Displaced

by Drake,Stephen

  Rose looked at the offered knife and shrugged. “I’m not wearing a belt.” She lifted her shirt a little to show Murdock that the loops on her jeans were empty. “Besides, you’re here now and appear to be armed to the teeth.”

  “I’m not nearly as well-armed as I’d like.” Murdock replaced the knife in his boot. “When we get back I’ll see what I can do. This is not a walk in a park. We’re in a survival situation. You can die out here in a heartbeat!”

  “If you’re that concerned, I guess you better follow me then.” Rose ignored his warnings and started toward the stream.

  Murdock just looked at her as she passed and decided to follow. He already knew arguing with her wasn’t going to get him anywhere. When they got to the stream, Rose removed her tennis shoes while Murdock filled the water skin. She looked at Murdock.

  “Promise you won’t look?” she asked sheepishly.

  “No, I won’t promise anything of the sort. Someone has to be the lookout,” Murdock stated flatly while climbing back up the low bank.

  Rose just shrugged, removed her flannel shirt and her jeans, and laid them beside her shoes. She waded in and began to wash up. Murdock remained on the bank watching for possible threats from either side of the stream. When she finished, she put her clothes back on and slipped her shoes on without tying them. Murdock hadn’t noticed her dressing or undressing. His attention was elsewhere.

  “I’d tie those shoes, if I were you,” he said as she climbed up the bank, with his help, seeing her untied shoes. “Your ankles are going to need the support, and you never know when you’ll have to run.”

  “Don’t even think of telling me what to do,” she blasted back. She stomped off toward the transport pod.

  Back at his camp, it wasn’t long before Murdock saw Whittier heading his way, and he let out a little groan.

  “Mind if we have a little chat?” Whittier asked.

  “I suppose,” Murdock responded coolly. “I don’t think it would matter much if I said no.”

  “Rose said you saw a bear by the stream?” Whittier asked, ignoring the quip.

  “Not exactly a bear that you’d find on Earth, but it resembled one.”

  “Wow! I wasn’t aware there would be large animals here,” Whittier stated.

  Murdock couldn’t believe his ears. “You thought we were just dumped in a park?” he asked sarcastically.

  “I wasn’t expecting to have to fend off bears!”

  “Mind if I speak freely?” Murdock asked.

  “Go ahead.”

  “There are lots of things about this planet that we don’t know. You can just about guarantee that we are not the only apex predators here. There could be all kinds of wild animals that present a danger to humans. This place appears to be somewhat parallel with the Colorado Mountains back home, but appearances can be, and generally are, deceiving. There are probably ten thousand ways this planet can kill you, and that is a conservative estimate.”

  “Hold on a moment,” Whittier protested. “We are men, not predators.”

  Murdock was dumbfounded. This guy is totally clueless, he thought. “Deal with many bears in your office back on Earth?” he asked sarcastically.

  “No, we just seem to have a difference of opinion on what a predator is.”

  “Maybe you can tell me what Earth species endangered wolves, seals, whales, lions, tigers, and eagles, just to name a few?”

  “Humans did, but that was for our progress. But I’m not going to debate that issue with you.”

  “Sounds rather predatory to me, but you are the duly elected colony leader, so far be it for me to tell you anything!” Murdock, incensed, turned back to his campfire.

  “Hold on! No need to be rude! I came over here to ask your opinion on the matter.”

  “My opinion is that you should leave the bears alone, if you find one.” Murdock went back to tending his fire. “Trying to eradicate them will be far beyond your capabilities, thankfully!”

  “Since, as you say, I am the duly elected leader, and the safety of the colony is my concern, what would you suggest we do about getting water and food in this hellhole?”

  Murdock just snickered slightly. Hellhole? “I think that your safety concerns are for yourself only,” Murdock answered. “As with any situation, you have to assess all your assets before you can proceed.” He just wanted Whittier to leave him alone. You can’t teach anyone who refuses to learn, much less someone who thinks he has all the answers.

