BATTLE BEYOND: THE TERMINAL WAR - Book 2 by R.L. GIDDINGS

Author:R.L. GIDDINGS [GIDDINGS, R.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Munoz didn’t wait for me. After the tongue-lashing he'd just received from Geary, he was in no mood to hang around. Slinging the eel over his shoulder, he started off into the trees without even checking with me. I only had time to pick up my rifle and one of the folding utility spades before setting off after him.

I had a flashlight clipped to my belt, and I switched it on now. It was clear that Munoz, in his temper, had no idea where he was going, so in order to prevent us both getting lost I crashed through the trees in a bid to get ahead of him. I tasked my implant with dropping virtual markers so that we’d at least be able to find our way back, then, using my flashlight, I did my best to keep us heading in a westerly direction. Even then, I had to watch where I was putting my feet; there were exposed roots everywhere. Also, I kept having to check over my shoulder to make sure that Munoz was still following me. He had a face like thunder and I worried that, in the darkness, it would be only too easy for us to get separated. Munoz was a little hot tempered at the best of times but not that he’d been humiliated, there was no reasoning with him.

I kept an eye on our position relative to the camp. Geary had told us to take the carcass as far away as possible before we buried it. To me, that equated to about a kilometer or so. I mean, it wasn’t like he was going to ask for co-ordinates or anything. He just didn’t want to have to smell the damn thing. But I’d reckoned without the density of jungle we were walking through. Since we tended to stick to trail paths on the whole, it was easy to forget how dense the jungle could become in places. In parts, it was virtually impassable. Where we could, we scouted around these thickets, but more and more I became concerned that we were deviating away from our intended path.

Also, I was aware of how much noise we were making; the jungle around us seemed unnaturally quiet. A lot of the usual noises had been silenced and I became concerned that my flashlight might be alerting certain sections of the local wildlife to our presence. Hayes had nearly lost his hand failing to take basic precautions and here we were tramping around at night carrying a rotting eel carcass. It was like we were asking for trouble.

I watched the range finder counting off in the corner of my vision, and as soon as it hit seven hundred meters, I shouted for us to stop. Munoz sagged against a tree, throwing the eel down with such force that it split in two. And, if I'd thought it smelled bad before, now, with its innards spilled over the ground, I was getting ready to gag.

Resting my

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