by Morse, K. A.
“You guys slept together didn’t you? Then you never called her! You are such a pig! And you didn’t tell your best friend,” I huff at him. How dare he not give me details? He knows I don’t know what sex is anymore.
He lets out a belly laugh now, “No, but I do think she’s tired of me hitting on her. Maybe you should try. You might get some play from her.”
“Well, she does have some nice tits,” I respond, waiting to see what his face does.
His face is priceless with his jaw dropped open. Like I'd really go after a woman. Well, maybe I would just to show him that I’m much cuter than he is.
“Plus I’m way sexier than you,” I add as Stasia comes back with his new drink.
“Alright, guys, you know what you want?” Stasia asks us in her sweetest voice, looking from me to Harris then back to me.
Harris pipes up, “We’ll have our mission meals, please.”
“Like I didn’t know that wasn’t coming. This isn’t one of your normal days,” she smiles at me.
I just nod my head in agreement like an idiot. She nods back and promptly goes to put our order in. Stasia knows mostly every meal we have on what day. So, if we come in on a different day, it’s a mission day. We don’t really try anything new. Harris and I exchange a bit of small talk while we wait for our food. Just as I’m about to say something witty, I’m very rudely interrupted.
“Sergeant Carter, I would still like to talk to you before our mission today,” Metzger informs me as I don’t break eye contact with Harris, afraid he’ll fly off the handle again.
“Like I told y’all earlier, if you want a briefing with us come to the hanger an hour before we are scheduled to leave,” I try to say as calmly as I possibly can. “As for now, I would like to enjoy my lunch with my best friend.”
“You said it wrong, dear, it’s boyfriend,” Harris gives them a look as he grabs my hand that’s on the table. For some reason, I don’t pull away. “So, fuck off, Jim. We’ll see you at eighteen-thirty,” then turns back to me without another word.
I hear Stasia’s voice from behind them. “Excuse me,” she says as she parts Metzger and Harmon to give us our food. She promptly sets it on the table and walks away.
“Oh, my God, y’all guys are going to eat that greasy food before our flight?” Harmon’s face is full of disgust as she looks at it.
“Our mission special is one of a kind and only made for us before we go out,” I explain to her. “It’s a burger, a piece of fried chicken, grilled onions, cheddar cheese, and pepper jack cheese. A shit-ton of pickles, ranch, and bbq sauce–all on a pretzel bun.”
I smash it down with my hand that Harris finally let go of and cut it in half with my knife. I grab half of it and shove it into my mouth taking the biggest bite I possibly can. Harmon’s face twists in disbelief. She and Metzger finally walk away, letting us eat in peace, and we devour our lunch like always.
Mission Time
Lacey Carter
Rocco is ready to rock and roll, as are Harris and I. Now we play the waiting game. We both got a catnap in before the flight tonight, since we are leaving so late and want to be as alert as possible. Once awake, I text Ella and let her know I should be home, hopefully, tomorrow night at the latest. I can’t tell her much more than that, and she knows not to ask.
Ella- Ok mom I love you.
Me- love you sweetheart. Oh and Harris does too.
Ella- ug… tell him ditto.
Me- Miss you already.
I turn my phone on silent then tuck it in my pants’ side pocket. Seventeen hundred comes and goes with no sign of Metzger. I let out a sigh, just like a man. They only want to talk when it's convenient for them. For some reason, I always get nervous before a mission. You would think after all these years, I wouldn’t get like that before I fly, but without fail, it happens. I always put on a good front for Harris, but the butterflies come every time. We go ahead and pull Rocco out of the hanger, so we can take flight soon. As Rocco is cleared, a black SUV pulls up close by.
Out hops Harmon and Metzger, then out of the passenger back side, steps a full-figured woman all in black. Her dark-brown hair is pulled back into a bun with a pen sticking out. She’s got a backpack and one suitcase on wheels. She adjusts her purple glasses before proceeding to walk toward us. Asshat Metzger doesn’t offer to help her at all, but Harris runs over to her to see if he can give a hand. This has to be the scientist Dr. Dumalski. From reading the info I got, I knew the third passenger was a woman. She is fucking gorgeous, if I was into women, she would so be my type. Letting out a laugh, I see everyone glance at me, and I just wave shyly. Ugh, why am I so awkward?
