Morning Star Full Novel

Chapter 26

Three days had passed with no word from the recognizance team. The burned out ATV was salvaged and pulled into camp. Its rear mounted machine gun, still in working condition, was set up as the main defense for camp. Four tripod-mounted machine guns were flanked around the ATV manned at all times.
"Hey captain! When are we going to eat?" one of the men yelled out.
"I’m working on it!" Ramsey shouted back.
The food supply was gone and sixteen men remained at camp growing hungrier each hour. Ramsey needed to find food in a hurry. "Rhine! Get over here!" he shouted across camp.
Tony came running over and stood before the captain. "What is it?" he asked.
"You’re a doctor right?" Ramsey asked.
"Yes I am."
"I guess your pretty damn smart, what around here do you think is safe to eat?"
Tony frowned at Ramsey and said, "Don’t they teach you survival skills in boot camp?"
Ramsey chuckled at Tony’s ignorance. "Yes they do," he responded. "But this place isn’t normal. I have no idea what is safe and what may be poison."
"And you think I do?"
"This was your mission. I expect you have some answers."
"I don’t know any more than you do commander," Tony snapped back and turned to the tall grass prairie. "What would you usually eat in a situation like this?’
"You don’t want to know."
"I may not be military, but I am in this just the same as you."
Ramsey bent over and picked up something from the dirt. In his fingers was a six-legged insect squirming, trying to escape. "If it comes down to it, these make a pretty good lunch," Ramsey said tossing the bug at Tony. The captain laughed at Tony when he jumped away from the insect. "Do you wonder why there would be bugs in Hell?"
"I suppose they sinned against God," Tony said.
"You should know," Ramsey said sarcastically. "If you are who our prisoner says you are, you should be able to break bread and feed us all. Why don’t you give it a try?"
"I am not who he says I am. I am sorry."
"Too bad," Ramsey said sighing. "I’d like a free ticket out of here."
One of the soldiers walked over from the campfire and stood next to Ramsey. "Captain?" he asked.
"Yes private."
"I have an idea," the soldier said looking to the ground.
"Go on."
"When we captured those three, they were riding some big hairy cow or something," the private said.
"You want to eat one of those things?" Tony asked. "They have been sitting out in the sun for four days!"
"Me and the other men are hungry sir," the private said.
"I realize that. Eating rotted meat will kill you!" Tony snapped back.
"We plan to cook it sir."
Tony looked to Ramsey. "I would advise against it," Tony said.
"Desperate times doctor," he said to Tony. Looking to the private he said, "Get three other men, go out and retrieve some of it. We will make a determination then." Looking back to Tony he said, "If you get hungry enough, you will eat your own arm. Believe me, you don’t want to know what I know."
The private took off to camp to gather a party.

***

Twenty minutes later a voice cracked over Ramsey’s radio. "Commander come in."
"Ramsey here," he responded.
"Sir, one of them is gone.’
"Probably some scavengers dragged it away. Is there a problem?"
"It just seemed strange sir. There are no remains. It is if it got up and walked away."
"The other one is still there?"
"Yes, it is in better condition than I thought it would be."
Ramsey thought for a moment. "Continue with the mission. Contact me if there are any problems, over." Ramsey put the radio back on his belt and scratched his forehead.
"I nailed both of those things dead," Pvt. Jackson said startling Ramsey from behind.
"I know. I saw them myself." Ramsey said, his heart still pounding in his chest. "Who knows what they have for scavengers around here. It may have been drug off."

