The Red Phoenix 12: Strength Comes in Numbers (54 page)

“The jungle has a lot of fifteen-foot slopes with downgrades near this trail were on,” Jones stated. “I bet he tries to bail at first chance.”

“Don’t take your eyes off him,” said Dales.

“Copy that,” Jones replied.

***

Chris leaned on Kerry as she helped him stumble through the trees. Kirk Four kept his blow torch at the low ready as a flame flickered at the muzzle. The other clones were scattered out, trudging through the trees and vines, waiting for anything to happen. Chris began to moan in a soft voice.

“What is it?” Kerry asked, concerned.

“I need to sit down,” Chris answered.

“You feel hot again,” Kerry stated, feeling his forehead, helping him lie down.

“I a-am slowing everyone d-down,” Chris stammered, sounding ill.

“It’s okay,” Kerry replied in a soft voice. “We don’t have to rush anything.”

“You and the others should just go on without me,” Chris said in a whispery voice, breathing.

“No, we’re not leaving you behind,” Kerry responded. “It’s not an option.”

“It’s not fair to you or the other—”

“—Shhh,” Kerry quieted him. “Don’t talk. Just rest. It’ll be okay.”

“Four?” asked Twelve.

“What’s up?” Four answered.

“Why don’t you take Seven, Five and Eleven and run ahead, scout out the jungle?” Twelve suggested. “I’ll stay here with Kerry and Chris.”

“Sure thing, we’ll make sure the coast is clear,” Four replied.

“I have a feeling we’re about to have a bad encounter,” Twelve responded.

“C’mon guys, let’s go,” Four stated as they dashed off into the trees.

***

Captain Morris and his men moved through the jungle like a pack of hungry wolves, running across bridging logs, cutting through hanging vines, jumping through crisscrossing branches.

“Post up, men,” said Morris, coming to a halt.

His soldiers slowed down, catching their breath, leaning against trees, sitting on boulders.

“Alpha Leader? Bravo Company is approximately four and a half miles in, making our way to the rendezvous at mid-jungle,” said Morris into his headset, climbing a boulder. “What’s your status, sir?”

“
Five of the targets are down, we have one prisoner, heading toward the rendezvous point ahead of schedule
,” Braddock answered over the radio.

“Excellent news, Commander,” Morris replied. “Our ETA is roughly three hours from now. Copy?”

“Affirmative,”
Braddock replied.
“If you encounter Michaels, eliminate all but him and wait for my arrival. Be advised, Siddoway is possibly deceased but Michaels is still in possession of a sensitive package.”

“Copy that, sir,” Morris responded. “We’ll waste no time.”

A vine having a width of a Boa constrictor with a Venus flytrap-like mouth at the end moved up behind Morris at a slow pace like it was going to bite his neck.

“Sir!” a soldier shouted, standing.

Morris turned, severing the head off with his machete, making greenish-yellow fluid squirt from the tip of the vine as it squirmed, dangling away from him.

“Got to be ready for anything,” Morris stated. “Let’s move!”

***

Braddock cut down a tall plant and a few vines, leading Kirk one and his men down the trail.

“Excuse me, Braddock?” One stated in a crusty tone.

“What do you want?” Braddock answered in a rude voice, cutting another thin branch out of their way.

“I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation,” One replied.

“What about it?” asked Braddock.

“You just gave those men orders to terminate the rest of the clones,” said One. “That wasn’t part of the agreement.”

“Well, I lied,” Braddock responded.

“Look, we had a deal!” One yelled. “I take you to Michaels and the others and you kill no one!”

Braddock turned, grabbing One by the throat. One gasped to breathe.

“Let me tell you something, maggot,” Braddock stated in a mean voice. “The only reason you’re walking right now is because I allow it. So, if I give you permission to breathe oxygen for another five minutes, you just better be damn grateful, got it?”

Braddock shoved him back, staring at him with hatred. One stood, breathing hard, wishing he could kill Braddock in an instant. Braddock raised his muzzle to One’s head, putting his finger on the trigger.

“Are you ready to die then, boy?” asked Braddock. “Hmm? Just say the word.”

“It’s this way,” One answered, catching his breath, walking past him.

“Good boy,” Braddock responded.

Kirk One side-stepped his way down a hillside, noticing more black and gray curved log-sized coils at the bottom, covered under leafy plants, blended in well to their surroundings. He stopped, staring at the eight-foot-round portion of the snake’s body, deciding what to do.

“What are you stopping for?” asked Braddock, oblivious.

“Just want to be sure this is the right way,” One answered.

“What are you saying, you’re lost?” asked Braddock.

