by Michael Todd
Trinidad scoffed. “Easy for you to say, you never worry. Except when the bar runs out of your good whiskey.”
Gabrielle put up a finger. “Don’t joke about that. Every time, I swear it. The bar runs out, a man goes down in the field. And guess what?”
Trinidad shook his head. “Yeah, yeah, they ran out last night. It had nothing to do with the seven shots you had.”
Gabrielle shook her head as they stepped into the street. A Humvee was parked out front. It had been fitted with a gun turret on top and wicked spikes that jutted from the wheels. Trout was in the driver’s seat wearing his goofy-ass sand goggles, his wild hair all over the place. Alvarez was in the back, his arm propped up on the side, his muscles bursting out of his cut-off T-shirt. He took the toothpick out of his mouth and nodded.
“Sarge, Marcus is meeting us at the Staging Area. Kid went home with one of the waitresses last night.” Trout squealed with laughter.
Gabrielle threw her stuff in the back and hopped in the front. “If he’s not on time, then we move out without him.”
Trout took off, barely missing a couple of guys standing on the side of the road. His manic laughter echoed down the street. Trout had always had a wild street, but he was a bit more fucked in the head after so many trips into the Zoo. Despite his declining mental health he still a hell of a sharpshooter, and he thought faster than anyone Gabrielle had ever worked with. She trusted Trout even if the others were a bit wary of him. Alvarez was cool and collected, he never lost his shit. He rarely talked, and when he did, it was short and to the point. He was young, just like Marcus, but had been in the military for a few years before he went out on his own. His natural calm under pressure had saved more than one life under Gabrielle’s watch.
Trinidad had been in the game since day one, hired out by a corporation to bring back Pita petals for their goop. One day he met Gabrielle, and that was it. He never went back to it. She had him by the balls both literally and figuratively. He liked the money in the private sector a lot better, too. He and Gabrielle never went in without each other, and Marcus gave them shit for it. Marcus was the newest member of the Death Dogs. His head was in the clouds and he had a tendency to act first, think second. It wasn’t always a bad thing. The kid felt like he had to live up to some imaginary idea of what he thought a Death Dog was. Gabrielle saw potential in him and tried to take him under her wing. She thought Trinidad’s distaste for him was more about jealousy than anything, but Trinidad wasn’t jealous in the least. He just didn’t like loose cannons.
They tended to lead to dead bodies.
As the crew raced across the sand, Gabrielle ruffled Trout’s hair. “Did you have fun last night?”
Trout looked at Gabrielle wide-eyed. “Woo, Sarge, did I! Got me some drinky-drink on, talked to some ladies. You know.”
Alvarez scoffed. “You mean scared about five ladies away? I think at one point he was standing shirtless on the pool table, grabbing his crotch and howling like a dog.”
Trout frowned. “Hey, they laughed. They didn’t run away like they usually do.”
“Sounds like a normal night for you idiots.”
Trout glanced at her. “What about you, Sarge? You go back and get a little something-something?”
He kept one hand on the steering wheel and put the other between his legs, lifting his ass up and pumping his hips in the air. Gabrielle punched his arm and shook her head. “What I do and when I get my something-something is none of your damned business, weirdo. Maybe if you got some every now and then, you’d drain some of that weird out of you.”
The Humvee bounced and Alvarez put his hand on his hat, holding it down. “As much as he yanks it, you’d think he’d be straight as an arrow. Turns out, you can’t fuck the crazy out of this one.”
Trout howled as they drove along. “Gonna go get me some of that golden goop, baby. Daddy needs a payday.”
When they arrived at the Staging Area, they pulled their suits out of the back. With as much money as the Death Dogs made, they could all afford the Mark 22s. It wasn’t the latest gear, but it was one high-quality suit. The armor had been reinforced, the HUDS were state of the art, and they were lighter than any of the other suits that had come out so far. That was good for Gabrielle. She stood about five foot four and weighed no more than a buck thirty, all muscle.
They suited up and fell in. Gabrielle glared at her watch. She looked up as a Humvee raced toward them. It pulled up quickly, and Marcus nearly fell out of the passenger seat. He winked at the waitress behind the wheel. The gang watched him walk over cockily and grab his suit from the back. Instantly Gabrielle went into military mode. Being this close to the Zoo forced her into it.
