The half-hour or so that Dirk expected the beasts to arrive stretched on into hours. Frustration settled in and the words of disapproval quickly and quietly made their rounds around the camp in an irritating loop.
- Where’s the action, old man? - Ted mocked. He made it a point to rile everyone up on the radio every few minutes or so. - My trigger finger is itching. I might just pop a few rounds into your oversized toy to see if it will dance. - he cackled as the radio crackled.
“The little shit.” - Dirk murmured under breath, eyes still peeled, but eyelids heavy. The wildlife was behaving strangely. They entered Jason’s olfactory zone a long time ago, but were staying at the very edge of it for what seemed like an eternity.
Did they realize their unit was ready? No. A beast does not have the capabilities to plan that far ahead. But they were being cautious. Overly so, and it put Dirk on edge for a whole slew of reasons.
The fire was slowly dying down, too. Mostly because what little wood Ted and his buddies brought in was less than enough, but now in their precarious situation they couldn't safely go out and gather more.
Dirk wanted to click his tongue. To walk around in a circle. Do anything to dispel this gnawing feeling of frustration that was eating away at him. But he thought better of it. It was his fault that he didn’t oversee the job properly, and now they were all paying the price.
With the warmth of fire slowly losing the battle against the incessant wintry winds of the Russian wasteland, their time was running short, and soon they would have to take action. Hoping for a quick response from their sister truck was foolish at best, and could be deadly at worst. Thus, Dirk busied himself concocting a plan, watching Argonaut turn his head ever so slowly to match the movements of the encroaching pack as he sniffed them out. But even Jason’s senses weren’t foolproof. The whims of the ever-changing winds would either make or break them at this rate if they relied on him too much.
Dirk held his breath for a moment, then exhaled a big white cloud.
- Hold your ground. I’m going out to gather more wood. - he spoke into the radio, already slinging the pack with the right tools over his shoulder.
- Ooh! Would you look at that! The princess is going to dirty her pretty little hands! Got bored with barking orders already? - Ted’s response was immediate and predictably dull. - Tell you what. I’ll go with! - That second part though…
- Stay. - Dirk growled into the mic, but it was already too late. With a thud and a crackle of snow underfoot, Ted jumped down from his nest.
“You were in the one place where you’d be useful. That was your only good idea. Why change it now?” - Dirk seethed in silence, watching the troublemaker nonchalantly make his way towards him.
- Didn’t you say you’d be watching?
- I did. And I am. I’ll be watching you bust your ass with that puny hatchet the Ouroboros idiots gave us. You’ll see how fun that is. - he smirked and walked past Dirk, bumping his shoulder. - Come on. - I’ll show you the way, free of charge. Wouldn’t want you to trip and break a hip, yeah?
“The little shit.” - Dirk almost said out loud as he watched this pain in the ass walk on ahead with a cheerful step. Those words were becoming a mantra.
He considered his next step. Was Ted going to use the opportunity to get rid of him? Probably not. It would be too obvious.
Besides, Dirk could handle one unruly whelp on his own without much issue, though he’d rather it didn’t turn into a full-blown confrontation. As much as Ted was proving to be more trouble than he was worth, worst case scenario, having to put him down this early on could undermine his authority, if not spark a full-blown mutiny.
Dirk sighed, looking at the dwindling flame. There was no time for deliberations.
As he took a step forward, so did Jason, but Dirk quickly stopped him.
- Stay. Defend the team. - he commanded, not sparing the giant a glance. Jason was probably having the same doubts as Dirk, but the old vet couldn’t afford to leave the camp unattended. He needed at least one person he could fully depend on stationed in the camp.
This sent a wave of murmurs through their group. Nobody voiced their concerns, but everybody knew that some sort of clash between the two was coming. Still, they were all mercenaries. What happened to anybody else was of no concern to them in the grand scheme of things, as long as it didn’t affect them, so they let it go.
- Not taking your living shield with you? Oh, you must trust me to have your back after all. I’m flattered.
- The camp’s safety takes priority. - Dirk answered, only half truthfully. He needed eyes and ears here, sure, but his soldierly instincts also forced him to think about completing objectives, and having the team survive and defend the truck was one of them.
- How nice of him. He’s leaving his enforcer with you guys. Aren’t you just giddy about it? - Ted mocked, his tone just one step from confrontational.
More murmurs followed. If Dirk had to give one thing to Ted, it was that the boy was good at inciting. He’d find great success as an Imperial plant during protests. It takes a certain kind of talent to lead a crowd astray.
