Shane struggled free and faced Nathan.
"She's dead, West," she said furiously. "She was out there in the dark, and the dark killed her. Get that through your head!"
"I'll never accept it, Vansen. And I'll never forgive you for saying that! Never! No matter where we go, or for how long!"
Nathan's cries grew louder and more desperate as he scuffled with Shane. She fell against the crate, knocking it over, sending several cockroaches scurrying across the floor.
Wang saw the roaches and raised his gun. He aimed and began to fire on the bugs. Again and again he fired. Over and over, as Shane hit the floor, and Cooper and West pointed their weapons at him. "Hold your fire, Wang!" Nathan cried.
"It's just a bug!" Cooper shouted.
Wang swung around and turned his rifle on Cooper. His eyes were wide, mad, frantic.
"Just a bug!" he shouted. "Just a bug? No! No! There is no such thing as a bug. My whole life as a kid. The horrible, disgusting hole I lived in! Filthy. Disgusting. No food. Never enough food. Garbage everywhere. I'd wake up and they'd be on my pillow! They'd be walking across my face! I pushed them away, but they always came back. Well, I ain't going back, man! I ain't ever going back...!"
A scream stopped him. It was coming from Damphousse, for no apparent reason. It was a scream of release. A scream to stop the insanity.
But the insanity continued.
Wang moved closer to Cooper's imaginary line and glared across it.
"So don't tell me it's just a bug, man."
He inched closer to the line, then closer still. Cooper clenched his gun and tensed.
"Get back!" he whispered.
"Why? Am I crowding you? There's plenty of room."
"Get away," Cooper said. "I might have come into life in a box. But I'll make sure you leave in one."
"Having a little trouble with claustrophobia?" Wang sneered. "Feeling a little closed in? What's the matter, Tank? Did that tube you were farmed in make you afraid of being smothered? Is that your particular fear, Mr. Cooper?"
Wang raised his fists and stepped over the line. But Cooper was ready for him. He charged forward and pushed Wang backward into some crates.
"Stop it!" Damphousse shouted. "Stop it! This is not us! They're making this happen!"
But they would not stop. They could not stop. Wang and Cooper pushed and hit each other frantically, and no one could stop them.
"Make 'em stop, Damphousse," Nathan hollered. "Why don't you get in here and make 'em stop? Do you have a problem? Is there some kind of a problem? Blood, maybe? Huh, Damphousse? Afraid of a little blood, are you?"
Nathan bent down and dipped his palm into the pool of blood. He held it up to Damphousse and took a step toward her.
"Just a little blood, Vanessa," he whispered. "It won't hurt you."
Damphousse raised her gun and cocked the bolt. "Get away!" she ordered.
But Nathan was not deterred. He took another step forward and held out his hand, grinning.
She lowered her gun then and began to cry. "He died in my arms," she said. "My best friend. He bled to death in my arms, and the blood just kept coming and coming, and I couldn't stop it. I tried to stop it. I sent for help. But it just kept coming and coming. All that blood. Make it stop. Make it go away. Please Nathan. Make it stop."
Nathan stepped back and lowered his hand. "I'm sorry, Vanessa," he whispered. "I didn't mean—" The loud rumble of a spaceship interrupted him. "Chigs!" Shane whispered.
But it wasn't Chigs. The radio came alive. At first they heard only static, but then the static faded, and McQueen's voice crackled through.
"Wild Card," McQueen shouted. "This is Queen Six. Wild Card, come in..."
Shane dashed toward the radio and clicked on the mike.
"Copy, Queen Six."
"Where in blazes have you been?" McQueen's voice sounded angry. "We lost your beacon two hours ago!"
"We need evacuation!" Shane pleaded. "We need to get out of here, now!"
"Roger that! We're out here waiting for you seventy-five meters northeast of your position."
"That's on the other side of the minefield," Wang said.
"You're across a minefield," Shane said into the microphone.
