by Greig Beck
Yang took hold of Aimee and looked into her face for a few seconds. “I know you Americans, very well. You value the individual, where we in China have learned to value the whole. One life is worth nothing.” He gripped Aimee by the hair, dragging her head to one side.
Aimee grimaced, but never made a sound.
“I won’t ask you again.” His eyes slid back to Casey.
Casey’s jaws clenched briefly. “We all know where this is going. Let’s just get to it.”
Yang turned. “Last time.”
Casey didn’t want a firefight, not while Aimee was so close. She needed to make some space. “I coulda kicked your ass – still might.” She needed more time; her eyes traveled to the giant. “How about I chop Dumbo down to size first.”
Yang stared for a moment, perhaps not believing what he was hearing from the woman. His face broke into a grin and then he started to laugh. He half turned to speak a few words to the giant. In return the big man’s eyes widened momentarily, before he too started to laugh, the sound like two buzzsaw blades grating together.
Jackson leaned forward. “Maybe I should take that guy on, you know, because …”
Casey half turned, snarling. “Because you’re a man, huh? Listen, boy scout, he already handed you your ass once. I can take him, you haven’t got a chance.”
The huge PLA soldier leaned down towards Yang and spoke in a deep slow voice. Yang listened, grunted and then nodded. “His name is Mungoi. Maybe if you defeat him in unarmed combat, I might let you live. If not …” He grinned. “You won’t be here to know about it.”
Yang let Aimee’s hair go and clapped his hands once. “Trial by combat. Yes, this is appropriate for warriors. You have my permission to kill him, if you can.” He turned and spoke rapidly to Mungoi, and the huge man grinned, his eyes sliding to Casey. “And he has my permission to kill you.”
Yang clicked his fingers, and his men came from the trees. Several escorted Blake, Rinofsky, and Jennifer.
“Ah, fuck.” Casey felt her spirits sink.
Yang ordered them tied up, the same with Jackson. All their weapons and provisions were taken and piled before them. “You really must update your concealment techniques.” He smiled without humor. “Good, now we are all here as witnesses. If at any time, Casey Franks, you wish to retire before you are beaten, I’m sure Mungoi will be happy to fight your replacement.” He chortled, and spoke again to the giant PLA soldier. Mungoi nodded vigorously. Yang turned back to Casey. “Perhaps he could fight you all at once, if you’re feeling a bit nervous.”
Casey balled her fists. Never had she wanted to break someone in half so bad. She wanted to rip through the big dummy, and then wipe the floor with Yang. Her problem was, her people were unarmed, and Yang’s soldiers were fully armed. She doubted that she would be spared even if she were victorious.
She had no choice, and deep inside, she didn’t want one. She just wanted to fight.
*
Alex could sense the huge presence close by, but couldn’t get a fix on where it was. It felt like it was in front of him, behind him, and all around him. Maybe it was just the terrain, maybe this might have been the killing field or foraging ground for the creature before, and that’s what made its presence loom so large.
He also sensed the bodies up ahead. People, and he knew now it was his team, as there was one he could feel more strongly than all others. His heart rate kicked up a notch, not from any sort of adrenalin kick, but from the thought of seeing her again. Aimee, Aimee Weir, it could only be her.
Alex was torn between his excitement at her being so close, and also his outrage at her decision to leave Joshua behind. He needed to understand why she had abandoned their son … for this. Alex bulldozed through some clinging vines. For the first time in years, he felt something strange – a nervousness that he found both worrying and exhilarating.
There was a grunt from behind, and Cate called out. He ground his teeth and spun, indecision momentarily wracking him. He needed speed, but with the thing lurking somewhere close by, leaving Cate behind was out of the question.
Alex sprinted back to her, and lifted her. “Keep your head down, it’s here.”
Cate looked shocked, and then tucked her head into the crook of his neck. Alex turned and accelerated, holding one elbow up in front of them, and smashing through the foliage – faster, and then faster again.
