was just nerves as we closed in on the reported position. Still, there was the odor. I crept up to the fourth man in line when we halted for our usual twenty meter stop.
“What is it, Walker?” He whispered as I tapped him on the shoulder. He spoke over his shoulder still covering his area.
“I smell body odor,” I said. He sniffed several times and gave the ‘really, we brought this guy with us’ look.
“Seriously, I smell something,” I said trying not to shrink under the look but without much success.
“Eagle six, Comers here,” he said into his throat mic.
“Go ahead, Comers. What’s up?” Our team leader answered.
“Walker here says he smells something,” Comers replied.
I soon made out the crouched, shadowy figure of our team leader — I can’t for the life of me remember his name — make his way to us. He kneeled next to us and sniffed the air.
“I don’t smell shit. Did you overdo the uppers?” He asked thinking I was having a case of the nerves.
I could see the frustration and disgust in his eyes thinking he made a mistake in bringing me along. The jungle already smelled of rot and decay but there is a distinct smell that a body long removed from soap and water gives off. I could still catch an occasional whiff of that very distinct aroma.
“No, I haven’t taken any. Adrenaline is doing me just fine for now,” I answered. “With the cooling of the day, the air is settling into this draw. I swear it’s there,” I answered whispering. See, I had spent many hours with my grandfather in the woods. The amount of knowledge he had about the woods could never be imparted in a single lifetime but I absorbed all he offered and thirsted for more.
“It could be coming from the reported camp ahead then,” he said.
“It was stronger about twenty meters behind us so I think whatever is causing it is on the ridge line above us,” I said. Some of the previous disgust left his eyes but not entirely. I could see some indecision as he contemplated our next move.
“I could sneak up the ridge a ways and take a look,” I said quietly thinking that seeing I was already in for a penny, I might as well be in for the whole pound. I remember him calling to our point man to find a dense section of brush to hole up in.
“We need a rest anyway. Comer, go with him but Walker, if you’re wrong, this is your last time out,” he said and crept back up to his position.
I’ll never forget Comer’s look and the shake of his head. Here was a noob with a case of nerves and he had to go babysit. Looking back, I can’t say I blame him. We moved into thick brush before Comer and I moved out.
“Okay, Walker, let’s go look for your phantoms,” he said as we parted leafy fronds and slowly moved out. We crept up the steep ridge angling back toward where I first smelled them. We had made it about half way up the ridge when he turned.
“Okay, I smell them too,” he said and radioed back. “Eagle six, Comer.”
“Go ahead,” the reply came back.
“What do you know? The noob was right. Do you want us to proceed and get a visual or wait?” Comer asked.
“Come back and guide us in,” Eagle six responded. We found the camp about three-quarters of the way up on a flattened section of the ridge and reported its location. Nope, this wasn’t my last invite with the team and was eventually moved up to point before moving to a different team and set of missions entirely. I did seem to have elevated senses in the field so perhaps Lynn is right, maybe I do have selective hearing.
“Are you okay in there?” I hear Lynn call from the shower room door.
“Yeah, just fine. I’ll be out in a moment,” I answer although thoughts of inviting her in invade my mind momentarily. I hear the door closing shutting off my chances altogether.
I turn the water off and towel dry. Wiping the fog from the mirror, I see an entirely different person. Although there is still a hint of dark circles under my eyes, those have mostly vanished. I’m startled to notice the scratch on my neck has healed. I also notice my body has tightened up to a degree. I always tried to keep in shape but gravity seemed to be winning that battle as of late. However, the man looking back in the steamy glass is a previous version of me. The morning training seems to have had some affect.
I don a fresh set of fatigues and head outside. The smell of dinner wafts down from the restaurant upstairs. Lynn is ever present at my side not trusting my ability to move on my own. The kids and I meet as usual and I notice a different light in Bri’s eyes. I can’t quite put my finger on it but there is a definite sharpness to them. For that matter, there is the same change in Robert’s eyes as well.
Our meeting is the usual recap except it’s a bit longer and focuses more on the past to catch me up. Bannerman is working to engineer an attachment for the wind turbine to the water pump. The barns, stables, greenhouses, and other pens are almost complete. He notes that we are close to being ready to locate and bring in livestock in addition to starting to plant. He found a housing development area not far from our base and started clearing the land for agriculture. Frank mentions that the night runners appear to be carnivorous so the fields won’t need to be protected from them. Others in the area, meaning bandits and marauders, “well, if we want to protect against them, we’ll have to put up barriers.”
“We won’t be able to plant those fields until next year anyway,” Bannerman chimes in.
Bannerman talks about wanting to bring a water tower in next and have the turbine and water pump supply the tower. He also talks of having to treat the water in the tower but with the projects currently underway, he says this can wait until those are finished.
“Even if we do move up to the bases, we’ll still need a supply of water here for the livestock and greenhouses,” he says concluding his remarks.
Lynn tells about the first group completing phase two of their training ahead of schedule and the second group being a few weeks into their training.
“So, do we continue with our plan and move people up there? We can keep both places with this one mainly being for livestock though I see the need to keep people here as well,” I ask.
“I think we should finish the walls but I think it’d be better to wait until we have more teams trained before we think about splitting our resources,” Lynn says.
“You’re probably right. Besides, it’s going to take us some time to clear the housing areas let alone the other parts of the base we want to use,” I say. “Bannerman, you said the wall was complete around the hospital?”
“Yes, it’s been complete for a little while,” he answers.
“What about tackling this one and clearing it out before venturing to the distribution centers? I also haven’t forgotten about heading off to locate families,” I say.
“I suppose it’s as good as any,” Lynn says but I see Drescoll grimace.
“What’s the look for?” I ask.
“That place is huge. I’m not even sure we could clear that out with all of the teams we have,” he says.
“Let’s take the teams up tomorrow and have a look then,” I reply.
“Leaving two teams here for protection, right?” Lynn states.
“Of course,” I respond.
We break and head to our rooms for the night with me thinking they don’t really need me. They’ve accomplished miracles in my absence. It’s not that I feel useless. Quite the contrary, I’m happy they kept everything going. I feel a little tension leave my body realizing this place will continue to function and hopefully survive should something happen to me. It’s still my kids I worry about. They have their mom now so the question of being orphaned is less of a player, but I still have that parental side that I don’t think ever leaves.
I wake the next morning feeling even more vibrant. I head out for a training run with the others and am surprised when it ends. I do notice Bri’s eagerness during the training. Both she and Robert are right in front listening when they should and are totally engaged in the training exercises. They almost look disappointed when it ends.
“Dad?” Bri says as we are heading back in.
“Yeah, hon,” I reply.
“What team am I getting assigned to?” She asks.
This both startles and scares the shit out of me. I feel my heart leap in my chest. Well, it doesn’t exactly leap but more comes to a complete stop and then starts again after some hesitation. I guess I should have been
