A Soldier in Love Page 7

  “You say, 500,000?” Serik’s eyes got large.

  Bock nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. I know you’re the guy for the job. I bet you could do it. You can just give me a little cut for telling you about, you now?

  Serik grinned. “Well, I don’t know… I got to take this luvoxko to Sora,” he paused to scratch his chin, “but I’ll think about it.”

  Capturing terrorists always helped him to chase the loneliness away. It gave him a sense of purpose. He wondered if it would be worth the trouble.

  Chapter Twelve

  Michelle looked up from the notebook to see Aaron come into her bunk. In his right hand he held a tattered notebook, it looked ancient. He gently shut the door behind him.

  “Well, it looks like you’re going to get your wish, Z,” Aaron said.

  “What do you mean?” Michelle gave him a concerned look.

  “We’re running low on supplies, lower than low. We are going to do some basic knife training, and then we will be more sedentary so we do not eat as much,” he said hoarsely.

  Fear and anxiety welled in Michelle’s stomach, She was afraid of what she was going to ask next, “We are low on supplies?”

  “Well, the molcos hunds broke into the supply shed,” he began.

  “Supply shed?” Michelle interrupted.

  “Yeah, we have one offsite, so I guess soldiers didn’t take from it.”

  “Glad, to know that they trust us. That’s idiotic to have a supply shed so far away,” Michelle spat.

  Michelle was a bit annoyed that Aaron was just freely given information while the rest of them were to remain stupid. She was annoyed but also thankful since he often relayed the information to her.

  “Well, we could grow our own food,” Aaron said.

  “Aaron… I don’t know.”

  “I don’t know either but I told The Commander you used to be a farmer on Earth and you’d know what to do,” Aaron said casually.

  “Aaron!” Michelle cried.

  “What? He totally believed me,” he grinned.

  “Geez, I’m going to get my ear cut off because of you,” Michelle sighed.

  “No, you won’t. I’d be the one to cut your ear off any way. You’ll be fine,” he reassured her.

  “Look, I listened to the IS and I don’t know if we have enough time to grow anything, we don’t have any seeds,” Michelle said solemnly.

  “We were supposed to get a supply drop months ago now, but The Commander can’t get a hold of anyone from the Earth Army. In fact, he can’t get a hold of anyone from anywhere,” Aaron said slumping down a bit. “But no more running,” he added with a weak smile.

  “We have to trap one of those molcos hunds,” Michelle said.

  “Look at this,” Aaron said with an intense look in his blue eyes as he flipped through the notebook to reveal a crudely drawn cage.

  Michelle shifted her weight and looked over the drawing. “Let’s get the supplies and let’s do this. Do you think you can get everything we need?”

  Aaron nodded.

  “Tell The Commander, I’m out gardening or some shit,” she grinned.

  “I’ll tell him you’re wrastlin’ cattle,” he grinned back.

  “No, but for real…” Michelle sighed.

  “Is there any way you can sneak out?” Aaron asked quickly.

  “I know a way,” Michelle smiled mischievously.

  ***

  “Call out, this is The Commander of the Earth Army stationed on Redex. Call out,” The Commander said sharply into the radio.

  His voice was met with silence.

  “Call out, do you read me?” he tried again.

  He had been trying for weeks now. He felt in the past weeks he had lost more hair and gained more wrinkles than any other time in his life. He had been through five different wars, but none were like this. None were on another planet. None of the wars involved him being one of the last survivors of the human race.

  “Call out, again, call out. Supplies are needed,” his voice was becoming hoarse.

  He slammed the receiver down in a fit of anger.

  “Damnit all, damnit!” he yelled angrily.

  “No, no I’ve got to keep trying,” he berated himself.

  He picked the receiver up and tried again.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Serik decided he had to do something to ease his loneliness before his trip to Redex. He hated that shithole. He had went there a few times to refuel but never stayed long. It was too hot and the molcos hund were dangerous. He wondered if there was really a Cabaka terrorist there or if it was rumor. He sighed pulled his ship into Planet 8932. Serik grumbled as he docked at the fuel station. It would be a couple of hours before his ship was refueled. There wasn’t much on Planet 8932, Hell, it didn’t even have a real name yet. Since it was still a newly discovered planet, it didn’t have much except for a refueling station, a few bars for wanderers like him, and an exotic dancing girl club. He decided that a trip to the exotic dancing girl club would maybe ease his loneliness for one night. He knew it wasn’t real, the females there only wanted his money but it was the only thing that could possibly help. He didn’t mind seeing a few beautiful women without their clothing either. He was male after all.

