by Art DeForest
The urgent need to flee conflicted with the sympathy Alex was feeling for Keisha. He knew exactly how she felt after taking a life. Putting his hands to either side of her face, he gently forced her to meet his gaze. “You saved my life. That’s what you’ve done.” He said with quiet conviction. “Now get up.” he said, his voice becoming stern. “We need to move. I’m not sure why we don’t already have more soldiers breathing down our necks.” Keisha stared back blankly for a moment. He saw her brain re-engage and she gave a jerky nod as comprehension of their situation reasserted itself.
Quickly, almost spasmodically she started to uncoil from her huddled position. Alex rose with her, steadier on his feet now. Pain was throbbing through his skull as if a mad musician was beating a huge bass drum inside his head. He pushed the pain aside as best he could, turning around he retrieved Keisha’s pistol and tried to hand it to her. She recoiled from his offering, revulsion clouding her features. “No, I….I can't she said in a strangled whisper. “Never again.” she said almost to herself.
Knowing they didn’t have time to argue, Alex safed the pistol and put it in his waistband. He quickly found and re-holstered his own pistol and retrieved his rifle from where it had landed during the scuffle. “C’mon let’s go” he said as he held out his hand to her. Taking a deep breath she reached out and took his hand, allowing him to lead her down towards the mouth of the ravine.
Alex left Keisha a short distance up the draw as he drew her pistol from his waistband. He proceeded cautiously to the mouth of the defile. Checking the surrounding forest quickly for more soldiers, he motioned for her to join him. Upon reaching the valley floor, Alex left Keisha momentarily in a patch of grass. Picking up a small branch that still had leaves on it he walked a short distance up the ravine then methodically wiped away all traces of footprints he could find in the early light. Hopefully that would delay discovery of the body and give them a little more time to escape. That done he tossed the branch and they took off through the trees heading away from where he knew the bulk of the soldiers to be. They moved quickly but silently through the trees, keeping under cover as much as possible. Alex expected the scout craft or more soldiers to make an appearance at any moment. The rumble they heard a little while later was much louder and more ominous than that of a scout ship.
“Assault shuttle incoming. Squad sound off status.” said Sergeant Alvarez into the early mornings steel grey light. It had been a long night. Alvarez tried to rub the grit out of his eyes as he waited for a response. “2 clear, 3 clear,” the men continued the status update by the numbers until finally, “9 clear,........” Alvarez waited impatiently for a few moments before barking into his comm, “Damn it Granger. Report! Silence filled the airwaves. “10 report!” he said, his rising anger apparent in his voice. After a moment more he clicked his comm once more. “9 go check 10’s position.” he barked. Alvarez started making his way towards the end of the skirmish line from his spot at the center. He was drawing close when 9 reported back in. “9 reporting, no sign of 10 sir.” Alvarez grumbled under his breath for a moment as he continued towards Grangers last known position.
He was almost to the mouth of the wash when he heard a new voice over his communicator. “Walsh to Alvarez. Come in.” Walsh sounded professional but irritated. He had expected Alvarez to comm him with a report before this and his annoyance at the tardiness of the communication bled through into his voice. “Alvarez here. Go ahead sir.” he replied cautiously. He knew the news he had was not going to be taken well.
“We’re 2 minutes out. Report.” the commander said sharply. Sergeant Alvarez took a deep
breath and bit the bullet. “Sir, one of my men failed to report during the last status check. Myself and private Simpson are at his last known position. He seem’s to have disappeared.” Walsh’s eyes opened wide in momentary shock. “Disappeared?” he said incredulously. “People don’t just disappear sergeant!” he exclaimed. “Yes sir, I know sir.” said Alvarez nervously. “We can’t find any sign of him.” Walsh switched comm channels over to the pilot of his assault shuttle. “Lieutenant Brown, track Sergeant Alvarez’s locator and set us down as close as possible to his location.” commanded Walsh. “Aye sir!” responded the pilot.
Switching back over to the troop channel he issued orders. “Sergeant, hold your position until my arrival. Send 9 back to his position and keep the rest of your line in place and hyper vigilant. Something’s not right. “Yes sir, I’m on it.” said the sergeant and immediately began relaying the Commander’s orders.
