Chapter 12
"Lieutenant O'Malley, Sergeant Phillips, provide your sitrep!" Captain Braun yelled into the mic.
"Captain we have one wounded, exfil to base camp."
"Copy, lieutenant, rendezvous base camp."
We watched the teams walk out of the jungle; Arrendondo approached the lieutenant and reported. I watched the jungle to see if anything was following them. If there was it moved like a ghost.
"Jamison, front and center!" Arrendondo yelled. I hustled over to her. "See what you can do for the wounded."
"Yes ma'am."
The wounded was Staff Sergeant Phillips, but it turned out it was only a dislocated shoulder from a tumble down a bank and a big rock on the way to the bottom. I helped him out of his armor and yelled for Arrendondo to assist.
"Let’s go in the shuttle so we can use a manway to help," I said.
"Do you even know what you’re doing?" Phillips asked.
"Yeah, it’s easy. Just like falling down an embankment," I replied, maybe a little sarcastically.
"The corporal can do this,” he growled. “I don’t need you."
"No, I can't, Sarge. Better let him help you, or wait the two days like that ‘til we’re back aboard ship."
I stepped forward to tell him how to stand and he pushed me back, the grouchy asshole. I stepped up again and this time when he tried I grabbed his wrist with one hand and dislocated his first two fingers with the other. He was lucky I didn’t break them.
I didn’t think it out, really. On second thought, I realized it might not have been the best idea. He held his arm up yelling, crying, and cussing. His fingers were bent all to hell.
"Jamison, what did you do?”
“Nothing really, just an object lesson,” I replied. I heard feet coming up the ramp behind me. The captain and lieutenant were standing about three feet away, looking at Sergeant Phillips.
"What happened here?" the lieutenant asked. Sergeant Phillips was shaking his arm and swearing. Spit was flying, coming from words that were unintelligible.
I stepped in front of him and grabbed his arm, then grabbed a finger and let him jerk his arm away. It popped back in. He calmed slightly and I grabbed the other finger.
"You ever push me again and I'll break them off next time along with your arms," I told him. I pulled his other finger back into place. "Now get over there and stand in the doorway. Put your body facing the hull with your arm hanging."
"Corporal,” I said, turning around to speak, “take his arm and hold it horizontal to the floor and pull gently on it. I’ll tell you when to increase the tension.”
I leaned into his back to hold him in place. I couldn’t trust him to stand still and let us do this. He groaned as she pulled. "Pull a little harder now, a little harder." I worked on his shoulder blade. "A little harder.” I felt it slip into place. "Okay, it’s in."
I took my thumb and jammed it into the socket. His body tensed and his face contorted. "Remember what I said,” I told him before I let go.
"What did you just say to him, and why did it look like he was in pain?" the corporal asked.
"I told him to remember what I did, for if it happens again he or if he needs to help someone. The muscles are out of whack and there are some shooting pains at times after the shoulder is back in place," I told her.
"That’s true," the captain said. “I had them for a few days after mine was put back in place."
Sergeant Phillips was a marine, and I knew I would have to deal with him in the future. He was boring holes in me with my eyes but didn’t say a word to contradict my story. He moved his finger on one hand and worked his shoulder around, which was stupid, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
"Private Jamison, walk with me," the lieutenant said. I fell in next to her. The captain gave me a nod as I walked by. I think he knew it was more bullshit, but he seemed to be enjoying it all.
"Private, I’m not sure I believe everything you said, but I find myself in the situation of being without a corpsman,” the lieutenant said quietly as we walked away from the scene. “You seem to have the most extensive knowledge of anyone in the platoon right now, so you will come with us tomorrow when we go track these freaks down as our temporary corpsman."
I didn’t answer her. I knew I had no choice, but I wasn’t going to be gung ho about it.
"I will even let you bring your unauthorized weapons along,” she added, eyebrows raised.
Thank you, ma'am," I said. At least that was a plus, but I had to carry about forty pounds of extra gear.
Movement caught my eye as two black silhouettes were racing toward Terri. I took off. I don’t think the lieutenant saw them at first.
Terri dropped to one knee and started firing. They were covering the distance in ten-foot strides. She hit one in the hind quarters and it dropped but continued forward pulling itself with its front legs. I was almost there. I aimed myself at the other one and yelled "down." She dropped and rolled and I jumped and collided with the beast in the air.
I wasn’t trying to hold on to it, just knocking it off its path. It landed on its feet. I rolled and came up in time to be knocked on my ass by the thing. When it came at me, I kicked it in the face and stood up as fast as I could. In the next second my katana cleared my shoulder and I held it between me and the dark thing.
I went on the offensive and closed the distance, making a long slashing cut down its shoulder. I was going for its neck but it moved. It screamed like a feline at first, but the sound ended in a snake-like hiss. I heard Terri and the lieutenant firing at the wounded one and ending its existence. I knew Terri; she would have flipped that rifle off of stun the minute she saw two of them coming at her.
Now that my foe was moving slower, more wary, I looked it over. I drew my knife with my free hand.
The creature had black skin, or maybe scales, but was definitely some sort of feline. The eyes were off and I didn’t stare at them except for a second. It leapt in that second and I thrust upwards as I fell back, burying my katana to the tsuba.
