Tillison saw them come in and smirked. He wasn’t the least bit worried. Grunts came and went in the three months he’d been held after his “arrest.” He protested his confinement, of course, protested the unwarranted murder of his cousin, Hank Tillison, (though, truth be told, he was just as glad Hank was dead), and he most vehemently protested their inability or unwillingness to appoint him a lawyer. Apparently, the only surviving JAG officer was also medically qualified, and they preferred having her fix their wounded rather than prepare his defense. That was a shame, really. He wouldn’t have minded getting his hands on some tits and ass.
Despite all his protesting, Rusty Tillison was actually quite comfortable with his accommodations. He missed television, he missed beer, and he missed pussy. Two out of three of those were impossible to come by anyway.
“Howdy, gentlemen,” he said, a smug grin on his face. “You got me a lawyer yet? Or does it take all three of you to take my dinner order? You know, I keep telling them. I’ve told them over and over! I don’t like meat sauce in my spaghetti, soldiers! I’m a ball man - I want meat balls in my spaghetti!” He grinned, showing nasty yellowed teeth. “Oh, wait - I forgot. This is the Army - there ain’t no balls in the Army!”
Tillison guffawed loudly at his own joke. Man, that one just got funnier and funnier every time he told it!
Then ... for the first time since his imprisonment, things went wrong.
In fact, things went straight to shit.
Mike
The reports Mike heard and the news they received was much grimmer than he let on to Kari. The Trois did indeed seem to be hunting humans, and while they appeared blind and deaf, they also seemed to have a keen sense of smell and could easily feel the vibrations of heavy vehicles. Hardin knew he needed to move his people, but he gave Mike abysmally low odds of the group actually reaching the Eastern Shore.
Hardin and Mike had looked at each other grimly as they listened to the report from a Resistance cell in Indiana. “If the Trois who are out hunting us realize we’re a large enough group, they somehow communicate it to their Mother Ship or whatever the hell controls the Razers,” the voice on the radio said. “At least one Razer formation, sometimes two, comes straight from hell, and we’re picking up our dead for days. And they’re like those fucking slugs – next to impossible to kill. We’re using flame throwers like you suggested, Colonel, but they’re in short supply here. A few of our snipers picked off three of the Trois, but the others never even seemed to notice.”
They signed off then, leaving the precious radios in Headset’s eagerly capable hands. That’s when Hardin offered Mike an out. “Son, you and the old man’s daughter did a hell of a thing, getting us this equipment. I know Kasoniak wanted you to see us to the bridge, but I think my men can handle it from here. You two should start back to Kentucky.”
It was been very tempting. Mike had already seen more than enough of war. All he wanted to do was get Kari back to NFK, lay her down in a cot and make love to her until neither of them could walk. “Respectfully, sir, I’ve seen your men. They’re exhausted, and they’ve been at this for months now. Private Kasoniak and I are relatively fresh eyes and hands, Major, and we’re already here. It's up to you, of course, sir, but we’re ready to work if you can use us.”
Hardin nodded gratefully. “Glad to have you, then, soldier. We’re moving out in twenty minutes.” Mike turned to leave the tent, and Hardin called him back. “Take care of that girl, son,” he said, his eyes flickering with something that might have been moisture.
“Yes, sir,” Mike said somberly. He didn’t ask, and Hardin didn’t tell.
As Hardin’s convoy pulled out, Mike looked at the girl, his gut tightening at the thought he would be taking her into battle soon – real warfare, not a training exercise. It would be her first time in combat. Mike had seen her handle herself, and he had every confidence she would perform brilliantly … but at what cost? How would it change the girl he cared about?
“What’s eating you?” Kari asked, her tone half-curious, half-accusatory. “You mad I gave away Soldier Girl?”
Mike shook his head, smiling. “Soldier Girl, huh? Cool name, and no, I’m not mad. Now as far as you flirting with that punk …” Mike laughed, and Kari laughed with him, the sound as soothing as warm rainwater falling on his soul.
“He reminds me so much of Stephen,” Kari said softly.
Mike simply nodded, not replying. When the last of the larger AVs pulled out, he mounted his bike. Hershey jumped into the sidecar immediately – no way was he being left behind! Mike frowned, petting the dog on the head for a moment. Kari set the remaining puppy into the nest area on the floorboard where she cried for her sister for a few minutes before settling down.