"It's the only spot to set a vehicle down," McQueen answered. "Let's move. The weather gives us about a five-minute launch window. And... uh... watch your step."
They looked at each other, and their faces were stunned. Five minutes? To cross a field loaded with mines? It was impossible. They could never do it.
"There's no way we can handle that!" Damphousse said.
"What if we get hit by the lights?" Shane asked.
"It's only twenty-five yards across the minefield," Nathan said. "After that it's solid rock until we reach McQueen."
The others knew they had no choice but to listen. If they stayed, they would destroy each other.
"We felt the effects wear off before," Nathan continued. "So let's just get out, get in that ship, and don't let any more lights hit us. Hold together, and we'll get through."
He looked at Vanessa, Cooper, and Wang. But his eyes avoided Shane's.
Chapter Thirteen
An angry, howling wind greeted them as they opened the supply room hatch.
They exited the ISSCV in silence, lost in their own thoughts. They were going home. It was a good feeling.
Only Shane hesitated, adjusting her light, trying, unsuccessfully, to illuminate the night.
She was the first one out of the ship. Cooper was right behind her. He was wearing his helmet, but he did not seem afraid. There was space out there, lots of it. Wang seemed calmer too. No bugs could find him out there.
Cooper, Nathan, Shane, Wang. They were outside of the spaceship now. They turned and looked behind, waiting for Damphousse.
She was standing on the other side of the supply room, frozen in terror.
She would not come. They knew why. The pool of blood was still on the floor of the supply room. She would have to pass through it to get to the door.
"'Phousse!" Cooper called. "Let's go."
"Just jump over it," Shane shouted. "Please hurry. It's too dark. We can go home now, Vanessa."
Damphousse leaped. Wearing her repaired flight suit, she jumped across the scarlet blood and bolted from the ship. She didn't stop. She couldn't stop. She moved on, tearing into the minefield, ignoring the dangers around her until someone tackled her and brought her down.
She pulled herself free and looked around. She had missed a mine by inches, but she was away from the blood. Cooper and Nathan were hanging on to her feet, pulling her backward, away from the mine.
"I'm all right," she whispered. "You can let go."
They helped her to her feet.
She was barely standing when Cooper snatched at his helmet and began struggling to yank it off.
"Don't do it, Coop! You'll die without your helmet! " Nathan shouted.
"No, Coop! Keep it together!" pleaded Wang, as he and Shane held on to Cooper's arms.
As soon as Cooper was calmer, Wang left them all and made his way to the edge of the minefield. A deep, dense fog rose up above the mines, obscuring them.
Wang started chanting. At first it was a low, almost inaudible chant. But it grew, louder and louder, as he worked up his courage to lead his friends around the mines.
"Born in the woods," he shouted, as he stepped into the field.
"Trained by a bear," Damphousse answered, taking Cooper by the hand and leading him along behind her.
"Double set of dog teeth.
"Triple coat of hair," she sang.
The others followed, inching their way through potential death, drawing courage from the words that Wang and Damphousse were chanting.
"M!"
"Mean as hell!"
"A!"
"All the time!" Damphousse could tell that it was working. The chant was bringing her back to herself. The fear was fading.
"R!" Wang shouted.
C
ooper joined them then, his voice strong as he sang the next line. "Rough and tough!"
"I!" Wang called.
"In the mud!" They said this line together. They were a team again, making their way through the minefield, escaping their own fears.
"N!" Wang shouted.
"Never quit!" Their voices rose through the gloomy darkness, together.
"E!"
"Every day!" They could see the rescue vehicle now. It loomed in front of them, waiting. Slowly, as they peered beyond the final mine, the hatch opened and welcomed them.
"S! Semper fi!"
Wang shouted the final words and dove for the hatch.
McQueen was waiting for him. He pulled them into the rescue vehicle, one by one.
Nathan watched them go. He saw Cooper pull off his helmet and toss it aside. He saw Wang yank his helmet off, too, and search it carefully before he dropped it on the floor. He saw Shane race toward the light and Vanessa examine her suit for blood.
