On Distant Shores (Exiles Triology Book 1) (30 page)

“Those bastards left us!  Mitchem left us!  He didn’t even look back to see if we were still alive or being eaten by those big damn bears!  Screw him!  If Mitchem won’t even stand like a man with us, then he can go to hell.”

Mickey set the mech armor into standby, popped the hatch, and climbed down with his medic bag to check out the casualty.

Mike saw Jondreau there, looking shaken.  Mike didn’t know if it was because of the attack, the attitude of the security team, or because of Mitchem abandoning them.  Mike set the armor in position, felt the foam collapse, and then popped the hatch.  Mike yelled down to the security team, “Do you mind if I come down and talk to you?”

The team still looked visibly upset.  Murphy spoke up, most of his emotion spent.  He had a very pissed off expression on his face, “Nah man, you can come down.  We won’t do nothin’.”  Jondreau looked as if he was going to say something, but Murphy and Pang both glared at him and he shut his mouth.

Mike got back on the radio to his team, “Gents, I’m going out to do some talking.  Stay alert.  Everett, we need a shift for guard duty.  One person in the armor at all hours for guard duty.  I hope we’ve seen the worst of it for tonight.”

“Yeah, me too.  I’ll make sure everything is copacetic.”

Mike climbed down, with his pistol, rifle, and tactical kit.   He yelled over to Mickey, to see what was up with the condition of the Airman.  All Mickey did was shake his head in the negative.  The Airman was dead.

He walked over to the Air Force security team.  “Gentlemen, I thank you.  If you hadn’t helped us, that bear pack would be hunting our people through the facility.”

Murphy had a dangerous look in his eyes.  Mike could see Rob Stein in the background.  Mike asked, “Did Airman Stein come to talk to you?” 

Murphy nodded, “And Mitchem and Jamison lost their minds when he said you were looking for security to secure the mouth of the cave.”

              Mike spread his hands, “Well, I can understand that, but it wasn’t just me.  Lieutenant Pang knew there was a need for security.  Both she and I asked Airman Stein to come and get you.”

Lieutenant Pang nodded, “Yes, you saw the size of those beasts.  One bear is bad enough, but a pack of Kodiak bears was more than I could handle.  If they got past Mike and his team in the mech armor, I wouldn’t be able to stop them.”

Mike continued, “My team will do everything we can to protect everyone, but we can’t do it by ourselves.”  He motioned, indicating everybody in the cave, “We are the only thing between the people we work with, and the horrors that want to kill them.”  He paused to let this truth set in.

Jondreau, with a serious expression, asked, “What about Mitchem, Jamison?

Mike shrugged, “Well, now you know what they’d do in battle.  So you have a choice, follow a leader that has proven herself in battle with nightmarish, vicious predators, or follow the man that soiled himself and ran away to leave you to die.  Your choice.”

Mike looked at Lieutenant Pang.  He was impressed with her courage.  Hell, she faced the bear pack, and she didn’t have armor, “Lieutenant Pang, could you come with me please?”  He walked over to one of the corpses of the bears.  He motioned for her to stand next to it.  The head of the bear was as large as her torso.

“Look at this woman.  She would be a snack for this beast.  Where was she when the pack swarmed the cave?”

Murphy spoke, “Man, if she hadn’t been there, they would have killed us all.  She ran in front of us, and started shooting.  She was fearless.”  He looked over at skinny Robert Stein, “Him too.  He ran forward and started shooting before we even knew we were in trouble.”

The security team was impressed with Lieutenant Pang.  Pang proved that you don’t need to be physically imposing to lead men into battle.  An effective leader did need physical courage, and she was ton of courage in a ninety-five pound package.

Mike asked, “Who do you want to lead you in battle?”  He pointed at the tunnel, “Them,” then he put his hand on Jennifer’s shoulder, “or her?”

The security team was thinking, their faces open books.  Only Lieutenant Jondreau seemed unconvinced.  “What about you?  Are you in charge here?” Murphy, and everyone else in the cave looked interested in what Mike had to say.

Mike shook his head, “No, not at all.  I’m in charge of my team.  I want to make sure that all of us have a decent chance at waking up tomorrow.  We need to find out what the hell is going on here.  The world we know is gone, and it has been replaced by this world.  I want to make sure, if it is remotely possible, we all return back to the world that we know.  I think you know that Mitchem and Jamison can’t do that for us.”

