Rocket Babe_Reflection

by Stephen R. DeArman

  If it had not been so dark Penelope could have seen Addison’s look of complete astonishment. “Get some sleep. We’re nowhere near that place.”

  Penelope tried to go to sleep, but couldn’t get comfortable. “Why are you fidgeting? Be still!”

  “I can’t help it. I think I’m lying on a rock.”

  “Then get rid of it and be still!”

  Penelope sat up and felt beneath her makeshift bedding for the rock. Once she had the object in hand she brought it up to her face to find it wasn’t a rock at all. Now that it was in the flickering firelight, she could see it was an old rotting shoe and when she realized what she was holding, in less than a second Penelope had thrown it into the fire and began to shake violently.

  “Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh… my… god!”

  “Now what?”

  “It was an old… shoe! I told you! I told you! I told you!”

  With her mouth wide open, Addison gave Penelope a horrified look, but after a few seconds she slowly laid back down with her left hand gripping the .45 on her hip.

  “Like I’m going to sleep, now.”

  It was going to be a long and frigid two hours before her watch ended, but Sela was determined to make the best of it. She found a small shrub growing beneath a giant oak tree and pushed into it with her back to the tree. She was out of the wind and with a clear view of the others.

  Before long Addison and Penelope were fast asleep as they nestled warmly against Randall. Sixty yards away Sela watched over them as she listened to the wind whistling through the treetops. Except for the fact they could be under attack from giant aliens at any moment, it was just like any other frigid but peaceful night.

  Two hours later when the time came to change places with Penelope, Sela decided to stay put. After all, she was warm enough and wide awake, so she decided to let the others enjoy their naps.

  Another two hours passed and again she did not wake them, only this time Sela moved back to camp in order to place more fuel on the fire. There she found Addison and Penelope still lying with their backs firmly against Randall shielding him from the wind and fast asleep.

  When the fire caught up again, Sela sat down with her back to the blaze, resting her chin on her knees as she continued to listen for any hint of footsteps or crunching leaves. Before too long she heard Addison sit up but when she did, she faced away from Sela.

  “180?”

  “180.”

  “What time is it?”

  “About 5 am.”

  “Why didn’t you wake me?”

  “You’re awake now. Besides, I couldn’t sleep. How’s the commander?”

  “He hasn’t moved but he’s warm enough and breathing better.”

  “That’s a good sign, right?”

  “I would think so.”

  Their conversation woke Penelope who also sat up with her legs crossed but facing a different direction from the other two.

  “120?”

  “120.”

  “120.”

  “I hope Captain Starr gets back soon.”

  “What will we do when she does? Both helos are toast and no one knows where we are. The nearest town or hospital could be hundreds or thousands of miles away.”

  “I don’t know, but the commander will come up with something. He always does.”

  “How can he help? He’s unconscious.”

  “He’ll wake up, wait and see. He does anything the captain wants.”

  Penelope gently patted Randall’s head. “I sure hope so.”

  A few minutes later they could see the sky behind the distant mountains beginning to glow.

  “Shhh! Did you hear that?” Sela picked up her missile.

  “Hear what, where?”

  “There it is again! Like someone walking on frozen grass: crunch, crunch.”

  “Yeah, now I hear it. Someone is dragging something heavy.”

  Addison suddenly had a huge smile as she looked toward the sound. “That’s because someone is. Look! It’s Captain Starr!”

  In just a few seconds Verna had walked right up to the camp to find them all sitting close to Randall, but with their backs to him and each other as they kept watch in different directions. Soon they were on their, feet staring at the handsome young pilot Verna was dragging behind her on a makeshift stretcher.

  “You found him!”

  “Of course, but he’s not in good shape. About halfway here he fell in a hole and fractured his leg. I think he cut it on a rock, but it was too dark to tell at the time. I got the bleeding stopped but he lost a lot of blood.”

  “Well, at least you got him this far. That’s a great stretcher! How did you manage that in the dark?”

  “Would you believe me if I said I found it about a mile back?”

  Penelope’s mouth dropped open and her eyes were as big as saucers, but Addison cut her off before she could get started. “Don’t say it. It can’t be. That was 25 years ago.”

  Addison strained to see clearly in the predawn light, but once she got close enough for a good long look the others could see her thoughts written across her face. Cupid had just smacked her on the head with a hammer. “He’s a cutie; I’ll give him that. What’s his name?”

  “Ladies, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  Sela and Penelope exchanged glances with each other then started to grin as they smiled at Addison and mocked. “Let’s call him, Captain Cutie!”

  Addison’s face and ears turned beet red as she tried to ignore them. “What is his name?”

  “Ladies, this is Captain Mark Twain. Call sign: Twelve Feet.”

  Sela began to laugh. “Shut the front door!”

  “That’s what he told me, just before he passed out. In case you didn’t know, mark twain, or mark two, was a riverboat term. It indicated a depth of twelve feet or two fathoms. In his case, it’s actually his shoe size. He told me his flight instructor thought it was funny and gave him that call sign because of his name and he’s from Hannibal. Now, how is Randall?”

  “His breathing has improved but he hasn’t moved the whole time you’ve been gone.”

