"Sara!"
"Sara, Don't go down there!"
"Damn it, Sara! Why can't you keep yourself out of trouble if I'm not watching you every second?"
"Come up out of there. You shouldn't be in the basement without me."
"Sara ... Answer me, Damn it!"
"... Oh, Shit!"
***
"Jacobson can't you do anything right. I know it would be asking to much of your pea sized brain for you to figure out what to do with your helmet, without help, but, Jesus, can't you listen to what I'm saying and fix it. God, you are probably one of the stupidest recruits I've seen in all my time in the service, and that is a lot of stupid. Come on, pull that sack of shit you call your head out of your ass and snap your latches in the proper sequence, odds then evens. You can handle that can't ..."
"Corporal Litwick, I think you need to talk to me."
"Just a second Pops, and I'll ream your ass too."
"No Corporal, I want to talk to you, now."
The young corporal turned around rapidly as he felt his sidearm, a large pistol being slid out of his holster. The pistol wouldn't do anything to his armor but could easily blow his unprotected head off.
"Shithead, you just earned yourself a date with a firing squad. I think I'm going to pull the trigger myself."
"You should be more careful when you are on leave, Corp. The People aren't fond of pedophiles."
The Corporal paled slightly. "What the fuck do you want Devin?"
"I would advise you to leave David alone. If you don't like the idea of a grenade in the face, that is. The top sargent assigned me to take care of him. He didn't say that David had to listen to you. If you have a problem with this trooper you will deal with me."
"So who jumped you up in the chain of command, Pops?"
"I've got your pistol, my rifle, and David's chain gun that says I can tell you what to do with yourself. You're not going to give him anymore shit, Litwick. Understood."
The corporal held out his hand for his pistol and walked away as quickly as he could without running. Alfred Devin sighed and looked at the confusion on David's face. He really understood little of what was going on out in this damp wilderness. But usually, Alf didn't understand much about that either.
"It's O.K. David. He can't do anything to you as long as you do what I say."
"Alf, he made me take off my helmet and check the comm antenna. He started asking me general orders and then told me to put my helmet back on while I answered. I'm sorry I'm so dumb."
Tears began to flow down the young "soldier's" cheeks. David Jacobson had no business out here in the wilderness, wearing two hundred pounds of powered armor, fighting a war that was just an incomprehensible source of confusion for him. The recruiters were getting desperate, though. Too many people had already died for even the mildly retarded to escape service in the armed forces of the People. Perhaps David wasn't the only one who was confused The state was supposed to protect it's people, not get them killed.
Better stop that thought right now. Next thing you know, Alf would be facing the guns of the Dignity Battalion for treason. No, that would really be too easy; just quit, let them have his body ... hell, they already did. If the Father accepted him, he would be with Sara again. That thought had to stop too. It would be just too easy to step on a mine if he kept thinking like that; who would take care of David, then?
"It's Oscar Kilo, David." That brought a brief smile to the young man's face. It was an old joke that David never got tired of. "Put your helmet on and get ready to move out. We're taking point." With these last words, David's face fell. David wasn't stupid, just a bit slower than the average young man of seventeen. His face set into the look he always had when he was going into combat. He would want to take the first stretch leading the platoon and Alf would let him. Again, David wasn't dumb; he would let Alf take the toughest sections of the trail but he would be right right behind Alf's shoulder.
As the troops began to fall in for the march, David said with just a hint of his previous tears in his voice, "Jeez Alf, I'm sorry I got you into trouble. I'm just so stupid some times."
"No David, you are not stupid. Don't ever think that. Wasn't it you who pointed out that trip wire yesterday? Wasn't it you who charged that damaged hovertank last week? David you are my partner and I won't have anyone call a partner of mine stupid; not even you. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Sir!" said David in his best imitation of Top Sargent Tracey. Then he said, "Damn Alf, you're a better friend to me than my father ever was."
"Just keep your eyes on the trail."
As they began to march into the deepening gloom of the forest, Alf could see that David's spirits were returning to their usual happy state. That was very good, because Alf wanted to cry.