His neck tingled. Just out of sight, something heavy slid through the undergrowth. Plants were pushed aside or flattened as it kept pace, or perhaps only part of it needed to follow them. Alex felt like they were small prey, being hunted down … or worse, they were being herded exactly where it wanted.
*
“Bring the pain.” Casey advanced.
Mungoi made fists and brought one trunk-like leg forward and stamped it down hard. He then went through a few karate katas, a detailed pattern of combat movements. For a big man, he was fluid, and controlled – not what Casey wanted to see.
She knew how to fight bigger opponents. She was tall for a woman, but in her game, some of the players were more than a head taller. This guy happened to be twice that, but the basic rules still applied: big guys were blind to overhand bomb-punches – they never expected to be hit down upon. She would leap in the air and punch down at him. She would also go to his body, use front kicks, and try and get inside his huge reach. But it was a risk. His arms were as thick as her thighs. If he got hold of her it’d be all over. Finally, if possible, she would need to get him on the ground. Once there, everything was even.
Casey knew her training was superior, and she would be much faster. It’d have to be enough. She sucked in a huge breath, and breathed out evenly through her nose. She felt calm, she felt good. She attacked.
She darted in, and immediately ducked under a swinging arm that created a breeze over her head. She punched out twice, hard and fast into his kidneys. Mungoi didn’t flinch. The man had a layer of fat and slab-like muscle running around his torso.
She came back again, this time feinting one way, and then coming back lightening quick to shoot out a kick with her armored boot, straight at his knee. His legs might have been able to support thousands of pounds, but the kneecap, if forced back on itself, was surprisingly weak.
Her leg flicked out, but before she could complete her full motion, Mungoi braced himself, her boot bouncing off the bent forward limb, and then a backhand blow caught her on the ear. She staggered.
The huge PLA soldier’s fist was half as big as her head, and had raised knuckles like knobs of rock. Her head rang like a bell, and her ear immediately felt wet. She shook her head to clear it, and was relieved to feel she hadn’t lost balance and could still hear. That meant the eardrum wasn’t perforated, and it was probably just the cartilage and flesh that had been smashed.
Mungoi advanced, and Casey backed up. She edged to one side, then the next. But every time she shifted, so did he. The bigger man was boxing her in.
Fuck it, Casey thought. The big asshole is trying to reduce my field of movement. Can’t let him corner me, or I’ve had it.
She then saw her opening. Mungoi kept his arms low, exposing his head and neck – she needed to come in over the top. She mentally went through her movements: spring forward, jink left, then leap high and bring the two large knuckles of her right fist down hard against his temple where the skull bone was thinnest.
Casey looked into the giant’s eyes, grinned, and then flew at him. She side-stepped left away from his lunging blow, and then leapt high – everything went to plan, except for the lightening fast blow that knocked her from the air, and also the wind from her lungs.
Casey landed hard, but rolled fast, and just as she sprung back to her feet, a massive boot flew in a back-kick to strike her spine. She felt the impact from her kidneys to her fingertips. And then he was on her.
Mungoi lifted Casey up a few feet by the rear collar of her armored suit and punched the back of her head. She thumped down onto the ground. He kicked
her ribs, cracking several, and then reached down to lift her again, punching her in the gut. The breath whooshed from her lungs, and her shocked diaphragm refused to draw another breath in – she was winded, and becoming dizzy.
Blake and Rinofsky strained at their ropes, yelling in fury. Jennifer had stopped watching, her face turned away, while Jackson worked furiously at his bonds. Aimee simply watched, her fists balled.
Mungoi held onto the shattered HAWC, and briefly grinned at the bound Americans. Casey felt him change his grip, holding her now by the neck and lifting, her feet coming free of the ground. He turned her one way then the other, studying her like a shooter looks at a downed partridge, examining his future meal. The huge PLA soldier then looked down at the ground, searching for a few seconds. He found what he sought, and threw Casey to the dirt like an old sack. He said a few words to Yang, and then waited for his captain’s response.
“Last chance, Lieutenant Casey Franks,” Yang said.
