by Jamie Davis
Jonesey laughed. “Yeah, I’m curious how you didn’t spot that. You’re supposed to have been the big special ops soldier.”
Kurt shrugged. “I was trying to find a place we could camp for the night. I was looking in the distance and didn’t watch where I was going. It’s completely my fault.”
The squat one called Doc came back over and handed Kurt a tin plate with some roasted meat on it. “Here, eat this. You need to keep your strength up. That knock on your head will not heal by itself, at least not anytime soon if you don’t eat something.”
Kurt nodded and took the plate from the medic.
“What is it?”
Marci snorted a chuckle. “Believe me, K.C., you don’t want to know.”
“Seriously, what is it I’m eating,” Kurt said as he chewed at the tough, rubbery meat.
“Let’s just say that trip wire caught more than just you today,” Jonesey said.
Kurt swallowed hard and stared down at the hunk of meat on his plate. The only thing they’d seen on this blasted planet had been demons. He didn’t like the idea of eating the flesh of one of those scaly creatures. “Maybe I could just have something from my pack.”
“You got a problem with my cooking?” The one called Fish asked, coming around the campfire in his direction. “We’ve been starving out here for days. We share our food with you and this is the thanks we get?”
Kurt held up his hands. “Sorry, dude I don’t want to fight with you. I’ll eat it, all right?”
“Yeah, whatever.” Fish turned to his companions around the fire. “I told you all it was a bad idea to let them in with us.”
“We couldn’t just leave them out there,” the woman called Smalls said. She was barely over a meter and a half tall. She was thin, too, but with wiry muscles evident in her arms where they stuck out from the sides of her metal breast plate armor. “The two of them weren’t going to carry him very far with the demons around. They needed a place to hole up until he woke.
“Yeah, besides we can use three extra bodies if we end up having to fight our way out of here.” Curly said.
Kurt thought for a moment then said, “Do any of you have an idea where your forces are? I mean we have to catch up to them. I have something they can use to help defeat the demons.”
Curly shook his head. “When the demons overran our lines, it was pretty much every man and woman for themselves. Smalls here says she saw an organized unit withdrawing somewhere to the east, but who knows?” The bald man shrugged. “The rest of us were too busy fighting for our lives to figure out which direction they went.”
Smalls nodded. “It looked to me like the Colonel had gathered most of Charlie and Delta companies around his standard. He was organizing a fighting retreat. He had enough troopers with him that he probably was able to break away and get to somewhere more defensible.”
“It ain’t going to make no difference,” Stretch said. “Don’t matter where they are. It only matters that we aren’t with them. You’d be crazy to think we’ll survive getting back to the camp on our own. We should all just give up and resign ourselves to staying here until a patrol of demons finds us.”
“That’s enough, Stretch,” a new voice said. It came from the far end of the cave in the dark shadows near the entrance. “There’ll be no dying under my watch today. Now get it under control and stop bringing everybody down, got it?”
“Yeah, Sarge, I got it.”
“Good,” the sergeant said. “I just came in from outside. I reset the trap. That should give us a little notice if any demons wander by in the night. Smalls you’re up on guard duty. Don’t fall asleep or I’ll have your ass.”
“You wish you had my ass Sarge,” the tiny woman said as she picked up a broad headed spear with a metal crossbar just below the head. She got up and disappeared into the darkness the sergeant had just come from.
Her response drew a chorus of chuckles and laughter from the rest of the troopers around the fire, including Stretch. The whole exchange lightened the mood in the cave.
The sergeant walked past the fire leaning in to grab a hunk of meat from one of the plates as he went by. He bit off a piece to chew and came over to check on Kurt.
“It’s good to see you’re up. Doc said you took quite a blow to the head when you fell. What are you all doing wondering around out there?”
“We have something we had to get to your army’s encampment,” Kurt said. “We were headed in that direction when I hit the tripwire.”
“So you’re not with the army?” The sergeant asked.
“No. We came through the gateway from Earth Prime. You know about that, right?”
The sergeant nodded. “Yeah, we know about the magic doorway where we get weapons traded from time to time. That don’t matter anymore. That gateway’s far behind demon lines now. We will not get any more weapons that way anytime soon.”
“Well, we just came through and we brought something your Colonel will probably want to see.”
“If it’s those pistols you all are carrying, it’s a waste of time. Bullets don’t stop those things.”
Kurt patted the forty-five caliber semi-automatic hanging at his waist. “Our tech mage came up with a solution for that, but we only have a few shots each. It’s not our pistols. It’s that glaive over there.”
Sarge glanced over to where Kurt gestured. “That pole arm? It looks like it’s well made, but what makes it special?”
“It was blessed by a holy man after they forged it. It’s made of this world’s special silver alloy. We know that metal is needed to kill the demons here. I’ve used it already since I’ve been here. The blessed magic infused in the weapon works quite well.”
The sergeant stared at him and then looked away towards the wall nearby. Kurt followed his eyes and saw him staring at the glaive resting against the cave wall next to the fire.
“So that thing is some sort of holy weapon?” Sarge asked.
