The Mech-Suit Rebellion

"Are you sure about this, Thulani?"

"Afraid of a little rain, Sipho?" replied Thulani, his voice muffled by the heavy breathing mask on his face. He spoke in English, to make it easier for Sipho to understand him through their earpieces.

"I'm not afraid." Sipho replied in Xhosa. "I just don't like being wet."

"Neither do I, but that's what you get for living on a tropical island." He paused for a moment to take another deep breath of air through the mask. "We're almost there now. I can see them approaching us."

Sipho and Thulani were standing on top of an old stone wall surrounding a large house with dark windows. They were watching with binoculars as several jeeps drove towards them through the foggy morning rain. Their goal was to reach the house and warn their comrades inside before the enemy caught up with them. Even though they knew they'd be ambushed at some point today, they had hoped to cross two more towns before then so they could regroup with other members of their rebellious movement who had scattered when the soldiers came after them a week ago. But when they arrived in the town where Thulani and Sipho were staying, they found it already occupied by the enemy, who now seemed to be searching for them. And so Thulani and Sipho had been running for their lives ever since.

Sipho passed back the binoculars to Thulani, who took a quick look at the approaching vehicles. Through the fog he could just make out four jeeps driving slowly ahead of two larger trucks filled with soldiers holding machine guns. Behind them all was a black armored vehicle carrying ten more soldiers armed with heavy weapons and covered from head to toe in body armor and helmets made of dark green Kevlar.

"Can we beat those trucks?" asked Sipho nervously as he looked over at Thulani again. The approaching vehicles were slowing down now, obviously looking for something. "Because if we can't beat those trucks, then we can't beat those guys." He gestured towards the soldiers in the black truck, who now began fanning out across an-other field of tall grass directly beneath where Thulani and Sipho stood watching them. "They'll kill us before we even get close enough to start shooting."

Thulani stared at the men in black for a moment longer before turning around to look back up at their own position on top of the stone wall a few feet away from him. Sipho followed his gaze and saw that there was nothing behind them except for miles of empty fields and a cliff overlooking a rocky beach below that led straight into the ocean far off in the distance beyond that. There was no way down except straight into their waiting death if they tried to run away from their enemies behind them now. For better or worse, here was where they would have to make their stand against impossible odds.

Thulani looked back down at Sipho, who met his gaze with eyes full of fear and uncertainty. There wasn't much either of them could say at this point anyway, so instead Thulani simply pointed down at himself while raising two fingers and held up one finger while pointing down at Sipho before finally closing his hand into a fist signifying three people plus himself against thirty-five enemy soldiers nearby without any cover between themselves and their targets save for some low bushes growing along the stone wall in front of them which offered little protection or concealment from enemy fire while offering plenty of soft mud in which an unsuspecting soldier might sink deep enough only leaving his head visible above ground like a turtle trapped beneath its shell unable to move or protect himself from being shot until eventually succumbing to death due to drowning or asphyxiation due to lack of oxygen reaching his lungs as he lay helplessly pinned beneath the surface awaiting his fate unable even to scream for mercy or ask for help because even if he managed somehow miraculously unbuckle himself from within his heavy metal body armor before he sank into water too deep for him to swim out from beneath it regardless where he went it wouldn't matter anyway because there is nowhere else left for him left to go except deeper into death itself knowing that soon enough he will die alone remembered only by those who loved him once upon a time long ago who are now dead themselves forgotten by all forever never again able to hold his hand or kiss his cheek or tell him everything will be alright ever again too young too beautiful too good to suffer such an awful fate but nonetheless doomed nonetheless destined nonetheless forced nonetheless required nonetheless fated nevertheless condemned nevertheless forced inevitably forced inevitably forced inevitably forced inevitably doomed fate fate fate fate fate fate fate fated forced fated fated fated awaited awaited awaited awaited awaited awaited awaited awaited awaited awaited awaited awaited awaited awaited awaited awaited!