SNAFU: Hunters

He landed on the back of the creature and wrapped his legs around the torso. It stood, thrashed its limbs. Nathan struggled to hold on, sawing at its neck with the KA-BAR. The two of them spun in place, the demon thrashing wildly, whipping its body left and right. Nathan’s knife tore through the last strand of the neck, severing the head, which dropped and thudded to the ground. The creature fell, and Nathan with it.

He landed, picked up the head, and ran back to Hiro.

“Here.” He tossed the green head. Hiro caught it, placed it on the ground, and stabbed it with the iron knife. The head turned to dirt.

“Hey,” Deacon said with concern. “The tracker. Is it still transmitting?”

“I don’t know,” Nathan said, amazed Deacon was coherent considering his injuries, but the man loved his dolphins.

“Check the switch.”

Nathan examined the device. The toggle was still in the on-position. Shit

. He flipped it off just as another blip moved into range. It was coming down the river.

“Another one incoming,” Nathan said. “Where’s your gun?”

“Dropped it. Where’s yours?”

“Fuck.” Nathan closed his eyes. He’d left his weapon in the reeds. It was jammed, anyway. “All right, here we go.” He bent his knees, combat ready, and held out his KA-BAR. Hiro followed his lead and readied his own blade.

“Thirty meters. Twenty. Ten. It’s right next to us,” he said. “Sittin’ in the river”.

“What do we do?”

“You sit tight,” Nathan said, and he stalked towards the river. He approached slowly then peered over the edge. There was a large shape in the water. Nathan leaned closer, KA-BAR raised, and a smooth, blue-grey snout broke the surface.

Nathan laughed. “Holy shit. Rob the dolphin.” The small tracking device was still strapped over the dolphin’s right fin. A second dolphin appeared, minus the tracker. Nathan laughed again. “And Billy.” Nathan bent and patted the dolphin on the head. “Jesus, am I glad to see you two. Wait right there.” He rushed over to Deacon. “You’ve got to see this.”

“What? What is it?”

“Come on.” Nathan heaved Deacon up, lifted him over his shoulders and carried him towards the river. Hiro followed them to the bank.

“Rob! Billy! But how? I thought for sure…” Deacon wiped his eyes. The dolphins chirped, and Deacon laughed.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry, just happy to see them.” He shook his head. “Now lower me into the water.”

“What?”

“They’re trained for riding,” Deacon said. “And they know the way back to base.”

“Are you telling we can just ride ‘em back to base?”

“That’s what I’m telling you.”

Deacon was acting remarkably calm for someone missing both his legs. Nathan wondered whether it was because of the syrette or the dolphins. “You sure?” he said.

“Yeah,” Deacon answered. “Let’s go.”

With Hiro’s help, Nathan lowered Deacon into the water. Deacon gave Billy a pat on the head, then grabbed onto a fin, and the dolphin took off back towards base, shrinking into the distance downriver.

Nathan turned to Hiro. “Thank you”.

Hiro nodded. “I stay.”

Nathan handed Hiro his bag, then lowered himself into the water. He took hold of Rob’s fin, and the dolphin started back to base. Nathan held tight to the rubbery grey handhold, and looked back to see Hiro standing on the bank, iron knife in hand. Somewhere out there was the demon mother, Ngu’Tinh.

Deacon and Nathan made it back to base without incident. They never had to explain themselves to General Cain as they were immediately moved off-base. First the shit hit the fan, then intel’ verified what they could. Six months later, after things had settled down, a handful of medals were awarded, most of them posthumously. Nathan was given a promotion and offered command of a new team, SEAL team-X, clandestine operators tasked with hunting the things they’d found in the forests of Vietnam. The team was equipped with new weapons, NGX series: 40mm iron frags, iron KA-BARs, iron-tipped stoner rounds. Each operator also got a handy pack of epi-pen opioid injectors.

Nathan never liked hunting animals. But hunting demons was another story. Ngu’Tinh was still out there.

Warm Bodies

Kirsten Cross

An Alpha Unit story