“That’s what I’m told. They hired my friends and me to bring it through to this world and the deliver it to your leaders. It’s supposed to be useful in turning the tide against the demons at some point. Someone might need it in the next big battle.”
“After the way they routed us in the last battle, I’m not sure there’s much of an army left to stand against them anymore. All we’ve seen are dead troopers scattered about. It’s not a pretty sight. Between here and the site of the last fight, there’s nothing but demons and death. Most of what we’ve seen have been our friends and comrades killed and eaten by the demons.”
Curly lifted has plate up and smiled as he chewed on a piece of meat. “That’s why we eat them. Turnabout’s fair play, right?”
“You got that right, Curley,” The one with a pinched face and big puffy lips said. His squad mates called him Fish. “The damned things eat us, so we eat them.”
“Well, whatever it is that’s brought you here,” the sergeant said. “You’re with us now. Get some sleep. Eat something if you want first, but then get some rest. We’ll figure out what we’re gonna do with you in the morning.”
“Thanks, Sergeant,” Kurt replied. “I appreciate you and your squad taking us in.”
“It wasn’t like we were going to leave you out there to get chewed up by the little carrion demons that come out at night.” The sergeant shrugged. “Besides, there’s safety in numbers, right?”
“There sure is,” Kurt said. “What are your plans tomorrow?”
Sarge looked over at his squad around the fire. “Well, we’ve been pretty comfortable here for the last few days.”
“But you know you can’t stay here forever. You know that, right? It’s not safe.”
“It’s not safe out there either.”
Kurt started to say something but stopped himself. These guys had seen some horrible things. Maybe they needed these few days of relative safety to keep them from going over the edge. He’d seen it happen before with his own comrades when he was in the army. Even with elite troops, some
times you just needed a break.
“Maybe you and I can talk about it in the morning, Sarge. I have some experience in the service myself. If you want, I can offer some insights.”
The sergeant stared at him for a minute then nodded. “Yeah, let’s talk in the morning. I think everybody needs at least one more good night’s sleep here where it’s safe.”
Kurt smiled. Based on that final statement from the sergeant, his intuition had been correct. These people were pretty shellshocked. An extra night of rest might do them good. It could give them the strength to want to venture back out and face the demons again.
Kurt settled back as the friendly banter started up again between the various members of the squad. As he listened in, he picked up a piece of meat from his plate and tore off a piece. He chewed at the rubbery flesh while he followed the chatter around him.
It had been a while since he’d been with troopers in the field like this. He found there were parts of it that he missed. Right now, he enjoyed experiencing a bit of the camaraderie of a close-knit military unit once again.
Morning would come soon enough and then he’d work to convince them to do what needed to be done.
Chapter 11
The next morning rolled around, and Kurt awoke to the sergeant waking up his troopers.
“Come on you scum let’s get moving. We can’t live here for the rest of our lives. It’s time for us to figure out how we’re going to get back to the rest of the company.”
“You don’t mean we’re going back out there, do you Sarge?” Curly asked.
“That’s exactly what he means, Curly.” The woman named Smalls said. “He means we have to go back out there and fight them damned things again.”
“Come on you idiots,” the sergeant said. “Did you think you were going to live here in this cave for the rest of your lives?”
“If by live, you mean waiting here until the demons came and ate us, then yeah,” Stretch said.
“Well then, that’s just foolishness. We’re not gonna stay here. We’re going to get back and catch up with the company and the Colonel again. Staying here is suicidal. At least if we go back out there, we’ve got a fighting chance. Besides which, it’s not just the five of us anymore. We’ve got three more people to join us. That improves our chances of getting back alive.”
Stretch pointed at Kurt. “That guy’s wounded. How do we know he can even fight? He didn’t spot our tripwire?”
Sarge smiled. “Stretch, you worry about you. You’ve got enough issues of your own to keep an eye on. I’ll worry about the new guys. They seem to know what they’re doing. Besides, I’ve seen you trip over something as small as a rock in the path before, so don’t be pointing fingers at others. Get up, pack your gear, and get ready to go. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”
Kurt smiled. He was like every platoon sergeant he’d ever known. If they were more scared of you than they were of the enemy, then they’d do anything you asked. It was a common theme that ran through every army in history.
Kurt looked at Marci and Jonesey who sat on either side of him. He nodded, and they got up and packed up their gear as well. Kurt stood and stretched. His head felt all right this morning. Whatever Doc had done, it worked. He didn’t have the dizziness he had when he first woke up the night before. Hopefully, he had no long-term, residual effects.
He picked up his pack and settled it on his shoulders. He walked over to retrieve the glaive from where it stood against the far wall.
“Sarge,” Kurt asked. “Where would you like us to fall in with your line?”
“I don’t know what you three can do, so for now, you’ll stay in the middle of the marching order. Just stay on your toes and follow orders. We’re probably not going to make it all the way back to the company without at least a skirmish or two, so keep your eyes open. If you see something, say something.”
Kurt nodded and walked over to the entrance to the cave with Marci and Jonesey. The unit formed up with Smalls in the lead taking point. Then came Curly and Stretch. Kurt, Marci and Jonesey filled in the line next. Doc and Sarge came next. Fish brought up the rear. Kurt turned and looked at Sarge.
