The Quiet God (Earth Exiles Book 4)

by Mark Harritt

  Her arms uncrossed, and she walked up to him. She took the same finger that she’d pointed at him with, and jabbed it into his chest, several times, punctuating her words, “You … Don’t … Listen.”

  He stepped back from the ferocity of her attack, rubbing his chest. He frowned. That finger hurt!

  “What do you mean I don’t listen? I listen to everything you say.”

  She put one hand on her hip, and the military knife hand came out to point at him, “You listen, but you don’t hear what I’m saying.”

  “Tell me, and I promise I’ll listen.”

  She shook her head, “No matter what happens, you’re always going to want to go out there again.” She pointed at some unknown point that Mike could only assume, was the mythical ‘out there.’

  Mike froze like a deer in the headlights. He didn’t know how to answer that. He loved Jen, but he was a soldier. If that was what she was pissed off about, there was going to be some serious problems. He couldn’t change who he was.

  “Uh, honey. You knew that about me. I’m a soldier. That’s what I do.”

  She was upset. “I know that. And you’re never going to change!”

  Mike was incredulous, “What the hell is going on here? This isn’t you, Jen.”

  “I’m never going to be the most important thing in your life, am I? Face it Mike, you love fighting and killing more than you love me!”

  Mike was stunned, “Where the hell did you get that idea?”

  She stepped back and wagged a finger at him, “Oh no, you aren’t going to pull that. This isn’t about me, it’s about you. You can’t stand being back here! Admit it! When you’re back here with me, you’d rather be out there!”

  Mike suddenly understood that there was no way he was going to win this fight. There was something that Jen had to get out of her system. So, once again, he relied on his military training. But this time, instead of small unit tactics, he had to dig deeper. He went with Sun Tsu, thinking, “He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious.” Mike knew that this wasn’t a battle that he could win, so he didn’t try to.

  “Okay Jen, you’re right. It’s about me. But you have to tell me what I’ve done. I’m not a mind reader.”

  Mike’s acquiescence knocked Jennifer off balance. The fire in her eyes dimmed as she tried to process it.

  Mike took advantage of her sudden silence. In a steady voice, he continued, “Evidently, there’s something that I’ve done that’s upset you. I don’t know what I’ve missed, but it must be something that concerns you.”

  She started to say something, but Mike raised a hand, “I want to apologize for whatever it was that I did to upset you.”

  Jen closed her mouth, but he could see that she was still upset.

  With a gentle voice, he continued, “Please, tell me what I’ve done to upset you.”

  Jen shook her head, and Mike could see a tear forming. Mike could see she was struggling with something. She shrugged, “Mike, we’ve escaped from the Turinzoni. We don’t have to worry about the dragons anymore. But you still want to go south and fight. Why don’t you want to stay here with me?”

  “Is that what this is about, because I’m a soldier?” Mike thought to himself. Mike frowned, and quietly told her, “Baby, I don’t go down there because I want to fight. That’s the last thing I want to do. I go down there so that I can train somebody else to fight.”

  He walked to her, and put his hands on her arms. Her body language didn’t change, though. Her arms stayed crossed.

  Gently, he told her, “I love you. You know I love you. If I could, I’d spend every moment of my life with you. Hell, you’d probably get tired of having me around.”

  She wouldn’t look at him directly, different emotions warring across her face, “I never get tired of having you around, Mike. I love you too.”

  He paused, thinking about the Turinzoni base, “Besides, you didn’t see what they did to those people in their dungeon. I can’t,” he stopped to shake his head, “I can’t abandon them. The Turinzoni, and the Dostori Rev, whoever she is, treat those people like they’re animals. The children,” He choked up when he thought about what they’d done to the children.

  Now, hearing the emotion in his voice, she looked into his eyes.

  Mike put his arms around her, and pulled her close to him. Reluctantly, she let him.

