On Distant Shores (Exiles Triology Book 1)

by Mark Harritt

  “Where did you get the weapons?” Mike asked.

  “I pulled them from security. They had extra, and they couldn’t come up with a reason not to give them to me,” she answered. They worked for thirty minutes, then she stopped the group. “Mike, I need to take a whiz.”

  Mike looked around. “Well, if you go up top, you can hide behind one of the mechs and do your business. Nobody will look.”

  Pang looked at him, weary. Everybody was getting tired. “I think I’m passed false modesty by now.” Pang turned around, “Airman, come here.” She waited until Stein was about five feet away, and asked, “Have you shot one of these before?”

  Stein nodded. Pang handed the weapon to him. “Go with Mike and guard, okay.”

  Stein took the weapon, turned to Mike. Mike used his thumb to indicate the next chunk of meat coming out of the cave. Stein nodded, and they walked over to them. The next team was dragging a lump of carcass, and Stein fell in beside them and walked with them. Mike moved around to the other side of the crew. They walked out to the mound, maintaining a 360 pattern of watch as the team dumped the meat.

  “Oh hell, what’s that?” Mike heard it over his ear bud.

  He turned. Pang had finished watering the lawn, and was walking over to Mike and the haulers. She was caught out. Something large came tearing out of the bushes. It was a freaking bird, but the meanest looking bird that Mike had ever seen. It hada large beak, viciously hooked for tearing into prey. It stopped for a moment, looked at the people in the meadow, confused by all of the targets, and then started running directly at Lieutenant Pang. It was a damn big bird, taller than Mike. It was moving fast, maybe too damn fast. Mike yelled and started running, trying to get to her before the bird did. One of the mechs was responding to the threat, but the speed of the bird, and its closeness to Pang, made it very hard for the mech weapons to engage without hitting her. The mech armor didn’t have enough time to get between Pang and the bird. It took time for the armor to get moving at top speed. A bullet cracked by, missing the bird. Mike stopped, took aim, and started to shoot. Another bullet cracked, this time from the top of the ridge.

  Then Pang did something unexpected. Mike thought about it later, and should have known what was going to happen. Pang was a badass, and she was about to prove how much of a badass she was. She pulled her pistol, went into a perfect isosceles triangle shooting stance, left foot forward, bent at the waist, and started pulling the trigger. The pistol barked five times, and the bird slid dead at her feet.

  Time seemed to stop as everyone processed what they had just seen. Then from the top of the ridge, Tom’s voice rang out, “That is the hottest thing I have ever seen a woman do.” Then he started singing, in a bad karaoke voice, “Did you ever know you’re my hero.”

  Pang slowly put the pistol on safe, scanned the area around her, then yelled up at Tom, “If you don’t stop singing, the next bullet is for you!” A subdued, “yes ma’am,” floated down to her. And then a chuckle.

  Mike walked over, “You okay?” He could see her hands trembling, and she saw him notice. He didn’t say anything about the tremors, which she appreciated. He heard a shot, and turned around. Stein had put a bullet in the bird’s brain pane. Mike cocked an eye.

  Stein shrugged, “Too many horror films as a kid. They always get back up if you don’t shoot them in the head.” Mike and Pang looked at Stein for a moment, then Pang’s laughter pealed across the meadow. When she turned back to Mike, she had the same saucy smile on her face that she always did. She pointed fingers at Mike and Stein, then asked, “Fellas’, do you mind bringing my trophy back to the cave for me?” She turned, started whistling, and walked back to the cave.

  “That’s it, don’t let ‘em see you sweat,” Mike thought.Mike turned to Stein, then motioned with his hands, “After you.” Stein flashed an irrepressible grin. He walked forward and grabbed the feet of the large bird. Mike grabbed the bird carcass by the neck. They lifted and started hauling it back to the cave. They set it down off to one side of the cave.Pang walked over to where it lay, “I wonder if this thing tastes like chicken?”

  Mike thought about it, “Well, I guess we need to find out. The MREs won’t last forever.”