Still, they moved out, their heads on swivels as they plowed through the snow. Any trails they made some hours ago were long gone, covered up by a fresh layer of white fluff. It didn’t take them long to reach the first trees, but not all of them were usable. Some too hard, some too heavy. Most rotten and useless. They left their secured perimeter long before they found the first usable firewood. Their trek was surprisingly silent, and Dirk was torn on how to feel about it. He guessed that with no audience, Ted would rather save his breath. It was sound thinking, the old vet had to admit, but it also unnerved him just how out of character it was for the always-yapping upstart.
It kept Dirk on his toes, but it wasn’t exactly like he needed an incentive.
Somewhere along the way, Ted shifted his position, moving behind his back, probably thinking he was being subtle about it. Some would say that it was only natural. That the one with the bigger gun should support the column from the rear, as short as it was, but the air weighed heavy on Dirk’s shoulders with each minute that passed as they walked.
As they came to the edge of a small clearing, Dirk knelt down by a small tree, barely bigger than a sapling, but decidedly not a full-blown tree, and started working the hatchet, the wood he’d already collected clattering in the sack on his back. The pitter-patter of snow hitting his coat mixed with the rhythmic strikes of his tool on wood, accompanied by the incessant howling of the wind. In some weird way, the melody of the unforgiving wilderness was calming. Almost serene. And that’s when Dirk heard it.
- I know people like you. Give them a little power and they think they are hot shit. - Ted said from behind Dirk’s back, his tone unlike anything the vet ever heard from him. It was slow. Measured. Coated in a thin, but pronounced coat of emotions, none of which were good. - Throwing your weight around just because you have that pile of muscles following you around.
- Shut up. - Dirk answered flatly, his grip on the hatchet tight as a noose.
- You put up a front. Say grand things about “protecting the team”, but I know better. The others are too chicken-shit to stand their ground, but I’m no pushover. I’ve been pushed around too much already. I’m my own boss, you hear?
- I told you to shut your mouth. - Dirk hissed, hearing the distinct clicking of mechanisms through the cacophony of winter.
- People like you are worthless. Cowards, all of you. The moment shit hits the fan, you’ll just bail and–
- I told you to SHUT UP. - Dirk roared, turning around in a fraction of a second. He saw the barrel of Ted’s gun pointed at him and the vague outline of his face. His eyes glistening with a sort of calculated madness.
The hatchet left his hand so fast that Ted could not even begin to comprehend what was happening, his gaze focused on the man before him, down the iron sight. The tool whizzed through the air, it’s dulled, yet menacing edge glittering in the artificial light.
It connected with a wet thud, and Ted fell to the ground.
- What the fuck?! - The troublemaker yelled, scrambling on the ground, his eyes racing, trying to make sense of the situation. Something bumped him hard. Then he saw it, the dead, malformed body of… something, right there in the snow in front of him, the hatchet sticking out of its head, buried so deep that it almost bisected it.
Before Ted could even get his bearings, Dirk called out to him.
- Get up! They are here! - he commanded and threw out a handful of glowsticks in a wide arc, reaching for the ax with the other hand.
From the snow, jaws glistened instantly. Another creature leaped towards the old soldier, aiming at his side, exposed from the wide throw. Those animals were much smarter than Dirk could have ever anticipated. Could it have been the mutation, or something else entirely?
There was no time to think.
The old man twisted in the hip, letting the foaming jaw fly by his side while grasping in a headlock what came after. Falling with the monster to the snowy floor, he didn’t skip a beat and snapped its neck using their combined momentum.
But the real surprise came once he did that. Another denizen of the tundra rushed towards the toppled human. This position was less than ideal for fighting a quadruped, he needed to get up and quickly.
Suddenly, the creature got hit and went flying across the snow with a yelp.
- Fuck off! - yelled Ted, already up from the ground and holding his machine gun by its barrel in a finishing pose of a perfect-form golf swing.
The old dog expected the whippersnapper to snapper some more on the snowy ground, yet he stood tall and ready to rumble. A surprise, but a welcome one. Then he flowed from the swing to a firing stance seamlessly, sending a salvo into more incoming targets. The silver lining of Ted’s fumbled attempt on Dirk’s life was that his LMG was cocked and ready to shoot the moment they got ambushed.
A hail of hot lead cascaded through the trees with a deafening sound, tearing bark, flesh and snow alike. Just by looking, both men could count at least two confirmed and five unconfirmed hits within the gloom.
