By Bill Schott
Author Notes |
Image from Google
Reposting this to make foundation to continue. |
By Bill Schott
In the prologue, Ben Baker, as punishment from the Chief of Staff of the White House, has been dropped into a wooded area in the northwest. He has a list of a dozen people on his arm he must find and kill. With a hand gun and knife, totally naked, he must search the forest and eliminate everyone, or be executed.
The helicopter took off from the rural D.C. airport without authorization or a flight plan. On board were the pilot, seated in the right seat in front, and the Undersecretary of Cabinet Affairs, Rusty Pipes. In the center of the vehicle were Tyler Angles and Tim Bends.
"We're nearing the drop zone, you two." shouted the White House adviser. "Check your parachutes and get ready to jump."
"This is a hell of a way to go out, Tim."
"You can thank the Chief of Staff for this, Ty. He sold this BS to the President and now we're going to have to kill each other."
"Don't forget about ten other schmucks as well."
"Yeah, that's some bullshit alright." Bends inspected his parachute again. The only other things he had were a nine millimeter with a trigger lock installed, a fighting knife sans sheath, a boot lace, and a plastic bottle of water.
"Why in hell do we have to be naked?" asked Angles again.
The Undersecretary simply smiled and said, "There's always the bullet in the head. Mr. Connor let me borrow his .357, in case either of you wanted to choose the other option."
"Thanks, Rusty," said Angles. "Keep it in case you're next."
"I'm not a rat fink like the two of you."
"We didn't do anything; at least I didn't." said Bends.
"I was set up," said Angles. "I'm pretty certain it was Connor."
"Why would the Chief of Staff give a rat's ass about a low-level turd like you, Angles?"
"Look at me, butthead! I'm getting ready to leap out of a frigging helicopter -- naked! That's a bit much, DON'T YOU THINK!"
"Okay, okay!" shouted Pipes. "After you jump, pull that ripcord immediately. You've just got enough height to break your fall and land safely."
"Where do we put this pistol and knife?" asked Angles.
"Shove 'em up your hoo hoo, dummy!"
"What about the trigger locks?" asked Bends.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot. The key's in your water bottle."
The Undersecretary of Cabinet Affairs pulled open the side hatch and stepped back. "Out ya go!"
Spinning around to face Tyler Angles, Bends shoved his knife deep into the man's rib cage. He expertly passed between the bones and punctured the left lung. Before Angles could utter a sound, a second jab pierced his abdomen, splitting his muscles and assuring he could not draw another breath.
Pipes shoved the dying man into Bends and both men fell through the hatch, plummeting downward.
Author Notes | Thanks to William Runcie for use of his apt art photograph. |
By Bill Schott
Ben Baker has been dropped into a wooded area in the northeast. He has a list of a dozen people on his arm he must find and kill. Two others have been dropped into the area now, one dead, and one already a killer.
The encampment lay at the clearing of the woods. The firebreak road, which bisected the three hundred acre section of forest, led right to it. Baker had been told by Rusty Pipes that he was to try and make it to this site as quickly as possible. There would be supplies and tools that would allow whoever arrived first a significant advantage over the others.
Ben had been walking quickly down the dirt road carrying his loaded, nine mil Smith and Wesson, carbon bladed fighting knife, and, under his armpit, a half-empty plastic water bottle. He had drunk some of the water earlier in the morning and pulled the trigger key out to free his pistol for use.
Suddenly, sounding like a dud artillery round pounding into the ground in front of him, a body slammed onto the road. Blood shot out and up from the man, who had either exploded on contact with the ground, or had been perforated before taking a big step out of a plane.
Ben ran for cover off the road and looked at the pile of flesh with disbelief. Looking up, as if to see where the got-to-be-dead man came from, he saw a parachute with what would have to be another participant attached.
Seeing that the skydiver was going to land far into the wooded area, Ben ran up to see what was what with the sack of humanity on the ground. He saw right away that it was Tyler Angles, assistant to the Chief Justice of the United States. He'd apparently been pre-killed and thrown from a helicopter like HE had jumped from. The body had no accessorizing pieces like gun, knife, or water. He may never have had these items, or they may have landed separately.
Leaving Angles’ body where it landed, Baker searched the woods within a hundred feet of the corpse. After completing a circumference of the drop spot he did find a bottle of water with a key inside. Nearby, stuck in a stump like Excalibur , was a K-bar. He continued reaching into the tall grass and under logs until a notion occurred. Following his hunch, Ben hurried to Angles' body and rolled it over. There, like finding a black pearl of great price, he saw the pistol.
Not knowing who might be dropping in next, Baker ran into the woods and found cover. Immediately he opened the new bottle of water, turned it up to drink, and allowed the key to slip out into his teeth. After removing the trigger block from the second weapon, he inspected the magazine.
In a stroke of field expedient ingenuity, he drank the water from both bottles and began fashioning holsters out of them with his knife. Once completed, he strung the boot lace through both bottles and wore his pair of pistols on his hips like Wyatt Earp.
He figured that whoever was parachuting in would end up a mile from where he was now, so he got back on the road with his two pistols and knives and began trotting in the direction of the encampment. It was then that he heard the growling. Looking back he saw the wolves.
Author Notes |
Thanks to cs144 for use of the photo art.
Nine mil (9 millimeter automatic pistol, similar to a .45 caliber) K-bar (fighting knife) |
By Bill Schott
Years before Ben Baker had been dropped into a wooded area in the northeast, the framework for this ordeal had been laid out in the humid, deadly fields of Vietnam.
North Vietnam DMZ 1973
POW interrogation
Two Viet Cong interrogators, two VC guards, and two American soldiers stood or kneeled in the center of an elevated grass hut. A captured American soldier, Corporal G.I. Joseph, crouched before a flimsy wooden table. His arms were tied together behind him and attached to his ankles. He was naked, other than an assembly of leaves woven on his head. Guards were spread eight feet apart, the width of the hut, while two interrogators sat in flimsy chairs on each side of the soldier. Directly in front of him was another soldier. He was dressed in a t-shirt and trousers. His name was First Lieutenant C.C. Connors.
An interrogator on his left spoke first, "Ban ten gi?"
Lt. Connors leaned in. "He asked your name, soldier."
"You speak their lingo, el tee?"
"Just answer, dipshit, before he kills you."
"Corporal Gregory Ira Joseph. United States Army. Serial number 37 --“
"Cut that bullshit, corporal," said the lieutenant. "Just your name. Now, which unit are you from?"
"Who's askin' questions, sir? You or these zips?"