The assault shuttle sat down approximately 200 meters from the sergeants location at the valleyside edge of the forest. Walsh made his way quickly through the trees to where Alvarez's lost soldier had gone missing. Alvarez was facing up into the hills, vigilantly keeping watch. “What have you found sergeant?” asked Walsh “No sign of the missing man so far sir.” said Alvarez apprehensively. “ I've maintained position as you asked sir.”
Walsh walk around the area slowly before coming to a stop at the mouth of the ravine. Thinking this was the most likely direction for the missing soldier to have gone, Walsh stared at the ground intently. he could see no sign of footprints, but there did seem to be some slightly disturbed ground. Heading back towards Alvarez he reached for his comm.
“Commander Walsh to platoon 1, deploy to my position.” Within moments 30 men were facing the commander and the sergeant. “ squads 2 & 3 form along the skirmish line. 20 meters spread 2 kilometers back into the hills report any findings. Squad one you're with me.”
The signature rumble from a scout ship caught the attention of Walsh and Alvarez. Scout 2 was returning from refueling. Switching channels to aerial control Walsh commed, “Commander Walsh to Scout 2, initiate search pattern, 2 kilometer radius centering on my position.” Finally Walsh's eyes came down to lock with those of Sergeant Alvarez.
He considered the sergeant briefly. Worry and exhaustion were written on the man’s face. “I know your squad has had a long night sergeant, but I want you to gather your men and fan out . Scour the forest for one kilometer in both directions from this point.” said Walsh in a slightly warmer tone. “Yes sir” replied the sergeant with a reasonably sharp salute. We don't want to return to base missing one of our own.” Alvarez reached for his comm and called his men to his position.
Looking up the draw Walsh gestured to squad one. “Split up. Get on top, either side of the wash. Proceed abreast of me in a 10 meter skirmish line as I walk up the bottom of the draw.” The men saluted sharply in response. “Yes sir!” rang through the woods. The squad’s sergeant quickly divided his men into half squads. That done, he took one half squad and his corporal took the other. They quickly scrambled up either side of the steeply sloping side of the draw, quickly getting into position.
When the men were properly situated, commander Walsh entered the draw and proceeded slowly along the bottom, looking for any sign of the missing private. About 10 meters in he started seeing footprints. In one fairly wide and sandy patch of the bottom, he could clearly see the prints of private Granger’s standard issue boots headed up the draw. He also noticed that there were two sets of footprints headed back down the draw. Neither belonged to private Granger. A feeling of dread started to clench commander Walsh’s stomach as he contemplated the prints.
His feeling of dread was confirmed 20 meters further up the draw as he came across the corpse of private Granger. The body was sprawled awkwardly in the sandy dirt of the wash. A large puddle of blood around the private’s head had soaked deeply into the chewed up ravine floor. Commander Walsh grimaced at the combined scent of blood and bowels, relaxed in death. He bent down to inspect the body carefully. Granger had what appeared to be a contact bullet wound to the side of his head the edges of the wound in a starburst configuration with the black of powder burns plain to see. The exit wound was huge. The bullet had taken a large part of the skull and brain with it, spraying gore up the side of the draw.
Further inspection s
howed scraped and bruised knuckles on Granger’s left hand. That coupled with the disturbed terrain around the body showed that Granger had put up a fight. “Why hadn’t he just shot the attacker?” He pondered. It was at this point that he noticed the corpse was still warm and all of the private’s weapons and equipment seemed to be accounted for. Seething with anger at having lost another man, commander Walsh toggled his communicator. “Sergeant Alvarez, regroup your men and rendezvous back at the mouth of the draw.” he said in a clipped tone. “Aye sir.” came the quick response.
Looking up he saw the men of Squad 1 staring down at what remained of private Granger. Most wore somber expressions on their faces. Quite a few looked nauseated. “Come down, let's carry him back to his brothers.” said Walsh, his tone bleak.