Casey turned and tried to sit up but couldn’t. The pain in her body was near unbearable and she could only manage to turn her bloody face towards the PLA captain, and rasp out a few hoarse words: “Fuck you.”
Yang shrugged, and nodded to Mungoi, a small smile on his lips.
Mungoi reached down and picked up a damp log. It was big, six feet long and about two wide. The big man strained under its weight, grunting as he lifted it. He turned it around, holding the stump end over Casey’s face. He lifted it pile driver style, holding it momentarily.
“Do it-tttt!” Casey screamed the words up at the giant.
The log came down.
CHAPTER 48
Alex launched himself from the tree line to appear before the colossal soldier, so fast it probably seemed he simply materialized. He caught the huge stump in mid-drop and stood, legs spread over Casey.
“Yeah!” Rinofsky yelled, straining at his bonds.
Alex had never seen a human being so large, and the strength in the giant’s arms was insanely strong. Casey groaned underneath him, and the giant tried to wrench the log free, obviously wanting to continue the job of crushing the downed soldier.
Alex took it all in: his captured HAWCs, Casey broken at his feet, and Aimee pale and bound. He looked back at the giant, the man’s wide-spaced eyes moved from surprise to glaring with anger. He bared huge yellow teeth, and then jerked hard on the log, trying to tear it from Alex’s grip.
Casey groaned beneath him, and Alex felt the urge to do more than just disarm the man, and there was nothing now constraining him. He wrenched the log from the soldier’s hands, and smashed it into the large head, once, twice, and then three times, the third blow splitting his face from brow to chin.
The giant blinked in confusion as the gash ran red. Alex held the log in one hand, and grabbed the huge soldier’s collar, pulling his face down and close to his own. He stared into the wide spaced eyes, almost nose to nose, and Alex had no words for him, just a low growl. Alex could see something deep in the man’s black eyes, pain, confusion … and fear.
Behind Alex, someone was yelling orders, and one of the other PLA ran at them. Alex heard the sound of a blade coming free of a sheath, and Alex spun, throwing the log at the man with enough force to knock him backwards; the sound of cracking and splintering came from inside the man’s body, not the wood.
Alex then turned back to the giant, his hands gripping the front of his uniform. The soldier had reached up to encircle Alex’s neck with hands that fully wrapped around his throat. His forearms bulged with the pressure he exerted, and his gap-toothed grin appeared once again, but this time his huge mouth was full of blood from his facial wounds.
The huge man’s powerful arms and hands strained, as he dragged Alex closer. His bloody mouth began to open, and Alex guessed he planned to take a piece from his face, probably his nose. In close quarters combat, debilitating the bridge of the nose, around the upper septum, made the eyes water uncontrollably – it would blind him.
The bloody mouth opened wider as the giant dragged Alex closer. Alex straightened his arms, pushing the big man back, one inch, two, a foot, and then he paused momentarily to grin into the broad face, before yanking him forward, fast, headbutting him so hard the huge soldier fell back like a tree trunk, out cold before he even hit the ground.
Alex looked down at Casey. The female HAWC was barely conscious. “On your feet, soldier!”
Panicked orders were screamed from all around him, and he turned to see a senior officer looking bewildered and Aimee, Aimee Weir, staring, and sinking down to be in a sitting position on the ground, her face white.
The senior Chinese officer reacted fast, pulling his revolver and firing. The bullet struck Alex’s shoulder, knocking him to the ground. The PLA captain then moved quickly, dragging Aimee to her feet, and grinding the muzzle of his gun into her temple.
But instead of rising, Alex stayed down, and he turned to the near impenetrable mad tangle of plant life. He stared just beyond the hanging foliage, beyond the physical wall of the jungle, and he knew it was too late, it was coming. He could sense its approach like the feeling of static in the air when a huge storm front is building.
He couldn’t see it yet, but he followed his instincts until he came to a darker alcove among the hanging fronds. A figure silently appeared.
Blake also stared for several seconds. “I don’t fucking believe it.” His voice sounded incredulous. “Hagel … fucking Hagel. That’s impossible.”
