The Mulligan Planet

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  Part of me wanted to leap the table and kill him right there, but another part just agreed that she was delicious, “I may have provided the meat but you prepared it.”

  I managed a smile which he returned with a chuckle, “Don't be the monster John, it doesn't suit you. Although some company would be most appreciated up here on top of the world.” It was my turn to chuckle, he looked at me, smiled and scrunched up his nose, “Naaaah.”

  We both started laughing. Yes, I enjoyed a moment with the nutter, I still wanted to kill him, but it was good to have a decent meal again, made me somewhat jolly.

  I sat back in my chair, letting the food settle within me, “How long until my men are back?”

  S checked his watch and shrugged, “Providing they didn't give my men much trouble, any minute now. I got word when you landed that Steven landed not too far from here and was on his way. The others were picked up shortly after you took off.”

  I nodded, “Good, once everyone's here I'd like to move for the ship. The longer we wait the harder it's going to be to get there, the dead will have flocked to the crash after the sound it made.”

  S stood and my gun was on him before he'd taken a step, he looked at my outstretched arm and chuckled, “Really? Get up, I just have something to show you.”

  I waited a moment before sliding the gun back into its holster under my arm and stood, “After you then.”

  We stepped out of the tent and into the light rain, a young woman had appeared at S's right with a small black umbrella. Holding it above his head while the rain slowly soaked into her green coat, her dark auburn hair matted down the back of her neck, “What is it that you're going to show me?”

  S continued walking with his hands behind his back, “You'll see.” The girl shivered slightly, ‘Why did these people let him treat them like this? Why did he treat them like this?’ He looked over his shoulder toward me, his brow furrowed slightly.

  Shifting his eyes to the trembling girl, now struggling to keep up with our pace, “Take your umbrella and piss off. Go warm up or something, you're getting on my nerves.” She paused for a moment before nodding and stumbling quickly away. Once she was well out of view S turned to face me, hands now in his pockets, “Happy now?”

  I wasn't getting any more comfortable with him in my mind, but he seemed to be trying to increase my comfort, “Sure, let's go with happy.”

  He scoffed and shook his head as he turned around, “There is just no pleasing you, is there?” I wasn't going to dignify his question with an answer. He was already in my head and knew exactly how I felt. I picked up my pace slightly as to take the girl's place next to S, where I stayed for a while in silence as we walked deeper into the camp.

  I watched as people either retreated into their tents or stood at attention as we passed through, ‘These people are terrified of him’.

  “It's not me they’re terrified of John.” His voice burrowed into my deep into my ears.

  “How far?” He let out a slight laugh at my neglect of a response.

  “We're here.” He pointed to a personnel truck with some heavy modification. A plough was welded to the front, made of what appeared to be any flat metal that could be found. Which was shown with the variety of signs that decorated most of it. Barbed wire meshed around the sides, while its huge wheels had clawed metal jutting out from where the hubcaps would have been.

  I was in a slight state of splendour watching the rain beading and rolling down the green camouflage canvas of the beast, “To use for this little escapade of yours. Try not to break it.”

  I smiled, “No promises.”

  “Your friend is here, Steven, he will be behind us in three...” I could hear his angry voice approaching.

  “Two…”

  The familiar sound of a punch connecting reached me. “Next bastard to lay a hand on me is getting put in the Goddamn ground!”

  S adjusted his tie, “One. Hello Steven!”

  I turned around with S to face Steve, his hair wild and anger on his face wilder, “You shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you, what are we doing here John? Ship's down, Lucy is back online and I'm hungry.”

  S began to open his mouth to speak but Steve's gun was already pushed to his forehead, “You'd better be coughing or so help me God I'm going to give the interior of your demented cranium a renovation.”

  I stood completely still, waiting for whatever was going to unfold. We all stood in silence for a few seconds until S finally closed his mouth and flashed Steve a smile. An expression met with a huff as Steve pulled the gun away and holstered it, an indent of where the pistol's end had been sat on S's forehead.

  “Wise choice. Now, please explain John.”

  I tapped my temple, “Communication is still out, S here is letting us take some of his men and a vehicle so we can enter the ship and take out whatever is causing the interference.”

