The Demon Deception (2 page)

She was going to die on a nameless road, in a
nameless place. Nobody would find her. Whatever it was, it was
going to destroy her. There was nothing she could do about it.
Despair filled her mind, overwhelmed her soul. Her body failed her.
She couldn’t walk anymore. She was no longer interested in taking
that one more step. Her hands opened, and the rifle fell from her
grasp. She stumbled and fell to her knees. She folded her arms
around her body, and rocked back and forth. The horror grew. It
felt like a buzzing inside of her skull.

There were three of them. They walked
forward, but only to the point that she could just make out their
figures under the bright stars, taunting her with their presence.
They were abnormally tall and thin. Wraith like figures, emaciated,
desiccated, they walked around her, circling her. They were naked
in the cold. They weren’t
human.
Their genitalia were
shriveled. She couldn’t tell if they were male or female.

She couldn’t see their faces, though she knew
that she didn’t want to see that horror. Their hands stretched
forth. The fingers were thin, and incredibly long. They reached for
her. She knew, as soon as those fingers touched her, she was
doomed. Tears rolled down her face in sheets. Heartrending sobs
filled the air. Her head dropped to stare at the dirt in front of
her.

“I think you’ve got yourself into a bit of
trouble here, young lady.”

The voice was clear and masculine. She
couldn’t look up, though. She was too tired. Her chest heaved as
she cried. She wanted to lay down and sleep. She just wanted
everything to be back to normal. She hoped that she was dreaming,
and that she would wake up in the Humvee.

The creature in front of her burst into fire
and ash as a blade erupted from its chest. It whistled a scream as
it died and disappeared. The smell of sulfur engulfed her. The
other two drew back into the darkness. She could hear grunts and
groans as creatures fought and died in the night. She lifted her
head, and looked up at the night sky, waiting for her death. She
knelt there, tears running down her face, gazing up at the
beautiful stars.

Wisps of ash floated across her face. She
blinked and rubbed her eyes as the ash drifted. Another whistling
scream sounded, and a head thudded on the road in front of her.
Black eyes stared from a reptilian face. The head charred, blazing
from the inside, curlicues of flame racing across the features. The
head collapsed inward as the flesh was consumed. She gasped for
air, not realizing that she had been holding her breath. The
infernal creatures were dead, and her dread lifted. She felt human
once more. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and another one lightly
patting her on the back, as if trying to help her breathe.

“Are you okay? No, no, that’s okay, you can
stay kneeling if you need to.”

She didn’t want to, she wanted to stand up.
But she was weak. She grabbed one of his hands, and pulled to stand
up. He quickly understood what she was trying to do. He put his
other hand under her arm, and used both hands to help her stand.
Hartman stood up, and almost immediately fell back down. He put his
arms around her to help her stay upright. She leaned into his
warmth, shivering.

“Okay, okay. You’ve been through quite a lot
tonight. You’ve been shot at, you’ve been blown up, left behind by
your comrades, and almost devoured by Djinn. I think you’ve had a
pretty exciting night so far.”

She gasped, “Dj…, Djn, Djinn?”

“Yes love, that’s what those creatures are,
or were. You’re lucky to be alive.”

The tears began again. She tried to stem the
tide by pressing her hands to her eyes. She was sobbing, the near
death experiences too much for her.

“Don’t worry. You should have seen my
reaction the first time I had to deal with something like
that.”

She wiped her eyes, fiercely. She was in
shock, and knew it, but she didn’t like her emotion betraying her
to this stranger.

“Are you okay, Specialist?”

She took a few deep breathes, then nodded,
“Yes, I think so.”

“Are you good to walk?”

She nodded again.

“Okay, we need to leave, but not in the
direction you were heading. If we go that way, we might run into
Taliban, or worse.”

She didn’t ask what the worse might be. She
had a pretty good idea. She knew that she didn’t want to have to
meet anything like that ever again in her life.

She looked at her savior. He was unassuming,
a little on the short side. She couldn’t tell much about him in the
dark. He had a beard, but it wasn’t a Taliban two hand. It was just
long enough to paint his features. He was wearing the Afghanistan
perahan wa tunban, or shirt and pants, plus a jacket, vest, and
sandals. He had a Pashtun turban wrapped around his head. A
Kalashnikov rifle was slung across his back. The swords that he had
used against the creatures were sheathed on his hips.

