The Light Reapers: End of the World

by Gary Hickman

  “Target down!” Abarra said. He rotated his sight picture to another target when he noticed movement from the girl he just shot. “Oh, diosmio que demonios,” Abarra said under his breath. “Three-center mass and the target got up and is still coming.”

  “Body armor?” Priest spoke.

  “Negative, I can see her bra under her shirt.”

  “Shit, we aren’t dealing with normal combatants. Put one in her head. See if she gets up then,” Priest yelled.

  Abarra confirmed his sight picture and sent a round down range. The girl’s head snapped back, and she crumpled to the ground. Abarra watched her for a couple seconds. “Yep, that did it. She’s down for the count.”

  “Everybody hear that? Head shots to put these ,” Priest barked.

  Webb then keyed for Overlord. “Overlord, take out all hostiles. Repeat, eliminate all hostiles.”

  “Copy.” By this time the entire team was engaged with the civilians running at them like wild beasts. They were charging out, screaming with no regard to their safety or survival. They were laser focused on getting to the team.

  Based on what Shaw had witnessed in the conference room, he knew it would not be good if the people reached them. He opened up with the M48, sending round after round of .50 cal ammunition, which cut the approaching group down by the score. Legs were being surgically removed, along with arms, chunks of torsos and sections of skull. Even with one person having their lower half blown off, their desire to make it to the team never wavered. He kept crawling, dragging what was left of his lower torso and legs. Shaw put a couple in the guy’s head.

  Doc was freaking out. As a medic he had seen a lot of gore in combat, but nothing like he was seeing right now. “Holy fucking shit. Look at that guy over there. I blew half his fucking hip off and he is still coming. His guts are all over the ground, and he is still moving. His eyes are gone too. How can he see where the fuck he is going?”

  Webb barked, “Shut up and kill the son of a bitch already.”

  “Ok, but shit, there is hardly anything left to shoot on this motherfucker!”

  “Shoot him in the head, in the fucking head,” Priest shouted.

  Doc fired into the crawling man’s face. “Holy Mary and Joseph. Did you see his head explode? I blew his head apart, and it looked like cauliflower.”

  “Doc, shut the fuck up!” Webb bellowed.

  Myles could hear the screaming and see the faces of the civilians charging at them. He could feel the concussion of the guns sending rounds down range. But he was in a fog. He felt like he was wearing a concrete suit. All his limbs felt weighted down. His head ached, his eyes burned, and something muted his hearing. The scene was blurry in front of him, and he couldn’t make out where he was or what was going on. Abarra was shaking his shoulders, finally snapping him out of his funk. He found himself slumped forward, and his weapon hanging down, not pointed toward the oncoming civilians.

  “Are you all right? Hey Myles, what the hell is going on with you? Are you with us?” Abarra shouted.

  Abarra’s voice started somewhat muffled but quickly cleared, and Myles could make out what was being said. “Yeah, yeah… I’m good,” Myles grunted out. “I’m good to go.”

  Myles sighted on two people running at him about 100 yards away. Immediately the closest one went down after the side of his head exploded. A split second later, the woman followed, nosediving into the ground with such force it snapped her neck and left her head laying at a weird angle.

  “Two down. Motown, you better wake up and engage your targets!” Overlord said, sounding annoyed. Myles just stared at the two bodies lying dead in front of him.

  “What’s wrong?” Abarra asked quizzically.

  “Never been this close to targets before. Never been this close. It’s different. I saw their faces, heard their screams,” Myles trailed off. Luckily for Myles, all targets were finally down.

  Webb keyed, “Anymore targets in the area? Overlord, sit rep.”

  “Negative, Spider. Area is all clear.”

  “Ok, stay and provide support while we take click of what the actual fuck just happened.”

  “Copy Spider, we are T–minus, 2 minutes for exfil.”

  “Thanks, Overlord. Give out our coordinates here for the birds. This area is all clear, and I don’t feel like humping to the previous exfil point.”

  “Copy that.”

  Webb turned back to the rest of the team, “Ok, we got 2 minutes, so what the fuck just happened?”

  “Well, it’s obvious these weren’t regular people,” Priest answered “They look like local support personnel, but something happened to them to make them almost indestructible to everything except a headshot. My guess is they were somehow exposed to what was being researched here.”

  “Yeah, I would agree,” Webb acknowledged.

  Abarra nodded his head in agreement.

  “Man, the one guy kept crawling with his guts trailing behind. All that dirt was sticking to them almost made them look like octopus tentacles.”

  “Jesus, Doc. What the fuck is wrong with you?” Abarra asked. “You are a medic. You’ve seen this shit before.”

  “No, not like that. When was the last time you saw a guy with no lower half crawling around with his guts behind him? I’ve never seen that shit. Any of you seen shit like that before? I mean holy shit, that was some fucked up shit…”

  “Ok, we get it. Pipe down,” barked Priest.

  “Doc, get some blood and tissue samples from two corpses. We’ll take them back for HQ to analyze. I don’t know if they’ll stay viable, but it’s all we got,” Webb ordered.

