SNAFU: Hunters

Alone, but knowing the team were just inches behind him and ready to back him up if things got serious, Warner stalked into the centre of the main entrance hall. To his right a grand staircase flowed up towards a landing, where it split into two. Carved balustrades that once formed the perfect backdrop to the grand entrances of debutantes in swirling taffeta dresses now stood peeling and battered by time. Through the huge glass windows the moonlight shone in, turning the whole world into a monochrome checkerboard of stark black shadows and illuminated silver-grey patches.

Warner stood in the middle of the house’s once-grand entrance hall and scanned the shadows. He rotated three-sixty degrees, the C8 pushed hard into his shoulder and the safety most definitely off this time. His finger lay alongside the trigger housing, ready to slide effortlessly onto the curved steel and squeeze as soon as he saw Binky’s snarling face. He stared along the barrel and muttered. “C’mon, c’mon, where are you, you ugly bastard?” He sang softly, “Come out, come out, wherever you are…”

A voice called out softly and Warner glanced back at the team. “Stairs!” Colby pointed up to the staircase’s landing.

Bathed in moonlight and looking like a ghastly silver wraith, the Taint slowly raised its head and stared straight at Warner. On either side the stairs curled gracefully away into black shadows. But the landing, which faced the huge windows of the entrance, was drenched in a soft, silvery glow. The Taint gave Warner that poisonous, vicious smile once again and raised a sinewy arm. A single talon pointed straight at Warner and the Taint hissed. “You. Die. Now.”

“Oh, ya think, motherfucker?” Warner smiled back. It wasn’t a nice smile. Visions of his friend’s violated body crashed into his mind and he felt that white-hot anger boiling back up again. Focus. Use the anger. Focus… He aimed the snout of the C8 straight at the creature, which let out a gurgling, rasping laugh.

“Broken!” It pointed at the gun. “You. Die. Now.”

The Taint let out a howl and leapt, clearing the stairs in one bound and hitting the slippery, black and white floor at a flat run. It hurtled towards Warner, a murderous look on its face and venom-laden talons outstretched.

“Boss!” Gary and Micky threw Colby frantic looks. “Col, the kid’s a candidate! He’s not trained for this!”

“Wait out. This one’s his.” Colby watched, but the Glock was trained on the Taint, just in case. He wanted Warner to take this bastard down, but if the damn thing got too close…

In the centre of the hallway, Warner held his ground, legs slightly apart and knees bent. He watched the Taint get closer… closer… closer…

Warner slid his index finger into the curl of the trigger. “Broken, huh? Well, guess what, arsehole? Wrong gun!”

The C8 let out two shouts as Warner squeezed the trigger twice for a double tap. Both bullets, laden with organophosphur, slammed into the Taint’s chest, sending it flying backwards, its grotesquely muscled arms flung outwards and its head back. The mouth was still open and the damn thing was still screaming blue bloody murder.

Warner slowly lowered the C8 and watched the fireworks, his mouth set in a grim smirk.

The Taint hit the bottom stair and spasmed. The organophosphur sent spiders of fire crawling up underneath his skin, a vivid gold that looked even brighter in the muted, silver half-light of the hallway. The Taint squirmed and thrashed as the liquid fire reached its neck and face. Its back arched so hard that the creature’s heels almost touched the back of its head. It writhed and thrashed in agony as its skin started to bubble. Finally, the spiders-web of fire underneath its skin filled every vein and artery, and it went into a violent, bone-breaking, heel-drumming fit. With a last ear-splitting howl, the creature exploded. Grey ash filled the hallway, coating every surface with a thick blanket of dust.

Warner watched the creature’s violent death throws and its explosive demise impassively. As the dust motes danced in the moonlight and floated down, he smiled. “That’s for Robbie.” He opened his hand and looked down at the dog tags, still encrusted in his friend’s dried blood. While the creature had been thrashing and screaming, he’d slipped his hand into his pocket, clutched the round metal discs into his hand and held on to them tight, feeling the edges pressing into the palm of his hand. Now, he slipped them back into his pocket for the last time and turned to Alpha Team.

Colby emerged from the shadows and walked across the floor, his footsteps making the softest of sounds and the Glock still in his right hand, just in case Binky had friends. He stopped in front of Warner and put his left hand on the lad’s shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

Colby gave him a gentle smile. “You did good there, fella.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Think you could do that again?”

“Yes, sir. All day long.”