Reapers: The Shadow Soldiers (18 page)

“Some hideout you have here,” he called out to the man, sending his words to echo off the rough walls of the cavern. Brawny nodded in agreement as he reached Burns.

“I only wish we didn’t have to hide,” he replied. He then saw the bloodied dressings around Burns’ torso. “Need medical attention?” he asked. Burns bowed his head as Brosi and Carmen leaped out of the back of the truck.

“I think we all do, sir,” he replied. Brawny motioned for them to follow.

“We have medics,” he told Burns.
 

“I’m afraid it gets worse,” Burns explained. “We also have a casualty aboard.” The man’s strong face seemed to sink a little.

“Something wrong, Alvarez?” Burns asked, noticing the name stitched on his chest.

“Hearing the ULC scramble in fear of you has been the only thing to uplift my boys. If word gets out that one of you has bought the spruce, I don’t know if we can stave off a plummet in morale.”

“Well, we can’t just throw his body down the side of the mountain,” Brosi added, gaining a look of ire from Alvarez.

“What do you know?” he grumbled.
 

“Listen,” Burns intervened, before Brosi had time to reply, “we’re going to give our guy the send-off he deserves. That’s an order.” Alvarez seemed to lean in a little.
 

“I know you’re not a real colonel,” he murmured, “but I have no choice. Three of you is better than none,” he complied. Burns slightly bowed his head. He hated pulling rank on people, but he wasn’t going to let Alvarez slide Rhett down the cliff. He deserved better. They could mop up morale later. Pulling out a small comm device from his pocket and putting it up to his face, Alvarez made a call.
 

“Attention, this is Lieutenant Alvarez.” He paused, looking into the bed of the truck. “We have a DOA, I repeat, D-O-A. Medical team, how copy?” Lowering the device, he waited for a response.
 

Burns looked at the rough ground, trying to remember where he had heard the name Alvarez
before. For some reason, it was really pressing on his mind. The medical team then piped up, which brought Burns out of his thoughts to listen in.

“Copy, Lieutenant. We’ll send someone for the deceased. Med-bay out.” Alvarez nodded and then pocketed the comm device.
 

“This way,” he motioned as he walked forward once more. This time Burns and the others followed him. Despite his wound, Burns caught up with the man.

“I know this might be pushing it, but would you mind a little ceremony for the man?” he requested. “I’m not asking for anything spectacular, just—something.” Alvarez shook his head, seemingly defeated.

“Fine,” he grumbled, “we can figure something out.” Burns bowed his head slightly.

“Thanks, that’s all I ask. He was neglected for so long just because he was a good soldier. He deserves this.” Alvarez seemed irritated.

“I said I would figure something out—I didn’t ask for the backstory,” he grumbled as he continued walking.

From Alvarez’s inhibitions, Burns could tell that those on Silverset had taken a hit. The Survivors’ bodies may be unharmed, but their spirits were crushed. The horrors they’d seen…they might just rival the nightmares in Burns’ memories.
 

The four soon exited the motor pool. Entering a small metal lift, which Burns thought of as a cage, they descended slowly into the bowels of the mine. The descent seemed to take an eternity, and sometimes the lift wasn’t even lit. Burns felt bad for the miners who had to do this on a daily basis. It must have been hell having to live your life in this compressing darkness.

Eventually, they reached crosscut two and the cage opened.
 

This crosscut was lit like the entrance, with the dim lights strung across the rough ceiling. Only, it appeared to house a number more people. They walked to and fro, some entering the lift and some resting in the narrow halls. They didn’t look to be miners or soldiers but instead civilians.
 

Burns assumed these were the ones who’d escaped ULC persecution. It was a shame their only options at this point were death or darkness.

After a short stint down the damp shaft, the team was finally led to the medical bay. It wasn’t the most impressive med-bay Burns had ever witnessed. It was little more than a carved out cave stocked with a couple beds and about a dozen counts of assorted medical equipment. Plus the crew themselves. Despite appearances, however, the work done was nothing to complain about.
 

