The Pilgrim Strain

by Edgar, C. P.

  Helechek stated over the radio, “Understood. Update on the indigenous group. They are still stationary. Two males in the group are arguing. One is motioning toward the buildings and the other is shaking his head no and motioning toward the forest and your general direction. I’ll alert if they move, out.”

  Rainer was getting pissed off. All he needed was a cleared airstrip and he could call in the bird for extraction. That’s it, just a cleared airstrip which was supposed to be largely abandoned and was situated in the middle of nowhere built by Japanese soldiers long dead.

  He issued the command, “Move.” With that, the team split and began trekking toward their positions trying to maintain stealth.

  Rainer and Daggan made it to their position first and let the rest of the team know they were set up. Daggan had determined the range to the front of the hangar with a laser range finder and was positioning a reload for the MK 48 next to the bipod it was set up on.

  From their new position, they were just elevated enough to be at eye level with the airstrip and had a clear shot at the hangar. Almost directly in their line of sight was a dark huddle of figures both tall and short which Rainer knew were the tribe’s people including the children. He and Daggan had no alternative position to move to as the rest of the eastern edge fell off the airfield onto the lower elevations below including some radical sheer cliffs.

  Silently, Rainer was willing the tribesmen to get their people out of their line of fire. So far it wasn’t looking like they were in any hurry to move on. Two of the adult males were still going at it while the rest had taken to sitting or lying on the ground apparently knowing how long the argument could last.

  Kef broke the silence over the net stating, “We’re in position at the edge of the forest. Clear run to the hangar from this location. We’ll move on your orders, over.”

  Rainer snugged up to his rifle. He was in the prone and had his optics trained on the hangar opening. He thumbed the Silynx, “Move.”

  Through the green of the night optics Rainer could just make out the movement of his men toward the hangar. He noted that none of the indigenous appeared to notice, which he had given brief worry to. He had heard stories from some of the elder Green Berets he had encountered of indigenous people with natural night vision superior to anything that U.S. technology could try to simulate and incidents where a covert operation was totally blown up due to some old bastard native hanging out in the jungle in the middle of the night.

  Daggan called out, “Movement” over the net at the same moment that Rainer caught it with his optics. Kef, Einberg, and Miller froze in place and made the slow descent into the prone.

  From Rainer’s perspective, it looked like a large cat, possibly a panther, was stealthily moving out from the shadow cast heavily in front of the hangar doors, toward the group of indigenous. He didn’t recall anything about cats during the intelligence briefings.

  Suddenly something much larger streaked out from the hangar at full sprint. It was definitely a man. He was headed at full stride toward the group in the middle of the airfield. Rainer could tell from the way he was running that he didn’t have a firearm.

  Helechek spoke up, “Got him.”

  Rainer called him off, “Negative, standby.” He didn’t want to take down an unarmed man and announce their presence until he knew what the hell was going on.

  A scream from the running man shattered the quiet that had descended upon the valley for the past several hours. It was nothing like Rainer had ever heard before. It chilled him to the bone, actually, it terrified him.

  He quickly keyed up over the radio, “Take him.” It was a moment too late. The man had surprised the group and had already taken down the closest standing male and was upon him. The two were rolling on the turf, the wild man thrashing about on top of his victim. The children started screaming and were desperately trying to crawl out of the way and to safety.

  More screams started coming from the hangar area. Rainer saw what he had previously thought might be an animal rise up on its hind legs and run in the same direction as the group of indigenous who were now dealing with the psychotic sprinter. Rainer said, “What the fuck?” as he sighted his weapon on the next running screamer. He placed the green crosshairs of his holographic sighting image onto the center mass of the running man and was beginning to press his trigger when the man’s head exploded into a cloud of mist tinted green by the night optics. Moments later he heard the sound of the shot echo against the mountainside.

  Rainer heard, “Tango down,” over the radio but was already transitioning and scanning for more targets. He made a quick look over to where the first screamer had managed to take down one of the tribesmen and saw that the second tribesman was furiously stabbing at the man with what looked like a short spear or stick. The screamer was latched onto the man underneath him around the neck. Is he biting him? Rainer thought.

  Daggan spoke up, “Two more running out of the hangar, make that three. I can’t take them from here without hitting the locals.”

  Rainer could see that the remaining tribesmen and women were on their feet including another male, two females, and two kids no older than ten years old. They were blocking Rainer and Daggan’s line of fire.

  “Kef, engage anything that comes out of that hangar,” Rainer issued.

  Kef, Einberg, and Miller couldn’t see the hangar doors from where they lay, but they had seen the first runner attack the group in the airfield. Einberg had laughed and whispered, “What the hell is that freak doing?” when he had first spotted the man running across the field. Once they had heard him screaming it was all business after that. Einberg had picked up the second runner and was about to squeeze one off when Chek’s round came in destroying the man's head.

  “We need to get eyes on the front of that hangar,” Kef was explaining when more runners emerged through the darkness from their left to right. Kef heard the report from Helechek’s rifle and turned to see that one of the runners had been knocked down. Kef and Einberg were up and moving forward at the ready, scanning for targets.