You should always let your opponent’s momentum and weight do the work for you, I knew. I held the katana against the top of my thigh as the creature rode me down.
It stood to attack, even with the sword buried inside it. I felt it jerk, then cry out in rage as laser fire began to hit it. It fell on top of me. Labored breathing and muscle spasms told me it was almost gone.
I heaved it over off of me and lay there looking into its face. It wasn’t dead yet, but it was only seconds away. Its mouth was open and the teeth were an odd mixture of feline in front and teeth that lay back, like a snake has for holding its prey.
"If you didn’t want to be our corpsman you could have said so, instead of running off to get yourself killed,” the lieutenant remarked, walking over. “It isn’t that bad, Jamison."
I peeled my ass off the ground and pulled my katana out of its chest. Everyone who could walk was gawking now that they could see what it was that had attacked them earlier. It wasn’t alien spies, that much was certain.
"Yes ma'am,” I answered once I was on my feet. “I was actually hoping to save the creatures from the heartburn and upset stomach they would get from eating Antolini, but I guess we weren’t all on the same page."
I walked over to Terri. "You ok?" I asked.
"Yes, I'm fine, smart ass," she answered. I believed her.
"Okay, you two lovebirds, let’s get this cleaned up,” O’Malley ordered. “Jamison, can you take blood and tissue samples?”
"Yes, ma'am,” I replied.
Captain Braun walked up with Corporal Meadows in tow.
"Corporal,” O'Malley said, “we need to assign a replacement on the watch for Jamison. He’s going out with the squad in the morning. I think we should combine the squads but leave four extra bodies here to help with departure prep and added security. Tell Sergeant Phillips he will be on light duty today and will be in charge of the camp while we are out."
"Okay,” Meadows
answered. “Everyone not on watch, get some shuteye. We go back out at 0500."
Terri looked at her wrist com and held up four fingers. I shrugged; I had had less sleep than that before. I put the blood and tissue samples in the shuttle. Meadows and a few others dragged the bodies into the jungle and planted a marker for the researchers, if and when they ever came.
I gathered my kit and weapons and sat on the ground, leaning back against the shuttle. I dozed in and out, never really falling into a deep sleep.
Someone kicked my foot and I woke up. Putting my katana on my back, I was ready to go. I saw two scouts head out while we were forming up. I had just remembered that the lieutenant never told us what we were tracking.
****
It had been two hours of searching and we had found nothing. We were past the point where they had encountered their targets yesterday. I had a burning curiosity to know the hell we were after.
"Hey, Corporal Meadows," I shouted. He was walking in front of me. "Can you tell me what the hell we’re looking for?" The lieutenant heard me ask and called a halt.
"Jamison, you don’t know, now I remember,” Meadows answered with a small smile. “When I was telling the others, you were busy playing hero."
O'Malley cut in. “It looks like a lizard but has plants for camo all over its body. It hacked up and spit some kind of acid."
"It ran away almost immediately when we opened fire," Meadows added.
"Any water sources in the direction we are going, lieutenant?" I asked.
"Not anything close. We passed the river an hour ago. Why do you ask?"
"That could be why we haven’t seen anything,” I told them. “It’s not a lizard, it’s an amphibian. Plants and amphibians like water, so if I’m right we should turn around. That could also be a reason we aren’t picking up anything on the scans, if they’re underwater."
The captain overheard most of what I had said and joined the conversation. "Lieutenant, if he is close to being right, that river runs right past our base camp."
"Meadows, get Sergeant Phillips on the horn and alert him,” O’Malley ordered. “Captain Braun I think we should get a squad on either side of the river and work our way back. Let’s find a place to cross around here and then back at the camp."
The captain took ten marines to the other side and the remainder stayed with the lieutenant. We worked both sides, watching the river and the bank. The marines who had been with the lieutenant yesterday were plenty wary with our forces split again.
We walked as quietly as a group of soldiers who hadn’t been trained to walk quietly. The lieutenant wouldn’t let us talk, but I didn’t see where it would have made any damn bit of difference.
I heard the yelling and the sound of someone running through the jungle. It seemed we had found something. We scattered to find cover to fire from. Our man entered our perimeter with the creature fifteen feet behind him, but the plants that were attached to it were reaching out ahead only three feet from him.
Without warning, the brush exploded and a second creature who had flanked him grabbed him with the vines. They wrapped him up before he could even raise his rifle. Meadows began to fire and the other creature changed its direction and made straight for him.
The laser blasts would hit and smoke but didn’t seem to penetrate. Meadows ran and it gave chase. The rest of the squad divided firepower between the two. We slowed the one chasing Meadows; it seemed to be deciding whether to come after us or continue. It went after him.
Thankfully, the time it took to think was enough that Meadows could shimmy up a tree and begin firing down. Our man who was caught was screaming. The thing had been vomiting up acid onto his armor, and the vines were working their way between the plates.
The vines seemed to grow right out of the salamander’s stomach. It laid its body on top of our marine. I moved over to the lieutenant, who was still firing at it. I took the pack off and laid it at her feet.
