Caterpillar Without A Callsign

by Isaac Hooke

  I considered taking out Gansükh and dying with him right there. Surrender just wasn't in my blood, you have to understand. I didn't need them to take me away and broadcast my beheading for the world to see. That wasn't how I wanted to go. It would kill my family.

  But for some reason, I lowered my weapon. I guess it was something in Gansükh's eyes that swayed me. Gone was the pure hatred. Well, that's not true, some hatred was still there, but now I also saw grudging respect.

  "You are a true warrior," Gansükh said, in English. "A rarity among the occupiers. You fight on, even when it is hopeless, even when you are dying, and shot in the face. For your courage, I will let you and your men live today. But when we meet again, I will not be so merciful."

  With that, he and his group of men retreated.

  Big Dog hurried up the slope to my side.

  "Wow, you really wrecked that ATLAS," Big Dog said, surveying the twenty dead men and the toppled mech beside them. "You know how much those things cost, right?"

  "Nice of you to show up now," I said.

  "Hey, I was getting Fret to the corpsman. A bunch of them pinned us down near the Chieftain's house. Got here as quick as I could. Speaking of corpsman..." His expression turned grim as his gaze settled on my face.

  I had some witty repartee in mind, but before it left my lips I collapsed.

  Bomb showed up in the second ATLAS 5. "You guys are still here? What the hell?"

  "Get Mason out of here," Big Dog said, helping me up.

  "What's going on?" I said.

  "We called in an airstrike."

  Ah.

  The ATLAS mech glanced up as the thermobaric warheads dropped from the sky.

  "Mason, we gotta get out of here, now!" Bomb said.

  And so here we were, back at the beginning of this story.

  Well, there isn't much more to tell. Bomb scooped me up with his mech and sprinted down the hillside toward the village while Big Dog alternately jetted and ran along beside us.

  Above, the mountain just lit up as the thermobarics exploded a few meters before impact. Huge chunks of the mountainside came tumbling down behind us.

  Looking over my shoulder, I saw the devastation. About half the mountain seemed blown away. The bombs had been targeted with laser-sharp precision, and not one of the tribal dwellings had been affected by the aftermath. Well, except for the "house" we'd been ambushed in near the outskirts of the village. That one was buried in an avalanche of rocks, but there were only dead fanatics inside anyway.

  Still, despite the damage to the mountain peak, I knew Gansükh and his men had survived. The man was too cunning, too full of hate, to go down so easily. I still couldn't believe he'd let me live. There was honor among thieves after all, I guess.

  I soon found myself beside Fret, Lui and Facehopper in the hut of the chieftain, where our corpsman, Bender, worked on me.

  "You know, I don't think I want to pilot an ATLAS ever again," I said to no one in particular.

  Lui opened his eyes. "Hey bro."

  "Hey."

  Lui grinned. "Heard you got into a little fight with our warlord friend."

  "Just a little one." I bit my lip. Bender was doing some painful stuff to my cheek.

  "Who won?" Lui said.

  I reached out and gripped Lui by the hand. "We did, bro."

  "Good. Good." He gave me a pained smile, and closed his eyes. "Don't you ever do that again," he added groggily.

  "What, take your mech?"

  "No. Take it whenever you want. I mean getting shot in the face. Never again, you hear?"

  "I won't."

  For my act of valor, fighting on against insurmountable odds despite life-threatening injuries, I was awarded the Navy Cross.

  To be honest, I could care less about the medal. What was more important to me was the fact I had finally been given a callsign by my platoon brothers.

  They called me Snakeoil.

  You know, like those worthless medicines quack doctors sell?

  Because when you first saw me, your initial impression was that I was some short guy, almost a midget, a guy who didn't look like much. Too small to be a threat to anyone.

  But that was all snakeoil and trickery, because once the battle started you found out real quick that I was one of the deadliest of all. I put the snake in snakeoil.

  I still can't believe they gave me the Navy Cross, though.

  Ridiculous.

  I was awarded a medal for doing nothing other than fighting to save the lives of my platoon brothers. Something they would have done for me any day of the week.

  And there wasn't any snakeoil in that.

  Thank you for reading!

  I hope you enjoyed this short story from the ATLAS universe. "ATLAS," the full-length military science-fiction novel, is now out. Snakeoil, Lui, Facehopper, Big Dog and Fret all make an appearance when Special Warfare Command sends Alfa Platoon on a covert operation 8,000 light-years beyond the furthest reaches of explored space, on a mission that could save humanity. Or destroy it.

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  About the Author

  Isaac Hooke is the author of the military science fiction novel, ATLAS. His experimental genre-bending action novel THE FOREVER GATE was an Amazon #1 bestseller in both the science fiction and fantasy categories when it was released in May 2013.

  When Isaac isn't writing, publishing, and blogging, he's busy cycling and taking pictures in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

  He's been writing since 1997, and he has a degree in Engineering Physics.

  Also By Isaac Hooke

  Just Another Day

  Finding Harmon

  The Forever Gate Compendium Edition

  www.isaachooke.com