Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor (4 page)

“
Do you need me to carry
something, Molly?” Andy asked, slinging his gun over his shoulder
so it hung down his back by its strap.

Mak didn’t turn around but his deep
voice carried easily in the sparkling air. “Gun at ready, corporal.
The scientists will carry their own packs. Rear guard at twenty to
thirty paces as ordered.”

“
Son of a bitch,” Andy
muttered.

Mak stopped and turned.
“Corporal?”

Andy went pale and took his gun back
into his hands. He backed up a few steps.

Molly marveled for a moment at Mak’s
exceptional hearing, but she couldn’t allow Andy to be reprimanded
because he’d tried to help her. “Could we proceed, lieutenant? I’m
not sure how long daylight lasts on this world.”

“
Fifteen hours, doctor.”
Mak gave Andy a long look, his eyes more obviously blue in the
sunlight as she’d suspected. He then joined Kory at the front,
leading them toward the forest.

Molly and the others walked single
file on the trampled grass trail forged by Mak and Kory. A light
breeze stirred the knee-high stalks, creating a light rustling
sound. As they neared the trees, the thick trunks blocked the small
wind. The forest canopy allowed little undergrowth to flourish so
they could move through the trees with ease. Though the same cover
meant a gloomy aura more like twilight than midday.

Mak took them on a course that zigged
and twisted around the trees until Molly had no idea which
direction the ship lay. The musty odor of old leaves and damp
ground rose as they shuffled through seasons-old leaf litter. The
smell added another level to the spookiness sending shivers along
her spine. The silence, no birds or insect noises, added to the
haunted, watchful nature of the forest.

After another ten minutes of walking,
Mak halted and held up his hand in a signal for them to stay back.
He continued forward alone, disappearing into the shadows after
only a few steps. Molly heard nothing but her companions’ breathing
as they waited. She glanced at the others, seeing her trepidation
reflected in their wide eyes.

“
This way.” Mak’s quiet
words sounded like a shout. He led them to a clearing lit by a
large oval of sunlight near the center. Brush and young trees
pushed through what had once been a paved landing pad. The forest
worked on reclaiming its lost land. Mak circled around the middle,
avoiding the patch of light, and then stepped into the forest on
the other side.

Molly cringed as they walked beneath
the thick limbs again, but in only a few steps they caught up to
Mak standing in front of a corroded metal door.

“
Please stay behind me.”
Mak took a laser pistol off the wide weapons belt he wore and
melted off the lock and doorknob. He lifted his booted foot and
kicked the door open. Taking a stick from another pocket on his
belt, he shook it and then tossed it in the door. It flashed with
brilliance and then settled into a soft whitish glow. Mak walked
inside the building with Kory hard on his heels and the rest of
them trailing behind.

Beyond the door a hallway of
disappointing dullness stretched into dimness. Simple military gray
covered the metal walls, ceiling and floor. Mak stopped at a panel
along one wall, jerking on the simple latch a few times before it
opened with a reluctant squeal. He leaned in, studying the interior
for a full minute.

“
What is that?” Helen
asked when the silence stretched.

Mak didn’t answer, reaching into the
panel and flipping switches. After a few echoing clicks, overhead
lights flickered and then decided to stay lit. “Power grid is still
active. It must have a crystallized iron source.” Mak met Molly’s
gaze. “That kind of energy generator is only available through the
military.”

“
So this is what Admiral
Lester said it was, a military lab.” Molly’s earlier enthusiasm for
discovering new things wilted. Lester and the other traitors who’d
conducted these experiments had been real monsters. Their evil
would hang like a shadow over whatever useful things Molly might
glean from this mission.

Mak took the lead again. No doors
lined the hallway but after twenty yards it opened into a work
area. Metal lab tables still gleamed beneath a thin layer of
dust.

Molly hurried forward, but as she
looked around, she saw that the tech units had been cleared out.
Not even an old fashioned computer remained. She headed for some
drawers and cabinets set into one wall.

Mak stopped her and clipped a radio to
her collar, his warm fingers skimming her neck. “I’m going to
secure the rest of the facility. The corporal and Pender will
remain with you. Call me if you see or hear anything
disturbing.”

After he left, they all took a section
of the storage and searched it. Andy Box helped them but Kory stood
guard, sending uneasy glances toward the hall Mak had disappeared
into. They found medical supplies, tubes and hoses used for
testing, but no paperwork or clues to what had been done in the
room.

“
They really cleaned up,
didn’t they?” Hector said.

The radio on Molly’s collar woke up
before she could agree. Mak’s voice echoed oddly through it as if
he stood in a vast cave. “Dr. Drant, you should join me. Just
follow the hallway.”

They pushed the drawers and closets
closed and hurried down the hall. Hopefully he’d found some
indication of where the researchers had taken their work after this
base was closed.

Molly stopped so suddenly at the end
of the hall that Hector bumped into her. Mak stood in the middle of
a round room as windowless as the previous one. This room had a set
of operating tables in the middle, stained with dark splotches. Old
blood, but that wasn’t what held her attention.

Cages lined the wall, some occupied by
piles of…of bones, skin and hair. Carcasses of something or
someone. Molly heard the others gasping and cursing behind her as
she walked toward one of the cages. A skeletonized hand stuck out
through the thick-wired squares. They’d kept people penned in
here.

Aware of Mak at her shoulder, Molly
squatted down to look closer at the body. The nails of the long,
thick fingers curved into sharp, but chipped weapons as if the poor
thing had tried to dig its way out. Only a faint odor of decay
remained. The dry air of the facility had nearly mummified the
carcass. Shaggy dark hair covered its head, having grown long in a
tangled mess. A thick beard covered its face and hid its mouth. No
clothing covered its male parts that lay as shriveled bits in the
thick hair growing from its groin and spreading down its legs and
up to join the pelt of chest hair. She saw no visible
wounds.

