On Distant Shores

by Mark Harritt

  Chapter Twelve – Now

  It was Mitchem, of course. Mitchem was asserting his authority in front of the civilians and Air Force personnel. He wanted to show that he was still the big dog, and that Mike was insignificant. He didn’t know Mike too well if he thought this posturing would work. This time he had Staff Sergeant Murphy, and Sergeant Joseph with him. Murphy was the same one that told Mike that he and the team would be unloading a truck. They were part of the security team. They massed about 220, 230 pounds each.

  Murphy was a college linebacker and Joseph was a bouncer in Arkansas before they joined the Air Force. Murphy was black, from Detroit, and Joseph was a big, blond, corn feed southern boy. Big men, with large, muscled chests and arms, they were used to a fight. They carried side arms, and he could tell by the way they held their arms, they were ready to draw if need be. They both stood slightly in front of Mitchem. So Mike put a smile on his face, held his arms down to his sides, with the palms of his hands open towards Mitchem and walked towards them. All three relaxed, thinking that Mike was going to try to smooth over the situation. A big mistake to make. Mike could see the triumph in Mitchem’s face.

  Mike lined up so that his left foot was pointed towards Murphy, and he stepped forward with his right foot, twisting his hips and his entire body into the punch that went into Murphy’s solar plexus. Mike didn’t want to kill or injure, because he would need fighting men. As his fist drove into Murphy, with his left foot planted, his right boot came up in a back roundhouse kick that went across Mitchem’s body and drove the heel of his boot into the solar plexus of Joseph.

  With both men on the ground, he twisted and faced Mitchem, who was trying to drag his gun out of the holster, panic on his face as he realized the large wall of flesh between Mike and him had been violently removed. Mike could tell that Mitchem had never practiced drawing his pistol. It was a kydex holster with a lock. Mitchem was pulling, but he couldn’t figure out why the pistol wasn’t coming out. Even if he got it out, Mike doubted Mitchem would have remembered to take the safety off. Mike drove the heel of his hand into the nerve on Mitchem’s forearm, which deadened the hand. In less than five seconds, all three were gasping in pain.

  Mike took Mitchem’s pistol, then Murphy’s and Joseph’s.

  Mike stepped back, and addressing Murphy and Joseph, said, “Gentlemen, next time you come at me with bad intentions, it’ll be the last. Do you understand me?”

  They painfully nodded their agreement. Murphy and Joseph couldn’t voice it, and wouldn’t be able to do so for a while, their diaphragms in spasms. Mitchem glared at Mike, one hand holding the paralyzed arm. Mike looked into his eyes and saw raw hatred in his gaze.

  Mike turned to Mitchem, “As to giving your people orders, you weren’t around, and somebody had to take care of business.”

  Mitchem stiffened, his face turning red.

  “What, did you go back to finish banging Dr. Randall on your desk?” Mike asked.

  This last was said loud enough to get the attention of everybody standing in the area.

  He heard an, “Oh damn, he went there,” from John Smith.

  Mitchem was steaming, “This isn’t over.”

  Mike spread his hands, “I imagine not.”

  Mitchem turned on his heel and marched back to the cave, disappearing into the darkness towards the tunnel. As he walked, the civilians and Air Force personnel moved out of his way. Mike watched him disappear into darkness. Visibility in the cave was diminishing. They would have to figure out how to string lights down the tunnel.

  Mike looked at the two security men on the ground. Murphy and Joseph were rubbing their stomachs, looking very unhappy. Mike squatted down on his heels, far enough away that they couldn’t lunge at him and looked them in the eyes. Mike could tell, that if they could, they would beat him to a bloody pulp. But, they weren’t as sure of themselves as they were before. They were no longer sure that they could take Mike in a fight. He had their pistols, so that was not an option for them either. Mike could see them calculating the odds in their heads, and then reaching the conclusion that Mike had all of the cards stacked in his favor.

  Mike let this sink in for a moment, “Gentlemen, I’m not trying to be the asshole here. I’m trying to make sure that we all survive to see the sun coming up tomorrow, understand? “

  Murphy spoke first, “Yeah, well, that’s not the way the Colonel sees it. He thinks you’re undermining his authority.”

