by Mark Harritt
“What is it, Matki?”
Matki held his finger to his lips, indicating that Mike should be quiet. Mike listened, but he didn’t hear anything. Mike looked questioningly at Matki, but Matki didn’t say anything. Matki was squatting next to his backpack, in the process of taking his sleeping bag out. He stayed in that position, listening, as if whatever he was listening for was just at the edge of his hearing.
Mike yelled back over his shoulder, “Guys, quiet down. Matki hears something.”
Everybody stopped what they were doing. Mike watched Matki intently. Finally Matki turned to him, “Do you feel that?”
Mike didn’t know what Matki was talking about. He looked around the group. Mickey shrugged. Tom shook his head. Everett stared at Matki, worried. Rob was the first one to feel anything.
“Oh, man, I know what he’s talking about.”
Mike turned to look at Rob, “What is it?”
Rob put his hand up to his jaw and massaged the muscles on either side of his head, next to the ear, “Wow, I’m surprised you don’t feel it.”
It began to build at the back of Mike’s teeth. His hands went up to the side of his face, “Oh, wow, yeah, I understand.”
It was a buzzing that seemed to start at the juncture where the jaw met the skull. It wasn’t painful, but it was annoying. The buzzing was suddenly joined by the sound of some kind of engine. It wasn’t loud, but they could track it as it approached. Soon, it became very apparent that the noise was well above the valley floor. They listened to it as it approached, drew even with their position, and then continued on up the valley toward the city. The team went on the defensive. The sudden understanding that there was something else out there, possibly dangerous, made the team freeze in place.
“What the hell is that?” Tom asked.
Mike shook his head, “I don’t know, some kind of aircraft.”
Tom’s face swiveled towards Mike, “That’s a damn quiet aircraft.”
Everett walked over to Mike, “What do you want to do?”
Mike thought about it, “Whoever built those robots may be coming to check on them. I don’t like the idea of being in this valley with aircraft up looking for us.”
Everett nodded, “Especially if they have FLIR.” FLIR was Forward Looking Infra-Red. It detected body heat. In the cold air, they’d stand out like a flare.
Mike was worried “I hope they don’t have weapons on that thing.”
“Di di Mau?” Everett asked, using an old Vietnamese phrase misappropriated by soldiers during the Vietnam War. The phrase actually meant, “Get Lost.”
“Yep, let’s get the hell out of here,” Mike said.
Sleeping bags were quickly shoved back down into back packs. The team pulled out their Starlight Monoculars. Even Matki had one, borrowed from the Air Force security team. Monoculars in place, they checked to make sure they didn’t leave any equipment behind. Then they started down the valley, using the cover of night to avoid the quiet aircraft. They walked in silence. It was ingrained. Four things could get you killed very quickly on patrol, noise, movement, light, and smell. They couldn’t do anything about the last until they found a place to take a bath, but training took care of the first three. They’d all been forged in Ranger battalion, Special Forces training, and the real world. That last one, the real world, was the kicker. The real world, with its Islamic terrorists, narco-terrorists, and militias, didn’t suffer fools to live long. Darwinian forces had a steep learning curve.
Tom led the way, Matki behind him. The team fell in to follow. They were ready for trouble, but none found them. Mike pushed the team until he felt they had enough distance between them and the quiet aircraft. They were all tired by the time they made camp. It was good they were heading downhill. That meant they had to use less energy to travel, but they were still using a lot of energy.
Mike called a halt, “Okay, we’re going to find a place to rack out for about six hours.”
That would give them all about four hours of sleep with two people on guard for an hour at a time, two shifts. Even with six hours to crash and get some rest that still meant a twenty-seven hour day that they’d put in.
Tom led them into an area easy to secure, waist high standing rocks with a small circle of trees masking their presence.
“Cold camp, no sleeping bags,” Mike told them.