  After that incident, Mike changed the method the teams were using to take the carcass out to the pile. Now, the carcass chunks were dragged to the front of the cave, and then one of the team in the mechs would grab it and take it over to the growing pile. It was much safer to do it this way.

  The stench of the hacked meat rose into the air, and more scavengers were arriving. Some were small, but others were the size of dogs. As the pile of meat grew, the scavengers were getting larger.

  Mike didn’t like what he was seeing, so he climbed back into his mech to use different cameras to watch the activity. Mike keyed his comm link up, “Team, I think we need everybody to mount up. I want all five of us to get back into our mechs and do close security next to the cave entrance. With the drone overhead, I’m not too worried about anything big showing up. I’m worried about one of these smaller scavengers following the blood trail back to the cave. They’re small and agile enough, that they may get past the mech armor. If they get past our security, they’ll have a lot of slow moving prey to pick from downstairs.”

  Mickey spoke, “Hey boss. Just thought you would like to know, Mitchem is here and wants to talk to you when you have a minute.”

  Mike grinned. He knew Mitchem would hate that Mickey wasn’t using his rank. Mike imagined Mitchem stewing at the slight.

  “Roger, Mickey, I need you to hop into your armor and get it to the cave mouth so that we have our first line of defense setfor the night.”

  “Is that an order, boss man?” Mickey asked.

  Mike knew that game. Mickey was only following orders if he got into his mech armor now.

  “Yes, that is a direct order. If anybody has a problem with it, they can talk to me.”

  “Roger boss, I’ll relay the message.”

  Mike knew that Mickey was tearing out for the mech armor, just to piss Mitchem off.

  Mike drove his mech to the cave mouth. They would set up in a straight line across the opening. As he walked back, the others on the team lined up in front of the cave, leaving the middle position open for Mike.

  Mike sighed. He hated dealing with assholes. Self-important assholes were the worst.

  Mike settled the mech into position then moved into the linebacker position. He spooled down the systems, but left the mech in standby, so that he could power it up quickly. The foam deflated, and he opened up the hatch, then climbed down to the ground. Before he got there, he heard, “Who the hell do you think you are, telling my people what to do? You almost got Pang killed, you moron.”

  --------------------------------------

  It was Mitchem, of course. Mitchem was asserting his authority in front of the civilians and Air Force personnel. He wanted to show that he was still the big dog, and that Mike was insignificant. He didn’t know Mike too well if he thought this posturing would work. This time he had Staff Sergeant Murphy, and Sergeant Joseph with him. Murphy was the same one that told Mike that he and the team would be unloading a truck. They were part of the security team. They massed about 220, 230 pounds each. Murphy was a college linebacker and Joseph was a bouncer in Arkansas before they joined the Air Force. Murphy was black, from Detroit, and Joseph was a big, blond, corn feed southern boy. Big men, with large, muscled chests and arms, they were used to a fight. They carried side arms, and he could tell by the way they held their arms, they were ready to draw if need be. They both stood slightly in front of Mitchem. So Mike put a smile on his face, held his arms down to his sides, with the palms of his hands open towards Mitchem and walked towards them. All three relaxed, thinking that Mike was going to try to smooth over the situation. A big mistake to make. Mike could see the triumph in Mitchem’s face.

  Mike lined up so that his left foot was pointed towards Murphy, and he stepped forward with his right f
oot, twisting his hips and his entire body into the punch that went into Murphy’s solar plexus. Mike didn’t want to kill or injure, because he would need fighting men. As his fist drove into Murphy, with his left foot planted, his right boot came up in a back roundhouse kick that went across Mitchem’s body and drove the heel of his boot into the solar plexus of Joseph. With both men on the ground, he twisted and faced Mitchem, who was trying to drag his gun out of the holster, panic on his face as he realized the large wall of flesh between them had been violently removed. Mike could tell that Mitchem had never practiced drawing his pistol. It was a kydex holster with a lock. Mitchem was pulling, but he couldn’t figure out why the pistol wasn’t coming out. Even if he got it out, Mike doubted Mitchem would have remembered to take the safety off. Mike drove the heel of his hand into the nerve on Mitchem’s forearm,which deadened the hand. In less than five seconds, all three were gasping in pain.