She grabbed Marcus by the back of the neck and pushed him to the group. “We don’t do things half-assed in this team, Marcus. Get your ass here on time, meaning five minutes early, or next time you can kiss your payday goodbye.”
Marcus scowled. Trinidad gave him a disapproving look. They all turned their attention back to Gabrielle, who was pacing down the line.
“All right men. We are going in. It’s nobody’s first time in here. You know to keep your eyes sharp and your ears open and don’t pull that trigger unless your life, or the life of your teammates, depends on it. I don’t need to remind you what happened two weeks ago. That clusterfuck started a war over a fucking morphed deer. Only one poor asshole made it out, and his ass is on his way back home, one leg lighter.”
“Yes, Sarge,” the men shouted.
She took in a deep breath. “We are headed deeper than ever before, to a patch of Pita our scouts found just two days ago. We’re the only ones with this intel. Remember, if one of those big dinosaur-looking sons of bitches comes along, and we can safely take it down, that’s a payday in itself. Goop is what we are after, and those sons of bitches carry it around in their spines like they’re saving it for winter. Now, put on your HUDS and channel in. The map is uploaded. No fuckery out there or I’ll send your ass back faster than Trout can scare off the ladies.”
Trout shrugged. “It’s a gift.”
They put on their helmets and channeled in. Gabrielle opened a private channel with Trinidad. “Be safe out there. Remember, the whiskey ran dry.”
Trinidad gave her a carefree smile. It was the last smile she would ever see from him.
Chapter Four
Holly’s straw made a slurping sound, and when she looked down, her glass was empty. JB chuckled and turned to make her another one. She was so enthralled by the story she hadn’t noticed how quickly she was downing her drink. He put another on the bar. “That one’s on me.”
Holly smiled. “Thanks. So, Trinidad was Gabrielle’s first lover?”
“Yep.”
Dan shook his head. “What happened? I mean, is that the end of the story?”
JB filled Dan’s glass. “Calm down, fool. I’m getting there. The trek in went smoother than normal. No large animals. A few smaller ones, but nothing to worry about. The first camp that night was solid. No one saw anything on watch, and everyone but Gabrielle slept like a baby. Even after all those trips into the Zoo, she rarely slept. The next day? That’s when things started to change.”
The heat beating down on them in the Zoo was different than the scorch of the desert. The humidity was brutal. Even in their new suits, the team was drenched in sweat. Gabrielle pushed through the thick brush and stopped. Her team fell in line behind her. She pulled up her M16 and scanned the area. There was a light breeze blowing through the dense leaves, making the whole jungle come alive. She looked around for a moment, then lowered her gun.
Trout shifted to her right. “What is it, Sarge?”
Gabrielle shook her head. “Let’s stop here for chow. The Pitas are only about two klicks from here. When we are done eating, we pick the petals and get as far away from the Pita field as we can before we camp.”
The team set down their gear and took off their helmets. Gabrielle walked to the center of the clearing and squatted
down, pulling a protein bar from her pack. Gabrielle’s eyes darted around the jungle, scoping the thick vines that wrapped around the tree trunks.
Trinidad scraped the ground with his boot, making sure there were no vines, and sat down next to her.
He took a bite of his protein bar and glanced back at Trout and Alvarez, who were joking with each other. He lowered his voice. “What’s up? You seem more alert, maybe more nervous than usual.”
Gabrielle glanced at him. “I don’t know. Shit doesn’t seem right. I feel like something is watching.”
Trinidad looked at the canopy. “It’s the Zoo. There’s always something watching us. Probably one of those freak monkeys that like to steal shit from our packs when we’re sleeping.”
Gabrielle shook her head. “No, it’s something else. I don’t know what it is, but I can feel its eyes on me.”
Trinidad sighed and grabbed another protein bar. “I think you need to get away from this shit for a bit. Take a vacation or something. You’re starting to get paranoid out here. We both know that’s not a good thing. It’s been going easy, let it be easy.”