The interrogator on the right asked, "Ong tu dau den?"
"He wants to know your unit."
"This is horse shit, Lieutenant. I ain't tellin' them nothin'!"
" You will soldier," said the officer.
"You're collaboratin' with the enemy, Lieutenant."
"Actually, Corporal, they're helping ME. I'm leaving this hole in one piece -- as a hero. Turds like you will end up here."
The corporal spit on the floor, "I'll eat fish heads and sit in a cage 'til we kill all these devils."
"No, Corporal," said the Lieutenant. "They've got a game for you to play. If you win, you go free."
"What game?"
Smiling, the company grade officer knelt down to the other man's level.
"They'll send you and a few other prisoners out with a bayonet or a machete to kill each other. The winner goes home with me."
"That some crazy VC game?" asked Joseph.
"Actually, it was my idea. We played something like it at the academy."
"You killed each other at the academy?"
"Not for real, Corporal Joseph. That's why it wasn't much fun. Here, the winning is real, and the losing is for keeps."
"You're bat shit crazy and a traitor, Lieutenant. I'll survive this and see you shot."
"I know I'll survive, soldier. My plans are to be a politician. I'm going keep this war going for twenty years."
"Why?!"
"Peace is for queers, Corporal."
Corporal Joseph hardened his expression. "I ain't tellin' them nothin' and I ain't playin' your friggin' game!"
The lieutenant sighed and stood. Nodding to the guards he said, "Lam ngon tay cua manh." (Do his finger.)
With that, the guards grabbed the corporal's hands and isolated his smallest finger. Pushing it down on a table, a knife point was placed above the quick on the nail and pressure applied. The corporal screamed and defecated.
The lieutenant kneeled in again. "That was a tiny point on a little spot, hero. Tell me everything you know, or even suspect, or they will make that pain seem like a feather tickle."
"Go to hell!"
"Okay Joseph," said Connors. "When they're done with you, you will have told them where everyone is and where you buried your pet hamster when you were ten years old."
Three hours of torture revealed nothing.
Finally, the lieutenant had them stop. "Anh ta khong biet ga ca."
(He doesn't know anything.)
The guards dragged the corporal out of the hut and threw him down into a rice paddy. A heavy object landed next to him wrapped in a sateen shirt. It was a bayonet.
"Len duong binh an," said the lieutenant. (Have a good journey.)
"Where do I go?" asked the weak and trembling corporal.
"Head south, soldier. In about an hour, you'll meet up with someone like yourself. He'll be expecting you. You'll kill him or he'll kill you. Whoever is still alive will get a nice cage to sit in and all the worms you can dig up."
"I'll find you lieutenant and you'll pay."
"You'll find me in the White House, Joseph. I'll be your damn President."
Author Notes |
Image from Google and Wikipedia.
Vietnamese derived from Google app. Pronunciation markings were removed. |
By Bill Schott
By Bill Schott
Author Notes | Image from Google |
By Bill Schott
Author Notes |
Image from Google
|
By Bill Schott
Ben Baker will fight for his life against a dozen others who are bound to kill him or be killed.
Chief of Staff, C.C. Connors, has orchestrated this dangerous game to punish and quash anyone who endangers the President’s agenda.
In previous flashback, Connors’ origination of the game was established, introducing the character, Cpl. G.I. Joseph.
North Vietnam DMZ 1973
Corporal Joseph sloshed through the rice paddies with both exhilaration and trepidation. Connors seemed to have released him to decide his own fate with a one-on-one battle elsewhere.
He was mostly naked, except for a faded, green, military-issue shirt with which he had diapered himself.
The bayonet, which Connors had thrown him, was proving useful on this journey to his destiny. Within the first hour of travel he had disturbed a nest of snakes. He was bitten only twice, though he could feel an effect on his breathing. He snatched one off his right calf muscle and managed to separate its head and glands from the body. It became his sustenance as he picked up the pace in the slow-moving fields.
After a second hour, to his reckoning, and as the sun was passing lower in the sky, he saw a grass hut. It was two or three times larger than any such lash up he'd seen on patrols, and stood as if a gateway from the fields to the jungle.
From within the hut, Joseph heard a wild shriek, as though the person within was being tortured. He squeezed the handle on the bayonet, expecting he would be fighting for his life in mere seconds.
Suddenly, a man came bursting through the wall of the hut. In his right hand was a bamboo stick, sharpened to a knife point but held backwards, as if grabbed in a hurry. On his left arm, huge and flopping about, was a crocodile.
"Oi chua oi!" screamed the Vietnamese. (Oh my God!)
Blood ran from the man's arm, as he went from running and falling in the foot deep water, to being on his knees. The full-grown reptile had pulled the man to a prostrate position with his head bobbing up and down below the water's surface.
Joseph acted instinctively and rushed to the man's aid. Throwing himself onto the six-foot demon, he buried the bayonet in its skull, between and behind its eyes, with the force that drove the blade through its brain. Pulling the knife out, he tried repeating the blow, only to find he did not have the strength.
Sitting down in the water, which covered his midriff, he could only watch the scene in front of him. The man who had been potential crocodile food, rose to standing. His entire left side was red with his own blood, and his lower arm was in tatters. He walked past the corporal and back to the hut.
Barely conscious, Joseph saw the blurry image of the man in front of him, who kneeled down and pulled the bayonet from the corporal's pliant hand.
Managing to muster a bit of clarity within the venom-tainted haze he was in, Joseph muttered, "Didi mao."
(Make it quick.)
Author Notes | Image from Google |
By Bill Schott
Previously, Ben Baker, Ty Angles, Tim Bends, and others, had been dropped into a large, northeastern, wooded compound. Part of a maniacal White House cleansing, they must battle each other to the death for a chance to be the one survivor.
"Strip down!"
The three men looked at each other wondering if Rusty Pipes meant what it sounded like.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Orrin Breefs.
About to object to what he was hearing, B.B Bauxers turned to Woody Post, who mirrored his quizzical expression. Turning back he witnessed Pipes quickly slap Breefs across the left side of his face, then step in with a right elbow smash to the man's mouth. Breefs dropped to his knees.
Post was immediately unfastening and tossing off his clothing. Bauxers knelt to check on his acquaintance. There was a nose bleed and a definite dislocated jaw. Tears poured down Breefs' face as the pain was quickly turning his stomach and causing his breathing to become erratic.
"Leave him!" barked the Under Secretary of Cabinet Affairs. "He might just luck out and die where he falls."
Post was totally naked and holding his hands over his crotch.