I go back to the hanger and double check I have all my gear. Also, it’s an excuse to hide my embarrassment. I see I haven’t gotten my M9 out of my locker, so I grab it and secure it in my flight jacket while also grabbing my two extra magazines that are loaded and ready for anything. I shove them into my pants’ pocket opposite my phone. Then I do a double check of the hanger to make sure nothing else is missed. Once I’m done, I jog back out to Rocco and Harris. Harris is already getting everyone settled into the black hawk. Metzger is still trying to be the boss, which is really pissing me the fuck off.
Now I get in Metzger’s face, “Okay, Metzger, you might outrank me and Harris, but once you step foot on Rocco, your ass belongs to me. So, I suggest you shut your fuckin’ mouth and let Harris do his job. Now take your seat and guard your scientist!” I’m yelling and pointing to the empty seat next to Dr. Dumalski. I turn away before he can reply. Getting in my seat in the cockpit, I put on my helmet/headset clipping my night vision onto my helmet and flip it up, just in case it's needed in this flight. I start hitting the startup sequence. Rocco is purring like a kitten, and we are ready to take flight. Once Harris joins me, I buckle in, knowing the mission is about to begin. The thumbs up from Harris tells me it’s go time.
“Hold on to your panties, ladies, you’re in for a ride. Yippie ki-yay, mother fuckers,” I say into the mic as we take off; Harris starts laughing.
Our flight is thankfully, uneventful; we looked at the radar before we left, and the weather wasn’t going to do anything. Only Harris and I know where we are going, well Dr. Dumalski probably does, too. She has to be going there for a reason. This mission is very hush, hush. So hushed that our orders were to not even tell the Rangers the location. The flight takes us about five and a half hours to get to the secret base, with one stop to refuel. Everyone got out to stretch their legs for a minute before we got back to the task at hand. It’s not on any map, and I know I hadn’t heard of this Fort Hutchinson before. Even saying it out loud is forbidden. The papers Commander Lockstone handed to me said not divulge any information and then shred them once we had it memorized. I’m not sure what brought this back to my mind. It's probably because we're so close to landing. We are pretty much radio silent other than the bit of chatter I can hear coming from the back, but I block out most of what's being said. Sometimes, I wish I had music to listen to.
“Alright, everyone, we are about to start descent. Make sure you are buckled up if you have somehow found yourself not,” I say over the headset.
I radio down to the base to let them know we are on our final approach. We don’t get any response from them. Even with no answer, we have no choice but to start our descent. We don’t have the fuel to go anywhere else but here. We are about thirty feet from the ground when all of a sudden, I see a blast of light, followed by something coming out of the ground fast and very bright.
“Harris did you se–?” I couldn’t finish my sentence because it is was like we got hit by an EMP, and Rocco is dead. “Harris! Hurry up and turn everything off and back on!” I scream as we start to free fall toward the ground.
No matter what we do, Rocco isn’t coming back on. All I can think of is Ella as we hit the ground hard. The force must have knocked me out because the next thing I know, I’m waking up to Metzger pulling me out of the Blackhawk. With a large grunt from h
im, I’m back on the ground.
“Really? I’m not that heavy,” I stare daggers at him. “M4 and ammo,” I mumble as I try to free myself from Metzger’s grip since he’s dragged me clear of Rocco.
“I already got it, sweet cheeks,” Harris’s voice says from behind me as he crawls out of Rocco
“Oh, but your fat ass couldn’t help me out? Assface!” I’m so furious that he hasn’t helped me out of our downed Blackhawk. “Call me sweet cheeks again, and I’ll rip your lips off.”
“Yeah, I would have, but I had to wait for your fat ass to get out of the way, so I could get out at all. My side was smashed worse, making it to where we couldn’t open the doors at all.”
“I told you your ass was half the weight capacity,” I say to him, sticking out my tongue then let out a laugh. I grab my side and wince in pain.