  Doc did as Webb instructed and finished just as the chopper came in to exfil.

  The stealth Blackhawk hovered in silently, but the rotor wash stirred up dust and debris. The Blackhawk sat down smoothly and waited for the team to load up.

  Neville and Shin came running up and gave Webb and Priest a nod and everyone mounted up. Priest plugged into the bird’s comms, “Get us the hell out of this shit hole!”

  CHAPTER 3

  101st Airborne Division, Ft Campbell, KY

  The Reapers exited the Blackhawk, still shellshocked somewhat by the previous events. Myles had been quiet the entire way back from Turkey; a helicopter back to their forward base, a military hop from Turkey to the UK, another hop from the UK to the US and then a helicopter ride back to Ft. Campbell. Silence the whole way.

  Abarra sidled up to Myles, “You feeling alright? You’ve been quiet the entire trip back. Come on, talk to me.”

  Myles stopped walking and dropped his eyes to the ground.

  “We were shooting civilians, regular people. It was a massacre, and we acted like it was business as usual.” He grew silent again.

  “I know it was tough, but those weren’t regular people. Multiple rounds didn’t drop those people for good which was a telltale sign. They should have passed out from the pain. None of that happened. Hell, they should have at least ran the other way when we started firing. To put then in the same category as normal civilians is dangerous.”

  Abarra put his arm around Myles and gave him a shake. The two continued to walk into the flight hangar.

  As the rest of the team entered the hangar, Webb called the Reapers to form up on him.

  “Okay Reapers, let me hear it. We all know that mission was fucked all the way around. It wasn’t the first time we have had to engage civilians, but this was unlike before. I didn’t like it either, so talk freely.”

  “What the fuck are we dealing with Cap?” Neville spoke up. “Except for head shots, those people were indestructible.”

&nb
sp; Okay,”Yeah, and what about that damn screeching?” Doc jumped in.

  “Not to mention that creepy ass head movement and the clicking,” Shaw finished.

  Webb listened intently and shared a look or two with Priest.

  “Okay, okay, I hear all of you. Believe me, I have all the same thoughts as you. Priest and I discussed this, but of course, we have no intel to tell us what the hell just happened. We can, however, relay our assumptions.”

  Webb looked at Priest, and he nodded. Webb cleared his throat.

  “Here is what we believe; the formula that this gaggle of scientists either created or altered has turned into some kind of virus that doesn’t kill its victim, but changes them into the mindless machines. We believe they exposed the civilians we engaged to this virus, and we got a front-row seat to opening night. If they unleash this stuff on the population, I am not sure what we will come across. If that is how they intend to use it.”

  “Hopefully we have someone on staff here who can tell us what is going on with this virus and what we are dealing with. We are running blind and I don’t want to jump headfirst into a hornet’s nest,” Priest added.

  Myles continued to seem disengaged, and it caught Priest’s eye.

  “Myles, what is it? You’re part of this team, so out with it, son.”

  Myles slowly raised his head.

  “I froze. I didn’t even get a shot off. I just sat there and watched the whole thing go down. Watched people running toward us, screaming and screeching. I just sat there and did nothing. They could have over-run us.”

  Priest walked over to him and put his hand on his shoulder.

  “You covered my ass a couple weeks ago in Afghanistan. You didn’t hesitate at all. What makes this so different?” Priest asked with concern, causing the lines on his face to deepen.

  “I don’t know. I guess you can put a face on your enemies that looks the same most of the time. I can look at them with the same clothes, same weapons and the same purpose. Which is to destroy us. B-b-but these were regular women and men. No AK-47’s to recognize, no matching uniforms or head coverings. They all had different clothes and I could see their faces were different. With that blood all over their face, the normal picture of the enemy was not what I was seeing out there. It just wasn’t the same.” Myles said with a far-off look in his eyes. Like he was replaying the scene in his head.

  Shaw shook his head, “We don’t know where this shit is going to lead. We know the virus and all the other personnel were gone. If this isn’t over, and my gut tells me it ain’t, then we are going to be dealing with a lot more people just like those.”

  Myles looked around at the rest of the team, and a look of resolve flashed across his face.

  He nodded his head, “I got it. Understood. I’m good to go.” Myles said confidently.

  Priest slapped him on the shoulder, and they started walking again.

  “Believe me, Myles. We are all confused as fuck and we are just as worried as you are. We would be stupid if we weren’t. However, we’ll get through this together. Reapers always do. HUA!”

  “HUA, Sarge!” Myles repeated.

  “Out-fucking-standing.” Priest joked.

  It was 09:30 when Priest completed his debrief to command. Four hours of recollection, combat analysis, various questions, and repeats of the same information had him exhausted. They hadn’t let him eat, sleep, shit or shower since they had returned to base. It was old news to him; he had been here a hundred times before. With as many missions as he’d been on, this was just part of doing business.

  Webb jogged up to him, “You finished?”

  “Yeah, feel like something the cat dragged in and then threw underneath the refrigerator.”

  Webb laughed. He always like Priest’s humor. He looked at him and could tell Priest was almost dead on his feet.