Murphy thought, then slowly nodded.  Murphy seemed satisfied with Mike’s answer.  Lieutenant Jondreau didn’t look as convinced as Murphy.  Pang didn’t say anything, hoping things would sort themselves out.  She was just happy that there wasn’t going to be an armed insurrection right now.

Mike watched Lieutenant Jondreau.  He was impressed that Jondreau didn’t run.  This spoke well for him as a leader.  Hell, even the fact that he was backing his boss, Mitchem, spoke well for him.  Problem was, Mitchem was a pile of manure that needed to be scraped off the shoe.  These young warriors didn’t fail Mitchem, but Mitchem sure failed them.

Mike heard someone say ‘Ditchem’ Mitchem.  He knew that nickname would make the rounds of the civilians and Air Force pretty quickly.  It was catchy.  It would stick.  It was the type of thing that a leader dreaded.  Mike knew that, soon, all the Airmen would be calling him that.  Mike dialed back his military persona, and smiled, turning on the charm, “Okay, this is what we need.  My team’s going to stay on guard up here, one person at a time in the mech armor, with the drone up, and all sensors on to watch the surrounding area.  If there’s an attack, we can armor up pretty quick.  So, I need some volunteers to guard my men as they sleep.”

Pang, Jondreau, and Murphy moved together and started talking.  It didn’t take long to reach a consensus.  Jondreau was the person to announce the decision.

Lieutenant Jondreau walked over to Mike and stuck out his hand.  Mike reached over and held his hand in a firm grip.  Mike could see the apology in Jondreau’s eyes. Jondreau spoke, “Chief Duggins, since I’m in charge of security for this facility, I’ll put together a list for guards to come up here and stand watch.  How many men do you need?”

Mike nodded acceptance, “Well, two would be good for us.  Plus, we have some cots on our pallet for sleep.  If you could have two on guard, then two in cots to relieve them as needed, that would be perfect.  I’ll let you decide the shifts.  My guys are doing two hour shifts to stay alert up here.”

Murphy moved forward with Joseph, “Ah, Chief, Lieutenant, if you don’t mind, we’ll take the first shift up here.”

Mike indicated that this was acceptable, and Jondreau looked relieved to have someone in place immediately.  Jondreau gathered his security team, and started towards the tunnel to walk back to the facility.  Pang stuck around a little bit longer.  Mike motioned her over, “Jennifer, could you please send up our cots, our sleeping bags, and some MREs?  Two boxes should be enough for now.  We’ll make sure that our guards get something to eat.”

Pang nodded, “Yeah, Stein can stay, and I’ll send up one of the administrators.  They can be your security backups for Murphy and Joseph.  I’ll get the cots and supplies up to you as well.”

Pang shifted her eyes to Murphy as she talked, without Murphy seeing her do it.  Mike understood immediately.  It would be awhile before Mike completely trusted the security team.  It seemed that Pang didn’t completely trust them either.  With Stein and another one of Pang’s people, they could put Murphy and Joseph on separate shifts.  Mike winked so that neither Murphy nor Joseph saw it.  Pang nodded, knowing that Mike had insight to what she was thinking.

Mike stepped close to her, “Jennifer, we have a few body bags on the pallet.  You’ll need to send up one for Babcock.  Sadness shaded her eyes deeply, exhaustion lining her face.  She nodded.  Mike felt her pain, and put a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed, “If you need to talk about it, I’m here, the team is here.  We’ve all experienced the loss of friends on the battlefield.”

She nodded, “I didn’t really know Airman Babcock.  He seemed like a nice guy.”  Tears welled up.  Mike knew there was nothing he could do to help her now.  She would have to work through this.  He knew that the others on the security team would have the same problem.  Pang inhaled deeply.  She turned, then walked over to Murphy and Joseph, and asked both of them if they needed anything sent up.  They said they needed some more 5.56mm for the rifles.  She walked past them to the tunnel.

Mike watched her go, noting her posture as she walked.  Mike clicked on his ear bud, “Hey, Everett, you can start rotating people for security.  I need one person in mech to drag those bear carcasses over to the meat pile and move them away from the cave mouth.”

