Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Casey observed the small group of soldiers around her.  There were seven in all, including Nick, and all were wearing the same type of military uniform.  She noticed slight differences in appearance; like one had a sniper rifle and another had a miniature laptop case strapped across his torso from his left shoulder.

A jittery sentiment began to creep over her, as she looked the men over.  She felt very nervous but she was not sure why.  Being in the army, there were more than a few occasions where men in uniform with assault rifles as their main weaponry surrounded her.  If she had to put her finger on it, she would say it would have to be the intense environment.  With her short time being home there were so many things that she had to let sink in.  Her hometown wasn’t her hometown anymore or at least not the way she remember it.

Even the ER she stood in now was nothing but a horrid scene.  The setup of the room was typical; the nurses’ station set at the wall’s center out looking the six hospital bed’s where patients with less severe illnesses would lay and rest while they waited for the nurses and doctors to attend to their aliments.  Each bed had a turquoise curtain pulled open, revealing the vacant beds and something else.  Blood.

When Casey had initially walked out of the exam room behind Nick, the sight had shocked her.  The smell had utterly sickened her.  There were no bodies to be seen, but the remnants of dried blood smeared and splattered on just about everything had shown some sort of massacre had occurred and there was no doubt in her mind that it was those things that did it.

Just standing there thinking about it only bothered her more.  She wanted to be next to Nick and talk to him about what was taking place in the area, but he was standing in front of the nurses’ station with the man wearing the laptop case.  He had the miniature laptop set on top of the counter; the two intently looking at the machine’s little screen.

“You are quite lucky to be alive.”  She turned to see one of the soldiers standing at her left side.  “If it hadn’t been for MELEE, you may not have been so lucky.”

“MELEE?”  She questioned, not sure if she head him correctly, but it only took her a second to realize whom he had meant.  Oh, he must mean Nick.

“Yeah, MELEE is the one who saved you.  You see, we all have codenames here for protection.  Don’t want our enemies finding out who we are,” he shrugged, “Or so that’s what we were told.”

“Is that so?  Am I able to know these codenames?”

“Why sure.”  He said cheerfully.  She believed he was smiling though was unable to tell with the tinted splashguard still pulled down over his face.  “I’ll start with me.”  He cleared his throat backing away a step and pointing at himself with his left thumb.  “My name’s MED.  That’s-” he stopped short before continuing on to the next person.  “Maybe I should tell you what we do too.  You know, so you know who does what in the group.”

“Sure.”

“Alright.  Like I said, I’m MED.  I am the medic/chemist of the group.”  He pointed to the soldier to the far left.  “He’s AUTO, our vehicle expert.  And when I say expert, I mean expert.”  He leaned side wards, closer to her, as if he didn’t want what he was saying to be overheard.  “I am kind of envious to tell the truth.  Not only can he drive any type of car, truck, semi, etc., etc., he is also able to sail any kind of boat and fly any type of air craft.”  He sighed letting his shoulder go slack at the admirable thought of his comrade.  “He also can maintain them all.  Truly, it is quiet unfair to tell you the truth.”

His finger moved to the next man before she could even speak.  It was as if the minor bitterness he had of AUTO was nonexistent.  “That’s BANG.  He works with all kinds of explosives.  Knows how to disarm them plus can make them from scratch too.  Pretty nifty skill if you ask me.

“He’s LINGO.”  MED continued with the next man to the right.  “That guy blows my mind with the languages he is able to comprehend.  A true genius.  He comes in handy with is ability when we need to through systems from different cultures.”

“So he’s a hacker.”

MED briefly lowered his arm.  “Exactly. You are pretty quick.”

“I’ve learned to be so.”

“That right?”  He merely shrugged off her comment as he continued.  “Let’s see.  Who was I at?  Oh, that’s right.  SCOPE.”  He pointed to the soldier with the sniper rifle.  “He’s our sniper, obviously, but the cool thing with him is he can wait for hours and days on end for his target with little to drink and even less to eat.  A true badass when it comes down to the nit and gritty of things.”