  “I love you, Jen. I can’t put it any plainer than that. Everything I do, I do for you. I train the Contai so that they can fight the Turinzoni down south. I’m hoping that, if they fight them down there, we’ll never see them here.”

  He put a finger under her chin and tilted it so that he could look her in the eye, “I love you, Jen, but it’s not just about us. We have families here that we have to protect. We have people here that were condemned to die in slavery, or worse, as experiments. I don’t want them to have to go through something like that, ever again.”

  He kissed her on top of her head, “I want to make this place safe for all of us. I want to make sure that what I saw in the Turinzoni base never happens again. I can’t even imagine what I’d do if that happened to you. I want to make sure, that when we have a family, our children don’t have to worry about being stolen from us and enslaved. The only way we can do that is by making sure that the Contai are able to fight the slavers.”

  Jen uncrossed her arms and put them around Mike’s waist, “I’m so afraid, Mike.”

  Mike looked down at her, “Why, what are you afraid of?”

  “Everything. I’m afraid of the monsters on this world. I’m afraid of the Turinzoni. I’m afraid this ‘Dostori Rev’ is going to find us.”

  He kissed the top of her head again, the only part of her that he could reach, since he was so much taller than her, “Why Jen? This isn’t like you. What happened to that badass girl that shoved a shotgun down the throat of the first dragon that attacked us? Or led a defense against a pack of bears? Where’s my little Amazon?”

  She shook her head against his chest, “Things change, Mike.”

  He could feel the wetness of her tears against his skin as they soaked through his clothes. He could feel her body jerk as she sobbed.

  Now he was really concerned. He took her face in both his hands, and gently, looked into her eyes. This wasn’t the Jen that he was used to. Something had happened to his little package of dynamite, and he wanted to know what could affect her this way.

  “Baby, what’s going on?”

  She shook her head again, and then she told him, “I’m pregnant.”

  He was stunned for a moment, but just a moment, and then he started kissing her, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.”

  He didn’t understand, “Why not? Why couldn’t you tell me that you’re pregnant? What’s wrong?”

  She pushed away from him. She was still crying. She yelled at him, “Everything! Everything’s wrong!”

  He stared at her. He didn’t know what to say.

  “What kind of world will our child know, Mike? The monsters on this world? And I’m not just talking about the damn dragons, either! These humans, the things they do to each other. The fucking Nazis, the Communists, they couldn’t even dream of the things that these bastards do to each other.”

  She turned away and crossed her arms again. She seemed smaller, more vulnerable, “And I think about Michelle and Rob. Then I think about you, out there. What chance do we have? What chance do any of us have?” She uncrossed her arms, and turned back to him, her hands on her stomach. Tears trailed down her face, “What chance does our baby have? Our species is dying. Our baby is going to die alone.”

  Mike shook his head as he walked to her, his arms spread, “Jen, why didn’t you tell me?” He put his arms around her, “You can’t keep something like this to yourself. You can’t keep something like this bottled up.”

  She put her arms around him, putting her head against his chest.

  “You know me, Je
n. I’m not going to bullshit you. This world is incredibly dangerous. But we’re still alive. We have hope, as long as we’re alive. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that we survive. I’m going to try and give our baby the best life we can give her.”

  “Her?” she asked.

  Mike smiled, “Or him. Either way, I hope our baby’s a spitfire, just like her momma.”

  Jennifer hugged him tight, so tight he thought she was going to crack a rib. They held each other for a long time. Then Mike had to break the bad news, “But, there’s a problem.”

  “Oh God, what is it now?”

  He kissed her, “It’s not a problem for me, or us. But, after what you told me, it might be a problem for you.”

  She closed her eyes, “I know. You’re leaving again. Luis told me.”

  Suddenly, everything clicked into place. He nodded, “I have to. The Turinzoni are attacking another village. This is a chance for us to give the Contai their first taste of combat. If it goes well, then we can start to pull away from direct action and just concentrate on training.”