  Mike took Mitchem’s pistol, then Murphy’s and Joseph’s.

  Mike stepped back, and addressing Murphy and Joseph, said, “Gentlemen, next time you come at me with bad intentions, it’ll be the last. Do you understand me?”

  They painfully nodded their agreement. Murphy and Joseph couldn’t voice it, and wouldn’t be able to do so for a while, their diaphragms in spasms. Mitchem glared at Mike, one hand holding the paralyzed arm. Mike looked into his eyes and saw raw hatred in his gaze.

  Mike turned to Mitchem, “As to giving your people orders, you weren’t around, and somebody had to take care of business.”

  Mitchem stiffened, his face turning red.

  “What, did you go back to finish banging Dr. Randall on your desk?” Mike asked.

  This last was said loud enough to get the attention of everybody standing in the area.

  He heard an, “Oh damn, he went there,” from John Smith.

  Mitchem was steaming,“This isn’t over.”

  Mike spread his hands, “I imagine not.”

  Mitchem turned on his heel and marched back to the cave, disappearing into the darkness towards the tunnel. As he walked, the civilians and Air Force personnel moved out of his way. Mike watched him disappear into darkness. Visibility in the cave was diminishing. They would have to figure out how to string lights down the tunnel.

  Mike looked at the two security men on the ground. Murphy and Joseph were rubbing their stomachs, looking very unhappy. Mike squatted down, far enough away that they couldn’t lunge at him and looked them in the eyes. Mike could tell, that if they could, they would beat him to a bloody pulp. But, they weren’t as sure of themselves as they were before. They were no longer sure that they could take Mike in a fight. He had their pistols, so that was not an option for them either.Mike could see them calculating the odds in their heads, and then reaching the conclusion that Mike had all of the cards stacked in his favor.

  Mike let this sink in for a moment, “Gentlemen, I’m not trying to be the asshole here. I’m trying to make sure that we all survive to see the sun coming up tomorrow, understand? “

  Murphy spoke first, “Yeah, well, that’s not the way the Colonel sees it. He thinks you’re undermining his authority.”

  Joseph spoke next, “And he’s the boss. We follow orders.”

  Mike stood up, moved back, and let the two men get up from the ground.

  Mike nodded, “I can appreciate that. Loyalty is a good thing, and speaks well of you. But his authority is derived through the government of the United States. You see anything resembling the United States here, now? The question now becomes, would you rather have an administrator in charge, or a trained killer and leader of men who knows how to survive and live off the land?”

  Mike wasn’t an ego guy and hated acting like one. He just wanted to get the job done. Right now, he knew that he and his team were the only thing standing between the people in the facility below and total disaster.

  Murphy and Joseph looked at Mike, and then turned their heads slowly to look at each other. Mike could see the cogs turning in their minds as they assimilated this information.

  Mike slid the magazines out of both weapons and checked the chambers. A bullet ejected from Murphy’s pistol, but not from Joseph’s, “Joseph, you need to make sure you always have one in the chamber. It could be the difference between life and death.”

  Mike handed the empty pistols back, “Gentlemen, all I ask, is that you do the right thing, and figure out what that is mosh schosh. People may get killed if you don’t. Hell, people may still be killed, but at least you’ll feel better about yourselves if you stand up for all of us, not just for that ego maniac, or that psychotic, Jamison.”

  The two security policemen didn’t say anything to Mike. They turned, holstered their pistols, and walked back to the tunnel. When they got far enough away from Mike, they started talking to each other. He couldn’t hear what they were saying.

  Mike knew that Mitchem would be back with more people, and better odds. Next time, nobody would be off guard. Mike didn’t know what else to do, other than what he was already doing, which was look to the safety of these people. He would probably end up getting shot in the back by Mitchem, or one of Mitchem’s people.

  He walked back to the cave, and motioned to Pang to join him.

  “Lieutenant, there might be some big nasties out there soon. We have the mech armor, and we’ll be the primary defense, but you’ll need a secondary at the mouth of the tunnel, in the cave, about five people that are willing and able to shoot. You’ll also need a third line of defense down in the warehouse.”