  Verna looked at Sela who was still holding the missile. “How did it go here, any problems?”

  “Negative, did you see anything?”

  “No, but I’m pretty sure Twain and I were being followed. I could hear a strange buzzing sound in the distance a couple of times. Then he fell and here we are. We need to go before whoever they are finds us.”

  “Go? Go where?”

  “About nine miles from here is another, much larger clearing.”

  “In the middle of nowhere?”

  “Exactly.”

  “I don’t understand. What’s the point?”

  “Right now, Lieutenant, the point is to stay ahead of whoever is hunting us. Let’s see if we can wake Randall.”

  Verna walked over to Randall and fell to her knees. It was the first time she had been off her feet since they landed almost ten hours ago. She felt his face and took his pulse before opening his jacket and shirt. Once his chest was exposed she placed her ear to it and listened to him breathe.

  “I thought you said his breathing was better.”

  “It was.”

  “It’s very shallow now.”

  Verna had practiced mouth to mouth many times and now she would need to be the expert her rating indicated. She made sure his airway was not blocked then tilted his head back and opened his mouth. Finally, she pinched his nose closed while placing her mouth over his and began to gently blow. After a moment she stopped and watched to see if there was any response from Randall. A few seconds later she again breathed into his mouth. On the third time the lieutenants could see his arm slowly come up and wrap around Verna’s neck at which point she pulled back and gently popped Randall on his chest with her palm.

  “YOU! You were faking!”

  Randall chuckled and tried to roll onto his side. “Not entirely, but please stop yelling. There’s an Eradicator going off in my
head.”

  The lieutenants giggled quietly, in part because they were relieved he was conscious and partly because they knew if he was aware enough to be kissing Verna, he was going to be ok.

  Sela grinned at the others. “See, I told you he’d wake up for her.”

  “Eradicator? I’ll give you an Eradicator! You scared me half to death!”

  “And my back is really aching.”

  Verna shook her head. “Good! Let’s see if you can stand.”

  With a little help Randall made it to his feet, but was not completely stable on his own.

  “I’d give fifty bucks for an aspirin.”

  “I’m sorry, no aspirin but I can make you a crutch.”

  “Except that my head feels like it’s as big as a watermelon, I’m fine. What’s our situation?”

  “I found the pilot, but he has a leg injury. The Emim are close by and looking for us.”

  “Then we need… to get… to the other…”

  “Clearing, yes, I agree. Let’s move!”

  Chapter 11

  “Addison, where’s Sela?”

  “She went to get something from the helo. Look, there she is!”

  Verna turned to see Sela carrying a small box as she hurried back to the group. “What do you have there?”

  “Just a few grenades I borrowed from the air base.”

  “Borrowed?”

  “Yes, ma’am, but we can talk about that later. When I was coming up the hill I could hear a weird buzzing noise, like a swarm of locusts.”

  “That’s not good. Let’s get going.”

  Five minutes later the group was on the move with Penelope and Addison carrying Twain on the stretcher as best they could. Starr took point with Sela bringing up the rear, while Randall stumbled along in the middle. When Sela was on stretcher duty, Randall carried the missile.

  In order to keep moving, over the next three hours the lieutenants rotated carrier positions until they could go no farther, and with their shoulders, arms and fingers going numb they desperately needed to rest.

  “Captain! They’re getting closer, but we’ve got to stop for a minute.”

  “I know you’re exhausted but we’ll be there soon. Let’s take a two-minute break, then we’ve got to keep moving. It’s less than a mile now.”

  As Addison put her end of the stretcher down, Sela turned and quickly headed back about fifty yards. There she found a thick pile of leaves and quickly went to work. In no time she had rigged a booby trap with a couple of grenades and some wire. When she was finished she ran to catch up.

  “Sela’s on her way. I’m going to scout on ahead. As soon as she gets here, get that man up and get going!” Starr moved quickly through the trees ahead of the rest carefully looking for any signs of aliens and a smoother path for the others.

  “I wish I had my medicine bag.”

  Grinning, Sela tossed Randall the bag. “No problem. I picked it up when I retrieved the grenades. Here you go.”

  “That was thoughtful, Lieutenant. Thank you!”

  The commander caught the small red bag with one hand then bent down and turned Twain’s face up to the sky. Once his head was tilted back, Randall placed one drop of a foul-smelling liquid in each nostril before quickly backing away.

  “Give him some room.”

  As the lieutenants stood wondering what Randall had given him, Twain suddenly began to cough and spit. After a few seconds he rolled over on all fours with his head down, spewing bloody nastiness from his nose like a fire hose. It took a few seconds for the effects of the unknown liquid to fade, but as they did, Twain quickly made it to his feet all on his own. A few seconds more and he was scanning the group trying to understand what had just happened.

  Sela smiled as she whispered to Randall. “What was that stuff?”

  Randall slowly grinned. “You don’t want to know.”

  Twain first looked at Commander Randall then at his shoulder. “DSSF, Commander?”

  “That’s right. Commander Randall. We’re here to get you out. How’s your leg? We thought it might be broken.”

  “It really hurts, but I think the cut is worse than the cracked bone.”