They left a good five hundred yards between the last truck and themselves, which saved their lives. There was a sharp inhalation, like a “whump” of air being pulled out of their lungs, and the truck in front of them exploded. It was an inferno within seconds. Kari started, almost spilling her bike. Mike quickly drove around the burning wreckage, gesturing for the other trucks to keep moving. There was no point in stopping; there could be no survivors in that firestorm, and the Trois were still a danger.
He and Kari turned to face the two Trois that stood on the corner of Little Creek and Shore Drive. One of them still pointed some kind of weapon at the burning truck. Mike motioned for Kari to cut her engine, and she did. She took out the digital camera and began snapping photos, trying to zoom in for detail the Resistance didn’t have.
“We’re upwind of them,” Mike said, annoyance heavy in his voice. “I need you to stay here, Kari. Be bait. I’m going to try to circle around them.”
“Mike, that might –”
“It’s an order, Private,” he snapped, his tone leaving no room for argument. “Do not engage – repeat, do not engage, unless they fire first.”
Kari gave a sharp, annoyed nod, and Mike let it go at that, happy to have any agreement from her. He started his engine up and began a slow, zigzagging course toward the two squat but well-muscled aliens. Jeezus. They were uglier than the pictures Kasoniak had shown them by a New York mile. Up this close, he could see that their skin was scaled and pinkish, with gray and red veins visible under the skin. There was something similar to a heart providing circulation of blood - he could see it pumping in the middle of the chest of the larger Trois. The smaller of them turned toward Mike with a high-pitched sound, something Mike felt in his teeth. Dolphin song, he thought irrelevantly. Although that’s an insult to the dolphins.
Mike made it to the first Trois and stopped his bike near a telephone pole, shouting “Hershey, no!” as Hershey immediately jumped out of the sidecar and faced off with the alien, his teeth bared menacingly.
The aliens split forces, as Mike hoped they would, but he wasn’t in position, yet. There was nothing he could do about it – the dog was on his own. Mike quickly grabbed his carbine and one of the canvas belts Headset had given him. He wrapped the belt around the nearby telephone pole like a lineman and climb-walked the pole in record time, his breathing coming way too fast and harsh. He was finally able to straddle a lower crossbar and get a good vantage point. Mike didn’t know which of the wires he sat near – if any – were live. Parts of the city supposedly had power a few weeks ago. Just as he pulled his M4 carbine into position, he heard Kari scream.
Mike’s blood chilled, the pounding in his ears slowing the entire world down as he surveyed the scene below him. Hershey was covered in blood, harrying a Trois as if the beast were a deer and he a wolf, lunging in to give and receive vicious bites and kicks. More importantly, though, Kari was backed against an overturned dumpster, firing her carbine uselessly at the presumed head of the second creature. Its antennae swayed back and forth rapidly as though the beast were communicating … or protecting its soft spot?
Mike didn’t think. He sighted and squeezed, knowing the shot was off before he even heard the report. The round bounced off the Trois’ b
ack as harmlessly as a pea off an elephant. He’d missed the soft spot by more than a yard.
He didn’t miss the second time, and the Trois dropped hard, gray matter splattered onto the cracked and pocked pavement. Mike swallowed, hearing nothing from Kari, and took a quick reconnaissance while he was up the pole. The convoy was well ahead of them, and the heavy armored vehicles were already four blocks east.
A sharp yelp of pain brought Mike back to task. Hershey had apparently hamstrung one leg of the Trois, although it still managed to move quickly and lethally on its two useful legs. It was holding a small triangular object in its hand and was pointing it at Hershey, trying to get a fix on the dog, just as Hershey lunged in again and tore out the muscles on its second leg.
“Good boy,” Mike said softly, sighting and squeezing. Hershey yelped in surprise as his prey dropped directly in front of him. Mike rappelled down the telephone pole as quickly as he could, running to check first on Kari and then his dog.
“GET THIS DISGUSTING THING OFF ME!” Kari snarled the words as she kicked and struggled to unpin herself. The Trois had fallen forward with Mike’s shot, trapping Kari between the dumpster and its body.
