest.

“More coming from the woods!” Sparks yelled.

A bandit kicked away Lojab’s rifle. He rolled to his back to see a second bandit swinging his sword toward him. He pulled his Yarborough knife and got it up in time to block the sword. The attacker yelled and brought his sword around as the second bandit thrust his sword down, aiming for Lojab’s heart. Lojab rolled as the sword cut into the dirt, then got to his knees and shoved his knife into the man’s groin. He yelled, stumbling backward.

The remaining bandit swung his sword at Lojab’s head, but Karina had reloaded, and she blew him away with two shots to his chest.

Lojab leapt on the man he’d stabbed and cut his throat.

Four more bandits charged in from the trees, yelling and brandishing their spears, running toward Sparks. They were followed by two men armed with bows and arrows.

Sparks took aim and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. “My rifle’s jammed!”

“Sparks!” Autumn yelled and tossed her handgun to him. She emptied her rifle magazine, firing on the run. Two of the attackers went down.

Sparks fired the pistol, taking out the third one.

Alexander, from fifty yards away, went down on one knee, took careful aim, and fired on the fourth man as he ran toward Sparks. The bandit stumbled, grabbed his side, and hit the ground.

One of the archers stopped, notched an arrow, and took aim at Sparks. Sparks fired twice. One of the bullets knocked the archer’s head backward, but his arrow was already in the air.

Sparks heard the sickening thud, then stared down at the arrow quivering in his chest. He reached with a shaking hand to pull it out, but the shaft broke off, leaving the arrowhead imbedded.

Autumn shoved a fresh magazine into her rifle and killed the second archer. “Incoming!” she shouted.

Sparks looked up to see two more men coming from the woods, swinging their swords. He shot one of the bandits in the thigh while Autumn took out the other one. The wounded bandit kept coming. Sparks fired his last round from the pistol, but it went wild. The bandit dove for Sparks, with his sword coming down. Sparks rolled and thrust the shaft of the broken arrow forward. The bandit yelled when the arrow cut into his stomach. He hit the ground, shoving the arrow through his body and out his back.

The deafening gunfire, along with the sight of so many bandits being cut down, turned the tide of the battle. The attackers fled into the woods, dropping their stolen goods in their panic to escape. The wagon train’s soldiers ran in pursuit.

The tall officer with the scarlet cloak came galloping down the trail, followed by a troop of cavalry. He surveyed the scene, shouted an order, and motioned for his cavalry to charge into the woods.

The officer dismounted, and as he walked among the bodies, one of the foot-soldiers reported to him, talking excitedly and pointing at Alexander’s soldiers. The officer nodded and asked questions as he looked over the platoon.

“Who’s got the STOMP medical pack?” Alexander yelled.

“It’s in the weapons container, Sarge,” Kawalski said.

“Break it out,” Alexander said. “Let’s see what we can do for these people. Check the woman in the wagon first. She’s losing a lot of blood.”

“Right, Sarge.”

“Sparks, are you all right?” Alexander asked.

Sparks unlatched his vest where the arrowhead protruded. He checked for damage. “Yeah.” He rapped his knuckles on his body armor. “These things work pretty good.”

Karina sat in the dirt by a wagon wheel, with her arms on her knees and resting her head on her forearms.

“Ballentine!” Alexander ran to her. “Are you hit?”

She shook her head but didn’t look up. He knelt beside her.

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head again.

“Report by the numbers, people,” Alexander said into his mic as he sat beside Karina.

Everyone reported in except Sharakova.

“Sharakova’s right here,” Sparks said. “She picked off six of the bad guys.”

“Sparks, can you fix Sharakova’s goddamned comm?”

“I shall try my best.”

“Well, get on it before she wanders off and gets lost.”

Karina pulled off her helmet and dropped it to the ground. “It was too damn easy,” she whispered.

Alexander waited, saying nothing.

“When Kawalski shot that first one in the wagon,” Karina said, “then you got the one on the ground, I just went on automatic.”

Alexander patted her shoulder.

“Sarge, I’ve never killed anyone before.”

“I know.”

“How can it be so easy? These guys were no match for our guns. Why didn’t I just try to wing them instead of blowing them away?”

“Karina—”

“Where the hell are we?” Karina asked. “And what’s happening to us? I thought this was just some elaborate show until that bandit sliced the woman’s arm and real blood spurted out. Then that foot-soldier had his gut sliced open. Have we dropped into some surreal nightmare?”

“I don’t know what’s happened to us, but you reacted just as you were supposed to. All our training has been exactly for this sort of attack. You don’t have time to analyze, consider options, or aim for the knee instead of the heart. Less than three seconds passed between Kawalski’s first shot and your first kill. You are the perfect soldier, not a tenderhearted woman, at least not on the battlefield. That’s what this weird place suddenly became, a battlefield. And guess who won the battle? The best armed and the best trained fighting force in the world. If we hadn’t opened fire, those bandits would have come after us with their swords and spears after they finished off these other people.”