by Alan Baxter
They continued to glare at their fallen leader as if they expected him to get back up. Rico, Tanaka, and Dohi waited with their weapons at the ready.
A tense moment passed that was shattered by the squawk from a frail female. She let out a pained roar at the team.
Had this creature been the mate of the beast Fitz had killed?
Team Ghost gripped their weapons, ready to raise them and open fire, but Fitz ordered them to stand down as the beasts slowly withdrew through the open doorways, disappearing into the ancient Nazi facility.
“Holy shit, sir,” Rico said. “Are you okay?” She lowered her gun and ran over to Fitz with Apollo trotting along.
“I… I think so,” Fitz said. A wave of dizziness washed over him and he crouched. “Hurry, get Stevenson and those other men down.”
Keep your head above your heart, man. Don’t…
Fitz closed his eyes and felt the second rush of blood in his ears. His skull pounded like someone was hitting him with a hammer.
He was going to crash. He couldn’t get enough air, and his vision was failing.
Something warm brushed his right hand.
Apollo glanced up, his amber eyes stricken with worry.
“Fitzie!” Rico exclaimed as he collapsed. He fell on his stomach; his arms limp at his sides. He tried to talk, tried to move, but he couldn’t fight the darkness. The last thing he saw was the listless yellow slitted and blue eye of the monster he had killed staring back at him.
* * *
Fitz woke up on a vibrating floor. His brain felt like applesauce sloshing inside his skull. Ringing echoed in his ears, but there was another noise beyond that, some sort of chopping. And voices. He could hear faint voices.
He struggled to move, wiggling his fingers first, and then his hands. The shades of red and orange framing his vision slowly retreated. All at once, the ringing stopped like the final suck of a vacuum and he heard a soft voice.
“Fitzie. Fitzie, you’re back.”
He put his hand on his head, but where his helmet should have been he felt soft padding.
“Where am I?”
The whoosh-whoosh of helicopter blades answered his question.
The bright colors vanished, and in their place, he saw a dead face. Everything came crashing back, and he remembered the beast back at the facility.
But this was no monster.
It was Mapes. His eyelids were closed, and the ice on his five o’clock shadow was already melting. Team Ghost had retrieved his body. Fitz had kept his promise to the man after all.
A few feet behind Mapes lay Stevenson. Dohi and Tanaka hovered over him and applied bandages to wounds that Fitz couldn’t see. Two other bodies, both covered by white sheets were resting near the open door.
“Hang on, Ghost,” said Tito over the comms. “I’m getting you the hell out of this frozen shit hole!”
Fitz struggled to sit, but Rico pushed back on his chest. Apollo wedged up to his side, resting his head on Fitz’s vest.
“Stay put, Fitzie. You took a beating back there,” Rico said with a smile. Her dimples were the best thing Fitz had seen all day. She blew a bubble, and her grin widened now that she had his attention.
“If you’re going to blow it, now’s the time!” Tito said.
Dohi stood and walked over to the open Black Hawk door with something in his hand.
Below, branches from hundreds of trees reached up toward the chopper like skeletal fingers. The tunnel to the Nazi facility and the pickup truck came into focus.
Dohi looked back at Fitz for orders. With a nod, Fitz gave him the all clear.
Raising the detonator, Dohi pushed it once, then twice, and then a third time. Three concussions thudded in the distance, deep and loud. Fireballs shot out of the tunnel entrance, slamming into the gate and flipping the pickup truck. The flames raced over the snow, plowing into the graveyard of human and Juvenile corpses, and slamming through the forest.
The bluff over the facility sagged, cracked, and caved in, sealing the prison where the military had once again tried to play God. The weapon had ended up not being a vile or tube after all. Like VX-99, the weapon designed here had turned the poor souls that had once lived in the fishing village into monsters.
Fitz watched the rooftops pass below, saying a mental prayer for the innocent civilians that had lost their lives. Some of the hybrid creatures might have escaped the inferno and retreated into the forest, and Fitz secretly hoped they might be able to find some sort of peace.
All that mattered now was that Team Ghost had completed their mission. They had killed the monster and destroyed the old Nazi facility. Somehow, once again, Fitz hadn’t lost a man, woman, or dog.
But this time he had come very close. Stevenson wasn’t out of the woods yet, either. Fitz crawled over to him and grabbed his hand as Tito flew over the harbor and ocean, returning to the USS Forrest Sherman for fresh orders.
Webb, the Crew Chief, sat across the troop hold, incredulous eyes on Fitz.
“What the hell happened out there, Master Sergeant?” he asked.
Team Ghost had one hell of a story, but Fitz wasn’t prepared to tell it now. Instead, he tightened his grip on Stevenson’s hand. The man cracked his eyelids and focused on Fitz, his lips trembling.
“Hang in there brother,” Fitz whispered. “This battle is over, but we’re going back to war.”
Thanks for reading SNAFU: BLACK OPS.
We hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we did putting it together.
