Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (73 page)

“I’ve been looking for you!” Urlack shouted.

“Well,
you found me
,” I told
him after taking another shot.

“We have received word the
Mutes
are coming en masse.”

“Well,
that’s good
,
right?” I asked, my shoulder rocking back as I blew off the snout of a Mute.

“Yes, it is according to plan, but until our forces arrive this will be a lethal place to be for a while.”

I saw his point as the Mute numbers began to overwhelm our small thrust
.
W
e would absorb some casualties, where I now fired from would be deep within enemy hands again.

“You should come back with me
,” Urlack said
.

The deck plating was bouncing, I could feel it vibrating through my knees
.
O
h yeah
,
they were definitely coming. My aim was being compromised as the vibrations became more intense, and like a stampede of
elephants
,
I watched a huge line of
Mutes
heading our way. I had never seen anything as frightening in my entire life. The twisted, contorted displays of rage on their faces as they barreled down on us was beyond anything I could explain.

I turned to face the new threat and just began to pull the trigger as fast as my finger could move. I shot indiscriminately, sheets of
Mutes
hit the floor as the shots tore into them. I noted that some took notice of
me
,
t
o stop
shooting now would mean I would die by trampling
. More than a few of the
Mutes
went
down, tangled in
the feet of their
fallen
predecessor
s
, the
newly deceased and
dying.

My finger was cramping and still they were coming and I was no longer ‘unnoticed’
.
M
urderous intent was branded on at least ten of the
Mutes
heading
for me.

Although this was war so murder didn't really factor in.

I kept firing, I would never be able to get up quickly enough and run for it.

“I am not sorry for this!” Urlack yelled as he snatched me into the air.
He had the presence of mind to throw me over his back so I could cover our retreat. Mutes were screaming in rage.

“You are a valiant warrior
,” Urlack said
as we made our way back to the relative safety of the doorway.

I don’t kn
ow how I felt
about those words.
N
ot t
o
o ma
ny ‘valiant warriors’ g
o
t piggy-
back rides.

“Thanks
,” I told
him.

Geno
s were being compressed tightly as they absorbed more of the influx of the
Mutes
.
W
e only had moments before the bubble would burst and our forces would collapse in on themselves.

“Hold!”

I somehow heard this voice over the clang of metal on metal and the reports of the rifles. “Tantor?” I asked aloud.

“It very much sounded like him
,” Urlack said
, I noticed he had difficulty getting the words out. It was then I felt the wetness on my left
arm, blood and it
wasn’t
mine.

“Urlack?” I asked showing him, my blood soaked hand.

“It is nothing.”
He said, as he finally pulled up and put me down.

I walked behind him because there was not anyway I was going to be able to turn him myself. Roughly where I had been was a wound the size of which I suspected would have severed me in half had it got to me.

“Oh
,
shit.
Let’s go!”

Urlack seemed to hesitate.

“Oh
,
come on, I’ve been through this with Drababan
.
I
f you pass out
,
I’ll never be able to carry you!”

Urlack obliged.

We had set up some first aid stations, but they were about as advanced as anything from the Civil War
.
A
nything more serious than
flesh wound was almost a death
sentence.

“Stop the bleeding!” I yelled to two previously injured
Genos
who were back at the aid station so they could do something. To their credit
,
they grabbed some heavy material and pressed it with maybe a little too much vigor into Urlack’s wounds.

I had an idea
.
I wasn’t sure if it would pan out
,
but I had to try something. The only thing the
Genos
working
on Urlack would accomplish would be to keep his blood from spilling all over the floor as he bled out.

I ran to where we were holding the pilots captive. The two Geno guards here were
also wounded and were not combat ready
,
but guard duty was a different matter.

“Show me the highest ranking pilot” I shouted to them.

They looked confused for a moment, but the less injured one Jraco, I think was his name
,
got up and shuffled over to a cell nearby.

“What’s your name?” I demanded.

“
Tyrendlen
,”
h
e sneered.

“Are any among you qualified for field surgery?”

“All of us have received basic aid in the event we are on our own
,” he said
lazily
,
not even sitting up from his rack.

“Could you fix a rifle blast from one of your weapons?”

“I could
,” he said
. “But unless it’s on a Progerian
,
I won’t.”

“Open the door
,” I told
Jraco evenly.

Jraco did not know what I was asking.

“Let the field down so I can get in
,
please.” This he understood.