MED turned back to Nick and the other soldier, pointing to the soldier.  “That’s TECH.  He is also a hacker but he knows his way around electrical equipment too.  If I must say, he has to be the best technician out there.  Being able to re-route wires and what not made it a hell of a lot easier to get on with our mission this past month or so.”

He crossed his arms over his chest as he came to the last man of the group.  “And that’s MELEE.  Though we are all physically fit and suited for combat, he takes the cake in one-on-one.  Not only is he stronger, he is also faster making his reflexes amazing.  Plus his thinking process is phenomenal.  He always seems to be two steps ahead in numerous situations, taking each scenario as a possibility, executing a course of action that best suits everyone’s needs.  And only takes him seconds to do so.”  He shook his head in kind of awe of his friend.  “What I wouldn’t give to have that ability.  Imagine the people I could save.”

Casey smiled.  “You seem to think highly of him.”

“I ought to.  He is our leader after all.”

Casey turned towards Nick to see him and the soldier named TECH rejoin the group.  Her brow rose as their gaze met.  “You’re the leader.”  She questioned impression.

He regarded MED grimly.  “There is no leader of this group.”

MED moved a tad closer to Casey, speaking in a low tone.  “No matter what he thinks, everyone considers him as leader.”

Nick sighed, his attention turned to the rest of the group.  “We have to get moving if we want to make it back to base before sundown.”  He looked solely to TECH.  “The perimeter had been checked with the aerial cams and as of now the building is secure.  However,” he unsheathed his dagger, “that doesn’t mean we let our guards down.”  His gaze fell to Casey.  “We have a civilian with us now so we need to be extra careful that she stays safe.”

Casey felt herself fluster under his gaze.  Though she was military herself, she was not suited for combat with those creatures…not yet at least.  Perhaps when they take her to where they are headed, she could ask Nick for some kind of firearm, that way she would be able to fend for herself if any more of those creatures came around.  By the way everyone was talking, she imagined there had to be a lot more of those things then the one Nick had rescued her from.  Though it was comforting to be safeguarded by a band of armed forces, she would feel much better having a weapon of her own, just in case.

She placed a firm hand to Nick’s shoulder as a worrying thought came to mind.  “What about that one from before?  That thing that attacked me in that hallway.”

“There’s no need to worry about that.”  The one named SCOPE stepped forward with a broad grin, raising his sniper rifle a bit.  “I took care of it while you were out.”

“Good.”  She said letting out a breath of air before another concerning question came to mind.  “What about those locked doors I seen on the way in?  what if more creatures are in those rooms?”

Nick turned to her fully.  “I understand why you are worried but everything is taken care of.  Those locked rooms are all rooms we had cleared.  We locked them personally to know which ones were checked.”

“That was working real well too,” the man named AUTO began stepping towards the, his gaze to Casey, “until you went around breaking the locks.”

“But I didn’t.”  She looked from him to Nick dumbstruck by the sudden accusation.  “It was broken when I got there.”  Nick’s gaze swept over the others in the group as she continued.  “When I came here, I heard some strange sounds and decided to check it out.   Not too smart on my part now that I think about it.”  She scratched her chin absently at the thought before giving her head a quick shake.  “Anyway, I noticed how all the doors were locked.  When I made it to that door and noticed how it was broken, I decided not to go in.  I thought how strange it was that, that door was the only one not shut all together.”  Her face mirrored the fear she had felt upon remembering the encounter with the monster.  “But before I was able to leave, the creature used its claws and pulled the door open fully.”

Nick’s gaze shot back to her.  “Wait.  It opened the door?”

Casey analyzed the memory once more, focusing on how the creature got out of the room before giving a slow nod.  At that moment, she noticed everyone’s posture tense.

“Oh man, that’s not good.”  MED remarked.

Casey’s brows narrowed.  “Why do you say that?”

“Because,” AUTO began in a solemn tone, “we closed and locked the doors so the creatures couldn’t get in.  if it was in the room like you said, then that means it was the one that broke the lock and entered the room in the first place.”

Nick lowered his gaze to the bloodstained floor.  “The damn things are learning.”