She stiffened, and pulled away slightly,
realizing that he might be Taliban. He felt her stiffen, “Don’t
worry, love, I’m not Taliban, or even Afghani.”

His English was perfect, with just a slight
accent that she couldn’t place. She relaxed a little bit.

“Can you stand unaided?”

She felt better, so she nodded.

He slowly let go of her, standing ready to
catch her if she fell. She didn’t look like she was going to hit
the dirt, so he bent over and picked up her rifle. She braced as
she realized he had both weapons, realizing that she didn’t have a
weapon to defend herself with. He noticed her reaction, but he
didn’t say anything. He checked to make sure the rifle was on safe.
He did a press check to make sure there was a round in the chamber.
He handed the rifle back to her.

“You’re going to need this.”

She took it, immediately feeling better with
the rifle in her hands. Now, she was pretty sure she could trust
him as well. If he wished her harm, he would never had given her
the rifle. She emulated his motions, checking it to make sure it
was on safe, a quick press check to ensure it had a bullet in the
chamber, and smacked the bottom of the magazine to make sure it was
still firmly seated.

He nodded in satisfaction when he saw her
check the rifle, which indicated to him that she was getting over
her shock, “Are you ready? We have a few miles to cover to get you
back to your unit.”

She nodded.

He smiled, “You’re a quiet one, aren’t you?”
She didn’t say anything, and he continued. He pointed in the
direction they needed to walk, “We’re going that way. It’s not the
way you came from, but I can get you back to the Ring Road quicker
in that direction.

She would have to trust him, she had no
choice, “Okay.”

“I’m going to walk in front of you. You know
your Army’s hand and arm signals, right?”

She nodded.

“Okay, this is stop, this is freeze, this
means danger zone, and this means enemy, yes?”

She nodded again.

“So, if you see me make these signs, you
follow them. Or, if you see me stop, you stop. If you see me kneel,
you kneel. If you see me lie down, you lie down. And, most
importantly, if you see me running, you run in the same direction
that I do, and try to beat me to wherever I’m running to,
okay?”

Another nod.

He turned and started walking. She followed.
Like before, she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the
other. There were a few low hills in front of them, and she
followed him as he led her across. They walked for a mile, and then
two. Time passed slowly. They topped one more, low hill, and she
saw the prettiest sight she had ever seen. It was her convoy,
sitting at the juncture of Highway 1 and the road where they had
been ambushed. They were only a mile away.

“Okay, we’re almost there.”

She started crying again. She hated her
weakness. She remembered one of her favorite movies, and thought,
“There’s no crying in the Army!”

He turned to her, “It’s okay. No problems.
You’re going to be okay, I promise.”

“Will you stay with me until I get back to my
unit?”

He thought about it, and rubbed his beard,
“Well, it’s going to complicate my life just a little bit, but I’ll
stay with you until then.” He nodded his acquiescence to her
wish.

He turned to walk down the hill, to the group
of Humvees and trucks. She reached out and stopped him before he
could take a step.

“Please?” she asked.

“What?”

“Please, who are you?”

“Oh, my name’s Eli. Come on, let’s get you
where you belong, okay? It’s not too far now. I’m pretty sure
they’re worried about you.”

She nodded, suddenly realizing that she was
missing in action. Her professionalism came back. She knew she
needed to get down to the convoy. He put his hand on her arm,
“here, why don’t you walk in front of me. They’re probably jumpy
right now. Dressed like this, they’d probably think I’m a Taliban
trying to finish what began earlier. I would hate for them to start
shooting before I get you to them.”

She stepped in front of him and began
walking, “What are you doing here?”

“It’s my job. I find missing people.”

“Are you Special Forces?”

“Ah, nothing special about me, young
lady.”

She slipped on the sloped gravel. She felt
his strong hands grip her arm, and help her stay up.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. Come on, we’re almost there.
They’ll see you soon enough.”

