Death in a Heartbeat

I couldn't see through the darkness to save my life. I could feel Sergei's warmth next to me, comforting and reassuring.

A bitter cold bit savagely into my skin as I slowly advance foward, AK-47 in hand. Nikolai had sent four of us out into the darkened battlefield to find Yuri, he disappeared 3 hours ago.

Suddenly a blinding light shone through the dark and low, indistinct voices follow.

"Shh," Dmitry growls, putting his hand on my back and pushing me down into the ash. Sergei crouches down too and Dmitry huddles next to me, breathing shallowly.

"They're speaking Russian," I tell Dmitry quietly.

"What? All our men are with Nikolai....unless.." Dmitry gets up, taking his gun with him and runs in the direction of the light which had rapidly started to disappear.

I turn to Sergei, flicking my lighter on, illuminating his bloodstained face.

He gently puts a hand on my burned shoulder and manages a crooked smile.

I close the lighter...subsequently eradicating all light from the area.

I get up, and as soon as I do a rain of bullets showers in the direction that Dmitry had gone in.

"ENEMY FIRE, FALL BACK," an unfamiliar voice shouts.

"YOU FUCKING RUSSIANS," another voice shouts, followed by another showering of bullets.

I get up and run in Dmitry's direction, throwing a grenade toward the gunfire.

"Aleksei NO!!" Dmitry bellows, diving at me, as if from nowhere. He tackles me into the dirt, holding my head down while whispering angered words into my ear.

"You stupid bitch, if you die then Nikolai and Sergei will skin me alive," Dmitry snarls through gritted teeth, short fingernails digging into the soft flesh of my thighs.

I half expected him to bite me or something, instead he pulls out his walkie and starts to talk into it.

"Nikolai, we have enemy fire on Sector 32, send out reinforcements, still no sign of Yuri, but I found a couple of friendlies who're on our side," Dmitry growls into the static.

Seconds later another voice comes through, all crackly and near unrecognisable.

"Soldier, get back on that battlefield, I'll send out Maxim and a few others now."

"Yes Sir," Dmitry replies, forcing the walkie into his backpack again and pulling me up.

Defensively, I point my gun into the darkness and let off a round only to have both Sergei and Dmitry drag me back and bodily throw me onto the bomb crater we were previously hiding in, jumping in after me.

One of the guys, I think Sergei, grabs me and shakes me hard and repeatedly, before slapping me across the face.

I snarl and end up crying.

"Stupid girl! You'll get us killed."