“Oh my, lovers’ quarrel?” a super light, sweet, southern voice behind me inquires.
I want to laugh harder, but my side won’t let me. I slowly turn around to see Gertrude smiling at me.
“Oh no, we are definitely not,” I say, pointing to Harris. “Just great friends.”
“That’s not what those two told me,” Gertrude replies as she motions toward the Rangers who are now retrieving Gertrude’s things.
A smile spreads across my face at her words, “Oh, you mean what was said at the diner. No, he’s just my best friend. He’s as single as they come.”
“I thought you guys were engaged. The ring on your finger and all,” she inquires now with a smile.
“Yes, I can’t bring myself to take it off. It means Jason’s really dead. It’s been seven years, but when you bury an empty box, it’s hard to think your husband's really gone,” I say, looking at the ground for a moment then get my head back into the game. “What the hell happened?” I ask, now looking to Harris who’s back out of Rocco and coming to hand me my gear.
“Felt like a shock wave from whatever was launched out of that bunker over there,” Harris explains, and he points towards where we saw that missile or rocket come out.
Metzger now steps in between us, “Now I’m in charge. Your mission has failed. I’ll take it from here.”
I want to smack the smirk off his face, but now I’m in his face. If he thinks he can make me feel threatened, he’s wrong.
“For one, my mission is not over, dickface! So, you’d better back the fuck off, you little bitch.” I’m now jabbing my finger into his chest, but not once have I lost eye contact with him. “The mission is over once I get you to the Commander on this base, fuckhead. So, don’t you ever try to take over my command, or I will make you walk the mother fuckin’ plank! You got that, boy?”
“Okay, Sergeant Carter. Then what’s the plan?” I hear Harmon pipe up behind me to try and break the tension.
I make sure no one has any serious injuries, first and foremost, before we do anything else. Once everyone is checked and fine we start our trek to the base, also to see where the hell that missile came from. Someone knew we were coming, so nothing should have been going out that could have knocked us out of the air. My mind is racing with so many questions. I ignore the pain in my side even though it feels worse. I can’t show I’m hurt when I have to lead them all. Especially to give Metzger the satisfaction that I might need his help.
The walk felt like the base was a lot farther away than it looked in the chopper. Once we get to the guard tower, there isn’t anyone posted there. I look to Harris. He’s looking at me. Metzger goes into the tower to see what he can find.
“There’s a body here, and blood everywhere!” he yells out to us.
“Alright, guns up, we need to be on guard,” I command them as I bring my M4 up into position wincing in pain as I do. Damn side.
I start scanning the area to see what could have done that to the guard on duty. Nothing jumps out at me right away. We enter the base but are unsure where we need to be going, so we head toward the first building. We are in a circle, with Gertrude in the middle to keep her safe since she has no weapons. Her roller bag is making a shit-ton of noise.
“Metzger, I’m going to need you to pick up that fucking suitcase. It’s making too much noise,” I tell him as I grit my teeth when the wheels squeak.
He grabs the bag real quick and slings it over his shoulder. Thankfully, he didn’t argue with me. Once we get into the building, we see there’s blood everywhere the moonlight hits. It appears the lights are also out everywhere.
“Harris,” I whisper “please tell me you got your flashlight,” with a sense of urgency in my voice.
“But of course,” Harris replies as he whips it out of his left breast pocket, and I do the same, both of us turning them on. Metzger hesitates to take the lead.
“Metzger, please don’t tell me you’re afraid of the dark,” I question, trying not to laugh in the process.
He just grunts at me. We clear the lobby, finding no bodies, just blood. There’re drag marks on the ground like someone has been hurt and dragged to safety.
“Doctor, have you been here before? Do you know where we need to take you?” I turn to her and inquire, accidentally shining the light in her face in the process.
“This is all new to me. Someone was to meet me as soon as we landed to get me settled in,” she explains to us, looking anywhere but at me.
“So, why can’t you look at me when you answer?” I demand, now furious; she knows something she isn’t telling us.