Squad 1 carefully wrapped Granger’s remains in a rain poncho as best they could. Forming up, they carried him with as much respect as possible the 30 meters back to the mouth of the draw. All the color drained from the face of sergeant Alvarez when Walsh’s squad trooped grimly out into the open. His mouth worked, but no words came out. He and his men just stared in stunned silence as the men of Squad 1 lowered the body reverently to the ground. Every soldier understood that death in action was possible. It was a different story to be slapped so brutally in the face with the fact it could really happen to you. Sergeant Alvarez finally found his voice. With as much poise as he could muster he asked. “Sir, what happened?”
“He was shot sergeant” said Walsh, his voice grim. “It looks like the fugitives caught him alone and murdered him.” Sergeant Alvarez’s face went from shocked surprise to cold rage in a heartbeat. His fists clenched as blood suffused his face. An angry muttering could be heard from the men behind him. “I’ll hunt these son’s of bitches down personally sir. Nobody does this to my men.” he said through clenched teeth. “That’s the idea sergeant.” Walsh replied. “We’ll track them down and they’ll pay.” he said with a determined look on his face.
“For now sergeant, I’ll bring back scout 2. Head back to base and take care of Granger.” Sergeant Alvarez nodded with a quick jerk of his head, his body shaking with rage.. “Yes sir. We’ll take care of our man, but make no mistake commander, we want these bastards and we have no problem burning down this whole damned planet to get that done” he ground out. His squad growled it’s agreement. Walsh considered the man as he called in Scout 2. He admired the man’s spirit he just hoped he’d be able to control him
4
Alex and Keisha sat huddled under the camo cover as a scout ship flew past once again. It wasn’t so hard hiding from the ships anymore. No, the hard part was forcing their exhausted muscles to move once the ship was out of range. The two young people were being slowly ground down by the action of the last few days. Constant movement interspersed with moments of stark terror had them at the limit of their endurance. Alex relaxed for a moment after the sound of the ship had faded. He swore he’d closed his eyes for a second when a hand shook him gently. “Alex, wake up! This is no time to sleep.” whispered Keisha urgently. “Huh...wha….I’m awake, I’m awake!” he said, jerking to his feet abruptly, sending the camo cover flying and staring around wildly.
Keisha’s lips turned up slightly in an effort to grin, but fatigue made the attempt halfhearted at best. Using a tree for support she struggled to her feet as well. Standing up straight, she looked down at herself. The last few days had definitely taken a toll on her wardrobe as well as her mind and body. Small tears could be seen here and there. Product of the constant need to move quickly through brush choked forest. She shuddered a bit as she noticed the blood on the backs of her hands and dotting the sleeves of the flannel shirt she had put on for warmth. “Geewhiz, was that only last night?” her muddled brain contemplated idly. Shaking herself, she looked up at Alex. “We can’t keep this up for much longer.” she said. Alex returned her gaze blankly for a moment before his head started to nod slowly in agreement.
He straightened to his full height before stretching hugely. Filthy as he was, Keisha couldn’t help but notice the muscles flexing and contracting under his dirt stained shirt. Stretch completed, Alex took stock and tried to focus his scattered thoughts. “We’ve come about 3 kilometers since we left the hills.” he said speculatively. After about another kilometer the hills are going to turn and start heading east. Not far past that turn, Andrews creek runs down to the river. If we can follow it and reach the river, there’s enough cover there that I can set up a blind that should keep us hidden for the night. The soldiers seem to be concentrating on the forest and foothills. I don’t see much of anything out in the valley.” he looked up at Keisha then, trying to gauge her opinion. “That sounds like a long way to go at this point,” she sighed. After a minutes thought however, she looked up and just shrugged, “but I can’t think of anything better.” Alex nodded and was just bending down to gather the camo cover when they heard a ship’s rumbling approach as it headed back towards them.
They dived back under the camo cover as quickly as their aching bodies would allow. The ship came streaking overhead much faster than it had been going during its search pattern. It flew past without even slowing, heading back up the valley towards where the soldiers were searching. Alex was puzzled briefly about the ships antics then suddenly let out a sigh. “They must have found the body.” He winced as he said it, glancing at Keisha. He knew that the death of the soldier had torn her up and he chastised his tired brain for bringing up the incident. A bitter expression briefly touched Keisha’s face, but she just shrugged in agreement, sighing, she said “I guess we better get going then.”
