A Creature of War, Book 4, CH01 (Patreon)

For all intent and purposes, this war was over. After six months of gorilla warfare his unit had finally found the Peruvian base and destroyed it. Now El’s unit was in the process of hunting down those soldiers who had escaped into the jungle.

El broke the neck of the soldier He’d caught and looked around. Vee had smashed the human’s head in a tree hard enough the soldier didn’t drop to the ground when he let go. Vee smiled at him. No guns, he suggested, no powers. Since these soldiers were just humans, they’d use only their hands. They’d spent the day killing enemy soldiers that way.

Normally they wouldn’t be doing that. They’d destroyed the chain of command, and if this was a normal war, it would have been enough. The soldiers would have gone back to where ever the Peruvian government housed them to lick their wounds. The government would rebuild their army and get back to it like everyone else.

“Tango, Bravo, Report in,” Vee called in his radio.

But this wasn’t a normal situation. The Peruvians had broken the agreed upon conducts of war and destroyed a civilian target. El had seen the recordings, along with everyone in his unit. The bodies were everyone. No one in Campo had escaped. By the look of the damage done, they hadn’t even known it was about to happen.

It had sickened El, and when he was ordered to completely eradicate the Peruvian army, he had been more than happy to do it.

“Bravo here, Sir. Almost done with our targets. I have three injured who’ll need your help, Otherwise it’s just scrapes and bruises and we can live with that.”

“Tango, here. Two casualties here, and a handful of injured. These bastards really don’t want to go down, do they?”

“Can either of you spare the personnel to bring your injured to the rally point?”

“Yes, Sir,” Bravo said.

“I—I think so.”

“If you can’t Tango, leave them under cover and continue with your assignment.”

“No, sir,” the confidence was back in Tango’s voice. “We’ll get them there. Tango out.”

El tightened his lips in annoyance. “Is it my imagination, or do they always saddle us with the green units? Can you even remember working alongside experienced people?”

“There was the Dutch thing.”

“That was over two hundred years ago, Vee, that no longer counts.” El joined the bull and they headed toward the rally point.

“You’re right, we’ve been getting a lot of inexperienced units.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s because they know we can be trusted to bring them back alive.” He thought about it, “Or maybe they just don’t trust us with experienced soldiers?”

“I think they just don’t give a damn. El looked around at the bodies they passed. “Christ, why do they even bother sending anyone with us? Look at the damage we did without powers or weapons. Just the two of us, not having to worry about killing our own soldiers, we could have cleared this jungle and the mountainside in a couple of days.”

Vee pulled the lynx against him and wrapped an arm over his shoulders. “Now, now, you don’t want this to be too easy, do you?”

El shrugged. “I just wish they wouldn’t over complicate it for us” He looked to his left and a moment later gurgling came among the trees. “We missed one.”

A human woman came crashing out, water dripping out of her mouth as she tried to breath.

“I thought you’d agreed we were doing this by hand today,” Vee said, sounding uninterested.

“I’m tired.”

She reached for the rifle over her shoulder, but her fingers couldn’t grasp it.

“You sure?”

“Yes, let’s just go.”

Vee nodded and the woman dropped, dead. “Any more on the way?”

“Not that I can feel. We scared off all the animals, so they can’t stay low to the ground and confuse me.”

Vee nodded and kissed the top of El’s head.

El smiled and leaned against the bull. “You ever wonder why the Peruvians don’t have any Anthro’s in their army? You’d think that would be the best way to be on an equal footing with the rest of us.”

“I don’t know, can’t say I really care, but Anthros would have attracted attention moving through Campo. Whatever the reason, we’re almost done here. Once Tango and Bravo are back we can call for an evac and go home.”

El nodded. “Any word from Zack’s team?”

“Not since they went radio silent. They were about the enter the Peruvian nuclear facility this morning, I figure they’ll have all the scientist there dead and their research destroyed by the time we wake up tomorrow.”