“Carter, you need to calm down. Can't you see that she's scared?” Harmon pipes up, stepping between Gertrude and myself.
“Who the hell isn't scared right now? We get knocked out of the sky from some kind of EMP pulse aftershock thing. Now we enter this base that has no power, and there’s blood everywhere. So, we all need to be fuckin’ scared, Harmon,” I express to her, my voice cracking a bit. I turn back around, and we start down the hallway to our left.
We follow the blood trail to the first open room with a body torn to pieces. We clear it and move on to the next, repeating until we clear the whole floor. Bodies have been found few and far between. Once we get the first floor cleared, we have to decide if we go up or down. There doesn’t seem to be any blood going upstairs, but we do see a line going down, so we follow it.
“We will cover more ground if we split up,” Metzger spouts out, I give him a nod in agreement. I use my flashlight to see what these halls might hold.
Then Harris hisses back, “Well, you guys get Gertrude.” He grabs my arm and we move down the hallway to the right. Once again, we go through each room to clear them. At a dead end, we start making our way back when all of a sudden, we hear a blood-curdling scream. Harris and I are now in a run, our guns still out in front of us. Halfway down the hallway we have just inspected, gunshots can be heard. This stops us dead in our tracks. After we only hear two shots, we are back into a sprint. I slip on a bit of blood as we come around the corner, now heading the way Harmon and Metzger have gone with Gertrude.
I start calling out for them in a hushed voice, “Metzger, Harmon, Dr. Dumalski, where the hell are you guys?” I can feel the fear in my voice this time.
Harris takes the lead, and I keep repeating myself again and again. About halfway down, I finally get a reply. Metzger appears in the doorway, covered in blood and motioning for us to follow him. We step into the room that he leads us in to find Harmon covered in blood also. Gertrude is putting a bandage around Harmon’s forearm.
“What the hell happened here?” I blurt out when I see Harmon.
She winches in pain, “Damn fucker came outta nowhere and bit the hell out of my arm!” Harmon explains through the pain. “I’ll be fine. Doc got me all fixed up after Metzger took him out. A round to the chest, then one to the head.”
Harris moves in closer to see the guy bit right through her jacket. She pulls it down over the bandaged area.
“How in the heck was he strong enough to bite through your jacket to take a chunk of it and your arm? That’s hella scary!” Now
he looks nervous, starting to pace the small room.
Looking around I see this room is a lab. In one corner, sits a cage. It’s big enough to hold a human, but I pray he wasn’t what was in there. God only knows what experiments were going on at this base. It has to be one of their secret military bases that is dedicated to bio-weapons. With all the hush-hush around the base I’ve been waiting for someone to sneak up behind me with knock-out gas or a syringe that has a drug called ‘forget me not.’ A laugh almost escapes my lips, but I choke it back down. I’m too scared to do a crazy laugh in front of everyone. Being in charge, I can’t show them the fear I feel, no matter what.
“So, have you guys found anyone else alive, but not crazy?” I inquire as I take a seat next to Harmon at an empty desk.
“No, he was the first one alive, but crazy as hell,” Gertrude pipes up from behind me now.
“Ladies, we need to get moving,” Harris tells us, I can see the fear in his eyes.
“We don’t know what else might be lurking behind the other doors. We need to clear this level or get the hell out of this mother fucker. I know I would like to get laid at least one more time before I die. I know you need to as well, Carter.”
“Um . . . but not by your ass,” I spit out quickly. “I do want to get back to my daughter in one piece.”
The Rain
Trevor Metzger
We cleared the last of the floor then headed back up to the main floor where only more dead bodies were found. I have decided it is time to go to where the rocket came from. We need to see if anyone is in the launch room. Someone has to be there, or was, to launch whatever it is they did. It takes us a bit to get there, as it’s farther away than it looked. I take the lead with Harmon next to me. I wasn’t giving Carter any more options. Now she’s going to listen to me, as I outrank her. For some reason when I get to put my two cents in, my mouth won’t open. If it does no words will come, and my brain is a muddled mess. I have never had a woman make me feel like this. What the fuck is wrong with me?
