Grunt Life (29 page)

I chuckled and nodded.

“Corporal Mason says affirmative,” Mr. Pink said, straight-faced.

God bless him.

“What is a REMF?” the battle captain asked.

I smiled as I replied, “Rear Echelon Mother Fucker. It’s for those who’d rather watch than fight.”

Aquinas screamed.

Everyone turned towards her; three feeds showing her terrified face as she was pulled into the air. Thompson had a grip on her leg. The added weight of him and his suit was like an anchor, holding her to the earth.

I balled my fists. “Don’t let go, Thompson. Don’t you fucking let go.”

Olivares grabbed Thompson’s leg and heaved backwards.

Suddenly Ohirra was staring at Aquinas... no...
past
her as she opened fire on the Cray trying to haul her higher into the air.

Aquinas fell to the ground. For a moment, her feed worked and I watched as she stumbled to her feet. But then as she turned to the others her feed disappeared again.

Then we lost the others. Thompson’s feed went to static. So did Olivares’s. All I had was Ohirra’s feed and she was running away from the others.

“We’ve lost all but one feed,” a tech said.

“Where’d they go?” asked another tech.

“Was there an EMP?” I asked.

“We didn’t record one,” someone answered.

Then what the hell was going on?

“I have eighty-four Cray heading towards Ohirra,” telemetry said.

“Have Alpha-Two-One provide cover support,” Mr. Pink ordered.

Within moments, I saw telemetric markings on the map wink out, one after the other.

“Where’s she going?” I asked, but no one answered my question.

All I could see was Ohirra’s feed, jittery and moving as each servo-powered leg pushed her forward.

“Sir, we have an issue. Looks like the Cray are targeting the infantry.”

“How many?” Mr. Pink asked.

“Over three hundred.”

“Pull them back now,” he said. Mr Pink glanced from one screen to the other, taking in all the information. “That’s too many. There’s something wrong here.” His eyes narrowed. “Get me a report from the tunnels, now!”

I watched as one tech ran from the room while another began to speak rapidly into his mike. I remembered the tunnels we had, several hundred meters from those belonging to the Cray.
Not your pay grade.
Had they been wrong about the distance? Had the Cray broken through? Was the attack on Romeo Three intended to be a distraction?

“Seismic sensors reporting no significant disturbance,” a tech said.

Mr. Pink shook his head. “I want eyes down there right now.”

“We have two platoons on site, sir,” the battle captain said. “They’re reporting nothing.”

Mr. Pink stared at the battle captain as if he wasn’t going to believe him, then nodded and returned to the feeds.

I wondered what all that was about. Were we really that close to the enemy? With our firepower and the tunnels limiting the Cray’s ability to fly, wouldn’t that be to our advantage? Or were there things he was keeping from us? I wondered what Olivares and Aquinas were going to discover when they snuck into the volcano and traced the tunnels to the hive.

If they made it.

I turned back in time to see Ohirra spinning and catching a Cray in the head with her blade, slicing through mandible and skull. She got another fifty meters before the ground fell away in front of her. She slowed for a millisecond, then poured on the speed and leaped.

I could read the calculations on the right of her HUD and knew she’d make it. I was about to turn my head to check the others when Ohirra suddenly plummeted.

One of the Cray must have grabbed her. I could see the lip of the hole as she passed it, then chaotic darkness.

Mr. Pink called orders and a tech began flipping through the usable spectrums, but nothing was coming clear.

Ohirra’s screams were punctuated by grunts as she punched and kicked. Everywhere there was movement, but it was too dark and too fast to see.

“Get her strobe on.” Mr. Pink grabbed one of the technicians. “Come on, son. Faster!”

The screen was suddenly assaulted by light as a hundred thousand candlewatt bulb began to pulse on the front of Ohirra’s helmet.

I stepped forward to get a better view and walked right into the back of someone’s chair. I apologized, then joined Mr. Pink at the front of the room. We stared at the scene as our eyes adjusted to the combat rave in the alien hole.

Each time I saw a Cray head, it was frozen in the light. Was the light stunning them, perhaps hypnotizing them?

With each flash, I watched Ohirra’s hands and feet move in stop-motion violence, eviscerating and hacking her way out of the hole as she eventually found her grip and pulled her way free.

“Turn off the strobe,” Mr. Pink said.

Ohirra ran back towards the village, and as she came close, Cray began to pour out of the buildings. Another ambush. But when they saw her strobe, the Cray slowed and moved towards her at a pace less intent on murder and more akin to need.

“Turn off the fucking strobe,” I shouted.

“I can’t,” a tech shouted. “It’s not responding.”

I checked Ohirra’s power. She was down to thirteen percent. I wasn’t sure if she could make the distance..

She tripped and fell but managed to get back to her feet in time to see a wave of Cray descending on her. But these were different. It took me a moment for me to notice that they lacked wings; in their place was an extra set of arms. Ohirra hacked at them with her blade. She was no longer as fluid with her movements as before. She was exhausted and terrified.

I grabbed a headset from a technician. “Connect me to her.”

She looked at Mr. Pink for confirmation. He nodded.

“Ohirra...
Ohirra!
Relax and listen to me. They can’t pierce your armor. They can’t get through. Can you hear me?”

“Mason?”

“Just relax. You’re going to make it.”

“Where are the others?”

I glanced at the blank feeds of Aquinas, Thompson and Olivares and lied. “They’re okay. But don’t worry about them. Worry about yourself. Look at your power.”

It was down to seven percent. It had to be the strobe.

She fought desperately, but precisely, her martial arts training kicking in.

I covered the mike with one hand and leaned over. “Will that strobe keep working if she takes off her suit?”

“As long as there’s no EMP,” the tech said.

