Reckoning ~ Indian Hill 2 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure Read Free

details.” I thought he was kidding until he walked through the sealed outer chamber.
    “Son of a bitch,” I mumbled as I laughed and headed for my bunk.
    The four days came and went without much incident. Tanya developed a small sneeze that almost shut down the state, but it ended up she was just allergic to some of the detergent that was being used on the hypoallergenic pillows. Kind of ironic, I thought. Beth hadn’t said more than two words to me since we landed. She kept to her side of the quarantine wing. Deb had become increasingly morose and sullen the longer we were cooped up.
    I avoided everyone just on general principle. The general did not make it back from Washington before the doctors finally cleared us. The women all hopped into one of the troop transports. They were shuttling them down to the Bangor Airport so they could go home or wherever they desired. A few of them were going to the Bahamas on the U.S. government dime. Why not? Might as well enjoy it while it was free. And true to his word, the general gave me a Humvee with the hard plastic shell, and another little gift. A USMC officer’s uniform with captain’s bars lay on the passenger seat. I was still sitting on the fence with that whole question but it sure was an impressive looking uniform. I barely set foot into my new vehicle when the troop transport truck came to a grinding halt. Beth jumped off the back and ran straight towards me.
    “Mike, wait a second!” she yelled with her arms outstretched. I waited patiently. She had just doubled the number of words she had spoken to me since we got back to Earth. I was too curious to do anything but wait and see what she wanted. I did, however, notice Deb sticking her head out to see what was going on.
    “Wait, Mike. I just have to get this out before you leave,” she said with a little bit of laborious breathing.
    “I’m listening,” I said coolly. I’d been waiting for two weeks for her to say something. I wasn’t about to now let her know that my heart was somewhere in my throat, and jumping around like a frog on crack.
    “I know I’ve been distant to you. I know that everything you did out there was for us. I-I’m just having a difficult time handling the images of what you did up there with the person I fell in love with.”
    “Do you think it was easy for me? Killing those men?”
    “No, no! I’m not saying that!”
    “Would you rather it were me on the wrong end of one of those swords?”
    “No, God, no!” She screamed. “You’re not being fair.”
    “Beth, what the fuck is fair? Certainly nothing that happened up there.”
    “I know, I know.”
    “I did what I had to. To get us out of there, I did what I had to.” My voice level dropped in half. I had no desire to yell at her. “I am going to keep doing what I have to do.”
    “What does that mean?” she asked as she looked at me with pleading eyes.
    “The general asked me to join the Marines, and I am going to.” It was that simple and easy. I was well aware that I had to continue the fight; the day was far from won, and I would do what I had to.
    “How could you? How can you? Haven’t you seen enough death for a thousand life times?” Disgust crossed her face.
    “Beth, they’re coming.” I pointed skyward. “They’re coming whether we want them to or not. And now it’s time for me to pay them back for all the kindness that they bestowed upon us.”
    “You’re not the man that I fell in love with.”
    “No, I’m not. How could I be? I don’t know what you went through up there, but I can guarantee it wasn’t anything like what I went through. I was forced to kill other human beings for the entertainment of aliens. Do you know what that did to my moral conscience?  Not only was I being torn up physically in those bouts but also spiritually. Do you know how many times I almost laid down my arms so that I could just have it end?”
    “Then why didn’t you?” she shot back.
    “Because of you!!” I