  Pang nodded, “Mike, please call me Jennifer, or Jen. I don’t think rank is going to be very important in the future.”

  Mike agreed, “Okay, well, you all know the names of my team. First names it is.”

  Jen waved at Stein to come over to them, “Robert, I want you to go down and get some of the guys up here, pistols and M4s. We need people that can shoot to guard the elevator shaft at the bottom, too. Make sure they have standoff distance, and can retreat to the stairwell on the other side of the gym. Use the M4/203s. If you can get Security guys, so be it. If not, then the administration people you work with, or any civilians that might have training.”

  Mike could tell that the young Airman was struggling with the fact that Pang was sending him down to sort things out in the warehouse. Mike reached over, and squeezed the young Airman’s shoulder. “Robert, you can do this. We’re depending on you.”

  Robert swallowed, “Sir, Ma’am, no worries, I won’t let you down.”

  Pang smiled, “If I thought you would, I wouldn’t put you in charge of defending the warehouse.” Robert’s shoulders weighed down with the new responsibility.

  It was Mike’s turn to reassure the Airman. “Don’t worry; Lieutenant Pang will take charge up here, so send her quality Airmen that she can depend on. Downstairs, the people don’t need to be as steady, they just need to shoot anything that comes out of the elevator shaft, and be ready to run into the stairwell if things don’t go well.”

  Mike stopped talking, cocked his head and reached to his ear, “Oh, hang on, Everett’s on comms.”

  “Ah, Mike, you there? Please respond.”

  “Yeah Everett, I’m here, what’s happening.”

  Everett sounded worried, “Ah, well, there seems to be a new player on the remains of the carcass. It’s as big a bear, has a bad disposition, and is running off the other critters. Oh, and that’s the good news. The bad news, there seems to be a pack of them.”

  Mike responded, “On a scale of bears, are we talking black bear, grizzly, or polar?”

  “Mmmmm, I would say grizzly. Definitely brown bear, Kodiak size.”

  “Dammit,”If Everett was concerned, Mike was concerned. This was not a good turn of events, at all.

  He turned to Pang, “You need to get security here, as quick as possible.”

  She and Stein noted the concern in his face, “What’s wrong?”

  He motioned towards the front of the cave, “Large pack of very an
gry, bear sized carnivores out there. You need to get some shooters up here, and get them quickly.” Mike turned and hurried to the front of the cave. He could hear growling. Mike heard Pang running Robert off to take care of organizing security.

  It was twilight, and he could see large shapes around the bloody meat. What he saw and heard was chilling. As he climbed his mech armor, he could see more details,and hear deep, angry growling as the animals challenged each other. It was a large pack of animals as big as bears, thickly muscled. They were hungry, and they were fighting to establish dominance.

  Everett spoke up, “Mike, you better get your ass in the mech armor. I think we’re up wind of them. When you came out, a few of them stopped and started sniffing the air.”

  Mike had no intention to be the next meal for these large carnivores. He thought about Jo and the baby. He promised Jo he would be back. If there was a way to get back, he was going to stay alive to make sure he found it. Mike cycled open the hatch, and climbed into the armor. He put on his helmet, and ran up the systems. He could still smell the vomit. The IR and Starlight vision cycled up, and he could see the bear pack. There were a few smaller scavengers struggling around the pack to get to the food, but they were quickly run off or killed.

  Mike did an ACE call, ammunition, casualty, and equipment. The team reported in, all green across the board. Nobody was having problems with equipment yet. Equipment failure was Mike’s biggest fear. If these big hunks of carbon fiber and titanium armor stopped working, there was no chance of survival for any of them.

  The buffet continued, the bear pack snarling and hitting each other with paws the size of dinner plates. Mike wondered what pack life was like when the pack didn’t have this much food. Then he realized, they have to have this much food all the time. Which meant there has to be an ecosystem that could feed this many large, mean carnivores. “Fellas, you realize, that from the size and amount of this pack of carnivores, there has to be some pretty big prey out there.”