Days of Future Past - Part 2: Present Tense

by John Van Stry

  "About three hours."

  I nodded and looked back towards the opening to the outside. The sun was starting to set, in another hour it would be full dark. Hakk had confirmed that dragons didn't like to fly at night, especially without a moon. I myself remembered the stories of older pilots of how flying over the water at night could easily lead to disorientation if you didn't trust your instruments and dragons were all obviously VFR fliers with no instruments to speak of.

  I watched as Baror's crew finished getting the boat ready, he had an engineer, who took care of the engines, and two lookouts who I guess also operated the guns. Baror was both the pilot and navigator.

  Hakk and his men showed up just as Baror had finished his last inspection of the boat and his engineer was starting up the engines.

  Hakk's men were a rather menacing looking crew. They carried assault rifles that looked far too heavy for any human man to be carrying, and two of them were carrying actual Gatling guns with ammo packs on their backs to feed them. They also each had a set of rather large pistols, a short sword, several grenades, and a large battle-axe strapped to their backs.

  "Everyone," he said as they all lined up to get on the boat," this is Paul. As I've told you, getting him where he needs to go is the entire goal of this raid."

  I noticed they all started looking me over, wondering why I was so special.

  "Paul has on him what the scholars call an 'atomic bomb'," I noticed a few of them suddenly turn and look at Hakk.

  "That's right; our human friend here is going to give our enemies a rather nasty surprise. Assuming of course we don't let him down. Now, we're not going to do that, are we?"

  "No, Sir!" They all shouted in response.

  "Death before dishonor!" Hakk yelled and raised his machine gun in the air.

  "Death before dishonor!" They all cheered in response, and then they each filed onto the boat, nodding at me as they passed.

  "Thank you," I said to Hakk as he passed.

  "Why are you thanking me?" he laughed, "I should be thanking you! You are giving us an opportunity we'd thought we'd never see. The bards will tell the tale of our raid tonight for hundreds of years to come, and I get to be a part of it!"

  "Hoo ha!" All of the dwarves suddenly yelled in unison.

  "Man, the Marines would have loved these guys," I said to Heather and Sarah.

  "Who were the Marines?" Heather asked.

  "The guys you wanted covering your ass," I smiled and remember all the crap I'd gotten that summer working at Pendleton. Then again, I'd handed out a fair bit of my own. We got on board, found our seats as Baror had the crew cast off and we headed out to the river.

  The trip down the river to the sea was a short one. By now the sun had set and it was overcast with a low cloud ceiling. It had been raining on and off during the day, with numerous storm cells passing through the area, which made it even more unlikely for any dragons to be out flying around tonight. The change in climate had definitely brought a lot more rain to the area and the rainy season now ran to the end of April normally. The clouds and the rain definitely helped to obscure us, and once we got out onto the sea Baror opened the throttles up a bit more and we took off.

  The girls and I had our radios on; we hadn't really used them since we'd left the caravan, as there hadn't been much of a need. The communications devices that the dwarves used weren't compatible to ours, so I had one of theirs on me as well.

  The girls wouldn't need one, as they'd been staying with Baror and his crew from the boat. After we were dropped off, they would make for a second set of islands, which had once been the peaks on the south side of the butte. They would set up there, in a covered position, to await our extraction. Also Heather and Sarah would set up with the railguns, watching over the area. If any dragons came out of the mountain, Heather was fairly certain that the railgun's capabilities would discourage it from sticking around.

  I didn't care too much, I was just happy that they wouldn't be coming with me. Heather had wanted to, and the argument over that had not been pretty.

  I spent my time in the boat looking out over the water, and watching the dwarves. I noticed that several of them were whispering back and forth, and after a few minutes they looked at me, then at the one they'd been talking to, who nodded.

  I had a suspicion that they were all learning just what an 'atomic bomb' was. I think I even heard one of them mutter 'better him than me' once.