***
The courtroom was a blur. Alf found himself encased in a damp fog of fear and frustration that blocked out most sensations. The People's Jury was just a bank of accusing faces. The People's Accuser was a shark that the state had turned into a man just for this trial. Juanita wasn't in his view, but Alf could feel the tug of her web, trapping him in this nightmare.
The Jurist, a black mantis, stood and prepared to deliver the People's Decision. No effort was made to even acknowledge Alf's existence. All of this show was intended to humiliate him, as it was for every other Criminal.
Nothing mattered to Alf, though. If they took his life, God might let him hold Sara again. If not, he would die eventually. Nothing mattered, not now.
"The People have Decided. Long live the People!" proclaimed the Jurist.
"In the death of Sara Devin, age four: the cause was severe concussion to the skull after falling down the defendant's stairs. Of the charge, murder: The People find that Alfred Devin did not murder the victim. Of the charge, manslaughter, voluntary: The People find that Alfred Deven did negligently and unlawfully leave his daughter unsupervised, allowing her to fall down his basement stairs and thus be killed. On this charge the Criminal would be required to pay five years of his life at hard labor. Because of the danger to the People and the necessity of all citizens to repel this danger, The People will remand Alfred Devin to the Great People's Army, where he will strive in the return peace to the People. This is the magnanimous Decision of the People."
So, Alf would not die for Sara, but he would soon have the chance to die for the People.
***
Alf almost ran into David, as he stopped in the middle of the trail, motioning for the rest of the platoon to halt. Hopefully David hadn't found anything but if he had, Alf had better know what it was. Litwick was as likely to shoot Alf in the face as to listen to David's explanation of the reason he stopped the platoon.
"I see marks in the dirt ahead of us. About a hundred meters down the trail. Looks like something was dragged across it."
It took Alf several moments to discern what David saw, but when he saw the marks, he knew that David was right.
Alf whispered into his comm. unit, "L.T., there's been some movement on the trail up ahead. Looks like drag marks." Lieutenant Watson wasn't half bad, as long as he didn't talk about the State. He was a real prick then, who would pull rank on you if you didn't agree with him.
"Hold one." Then ten seconds later, the Top Sargent said on the general channel, "All right, children. We're going to advance by fireteams. move off the trail and for God's sake, try not to sound like a heard of elephants on parade. They know we're here but we know that they are there. Spread out, move up close to the Spicks, and grease them. Just like drill. Let's go."
With that, David and Alf plunged into the forest at a run and pushed through the undergrowth. Both men were panting hard after just a few moments of exertion. No one ever said the fighting suit would make war easier, just deadlier.
After running for about fifty meters, Alf began to hear small arms fire from ahead of him. David began to fire his chain gun into the bushes ahead of him as he advanced, hosing them down like a fireman. As David began to advance more cautiously, Alf also slowed and began to fire grenades towards the source of the rifle fire. He had little chance of hitting anything in the mass of shrubs and low branches that the forest had become but it might keep them occupied while he and David advanced.
Soon, Alf began to feel slugs and fragments hitting his armor with some regularity. While trying to pin down the gunner with his grenade launcher, Alf told David to follow him and to keep shooting. Sprinting the last twenty meters to the thick clump of bushes that was the source of the enemy's fire, Alf cursed God's Son and asked why He had put him into this premature hell.
Suddenly, Alf was standing before three Spick soldiers, surprise and anger contorting their faces. One started to run, while the others turned to shoot Alf. Alf shot these with his pistol then grabbed the one trying to flee and broke his neck when he hurled him into the ground, head first. Now Alf began pumping grenades into the holes closest to him. Even so, some of the Spick soldiers didn't realize where the threat was. As David crashed through the brush that screened the ambushers, he seemed to squirt each one with red dye as he probed their bodies with his chain gun. They were all dead.