I moved my hand away from the mike. “Listen closely. I want you to run to our lines as fast as you can. Watch your numbers. When your suit reaches two percent, remove it and come the rest of the way without it.”

“But I can’t... they’ll kill me.”

“No they won’t. You’re faster than them. These have no wings. Come on, Ohirra. You have to run.
Now!
”

She looked back towards our lines, then turned to engage the Cray again.

“Ohirra! I said move!
Now!
”

She flung her blade into the chest of the nearest Cray, then turned and ran. She was soon at full speed. Her power level was dropping one percent every five seconds.

“When you get out of your suit, run for us. I’ll meet you there.”

I tossed the headset back at the technician and bolted from the room. I peeled around one corner, almost knocking over several soldiers. I didn’t have the time to get a suit on. I’d have to go out as I was.

When I made it to the trench, she was out of her suit and running. I just prayed that she’d put enough distance between herself and the Cray. I didn’t know how fast the ones without wings could run; I knew they couldn’t keep up with a suit, but they could very well be faster than a human.

I snatched an HK from one of the sentries and leaped out of the trench.

I ran twenty feet, then went down on one knee, resting my elbow on the other knee as I took aim. I sighted through the EOTECH and put the red dot on the figures directly behind Ohirra. Poor Ohirra wasn’t running all-out. She’d let fear get to her. She kept turning her head to look behind her, and each time she did, she’d slow, and sometimes stumble. She hadn’t gone down yet, but it seemed only a matter of time.

I squeezed off a round and missed. I tried another and caught the nearest Cray in the head.

Red dot dead.

Ohirra dodged like she thought I was shooting at her. Her movement opened up my sight picture and I was able to fire faster, taking four more out and giving her more time.

I stood and yelled. “Come on, girl—get your ass in gear!”

I was suddenly joined by a squad of infantry. They must have come from A-2-1. They fired surgically, removing her pursuers within moments. I stood to run, but felt a hand on my shoulder.

I turned and saw a sergeant major I didn’t recognize. The name
Marshall
was printed on his chest. He pointed off to the right.

An EXO was cruising towards Ohirra. It covered the ground at amazing speed. I’d never seen it from the ground like this before. I felt like a human watching a god. As I watched, it ran at Ohirra, picked her up and sprinted towards our lines without breaking stride. As it got closer, I recognized it as belonging to Olivares.

I searched behind him. Where were the others? What had he done with Thompson and Michelle?

When he reached our lines, he placed Ohirra on the ground. She struggled to regain her balance. I helped her for a moment, then turned to Olivares, slapping the back of his suit to get his attention.

He turned and stared through his faceplate. His eyes were glassy, and he couldn’t meet my gaze.

“Where are the others?”

He shook his head.

I grabbed him, but he shrugged me off and walked towards the trench. I ran after him, anger blossoming inside me, but he was in and gone by the time I was there. I descended and handed the rifle over.

I ran back to the Tactical Operations Center.

“Where are they?” I shouted. “Where are the others?” I grabbed a monitor and threw it across the room, then grabbed another as I screamed, “
Where are the others?
”

I felt a hand on my shoulder and spun around to face the battle captain. I punched him before he could open his mouth, and when he was down, I fell on top of him and began to hammer at him over and over until they pulled me off.

In that moment of silence, I heard through the static a repetitive sound. It was a pattern, something I almost recognized. Just as I was about to get it, a hand came and slammed into my face.

Then I had it. Drumming.

Our little drummer boy.

Could it be? Was he alive?

Then the hand came again and it all went black.

Thank the gods of capitalistic excess for all of our electronics. Our televisions, movie disc players, computers, cars, airplanes, movie theaters, hospitals, schools, vibrators, microwave ovens, and
Sunday Night Football
. They are what makes life worth living, and they’re also our ultimate downfall. We don’t even read real books anymore. Instead we read using electronic devices. But there’s a single threat lurking out there, one which could kill us as easily as a global pandemic. It’s called EMP: electro magnetic pulse. A perfectly placed EMP could shut everything down. We’ve seen this on television and on movies. But let me ask you, what would you do if everything in your life suddenly ceased to function? Could you live? Could you find a way to continue? Answer the questions if you dare.

Conspiracy Theory Talk Radio,

Night Stalker Monologue #702

Why did Harry feel like he’d wasted a good portion of his life?

TF OMBRA Study Question from

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

by Ernest Hemingway

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

A
BLACK SILHOUETTE
rose into the sky. We hunkered down, convinced we’d been spotted. We’d been so careful, even going so far as to turn off our telemetry to reduce our radio profile, yet still it came. It descended towards us, and as it did so, we were able to discern its shape. No, not a Cray: a vulture. Its wingspan must have been more than seven feet. I’d spent most of my life ignoring them or trying to keep away from them on battlefields. I didn’t find them as beautiful or as graceful as some.

But that was before the Earth was taken from us.

Seeing it circle overhead, the wind ruffling its broad wings, sun glistening off its feathers, I learned a new appreciation for the Jackdaw of the Air. Then it struck me. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen an animal or bird of any type. Was it all the way back in Wyoming when I’d seen the prairie dogs in the grass next to the underground complex? I was reminded that we weren’t only trying to save Earth for ourselves, but for everything else that lived upon it... vultures included.

I watched it soar for a time, thinking back to Hemingway’s
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
. You had to know that when a story began with vultures circling, it couldn’t end well. His main character spent the entire narrative reminiscing about what he’d done or not done, rethinking things. I didn’t have that leisure. With Aquinas and Thompson missing, I had to remain focused. We hadn’t found them on the battlefield, so it was believed that they’d been taken by the Cray. I knew it was a long shot, but that idea was at least more palatable than the probable truth they’d been scattered across the plain in such small pieces that we couldn’t find them.