SNAFU: Hunters

by James A. Moore

  Nathan reloaded and took aim, but the monsters submerged, disappearing into the water. Nathan and Leon provided covering fire, unloading into the river as the squad retreated to the forest. Nathan couldn’t identify the voices shouting over each other in the chaos.

  “Go, go, go!”

  “They’re in the river.”

  “Run.”

  “Wait,” Nathan shouted.

  “Are you crazy? Why?” Deacon shouted.

  “It’s Bao,” Nathan said, moving quickly.

  Bao lay prostrate beside the river, partly slumped over mangrove roots. His clothes were soaked in blood, two bullet holes in his torso.

  “Shit,” Deacon muttered.

  “One of you fucks hit Bao,” Nathan said, and took a knee beside Bao, who groaned, coughing up blood.

  “How bad is it?” Deacon asked.

  Nathan just shook his head. There wasn’t much he could say.

  “Maybe we can radio for an extraction?” Deacon said, sounding defeated.

  Nathan motioned to what was left of Buck, their radio man, and the wrecked the sampan. “No radio.”

  “My guess is the jarhead shot him,” Leon said.

  “Shut up,” Donaldson said. “I prob’ly just saved your ass.”

  “Like hell you did.”

  “Put a few bullets in that thing behind you,” Donaldson said with a glare. “You would’ve known that if you didn’t lose your shit.”

  “He’s right,” Deacon squared off with Leon. “Did you even fuckin’ aim?”

  “You’re not gonna blame me for this. We’re only here because of your stupid fucking dolphins.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “What?” Donaldson raised an eyebrow. “Dolphins?”

  “You didn’t know?” Leon asked. “He’s a dolphin trainer for the Navy. They only set up this op’ ‘cause he lost a couple of his pets.”

  “Wait a minute. So you wouldn’t come out here when they were killin’ marines - when they killed my brother - but you’d come out here for a goddamn pet fish?”

  “Dolphins aren’t fish,” the professor said.

  “Shut up.”

  There was a flash of motion from behind, and Nathan felt a sudden tug. He turned, ready to shoot, or die trying. But it was only Hiro, the boatman The addict had a tight grip on the bag of heroin looped over Nathan’s shoulder. Nathan wrestled the bag from Hiro’s grip then shoved him back. Hiro tripped on a root and landed on his back.

  “You tryin’ to get yourself killed? I almost blasted you!”

  Hiro spoke calmly, pleading, and motioned to the bag.

  “I think he wants a hit.” Deacon stated the obvious.

  “Not really the time, is it?”

  Hiro continued talking, a stream of unintelligible Vietnamese.

  “Hey, I think Bao’s tryin’ to say something,” Deacon said.

  Bao groaned.

  “What is it, buddy?” Nathan asked his wounded friend. “You should take it easy.”

  “He says-” Bao coughed. “If you let him have some he will help you survive.” Leon stifled a laugh, but Bao continued. “He says he knows how to kill the demons.”

  “He might know something useful,” the Professor said.

  “The hell could he know?” Leon scoffed.

  “He must live around here,” the Professor said. “He could’ve learned something about those things, whatever they are.”

  “Let him have a hit,” Deacon said. “Let’s see what he knows.”

  Nathan hesitated then held out the open bag. Hiro rushed over and reached inside, pulling out a small straw and a tiny plastic bag with white powder before promptly inhaling the contents. He closed his eyes and twitched subtly, then his face relaxed.

  “Are you supposed to snort heroin?” Leon asked.

  “Sure,” the Professor said. “You can snort it, inject it, smoke it. You can even eat it.”

  “Forget that,” Nathan said. “We need to find out what he knows before those things come back. Bao? Bao?”

  Bao was motionless.

  “Christ.” Nathan shook his head. “Sorry, Bao.”

  “Now what? Those things wrecked our ride,” Leon said.

  “We’ll walk,” Nathan said. “But first let’s get away from this river. With those things in the water, we’ll be safer moving through the forest.”

  They headed out in diamond formation. Nathan took point. Professor took rear security. Leon was on the left, Deacon the right. Donaldson took the centre, escorting Hiro. They marched a long time, deeper into the forest, without speaking.