The team grunted their approval of the idea. The last thing they needed was to have equipment scattered and then be attacked. Field jackets and watch caps came out. Everybody pulled out their woobie, a light nylon blanket. Matki had one, but his was woven from graphene fibers. They huddled close for body heat. The long day fighting killer robots and their long walk trying to get away from the aircraft made sleeping easy.
Tom and Rob pulled the first watch. Mike snuggled in with the other three sleepers, and he nodded off pretty quickly. Too soon, he was awakened to pull security with Mickey.
They sat close, nudging each other to make sure they stayed awake. It was tough, but they made it through the hour, then woke up Everett and Rob, and Mike sank into sleep again.
Mike felt better the second time he was woken. Still tired, but it was easier for him and Mickey to stay awake. All too soon, it was time for them to move again.
Mike and Mickey moved among the team, shaking them awake. Tom came up swinging, and Mike had to block the punch.
“Oh, sorry Mike. I was dreaming of that big robot trying to swat me like a fly.”
Mike grinned at the statement, “Yeah, you weren’t too happy with me at the time.”
Tom grinned back, “Well, I was a little stressed.”
Mike heard Everett’s voice, “You girls ready to go? Or are you going to kiss and makeup?”
“Screw you, Ev,” Tom said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
Before they started out, Mike pulled the team together, “Has anybody heard that aircraft again?”
Rob, Tom, and Everett answered no.
“Mike, don’t worry about the ship. I will know if it is close. I think that I would know even if I was sleeping,” Matki answered.
Mike nodded, but he was still uneasy about their situation.
“What’s up Mike?” Everett asked.
“Well, I don’t like the fact that we’re in this valley,” he replied. Mike painted a picture for the team. “We’re in this valley,” He pointed from one side of the valley to the other, “And the mountains keep us from climbing up and going elsewhere, unless we want to break out the climbing gear.”
“Whoa, Mike, I don’t like that idea at all,” Rob said.
Mike nodded, “Yeah, me either. Not with some kind of aircraft out there. We’d be seen for miles and they could pick us off at their leisure.”
Rob sat back, placated.
Mike continued, pointing back up towards the top of the valley, “We can’t go back to the head of the valley, at least, not right now. Too big a chance somebody’s waiting for us back there.” He pointed in the direction they were traveling, “So, if somebody’s thinking, they might have something waiting for us in that direction.”
Mickey’s deep voice rumbled, “Damn Mike, I hate it when you do that.”
“Do what?” Mike asked.
“Spoil my day before it begins,” he answered, voicing what everybody was thinking.
“What’s the matter? Nobody at Fort Benning’s school for wayward boys promised you a rose garden, big guy.”
Tom shook his head, “Oh great, now I’m going to have that song stuck in my head for the rest of the day.”
The team grumbled as they stood up and stretched. With hostiles potentially in the area, they decided to drag out camouflage cream to put on their faces. They grabbed their equipment, rucked up, and they were ready to go. Tom led again, Matki behind him. Mike wanted his best scouts out front. Rob was on security for the team, watching their back trail. They walked in the coolness of the night mountain air, listening for trouble. They moved slowly, hoping to hear trouble before it hear
d them.
As they walked, the darkness surrendered to the light. This was Mike’s favorite time of day, morning twilight. That was the part of the morning when day took over from night. You could just start to distinguish the world around you. The animals that moved at night were going to sleep, and the ones that moved around in the day were waking up. Birds start singing. The air even smelled better. Unfortunately, it was also the time of day when an ambush was most likely to happen. As the day lightened, Mike noticed that the small pines had given way to taller trees, and the vegetation was thicker, providing more concealment.
They were traveling in a line, ten meters apart, when Tom held his hand up, making a fist, indicating that the team should freeze in place. The hand signal was quickly passed back down the line. Tom held his hand parallel to the ground, palm down, and started making a motion for the team to get down. Mike slowly moved a few feet to his left as he squatted down, so that his silhouette blended with the bole of the tree.
None of the team moved once they were set. It was an old game that they played, a deadly game of hide and seek. The person that lost this game, died.
