by John Davis
“Trust me, the Legion may have us outnumbered in the ranks, but knowing my father, he'll come with more than enough soldiers to get us back safely.” Sarah replied with confidence.
“Husk wouldn't expect to find anyone here other than the usual villagers, the advantage of surprise would definitely be in our favor,” Roman added to the conversation. “Not to mention, I've got a score to settle with 'em, it's personal for me.” he added.
“Well, we got plenty of weapons, the element of surprise and about nine or ten days to prepare for a fight. That should even the odds just a bit.” Michaels added, making the plan official.
“Well, I still don't like it, but if there's going to be a fight then you can damn sure count me in.” Dalton added, already in a fight against the cup of local drink that he had been so eager to get his hands on.
As everyone started to exit the hut, Sarah stopped Adam, holding him behind long enough to ensure they would be the last people to leave.
“Captain, why the change of heart?” she asked cautiously.
As he stood there, possible reasons raced through mind. What should he tell her? What had truly changed his mind about meeting certain death head on? Was it his growing love for her, had it clouded his judgment? Finally, breaking several seconds of silence he decided to answer her from deep within his heart.
“It would be easy to lay low, but the truth is I've been doing just that for too long now, taking the easiest roads along the way. These people can't fight them off, hell I don't even know if we can fight them off, but if it's my time to go then I'd at least like to die for something I think is right, and for those I love,” he said, staring right into her eyes as the words landed on both her heavy heart and confused mind. “I guess I'm choosing my side.” he added, earning a huge smile from her radiant face.
“I'm not afraid of dying, I'm afraid of living past this. Getting back to the system, only to have to sit and watch you walk out of my life. Having to see you walk away for good, that's what I'm afraid of.” Michaels said, waiting on some kind of response from Sarah, one that would never come as she emotionally turned and walked outside to rejoin the crew and villagers without so much as a word.
Although he wasn't ashamed of his feelings for her, Adam waited several minutes before walking outside himself, trying to give her plenty of time to leave the immediate area. He wasn't sure how she had taken his confession and didn't want to make things any worse than they possibly were at the moment. How could he have been so stupid!
He had overplayed his hand? Much like he had a habit of doing in a game of cards, except this was far more important to him than any game of chance. This was life, his life, and a life that he couldn't bear to even think of living without Sarah.
Once outside, the Captain was met by Dalton and Roman as they began pointing out the best spots for an ambush and putting together the intricate details of the plan. Adam heard their words, but every one spoken fell on deaf ears as his mind was preoccupied with his love for Sarah as he continued glancing over his shoulder; trying his best to locate his one true love and wondering how she had taken his earlier comments.
That evening as the sunset began to take form, everyone in the village would gather to eat a large meal, although basic, it appealed greatly to a crew that had eaten only rations for the last several days. Of course, some of them had been fortunate enough to enjoy Sarah's fine cooking, though they had been sworn to secrecy by the Captain as if the incident had never taken place. They had a solid plan when it came to fighting the Husk, which seemed strange to Adam. They could organize an assault on one of the deadliest species known to man, yet he couldn't explain his heart to Sarah without falling to pieces.
He only hoped that she would join them for dinner, it would give him some kind of idea as to the extent of damage his words had done to her. He couldn't control his feelings, his heart wanted what his heart wanted; but deep down he knew that a relationship between them could never survive.
He was nothing more than a smuggler who had no real future to speak of, even if Sarah felt the same way about him society would never allow them to be together. Her father, one of the top military figures for the newly formed Colonial Army would never allow his daughter to fall into the arms of a man with such a history of criminal activity.
As they sat and enjoyed dinner with the rest of the village, Adam remained focused on the empty chair that should have been filled by Sarah's overwhelming beauty. The biggest benefit of the crew spending time with the people of the village was to Troy, making friends with many of the natives who were not much younger than himself, giving Troy a sense of childhood for the moment without the worries or stress that came along with being alone.
Roman continued to spend time with the young man, however most of the crew had noticed a different side of Adam's newest hired gun, almost a sense of urgency on his part as if to think that he would surely fall to the Husk.
After dinner and a formal thank you to the villagers who had prepared it, Adam casually left the group, doing everything he could to find Sarah. If he was lucky enough to speak with her, honestly, he had no idea what he even planned to say. Apologize for the way he felt, maybe, although it was nothing that he had planned or could have avoided. On the other hand, maybe he would just reinforce his feelings to her as well as apologize for the inconvenient position that she had been unwillingly thrust into. One way or another, he had to do something. His heart and mind were too clouded to possibly stave off an assault by the Husk, he had to make things right.
There she was. As he entered one of the smaller huts, Sarah sat at a small table, the room barely lit by the flicker of a makeshift candle. Obviously deep in thought, Adam apologized for the intrusion and began to leave as Sarah stood to her feet, approaching him slowly; her warm hand soothing his tense shoulder with its touch.
They kissed deeply, with true passion and undeniable love. Even though it would surely have major repercussions if they were lucky enough to make it back to the system, at least for the moment Adam felt completely at peace. He tried his best to collect himself before responding to a few seconds in time that had truly changed his life forever.
