Escaping Extinction - Part 4
Eddy raised his hands behind his head, leisurely approaching the dump trunk. He walked past the corpses of his guardsmen, flaming debris, and spent bullet shells. The man seemingly in charge of the intruders quickly noticed him and whistled for the attention of his forces. At about fifty feet away from him, Eddy noticed three pronounced scars across the man's face running down from his forehead to his chin. The middle of the three grotesquely cut through his right eye.
"How did you get those?!" Eddy shouted to the man as he was surrounded, pointing briefly to his own face before bringing his hand back behind his head.
"Painfully," the man grunted back, his weapon down and his stance relaxed.
"A lion, I presume?" Eddy smirked.
"Have I, seen you before?" the intruder curiously asked. "You look familiar."
"It's possible," Eddy shrugged. "I've been around these parts for a while trying to fight murderers like yourselves."
The poacher laughed deeply. "Murderers?" he chuckled. "Is that what you think we are? You're wrong… We aren't murderers."
"What are you then?"
"We are what nature has allowed us to become on her own… Predators. We fill a role as old as life itself. We are what the snake is to the rat, what the crocodile is to the wildebeest. Do you fault them for their hunts? No. So why do you fault me for mine?"
"I don't know," Eddy shrugged again. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you guys use machine guns and waste these animal’s lives over one piece of their bodies to sell to the highest bidder as an aphrodisiac, leaving the rest to just waste away. Maybe that’s why… Maybe."
The man stepped closer to Eddy, narrowing his eyes. "You know," he said, pointing a finger, "I do know you. Yes… You're the one who but a bullet through my hand in South Africa three years ago." The man lifted his left hand to reveal a circular scar on his palm. "You stopped me from acquiring my prize. My employers made me pay dearly for it," he hissed.
"Little copper bastards suck, don't they?" Eddy grinned. "A little taste of your own medicine never hurts though. It gives one perspective."
The man fiercely drew a large knife from his waist, holding it backwards in his clenched hand.
…
Jackson and the two other guardsmen he was with ran low behind a parked flatbed truck near the back end of the facility. They had managed to stay hidden with the help of loaded cargo pallets and other supplies dispersed along the interior perimeter of the compound. But now, in order to make it to the science lab, they would have to make their way across the open gap of the facility’s north entrance that led out to the runway.
"Shit," one of the guardsmen said, seeing the gap. "That’s at least forty feet. They'll see us for sure if we try and make that."
Jackson looked back south and saw Eddy surrounded by the intruders, one of them wielding a knife dangerously close to his face. The distraction was working though as he had all of their attention.
"We have to - "A staticky crackle in Jackson's ear interrupted him. The other guardsmen heard it to in their earpieces.
A welcome voice suddenly came through. "Mikumi Station, this is ISAF HQ at Base Adowa transmitting through ISAF strike drone Alpha-One on emergency channel. Airstrike request has been received and authorized by the Security Council. Hang on boys; the heat is coming in ten minutes."
Jackson looked to the sky, which was just beginning to brighten with the coming morning. He looked at his fellow guardsmen and said, "We're crossing the gap."
…
Eddy subliminally smiled when he heard the base's message in his earpiece.
"I'll give you some perspective if that is what you seek," the poacher said angrily, slipping his knife under Eddy's chin. "Since UNIRO came around, we've become the hunted. Before, we ruled these lands. Wewere the law." The man pressed the tip of his blade gently into the underside of Eddy's mouth. "You are making my job very hard. For months we've been noticing animals going missing but how exactly we did not know."
"That was probably annoying to be out of the loop," Eddy smiled. "How does it feel to have the whole world turn on you? Your buyers are going out of business left and right. The ivory trade and all its horrors are all but over," he defiantly pronounced.
"And how does it feel to have the whole world watchingyou?" asked the man. "Everyone," he said, pointing the knife at Eddy's chest. "The good," then he pointed it back at himself, "and the bad." He began to laugh a low, sinister laugh. "Your UNIRO hasn't just inspired the good in this world, it has disturbed the order of things and some aren't very happy about it. You don't have as many friends as you think. How do you think we're here," the poacher said, raising his arms.
"Well, thanks for just giving me the identities of who sold us out. Only four people in the Tanzinian government know about this station. Should make the investigation after all of this pretty easy."
The man shook his head. "There will not be an investigation after this. You will be dead."
Suddenly he took his knife and plunged it into Eddy's body near his left collarbone. Eddy grabbed the knife with his hands, yelling out in pain, dropping to his knees. The invader knelt down on one leg, slowly twisting the knife further into Eddy's flesh.
"I will scrape through every data file of this facility and I will find out where the others are and burn them to the ground. I will also find out where you are taking these animals and make my way there to begin anew… to become the alpha predator once more."
…
"Clear!"
"Thank goodness!" cried Sergeant Folcik, seeing Jackson and the other guardsmen burst through the science lab's door. "What is happening? Who is attacking us?"
"A band of poachers," Jackson replied. "Guardsman Simmons is stalling them right now outside. We've come to get you out of here before an airstrike hits."
"How long do we have?" Folcik asked.
One of the guardsmen checked his watch. "Six minutes."
"How many people do we have in here?" Jackson asked, looking around the long, rectangular lab. "Is this everyone?"
"Yes," Folcik replied, grabbing Haji and Nailah under his arms. "We've got fifteen."
