by Mark Harritt
The Between
This book is the third in the series, Earth Exiles. The first book is
‘On Distant Shores.’
Copyright 2015 Mark Harritt
Published by Mark Harritt at Amazon
Amazon Edition License Notes
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Acknowledgement
People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
– Richard Grenier –
This book is dedicated to those rough men and women who stand guard.
I want to thank my readers. Your kind words inspire me to put pen to paper, or, in this case, finger to keyboard.
Table of Contents
Title
Acknowledgment
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Epilog
About Mark Harritt
Other books by Mark Harritt
Connect with Mark Harritt
Chapter One
Mike sat in the slow transition of dark to light, twilight to dawn, emotionally exhausted, staring at the shattered radio that Rob had been carrying. The ambush had gone well, the grey men quickly targeted and destroyed. The only exception had been the scouts, who had been hunted and killed when they tried to retreat after the ambush.
He sat there, staring at the blood on his hands. He looked at the body and the muddy, bloody expanse around it. He was always amazed at how much blood the human body held. He saw it time and time again, people he’d killed, other soldiers that had died. But it was a lot more personal this time. But this time, it was Rob. They’d survived a lot together, and one stray bullet had taken him from the team.
One stray bullet. The ground and trees around Rob didn’t even look like they’d been touched. The team was elated at their success until they realized that Rob had been shot. Rob’s death hit him hard, like a punch in the stomach. Now, he felt ashamed. He felt hollow. He had no tears for his friend as he looked at Rob’s unmoving body. He’d lost friends fighting the Sunni and Shia in Iraq, and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Unable to mourn, he wondered if all that death was changing him.
Mike was frustrated, horrified and angered by the turn of events. It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. They hadn’t exactly been expecting a walk in the park, but they didn’t think they’d be walking into combat. They’d just wanted to move up into the mountains and find a better place to live, one where they didn’t have to worry about the gigantic predators of the low lands. They’d hoped to establish trade with Matki’s people. None of them had any idea that they’d be walking into combat. Robots and grey men that wanted to kill them, and still, Mike didn’t know why they were being targeted.
He knuckled his eyes and then studied Rob’s face. Another father that would never know his child. Mike was so tired of this, of the lives that had been shattered by war. Michelle would be devastated, especially now, after she and Roberto had made up. That was going to be one tough conversation.
Mickey was inconsolable. His face glistened in the dawning light, wet with tears. He and Rob had been inseparable. They’d been friends and drinking buddies for years, starting in the 82nd Airborne, through to their assignment to the Delta NEST team.
Mickey had been heroic in his efforts to save Rob. He’d applied every trick he’d learned when from his rotations in the Chicago emergency rooms. It just wasn’t enough. If he’d had a twenty first century hospital to work in, he might have saved Rob. The bullet had nicked an artery, and Rob bled out, going into shock quickly, too quickly for Mickey to save him.
Everett’s voice broke the silence of the night, “What do we do now?”
Mike raised his head and wearily looked over at Everett, “Well, we’ll have to bury him here. If we ever get a chance, we’ll come back for him.”
Mickey’s big hands clenched in fists, emotion raw on his face, “Dammit, dammit, dammit!” He looked up at Mike, “We aren’t even supposed to be here! This ain’t our place! What the hell are we doing here?” Mike knew that Mickey was talking about the time travel that had dumped them into the future. A freak accident with experimental equipment had sent the team and an entire Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA facility far into the future.
Mike knew that nothing he could say would console Mickey, “What can we do, Mickey? We didn’t ask for this, but here we are.”
“Fuck you, Mike,” Mickey’s hands clenched and unclenched. He didn’t say anything else.
Mike knew that Mickey was pissed at the world in general, not at him specifically, so he didn’t reply.
Tom came walking back to the group. He hadn’t said a word since Rob died, even more quiet than usual, more so than his laconic personality usually allowed. Mike was worried about him. What the hell could Mike say, though, with his lack of reaction to Rob’s death? He knew that people dealt with grief differently. Tom had dropped back into hunter mode. He’d gone out with Matki and some of the tribe members to scope out the landing zone where the grey men had infiltrated into the forest.
Mike looked up at him, “What’s up?” He was almost surprised when Tom answered him.
Tom shook his head, “They were gone by the time we got there. I guess they weren’t expecting the explosions, got antsy and decide to get the hell out of here.”
Mike slowly stood up, brushing at the blood stains that covered his uniform. He knew that they were permanent and never would disappear completely. As he stood, Matki appeared out of the brush. Mike looked at him, “Matki, you know your tribe can’t stay here, right?”
Matki nodded, “Yes, they knew right where we were. They know we’re here. We have to leave.”
Mike put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, “You have to leave now. We don’t know how many more are going to follow these people here. I’m so sorry about this. We brought them here.”