The crew redressed Burns’ wounds without much trouble at all and did what they could for the others. Brosi had a few scrapes and bangs, and Carmen was mostly intact.

Alvarez had stayed with them in the med-bay, which Burns found a bit odd, but it could be useful. Everyone here seemed to listen to him, so he was the man you talked to when you had plans.
 

“So, what do you know about Fort Ledger?” Burns asked. Alvarez scoffed.

“Why? You thinking of taking it on?” he asked sardonically. Burns nodded back.

“Yeah.”

Alvarez seemed to find this humorous, but Burns was completely serious. The man soon realized this and became serious too.

“Ah,” he grumbled, “you think that because we have this camp here, we’re some sort of army? You came to ask us to help you on your quest.” Burns remained calm—he knew this was going to be an upward battle. The man wasn’t his biggest fan.

“Well, you do have the resources we need,” Burns noted. Alvarez didn’t seem amused.

“Yes, but unlike you, I’m not stupid enough to think that my boys could take on a fort of that scale,” he grumbled.

“Valor is superior to number,” Burns argued, remembering what Rhett had said back when he himself was unsure of the chances.

“Right,” Alvarez simmered. Burns figured it best not to push him further. His teammates hadn’t yet come to that conclusion.

“You lack faith in your men, Lieutenant?” Brosi asked, noticing that Alvarez was not a very inspiring leader.
 

“Faith has nothing to do with it,” he let on.
 

“Then what’s keeping you out of the fight?” Brosi continued, gaining more ire from the man.

“The fight?” he repeated. “Were you there when the Collective started their assault on Fort Ledger? Were you there as they systematically hunted my surviving troops?” Burns remained silent. “I didn’t think so. That’s why we don’t fight.” He turned back toward Burns. “The truth is,
Colonel
, in this life, there are no heroes—there are only survivors!” he exclaimed, clearly putting the possibility of Survivor reinforcements off the table. Though Burns suspected it wasn’t for the reasons he let on.
 

Looking over at one of the medics who had patched him up, Burns remembered where he’d heard the name Alvarez before. Alvarez was one of the nurses in the VA facility, the one who had helped him secure the Flenin. She’d talked about how proud she was of her soldier father, and she had talked about how she wasn’t scared for him.

“I’ve met your daughter,” Burns blurted out suddenly, causing the Lieutenant to look up once more. Not out of malice but instead out of wonder.

“How?” he asked, losing his typical grumpy bite.
 

“She’s a nurse at the VA on Fifth Street. She helped me,” he told him. Alvarez eyes began to shimmer a little.

“She got the job,” he whispered to himself with a sliver of a smile. Burns slightly smiled.

“Yes, she got the job,” he repeated.
 

This was why Alvarez was hiding. It wasn’t a lack of faith or what he’d seen the ULC do. He was in this cave because he didn’t want his daughter to be alone. He didn’t want her to have to live without a father. Burns looked back at the man, this time only trying to calm his fears.
 

“You don’t have to worry about her, she’ll be safe,” he mentioned, gaining the man’s attention.

“Are you sure?” Alvarez asked. “I’m her only family. My tour was almost up—I was going to be there for her. Forever,” he said. Burns reached out his hand and placed it on the man’s shoulder.

“I’m sure,” he confirmed warmly. Alvarez looked at the rocky ground, struggling with something. After a few seconds of rumination, he looked back up.

“I’ll talk to the others,” he ensured. “I’ll see if we have any fighters left in our ranks.”

Burns took a deep breath. He’d gotten what he wanted. Though he began to wonder if he had some of Alvarez’s inhibitions. Was he saving or was he still only surviving?
 

FRACTURED PAST: PART IV

Juliette holding cells, Fort Hermara, Mardius, 20 years and 1 standard month prior

The night prior, Evelyn Wescott had broken her strict moral code to be with Burns.
 

Waking up, he couldn’t help but smile ear to ear. This was the best morning he’d ever had. This was how life was supposed to be; this was what he’d always held out for. To be able to see the person you loved the first thing in the morning—he wanted that for the rest of his life.
 

