Slow Burn (Updated Weekly)

Part 4

Part 4

Nobody ever looks up. Not ever. In the jungles of Menoa I was fighting alongside the Terran military before I joined Squad 13, before I became a freelancer. It was there in that jungle that I watched a group of insurrectionists take down five members of my platoon by diving down from the tops of trees on wire before any of us looked up. They played with us. Slitting the throats of those that they killed and dropping them down in front of us. I can still remember Kal, one of my team freaking out and screaming, “We know you're out there,” before they dropped down and came at us with knives and swords. It was a quick firefight. They looked like primitives compared to us. They fought us with blades while we used metal bullets and lasers to cut through their numbers. We massacred them and sent a message. Most insurrectionists movements stirred in the outer colonies on recently terraformed moons around Jupiter and Saturn in 24th century, where many colonists started to demand independence from the Terran Military. The Hegemony did their best to deal with the colonists but the distance between them, Earth, Mars, and the inner colonies was too vast. 

A major attack against the Hegemony happened about ten years (fourteen now as long as you are counting the time I was in stasis) ago in which a group of insurrectionists detonated a nuclear device above the surface of Mars. Mars which had been terraformed and populated for nearly 150 years had a vast population with millions of refugees from Earth (during the early stages many who lived in the over populated cities of Earth immigrated to Mars). The blast above the surface killed two hundred thousand people and injured close to one million not including those that were harmed by the clouds of radiation that contaminated parts of the planet for years. Sure it was easy for some to get help quickly with the advances in medicine that we had made, minor radiation wasn't that big a deal. It was after that attack that the Hegemony and Terran Military began sending us after these rebel groups. At the time I thought nothing of it. Just another day on the job. One dead rebel here, another there, no loss to anyone. We were population control. It was after the events on Menoa, Kal and I were each asked to join Squad 13. It seemed there was a bigger threat out there then rebels. A group of insurrectionists calling themselves Section-17 had began experimenting in human genetics. Something that was outlawed hundreds of years ago alongside cloning. Just because we had the technology didn't mean we should do it. It's the same as just saying we are all capable of murder or rape gives us the right to kill or push ourselves onto anyone that we want. I know I am a sociopath. I kill because I can. It has become a part of who I am. I was young when I took my first life and now it has become a part of who I am. I was baptized in blood. Killing rebels felt just like going to the grocery store. 

No I’m not trying to make excuses, I know I’m going to hell. I have had very few moments when murder and mayhem didn’t seem natural to me and I have always done my best to reserve myself and control my emotions. I even had therapist once - didn’t kill her - did sleep with her. All in all Kal might have been the only person I ever cared about.

___________________

Kal shook his head. “Maybe it will, but it still doesn't make much sense for us to be here together, even in the same room. There's no guessing how well the rebels have this place under surveillance, at least if they saw one of us we could then provide a distraction.”

I was about to argue, Kal was bleeding out. A part of me knew he was right. Like Reynolds had told us, 'we didn't exist,' Squad 13 was a black ops squad serving under the Hegemony to make sure that certain events transpired to their liking. Lately those events meant that we were hunting down humans with specialized strength and abilities. Our last run in with one (which was also our first) had left us with one dead oversized steroid user and a few hundred terabytes of information to comb through. When we found out where their next deal was going down we got ourselves into the mess we're in now. 

“All right,” I said, “I suppose there's reason for you to stay.”

“Are you sure you can handle Cain on your own?” he asked. I could see the blood running down from his mouth now. I knew it would be hard for me to go one on one with a super soldier like Cain but from long range it would take one headshot. 

“Fuck these Sect-17 guys for me,” Kal said. 

“I'll try not to disappoint but wouldn't you rather I kill them,” I said cracking a joke.

“Slut,” Kal laughed. 

“I'll try not to disappoint,” I smiled. 

Kal looked at me for a long moment. I felt like he was going to say something more but no words ever came, then he nodded and turned away. I watched him as I left the chamber and shrugged making my way to the door. Slowly I moved up the stairs. We were hiding out in the ruins of an abandoned skyscraper. We were on Mars and this was one of the cities that had since become deserted since the bombing. Kal was on the second floor. If anyone came up the stairs or through the elevator even from his position he would have a shot. We didn't run into many insurgents on our way up but just enough. I thought we had taken them out with ease but a stray bullet had ripped through Kal's armor and unitard and pierced his gut. 

I adjusted my scope. From the fourth floor I could see two dropships landing not even two hundred yards away. If they looked hard enough in my direction they would have spotted me. Their whole transaction seemed half-ass and messy. I watched as my target, a genetically altered soldier named Cain exited the dropship. He didn't look any different from any other human but the alterations he had made to himself gave him enhanced strength and speed. He was trading his blood for money. I would have to kill everyone on the ground and make sure there was nothing left to trade. One ounce of Cain's blood would go for millions on the black market. I could kill him and make a fortune from his body. The thought crossed my mind as it always did. That wasn't why I was there, I was there to kill.

Clean shot. Priceless. 

Cain fell to the ground. A part of my mind felt like the ground shook when he tumbled over. A small cloud of dust rose around his body as all of the rebels on the ground dove and ran for cover. From another building three shots were fired. It was the other members of my team. 

“Path clear, time to burn up and go home,” I said into my comm. 

“Clear,” said three voices at the same time. 

From my scope I watched as Cain lay surrounded by several dozen bodies. 

“This was too easy,” I said watching as a missile fell from the sky and blew up the two dropships and cremated the bodies. 

I made my way down to Kal and found him laying back against the wall. The hallway and stairs were littered with dozens of dead bodies. Rebels had spotted me. Cain had sent his men my way and Kal had taken the beating for me. I was careless. 

I thought about how he had looked at me. I wish I had said more. A shadow gloomed over us of the outside. Our transport was landing. I adjusted Kal's coat and began to walk away. His body shimmered as it caught fire. We were ghosts, squad 13 doesn't exist. It was a part of the job. I turned around facing the elevator waiting for my ride and slipped my hand into my pocket resting it against the diamond ring Kal had given me a few night's before.