“It’s the fucking Zoo, it’s never easy out here.”
She stood and walked toward Trout and Alvarez. Trout shook his head with a mouth full of food. “Nuffing. She said nuffing.”
Alvarez wiped his face. “Bro, swallow before you talk.”
Trout smirked. “That’s what she said.”
Alvarez shook his head, looking at Trout with a blank face. “You have issues, man. Real issues.”
Trout chuckled. “This is news to you?”
Gabrielle kicked some dirt in their direction. “Hurry up and eat. I want to get moving.”
Alvarez nodded.
She walked to Marcus, who was sitting on the ground and cleaning his weapon. She squatted in front of him. “You ready to get this done?”
“Always, Sarge.”
Gabrielle took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. “Just make sure you are on your game. These men are your family now, like it or not. Don’t jump before thinking.”
Marcus chuckled. “You still got no faith in me.”
Gabrielle punched him in the arm. “Sure I do. I just don’t want a bullet in the calf. We got enough wacky out here today. Be my rock.”
Marcus nodded. “You got it. Rock-like I will be.”
After a few minutes, the guys rose and donned their helmets. Once latched in, Gabrielle brought up the map. “Follow this route. Keep your eyes peeled and make sure we do a perimeter check before leaping through the Pitas. Wild, snappy beasts aren’t the only things we have to worry about out here. There are mercs trying to get their hands on our shit, too.”
“Got it, Sarge.” Trout made a lazy attempt at a salute.
“Copy that,” Marcus replied.
“Copy,” Alvarez mumbled.
Trinidad nodded at Gabrielle. The crew moved out with Gabrielle up front and Marcus bringing up the rear. They kept their eyes peeled. The foliage was thick and the humidity even thicker. Trout poked at a fat vine as he passed by, chuckling as it writhed and hissed. Alvarez sighed, looking to make sure no angry, man-eating plant was coming to bite his head off. They crested a small hill and stopped. Together, they gawked at the spreading patch of Pita plants below.
Alvarez put his arm on Trout’s shoulder. “That’s a beautiful sight.”
Trout nodded. “That right there looks like boxes of ammo, that new jacket I really want, and a hell of a lot of Xanax to get me through the nights.”
Gabrielle had them fall in. “All right. Put up your heat sensors and comb the area. I want a locked-down perimeter before we ever even think about picking.”
The group spread out, searching the perimeter for any activity. Gabrielle explored the area thoroughly. Anxiety hitting her hard in the stomach and dug in for the long haul. There were no heat signatures anywhere except the normal trees and vines, but the HUD filtered them out fairly well. Still, she couldn’t help but feel concerned. She forced the team to do a second sweep just to make sure, but it came back the same All clear.
Gabrielle took a deep breath. “All right, gang. Remember, no full plants. I don’t need all of the Zoo coming down on us. Pick your petals carefully and bruise as little as possible. Let’s be quick as we can be and get out of here. I want space between us and the Pita plants before we make camp.”
Everyone went to work. As usual, Gabrielle took the security watch. She stalked the perimeter, making sure that nothing was sneaking up on them. She circled around the plants and stopped by Trout. He gave her a shit-eating grin as he placed multiple petals in his bag. He was the best picker they had. He was fast, careful, and clean. He always had the highest petal count. They split the loot evenly with a good twenty percent off the top to cover gear, gas, and anything else the group needed. Gabrielle always made sure to give Trout a little extra slice of her share. He was a beast out there.
She moved away from him but froze. There was shuffling, then the sharp cracking of twigs coming from her right. She narrowed her eyes and scanned the area. She didn’t see any kind of heat signature in her HUD. It was odd. Things didn’t just creak in the Zoo. There was always a reason for it. For everything.
Gabrielle turned her head for a moment, just long enough to make some comment to Trout, when something the size of a Labrador Retriever leaped from the tree line and slammed her to the ground. The two of them slid through a portion of the Pita plants. She didn’t have time to worry about pheromones being released, the mad thing’s antlers were deadly sharp and swiping the air just past her nose. She immediately caught them and tried to hold it down, but the thing was strong. It looked like a cross between a panther and a deer, and it was angry.