  Serik sat in the dimly lit room with other various males. He noticed there were a few other Baat, a group of males from Qali, and some others he hadn’t seen before. The club wasn’t too crowded it was still early out. He made his way up to the bar and ordered a glass of prasna and took a seat in a corner.

  He took a sip of his prasna and watched as many of the others inhaled various flavored vapors and let the steam out of their mouths or noses. He had heard a rumor the Qali could do it out of their ears. He suspected that might have been a false rumor.

  He heard the music start to play and the other males yell and clap. The music became louder and the dim lights got a tiny bit brighter as an exotic dancing girl came out on stage. A spotlight appeared encompassing the girl in the light.

  She was pretty. She was a Jax girl, very small, very petite, but she had large full breasts. She had deep purple hair and black eyes.

  Serik watched as her hips sway to the music.

  She began to disrobe and the other males began to shout and throw money at the stage. She removed her top completely revealing her tight nipples.

  Serik noticed a few more girls come on the stage. He turned his attention back to the purple haired girl, watching her erotic moves. She removed her underwear revealing her sex. She slowly made her way off of the stage bearing only a tight string around her waist for males to put money in.

  She swayed around the room table to table as the males put money in the thin piece of string.

  His heart pounded as she made her way over to his table.

  “Hey baby,” he grinned.

  She smiled moving in closer for him to admire her form. He looked up at her face, studying her features.

  Terror filled the girl’s eyes as she stumbled backwards.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Two eyes, bad luck!” she hissed turning away from him.

  “For fuck’s sake! This damn planet just got discovered,” he groaned. He gulped down his drink and made his way out of the club.

  Can’t even catch a break with a damn exotic dancing girl, he sighed.

  He wondered why he even bothered. He should have known better; he couldn’t even pay a woman to pretend to like him. He made his way back to the ship and turned on the radio.

  “Let’s see what’s going on with business then I’ll call Bock and let him know I’m taking the damn Redex job,” he said to himself as he adjusted the dials.

  Suddenly, a voice, a desperate voice at that, came through.

  “Call out, again, call out. Supplies are needed,” the voice cried out.

  Hm, sounds desperate, maybe they’ll pay more.

  “Call received, what are you coordinates?” Serik’s loud voice boomed over the intercom to the str
anger.

  “Sir, we are in desperate need, please assist,” the voice called.

  “Coordinates?” Serik repeated.

  “Earth Army compound, Planet Redex,” the voice said.

  Fuck it might as well go to Redex, even the strippers don’t want me, Serik thought to himself.

  “OK, what do you need?” Serik replied.

  “Thank God,” the voice said.

  “What do you need?” Serik replied a bit annoyed with the dramatics of whoever was on the other end.

  “We need food. We just really need food,”

  “Anything else?” Serik huffed.

  “Do you have anything to ward off these molcos hunds?” The Commander asked as he tried to keep his voice calm and steady.

  “I’ll see what I can find…” Serik replied.

  “When can I expect you?” The Commander asked.

  “About three day’s time and payment will be due in full,” Serik stated as he configured the route to Redex into the ship’s navigation system.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “You ready for today?” Bryce smiled.

  “Yeah, but I was wondering…” Michelle trailed off.

  “What?” Bryce furrowed his brow.

  “We’re not going to have all this gear out there…”

  Bryce looked pensive for a minute before replying, “I suppose you’re right but it’s against protocol.”

  “Protocol? What’s protocol going to do for us out there?” Michelle argued.

  “OK. Have your way but if you get hurt…” Bryce said in a hushed tone.

  “I won’t,” Michelle replied confidently.

  Michelle strode out onto the sparring mat. Bryce took his position at the opposite end of the mat.

  “You ready?” he called out.

  Michelle nodded.

  The two circled around each other. Bryce took a swing but Michelle ducked. She stepped back. He followed forward taking a swing again. She briskly jumped back making a circle around the mat. She knew she was too fast for him.

  He came at her again but she blocked his punch. She hopped back to retreat to her corner. He whirled and glided across the mat. Michelle knew he was becoming annoyed and overconfident. With all the strength she could muster she arose from her corner and rushed across the mat. She hopped back as he swung and then placed a punch to his left temple. Bryce looked stunned for a moment before he dropped down to his knees. His body went limp and he sank down the mat. He was momentarily unconscious.

  Michelle caught her breath. “Sorry, Bryce. I had to.”

  Bryce blinked his eyes as he looked up at Michelle who was stood in front of him.

  “Hey, you OK?” she asked softly.

  “That was some hit,” he said with a dazed look in his eyes.

