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CHAPTER 9




An angular shape jutting up from behind the trees caught Felix’s eye. It didn’t bend with the wind of the returned storm, but remained rigid and still. He shouldered his way through the jungle and found a crashed Hegemony cargo helicopter. Repulsor technology worked well enough for lighter, more nimble craft, but the power needs to haul freight made the older technology more viable.

The skids and bottom of the helicopter were encased in soil, the fuselage had rusted out long ago, but the painted Hegemony crest on the rotor housing was still visible. Sliding doors on Felix’s side were stuck fast, and the bulletproof glass was fogged out from cracks.

“Well well well, what have we here?” Felix put a palm against the door. “What were you hauling, eh? Batteries? Emergency-please-come-get-me-before-the-Flags-scalp-me beacons? Food that doesn’t taste like the devil’s shit?”

He moved around the nose. The pilot seats were empty, cockpit glass shattered. The jungle had reclaimed the seats with vines hanging from the panels and ferns sprouting from the cushions.

“Maybe the other doors are open and—” Felix let out a rather feminine-sounding shriek when he saw a woman in a white tunic sitting on the cargo floor, her legs dangling over the side. Her skin was dark as night, short hair gone to gray at the edges. She had her hands up to her sides, palms out.

The Antares priestess didn’t move as Felix bumped into the helicopter and swung his carbine up. He continued the swing until the muzzle pointed straight up, flashing it across her for a brief instance.

“Sorry! Oh God, I’m so sorry.” Felix held a hand out. “A-are you okay? I didn’t mean to—p-p-please don’t be mad. Are you . . . are you here for my soul? Oh no . . . am I dead?”

She lowered her arms.

“I can’t be dead. Shit hurts too much for me to be dead.” He rolled the shoulder that had knocked the insurgent off his feet. “So, I’m not dead. But you’re here. Um . . . hello?”

She pressed her hands together beneath her chin and bowed ever so slightly.

“That’s right . . . you guys—and gals!—don’t talk. Don’t help any side. You’re out here to find . . .” He looked at the empty cockpit, then to the bullet holes and torn metal near the nose.

“There are some other guys.” He pointed back from where he’d come. “Not happy with me. They might come from that way. Or another. I really don’t know where I am. Trying to get to Tabuk City, don’t suppose you know . . .”

She stared blankly at him, her eyes kind.

“No, that would be helping, wouldn’t it?” He gnawed on his bottom lip for a split second. His shoulders slumped and he let out a sigh.

He gestured at the empty spot next to her. “May I?”

She didn’t react as he sat on the floorboard that creaked with rust.

“It’s nice to sit on something that’s not mud or wet, know what I mean? Sure you do, that’s why you’re in here and not out there getting pissed on like me.” Felix took his helmet off and set it beside him. “If the Flags show up, I’ll take off running. Won’t say a word about you. Seems fair.”

The Antares looked him up and down, concern behind her eyes.

“Hungry?” He took out the pack of tong jerky from his pouch. Slimy mud had gotten in and fouled the open pack. “Ah . . . that sucks. Sorry, didn’t know. Might taste better now, who knows.” He put it back.

They sat in silence as the rain pattered against the jungle.

“Thank you,” Felix finally said. “I don’t think it was you, but when I was a kid a friend of mine back on a Syddan port lost his father on Ayutthaya. Missing in Action for years and years, then one day an Antares showed up at his family’s house with some remains and personal effects. Didn’t mean anything to me, but my friend . . . he started to live again after that. No more ‘what if.’ They had a proper burial and everything.”

Felix’s face lit up.

“Hold on.” He reached into his flak jacket and pulled out the ring of dog tags. “Here. Can you take these? They’re from my platoon. Dead in the last couple of days and I don’t know if word’s gone off world—”

He held the tags out to the Antares. She took in a sudden breath and covered her mouth with one hand. She sniffed hard and wiped away a tear.

“This . . . is what you do? Right? You can tell their families.” Felix jangled the tags, the aluminum clinking. “Yeah, I’m their Charon right now, but I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know where I am. I could step on a mine or get shot and then the Flags will scalp me and leave me hanging from a tree with my guts dangling between my knees. Sorry . . . that was a bit much.”

He shook the tags again.

The woman looked away.

“Is it because I’m still alive? You only work for the dead, huh?” Felix brought the ring to his lap and flipped through the tags. “I shouldn’t have asked. Apologies.”

He stared at Gunnar’s tag, then put the ring back in his flak vest.

“Can you hear them whisper? Sometimes I do . . . a name called out in the dark, a face behind my eyes. At least they can rest.” He hopped off the edge, boots rustling pebbles that had washed up against the helicopter. He put his hands on his hips and looked around the clearing. There were two paths leading into the clearing, but each went off in different directions.

“One of these should get me to Tabuk, yeah?” He shrugged. “Guess that’s a rhetorical question. I won’t tell anyone I saw you here. Good luck and I hope . . . I hope you find who you’re looking for.”

She pressed her hands together and bowed slightly again.

Felix held up a finger and bounced it from side to side like a metronome needle and went toward the path on the left. He was a few steps from the wood line when there was a small crash from the other path.

He ducked slightly and readied his weapon, but he didn’t see anything moving. He looked to the Antares, but she was in the same spot.

“Rabbit? I’m hungry . . . eh, who am I kidding. Not going to catch one.” He turned toward the path again.

Something stung the back of his neck. He slapped a hand against his skin and waved a hand at whatever had bitten him.

“Son of a—” He cocked an eyebrow up, looking for the culprit. The Antares was staring at him, one hand clenched in a fist.

Felix narrowed his eyes at her, then sidestepped towards the other path. He crossed the threshold into the jungle, and turned back to give her a last look. He gave her a sheepish wave and went deeper into the green.




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