"Shit, Post! You're a disrobing wonder. Now grab those three tote bags to your left on the deck there."
"I think you cracked his neck when you sucker punched him," said Bauxers, as he stood and began unbuttoning.
"Now he knows what strip down means. Now get naked and take this dipshit's clothes off too."
"It's just you and your pilot, Pipes. I think I'll kick your ass and have your boyfriend take me home."
It was then that the helicopter rotor shifted gears and the vehicle lifted off the ground. Pipes withdrew a .357 Desert Eagle from his jacket holster and casually pointed it at Bauxers.
"Someone at home waiting on you, B.B.?" asked Pipes, smiling.
"None of your friggin business, asshole."
"Your faithful wife, what's her name, Feather? She keeping the pushin' cushion warm for ya?"
"You keep my wife out of this, you despicable cretin!" Bauxers now roiling and ready to charge the gun-wielding man.
"She's waiting for you on the ground where we're going, B. B.. She's been there for two days. Didn't you miss her?"
Bauxers’ mind was spinning as he believed the grinning jerk was telling the truth. Having quietly separated from the former and future Ms. Feather Waite, he hadn't been in touch with her in days.
"Oh yeah! She and Breefs’ homo-hubby are runnin' round naked and free in the forest. We heard you and he like discussing your affairs with them, so they were invited along."
Bauxers’ brain was racing as he contemplated killing the goon with his bare hands, damn the gun.
"What about these bags?" asked Post, almost diffusing the issue.
Pipes, grinning wildly, flicked the safety off his pistol with his thumb and aimed it center mass on Bauxers' chest. "Grab a bag, hero. Get your butt buddy's clothes off, and listen to what I say from here on out. If you give me one friggin iota of shit, I will just ventilate the three of you right now."
Over the next thirty minutes, the three prisoners became naked and each in possession of a forty-five caliber Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol, magazine installed with seven rounds, a K-bar without a sheath, a boot lace, and a bottle of water.
"Okay, boys. You're going to land somewhere in the center of the compound and you'll need to move north. There's a huge firebreak, like a wide road, that runs north and south. Find it, follow it to an encampment. If you've got any luck at all, which you sure as hell do not, you'll beat the others there and get a leg up on your competition. Remember, those nine others, that's including your 'death 'til we part' honey wah and Breefs Cryin' Game gal all need to kill you. You may think those significant others won't, but I'm here to tell you they sure as hell will."
"Where are we landing?" asked Post.
"As a matter of fact, we are landing. I normally push dead meat out at blossom level so their chutes open, but our pilot, God bless him, forgot to load the damn things. Remind me to kill him later.”
The helicopter descended to a clearing in the center of the huge wooded area, and hovered without landing, twenty feet above the ground. Pipes pulled open the hatch.
"You're jumping out here," said Pipes. "Step up and bail out."
"We'll break our legs from this height, Pipes!" yelled Bauxers. "Breefs will break his neck."
Pipes laughed. "You're probably right." With that, he pulled Breefs up to the hatch, put the gun to the man's temple, and shot him. The force carried the dead man out and down to the field below.
Bauxers exploded and attacked Pipes as he stood in the hatch. With a palm strike to the man's nose, he then wrapped his body around the arm with the gun, quickly straightened the arm, and over-extended the elbow. It snapped.
Pipes, screaming through gnashed teeth, spun around to launch B.B. out of the opening. Post leapt up to grab the pistol from Pipes' hand, only to meet with resistance enough to pull the trigger and fire a round.
Trying to tighten the grip he had on the pistol, Pipes discharged two more bullets into the chopper. Both found a target in the pilot’s back. The controls left the dead man's hands and the vehicle spun wildly as it fell quickly to the ground.
Before crashing, both Bauxers and Pipes were thrown from the hull. Post remained inside to hit the deck.
Slamming into the tall grass and soft ground, the titanium rotor blades chopped ferociously at 480 rpms as they excavated a large circle of land. Within a few seconds, the engines blew and all became silent.
Woody Post found himself on top of the dead pilot, whose body had apparently borne the brunt of the impact, leaving Post with what felt like broken ribs, a jammed index finger, and a thousand small cuts all over his naked body.
The hatch was facing the ground, so, after trying different pieces of heavy metal parts that lay about, he smashed through the cockpit shielding and escaped the downed chopper.
To his right he saw a long stretch of level field that seemed to turn back into forest. Tall pines were in front of him and to his rear. Something on his right was appearing far off and moving in his direction. It looked like it could be people. They appeared to be moving quickly toward him. His heart, which he didn't think could race any harder, began causing him to hyperventilate. He fell to his knees as bullets punched holes in the fuselage behind him and dug divots out the ground in front of him. He could only close his arms around his face and top of his head and wait for a bullseye to take him out.
"Who are you?!" screamed the woman who now stood before him. "Who are you, damn it?! And where's my husband?!"
Author Notes | Thanks to William Runcie for use of the photograph. |
By Bill Schott
CHARACTERS:
Ben Baker low-level White House worker forced to fight others as Presidential punishment
CC. Connors President's Chief of Staff
Rusty Pipes Undersecretary of Cabinet Affairs
Tyler Angles Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Interior
Tim Bends Assistant to the Assistant Post Master General
B.B. Bauxers Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture
Orrin Breefs Assistant to the Assistant of the Communications Secretary
Feather Waites former wife of B.B Bauxers
Ivan Zaroff husband of Orrin Breefs
Woody Post Journalist
Cpl. G.I. Joseph Connor's adversary in Vietnam
==============================================================
The story so far...
Ben Baker, for some reason not yet disclosed, has been sent by Chief of Staff, C.C. Connors, to a secret five-hundred-acre compound somewhere in the American Northeast to find and kill a dozen people.
Rusty Pipes, another White House staffer, is aiding Connors.
Tyler Angles, Tim Bends, BB Bauxers, and Orrin Breefs, other White House low-level staff, have also been sent to fight.
Feather Waites and Ivan Zaroff are the spouses of Bauxers and Breefs and likewise sent to the compound.
Since arriving, two have already died.
At this point Baker is sleeping in the woods preparing to kill the others. Angles was killed by Bends, then ejected from a helicopter. Bends parachuted, naked, into the forest and was gravely injured.
Breefs was killed prior to a helicopter landing and Bauxers and Rusty Pipes were ejected before the vehicle crashed.
Woody Post has survived and is now being threatened by Feather Waite and Ivan Zaroff.
