by Mark Tufo
“Come on man, grab my hand.”
“What are you doing?” I said as I desperately tried to shake off the effects of the concussion.
“We had a deal, I didn’t know if I could trust you or not, but you more than held up your end of the bargain, and I am a man of my word. Or in this case, nod. Get up, collect your thoughts, grab a weapon and let’s finish this.” So I reached out with my good arm to his proffered hand and stumbled wearily to the wall, furthest from where Leonard’s body lay. I wanted as much time to regroup as possible. I was still half expecting a shot to the back of the head, but true to his word he never left the spot where he had helped me up, not until I gave him the thumbs up anyway. The aliens did not like this turn of events, here was another of their inherent weaknesses, they had no honor. I don’t believe that they had any clue as to the motives that were taking place in front of them on that floor. I walked as slowly as I dared so as not to anger the guards. They hadn’t raised their weapons but they also weren’t at parade rest either. My head rang like a bell, my left shoulder was on fire. I had one arm to defeat a heavy weapon user, maybe it would have been more humane if he had just finished me off when he originally had the chance. My only chance against Troy was to reset my shoulder. They always made it look so easy in movies and on TV, but I’m telling you right now, if anything more than a fly had even breathed on my shoulder I would have been crying like Leonard. The thought of actually ramming it into the wall terrified me. If I didn’t do it hard enough and it didn’t pop back in I risked the chance of passing out from the pain, and honor or not Troy would have no choice but to finish me off and go home. I risked the chance of passing out even if it did go back in. I went for broke, I got a five foot start and dove straight at the wall, twisting my shoulder as it made contact. The sound it made as it popped back in was like ground in glass encrusted fingernails being dragged down a dirty chalkboard, my vision began to tunnel and I was on the verge of passing out. And then it passed. The best way I can explain it is if you are in a car and the urge to defecate hits you so violently you can think of nothing else as the sweat pours off your brow. You clench your ass cheeks together in a vain attempt to keep in what so desperately wants out. Your stomach twists in a knot. The back of your shirt becomes damp with sweat. You begin to scan the horizon for any viable alternative to get the liquid lava out of your hindquarters. When you finally do find some unsuspecting diner, it’s all you can do to get your pants off without leaving a little surprise behind. Damn those button fly’s. Then your ass doesn’t even get to make contact with the toilet seat before the refuse begins to pour out. I feel sorry for the poor minimum wage worker that have to clean up afterwards. Even as you finally let go with the sweet release, your stomach is so churned up you have to fight back the urge to evacuate from both ends, no, that just won’t do. And then as quickly as it started it’s over, only now you feel like a million bucks, hell, ten million bucks. You could probably conquer the world. If you can survive that you can survive anything. It’s a euphoric sensation and it’s not just a quick fleeting feeling, it lasts and lasts, just like that friggen bunny. Yeah, the bathroom smells and looks like hell, and the toilet’s not going to flush right for a week, but you feel fucken great. And yeah that’s what my shoulder felt like at that point. I could move it again, yeah it was going to take some special alien juice to make it right but it worked for now, even if it sounded like I had rocks rolling around in the socket. Troy began his reluctant striding over to my spot. He took no pleasure in this, and I believe he was under the wrong assumption that I was still greatly handicapped. I felt bad, the man had quite literally saved my life and now I had to kill him, but that was the nature of the game. Three men in and hopefully at least one out. I grabbed a sword with my right hand and I played the part of a left sided cripple. Every time I attempted to grab the hilt with my left I would wince and drop my hand back down to the side of my body. He had to be figuring I had no chance to wield a two handed sword with one hand. And towards me he came, he had a scowl on his face, I did not think that he would give me another reprieve; we had fulfilled our bargain and now it was time to finish this affair. I feebly held up the sword, and onward he strode. He raised the mace knowing full well that I’d never be able to deflect it with one arm, more than likely he’d drive the mace and my sword into and through me. I don’t know and never will know why he hesitated. Did he think that this was too easy? Was it a trap? Or was he distraught over having to kill the first ally he had in this place thus far? I begged him in my mind not to change his game plan now, the euphoria was beginning to seep out of me to be replaced by a giant red spot of pain in the center of my skull. His hesitation was momentary and he came forward. As he swung I moved right and grabbed the hilt of the sword with my left arm to bring it in a slicing motion across his abdomen. It was a deep cut, I almost lost the sword to the vacuum of his innards. As I sliced further through his forward progress brought him to the other side of my attack, the sword released itself from him with an audible sucking sound. And then the sight of Leonard’s destroyed face would have actually been a welcome one at this time. Troy’s innards spilled out, he dropped his mace as he desperately tried to place them all back inside. Foot after foot of intestine just rolled out of him, the smell was horrendous. His eyes glazed over in shock and sorrow, and he was crying. It was the worst thing I had ever seen. He fell to his knees right on top of his intestines. He attempted to rise but became tangled up in himself. I didn’t know what to do, I was so horrified by what I was seeing I couldn’t move. I was frozen. He turned his face to me; he begged me to kill him, he pleaded. But yet I still couldn’t move, my legs felt as rubbery as the substance that oozed out of Troy.
