Skirmish March

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The bear was shuffling down the path, she'd come down from higher up in the mountains. She was hungry. Already huge, her instincts drove her to forage and eat before the long winter arrived.

The animal was uneasy, the air felt different, there were odd scents in the forest which she didn't understand. But instinct drove her on, she needed to gorge, then start looking for a den. The little ones growing inside of her drove her need.

Nemo opened his eyes, the forest had grown very still, the silence had awakened him. He didn't move anything other than his eyelids, he had been doing this sort of thing for what felt like his entire life. First to eat, now to survive.

He sensed another hunter in the area, not a human, something else. Then he heard it, the sniffing and grunting noises could only be one thing, a bear out foraging. While he felt somewhat safe, the wind was in his face, the bear wouldn't smell him at least, it was still disconcerting to be on the ground like he was. The bear might ignore him, it might not. But still he didn't move. Whatever was going to happen was already set in motion.

The scout/sniper was awake, he had been for some time. He was having trouble sleeping, he was thinking now that leaving his unit had been a very bad idea. If he had stayed with them, at least he wouldn't be alone.

Though he often was alone, in his job that was expected, the other people in his unit were never that far away. Now they were, he really wasn't quite sure where he was. He had a map, but here in the forest it was tough to pinpoint landmarks.

He thought for a moment, then decided it was time to figure out his location. He reached under his suit for his map, when he heard something.

Something which concerned him greatly.

The bear snorted, then stood on her hind legs, her great snout sniffing the air. She turned her head this way and that, listening while sampling the breeze.

In the distance she heard odd sounds, something moving through the forest. A number of somethings. She listened, then snorted and dropped back down onto all fours. She didn't understand this sound, she didn't like it.

Nemo had nearly pissed himself when the big bear stood up and snorted, not ten rods from his position. It was a big animal, probably down from the high mountains, trying to fatten up before spending the winter in hibernation.

If the animal spotted him, he was probably a dead man. Startled bears had two reactions, run or attack. This bear didn't look like the running type. But her attention was drawn elsewhere, somewhere behind her.

She smelled something she didn't like, that seemed plain. She dropped down and began to shuffle further down the trail. Nemo wondered what it was she had heard.

Then he heard it, people, moving through the forest. Quiet for people, but loud to anyone who knew the woods. That's when all hell broke loose.

The Captain signaled for a halt. The word spread down the long line of skirmishers and gradually they all came to a stop, the soldiers watching their designated sectors, knowing their lives depended on it.

The battalion commander made his way to the Captain's position, "Something wrong, Captain?"

"Yes Sir, something doesn't feel right. I'm following my map and we should have hit a logging trail by now." Turning his map so that the Major could see it, he pointed.

The Major looked at the map, then looked around. They were deep in the woods, he could see nothing to compare to the map's terrain features.

"Counting paces, Captain?"

A corporal nearby nodded her head, "I make it two leagues since we left the main road back there. We got turned around once, I may have lost track."

The Captain nodded, "Could be the map is wrong, Major."

"Yes, that's a possibility, send a small patrol forward, we ..."

At that moment, off to the right, a number of soldiers opened fire, blazing away at the trees. The Captain heard the shouts commanding the troops to cease firing.

The Captain headed that way, he was met by his Sergeant halfway, "What was all that?"

"Biggest f**king bear I've ever seen, Sir. Scared the shit out of Komanski, he fired, so did those near him. Took a few moments to calm them down."

"A bear?"

"Yes Sir, came out of the trees headed down the slope. I had no idea an animal that big could move that fast."

"Did they hit it?"

"I don't think so, Sir. Like I said, the animal was moving fast, fast as a horse I'd bet."

"Damn it, well, so much for surprise and stealth. Any sumbitch within the valley knows we're here now."

Nemo decided that it was time to assemble his main weapon. He liked to keep it stowed as it tended to catch on things. His knife and his pistol were enough for self-protection. He smiled, well, good enough against humans anyway.

He knew that the sounds he'd heard came from the regulars. The militia had very few military-grade weapons. Mostly they had hunting rifles, some of the men had weapons from their time in the regulars but those were older models.

So the line of people over that way had to be regulars. Probably looking for the militia camp. If so, they were headed the wrong way. The burst of firing almost guaranteed that if they got themselves sorted out and headed in the right direction, the militia would be either long gone, or prepared with an ambush.