==============================================================
Ben Baker heard something crawling through the brush behind him. Still in his sleeping bag, covered by defilade, he tried to twist slowly inside the cloth shell to see what was making the sound. Finally in his line of sight, through the dead leaves and limbs of his camouflage, he saw the hideously disfigured form of a man. Covered entirely in dirt and what looked like glistening tar, a person was slowly dragging himself in a direction that was leading him to Baker's position.
Meanwhile, at the crash site, Feather Waite shouted again at Woody Post, who knelt naked and trembling before her.
"Where's my husband?!"
"He's not a Doom Domer, Feather," said Ivan Zaroff, husband to Orrin Breefs. "I think he's a reporter."
"Feather!" came a yell from the other side of the downed helicopter.
"Bobby?!" she screamed, then ran to the naked man, who was on his hands and knees.
"Good Lord!" yelled Ivan, looking at the two reunited. Then, smiling, he shouted for his husband.
"Orrin! Where are you?! Orrin! It's Ivan, Babe! It's Ivan!"
With no answer and after circling the downed chopper, the only other person visible was Rusty Pipes. He lay on the ground, face up, but twisted slightly at the hip. He was staring at the sky, though his eyes slowly moved from left to right, as if taking in his situation.
"Mr. Pipes. Where is my husband?"
"I can't move," said Pipes, softly, not looking at Ivan. "Can't feel my legs. Do I have legs?"
"Tell me where Orrin is and I'll help you find your legs."
Pipes moved his eyes back and forth, as if remembering how he got to this point. He slowly moved his right arm off the ground towards his chest. His fingers were somewhat numb, but he could feel the holster under his ripped coat. Empty.
"Ivan!" called Feather. "Ivan! It's Orrin!"
He ran over to her with an anticipatory smile, which turned to a shocked and disbelieving stare. Under the massive hull of the helicopter was the crushed body of his husband Orrin Breefs.
Running to him, he held the faintest hope that all he saw was worse than what was real. His husband may merely be trapped. However, the eyeball burst in Breefs' skull, which immediately seemed to be the exit for the bullet hole above his ear, dashed all those hopes.
Returning sadly to the others, he looked at them for some clue that all of this was a horrible dream.
Finally, Feather spoke up. "We have to get out of here and get to the encampment. They will probably come here once the helicopter fails to return and kill us all outright."
"What about Pipes?" asked Woody. Then turning to Ivan, "He killed Orrin."
Ivan looked to the three, though he wasn't seeing them. A thousand thoughts ran through his head as he relived his entire life, including boyhood, military school, work, meeting Orrin, and his and Feather's kidnapping. The more he mused, the further his face sank to an emotionless mask.
"B.B.?" he asked. "Need some clothes?"
"We got ours from the two shits that brought us here," said Feather.
"I guess they figured we weren't dangerous enough to be watched constantly," said Ivan, without expression.
"So I grabbed this one guy’s hand and snapped his wrist," said Feather. "I learned that in self-defense class. Damn if it didn't work like a charm. He dropped to his knees. He was very obedient after that and lay right down on his belly."
"Mine didn't survive the throat punch," said Ivan.
"What about the one on his belly?"
"He's naked, wrapped around the trunk of a tree with boot laces tying his hands to his feet."
"You should get Pipes' clothes, B.B." said Ivan, calmly pulling a fighting knife out of its scabbard. "His back is broken, or I'm certain he'd help you."
"We have to clear out fast," said Feather. "Just grab his pants and shoes. Get his jacket, too."
"You want to kill him, Ivan?"
"No. I want him to live the rest of his life in this field."
Bauxers got the trousers, shoes and coat; Woody pulled off the man's underwear and shirt. They all ran back to the trees.
Rusty Pipes lay silent on the ground the rest of the day. Falling asleep, he was awakened by what he thought was a dog's snout in his face. Then came the snarling, the teeth, and the pain.
Author Notes | Image from Google |
By Bill Schott
CHARACTERS:
Ben Baker low-level White House worker forced to fight others as Presidential punishment
CC. Connors President's Chief of Staff
Tim Bends Assistant to the Assistant Post Master General
B.B. Bauxers Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture
Feather Waites former wife of B.B Bauxers
Ivan Zaroff husband of Orrin Breefs
Woody Post Journalist
Cpl. G.I. Joseph Connor's adversary in Vietnam
==============================================================
The story so far...
Ben Baker, must find and kill a dozen people in a secluded, government-operated, forest compound.
Rusty Pipes, aiding C.C. Connors, President's Chief of Staff, has been killed.
Tyler Angles and Orrin Breefs have also been killed.
Tim Bends has survived, but is barely alive.
BB Bauxers, Feather Waites, Ivan Zaroff, and Woody Post, likewise sent to the compound and are working together.
=======================
Baker could see right away that the mass of crawling hamburger was the Assistant to the Assistant Post Master General, Timothy Bends. Looking at his own arm, he saw that Bends was on his list. Moving out of his concealed sleeping position, Ben approached the human debris cautiously.
"You have had it, man."
Bends could only move his head a bit to make eye contact with this person talking to him. He tried to speak. "Gun?" came out of his half shredded mouth.
Baker gave it a bit of thought.
"I should just hit you over the head and be done with it. It's a courtesy that you dragged your way here for assassination."
Bends, who had somehow kept from crying through it all, produced a tear. His one-eyed gaze stared through Baker and hit a nerve. "Why?" asked the half-dead man.
"Wait a second," said Baker, wondering if the dying man thought he might be joking, as though he was in a hurry and wouldn't 'wait a second'.
Returning with a nine millimeter handgun, Baker pulled the hammer back and placed the weapon in Bends' hand.
"There's one round in the chamber, Bends. All you have to do is pull the trigger."
With that said, Baker grabbed his other gear and turned towards the encampment. He heard a click behind him. Turning around, he saw that Bends had indeed pulled the trigger. The barrel was pointed at Baker's back.
"Now you know -- why."
Baker retrieved the pistol, which was empty, loaded it with a full magazine, and continued gathering his equipment. He left Bends on the ground to suffer through to the end. He was no threat.
Meanwhile, B.B., Feather, Ivan, and Woody arrived at the encampment. B.B. saw the box of MREs on a cot and tossed a bag to each person in his group.
"What's this?" asked Ivan, looking at the bag with disdain.
"Food. Eat it."
B.B. took his ex-wife's knife and split open his MRE bag. "Just tear open what's inside and eat it."
The others got the knife, which seemed to be the only one they had, and did as instructed. Bauxers looked at the open boxes and realized that others had already been here.
"Get down behind the crates. Low. They could be targeting us right now."
