SURVIVE Part 3

Part 3

Bodies

5/12/2015, 1235 hours, Vardak Province, Afghanistan

            Raptor-2-1 swept through the town, moving from deserted building to deserted building. The village wasn’t just empty; it was completely quiet, devoid of all life. Not so much as a rat stirred in the shadowy alleyways between the houses. Krieger had his squad move into a building to see if anyone was hiding within its walls.

            “Oh that’s fucked up,” said Thumper when he entered, closely followed by Krieger. The sight inside was awful. A family, two parents, several sons and a daughter lay dead, their bodies, or what remained were scattered across the small house’s only room.

Mule walked over and inspected one of the corpses. Its stomach had been torn open and every organ removed. Small bite and cuts covered the man’s arms and face. “Sir, the weren’t killed by ILR forces. This looks like they were attacked by a lizard or something.”

            “Okay, I’m not going to argue that they don’t, those look exactly like the bite marks a Gila monster left on my cousin last summer,” Reeder chimed in. “But how the hell could a lizard have done this?”

            “I honestly don’t know, but what else leaves a mark like that?”

            Everyone shrugged. “We can take a picture of the damage and turn it in for inspection when we get back. In the meantime, we have to look for survivors. Come on team, let’s move.”

Just as they were turning to leave gunfire cracked in the distance. Krieger’s radio crackled and Hugo’s voice came through, with the yelling of the other members of Raptor-2-2 faintly audible in the background. “Hey Kriegs, Padilla just shot some bird. The damn thing attacked T-rex, left a nasty mark.”

“Continue,” commanded Krieger.

“Thing is, this bastard doesn’t look like any sort of bird I’ve ever seen before. This little thing has teeth, and a scaly snout. We’re bagging it now, but it looks like more are showing up as we speak.”

Krieger took a couple of seconds to take in what he just heard. “Sir, there’s feathers over here,” Mule whispered. “Ask him what color they are.” Krieger did as Mule suggested.

“Hugo, what color are they?”

“White with black markings. Why?” He asked.

“Mule, what do those feathers of yours look like again?”

“Sir, they’re white with black markings,” said Mule.

“Hugo, I’m going to need you to take my men inside now. Hurry.”