One didn’t respond but thought out his plan.

Braddock grabbed his shoulder, pulling him around.

“Are you deaf? I said are you lost?” asked Braddock, rudely.

“No, it’s this way, just follow me,” One stated, continuing down the hill.

Kirk One reached the bottom, knowing he had a fifty-fifty chance of survival once they stepped on the scaly coils.

“It’s not too much further from here,” said One, taking his first step on the top of the coil.

It felt like a rubber mat as he walked across it, leaping down the other side. Braddock, Dales, Jones and the rest of the men walked over it and leaped down, grouping behind Kirk One.

One ran his eyes along the side of the coil, noticing that the head of the snake was hidden behind tall plants and leaves.

“What is that thing we walked over?” asked a soldier, stepping off the three-and-a-half-foot coil. “It felt soft, kind of weird.”

“Some kind of weird jungle specimen or something,” another soldier answered, poking the side of the coil as the rest of the soldiers leaped down.

“Yeah, there are scales all over it,” said Jones.

“Where to now?” asked Braddock.

“This way,” One answered, noticing the coil moving in a slow slither.

One led them through the trees, ducking under hanging vines. Braddock cut a few more tall plants and thin branches out of their way.

Multiple dilated snake eyes opened then constricted as their serpent bodies moved, slithering at the pace of a slow moving predator. The Titan-boa sized snakes slithered beneath the overgrown weeds and jagged-edged leaves towards Braddock’s platoon, picking up speed. The end of the creatures raised a rectangle shaped object with a washboard-like design running down the middle and shook it, making a low-pitched rattling noise that echoed through the trees.

Braddock raised his fist, causing his men to stop.

“What is it, Commander?” asked Dales.

“I didn’t like the way that sounded,” Braddock replied, sweating, turning, and looking through the vines, branches and leaves, worried.

The rattling noise sounded again.

“There it is again,” said a soldier.

“What is it?” asked another soldier.

Braddock and his men scanned the area with their guns, hearing something come through the trees.

“Commander?” said Jones. “Something is coming toward us on the ground.”

“Stand fast,” Braddock responded.

The sound of the creatures rustling through the trees grew louder.

“It’s right on us, sir,” said Dales, scared.

“I said stand fast!” Braddock responded, gripping his weapon.

The sound of movement in the trees stopped.

Braddock scanned through some branches and vines with the tip of his weapon, panting.

“What do you think, sir?” asked a soldier.

“Whatever it was, it must be gone, now,” Braddock answered.

Suddenly, four snakes with heads the size of great white sharks and bodies forty feet long raised up, ten-feet above the ground, gaping their jaws with sharp teeth, hissing a monstrous noise at Braddock and his men.

“Holy shit!” a soldier said, raising his machine gun to shoot.

One of the snakes rushed him, biting him across the torso with its vicious jaws, carrying him off into the jungle with terrific speed. The soldier screamed as the snake’s body whipped through the group of men, knocking soldiers out of the way against the sharp thorns of the branches.

Another snake sped through the mass of soldiers, snatched another one with its powerful sharp-teeth laden jaws and carried him off into the trees, breaking branches, snapping vines and flattening leaves in its wake.

The third snake wrapped its Titan Boa-sized body around three soldiers, squeezing them so tight the sounds of their bones cracking under the pressure of its strong coils could be heard as it bit the shoulder of a fourth soldier, forcing him to the ground, making him scream, fighting for his life.

Kirk One ran for his life through the jungle, making his escape.

Braddock opened fire on the snake that attacked his men, yelling, pumping its body with bullets, hitting his men who were caught in its coils. The other soldiers joined in, killing one of the giant snakes.  Braddock’s gun went empty, clicking.

Just as he went to reload his gun with another magazine, the fourth snake rose up behind him to attack, its mouth open, showing its sharp teeth, then went to bite him. Braddock pulled his combat knife and stabbed the snake under its mouth, forcing his blade up through its tongue, causing its blood to jet out onto his arm, shoulder and face and chest. The snake fell over, tried to coil around Braddock’s body, but he pulled the knife out then rammed it through one of its eyes, making it hiss before it died.

“Die you bastard!” Braddock growled.

Braddock rolled off the dead serpent, reloaded his gun then pumped a few rounds into the body of the dead snake, half soaked in snake blood.

Two more snakes slithered in, forcing another twenty soldiers against the razor-sharp branches, causing their bodies to be pierced with the spear head-like thorns.

Braddock climbed onto a thick branch, watching the last few men of his battalion get crushed, caught in coils then bit by the monster snakes. He ran up the branch, slipping on the moss that hung off the side, dropping his machine gun.