The pistol in his left had was going to end this quickly. Nakai knew that the instant he went to raise the gun, he would lose his head. But at least he would die trying, right to the end. Grandfather would be proud.
The creature stepped slightly closer. The smell of rotted human flesh was overwhelming. The monster’s armor was covered with green blood. Its breath wheezed in its throat.
The creature was hurt, too. Nakai could only hope that it was dying.
It bent over him.
With a snap, sharp blades extended from armor on the back of the alien’s wrists.
Time slowed even more.
As Nakai watched, the creature started to raise its hand to strike.
Suddenly time moved at its normal pace. Gunshots filled the air, bullets ricocheting off lava rock.
Arm poised in the air, the creature looked around at the fire and the valley.
Was the colonel coming? Could Nakai really be saved by the cavalry at the last moment? He doubted his luck would last that long. Then he realized in the same instant what was happening. The fire had gotten to his ammunition belt in the valley. The heat had set off the powder in the shells.
His assailant was turned slightly, so Nakai brought up the pistol, taking dead aim at the face of evil.
Then without a fraction of a moment’s hesitation, he pulled the trigger.
The gun kicked slightly in his left hand, but the first two shots found their mark squarely in the soft area just above the creature’s eyes.
Nakai kept firing, pounding bullet after bullet into that ugly face.
One shot entered the mouth as the monster opened his jaws to scream.
Another shot blew out its right eye, sending green blood spraying everywhere.
The creature staggered back a step, then stood there, staring with one-eyed disbelief at Nakai.
Nakai sat up and, with careful aim, put the last two shots from his pistol directly into the monster’s forehead.
The creature took another step away, and then like a giant tree, swayed for a moment before falling over backward. The body rolled over once on the rock before coming to rest on its back, its remaining eye staring at the smoke-filled sky.
Nakai stood. His legs were shaky. He stared at the creature for a moment, then at the pistol in his left hand. Then, just for good measure, he aimed the empty gun at the corpse and started pulling the trigger, letting the clicking sounds fill the air along with the crackling sounds of the fire below.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
He just kept pulling the trigger, not believing the monster was really dead.
A minute later Tilden gently took the empty gun from his hand and led him to a boulder.
“I think you got him, Corporal,” Tilden said quietly.
Nakai looked up into Tilden’s face. It was as if the private was a hundred miles away, talking to him through a long tunnel. He didn’t even know where the man came from, only that he was glad that he had come.
“Are you sure?” Nakai asked. “Are you dead sure?”
Tilden stared. And then, after a moment, he said, “You truly are Nayenezgani.”
At that moment, Nakai finally realized what he had done. And what he had become.
He was a hunter.
He was the monster slayer.
The past had become the present. He now understood his heritage.
He was Navajo.
And he had not become Nayenezgani alone.
He looked upward at the clear sky. “Thank you, Grandfather,” he said.
31
My brother did not thank me. That is as it should be. He does not know of me. He will learn years from now, when he joins us.
He thanked our grandfather, who helped him more than I ever could.
Grandfather said it is time for us to move on. My brother will join us when his time comes. Then I can greet him and tell him of my pride for him. Grandfather said he will know of my pride on that day, but I will still tell him.
The colonel studied the two tanks and the four gun-ships that were staged just below last night’s battle site. It had taken longer than he had hoped to get everything ready. The heat of the day was building, and there was no way he could send men out on that black rock. But the tanks could handle it just fine and the gunships could fly cover. They could still go, and were just about ready.
The colonel glanced up again at the ridge where Corporal Nakai and Private Tilden had disappeared. He had hoped that by now, one of them would have returned. He had given Tilden a strict order and had expected it to be obeyed. But it was now almost two hours since the private had left. Either he had disobeyed orders or something had gone terribly wrong.
Considering the number of body bags that had been airlifted out of here over the last two hours, the colonel wouldn’t bet against something bad happening to those two soldiers.
The colonel took one more look at the ridgeline. Smoke rose against the pale blue sky. That smoke had to be a sign, a signal from Nakai or Tilden. The creature had to be in that spot.
If his assumption turned out to be right, and his troop managed to kill the creature, then the colonel would put in for medals for both Tilden and Nakai.
The major finished talking to one of the pilots, then turned to the colonel. “We’re all ready to go, sir. Just give the word.”
The colonel glanced one more time at the ridgeline, then was about to give the order when two men appeared against the lava rock, framed against the sun. Even from a distance, the colonel could tell it was Private Tilden helping an injured Corporal Nakai.
“Someone help them down from there,” he ordered, pointing up at the ridge. Four men jumped to scramble up the side of the lava rock.
Within a few short minutes Corporal Nakai stood in front of the colonel and saluted awkwardly with his left hand. He had a bloodstained sling on his right arm and looked totally beat-up, with scratches over his neck and shoulder. Both men were covered with soot, and they smelled of smoke.
Tilden snapped off a salute correctly and smiled.
“We were about to move out,” the colonel said. “I expected you back earlier.”
“Yes, sir,” Tilden said.
“I want a full report,” the colonel said.
“Yes, sir,” Nakai said wearily.
“Now.”
Tilden’s smile widened. He glanced at Nakai. Nakai nodded.
“We found the creature’s camp, sir,” Nakai said. “In a valley about five miles from here.”
“Great,” the colonel said. “Can you give us the exact coordinates, Corporal?”
“It had a lot of human heads there,” Nakai said, ignoring the colonel’s question and looking disgusted. “So I burned it out.”
“You what?” The colonel almost shouted. “I ordered you to not engage the creature.”
“I know, sir,” Nakai said. For the first time since he arrived, he smiled. “But to be honest with you, sir, it pissed me off.”
“And you know how Corporal Nakai is when he gets mad, sir,” Tilden said, smiling also.
The colonel gave Tilden his coldest look, but it didn’t seem to faze the private. Something clearly was going on here that they weren’t saying and they had better damn get to it quick.
The colonel glanced at his troops. They had gathered around the two men and were staring at them as if they had never seen anything like them before.
“So what happened next?” the colonel asked, keeping his voice even and low.
“Do you want the short version or the long version, sir?” Nakai asked.
“I want any damn version,” the colonel answered. “Just get to the point.”
“It fell into a pit, but climbed out,” Nakai said.
“Scared the hell out of me,” Tilden said.
“You,” Nakai said, laughing. “You were a half mile away. It was right on top of me.”
“Gentlemen,” the colonel snapped. “Finish this rep
ort.”
“Yes, sir,” Nakai said, swaying slightly, but still smiling. “Sorry, sir.”
“You know how the creature likes to take heads as trophies, sir,” Tilden said.
“Well,” Nakai said. “We brought you something for your mantel.”
With that, he reached into a pack he’d had tucked under his arm and pulled out the creature’s head, holding it up for everyone to see.
“Told you that you didn’t want to get Corporal Nakai pissed off,” Tilden said, laughing.
Holding the head up with his left hand. Corporal Nakai was trying not to laugh along with Tilden, but without much success.
The colonel stared at the creature’s head for what seemed like a long, long time. Then he did the only thing he could do.
He said, “Well done, men.”
And then he too started laughing as the weight of the world lifted from his shoulders.
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