He had his own problem to deal with. He'd seen movement in the thicket. His prey was there.

The scout/sniper knew that his solo scout was at an end. Though he was good at this, his food and water were running low, he needed to rejoin his own kind. They weren't far away.

He had even recognized the voice of his Sergeant yelling at the troops to hold their fire. No doubt that bear had startled someone over there. It had startled him when it had run past his hiding place.

The map was tucked away, he gathered up any sign that he'd been there, then moved towards the opening of the thicket, making sure his camouflage suit covered everything.

Nemo saw what looked like a part of the forest floor rise up out of the thicket. It had no discernable shape, he was impressed at the camouflage the man was wearing, he assumed it was a man, the shape was large.

He took a breath, let some of it out, then loosed.

The scout/sniper was stunned, something had hit him in the chest, hard. Looking down, he couldn't believe his eyes, it was a f**king arrow. Were there still natives around here?

His own weapon slipped from his suddenly nerveless hands as he dropped to his knees. He was having trouble catching his breath.

Involuntarily sitting back on his haunches, he looked around. If he could just catch his breath, he could call out to the regulars. He didn't think his wound was fatal, painful, exceedingly so, but if the guys had the battalion surgeon with them, maybe ...

He tried a deep breath, it hurt, but maybe he could ...

What the hell was that?

Coming towards him, quickly and noiselessly, was a ragged shape, a bright blade held in what he could see now was a hand. "Damn, the militia has suits like mine?" was his last conscious thought.

Nemo's blade had opened the scout/sniper's throat so that the man had made no sound other than a startled gurgling, which ended nearly as quickly as it had begun.

Nemo listened as he knelt next to the body. He could hear the regulars, they seemed to be moving away, which gave him time.

"Poor bastard," Nemo muttered as he closed the man's eyes. Quickly he had the man's possessions laid out in front of him. His weapon and ammunition, the weapon was well-maintained, a map, some rations, and an empty skin bag. Nemo now realized what he had smelled earlier, gun oil. The man's weapon was perhaps a little too well-maintained.

Nemo dragged the corpse back into the deer bed, after stripping it of its camouflage suit and its boots. The man had some really nice boots. The camouflage suit was something the militia could use. It had taken him weeks to get his just right, the regulars churned them out in some factory probably. This man's was very nice.

He unstrung his bow and put the string back into its waterproof container. He thought to pull his arrow from the body, but it was probably ruined anyway. He would be keeping the man's weapon, it was a nice one.

"Shit." the Sergeant muttered as he saw a snowflake, "Sir, are we gonna bivouac here? Or head back down?"

Before the Captain could answer, one of the scouts came running up the slope from the left flank, she looked as if she had seen something bad, very bad.

"What? Did that bear scare ya, Sarah?" The Major asked.

Breathless, Sarah paused, "Yeah, I saw the damned bear, scared the shit out of me. But Sir, there's militia coming up the hill, a lot of 'em. on our flank, we need to re-orient to the left."

The Major leaned in, "How many, trooper?"

Sarah looked down the slope, into the forest.

"Beyond that stretch of forest is a long open slope. At the bottom of the slope there looks to be an old farm, couple of buildings, some tents. When the firing broke out, the area around the farm filled up with people, a lot of people."

She paused and pulled out her canteen, "Sorry, Sir, need a drink."

The Major nodded, "Whenever you're ready, trooper."

"There's gotta be a thousand militia coming up that slope, Sir. Give or take a hundred."

The Major looked at the Captain, who said, "We've got four hundred, Sir, give or take."

"How far is the edge of the forest, trooper."

The woman thought for a moment, "Too far, Sir. I'd recommend we set up right here, this is as good a place as any."

The Captain went off to get the battalion in position, there was good concealment here, lot of dips in the ground, lots of trees. It was a good place to make a stand. It was too late to hit the militia in the open, too late in the day to try and fall back.

We'll see how the militia likes fighting in the open, while on the move, he thought. Maybe it was time for a little payback.

"Good a place as any, eh Sarah?" The Major had remembered the trooper's name. "Good for what?"

"Good a place as any to die, Sir. There's a lot of those bastards coming up that hill. A whole hell of a lot. And I think they're bringing Hell with them."

The Major stayed quiet after that remark. He had a bad feeling.

The first snow of the season was gently falling around the battalion. It looked to be a long night ahead.