  “Can you walk?”

  “I think so.”

  “Good, let’s get moving.”

  Twain looked around for their transportation. “That’s fine by me. Let’s go! Where’s your heli… copter.”

  “Well, that would take a while to explain but for now all you need to know is we need to move as fast as we can. The ones that shot you down are closing in on us as we speak.”

  When Twain finally saw the lieutenants, he stopped dead in his tracks with a huge grin on his face. “Is… this your crew?”

  “Yes.”

  Penelope smiled shyly and nodded. Addison blushed, then burst into a huge smile, but for some reason when she tried to speak nothing came out. Sela grinned a bit and winked before she spoke.

  “I’m Sela, the shy one is Penelope, and the one with all the teeth and radiant face is Addison, but right now the cat has her tongue.”

  “I’m Captain, Mar… Captain Twain.”

  “We know who you are. Let’s move, Twelve Feet.”

  The look on Twain’s face was priceless after Sela used his call sign. For a moment he wanted to ask how she knew but then he just turned to follow Randall into the brush. A few seconds later they heard a pair of explosions not far behind.

  Randall spun around to look back. “We need to move faster; they’re only about a minute behind.

  “Who?” Twain inquired.

  “The aliens.”

  “Shouldn’t someone be running point?”

  “Someone is. I’m following her trail. You follow me and keep quiet.”

  “Her trail?”

  “Yes, the woman that found you last night and brought you back to our camp.”

  “You mean the angel! It was too dark to really see her, or anything for that matter. That’s why I fell and hurt my leg, but even now, I don’t see a trail.”

  “That’s why you are following me. Now be quiet and let’s go!”

  “Can I ask one last question?”

  “I’m starting to regret waking you up Captain. What?”

  “My head is killing me, and my sinuses are on fire. Does anyone have an aspirin?”

  “If we did you’d be first after me. Now move!”

  From that point on no one spoke as they worked their way through the thick brush and trees. At one point, long thorns were everywhere, and they seemed intent on ripping their clothes to shreds. Every thirty or forty yards Randall would catch a glimpse of Verna bobbing through the forest ahead of them, but as they went, the infrequent buzzing was growing louder.

  It had been a while, and with his leg beginning to swell, Twain could be silent no longer. “Commander, I need to stop. My leg is killing me! How much further?”

  “Not far. Suck it up if you want to live.”

  “I’m feeling weak and I think my leg is going to explode!”

  “Buck up, soldier!”

  Another hundred yards and they broke into the clearing. Not far ahead Randall could see Starr waving for them to come to her as she stood behind a huge tree that had fallen at the edge of the clearing. Sela finally caught up to the rest and she came with a warning.

  “Commander, they’re right behind me and I could hear what sounded like growling.”

  “Understood. You did great! Now get behind the tree with Starr and prepare to fight.” At that moment Twain grabbed his leg with both hands as he collapsed at their feet.

  “Great! Sela, help me get him over there.”

  Sela and Randall dragged Captain Twain behind the fallen tree then grabbed their canteens. Verna smiled at Randall as she calmly walked over to him and pressed the third pip on the jacket he was wearing.

  “Have I been wearing your jacket this whole time?”

  “Yes, Commander.”

  “I wondered why it was so tight. I thought I was gaining we
ight.”

  Randall removed her jacket to find he was wearing his own beneath it. Verna quickly pulled on her own jacket while he looked at her collar and shook his head.”

  “Let me guess. Another Rollie secret device, just for Rocket Babe?”

  “Yes.”

  “He always did like you best. Taxi?”

  “Yes.”

  “How long?”

  “About ten minutes.”

  “We may not have ten minutes.”

  The rest stood by listening to the odd conversation between Starr and Randall wondering what was going on.

  “That buzzing. It’s their language, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, but they understand and use many languages, including English.”

  “I like your tree. It should provide some cover.”

  “That’s the idea. Ok, people. Listen up. Welcome to Fort Ticonderoga. They’re about to come through those bushes and they’re going to be really big, but don’t let that bother you. Everyone stand ready to fire on my signal and aim for the head. Take your time, squeeze the trigger, don’t jerk, and no rapid fire. We don’t have a lot of ammo, so you have to make every shot count. We’ll wait to open fire until they’re about twenty yards away.”

  Randall began to laugh. “So, we’re playing Bunker Hill. You want us to wait until we see the whites of their eyes.”

  “Yes.”

  “What if they don’t have whites to their eyes?”

  “Twenty yards!”

  Starr had them lined up ten feet apart behind a huge fallen tree, with Twain lying on the ground in the middle. From her time with Kontana she knew when the Emim began to fight hand to hand they would spread out into a long line shoulder to shoulder and come right at them face to face.

  The buzzing grew louder and louder until it abruptly ceased. The area was completely quiet for almost a minute. No wind in the trees, no birds singing and no noise from the Emim, but those waiting behind the huge oak could feel the presence of evil in the air.

  Penelope whispered to the commander. “What are they doing?”

  Randall grinned while scanning the edge of the clearing. “We would call it a pause for dramatic effect. I think they’re hoping to create greater fear while they size us up.”

  Penelope nodded. “It’s working.”