  When the engines finally throttled down, I looked around and I could see the dark mass of the butte ahead of us. Baror spent probably a half-hour taking us in, and when the boat finally bumped against something one of the lookouts jumped into the water and secured the front of the boat.

  "We're here," Hakk said in a low voice. "Thordri, you lead the men off the boat, I'll search for the entrance. Paul, you bring up the rear for now."

  I nodded, and Hakk ran to the front of the boat and jumped off, amazingly light on his feet for such a heavy guy. The rest got up and filed off the boat, single file. Grunim was the last one in line, and I followed him. I noticed he had the anti-tank rocket with him, I'd told him how to use it, but I had no idea if he'd had the time to examine it yet.

  As soon as we got ashore, the lookout climbed back aboard and they cast off and left us. I took my backpack off as the others watched, and I pulled out the warhead.

  "Listen up everyone," I told them as I opened the panel and punched in the arming codes. "Hakk thinks we can get in to our target in ninety minutes, and another thirty to get back out again, less if we run. I'm setting this to go off in two and a half hours. I can trigger it sooner if I have to, but understand this. In two and a half hours, if you're still inside, you're dead.

  "If I get killed before we get to our destination. Grab my backpack and place it as close as you can. Stick it someplace they won't find it easily. As long as this warhead is anywhere near our goal, it will kill them all."

  "Is it really that powerful?" One of them asked me as I pulled out the warhead's remote and keyed in the same code I'd armed the warhead with to slave it to the bomb. I could set it off sooner, using it, if I had to, but I couldn't disarm it.

  "Yeah, I've seen the pictures. This thing will wipe out a city." I had a thought then and I looked up at them all and smiled, "As a great man once said, the goal isn't to die for your country, it's to make the other poor bastard die for his."

  They all grinned back at me as I clipped the remote to my belt and Hakk came wading back through the water to us.

  "Okay, I found the entrance. Let's go."

  Everyone got back to their feet and followed Hakk into the water, single file. By arrangement I was last, with Grunim just before me. It was his job to keep me alive until I had placed the bomb.

  After that, I suspected all bets were off.

  We waded down into the water, until it was up to my waist, which was almost chest high for the rest of them. Hakk led us a short distance to an opening that was partially obscured by several bushes growing over and around it.

  Once inside, I could feel the footing was smooth and as several of the men lit their flashlights, I could see it was a five foot high tunnel, about four feet wide. Keeping my head down, I followed as we slowly made our way. I was a little worried about being able to see, my night vision was not as good as the dwarves. The dim red lights they were using now would be turned off as we got closer to where we suspected the enemy and the dragons would be. They had assured me however that once we got to those areas, that there would be lighting for those now living inside.

  But if worse came to worse, I was to use my light. Apparently the bigger problem would be our scents. While we'd all showered and been sprayed with some sort of magical liquid to mask our scents, once we got close enough, the dragons would probably smell us anyway.

  Thankfully they'd only told me about this just before we'd left for the boat launch. Or I'd have not had a very sleep filled night.

  After about five minutes of walking, the water star
ted to go down, as the tunnel tilted up. Another five or ten minutes after we'd left the water in the tunnel behind, it slanted back down again. Once it leveled off, we'd have another five minutes to go, and then we'd come to a watertight door. From that point on, we could run into the enemy at any time. So silence and care would be our best options.

  When we got to the door, Hakk and Thordri spent a minute with their ears to it, as the rest of us waited quietly. Then Thordri waved for us to be ready and I saw Hakk start to undo the latches as all the lights went out.

  As the door slowly opened, I could see a very faint light on the other side. A moment after that we started forward again, moving out into the hallway. I closed the door behind me, but I didn't set any of the latches, and then I followed Grunim, looking around me, as we slowly made our way.

  The hallway we were in was a service route. The ceiling was higher here, at seven feet, and it was probably eight feet in width, Hakk's men proceeded forward double file now, behind him. I noticed there were light fixtures set on the walls about every twenty feet, but they were all unlit. Those were probably from when the dwarves had lived here. The current light was being supplied by very small globes set against the ceiling that glowed weakly about every fifty feet.