  Steven rubbed his eyes, “We're going to- with his- you know what? Whatever, sure let's go get ourselves in a deadly situation for the dozenth time, but just so we're clear on the whole thing, we're trusting nutso over there?”

  S feigned offence in the corner of my vision.

  “No, you're trusting me. I'm sure we can handle a half dozen trigger happy idiots if they decide to turn on us.” He still didn't look convinced,

  “I'm trusting you on this, but the second I see trouble I'm tearing them to pieces.”

  At that moment Harry and Marcus started making their way toward us, “You explain it to them, I'm going to meet these guys that are coming with us.”

  He huffed again before straining a half-smile, “Fine, but you owe me one.”

  Into The Belly of The Beast

  Five men stood before me, their faces emotionless and waiting, “And you can vouch for them?”

  S shrugged, “Yeah, they aren't half bad. Good at shooting, good at working together. Isn't that right boys?”

  As the words left his mouth they shouldered their rifles, unloaded the magazines and then reloaded, all in perfect synchronisation. I smiled, “Yeah, they'll do, how soon before we can ship out?”

  S dismissed the men with a wave of his hand, “As soon as you're ready, I'm working off of your schedule.”

  We started back toward the centre of camp, the rain had gotten slightly heavier making it feel necessary to turn up the collar of my jacket, “Load your men into the truck and I'll get my boys, let's get this over and done with eh?”

  S clapped me on the shoulder, reminding me of my first encounter on base with Gregorvich, “That's the spirit.”

  I smiled and looked at him, “Look, we may be working together, but if you touch me again I'll tear your throat out.”

  He took his hand off my back and smiled, “You and Steve are quite alike, you know that?” He turned around and walked off and I began toward my friends.

  Harry was balancing his sword in his palm while Mark and Steve spoke about the plan, “You feeling up for another mission?”

  Harry started bouncing the hilt, “Meh, have to die sometime.”

  I frowned, “Mark, please tell me you're not as morbid as these two.”

  He let out a sigh, shifting the duffel that was now slung around his shoulder, “I just don't feel safe trusting this guy. We've been watching him for a while now, the stuff his men are capable of is... atrocious in a word. But if you do, you've got me on your side.” A weak smile managed to come out of his face.

  “Thank you.” I looked over to Harry who met my gaze. He flipped his sword into the air, puffed his trench-coat out, caught the hilt and slid the blade into its scabbard, all in one swift move.

  “We've made it this far, not bailing now.”

  We all looked at Steve, now pulling on a thick woollen jumper before getting stuck part-way, “If any of you assholes could help get my head through this wool death trap I'd do the whole ‘We are brothers’ bullshit.” We all shared in a little laugh while Marcus grabbed the base of the jumper
and pulled it down revealing a puffy haired Steve, “I'm in, let's get in there.”

  We all turned and started back toward the truck, I felt good. Back on a track that I could understand and another step closer to finding the rest of our team.

  S was standing in front of the truck, his men loading into the back, “Will you be needing weapons?”

  I heard Marcus shaking the duffel bag, the contents rattling around, “We could use some ammo, maybe a few of those M4s your boys have.”

  He gestured to the truck, “Knew you'd say that, everything you could need is loaded in the back, get out there, try to bring the truck back in one piece.”

  Steve barged past S, “I'm driving.”

  S, without turning, raised his hand, “For every scratch on that truck I cut off a finger!” A rock flew through the air and hit him in the back of the head, “Hey! Was that necessary?”

  Harry and I had a quiet chuckle while Marcus stared on in complete silence, barely masking his fear, “Don't Steve, come on guys, let's go.”

  S turned back to face him, “See, your friend here understands.” Mark adjusted the duffel and walked toward the truck with his head down. Harry and I in close tow but as I passed him S caught my arm which drew a snarl from me.

  I snapped my head to face him, staring him down. My fists clenching and quickly loosening once I saw his finger wagging then pointing to Harry's back. A red-dot resting right where his heart was, “You go along Harry, be there in a minute.”

  S tightened his grip as Harry walked off, “Get a hold of your dog John, you know