The Chameleon Soldier: NOW AS AN ALIEN BLUE HE CANNOT DIE. Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Twenty-six years ago, I was a Lieutenant leading a patrol. Dr. Mead here was the medical officer on that patrol. He ministered to a young trooper we found lying unconscious by a creek. I don’t know how it’s possible, but you are that trooper.” The major fairly spat out the words.
    Killian remained silent.
    The doctor studied his face. “I feel I’m looking at the same man I saw at that creek,” he muttered. “You’re identical to him. When I examined you a few minutes ago, I noticed a spider-like birthmark on the back of your neck. It is the same birthmark I saw on the trooper whom we found unconscious at the creek.” The doctor laid a hand on Killian’s shoulder. “Tell us if it’s you. I’d like to know how you’ve stayed so young and virile all these years,” he implored.
    Killian realized the doctor was right. He had not reckoned with the birthmark. He could not believe Dr. Mead was the young medical officer from Fort Defiance, all those years ago. He gazed up at him, but still did not acknowledge anything.
    The major snorted. “Damn you, Killian Muldoon! I don’t know what witchery you’re up to, but I’ve known all these years there was something strange, about you.”
    “My name is Killian Danaher, sir. I’m twenty-eight years old, and I’m from the fine state of Kansas. I’ve never seen you two officers before.”
    Major Liddle’s face turned red with anger as he stepped back, and turned to the two troopers who had come into the infirmary with him.
    “Sergeant, you take Killian Muldoon to the stockade, and throw him in with those drunken Indians. We’ll get the truth out of him later!” he bellowed.
    The burly sergeant took Killian by the arm. He and the private escorted him to the stockade.
    Major Liddle and the doctor watched them go.
    “It’s uncanny,” said Dr. Mead, “but I’m positive it’s him. However, as a doctor, I don’t know how it’s possible. It’s as if time has stood still for him.”
    “For years I tried to find out what his secret was. The things he did on scouting and reconnaissance missions were totally impossible. He’s some sort of a demon.”
    “I don’t believe in that sort of thing, Major, but with him, it’s certain something is highly unusual. He isn’t normal. I’d like to examine him thoroughly.”
    “You’ll get your opportunity, Dr. Mead, but it will be later tomorrow. In the morning I’ll be questioning Killian Muldoon, along with my interrogators.”
    Outside a guard opened the barbed wire gate and the sergeant shoved Killian inside the stockade. He looked around at his prison. It was a thirty-foot square compound, surrounded by a ten-foot high barbed fence. There was an armed guard on each of the four sides.
    The sergeant yelled, “Yeah, soldier boy, look around. You ain’t going anywhere, so you may as well make yourself comfortable with your drunken cellmates.”
    Killian regarded the drunken Crow Indians. They were huddled together, lying on the ground, loudly snoring.
    That night, as Killian lay near the Indians, he pondered ways of getting out of the stockade. He realized that Major Liddle would go to any lengths to learn his secret. Killian cursed the day he had had the life-changing fight with the weird Indian whose bluish blood had spilled into his mouth and eyes.
    The transformations had now become a major part of his life. They weren’t something that happened to him when he became angry or frightened. Now Killian was able to control the transformations. This knowledge had come to him a few months previously, while working on his farm. One afternoon, while plowing a field, he’d been daydreaming about his encounters with the Apaches in Arizona. Slowly he began to transform into an Apache. He stopped concentrating on the Apaches, and instead focused his mind on the Negro man, Chester Freeman. He watched with bemusement as his arms turned a dark brown. He wondered how much control he had. That evening, in his room, he