He held out his hand for a boost, but McQueen was watching the others.
"What's the matter with them?" McQueen asked.
"They're frightened, sir," Nathan told him.
"They're more than frightened, West. They're terrified. What happened out there?"
Before Nathan could answer, he heard her. Somewhere in the night, the girl's voice was calling. Nathan turned and started back toward the minefield.
"Get on board, West!" called McQueen.
McQueen's order rose above the soft, frightened voice of the girl, but West chose to ignore it. This time he would find her. He knew that he would find her. Shane was wrong.
Shane was calling him now.
"Come back, Nathan," she cried. "It's too dark out there! Come back!"
He moved away into the mist. He knew one thing for certain.
He was not leaving this place without Kylen.
Chapter Fourteen
Shane's voice grew fainter as Nathan made his way through the dense fog. Where had he left the old sergeant? The minefield was over there, to his right, which meant that the bunker must be straight ahead.
But it was almost impossible to see; there was nothing but darkness, shadows, and fog.
Nathan hesitated, hearing the far-off sounds of battle: mines exploding, Marines responding.
He called out, and his own voice answered. "Hello? Hello?" The echo bounced back at him from ahead, from the rocks.
Were those the rocks that hid the old sergeant?
"Hello?" he called, again and again. But only the rocks answered.
And then he remembered the other sergeant. He had been in the bunker, too. Nathan wondered if he had gone away. What was his name? Sergeant Brown. He was probably still there, inside the bunker, caught in his own fear.
What was it that Brown was afraid of? Nathan tried to remember. The Chigs, of course. But there was something else, too.
It was difficult. There were so many fears to deal with now. Shane's fear of the dark. Damphousse's fear of blood. Cooper's fear of small spaces.
What was it?
Yes, yes, that was it. Brown was afraid of the humming. His mother's humming had summoned the Chigs who had killed her. If anyone hummed, the Chigs would find his mother and kill her. Humming was the trigger for his fear.
Humming would make him crazy. Humming would bring him out into the open, probably with his gun blazing. And the gunfire would lead Nathan to the opening. Where he would find the old man.
Moving from crevice to crevice, Nathan began to hum. He hummed softly at first, then louder and louder, until his humming echoed through the darkness and mixed with the sounds of battle.
He hesitated. Had that shot come from behind him? Was that explosion coming from the minefield?
Was Brown pointing his weapon at him at that very moment?
Nathan hummed louder. Shots answered from behind the rocks.
He stopped humming and waited. If he stayed there, silently, Brown would grow calm and move away.
Nathan wondered about Brown. Was he in there waiting for him? Should he call out for the old man? Would Brown shoot him?
He decided to find out.
"Hello?" he whispered.
"Over here."
Nathan knew the voice immediately. He found the white eye, gleaming in the darkness. He followed it to a corner, where the old man was huddled.
"I've come for you," Nathan said. "You've seen Kylen."
"Who?" the old sergeant whispered.
"Kylen. You said you'd seen her."
"I don't know."
"But you said you'd heard her voice, calling you," Nathan whispered desperately.
"No. Not Kylen. Jennie. My daughter, Jennie. She calls in the night, over and over. She wants me to come to her. But I can't, because I can't get out of here. I'll never get out of here."
Tears flooded Nathan's eyes. He fell back against the rocks and wept. It was so dark. So terribly dark.
He had failed Kylen once again. But he would find her someday. Somehow.
The Hearing—Vansen
"Lieutenant Shane Vansen?"
"Yes, sir."
"Originally, this hearing was being held in an attempt to understand why Lieutenant Damphousse failed to carry out an order," Commodore Ross explained.
"Yes, sir."
"But certain information has been revealed that has changed the nature of the inquest."
Shane waited silently.
"We have heard about the light," McQueen said. "And we have heard about the fear. They concern us."
"There is no need to be concerned, sir," Shane said.
