4. Chapter 4
Chapter four
-Bryce-
S oft, moss-like plants carpeted the ground, squishy under my boots. With each step, I sank into it an inch. It made walking with my new leg interesting, but it wasn’t enough to put me off. This place was amazing.
After we’d cleared the landing site and the men had set up the base camp, Chief had told me to take some men and scout out the area. He wanted to know what was out there, and if it was dangerous. We’d start the search for the settlement once we’d got our bearings. I’d jumped at the chance, even as my heart hammered.
I’d swapped Jones and Fordham for Clyde, Rand, and O’Neill, and set off.
As we made our way into the trees, Chief’s final words rang in my head. “And Gunner, don’t fuck this up. You know what happened last time.”
I had stiffened and automatically looked down at my leg.
“Yes, sir. I won’t make that mistake again.”
The lush forest of vivid green leaves didn’t look too different from photos I’d seen of the Amazon rainforest before it was demolished. Even though we were stepping into the unknown and potential danger, I couldn’t help but feel giddy. A whole world of possibilities lay before me, just waiting to be explored. This was what it all boiled down to—the training, the rigorous trials and exercises, the missions and dog fights—all of it was worth it when the wild call of adventure pulled at my heart. But it was tinged, this time, with a tightness in my chest, a jerking of my limbs, a tremor in my heart. The last time I’d been deployed to an unknown planet, I’d lost my leg.
I scanned the trees on all sides, taking note of the readings my visor provided. My reader was giving feedback that the air was safe to breathe, but we kept our helmets and visors engaged anyway, just in case. Being safe to breathe and being pleasant to breathe were two very different things, and I had learned that the hard way. Nothing moved, apart from the gentle sway of leaves and vines.
I started to settle back into my rhythm. This was fine, I could do this. And I could prove to the others that I could do this too. I was still useful. I still belonged here.
“Isn’t this amazing?” I said with added gusto.
Clyde grunted with his usual curmudgeonly grace. “You’re chipper today.”
“Eager to get back out there.”
“It’s good to see you back to your old self, kid.”
His tone was veering a bit too close to pity for my comfort, so I just nodded and changed the course of the conversation quickly.
“How are you taking all of this?” I said to O’Neill. “Big stuff for your first mission.”
He swallowed. “Yeah, I’m a bit nervous, not gonna lie.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it, we were only kidding around earlier, there’s no giant spiders out here. At least I don’t think so.” I smiled crookedly. “You’ll do great, just keep your wits about you, and don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.”
“Thanks, Gunner.”
“Call me Bryce, kid,” I said, and then felt ridiculous calling him ‘kid’ when we were almost the same age. But Clyde always said it to me, and it seemed to work because his shoulders relaxed.
I knew what it was like to be a rookie, we were all rookies once, and a bit of kindness never hurt anyone. Maybe if someone had shown Rand a bit more kindness when he was a rookie, we wouldn’t be stuck with the guy we had today. I looked up to see Rand making a crude gesture, laughing as he pushed his finger through the circle he’d made with his other hand to simulate a hole. Or maybe kindness wouldn’t have done jack shit for him. Some people were just born assholes.
“100 credits to whoever bags the first alien,” Rand said.
“You’re on,” I said.
“You think we’re gonna see some aliens already?” O’Neill managed to sound only a little nervous.
“Who knows. They’re out there somewhere. They could be watching us right now,” I said, and then remembered not to be too mean to him and added, “but they’re probably nowhere near here.”
“Let’s just get on with it,” Clyde said.
I grinned inside my helmet. I was eager to get on with it, too, but for a different reason. This was the best part of the job. The men fell in behind me and we wove into the trees. We crept between the twisting trunks, some of them wider than three men standing shoulder to shoulder. The bright green leaves sprouted in streams down the trunks, and strange plants littered every surface in pinks and blues. It was hard not to be swept up in the calm beauty of it.
The place was like nothing I’d ever seen before. It had a dreamy quality to it, and I couldn’t help but feel a deep calmness descend on me. A strange creature flew past, like a hummingbird, but then it landed on a huge leaf and its face opened like a flower. I leaned closer. It startled and leapt into the air again, wings humming so fast they were invisible, and darted away into the undergrowth.
“Freaky,” I murmured. “This place is wild.”
“Yeah, I haven’t seen this many plants in one place since…ever, I think,” O’Neill said.
“I don’t like it,” Clyde said. “Too many places to hide.”
“But it is beautiful, you have to admit,” I said.
“I’m not admitting anything,” Rand said. “What—oh! Ew! ”
I spun, weapon raised. He was backing away from a luminous pink cloud erupting from a trumpet-shaped flower on the trunk of a tree. The pink cloud drifted towards him like it was drawn by a magnet and clung to his armor. Rand swiped at the stuff on his chest but only managed to smear it over himself more. My visor analyzed it, but there were no signs of danger. Rand would be fine, although the stuff seemed to have dyed his suit a vivid pink. I lowered my blaster and let out a bark of laughter.
“This fucking thing just got alien plant jizz all over my suit,” Rand said.
“It’s pollen,” I said. “Rand, don’t poke the nature.”
“I didn’t touch the fucking thing.”
I picked up a stick and tossed it near another flower. The stick didn’t touch it, but the flower vomited up another pink cloud. It drifted, before homing in on Rand again, coating his limbs.
“Hey!”
O’Neill laughed, and even Clyde grunted.
“Hmm, it must be triggered by movement,” I said. “Then the animals deposit the pollen around the whole jungle. That’s pretty cool.”
Rand grabbed a handful of leaves and tried to rub the pink off. “It’s not fucking cool, you fucker.”
“You’re helping the native species reproduce, Rand.”
I laughed at his string of curses as we fell back into formation and carried on, Rand grumbling through the comm as he continued to wipe at his chest. When we were about a klick from the camp, we turned right. We would do a full circle around base camp to scope the lay of the land, see if there were any natural resources, and clear the area of enemy settlements. We didn’t want to be camped out right next to their nest, or whatever they lived in.
Halfway into the circuit, I caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. I jerked my head towards it, but there was nothing there and my visor gave no readouts. Maybe it was something, or maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. I took a slow breath.
After my accident, the specialist I’d seen told me that I would most likely experience various symptoms of PTSD; flashbacks, anxiety, dissociation. Pretty much anything was possible, even hallucinations. I hadn’t had any up to this point, and now would be a very bad time to start. So I took a deep breath and carried on.
I saw it again, movement in the trees off to my left. I spun towards it with my weapon up.
Empty trees.
“Did you guys see that?” I asked.
Clyde looked around. “See what?”
“There’s something…”
“Shit, where?” O’Neill said.
“I didn’t see anything,” Rand grumbled.
That didn’t mean there was nothing there. That didn’t mean I was hallucinating.
“Should we scout it out?” asked Clyde, and when I didn’t reply, “Gunner? You good?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”
“Where was it?”
I blinked, when had I started sweating so heavily? It suddenly felt stuffy inside the helmet. Close and suffocating. I drew in deep breaths, trying to calm myself, but it didn’t work. It was cutting off my peripheral vision. I had to get it off, I had to breathe.
“Bro,” Rand said.
I dropped my weapon and fumbled at the back of the helmet.
“Gunner, what are you doing?” Clyde said. “Keep it on.”
I pressed the release on my neck and disengaged the helmet.