  Joseph spoke next, “And he’s the boss. We follow orders.”

  Mike stood up, moved back, and motioned for the two men to get up from the ground. They started moving to get back on their feet.

  Mike nodded, “I can appreciate that. Loyalty is a good thing, and speaks well of you. But his authority is derived through the government of the United States. You see anything resembling the United States here, now? The question now becomes, would you rather have an administrator in charge, or a trained killer and leader of men who knows how to survive and live off the land?”

  Mike wasn’t an ego guy and hated acting like one. He just wanted to get the job done. Right now, he knew that he and his team were the only thing standing between the people in the facility below and total disaster.

  Murphy and Joseph looked at Mike, and then turned their heads slowly to look at each other. Mike could see the cogs turning in their minds as they assimilated this information.

  Mike slid the magazines out of both weapons and checked the chambers. A bullet ejected from Murphy’s pistol, but not from Joseph’s, “Joseph, you need to make sure you always have one in the chamber. It could be the difference between life and death.”

  Mike handed the empty pistols back, “Gentlemen, all I ask, is that you do the right thing, and figure out what that is mosh schosh. People may get killed if you don’t. Hell, people may still be killed, but at least you’ll feel better about yourselves if you stand up for all of us, not just for that ego maniac, or that psychotic, Jamison.”

  The two security policemen didn’t say anything to Mike. They turned, holstered their pistols, and walked back to the tunnel. When they got far enough away from Mike, they started talking to each other. He couldn’t hear what they were saying.

  Mike knew that Mitchem would be back with more people, and better odds. Next time, nobody would be off guard. Mike didn’t know what else to do, other than what he was already doing, which was look to the safety of these people. He would probably end up getting shot in the back by Mitchem, or one of Mitchem’s people.

  He walked back to the cave, and motioned to Pang to join him.

  “Lieutenant, there might be some big nasty’s out there soon. We have the mech armor, and we’ll be the primary defense, but you’ll need a secondary at the mouth of the tunnel, in the cave, about five people that are willing and able to shoot. You’ll also need a third line of defense down in the warehouse.”

  Pang nodded, “Mike, please call me Jennifer, or Jen. I don’t think rank is going to be very important in the future.”

  Mike agreed, “Okay, well, you all know the names of my team. First names it is.”

  Jen waved at Stein to come over to them, “Rick, I want you to go down and get some of the guys up here, pistols and M4s. We need people that can shoot to guard the elevator shaft at the bottom, too. Make sure they have standoff distance, and can retreat to the stairwell on the other side of the gym. Use the M4/203s. If you can get Security guys, so be it. If not, then the administration people you work with, or any civilians that might have training.”

  Mike could tell that the young Airman was struggling with the fact that Pang was sending him down to sort things out in the warehouse. Mike reached over, and squeezed the young Airman’s shoulder. “Rick, you can do this. We’re depending on you.”

  Rick swallowed, “Sir, Ma’am, no worries, I won’t let you down.”

  Pang smiled, “If I thought you would, I wouldn’t put you in charge o
f defending the warehouse.” Rick’s shoulders weighed down with the new responsibility.

  It was Mike’s turn to reassure the Airman. “Don’t worry; Lieutenant Pang will take charge up here, so send her quality Airmen that she can depend on. Downstairs, the people don’t need to be as steady, they just need to shoot anything that comes out of the elevator shaft, and be ready to run into the stairwell if things don’t go well.”

  Mike stopped talking, cocked his head and reached to his ear, “Oh, hang on, Everett’s on comms.”

  “Ah, Mike, you there? Please respond.”

  “Yeah Everett, I’m here, what’s happening.”

  Everett sounded worried, “Ah, well, there seems to be a new player on the remains of the carcass. It’s as big a bear, has a bad disposition, and is running off the other critters. Oh, and that’s the good news. The bad news, there seems to be a pack of them.”

  Mike responded, “On a scale of bears, are we talking black bear, grizzly, or polar?”

  “Mmmm, I would say grizzly. Definitely brown bear, Kodiak size.”

  “Damn it.” If Everett was concerned, Mike was concerned. This was not a good turn of events, at all.

  He turned to Pang, “You need to get security here, as quick as possible.”