“Kill me,” he whispered. “Oh dear God, please just kill me.”
“I… I… I can’t,” I stuttered out.
“I’d do it for you.”
And that was all I needed to solidify my resolve. I drove the sword through his back and into his lungs and mercifully through his heart.
“Thank you,” were his dying words.
He thanked me for killing him. I knew from that point on I’d never be the same person. My fate was sealed and I was petrified. I don’t even remember the walk back to the house. I would have liked to blame it on the concussion but I’m thinking that was not the case. I had been altered, and for the life of me I couldn’t imagine it being for the good. It’s not like I had been enlightened, no it was the opposite, if there was such a word I had been endarkened, and I was afraid. I was afraid for my very soul.
CHAPTER 35
Somewhere outside of Georgetown
Paul stopped in the first good-sized town outside of Vail and pulled in to the Texaco station to use the payphone. He didn't use any phone he thought the government would tap. He was pretty sure the one inside the gas station was and he actually kind of liked that fact, that way he could feed them whatever information would benefit him. He knew that they knew about the location of his training facility outside of Vail, but his alternate would not be compromised.
“Wags buddy, what’s up?”
“Paulie, how you doing my man?” Dennis was a longtime friend that Paul could trust, loyal almost to a fault, he was just the type of man Paul needed for the Defense Corp.
“Dennis, have you gotten in touch with Ron yet?”
“Yeah, I talked to him yesterday.”
“How’d he sound?”
“He sounded a little weirded out. I’m not sure he’s grasping the whole concept of his little brother being beamed aboard a spaceship. But he knows something is wrong, and that the government is trying to cover it up.”
“Okay, more importantly my friend, is he willing to help?”
“He seemed hesitant at first, he started hemming and hawing about permits and stuff like that. I thought he was going to say no, but then he just looked me square in the eye and said fuck it. ‘They fucked over my brother now it’s payback time.’ And that’s pretty much how the conversatio
n went.”
“Excellent, when do you think you’ll get that done?”
“Well my man,” Dennis said exuberantly. “With some help from Kev, Dino and a few select others and Ron’s heavy machinery, I’d say no more than two to three weeks.”
“We don’t have that kind of time, I’m expecting either a raid from the Feds or an attack from our out of town friends. I need to be able to move in a week, ten days max.”
“That’s pushing it Paul, there’s a few more guys that are sort of sitting on the fence about this. I guess I could push them a little harder.”
“Wags.”
“Yeah Paul.”
“I appreciate everything you’re doing out there.”
“I’m doing it for Mike.”
“You and me both my friend.”
Paul hung up the phone and shook his head. He couldn’t believe that a three minute phone call to Massachusetts just cost him $3.75.
CHAPTER 36
“Ground Control to Shuttle Liberation. Ground Control to Shuttle Liberation.” The delay caused by the distance was a lot less than one would expect, but enough to make talking awkward, which was why as Ground Control was finishing up their second attempt to hail the shuttle, Colonel Thomas had already started talking.
“This is the Space Shuttle Liberation, go ahead Ground Control.”
“Say again, Shuttle Liberation, I was still talking when you began.”
This was what it was like talking to mainland U.S.A. when he was stationed in Hawaii, the colonel thought to himself.
“I say again Ground Control, this is Colonel Thomas of the Space Shuttle Liberation. Ground Control, where is Major Hatfield?”
“Colonel, he’s taken some time off to be with his family.”
The colonel couldn’t blame him. These could be the last few days of their civilization. And the colonel knew that Butch was taking this mission a lot harder than even he himself was. When Butch found out that Ray was going on the mission, he had volunteered himself also. Ray had turned him down. When Butch had confronted him on it, he merely answered that he wanted Butch there on Earth to take care of his kids. He had known from the get go that this was a one way ticket and he’d be damned if he made Butch’s kids fatherless too.
