Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (41 page)

“He is
,” he answered
, not knowing how to handle the situation.

“Is he alright?”

“In a manner of speaking.”

“Paul
,
please don’t make this like pulling teeth. I can tell by your face that something is going
on
.”

“Please
,
Beth
,”
h
e pleaded.

She could tell by his reaction that something was amiss and she didn’t care how uncomfortable she made him, she wanted answers.

“I asked how he was
,”
Beth demanded.

“He’s been in the infirmary for the last few days
,”
Paul started, worry creased Beth’s face. “He’s fine for the most part, got banged up a bit by an explosion.” Beth involuntarily gasped. “Uh
,
don’t worry
,
he caused the explosion
.
Wait-
wait
,
I know that doesn’t make it sound better. God
,
Beth, the guy is
f
uckin’
amazing
.
H
e stood up in a shit storm of a firefight
,
risking his life to save us all. I know I grew up with him and I might know him better than anybody and then he goes and does shit like that and
it’s like
I don’t know him at all.”

“You love him
,
don’t you
?
”
s
he asked.

“With all my heart. He is my brother just not in name.”

“Paul, I love him too
,”
Beth stated. For some reason that stung Paul somewhere deep down
.
H
e made sure to stomp that lit match before it consumed him. “What is going on? Why hasn’t he come to see me? Is he too hurt?”

“He’ll come when he’s ready, Beth. That’s all I can really tell you. The rest is his to
say
.” Paul segued as best he could to move on to another subject. “So when did you start traveling with a small bear?”

Beth turned
toward
Sampson. She knew it would be fr
uitless to keep pumping Paul for information, he had said his piece and it didn’t look like there was any more information
forth
coming.

“Paul, he is the most amazing dog I have ever met. I wholly believe he’s more than just a dog, I think he’s a guide of some sort. When he looks at me
,
I can tell there is true intelligence in his gaze. He saved my
life
.
F
irst
,
he killed the man that was chasing me and then he somehow carried me here, although how he found it here is just another mystery I’ll never know.”

“You don’t know?” Paul said rubbing his hand through his hair.

“Know what
?” she asked
.

“I don’t doubt that your.
.
.
Sampson
,
did you say?” Beth nodded. “I don’t doubt at all that Sampson is a very intelligent dog and he did save your life. He did not
,
however, kill that man or carry you here.”

“Is that mad
man dead?” Beth asked haltingly, fear creeping in around the edges.

“He’s quite dead.”

“A
gain, Paul with the teeth-
pulling thing.”

“Sorry this is just so much fun.”

Beth nodded in mock agreement. “Tell me what the hell is going on or I’ll get out of this bed and beat you silly with a bed pan.”

“A bed pan?”

“It’s all I could think
of
o
n short notice.”

“Fine
-
fine, lord knows where those things have been, I’ll tell you. Mike has made a lot of alien ene
mies but he has made one friend.
O
ne that he calls Drababan.”

“What, an alien is his friend
?” she asked
in disbelief.

“Oh
,
it gets much better than that. Not only is this monster his friend, it killed your pursuer and carried you and your wooly mammoth over there to safety.”

“Are you kidding me
?” she asked
,
looking into his eyes for any sign of a practical joke being pla
yed on her. “You’re not
,
are you?
This is insane. One of those creatures
!” she said
disdainfully
. “S
aved
me
and Sampson? Oh the universe has truly turned on its ear.”

“Beth
,
I hear you. I wanted the thing shot the moment it walked in the door. The mere sight of it struck something so deep in me I could only label it as primordial. It’s like it wasn’t just a threat to my life
,
but to my very being. It is so against everything I have ever learned. I’m not sure if I’m around that thing for a hundred years that I’ll ever be comfortable with it. But Mike, shit, he has heart to heart conversations with it. They laugh and joke, they
've
play
ed
games. It’s just one more piece in the master jigsaw puzzle that is Mike.” And by trying to avoid that one topic
,
he had brought it back full circle. An uncomfortable silence fell over their conversation.