"Lieutenant, tell everyone to stop firing at bogey one and let me go over there. We aren’t doing anything effective and that marine doesn’t have any more time,” I said.
She looked at me like I was crazy, but I was getting used to it. She moved along the line and I went behind her as she got them to stop firing. I carried the pack and set it down by her again.
"If this works I’ll need it immediately, so be ready."
I pulled my katana with my right hand and carried my rifle by the pistol grip in the left. I ran and immediately began slashing the vines at its body. They couldn’t unwind fast enough to get at me. The creature bellowed in pain, but wasn’t moving off its prey. I stayed behind its shoulders and it couldn’t turn its head far enough to spit the acid on me.
I didn’t even try to cut or stab its body, but I did landscape the hell out of its vines. Blood ran out of the cut pieces and the creature’s body. It was digesting our marine with the acid and drinking his blood. It would drink the broken-down tissue when the blood was gone.
I flipped the switch to max on my rifle and stepped around in front of it. It opened its mouth and bellowed and I was sure some acid would follow, so I had to move quickly.
I shoved my rifle into its mouth as far as it would go and began pulling the trigger. I saw the laser shooting out its ass, or close enough. It collapsed on top of our marine, who I was sure had died, but I hoped somehow in the afterlife he knew he had been avenged.
I pulled the snaps and unbuckled his helmet to make sure I was right. The veins in his neck were black. Opening his visor, his eyes were open as well as his mouth, filled with a frozen look of silent terror.
I closed it so the others couldn’t see and turned my attention to the lieutenant, shaking my head to her unspoken question. Standing, I picked my dead comrade’s rifle off the ground. Mine was corroding and I didn’t want to chance firing it. I made my way toward the other beastie, who was still trying to get at Meadows. It seemed to be focused on that and not the death of the other. I couldn’t resist speaking up.
"Hey Meadows, how you doing up there?” I called up.
"Fuck you, Jamison,” he shouted down. “Kill that thing so I can get down from here."
"I think it likes you, Meadows. You should come down and make friends with it."
I felt her standing next to me. "Private, you think now is a good time to be joking around with the Corporal?”
"Sorry ma'am, I owed him."
"Well you can collect by killing that fucking thing so we can get off this rock. It would go a long way with your commander if you did."
I walked towards it and shot the monster in the ass from about five feet away. That must have touched a nerve from that distance, because it turned on me quickly, vines shooting out. I went all out, never stopping my blade. I stepped on vines coming across the ground and severed them on a follow-through as I swung upwards, catching more until I had cleared a dead spot in the writhing madness.
The salamander opened its mouth and I kicked like it was a ball, slamming its jaw shut. It tried to turn away from me. I think it was going to run, but I stepped around in front of it again. My katana had not stopped moving. Vines squirmed on the ground then died shortly after. It was clearly distressed, but not as much as it was going to be very soon.
It opened its mouth again and I pulled the same move as before, shoving the rifle into its mouth. It bit down and jerked it free from my hand but couldn’t spit it out. It shook its head, swinging back my way, and I grabbed the rifle, shoving the katana through the trigger guard. It depressed the trigger and held it back in a continuous burst until it powered out.
This time the laser not only came out its ass but exploded, blowing the thing’s hind legs and tail off. I stepped on the rifle and pulled my katana free. Looking up, I saw the other squad had joined us at some point. I wiped the blade off on the ground and put in back in its sheath.
Walking over to the lieutenant, I picked up my pack and took out a body bag. I didn’t say anything to anyone, but I had more help than I nee
ded getting the salamander moved and bagging up the body.
I collected samples of the vines, tissue and blood from both of the creatures and packed it away on ice. I was walking around, looking down to make sure I hadn’t left anything behind, when the lieutenant walked up. She handed me a bottle of water. I hadn’t really realized how thirsty I was until then. I took the top off and offered it back to her. She took a long pull and gave it back.
"So you really do know everything you told the captain,” she said.
I handed her the water back and looked around. "Lieutenant, I answered his questions. He just didn’t ask all the right questions.
“When we get back to base can you tell the medical staff to send down a quarantine container for the body?” I added. “We don’t want to be the platoon who caused a whole battle cruiser to be quarantined.”
She smiled; evidently she hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. She had called ahead and the base camp was down and packed by the time we got there.
We were ripe, cramped into the shuttle — about forty unwashed bodies. We would rendezvous with the battle cruiser shortly and I planned on standing in the shower for as long as I could without getting into a fight.
Captain Braun and the lieutenant sat across from me and Terri, Arrendondo and 53. It had been a crazy first mission. I didn’t think it was what the lieutenant was expecting either. I hoped the brass was happy so maybe we could go pirate hunting.
Terri dozed off and so did Arrendondo. Both leaned over on me. I freed my arms and put them around them.
I laid my head back but hadn’t shut my eyes. I had two officers staring at me. Why can’t they just go to sleep? I thought.
"You think you'll be able to handle him?" The captain asked the lieutenant.
"Don’t know," she answered. "But I think those two will keep him in line."
The captain exhaled. "Yeah, lucky bastard."
The End
The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison Mission 1: The Scarab Moons Page 8