Against all odds (Reg Slivko - Thomas Mann Fic)

The smell of death

"I'm fine," she said.

Meg separated a little from Slivko and Randa withdrew his hand from her forehead. Both men looked at her trying to figure out if she was being honest.

"I'm fine," she repeated and smiled, but started coughing. "I'll be fine," said then breathing through the fabric.

Both men shook their heads.

"Move!" The Colonel ordered.

"Come on," Slivko said grabbing his rifle. "I'll keep my eyes on you," he whispered to Meg and get ahead to lead them.

Reg's voice in a whisper was the best balm for all her fears. The small flame inside of her lit up and warmed her from head to toe.

"Just keep breathing thought that," Randa said pointing at the handkerchief.

She nodded feeling a little embarrassed as if Randa could know what she was feeling, and they both followed Slivko.

The closer they came to the valley, the stronger the smell of death grew. The group moved slowly and Randa took the opportunity to take pictures of the bones. Meg stayed close to him, but more focused on breathing than on seeing what was happening around her. Suddenly, a huge explosion to her right made her jump.

"Watch those fumes!" Randa said to Cole and Mills.

Apparently, one of the soldiers had the wonderful idea to turn on a cigarette and then dismissed it over an inflammable area.

"Idiots" added Randa speaking to Meg.

She smiled behind the handkerchief, not because it was funny but because it was what came out. She started to feel numb.

"Let's go. We gotta to move" said Packard.

The group took a few steps and stopped when a growl flooded the valley. It was a metallic and guttural sound that seemed to come out of a horror movie. Everyone looked at each other trying to decipher if what they had heard had been real. There was no doubt.

"RUN!" Marlow said and the group split in all directions.

Randa took her arm and pushed her behind some big bones. Her heart and breathing speeded up. She looked around trying to locate Slivko, but couldn't. Something crawled near them. She looked through the holes in the bone and saw the creature. She tried to identify what it was but it did not fit into any animal category. It was a dull gray color and seemed to be in the bones. It had a beak like a bird, but no feathers, a lizard tail and a pair of front legs. It seemed the result of a failed experiment. The creature was shaking violently; it seemed that it had stomach indigestion. With one last shake, he spat out a viscous fluid and a human skull. Meg looked away, covered her mouth with her handkerchief and tried to control her nausea. Seconds later, the footsteps of the beast told her it was going away.

"Rally up! Rally up!" said Packard. "Somebody cover the civilians. Let's move!"

Randa stood up and help her stand. Meg saw Slivko and hurry to approach him, but behind her, a creepy noise stopped her. She turned to see what it was and saw her father; he was trying to make his camera work. Then, the creepy noise again. Randa looked up and his and Megan's looks crossed. It all happened in a second. The skull-crawler appeared behind her father, and in a fast move, the man was gone. Though she saw it all, she didn't understand what had happened.

Slivko and other soldiers started shooting at the creature. Meg stood there, hoping that Randa appeared again, like in a magic trick; but he didn't. She heard people around calling her, but she couldn't move. The creature crawled around while in its stomach Randa's camera fired the last flashes.

"MEG!" Slivko's voice heard over the chaos.

She looked at him and a big explosion came out of nowhere. Meg bent down and covered her head as Slivko get fired away. She hurried to her feet and tried to go where he was, but Conrad stopped her.

"GAS!" the tracker screamed and took her from the waist to push her away. A green smoke began to come out of Slivko's backpack that had been left scattered after the explosion. "Marlow! Sword!"

Marlow gave him the sable and the tracker got lost in the smoke to rescue Slivko.

From the smoke, thousands of spooky birds flew out and began attacking Meg and the soldiers. Meg assumed that they were birds because they were flying; but once she saw them up close, she no longer felt so sure of knowing what they were. They looked a lot like some kind of extinct prehistoric bird. She took her machete and tried to fly them away.

Meg was fighting the birds next to Cole and Mills when a huge explosion made them get fired away. The birds were gone, but the explosion had come from Slivko's location. Meg stood up in a hurry, fearing the worst. Her heart was beating so fast that hurt. She looked around but could not see anything. She was about to collapse when Slivko came out from the smoke. Conrad was helping him walked. She ran towards him and almost took him down. She buried her head on his chest and started punching him. He secured her with his arms, trying to keep her together.

"It's over. It's over" he said.

And he was so damn right.