Trout jumped to his feet and pulled up his gun. “What the fuck is that?”
Gabrielle groaned and muscled the antlers to the ground, trying to control the thrashing of its head. “Fucking shoot it!”
Trout tracked the thing with his gun, but it was twisting and turning almost like it was trying to put Gabrielle’s body between it and the gun. Marcus stomped up and shoved Trout’s gun down. “I got this, Slick. Hold back.”
He narrowed his eyes and bit his lip. He exhaled and pulled the trigger. A single shot rang out, and the beast went limp in Gabrielle’s arms. It slumped on her and she groaned, feeling the weight of the thing on her ribs. “Get. It. Off.”
The guys raced forward and rolled it off her. Trinidad pulled her from the Pitas. The beast was dead. A clean kill, just one shot to the head. Gabrielle nodded to Marcus. “Thanks. But get back on your post. Where there is one, there are more. And it didn’t show up on the heat map.”
Marcus’s lip twitched in irritation and he turned away from her, calming himself.
Trinidad was standing tall with his gun roving the tree line. “You said there was no heat signature?”
“Nothing. Not a blip recorded. How are they able to do that?”
Trout shook his head wildly. “I don’t know, but let’s finish collecting and get the fuck out of Dodge.”
Trinidad lowered his gun. “There was your bad luck for the trip. Now we can get back to town and try to order you some more whiskey.”
Gabrielle chuckled and began to turn when she saw it. Her body went stiff, and she pointed high. The pair of eyes burned in the trees right behind Trinidad. “Watch out!”
The beast was on top of Trinidad before she could get her gun around. It shook him, then tossed Trinidad like a rag doll. His suit slipped from the beast’s teeth and he flew into the brush. The team raced back to Gabrielle, yelling and raising their weapons. The thing towered over them, at least three times the size of the thing that had attacked Gabrielle. A deep barking noise came from its throat. Marcus pulled up his rifle.
Gabrielle put out her hand. “Easy. Straight to the head, Marcus.”
Marcus closed one eye and stuck his tongue out. Before he could get off a shot, the beast ran straight for Trout. It stomped through the
Pita, releasing the pheromones they had tried so hard to avoid. Trout put two bullets right into its head and the creature fell, tumbling to a stop at his boot. Its tongue hung out of its mouth as a last acrid breath left it. Instantly, Gabrielle was on the move, running to Trinidad and carefully turning him over.
Trout and Alvarez ran up behind her but pulled up. They both looked away. Trinidad was dead, there was no question about it. A gaping hole in his gut had bloomed into a terrible arrangement of entrails and viscera.
Gabrielle kept her mouth a grim line. She reached up and carefully ran her hands over his eyes to close them. She could feel a steel hammer slamming into her chest. Gabrielle shook her head. She put her hand on Trinidad’s chest. “I told you.”
Marcus hurried to them. “I’m sorry, Sarge, but we got to get out of here. The Pitas were crushed, and the whole hell of the Zoo is going to come down on us at any minute.”
Trout put his hand on Gabrielle’s shoulder and bent down, trying not to look at Trinidad. “Sarge, Marcus is right. He won’t be the only casualty if we don’t get the hell out of here, and fast.”
Gabrielle growled at him. “I won’t leave him here. The Zoo can’t have him.”
Marcus opened his mouth, but Alvarez shook his head. He directed the team. “Come on, guys, grab the tarp out of my bag, wrap him up and let’s move. We work as a team here. We carry our fallen out.”
Gabrielle took a step back and looked away as the team rolled him up. Marcus grabbed Trinidad’s gun and ammo and took the lead. Trout and Alvarez picked up Trinidad’s body and hurried after him. Gabrielle stood over the antlered beast for a moment. She sneering, spat at the thing, and followed the team.
The light buzzing and sounds of branches snapping let them know that they had not been fast enough. The other plants and animals had caught on. They raced through the jungle, not taking any time to stop or rest. They had to make it back to the edge of the jungle. They knew they wouldn’t make it before dark, but they hoped that the animals would give up the chase before then. Otherwise, they would be scrambling in the dark, trying to fight things they couldn’t see. Nobody wanted that.