“No problem boss, but I think we will all do that.  It will only take a few minutes for three of us to drag the carcasses over.  I’ll leave one on guard.”

Mike was tired, “Roger, sounds good.”

Twenty minutes passed as they dragged the carcasses over to the mound of meat and bone. Everett, Tom, and Mickey dismounted the mech, and Rob stayed in his for first guard duty.The three walked into the cave.

“Well, boss, what’s the plan?” Everett asked.

“I asked Pang to send the cots up.  Plus our sleeping bags and some MREs.  After we’re finished eating, I want us to rack out and get some sleep around the guard schedule you put together for us.” Mike replied.

Tom exhaled loudly, “Thank God, I was hoping to get some chow and some sleep.  Twenty swarmingbears and a damn dragon is enough for one day.”

Mickey nodded, “I’m so tired.  I thought the day would never end.”

Everett looked over at Murphy and Joseph, “What are they doing up here?”  Stein was standing in the back.

Mike waved them over, “They’re our security tonight, plus Lieutenant Pang is sending up one more.  I want one of our team in the mech armor through the night, and we’ll have two Air Force standing watch while we sleep.”

Mickey spoke up, “and tomorrow, we start all over again.”

Everett nodded, “Correct, just like we do every day we’re above ground.  If you want rest, you can always take the long dirt nap.”

Mickey sighed.  Tom and Everett looked beat.  Mike could only wonder what he looked like.  Mike looked at the cave.  The center of the cave was rubbed smooth where the giant lizard’s hide swept all the rocks to the side.  What the hell was it that somebody called it?  Oh, yeah, the dragon.  As good a name as any, Mike thought, except for that frill of tentacles it had around its neck.  It was the ugliest beast that Mike had ever seen.  At least the bear pack seemed familiar to him.  The ratios of the head and face were different than any bear or dog he was familiar with, but they were fur bearing mammals.

There was a whistle from the tunnel.  The group looked over.  It was another Airman, Daughtry.  Stein trotted over and they both disappeared into the tunnel.

Everybody was moving slow.  Mike looked up to see Murphy and Joseph looking at them.Mike smiled, “the energy dissipates as the adrenaline wears off.  Then you crash.”

The others on the team nodded.  Stein came walking out with two military cots and a box of MREs.  Stein had his rifle slung across his back to keep it out of the way Daughtry came out of the tunnel carrying sleeping bags, and a box with soft drinks in it.There were some more things to bring out of the tunnel, so everybody except for Murphy and Joseph went back to grab them. Soon, they were putting the cots together and staking out their bed down locations for the night.

Mike motioned over the four airmen.  “Guys, since Murphy and Joseph have more training in security, I would like to pair you four up so that Murphy and Daughtry are a team, and Joseph and Stein are a team.  Do you guys see any problems with that?”

Murphy, thought about it, then grinned, “Naw, man, we don’t have a problem with that.  You don’t have to split me and Joseph up, though.  We ain’t going to jump you in the middle of the night.”

Mike smiled back at him.  Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the look of concern on Daughtry and Stein’s faces.  Mike could see the light of understanding creep over Joseph’s face.  He actually looked embarrassed as he figured out what was going on, “Oh, ah, no man, it ain’t like that no more.  We don’t have a beef with you.”

Mike nodded, still smiling, “Yeah, I know it isn’t.”  He didn’t take his eyes off of Murphy.  Murphy shrugged, “sure.”  Murphy motioned to Daughtry, “You mind taking first watch with me?”  Daughtry had twang in his voice, probably from west Texas, when he talked.  “No, I’m not particularly tired.  I reckon we can do that.”

Mike pulled out his ear bud and handed it over to Murphy.  “Make sure you give Rob a comms check.  He’s probably a little tired, so talk to him, keep him awake.”

Murphy nodded his understanding, “No problem.  After those big bear things and the damn dragon, I have no desire to have something like that sneak up on me.”

“Make sure you do two hours on, then switch.” He looked over to Everett, “What’s the rotation for our watch?”

Everett was stuffing his face with a cold main meal from the MREs.  He chewed for a few seconds, then swallowed.  He motioned with his thumb over his shoulder at Rob’s mech, “Rob, Me, Tom, Mickey, and then you.”