"Who B.B.?" asked everyone.
"I don't really know. Get your weapons ready to shoot and blast anyone who isn't us."
Bauxers ripped open a meal package and squeezed what tasted like cold spaghetti into his mouth. After swallowing that, some crackers, and squirting a gob of creamed cheddar cheese from a pouch into his mouth, he moved on to the other crates.
Socks in one, rifle ammunition in another, and a laundry bag of what looked like hand grenades in the third. There were nine other crates still sealed.
"Each of you grab a couple grenades; put them in a pocket or somewhere."
He then ran to another unopened box. After cutting the banding and prying it open, the crate contained dozens of empty automatic rifle magazines. Digging through them did not reveal a weapon to use them in.
"Ivan!" he yelled. "Grab a bunch of these magazines and fill them full of bullets."
Bauxers moved to another crate and got it open. Inside were nearly a hundred short arrow shafts. After a moment he shouted, "One of these crates has a crossbow in it! Let's get them all opened now!"
Using the knife she had taken from her kidnapper, Feather pried open another crate. It was filled with pints of bottled water.
Woody opened a crate with a knife he had found at the crash site. It had been hidden from the others until he knew who to trust. He lifted the lid and turned to inform the others of what was inside. Instead, his chest exploded.
By Bill Schott
"Ban van con no toi mot ngan do la." (You still owe me a thousand dollars.)
"C'mon, An. I must have paid that debt off twenty times by now."
"Cau da lam the nao vay?" (How did you do that?)
"I taught you Arabic."
"Ana balfel 'atakalam alearabiati. laqad ealamatni kalimat qudhrat fi
alsarianiati. shukraan ealaa lashi." (I already speak Arabic.
You taught me dirty words in Syriac. Thanks for nothing.)
"I introduced you to your first wife."
"Noi va hoan van." (Talk about payback.)
"Bain van con na toi mat ngan Ao." (You still owe me a thousand bucks.)
Author Notes | Image from Google |
By Bill Schott
End of the previous Baker chapter...
Looking back into the crate, he saw a detached grenade pin. Ivan's life passed through his mind again. Someone hollered the word 'Grenade', it may have been him. He thought of all the scenarios of grenade defense he'd ever heard or witnessed. As he ran out of the netting, carrying the bag of grenades as far from his friends as he could, he hoped that he would somehow save the day and live to tell about it.
Baker heard the explosion and smiled.
==============================
End of previous flashback chapter...
"Ban van con no toi mot ngan do la." (You still owe me a thousand dollars.)
"C'mon, An. I must have paid that debt off twenty times by now."
"Cau da lam the nao vay?" (How did you do that?)
"I taught you Arabic."
"Ana balfel 'atakalam alearabiati. laqad ealamatni kalimat qudhrat fi alsarianiati. shukraan ealaa lashi." (I already speak Arabic. You taught me dirty words in Syriac. Thanks for nothing.) "I introduced you to your first wife." "Noi va»? hoan va»n." (Talk about payback.)
"Bain van con na toi mat ngan Ao." (You still owe me a thousand bucks.)
Author Notes |
The flashback has leaped ahead to 1991. Desert Storm. An Do is the unnamed character from Flashback 2.
"It's the economy, Stupid." Refers to Bill Clinton's catch phrase for why Bush was being beaten in the polls leading up the the election which denied Bush 41 a second term. |
By Bill Schott
"Them ca? Co gi khac ngoai kia khong?"
(More fish? Isn't there anything else out there?)
"I looked for a dog or cat, but no luck."
"Nge oi vui tinh. Lam the nao ve mot con cua hoac mot vo oc xa cu?"
(Funny man. How about a crab or a conch shell?)
"If they swam by in groups of hundreds like these guys,
I'd snag you a couple. Maybe you could take a dip and grab a few.
Look for a stick of butter and some lemons too."
An cracked a rare smile. Then, looking past his friend, he saw what
appeared to be a helicopter.
"Hey, G.I. Joe! Tack a luke at dis."
"Is that a Huey? We still fly them?"
"U.S.? No. Buh any ahhso con buy one!"
An's words preceeded a barrage of bullets that came from a 50-calibre
machine gun. The rounds pounded foot-round craters into the ground
within ten feet of where the two stood.
The old helicopter began circling. After a second pass, without firing,
the chopper came down and landed about a hundred feet from the
duo.
An, who had already worked out the death of all aboard and the
confiscation of the vehicle, was surprised to see a uniformed soldier
emerge from the passenger side of the copter.
Greg, seeing the man walk toward them, felt a sudden pain in his little
finger nail. His hair stood up on his neck, and he felt his heart
pounding behind his eyes.
Removing his hemet, which bore the one-star insignia of a brigadier
general, both An and Greg could see a ghost of Vietnam. He actually
looked like a ghoul from a horror film, complete with sunken eyes;
gaunt, skeletal countenance; and a hairless head and face.
"Gentlemen -- where did we leave off?"
Author Notes | The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") |
By Bill Schott
Author Notes | Image from Google |
By Bill Schott
Author Notes | The names in red are characters who are dead. |
By Bill Schott
CHARACTERS:
Ben Baker low-level White House worker forced to fight others as Presidential punishment
C.C. Connor President's Chief of Staff (formerly double agent for China)
Tim Bends Assistant to the Assistant Post Master General
Cpl. G.I. Joseph -- Connor's adversary in Vietnam
An Do -- Mercenary
=======================================================
The story so far...
Ben Baker had to find and kill a dozen people in a secluded, government-operated, forest compound. He has survived and found an encampment where provisions are available to assist whoever gets to them first.
Thomas Angles and Tim Bends were dropped from a helicopter, high enough to survive a parachute jump. Bends killed Angles before they left the copter and both were shoved out by Conner's operative, Rusty Pipes. Angles fell straight to the ground while Bends had an horrific landing and is barely alive.
BB Bauxers, Orrin Breefs, and Woody Post were sent on a helicopter as well; however, Pipes executed Breefs onboard, sparking an attack from Bauxers. The pilot was killed by an errant bullet, leading to a crash. Pipes was severely injured and eventually killed by wolves.
Feather Waites and Ivan Zaroff, likewise sent to the compound, join Bauxers and Post at the crash site.
All meet up at the encampment where Baker eventually kills the other four. He is then knocked out from behind.
In FLASHBACKS, Connor's double agent status is seen as he, though a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, assists Vietcong interrogators as they torture a captured corporal, Gregory Ira Joseph (GI Joe). When the corporal proves he has no relevant information, Connor sends the soldier away to defend himself in a killing game he devised in military school. This is the beginning of the death sport that Ben Baker is involved in at present.
