Midnight Squad: The Grim (13 page)

           
“No, but I hope you know what you’re doing.” She said as
she moved to me. Her body moved closer until she started slipping into me. I
felt so cold. My teeth chattered, and my breath came out smoky like it was the
middle of winter.
Ok. I’m ready when you are.
Her thoughts mingled with
mine. We kept our consciousness separate, but we were able to share our
thoughts, and even emotions. I felt her concern for me. Janine genuinely cared
about me. She was afraid I’d get hurt trying to prove myself, or even worse,
that I’d get hurt because she failed me.

           
It didn’t help any when she realized I shared her
concerns. On top of everything, I was nervous. It’d been nine months since I’d
seen any combat. In the time since I’d been tortured, kept in an asylum, and
been on the run…so I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to handle myself on the
battlefield anymore.
Oh
Grimmy
, you can do it.
I know you can.
I relaxed a bit. It was good to have some support.
Besides,
if you die I’ll have a hunky new ghost to spend eternity with.
Crap!

           
A horn went off signaling the exercise would begin soon.
DD’s voice went out over the loudspeaker, but I was too busy psyching myself up
to hear her. I started running as soon as the horn sounded. “Janine, float on
up and get a look at where the enemy is set up. Then hurry back.”
Ok boss.
She
leapt out of me, I nearly fell over, and my body was suddenly warm again. It
was going to take some time to get used to that. I was still pretty far off
when I felt her enter into me again.
Ok, I’m back.
My body was frozen. I
scanned her thoughts. There were three on the ridge; two clones just past a tiny
cave, four stationed around the base, and one lone man that had taken up a
position on a pile of rubble. I made my way to that lone man.

           
It was slow going to get up to my first target, and my
feet and ankles were sore already because of the hard, uneven ground. It’s been
awhile since I had to run any real distance, and I definitely needed to get
back to working out. I circled behind him. Then I made my way up quietly. By
the time he realized where I was, it was too late. Janine said a little prayer
for the man as his neck popped. He slumped to the ground. I felt Janine get a
little nauseous, but she held on like a trooper. That was probably a good
thing, because if she got sick while inside me then there was a good chance I
would be the one puking. I could have taken the gun then, but I needed this to
be a little more impressive. I needed to really sell this to these women if I
was going to get them to accept the changes.

           
I took his knife and moved on to the base. I slipped past
the two men waiting on me at the cave. They had positioned themselves for where
they thought I’d be, and knowing their position made it easy to sneak by. I’d
probably have to deal with them later, but if I could avoid it, I would. There
was no sense in killing unnecessarily. Besides, I wasn’t sure how Janine’s
stomach would handle the body count.
Hey! That’s not fair. I’m doing really
well.
“Yeah, you are, now just work with me a little longer and we’ll be
through this.” I whispered, careful that the clones wouldn’t hear.

           
We reached the ridge. “I need you to create some
illusions. Can you make two of me, and have them run in opposite directions.
Send them away from the base. We’ll try and just slip past these guys too.”
Janine slipped out of me.
I’ll go up high and coordinate the illusion from
there.
A wonderful
warmth returned to my body. I
watched as two almost perfect copies of me got the attention of the three
clones. The only flaw was the vacant look in my two doppelganger’s blue eyes. I
felt strange watching the illusions split and run left and right. One clone
followed each, and that left one guarding the path, but he wasn’t doing a very
good job. The one left was more interested in watching his two brothers than
guarding. I slipped up behind him and cupped his mouth to muffle any sound. I
drove the knife through his spine at the base of the man’s skull,
then
twisted to sever the spinal
chord
.
I didn’t want him to suffer any more than necessary. Unfortunately, along the
way I broke off my blade.