Please consider leaving us a review if (and anywhere) you see fit. Any and all reviews are gratefully accepted. If you have any questions, or want to quote from the book, please contact us at any time.
I would ask please, if you DO review online, send a link to Geoff via [email protected] or via our Facebook page messaging system. If you review for a magazone or paper, let us know and we’ll buy it.
Thank you.
+ +
Geoff Brown - Director, Cohesion Press.
Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum
Beechworth, Australia
Amanda J Spedding - Editor-in-chief, Cohesion Press
Sydney, Australia
Into the Mist by Lee Murray
Featuring Taine McKenna
“Cinematic and evocative, Into the Mist is a tension-packed expedition into primordial terror.
Murray’s writing had me feeling the damp of the forest, seeing the mist curling through the fern fronds, and sensing the danger lurking there.
Ancient myths, military men and scientists placed in remote, primordial locations – it had all the right ingredients for me, and it didn’t disappoint for a moment.
Lee Murray is an author to watch.”
– Greig Beck, best-selling author of the Arcadian series
When NZDF Sergeant Taine McKenna and his squad are tasked with escorting a bunch of civilian contractors into Te Urewera National Park, it seems a strange job for the army.
Militant Tūhoe separatists are active in the area, and with its cloying mist and steep ravines, the forest is a treacherous place in winter.
Yet nothing has prepared Taine for the true danger that awaits them. Death incarnate.
They backtrack toward civilisation, stalked by a prehistoric creature intent on picking them off one by one. With their weapons ineffective, the babysitting job has become a race for survival.
Desperate to bring his charges out alive, Taine draws on ancient tribal wisdom. Will it be enough to stop the nightmare? And when the mist clears, will anyone be left?
“Creepy and addictive, Into the Mist is an irresistible tapestry of military action, dark myths, and an ancient and terrifying horror. A must read for speculative fiction fans.”
– Matthew Summers (Smashdragons)
Fathomless by Greig Beck
Carcharodon Megalodon – the largest and most fearsome predator to have ever existed on our planet. Rumors of its existence in our modern oceans have persisted for centuries. Now, in a new adventure, the rumors explode into brutal and terrifying reality in Fathomless, by Greig Beck.
Baranof Island, Gulf of Alaska, 1952
Jim Granger is searching for a place of legend. Known as ‘Bad Water’ by the island’s elders, it’s reputed to be home to many dangerous creatures. Through a seam in a cliff face, Jim finds what he seeks. He also finds, too late, that the water demon he was warned about is horrifyingly real.
Today, Cate Granger is following in her grandfather’s footsteps. Along with a team of scientists and crew, she accidentally releases a creature from Earth’s primordial past into today’s oceans. The giant Megalodon shark follows its instinct and a genetic memory of a home that once existed millions of years ago along the Californian coast. Nothing is safe on or below the water as the monster stakes its claim on the world’s oceans.
Now Cate and her team must do battle with a creature that has no rival, knows no fear, and regards humans as nothing more than prey.
In Fathomless, the greatest predator the world has ever known is coming home in 2016.
“… combines the terror of Benchley’s JAWS with the primordial horror of Alten’s MEG in an adventure that is the best of both.”
—Matthew Summers, Smash Dragons Book Reviews.
Jade Gods by Patrick Freivald
A Matt Rowley novel
As the world frays into occultism and terror, Matt Rowley stands at a crossroads. To rescue his comrade, Isuji Sakura. he must betray the oaths he swore to his country, a country that with every passing day becomes more dangerous to those around him. As nephilim reveal themselves as modern-day gods demanding sacrifice and worship, Matt’s unique abilities draw him away from his wife and son, whose own powers have made them targets of zealots and government extremists.
When a killer crosses the veil to seek revenge on Rowley for killing him, gibbering horrors cross into reality with him, rending life and sanity to slake their insatiable thirsts. The line between reality and madness slips, catching Matt and his family between.
PRAISE FOR THE MATT ROWLEY SERIES:
Jade Sky is a an ass-kicking action-fantasy that takes no prisoners. Lightning fast, brutal and way too much fun. Highly recommended!”
--Jonathan Maberry, New York Times Bestselling author of Code Zero and Fall of Night
Jade Sky is one of those all too rare reading experiences that just consumes you... Freivald made a future so rich in detail and so full of life and energy that I couldn’t help but lose myself in it. This is a book full of wild invention and even wilder action, yet grounded by a genuinely sympathetic love for the people who live there. Freivald has truly reached a new high water mark here, which is pretty scary considering that he was already so damn good.”
--Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award®-winning author of Plague of the Undead
“Buckle up and insert your mouthguard because Jade Sky is a fast ride and Patrick Freivald knows how to write with his fists. Smart, witty, and packed with action and suspense, this is a perfect summertime read. I’m looking forward to reading more Freivald. This guy’s good.”
--Ray Garton, author of Frankenstorm, Ravenous, and Warlock