Visionless Reality

Eighteen

        All of the recruits were trying to get to the land as soon as possible but they were stunned by the fact that another camouflaged monster could be possibly hiding near the edge. Looking at the recruit flap his hands, trying to push that crocodile, everyone was thinking to help him but the thought of their bones being crumpled by his huge bulky mouth, made them freeze into their places. With his shrieks and cries, everyone was feeling his pain, but preferred watching it from the back. The water near his body was turning reddish, making sure that his leg was actually hurt. He was shuddering with his pain and looking at the recruits, his eyes seemed like he was trying to bid goodbye. All of a sudden, a blast was heard, similar to the gunshot, and the recruit was drowning in the water. Looking at him disappear, we rushed at him, pulling out his body and he was alive. The crocodile was dead and his body was drowned. The recruit has some serious injuries in his left leg where the crocodile bit had teared his skin and muscles, making the bone visible. It was oozing out lots of blood, and most of his blood was already wasted. The water we were surrounded by, was dirty with his water.

‘He is bleeding very much… Does anyone have some first aid?’-Random recruit.

‘Not a bandage but here… take this and cover his wound tight. It will stop bleeding.’-Recruit-399.

        399 teared his t-shirt and helped the other recruit, wrap that cloth on his wound. That piece of cloth was already turned reddish black, but it would not let more of his blood drip. While some of the recruits were still in the river, watching us help that wounded recruit, many other recruits came on the land with us.

‘Ah listen! Guys is that a crocodile?’-random recruit.

        And the reign of crocodiles was back. They smelled the blood inside the water and were trying to get to the prey. Two of the crocodiles were trying to approach us on the land from the same side, the opposite side of the flow of the river. Knowing the fact of crocodile in the river, the recruits who were still in the water, got to the opposite edge of the water body. 147 was there too, among those people.

‘You guys just try to hide somewhere and do not make sudden moves to anything. We’ll try to find some way out here and save you as well.’-Recruit-399.

        With the crocodiles approaching us, we had no choice than running away. But again… a blast was heard, this time near somewhere. Turning around, I noticed the person who snatched the pistol from the tribal person, he was holding the same g*n. Somehow he was able to sneak in the pistol with him. How were these people so smart? He shot the crocodile in his eye, which made him paralyzed and tried to crawl away, for he did sense the danger to his life. Hitting his second eye, the crocodile was dead. That recruit approached the crocodile without any fear, like he was a hunter. He tested whether that was alive or not. Sliding a hand in his mouth, he opened his mouth wide. He then slid out the knife from behind his back and, made a deep cut in his jaw, near the larger tooth. Stabbing the knife, hard on the both sides of the larger tooth, the blood of that crocodile was rushing out. He pulled the tooth with a sudden and was looking at it profoundly.

‘I always wanted this. This is the best thing I can take from you for the remembrance of this memory.’-Recruit with a pistol.

‘Are you a hunter?’-Random recruit.

‘A survivor! Preferably. I and my father have survived a whole lot of hell environments previously. So this was not a big deal.’-Survivor Recruit.

        Immersed in learning the surviving tactics from the professional, I realised that another crocodile was missing. He might have gone away being scared. We continued most of our journey after then on the land. Moving along the river, we all were sure of getting some way, back to our camp. The island was bigger than it looked from the hill. Although it seemed to be calm and peaceful, it was rather terrific and disgusting. Walking in the woods, I found the horsetail plant. Broke some of them and filled my pockets with them. I realised how ridiculous was it that we were surrounded by some maniacs, who were trying to kill us, and I was busy collecting the horsetail.

‘Hey I found the timber tree here. Can I collect it?’-Random recruit.

‘Oh please shut up you i***t. Do you want to stay alive or live here, collecting those trees and barks?’-His teammate.

‘Shhh… Guys. I think we found something.’-Survivor recruit.

        We all reached a place from where, a ship was visible. It was a huge ship, a cargo ship. The bandits were getting it ready to sail. They were loading it with boxes and other stuff.

‘So you mean that we h****k that ship, and threaten them to take us to our land?’-Recruit-38.

‘Not exactly. That is an option too… but if we sneak into that ship, and take down all the bandits, it would be much easier for us to reach the camp without alarming the other bandits.’-Survivor recruit.

        Although the plan seemed to be straight forward, it was not that simple to sneak into a ship without being caught by a bandit. If we were successful in doing all that, it would be a great achievement. But if we failed, we can end up becoming a feast to all the crocodiles. The team of recruits that was on the other side of the river, was keeping an eye on our every movement. When we were focusing on the ship, they caught the glance of the bandits on the ship. They already understood our plan and were ready to go with it.

