A Soldier in Love by A. Petrov Page A

It screeched
again and began to gnaw on the cage.

 
    “Are you sure it can’t
get out?” Aaron said looking to Michelle. His face was serious and concerned.

 
    “Yeah, yeah I’m sure.
Remember, I’m a farmer?” Michelle replied with a grin. She knew it wasn’t
really funny but she couldn’t resist.

 
    “Michelle…” Kate began
with a concerned tone in her voice.

 
    Michelle shook her
head. “No, really guys I’m serious it can’t get out.”

 
    Michelle approached the
cage and watched as it bared its teeth at her. They
looked like the kind a dog would have, except much, much sharper. They looked
almost as though they were dingy yellow knives affixed to its mouth. It both
growled and hissed menacingly at her. Michelle had never heard anything as
disturbing as its growl. It was an ugly, smelly thing. It was about the size of
a large dog and its hide looked like that of an armadillo or maybe an elephant.

 
    Aaron shifted his
weight and peered at the molcos hund. “Well, that didn’t do much except piss
him off.”

 
    Aaron shifted through
the things he carried. He opened a bottle of bleach and poured a small amount
in a cup. He took a stepped back and hurled it at the caged being.

 
    It shrieked in pain and
the smell of its burning flesh filled the air.

 
    Kate turned away and
covered her ears.

 
    “The flashlight,” Aaron
called to Kate.

 
    “Sorry,” Kate replied
turning back around to hold the flashlight in place.

 
    “Put it out of its
misery,” Kate begged.

 
    “It’s either us or it,
Kate,” Michelle warned. To Michelle it seemed simple and she kept it that way.
Kill or be killed is what she told herself the weeks and days leading up to the
war. She wasn’t sure how Kate could see an in-between.

 
    Michelle followed
Aaron’s lead and poured another cup splashing it in the thing’s face. She
watched as its hide seemed to melt and it collapsed in the back of the cage.

 
    “What should we do with
its body?” Aaron asked looking to Michelle.

 
    “Leave the carcass out
here. Maybe it will scare off its friends,” she said collecting the various
items they used in their experiment back into her pack.

 
    “God, that thing smells
awful,” Kate said.

 
    Michelle coughed as the
stench rose around them. It was a putrid scent that made her stomach uneasy.

 
    “We better go back
before The Commander notices we’re missing,” Aaron said.

 
    They turned and began
to head back to base. It was a strange thing being almost burnt to death in the
day and frozen to the bone at night. With their increasing thinness, the heat
that used to radiate within them from the day had faded; it had nowhere to
cling to anymore. Michelle didn’t know if she could ever get used to it. With
the sun down, the sandy desert planes were cold. The two moons that orbited the
planet could be seen clearly along with a mirage of bright stars in the sky. Michelle
shivered; she knew that her lack of body weight making her more susceptible to
the cold.

 
    “What are we going to
do?” Kate asked softly.

 
    Aaron and Michelle
remained quiet for a minute both thinking to themselves.

 
    “Why don’t we keep a
small bottle of bleach on us at all times,” Aaron offered.

 
    Kate nodded. “OK but
how?”

 
    “I hope a small bottle
will be enough,” Michelle interjected.

 
    The three went quiet
for a time. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of the soft desert
wind and the crunching of their heavy boots on the sand. The moons provided an
eerie haunting glow to the red sand dunes around them.

 
    “Well, it’s just an
idea…” Kate started.

 
    “Tell us,” Michelle
encouraged.

 
    “Aaron, do you think
our cooler packs would still work if they had bleach in them?” Kate said
pensively.

 
    Michelle looked to
Aaron who was deep in thought.

 
    “Kate, you’re a fucking
genius!” he exclaimed with a huge smile.