He ran down the hill nearly tripping as he did. His small vacation in the country of Georgia had turned to a near death experience.
As he reached the bottom of the hill he ran into the woods hoping the darkness of the night would help him hide from his pursuers. The yelling of the pursuers could still be heard as he trekked through the woods. Suddenly, he stopped realizing that he would need a place to hide. These people were relentless and he knew he would end up running away the entire night.
After searching for about a minute he found a small space underneath some fallen trees. He got on all fours and crawled into the small space and waited. Scared, he remained in the hole trying to not make any noise as he waited for the soldiers to pass by.
Eventually, the soldiers passed by slowly looking through the location with flashlights. Since it was night, it would difficult to find his tracks. After they couldn't find him they moved on deeper into the woods. He remained in the small space for a few more minutes giving the soldiers more time to give up on him.
After nearly an hour, he finally came out of the small hole and decided to head South instead of North. The enemies that followed him went east and he came from the North. He knew eventually he would run into them again but until then he would be as inconspicuous as he could.
He continued walking through the dark woods until he came about a small lake. The water looked refreshing and cool. Something he needed due to the humid weather. He played with the idea of taking a dip in the lake but seeing that there could be enemies nearby he decided against it. The noise of the water may attract unwanted attention.
Instead, he took a quick break on the bank of the lake and checked on his gun. Since this was supposed to be a vacation he didn't bring that many guns with him. He only had his 9mm handgun, an extra magazine, and a combat knife. So avoiding any type of conflict was the only plan right now.
He lied down on the ground and stared up at the stars. He began wondering if he was going to make it out of this. Then he reminded himself that he was a skilled mercenary and that he had toured in Iraq when he served in the military. "Yeah, but I normally have a bigger gun," he mumbled to himself.
He sighed and stood up and then began moving along the side of the lake. Suddenly he began to hear yells and screams coming to the northwest of him. He quickly turned his head and saw small lights getting bigger coming from the woods. He cursed and quickly hid behind the nearest tree. He peeked from behind the tree and saw two dark figures come out from the woods. Then a second later one of them was tackled to the ground while the other put his hands up in the air. Both men were then surrounded by three men. The man that was tackled was now on his knees same with the man who had put his hands up.
The mercenary could hear screams and cries coming from the first guy on his knees. Next, he saw the soldier in the middle pull out his gun and point it at the man's had. He said something in Russian then shot the main in the head causing his head to fall into the lake.
I can stop this, the mercenary thought to himself. He was close enough that he could take a shot at one of the guys. Either to scare them off or give him enough time to shoot the remaining. He had the element of surprise and the odds of this working out in his favor were high. "Fuck it," he whispered.
He reached for this handgun as the soldier moved his hand to point at the head of the remaining person on his knees. The mercenary pointed the gun at the man with the gun and breathed. A loud boom was heard through the woods as the bullet shot out and hit the soldier square in the forehead. The mercenary smiled as the other two soldiers quickly reached for their guns. By the time one of them had fully taken out his gun, the merc had already readjusted his aim and fired, quickly taking out the man. This second shot gave the person on his knees an opportunity to reach up to the last man and tackled him. A scuffle broke out between the two and the mercenary broke out into a run to come to his aid.
However, by the time he arrived the soldier had been dead. And over his body was a man with blood on his hands. From the little light of the moon, he could see that he was a young man probably around the age of 18. The man began saying things to him however in a different language. The mercenary recognized it, it was Georgian. He knew very little of the language other than the basics. He squatted and attempted to converse with the young man. After a few failed attempts he cursed in English and this made the young man reply, "You speak English?"
Bingo! The mercenary thought to himself, "Yes, do you speak English?"
The young man nodded and said with his heavy Georgian accent, "Yes, very little."
"Cool, my name is Victor. What is yours?" he said putting his hand out.
"Abram," he said shaking Victor's hand. "Thank you for saving me."
"No problem. I'm sorry about your friend. I should have acted sooner."
"You acting is enough," he said with a warm smile.
Abram stood up and squatted next to the river and washed his hands. Victor kneeled down next to him, "So, why were those guys chasing you?"
"There are Russian militiamen. They are coming into Georgia to take our land. They come into villages, burn down our homes, beat our elderly, steal from us and kill people like me who try to fight them."
"You're young, you must have some big balls to want to fight them. How old are you?"
"I turned 18 two weeks ago. Yourself?"
"25."
Abram finished washing his hands and used his t-shirt to dry them. Victor realized the gunshots would probably attract more of them or at least give the militiamen a direction to go. "Abram, where is the nearest city?"
He pointed past me and said, "Up North is the city of Gori. It's where I need to go. What's in Gori for you?"
"A way out of here. I was here on vacation and got caught in all this."
Abram nodded, "How about this. We go together to Gori, we watch each other's back. You seem to be good with that gun."
"That I am. But what about you?"
Abram bent down and reached for one of the dead soldier's gun, "I know how to use a gun."
Victor searched the bodies and picked up a few magazines and some snacks. He also found a handgun, which he gave to Abram in exchange for the rifle Abram had taken. "Trust me, You'll be fine with the handgun. I'll use the big gun."
The two then left into the woods heading north.
They had been walking for at least an hour when they came across a village. However, the village was empty. Abram had guessed that the people must have fled the second they heard of villages being raided. During the trip the two had gone through the snacks they had picked up, however, they were still hungry.
Abram had suggested they look around and see if they can find some fruit or something. The two walked through the village slowly and cautiously looking through the empty tents and buildings for anything they could eat. Fortunately for them, one of the houses had a big apple tree. The two began plucking the fruit off the tree. Next, they sat down under the tree and began eating the fruit.
"So, Victor, why vacation in Georgia?" Abram asked.