"How can you say that, Vansen?" asked McQueen, frowning. "You know what happened out there. You were the leader. "
"Yes, sir."
"We are concerned about whether those fears will incapacitate you, and the others, in the future. Because you are the leader of this Squadron, we would like you to reassure us."
"I can't do that, sir," Vansen said.
"Why not?"
"Because of the light, sir. The Chigs have discovered a new weapon that unleashes all our deepest fears. We must find a way to combat this weapon. If the Chigs continue to use it, we'll turn against each other. Even you must be afraid of something, sir. The Chigs' new weapon will find it and use it against you, unless you find it first and get rid of it yourself. Do you understand?"
"I'm trying, Lieutenant," McQueen said. "But this is a disciplinary hearing. We are here to decide if Lieutenant Damphousse disobeyed an order."
"She did, sir. But she was not herself."
"I've heard that before."
"Well, it's true."
McQueen paced back and forth in front of Shane's table.
"I'm still concerned about Lieutenant Damphousse," he said. "It seems that her fears incapacitated her so much that she could not fulfill her duties. That worries me, Lieutenant Vansen."
"Yes, sir. I understand. But I disobeyed an order, too."
"I know that, Vansen. But that was different. You were able to carry on, in spite of your fears. Isn't that true?"
"Yes. Well, sometimes, sir. Not always."
Chapter Fifteen
It was McQueen's order that Shane had disobeyed. She'd been inside the rescue ship when she made her decision. She would go out there and find Nathan. But McQueen, questioning Cooper over in the corner by the door, would never let her go.
She knew that.
He'd seemed hesitant to send someone out to find Nathan. He'd seen what the Chigs' new weapon had done to the rest of the them, and he didn't want to lose any more Marines.
What was it he'd said? "The lights are on. He'll find us. All those Marines will find us."
In a way, he'd been right. Several Marines had managed to climb aboard. But Nathan wasn't one of them.
"I don't want anyone to leave this ship for any reason," he'd continued. "We're having enough trouble bringing people in. I don't need even more out there."
She'd have to get past him, somehow.
She didn't have to wait long. When his back was turned, she tiptoed to the door and opened it. Within seconds she was outside and the door was closing behind her.
It wasn't so dark now that the rescue ship's lights were on. She could do this. She would do this. She moved away slowly, turning every so often to measure the distance back.
She turned her light on and moved through the darkness.
She could hear the pounding of her heart, mixed in with the moans and gunfire that echoed around her. She was sweating. She knew it was terror, and she knew why she was terrified. But she carried on.
She called his name, again and again. "Nathan? Nathan!"
But only the echoes answered.
The mist was thicker now, and her light was useless. She clicked it off.
She called his name again, and this time he answered.
"In here!" he called.
She found him with the old man. His eyes were suspicious and guarded as she approached, and when she touched his arm he jerked away.
He rose and helped her lead the old man out of the bunker.
"I'm sorry about what I said," she told him. "You'll find Kylen, Nathan. I know she's alive."
"You came in the dark," he said.
"Very dark."
He forgave her then, and thanked her, and told her about Sergeant Brown.
"We've got to get him out of here," he said.
But she was afraid to lead Brown out. He was too unpredictable. He was capable of anything.
She would send the others for him.
She led Nathan and the old sergeant out of the bunker and back to the ship. She did not say a word the whole way. She was too frightened. When the lights became visible, she relaxed and helped Nathan with the old man again.
They pounded on the door, and McQueen opened it. When they were inside and the old man was settled in a bunk, McQueen came to her.
"What happened out there, Vansen?" he said.
"I went to find West."
"You disobeyed an order, Lieutenant. But perhaps you didn't hear it?"
Shane decided not to answer that. Instead, she said, "I found him. And there's another soldier out there in the bunker. He's armed and highly dangerous, but I think someone should go after him."
Space Above and Beyond - #4 The Enemy - Dina Anastasio Page 5