Mike listened. That was always the best way to find out if someone was out there. In heavy vegetation, you were more likely to hear your enemy before you saw them. Most of the time, it ended up being an animal. Unfortunately, this time, it wasn’t. They heard the steps off to the right. It took a while before they could see who was walking towards them.
Mike saw a man step through the trees. At least, Mike thought he was a man. Greyish skin and dark red hair was the first thing that Mike noticed. The differences didn’t stop there, though. The man was as wide as Mickey, but only as tall as Rob. Heavily muscled arms held some kind of weapon. Mike thought it was a rifle, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out what its capabilities were. There was a long knife that dangled from his left hip, and some kind of cylinder that was holstered on the right. It looked like a large flashlight, but once again, Mike didn’t want to find out what the object’s capabilities were.
The man was wearing a tight outfit, made of alternating shades of green. He had some kind of vest on, possibly body armor. The man looked tough, and with all that muscle, extremely strong. Mike sure as hell wouldn’t want to be in hand to hand combat with him. But Mike could tell, despite the camouflage, this man wasn’t used to operating in the woods. A no-see-‘um must have been snacking on him, because he slapped at his neck. The slap morphed, and the man wiped sweat off his face. Someone started talking off to the left, and the man answered in a guttural language. Mike couldn’t understand what they were saying. It wasn’t Matki’s language. A sharp retort sounded behind the man on the right, and he closed his mouth, an unhappy expression on his face.
The team stayed very quiet. Without knowing how many people were out there, the last thing Mike wanted to do was initiate a gun battle. If they stayed quiet, there was a very good chance that the people making the sweep would walk right past them. Mike had seen it happen before.
The man walked past. Mike didn’t turn his head to watch him, because any motion could give the team away. Mike listened as the man’s steps receded behind him. A few minutes later, another man appeared behind the first. This man looked the same as the other, same uniform, same weapons, though he had a golden sun embroidered on the left breast of his vest. This man was closer, but still far enough away that he could walk past the team. Mike wasn’t an overly religious man, but he was praying fervently at that moment.
The man with the golden sun stopped, wiped his brow, and yelled at the man that had just walked past. Mike heard the other man stop, and start walking back toward them. One step, two steps, three steps . . .
Mike heard a shout, then the bark as a rifle spit out a double tap. The man with the golden sun raised his rifle, pointing it past Mike. Mike shifted, brought his rifle up, and shot the man through the head. Mike heard a shot from his left, and more shots behind him as Everett dealt with that target. More steps from the left and right as the other patrol moved towards the gunshots. Another one of the grey men went down. There was more yelling, but no answer. The footsteps stopped as they suddenly realized that the hunted had teeth.
Tom looked back at Mike, using his hand to point forward. Mike nodded. Tom stood up and started walking, Matki behind him. The line started moving, knowing that others would soon head towards them. They walked slowly, all eyes looking for more targets. It was dangerous where they were, out in the open. Tom would be looking for places that gave them more cover. If they didn’t find cover, there was a very good chance the team wouldn’t live through this, especially if more of the grey men showed up.
A hundred yards down the valley, Tom found a jumble of rocks, and led the team into cover. They slipped in behind the moss covered rocks, sliding down behind them for cover and concealment. Mike looked around the team. He flashed a thumbs up with a questioning look in his eyes. He received a thumbs up from each team member. They’d taken out the grey men without the grey men firing a shot. Mike knew that wouldn’t happen again. The grey men would be better prepared for the next engagement.
It wouldn’t take long now. They listened as footsteps sounded around them. The grey men would probe until they located the team, then there would be a concentrated attack. The team heard a shout back where the bodies lay. The sound of steps grew as more of the grey men converged on the area.
The team’s strategy hadn’t changed. They still didn’t know how many grey men were out there, so they didn’t want to open the next shooting match. In fact, their greatest tactical advantage was that the grey men didn’t know where they were or how many were on the team.
