ExtremeCircumstances Read Free Page B

him. Sweat beaded on his brow and his heart raced
as his release coiled deep inside his gut. He only needed a moment more to find
his climax and then hopefully fall into a relaxed sleep.
    A scream filled the night and stilled his hand. He hadn’t
let out the call. Not even in his state of hunger. So who had? Another shout of
pain rang though the camp and replaced the desire pumping through his blood
with adrenaline. He had to help. Now. By the time the next shout echoed around
him, Julian had fastened his pants and freed himself from the netting. He left
the relative security of his tent before leveling his weapon in front of him
and then he made his way toward the sounds of terror. He wasn’t the first one
there though. A group of men surrounded a shredded tent and two bodies writhing
on the ground. Julian couldn’t make out who or what had attacked the soldier
but he could tell that the soldier was losing.
    One burst of a laser weapon flashed through the darkness and
the attacker sagged on top of the soldier. “Where the fuck is my medic?” Gates
put his weapon back in his holster before rushing over to the bloody scene. He
rolled the beast off Demetrio and then moved to his man. His fingers swept over
Demetrio’s neck in what Julian could only guess was a search for a pulse.
    “Here, sir.” The medic, Homer, knelt next to Gates in a
puddle of Demetrio’s blood and began his own exam. Even from where he stood,
Julian could see that Demetrio had a large gash that traveled from his neck to
his navel. Whenever the medic would move the man, Demetrio’s internal organs
would show through the tear. Even if they had a hospital the odds wouldn’t be
in the soldier’s favor. Out here in a jungle with only emergency supplies? A
miracle wouldn’t even be enough to save the man.
    “What the fuck is it?” At Marx’s words, all attention except
the medic’s shifted from the doomed soldier to the hostile that’d attacked him.
    “It looks like some mix between reptile and man.” Gates
barely glanced at the animal before his focus returned to Demetrio.
    Julian wished he could be as cavalier about the hybrid lying
on the jungle floor. He couldn’t stop staring at it as his brain raced to find
some sort of explanation. But there was none to be had. The animal did indeed
have the mouth and scales of a reptile but the arms, legs and torso of a man.
And no matter how long Julian examined it, it just didn’t add up. “Is it a
native species?” He’d never heard of an alien life form that fit the particular
description of the beast in front of him but that didn’t mean none existed.
    “Doubt it. I’ve been on most of the inhabited planets in
this system. Never seen the likes of him.” As Gates made the statement Julian
felt bile rise in his throat. “Whatever he was, though, he’s dead now.”
    “As is Demetrio,” the medic said.
    Julian’s stomach cramped painfully as he started to heave.
He was going to vomit. He scrambled out of the group and into the nearest
bushes before he lost his supper.
    What had he gotten himself into? It didn’t seem as if all
the modifications in the world were going to protect him if he could be
attacked by some hybrid as he slept. There wasn’t even safety in numbers in
that case. They hadn’t been any help to Demetrio as the man was being
slaughtered in his own bed.
    It was only their first day on this planet and they were
already down one man.
    There were only nineteen of them left.

Chapter Two
     
    Gates stumbled out of his tent at first light. His eyes were
gritty and his head pounded as though he’d drank too much alcohol the night
before. But his hangover was of the emotional kind. And there was no cure for
it.
    After the other men had buried Demetrio’s body and the body
of the animal that’d attacked him they’d called it a night. But Gates had spent
most of the evening tossing and turning. He couldn’t get the sight of Demetrio
being slaughtered out of his mind. Of