by Jim Laughter
“You don’t have to tell me,” Anna offered, although she suspected Leatha would reject the offer. She was right.
“No, I better,” Leatha said. “We’re going to be working together. You are going to put me in charge of people’s safety, so I have to respect that trust and be frank with you. I’ll tell you what I remember as best I can remember it. So forgive me if it comes out in bits and starts and isn’t always coherent.”
Anna nodded but didn’t say a word.
“I have to be honest and tell you that I can’t tell you everything,” Leatha repeated. “As I mentioned, I don’t remember everything.” Anna nodded her head but remained respectfully silent.
As part of her job at Wounded Warriors Camp, Anna had met many clients with a wide variety of problems. Eventually, they tended to come out. Most often, a client might divulge something about themselves toward the end of their stay at the camp. Anna had heard more than her share of stories, often like this over a campfire out in the wilderness. Something about being out here helped people open up. Anna had grown used to listening. Keeping her facial expressions carefully neutral but attentive, she continued listening to Leatha.
“In fact,” Leatha continued, “I suspect I’ve forgotten more than I remember.”
She paused to take a sip from her cup.
“I have vague memories of my childhood. I remember playing in the woods around my home. I even had a little hideout I called my ‘camp’.” Leatha added with a slight smile. Anna took the unconscious cue.
“Where was home, Leatha?” she asked.
“I don’t know. My clearest memories seem to start when I was a young teen. I was in an orphanage then. Before that... I don’t know,” she added with a shrug. Anna looked puzzled.
“That’s a bit unusual,” Anna said. “You mean you have no memory of your family?”
“Before the orphanage there are a few memories as a little girl playing in the woods, and then I draw a blank,” Leatha said. “I’ve tried to picture my mother and father and I don’t get anything. No face, no voice, not even an outline.”
“May I suggest something?” Anna asked.
“Don’t tell me you’re a mind-bender too!” Leatha exclaimed and then clamped her mouth shut when she realized she had just revealed more than she had intended.
“No, I’m not,” Anna answered with a laugh. “And if you’re not careful, I’ll take that as an insult. I’m just a woman who loves nature and likes to listen to people. As a result, I’ve picked up a thing or two along the way.”
Anna could see Leatha relax and knew that it was safe to continue.
“What I wanted to ask you was to try something one of my hikers talked about a couple years back,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“This hiker had studied the way the human brain functions. How it learns things. How it remembers things. What he said was that there was a part of the brain that remembers things at a level below consciousness. That it remembers base emotions and sensations. Things like smell.”
“Ok,” Leatha said. “What do you want me to do?”
“What I want you to try is this,” Anna started. “I want you to close your eyes and tell me what you smell.”
“Ok,” Leatha said as she closed her eyes. She sat there and sniffed the air for a few seconds.
“What do you smell?”
“Burning coffee,” Leatha said as her eyes popped open. Both sets of eyes looked at the old coffee pot sitting at the edge of the fire. Steam shot out of its top as it was now getting too much heat from the stirred fire.
Using the stick she had used earlier as a poker, Anna snagged the wire handle of the pot and deftly lifted it away from the heat. It started to cool as she carefully set it down on the ground where neither of them would accidentally kick it over.
“There,” Anna said with relief. “That is taken care of. Now let’s get back to what I wanted you to try. This time imagine you are that little girl in the hideout in the woods,” she went on as Leatha closed her eyes again. “And this time don’t try to inhale all of the great outdoors,” Anna added in admonishment. “Just relax and be the little girl and let her do the breathing. Smell what she smells.”
“Ok,” Leatha said as she tried to focus on what Anna had suggested. Anna watched while Leatha sat there growing quieter and quieter. She saw that the younger woman’s respiration had slowed and become shallower.
After nearly a minute, Leatha spoke. “I smell flowers,” she said in a near whisper. “The sweet scent of flowers and spring.”
“Now imagine your mother,” Anna suggested. “Don’t try to picture her. Imagine you are both outside in the woods. Imagine she is holding you as a little girl and your eyes are closed so you can’t see anything. What do you smell?”
As soon as Anna said the last, she watched all the color drain from Leatha’s face as her eyes squeezed down and then snapped open. There on Leatha’s face was the unmistakable mask of terror. Anna reached out to reassure the younger woman but Leatha seemed not to see her. Instead, as soon as Anna gripped Leatha’s upper arm the younger woman batted her arm away and then with a horrified cry ducked and scrambled off out of reach.
“Leatha!” Anna half shouted. Leatha’s head shot up from her cowering crouch. In an instant, color began to return and Leatha seemed to shake herself.
“What happened?” Leatha half croaked at the older woman. Realizing she was no longer seated at the fire, she rose slowly to her feet. Still in a daze, she returned back to her former perch near the fire and sat back down. Anna could see what looked like the blush of embarrassment coloring Leatha’s cheeks in the firelight.