  “Hey Nathan,” Donaldson said. “The boatman wants somethin’.”

  “He wants a fix,” Nathan said.

  “I don’t think so.”

  Nathan stopped and turned. Hiro had a wide-eyed expression. He spoke urgently, fear in his voice, and motioned to the trees.

  “What’s up with him?”

  “Prob’ly just freakin’ out from the drugs.”

  “Probably not,” the Professor said. “Heroin has a calming effect.”

  “You think he knows something we don’t?” Donaldson’s voice wavered.

  “Nah,” Leon shook his head. “He’s just a junkie.”

  Nathan wasn’t so sure. Fear crept along his skin, like the forest was watching him. “Keep your eyes open,” he ordered. His heart beat hard in his chest, and he wiped a bead of sweat from his temple. “Something’s out there.”

  “He’s pointing at something,” Donaldson said.

  Hiro gesticulated towards the forest, an angle halfway between Nathan and Leon.

  “What do you see?” Nathan squinted as he stared into the forest. A shape resolved, nearly imperceptible against leafy backdrop. A tall, slender creature stood just two dozen paces away, nearly invisible, seemingly made of glass. Its outline was only visible from the creature’s gentle, hypnotic sway.

  “Squad,” Nathan said just loud enough to be heard. “Rapid, on my signal.” He levelled his rifle. The creature cocked its head to the side then leapt into the trees. Nathan fired, bullets tracing the movement of the thing into the leaves. A hail of fire followed from his squadmates; bursts from Deacon and Leon, shots from Donaldson and the professor.

  “Ceasefire!” Nathan ordered.

  “Did we get it?” Leon asked.

  “I don’t think so.” Professor shook his head. “No body.”

  “There was just one right?” Donaldson asked.

  The men scanned the forest, listening intently. It was deathly quiet. No motion, except for the swaying of leaves in the wind.

  “It was standing right in front of us. Shit, man, did you see that?” Leon’s voice wavered.

  “It was almost fuckin’ invisible,” Donaldson said.

  “My question is,” Nathan said, “how did he know it was there?”

  The men glanced briefly at Hiro.

  “Is it still around?” Nathan asked Hiro, waving towards the forest. “Is it still out there?”

  Hiro seemed to understand. He squinted, ran his eyes over the forest, took a deep breath then pointed. Nathan looked towards the spot but saw only waving leaves.

  “Ready,” Nathan said, and the squad aimed their weapons.

  “I don’t see shit,” Deacon muttered.

  Leon frowned as he peered at the spot. “Where is it?”

  “Grenades,” Nathan ordered. Deacon popped a high-frag round into his XM-148, and Nathan loaded a high-explosive. “Fire.”

  The team unloaded. Two grenade rounds exploded in the distance, one blasting a sphere of destruction, the other sending a hail of fragmentation through the trees. They emptied their magazines into the forest.

  “Ceasefire.”

  It was quiet, except for the reloading of weapons. Nathan plugged a canister into his 40mm attachment when something dropped from the trees. It landed forty paces away, crashed flat to the ground.

  Nathan signalled to move, pointed to the spot, and the squad advanced in formation. Nathan
reached it first, and saw a giant green body splayed on the ground. “We got it,” he said over his shoulder, keeping his weapon trained on the motionless body. The others rushed forward; circled around the fallen creature.

  “The hell is that thing?” Donaldson said, disgust thickening his voice.

  “Whatever it is,” Leon said, “we really fucked it up.”

  There were more than a dozen holes blasted through the creature’s body. Its right arm was severed near the shoulder, and other limbs hung by strands of flesh. Pieces of the creature were scattered around where it fell, and the whole mess sat in a puddle of green liquid and innards.

  “Looks like it’s got scales,” the Professor said. “Like a fish.”

  “That’s not a fucking fish,” Leon scoffed.

  “No shit.”

  The Professor bent to examine the creature. He probed with the barrel of his SKS, running it against a series of large open slits on the creature’s mangled torso. “It’s got gills, too.”

  The creature twitched.

  A flash of movement.