  She and Stein noted the concern in his face, “What’s wrong?”

  He motioned towards the front of the cave, “Large pack of very angry, bear sized carnivores out there. You need to get some shooters up here, and get them quickly.” Mike turned and hurried to the front of the cave. He could hear growling. Mike heard Pang running Rick off to take care of organizing security.

  It was twilight, and he could see large shapes around the bloody meat. What he saw and heard was chilling. As he climbed his mech armor, he could see more details, and hear deep, angry growling as the animals challenged each other. It was a large pack of animals as big as bears, thickly muscled. They were hungry, and they were fighting to establish dominance.

  Everett spoke up, “Mike, you better get your ass in the mech armor. I think we’re up wind of them. When you came out, a few of them stopped and started sniffing the air.”

  Mike had no intention to be the next meal for these large carnivores. He thought about Jo and the baby. He promised Jo he would be back. If there was a way to get back, he was going to stay alive to make sure he found it. Mike cycled open the hatch, and climbed into the armor. He put on his helmet, and ran up the systems. He could still smell the vomit. The IR and Starlight vision cycled up, and he could see the bear pack. There were a few smaller scavengers struggling around the pack to get to the food, but they were quickly run off or killed.

  Mike did an ACE call, ammunition, casualty, and equipment. The team reported in, all green across the board. Nobody was having problems with equipment yet. Equipment failure was Mike’s biggest fear. If these big hunks of carbon fiber and titanium armor stopped working, there was no chance of survival for any of them.

  The buffet continued, the bear pack snarling and hitting each other with paws the size of dinner plates. Mike wondered what pack life was like when the pack didn’t have this much food. Then he realized, they have to have this much food all the time. Which meant there has to be an ecosystem that could feed this many large, mean carnivores. “Fellas, you realize, that from the size and amount of this pack of carnivores, there has to be some pretty big prey out there.”

  The net grew quiet, and then Tom, the hunter, started speaking, “Well, when you have dragon lizards the size of a school bus, and a pack of . . . friggin’ bears, for God’s sake, there has to be something that they can feed on. Small animals won’t do, they need a lot of protein, and they have to have it pretty damn often.”

  Rob spoke, “That means that there are a lot of large animals in this world that can kill us?”

  Tom followed up, “Uh huh, and most of them aren’t going to be happy to see us. Or, they will be happy to see us as a new protein source.”

  Mike asked, “Any suggestions about the future?”

  Everett started the round, “.338 Lapua.”

  Mickey said, “.50 BMG.”

  Rob threw in, “.50 Smith and Wesson.”

  Tom chuckled, “Nope, you’re all under caliber on this one. You need a 750 grain bullet at 2700 feet per second. You need the A Square Hannibal .577 Tyrannosaur. Made to stop rhinos, hippopotami, and rogue elephants; guaranteed to stop a charging T.Rex, if you can find one that’s alive.”

  “Does that actually exist?” Mike asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Tom answered, “I have a montage video on my laptop of people shooting the thing.”

  Rob asked, “Have you ever shot one?”

  “No, but I did some work on a .500 nitro express that a fella was taking to Africa on safari. He was going after rhinos, and he bought a double barreled Anderson Wheeler .500 Nitro Express second hand for $23,000 and wanted to make sure all the parts were working correctly, when his life was on the line.”

  That conversation continued for the better part of thirty minutes. They talked about the energy imparted into the kill in foot pounds for each of the different calibers, which caliber was more accurate with which rifle. The conversation could continue for hours. The team was familiar with all of the weapons that they used. Tom was the expert, though. He was a hunter, hand loading all of his ammunition to ensure the perfect cartridge for his rifle.

  He grew up shooting his dad’s Winchester .30-06, and then moved onto his own Remington .308. Sniper school brought out the quest for knowledge, and now he knew every weapon out there that he might face across a thousand yards. He had also attended gun smith school in Pennsylvania, and gotten his degree. Tom knew everything there was to know about guns and ballistics, or knew where to find it.

  The team was always like this when they expected trouble. It came from spending too much time in the danger zone. Mike watched this same banter among the many men he worked with over the years, in the Rangers, Special Forces, and black ops. It was the calm before the storm. They were relaxed, but paying attention to business. As they talked, they monitored the situation with the bear pack.