  Ten or so minutes of walking carefully and quietly brought us to a 'T' intersection, where we made a right turn. Then a little while later another right, up a wide staircase with low steps and a ramp on the right side. Next a left turn down a hall, then suddenly we stopped as Hakk waved everyone back.

  Two soft pops later and he waved us up, and we turned down another hallway. There were two dead bodies, as we passed I took a look at them in the dim light. The looked almost human, but were dirtier, hairier, and some how just smelled wrong. They definitely weren't orcs, but I had no idea what they were. They only wore shorts and a harness, either the hair kept them warm, or they had thicker skins. I couldn't tell in the dim light and I turned my attention back to the others, so as to not get lost.

  I checked the repeater on my belt; we'd been walking for over an hour! It hadn't seemed that long, but we'd been going slowly, and now we suddenly stopped again. This time both Hakk and Thordri's weapons took a couple of shots, and then we came up to a group of four dead bodies.

  Hakk waved his hand over his head, holding up two fingers, in the old 'horns' expression of my youth. We were coming to the turn off for the upper hall. Depending on what happened next, we had several options. If no one discovered us, four men would station themselves at the turn off and hold it, as the rest of us proceeded on.

  If we were discovered, I would take Grunim, and one of the other men, and head up to the hallway, while Hakk led the rest of them on an attack on the main hall, as a diversion.

  At that point, speed would be of the essence. Hakk would try to hold our exit for as long as possible, and then would retreat with all speed back the way we had come. If we could make it back to them in time, we'd join them. If not, we had three alternate routes of escape to choose from. It was our hope that with everyone going after Hakk's team that we'd have an easy escape along one of the alternate routes.

  We turned the next corner and we all started to tiptoe, our way along. It was only fifty feet to the end of this hallway, which opened and let out into the antechamber in front of the main hall where the dragon hatchery was. Halfway down and on the right side was our turning point.

  We were almost there, when Hakk held up his hand and we all froze. I could see it at the end of the hallway, it was a dragon.

  Fortunately, it hadn't seen us yet, as it was facing to the left. In the silence I could hear it talking to someone, or some thing, as I didn't recognize the language at all.

  We stood there for I don't know how long as it talked and then suddenly it stopped and turned around, but doing so to its right, so we only saw the ass end, and not the front. It walked quickly out of sight and I started to relax, that was close, way too close!

  And then another dragon came into sight, and this one looked right down the hall at us, and stopped!

  I saw its eyes widen, and it bellowed something, then opened its mouth and started to inhale. I heard something metallic click and Grunim yelled "DOWN!"

  I flattened and there was a bright flash followed by a rushing sound, then a dull 'thud' and a strange 'wump!'

  "Plan two!" Hakk yelled and he and seven of the team scrambled to their feet, charging forward.

  I scrambled to my own feet and I could see a dead dragon lying on the floor, with a shocked expression on its face, and smoke coming out of its mouth, as well as from a small entry wound in its chest.

  "Worked like a charm!" Grunim laughed tossing the now spent launcher to the side. Grabbing my arm he almost dragged me to the passage up to the second level, the dwarf who had been just in front of him already scouting the way for us.

  The sound of the firefight was loud, and for all that I wanted to run, we had to be careful. All of the dragons up here would know about the fight going on, and we didn't know if they'd run downstairs to join the fight, hunker down in their dens, or just leave.

  When we got to the top of the passage, I could feel the ground shaking, and I could hear several voices talking in that language again, but they were receding.

  Peaking around the corner, I could see several adult dragons running down the ramp that led to the main hall below us.

  Turning to Grunim I unslung the rocket I was carrying and handed it to him. I looked at the repeater. Forty-five minutes. We were cutting it close.