  “That has already been done. You assessed our assets yesterday.”

  “And you refuse to listen,” Murdock blasted back. “I said all your assets! Is anyone here a doctor? How many know how to hunt? How many have gone camping in the wild? Anyone know any basic survival skills? Or don’t you consider those skills an asset?” The volume of Murdock’s voice rose through frustration and thundered toward Whittier.

  “I see your point,” Whittier responded coolly, appearing somewhat intimidated by the smaller man.

  “And I wouldn’t allow anyone to walk around outside the transport pod without being armed with at least a knife. As of our landing, humans are on the menu!”

  “I see no reason to allow that! Surely, with all of us here, we’re safe!”

  “You think so? Ask Rose Griffen. She saw the bear. How many here would want to fight it to save someone?”

  “Well, there aren’t enough of us to do much when it comes to rescuing someone.”

  Murdock wasn’t surprised to hear this from Whittier. “Not even if it was you who needed rescuing?” he asked coolly.

  Whittier said nothing. Murdock saw Whittier’s jaws clench and could tell he hadn’t thought of that.

  “You probably wouldn’t rescue anyone,” Murdock muttered. “It would mean you’d have to care about someone else’s hide over your own!”

  “That was an unfair statement! I care about everyone here!” Whittier raised his voice so the others could hear.

  “If that’s true, then why did you lock me out of the transport pod last night?”

  “That was a decision I made as colony leader. I figured if you wanted to come in, you would have before the ramp was closed.”

  “Without warning me you were closing it? It is my considered opinion that the best thing you could do for everyone is to take a very long walk. With any luck, you wouldn’t come back!” Murdock turned his back on Whittier. “Who do you think you’re fooling with your false concern? You’re a typical politician! Look out for yourself and everyone else is expected to look after you as well!”

  Whittier, furious, grabbed Murdock by the bicep to turn him back around. Murdock shook off the other man’s grip on his arm and trapped Whittier’s arm with his body, bringing up his free arm to put pressure on Whittier’s elbow. He stopped short of breaking it. Whittier was in shock and on the balls of his feet trying to relieve the pain and pressure on his elbow and shoulder.

  “Get this straight! You don’t touch me! Ever! Next time, I’ll break it for you,” Murdock warned through clenched teeth, just loud enough for Whittier to hear. “Get out of here!” He pushed the other man toward the transport pod. Whittier lost his footing and fell.

  When Whittier got up, he was rubbing his elbow, looking shocked and fearful.

  “You’re a very violent and unstable individual! I’m not entirely sure we need your kind here,” Whittier yelled while walking toward the others.

  “As nice as Earth was, it had one bad thing about it: too many people like you,” Murdock shouted at Whittier’s back.

  He knew he should have kept his anger in check, but Whittier’s stupidity and arrogance had brought his temper to full boil in a heartbeat. Murdock could tell that Whittier would sacrifice everyone else trying to save his own skin. Did Murdock mean what he said? Yes, every word of it, but he also knew very few people could handle either the naked truth or the reality of their situation.

  He watched as Whittier went inside the transport pod, helped along by two of the other men and o
ne of the women, none of whom he recognized. The rest of the group were having an independent discussion and hadn’t appeared to notice the altercation.

  #

  Whittier fumed as he walked away. How dare Murdock put hands on me! He’d hoped to get rid of him; now, Murdock’s temper had just given him the means to do so.

  When he got close to the pod, Burns and another man helped him inside the ship. A female he didn’t know followed.

  “Are you all right, Boss?” Burns asked with real and evident concern. Whittier scowled at the strangers and then scowled at Burns. “They’re okay. This is Tom Collier and Krysia Oblonski.” Krysia smiled coyly at Whittier when Burns introduced her.

  “I need to talk to Burns, so you two leave! Go get some water or something!” Whittier told them gruffly.

  Once they had left, he asked Burns, “Did you see that altercation?”