‘So first things first… Though land or through water.’-Recruit-399.

‘Land is too risky for we do not have any weapons with us. If we are caught on the land, they would again capture us, or straightaway kill us in the firefight.’-Random Recruit.

‘That means through water is way safer. There is some stairs up to the top of the ship. This is opposite to the side, facing the harbor. If we could get there without being caught, half of our mission would be accomplished.’

‘Yes! You are right… Let’s go.’-Survivor recruit.

        Jumping into the river, that was getting mixed into the sea, we were trying to swim while keeping our head inside the water. It felt like all the sounds were muffled and the vision blurred. Although the water was cool, we weren’t thinking of anything else than the plan of reaching the camp back. The other group of recruits joined us too on the mission of ship jacking. It was tough to hide ourselves from the bandits when we were inside the water but our patience and determination took us to the ship. I was near the stairs of the ship. Two of the recruits started climbing the stairs and followed him the survivor recruit. I was waiting for my chance when I tried to see where the other recruits were. They were way behind us. As they came close, someone from the harbor shouted out loud.

‘Akraaaaa… Ye izm na kira… haaaaahahaa.’-Bandit.

        All were fear-stricken at once. The people who were climbing the stairs, made their moves faster and I made my way to the stairs too. Giving a look at the other recruits, far away, I saw swimming faster to the ship. They were terrified by the voice of the bandit. One of the bandits started firing from the harbor at the people away from the ship. As they were far from the harbor too, none of their bullets hit anyone until one of our recruits drowned. I saw him getting killed by the bandits. It was not soon when one of the bandits jumped from our side into the water body. It was sure that the recruits above, were giving a good fight to the bandits without any armour or weapon. One more bandit did drop from the top and was taken care by the recruits down. As I was on the mid-stairs, I could neither see the top, nor enjoy the bottom. I was making my way to the top continuously when I heard some gunshots nearby. Following that, one of our recruits fell from the top like someone pushed him off. I could see his scrambled flesh, that came out from those wounds, in the mid-air. Time was slowing down. Everything looked like a hell lot slow. Why wasn’t I reaching the top?

        Just after that event, one of the bandits was visible just at the top of the stairs. He was going to shoot all the recruits below him but the extremely fast reflexes of the survivor recruit, saved us. He flicked his hand fast and shot, right into his neck. He fell from the stairs straight into the water. I started moving up fast and was near the edge when the engine of the ship was turned on. The whole harbor was covered by bandits and they were trying to get rid of us. I picked up the AK from the top of the stairs and handed over to the recruit in front of me. The waves of bandits were trying to get onto the ship but survivor recruit was continuously trying to get rid of them. Many other recruits joined him after some of the bandits were killed, taking the command over their weapons.

‘Okay. So here’s the plan. I’ll reach the cockpit, try to threaten the maritime pilot to take us back… till then, you get rid of them.’-Recruit-399.

        399 approached the cockpit from the center and the ship started moving. Only a few recruits were left in the water and they would be saved soon. The bandits were still trying to get rid of us from their ship but we were still giving them a good fight. I picked up a pistol, a knife and some ammunition from the body of a bandit and up for a battle against the bandits. Peaking from the corner of the ship, while crouching, I saw that there were approximately 20 bandits on the harbor, all holding their weapons in a ready position, to hit any of the recruits trying to offend them. Looking at the situation, it was right to stay calm and wait for the bandits to come inside the ship. I hid myself in the cover of the ship, ready to act on any sudden action taken by the bandits.

        The ship was ready and running, getting out of contact from the bandits. They were waiting for us to make any sudden move. I got up to take a look at the recruits left in the water when I heard a gunshot. I felt the whizzing bullet that moved near my ear and missed it. It was too dangerous to stand in that situation. Everyone was up on the stairs and making their way to the top. Some bandit on the harbor raised the siren and the reinforcements were on their way. I felt the urge to hit some of the bandits, so I peeked while in the cover, aiming at the bandits. It wasn’t hard enough to get some hits on them but hitting their head was hard. I only shot on their limbs and all. When all of the recruits reached the top, they all were very much happy for they were safe. They stood up while screaming the joy out of them, when one of them was hit by a bullet. He felt the thrust of bullet and fell on the ground. The blood splashed on my face and he was on his last breath. The bullet was hit his throat, and pierced out from the another side, forcing the flesh and blood spurt out.