“You know our friend Jonesey here’s got pretty good eyes and ears. She might be a good choice to put in the rear and keep an eye on our back trail.”
“Not a bad idea, I wondered if she was something special. We can put Ears in the rear guard position”
Jonesey raised an eyebrow at the sergeant’s new nickname for her. “Ears?”
“Don’t worry about it, Jonesey,” Kurt said. “If they care enough about you to give you a nickname that means you’re doing the right thing.”
Jonesey grumbled something under her breath but moved to the back of the lineup with Fish to watch the group’s tail.
Once everybody was in position and they’d gathered everything from the camp that they could carry, Sarge gave the order to move out and the small column headed down the trail leading away from the cave that had been their home.
Smalls moved up ahead, staying several meters in front of the group. She kept low and scanned the ground to either side of the trail. She’d painted her metal breastplate in shades of brown and orange. It did a pretty good job of helping her blend into the surrounding landscape. Given her small size and the way she crouched over as she moved, she’d be hard to spot. That gave them an edge as they marched eastward.
Everyone was silent as they started moving. Kurt smiled. With a group like this around them, they might make it to the army and complete the mission yet. Though he didn’t say it aloud, this was his first feeling since arrival that they had a better than even chance of making it to the destination with the glaive.
It was around midday when Smalls spotted the ambush. She alerted them a scant few seconds before the demons sprung their trap. That brief, shouted warning was just enough advance notice to give them an advantage when the attack came.
The small group of humans marched single-file down a dry stream bed in a narrow ravine. The walls of stone to either side stretched up as high as five meters in some places. Kurt realized it was a chokepoint and had his eyes open for any trouble.
Smalls spotted the demons first. She crouched low and raised her fist over her head.
Something she did must’ve triggered the demons to move in. Smalls shouted an alarm and swung her spear around to meet the six-legged demon leaping to attack from her right.
The rest of the demons must have realized their trap had been detected. They came from the right, surging over the top of the ravine and jumping down into the dry stream bed with the squad.
These demons were more of the scaly, dog-sized creatures with six legs. A single humanoid demon led them. Patches of bristled fur covered his body. He stood just over two meters tall and wielded a wicked-looking, barbed scimitar.
Kurt swung the glaive around and caught the first of the dog demons hurtling down at him on the spiked point of the glaive. The head of the weapon glowed with its holy magic as it pierced the demon.
Kurt skewered it upon the barbed end of the spike. He let the end of the weapon fall, dragged downward by the weight of the creature impaled on the end.
He then turned and spun in a circle wrenching the glaive free from the demon’s body and swinging the axe head around just in time to catch the next of the demon creatures coming down at him from above.
The speed and quickness of the weapon in his hands amazed Kurt. He was even more surprised at the way the glowing axe head split the scaled demon creature in half with ease. Both halves of the creature fell in opposite directions to either side of him.
To his left, Marci finished off another of the dog demons with her tomahawks. She now faced a second one.
She parried clawed swipes at her midsection then brought one tomahawk down in the center of the creature’s skull. The edge of her blade caved in the demon’s head at the same time it split the skull open to reveal the bloody brains inside.
Seeing Marci needed none of hi
s help, Kurt turned to his right. Stretch fought nearby with a large two-handed battle-axe.
Despite his complaints the night before while they were camped, he proved to be a vicious fighter in the battle’s midst. He growled and spun around, twisting to avoid incoming attacks as two of the demon dogs hurtled in at him.
The six legged demon hounds tried to corner him between them, attacking him from both sides. At the last instant, Stretch brought his battle-axe down pommel first into the dirt and used it to vault over the creature to his left.
He landed beside Kurt.
“Nice move,” Kurt said.
“Yeah, you’re not too bad yourself. What say we finish these two bastards off?”
Kurt nodded. Then he and Stretch charged at the two demons turning to spring in their direction.
Kurt swept the first one to the side with the flat of his axe blade. He turned as his blow bowled the creature over.
He struck it with the butt end of the glaive, striking it on the head just above the eyes. It stunned the creature for an instant, giving him an opportunity to spin his weapon around and drive the steel spike straight into its brain.
All six legs shot outward. Then it collapsed to the ground. Beside him, Stretch was also just finishing off another of the creatures with his battle-axe.
The tall trooper used the hammer side of his weapon to pound the demon’s head numerous times until there was nothing left but a pile of bloody pulp.
Kurt turned and looked for someone else to fight but the humanoid demon who led the attack had rallied the remaining six-legged hound demons and was running away down the path the way they had come.
Jonesey grumbled under her breath. “I should’ve brought a crossbow. I could’ve finished off a couple more before they got away.”
“Don’t beat yourself up,” Kurt said. “We drove them off. That’s all that matters.”
The sergeant came walking down the path from the front. “Any injuries back here?”
Kurt shook his head as he checked the others around him. Doc and Fish seemed fine, and he knew Stretch, Marci, and Jonesey were doing fine as well. “We’re all good here, Sergeant.”