Billy Sunday told his squad to take cover in the shade of a standing stone. He looked around over the iron sights of his weapon. He had a telescopic sight he could use, but had taken it off. The desert threw up too much of a glare when he used it.

He didn't have a shroud for his sight like Espy. The sniper watched their backtrail calmly. If he saw something he didn't like, that something would have a hole drilled through it.

“I'm going forward,” said Billy. “Take a break. Keep out of the heat as much as you can. When I get back, we'll move to the next position.”

“We're going to need water, Billy,” said Spinnelli. “If those plants are based around some kind of watering hole, we're going to have to move in there and take shelter until we figure out our next move.”

Billy nodded. They were in for a slow death without water, or food.

“I'm just moving down to the next piece of cover,” said Billy. “I'll be back in a minute. Then we can move forward.”

Billy slid out of the shade and jogged toward the outgrowth of plants in the distance. Something struck him as wrong about what he was seeing. He slid into the shade of another formation of rocks. He didn't see any water on the land.

Were the plants taking all the water for themselves?

He looked the growth over. He saw tremendous flowers connected together with vines. If they cut the vines, they might find water inside. He realized the flowers had grown over a pile of rocks stacked on top of each other.

Was there a source of water inside that pile? Is that why the plants had taken it over? The rest of the place was as barren as what they had crossed to get there.

Some of the flowers orientated on his pile of rocks. He didn't like that. That meant they could sense him. What happened if they had some way to attack?

Did his squad want to spend ammunition on plants?

A hand grenade might take care of the plants at ground level. Then they could set the rest on fire with one of the 40mm grenades Eckles had for building assaults.

Clearing the plants made the most sense to Billy. Then they could see where the water happened to be after they were done.

He wondered if there was a way to climb the pile of rocks. If they could get water and shelter from the pile, they just needed to find food other than the plants growing around the tower. There was no telling how poisonous the plants were.

He doubted cooking them would kill everything wrong with them.

He worked his way around the pile of rocks. He found that the plants seemed to be descending from the top instead of climbing the stone like he first thought. He hoped that meant drinkable water at the top of the vines.

The flowers moved to keep him in sight as he moved. Testing showed them pointing at him as he moved around his circuit. Nothing happened. What would they do if he moved closer?

He decided he didn't want to find out without the rest of the squad ready to pull him out of trouble.

The grenade launcher might clear off a face. If it punched through and buried the water, they would have to kill the plants and dig it up so they could boil it for drinking.

He decided to head back and talk with the others. Maybe they would have better ideas than he did. He marked his position by his original cover before walking away.

He glanced over his shoulder once as he crossed the hot desert to his squad. The flowers that he could see followed him every step of the way. The urge to throw some kind of explosive made his hands itch. It wouldn't be the first time he had set fire to a target to get what he wanted.

He doubted it would be the last as long as he was in the business of shooting people for money.

He stepped in the shadow of the big rock where the rest of the squad rested. He hunkered down so he could draw in the dirt with his knife's point.

“The plants are coming out of the top of a tower of rocks,” said Billy. He drew a circle to denote the tower. “There are six smallish rocks we can use for cover around it. I didn't see any way to climb the tower as long as the plants cover it. We'll have to burn them if we want to see if there is a spring inside that thing.”

“How tough do these plants look?,” asked Spinnelli.

“I don't know, but they follow you when you move,” said Billy.

“What do you mean they follow you?,” asked Spinnelli.

“The vines have these flowers on them. When you move, they move,” said Billy. “As long as we don't get closer than those rocks before we go, I think they will just wait for us to set them on fire. After that, who knows what they will do?”

“The rest might attack,” said Hanson. “There are plants back home that will try to grab insects and small birds.”

“There is also a worry that if we use explosives on that pile of rock, we might bury any water that is there,” said Billy.

“It's going to be dark soon,” said Spinnelli. “We don't want to burn anything when we can't see what we're doing.”

Billy agreed with that. Burning your way through something at night was great if you wanted to leave nothing standing. Operating against something unknown could get you killed if you moved at the wrong time.

“First light, we move to the nearest of these cover points and see if there is a way in without expending too much effort,” said Spinnelli. “That tower might be full of water. Any strike at the base might dump it out and make it unusable for us.”

“I think I have some white phosporus grenades we can take apart and use to burn the vines away,” said Eckles. “I could maybe build some kind of timer to set the thing off while we're using the small rocks for cover.”

“That's an option,” said Spinnelli. “Right now, we're going to set up a guard rotation and try to get some sleep. We have to conserve what we have left before we try to kill those flowers.”

“I'll take the first watch,” said Billy. “How long before I wake my relief?”

“Two hours,” said Spinnelli. “We still have blankets we can use to build a tent. That will help keep the sun off while we're trying to sleep.”

Billy handed over his rope so they could use that to set up a line to drape the blankets over for their lean-to. He climbed up to the top of the rock and laid down to lower his profile. His rifle took a spot next to him. He pulled out his telescopic sight and scanned the desert for threats.

He doubted anything would come after them. The plants were the only living things they had seen in their march across the desert. He hadn't detected any insects, lizards, or small birds. The place seemed barren except for them and the green wall they had discovered.

Even the air seemed heavy for some reason.

He wondered how long they had before it rained. A desert under a thunderstorm became dangerous with flash flooding.

If a flood happened, would his lookout post stand out of the moving water?

Billy turned in a circle to view the barren land. The sun going down made it easier for him to use his scope. He thought he saw movement in the distance. He focused on the blur. The object was too far away for his scope to pick out details.

Maybe Espy's scope would see better than his.

Billy slid down the rock. He jogged around to where his squad slept under the awning they had constructed. He hunkered down and tapped Espy on the shoulder. The sniper snapped awake.

“We might have trouble,” Billy said. “I need a second opinion.”

Espy stood. He picked up his rifle. He removed the lens caps on his scope and let them hang by their tethers.

Billy pointed in the direction where he had seen the object moving in the distance. Espy raised his rifle and pointed it on target. He lowered his weapon.

He shook his head. He thought trouble was on the way too, and he had a better look at it with his scope. He put the caps back on his scope.

“The tower?,” said Billy.

Espy nodded. It was high ground. That would force the enemy to come up after them where they could shoot at them like the sitting ducks they wanted.

“Trouble is on the way,” said Billy. He nudged Hanson with a foot. “Get up, sleepy head. We need to leave.”

“What's going on?,” demanded Spinnelli. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“Something is crossing the desert,” said Billy. “It's big. We need to move if we want to deal with it.”

“How big?,” demanded Spinnelli.

Espy held out both arms to full extension. He slung his rifle long enough to take the blankets and rope down and pack them in straps on his pack. He started moving toward the vines.

“Let's go,” said Billy. “If Espy is moving out, you know it's bad.”

Hanson and Eckles dragged themselves to their feet. Spinnelli rubbed his face one more time before he rolled over and shoved himself up with his hands.

Billy waved them forward while he watched the desert. He saw red specks and didn't like that all.