- Towards the camp, on the double. - Dirk commanded, his speaking voice somehow louder than gunfire. - You’re on the rear duty.
- Stuff it, this ain’t over yet, between you and me! - Ted barked back.
But he followed the order regardless as Chernobog passed him to take point, swiping the bloodied hatchet from the corpse and putting it to use almost immediately as another beast leaped from the darkness. Dirk slid underneath it, grabbing the logging tool in both hands, and then gutting the animals above him from belly down. An unlikely proof of the hatchet’s deceptive sharpness. Where the creature landed, Ted briefly pointed his red-hot barrel and shot it, just to be sure.
Dirk got up with a snappy spring-like motion and in one fluid movement began pressing onward.
They both could hear screams and more gunfire from the direction of the camp as they were making it through the woods. Despite the initial burst of speed, they had to slow down into an energetic strut to avoid further ambushes. Lance fired at shadows, switching to burst fire to avoid wasting ammo, while his vanguard turned the safety off his handgun, gripping it tightly in one hand, keeping the hatchet in the other hand. Using its wooden shaft as a stabilizer under the gun barrel, he kept both weapons drawn and ready.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Looking over and seeing the small caliber that Chernobog wielded, the young buck wanted to say something snarky, but each time he opened his mouth something appeared for a moment in between the trees, forcing him to focus.
- Eighty meters, friendlies, watch your fire. - Dirk warned him coldly.
The sounds were deafening now, with people barking orders and warnings over the ceaseless gunfire and animalistic roars. Unnervingly, there was also laughter piercing through the sounds of chaos.
One of the voices belonged to a man, while the other was heavily digitized and compressed. Didn’t take a genius to figure out who the second person was, but the first racked Dirk’s brain. Finally, the end of the tree-line presented itself before them at last.
With that, both of them rushed out of the woods, meeting face to face with the extent of carnage that their camp underwent in those few minutes.
- I sure do hope they got more in store! - the digitized voice screamed as Pollux threw a limp body of a broken beast across the snowy ground.
Ah! - Elephant yelped and tipped over from the corpse suddenly crashing near her.
To say that the animal attack was one-sided would be an understatement. The air was thick with the smell of blood, gunpowder and the stench of burning flesh. Exactly at the edge of the glow stick light laid multiple burning corpses. Near them Match, pacing around like a restless watchdog, holding a large apparatus resembling a leaf-blower in both his hands. A small hose dangled by his side, connecting to a tank at his hip. Like a chef with his oven full, he kept close to the sizzling flesh, as if to make sure that it was well done and ready to be served.
Not too far from him stood Spoon looking into the distance, where a pack of beasts seemed to be retreating.
- Bombs away. - he stated casually.
The payloads left the chamber of his grenade launcher, one after another, each explosive landing perfectly despite the distance, blowing the craven beasts into smithereens. Even through his lingering distaste for his and his two friends’ behavior these past few days, Dirk found in himself a bit of newfound respect for the lad at the impressive display.
Despite the attack taking no more than a few minutes and likely being an ambush, at a glance nobody seemed to have gotten hurt, and the mercs managed to repel the invaders. It went much better than Dirk could have hoped for. All complications considered, an early death wasn’t out of the questions.
- You’re late to the party! - Black was the first to notice him and welcome him with a wave. The barrel of his gun was still smoking. - Even with the element of surprise, beasts will only be beasts. - he said, kicking a nearby carcass.
- Now, don’t get too cocky. - Michael joined in, exertion apparent in his voice. His darting eyes standing in stark contrast to the lax atmosphere that the other mercs displayed. - This could have been just the vanguard, sent to test our responses.
- Ha! A vanguard? From animals? - Black croaked. - What’s next? You’re gonna tell me there is some dog general out there on a hill? Sniffing the air to bark the proper orders?
- Wild animals don’t normally approach encampments that make as much noise and lights as ours. But even if those whelps were some kind of mutated anomaly, they should have scrammed the moment we killed the first five. - Becker stood next to the two other aged men. - Not after however many we culled in the last few minutes.
- Twenty one around the encampment, five more blown up by Spoon a few dozen meters away from here. - Armistice spoke, getting ready to clean his rifle.
The good doctor’s voice almost came as a surprise, his presence during the fight a white noise in the background of the cacophony of chaos. Nearly unperceivable, aside from the sounds of his shooting. Now he simply tallied the lives taken and cleaned the long-range bolt rifle that seemed to be his weapon of choice.
