Children Of Fiends by C. Chase Harwood Read Free Book Online Page A

stairs. He would have to go up two flights to reach the top. Upon reaching the first level he scanned the crane and saw the lump was still there. At the second level he looked again and it was gone. He offered up a list of creative obscenities and quickly found Green, who was vaguely scrutinizing the shore. “Psst, Sergeant Green.”
    Green turned at the sound. If he had been startled, he didn’t show it. “What’s going on, Mr. Boonmee?”
    Jamesbonds pointed at the crane and then leaned out looking at its base. “I saw” –
    “Where is your helmet, sir?”
    Jamesbonds touched his head and quietly offered up more obscenities, telling himself, “Jamesbonds, you have dog’s balls for brains.” His helmet was right were he had left it, where he had been sleeping. He pointed at the crane. “One of those spider drones was there. I’m certain of it. It is gone now.”
    Green stepped forward, his own helmet more than letting him see the crane and the area around it. He saw nothing.
    “It was there. I promise.”
    “Did you see it with your helmet on?”
    Jamesbonds continued to search with his trusted eyes. “No, but it was there. It moved off when I was coming up the stairs.”
    “There’s nothing there. Maybe you weren’t fully awake when you were seeing this?”
    “The crane had a lump on it. It moved. I saw it as I was coming up the stairs. Now it’s gone.”
    Green scanned some more and finally said, “Quiet thing then.”
    “Yes. Very.”
    “Okay. Put your helmet back on and keep watch from the deck where you’re bunked. You see something else, call me up on the com.”
    “So you believe me?”
    “I believe that you believe what you saw. I believe that we leave nothing to chance. We’ll tell the next watch in an hour. Keep an eye out.”
    Jamesbonds nodded and walked back down the stairs. He lay awake staring for a very long time, straining his eyes until eventually he nodding off.
    Dean was furious on deck the next morning. His ire with Green burst out in front of most of the crew as they prepped for the day. “How is it possible that one of our most sharp-eyed men tells you that he sees one of those things and you don’t wake me up? You don’t quickly tell Hernandez? You don’t immediately organize a scouting party?”
    Green shot back, “Neither one of us could put eyes on anything when Mr. Boonmee reported his sighting. It was clear to me that he was uncertain of what he saw.”
    Dean looked at Jamesbonds, who shook his head ever so slightly. Green saw it and exploded, “If you where certain, then why the fuck did you go back to bed?”
    “Because you told me to. But I kept watch for hours.”
    Green shrugged his shoulders at Dean as if to say: What am I supposed to do with that?
    Dean stepped closer to the soldier while pointing at the distant crane. “You are the professional here, not him. You had the watch. Not him.”
    “Oh fuck off, you hypocrite.” Green pointed at Elizaandra. “I didn’t wake you because I figured you were already awake fucking her!”  
    “Sergeant!” barked Hernandez. “You’re out of line!”
    Eliza raised an eyebrow and stepped back inside.
    It took all Dean had not to punch the man while his temper flared equally at himself. He needed to nip it in the bud for everyone. “What Ms. Sherr and I do behind closed doors is our business alone. You do your… no…” He looked at anybody in earshot. “Everyone does their jobs and we get through this thing.” He glared harder at Green. “When we, as individuals, are lucky enough to enjoy some leisure time, that’s our time. Personal time. Nobody’s leisure impinges on anyone’s duty. That includes me and Ms. Sherr.” He let his stare bore into Green. “Comprende?” He turned to Hernandez and said, “Get a squad together and scout our perimeter. If those drone folks have found us, we need to know right away.”
    Hernandez offered him a grin that said, you’re a douche bag while at the same time