Joseph's opponent, An Do, is attacked by a crocodile and Joseph saves him. The two become friends.
We see them again in Kuwait, eighteen years later, at the beginning of Desert Storm. They are mercenaries working for an unknown government organization. They find safety once the assault on Kuwait begins, but are cornered by General CC Connor.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
End of the last Flashback chapter:
The old helicopter began circling. After a second pass without firing, the chopper came down and landed about a hundred feet from the duo.
An, who had already worked out the death of all aboard and the confiscation of the vehicle, was surprised to see a uniformed soldier emerge from the passenger side of the copter.
Greg, seeing the man walk toward them, felt a sudden pain in his little finger nail. His hair stood up on his neck, and he felt his heart pounding behind his eyes.
Removing his hemet, which bore the one-star insignia of a brigadier general, both An and Greg could see a ghost of Vietnam. He actually looked like a ghoul from a horror film, complete with sunken eyes; gaunt, skeletal countenance; and a hairless head and face.
"Gentlemen -- where did we leave off?"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Both An Do and Joseph recognized CC Connor. Eighteen years had not left a noticeable mark on him. Perhaps he was an immortal nemesis, traveling through the battlefields of time, searching for warriors. More likely, there was not much on the man TO age.
Behind the general, six more men emerged from the helicopter. Each was well-armed and ready to take on a dozen opponents. Both Joseph and An Do knew they needed to strike first or die.
Both men rushed at the general. He laughed as they veered to each side and completed a figure eight around him. Joseph took out the first of the six henchmen with a sweep of the legs. As that man fell, a second leaped over him to land on Joseph's frame. He missed, as the assassin had already spun out of that position and sprung to grab a third opponent's weapon.
Meanwhile, An Do had dived to the supine and popped up with handfuls of sand. These grains of pulverized rock left his hands with seemingly guided precision to the eyes of his first combatant. As that man fell back, An Do snaked around him and grabbed another's automatic weapon. With the trigger engaged and bullets whipping in a semicircle, the two men twirled to the ground. An Do leapt to his feet with the magazine of the weapon in his hand. He smiled as a third attacker slashed at him with what looked like Bowie knives in each hand. The first missed slash was the last, as the now off-balance opponent's neck was up for adjustment. It was twisted quickly and a muted snap preceded the dead man's collapse. The second man he had wrestled had found another magazine and inserted it into his weapon. This was accomplished a second before his fellow henchman's huge knife, hurled by an Asian expert, split his adam's apple in two. An Do wrested the weapon from the dying man and walked to the first man he had encoutered.
Looking over to Joseph, he saw that the other three fighters had been eliminated. Seeing that, he simply aimed and released a three-round burst into the last, blinded assailent.
General Connor, still smiling, stood with the confidence of a man who felt he was in no danger at all.
"You seem to be confident that you're in no danger at all, Connor," observed the former army corporal.
Connor stopped smiling and turned to An Do.
"Mot tam tri san sang."
An Do's face went blank. His gaze was to a spot at another place and another time.
"An! What's wrong?!" called Joseph.
Then Connor spoke again, while pointing in GI Joe's direction.
"Loai bo!"
There was no need to interpret any longer. An Do dropped the automatic weapon and pulled his fighting knife from its scabbard. Peering at Joseph, as if deciding the best approach, he gently walked in the direction of his surprised friend.
"It's amazing how long a suggestion can last -- when it's embedded properly." said Connor, starring at Joseph as An Do inched closer.
Joseph aimed the weapon he had taken from an opponent at the general. "You'll die first, dipshit."
"Kill me then, Joseph; if you can."
He tried pulling the trigger, but his finger refused to contract. He threw the rifle down and grabbed the remaining Bowie knife off the ground.
An Do continued approaching, projecting the passionless cool of an assassin.
Author Notes |
mot tam tri san sang. = a willing mind.
Loai bo = eliminate Thanks to William Runcie for use of the picture. |
By Bill Schott
Author Notes |
What!?!
I think you'll like this. |
By Bill Schott
CHARACTERS:
Ben Baker low-level White House worker forced to fight others as Presidential punishment
C.C. Connor President's Chief of Staff
Tim Bends Assistant to the Assistant Post Master General
Gregory Ira Joseph (GI Joe)-- Connor's adversary in Vietnam
An Do -- Mercenary
=======================================================
The story so far...
Ben Baker had to find and kill a dozen people in a secluded, government-operated, forest compound. He has survived and found an encampment where provisions are available to assist whoever gets to them first.
Tim Bends, one of those whom Baker must kill, had an horrific landing after parachuting from a helicopter and is barely alive.
A helicopter has crashed, which should soon be obvious to those who dispatched it.
Baker has killed all those whom he knew were in the compound with him (except Bends who should die from his wounds).
In FLASHBACKS, Connor's double agent status is seen as he, though a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, assists Vietcong interrogators. This is the beginning of the death sport that Ben Baker is involved in at present. When last seen, in flashback Connor was a brigadier general. He is currently chief of staff for the President of the United States.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
End of the last present day chapter:
"My name's Joseph; G.I. Joseph."
Ben supressed a chuckle. He wasn't certain if the man was joking or not. Perhaps he was still asleep and dreaming being rescued by the iconic action figure. Worse yet, the man was serious, and off his nut.
"I know what you're thinking, son. Why couldn't you wake up to Barbie?"
"I guess I'm glad to wake up at all," said Ben.
"So what's your name?" asked the stranger.
Hesitating for a moment, he answered, "Robert Butcher."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Joseph looked at the recently revived man before him, then exhaled with a sound of a sigh, and a hint of a question.
"What names you got on your arm?"
Looking at his arm, he realized that he knew a few of the names, but not all.
Joseph waited a minute and asked, "You got my name on your arm -- Butcher?
Looking at the names, he saw 'GI Joe' printed second from the bottom.
"You don't need to say it, uh, Robert. I peeked at the list while you were napping."
"I don't know half these names. The men from the White House I knew, but only saw one up close to recognize him."
"Was that Angles?" he asked, getting a look of surprise from the survivor.
"How did you know?" he asked.
"So happens I got a list of all the poor slobs that's been sent here. It's pretty long. Connor's been doing this shit for thirty-some years."
"Thirty years! How does he get away with it? He's only been in the White House for two years."
"I'd tell you his biography if I had a couple days and a fifth of JD. We don't have that luxury though. Let's go over those names."
