Kilo-61 (Damned of the 2/19th Book 19)- Ongoing

Smarter than I Thought

Site Bravo-Three-Ten (Military Command & Control Section)
Blackbriar Ridge Training Facility
Secure Military Area (Decommissioned)
North Dakota
United States of America
19 Feb, 2002
0545 Hours

My boots clomped on the steel floor as we moved through the corridors of the underground hardsite. Kincaid was beside me, the heavy armored J-Suit not slowing him down a bit, although when I glanced at him his face was covered in sweat and I caught him sipping from the fluids tube. We'd gone about a half mile through the primary corridors in less than a half hour, and while I wasn't feeling any fatigue I knew everyone else behind me, with the exception of Heather, was probably feeling like they had been drug behind a tank.

We were heading for the Echo Egress point for two reasons. The first was a simple reason, it was the closest one that wasn't reporting massive temperature readings. Second, and I hadn't told anyone this, was the fact that it had been opened twelve hours prior for forty-five minutes and had not been opened since. That meant I'd get answers to some questions there.

The 'soldiers' we'd come up against kept going through my heads. They had bad reflexes, all their reflexes probably honed on practice ranges and simulations. When I'd gotten up on them they'd panicked, plain and simple.

Of course, there were experienced men who had panicked when I'd rumbled up on them like a freight train. Practice and simulations could never prepare you for someone coming at you face first with blood in their eyes, murder in their heart, and steel in their fists. I'd been lucky the first time it happened to me, training and reflexes kicking in and saving my life.

I stopped at an intersection, pretending on making a decision of which way to go, to let everyone else catch their breaths, still thinking about the toy soldiers we'd run into. Test tube babies had been around since like the 1970's. Cloning technology had made headlines in the 1990's when they'd cloned a sheep, which had died pretty fast. Something to do with telemeres having been cut during the replication process shortening the life expectancy as well as tumor problems. There had been organ cloning, but it had been made illegal when people found out you couldn't just grow the organ with common technology.but had to grow an organism to support it with oxygen and nutrients.

So someone had somewhat beaten the problem. But left the question, were they using the force growth theories to artificially speed up the growth process, or were these clones growth for twenty years or so.

The thought brought up the image of the one in yellow's face. The lack of scars, lines, other distinguishing features and the odd feeling of youth I'd gotten from him. I'd fought child soldiers before in Africa and Indonesia, and those clones had given me the same feeling of wasted potential.

There was also something else in there. A disgust, an anger, an urge to tear and hack at them and obliterate them completely. It reminded me of Alfenwehr, when we'd run into things the mountain had brought up. A gut deep hatred and urge to smash and destroy.

Their faces were slightly off. Their eyes slightly too big, not like Aine's eyes, but alien looking eyes. The pupils were too large. The noses were wide and flat, more akin to African descent noses, but the facial features didn't match up. Thin, bloodless lips, and pale skin that had never seen the sun. It made me wonder if cancer was enough of a problem they didn't want to risk sun or UV exposure in case of skin cancer. Whoever had built them was using...

"Need to get moving, Sergeant, the privates are flagging," Kincaid said, his voice hoarse.

I look a right, heading down the steel passageway. It wasn't the fastest way, but there was a place I needed to make a stop.

COMMAND AND CONTROL SUPPLY - ELECTRONIC WARFARE DIVISION was the line I was following. It took about ten minutes to get there, and everyone just stood there while I stopped and stared for a long minute at the door leading into the supply section.