  They all knew that it was going to hit the fan, or at least they assumed it would. They just didn’t know when. The killing would start as soon as the meat was gone, and the bear pack back tracked the blood trail. There was always the chance that it wouldn’t happen, but better to be prepared if it did. The banter continued. It would have continued if they were stark naked, with bare hands, facing the bear pack. It just wouldn’t have lasted as long.

  Then Mike got the call, and the entire team tuned in. It was Mitchem, but he could hear Jamison squealing in the background. “You bastard, you get out of that armor right now and come down here and face me!”

  Mike clicked on the mic, “We did that already, you lost, remember.”

  “Screw you, get out here, I’m placing you under arrest, you jackass. And I’m going to arrest your entire team!” Mitchem was truly spitting mad, a term Mike had heard before, but never thought he would experience. He could hear the saliva gathering in Mitchem’s mouth as he spoke on the radio. He could imagine the spit flying as Mitchem talked.

  Everett spoke up on a different channel, one that only the team was monitoring.

  “Hey boss, Mitchem is attracting some attention.”

  Mike thought about this. It was completely dark now. Mitchem probably couldn’t even see the bear pack that was fighting over the meat. Mike watched as one, two, three of the big bears started looking over towards the cave.

  Mike spoke up over comms to Pang, “Jennifer, are you out there?”

  Mitchem was the one who answered, “She isn’t allowed to talk to you now. I’m in charge here. You’ll talk to me!”

  Mike voice was calm. “Listen, you’re about to step into a world of pain. Lieutenant Pang understands the security situation, you don’t. Put her back on the radio.”

  Mike was fami
liar with curse words in eleven languages, usually hearing it before he killed someone. He could imagine the color of Mitchem’s face as he cursed. It would have been amusing if not so tiresome. Mitchem was a turd.

  “Mitchem, put Jennifer Pang back on the radio, or I’m switching to speaker, and everyone will hear.”

  This was not what Mike wanted. He knew it would attract the attention of the bear pack, and what happened next would not be pretty at all. Now, seven of the bear pack were looking over at the cave at the little man yelling among the tall, black figures. One tentatively started moving towards the cave, sniffing the air, stopping to lick at the blood on the ground.

  “I don’t care if you’re on speaker or radio. It’s not going to save you now,” Mitchem was yelling at the top of his voice.

  The bear started moving towards the cave with intent.

  Mike flipped the switch. He was now talking through the speakers on the armor, not on the radio, “Lieutenant Pang, prepare for attack. The bear pack is coming. We’ll try to intercept, but you’ll need to kill anything that gets pasts us.”

  That was all it took. Mike’s voice opened the dam. The pack surged towards the cave, anticipating new prey. There was a shriek over the microphone. Mike assumed that the bear pack was now in view of the people in the cave. The bear pack swarmed. Mike and his team fired with laser and rail guns. Blood erupted, the bears not near as tough at as the dragon. The rail guns wounded and killed the bears, but they kept coming. Then it was hand to hand. The bears were startled as the five mech armor suits came alive and started pounding them. They were smaller than the dragon lizard that attacked previously, but they were faster, more agile, making it harder for Mike and his team to stop them.

  The bears were confused by the armor. They bit, clawed, slammed into it, and tried to crush it with blows from their huge paws. Nothing the large bears tried caused any damage. A few made it through to the cave and tried to find easier targets. Mike grabbed one by the leg and pulled it back out to pummel it until its head was mush.

  Pang initiated the defense in the cave. She sprinted forward to get past Mitchem and his crew to keep them out of the line of fire. She didn’t notice, since she was eager to get into the fight, but the security team was standing flat footed, looks of disbelief at the size and amount of the bears on their faces. She opened up with her shotgun and started pumping rounds into the hugely muscled, snarling beasts. She was dwarfed by the sheer size of the great animals. But she stood and killed, no fear as she snarled curses.