Matki shook his head, not willing to allow Mike to take the blame, “This is not your fault. I was with you. They tried to kill us with the mechanicals. Then they tried to kill us as we left the old city. And now they’re here, trying to kill us.” Matki looked into Mike’s eyes, “If they want war, we will give it to them. But first, we need to move our women and children away.”
Mike motioned for Matki to follow him. Tom fell in behind them. Mike walked back to the bodies lying in the dirt. The grey men had gone down hard, most of them wiped out by the claymore, and then the follow on assault with the grenades. The few that had been able tried to get away, but had been gunned down or filled with arrows.
Mike walked to one of the corpses. He bent down and picked up the gun that the grey man had carried. He turned to Matki, “Well, if you want to fight a war, we have supplies for you.” Mike held the grey man’s gun out, “Tom, you think you can figure out how this works?”
Tom took the weapon from Mike and looked at it, “Yeah, I’ll take a look at it. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. Some things are pretty basic.”
Mike pointed at Matki, “Okay, when you’re done, you need to teach Matki how they work, then he can teach the
rest of his tribe.”
Mike turned back to Matki, “Make sure your tribe doesn’t touch the firearms until Tom takes a look at them. Some of them may be inoperable from the claymore or grenade shrapnel. Once Tom gives you the okay, we can train your tribe members how to use them. They can start stripping the bodies of clothing and other gear, like the knives.” He thought about it for a moment, “And leave those other things, the ones that look like flashlights, alone until Tom gets a chance to check them out.”
He looked at both of them, “This has to go quick. The women and children need to start moving before dawn. They can use the cover of night to get as far away from here as possible. Send some of your men with them and send them to a place where you can find them. The rest of your men will catch up after they get all the weapons from the grey men.”
Everett and Mickey walked up. “What are we going to do, Mike?” Everett asked.
Mike looked at his team, “We have to do something to draw them off. It will be a slaughter if we don’t. I don’t know how many of them are going to infil this area, but we need to draw their attention away from the direction the women and children are traveling.”
Matki placed his hand on Mike’s forearm, “you won’t be the only ones. I’m staying, and I’ll get a few more to work with us as well.”
Mike shook his head, “Matki, you don’t have to do that. Your family needs you.”
“Mike, you don’t know this area. We do. You need our help,” Matki pointed out.
Everett broke in to the conversation, “Mike, he’s right. He knows this area, we don’t. We could very easily get trapped.”
Mike cursed, “I don’t want to get you caught up in this Matki. We brought you back so that you could be with your family. I never intended for this to happen.”
Tom spoke next, “Mike, you need to listen to Matki. We need their help. They know the terrain.”
Matki nodded, “And, Geonti and Caul know it even better than I do.”
Mike was torn. He looked at Mickey, the only one that hadn’t said anything, “What do you think?”
Most of Mickey’s tears had dried, and he wiped the rest away with his rough, callused hand. His face grew grim, and a growl rumbled up from deep in his chest, “I want to kill every last one of them.”
Mike nodded, “So do I.”
He paused, and ran his hand through his hair. He had no choice, not if he wanted to save the rest of the team, “Okay, first, we need a place to bury Rob where he won’t be disturbed. Then we need to check the new weapons. After that, I’m going to hand out our trade knives to anybody that wants them. They may need them soon. Then, we hand out the spoils of war.”
“What do you want to do about the grey men?” Everett asked.
“Strip them, leave them where they are. Maybe their corpses will make others reconsider,” Mike mused.
“You really think that?”
Mike shook his head, “No. I wouldn’t if it was my men. I’d go after who did it with everything I have.”
Everett pointed at Mike, “How do you want to play this? We can’t go at them head to head.”
Mike thought for a moment, “Well, I think we’re going to have to play this like the Apaches did. Snipe and move. Hit them when they’re in small groups. We don’t want to slug it out toe to toe. We don’t want them to to fix us in position, because they’ll be able to overrun us. Since we just took out a platoon of their men, they’ll probably bring in something bigger next time. I want to keep them on edge. We’re probably going to have to throw in some tricks from the Viet Cong as well.”
He spoke to Everett, “you’re the explosives guy now. Figure out how much we have and the best way to use it.”
He turned to Tom next, “same as usual. You’re going to engage them at long distance.”
Tom nodded, “Okay, I can do that. I think it’s in our best interest to wound instead of kill.”
Mike agreed, “Yeah, that’s standard Viet Cong tactics. One wounded and his buddies have to take him off the battlefield, taking them out of action as well.”
Mike put a hand on Mickey’s shoulder, “You need to carry Rob’s ‘203. Tom will have a weapon for standoff engagements, and I need you to carry one as well.”
Mickey hesitated, then nodded.
