《August Ace》Chapter 4

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The first dolo came at around suppertime while the squad had made considerable distance with the fallen craft left nearly out of sight. Fluttering wings cut through the silent air, catching August’s attention first. “Three o’clock.”

Six heads around him, including Rosek in her mech suit, shifted to the right. General Wolf held up a fist to signal a halt. Colonel West readied his sniper rifle in a quick, fluid motion which betrayed the fifteen or so years he’d been out of the game.

The semi-retired veteran took aim. The dolo undulated westward in lazy arcs showing no sign of being aware of the squad. The brown chitin that made up its exoskeleton sucked in sunlight and kept it prisoner. A grotesque, detached head bobbed and jutted around as it scanned the ground below it. It’s hungry.

“What are you waiting for?” Sterling whispered harshly as West seemed to be taking his time with the shot.

The crew kept silent and watched the buzzing predator, anticipating a white beam to pierce it any moment. The shot never came. Dalton West unscrewed the scope from his rifle and slipped it into a loop on his chest.

“Are you crazy?” Sterling struggled to keep quiet.

“It’s just a baby

“That baby will go on to lay hundreds of eggs one day.” Sterling allowed his voice a little more volume as the dolo flew away.

“No,” August blurted. “That was a male. Females have much more vivid coloration—”

“You think I don’t know that?” The exterminator pointed a thumb to the tank of swirling gas on his back. “That’s not the point. What if that thing did detect us? He’ll come back later with a group of pals, and we’ll regret not having taken care of it before.”

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“Can we continue, please?” Vern Slupman spoke in a shaky voice. “The sooner we can be done with all of this, the better.”

“I agree,” General Wolf said. He gave the signal to move out.

The sun made its way down. August’s stomach rumbled, and his thighs burned as they marched up and down the rolling plains. A stew of dark and bright clouds loomed ahead, threatening the perfect weather they’d lucked out on all day.

“You know what I think?” Sterling reached for his pack of smokes but dropped them back in his pocket before ever taking one out.

No one answered.

“I think the old man’s lost his nerve.”

West glanced back at the exterminator but kept walking.

Sterling smirked. “All those years playing make-believe in those movies have made you soft.”

Luna Belmont laughed. August couldn’t tell if she was laughing at or with Sterling.

“Just my damned luck,” Sterling raised his voice. “Stuck on a mission with a washed-up celebrity and a kid. This is what I get for putting in twelve strong years.” He shook his head and groped the pocket where the cigarettes hid.

The crew returned to silence after that. A line of trees emerged on the horizon. The general had compromised with Rosek and led the squad in as straight a line as possible to make it easy for any potential rescuers to find them. The line of trees ahead quickly revealed itself to be more than that. August had learned about forests in school. Dangerous places. If they were to encounter any dolo, it would likely happen there beneath the oppressive foliage.

“I could’ve hit him, you know,” Dalton West said.

Belmont laughed again. “Why you giving him the time of day?” A taste of her lower district accent snuck out.

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“I’m not,” West said. “It’s just true. I had the thing right in my sights.”

“Why didn’t you shoot?” Slupman asked.

August looked over to Sterling and found, to little surprise, a smirk on the exterminator’s lips.

“I don’t know,” West said. “It wasn’t my nerves like he said. And my time in the movies had nothing to do with it.”

“I’m telling you,” Sterling said. “You’re growing soft. All those parties, pretty girls, booze, and who knows what else have taken their toll on your psyche. You aren’t the killing machine you used to be. Listen, I don’t blame you one bit. I blame whoever put this squad together. It seems to me that a severe lack of research went into forming this group.”

“If you didn’t like the group I put together, you shouldn’t have accepted the invite in the first place,” General Wolf said.

Sterling locked his jaw. He fondled the cigarettes, and again, managed to resist their call.

“We’ll have to make camp soon,” Wolf said.

“Where, exactly?” Belmont had her head on a swivel.

“Anywhere, I suppose,” Wolf said.

“You mean just out in the open like this?” Slupman said.

“The only shelter in sight is the forest,” Wolf said. “I’d much rather be out here where we can see possible threats before they reach us. Have you ever been in a forest at night, Colonel?”

Slupman shook his head.

“It isn’t fun,” Wolf said with grim eyes peering at the distant trees.

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