I took a deep breath then dove into the darkness. The smart thing to do was probably not run across the open field on enemy property; by doing so we left ourselves open to snipers, hidden enemies or even traps that could easily be avoided by taking it slow.
" Guys... You gotta fucking see this" Something in the in the voice of the generally unshakable behemoth on the other end of the Communicator read to us as speed was the order of the evening and speed we gave. As fast as my old broken legs were capable of any way. Both knees and my right Ankle were about 13 years past due for a surgery. They and my front choppers were casualties of my Pro wrestling days.
Tiny was Three or 4 strides ahead of me and I had to work my ass off to keep it at just that. Back in the day it used to be only 2. You’re getting old Marz.
I was about to pull my goggles down when a giant crack broke through the night in the the direction we were heading. It sounded like a huge branch being pulled down by snow. Since it was may and since it was in the proximity of our friends, let's just say it was not a good sound. Tiny took off like a rocket hoping to overtake whatever ambush or attack caused the lumber damage. He ran gracefully totally contradictory to what you would expect from his tall lanky frame. I did my best to keep up but my great luck stopped by to say howdy. My foot got under something and pushed it up in-between my legs, I launched forward and landed in a heap.
Instinct took over before my body was ready to operate properly. I rolled over to my back and drew Scourge. The cavalry revolver felt heavy and it was hard to hold it straight. I wasn't sure if I was winded or I hurt my wrist in the fall, but my other hand quickly joined the dance and I pointed the hand cannon into the darkness. I felt like I got punched by the hulk. I was pretty sure I had broken my nose, and tears and dirt would have made it hard to see on a sunny day; now I was blind. Someone was creeping up behind me. I pivoted sideways and put Scourge between us.
"No No it's me" whispered Tiny. he spoke slowly, deliberately, like talking to a fresh child. He could tell I was disoriented, didn't know how hurt I was.
"What happened?" he asked.
I think I said ‘I'm not sure,’ I at least thought it, but I think I stopped short because I became painfully aware-emphasis on the painfully-that the tooth I chipped may second had chipped more.
“Are you hurt?" he asked. I could tell he is pretty worried.
"Chipped me tooth, me pride is broken and eight or nine places"
He started to ask what happened again but stopped short and kneeled down to inspect something about a foot away from me. In my head I made a “while you’re down there” joke, but I just couldn't get it out. I was super rattled, whether it was the aftereffects of being poisoned or I was just that out of shape. Probably it was a little of A and a little of B; one face plant and I was completely out of action. This wasn't good. In my brain I was a trained killer with hundreds of years of experience and thousands of hours of action but my body was acting like the old man I am.
Tiny stood up with something in his hand, tossed it into my lap and clicked on his communicator.
"What's the word?" he said, pressing his ear set.
I felt the thing Tiny had tossed in my lap up and down.
It felt like what my Eyes told me it was. I held it at either end and bent it and sure enough it bent at a joint in the middle just like what my eyes said it was. But I knew this was not what my eyes said it was--not a real one any way.
"A dragon?" Tiny said? It's hard to surprise us, but both Tiny and I were pretty surprised.
I slid my goggles down and looked at The "human leg" with my night vision. It we too light. The skin felt wrong. You wouldn't notice if you brushed up against it but it if you felt it, held a hand or a leg like I was you would know.
Fakeness was not what was unnerving it's how close to real it actually was. Whoever was doing this, whoever was creating these things, this was a point in his experiments when they were almost there. They had almost genetically engineered human.
"A dragon fell out of a tree?"
Tiny said. Every syllable was a question.
I looked over the top of the fake leg.
"Dragon"? I said
"A baby dragon fell out of the tree?"
Tiny said to our men in the forest.
Everything in his body language said he wanted to rip his earpiece out and toss it across the field. He was as fed up as I was.
I click mine on "We’re on our way"
Tiny helped me up
"Think the baby's ok?"
"Shut it"
Tiny and I ran across the field. Well, he ran. I limped waddled and did my best to keep up. I was way more hurt then I should be for a fall in a grassy meadow. Tiny did his best to slow down so I could keep up. Even in the darkness he could read my body language.
"They have books for people in your condition" he said not in the least bit winded
"Books for folks who got poisoned by a civil war wraith?" I huffed and puffed
"Things to expect when you’re expecting" he answered with a smile so wide I knew it was there beneath his mask in the pitch black dead of night. I gave him the finger with everything I had.
We hit the tree line and took half a minute to get situated. I used my infrared to scan for our friend and anything else hiding in the woods. Nothing, The woods were unnaturally empty, only the heat signature of our resident basketball player sized maniac Ethan. He had come the back way in with legendary Luchadore Round Trip Jones (who didn't have heat signature--but that's a long story).
We approached our friends quietly and as fast as we could. It all looked normal, but we weren't going to take any chances.
As soon as our partners saw us they both shined their phone lights on 2 different things. Each made the night and our lives that much creepier.
No comments:
Post a Comment