Once more packing the camo cover, they set off down the forest line fronting the hills. Moving from one piece of cover to the next and trying not to leave any sign of their passage was becoming second nature at this point. True to Alex’s memory, the line of hills abruptly turned eastward as the large valley of the Clearfall river intersected the much narrower Carlson creek valley. They came to the edge of the forest and looked out over the river valley. They could see the line of trees and brush that showed the path of Andrews creek as it meandered it way towards the Clearfall down in the center of the larger valley. “Call it 4 kilometers” said Alex, judging the distance. “Can you make it?” he asked in concern. A bit of her old spirit re surfaced as she bumped him with her shoulder. “I can if you can, mister falls asleep while trying to hide.” she smirked. Alex gave her a rueful expression, but secretly he was relieved to see a little of her strong personality re asserting itself. They retreated a little way back into the trees and resumed their journey.
___
Commander Walsh stood at his console aboard the assault shuttle. He stared at the high aerial view of the terrain surrounding Carlson Springs in frustration. The search back up into the hills and in the forest immediately surrounding the draw where Granger had died had yielded nothing but a few footprints here and there in the rocky brush infested ground. Now he was stuck trying to figure out where they’d run off to. His immediate guess was that they had continued south either continuing on in the forest or possibly cutting across the hills and coming down into the river valley further away from Carlson Springs and his base of operation. His greatest fear quite frankly was that they would escape the pulse zone and be able to make contact with the planetary authorities.
It was more than 200 kilometers down river to the east to reach the capital of Harvest, but there were a few,... a surprising few actually..., homesteads between the town and the city. Most of the homesteads in between were on the outskirts of Harvest. There were a few on the edges of Carlson Spring’s influence, but they had been in the pulse’s area of effect and their residents were rounded up with the rest. He once again wanted to tear out his hair in irritation at having missed just two people and how much lost sleep they were causing him.
The isolation of Carlson Springs along with the reasonably large vein of irisium nearby were the main reasons it had been chosen to be in the first wave of raids that were
planned for the systems near the Association. They calculated that it would take up to a week before an alarm was given about losing communications with the town and as much as another week before an order made its way through the bureaucracy and to get a patrol from the planetary authorities to the town. However, someone raising the alarm with details of armed intruders invading with ships and abducting people out of their homes could make their operation envelope close quickly as the authorities could be compelled to move more quickly. It was absolutely imperative that no one discover the identity or their place of origin before they were prepared to defend themselves against their larger neighbors.
This was the foremost thought in his mind when his comm unit chirped announcing a call from Colonel Sampson. “What do you have to report commander?” Sampson asked peremptorily when Walsh answered his comm. “No sight of the fugitives so far sir. I was just considering plans for expanding the search.” said Walsh. “They can’t be allowed to escape the area commander and they seem to be getting ridiculously close to accomplishing that feat it seems. “Yes sir, that’s my concern as well.” he responded. “And do you have a plan to prevent that unfortunate circumstance commander?” asked Sampson archly. “Yes sir I do.” he said with conviction, trying to cover his tail by desperately coming up with a plan on the fly.
“I believe the fugitives are going to stay in the hills for now and head southeast towards their capital until they believe they are out of our search area. Only then, I believe, will they come out of the protection of the hills in order to move faster along their planned escape route.” There was a pause while Colonel Sampson pondered his subordinates thoughts. “Why won’t they simply continue on through the trees?” he questioned. “It’s worked well for them so far.” Sampson said consideringly. “It did work well for them.” replied Walsh. “Right up until they hit our sensor line.” he said as inspiration struck him. “I believe they discovered the sensor line and know what it means. I think they will stick to the hills in an attempt to circumvent any further emplacements. For that reason I am planning to move my ground teams and search craft to the hills south of our current position.” He said with as much authority as he could muster.
