He Who Dares: Book One (The Gray Chronicals 1)

by Rob Buckman

  “I... I tripped and hurt my ankle...” His voice trailed off.

  “So he left you behind.”

  “Well, no… he said that seeing as I couldn’t keep up I should stay behind and slow the trackers down.”

  “Oh?”

  “Well, yes. You see, if they caught me they’d have to take me back to the camp. That would give Eric and the other two time to escape.” He added a bit lamely.

  “So your gallant leader dumped your sorry ass and left you to the wolves.” Mike chuckled.

  “No, it wasn’t like that... I... I could keep up you see... so I volunteered to stay behind and slow them down.”

  “I just bet you ‘volunteered’.” Janice snorted.

  “Get some rest, Simpson. Don’t want you straining that ankle any more now do we.” Simpson just gave him a nasty look and rolled over to face the wall. “You’d better get some rest as well, Jan.” Mike held out his bundle. “Here, use this as a pillow.”

  “Thanks Mike. And you?”

  “I’ll stay on guard for a while. I’ll wake you in a couple of hours.”

  Two thirds of the large land mass on Avalon and Avalon Prime is covered in deep virgin forest and jungle where very little sunlight penetrated the dense overhead canopy. From dawn to dusk the inhabitants and visitors alike lived and moved in a perpetual green twilight. That being the case, some unknown geneticist had incorporated the gene sequence for very low light vision into every future citizen of Avalon, and for that, Mike was eternally grateful. One day he’d have to look up that person and thank them, as walking through the Amazon jungle at night without it would be akin to tap dancing through a minefield blindfolded. Even without tools or even a knife it was relatively easy to rig traps around the ‘Red’ force jungle camp. The meager floodlight were mainly concentrated on the stockade rather than the surrounding jungle. Inside the stockade, fifteen half-naked, miserable cadets waiting for the dawn. There really wasn't much he could do for them, apart from taking out all the hunters, and even for him that might be a little difficult. They'd have to stay, but that didn't mean he couldn't make life miserable for the hunters as well. If they walked into a few of his improvised traps, they'd be so pissed off, they'd concentrate on finding him instead of beating up on a bunch of sorry assed cadets, or at least that's what he hoped.

  For him, this was relatively ease, even with him helping Janice, but he couldn't help all of them. One by one they fell by the wayside and activated their emergency beacons, giving him and Janice a sad smile and a wave before they disappeared from view in the dense undergrowth behind them. Mike and Jan picked up the pace, but even so, it was slow going, partly from the dense undergrowth in places, but the heat and humility were taking their toll on Janice. Walking through a muddy sauna wasn’t adequate to describe the Amazon jungle, saunas don’t have mired biting flies, ants, snakes and other sundry insects and animal life all trying to take a bite out of them. In all it took fifteen mind numbing hours to reach the outskirt of the small village of El Charco, just ahead of the searching hunters. By now they must be so pissed that two untrained cadets had managed, not only elude them, but also escape from their stockade. The icing on the cake from Mike and Janice’s point of view would be when they crossed the finish line and be the first to claim the three day pass. Ever cautious, Mike circled the village, and came in from the north side. If the instructor was telling the truth, they should be in friendly territory at this point. Scanning the dirt street, they saw nothing of the hunters, but expect to. They did see the fake border post at the other end of the street with a red flag on one side, blue on their side, the red being on the other side. Mike pulled Janice into the shade of a nearby shack and squatted down to wait. Something felt out of place, but he couldn’t put his finger on what, but after waiting for ten minutes and nothing happened he shrugged and put the feeling down to exhaustion. In the end, they strolled down the single main street, stopping at a general store to buy an ice cream. Mike suspected the move was so blatant that the hunters would never suspect a Cadet would do it. He was right; they didn’t see any of the hunters until they were within fifty feet of the ‘border’.

  “Hold it you two, you’re captured!”

  “Oh? Really?”

  “Too right, and how the hell did you get here?” They stopped, but continued licking their ice creams. Two hunters came up to them, looking them up and down with amusement.

  “You might want to note that we are on the north side of the ‘border’, not the south, which means that we are in friendly territory.” Both the hunters broke out laughing.

  “Wrong shit head. The border is on the other side of town, not here.” He laughed at the expression on their faces.

  “So that’s a fake!” Mike stated, nodding towards the flags.

  “That’s not fair!” Jan yelled.

  “Whoever said this exercise was going to be fair?” The woman’s head darted forward, like a snake striking until she and Jan were nose to nose.

  “So that’s it, huh, the rule is, no rules.”

  “You’ve got it sport!” With that, Mike struck, hard and very, very fast. He wasn’t kind either. He was boiling mad, and still in control. The SAS trooper went like a felled steer, but it gave the woman time to back off and take up a defensive stance.