Except one of them wasn't and he was launching an anti-armor rocket at David. So frantic that he nearly dropped the launcher in his haste to fire, Alf punched a grenade into the rocketeer's body. The explosion knocked the rocket off course enough that it crashed at David's feet but he wasn't moving when Alf found him. David's armor was pretty beat up and David looked a bit the worse for wear, himself.
"David, you all right?"
David blinked, smiled, and said, "Alpha Oscar Kilo, Alf."
"Let's make sure these guys are done and then check on the rest of the platoon."
As Alf and David worked their way along the Spick line, back to trail, Alf heard only an occasional burst that indicated the fight was over. Over at least for these Spicks; the war would continue for servants of the People like David and Alf.
Soon, the Lieutenant had troops marching on down the trail, past the "ambush". He announced over the general channel, "A complete victory for the People, gentlemen. Only three K.I.A. and two down temporarily. I think we could call this a complete rout. Good work."
"More bullshit from the brass," someone muttered as David, with Alf leading now, marched into the unexplored part of the trail.
***
"You killed her, you monster! You didn't want me to have her so you killed her. You're going to fry for this."
"I loved her."
"Don't speak of love, bastard. You told me to get out, remember."
"I loved both of you once, but you didn't ever love me; at least not after Jason."
"Jason is more of a man than you will ever be, you piece of shit. He would have been a proper father for Sara. You warped her and then you killed her.
"The People gave Sara to me because of your drinking. You didn't protest much at the time, if you even remember it at all."
"You killed her, you son of a bitch. So I'm a lush, at least I'm not a murderer. You let her fall. I hope the People decide to shoot you."
"I loved her!"
***
The child was hungry and cold. She appeared to be about a year old, though she had a set of lungs that rivaled the Top Sargent's. Part of the problem was David's hulking form hovering over the girl. Yet, Alf couldn't bring himself to touch her or to even show David how to hold her. She looked nothing like Sara had at that age but she made the familiar baby sounds when she wasn't crying and the scents of small children surrounded her. David was asking what he should do but Alf could think only of Sara, not as a toddler but falling ... No, only insanity in that path. Do something.
"Apparently, that's the mother in the corner. She looks like she has been dead for a day or so. It could have been the group we shot up, you never know."
David bent down and gently closed the woman's eyes and covered her thighs and chest with the remains of her dress. "She looks like my sister."
"Pick the kid up, hand under the seat, arm around the waist. Gently, David, Gently. Support her back and ..."
David wasn't listening, though. Already he was making cooing sounds and rocking as gently as possible when encased in body armor. The girl stopped crying and began to examine the fittings on David's helmet.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Let's get out of here, David. We'll have to tell the Top Sargent about her. Come on."
Just as they stepped out into the afternoon sun, Corporal Litwick appeared.
"So, you found yourselves an infant and are playing nursery fuck? I wondered what was taking you two so long."
"Watch it, Corp. I think there could be booby traps all around here. Very dangerous for people who don't know what's good for them."
"Oh, don't worry about me, Pops. I'll be fine, but you must be careful with that little bitch and make sure she doesn't fall down. Yes, that sure would be a tragedy."
Litwick stalked off with a malignant gleam in his eye. Alf could barely breath and knew that he would rather kill the Corporal than ever speak to him again.
Somehow, Litwick had convinced the Top Sargent to assign the child to Alf, with David as escort and drudge. The State valued it's future more than it's present, as Alf knew very well. But why would the Sargent Tracy allow a convicted child abuser care for an orphan, unless Litwick, having some plan to solve the problem of Alf's knowlege, had hidden that fact from him. Perhaps, the Top Sargent didn't know what crime had resulted in Alf's direct participation in the war effort. Certainly, he wouldn't have been as pleasant to both Alf and David if he knew. Even David would probably distrust him if he ever found out that Alf had neglected a Child of the State and allowed her to die. Yes, Litwick had to be up to something.
In spite of his fears about Litwick, Alf was pleased to be leading the wounded, the child, David, and Litwick, back to the base camp. He could better deal with Litwick when he wasn't also having to watch for a Spick ambush.