“
I wonder how it died.”
She spoke softly, thinking of the place as a crypt for these poor
creatures. The man looked like he’d been tall though death had
shrunk him with its merciless touch. The thick bones suggested
massive musculature.

“
They might have starved
to death.” Mak peered into the adjoining cage. “But you should test
for pathogens before we open the doors.”

The next hour flew by. Molly and the
other doctors put on protective gloves and masks as they tested for
disease. They found no presence of microorganisms or
toxins.

Mak allowed Andy to help them lift one
of the bodies onto one of the operating tables. Helen and Hector
did a quick autopsy while Molly examined the other bodies. All men
of large size. Had they volunteered for the experiments or been
selected? Had they been promised physical improvements and then
been given drugs and hormones that turned them into something so
dangerous that they’d been caged?

Kory helped Mak search the lab for
other clues and evidence of what had happened in the grim place.
Mak crawled under a workstation fixed into the wall. It looked as
if it might have once held computers.

Molly appreciated that at least in
this part of their mission Mak seemed more helpful and less
obstructive. Hector spoke softly into the recording device as he
took a vid of the autopsy. Andy looked pale beneath the bright
light shining on the body while Helen worked with her face set in
fierce concentration.

“
Come look at this,” Helen
said a minute later.

Mak stood up and joined Molly across
the table from Helen. She had cut the scalp back and opened the
brain case. Though shrunken by drying the brain retained its loopy
appearance. Molly had never performed any kind of brain surgery but
she understood what Helen pointed at.

A dark line scored the grayish matter.
Molly shook her head. “They did brain surgery?” She looked around
the room. “They did surgery in this room while the others watched,
knowing their turn would come.”

“
What kind of people would
do something like this?” Kory asked.

“
Crazy people who think
they can improve humans. People who think they’re smarter than
nature,” Andy answered with a sneer in his voice.

Molly looked at Mak, wondering if he
understood Andy directed some of his disdain at him. But Mak looked
toward the door they’d entered through. He made a sharp gesture
with his hand that even the doctors understood meant to be silent.
After a long breath-holding moment, Molly relaxed. But Mak
didn’t.

“
Guns,” he hissed at the
other two soldiers. He glided toward the opening to the hallway,
his pistol in one hand and a knife suddenly in the
other.

Andy dropped the sample tube he’d held
when he clumsily unslung his gun. It crashed to the floor. Dark
silence followed, more menacing than before. From up the hallway
came an odd shuffling and heavy breathing.

Mak waved his hand at Molly, signaling
for her and the other doctors to move out of the middle of the
room. She trotted over to stand behind him as he took up a position
to the right of the door leading to the hall. Kory took up the left
position. Andy stood back, putting himself in front of the other
two doctors.

A feral wild animal-like odor wafted
from the hallway. Something grunted, a question in the
sound.

Mak looked over his shoulder at Molly,
mouthing words to her. “Stay back.” He took a big quick step into
the entrance, lifting his pistol to firing position in the same
smooth movement. His usually cool expression lit with surprise.
“What the hell is this?”

Chapter Three

Mak kept his weapon steady on
the…creature. He swept Dr. Drant behind him when she stepped from
cover to his side. Her gasp matched his shock.

“
What is it?” The doctor
peeked around Mak’s shoulder, setting her hand lightly on his
back.

Her touch distracted Mak though he
could barely feel it through his gear. He moved forward enough for
her hand to drop away. The creature tensed when he
moved.

Its wild dark hair brushed the
ceiling, making it nearly eight feet tall. Slabs of muscle couldn’t
conceal its starved appearance. The sharp angles of its hipbones
topped bowed legs and shrunken privates. Though it wore no
clothing, the thick hair growing on its body would serve to keep it
warm. The sharp odor of unwashed skin and filthy hair hung heavily
around it. It grunted again, exposing strong teeth, yellowed but
otherwise the same as any human’s.

“
It’s one of their
experiments,” Helen said from across the room. Her voice drew the
thing’s attention.

As it swung its blue-eyed gaze around
the room, Mak’s stomach tightened. Seeing the cages and the victims
left behind had disturbed him. Their utter helplessness, probably
men who’d been soldiers, had roused his unexpected sympathy. And
now this strange beast with its confused, very human eyes raised
questions about the mission. Was this pathetic creature one of the
monsters they hunted?

“
Shoot it,” Corporal Box
said.

“
Quiet, corporal,” Mak
ordered, not liking the edge of panic he heard in Box’s
tone.

The creature’s brow lowered into a
fierce frown. It glared at Mak and then shifted its stare to the
gun in his hands. It retreated a step and then another.

“
Shoot it!” Box
yelled.

It turned and ran, taking long
graceful strides that carried it with amazing speed out of sight.
Box pounded across the room, pushing Dr. Drant aside and lifting
his weapon. He got one shot off before Mak grabbed him.

Mak didn’t break Box’s arm but it
would be a while before he lifted much with it. The corporal cried
out when his back slammed into the metal wall. Mak held him there
with a hand around his throat. Box dropped his weapon and tugged
uselessly on Mak’s wrist. “Explain yourself.”

Box fell to his knees when Mak
released him. Pender picked up the corporal’s gun and stepped
back.

Dr. Drant herded the other doctors
back toward the center of the room. Mak spared them a glance and
found he was glad none of the anger in their eyes was directed at
him.

The corporal coughed and rubbed at the
red mark on his throat. “That thing is an insult to nature. It
needs to be destroyed like the rest of them.”

“
You fired your weapon
without waiting for my order.” Mak had never had another Recon
Marine disobey his orders. Only two other marines held rank above
Mak’s and many times he’d led small units independent of his
superior officers.