  Jamison’s mouth was slack with dismay. His heart jumped into his mouth, and the only sound that came out was a muted, strangled cry. When Pang’s shotgun spoke, he squealed, then turned and ran. The sound of her shotgun stirred the security from inactivity, as they realized the danger. The rest of the security team started shooting, some with rifles, the rest with their pistols. Stein had been grabbed down stairs by Mitchem as he was setting up the security. When Mike announced the bear attack, he ran forward into the mix, slaying bears on the other side of the security team. Spent shell casings flew through the air as he shot.

  Three of the bears broke through the Mech team. One was grabbed by a leg and drug back out of the cave, its head pounded into pulp. One was riddled with bullets and dropped just past the cave opening. The last one made it through to the team, covered in gore, horrendous wounds weeping fountains of blood. Even as it died, it lashed out with one of its great paws, crushing Airman Babcock’s chest. Babcock flew across the ground, his chest caved in by the blow, skin and flesh rended by claw. Blood streamed from his body as the bear corpse crashed against the floor. The large bear shuddered as death took it.

  A pile of dead bears surrounded the mouth of the cave. Two of the bears were gravely wounded, in immense pain, crawling back towards the trees, blood gushing to create a huge blood trail. Judging from the other animals in the area, Mike didn’t think they had a very good chance to live. Mike took pity on the two wounded animals. He targeted the backs of the head of each animal, and triggered his rail gun until each stopped moving. The rest of the pack lay on the ground, dead and dying.

  Mike checked his display and looked at the camera feed into the cave. Pang was standing, shotgun smoking. The security personnel around her were reeling from the attack. Mike spoke over the speaker, “Lieutenant Pang, I need an ACE report.”

  “Ah, ACE report?” she asked.

  Mike brought her up to speed, “yes, a status report. ACE, ammunition, casualties, and equipment damaged.”

  A look of understanding came over her face. She remembered from the fight with the dragon. She turned and interrogated each person, and then noticed the young airman’s body lying on the floor, “Oh, God.”

  Mike asked, “What’s going on?”

  Pang answered, “One of our Airmen is down. I think he’s dying.”

  Two of the security team ran forward to help Babcock.

  Mike spoke again, “Jennifer, I’m coming out. Mickey come with me, security has a wounded man. Everett, you Tom and Rob stand guard.”

  Jennifer turned and started talking to the security team. Emotions were running high. Many of the security personnel were upset as they talked to the lieutenant. Murphy was pointing back to the cave tunnel, and yelling. Mike turned up his audio to catch what Murphy was saying.

  “Those bastards left us! Mitchem left us! He didn’t even look back to see if we were still alive or being eaten by those big damn bears! Screw him! If Mitchem won’t even stand like a man with us, then he can go to hell.”

  Mickey set the mech armor into standby, popped the hatch, and climbed down with his medic bag to check out the casualty.

  Mike saw Jondreau there, looking shaken. Mike didn’t know if it was because of the attack, the attitude of the security team, or because of Mitchem abandoning them. Mike set the armor in position, felt the foam collapse, and then popped the hatch. Mike yelled down to the security team, “Do you mind if I come down and talk to you?”

  The team still looked visibly upset. Murphy spoke up, most of his emotion spent. He had a very pissed off expression on his face, “Nah man, you can come down. We won’t do nothin’.” Jondreau looked as if he was going to say something, but Murphy and Pang both glared at him and he shut his mouth.

  Mike got back on the radio to his team, “Gents, I’m going out to do some talking. Stay alert. Everett, we need a shift for guard duty. One person in the armor at all hours for guard duty. I hope we’ve seen the worst of it for tonight.”

  “Yeah, me too. I’ll make sure everything is copacetic.”

  Mike climbed down, with his pistol, rifle, and tactical kit. He yelled over to Mickey, to see what was up with the condition of the Airman. All Mickey did was shake his head. The Airman was dead.

  He walked over to the Air Force security team. “Gentlemen, I thank you. If you hadn’t helped us, that bear pack would be hunting our people through the facility.”

  Murphy had a dangerous look in his eyes. Mike could see Rick Stein in the background. Mike asked, “Did Airman Stein come to talk to you?”

  Murphy nodded, “And Mitchem and Jamison lost their minds when he said you were looking for security for the mouth of the cave.”