David was happily carrying the girl; in fact he was now calling her Emily, or Em for short. Alf had point, carrying David's chain gun; as yet, he hadn't touched the girl and didn't intend to. Alf had to work too hard to block out Em's coos and giggles to believe that he could control himself when he held her. It was much better to play Super Soldier for Litwick's watchful eyes and remember that he had no family.
After two hours of marching, with Emily's giggles turning more to cries of anger, Litwick called a halt.
"Do something about the kid, Pops! It is your specialty, isn't it? ... Oh, I'm sorry."
Ignoring the Corporal's not so subtile jabs, Alf said, "David, you need to feed her. She probably hasn't eaten anything since her mother was killed. I'm sure she is also thirsty. Try to give her some water from one of your spare canteens, not too much though."
Emily lapped greedily at the water David carefully spilled into her mouth until some splashed into her nose. Before she could cry, David began to make funny faces at the girl, changing her cry to another giggle.
"Take a ration bar, and I'll smash it up a bit and mix in some water. We have to make it real soft so she can get it down, though from my experience, that won't help much."
David scooped some of the mush into the girls open mouth, surprising her. She made several faces that approximated the looks that cross the faces of most troopers who have to eat the tasteless Rat Bars, but then somehow swallowed. David repeated the process several times until Em would take no more.
"Should we save this ... stuff for later?" David asked while he wiped Em's face with the back of his hand.
"I don't think anyone will miss their Rat Bars, David. Just dump this mess and we will make more when she needs it."
"Jeeze, Alf you sure know lots about kids. Do you have one?"
"I read about them in a book." Alf said evenly.
Litwick marched up and proclaimed, "Let's move it assholes. If the 'child' is done eating, we need to move so that the Spiks don't catch us out here tonight."
"Corp., don't you think you have things that will keep you alive longer than harassing a mother feeding her kid?" asked Alf with a humorless grin.
"Shit, Alf, I've been promoted? Mother First Class, David Jacobson? Well then, you sure as hell had better marry me."
"Only if you supply the ring, David."
"If you two women are done taking a shit, let's move this operation. I want bean brain, excuse me, Jacobson, out front with the chain gun and you will carry the child Pops. You can handle that without fucking it up, can't you Pops?"
With a very grave look, David traded the girl for his chain gun. He looked Alf straight in the face and said, "Don't worry about me now, take care of my girl."
"I will David, I will."
Once more they marched through the increasing gloom of the dense forest. Soon they would reach the security of the base, though none of them would ever really be safe until they were dead.
***
There was little warning for Alf and even less time For David to react. The ambush was as nearly perfect as is militarily possible and would have been a great Spick victory over the People except for the fact that there were only five people in trapped in the killing zone. Of those people, only Corporal Litwick was able to fire effectively into the bush. The two wounded troopers were standing almost directly on top of a buried artillery shell the Spicks set off to signal the attack and disintegrated from the upper chest down. David was blown forward by the blast with the still intact armor on the back of his suit absorbing most of the damage. The feeble scrabbling of David's body indiacated that the suit's power pack was completely destroyed. Since the armor was impossible to use without power, David would have to abandon the suit.
Meanwhile, Litwick was spraying both sides of the trail ahead of the ambush site as fast as his suit could cycle fresh magazines into his assault rife.
"Go up the trail, toward the fucking Spicks, dumbshit!" the corporal shouted at Alf; then, "Come on you bastards, come on! I'll kill you all!"
Alf momentarily frozen after the blast, set Emily on the ground and raced ahead of Litwick, through the fire that was beginning to zero in on the corporal. Dodging what seemed to be a swarm of angry hornets, Alf lay flat next to David.
"Are you hurt, David?" he shouted over the roar of mortar explosions that were raining on where the Spicks supposed the killing ground was. Fortunately that was fifty meters behind the corporal.
"I can't move," said David with a slight tremor in his voice.
"I'm going to hit your emergency release. Don't get up; stay where you are. We're going to have to try to break through the Spicks ahead of us."
