by Chris Bostic
With a sudden wave and a cluck, the two savages behind him melted into the darkness.
“He’s sending them to get their buddies,” Pete whined. “We need to…”
“Then why didn’t they just yell or whistle or something?” Joe reasoned. He leaned in front of Connie to share a questioning look with Leisa. She offered up only a raised eyebrow in reply.
“I don’t know, but I’m not sticking around to find out,” Pete complained, but he didn’t immediately run off.
Before he could, Connie said, “Calm down. It’s okay.”
The man came forward again, his robes billowing as he moved. He stopped three paces short of Connie and seemed to look only at the sergeant as he examined him with those beady eyes from head to toe.
Joe kept his mouth pinched shut, but let his eyes flit to the darkness as he wondered if Pete was right about the savages bringing back help.
A kind smile broke across the strange man’s face, reaching so far as to round his cheekbones and squint his eyes. He nodded approvingly and gestured toward the sergeant with open palms.
“What’s he want?” Joe asked no one in particular.
“Help me lay me down,” Connie said. When neither Joe nor Leisa listened, he grew more adamant. “Right here, on the ground.”
“Alrighty,” Leisa agreed first.
The shaman watched as they both got to their knees, and nodded again as they laid Connie back on the hard ground. He moved forward, his robes brushing against Joe’s leg as he approached his patient.
Though he barely came up to Joe’s shoulders, the man approached with an easy confidence. Joe stepped back to give him room, and went over by Leisa where he could watch Connie.
The man kneeled by the sergeant and rolled up his sleeves. Joe briefly wondered if he’d pull out a knife and skewer Connie on the spot. The sergeant had no armor anymore, and it would only take a quick slash to finish him off.
Instead, a deep warbling sound, like a bird with a head cold, emanated from the man. His eyes rolled back in his head as Connie remained silent as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
With a sudden jerk, the man pressed a gnarled hand on each of Connie’s legs, pinning them to the ground. Joe flinched as the sergeant’s upper body shot upright. Connie’s face contorted but he didn’t cry out.
Joe was too paralyzed with shock to leap into action. He watched with curious detachment as Connie slowly stretched out again. He moaned softly, but it wasn’t a pained sound. All the while, the robed man warbled in differing tones and began to knead Connie’s legs like he was making bread.
Pete uttered something behind Joe, but made no movement either. All three of them watched as the man finally quieted, and slowly rose to his feet. He turned to face them with arms stretched forward again, palms facing up.
His eyes twinkled, though his face was completely blank of expression. With a quick nod, the man abruptly threw his arms out to the side and spun on his heels. As Joe watched in stunned disbelief, the white robes vanished into the darkness.
And Connie somehow got to his feet under his own power.
“Unholy alliance,” Pete murmured.
Connie bent over to massage his legs for only a second, then stood upright again.
“Time to go,” he wisecracked, and took a tentative step toward the others.
Joe had to resist the urge to back away. Instead, he stuttered, “Wh-what the heck was that all about?”
“I’m not asking now,” Leisa said. “We better get outta here before something else crazy happens.”
Joe reached out to touch Connie on the shoulder like he was a curious, foreign object. At least Joe figured he had some kind of foreign power circling inside him. Joe pulled his hand away before making contact, wondering if he’d contract some kind of mystery power—or illness. His mind a muddled mess, he settled for a question.
“You can seriously walk?”
Connie balanced his weight from one foot to the other. “Yep. I’m probably not ready to run yet, but yeah. It feels great.” He exhaled and looked at the others. “Not sure what he did there, but…”
“C’mon,” Leisa said, obviously frazzled and ready to go.
Joe wasn’t going to wait around either, especially if Pete was right about the other savages having run off to warn their buddies.
As they tromped off through the tents, Joe thoroughly amazed, Connie began to tell the story without prompting.
“When he touched me, his hands were so warm. I shot up there, kinda freaking out at first, but it felt good. Kinda like that electrical stimulus thing our docs do for sore muscles. But warmer. Still tingly, but not painful. I felt like I was sitting on the beach getting a tan, listening to the sea, about to take a nap. Then boom. The connection broke when he stood up, and all the feeling returned.”
“It’s like magic,” Pete said. “I don’t trust it.”
“I don’t know why we wouldn’t,” Joe said, surprising himself and possibly the others with his words. But his skepticism had evaporated with every strong step Connie had taken. He couldn’t explain the science, but the results were obvious.
“It’s the savages,” Pete retorted. “You can’t trust those things.”
“Why not?” Leisa replied. “What I saw changes everything.”
“It wasn’t just that guy,” Connie said. “Some other guy dressed like him came up to me in the cave. He walked right through the savages and made ‘em stay back with the wave of a hand. Then he went right to work on my wounds.” His voice trailed off momentarily. “I must’ve passed out right then, ‘cause I don’t remember anything after that.”
“This is insane,” Pete said.
“I’ll agree with that.” Joe steered the group off to the left, figuring they could start down the hill now that Connie moved easily under his own power. Hard to believe, but lucky for them.
As they passed by several more tents and into an even thicker fog that had settled over the valley below, Pete refused to give up.
