Free Hard Drop by Will van Der Vaart

freedom that lay beyond. She kept firing, seeing her bullets rip through muscle and sinew, but his momentum carried him onwards unstoppably. He collided with her solidly, the bone-jarring impact sending them both flying over the side of the bridge and into the water below.  
    They disappeared in a heavy splash, staying under for several long seconds. The sentry’s limp body re-emerged, floating face-down as it was ferried rapidly towards the waterfall. It slammed hard against the jagged cliff before dropping abruptly down the long plume of water and out of sight below.  
    Tyco and Ghost rushed to the edge of the bridge and stared down into the water, waiting for Hog to resurface. Nothing broke through the water– no clothing, no weapon, not even bubbles from below. The water flowed on rapidly without a trace of the trooper or her gear.
    “Did you – see where she went?” Ringo asked, surprising anxiety in his voice.  
    Tyco shook his head, but it was Ghost who answered. “In this current, she could be…” he let his voice trail, equally concerned, breathing out slowly to hide it. He turned and looked back towards the upstream side of the bridge, but there was nothing there.  
    “Hey boys.” They looked up as one to see Hog standing on the far side of the bridge, sopping wet and very smug. “What can I say?” She groaned teasingly. “A little action gets me wet.”  
    “Oh…hi.” Ringo mumbled, unable to keep his eyes from straying down her now-clinging uniform. The sting of his earlier rejection was fresh, and he turned away darkly, swallowing hard in frustration.
    Tyco shook his head, rolling his eyes at Hog as he turned away. “Whatever. Pick it up. We’re moving.”
    “Oh man, Cap, I am so jealous of you right now.” Chip moaned over the radio.  
    That, finally, was too much for Ringo.  
    “Shut. The fuck. Up.” He growled over the radio, taking care to make sure his comm was disengaged before walking on.  
    But Tyco had stopped in his tracks, staring up at the surrounding mountains curiously. The hills, which up until this point had run parallel to the road on both sides, now fell away sharply below the falls, rising just as sharply into the mountains above them. The road ran North-South; to the West was the sharply rising ridge, impassable from the road. To the East were the falls and the precipitous drop. Either way, there was no way Chip could flank them on either side. Nor was he in front of them. Which meant –  
    “Hey Chip.”
    “Yeah, Cap.” Chip crackled over the radio.  
    “Have you been right behind us this entire time?”
    Long silence greeted him.  
    “Uhh…yeah.” Chip confirmed, at last.  
    “You are one weird bastard.” Tyco tapped back, shaking his head. Ringo, reloading his machine gun, nodded emphatically.  
    “Jesus.” Ghost’s exclamation made Tyco turn in alarm. Coming from the usually quiet trooper, it seemed louder and more shocking. Ghost was standing over the fallen body of one of the bridge’s defenders, staring down at the rippling muscles under its armor. “These guys are huge.” He said, at last, turning to look up at Tyco. “Come take a look at this.”  
    Tyco followed Ghost’s outstretched finger, taking stock of the well-built soldier before them. Even from twenty feet away, the man’s shoulders were impressive and enormous. Whatever training plan these soldiers had been on, it had worked.
    “Hey Cap. You might want to come take a look at this.” Hog called. She was standing over another muscle-bound corpse, staring down at a pronounced, ugly scar on his neck. She pointed towards it now with the barrel of her submachine gun. “What the hell is that ?” She asked, disgusted and disconcerted.
    Tyco knelt down over the body, scrutinizing the mark. The skin on the man’s neck seemed angry, inflamed. Despite the grime and dirt on everything here, despite the mud streaked along the soldier’s body and through his hair, the incision on