  Mike spread his hands, “Well, I can understand that, but it wasn’t just me. Lieutenant Pang knew there was a need for security. Both she and I asked Airman Stein to come and get you.”

  Lieutenant Pang nodded, “Yes, you saw the size of those beasts. One bear is bad enough, but a pack of Kodiak bears was more than I could handle. If they got past Mike and his team in the mech armor, I wouldn’t be able to stop them.”

  Mike continued, “My team will do everything we can to protect everyone, but we can’t do it by ourselves.” He motioned, indicating everybody in the cave, “We are the only thing between the people we work with, and the horrors that want to kill them.” He paused to let this truth set in.


  Jondreau, with a serious expression, asked, “What about Mitchem, Jamison?

  Mike shrugged, “Well, now you know what they’d do in battle. So you have a choice, follow a leader that has proven herself in battle with nightmarish, vicious predators, or follow the man that soiled himself and ran away to leave you to die. Your choice.”

  Mike looked at Lieutenant Pang. He was impressed with her courage. Hell, she faced the bear pack, and she didn’t have armor, “Lieutenant Pang, could you come with me please?” He walked over to one of the corpses of the bears. He motioned for her to stand next to it. The head of the bear was as large as her torso.

  “Look at this woman. She would be a snack for this beast. Where was she when the pack swarmed the cave?”

  Murphy spoke, “Man, if she hadn’t been there, they would have killed us all. She ran in front of us, and started shooting. She was fearless.” He looked over at skinny Rick Stein, “Him too. He ran forward and started shooting before we even knew we were in trouble.”

  The security team was impressed with Lieutenant Pang. Pang proved that you don’t need to be physically imposing to lead men into battle. An effective leader did need physical courage, and she was a ton of courage in a ninety-five pound package.

  Mike asked, “Who do you want to lead you in battle?” He pointed at the tunnel, “Them,” then he put his hand on Jennifer’s shoulder, “or her?”

  The security team was thinking, their faces open books. Only Lieutenant Jondreau seemed unconvinced. He challenged Mike, “What about you? Are you in charge here?” Murphy, and everyone else in the cave looked interested in what Mike had to say.

  Mike shook his head, “No, not at all. I’m in charge of my team. I want to make sure that all of us have a decent chance at waking up tomorrow. We need to find out what the hell is going on here. The world we know is gone, and it’s been replaced by this new reality. I want to make sure, if it is remotely possible, we all return back to the world that we know. I think you know that Mitchem and Jamison can’t do that for us.”

  Murphy thought, then slowly nodded. Murphy seemed satisfied with Mike’s answer. Lieutenant Jondreau didn’t look as convinced as Murphy. Pang didn’t say anything, hoping things would sort themselves out. She was just happy that there wasn’t going to be an armed insurrection right now.

  Mike watched Lieutenant Jondreau. He was impressed that Jondreau didn’t run. This spoke well for him as a leader. Hell, even the fact that he was backing his boss, Mitchem, spoke well for him. Problem was, Mitchem was a pile of manure that needed to be scraped off the shoe. These young warriors didn’t fail Mitchem, but Mitchem sure failed them.

  Mike heard someone say ‘Ditchem’ Mitchem. He knew that nickname would make the rounds of the civilians and Air Force pretty quickly. It was catchy. It would stick. It was the type of thing that a leader dreaded. Mike knew that, soon, all the Airmen would be calling him that. Mike dialed back his military persona, and smiled, turning on the charm, “Okay, this is what we need. My team’s going to stay on guard up here, one person at a time in the mech armor, with the drone up, and all sensors on to watch the surrounding area. If there’s an attack, we can armor up pretty quick. So, I need some volunteers to guard my men as they sleep.”

  Pang, Jondreau, and Murphy moved together and started talking. It didn’t take long to reach a consensus. Jondreau was the person to announce the decision.

  Lieutenant Jondreau walked over to Mike and stuck out his hand. Mike reached over and held his hand in a firm grip. Mike could see the apology in Jondreau’s eyes. Jondreau spoke, “Chief Duggins, since I’m in charge of security for this facility, I’ll put together a list for guards to come up here and stand watch. How many men do you need?”