  Miller had remained in the prone and was providing over watch as the pair moved up to the hangar. Miller took aim at one of the runners now just a few meters from the group of indigenous and snapped off two quick rounds, one of which scored a center hit and the other took the runner at the hip ricocheting off the hip bone and tearing a huge gash of flesh. He went down face first and skidded to a stop, a cloud of dust and debris created from the sudden impact with the ground.

  The runner Helechek had just tagged was getting back up on all fours when the sniper, hundreds of meters away, hit him with a second round which seemingly tore him in half at the waist. The impact shattered the man, leaving him face down at a ninety degree angle, his mouth half-opened, blood pouring out of it onto the dirt underneath.

  Kef and Einberg made it into a position at the corner of the hangar structure and took up a fighting position. Kef covering the entrance to the hangar and Einberg was scanning the area between the hangar and the indigenous persons. Kef keyed his mic and said, “Miller we’re in position, move up.”

  Miller jumped to his feet and began a deliberate movement at the ready firing position, making sure to cover the rear of the hangar in case threats poured out the back and decided to flank him and the team.

  Einberg took a knee and got his sights on the last runner rushing across the field but couldn’t get a shot off before the man crashed into a huddle of women and children. Bodies twisted and crashed. The two children broke free and to their feet and were running as fast as they could manage toward the forest from which they had entered the airfield. Their little legs were a whirlwind of movement, and they kept looking back with wide eyes full of terror.

  One of the women was able to roll off the attacker and made it to her feet, but she didn’t flee, rather she was trying to pull the other woman out from under the man by her outstretched arms. Both women were screaming and crying. Miller watched as the lunatic man ferocio
usly beat the woman beneath him.

  He was straddling her and she was no longer fighting back. One of her arms had gone limp and stiffly fell to the ground. The man was postured up and he was hammer fisting down onto her like some crazed baboon. He then bent forward with his mouth gaping wide baring his teeth like a ravenous animal.

  Miller took a knee and drew careful aim. He squeezed off a precision shot and the top of the man’s skull angled off with the impact. The other woman was left holding the hand of her dead friend, covered in the blood of the man that had just killed her. She stood there motionless until she heard more screams coming from the hangar. She turned and broke into a sprint in the direction of the children.

  Rainer heard the screams too. He caught more motion near the entrance of the hangar. The field was clear now of friendlies other than two male indigenous that were continuously stabbing at the first screamer that had attacked their group. He had sunk down onto the dirt next to his initial victim, still clinging onto the man like some parasite even though he was clearly dying from the wounds that the tribesmen were inflicting upon him.

  Rainer and Daggan could hear the two grunting with their efforts to sink their weapons deeply into the man. The fight had taken them about twenty meters north along the airstrip out of Rainer and Daggan’s direct line of fire.

  Daggan activated his AN/PSQ-23 MLRF infrared laser aiming device using a pressure switch located on the front handgrip of the weapon. A green beam cut across the airfield from his position, seemingly making a direct connection between the front of the weapon and the hangar opening.

  Rainer could see the IR laser through his NVGs and told Daggan, “Scan for targets but hold your fire. Let’s see if Kef can get eyes on.” He didn’t want Daggan to light up the front of the hangar with Kef and his team danger close.

  Rainer keyed his mic, “Kef, is there a secondary breaching point on your side of the building? I’d like to see if you guys can get a quick peek into that structure and let us know how many more of these psychos are in there.”

  Miller who had been covering the rear of the structure from the southern side of the hangar responded, “Moving to the rear to take a peak.” He crept along the outer perimeter of the large hangar, his weapon at eye level. He took a quick peak around the corner to verify whether there were any threats at the edge of the hangar and noting none he slowly crept out far enough to be able to take a good look.

  “There is a metal door approximately twenty meters from my position, no tangos in sight. It looks to be an outward opening door. This might be a good point of entry, over.” Miller took up a position covering the rear of the hangar waiting for further orders.

  Kef jumped onto the net, “Rainer, we can breach and bang that door, take a quick look into the area and report back. If it looks bad we’ll back out and you guys can light it up, sound good?”

  “Roger. One change, we’ll bang the front of the hangar to shift their focus and you can slip into the breach point. Countdown on me once you radio that you are set.”

  “Copy.” Kef began moving toward the rear of the hangar where Miller was set up. Einberg fell in behind him covering their movement.

  ***

  Seni Nalong had his hands full trying to navigate the Toyota Toyoace one and a quarter ton truck up the steep and rugged terrain. The truck only had two-wheel drive and he swore once again as the truck tried to veer sidelong off the main trail. He had argued initially with his handler that it would be impossible to get this truck up to the abandoned airfield but the threats of reduced pay quickly silenced his concerns.

  Sitting to his left and obviously sleeping off the booze from the night before was his brother-in-law Simeon. Seni looked upon Simeon and half chuckled wondering how he had managed to sleep even though the truck bounced along the trail sometimes with bone-jarring slams. Simeon slept through it all. Nose to the air. Mouth slung half open. Seni willed a fly or maybe even a hornet to launch itself into that gaping hole.

