Chapter 3
Groaning in pain and frustration, Duke kept his eyes squeezed shut against the blaring sunlight as he crawled along some rocks to a clay-like bank. Each rock under him felt like a gnarly Charlie-Horse, grinding through his muscle to the bone.
Once he reached a somewhat softer surface, he rolled onto his back and lay there for at least a minute.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe the pain out.
Some rustling caught his ear and he cautiously lifted one eyelid as his hand reached for the pistol he hoped was still in his torn backpack. The rustling was replaced with coughing and he caught sight of the doctor, several yards away, dealing with a lungful of water.
He expected to be the last one standing after that little white water rapids ride, but Blondie had one more surprise left in her after all.
Still squinting from the harsh daylight, he crawled towards her.
"You okay?" he asked.
She nodded as she expelled more water through a fit of coughing.
Duke's eyes trailed down the ripped neckline of her blouse and he admired how her wet clothes clung to her body.
"Really, Sargent?" she asked as she lifted one of her eyebrows.
Busted!
"Erhm? I? uh?"
"Let's just get the hell out of here."
"No arguments-"
Duke's words were interrupted but a bullet impacting Bonnie's shoulder. She cried in agony and rolled to the side, spraying blood across Duke's face.
He reflexively rolled away from his partner and ripped the plastic away from his pistol. After wiping the doctor's blood from his eyes, he scanned the area and fired a few shots at a nearby tree.
"Duke! Stop shoting! It's me!"
Duke tried to place the voice through his scrambled senses and lowered his gun.
"Hinshi?" he asked.
The Japanese assassin slinked out from behind the bullet-riddled tree trunk with her silenced weapon aiming towards the sky.
She nodded and said, "The Doctor is a greenskin. I just got word from Washington."
After glancing back at the curled-up, wounded doctor, Duke raised his pistol towards Hinshi again and said, "Fair 'nough, but I saw you die."
"You saw the helicopter explode," she said, her words measured and even.
"You say the Doc is a greenskin, since when do we just try to ice them like that?"
Hinshi hesitated. "I thought you were in danger."
Staring down his iron sight, Duke frowned and said, "And since when do you give a damn about my safety?"
Hinshi cocked a crooked grin and brought her weapon to bear. "You're not as dumb as you let on, Sargent."
Hell. The assassin was a freakin' clone? How had they infiltrated the team?
Hell in a freakin' handbasket.
"What now?" he asked, fully ready to turn her face into an exploded party favor.
"Now?" she asked, taking a step towards him. "Now, we bring you and the anthropologist back and turn you inside out. There will be time between experiments. Time you can take to ponder your escape. Trust me when I say this next bullet will give you no such luxury, you ape."
"And if I refuse to go with you?"
She halted her advance and said, "Then you die here. No options, no chance for escape later. Think about it, Sargent. You know my offer has value. We have calculated every angle. My kind has-"
Bang!
Crimson blood splattered the tree behind the obvious clone and Hinshi's body wavered for a moment before crumpling to the ground.
"Hell," Duke said, lowering his weapon again and watching the scene through the quickly dispersing puff of smoke from the shot.
He glanced back at Bonnie again and shook his head. She appeared to be managing the pain. Then, he turned away from the doctor and limped to the alien's corpse.
As he picked her clean of her weapons and ammo, he said, "Shouldn't 'ave monologued. Damn greenskin."
###
This piece of short fiction was written for the board game: Mars vs Earth.
More about the game here: https://www.geekfevergames.com/mars-vs-earth.html
About the author:
Matthew C. Plourde is a cancer survivor and native New Englander. He is a husband and father of two children. His family called Vietnam "home" for a month while they adopted their son. Though writing is his passion, he currently works as a compliance consultant for large enterprise corporations. His passion for games and writing has led to the creation of Geek Fever Games and several novels.
Search for him by name on the Kindle store or search for these series:
The Eden Saga
The Antaran Legacy
For all the latest, visit Matt's blog:
https://matthewcplourde.wordpress.com/
For the latest on game releases, head over to the Geek Fever Games website:
Geekfevergames.com
Punchcards from Atlantis Page 3