  “Oh, so we have a ballsy one here, do we. Well, my lad, let’s see what you’ve got!” She launched into her attack, but it was too little and way too late. The moment Mike detected her strike pattern; he launched his counter attack. He caught the woman in mid stroke, and out of position to counter his. He left her on the ground, groaning in pain, and grabbing Janice’s hand hustling her back up the street.

  “Stop!” Someone yelled behind them, and a quick look told him it was another instructor. “I said stop!”

  “Fuck you, asshole!” Jan yelled. Mike jerked her sideways into an ally as his count hit ten and a stun bolt zipped through the space she’d just occupied. Mike counted to ten against, this time changing direction through a doorway of a shack, startling the family sitting down to a meal.

  “Excuse us!” He said in Spanish, pulling Janice with him as he dashed through the room. A moment later, they were out the back, and in passing, he grabbed a dustbin lid. Jan wasn’t sure what was happening.

  “Mike, this game is getting rough!”

  “It never was a game, Jan.”

  “What!”

  “Not from the moment they dumped 24 wet behind the ears cadets into that clearing.”

  “I don’t understand, this is just an exercise.”

  “Yes, it is, but it’s definitely not a game!” Mike snapped and changed directions again, this time dashing across the main street again and ducking between two buildings.

  “How’d your head Mike?”

  “A little pain, but nothing I can’t handle.”

  “Stay calm and focused. Get rid of the anger.”

  “Right. Let’s go.”

  “Hey, you! Stop!” Someone shouted, but they kept running.

  As they rounded a corner, Mike skidded to a stop, whipping up the dustbin lid. It wasn’t a moment too soon, as a stun bolt impacted against it, deflecting off to one side. Mike just charged the man, a move that took him by surprise. He fired again, with the same result, and then Mike was on him, both going down in a heap. Mike jammed the edge of the lid under the man’s chin and pressed, seeing him start to choke. He dropped his weapon and tried to push the lid off his throat, and the moment his hands came up, Mike rolled off and scooped up the stunner. A kick caught him in the side, but it didn’t stop him from swinging around and firing point blank into the man. The man groaned and went out like a light.

  “Move!” Mike yelled and took off after her. Now they ran behind the houses, heading northward as stun bolts sizzled passed.

  Rounding another corner, Jan ran full tilt into a man coming the other way, and both went down. Mike stepped in and simply kicked him under the chin, sending him tumbling backwards with a broken jaw. He
dragged Jan to her feet and took off running, holding tight to her hand. Then she let out a yell, and he looked back just as she fell. She’d been hit. Mike snapped two shots at the running man, catching him in the chest. He hadn’t realized that the cadets were armed, and paid the price of over confidence. He picked Jan up and slung her in a fireman’s carry. It was impossible to run like that, so he didn’t try. Now he moved carefully, but quickly from cover to cover until he reached the edge of town. The pain started pounding in his head so he took deep breaths and thought calm thoughts. About a hundred feet up the road, he saw the ‘real’ border, a hundred yard of clear space with no cover. There was nothing else for it but to try. He moved away from the house and towards the flag, turning in slow circles as he did. This way he kept a watchful eye for anything that moved. He made about fifty yards before one of the hunters came out from behind a shack, but he was too far away for a shot. To discourage him, Mike fired a bolt in his direction, more to let him know he was armed than to hit him. It worked, as the man kept his distance.

  “OK, that’s enough Cadet. You can put the weapon down now.” Mike swung around, finding another instructor standing by the flagpole, an older man, but he didn’t have a weapon. Looking up, Mike saw it was the red flag, so he kept his weapon trained.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “It’s over Cadet, put your weapon down!”

  “Once I reach the blue flag I will.”

  “I gave you an order, Cadet! Now do it!” He snapped. Mike said nothing, just kept sidling sideways around the man. Apart from the one in the distance, and this instructor, none of the other hunters were in evidence. Thinking back, he’d probably taken out the ones that were available, as they have to keep at least two on guard to watch the ‘prisoners’. That meant it was just this one man to get passed.

  “Cadet, I gave you a direct order.”

  “With all due respect, Sir, you are red force and don’t have the authority to give me such an order. Nor, under naval regulation am I required to obey them. Now move out of the way, Sir.”

  “Like hell I will.”

  “I’m going to get to that blue flag no matter what.” He pushed the deep burning anger that was started to build in his chest back down. He concentrated his thought on nothing more than crossing the last few feet to safety. Still, it was one thing for one side to cheat and get away with it, but this was taking things too far.

  “Let’s just say you made it, Cadet, and leave it at that, shall we?”

  “No way, you were the ones that decided to get tricky, and until I reach that flag pole I wouldn’t trust you as far as I can throw you.”

  “You want a piece of me, Cadet.” He snapped back, “is that it, you all mad because we played dirty and you didn’t make it?”

  “Just move aside, sir.”

  “Think you can take me, Cadet, is that it.” The man was goading him.

