2 comments

General

-

 -

 NOTE: They assure that have seen him disguised as a professor, a Methodist pastor, janitor, a photographer of social events, a military officer , etc.

 Marcelo took off his army green shirt by throwing it over a box of shotgun bullets. A group of guerrillas approached, waiting for the leader's orders, seated under a bush that had little logs taken out to brush their teeth after breakfast.

 Marcelo put on a black shirt and cap.

 I ask a burly guerrilla, whose name he did not know.

 Are they all there yet? Marcelo asked Chango.

 - I think so, he replied, instinctively touching his scar on his face, won in one of the many fights he had had in the life of a moth that he led.

 Have you finished cleaning the barrels of the rifles? I ask Esteban, exceptionally awake, because: "I can't miss that whole movement," he said.

 - Yes Boss.

 - Well, we are heading towards the southern forests. Do you know

 The guerrillas, a total of forty men and more than fifteen moths from the Chango group that maintained a group of thugs in the capital, in exchange for protection in the house they occupied.

 Chango became a leader when they were once confronted by drug traffickers in the capital, and during the direct confrontation Chango challenged one of the bandits, with his fist, and since the pistol was loaded, he put each one his bullet between his eyes showing speed only seen on film

 Little by little everyone was well putting together the adapter of their leader Marcelo.

 - They forget about me - it was El Gordo, arriving late and with his mouth stained with lanche, which surely he was given away in the market, because he had left the bridge very tempered that morning ...

 - Good. We are going to divide into three groups, one goes with me and the other with Chango.

 El Chango's group is on the road. We go through the woods and the boys - it showed Gordo and Esteban , two little smugglers, going down the river.

 The order is to kill the enemy.

 - Do the enemies have a uniform? Asked a guerrilla who was sharpening a machete.

 - Blue.

 - What about your informants?

 - We already know some, like the one in black, but we need to recognize the others and anyone who comes near you at any time during your surveillance work or when you disarm your ambushes, must be imprisoned, handcuffed and then interrogated.

 They left with enough food to go two or three days without hunting.

 Chango gathered his group:

 - There is no forgiveness for traitors, also we are payments to win the war that the Officers do not give them the holy desire to win. Do you want to be heroes? Well this is your golden opportunity to show the value that we have. Some of you were sentenced and this war is going to give you leniency, that is one of the promises that our leader Marcelo has promised to give.

 In addition to that, we will earn money. Keep that in mind.

 We are going to divide ourselves according to regions, into pairs and trios.

 The first pair of volunteers, - and two ex-convicts raised their hands.

 - Well, you are in charge of taking care of the border entrance of the highway: nobody can enter, have you heard me?

 - yeah

 - You can use your weapons, listen well, in case somebody insists to enter , that person must show their things, look for identification of the person. Do not steal, just see that you are not enemies, because if you are you can kill them

 I need other volunteers - and three peasants raised their hands to me.

 - Good. You go to the field, since you are peasants you know the field. You go inside, where it is known that there is infiltration of the enemy troops. They must search where they are and kill them. Mercilessly.

 - Also, they have to destroy their bases. Therefore, he found it convenient for me to go with you- and they attended with their heads without hats, but still with coke in their mouths.

 - One more group, please, will be the ones that are left over. These have the important mission of undoing the enemy's northern entrance, which goes from the river to the river mouth. It is there that they are entering.

 Therefore, they must burn the enemy bases. I'm also going to join that group. And for that, those enemy bases have to have dynamite.

 Later.

 Good luck to all, and Chango disappeared among the trees, leading the peasants.

 Marcelo was meeting with his group, giving directions to the river for the chickens, who should kill those who will not show IDE qualification or who refuse to appear before the officer of the town battalion. They could kill.

 And the others, they would ambush the western forests, where there were only "drugged wolves," he said, since I receive an information from the Colonel that they are entering through the forests. Pretend to be hunting. those animals.

 It is not a picnic. So they have to be vigilant. We are going to cover the land on both sides, north and south of the forest. I love the peasants, where are the peasants?

 - Here, said four peasants chewing coca and armed with machetes in their kaito pants and colorful woolen stockings, in addition to having machetes on the aba of their hats.

 - Good. You are going to separate in pairs, and you are going to tour the groves of the northern branch of the mountain range. The south branch stays with you - indicating with the fingers the other two volunteers who also marked coca but carried their machetes in their hands “cut branches"

 - Now, cut the branches you want. But cut off the enemy's head too. They are heading to the southern branch of the mountain range, which you know

 -

 Already, only that they said, for absolute lack of knowledge of the language.

 - I am going with you, and with those of the north branch too.

 And you, miner, I have not forgotten you. You go with me. And good luck to everyone.

 - Thank you, the guerrillas replied.

 Marcelo and the peasants climbed green and stone-covered hills in the mountain range for more than three hours, looking back and to the sides, as well as evidence of the presence of the enemy, such as cut branches or fresh food remains.

 The peasant who was with Marcelo, don Juan from the province, realized that there were no tracks on the floor, nothing.

 -Didn't they pass through here? Asked Marcelo, bending down to touch the dry earth and looking at the sky: there wasn't even a bird flying.

 - mana (N.t .: no).

 - then it's a trap. Let's get out of here. We go in the opposite direction, going down these hills until reaching their origin, in the valley. They want to get us to the wrong place.

 - to town?

 - Yes, to the Pueblo Lindo.

 They returned to the Pueblo Lindo, crossing the Cerro, the small hill and the river, where they klegarian to the bridge, walking more than two hours when cutting the way

 From the bridge, they spotted a ravine, coming from the plaza.

 - Let's go!