Joseph extracted a small memobook from his woodland issue camouflage jacket.
"I got Angles and Bends. That's kinda funny, if they wasn't both dead." said Joseph.
"I saw Angles. He must have fallen from a helicopter. He was dead. He had erupted on the ground. A real mess."
"Yeh, I found him. The wolves had found him first though. I also found Russell Pipes next to that downed chopper. Wolves had some sport with him as well."
"I knew there was a crash, but I didn't know what it was or anything. I've heard of Pipes though. I saw the wolves when they got to Angles. I just ran away as fast as I could."
"That would be prudent, for certain," said Joseph, with a slight smile on the left side of his face. "Orrin Breefs was there too. He was dead a half a dozen ways. Shot, fell, had a helicopter land on him, and, as the coopdee grass, wolves ate him. Nothing left but to have a boulder land on him."
They both chuckled, conservatively. The strange, gallows humor of the military seemed to allow it.
"I knew Breefs, and his husband, uh, Igor."
"His name was Ivan. Ivan Zaroff." said Joseph.
"Ivan was here too? "
"Tyler Bends is here. B.B. Bauxer -- and his wife as well."
"I saw Bends. Oh man! That guy has got to be dead by now. He looked like barfed up spare ribs."
"I haven't seen him. Probably under a bush somewhere collectin' ants. You managed to kill Bauxers' wife though."
"Was that the woman rushing me? I had no choice. I emptied the magazine on her."
"Well, you did alright with the others. Woody Post had his spine in his chest, Bauxers' skull was ventillated, and I'm guessing it's Zaroff blown to mulch out in the open field."
"I rigged the grenade bag to yank a pin if it were pulled out of the crate. It must have been him."
"Maybe. There was an empty LAW sitting next to Bauxers; he might have shot Zaroff."
"I've got more names on my arm."
"There were two guards I found near the maintenance road. They'd been killed in a fight, looks like. That your work?" asked Joseph.
"No. Who were they? Do you know?"
"Likely, a couple of Connor's flunkies. One was Sergeant Chase Bank."
"What!? Who was the other -- Capital Juan?"
"Willis Fargo."
"I've just got a G1 and G2 on my arm."
"Likely they were interchangeable. Whoever was in the barrell that day was expendable."
" All I have left is someone named Gmang and --"
"That one's gone already." said Joseph.
"You take him out?"
"You can just scratch him off," said Joseph.
"That just leaves one. Number twelve -- Ben Baker."
"Don't you know that guy?" asked Joseph.
"Just a name on my arm."
"Who wrote those names on your arm?"
"I don't know.”
"How'd you get here? Jump out of a helicopter?"
"I don't remember. I just remember talking to Connor and then -- I was here."
"So you're Bob the Butcher."
"I'm Robert Butcher. I work at the -- "
"You're Ben Baker. He works at the White House. When you're here though, you're Bob the Butcher."
"Ben Baker is on my arm," Baker said, looking at the appendage, and the list on it, with a dull, open-mouth stare.
"You're Bobby Do, kid. The Butcher of Baghdad. And this ain't your first rodeo."
Author Notes | Yes, I know it's coup de gras (coo de gra) but it's funnier the way he says it. |
By Bill Schott
Author Notes |
La rajul jazira! (No Man is an Island) Arabic
Didi mao (Make it quick.) Vietnamese |
By Bill Schott
CHARACTERS:
Ben Baker ???Robert Butcher???Bobby Do???Butcher of Baghdad???
C.C. Connor President's Chief of Staff
Tim Bends Assistant to the Assistant Post Master General
Gregory Ira Joseph (GI Joe)-- Connor's adversary in Vietnam
An Do -- Mercenary
=======================================================
The story so far...
Author Notes |
Vietnamese:
"Cha cua b�??�?�¡�??�?�º�??�?�¡n la mot ke hen nhat." (Your father was a coward.) "Im mieng!" (Shut your mouth!) "Listen, Ned --" (inside joke) |
By Bill Schott
Author Notes | Image is from Google |
By Bill Schott
CHARACTERS:
Ben Baker ???Robert Butcher???Bobby Do???Butcher of Baghdad???
C.C. Connor President's Chief of Staff
Tim Bends Assistant to the Assistant Post Master General
Gregory Ira Joseph (GI Joe) Connor's adversary in Vietnam
=======================================================
The story so far...
Ben Baker had to find and kill a dozen people in a secluded, government-operated, forest compound. He has survived and met an old man named G.I. Joe. This man told Ben he is actually Bobby Do, an assassin, brainwashed to believe he is Ben Baker.
Tim Bends, one of those whom Baker must kill, had an horrific landing after parachuting from a helicopter and is barely alive.
A helicopter has crashed, which triggered C.C. Connor's response with enough force to secure the area.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
End of the last chapter:
"Are you suggesting that this whole operation is for me?"
"I think you're one of many. He may have an army of men and women like you. What I do know is that you would be the best of the lot."
"Wait!" yelled Baker, "I hear wolves! They're barking -- coming this way!"
"Those aren't wolves! They're dogs! Connor is here!"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Joseph and Baker scramble to the crates to gather weapons. They would have to defend from this spot. Grabbing the crossbow and a clutch of bolts, Joseph set up a firing post kneeling behind a crate. He fashioned a grenade holder out of a sock and hung it on the end of the bolt. He slipped another sock through the loop of the arming pin, knotted it, and tied it off to the body of the weapon. In theory, the grenade would go and the pin stay. "Welcome to the neighborhood, fellas."
Meanwhile, Baker loaded the M-16 with a full magazine. Other full clips were stacked beside him. "I never got a chance to crack open that twelfth crate. Could be a rocket launcher or cans of tuna fish."
"Those dogs seem to be getting further away, rather than closer. If I'm not going nuts, they seem to be coming from the back on the fire break."
Baker noticed it too. "It's like they went right past us and are coming back in the opposite direction. Impossible!"
"Get that crate open and get that tuna fish. We can throw the damn cans at them."
Baker leaped over a pile of body bags that had been pulled out of one of the boxes, landing next to the final crate; he quickly pried it open with two knives. Just as the lid came off, the sting of what must have been a monster mosquito pierced his shoulder. He immediately felt a rush of heat to his face as his vison blurred. Turning, he saw that Joseph had already fallen to the ground, a four-inch dart in his neck.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
When Baker's eyes opened again, his first sight was that of C.C Connor. The man stood facing away, looking at the still-sleeping Joseph, who, like himself, had plastic ties binding his wrists.