“Um…
Beth I really need to go and check on a few things. You know the bane of leadership
,” Paul said
limply.

Beth knew he was trying to get out of dodge
before she pressed him any more.
S
he let him off the hook. “When are you coming back
?
I would really like you to meet Sampson when he is up and about.”

Paul was thankful, he knew his retreat was lame at best. “It’ll
at least be a few hours, I want to check on some of my wounded and I still have a few unanswered questions about that huge croc running around my complex. I love you
,
Beth
,
and no matter what happens I cannot tell you how truly happy I am that you made it here.”

Beth thanked him before he left and sat wondering what his cryptic message about ‘no matter what happens’ could possibly mean.

***

“Did the doctor check you out of the clinic?” Tracy asked,
coming into
my
quarters.

I
had been dozing
when she came in
and for the briefest of moments
.
W
ith the light shining behind Tracy’s head
,
I
had not been able to recognize who she was. Luckily
,
I
had been t
o
o surprised to say anything or
I
was fairly certain ‘Beth?’ would have been the first thing out of
my
mouth
.
T
hat would not have gone over well
.
I
sat up
,
wiping the sleep off
my
face
,
hoping that
I
had successfully hidden the panic that had instantly welled up inside
me
. Tracy seemed none the wiser.

“Did he
?” she asked
again
,
looking,
I
thought, deep into
my
soul.
“Are you alright
?” she asked
concerned. “You look a little flushed.”

I
was a horrible liar, so bad in fact that
I
had determined long ago to j
ust not even bother.
I
had found
the truth to be so much easier
and if for whatever reason
the truth could not be
told the
n to just not answer at all.
I
had found to
my
amazement that if
I
just did not answer a question
,
the person asking would generally answer it themselves.
I
knew this time that silence was not going to get
me
to safety.

“Beth’s here
,”
I
stated with as little inflection as possible.

“The Beth
?” she asked
incredulously. “Have you seen her?”

“Yes and no
,” I answered
.

“What does that mean?” Tracy asked her palms suddenly clammy.

“I walked by her room
,
but I didn’t go in to see her.”

“Why?”

“Why what? Why did I go to her room or why didn’t I talk to her?”

“Both.”

“Tracy
,
this is something I never thought I would have to deal with again. I thought she was out of my life forever.”

“But she isn’t, so now what?” Tracy asked
.

I could hear desperation creeping into her voice.

“I’ve got to at least talk to her.”

“Why
?
Y
ou don’t owe her anything
,”
Tracy answered with true hurt in her voice.

“I don’t owe her anything, she owes me
;
at least
a simple damn thank you
,”
I
shot back, maybe with a little too much vigor.

“Do you love her?”

“I love
d
her as much as I love you
,” I answered
,
although in all truth it was in avoidance of an answer.
I
knew
I
was close to loving Tracy
completely
and
I
wanted to believe that I had
put Beth behind
me
. The fence
I
sat
so
precariously on was tall
, thin and very unstable,
I thought of just letting go and let the chips
fall
where they may.

Tracy shut the door behind her as she left, wiping tears from her face.

CHAPTER FIFTY-
E
IGHT

Eastern Seaboard Ground Occupation - Location Southwest of Boston

“We lost almost
nine hundred
troops in less than an hour!” The
G
round
C
ommander screamed. “How is this possible? We were told there was no viable opposition left.”

“Apparently the information was wrong Commander
,”
t
he second in command said,
immediately wishing
t
he words had never c
o
me out of his snout.

Fortunately for the underling
,
the commander was much too involved in his own thoughts to register what his
lieutenant
had said. “How will I be able to explain this to the Supreme Commander? I cannot tell him of this defeat
;
he will have me replaced and I will become the next warrior in the games.”

Normally
,
the second in command would have relished his position, because he would be next in line to take command, but then his neck would be
i
n the
noose and these tiny thin-
skinned devils scared him deeply. They attacked out of nowhere and disappeared in the same fashion
. No,
it would not be wise to
let his commander fail just yet;
he must wait until there was a more opportune time.