The creature was only about five feet tall but it was solid mass. Mike grunted as he rolled it off of Kari. “Damn, that son-of-a-bitch has to weigh more than three hundred pounds!” he gasped while Kari stood on wobbly knees to catch her breath.
Hershey limped up to them, and Kari gasped in alarm, tears filling her eyes. The dog was drenched in blood. “Ohhh, Mike,” Kari whispered.
Mike nodded grimly. “Yeah. He was attacking the other Trois. It took all three of us to bring them down, Kari, but just one of them has taken out whole squads before, so I count us lucky to be alive. We need to get moving. I… I’ll put Hershey down.”
The tears in Kari’s eyes spilled over her cheeks. “God, I’m so sorry, Mike. I was starting to love that stupid, dopey dog,” she sniffled. “What can I do?”
Mike shrugged and called Hershey to him. The dog moved stiffly, but he came, his tail wagging proudly.
“You’re a good boy,” Mike said, his voice breaking. “You’re such a good boy. You kick ass, Hershey, you know that?” As he spoke, Mike eased his hands over the dog, wincing at the worst of the blood. He pushed slightly against a wound while Hershey panted at him. “Umm, Kari? Can I get a canteen, please?”
Kari brought one over. She looked away, not wanting to see the heartbreak in her lover’s eyes or watch him do the deed. It was cowardice, flat out, but she didn’t have it in her to watch. She opened the canteen and handed it to him, looking away again.
“It’s not his blood,” Mike said, wonder and joy in his voice. “Kari, he’s not bleeding at all! He’s limping, but his paw’s not even broken.”
Kari and Mike hugged Hershey and laughed and hugged him more. By the time they adequately expressed their relief, they were all filthy.
“So, a couple of things we need to pass on, then,” Mike said to Kari. “It helps for the sniper to have high ground. The area of their … skulls, I guess? Anyway, the area in the middle of their antennae is almost a perfect target, but it’s small and the weaving of their antennae protect it. Good news is the Trois aren’t as invulnerable as we thought. Let’s go look at that stinking corpse and see how Hershey did his damage.”
Hershey
Hershey trotted along beside his human and Kari, his tail erect and his head held high, in spite of the painful injury to his front paw. He was lucky the monster didn’t actually step on him - that would have been a Bad thing for sure. Hershey could hear the “good dog” in both Mike and Kari’s voices while they admired his kill, and he was very rightfully proud of himself. He knew Mike’s bang stick brought the Bad Thing down, but it was Hershey’s snarly teeth that tore out the muscles in two of its legs.
Somehow, Hershey had known better than to attack its body, or even its arm appendages. The hide there was thicker than a rhinoceros’ butt. Hershey had never met a rhinoceros. Honestly, he really didn’t want to meet a rhinoceros, although he wouldn’t admit that to anyone, not even to his black lab friend. Hershey was the top dog, and as such, he had to be brave. When that three-legged thing attacked his human, Hershey had been very brave. He went in with vicious snarly teeth, and he used them to bite the creature mercilessly, feeling its shudders of pain as flesh and muscle tore. It was actually exciting, and, in its own way, kind of fun! Hershey didn’t hunt, but there was something deep in his blood that knew he should; he was meant to be a predator. Those instincts awakened with a vengeance when the Bad thing tried to attack his humans.
Mike and Kari bent over his kill, Mike pointing at its wounds and making words about them. Kari took out the little box she’d used earlier and clicked it, moving all the way around Hershey’s kill to see it from every angle. He walked proudly around with her, his tail high. Finally, they said the words to him, and he wriggled in joy, his whole back end moving with his wildly thumping tail.
“Good dog, Hershey. What a good, brave boy you were!” Kari exclaimed, and Mike held his head, touching their foreheads together as he said it, too.
Hershey’s heart could have burst with happiness! He had definitely fallen in love with Mike, and he could have stood there all day just eating up the praise. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the time to spare. After a few moments of allowing Hershey to bask in the glory, they headed back to their motorcycles. The puppy was struggling to get up onto the seat so she could make an escape onto the ground, but she hadn’t been successful. In her frustration, she peed on the leather seat of the sidecar where Hershey rode! Hershey wrinkled his nose in disgust, but neither of the humans noticed it, so he leapt up onto the seat and took his position as the top sidecar dog.