“What can we do for you Ground Control, do you want a bowel movement or something for your bio-sensors?”
“Ah no sir, General Burkhalter wanted to say a few words.”
That got the colonel’s attention, not that he really had any respect for the rank in principle, but he did for that man. Of all the generals he had ever met, he felt that only two or three had actually earned their rank through their battlefield expertise, and not their political know how. And General Burkhalter was definitely in the former category.
“Hello Colonel, how are things going up there? How is your crew’s morale?”
The colonel found himself assuming the position of attention. He knew that he was hundreds of thousands of miles away and the general couldn’t even see him, but there he was in zero g’s at the position of attention.
“Sir, morale is as high as it can be, but the men do have a few requests.”
“By all means, Colonel, but please be advised that we have been told by our senior science staff that these transmissions are being monitored and most likely decoded.”
“But how is that possible sir, this is the most advanced technology known to man?” and then the Colonel realized that he had answered his own question. “Sir, the men would like a few words with their significant others.” He made damn sure to omit the word ‘last’ in the previous sentence. No sense in letting their eavesdroppers know their intentions.
“We should be able to arrange that Colonel. But in the meantime, Colonel, please know that you have the utmost admiration and respect from your colleagues and myself.”
“Coming from you sir, that truly is an honor.”
“Over and out Liberation.”
“Over and out Ground Control… and goodbye,” the colonel added inaudibly.
CHAPTER 37 – Journal Entry 25
I sat in my enormous living room and stared at the Jumbotron. So there I was, ranked last, I couldn't believe it. I couldn’t buy respect in a whorehouse. Three people left and I was ranked third. This was worse than betting with my brother Ronny, at least I knew where I stood with him. I just kept losing, it was never hard to know where you were. But here, I kept winning and I was losing, how does that make any sense? Then again none of it really did. I was fully expecting another round robin event but the aliens wanted to draw the suspense out. No. 2 Sam Pontiff and myself were to battle to the end to see who would have the privilege to meet Durgan O'Shea, who by all accounts had gotten even bigger. He looked like he was growing taller and more muscular, what the hell were they feeding him? I had actually hoped for a one on one on one event again, I’m fairly certain Sam would have sided with me until we possibly finished Durgan off, although I would have liked to have another two or at least three people in there with us for insurance. I’m not sure if a battle armored alien guard could have stood up to Durgan those days. Any semblance of sanity had left that man the first week he was on the ship, and he had done nothing but spiral even further into that insanity since then. Sam was a study in the opposite, he was methodical and thorough. Proficient I guess is the word I’m looking for. He had been somewhat of an underdog through the earlier rounds, but he had proved himself big in the last three or four rounds with some huge upsets. He had the appearance of a surfer dude gone bad. To glance at him quickly you would have seen a man with shoulder length bleached blonde hair, roguish good looks and a quick smile. I’m sure once upon a time he was a pot smoking laid back dude, much like my friend Paul whom I missed dearly. But on closer examination of his eyes, you would take notice that whatever light of goodness that had shone in them had dimmed and been replaced long ago with a cruel and bitter darkness. He took no joy in his kills but neither did he shy away from them. At 5’10” he wasn’t necessarily huge but you could tell any surfer residue had been burned away. This man had been using the weight bench religiously, he was ripped. I was trembling, I hadn’t even realized it until I looked down at my hands and they were shaking. I wasn’t necessarily shaking because of Sam, although he definitely scared me. No, I was shaking because I was two rounds away from Beth, and I couldn’t even begin to explain to her the things that I’d done since we’d been apart. How do you go about explaining the unexplainable? Oh God, I would have gone through all that for naught. No, I said to myself, stop thinking like that, you have kept these women around you alive too. But for what? I asked myself. For further slavery for more events? I’m pretty sure they weren’t going to put me out to pasture after this was over, if I lived. Isn’t the first sign of insanity when someone talks to themselves? My mind was racing in a thousand directions but it always steered back to one thing, Beth. The girl that I felt in my heart I was destined for. My soul mate. But how tarnished was my soul, how black and dirty was it now? Even if she accepted my on the physical plane, would she reject me on the spiritual, would her soul be so repulsed by mine that her heart would have to follow? I had to get out of there, I had to go for a walk. So I went up to the door that wasn’t a door and just started shouting.
“Guards!!! Guards!!!” The women stopped everything that they were doing and froze, they just stared at me. I felt that I had entered into one of my early pubescent daydreams. Come on you know the one, where you are able to freeze women so that you can do whatever you want to them. Oh you never had that one? Maybe I am going insane.