Eve woke up only minutes later. She too immediately gained the same smile on her face.
 

It seemed they were both in the place they were always meant to be.

They lay there for several minutes. They didn’t move or speak. They only looked into each other’s eyes.
 

The cell bed may have been hard as a rock and only wide enough for one person, but they made it work. They’d overcome much adversity to be with each other and now were peaceful. No explosions, no bloody corpses, no anger or fear. They were together and happy, and it was the beginning of a new day. A wonderful day.
 

After freshening up a bit and eating one last packaged meal, they headed for the capital to board their transport and start the future.

Descending from uptown, Burns and Evelyn strolled through the crowded streets toward their transport. They held hands and had become inseparable. Not even the crowds of refugees pushing past them could break their hold.

Nearing the large, double-decker space transport, the couple passed an elderly woman who’d fallen to the ground. She seemed to be groveling around in the dirt, searching for something. The woman had ruffled, muddy clothes and seemed quite desperate.
 

Burns watched as people walked by her, oblivious to her plight. Slightly scowling at their intolerance, Burns kindly knelt near the woman and asked her what the matter was. She was a jumbled mess of words, but she managed to tell him that she’d lost her ticket and couldn’t afford another.

People were desperate to get off the planet. Newly annexed worlds were a rough place to be for quite some time. Another panicked citizen must have stolen the ticket from her.
 

Gently helping the old woman to her feet, Burns assured her he’d buy a replacement ticket. He still had a few dollars left from hazard pay. However, the ticket counter was back in uptown, and the shuttle was bound to be leaving soon. With a hint of foresight, Burns thought it best if Evelyn got on the shuttle and held the pilot to the ground until Burns and the woman were aboard. She agreed heartily and departed.
 

Briskly arriving at the ticket counter, Burns had to resort to flashing his military verification number in order to purchase a ticket past departure day. The clerk wasn’t too fond of making an exception, but eventually Burns purchased a ticket and was on his way back to the transport. He hoped Evelyn had been able to convince the pilot not to lift off.
 

Arriving at the center of the city once more, Burns saw Evelyn had been successful, and the transport was still in its place.
 

All that was left was to find the old woman, and they could board and be free of this world.
 

Looking around, over the heads of the crowded masses of the capital, Burns couldn’t manage to find the woman. He didn’t know where she could have possibly gone.
 

Then he spotted something else.
 

He saw Jonathon Gambi.
 

The man was standing squarely on a rooftop. He was still wearing the same body armor, exposing his large, muscled arms to the world. He certainly seemed out of place here. Especially on a rooftop.

What’s he doing up there?
Burns thought to himself. He’d figured the man would be celebrating victory with other Loyalists.
 

Had he come to wish another farewell to the happy couple?
 

Then Burns realized what he was really doing up there.

His heart skipped a beat.

The IEDs. All those months ago. He hadn’t asked Burns to locate the explosives so he could disarm them. He was going to repurpose them. Jonathon Gambi was a double agent—he was going to blow up the capital!

Burns began to run toward the man. He had to stop him.
 

However, he’d only taken one step before a fiery force blew him backward. Everything went black after that.
 

Faintly, he could hear the savage howls of dying people, the crumbling of large buildings toppling over, the definitive popping of fires. The sounds were muddled though. Burns had trouble distinguishing reality from nightmare.
 

Was this real? Did this really happen? Could this only be a panic attack from his earlier brush with death? He desperately hoped so. He wanted to wake up and see Evelyn, her beautiful smile, the calm of the morning. He wanted to see everything all right—like it was before.
 

Fearfully opening his eyes once more, he saw that it was all real. It was all too real.
 

His head pounded like a drum, and his arms and legs were bleeding profusely, but that wasn’t the worst part. He was totally fine—that was the worst part. As he stood and looked around the blackened, crumbling city, he couldn’t help but wonder why he was fine. People had been torn apart by the explosives, and he’d only suffered minor scrapes and bruises. Or perhaps he’d suffered much worse.

A couple feet ahead, through the smoke and debris, Burns saw the jagged remains of the interplanetary shuttle.