  “Yeah, well, sort of! Never seen anything like that! Never saw him move! I blinked and he had you!” Burns responded excitedly.

  “Damn near broke my arm,” Whittier said venomously, more to himself than to Burns. He rubbed his elbow as he remembered the incident. “Murdock is too dangerous to roam free and remain armed!”

  “I don’t think I could disarm him,” Burns responded, shaking his head. “I don’t think all of the men working together could disarm him!”

  My leadership has been challenged, he thought and he knew this couldn’t go unanswered. “I want the group to vote me emergency powers,” he told Burns after thinking for a moment.

  “I think I can deliver a majority if I’m allowed to do so by whatever means necessary,” Burns answered.

  “I don’t want anyone physically harmed . . . yet,” Whittier instructed. “Use the idea that Murdock could come after them at any time. Use their fear! Get as many people as you need to get me a majority vote. Promise anything!”

  “What do I get out of it?” Burns asked slyly.

  “What would you like?” Whittier asked grumpily. What a fool, he thought. Whittier smirked while he waited for Burns to verbalize what he wanted.

  “I don’t know,” Burns responded. “I know that you are going to be a big deal after this vote, and I want to be part of those in charge.”

  “I could make you police chief. Allow you to hire whomever you wish,” Whittier offered, still smirking. When the time came, he would have no problem cutting this fool loose. I’ll make them all pay, sooner or later! No one would help me, so I’m going to make them wish they had!

  #

  After more than twenty minutes, Rose came over to Murdock.

  “Are you calm enough to get me set up with what you think I need?” she asked pleasantly.

  “We don’t have what I think you need,” Murdock responded with a slight smile. He had cooled down sufficiently to be somewhat polite. “I saw no tanks or rocket launchers. All I can do is make do with what we have,”

  He and Rose went to the tarp and he threw it back. He selected some quarter-inch rope and measured off about fifty feet and cut it. This he coiled up and slung diagonally across his body. He then measured off another fifty feet and cut it again. He wrapped it around Rose’s waist three or four times and cut it again.

  “Divide that up until you have enough to tie it in front of you without too much extra,” he suggested while he continued to search through the items under the tarp. He outfitted Rose the same way he was outfitted.

  “Do I really need all this stuff?” she asked as he hung the machetes and the six-inch knife on her makeshift belt. He inserted a hatchet, much the same way as his was.

  “Yes, you do. You never know what you’re going to need until you don’t have it,” he responded.

  “But I don’t know what all this stuff is used for.”

  “The belt can be used for several things if you have to, like setting snares or tying a splint on someone’s leg,” he explained. “The big machete is used for clearing brush or taking down small trees. The little machete can be used for smaller jobs that are too small for the big machete and too big for the six-inch knife. The six-inch knife can be used for anything from cutting small rope to skinning and cleaning game. The hatchet is good for trees too big for the machete to handle. All of these can be used as an effective weapon, if you have to. I would also suggest you get in the habit of tying your shoes whenever you wear them. Otherwise you could lose them if you have to run from a bear. I don’t think you want to go through life barefoot.”

  As Murdock got Rose outfitted, the rest of the group came over to listen to his explanations. Following his lead, the members of the group grabbed their own sets as he explained and hung them as his were. When he found the whetstones, he gave each person one. The others looked at the stones blankly.

  “They’re for sharpening your six-inch knife and twelve-inch machete. You only cut yourself with dull knives. Anyone else been camping, hunting, or fishing?”

  “I have been camping before,” one man said with another nodding his agreement, “and did a little fishing.”

  “I’ve been fishing before, sort of,” another piped in sheepishly.

  “This is going to be a lot different than anything you’ve experienced before. You’re going to have to rely on each other — on your skills and theirs. It’s not going to be easy.”

  “Why did you tell me we can’t bathe for a while?” Rose asked, obviously still in a snit about the bath.

