Chapter 108 - Chlorine Gas
Chapter 108 – Chlorine Gas
Del and Anna stayed in that forest for about a week. They didn't want to get out too soon since the imperial military would be thoroughly patrolling the area. It wasn't very wise to get out of the forest until the patrol numbers had begun to die down. Del noticed something weird. Although there were a significant increase in foot patrol, the number of armored unit entering the federal military was little to none for some unknown reasons.
Maybe the sudden removal of imperial chain of commands had reduced the amount of attack to the federal territory. It was time to go back to Moruguri to report back to the general. They should get the 12,000,000$ from the general for destroying the chain of command that the imperial had.
The plan was to make a quick dash to the federal territory before the sun rose up. Anna and Del had observed that the soldiers were most lax during the dawn. Basically, they only had two hours to get out of the forest and made a quick run to the front line. It was risky, but it was more risky to stay in the forest.
Del flipped the NVG on his helmet, "Let's go, those imperial soldiers shouldn't notice us with this setup." He started walking towards the east with Anna watching his back. Hopefully, no imperial soldier would notice them.
As far as Del knew, he didn't lit a fire the entirety of the time he was in the forest. He also didn't litter since the trash was placed inside of a plastic bag that was currently stored inside of the storage. He didn't even establish a tent in that forest. They just slept on the ground. Basically, they left no trace in that forest.
After walking for a while, he arrived at the edge of the forest. The edge of the forest was close to a trench. They needed to cross the trench before they reached the no man's land. The no man's land was much more populated than a week ago. Damn, those imperial soldiers were really eager to find them, weren't they? Del thought.
Crossing the trench would be risky. It was better to enter the trench while avoiding the detection of the imperial soldiers than going to the federal front line by crossing the front line. Like it or not, they was still a huge figure that could stand out in the middle of the grassland. Considering the current situation, the imperial military would shoot first then ask question later.
Plus, floodlights were shining the grassland and making crossing impossible. Trench was really the only option at that point and the other option wasn't available unless they were willing to wait for another week inside of the forest.
Del and Anna jumped into the trench. They started progressing towards the east direction of the trench. Del put his supressed M16 right in front of his shoulders. His palm was sweating as he focused his vision at the trench in front of him. If a soldier appeared, he would shoot him with his supressed assault rifle. However, if soldiers appeared, it would be a bit more difficult. Reaction time would be their priority. Too late and they would have to face the whole imperial military stationed at that area.
"Stop," Del whispered to his headset.
He heard footsteps in front of him. He immediately aimed his rifle to the junction in front of him. The footsteps were getting closer and closer. Del's palm became more sweaty as the footsteps came closer and closer.
The soldier finally walked through the junction, not noticing that Del and Anna were in that trench. Del sighed in relief as the soldier continued walking away from that junction. "Move," He whispered to his headset.
They continued walking to the east direction. As they continued walking, a thought crossed Del's mind. Would he be able to cross the no man's land safely without any inconventional help, or would he need some major distraction? Both options were reasonable.
He wouldn't need any distraction because any distraction would immediately give attention to the federal front line which was their destination. However, a distraction was like a gamble. He could bet that the imperial soldier would check any distraction that he would make. Del decided that he would just risk it by entering the federal military territory without any distraction.
He kept walking until he finally reached the end of the imperial trench. There was no trench connecting between the imperial and the federal territory. "Prepare yourself, we're going for a dash," he whispered to Anna and Anna nodded.
Del climbed out of the trench and immediately dashed towards the trench in front of him. He jumped to the trench and he waited for Anna to cross the grassland. Anna jumped down to the dirty trench and mud splashed around him.
"Great, we're safe now," Del said. However, he sniffed something weird on that trench. The smell was pretty much similar to the bleach the he used to wash his white clothes back on earth. It made him feel unease. "Do you smell bleach?" Del asked.
Anna then sniffed too, "Yeah, I smell bleach too." She then came to the realization on what kind of situation that she was in. Anna took off her helmet and immediately undo the bandage that covered her own face. She undo all of the bandage on her face and threw it away. Del threw her a gas mask and she wore it. "Chlorine gas, isn't it?"
Del checked the seal on his gas mask. "Yeah, Chlorine gas." He then wore his helmet again and continued his journey into the federal trench. It didn't take too long until Del found the evidence of the usage of Chlorine gas in that trench.
Dead bodies were piling up on that trench. It could be said that the whole trench was poisoned by Chlorine gas. There was no gas mask in that trench or in any dead bodies. Could it be that the federal military don't equip their soldiers to counter chemical warfare? What happened there?
"Are they dead?" Anna asked.
"Yeah, it looks like we only smell the residue of the gas. The attack was pretty recent too. The imperial military must have thrown artillery gas shell into these trenches and killed all of the soldiers here," Del said.
"From tanks to gas, why their tactics shift so radically?" Anna asked.
"I don't know, but I do want to find out about that," Del said.
Del stepped on some of the dead bodies in that trench since the trench was literally littered by dead bodies. The deeper they went to the trench, the more dead bodies that they found. The soldiers must have been running from the unknown gas attack, but failed due to the area of effect that the gas had.
"Why do they do things like this?" Anna commented.
Del looked at one of the dead bodies and searched for a gas mask. "I don't know. Gas is an area denial weapon. However, in this case, it seems that the federal military was caught with its pants down. It's clear that they aren't equipped for chemical warfare," he commented on the equipment that the federal soldier had in him.
"Chlorine gas, huh? It seems the war has escalated," Anna said.
"Absolutely. This is a weapon of mass destruction. If this thing is deployed to the front line, the imperial military has begun to be more serious in this civil war," Del said.
"We're fucked."
"No, we don't. Unlike them, we are very familiar with chemical warfare. Don't worry, we'll survive this war, I guarantee you," Del said.
"Thanks for the reassurance, it helps. Anyway, that's the end of this trench," Anna pointed at the dead end of the trench.
Del climbed out of the trench. He helped Anna to get out of the trench and they looked around for any sign of activity. There wasn't any activity in that area. It was awfully and eerily quiet. The gas must have killed the wild life as well. There was no sound, even the chirping of the bird couldn't be heard.
"How big is the shell that they lob here? I doubt this is a standard artillery shell. It must have been bigger than that," Del wondered. The radius of the gas was simply too big to be achieved with a basic artillery shell. The imperial military must have used some sort of powerful altilerry to deliver shells big enough to compare the entire area.
"No idea, but we should go to Moruguri as fast as we could," Anna commented.
"Why?" Del asked.
"Why do you even ask? They might be in grave danger of being bombarded with gas. We must hurry or that town will be compromised with gas," Anna shouted, telling the urgency of that information.
"Yes, you're right. Let's go to that town. Damn, I hope the MSVI is alright.. Cole would be furious if anything happens to his sister."