  Mike nodded acceptance, “Well, two would be good for us. Plus, we have some cots on our pallet for sleep. If you could have two on guard, then two in cots to relieve them as needed, that would be perfect. I’ll let you decide the shifts. My guys are doing two hour shifts to stay alert up here.”

  Murphy moved forward with Joseph, “Ah, Chief, Lieutenant, if you don’t mind, we’ll take the first shift up here.”

  Mike indicated that this was acceptable, and Jondreau looked relieved to have someone in place immediately. Jondreau gathered his security team, and started back towards the tunnel to go back to the facility. Pang stuck around a little bit longer. Mike motioned her over, “Jennifer, could you please send up our cots, our sleeping bags, and some MREs? Two boxes should be enough for now. We’ll make sure that our guards get something to eat.”

  Pang nodded, “Yeah, Stein can stay, and I’ll send up one of the administrators. They can be your security backups for Murphy and Joseph. I’ll get the cots and supplies up to you as well.”

  Pang shifted her eyes to Murphy as she talked, without Murphy seeing her do it. Mike understood immediately. It would be awhile before Mike completely trusted the security team. It seemed that Pang didn’t completely trust them either. With Stein and another one of Pang’s people, they could put Murphy and Joseph on separate shifts. Mike winked so that neither Murphy nor Joseph saw it. Pang nodded, knowing that Mike had insight to what she was thinking.

  Mike stepped close to her, “Jennifer, we have a few body bags on the pallet. You’ll need to send up one for Babcock. Sadness shaded her eyes deeply, exhaustion lining her face. She nodded. Mike felt her pain, and put a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed, “If you need to talk about it, I’m here, the team is here. We’ve all experienced the loss of friends on the battlefield.”

  She nodded, “I didn’t really know Airman Babcock. He seemed like a nice guy.” Tears welled up. Mike knew there was nothing he could do to help her now. She would have to work through this. He knew that the others on the security team would have the same problem. Pang inhaled deeply. She turned, then walked over to Murphy and Joseph, and asked both of them if they needed anything sent up. They said they needed some more 5.56mm for the rifles. She nodded, and walked past them to the tunnel.

  Mike watched her go, noting her posture as she walked. Mike clicked on his ear bud, “Hey, Everett, you can start rotating people for security. I need one person in mech to drag those bear carcasses over to the meat pile and move them away from the cave mouth.”

  “No problem boss, but I think we will all do that. It will only take a few minutes for three of us to drag the carcasses over. I’ll leave one on guard.”

  Mike was tired, “Roger, sounds good.”

  Twenty minutes passed as they dragged the carcasses over to the mound of meat and bone. When they were done with the carcasses, Everett, Tom, and Mickey dismounted the mech, and Rob stayed in his for first guard duty. The three walked into the cave.

  “Well, boss, what’s the plan?” Everett asked.

  “I asked Pang to send the cots up. Plus our sleeping bags and some MREs. After we’re finished eating, I want us to rack out and get some sleep around the guard schedule you put together for us.” Mike replied.

  Tom exhaled loudly, “Thank God, I was hoping to get some chow and some sleep. Twenty swarming bears and a damn dragon is enough for one day.”

  Mickey nodded, “I’m so tired. I thought the day would never end.”

  Everett looked over at Murphy and Joseph, “What are they doing up here?” Stein was standing in the back.

  Mike waved them over, “They’re our security tonight, plus Lieutenant Pang is sending up one more. I want one of our team in the mech armor through the night, and we’ll have two Air Force standing watch while we sleep.”

  Mickey spoke up, “and tomorrow, we start all over again.”

  Everett nodded, “Correct, just like we do every day we’re above ground. If you want rest, you can always take the long dirt nap.”

  Mickey sighed. Tom and Everett looked beat. Mike could only wonder what he looked like. Mike looked at the cave. The center of the cave was rubbed smooth where the giant lizard’
s hide swept all the rocks to the side.

  “What the hell was it that somebody called it? Oh, yeah, the dragon. As good a name as any,” Mike thought, except for that frill of tentacles it had around its neck. It was the ugliest beast that Mike had ever seen. At least the bear pack seemed familiar to him. The ratios of the head and face were different than any bear or dog he was familiar with, but at least they were fur bearing mammals.