  Priest was shorter than Marcus Webb, only about 5’10” or so. Priest was normally clean shaven, bald most of the time, unless out on a mission for an extended period. Priest kept a gray beard, about 3 to 4 inches below his chin. His call sign being “Father” suited him well. They gave him that call sign as a play of words with his last name, “Priest.” Priest had blue eyes that seemed kind and evil at the same time. It just mattered on which Priest you came across.

  Webb had met Priest on another mission, about three or four years ago. The Special Operations were re-orging and were merging into several teams and different MOS’s. Webb had completed various tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  Priest was older and had spent time all over the world. Even places the regular public did not realize conflicts were even happening. He had served in the Philippines, South America, Somalia, Yemen, and the list went on and on. They had pulled Webb into the SPO with basically no direction. Command knew they needed people, and Webb’s resume was impressive. He was young for a captain, so most of the teams didn’t want to work with him.

  SPO worked differently than the rest of the military, and their enlisted teams had the stroke and set their own rules. All teams had to have an officer or officers as part of the team for command continuity issues.

  They had given Priest, Webb’s DD214, and many of his evaluations. Priest was impressed with Webb’s credentials and could decipher an ass kisser from a hard charger. The first time they met, Priest introduced himself, and they went to have a beer. The rest they say is history, and Webb had been in command of the Light Reapers Team since that day.

  Priest admired Webb. He like that Webb didn’t play the race card, didn’t use his childhood or upbringing as an excuse for anything. He just busted his ass and worked hard, gaining Priest’s respect and loyalty. Hell, he had respect from the entire team.

  Priest knew Webb had it hard growing up in inner city Philadelphia. Webb had talked a lot about his family and upbringing whenever he and Priest had some downtime and talked over a few beers. He never talked about it to get sympathy, just more than a matter of fact. Priest could relate to that as his own childhood was full of turmoil and strife. Having a violent drunk of a father, Priest understood Webb’s situation of home never being a sanctuary.

  Webb and Priest made their way to the barracks where they were temporarily assigned. Since they were SPO and rapid deployment, the Army never really gave them a home on Fort Campbell. The barracks they stayed in were open bay style, like they had in boot camp.

  They looked at each other and rolled their eyes as they approached the building. The rest of the team had already set up in the barracks, and Myles, Neville and Doc were already asleep. Shin was meditating, and Shaw was cleaning his M48.

  Abarra met Webb and Priest halfway down the bay. “You guys finally finished?”

  “Yeah, they raked us over the coals,” Webb said tiredly.

  “You two look like shit.”

  “Thanks,” Priest chuckled.

  “We grabbed some chow for you guys before the chow hall closed. Get something to eat and put your ass in the shower. You guys reek.”

  “Yes, mother. Really, we appreciate it.”

  “No problem, Priest, anytime.”

  The two ate, grabbed a shower and were asleep before their head hit the pillow.

  After a few hours of sleep, Priest woke up to arguing in the barracks.

  “I don’t understand why my call sign is Gandhi,” Shin said.

  “Because you do that meditation stuff, and you’re about peace and shit,” Doc explained.

  “Gandhi was Hindu, I am Buddhist. It’s not even close.”

  “Well, it’s kind of the same.”

  “No, he was Indian, and I am Korean,” Shin said with an annoyed look on his face.

&nb
sp; “Your countries are on the same continent, right?”

  “You are an idiot,” Shin said in Korean. “Ok, you are from NY, correct?”

  “The Bronx, born and raised.”

  “So, it would be the same as if I called you a country redhead.”

  “That’s redneck.” Shaw spoke up, “And don’t compare greaser over there to us fine, well-mannered, Alabama country folk.”

  “Doc, you are dumb as a bag of hammers, you know that?” said Priest, putting in his two cents.

  “Sorry, Sarge, I didn’t think I was that loud. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

  “Doc, you are loud when you are just thinking, much less when you open your mouth.” Doc looked bewildered, which made Priest chuckle to himself.

  “Shin, you are with Neville most of the time during missions where a sniper team is needed. Together, your call sign is Overlord. We hardly ever use Gandhi.”

  “I know, but I am just confused about when I got the name.”

  “Well, I can’t remember either, but it stays. I’m too old to learn new shit.”

  Shin just threw up his hands and walked away. Shin’s parents had come over during the Korean War to escape the communist occupation of North Korea. He explained to Priest some time ago that his parents loved the U.S. and were grateful for the opportunities they had. Shin figured a way to give back and make his parents proud at the same time was to serve his country. He had planned to get out after his initial enlistment was up, but by that time, he was in the Light Reapers and decided to re-up. Shin was Neville’s spotter; and could calculate distances, speed, trajectory, and many other valuable statistics. He and Doc seemed to bicker like two brothers.

  Speaking of Doc, he had joined the military honoring a request from his father. Actually, the request was more like Pops would kick the shit out of him unless he got himself together. His Pops dragged his ass to the recruiter. Doc had always cared about people and thought about becoming a nurse. Thinking along the nurse track, he became a combat medic and had joined the Light Reapers about two years ago.