  “Let’s get you to the medic station,” Michelle said as she slung his body over her left shoulde. They began to make their way to the medic station as he limply walked with her support.

  Aaron sighed as Michelle entered the room with a disoriented Bryce.

  “Let’s put him in the exam room,” Aaron said as he took Bryce’s other side.

  Michelle and Aaron helped Bryce down on the bed. Aaron looked over him and took his pulse. He pulled open his eyelids open and held his small flashlight as he checked his pupils.

  “What’s your name?” Aaron asked sternly.

  “Bryce,” he replied rubbing his left temple.

  Aaron looked down to his watch as he took Bryce’s pulse.

  “How did you get here?” Aaron asked as he wrote in Bryce’s chart.

  “That one,” Bryce pointed.

  Michelle poured a glass of water unsure of what to do with herself. She handed it over to Bryce. He took a few gulps.

  “How do you feel?” Aaron asked.

  “Not great but I’m OK. My pride is hurt more than anything,” Bryce sighed.

  “I’m going to need you to rest for a few minutes. I’ll come get you in a little bit,” Aaron said decisively as he walked out of the exam room.

  Michelle followed as he closed the door.

  “I knew I wasn’t going to like your plan. I hope you didn’t give him a concussion,” Aaron gave Michelle a stern look.

  “He was only out for a few seconds. He’ll be fine, he’s used to it,” Michelle replied with a sly smile.

  Michelle followed Aaron to his office.

  “I have something to show you…”

  “OK,” Michelle replied.

  Aaron revealed the journal hidden in his desk.

  “What is this?” Michelle said looking over the handwritten pages he had bookmarked. It seemed so foreign to her to see something handwritten instead of typed.

  “Does it say how to kill them? I haven’t finished reading and I know you’ve been through this whole thing,” Michelle asked.

  Aaron shook his head. “No, not really. Whoever wrote this journaled almost every day but then the writing just suddenly stopped.”

  “Well then, we are going to trap one and find out. Any luck on the trap and the supplies?” Michelle asked.

  “One step ahead of you, Z,” he grinned.

  He rummaged around the supply closet and retrieved a cage like contraption.

  “I found this out back. I made a few adjustments to it according to this,” he said as he took the journal from her and flipped to the page with a crude drawing and scale of the contraption. It was the same one that he had shown her before.

  “Let’s go set up a trap,” Michelle replied as she clasped her hands together.

  ***

  “Are you sure this is going to work?” Aaron said to Michelle with great hesitation.

  She nodded. “Yeah, it’s what the IS said. They hate anything acidic in nature.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. Our skin is slightly acidic, it is covered in lipids that make it hard for germs and bacteria to enter our bodies. We’re slightly acidic. Why do they keep trying to attack us?” Aaron questioned.

  “They’re vicious but dumb. They think everything is an enemy,” Michelle replied. She had to admit she had never been the expert on anything in her civilian life, well, maybe to her students she was the expert on some things, but not like this. It felt strange to have Aaron, who was a doctor, look to her for the answers. It seemed as though he had held all the information until now.

  “I guess not everything makes sense here. I mean we are another planet. Maybe here we are way more acidic than what we consider normal on Earth,” Kate added.

  Michelle nodded. “We’re not on our turf. This place has different minerals, different soil, Hell, it’s a giant fucking desert, maybe that’s why it can’t handle anything acidic.”

  Aaron nodded. “Yeah, I just wish we had more information.”

  “I guess all you have is me,” Michelle replied quietly before the three turned their attention to the trap.

  “Aw, shit,” Aaron muttered as his flashlight went dim.

  “Damn, I thought I charged it,” he said hitting it with his palm.

  Kate shook her head. “It’s OK, you can share with me.”

  “I hear it,” Michelle said over them.

  Aaron nodded. “Yeah, I can smell it.”

  “That thing smells horrendous,” Kate replied as she crinkled her nose.

  The three stood back from the cage as the thing shrieked in terror. Michelle shined her flashlight at it.

  “I’m sorry, I know this thing… I know it is bad, I just I’m not a good soldier, I hate killing things,” Kate said with a look of fear in her big brown eyes.

  “It’s either us or them,” Michelle said shifting the flash light between her armpit and putting down the pack of supplies she was carrying.

  She opened the pack. From a distance she then proceeded to squirt the molcos hund in the eye with vinegar.

  It hissed and let out a piercing screech before it lurched to the front of the cage attempting to claw at whatever it could between the bars. It retaliated towards the back
of the cage before lunging forward again hitting the bars with its claws. It screeched again and began to gnaw on the cage.