  “That’s what you say, Mike, but I know you. You love being the tip of the spear.”

  “No, what I love is you, and our baby. You’re the reason that I live and breathe. I do this, because it’s what I’m good at. But I’m always going to come back to you.”

  She looked up at him, her cheeks glistening from the tears, “You promise? You told me that you won’t bullshit me.”

  His face was solemn as he looked into her eyes, “I won’t. And I promise you, I’m coming back to you. No matter what, I’m coming back to you.”

  She pulled him close, holding him tightly, afraid he’d disappear if she let go.

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  Chapter Four

  The trip south was uneventful. Shar flew them down to the training area. Shar did multiple insertions across the valley before Mike, Everett, Ken and Rich hustled out the back of the transport. He would do several more before he finally flew the shuttle back north, where he would park the small transport and join Daijj on the larger one. It had taken a while to convince Shar that multiple insertions were something that needed to be done, but Mike had finally talked him into it. Slowly, Shar was beginning to understand the concept of tactical operational security.

  Once they got off the shuttle, they walked the last five kilometers to the training site. Mike and Everett led the way toward the camp, with Ken behind them and Rich pulling rear security. It was dawn when they stepped off the ramp, and now the sky started to lighten, indicating that day was beginning to break. Mike watched the tips of the western mountains brighten as the sun’s rays peeked over the eastern mountains to illuminate them. As the morning wore on, the sun progressed down the side of the mountains, nature’s sundial. It was cold out, but not as bad as it was up north. Mike’s breath fogged in the air as they walked. He looked around him. The snow covered mountains here were shaggy with fir trees, making the area look like a forest in British Columbia. As they walked, Ken fell back ten meters, giving Everett and Mike some space to talk. They kept their voices low. It was doubtful that there were any Turinzoni around anywhere, but you can never be too careful.

  “You okay, Mike?”

  Mike looked at Everett. He’d already told Everett that Jen was pregnant, “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just worried about Jen. She’s having a hard time.”

  “Don’t worry, Joan will look after her.”

  Mike smiled, “I know she will.”

  “Don’t worry about it too much, Mike. It’s just the baby. Your attitude changes when you have your first child.”

  As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Everett looked over at Mike, concerned. Mike smiled. He knew that Everett was thinking about Jo and Mike’s first baby, “Don’t worry about it, Everett. That wound’s almost healed.”

  “Okay. It’s just hard to keep now separated from then.”

  Mike nodded, “Yeah, I have problems doing that as well. Things just kind of blend together. Until something large and dangerous shows up to kill us.”

  Everett grinned, “There’s that, of course.”

  They kept walking, but Mike couldn’t get Jennifer’s words out of his mind, “She’s right, you know.”

  “About what?”

  “About this. About this world. About what we’re doing.”

  Everett shrugged, “What the hell else can we do? We didn’t deal this hand. We just have to play it out.”

  “Kind of a fatalistic outlook.”

  Everett nodded, “Yeah, it is. But it’s our new reality. We can’t fly back to ‘Murica and go to the malls anymore. This world,” he motioned at the mountains around him, “is what it is. No half steppin’ here, Mike. You have to bring your best game. If you don’t, game over.”

  “What if we can’t win.”

  Everett laughed quietly, “Who wins, Mike? Nobody gets out alive. We just keep playing the game until it’s game over.”

  He stopped and looked back at Mike, “Why you bringing this up? You know the odds. Did you really expect, when you first joined the infantry, that it would end up any other way?”

  Mike grinned, “Of course I did. I was twenty-one. I was invincible.”

  Everett grinned back at him, “Yeah, I was too. Hell, we all were, back then.”

  He continued, “Besides, as bad as the odds are for us, it beats the alternative. I have a baby on the way. I have a beautiful wife. They’ve got food to eat. Ain’t got no PlayStations or Xboxes, but those just stole time, anyway.”

  “No chocolate, no coffee.”