  The Professor’s eyes went wide, his jaw dropped open. The creature’s remaining arm had plunged through the Professor’s gut, emerging blood-soaked from the other side. The appendage withdrew, and the man slumped to the ground.

  “Professor,” Deacon yelled. He pulled his squadmate close as Donaldson and Leon unloaded into what was left of the green carcass, shredding it into sloppy chunks.

  The Professor coughed up blood. “Shit,” he managed, through heaving breaths. “Must’ve been a reflex… Defence mechanism for the gills…”

  “Take it easy, Professor,” Nathan said. “We’ll get you back to base.”

  “Bullshit,” the Professor said. He was leaking badly from both sides of the wound.

  “Guys,” Donaldson said. “What the fuck is that?” He motioned with his M1 towards the butchered green monster. The pieces were vibrating. Minced remains of the creature, shreds of flesh and innards, oozed together, coalesced.

  “Jesus,” Leon said. “Is it still alive?”

  “Is it… Is it putting itself together?” Donaldson said, staring in disbelief.

  The creature slowly took form. It was a skeleton of goo first, oozing up from the ground, joined by pieces of green carcass.

  Hiro shouted something and pointed to the bag in Nathan’s hands.

  “Now’s not the fucking time,” Leon shouted.

  Hiro shouted back, insistent, pointing alternately to the bag and the monster.

  “Maybe he knows how to stop it,” Donaldson said.

  Nathan opened the bag to Hiro, who reached in and rifled through the contents. He pulled out an ornate knife with engraved symbols along the blade.

  Hiro made his way to the reanimating creature, took aim at the head, and thrust the knife. It entered the skull with a sickly crunch, and what remained of the creature turned instantly to dirt.

  Hiro pulled the knife from a roughly head shaped mound of earth. “Iron,” he said, with a thick Vietnamese accent. “Iron kills demon.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Leon said.

  “That thing,” Donaldson started, “that thing really is a demon.”

  “Holy Christ, a fucking demon.”

  “Ngu’Tinh,” Hiro said. “Yeow kwai.”

  The men looked to the Professor: eyes open, unblinking, silent.

  “Goddamn.”

  “So this fucker knew along how to kill it,” Leon said. He took a few aggressive paces towards Hiro. “Anything else you didn’t tell us?”

  Hiro put up his hands, stepped back, said something calmly.

  “No use,” Nathan said. “Can’t understand each other anyway. Not without Bao.”

  “So now what?” Leon said.

  “We get back.” Nathan nodded decisively “Before any more of those things show up.”

  “How many you think are out there?” Leon said, peering into the trees.

  “We saw two in the river. One in the trees,” Nathan said. “So at least three.”

  “We should ask him,” Donaldson said, pointing to Hiro. “He knows some English.”

  “You’re right.” Nathan turned to Hiro, and began to pantomime. “One.” He pointed to the mound of dirt that used to be the demon. “Two, three…” He pointed backwards, from where the others had come then held up three fingers. “How many?” Nathan shrugged his shoulders, turned up his palms.

  Hiro looked Nathan in the eyes, nodded. “Two more yeow kwai.”

  “You think he understood?” Donaldson asked.

  “I don’t know,” Nathan said. “Let’s go,” he ordered. “Column formation. Deacon’s on point. Leon, you’re on rear. Keep your eye on Hiro. Donaldson, just get in line and keep your eyes open.”

  In formation they marched deeper into the forest. Hiro requested a hit during the march and Nathan obliged. This time Hiro opted for injecting it then held up the needle to Nathan.

  “No thanks,” Nathan said, and they continued walking.

  Leon stopped. “You sure you’re takin’ us the right way?”

  “Yeah,” Deacon said.

  “Then why do I hear water?” Leon said.

  They all stopped to listen.

  “Shit,” Nathan said. “Are we back at the river?”

  “Did you fuck up the navigation?” Leon shouted.

  “No, this makes sense,” Deacon said. “The river bends back around on the return. We just intercepted it.”

  “I don’t think that’s right,” Nathan said.

  “I don’t know…” Deacon rummaged through his pocket with his free hand. “But since we’re here anyway…” He pulled a hand-held piece of electronic equipment free and retracted its antennae. A black screen in the middle of the device blinked intermittently with a red dot.