 When they reached a block from the plaza, they saw that Ernesto's opposite was on fire

 Other than the church had been programmed in his paintings brought from Spain by boat.

 People ran terrified from one side to the other.

 -Let's go! They should not be far. Your Juan and you two go to the grove, h you, besides you two come with me to the battalion. We meet at the place where we left.

 Upon reaching the river, the guerrillas asked the shoeshine boy who had escaped under the bridge and told them that some men kicking fire had appeared in the late afternoon coming from the south, and they went up the river but it scared me and I have hidden here.

 - as they were? you saw them?

 - White, tall, they had machetes and they had a backpack on their back where they took dynamite and set fire to everything.

 - It's them, said the guerrilla who was looking from under his cap.

 - Let's go find them.

 - Which way did they go? Did you see them, boy?

 - Towards there, indicating the grove.

 - Let's go to the grove,

 - Good

 The four of them went to the grove

 Upon reaching the copse, they found the clarera with four guerrillas tied up, well in the center, surrounded by eight well-armed men.

 The enemies had held them hostage.

 The guerrilla in the cap signaled silence to the others.

 They hid behind a rock.

 - We will wait. You have to call Marcelo. We need help, look there are eight

 The guy in the cap was chirping.

 - I'm going to the boys.

 - Good. I go to the south and you to the north.

 - And I'm going to look for Marcelo at the battalion.

 And so they did, while the quietest guerrilla in the group stayed behind the stone.

 The river was about four kilometers from its origin to its mouth in another river, the Grande. It was not that deep (it reaches my waist, said El Gordo, that was telling him that he was going to go by the river overflow, and El Gordo laughed). It was also not very wide, since you can "see the other side" , Esteban said, to what El Gordo said he was "skinny with you" and Esteban showed his lack of belly.

 The guerrillas who went five hundred meters to the south sighted a Fat man and a skinny man from afar. They played with the water, jumping from one stone to the other, making a kid.

 - Children! The guerrillas shouted.

 - Hello !, El Gordo smiled at them,

 - There is work to do. They have to come with us.

 - for?

 - We found the enemies in the grove and there are eight of them. We will need help.

 - Done, let's go, but what about Marcelo?

 - They've already gone looking for him.

 They returned to the grove.

 - This time they will pay me, El Gordo said to Esteban.

 - do you know how to fight

 - Like a professional! Look at me. And he began to stretch his hands to the sides, in an unstructured dance.

 As soon as that, the others went to look for Marcelo in the battalion, crossing the town and rumbling at the end of the river. It was an hour's walk.

 Marcelo had gone up to the roof of the offices where the Officer would be well entertained with the secretary.

 He waited for the Officer's departure time, hiding behind the water box, from where he could see all the movement of the battalion: huge pots full of food being carried from one side to the other, soldiers with their faces turned towards the sun, weapons in large quantity, and an unofficial tank within the battalion.

 -What's that car doing here?

 Declining, the man dressed in black appears on the scene leaving the Officer's office.

 - It was what I thought. The Officer is the informant. Traitor - and readied his weapon. At that very moment, the Officer leaves his office. And Marcelo shoots him. It hit him in the chest, with instant death. Soldiers and other battalion personnel closed the battalion doors, activated the siren, and searched for the culprit, who had jumped out of the unprotected battalion. It fell on some bushes and the damage was small.

 When he got up, he met the guerrillas.

 what are you doing here?

 We find the enemies. And they are holding the other guerrillas who had to go to the grove hostage. They are eight, and they are armed.

 - Good.

 - We went looking for the boys. They should be on their way.

 - Perfect. I will find them in the grove in two hours. I'm going to take reinforcements. I can wait before doing anything.

 - Good.

 And Marcelo went to the cavern where he had extra dynamites stored.

 He ran as far as he could, skirting the river and taking a shortcut between the manguesales. He searched for the cave. He came in greeting the bats and mice.

 He brought out the vipers, which had found another place to rest.

 He dug the earth with his fingers and took out the dynamites, but not before opening the box, which told him that he could take out the dynamites but that he had to pay somehow.

 - Good. I'll pay. I promise, if not, you are going to take El Gordo from me

 - Already. Go and use those dynamites well.

 And Marcelo put the dynamites in his black T-shirt, tied as a backpack. The ones that did not know, lasoyso in his pockets and in his cap.

 He came back for the shortcut.

 He reached the grove in two hours, exactly.

 And upon reaching the clarera, he saw the hostages and the enemies eating and drinking.

 The other guerrillas were at the entrance to the grove.

 He went to the guerrillas.

 He distributed the dynamites to the guerrillas, who surrounded the enemies behind the trees that limited the clarera

 They threw dynamities at the enemies, while the boys took the hostages out, undoing the ropes at the same time that El Gordo tried a badly roasted gut from the makeshift grill with logs placed on incandescent stones.

 -

 -

June 30, 2020 23:56

You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.

2 comments

Crystal Lewis
07:14 Jul 06, 2020

Hey I liked your story. There was definitely a bit of suspense there which is always good. However, I am not sure what you have done with the speech. Usually when people are speaking and you’re writing direct speech, you use quotation marks/speech marks. I can see that you’ve sort of used the dashes to show when someone is speaking but it can get a bit confusing and it makes it read more like a movie script than an actual story. I am not sure if this was your intended effect or not, but it is sometimes a bit difficult to figure out who...

Reply

Sandra Claros
23:38 Jul 07, 2020

Thanks for your comment. As a matter of fact, I wanted to create images in your mind. Something to think about, different realities in different places and different situations . I liked your comments. But I am sorry, I had to use google translator ......

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in the Reedsy Book Editor. 100% free.