David's response was lost in the hiss and pop of seams opening along the suit's torso, arms, and legs. David pulled his helmet off, slid out of the remains of his powered armor and faced the world as naked as a newborn.
"Stay put! I'll get Sara!"
***
Corporal Litwick had been hit several times while Alf freed David from his dead suit but Litwick didn't even seem to notice that his armor had been penetrated at least twice. The Corporal shouldn't have been able to stand, let alone fight like a tiger. Alf told him to get down but Litwick just laughed and kept pumping grenades, all he had left, into the forest ahead of him.
Suddenly, Sarah screamed, only it wasn't Sara, she never had screamed. The child was lying on her back in a small hollow at the edge of the trail. She seemed to be O.K., just scared like they all were.
Alf grabbed her, and again crawled past Litwick's still standing form. Finally, Litwick was struck by a large caliber cannon shot, and fell. Alf heard only mutters and cursed from the corporal as he crawled toward David's naked form, his brilliant white body flashing like a beacon. Before Alf even reached David, mortar shells again began to rain down, this time nearly on top of Alf's small family. Corporal Litwick must have surely known that he was dying as his body was thrust into the air and then probed with thousands of fragments of both the bomb and his own armor.
"Let's go David, now!"
Alf stood and began jogging forward toward the source of the firing, attempting to shield the girl with his body. David also ran, a white streak that would have been amusing in other circumstances. Together they plunged through the underbrush at the side of the trail, with Alf now expending all his remaining ammunition on any likely spot for an ambusher to hide.
Branches ripped at his forearms and face, some surely scratching the child's brown skin. Alf could hear David's horse panting right behind his shoulder. His skin must be nearly gone if he didn't lose an eye from the flying branches.
Finally, the forest opened onto a fox hole inhabited by a short man with a big mustache. His dark hair and brown eyes flashed with recognition and anger as he aimed his rifle not only at Alf, but at the package he held in his hands. Alf struggled to raise his own weapon to bear on the man and fired his last two shots. The man's rifle also barked twice and then fell as it's owner, sprawled on the bottom of his hole, bled to death. Breathing a sigh, after checking Em for damage, Alf realized that none of the slugs had hit.
David's whimper startled and surprised Alf as he began to run once more toward freedom. David had fallen, with one wound in his thy and another in his chest.
"I can't breath, Alf," David said between gasps.
"You are going to be O.K."
Alf set the girl down in the dirt and tried to put his bandages around the stricken boy. The bandages seemed to cover the wound but there was noting they could do about the internal damage David had suffered.
"Can you walk, David. We've got to walk or else we will be captured."
"I can't breathe, Alf, but don't leave me. Stop the pain Alf, please."
"Let's go, David. Stand on your good leg and put your arm over my shoulder. I've got Sara ... Em, I mean."
Together, the two men slowly moved off into the forest.
***
After two hours of limping as fast as he could, David fell to the ground and couldn't get up. David's chest wound was oozing blood and his lips were turning blue. Alf tried to pick up both Em and David at the same time but found that he couldn't hold onto both at the same time. Alf became more frantic and begged David to try to get up. The Spicks who had been following them all afternoon couldn't be too far behind.
"Come on, David. Try once more, for Em. Please David. Don't give up."
David didn't seem to hear. His eyes focused on Em, fluttered for a moment, then snapped open. He said, "Take care of Alf, Em. He's our Dad."
David gasped a few times and then died. Some father, though Alf.
***
There was nothing left in the Peoples State for Alf, and Em, though she would be treated like a second class princess in the State, would be better of with her own people. There was a small village twenty kilometers to the west of his position, as near as Alf could decide that was rumored to allow strangers who showed up without anything, including clothing, to live in peace. Surely they would take a father and his unquestionably Spick or Hispanic daughter.
Leaving his power suit to be consumed in an orgasmic burst of flame when it's power pack exploded, Alf, soon to be someone else, walked through the twilight forest with his his daughter and nothing else.
***
End.
1992
Copyright 2000, Robert G. Werner
robert@inreachtech.netWhen in doubt, follow your heart.