Episode 15 : Pitfall

The military truck drove through the dark night. The headlights illuminated the sandy terrain ahead of them. Three soldiers sat in the front seats, with one of them driving the truck.

An Arab soldier sitting in the middle of the front seat widened his eyes and gave a warning.

"Careful! Enemy ahead!" he shouted.

"What?!" A soldier by the left window immediately peeked out through the window after lowering it.

He shot at the enemy blocking the road ahead with a Belgian FN Model 1930 before the military truck could hit the lone enemy standing in the middle of its path.

The enemy dashed and his hand splattered blood as he wielded a sharp iron blade. His right hand cut the front right tire of the truck.

The military truck flipped to the left when the right tire burst, causing the left side to lift. The truck rolled several times. Most of the passengers fell out of the back of the truck, while some rolled inside.

The sword-wielding enemy, his hand dripping blood, approached the military truck. One soldier's body was severed at the window. His torso was pushed out by his comrade crawling out through the window.

Quickly, the Arab soldier grabbed the weapon hanging on his severed comrade's body and shot at the bloodied sword-wielding enemy with the Belgian FN Model 1930. Ten shots were fired at the enemy. His clothes tore, revealing metal underneath.

The Arab soldier swiftly pulled out a Browning Hi-Power pistol from its holster and shot the enemy's face in front of him thirteen times. The shots destroyed the flesh of the enemy's face, revealing sharp metal protrusions from the bullet holes.

The enemy stabbed the Arab soldier multiple times on his body with his bloody hands, which turned into sharp metal blades. The Arab soldier spat out a lot of blood as his abdomen was slashed multiple times, then fell to the ground with his shattered internal organs spilling out.

Some surviving Palestinians crawled out, and some stumbled out from the back of the military truck. Their lives were immediately ended by another enemy who swiftly slashed them with his bare hands. Their bodies fell apart.

One of the Palestinians fell when his right hand and left leg were cut off by the enemy's sword-like hands. He screamed in pain and fear, seeing his hand and leg bleeding profusely.

Again, he was slashed by the enemy's hands, but this time on his face. He was slashed repeatedly until the victim stopped screaming in agony, succumbing to death under such torture.

The face of the Arab soldier was bloody, revealing his internal organs. A woman who crawled away in pain was kicked in the face by an enemy. Her head split in two.

Zawaq looked towards where the military truck carrying Palestinian refugees left while helping the Arab soldiers arrange goods beside the tent.

"Why?" One of the Arab soldiers asked Zawaq.

"I have a bad feeling," Zawaq replied.An hour passed, a bell rang from one of the watchtowers.

"Our truck is back!!! Looks damaged, bloody!!! Everyone, get ready with your weapons!!!" shouted the soldier on the tower.

The Arab soldiers quickly gathered in front of the headquarters and knelt down while raising their weapons.

"No enemies! No signs of movement except for the truck moving!!! The driver looks dead and severely injured!!!" said one of the Arab soldiers.

"The truck is speeding towards us! We need to scatter!!!" shouted another Arab soldier.

Zawaq dashed past the kneeling Arab soldiers towards the entrance of the headquarters. His steps were like a galloping horse. Without hesitation, Zawaq stopped the military truck head-on. The front of the military truck was crushed instantly. Zawaq's two legs sank into the sandy ground. Zawaq was dragged back several meters.

The back of the military truck lifted and fell back before the rear tire stopped on the ground. Zawaq released his two hands from holding the front of the truck.The Arab soldiers looked at each other and then surrounded the military truck.

"There are only the bodies of Palestinian civilians and three of our accompanying soldiers," said one of the Arab soldiers.

"Is this the work of Israeli superhumans?" another Arab soldier asked.

"Not sure. This is the first time I've seen something like this. This is a message," Zawaq observed the interior of the military truck.

"There's movement!" exclaimed an Arab soldier, pointing his weapon towards the movement among the corpses of Palestinian civilians.

A small boy covered in blood emerged.

"It's him!!! The little boy from earlier!" said Zawaq, then climbed into the truck and lifted the boy down from the military truck again. Zawaq placed the boy on the ground.

"You're safe now, kid," Zawaq said.The boy burst into tears upon hearing Zawaq's words.

"What happened, we need to know from this boy. We have to wait for the boy to calm down," said one of the Arab soldiers, looking at the boy and Zawaq.

"Report this to the headquarters," the Arab soldier beside Zawaq said to the other Arab soldiers.

The base leader sat at his desk and immediately contacted nearby headquarters using the radio communication machine after hearing the report from one of the Arab soldiers.

"The other headquarters are not responding. Quick! Mark the headquarters that didn't answer the call on the map!" the headquarters leader directed one of the Arab soldiers.

An Arab soldier quickly marked the positions of the other headquarters on the hanging map on the tent's wall, showing that they were all silent, leaving them alone.

"Are we the only ones alive? The only functioning headquarters? We need to contact the headquarters for an immediate report," said the headquarters leader, then pressed the numbers on the radio keypad.

The Arab soldiers poured water to clean the boy. Zawaq inspected the military truck with the Palestinian corpses.

"Do you have any injuries?" asked one of the Arab soldiers to the boy.

The boy just shook his head after calming himself down after crying for a long time.

"There's news, thirty elite soldiers have canceled their journey here," said an Arab soldier who had just arrived from the headquarters tent.

"As if thirty elite soldiers will change the situation," replied another Arab soldier.

"Something's coming!!!" shouted an Arab soldier in the headquarters watchtower.

All the Arab soldiers quickly took their positions. Two soldiers in each watchtower aimed at the approaching enemies using Mosin-Nagant M1891 rifles, while some used Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk 1 rifles.

Five enemies emerged from the darkness. All the Arab soldiers from their respective watchtowers opened fire. The five enemies were showered with bullets. Bullets bounced off after hitting their bodies. The shots kept firing continuously. Some of the bullets hit the enemies' heads but didn't seem to have any effect or cause any minor wounds or scratches.

Some soldiers shot at the five enemies who were slowly advancing outside the headquarters. The Arab soldiers fired from inside using the DP-28 light machine gun.

Three Arab soldiers shot at the five enemies relentlessly. The sound of gunfire shattered the silence of the night. The bullets in the ammo box mounted on the DP-28 light machine gun's barrel contained 47 bullets but failed to slow down the movement of the five enemies.

"Zawaq?! Who are they?!" asked one of the Arab soldiers who was still shooting at the resilient enemies.

"I've never seen them before," replied Zawaq, sweat dripping down his face.

The clothes of the five enemies were torn apart after being heavily hit by the barrage of bullets from the light machine gun, causing their clothes to fly with the impact of the bullet wind hitting their bodies.

Their shining bodies were revealed. Their bodies were made of random sharp metal. Some metal blades began to protrude from their two arms. Some small sharp metal pieces like knives also stood on their two legs.