“I know in my heart that when we return to charted space, the standards of society will eventually pull you back out of my life. All I ask for is this moment, to finally know true love, no matter how short it may last.” he managed to say, forcing every word out as his heart continued to tremble.
“Shhhh.” Sarah said softly as she held a couple of her fingers to his lips. “Neither of us have any idea what the future holds. All we can control is right now, and right now I want to be with you. My heart has been with you since the moment our eyes first met.” she added as he pushed her fingers away, grabbed her into the clutches of his arms and kissed her as if his heart must be connected to hers in order to survive.
The rest of of the night, they held one another tightly, their souls embracing one another as the rest of the crew and village celebrated what everyone had hoped would be the eventual downfall of the reign of terror that the Husk had forced upon them.
The next morning saw most everyone sleeping in late, after effects of the previous night's festivities. Adam was already awake, having been up for some time, he sat comfortably inside the Rover; watching the thick moisture fall from the sky, the water droplets bursting onto the windshield of the cargo craft as he sipped from a small cup of makeshift coffee.
Most of his morning had been spent in deep thought, what a new life with Sarah at his side would mean for everyone in the unlikely event that his plan actually worked for a change. There had also been a few Dalton sightings throughout the night, staggering around drinking from a large glass bottle, relieving his bladder under the night sky and even one instance where both events took place simultaneously.
The calm feeling throughout the village came crashing down quickly as a loud noise popped nearby in the air, causing the Captain to spill what remained of his coffee; startling him and no doubt pul
ling everyone else from a deep and restful sleep.
Adam immediately recognized the sound as he jumped from the confines of the Rover and raced to the bulk of the village in the pouring gray rain, looking straight into the sky, confirming the arrival of the Husk.
“Shit! How long?” Adam yelled into the direction of Ceria as Roman and Dalton feverishly placed loaded weapons onto themselves as they tried to awaken.
“They will land in a field not far past the tree line. Five minutes, maybe less before they are here.” Ceria replied sleepily as Adam double checked his pistol, ensuring that it was full of ammunition and combat ready.
“Sarah, stay inside! Keep Troy with you, if things don't go well, stay out of sight until they are gone and rejoin Kelly and Kato at the crash site.” Adam said loudly, glancing through the shower of water into a nearby hut. Without responding, she began to cry fluidly as she grabbed Troy into her arms, holding him tightly in the corner of the primitive dwelling. “Sarah!” Adam said once more in a stern tone, making sure she understood her responsibility in case the worst were to happen.
“Yes.” she managed to mutter, crying heavily which prompted Troy to become upset, sharing a few tears of his own.
“I will do everything I can to keep you both safe. Everything.” Adam said convincingly as he stared into her eyes for a few moments; their hearts sharing a moment of passion through nothing more than a glance of love, before once again being overtaken by the stinging drops of rain. The plan had been cut short, no time for them to bring the mauler to assist them. It was simply a matter of Adam, Roman and Dalton facing two of the Husk monsters and possibly a human handler. Not very good odds for them by any means, but when a man has nothing left to fight for but the beating heart inside of his chest, it makes for a dangerous man indeed. Michaels was gladly prepared to die if it meant keeping Sarah safe.
Dalton remained prone at the far end of the village, only his head and arms were outside of the camouflage surroundings of the forest that surrounded them, his hands gripped a large caliber sniper rifle and his right eye pressed against the scope of the weapon. Roman had disappeared from sight, they weren't sure what he was doing for the moment, but everyone knew that when the killing began he would be in the middle of it, one way or the other. The Captain had nothing more than the long barrel revolver currently at his side and two shotguns tucked into the back of his worn brown pants, giving him a second option if needed. He was surgical with the revolver and knew that if he were accurate enough with the weapon, he would give Sarah and Troy a chance of survival as he positioned himself across from them and watching over the love of his life as if he were a guardian angel.
“If we don't kill these bastards, good chance they will be pissed enough to murder everyone in the village.” Dalton said through his com unit, broadcasting his thoughts to both Adam and Roman.
“Then we kill these bastards.” Adam replied, tightening his grip on the butt of his pistol and waiting patiently for the beasts to appear on the horizon. Minutes that seemed like days passed; waiting for the inevitable as nerves started to overtake logic.
“We got a problem.” Dalton said. Michaels started to ask, when he saw the three figures approaching the village through the curtain of rain.
“Three of them.” Adam said frantically under his breath, spotting a three Husk group with no handler. The Captain heard more chatter over the com, although he couldn't make the words out; his body numb from the circumstances almost as if he were in a dream.
“Captain!” Dalton's voice finally rang out, forcing Adam back to reality and out of the helpless daze that he had succumb to. “Do we proceed with the plan?” Dalton added, waiting for a response from the man in charge.
“We have no choice.” Adam forced painfully from his lungs, knowing almost with certainty that they had no chance of winning, the appearance of the walking beasts reassuring that with every step closer toward the village. The sheer size of them had Adam stunned, he had never seen such a build on anything living. Add the proficiency with weaponry and the faster than average movements of the relentless killers, he saw no way of winning the battle ahead.
