Indian Hill 4: From The Ashes by Tufo Mark

Author:Tufo, Mark [Tufo, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: DevilDog Press LLC
Published: 2014-03-27T16:00:00+00:00

***

We were halfway home. Another shuttle had showed about a half hour after the first had crashed. Nobody had said much. Paul and Dee were both scowling. Dee, I would think because he had to kill Genos, and Paul because he hadn’t killed enough. I was trying to forget the events of the day. I’d received a local anesthetic and a couple of painkillers, a medic aboard the shuttle was stitching up my face after cleaning the wound and applying a liberal dose of alien cream. A couple of days and the scar would be barely noticeable. Then I’d have nothing to remember the day by. Cythion would still be dead, though. That was fine with me.

It took a shaking of my shoulder to either wake me up or pull me out of my trance-like state.

“What? What’s going on?” I asked, trying to focus my eyes.

“We’re almost back to your house,” Paul said. “I’ll give you a day to say your goodbyes. A shuttle will be here day after tomorrow to pick you up. You’re going to put the fear of something into the Progerians to get them to listen. This is your problem now.”

“You can’t order me around. I’m not in your goddamned army anymore.”

“Listen, Colonel, you either deal with this or I’ll toss your ass in jail for crimes against humanity.”

“Full-bird Colonel? Do I get a raise?”

“Just being closer to me should be enough. Mike, I need you for this. I can’t afford to be battling on two fronts. Are you with me?”

I looked into Paul’s eyes. “Bud, you know I’ve always been with you.”

“It doesn’t always feel that way.” I could see the hurt in his eyes. We’d competed at everything, almost from the first day we’d met, but never over a woman. As far as I was concerned we still weren’t, but apparently Paul didn’t see it that way. He had been in battle with me over Beth for close to three years and even though I didn’t want a thing to do with her, he was losing. Considering I wasn’t even trying--that was a blow to him. I wanted to tell him I wanted nothing to do with the psycho-bitch, but that really is a hard conversation starter.

“I’ll be ready,” I told him as I hopped off the shuttle. The truck ride from the landing strip to home was quiet except for the hum of tires on pavement. Dee looked like a museum statue from the Mesozoic era. It was late afternoon, coming up on early evening. There was plenty of sunlight left and Travis and Tracy were playing in the front yard. Dee got out, walked to his house and slammed the door so hard I thought the thing was going to end up on his lawn.

Travis’s arms had been outstretched for his uncle. When he realized that wasn’t going to happen he came running toward me.

“Well it’s nice to know where I fit in, little man!” I told him as I picked him up.

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