The Retreat: Chapter 8
It was less than an hour before sunup and Joe walked over to gently nudge Bowie, “Colonel, sorry but the sun will come up in less than an hour.”
Bowie moved as he pushed Jana to the side, “No, you’re good. Great job.”
Bowie went down to the lower bay where the mercs were. He walked up to Micheals who was sleeping, “Okay, here we go.”
Micheals began rousting the other guys. They immediately snapped up and were ready to go. Bowie clapped his hands to get attention, “Okay guys. I’m riding the four wheeler to within a hundred yards of the hospital and putting it in the woods. I’ll go in and get Johnson. When we come out, we’ll head back to the Baby. You’ll cover our retreat. We get everyone on board and head back to Janus and home in seconds. We’re all tired and weak but just a little longer and it’ll all be fine.”
The mercs were good with it. They enthusiastically got ready, and Bowie got on the four wheeler. Yoli knew the drill. Bowie had filled him in. The ramp lowered and Bowie took off. The ramp closed back up in case the ship had to make an emergency take off.
He went full speed towards the hospital. He kicked up dust as his vehicle sped towards the building. Several minutes later the ramp lowered again and the mercs took off behind Bowie. When they left, the ramp closed, getting the ship ready for take off. Yoli knew what he had to do. Bowie told him, any threat towards the ship and he was to take off and hook up with Janus and go home.
Yoli waited though. No threats so everything was good. Jana went over to Yoli, “Is he going to be okay?”
Yoli looked at her, “Yeah, I wouldn’t worry. He's the best. He’ll get Johnson and we’ll be on our way soon. I guess this isn’t what you thought it would be.”
“No, I thought it would be more of a scientific exploration. This is not anything how I pictured it. I’m scared.”
Yoli smiled, “Well, that’s why you always need protection when dealing with the unknown, and as I said, Pancho is the best.”
Suddenly Joe turned to Yoli, “There’s one of those weird planes coming at us. The drones spotted it and it’ll be here in about one minute. It’s coming from the northeast. I don’t have time to recall the drones. Just take off.”
Yoli came over the intercom and said, “Everyone strap in. We take off in fifteen seconds.”
Everyone jumped in their seats and strapped in as Yoli punched the takeoff button. The baby began to rise slowly at first. Joe programed the drones at the last second to stay in place and hover. If their battery became low, they could land and hope for the best. The Baby gained speed and altitude quickly and left the atmosphere.
The crew in the Baby sat there nervously. They waited for word from the ground. They would swoop back down and pick everyone up. Bowie and the mercs were down there by themselves completely exposed.
As the Baby stayed in the upper atmosphere Bowie pulled into a wooded area scouted by Joe and his drones. He parked his four wheeler. He got off and walked the hundred yards to the hospital.
Bowie entered and there was commotion as people were tending to the wounded. Bowie walked up to a busy nurse’s station, “Excuse me, is there a private Johnson here?”
She looked nervously down at her patient list, “Yes, yes, he’s in room one fifty seven just down the hall. He’s in protective custody though.”
Bowie smiled, “Thank you ma'am.”
By this time Yoli decided to bring the Baby back down to the landing spot. He landed close to where they were before, and all was clear as Joe took control of the drones again. Yoli informed Micheals of their new location by radio.
Bowie walked down the hall and there were two guards around room one fifty seven. He walked by and kept going. He was deciding what to do when he saw a nurse pass by. As she passed their eyes met. It was as if they were in slow motion. She looked at him and Bowie looked at her. It was Emily!
Bowie grabbed her by her scrubs collar and pushed her up against the wall, “Emily!”
He slowly started kissing her face and lips, “Emily. I’ve missed you so much!”
Bowie stared into her eyes and saw his wife. He was overcome with emotion. She stood there up against the wall stunned, “What! My name is Amelia. Who are you?”
Bowie was caressing her hair, “You’re Emily. Your dad is Mike, and your mom is Jamie. You’re named after your aunt! You’re my wife!”
She screamed, “How do you know my parents’ name! How do you know these things! Somebody help me!”