  I looked over the hall; it was full of a lot of dirt and debris, pushed up into piles on the floor, six that I could from here. The archways to the sixteen side rooms, eight to a side, were all clear and unblocked. Looking over the plans, the third one down on the left was the best place to put the warhead. It had been a storage room and had several smaller rooms off the back of it. If I put the warhead in one of those rooms, none of the dragons should be able to get at it easily.

  We got about ten steps into the room when all hell broke loose, a number of those man-like creatures came up the ramp from the lower quarters and opened fire on us.

  We returned fire, dropping prone immediately, and the dwarf whose name I didn't know threw a hand-grenade at them. Which was when I noticed they were throwing something that looked like grenades at us!

  I scrambled out of the way and a series of loud explosions rocked the room. When it was over, I looked up. The enemy fighters were all dead, but Grunim was rolling on the floor in pain, the other dwarf coming to his aid.

  Swearing I quickly ran over to them. Grunim's right foot was gone below the knee, the other dwarf was using his rifle sling to tie it off. Grunim's arms were peppered with shrapnel wounds and his nose was bleeding. He looked a bit dazed, but was trying to shake it off.

  "Take him and get out of here!" I told the other dwarf.

  "What? I can't leave you!"

  "We're here! If you don't get going now, you won't get him out in time! Take him and run! I'll be right behind you after I do my job!"

  He looked at Grunim's missing foot and nodded, then standing up he picked up Grunim, threw him over his back, and ran for the exit. I could still hear the firefight going on below us, it was starting to sound a lot more frenzied now.

  I ran over to the third room and through the open archway and into the back. There were five doors in the back wall; I ran over to the first one, it was locked! The next one was blocked by debris, but the one after that opened.

  Stepping inside I looked around as I took off my pack and opening it I dumped the warhead behind a bunch of decaying boxes, then dropped the pack on the ground and turned around.

  There were two more of those man-like creatures and we all saw each other at about the same time. I whipped my assault rifle up and pulled the trigger just as they did the same. I got the one on the left, tearing him to shreds instantly with the powerful rounds from the gauss rifle, but the second one was already firing, and I felt the bullets stitch a
cross my legs as he himself was killed by my own fire.

  I collapsed to the ground swearing, both my legs were on fire. I pulled myself back over to my discarded pack and pulling out my knife I cut the straps off and then the flap. My right leg had only taken one hit, so I was able to quickly cover it with a crude bandage and tighten the strap over it to stop the bleeding.

  My left leg however was a different story. It had been hit twice and one bullet had struck the bone, shattering it. My leg was broken. I felt a little queasy for a moment, but fortunately I couldn't feel a damn thing, yet.

  I made a second crude bandage for that one, and fastened it as well. I looked at the timer. Thirty minutes.

  I grabbed the magical radio for talking to the other dwarves and keyed it. "Hakk, get the hell out of here! Now!"

  "We're already leaving! Don't come the way we came, it's blocked!"

  I looked at my legs, yeah; I definitely wasn't going that way.

  I slung my rifle over my back and started to drag myself out of the room, into the hall. The shortest route out of here was maybe ten minutes if you ran. Hopefully I could drag myself down it in thirty.

  "YOU!" I heard screamed in a voice so loud my ears rang.

  I looked to my left, it was a dragon, and it was coming at me.

  "Oh, shit," I swore and rolling over I pulled my rifle around and fired an entire magazine at it. I think we both screamed in pain at the same time, me from my legs as I rolled, and it from the bullets hitting it, as it dropped down behind one of the piles.

  "I WILL KILL YOU HUMAN!" It bellowed. "I WILL FEEL YOU SQUIRM AS YOU GO DOWN MY THROAT!"

  I dragged myself back into the room and fumbled at my cartridge belt and pulled out another magazine of bullets and slapped them home and then leaning out around the corner, I waited for the dragon to show itself again.

  When its head popped up, I fired another burst and it ducked down again. I took that moment to drag myself out and around, then down towards the next room in the direction of the exit. The exit was too narrow for the dragon, so once I got there, I was safe.