           
I lowered him to the ground. Blood spurted a few times
until the heart stopped, and then oozed onto the ground. I rolled him over and
took his pistol. Janine slipped back into me. My cold breath left frosty vapor
in the air.
We need to hurry. They are coming back, and they’re bringing the
other two along.
I listened to her thoughts without any sense of urgency. I
could see in her head that they were two hundred yards away, and I could stay
hidden for another minute or two. I checked my pistol to make sure it was
loaded, and then moved at a slow jog towards the base. There were at best a
couple of minutes to get everything set up before they surrounded me. I
whispered, “Ok, I need you to make me invisible. You’re
gonna
love this.” I felt her searching my thoughts. She saw my plan.
Do you think
it’ll work?
“Yeah, but we need to stay focused.” I whispered.

           
Ok, you’re invisible.
She was nervous. Either this
would work, or they’d cut me to ribbons with their weapons. I walked carefully
to the four men. They never reacted. I walked past them, and made my way up to
the base. It took longer to get up the walkway than I planned. The boards
creaked if I moved too fast. Finally, we made it into the base.

           
“Okay if you’ll watch the door I’ll press the button.
Just stay hidden.” She left me and took up watch. I stepped over to the button
and mashed it down. The horn went off again signaling the end. I heard DD’s
voice, “Exercise has concluded time is eight minutes fifty-eight seconds, a
course record! Go
Grimmy
!” I appreciated the
enthusiasm. I felt good having someone rooting us on. Unfortunately, Janine was
just as excited as DD. I may have been wrong, but somewhere in Janine’s
celebration, I thought I saw a very poor version of the old cabbage patch
dance. Unfortunately, the yelling and dancing got the attention of the
remaining clones.
 

           
Since nobody had explained the rules to the clones, and
all previous training missions involved complete bloodbaths. They were coming
towards us, and they weren’t coming for dinner. I moved to the door. Janine was
still bouncing up and down. “
Shh
… get ready, they’re
coming up here. I need you on your “A” game.” Janine stopped. A guilty look
crept up onto her face. “I’m sorry Grim. I really messed this up.” I shook my
head, “No, we were going to have to make our way back down, and apparently
these guys don’t have an off switch. I need you to back in my head.”

           
Janine darted into me. I was so cold my teeth were
chattering. This was something I’d have to get used to if we were going to make
any real significant use of her abilities, but clearly she couldn’t stay in me
for any length of time. I could freeze to death, but if we were careful then
her gifts were a game changer.
Grimmy
, stop
you’re going to make me blush.
I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. It was
just awkward.

           
I felt her search my thoughts. She saw the plan and got
ready. I pressed against the wall near the door. There were eight men coming up
the walkway towards me. I waited until the first man was just at the doorway
before spinning around to face him. I heard his gasp, and his eyes went wide. I
fired two rounds from my pistol, one bullet in each knee. He screamed. His
knees folded backwards, and dropping his shotgun, he
reach
for his wounds.

           
I snatched the gun out of the air. The second attacker
began to point his assault rifle at me. With a hard kick, I drove the first
man’s head back into the second’s groin. The second man doubled over with a
gasp of air. With one hand, I turned the shotgun around and rested the muzzle
against the back of the second man’s head. With a quick pull of the trigger the
shotgun belched out, killing both men instantly. The head of the second man
disappeared in a red mist. I felt Janine become ill as the sound of teeth and
skull rattled across the walkway.

           
No time for hesitation, I tossed the shotgun at the third
clone. He instinctively dropped his weapon to grab the
shotgun,
another two rounds erupted from my pistol. The first struck him above the left
eye, and the second round buried into his heart. A lifeless body fell backwards
into the other clones. They didn’t even attempt to catch him. He just slid down
the chest of the fourth clone, and then flopped onto the ground with a meaty
thud.

