Nail - 5

 The soldiers ordered Han and Kim to get out, so they did. Han almost threw up as the thick smell of blood and gunpowder immediately covered her. Kim did not seem good either, but he was sane enough to speak out the password that was given to him before he left the command. As their innocence was proved, the soldiers turned their guns to other directions without a word, crouched and shivering. Han did not mind that they ignored her because she was busy dealing with her instinct which shouted that it is a bad idea to keep moving in that fancy but flimsy car which will shatter into pieces within seconds when attacked. She stopped the Corporal, who just get seated again.

“Kim, I think we should get on that instead.”

Han pointed at the armored card. Kim had to agree, so they shoved themselves into the crammed car, right next to the soldiers who were too terrified to lit the cavern below with their floodlight and find the attacker. Han asked them a few questions about the incident, and as expected, heard back a barely audible disorganized sequence of words, half-spoken and half-cried. What Han got was that the soldiers were patrolling in teams of two, and suddenly one team was hit by a mortar shell or something similar. Han looked at where the soldiers pointed, trying to ignore all the gores. Indeed, there was a small crater where the paving has blown away. Kim shook his head. 

“Ma’am, how could this sheet-thingy save us from mortars? Let's move on.”

He rattled the car as he said. Well, it is still much better than that sheet-thingy, Han thought. 

"Please, Kim. We can take some time. You won't get punished of this."

Clearly, the commander will not be happy with this. He would grudge for a couple of weeks, combining this incident with the coffee Han made a few days ago which was too cold and a pile of documents on her desk which was not in the right place. He would probably smack her desk with his fists and point out how stupid she is despite having Ph. D. in geology, every day and night, until eventually he forgets everything. But for Han, all of that were just fun remarks when dead bodies were laying in front of her. Han asked the soldiers if they could drive the armored car to the SWC, and even though the soldiers dearly wanted to, the answer was negative. The 3rd infantry corps, where the soldiers came from, refused to relocate the soldiers because that would leave a big hole in watch. Han had to speak to the platoon leader of the soldiers, who did not expect a Technical Staff to be on the other side, through the armored car's two-way radio for a moment. The Lieutenant said that he would let the SWC know about this through a secured hotline.

"I hope that works," Han replyed.

"Apparantly SWC is not responding to my phone calls since the siren."

 After a few moments, suddenly all the lights on the bridge went off. Everything has gone pitch black. Han waved her hands right in front of her eyes, but nothing was visible. 

“Nice, somebody finally decided to use his brain.”

A man’s voice was heard.

“Now they couldn’t see us at least,” Han said. “I hope whoever fired at us doesn’t know the exact position of us.”

A few more shells had dropped, shaking the entire bridge with deafening blasts and leaving Han dizzy and her hands shaking. But fortunately, they all hit the piers, barely managing to leave small bumps on the huge concrete pillar. The car radio boomed during the bombardment, so eventually Han got to know that the entire region, perhaps the whole country, was under fire. What does that mean? She had no idea. Why all of a sudden? There has not been a skirmish, let alone a war, for decades. There has not been any escalating conflicts with other nations, either. As the bombardment faded away, the radio left Han more and more puzzled. She shivered in dark with other soldiers until she heard another armored vehicle. It came in dark but somehow stopped right behind them. The soldiers verified each other's identity, with which the IR googles the soldiers have brought helped. They were military polices from the SWC to pick up Han and Kim. Han gave a short farewell to the soldiers from the 3rd corps, got seated in the car, and sighed, as if everything was in place now. Next time she became aware of her surroundings, she was climbing down the stairs of the bunker below the SWC headquarters.