“My legs.” Deacon looked down at himself. “My fucking legs.”
“You’re alive.” Nathan pulled two field tourniquets from his jacket pocket. “Now let’s keep you that way.” Pulling out his KA-BAR, Nathan sawed away the pant leg, tore the fabric away, and exposed the gashes. He wrapped the tourniquet strap around Deacon’s right thigh, and tightened it. “Stay with me, buddy.” He tightened the second tourniquet above the deep gouges in the left thigh. “How you doing?”
“I’ve been better.” Deacon groaned.
“This should help,” Nathan said, injecting Deacon with a syrette.
A rustling in the brush behind; something coming towards them. Nathan’s grip tightened on his weapon. The leaves brushed aside. Hiro stepped out with a smile.
“Holy shit,” Nathan said. “I think he got the rest of ‘em.”
“No way. That’s not possible,” Deacon said, his voice slurred.
Hiro walked towards them calmly. “Opium,” he said. “Ngu’Tinh, no eyes.”
“I think…” Nathan paused. “I think he’s saying they can’t see him when he’s high.”
“Bull-fucking-shit.” Deacon’s voice stronger this time.
“How the hell else did he kill all those things? And with nothing but a knife?”
Nathan tossed the bag to Hiro, who fished out the metal spoon, lighter, a vial of brown liquid, and a syringe. He heated the drugs into a bubbling brown liquid, filled the syringe, injected it into his arm then smiled.
“All right, Hiro.” Nathan rolled up his sleeve then held out his arm. “Hit me.”
Deacon watched with wide-eyed disbelief.
Hiro nodded; prepared another dose. Nathan clenched his fist and Hiro aimed for a vein on Nathan’s inner elbow. He felt a pinch as the needle went in. Then Hiro pushed the plunger.
Calm. That’s what Nathan felt. The high wasn’t mind altering or disorienting. He was wide awake, just suddenly happy, mellow. Then he remembered the mantis demon. Nathan quickly checked the tracking device.
“That thing is still out there,” Nathan said. “I’m gonna go kill it.” Then he turned to Hiro. “Protect him,” he pointed to Deacon. “I’ll be back.”
Hiro nodded, and Nathan walked into the forest.
On the tracking device, the red dot was slowly circling the bay. Nathan gauged its path, positioned himself for intercept, then crouched in the brush and waited.
A twig snapped.
Leaves rustled.
The creature was there, a few paces away, slinking through the trees.
It edged closer, within arms-reach. He’d seen how fast it could move. He’d get one chance. Nathan steadied his CAR-15. How did I get myself into this shit?
He pulled the trigger.
Click.
The creature turned towards the sound. A stabbing fear ran through Nathan’s spine as he realised the weapon misfired, and he found himself staring face to eyeless-face with the demon. Heart pounding, breath caught in his throat, the stare-down seemed to last an eternity.
You can’t see me, can you? He tossed his rifle to the side. It landed among some reeds with a splash, and the demon swivelled to face the sound. Then it lurched towards the water, slowly stalking the source of the noise.
I’ve got you now. Nathan drew his KA-BAR then followed the creature. It had a plodding gait, rising and falling a full meter with each lurching step. Nathan stepped carefully behind, slowly, matching its rhythm. The creature bent to the reeds, probing with its serrated arms. Then Nathan leapt.
He landed on the back of the creature and wrapped his legs around the torso. It stood, thrashed its limbs. Nathan struggled to hold on, sawing at its neck with the KA-BAR. The two of them spun in place, the demon thrashing wildly, whipping its body left and right. Nathan’s knife tore through the last strand of the neck, severing the head, which dropped and thudded to the ground. The creature fell, and Nathan with it.
He landed, picked up the head, and ran back to Hiro.
“Here.” He tossed the green head. Hiro caught it, placed it on the ground, and stabbed it with the iron knife. The head turned to dirt.
“Hey,” Deacon said with concern. “The tracker. Is it still transmitting?”
“I don’t know,” Nathan said, amazed Deacon was coherent considering his injuries, but the man loved his dolphins.
“Check the switch.”
Nathan examined the device. The toggle was still in the on-position. Shit. He flipped it off just as another blip moved into range. It was coming down the river.
“Another one incoming,” Nathan said. “Where’s your gun?”
“Dropped it. Where’s yours?”
“Fuck.” Nathan closed his eyes. He’d left his weapon in the reeds. It was jammed, anyway. “All right, here we go.” He bent his knees, combat ready, and held out his KA-BAR. Hiro followed his lead and readied his own blade.
“Thirty meters. Twenty. Ten. It’s right next to us,” he said. “Sittin’ in the river”.
“What do we do?”
“You sit tight,” Nathan said, and he stalked towards the river. He approached slowly then peered over the edge. There was a large shape in the water. Nathan leaned closer, KA-BAR raised, and a smooth, blue-grey snout broke the surface.
Nathan laughed. “Holy shit. Rob the dolphin.” The small tracking device was still strapped over the dolphin’s right fin. A second dolphin appeared, minus the tracker. Nathan laughed again. “And Billy.” Nathan bent and patted the dolphin on the head. “Jesus, am I glad to see you two. Wait right there.” He rushed over to Deacon. “You’ve got to see this.”
“What? What is it?”
“Come on.” Nathan heaved Deacon up, lifted him over his shoulders and carried him towards the river. Hiro followed them to the bank.
“Rob! Billy! But how? I thought for sure…” Deacon wiped his eyes. The dolphins chirped, and Deacon laughed.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry, just happy to see them.” He shook his head. “Now lower me into the water.”
“What?”
“They’re trained for riding,” Deacon said. “And they know the way back to base.”
“Are you telling we can just ride ‘em back to base?”
“That’s what I’m telling you.”
Deacon was acting remarkably calm for someone missing both his legs. Nathan wondered whether it was because of the syrette or the dolphins. “You sure?” he said.
“Yeah,” Deacon answered. “Let’s go.”
With Hiro’s help, Nathan lowered Deacon into the water. Deacon gave Billy a pat on the head, then grabbed onto a fin, and the dolphin took off back towards base, shrinking into the distance downriver.
Nathan turned to Hiro. “Thank you”.
Hiro nodded. “I stay.”
Nathan handed Hiro his bag, then lowered himself into the water. He took hold of Rob’s fin, and the dolphin started back to base. Nathan held tight to the rubbery grey handhold, and looked back to see Hiro standing on the bank, iron knife in hand. Somewhere out there was the demon mother, Ngu’Tinh.
Deacon and Nathan made it back to base without incident. They never had to explain themselves to General Cain as they were immediately moved off-base. First the shit hit the fan, then intel’ verified what they could. Six months later, after things had settled down, a handful of medals were awarded, most of them posthumously. Nathan was given a promotion and offered command of a new team, SEAL team-X, clandestine operators tasked with hunting the things they’d found in the forests of Vietnam. The team was equipped with new weapons, NGX series: 40mm iron frags, iron KA-BARs, iron-tipped stoner rounds. Each operator also got a handy pack of epi-pen opioid injectors.