To the group it looked like the young HAWC – same uniform, height, and features. Just a hint of a wet sheen glistened over his face and body. But Alex saw past the camouflage. He saw the deadness emanating from it – there was no mammalian warmth, just the coldness of a creature that belonged deep in an ocean trench or even deeper in his nightmares.
Alex spoke without turning. “Franks, when I give the word, get the others free. For now, don’t, move, a muscle.”
Casey nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on Hagel. Blood covered her face, and her wounds probably stung like a bitch, but she remained calm and immobile. Alex just hoped the bindings of his team would also keep them in place, because he knew the one sure thing to trigger an attack was movement.
The PLA captain let go of Aimee and began to scream orders to his giant soldier, Mungoi. The huge man got groggily to his feet, as guns came up, but it was like the silence of the strange jungle became more intense, building energy, as if they had all been dropped into the eye of a cyclone.
“Oh, god, no.” Aimee started to back away from the figure that stood motionless in the dark. Soong reached out to grab her, and used a small knife to slit the bonds at her wrists.
The Chinese captain raised his gun again and fired twice into the Hagel figure. There was no response, or even any apparent wounds. To the senior soldier, he couldn’t have been sure if he missed, or whether the greasy looking HAWC had body armor. He turned and yelled at his huge warrior, and urged the man on.
Mungoi spat blood, and then wiped one arm up and down over his split face. His glare went momentarily to Alex, who he really wanted to rain hell on, and then back to Hagel. He grunted, his unnaturally large jaw jutting. He staggered forward, his bear like arms outstretched and fingers flexing. When he had only taken a few steps, Hagel shot forward – not leaping forward, or running or diving, but instead it was if he were on a spring, a projectile being fired at the huge soldier.
Hagel smacked into Mungoi, knocking him back a few feet. The dull, wet thud was loud in the small clearing. The huge soldier didn’t go down, Alex knew he couldn’t have if he tried. He seemed glued to the figure. Mungoi brought one arm up and put it between himself and Hagel, and pushed. His split face went from shock to horror, as up close, he must have realized what he was really attached to.
Mungoi strained with all his colossal strength, but sticky strands of the substance the creature exuded engulfed his arm as well. The pretense of the Hagel figure was dropped as the creature’s attacking club revealed itself. The human shap
e dissolved into a six-foot pad covered in baseball-sized suckers. Mungoi struggled even harder, his expression bordering on madness, but then his face went momentarily slack, before he began to howl in pain.
Alex knew exactly what was happening – the second part of the snare was now being used. Hook-like tusks emerged from the center of the suckers that appeared over the front of the pad. Mungoi thrashed in agony, as the eight-inch daggers entered his body, and the curved hook held his flesh tight. Now that he was locked tight to the pad, he began to move forward.
Mungoi braced his colossal legs, but Alex could now see the fleshy column trailing from the back of the once Hagel-like figure, and into the jungle behind them. This appendage was one of two tentacle clubs of a monstrous creature. Its long tentacles now flexed impossible muscle that the insignificant Mungoi had no hope of resisting. In the next second, the huge Chinese PLA soldier was yanked off his feet and into the foliage.
There was silence for a few seconds, and the group stared in disbelief and horror. Then, Hagel reappeared. As before, his form was perfect as that of the silent, motionless soldier, standing just inside the jungle’s edge.
The Chinese officer reacted, screaming orders, his face blood-red from fury. His men attacked the figure, charging and firing with everything they had. But as soon as they got within a half dozen feet, more tentacles emerged from the slimy jungle. These were not the mimic clubs, but the tips of the other appendages, these ones just used for fighting, grasping, and feeding. They lifted and coiled, swatted, and crushed the small human bodies like insects.
The captain’s face drained of color, and he started to back up.
Alex turned to Casey Franks. “Now, move it – untie them, and then head to the cliff wall.” He was up and sprinting, snatching up Aimee, quickly going to Jennifer Hartigan, and ripping her bonds from her wrists. He pushed them both towards the far side of the jungle.