- Then there were the two torn in half by Barbara–
- You know it! - Pollux rumbled with a female voice, interrupting Armistice in the process.
- And however many you two have slain in the woods.
- That’d be a metric fuck-tonne. - Ted shared his insight on the matter, with an inkling of pride and not an ounce of vitriol he spewed on Dirk not so long ago. - Most of them mine, confirmed as shit.
- I see.
The team’s medic didn’t seem amused in the slightest and simply returned to the duty at hand. Somewhat caught up to speed Dirk took a shallow breath and then started patting down his own coat before procuring a cigarette from one of the pockets.
Unfortunately it was damp.
The old soldier clicked his tongue and threw it into the snow, between the casings and corpses. The first shallow proof of their team's worth.
- Black, Becker, gather the rest near the campfire. - Dirk ordered. - We need to reform, regroup and review our observations.
- You’ve got it. - Becker took a few deep breaths before heading out towards the smoldering corpses.
- What? What for? - Black didn’t hide his confusion. - We quartered them like cattle!
- No, we didn’t. - Dirk stopped and turned around.
Cold air seemed to have followed his movement. Like a cold, tantalizing touch of death yet unseen, but always present, waiting...
- Michael’s judgment is sound. More are coming and those will be much better prepared. - the message was grim, but Dirk's expression didn't match it at all.
- Ha. - Black changed his tune instantly as he locked eyes with Dirk. - To hell with those dogs. I knew that my hunch was right. - Black responded, now with fervor. - There really is something to you.
Both the old men smiled at each other with a glint in their eyes that could only be described as manic excitement. A thrill for an upcoming battle swelled within them.
- We’re kindred spirits. You and I. - the unkempt merc chuckled before heading out to help Elephant out of the snow.
As Dirk headed towards the fire pit, a machine of giant proportions fell beside him with a thud, but even it couldn't make him flinch now, let alone stop him.
- So you found a fellow pensioner to bond with? How sweet. - Barbara said, before joining him in his stroll. - You two gonna have bingo nights once we’re back on the road?
- Maybe we should, it would be a nice change of pace to all the poker. - Dirk responded swiftly.
- Somebody caught a second wind.
- A few worries I had have simply been dispelled, nothing more. - he stopped for a spell and turned towards the cockpit of the walker, now caked in frozen blood. - Have you seen Argonaut? I gave him explicit orders to guard the camp.
- I saw him last south of the camp, roaring there alone. Nobody else really wanted to join him for some reason. - she pointed with her oversized limb.
So he did his job. That was all that mattered. It showed that despite the lack of directions, the boy could keep his head in the game. If the other mercs could afford to entirely avoid his flank, then then it meant that Jason covered their flank perfectly.
Just as Dirk thought about it, the crackling flames rose from the pit, their light illuminating a resting figure on the snowy ground. Its large chest raised up and down like a bellow.
- There you are. - he didn’t even hide his smile. - If you were only half as reliable as my weapon, Garuda.
- And you’re mean again. - Pollux’s megaphone crackled. - Here I hoped that all that vigor would translate to you not being bitter for a few hours.
- There are more important things to do at the moment and I’ll need your cooperation to pull it off. You’re in or out?
Dirk looked directly at the machine. In response she raised one of the mech's arms and scratched at the layer of blood on its surface a few times in a clumsy attempt to make herself more presentable.
- Do you even have to ask? As long as I get to fight I rarely care who it is against, man. Just point at our targets.
- It's not about fighting, but you'll know when to jump in. - he said rather cryptically in a hushed tone, keeping it between him and Barbara.
- A lady not only beautiful but strong and fearless. At this rate I might fall for you Miss Prusk. - Michael approached them with a belly laugh and the “Three Stooges” in tow, none the wiser to Dirk's words.
- So the dog came back to its master too? - Match murmured.
From behind them approached Black and Elephant. The latter, somewhat ashamed, judging from her clammed-up posture. Seeing the squad assembled, Dirk clapped his hands, getting everyone's attention.
There was an aura of pride filling the camp, mixed with the lingering adrenaline-high of first blood. A cause for concern, perhaps, as pride made people careless, Dirk knew that from experience... But also a one of a kind occasion to rouse his troops and give this latent energy a proper direction. If there ever was an opportunity for a leaderly speech to assert his position, it was now.
- Ladies and gentlemen, I commend you for surviving.