She kept walking forward. One of the infantry
soldiers, Corporal Meredith, saw her first. He yelled over at
Lieutenant Macy, “Lieutenant, I think you should take a look. I
think it’s Hartman!”

2
^nd
Lieutenant Macey looked at SFC
Summer. While SSG Alciannas was in charge of the logistics part of
the convoy, 2
^nd
Lieutenant Macey was in charge of the
overall convoy, the infantry commander, and SFC Summer was his
platoon sergeant. SFC Summer did what any experienced NCO would do,
and went to the other side, away from where Hartman was walking in,
just in case this was some kind of diversion. If it was a
diversion, he would be in place to direct fire on the attack. The
vehicles were arranged in a circle. Everybody took cover, ready for
another ambush. The three wounded soldiers from the IED explosion
were in the center of the circle. A Combat Lifesaver was working on
them, though injuries were light.

Hartman had been discovered missing when SFC
Summer did a head count and ACE report. The Lieutenant sent a
contact report to his command via radio, as well as the information
about the three wounded and one missing soldier. Right now,
helicopter gunships were about five minutes out. There was a rapid
reaction force racing out to the position as well, with an
additional platoon of infantry. The lieutenant was going to lead
his convoy back to the area as soon as they had the gunships on
site.

Lieutenant Macey raced over to Corporal
Meredith. Meredith pointed towards SPC Hartman. She was walking
calmly to the convoy. Macey put his hand on Meredith’s shoulder,
then pointed at two other soldiers, and said, “Meredith, Clancy,
Alcides, go check her out. Get her back here, ASAP.”

It killed Macey to send the soldiers out when
he wanted to go, but he knew that SFC Summer would kick his ass if
he ran out there. It was the lieutenant’s job to manage operations,
not play the hero. The sergeant would be very respectful when he
did so, but it would still be a major verbal ass kicking. As
Meredith and the two soldiers ran out from behind the cover of the
Humvees, Macey yelled up at the Humvee gunners to keep them
covered.

He couldn’t just let the missing
‘soldier’
walk up to the Humvees. He had to make sure that
she was, in fact, Hartman. If it wasn’t Hartman, he needed that
person checked for explosives to make sure they weren’t on a
suicide mission. The three soldiers got to Hartman quickly. CPL
Meredith did a quick check for explosives. The three soldiers
surrounded her, and walked her back to the vehicles. Macey was very
relieved to see it was, in fact, SPC Hartman.

She walked into the cover of the Humvees, and
immediately, several soldiers clapped her on the shoulders, happy
to see her back. Macey was happy as hell that he hadn’t lost a
soldier. It would have weighed heavily on him to lose a soldier,
and have to explain to her parents that she had been lost under his
command. He walked over to SPC Hartman, “Are you okay, Specialist?
How did you find us?”

She looked around, looking for Eli, “Eli
helped me. Where is he? I want to thank him for helping me get
back.”

Lieutenant Macey looked at her, “Eli? There’s
nobody with you, Specialist. You walked in here by yourself.”

She looked around, confused, “But, he was
right there with me.”

Macey was suddenly very concerned, “Let’s get
you over to the combat life saver. I think you have a
concussion.”

He turned and walked her to the medic. The
sound of helicopter blades beat percussion against the hills as
gunships arrived on station. Macey told the medic about her
possible concussion, and headed back to his command Humvee to radio
back the good news that she had been found.

Hartman was ecstatic when she saw her crew.
They were all banged up, but everybody was alive. SPC Peltier
jumped up and threw his arms around her, “You saved my life. I
couldn’t get in, and you pulled me down. I saw the Humvee tipping.
I knew I was a dead man. I saw the ground racing up at me.”

SSG Alciannas and PFC Reyes, the driver,
stood up and walked over. Peltier stood back, embarrassed by his
reaction. Alciannas gripped both her shoulders. He looked deep into
her eyes, and said in his lilting Haitian accent, “It is good to
have you back, Specialist Hartman. You had us very worried.”

The congratulations continued as people
walked by. Combat medics showed up with the relief forces and took
charge of the wounded. They herded their charges to ambulances for
the trip back to Bagram. Before she got into the ambulance,
Specialist Hartman looked around for her savior. She wondered if
she would ever see Eli again.