  There was a whistle from the tunnel. The group looked over. It was another Airman, Daughtry. Stein trotted over and they both disappeared into the tunnel.

  Everybody was moving slow. Mike looked up to see Murphy and Joseph watching them. Mike smiled, “the energy dissipates as the adrenaline wears off. Then you crash.”

  The others on the team nodded. Stein came walking out with two military cots and a box of MREs. Stein had his rifle slung across his back to keep it out of the way. Daughtry came out of the tunnel carrying sleeping bags, and a box with soft drinks in it. There were some more things to bring out of the tunnel, so everybody except for Murphy and Joseph went back to grab them. Soon, they were putting the cots together and staking out their bed down locations for the night.

  Mike motioned over the four airmen. “Guys, since Murphy and Joseph have more training in security, I would like to pair you four up so that Murphy and Daughtry are a team, and Joseph and Stein are a team. Do you guys see any problems with that?”

  Murphy, thought about it, then grinned, “Naw, man, we don’t have a problem with that. You don’t have to split me and Joseph up, though. We ain’t going to jump you in the middle of the night.”

  Mike smiled back at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the look of concern on Daughtry and Stein’s faces. Mike could see the light of understanding creep over Joseph’s face. He actually looked embarrassed as he figured out what was going on, “Oh, ah, no man, it ain’t like that no more. We don’t have a beef with you.”

  Mike nodded, still smiling, “Yeah, I know it isn’t.” He didn’t take his eyes off of Murphy. Murphy shrugged, “sure.” Murphy motioned to Daughtry, “You mind taking first watch with me?” Daughtry had twang in his voice, probably from west Texas, when he talked. “No, I’m not particularly tired. I reckon we can do that.”

  Mike pulled out his ear bud and handed it over to Murphy. “Make sure you give Rob a comms check. He’s probably a little tired, so talk to him, keep him awake.”

  Murphy nodded his understanding, “No problem. After those big bear things and the damn dragon, I have no desire to have something like that sneak up on me.”

  “Make sure you do two hours on, then switch.” He looked over to Everett, “What’s the rotation for our watch?”

  Everett was stuffing his face with a cold main meal from the MREs. He chewed for a few seconds, then swallowed. He motioned with his thumb over his shoulder at Rob’s mech, “Rob, Me, Tom, Mickey, and then you.”

  Mike turned back to Murphy, “so wake us up every two hours in that order, okay?”

  Stein spoke, “Sir, Lieutenant Pang wanted you to know, we’ll be relieved at the end of four hours, and four more will be up here to pull security. Two will be from security, and two will be from other sections.”

  “Awesome. Now, if you four gentlemen don’t mind, we’re going to get something to eat, and then hit the sack.”

  The four airmen walked away to talk about the security shifts. Mike was relieved to see that they had night vision monoculars. It was getting dark outside, and the starlight monoculars would help them see any problems before they got too close. That, plus Rob monitoring the drone and active radar from the mech armor should keep down the possibility that they would be surprised by anymore monsters.

  Mike sat down and opened a beef stew MRE. He had enough energy to eat the packet of beef stew, but he was too tired to eat the rest. He popped the top to a soft drink and took a long swig. When he was done with the food, he stood, walked over to the mouth of the cave, and pissed. He walked back and fell into his sleeping bag.

  Mike’s mind wandered as he sank into sleep. Mike’s goal for tomorrow was a thorough reconnaissance of the area around the cave, and the valley. He thought about where they would get food, water. There would have to be a latrine somewhere away from where they were bedding down. Otherwise, there was a great possibility that they would be killed by disease. And they had to bury Airman Babcock. He would talk to Lieutenant Jondreau about the service.

  So many things to think about. And he still didn’t know where the hell he was or how to get back to Jo. Thoughts of Jo and his baby filled his mind. He could feel the tears at the corners of his eyes. He wondered if he was ever going to see his wife or child again. “God, wherever Jo is, please take care of her. Wherever my baby is, please make sure that they’re healthy. Please, if you’re listening, let my child have a long, healthy, and happy life.” He wiped the tears from his eyes.

  Oblivion took over, and blackness sucked him down into a deep sleep.

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