Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor Read Online Free PDF Page B

He moved forward enough for
her hand to drop away. The creature tensed when he
moved.
    Its wild dark hair brushed the
ceiling, making it nearly eight feet tall. Slabs of muscle couldn’t
conceal its starved appearance. The sharp angles of its hipbones
topped bowed legs and shrunken privates. Though it wore no
clothing, the thick hair growing on its body would serve to keep it
warm. The sharp odor of unwashed skin and filthy hair hung heavily
around it. It grunted again, exposing strong teeth, yellowed but
otherwise the same as any human’s.
    “ It’s one of their
experiments,” Helen said from across the room. Her voice drew the
thing’s attention.
    As it swung its blue-eyed gaze around
the room, Mak’s stomach tightened. Seeing the cages and the victims
left behind had disturbed him. Their utter helplessness, probably
men who’d been soldiers, had roused his unexpected sympathy. And
now this strange beast with its confused, very human eyes raised
questions about the mission. Was this pathetic creature one of the
monsters they hunted?
    “ Shoot it,” Corporal Box
said.
    “ Quiet, corporal,” Mak
ordered, not liking the edge of panic he heard in Box’s
tone.
    The creature’s brow lowered into a
fierce frown. It glared at Mak and then shifted its stare to the
gun in his hands. It retreated a step and then another.
    “ Shoot it!” Box
yelled.
    It turned and ran, taking long
graceful strides that carried it with amazing speed out of sight.
Box pounded across the room, pushing Dr. Drant aside and lifting
his weapon. He got one shot off before Mak grabbed him.
    Mak didn’t break Box’s arm but it
would be a while before he lifted much with it. The corporal cried
out when his back slammed into the metal wall. Mak held him there
with a hand around his throat. Box dropped his weapon and tugged
uselessly on Mak’s wrist. “Explain yourself.”
    Box fell to his knees when Mak
released him. Pender picked up the corporal’s gun and stepped
back.
    Dr. Drant herded the other doctors
back toward the center of the room. Mak spared them a glance and
found he was glad none of the anger in their eyes was directed at
him.
    The corporal coughed and rubbed at the
red mark on his throat. “That thing is an insult to nature. It
needs to be destroyed like the rest of them.”
    “ You fired your weapon
without waiting for my order.” Mak had never had another Recon
Marine disobey his orders. Only two other marines held rank above
Mak’s and many times he’d led small units independent of his
superior officers.
    Box blinked and swallowed as if he had
a lump in his throat. He struggled to his feet and moved a few
unsteady steps back from Mak. “That thing was dangerous and Dr.
Drant was right behind you.”
    “ We had no evidence it was
dangerous.” Mak scooped up his knife he’d dropped when he grabbed
Box. The corporal backed up another step. “Are you justifying your
disobedience with the conjecture that I couldn’t protect our
charges against one unarmed enemy?”
    Box shook his head but no words came
from his mouth. The sour stench of fear sweat rose in the dry
air.
    Mak noticed the doctors watching them
with wide eyes. “Pender, keep this room secure until I return. No
one leaves. Make sure Box doesn’t shoot me when I come back.” He
ran down the hall after the creature. Its gamey odor hovered in the
narrow corridor.
    It had passed through the outer room
and then out the hall that led to the exit. Mak paused before
exiting, listening for any sound indicating the odd being’s
presence. Instead he heard rapidly approaching steps behind him.
Her scent chased the last remnants of foulness out the
door.
    “ You were to stay behind
with Pender.”
    “ Kory can’t order me to do
anything.” Dr. Drant leaned around him, peering out the
door.
    Mak gently eased her behind him. “I’ll
go first, but when we return to the ship, we’re going to review the
command structure.”
    “ I was thinking the exact
same