“You all right?” Anna asked as she took Leatha’s cup that had been spilled when Leatha tumbled away and filled it with fresh cold water from a canteen. Handing it to Leatha, she saw the younger woman’s hands shaking. Leatha smiled at her sheepishly and then took a slow sip. Anna noticed that she kept her eyes wide open.
“I... I think so,” Leatha said in a shaky whisper.
“What happened back there?” Anna asked again when she sensed that Leatha had calmed some.
“I did exactly what you suggested,” Leatha began with a tremor in her voice. “I imagined the woods and my mother holding me in her arms. I don’t know what she looked like so I just pictured how a child would feel being held in her mother’s lap.”
“Ok,” Anna said.
“Then you told me to close my eyes,” Leatha said. Anna nodded. “And then I sniffed like you said.”
“And what happened?” Anna asked.
“I smelled burning meat!” Leatha exclaimed as her features started to convulse again in terror. “And I was overwhelmed with fear and terror that was sweeping me along like a wall of fire!”
“I saw your agitation,” Anna said. “I reached out and tried to grip your arm.”
“Was that you?” Leatha asked, obviously disturbed. “I thought they were trying to grab me!” she exclaimed, her voice starting to rise again.
“And what did you smell then?” Anna asked. It was clear to her that Leatha had experienced something terrible as a child and the little memory experiment had stirred it back up from deep inside. Now might be a chance for Leatha to discover something.
“I... I smelled something like burnt umber,” Leatha said as she struggled to keep from jumping up.
“Anything else?” Anna asked as the elusive moment seemed to be slipping away.
“Yes,” Leatha said after a moment. “I know that smell from somewhere. When I rack my brain trying to find out, it gives me back one word.”
“And what word is that?”
Leatha seemed to freeze for a second and then a look of both terror and loathing slid across her face. “Them!” she screamed.
Everything froze in that moment. The night grew still. The few night creatures that had been making noise went silent. Anna later almost swore the very stars paused in their course.
And then it was gone. Likewise
, Leatha’s features returned to a more normal expression. The cold and savage glint was gone from her eyes and she shifted nervously on her perch. Finally, Anna thought it safe to resume speaking.
“Who,” she began, “is ‘Them’?”
Leatha sat there across the fire from her in stunned silence. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I can see ’em. I can smell ’em. I just don’t know who they are!”
Chapter Seventeen
Working with a portable lantern, the Red-tail commander grumbled to himself about the makeshift arrangements he was forced to endure. Knowing his alternative was to be processed into food back on the home worlds did little to dispel his sour mood. Still, he tried to focus on completing the ground operation of his plan.
His ship had landed some weeks ago depositing him and his contingent on this cold alien planet. Because of its central location to the other contingents scattered on other planets in the human galaxy, he had decided to make this his primary base of operations. After arriving undetected, they unloaded their supplies and equipment and moved them underground into a complex of caves nearby in a heavily forested region.
It was after he had sent his ship back up into space to act as a relay for his operation that things began to go wrong. Shortly after clearing the planet’s atmosphere, his ship had been detected by a ship from the human mass. The Red-tail commander’s pilot immediately headed for the transit tube to safely evade the following human ship. However, the humans called for assistance, and before the Red-tail ship had quite gotten to the transit tube, two more ships of humans arrived. Between the three of them, they blasted his ship to dust. Now he was stranded here until the prearranged time for signaling on a tight beam back to his home galaxy.
Expecting the worst after his ship had been destroyed, the Red-tail commander feared the imminent arrival of human ships to capture or kill him and his contingent. Their base was underground but it would not take much to trace the residue from his ship back to this planet. However, the feared over flights never came. After a few days, it was clear that they would not come looking for him.
Taking advantage of this break, the commander directed his soldiers to move all of their equipment much deeper underground. At first he was obeyed grudgingly as the cave was damp and cold. Then one of his soldiers discovered that if they went quite deep it started to get warmer due to a series of underground hot springs. This was most welcome indeed on this comparatively frigid planet.
Soon they had a nice base of operations deep underground where sensors could not reach them. If any humans came searching down the labyrinth of caves they would have plenty of warning and would be able to ambush them. Now he was able to get back to the main purpose of this mission; that of harvesting humans.
The loss of his ship changed matters somewhat from the commander’s original intentions. Instead of capturing humans and shipping them out as he had envisioned, now he would have to devise some way to hold a larger number of them until a ship became available. The unpredictable nature of the humans made planning more difficult. If the commander had learned one thing, it was that captive humans tended to cause trouble.
In the meantime, he also had to deal with his soldiers. When they landed, they had intended to be able to augment their field rations with the occasional human. Since there was always a chance of one dying in the process of capture or in captivity, this should not have been a problem. Now with them much deeper underground and without support from his ship, the problem became evident.
Remembering the lessons he had learned from their strike on Credence, the commander dispatched two soldiers at a time to go to the surface and hunt for local game which was abundant and easy to kill. What his hunters brought back was edible and helped stretch their rations that much further. Although different from the bovine creatures they had captured and herded on Credence, the commander found it to his liking.