“Now Connie loves the savages,” he muttered to himself. “He probably killed a thousand himself, but now he’s their best freaking friend.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Connie replied. “It’s just…I don’t know.”
“First they kill half our freaking guys,” Pete continued. “Now they’re doing whatever that was to Sarge and letting us walk away.” He raised his voice. “Probably just to catch us again, like some kind of sick game.”
Joe could see both sides. He still felt the sting of losing the others, and knew that would torture him for a long time. Perhaps forever. At the same time, his thoughts alternated between relief at having Connie somehow back among the living and trepidation at how it had all transpired.
When Joe focused back in on the conversation, the miraculously healed man was finishing the argument with Pete.
“All I’m saying is, if they’re gonna be good to me, then I’m not going to complain.” Connie abruptly changed the subject. “Where are we going anyway?”
“We need to get across the valley,” Joe replied. “The fog should help.”
“You sure you ladies know where you’re going?”
“We have a map,” Leisa said. “Maybe you should look at it.”
“Once we get away from the camp.”
They kept going without further talking. Weaving around endless tents, Joe wondered if it would be daybreak before they were clear of the campsite. There had to be thousands, meaning double that number of the enemy out there somewhere—and possibly coming back at any time.
But they finally cleared the last row of tents without anyone tripping over a stake or stumbling across an enemy soldier. Joe guessed they were nearly halfway down the hillside by that point, and resolved to press on for a while longer before they stopped.
They closed up ranks as the fog grew thicker than a blanket. The mist felt almost cool against the bits of exposed skin. Against his better judgment, Joe pulled off his helmet and carried it. Besides, C
onnie didn’t even have one anymore, so Joe didn’t feel too bad about breaking regulations. Enough crazy stuff had happened already.
He noticed Leisa had followed suit when he turned around to check on the others. Connie was right behind Leisa, while Pete trailed in the very back. Nothing unusual about that, Joe thought.
The vegetation thickened up again. Low-hanging vines appeared out of the mist inches from Joe’s face. Nevertheless, he refused to put the helmet back on, and went another hundred yards until they reached the base of the hill. Surrounded on three sides by a thick wall of thorny, brushy vegetation, Joe came to a halt.
Even hiking downhill had him winded. He put his hands over his head to suck in the moist air.
“That was fun,” Connie said. “Shoot, I feel better than I have in years. I could go a couple more miles.”
Leisa shot a curious look at Joe, and simply said, “That’s good. We’ll be back home in a couple days at that rate.”
“What do you mean?” Connie asked, picking up on her meaning. “Maybe I should see that map now.”
Leisa fished it out of her pocket and handed it over to Connie.
“We used this for light,” Joe said, retrieving his helmet and firing up the green glow.
“Better than nothing,” Connie replied. “Good thinking.”
“We were on this page,” Leisa said, taking the pages back to flip to the map with the river and the ridge. “After we left you, we went down the valley a long way, crossed the river, then went up the hill to about here.”
Her finger hovered over the chicken-scratch symbols.
“I took us a little west just now, then we turned back south to go down the hill,” Joe said. “But it was looking like ten miles to Nochni.”
“I’d say you’re right,” Connie said as he examined the map. The group waited as he poured over the markings, and finally raised his head to them. “Okay, this is kind of a guess, but…”
As the pause grew longer, Pete asked, “But what?”
“I think these bird symbols are like the names for their different regiments. So these are the attacking wings, no pun intended.”
“Ha, funny,” Pete grumbled. “But how’d you get a bird outta that scratch?”
“That looks like a beak to me,” he replied, pointing to a symbol that was more like a simple V-shape to Joe. “And these are feathers.”
Connie went on to indicate an oval with a dot inside. “This is the eye of the eagle, so probably a command post of some sort. And here’s another over here.” He moved off lower on the page to a series of symbols, each with three skinny little lines emerging from a common point. “I’d bet these tracks are some kind of highly-mobile unit. Or maybe the bird tracks are some kind of big mass of ground troops.”
“The chicken foot marks,” Leisa said, definitely picking up on what Connie described.
“Yeah.”
The more Connie explained the symbols, the more the map started to make sense to Joe too. “And they’re right outside of Nochni,” he said about the track marks.
Connie nodded in agreement. “I’m afraid so.”
CHAPTER 24
“I’d say we might as well keep going that way,” Connie said after a long pause. “Nochni’s the only place I’m sure of.”
“Maybe our guys are still holding out,” Joe said, remaining hopeful as Leisa refolded the map.
As they stood around in the pitch dark, he tried to look on the bright side. There might be ten miles of enemy-infested hills to climb, but at least they had a map and a chance—no matter how slim.
“Sounds fine to me,” Leisa said.
Joe noticed that no one bothered to get Pete’s thoughts on the plan. Of course, with Connie seemingly back to full strength, that meant order had been restored to the dwindled squad. He was the official leader, even if he seemed to take more of a cooperative role in the planning at that point.
“Should we go now, or wait ‘til morning?” Joe asked, wondering if it was wise to move when they all knew the enemy preferred the cover of darkness.