Some took the joke in stride, others frowned, but the response was high-spirited and that’s what mattered to him at the moment. Keeping the morale up was paramount in the situation.
Dirk grabbed a wood from his sack and tossed it into the fire, making it soar.
- Unfortunately what you faced off against was only a vanguard. - before anyone could interrupt him, he raised his arm. - I'm sure you've seen it, but they approached us strategically, only striking when the moment was ripe. They are no mere beasts. Their intellect? Unknown.
Another piece of wood, another burst of flames. Dirk didn’t flinch.
- Their motivations? Unimportant. They want us dead by means of tooth and claw. That’s all there is to it. - he oversimplified ten times over, but managed to sell the lie, almost believing it himself. Of course there had to be more to it, but now wasn't the time for investigation. - They are strong and agile, but even they cannot outrun bullets. Keep your distance and keep shooting. That's the way.
His eyes moved towards one of the carcasses, the gazes of his fellow mercs following suit.
- Which means that this isn’t a mere stand for survival, or a desperate defence. No. If you want to, you can make it into a safari.
The Three Stooges chuckled, the message visibly resonating with their youthful need to prove themselves, even if Ted acted reluctant. Dirk started pacing in the fire's light.
- But like on every safari, there must be rules, so that none of you lose your fingers to a lion’s bite. I know those rules by heart, so you better listen closely as I guide you through them. So I ask you this: Are you with me? - he glanced at Barbara and she didn't hesitate for a moment
- Hell yeah! - she roared, rising a metal fist, and the others followed, caught up in the moment. Dirk's little ploy went without a hitch.
His feverish gaze turned towards Ted first.
- You already know where you sit, don’t you?
- Don’t be so fucking smug. - Ted brandished his LMG, ever defiant, but Dirk could feel his full attention on him now, now even more so than at that moment deep in the woods. But despite the vigor, there was also a sore note of defeat in the troublemaker's voice. He got his warning, and Dirk prayed it would end with that. Without much flare, he moved to the crow's nest atop their truck.
- Armistice. - Dirk moved on to another man on his mental list.
- Am I to check up on everyone’s wounds just to be sure? - the man asked, his expression that of knowing anticipation. He was a professional through and through, so Dirk didn't need to tell him what to do, but did anyway for consistency's sake.
- Take Elephant with you, and pay extra attention to everyone’s radiation levels while you’re at it. You have potassium iodide tablets on you?
- Who do you take me for? - the medic got off the ground with an exhale.
Elephant began fumbling around her pouches, following orders without any “buts” or retorts.
- Garuda.
- What’s cookin’ good lookin’? - machine answered.
- Can you gather all the corpses and make a mound of them on top of Match’s handiwork?
- Okay, but why?
- There’s no way they will attack again from the same side, but just to make sure, a giant pyre of their dead should dissuade them from attacking there. - Dirk began to explain, some more unsavory memories from the past flashing before his eyes.
"It always comes down to the pyres here in Russia" - he thought to himself, before being brought back to the ground.
- You’re starting to talk like we’re fighting against human beings. - Match let himself be known with another snide comment.
- S-studies show that most pack animals show emotional responses when other predators tamper w-with corpses of their deceased pack-mates. - Elephant spoke for the first time since Dirk arrived.
Despite her words being nothing more than statistics it was something that Match had no retort to, so he simply shot her a glare.
- I hope that what Elephant said answered your question.
- Sure did mine, let’s do it. - Barbara cut the chit-chat short, knowing all she needed.
She grabbed two corpses near her and proceeded to walk, other mercs getting out of the stomping giant's way.
- The rest of you can take this time to restock and take positions, maybe catch a breath or two. - Dirk finished his impromptu presentation.
- Where are we supposed to stand? - Spoon asked an important question. - We’re burning corpses up north, east and north-east are secured. So are we forming a line on the west side of the camp or the south?
- The south. Before you ask why, the answer lies before you. - Dirk smiled.
Spoon, unlike his other companions, appeared to be quite sharp as he immediately understood what the old soldier meant and looked towards the inert regenerator.
- The south was defended by a single entity in a way they knew. With sheer, wild brutality. - Spoon spoke his conclusions aloud, probably for the sake of his friends. - They tired him out, so they will now aim for the assumed weak point that we’ll reinforce and break them over.
Dirk nodded slightly. If Spoon wasn’t with the other two, he’d perhaps be quite a promising diamond in the rough when it came to being a soldier. For shame.
- All’s clear? - he scanned the group, his mind battle-ready.