           
After slipping back into the base, Janine turned us
intangible and I slipped through the back wall. After slowly descending to the
ground I was still surprised that I landed as light as a feather. Soon we were
solid again, and I began moving behind the enemy. They were slowly making their
way up the walkway. We turned invisible, and I moved until I was standing just
behind them. I lifted my pistol next to the man’s ear and fired four rounds
into the other clones. Red flowered from the four men. The last man jerked to
get away from the sound and fell over the railing. I made a powerful leap over
the railing and came down on his back with a hard crunch. I stepped off and
picked up his submachine gun. His spine was shattered, but he kept trying to
claw himself back to his feet. The little bastard even tried to bite me.
Grim,
I’m sorry, but I can’t watch this. I hope you understand if I slip out.
I
nodded, “Yeah, don’t sweat it. There’s no reason you have to go through this
.“
I lifted my foot up one last time and brought it down on
his skull, squashing it like a cockroach. He finally stopped moving.

           
Considering how stubborn the last guy was, I didn’t want
to take any chances. So I went to each man, and pointed the gun down at him.
With one quick pass, I let the weapon rip through each of them. I tried to keep
telling myself they weren’t real people, but if it looked like a duck, and
quacked like a duck, I tended to see it as a duck. Well they looked human, and
they acted human. It was hard to see them as anything but human.

           
Janine had just floated around the corner so she wouldn’t
have to watch. I found her on her knees praying for each of the men, or maybe
she was praying for God’s forgiveness. Either way it seemed like something
private. Everyone else came out to us. DD gushed over our performance.
Danika
looked as though she wanted to ask for my autograph.
Katy was just quiet. Oh well, anything short of being knocked out by a flying
door was an improvement. Penny smiled at me. She seemed to be considering me as
a fellow apex predator, and possibly an equal, and the butterflies in my
stomach started fluttering again. I was glad Janine wasn’t privy to my
thoughts. I’d have never lived it down.

           
Elizabeth seemed lost in thought. This was either very
good, or very bad. Finally she spoke, “Sergeant Reaper, do you think you can
get similar results with the rest of your team?” I shrugged my shoulders and
said, “It depends, I don’t want to lie and say everyone will have similar
results, but if we work as a team we’ll all be much better than the
alternative.” Elizabeth’s whole body seamed to relax. “Sergeant, you will have
my complete support. If there’s anything you need just say it.” Well things
were definitely looking up.

           
The doctor and Alhambra weren’t so impressed. The doctor
seemed to be holding a grudge. Alhambra was just being…herself. She snapped,
“So what! You broke the record. Big deal! You don’t really think we are going
to march around to your orders like good little soldiers do you.” I stepped
forward. “You’re giving me way too much credit. I didn’t do anything.” Pointing
to Janine, I said, “I couldn’t have done it without her. I know you women
aren’t soldiers. I’m not asking that of you. Just give me your best efforts,
and please be patient with me.” Everyone except for Alhambra and the doctor
seemed excited and supportive. The Jinn watched them. Her face turned into a
snarl, and finally was replaced by an evil grin.
  

           
I heard a pop, and saw red splatter onto my team. DD
screamed. The others stared in horror. There was a pain in my chest, and
looking down I saw a tiny hole just above my right nipple. Blood was blooming
onto my shirt at an alarming rate. I must have fallen because the next thing I
knew the doctor was standing over me trying to stop the blood. I heard her
curse in some language. It sounded German, but I couldn’t be certain. My vision
was fading down to a tunnel. “Get the medical kit!” I heard
Dr
Nowitski
yell over the jumble of screaming and
crying.

 
They brought over first aid, and I quickly
felt the sting as the doctor injected me with painkillers. My head was already
getting fuzzy from blood loss, and as the painkiller took hold suddenly
everything was wonderful. It was all just some cosmic joke. I started giggling
while my vision slowly grew darker. The tunnel kept growing longer, and
narrowing like an iris. The doctor said to someone, “Give me the bio-sealant.”
I watched through tunnel vision as the doctor took something that looked like a
caulking gun. It seemed like a bad time for them to be plumbing. Shouldn’t they
be fixing me?