***

An hour passed and Tony sat on the ground next to Seth and the other two prisoners. "Who are your friends there?" Tony asked Seth.
"That’s rude Tony. You can ask them, they won’t bite," Seth replied.
"If you don’t mind, I’d rather speak to you," he said to Seth. "I hope you guys don’t mind," he said looking to the other two bound to the tree.
"If that’s the way you want it fine. This is Brother Follett, and next to him Brother Thomas."
Tony smiled at them and said, "Glad to meet you," with a sarcastic grin The two men looked over at Tony and glared at him. "What’s wrong with them?" he asked Seth.
"You are the enemy, remember?" Seth replied.
"Yeah, that’s right," he said laughing. "So how long have you been here uncle?" Tony asked.
"I crossed over in 1970. I believe that was the year of your birth?"
"Yes it is. What an odd coincidence," Tony said.
"Maybe not as odd as you think," Seth said.
Tony smiled at Seth and dug his foot into the dirt. "So you have been here thirty years now?"
"Doesn’t feel like it," Seth replied. "Seems like only yesterday."
"I bet it does." Tony smiling at his uncle. "Is this place all you dreamed it would be?"
"And more my nephew. You can not fathom the glory of his presence."
"Who are you talking about?" Tony asked.
"The Morning Star of course," Seth replied.
"Satan?" Tony asked.
"If that is what you wish to call him."
Tony looked over to camp watching the men eating. The smell of the roasting meat sickened him and the sight of the massive beasts’ leg cooking over the fire made him ill. Ramsey walked over and stood before the prisoners and looked down to Tony.
"Are you going to eat?" Ramsey asked.
"I think I will take my chances on the vegetation," Tony replied.
"I agree," Ramsey said. "The maggots make me sick. Jackson isn’t touching it either."
"Why not?" Tony asked.
"Jackson is a farm boy. He said spoiled meat is like poison. He is out scrounging in the woods for some nuts and berries."
"That is a wise choice," Seth said.
"Why? Is there something we should know?" Ramsey asked Seth.
"If you have been observing Commander Ramsey, nothing here stays dead for long."
"Oh my!" Tony spoke up. His eyes wide open.
"What is it?" Ramsey asked.
Tony looked to Ramsey and said, "The other beast. It wasn’t dragged off. It got up on its own and left."
"Very good nephew," Seth said with a grin.
Ramsey looked back at his men and then back at Tony. "Are you saying that thing will come back to life?"
"Inside them. If they eat the meat it will come back to life inside the men. It will kill them!"
Seth began to laugh out loud. Then Follett and Thomas joined in. Ramsey ran back to the campfire and yelled for the men to stop eating. Tony watched from his seat becoming flush with heat. He jumped as he saw the massive leg of the beast twitch as it cooked above the fire. Its clawed feet jerked back and forth knocking it off the rack and into the hot coals kicking up sparks and embers.
"Throw it up!" Ramsey yelled to his men. "It is poison!"
The leg now in full motion jerked violently trying to get out of the fire disembodied. From the edge of the woods the agonizing screams of the animal shot across camp.
The men scattered in all directions buckled over in pain. Some were trying to throw up and others were falling to the ground dead as the reanimated meat inside them killed them like poison.
Bursting forth from the woods, the massive longhaired beast lumbered into camp on its remaining three legs. It hobbled towards the campfire and with its open jaws, clenched down upon its remaining leg and pulled it from the fire. With the leg in tow, it limped back into the woods disappearing from view.
Tony looked in horror as one by one all of the remaining men fell lifeless to the ground. Ramsey was helpless to stop it.