For the next thirty minutes, they watched as groups of the grey men walked through the area. Mike saw a trio of grey men walk in their direction. The three men were looking around. Mike could tell that these men didn’t know what they were looking for. They weren’t woodsmen. Their body language didn’t show stalking or hunting experience. They had weapons, though, and looked like they knew how to use them.
The three men kept walking toward them. A stick cracked as one of them stepped on it. The one in the middle slapped the man who’d stepped on the stick with the back of his hand. Then the man in the middle stopped, and stared towards Mike’s location. Mike wasn’t sure if the man saw Mike, or somebody else. He stopped, then quickly grabbed at his rifle and started to raise it. Mike shot, the first bullet ripping through the man’s throat, and the second hitting him in the face. Mike shifted his aim to the man that stepped on the stick, pulled the trigger twice, and that one went down as well.
The last one stood there, staring at Mike, knowing that Mike had him dead to rights. The man stared at Mike. Mike’s eyes hardened. Mike wasn’t going to let the guy leave and come back with a company of men to kill them. The man made his choice, knowing that Mike was going to kill him. The muzzle of the rifle twitched upwards. Mike pulled the trigger. Mike heard a shot from his right as Rob shot at the same time. Two bullets smashed into the man’s face. A voice range out through the trees. Nobody answered.
The men they were fighting didn’t seem professional to Mike, despite their uniforms. They didn’t know how to move through the woods, they didn’t know fighting techniques. Mike only had to shift an inch, two inches to take out each of the three men. Trained soldiers wouldn’t make that mistake. They’d have plenty of distance between each other so one rifleman wouldn’t be able to take them out.
Mike heard a low voice.
“Well?” Everett asked.
“We need to move. That last volley will bring them to us,” Mike replied, in hushed tones.
Mike motioned for Tom to move out again. The team moved faster now, knowing that the noose was closing around them. Even Matki was prepped for combat, his right hand holding his atlatl with an arrow ready for use. Tom stopped, and pointed toward the distance in front of them. Matki nodded, and let fly. Tom started walking again. Tom approached the body and kicked the weapon away from the dying man
. The patrol snaked past the body of the grey man lying on the ground, his neck pierced through by the arrow. His life ebbed away as blood weeped past the shaft of the arrow. A bloody froth leaked out of his mouth and nose. Hatred glared out at Mike though the man’s eyes as Mike walked by. Then, in an instant, there was no more emotion as the muscles in his face went slack.
They continued down the valley. They walked a thousand meters with no contact, and Mike stopped the team for a fifteen minute security halt. They made a circle and stopped to look and listen for the enemy. They didn’t hear anything close by, though they did hear yelling behind them. After the fifteen minutes, Mike motioned for Tom to continue down the valley. As they walked, they heard more yelling where they’d left the bodies. The team walked another thousand meters and took a knee for another security halt. They didn’t hear or see anything close to them. They moved two thousand meters, then half a kilometer for the next security halts.
Mike was pretty sure they were past the cordon. They weren’t going to rest, though. The further they got away from the grey men the better. They picked up speed to put distance between them and their adversaries. The area they were descending to had more vegetation, more concealment. The land was easier to move across as well, flatter with less rock. Tom found an animal trail and they used that for several thousand meters. Mike was hoping to speed up, but Matki’s hand shot up into the air, fist closed. They froze in place again.
Tom stopped and looked back when Matki snapped his fingers. Matki pointed at the juncture of his jaw and ear. They all knew what that meant. They quickly looked for overhead concealment. They each moved underneath one of the large pines that were now prevalent. Unless they moved, there was no way they could be seen from above.
Through the vegetation, Mike saw the aircraft. Mike used the hand signal for ‘enemy.’ His fist was held with thumb out, pointed down at the ground, forefinger pointed in the direction of the enemy. He wasn’t sure if the rest of the team could see the aircraft through the foliage, but at least they knew where the danger was at.