“Nuclear,” El said in disbelief. “Are the Peruvians set on getting themselves wiped off the map? Nuclear has been outlawed since before we’ve existed. It’s like they looked at the code of war and decided to break each and every one of the rules.”

“If that’s the case, hopefully this will teach them a lesson.”

* * * * *

El and Vee were lying naked on the jungle floor, away from the camp. They were sweating and panting from the heat as much as what they’d just finished doing. Their celebration for having finished the mission.

El looked at the sky. It was clear without any clouds. “I can hear the choppers approaching.” He didn’t move. “We should get dressed.”

The bull nuzzled the lynx’s neck and nipped lightly. “Or we can stay here, just the two of us. Leave the wars behind.” He ran a hand through El’s chest fur and down to his groin. “Enjoy ourselves.”

El’s chuckle caught, and he pulled the hand away. “Be serious, Vee. We can’t go AWOL, hide here and have sex all the time. We’re soldiers.”

“I know.” The bull sighed. “I just didn’t expect to be doing this for so damned long. Our live expectancy was what? fifteen years? If we didn’t die in combat? We’ve been at it for centuries.”

El nodded at Vee’s tired tone. The average lifespan of an Anthro soldier was actually eight years, he’d read. He’d encounter an old soldier once, a Grizzled black bear of twelve who’d had a missing eye, hand and half his fur. She’d been grim as she fought, throwing herself into battle like she wanted to die. She’d survived it, losing only a foot. Her expression had been as grim leaving the battlefront as it had been entering it.

El’s long lifespan, as well as that of all the Specialists had surprised the Scientists at the Freak Lab. How many were there now? Two hundred of them? He was sure that much more had come to be in total, but even with their powers, war was deadly.

When Eek had reached sixteen, he was the oldest, older than CM by a month, the scientists had run a barrage of tests on him trying to determine how he hadn’t just died on reaching fifteen. Each of them went through the same tests on their sixteen birthday.

The scientist hadn’t said anything, but El had become good at eavesdropping by then. He learned that Anthros were designed to shut down at fifteen. He didn’t know why, that was one question he hadn’t been able to answer in all these years.

None of his brothers and sisters had died at fifteen. Those who didn’t make it to that age had been taken by the war, and each one of them had taken a lot of enemies with them before they finally went down.

Of those El considered his family, the twenty-six who had been housed in the same barrack as him, only eighteen remained. Which, then El thought about it, was impressive considering how long they had all been fighting in one war or another.

The Freak Lab now had two dozen barracks for Specialists, but he didn’t know how many of those were actually used. El had tried to get to know them, at first, but he just couldn’t connect with any of them like he had with his family. They might be Specialists like him, but felt just like soldiers to him. He didn’t know why.

“Have you heard from Zack?” He asked as they rejoined the others in the clearing. “He should have made contact by now. It’s been three days.” The helicopters were getting close. Tango and Bravo were all there, packs on their back.

“No, but I’m not worried. They are experienced.”

El froze. Something had happened.

Vee looked at him. “What’s wrong?”

There was a flash of light in the distance, just as the helicopters’ motors sputtered and died.

El looked behind them. Light was blooming over the trees, far he could feel that, but coming. “Scatter!” he yelled pointing in the opposite direction, and he saw one of the helicopters drop out of the sky. “Run as fast as you can! Leave everything behind. Now!” He followed his own orders and ran. His soldiers obeyed. Those created for speed outdistanced the others.

One of the helicopters crashed and a ball of fire went up. The second crashed moments later, then the third and fourth. El barely sensed those fires. Whatever was coming overshadowed them, even at a distance.

“What’s going on?”

El Felt the heat in the distance, a wall of it coming at them so very fast. It was different than any fire he’d ever felt, but he knew it was just as deadly, if not more so. And he realized something.

“We’re not going to make it.” The words were a whisper, fear stealing most of his voice away. He had to run faster.

“El, talk to me!”

“That flash of light. There’s a wall of heat coming. It’s faster than we are.”

Vee caught his arm and stopped. “Fire?”