Mike drove fast like he did earlier in the morning, and it was wonderful! They caught up with the three large trucks, making sure to keep a long, safe distance behind them. Hershey would have liked to spend some time at the fourth truck that blew up – it had been hauling a lot of food, and most of it was still edible for dogs. At least, it smelled really good! Oh, well. Maybe his friend, the black lab, would find it. Hershey didn’t think the lab would have any trouble feeding its belly - he seemed very self-sufficient, and probably would have even been top dog at work, if Hershey wasn’t there.
The sun was high overhead when they finally stopped for a rest on the side of the roadway, pulling off onto a sandy, grassy dune. There was a long road in front of them that went straight out into the open water, for as far as Hershey could see. He knew instinctively the water would be deep and cold.
The puppy made little poops in the bottom of the sidecar. Kari took her out and let her walk in the sand for several minutes while Mike cleaned up the mess, but the puppy seemed to have already done all her business and just wanted to tug on Hershey’s ears.
Hershey was dying to go explore the shore of the huge waterway just beneath them, but Mike whistled for him every time he started to wander off. The delicious smell of salty dead things perfect for rolling on top of tantalized him, but he was a good dog so he stayed with his human. After all, he needed to set a good example for the annoying puppy. He didn’t think he’d get lucky enough for them to leave her behind somewhere, like they did her sister.
All of the jeeps and personal vehicles, and two of the three trucks they followed, went way out onto the bridge that went over the water. The third truck stopped and waited just a few hundred feet in. The roadway was clear of other cars and crashed vehicles – some were merely pushed out of the way by Big Jim Johnson’s tow truck, and some were pushed all the way over the side and into the water. Hershey didn’t like the idea of his human and Kari going out there on that long bridge, but he also knew he would have no choice but to go with them when they did. Humans decided where dogs went. That was the way it was.
Mike took one of the belts made out of canvas strapping. He looped it around the light pole and yanked on it with all of his strength several times. Hershey would have vol
unteered to gnaw through it for him, but he knew it would take a very long time to do that; besides, Mike seemed happy when the canvas didn’t tear. Hershey watched curiously, not quite understanding. The belt supported Kari’s butt and her waist, the two straps coming together around the side of the light pole. Kari adjusted her carbine over her shoulder and climbed about halfway up.
Mike bent down and looked Hershey in the eyes. “Hershey, stay,” he said firmly.
Hershey squirmed a bit uncomfortably. He knew what “stay” meant, but the tone of Mike’s voice was so serious, almost reprimanding. Had he been a bad dog?
“Watch the puppy,” Mike added more gently, pushing Hershey’s nose at the squirming nuisance. "Keep an eye on Butterball, okay, buddy?” Hershey looked up at Mike balefully. Mike thought for a moment, then scrounged in one of the backpacks and came out with a small stuffed toy. He let Hershey sniff it, and put it close to the puppy’s nose as well. The puppy immediately latched onto Hershey’s toy with a baby growl. With a put-upon sigh, Hershey jumped back into the sidecar, resigned to the task of babysitting and letting the bothersome pup gnaw on his new toy while the humans sat on top of a tall pole. Humans were definitely strange!
Mike talked into one of the little box things he had taken to the park, and Hershey could hear the sound of humans talking back. His ears pricked at the tinny distortion of the voices, but Mike seemed very happy with the toy, so Hershey didn’t resent it. He’d learned from his other humans there were some toys people liked that they just didn’t want to share with their dogs. When Hershey was a puppy he got several “Bad Dog!” scoldings for chewing up some people toys. He didn’t mean to chew them - they were just so tempting! Hershey supposed it was okay for humans to have their own toys. His various humans gave him some special toys he didn’t want to share either, so it all evened out.
The high-pitched sound the fast black flying machines made was inaudible to humans, but Hershey picked up on it immediately. He barked once to let Mike know the Badness was coming, and he hunkered down in the seat of the sidecar, tucking his tail closely under him. Hershey had the feeling it was going to be getting very noisy very soon.
Iron Mike Page 22
