Doing it for the troops

The others dropped like flies around me. We fought and struggled to get to this point. I'm the only one left now. The objective is right there. A mere two hundred feet away. The last of my team got a bullet to the head right next to me, but I couldn't do anything. I was able to locate and neutralise the sniper as he shot my friend, so his death was at least not in vain.

If I had the time, I'm sure I would have been able to finish off the enemy, but it's down to the last minute now. Sixty seconds to find the final two combatants hiding anywhere around me. That wasn't going to happen. I needed a plan, and I needed one now.

It's an open plane between me and where I need to reach. If I don't get there in time, the hard work and sacrifice my team and I put in would be wasted.

I recalled the map of the compound and figured there were a handful of places they could be hiding. The problem is that these places all have a clear shot of where I am, and they most likely spotted me earlier.

I could see the clock ticking away. I thought about guessing where the enemy was and hoping for the best, but that would be suicide. If I don't make it, I want it to at least be after a meaningful attempt. Suddenly, I remembered a similar situation I was in just last month. I did something reckless, but it somehow worked. I think it worked because it was so unexpected.

"Right. There's no time to think about this. I'm going for it!"

I couldn't expose myself for too long. I took the pin out of a grenade and cooked it for as long as possible. I aimed it at the most likely hiding spot for one of the enemy guys and threw it. Almost immediately after throwing the grenade, I stepped out of my hiding space, threw two canisters of smoke, and started running to the objective.

Because I cooked it for a few seconds, the grenade exploded as soon as it reached the target, and the scream that followed confirmed my wild guess was correct.

As I started running, bullets flew towards me. My only thought was: Thank god he doesn't have a thermal scope. The smoke concealed me well, but it wasn't perfect. Some bullets still hit me. I started firing back at the direction he was in, hoping to slow him down a little bit. It worked, but only for a few seconds. Every second helps right now. I was a few feet closer, but it felt like the calm before the storm.

I heard a metal sound I was all too familiar with. It was a grenade landing near me. The smoke worked against me here because I couldn't see where the grenade landed. I trusted my instinct and dived backwards. I thought he was more likely to throw it nearer to the objective, so if I stepped back, I would probably be safe.

My instinct was correct. The grenade landed near the objective, rather than where I was, so instead of dying, I only got an injury. At least I was still alive. I didn't want the enemy to regroup, so I stood up and ran. I walked through the smoke and was now literal fingers away from the objective. Just as I was about to step through, a shot to the shoulder pushed me back violently. There was a small clear area before the goal where I was exposed. He shot as soon as he saw me get clear from the smoke.

My armour took the brunt of it, but the shot still affected me. I didn't have much time now. It's only ten seconds on the clock.

I jumped up and ran again while emptying my magazine towards the enemy. The sound of the gun and everything else slowly faded. With each step, more of the sound disappeared until all I could hear was my heartbeat.

A sniper shot broke through the silence at the last moment, just as I was taking the final step. I stopped in my tracks and stepped back. I don't know how that worked, but the bullet flew by my face. I finally managed to take that last step across the threshold.

A roar broke out. Cheering all around, and lights pointed directly at me.

"We have our winner for the 2024 Annual GameCon Tournament!"

It was going to be glory from here on.