As Dalton regained his composure, he began placing the scope of his rifle onto the head of one of the Husk. Waiting for an official OK from Adam, he continued to follow the beast with the telescopic lens of the high caliber weapon. “Say when Captain.” Dalton said, anxious to begin the blood letting as he noticed one of the villagers stepping out into the direct path of the Husk soldiers, his head covered with the hood of the sackcloth shirt which was quickly darkening with color at the end of the soaking rain.
“What the hell,” Dalton mumbled to himself, wondering which of the locals had a death wish; the Husks merely slowing down, also in disbelief that anyone would dare stand against them. Taking his eye from the scope momentarily, he turned his head slightly to get a good angle on the com unit. “Adam, are you seeing this?” Dalton asked.
Before an answer could follow, Roman removed the sackcloth hood, standing in the hammering rain as if to taunt the three much larger opponents, a rugged combat blade in each hand as the wind blew ripples throughout his shirt.
Two of the three Husks began to slowly run towards him, each with a leg length machete tightly gripped by the superhuman strength of the nearly tree sized arms of the beasts.
As they were on him, Adam stepped from the doorway he had been well concealed inside of, holding his revolver forward and strategically firing all six rounds from the rolling chamber; hitting the same Husk with all of the piercing steel slugs, four in his upper chest and two punishing the neck of the beast. Obviously crippling the soldier with what would have killed six normal men, it fell to the ground screaming in pain as it bled openly onto the climate drenched ground.
The second Husk quickly shifted its attention into the direction of the Captain, who tossed the sidearm to the ground, reaching behind his back and pulling two short barrel shotguns from the back of his belt. Without thinking, his instinct pushed him to fire both weapons, one slug hitting the Husk in the chest and the second nearly missing, only grazing its arm slightly; sending a small cloud of skin and patched hair into the rain. Running through the pain of the recent chest wound, the beast leaped towards Captain Michaels in an attempt to kill him on impact.
Its jawbone and a majority of its chin were wiped clean from its face by a single shot of Dalton's long range killing machine. The bolt action gun spitting an empty shell from its top, and falling hollowly to the ground. Dalton quickly began trying to scope the third Husk up as it went into full sprint in the direction of the two downed warriors. He anxiously fired a round that normally would have hit, however the Husk moved much faster than a normal man as the shot missed, firing wide right of the creature which had reached the other members of the crew.
Striking Michaels with maddening rage, the beast sent the Captain flying onto the ground several feet away from him, sliding across the puddled ground. Adam immediately tried getting back to his feet only to fall back to the ground, simply dazed from the impact only moments ago. Roman thrust one of his blades into the direction of the Husk, who's raw strength knocked the combat steel from his hand, grabbing Roman with his free hand into a choking position.
“Fuck!” Dalton said loudly as he had another shell in the chamber, but couldn't get a decent shot in the scope because of the choke, which was slowly bleeding the life from Roman's limp body.
As he began to stop trying to fight back and had accepted his demise, Roman dropped the other blade to the ground as his arms hung straight down by his sides, the Husk yelling loudly as he applied even more anger into the hold, trying to punish his victim brutally. Roman slid to the ground, falling face first into the mud as the monster suddenly let go of his grip of death. Spinning around, he threw his hand out and placed it around the fragile throat of Troy, who had escaped Sarah's clutches long enough to try and save his mentor by stabbing a blade into the back of the Husk.
As he squeezed firmly aro
und the child's neck feeling small bones breaking as Troy grasped for air, a shot from Dalton's weapon zipped through the air and pierced the chest area of the beast, who immediately threw the young man who was fighting for his life to the ground. Adam stumbled to his feet, his first thought switched from killing the Husk to running to the aid of Troy, who was obviously in life or death condition. As the Husk looked down, realizing the shot had struck no vital organs, it yelled in rage as both of its friends lay dead on the crimson soaked ground beneath him.
During the enraged scream, several of its teeth were jolted from their sockets from a hard right hand thrown by Roman, who had lost his usual ice cold swagger and let emotion take control of his moves as he followed with several more punishing hands to the face of the beast. Not used to the defensive side of battle, the Husk could do very little to block the flurry of commanding fists flying in his direction. Letting a loud and tearful yell of his own out, Roman threw a punch that quickly turned into a cupped hand as it penetrated the throat of the monster, ripping several throat organs out in the process. The monster fell to its knees, slowly dying from the wounds as Roman kicked it in the chest firmly, pushing it onto its back in a large puddle of water. Roman fell to a knee, obviously in pain, slowly making his way back to his feet in an effort to check on Troy as did Dalton, who was sprinting to the child's location.
“Impressive. Stupid, but impressive.” the crew heard from behind them as the Husks handler stood with a large automatic pistol pointed in the direction of the group.
Three sharp shots later, he lay face down in the rain, Sarah Blaine standing behind him holding an assault rifle that had been kept in the Rover.
“No sir, that's impressive.” Adam said, giving a long look of thanks to the woman who had indeed saved his life at this very moment.
“How bad off is he?” Sarah asked, sprinting over to check on the seriously injured youth.