The small hum of the door dissipated and I walked in. Tyrendlen still had not stirred, he was busy staring at the ceiling as if it were the Sistine Chapel.

“I have an injured friend, who has suffered a wound at the hands of your mutated Genogerians. I am going to ask you once and only once, will you help him?”

“I hope he is s
ent to your hell for what he has
done
,”
Tyrendlen responded. “He does not even deserve to go through the gates of ‘zrevklet.’”

The report of a .357 round in such a small enclosed space should have been deafening, I barely heard it. At least Tyrendlen did not have to fall far,
blood oozed off the cot and on
to the floor. Jraco was at my side as soon as he was
able.

“Accident
,” I told
him, even though he hadn’t asked.

That
got some of the closer prisoner
s
’
attentions
.
S
ome were either right up by the door
,
trying to figure out what was going on, or as far back as possible, already having a good idea and not wanting to be part of it.

“
I asked your leader Tyrendlen for some help!” I shouted. “He was not very willing to do so. I have a friend that has been shot with one of your weapons. He will die unless someone knows how to treat the wound. Tyrendlen said you all have been trained in this type of aid. Until I get some help I am going to walk up this hallway and kill every one of you worthless pieces of shit! You mean absolutely nothing to me
.
N
o
,
that’s wrong
,
I actually hate and despise each and every one of you for what you are and what
you have done to my world. I care more for the bullet I will put in your brain than you. I’m waiting!”

I still had no takers.

“Jraco open the door
,” I said
as I walked to the next cell. The Progerian was staring back at me from about halfway across his room. “Will you help?”

He stood silently. The top of his head erupted into a blossom of red and gray. He fell heavily to the floor, a loud resounding crack as what remained of his head hit the toilet.

The next Progerian was right up by the bars. “I will help
,” he said
softly. He actually stepped half a step back from the wicked grin on my face. I was killing in cold blood, I had stepped over another line from which there was no way back.

“What do you need?” I asked him.

“We have what you woul
d call a medical kit back at our
barracks.”

I nodded to Jraco to open the door. Some part of me expected this Progerian to rush me when he realized he was safe but for better or worse deception was not part of their genetic make-up, I would imagine it made for awkward social circumstances when the female would ask if her new tunic made her look fat.

Within ten minutes we were back at Urlack
’
s side, he looked pale, if such a thing were even possible for them. His breathing had become shallow and his eyes were half closed.

“How you doing?” I asked him
as I grabbed his giant hand.

“I am prepared to greet the afterlife
,”
h
e told me.

“I have to turn him over
,”
m
y prisoner
/
medic said.

“Got some help Urlack
,” I told
him.

“I welcome the attempt
,
Michael, but I fear it may be too late
,” he said
as I helped the medic get Urlack onto his stomach.

The medic pulled the towels off and inspected the wound closely, I couldn’t gauge any reaction as he began to dig around in his bag. He pulled out a foil pack that looked suspiciously like a Pop-Tart
,
but was filled with a silver sand he poured liberally into
Urlack’s wound. The stench it produced almost made me swoon.

“Infection
,” the medic said
.

I didn’t know if he meant
what was causing the stink
or was going over an internal dia
logue
.

Although I think
it was the latter as a yellowy, green bubbling ooze began to spill out of the wound. I thought the initial contact stunk. Even the medic backed away as the medicine did its magic.

The medic went back into his bag and pulled out a hypodermic needle that looked big for a horse. “He needs to
sleep
,”
t
he medic told me as he saw the look on my face.

“Yeah,
I know. Most of my time on this damn ship involved sleeping while I was healing.”

“Right
,”
t
he medic answered.

Urlack was asleep before the medic removed the needle
.
H
e looked so peaceful
.
I wanted to join him, maybe when I awoke this whole nightmare would be over.

“What now?”

“I will wait until the wound starts running clear and then I will sew him up.”

“That’s it?” I asked incredulously.

“You of all people should know how advanced our medicine is
,” the medic said
, not with derision he was merely relating facts.
“Will you kill me when I am done
?” he asked
.
T
here might have been a tremor in his voice
,
but it was next to impossible to tell and it may have just been my own slant on the conversation.

“Honestly
,
I would like to kill each and every one of you. You are nothing more than plague that has descended on my
world
. You and your kind have wipe
d billions of us off the planet.
I’m not sure what answer besides that you’d be expecting.”

“We
d
o not generally run into sentient beings on our missions
,” the medic said
.