"This one's awake, sir," said one of the twenty or more men forming a circle around him.
Connor turned, perpeptual grin on his face, and stepped nearer.
"Dream up a way out of this, Bobby?"
"Bobby? My name is --"
"Save it. I know Gomer Pyle here has already told you who you are."
"You killed my father!"
Connor seemed to grin even more broadly. "I heard he took his own life."
"You messed with his mind -- with mine!"
Joseph had awakened. "Where's all the dogs? Why are we still alive, Connor?"
"That's a long story, Corporal Joseph. One which I will happily reveal to you once we've run the red ribbon."
With that said, the armed men scattered out away into the wide opening of the cleared area. Each ran individually towards separate postions. When they were more than a hundred feet away, Connor turned and walked toward the recently opened crate.
"You probably noticed the reel-to-reel tape deck in here, Bobby."
"That figures," said Joseph. "Just when I had my taste buds set for tuna fish."
Connor stared at the old soldier, not getting the joke, but grinning anyway. Then, turning to the crate, he fastened a small, six-volt battery to the power cord of the tape player.
"This is your favorite song, Bobby."
With that said, Connor switched on the device and the music began. The shout of 'Whammer Jammer' was followed by loud harmonica riffs which were broadcast throughout the compound. The effect on Baker was immediate. He leapt to his feet and yanked at the wrist ties until his bloodied hands pulled free. He darted past Connor, hurtled Joseph and ran towards the armed men.
Each soldier aimed his weapon and attempted to fire at the charging Baker.
Connor looked at Joseph and giggled. "They don't have firing pins. Poor saps."
As the soldiers realized they couldn't fire, each pulled a fighting knife or bayonet to take on the advancing assassin.
The music got louder as Connor increased the volume on the player. Looking to Joseph he said, "This is where the dogs came from too. Keeps the wolves at bay, cowering in the deep woods."
Baker met each soldier and easily killed them. Finger jabs to the throat, or disarming them and using their knives against them, the young killer made lightning slashes to vital arteries and organs. By the time the music ended, the last of twenty-four combatants had dropped dead to the bloody forest floor.
"Now that's entertainment, Joseph. You have to admit it."
"I hope he's coming for you next," said Joseph.
"He's coming for one of us, corporal. I like my odds."
Author Notes |
Link to youtube to hear Whammer Jammer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gdvgjLvi6c&list=RD2gdvgjLvi6c&start_radio=1&t=4 |
By Bill Schott
CHARACTERS:
Ben Baker ... Butcher of Baghdad
C.C. Connor ...President's Chief of Staff
Tim Bends ...Assistant to the Assistant Post Master General
Gregory Ira Joseph (GI Joe) ....Connor's adversary in Vietnam
=======================================================
The story so far...
Ben Baker had to find and kill a dozen people in a secluded, government-operated, forest compound. He has survived and met an old man named G.I. Joe. This man told Ben he is actually Bobby Do, an assassin, brainwashed to believe he is Ben Baker.
Tim Bends, one of those whom Baker must kill, had an horrific landing after parachuting from a helicopter and is barely alive.
C.C. Connor's came with enough force to secure the area, but Ben Baker killed them all..
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
End of the last chapter:
Baker met each soldier and easily killed them. Finger jabs to the throat, or disarming them and using their knives against them, the young killer made lightning slashes to vital arteries and organs. By the time the music ended, the last of twenty-four combatants had dropped dead to the bloody forest floor.
"Now that's entertainment, Joseph. You have to admit it."
"I hope he's coming for you next," said Joseph.
"He's coming for one of us, corporal. I like my odds."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Baker finished off the last of Connor's men and trotted back to the encampment. His eyes were clear and his will was his own.
"I can't believe I did that. It was as though I was possessed by a lunatic."
"That's not the half of it, Bobby," said Connor. "You have other abilities and physical properties that make you the perfect soldier."
"Bobby!" shouted Joseph. "Kill this son of a bitch now! He can't be allowed to go on!"
"He can't hurt me, corporal," said Connor, almost laughing. "He would kill himself before touching me.” Then, turning to face Joseph, "You can't harm me either. So, the fighting is done for now."
"What are we doing here, Connor? Why put me through this if you know how I'll do already?"
"You have other properties that we are testing. Such as your ability to heal. Your cells are enhanced to repair themselves quickly. Even now your arrow wound is healing faster than any human being alive."
"What you're saying is impossible, Connor," shouted Joseph.
Connor stared at Joseph smiling, then laughing out loud.
"Look at me, corporal. Look at yourself. Why are you able to do these things in your seventies? We are, all of us, genetically programmed to endure pain and starvation, while lasting twice as long as other people. We will live to two hundred years. Maybe longer."
"That's great," said Joseph. "So you'll be bringing these sheep out here to be killed to keep Bobby sharp?"
"I actually had another agent in the mix, but he must have been taken out early. He can't be located."
"Who was that?" asked Baker.
"Tim Bends."
As if summoned from the dead, from beneath a mound of body bags, the pitiful specter of Tim Bends rose to his knees. His body, blackened in dried blood and soil, with one eye peering out like a diamond in a ghastly statue of coal, trembled and fought to remain erect.
"Holy shit!" yelled Connor. "Is that you Bends? Boy, you are a marvel!"
Bends, using whatever supernatural strength his body still retained, lifted a crossbow and rested it on a crate. Before another word was spoken, he pulled the trigger and sent a bolt straight to the chest of C.C. Connor.
Connor had but a moment to realize he was shot, and that the bolt had attached to it, a grenade. In that few seconds a lifetime of memories flew through his mind: Posing as a prisoner of war after the Vietnam conflict ended, and finding his way into the House of Represenatives. A close, secret alliance with China and the United States, which he used to create his super assassination teams. His finding Gregory Ira Joseph and sending him through his torture scenario to test his programming, securing his alter ego in the idea that he was a regular soldier, and not Connor's weapon. The eventual meeting with An Do, a highly organized clash to cement the two together for the next twenty years. They would never know that their secret assassination team was run by him.
Connor grabbed both the stunned Baker and Joseph by their sleeves, as a huge smile crossed his skeletal face.
Wolves, just then moving out of the deep woods to investigate what might be huge meals, were startled by a lone explosion, followed by silence. The night eased in as the pack moved forward.
Author Notes | Image from Google hexus.net |
You've read it - now go back to FanStory.com to comment on each chapter and show your thanks to the author! |
© Copyright 2015 Bill Schott All rights reserved. Bill Schott has granted FanStory.com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work. |
© 2015 FanStory.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Statement