Bowie couldn’t process what was happening. He saw it in her eyes. She was his wife. He saw the scared look on her face and released her. It didn’t normally happen to Bowie but for once he was stunned and his decision making process was out of whack. As people came running to the scene his instincts kicked in and he ran towards Johnson’s room. As Bowie approached the room he was still out of control. He was now in a world he couldn’t comprehend. He reached the room, and the guards were still there. Johnson, hearing the commotion in the hall, came out of the room, and punched one of the guards in the face with his fist. Bowie ran up and grabbed the other guard by his hair and slammed his face into the wall. Both guards were down for the count. Bowie looked at Johnson trying to regain his composure, “Come on. I’ve got a four wheeler in the bushes outside the door here.”
As the men were running for the doors two military guards came running at them. Bowie pulled his switch blade and rammed it up under the chin of the first one. He then did the prison stabbing in the neck. In and out, in and out quickly. He then approached the second guard quickly and stabbed his chest. He ran the knife down towards his crotch opening his whole lower cavity. Both military men were dead.
Bowie and Johnson ran out of the hospital with a military patrol of four men and some nurses chasing them. They were almost at the bushes when some shots rang out. Suddenly out of nowhere drones descended on the crowd. The pursuing force was completely taken aback. The drones were buzzing within several feet of the soldiers’ heads. They were scared and not knowing what they were, raised their guns and shot, but it was random. They retreated back into the hospital. The drones hovered in a menacing way keeping everyone occupied while Bowie and Johnson got to the bushes and the four wheeler.
Bowie started it up and Johnson jumped on the back. Bowie took off down the road towards the Baby. They came to a turn in the road and saw the mercs waiting there. Everyone was ready to get back to the Baby and head home. Bowie was almost at the mercs position and shots were fired from the woods. There was apparently a patrol who had seen what was going on.
Bowie and Johnson went off the road into the woods. Bowie pointed to Karstares, who had the gatling gun, he yelled, “Take out those woods. Now!”
Karstares, in a very leisurely move, turned towards the area the shots came from. There was a handle on the gatling gun with a trigger. He pulled the trigger and hundreds of rounds came out of the weapon in seconds. Jacobson opened up with the shot gun and the others fired their MP5’s. The barrage took place for thirty to forty seconds. They laid waste to the entire area. There was nothing left alive, plant, animal, or human. The mercs went over and found six dead soldiers. A seventh soldier was away from the group and didn’t get completely inundated by the barrage. The soldier was wounded but still alive. His uniform was tattered. It was a tan color like desert gear but in poor condition. The mercs grabbed him and threw him on a four wheeler with Jacobson.
Micheals informed Bowie of the change in position of the Baby. Bowie and the mercs headed back and Yoli lowered the ramp to let everyone on board. The men came into the bay and adrenaline was coursing through the guys and breathing heavy was at a premium. They started to form around the prisoner.
The prisoner wasn’t hurt as badly as they thought. He looked up at Jacobson, who is black, “Who are you people. What do you want. Why are you with a Kindar?”
Bowie and the mercs looked around at each other not knowing what to make of it. Finally, Jacobson’s face deteriorated into a serious look, and he said, “I know that look. It’s universal. I’ll translate for you, Kindar means what white people nicely try to describe on our planet as the N word. That’s their slang for slaves.”
Everyone fell silent looking at each other. Jana finally stepped forward, “I’ve been listening to radio chatter Joe is monitoring. They are just now fighting the civil war for freedom of slaves. They apparently call black people a slang word, Kindar. The war is about over, and the south is going to lose. It’s just happening a hundred and eighty years after it happened on our planet.” She grabbed Bowie and took him aside, “We need to get rid of this guy and get back to Janus. We need to go home and report what we’ve seen.”
In all of Bowie’s trials and tribulations he’d never figured on anything like this. He told Jana, “I found Emily. She’s alive and I can’t leave her. I have to go back.”
Jana put her hands on both his cheeks, and looked him in the eyes, “It’s not your Emily. We’re not supposed to be here. Our cells are deteriorating. If you grab the woman, you think is Emily and take her back with us her cells will deteriorate, and she’ll die. We’re in two different universes. We must leave now after getting rid of the prisoner.”
Bowie suddenly looked at her, “You knew all along about this. You knew the whole universe cell deterioration thing. You knew we don’t belong here.”
Jana stared at him for a few seconds, “We thought it was possible, but we didn’t know for sure. It’s one of the reasons we have to get back. We not only have to tell them about what happened here but tell them about the cell deterioration. It’s vital for future missions.”
Bowie just broke down and started crying. He’d never cried in his life. His dad made sure he acted like a man. This time, however, Bowie completely broke down. He sat there with his face in his hands sobbing. Jana tried to console him.