  The front end of the truck dropped quickly slamming past a rut in the ground. Seni overcorrected on the steering, swinging the backend of the truck out. The tires tried to gain purchase but managed to continue to slide until the backend stopped pivoting having pushed against a tree near the edge of the trail.

  Seni held his breath and quickly looked over his shoulder onto the flatbed of the truck. The package was still tightly strapped to the bed floor. Two large black ratchet straps held the plastic container motionless against the floor. Seni let out his breath. His handler had told him he would receive no payment should anything happen to the package or it was not delivered on time and as planned.

  “What the fuck are you doing?”

  Simeon was looking at Seni and the immediate surroundings outside the truck with some confusion. He began sitting up and yawned with outstretched arms. He began patting the shirt pockets of his weathered flannel obviously looking for something.

  He found a pack of cigarettes in his left breast pocket and pushed the truck's lighter into the dash while simultaneously drawing his find from the pocket. He pulled out a single white cigarette from the plain white box just as the lighter made its customary pop indicating it is ready to be used. Simeon hated these new label-less cigarettes that he is being forced to buy from street vendors as he had much preferred a pack of American Marlboros. His beloved government had just recently instituted crushing new laws in an effort to ban all use of tobacco within the country and he just couldn’t afford them any longer. They said they could no longer afford the healthcare required to support New Guinea’s national pastime, smoking.

  Seni looked at Simeon and just smiled, “Trying to get us up this damn mountain alive. What are you doing?”

  Simeon placed the red-hot coils of the truck lighter to the end of the cigarette and took a deep drag. He exhaled slowly out of his nose and then said, “Smoking of course,” with a cloud of smoke emanating from his mouth.

  “How far have we come?” he said after he was satisfied with his exhale.

  Seni looked at the map which was taped to the dash and looked at the mileage counter on the truck’s dashboard. They had come a long way having started out a day ago.

  “I believe we are almost there but I am having a hard time keeping the truck moving forward without slipping.”

  Simeon looked and motioned ahead with his cigarette dangling between his yellowed fingers. “Well it looks like it levels off up ahead, maybe we have arrived.”

  Up ahead there seemed to be a thinning of the trees and the road appeared to crest. The road being no more than a narrow cut through the vegetation and probably would be fully overgrown if it wasn’t for the rains using it as a wash.

  Seni dropped the old Toyota down into first gear, grinding it a bit to get the transmission to accept the gear selection. He gave it a real bit of gas in order to get it moving. The rear groaned as it slid along the trunk of the tree it had come to rest against. Finally, with another burst of gas, and the sound of the engine reaching its maximum RPM, the truck lurched forward and fell back into the ruts that Seni believed once were tire tracks. He sighed slightly, feeling some relief from the tension that the possibility of the truck being stuck had created within his chest.

  He centered himself in front of the steering wheel, shifting some of his weight off his right side where his FN 35 9mm had been digging into his side and pressing against his kidney. This is the same pistol he carried when he was in the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) where he was an officer in the Preventive Medicine Platoon. He missed being with his unit, and wished he had never resigned. The money he made working for his handler was significant, but he hated himself for the dishonor of it.

  He had been concentrating so heavily on the driving he hadn’t noticed his weapon pressed so hard into his side. He thought he would have a bruise from the constant pounding of the weapon against his body as the truck lurched from rut to rut.

  The truck rocked severely against a deep rut as the front driver’s side ti
re spun for traction. It dug in and the truck groaned once more as it finally crested the hill. One final tree branch scratched against the windshield and dragged against Simeon’s side of the truck.

  Seni and Simeon both stared out of the front windshield at the sight of the abandoned airstrip directly in front of them. Seni thought he felt a chill sweep through the cab of the truck but quickly he shrugged it off as he continued his gaze upon the facility to his front.

  “Well that wasn’t so bad,” Simeon stated while he began patting for his smokes once again. He reached down onto the floor and came up with a bottle of brown liquor fished out of the items cluttering the floorboards. The bottle was corked and he pulled the cork out between his teeth. “You want a pull?”

  “No, maybe on our way back. I want to get this done and away from here as fast as possible.”

  Seni did not like the feeling this place gave him. He began wondering what could be in the case that he was delivering. He thought about the other actions he was briefed he had to complete and hoped that Simeon wouldn't get distracted. He did not want to waste a moment's time.

  This place was so far from any village and had no real purpose other than it afforded complete secrecy, at least for anyone willing to come here he thought. Seni began to think that he was delivering a shipment of drugs or maybe weapons. Why else would he need to deposit it here, at an airfield of all places? He made the decision right at that moment that this would be the last time he worked for his handler. He wasn’t a drug dealer, and there could be no honor in working for one either.

  “There may be none left by then,” Simeon commented as he tipped the bottle back and took a huge pull from it.

  Seni only watched out of the corner of his eye as he continued moving the truck forward. His brother-in-law was such a fool. He only brought him in on this deal because he couldn’t lift the package by himself, and he needed him in the hangar.

  Seni navigated the Toyota past the hangar and brought it to a stop in front of what he believed was the old administrative building designated within his briefing materials. He turned it off leaving the keys in the ignition.