  “The hell is that?” Donaldson asked.

  “The tracker,” Deacon said. “He’s near.”

  “Who’s near?”

  “Billy.”

  “Who?”

  “His fuckin’ dolphin,” Leon said.

  “Wait a minute,” Donaldson glared. “Wait just a goddamn minute. You didn’t drag us back here so you could look for your dolphin, did you?”

  “Relax, we’re just a few degrees off course.”

  “Mother fucker.”

  “It’ll only take a minute,” Deacon said while orienting himself, sweeping the device left and right. “This way.”

  “No way,” Donaldson said. “We aren’t goin’ back to the river now.”

  “You don’t call the shots.” Deacon started towards the river.

  “I agree with the jarhead,” Leon said. “We can’t fight those things in the water.”

  “They’re right,” Nathan said to Deacon. “It’s too risky.”

  “You said it yourself, Nathan. Rob and Billy are part of the team. And they need us.” Deacon pointed to the tracking device. “He’s close.”

  “How close?” Nathan asked.

  “Less than a klick.”

  Nathan ran scenarios through his head; it was risky, but Deacon had a point. “All right. Let’s go.”

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Donaldson said.

  “You don’t get an opinion,” Nathan snapped. “You practically begged to come with us. We’re doing you a favour, remember? For your brother? Now let’s move.”

  They reoriented and headed back for the river.

  “This is a bad idea,” Leon said.

  Part of Nathan agreed, but he kept it to himself.

  Deacon reached the river first. Nathan joined him, signalled all clear, and the others lined up along the bank.

  “So where we looking?” Nathan asked.

  “There.” Deacon motioned with his head. “About fifty meters.”

  They peered through the hanging foliage. Across the flowing water, the river extended into a large cove of placid water. The bay was roughly circular, dotted here and there with large boulders that were blanketed with water moss.

  “
He’s in that bay?”

  “Here, Billy, Billy, Billy,” Leon called out, then laughed awkwardly at his own joke.

  “So what now?”

  “Dolphin whistle.” Deacon pointed to a toggle-switch on the tracking device. “Emits a high frequency sound. They’re trained to come when they hear it.”

  “Hold on,” Nathan said. “What if those things can hear it, too?”

  Deacon shrugged. “There’s no reason to think they’re around. Besides, what other choice do we have?”

  “What other choice?” Leon glared. “We could turn around and get the fuck out of here.”

  They all looked to Nathan. “Okay,” he said. “Do it.”

  “I got a real bad feelin’ about this,” Leon muttered.

  Deacon flipped the toggle. “It’s transmitting now.”

  “I don’t hear shit,” Leon said.

  “You’re not supposed to. It’s inaudible high-frequency. Trust me, it’s working.”

  In the bay across the river, the boulders shook, jostled in place, and something huge surged from the water. A giant centipede-like monstrosity, over a hundred meters long. It lifted itself on hundreds of legs, water pouring from between the segments of its body as it rose from the bay.

  “Ngu’Tinh,” Hiro said.

  The gigantic demon turned and snaked towards them through the water. Its legs were a flurry of motion pounding the water, the sound like approaching machine-gun fire.

  Nathan froze as the demon charged, then instinct kicked in. “Grenades, rapid,” he shouted.

  Donaldson threw a grenade; Leon blasted a steady stream with his Stoner. Nathan and Deacon fired high-explosive canisters then emptied their mags into the approaching monster. Three successive explosions rocked the river, sending up towers of water and clouds of vapour. When the mist cleared, the creature was gone, the river silent.

  “Holy fuck,” Leon shouted. “What was that thing?”

  “Where’d it go?” Donaldson said. “Downriver?”

  “Hey, guys,” Deacon pointed to the tracking device. “Billy’s on the move.”

  They watched the red blip on the screen. It moved perpendicular to them across the river, on to the land, then curved through the forest.

  “It’s on land,” Deacon said.

  “That’s not Billy,” Nathan said. “If one of those things ate the tracker, would it still work?”

  “Yeah.” Deacon’s face fell. “It probably would.”