05-08-2014, 04:28 PM
Netland Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone
The Presidential Guard were never meant to serve as a main-line military unit. They were bodyguards, meant to ward away assassins or crowds, not military forces.
Temne soldiers, those that had been behind the initial coup attempt, had managed to track the president to the hospital within scant hours of the man's arrival. They arrived with military trucks and armoured vehicles; they dismounted by the dozens and forced their way into the hospital, shouting orders and demanding directions to the President.
There was panic and confusion; it reigned throughout the city as word spread quickly of what had happened in the government district. Whispers of civil war had already begun to spread, as did the first glimmers of understanding of how wide it spread. Word of atrocities and executions throughout the country as Temne aligned military forces and bands of vigilantes struck at their Mende counter parts with startling ferocity and efficiency.
Soldiers in uniforms carried an air of authority, even with the Sierra Leone flag torn from their shoulders, and at first the hospital staff was cooperative. Until the Presidential Guard realized the soldiers had arrived.
There was some debate to who fired the first shot, but it happened suddenly, and a well-beloved Temne commander was on the receiving end in the first flurry of bullets. A moment of silence followed as both sides took stock of their situation, then the Temne soldiers struck back in anger. None were safe from their rage.
Weapons fire and screams erupted throughout the hospital. Temne soldiers moved with blind furry through the halls, kicking in doors and shooting any who resisted. Presidential Guard fought desperately to keep the soldiers back long enough for the president, near death and fresh out of emergency surgery, to be evacuated to the roof top, where a helicopter would arrive to carry him away.
The Presidential Guard secured the approach to the emergency rooms for the moment. Well dressed men with Kalashnikov's and pistols were desperately throwing anything the could against a door at a far end of the smoke-choked corridor as Natalie emerged with Ekene.
Doctors and medical staff argued with them, while two other Guards stood nervously at the doors to an emergency room, while another stood facing into the room with a pistol aimed at the doctors within, ordering them to get someone ready to be moved immediately.
The people were already panicked; smoke billowed through the crudely barricaded doors at the end of the hallway, and beyond was the rapidly approaching sounds of gunfire. Temne soldiers were zeroing in on where the wounded president was, it seemed.
And that was just a few scant meters from where Natalie and Ekene had been waiting. The soldiers of the Presidential Guard had been kept out of sight, and forced into the open now that their charge was again in danger.
A hail of bullets tore through the barricaded doors, and one of the Guards dropped limply to the floor. Others blindly fired back in return, expended rounds raining to the floor, unheard over the roar of assault rifles and angry yells.
The response from beyond those doors was immediate and excessive. The fwoosh of an RPG and the doors shook as a rocket propelled grenade punched through the already weakened barriers. It hadn't enough distance to travel to actually arm the grenade, but it found it's home in the back of a doctor who had made the mistake of running through the hallway, abandoning his patients.
The man's body fell hard, and the tail of the RPG sat smoking and dangerously quiet in the ruin of the man's back, drawing the uncomfortable stares of more then a few of the people still lingering in the ward.
The Guards resumed firing down the hallway, and all hell quickly broke loose, as doctors and patients began to flee as best they could, away from the approaching Temne soldiers.
An explosion shook the building, from an explosion in a distant ward. A storage room full of canisters of compressed air or Nitrous Oxide had been struck by an RPG that had actually traveled far enough to arm, and fires raged uncontrolled. The power failed next, plummeting the building into darkness for a few terrifying seconds before the emergency lights flicked on, but their glow was shadowed by the growing clouds of smoke.
Temne soldiers wielding machetes and guns set to killing anyone they crossed, falling upon patients, staff, and Presidential Guard with equal fervor and blood-lust, blinded to the threat of the raging fires by their intense hatred.
The Presidential Guard were never meant to serve as a main-line military unit. They were bodyguards, meant to ward away assassins or crowds, not military forces.
Temne soldiers, those that had been behind the initial coup attempt, had managed to track the president to the hospital within scant hours of the man's arrival. They arrived with military trucks and armoured vehicles; they dismounted by the dozens and forced their way into the hospital, shouting orders and demanding directions to the President.
There was panic and confusion; it reigned throughout the city as word spread quickly of what had happened in the government district. Whispers of civil war had already begun to spread, as did the first glimmers of understanding of how wide it spread. Word of atrocities and executions throughout the country as Temne aligned military forces and bands of vigilantes struck at their Mende counter parts with startling ferocity and efficiency.
Soldiers in uniforms carried an air of authority, even with the Sierra Leone flag torn from their shoulders, and at first the hospital staff was cooperative. Until the Presidential Guard realized the soldiers had arrived.
There was some debate to who fired the first shot, but it happened suddenly, and a well-beloved Temne commander was on the receiving end in the first flurry of bullets. A moment of silence followed as both sides took stock of their situation, then the Temne soldiers struck back in anger. None were safe from their rage.
Weapons fire and screams erupted throughout the hospital. Temne soldiers moved with blind furry through the halls, kicking in doors and shooting any who resisted. Presidential Guard fought desperately to keep the soldiers back long enough for the president, near death and fresh out of emergency surgery, to be evacuated to the roof top, where a helicopter would arrive to carry him away.
The Presidential Guard secured the approach to the emergency rooms for the moment. Well dressed men with Kalashnikov's and pistols were desperately throwing anything the could against a door at a far end of the smoke-choked corridor as Natalie emerged with Ekene.
Doctors and medical staff argued with them, while two other Guards stood nervously at the doors to an emergency room, while another stood facing into the room with a pistol aimed at the doctors within, ordering them to get someone ready to be moved immediately.
The people were already panicked; smoke billowed through the crudely barricaded doors at the end of the hallway, and beyond was the rapidly approaching sounds of gunfire. Temne soldiers were zeroing in on where the wounded president was, it seemed.
And that was just a few scant meters from where Natalie and Ekene had been waiting. The soldiers of the Presidential Guard had been kept out of sight, and forced into the open now that their charge was again in danger.
A hail of bullets tore through the barricaded doors, and one of the Guards dropped limply to the floor. Others blindly fired back in return, expended rounds raining to the floor, unheard over the roar of assault rifles and angry yells.
The response from beyond those doors was immediate and excessive. The fwoosh of an RPG and the doors shook as a rocket propelled grenade punched through the already weakened barriers. It hadn't enough distance to travel to actually arm the grenade, but it found it's home in the back of a doctor who had made the mistake of running through the hallway, abandoning his patients.
The man's body fell hard, and the tail of the RPG sat smoking and dangerously quiet in the ruin of the man's back, drawing the uncomfortable stares of more then a few of the people still lingering in the ward.
The Guards resumed firing down the hallway, and all hell quickly broke loose, as doctors and patients began to flee as best they could, away from the approaching Temne soldiers.
An explosion shook the building, from an explosion in a distant ward. A storage room full of canisters of compressed air or Nitrous Oxide had been struck by an RPG that had actually traveled far enough to arm, and fires raged uncontrolled. The power failed next, plummeting the building into darkness for a few terrifying seconds before the emergency lights flicked on, but their glow was shadowed by the growing clouds of smoke.
Temne soldiers wielding machetes and guns set to killing anyone they crossed, falling upon patients, staff, and Presidential Guard with equal fervor and blood-lust, blinded to the threat of the raging fires by their intense hatred.