  “Do any of us know what’s in the water?” Murdock explained. “Does it have leeches or snapping turtles? I wouldn’t recommend bathing until we know a lot more about our surroundings and the creatures we share this environment with. Are there any snakes around? Just because you haven’t seen them doesn’t mean there aren’t any.”

  When they were all outfitted, Murdock stood back, looking them over. He suppressed his laughter. They all looked ridiculous in their skirts and suits, outfitted for tramping in the woods.

  “What about bathroom facilities?” one of the women asked.

  “Until you figure out where you’re going to build a more permanent settlement, I would say go out in the trees. I would highly recommend that none of you go off on your own. Take someone with you. Four eyes see more than two.”

  They seemed to accept what he said. To Murdock, they all looked to be in shock. He suspected that the reality of their situation hadn’t sunk in yet, not totally.

  Just then, one of the men who had helped Whittier into the transport pod came over.

  “Whittier has called an emergency meeting,” he said gruffly. “Murdock is banned from it!”

  Murdock shrugged and walked off toward the trees in the opposite direction of the stream. It was close to midday, and he was starting to get a bit peckish. The further he walked from the transport pod, the more the issue of Whittier disappeared from his consciousness.

  As he walked, he heard something moving in the waist-high grass parallel to his course. Must be something small or something crawling. Though he couldn’t see what was following him, he could hear and feel it, as if he were being stalked. Slowly, he withdrew the eighteen-inch machete from its sheath, carrying it at his side in his right hand. The hair on his neck stood on end. The creature was close; soon it would strike from his left.

  He took a couple more steps and caught movement at the edge of his peripheral vision. In a swift, single motion, he moved his left side away from the attack and brought the large machete into play. As soon as he saw the mouth, he swung the machete upward. No time to analyze the attack; in his disconnected state, his response time had been close to instantaneous.

  Not until the attack and response were over did Murdock realize what had attacked him. At his feet lay the biggest snake he had ever seen writhing around, missing its head. The severed head lay off to the side with only a few inches of body attached.

  Murdock stepped away as the snake continued to thrash and roll. He waited for the contortions to subside and for his own adrenaline to run its course. Finally, after the snake had stil
led, he walked the length of the body. Twenty-five feet long and twelve inches across its diameter, he thought. He estimated the weight at two hundred pounds at least — more than he could drag or carry.

  He cut the carcass in half and carried the front half back to his camp. The trek was hard going, and he sweated profusely. There, he tied the first half of the snake in a tree with the rope he carried, grabbed a drink of water from his water skin, and headed back to retrieve the rest of the snake. Before he reached it, though, he saw a dozen or so large carrion birds finishing what he had left behind.

  “So much for that idea,” Murdock said aloud, heading back to the camp.

  After cleaning and prepping the snake for cooking, he placed the skewers on to cook. Needing fresh water and a quick clean-up, he headed off to the stream. On his way back, he noticed the others had come out of the transport pod and now milled around talking to each other.

  He avoided them and went to his campsite instead. When he checked the meat, he found a couple of pieces were done so he ate them. The meat was juicy and a little on the sweet side, but very rich and he could tell it would be very filling. While he took a drink from the water skin, he saw Rose walking in his direction.

  “What’s for dinner?” she asked, smiling.

  “Chicken,” Murdock snickered. “Would you like some?”

  “Don’t mind if I do!” she said gratefully. She selected a skewer of cooked meat and began nibbling. “Tastes pretty damn good to me!” she said after chewing up and swallowing a good-sized bite. “Where did you find chicken out here?”

  Murdock just chuckled. He had finished his skewer and, after refilling it and placing it on the fire, ate another. Meanwhile, Rose finished her skewer.

  “If you want more, help yourself.” He took her empty skewer, refilled it, and set it on the fire to cook. “There’s plenty.”

  Rose looked to the other skewers and then at the rest of the group, all of whom had stayed back.

  “You know there’s trouble coming from your little dust-up with Whittier,” she said quietly as she selected another skewer.