SNAFU: Hunters

Blake smiled as an idea formed. He hoped the barrier really was is impenetrable as it appeared. Taking out a grenade, he pulled the safety clip and, keeping his thumb mashed down on the spoon, he pulled the ring from the fuse assembly.

When he let go, the spoon sprang free, igniting the fuse. A wisp of smoke rose from the fuse assembly as it burned down toward detonation. With the fuse-delay of about four to five seconds, Blake was trusting his life to its accuracy.

He counted down the seconds:

One Mississippi…

Two Mississippi…

Three Mississip–

Blake stepped from behind the barrier, threw the grenade straight at the fleshy concavity of the creature’s face and crouched back behind Carroll in one smooth motion.

The grenade detonated right in front of the creature’s face, sending jagged shards of scorched metal casing through its flesh.

The front of the creature’s head disappeared in a red mist. It collapsed forward, hung for a moment, slumped against the invisible column surrounding Carroll like a drunk leaning against a lamp post before sliding sideways and crashing into the dust.

Blake stepped from behind the barrier and fired a few shots into the bloody stump that was all that was left of the monster’s head. The grenade at point blank range had done its work, as had the invisible barrier, protecting Carroll from the blast as well as deflecting the blast around Blake.

Satisfied it was dead, Blake went to check on his team mates. Lyons was alive and still strapped into the driver’s seat of the upturned Stryker. Williams, Howard and Specialist Brad Hickman were dead, but Wyatt Pollin had survived being flung twenty feet by the monster’s blow although Blake suspected he had a couple of cracked ribs and some torn ligaments in his shoulder from where he had failed to stick the landing.

Blake turned his attention back to Carroll. “Get up, Carroll!” he demanded. “Get up and start talking. I’ve got three dead marines plus Burrows, and a wrecked vehicle. No more secrets! What the hell was that?”

Carroll eventually raised his head then reached out a hand. The instant it passed above the encircling chain, the barrier disappeared – Blake felt it as rush of stale wind.

“Couldn’t shoot,” Carroll said. “Would’ve broken the circle.”

“Fuck your circle, Carroll. What about the rest of us? What about fighting for your team? Your mission? I heard you in the Stryker when we dropped. ‘Ooh-Rah’. You’re a marine. Since when do marines run and hide like that?”

“You don’t understand,” the man muttered.

“Enlighten me.”

Carroll stared at the body of Nathan Burrows sprawled in the sand. “It doesn’t matter now. I’m a dead man.”

“You knew what this mission was about,” Blake snapped. “We’re all dead men.”

“Not me,” Carroll said with a shake of his head. “Burrows was going to get me out. That was our deal. One last hunt.”

“Bullshit. Get you out? Out of where? You’ve already absorbed enough rads to kill you. Die here or die in a Navy hospital, what difference does it make?”

“You don’t get it. I wasn’t going to die. Burrows was going to get me frozen. Cryogenics, just like Walt fuckin’ Disney.”

For a moment Blake was taken aback. “Why?”

“Twenty years, I been huntin’ those things. Twenty years of watching the tests and cleaning up afterwards and we never once cracked the walls of heaven. Never saw no cherubs, just those... things,” he gestured toward the monster’s carcass before taking a step toward Blake. “You see, I figured it out. There’s no heaven, only hell. Just us and them. I’ve seen the truth. I know where we go when we die and I ain’t planning on dying.”

The old man was clearly crazy, but then so was this whole situation and unfortunately Carroll was the closest thing Blake had to an expert on this stuff, so he was just going to have to deal with the old man.

“Look, I’m sure whatever deal Burrows promised you is still on the table. We just need to complete our mission and get clear of this storm so we can contact base.”

That wasn’t going to be as easy as it sounded. Not without a vehicle. “Lyons! What’s the news on the Stryker?”

Lyons came over shaking his head. “We could maybe right it if we had time. We can dig her out and try to roll her with the jack, but she’s got two shredded wheels and the front axle is busted.” He glanced back at the Stryker. “We could maybe remove the wheels from that axle and use them to replace the shredded tyres but that’s a hell of a job in the field.”

Blake nodded. “Okay. Better get started then. Everyone’s going to have to pitch in. That means you too, Carroll!”

But Carroll wasn’t looking at him. He was staring down at the candle that still burned despite the raging storm. Its flame was a brilliant white tongue of fire almost six inches long and pointing in the direction of the hypocenter. It seemed their mission was far from over.

* * *