  Everett smiled, “You’re sucking the joy out of the air, Mike.”

  Mike shook his head, “I guess Jen’s rubbing off on me.”

  “Don’t worry, she’ll be okay.”

  “If you’re done talking, we have someplace to go,” Ken prodded them.

  Everett looked back, “Yeah, yeah, we’re going.”

  The valley was fully illuminated by the time they approached the rendezvous. This next part always put Mike on edge. Dying was always a possibility, but he didn’t want to die because a sentry got careless. Even though it was daylight, approaching a sentry was always dangerous. If somebody screwed up, they could mistake you for the enemy and put a bullet in you. Mike hoped they’d put somebody from Matki’s tribe on security. The ones from Althus’ village were still jumpy. Mike would hate to be killed by his own people.

  Mike knew they’d been seen when he heard the warbling bird calls. It was a signal that the Contai hunters used to announce their presence to the other hunters. His worries were allayed when he saw Caul step out from the trees. He was carrying one of the Turinzoni rifles, the same one that Mike and the others were carrying. The Turinzoni rifles weren’t too different than what Mike was used to. The sights were iron sights, but it pointed and shot like a regular rifle. The caliber was smaller, the bullet a little lighter, but the main difference was the cartridge. It was a caseless cartridge that was electrically fired, no primer. The magazines carried more shots, but, since there wasn’t any brass, they were lighter than the regular, loaded 7.62 magazine that Mike was familiar with.

  Whoever designed the bullet had overcome the problems of heat sensitivity, sealing, and fragility. Still, they weren’t as accurate as the Sig 716 that he and his team used. The bullet wasn’t as accurate at three hundred meters, standard for the army 5.56. and nowhere near as accurate as the 7.62 out to five hundred meters. Mike wasn’t too sure whether or not he liked the Turinzoni rifles. Still, it had one advantage that they couldn’t overlook. It had ammunition, which trumped accuracy for now.

  Mike smiled and waved. Caul walked toward them.

  “How are you, Mike?”

  The earbud was still working, but Mike’s Contai had improved, and Caul had picked up English pretty quickly since he worked constantly with the team. Mike had the strange experience of hearing the translation in his ear as he and Caul talked back and forth in pid
gin.

  “I’m doing fine. How are things going here?”

  Caul wagged his hand back and forth, “As you say, ‘a work in progress.’ We did night maneuvers last night.”

  “And?”

  “They did pretty good. There’s a tendency for certain individuals to try and move by themselves instead of staying with their unit.”

  Caul motioned for them to follow him. They stepped off toward the camp.

  “That could be bad in the middle of the night. They know the concept of friendly fire, right?” Everett asked.

  Caul nodded, “They know. Still, they have a tendency to rely on what they think they know, instead of what we’re trying to teach them.”

  Everett grimaced, “Yeah, sometimes the knuckleheads think they know more than you do.”

  “Well, they’re all accomplished hunters. They’re used to moving as an individual hunter, not as a team. They know how to move through the forest. They just don’t understand unit tactics.”

  “It’s all fun and games until somebody gets shot,” Mike pointed out.

  Caul glanced at him, “Well, there seems to be a less likely chance of that happening with us. We have better night vision than you do. Still, your point is valid. We had some corrective training for the more egregious individuals.”

  “Did you put them into the ring with Jendi again?” Mike asked.

  Caul shook his head, “No, we had to do something more drastic.”

  “What, you put them in there with Mickey or Tom?”

  Caul grinned as he turned his head to look at Mike, “Mickey volunteered to give them a lesson in team dynamics. If he won, they’d have to dig the new latrines.”

  “And?”

  “He took them on, one by one, worked his way up, two by two, and then took on all three of them.”

  Mike smiled, “Did he win?”

  Caul nodded, “Yes, it was very good entertainment.”

  “Who are the three guys?”

  “They come from Althus’ village. They’re good men, but they don’t want to listen when the Sjurai tell them what to do.”