"Okay," sighed Jackson, stepping over towards a window. He cracked open the blinds. Outside, no more than ten feet away, was the poacher's dump truck. He couldn't see their leader or Eddy. Only three of them were visible, standing with their guns drawn just out of the way of the truck. "Simmons is still alive," he said.
"How do you know that?" asked a guardsman.
"Because they're still aiming at something," Jackson said, looking back over his shoulder. "I can see them."
Jackson turned around to see one of the attackers staring right back at him.
"Shit."
…
"Someone is there!" shouted one of the poachers to Eddy's right. "Someone is there!"
Gunfire erupted once more as three of the poachers opened fire on the science lab.
"Find them!" irately shouted their leader, standing back up. "Find everyone that is still here and kill them! Circle around the facility!"
…
"Everyone down!" Jackson yelled as he returned fire through the shattered window. "Guardsmen, get them out! I'll hold them off!"
"Lets go, lets go!" shouted another guardsman over the violent exchange, picking up Nailah. Haji grabbed the guardsman's pants, trying to hide from the spraying bullets between his legs. "Heads down! Heads down!"
"Mikumi Station, Base Adowa. Four minutes until strike. Are you in position to laze target, over?"
"Negative!" Jackson hailed back through his radio. "We are taking fire!"
…
Eddy ripped the knife from his body with his right arm and thrust it up and into the lead poachers leg. The large man however did not flinch. He looked down at Eddy, his eyes seething.
"I… I thought that would work," Eddy quipped.
The man grabbed Eddy's neck and held him up into the air. "Whatever it is you've been planning it will not work. We outnumber you three to one."
"Yeah, yeah," Eddy struggled, gripping the man's outstretched arm. "We know."
…
Jackson turned around to see he was alone in the lab. He kept firing until he ran out of ammo, killing at least four poachers. Once out, he ran into the next container unit, the med-block, and then reloaded his P90 with the clip Eddy had given him. A poacher unexpectedly burst into the container, jumping Jackson.
The poacher wrestled him to the ground until he had him pinned. He punched Jackson across the face, grabbed his P90, and threw it away past a bed. With a primeval squeal the poacher grabbed his knife and threw his arms up to plunge it into the guardsman. As he did Jackson quickly grabbed his side arm from his waist holster and expelled two bullets into the crazed man, killing him instantly.
"Oh shit," Jackson wheezed, working his way out from underneath the poacher's body. "Shit, shit, shit!"
"Mikumi Station, Base Adowa. One minute until strike. Are you in position to laze target, over?"
…
Eddy kept stalling. He kneed the man in his broad chest but it was really just for show; his strength all but lost to his bleeding wound.
"Enough!" the poacher clenched, reaching down and removing his own knife from his leg. "You've lost. I must admit," he chuckled, "this is my first time fighting against you UNIRO people. You talk much better than you fight," he said, punching Eddy in the chest.
Eddy wiggled in his arm. He briefly looked around. They were alone. Gunfire was now being exchanged on the opposite side of the facility. A blue twinkle caught his eye. He looked down to see a blue laser on the poachers left side.
"Our victory here today will remind the world who is at the top of the food chain," the poacher said, raising the point of his knife to between Eddy's eyes. "Once and for all…"
"Mikumi Station, Base Adowa. Target acquired. Firing!"
"You're, you're not at the top of the food chain," Eddy smirked. "You're not the top predator. You're missing something."
"And what is that?" asked the man, twisting his head.
"Air power," Eddy muttered.
The poacher looked over Eddy's shoulders and saw three growing points of yellow light. He instantly dropped Eddy from his grasp. He looked down and saw the laser on his body. He followed it to see Jackson forty feet away.
Seconds later he and Eddy disappeared into a cloud of fire and dirt. The dump truck blew apart into the science lab, debris flying everywhere. Two other explosions ripped across the compound as the ISAF drones missiles connected with their targets.
When the dust cleared and the flames extinguished in the rising sun, Jackson saw Eddy face down a few dozen feet from the missiles impact crater. He ran to him. Sergeant Folcik met up with Jackson at the head of security's lifeless body. Folcik carefully flipped Eddy over. The right side of his face was burned and bleeding, his uniform blackened.
"Is he dead?" Jackson wearily asked, resting a hand on Eddy's shoulder.
Folcik felt for a pulse on his neck as more guardsmen arrived. He sorrowfully looked at Jackson.
"It's erratic," he said.
Eddy suddenly gasped to life, grabbing Jackson's arm. "Did… Did we win? Did we win?" he struggled.
"Yes, sir," Jackson smiled, tears beginning to pool in his eyes. "We did it. The animals are safe."
Eddy smiled as best he could. "Good," he said, looking up to the sky. "I'm happy," he whispered. "I'm happy. I'm…"
Eddy's voice softly trailed away, his head going limp. Jackson knew he had passed. He gently closed Eddy's eyelids.
"He'll be remembered for what he did here," Folcik consoled. "The hero of Mikumi Station."
Three UNIRO aircraft flew overhead, surveying the battle damage. Jackson watched them go by from west to east. He slowly removed his white helmet and tucked it under his arm. Standing up, Jackson gazed over the smoke and crackling fires. His face was dirty and sweat soaked his uniform.
"No," he said quietly. "He gave his life for the protection of an entirely different species." Jackson gestured to the animal cages. "He'll be remembered as their hero."