  “No, sir. I don’t think I can take you…” A smile spread across the man’s face.

  “Too right you can’t.”

  “I know I can take you, dog’s breath!”

  “Why, you wet behind the ear, shit for brains Cadet, you wouldn’t stand a chance!”

  “Let me reach the flag pole and put this lady down, and I’ll come back here and beat the socks off you.”

  “Right! Go ahead, let’s see if you are man enough to keep your word.” Mike quickly stepped passed; keeping his weapon trained, and lowered Jan to the ground. As he did, she came awake and looked around.

  “What? What happened?”

  “You took a stun bolt, Jan. Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

  “Oh shit! No wonder my head hurts.” Janice held her head in both hand and groaned. Mike walked back across the imaginary borderline, tossing his weapon away as he did. He knew he’d pay for this later, but it was something he had to do, pain or no pain.

  “You want to try and take me captive now?” He asked, stepping back across the line into ‘Red Zone’.

  “With pleasure.”

  “What about your friend?” Mike asked, pointing with his chin.

  “He’ll stay out of it.”

  “Oh, I’m sure he will. You all play so fair, don’t you. Tell him to toss his weapon away, a long way away.”

  “Do it!” The instructor yelled over his shoulder. Mike watched as the stun gun soared through the air to land some twenty feet away.

  It wasn’t far and if he didn’t keep an eye on the man, he could easily sidle over and retrieve it. Mike put his hands up as if taking up a classic boxing stance as the older man moved towards him, wiping his hands on his pant legs. The older man moved into a fighting stance, knees bent, hand held away from the body.

  “Oh, one thing.” Mike asked, stepping to within striking distance. So far, the pain in his head was bearable, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. He needed this to be over quick. Then he had an idea.

  “What’s that, Cadet.” A confused look crossed the instructor’s face.

  “You ever see a video called ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid’?”

  “No, can’t say that I have, why.”

  “Good. What are the rules for this fight?”

  “Rules! You have to be kidd…” That was all Mike needed. Mike snap kicked him in the crotch before he’d finished speaking. He ended it with a swinging back kick called ‘the tail of the dragon’. The man crumpled to the ground, as predicted the other man had moved sideways to try and retrieve his weapon, but with five quick steps, Mike was back across the ‘border’ line, and safe.

  “What the hell did you just do?” Janice asked.

  “It was that in an old movie a couple of weeks ago.”

  “Good god! What movie?”

  “Um, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid.”

  “Jezze. I’ll have to watch that.”

  * * * * * *

  Twenty-three sorry looking cadets arrived back at school all looking haggard and dirty. The other two were marched directly to the CO Officer and a fifteen-minute lecture. This ran from conduct unbecoming an officer, to willful disobedience of a direct order, cheating and destruction of government property. In the end, the CO just glared at them.

  “What have you to say for yourselves?” He thundered. The look of mild surprise on Mike’s face didn’t help matters either.

  Thankfully the long flight home gave him a chance to shake off the pain in his head. He looked at Janice for a moment, and she nodded for him to proceed speaking for both of them, looking nervous.

  “I’m not sure I understand sir. We, Cadet Fletcher and I only followed orders.”

  “Haven’t you been listening to what I just said Cadet Gray!”

  “Yes, sir, and I still don’t understand where we failed to accomplish the stated goals of the exercise, sir.”

  “What stated goals? What on earth are you talking about, young man?”

  “Escape and evasion, sir.”

  “I know that! Go on.”

  “Well, sir. We were instructed to make our way from a place called El Charco is that correct, sir?”

  “Yes, but…”

  “Then I submit, sir, that is exactly what Cadet Fletcher and I did, sir. I also executed the first part of the mission objective by letting myself be captured and assisting Cadet Fletch and others to escape from Red Force stockade. ”

  “Go on.”

  “And your conduct at El Chaco in attacking your instructors?”

  “I beg to differ, sir. At the time they were acting as red force, and used every means at their disposal to catch us. I saw no reason not to do the same, meeting force with force where necessary, despite the other side using stun weapons.”

  “You were ordered to stand down by the senior instructor, Cadet.”

  “No, sir. At the time he was a member of red force and therefore his orders held no validity what-so-ever.” Mike could see that remark had the CO thinking.

  “As for attacking the red team members. At the time I felt this part of th
e exercise, and a legitimate means of effecting our escape to blue land as it would have been had this been real.”

  “And your emergency transceivers, why did you disable them?”

  “I hate to throw out accusations sir, but these were not just emergency transceivers sir, but locator beacons.”

  “They are, but are you suggesting that the members of red team used them to track down the other members of your class?” The Vice Admiral thundered.

  “No, sir, only that two thirds of the class were captured in less than six hours. A higher percentage for just good tracking.” Then much to the surprise of Jan and Mike, the Admiral smiled, before breaking out in a deep belly laugh.