He turned to Matki, “Matki, you’re going to carry Mickey’s rifle. Caul and Geonti get new weapons from the grey men.” He hesitated a moment, “Matki, we need a remote place to bury Rob. I want to make sure the grey men don’t dig him up.”
Matki nodded, “I know a quiet place. They will never find him there.”
Mike looked at the team, “I know we don’t want to do this, but we have to leave him here, at least for a little while.”
Mickey shrugged, emotions warring across his face, “It’s not like we have a dust-off to take him home. Let’s get started.”
Mike turned to Matki, “You need to get the families moving.”
He turned and walked back to Rob’s body, studied his quiet, pale face, and then looked back at the team, “Okay, let’s get moving. We have a war to fight. I want payback.”
----------------------------------------------------
Russell Landberg was walking through the tunnels when he saw Joan and Michelle talking. Immediately, his hackles rose. He hated those stuck up bitches. He hated most of the women here, but the team whores were the worst. Still, he kept his feelings to himself.
As he walked toward them, he noticed that Michelle looked upset. Joan was trying to console her.
Joan put her hand on Michelle’s shoulder, “Look, you don’t have to worry. They know what they’re doing. If anybody stands a chance, it’s Rob and the team. You know they’re the best at what they do.”
Michelle nodded, but Russell could see that Joan’s words weren’t having the desired effect. Something was definitely wrong. He didn’t like them, but information was always important and acquiring information had helped him survive political infighting among the staff on old Earth. He put on his best face on to conceal how he really felt and walked over, “Hey, is there anything I can do to help? Is something wrong?”
Joan looked at Russell. She hesitated for a moment, as if she wasn’t quite willing to confide in him. Then she shook her head, “No, it’s okay. It’s just that it’s been a few days since we heard anything from the team.”
He smiled at them, “Well, they’ll be okay. They’re pretty well trained. Besides, it’s not like they’re down here fighting dragons. Hopefully, it’s not that dangerous up in the mountains.”
Once again, Joan looked conflicted, “Well, they’ve run into some trouble.”
Russell let a concerned look play across his face, “Really, what’s going on?”
Michelle suddenly started crying again. Joan put her arm around Michelle’s shoulder and turned her towards the women’s rooms. As she walked, she smiled at him over her shoulder, “I’ll tell you later Russell. We need to be going.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause any trouble,” he called after them.
Joan didn’t turn around, waving a hand at him over her shoulder
The look of concern dropped from Russell’s face, replaced by a sneer. Personally, he could give a damn about the team. He was so tired of everybody kissing the team’s collective ass. Russell couldn’t stand them. Plus, every damn woman here wanted to jump in the sack with them. He couldn’t get any action at all. Women he’d known for years just pretended he didn’t exist. It damn well pissed him off. He didn’t like the idea of spending the rest of his life not getting laid.
With luck, the team was dead already. Of course, if that happened, it didn’t necessarily mean that one of the women would be his. There were still too many men in the compound. Some of them were older, but the odds weren’t exactly in his favor. The old guys like Humpreys didn’t matter of course, but there was still a lot of competition. Too bad there wasn’t a way to even the odds.
Russell turned and started walking, and
then, started thinking. He pondered the future, and started running scenarios in his head. He thought about ways to take care of some of the competition. As he walked, ideas started coming to him. There might be a way, but he would need some help. He wasn’t the only one in the compound that didn’t have a girlfriend.
Some of the other guys were a little more vocal about the fact that there weren’t enough women to go around. Some of them were pretty upset about that fact. One of them worked security. Russell knew that there was no way he could take advantage of the situation by himself. If he could get a few others on his side though, there just might be a way that he could take advantage of the team’s absence.
In fact, if he did it right, even if the team survived and made it back, they might be too late. If Russell could take over before they came back, there would be nothing the team could do. The mechs were still in the compound. There was no way that the team could fight the mechs. The team might survive what they found in the mountains, but they would have a hell of a surprise when they got back.
Russell was deep in thought as he walked, and started making a list of men that he might be able to use. He started whistling as he walked.
----------------------------------------------------
Dappled sun created a checkerboard of shadow and light across the pine needles on the ground. The trees at the back of the compound that masked the box canyons swayed slowly in the breeze. Birds twittered as they flitted from tree to tree and bushy tailed rodents ran from tree to tree trying to find nuts to hoard. It was times like this that Jennifer could almost imagine that she was back home on old Earth. If she could just stay in these trees, she could almost imagine that the horrors of the past year hadn’t happened.
There was so much to do. They had to find more food. The engineers and fabricators were trying to create elevators to lift everything to the top of the cliff. It looked like the Ancient was sniffing around the valley again. God alone knew what that demented dragon had in mind for the future. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good for the compound.