“We can make good time in the fog,” Leisa suggested.
Joe nodded approvingly. “That’s a good point…as long as we don’t get turned around.”
“We need to go up to the next ridge.” With his back to the hillside they had just descended, Connie pointed across the valley. “Surely we can’t get lost as long as we keep going uphill.”
“I’m game,” Joe said, quickly coming around. He didn’t enjoy moving in the dark, but the fog was a definite help. And Connie was right that it would be easy to tell if they were climbing versus heading more sidelong up the next ridge.
“Super,” Pete grumbled. “Might as well hike all the way to Nochni tonight.”
“I would if we could. The sooner we get back, the better off we might be. Maybe.” Connie turned to look at Pete with hard eyes. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll get you some rest later.”
“Ouch,” Joe said louder than he intended. Inwardly, he chuckled at the way Connie put his whiny friend in his place. He couldn’t dwell on it, as Pete launched into another tirade.
“Maybe your new best buddies can get me some of that magic healing. My blisters need some love.”
Thankfully, Connie ignored him. They all did.
Joe took the lead. They stretched out single file again in the same order as before. Joe kept his eyes and ears on the woods all around them. He could hardly see a hand in front of his face, and felt like sound wasn’t traveling much farther than that.
He wiped his eyes repeatedly as if the mist coated his eyeballs. With big wet breaths, he stumbled on, and eventually they crossed over a dry streambed and started up the hillside. Then his breathing really faltered.
Going on practically no sleep and little food for far too long had sapped his strength. He envisioned his internal power pack fading faster than his discarded coilgun’s had, and red lights blinked behind his eyes as he struggled to climb the steep, rocky slope.
But he wouldn’t give up. Not as long as the others were still laboring along. He checked on them and could hardly believe Connie showed no signs of tiredness. Even the tireless Leisa was wearing down. She kept her soft lips pinched in a thin line, and her eyes pinned to the ground only looking a couple steps ahead.
She was a machine. Joe tried to mimic the behavior. He kept his focus on his plodding feet, and tried not to think about when they would reach the top. He wanted it to be a surprise. Hopefully soon, but one more step followed another and another.
The fog thinned slightly, and still he kept his head to the ground. His joints ached, his machine begging for a good oiling and a long rest. After sidestepping a boulder and ducking under a low branch, he chuckled to think there was no possible way they could have dragged Connie up that hill. Not even after a full night’s sleep and three square meals.
“Are we there yet?” Pete asked from way behind the others.
Joe didn’t have the strength to lift his head. He looked through his eyelashes, and was pleasantly surprised to find the spiny ridge only scant footsteps away.
“Yeah,” he replied, suddenly brightening. “We seriously are.”
“Thank all that’s holy.” Pete soon struck as joyous a tone as he could muster once he made it far enough above the fog to verify it for himself.
Joe slumped to the ground right below the top, and crawled to the precipice. Too tired for stealth, he looked over the top and whistled.
The valley below was strangely clear of fog.
Off in the distance, atop the third in a row of several rolling mounds, he saw flashes of light like lightning. The faint rumble of thunder reached his ears, but he knew better than to expect something so harmless.
“Couple low hills, then we’re in the thick of it,” Connie said, crouching next to Joe. “Might be a good time to get some rest.”
“Finally,” Pete mumbled and slipped back down the ridge.
Leisa slid in at Joe’s right and instantly focused in on
the fighting. “Nochni?”
“Probably,” Connie replied. “That means we’re still holding it.”
“Maybe not for long.” Joe watched as lightning crackled all around the far hill mass. Grenades and mortar shells burst with bright flashes, and Joe flashed back to their battle along the ridge they’d long since departed. The ridge where Kayla had been left under a small pile of rocks.
“I’ve had enough,” he muttered under his breath. “So much for mopping up and getting home in time for the fall harvest.”
“Now you want to go back home?” Leisa whispered once Connie had slipped away to go rest his back against a boulder below the ridge top.
“Maybe not home. How about anywhere but here?” he said. “This is impossible.”
“Take me with you,” she said with a chuckle.
Joe was taken aback by the statement, and sat open-mouthed for a moment not knowing what to say. Leisa spoke up first.
“Might be too late for that.” She gestured with her head toward their sergeant, who had slumped down in the shadows to apparently take a quick nap. “With Connie back in charge, we’d be deserters again.”
“Guess we never should’ve found him.”
“Crazy thing about him, huh?”
Joe looked over at Connie, then turned to make sure Pete was well out of hearing range too. He couldn’t even find his buddy, which meant he would probably hear him snoring a second later.
“The whole thing boggles the mind. He’s supposed to be dead, and now he’s better than all of us.”
“I need some of that magic healing,” Leisa said. “Pete was right about that. I’ve got blisters on my blisters.”
“That’s why women don’t belong in combat.” Joe smiled broadly to let her know he was kidding. “You can’t wear heels on the battlefield.”
“Yeah, right. I can’t wear them anywhere.”
“I guess that’s too fashionable for the chicken farm?”
“You’re a funny one.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you just tell me what you do back home? What makes you so special?”