Gas & Blood (Damned of the 2/19th Novella) - Rough Draft Finished

Pretty Old Things

FSTS-317/NATO Site 93
Classified Location
Edge of the 1K Zone
Fulda Gap, Western Germany
17 April, 1986
1300 Hours

I looked at the two female soldiers with me, then back at the rabbit. "Hang on, Aine," I told it, using Hannah/Aine's real name. She went by 'the vulgar Hannah' and had added Lane after the dustup that winter, when she no longer wanted to be what she had been in the dark and cold. Still, I figured that the mortal woman she masqueraded as was probably gone.

I looked up at Gilly and Sawmoth. "Are either of you virgins?" Both shook their heads, although Gilly blushed, "This is deadly serious. I'm not sure what we're going to find, so I need to know some really personal details."

Both women nodded. Gilly looked a bit reluctant.

I blushed this time. "Um, all three holes?" It was invasive, but I'd heard Aine speak about how anal sex was the Gods' gift to women since ancient times.

Both blushed extremely deep, almost purple.

"Either of you religious?" They shook their heads, "Do not reference any Gods, especially the Christian god, do not scream, understand?" Both of them nodded, doubt in their eyes, "Depending on what condition she is, do not allow her to touch your bare skin, kiss you, and above all, do not let her bite you. She is freakishly strong, fast, and tough," I stared at them, "Understand?"

They both nodded.

"What are your first names?" I asked. The rabbit repeated mine.

"Melinda, I go by Mel," Sawmoth said.

"Kassidy, Cass for short," Gilly said.

"No short names with each other, that's important, and call me Jonathon right now," I told them. I looked at Gilly, "Kassidy with a K?" She nodded, and I looked at her blonde hair and freckles. "You're Irish?"

She shrugged.

"All right," I told them, "It's the best we can hope for," I sighed, pulled my helmet off, and scrubbed my crew cut. My hair was sweaty, and when my hand slid down to the back of my neck I could feel the goosebumps when the rabbit said my name again. I clomped the helmet back on my head.

"Let's go, before the Rangers end up getting eaten by something that's been gone from this world for centuries," I said, standing up. "Put your weapons away, move slow, and do not show any fear, fear is for prey, and she's an apex predator."

...the Russian going down on his back, Aine's mouth clamped to the blood spurting wound on his neck, swallowing as she rode the big Soviet troop down and kept stabbing the whole way down...

"Watch for bomblets or shells, walk where I walk," I warned, following the rabbit into the grass. We passed several craters, until we saw her in the brush and scrub between two of the bunkers. The scrub and brush here wasn't scorched or burnt by the fires that the shells had lit, but I could still smell the stench of burnt human flesh. I should have realized that the small mound of blackberry bushes was our destination the minute I saw it.

In the middle of the mound, mostly covered by thorn studded blackberry vines that had large flowers and fat blackberry berries, Aine was curled up in the fetal position. As we moved closer the vines rustled and I heard Gilly's breath hiss. The vines moved off of the diminutive woman, revealing that both pants legs were missing, exposing pale alabaster skin with fine red hair on them.

Aine refused to shave, she said only children were hairless, and that she was a woman.

Her right arm was exposed, the BDU top sleeve missing. The cover on her Kevlar vest was missing for most of her right side, same with the helmet covering. The helmet was torn down to the fiberglass/Kevlar laminate with tufts of fiberglass showing. The Kevlar vest was shredded halfway across her torso, and the BDU top and brown T-shirt was missing, showing alabaster skin, her exposed breast tipped with bright red. Her hair was drawn up in tight rings, protecting her neck. Half of her face was tanned skin, the right side of her face and her ear and neck were all alabaster, with that spray of freckles across her cheekbones and nose.