The Return of Sgt. Hawk: Sgt. Hawk Book Two by Clay Patrick

Author:Clay, Patrick
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781685490980
Publisher: Rough Edges Press
Published: 2022-06-21T00:00:00+00:00

9

Miles to the southeast, Sergeant Gill’s red-rimmed eyes watched the sea at his right. He wondered, as he struggled closer to Porkeet, if the Marines had boarded a boat. He called one of the patrol’s frequent halts. Gill was getting low on stamina. Hawk could run wherever he wanted and Gill had to follow. Hawk was living off of the land like any other lower form of animal. Two of Gill’s men had fallen under a hundred pounds. They were unhealthy and starving. They ate only berries and roots and they were half afraid to eat those, thinking that the wild food might be the cause of the endless dysentery that plagued them.

Gill had no intention of giving up. He hoarded rations to keep up his strength. His weight had fallen to around two hundred but he remained fit. He was exhausted twenty-four hours a day, yet every night he got down on the ground and did six hundred sit-ups. His dwindling patrol considered him rather crazy. They sweated, excreted, and evaporated flesh from their parched bones while Gill did childish exercises.

The men were nearly spent—but Jack Calicote was the exception. Calicote seldom ate, seldom slept, seldom spoke. If Hawk was an animal and Gill a madman, Calicote was a machine. The dirty beanpole had no physical reason for still being on his feet. Yet the more he did without, the more he thrived.

Gill couldn’t especially do without. He required nourishment and rest, and saw to it that he got more of both than any of the others. Justification for this came from his athletic background. He deserved pampering because he was better than other men. He could whip any two of them at once. Gill had never really grown up. Athletics, contests, were a part of his psyche. He had joined the Army to demonstrate to the world that he was tough—not that the world knew or cared. And he participated in every contest to win. What he didn’t realize, however, was that chasing Sergeant Hawk was no game. Hawk didn’t play games. You couldn’t back away and try again tomorrow in Hawk’s world. Calicote might have understood this, and understood this weakness in Gill. But Calicote never spoke.

Gill found out from an old Filipino that Hawk had cut overland to San Miguel. The Marines were an awesome number of miles behind enemy lines. Gill was determined to pursue them. His dying band of recon patrollers followed him.

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