***

Twenty minutes later after the commotion died down, Tony, Ramsey and Jackson walked among the dead. The strained horrified looks on the dead men’s faces sickened them. Seth and the other two prisoners sat silent watching them survey camp. Tony walked over to Seth and kicked dirt on him. "You bastard! You knew this would happen!"
Seth spit out dirt and blinked his eyes clearing his vision. He looked up to Tony hovering above him. "Of course I knew. I have come to baptize you all. I only have three more and my mission is fulfilled."
"We ought to put a bullet in him!" Jackson yelled.
"What good what that do?" Tony asked. "You can’t kill the dead. We found that out the hard way."
"There must be something we can do," Jackson said. "We have some control over them. If you can tie them up you must be able to kill them for good."
Tony looked to Seth. "How about it uncle? Is there a death beyond this?"
"Do you think I would tell you?" Seth replied.
"There must be," Jackson said. "There must be something beyond this. We just need to find out what it is."
"We better find out fast," Ramsey said. "I don’t think our men will stay dead long."
"What are you saying?" Jackson asked.
"Nothing stays dead here Jackson!" Ramsey yelled. "Weren’t you paying attention?"
"These are our men. They wouldn’t do anything to us," Jackson said.
"Our men are gone. We need to dispose of these bodies before it is too late."
"Too late for what?" Jackson asked.
"Before they stand up and kill us!" Ramsey yelled. " I for one want to stay just the way I am." Ramsey pointed to the camp and said, "Start grabbing bodies and pile them up by the ATV."
With that order the three men dragged the bodies to a central point twenty feet from the ATV and lined them next to each other. The thirteen soldiers fell dead in the same area making gathering them an easy task. Taking turns, the three men grabbed the dead men by their hands and feet and tossed them onto an ever-growing heap of bodies. It took fifteen minutes to complete the pile and the men gathered around the ATV.
"What do you think happened to our other men? The one’s who didn’t make it to camp and the one’s who died during the attack?" Jackson asked. "Are they out in the tall grass watching us?"
"Maybe, I don’t know. They may have been waiting for our numbers to thin down a little before attacking." Ramsey replied.
"Our own men trying to kill us? That sounds so wrong."
"They stopped being our men as soon as they died."
"Jesus Christ this sucks!" Jackson said. "What are you going to do with them?"
"Just watch," Ramsey said and jumped up onto the ATV. With a flick of a switch the safety was turned off and the commander aimed the machine gun at the pile of bodies. "Stand back!" he yelled. "This is going to get messy!"
Pulling the trigger, the gun shot thirty rounds per second into the pile of bodies sending flesh and bone flying into the air in all directions. Blood covered everything in a twenty-foot radius of the pile, dripping off the vegetation and streaming down the sides of trees. The sound of the machine gun bounced off the trees and rattled in the heads of those standing by. The flash at the end of the gun shot forth twelve inches illuminating the area like a strobe light.
Tony looked away not being able to stomach the horrific sight before him. Splatters of blood and chunks of flesh sprayed his body and everything around him making him gag. A moment later the firing stopped and the barrel of the gun was allowed to slump down and smoke. Tony uncovered his face and looked to the pile now reduced to a blend of flesh and bone mixed with blood and hair. Tony bent over and tried to throw up only producing dry heaves.
"That ought to do it," Ramsey said looking down upon his work. He jumped off the ATV and stepped over to the pile and kicked some of the body parts around looking for anything needing cut up. Ramsey looked to Tony seeing him visible shaken by the sight. "Get over it. The faster you do the better you will be."
Jackson looked at the pile and shook his head with disgust. "What a waste," he said and joined Tony. "You’re a mess," he said looking at Tony’s face. "Next time don’t stand so close."
"There had better not be a next time," Tony said wiping the blood away. Tony walked over to Seth and bent down on one knee next to him. "I don’t think they will be coming back to haunt us."
"Don’t be so sure of yourself," Seth replied. "You do not know the power you are dealing with."
"If Satan is so powerful why doesn’t he just come get us and get this over?" Tony asked.
"He is, in his own way," Seth replied.
"I don’t think he is all so powerful. We got you tied up pretty good."
"Yes you do, I will admit that."
Tony sat back on his rear looking at Seth. "I don’t get it," Tony said. "Why all the games?"
"Games? I find your choice of words interesting."
"What would you call it?"
"It is the way it has to be."
"That is a cop out if I ever heard one. If I am the Messiah like you say I am, Satan would never be able to capture me."
"He would if you lacked faith."
"The Son of God would not lack faith."
"How is your faith?"
Tony stopped dumbfounded. He had no answer.
"What’s the plan now?" Jackson asked.
"With our numbers down, we need to prepare for attack."
"Three against a whole city. That is just freaking fantastic! It is just a matter of time!" Jackson yelled. "No one is coming to rescue us!"
Ramsey chose not to speak for he knew Jackson was correct.
Tony stood and faced the other two soldiers. "They want me and we have no way to defend ourselves. Maybe I should surrender. It could save you two."
"Save us? We have no food. We are out numbered. It is a matter of time. I think we have twenty four hours at best," Ramsey said.
"Twenty four hours," Jackson shadowed. "This sucks!"