“Vee we have to run!” El tried to pull him, but the bull was stronger. Soldiers were running past them, the downed helicopters, that light and his words had been enough to show them the wisdom of not being here.

“You said it’s faster than we are.” He looked behind them.

“Vee, we have to try!”

The bull looked at him. “How hot?”

El didn’t immediately answer. Didn’t Vee understand the danger they were in? “I don’t know,” he finally said. “Hot. It’s different. I can’t tell.”

Vee’s face was set, hard. “El, I’m going to keep you safe. No matter what, I’ll keep you safe. I love you too much to let anything happen to you.”

El pulled. “Then we have to run!” there was air being displaced. He hadn’t noticed it because he’d been focused on the strange heat, but he could tell a shock wave would hit them first.

And he realized it was already too late. It had been too late the moment the explosion happened. They weren’t going to survive. Maybe the runners would, but no one else could get far enough in time.

He wrapped his arms around his lover and held on. Wasn’t it ironic that only minutes before they’d been talking about deserting?

Vee’s strong arms held him. “El, if you can, keep the worst of it off us.”

The wind reached them. He saw it coming as he felt it. It was a wall of trees, soil, bodies. He took control of what he could and formed a bubble around he and Vee, diverted the debris, but right behind the wind was the heat an while he could sense it, it wouldn’t obey him.

He tightened his grip on Vee, closed his eyes and hoped it would be quick.

The heat hit his arms first and a cry of pain escaped his lips, then it was gone. Vee had disconnected his pain receptors. El could feel his fur and skin burn away as fast as it was healed, but he was spared the pain.

Vee screamed.

El tried to offer whatever comfort he could by being there. He spoke but didn’t know if Vee heard him through his pain. Vee couldn’t disconnect his own pain receptor. Could he heal both? Vee had never healed multiple people at once as far as El knew.

Was he strong enough? If he wasn’t El hoped Vee would save himself. He didn’t want to think what a future without Vee there might be like.

He decided to take the decision away from the bull. He tried to pull away, walk away, he’d go as far as he could before the heat killed him, but Vee’s arms were too tight, even though the screaming he held on to El.

El felt his skin burn away and heal, and still no pain. Vee had to be feeling the pain for both of them.

The bull dropped to a knee, and El had to go down with him. He couldn’t move his head away from Vee’s chest, he didn’t want to see the damage being done to the bull. To himself.

How long would this last?

Vee fell to the side, still screaming, and still holding on to El. IN the fall the lynx became exposed to the heat and felt more of his body burn and heal. He held on to his lover. If Vee wouldn’t let go of him, he wasn’t going to either.

Then silence.

No, not silence, panting. His and Vee’s.

The heat had passed. They’d survived it.

“El?” the bull croaked,

“I’m okay,” El whispered. “You saved me.”

“I said I would.” Vee didn’t sound as raw, but his voice was still weak.

“How are you?

“Exhausted.”

“You rest. It’s done, the heat’s gone.” Something was still wrong, El couldn’t figure out what, but he sensed it.

“We can’t.” Vee let go of El and struggled to stand.

“Vee, you need to rest.”

The bull shook his head. “We need to get away from here. The air is poisoning us.”

Was that what was wrong? He could feel something mixed in with the air. Something very small, that almost registered like the heat that had washed over them, even though it wasn’t hot. Yes, that was definitely wrong, but there was something else too. Something that ran deeper.

Vee pulled him up and pushed him.

“Something’s wrong”

“I know,” The bull replied.

El stopped. “No, something’s changed.” He looked around. “Something’s different.” He closed his eyes and extended his senses.

Vee Pulled and broke his concentration. “We don’t have the time El, something’s poising us.” He pulled again. “I’m healing the damage, but I am running out of energy. We have to be out of here before I’m too tired, or we are going to die.” El still hesitated, this change nagged at him. “El, we can figure out the rest later.”

He shook his head to clear it. Vee was right. They had to survive first, then deal with whatever this had been.