Shaking his head to clear it of these reflections, the commander refocused on his planning sheets. Somehow, he had to find a way to store humans alive and then ship them out at irregular intervals. The problem of how to communicate with his other contingents without a ship to relay the signal would have to wait.
Chapter Eighteen
The early light of dawn was just breaking over the hills when Anna crawled out of her shelter and stretched the kinks out of her tired frame. After gathering the supplies she’d laid out the night before, she glanced at Leatha’s shelter and then slipped quietly away from their camp. Continuing to move silently so not to disturb Leatha, Anna headed toward the break in the foliage on a rise nearby.
Anna always enjoyed the early morning, especially out here. It gave her time to think. Watching the horizon brighten as the sunrise approached always cleared away the confusion and mental cobwebs that cluttered her mind. Today was no exception.
It only took her a few minutes to reach the rise where she found a tree blown down in a storm long past. She sat down on the weathered old tree trunk to watch the sun creep into the sky and to let her mind ponder the situation she found herself entwined in.
After her experience last night with Leatha, Anna had plenty to think about. Although they had turned in not long after the incident, Anna found herself mulling over different aspects of the day that came to mind. It was obvious to her that Leatha had deeper troubles than the average weekend visitor. In fact, she’d heard Leatha tossing and turning for a while in her own shelter and suspected the younger woman was having a rough night of it.
Once again, Anna reviewed the information she garnered from watching Leatha spring up from the campfire and scurry for cover. The facial expressions of both terror, and later loathing, bespoke of experiences that would reduce the average person’s mind to mental shreds. That Leatha had not only survived but also functioned after such trauma was a testament to both a strong will and a strong sense of survival. In any case, whatever was troubling the young woman’s mind was just below the surface. It was also clear that this was becoming a serious problem for Leatha.
Now her task was to weigh out her options and come to a quick decision. On one hand, she could cancel their private hike and return to the Wounded Warrior Camp. This was the most conservative approach to the dilemma. A variant of this would be to change the focus from a private trek to one of training. Leatha would need to know the local trails if she was going to be sent out with clients. Anna would also have to determine if Leatha could keep her problems under enough control to safely manage other less experienced hikers.
Nevertheless, deep down, Anna did not like those choices. Besides the detrimental effect it could have on Leatha, it was too easy to shortcut procedures.
Remembering her physiology training, Anna had an idea, followed by other thoughts until in short order, she had a plan. It would involve risk and work, but she truly wanted to help her new friend. Besides, taking the easy way out was not her style.
Sighing with satisfaction, Anna again turned her attention back to the impending sunrise. The sky had already brightened several shades, and if she read the signs correctly, the sunrise was only moments away. Just then, she heard a noise behind her as Leatha appeared. She looked up and smiled as Leatha sat down beside her on the windfall. Without a word they both turned their attention to the rising orb.
Then just as the disk of the sun was about to break over the horizon there was the briefest of green light flashes, a rarity caused by the refraction of light as the sun broke over the horizon. Anna was silently thrilled to see it once again. Hearing a gasp from Leatha beside her, Anna knew Leatha had also seen the spectacle. She did not know what wonders you saw in space but this was something you could only see on a planet. Together the two women watched the sunrise for a few more minutes before either of them spoke.
“You’re up early,” Anna said as the sunlight washed over the wilderness.
“I was wondering when you were going to sleep all day,” Leatha retorted.
“What?”
“I’ve been up since well b
efore first light,” Leatha admitted. “Call it an old habit.”
“I expected you to sleep in a bit after last...” Anna’s voice trailed off when she realized what she had been about to say.
“After the way I slept last night?” Leatha finished for her. “I figured you heard that. But I’ve always tended to sleep light.”
“I guess it’s a good habit if you’re alone in a scout ship,” Anna observed. “I can see why you developed the habit.”
“Actually, I’ve always been like that,” Leatha admitted. “Even as a kid at the orphanage, I was always up before dawn. If I ever sleep past daybreak, you can rest assured that something is very wrong.”
Anna filed this bit of information away in the back of her mind. Somehow, it fit into the vague pattern that was taking shape back there.
“You ready for breakfast?” Anna asked, changing the subject as she pushed up from the tree trunk.
“I’d be fine with a food bar and my canteen on the trail.”
“How about I meet you half way?” Anna offered, leading Leatha back toward their camp. “I’ll use a heat tab to boil water for coffee, then we’ll break camp and get going.” Leatha’s ears perked up at the mention of coffee.
“Agreed,” she said as they strode toward camp. “Although I’m a bit surprised at you using heat tabs. I figured you’d be all natural and stuff and want to build a fire. Rub two sticks together or something like that. Maybe hunt down some wild game and skin it with your teeth, that sort of thing. I was even eyeing some firewood to gather and I think I saw a rabbit back in those woods.”
“Trying to be funny, huh?” Anna said. “You won’t think it’s funny when I hike you until you drop.”
“In your dreams,” Leatha laughed. “This place will be a picnic compared to service survivor training.”
“Did they teach you to run in that fancy training camp?” asked the camp director.
