An Ugly Request

The thick mud was threatening to swallow the Headhunters whole as the rain came down in an unending torrent. It seemed like the jungle filled hell of BX-413 was trying to kill them as much as the Covenant was, but Dylan-B224 wasn’t going down without a fight as he struggled on through the black ooze, slowly dragging himself to firmer ground. The mission timer on his HUD blinked mockingly at him, the ride off of this rock was scheduled to leave in twelve hours, and at their present pace it would be long gone before they would arrive.
If we take the route over the mountains we could be there in under ten? No too tough, we can’t take it. Gonna have to take the long route and hope the Covies don’t catch up.
''
“Let… let me down,” Monika-B152 wheezed from across his shoulders, as he hauled both of them out of the mud.
Dylan ignored her, focusing on how he could shave off enough time to make the rendezvous. Seeing her plea was falling on deaf ears, she began to wriggle, trying to free herself from his grip. Succeeding in only throwing off his precarious balance, sending them both sprawling to the dirt in a heap.
“We can’t stop, we have to keep moving!” Dylan chastised her as he picked himself up, ignoring the protest from his aching legs. “We haven’t got any time to waste, our ride’s leaving and I don’t want to be here when those Covies catch up!” he added. Gesturing with one hand to the distant pillar of smoke that had once been a Covenant supply dump.
“You need to leave me, I’m only slowing you down,” Monika pointed weakly out, gesturing to the stump that had been her leg with the burnt remains of her hands. Both being courtesy of a near miss from a Hunter’s fuel rod cannon during their initial withdrawal.
“Not happening! I got you this far, I’ll get us the rest,” Dylan grunted as he hauled his teammate back onto his shoulders and continued their long march. He wasn’t leaving her to the mercy of the Covenant, not now, not ever.
But as they trudged on, Dylan became acutely aware of Monika starting to jerk her head sharply. At first he interpreted it as her struggling again, but as the movements became increasingly violent, and the lack of movement from her lower half, his brain put the pieces together in one, ugly picture. Reacting quickly he rolled his teammate off his shoulders and onto the ground, pinning her against the nearest tree.
“What the fuck are you doing!” Dylan bellowed as he ripped her helmet off before checking the bones in her neck. It was one thing to demand to be left behind, but trying to kill herself because he wouldn’t wasn’t an improvement. Fortunately,with her wounds sapping her strength, Monika hadn’t been able to cause any permanent damage. “C’mon Mon, we haven’t survived everything we’ve been through to die on this shithole,” he maintained as he moved to put her helmet back on, only for Monika to shove it out of his hands. “Mon you need to...” Dylan growled as he grabbed her around the shoulders, only to be sent falling backwards onto his rear as she shoved him away, knocking the wind out of him.
“No, YOU need to listen!” Monika snapped as she slumped against the tree trunk. “I’m done! My hands are burned to the bone, I left my leg back at that base and you are killing yourself trying to get what's left of me back home!” she wheezed as the last of her strength was finally exhausted.
“I said… that's… not… happening!” Dylan wheezed as he picked himself up before dragging himself over to his teammate. “Now c’mon, we can make it if we keep moving,” he stated as he bent down to pick Monika up by the arms. But no matter how hard he pulled he couldn’t lift his stricken teammate.
Keep going, you have to keep going!
But even with the mental coaching, the tiredness that he had been fighting to stave off overcame him as his knees gave out, leaving him in an out of breath heap in the dirt.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m,” Dylan gasped as he tried to hold back the tears leaking from his eyes.
“Its ok, you tried as hard as you could,” Monika consoled him as she wrapped what was left of her arms around his shoulders in as close to a hug as she could manage.
“I’m not letting the covie’s get you,” Dylan affirmed as pulled himself into a sitting position.
“I know, thats why you need to make sure I don’t,” Monika replied, gesturing to the sidearm on Dylan’s hip.
“No, no,” Dylan pleaded, shaking his head as he pulled away to a standing position, “Please don’t make me.”
“You’re the only one who can do it,” Monika pointed out as she slumped back against the tree.
“Please,” Dylan whimpered.
But he knew she was right, he couldn’t leave her for the Covenant to find, and he couldn’t stay with her. Shakingly he pulled his sidearm from his holster staring at the gun metal weapon, one which he would normally show no hesitance in using. Hesitantly, he glanced back at Monika, who gave him a nod, before raising the pistol, using both hands to steady his unsteady aim.
Fighting every urge in his body, he kept his aim firmly set on Monika’s forehead, who gave Dylan one final smile, before closing her eyes, as Dylan’s index finger squeezed.
----Dylan jarred awake with the same, familiar dread that accompanied that particular nightmare. He always woke up at that point, the one moment that he would wholeheartedly do differently if he had the chance. If he could he would do the entire mission differently. But there were no do-overs in war, no matter how much they were wanted or needed.
Grunting, he clambered out of his bunk and disabled the alarm meant to wake him up three hours later. He doubted many would be up this early. But that meant there would be more coffee for him.
Category:Falkeno
Category:The Weekly
Category:Short stories