He had a small film camera; typical spy stuff- it looked like a toy. He knew he needed something visual; he got images of the location of the base, the notable shape of the buildings... and the robot monster that was about to cut his head off.
The robot had very human like moves. Tusk pulled out his giant knife. some might call it a sword, but for his purposes it was always just an oversized knife.
He had a size advantage but this robot was fast, and with blades attached to both it's arms, it slashed up Tusk's chest and shoulder. The cuts were so deep the attack left him gasping for air. But he got in one good hit; a head shot that dented the helmet; yes, it was a helmet, there was a human being under the robotic armor.
Not just any human; it was Shawn. Through cracks in the visor area, human eyes were visible. Tusk made sure the camera went off one last time; this was the picture he desperately needed. Then he felt a horrifying burning sensation like someone hit him with a red hot frying pan. He turned to see another robot, but this one appeared to be made of fire. He did not even try to take a picture of this one. He made his escape by leaping off a high ledge, disappearing in to thick trees.
Like any 30 foot fall he did not walk away unscathed but all thay mattered at the moment was walking away as fast as possible. He walked until he collapsed. He awoke at a very large (for a campsite), high tec tent.
"I think he's awake..." said a woman's voice.
"you deal with it." said another woman much further away.
Tusk was on a medical cot that barely fit his height. He sat up an immediately fell to one side. He caught himself with his left leg- which he now realized was broken.
"I'll try to find a bigger bed," said the woman, nervously. "I'm Kim Wu, I'm kind of the new kid here." she said bringing out a chair that might be more comfortable for someone of his height. She was pretty with bright red hair and angelic blue eyes- but she did not look like someone who would be named 'Wu.'
"where is 'here'?" he asked, since she looked approachable and kind. "oh, this is..."
"KIM!" the other woman shouted.
"sorry, Orchid." she flinched. "Let s just say we're classified- and we've heard of you." Kim nodded, yes, that sounded reasonable.
"we are in a dead zone," she explained, this would be the hard part, "no phones, no email, just data collection. no one comes in her unless they are scheduled to- meaning... we cannot get you to a hospital." her voice was cracking as if she was about to cry. She was essentially telling him was going to die here. "the next data pick up is in 3 days... we will fly you out at that time. But until then, I'm a trained medic and I will be in charge of your care."
When he was unconscious she cleaned and bandaged the massive 4th degree burn that covered most of his back. She administered antibiotics but it would not be enough.
"i'm sorry, i need you to lay back down, maybe on the floor." she moved some of the hospital grade blankets to make a comfortable space. She rolled him on his side, and tried to hold back her emotions, as she washed off dead flesh and sanitized exposed bone.
He did not complain, although she could feel him shivering. She removed her gloves and touched his face, he had a high fever. "did you take my camera?" he asked in a forced breath. "did the last picture come out?" he quickly added; they could keep the camera for all he cared, but he needed to know if he saw what he thought he saw.
"I'll go ask." Kim went to her supervisor, a brunette woman named Orchid. Orchid was young a pretty but rather hard edge. Kim was not sure she would even be given access to the photos, but surprisingly Orchid immediately printed off a copy for her.
"he would only ask if he already knew who this was." she said sternly, passing off the image. Kim returned to Tusk's side and handed him the picture. It was clear as day. "Do you know who that is?" "SSgt Shawn Cree, my son in law." he said, struggling to take a breath. Lying in his back, the pain was shooting through him muscles, causing spasms that threatened to block his airway.
"...his body was stolen from the scene of a car accident" he swallowed hard.
Kim tried to lift his head to give him some water, but the motion caused him to cough violently. She moved away and returned to Orchid. "Can we ask the pickup helicopter to get here sooner." Kim asked, as calmly as possible.
Orchid rolled her eyes. "The helicopter is coming from a location on the other side of the country. 3 days is the soonest it could get here is. -Did you ask him about the picture?"
"yes, this is SSgt Shawn Cree, his son in law. He said the body was stolen from the scene of a traffic accident." Kim answered, trying to maintain her professional demeanor.
"Thank you Kim that will be all."
Kim went to look for whatever painkillers she could give the poor man. There were only pills. And she knew if she gave him pills he would likely vomit them back up. Depressed and defeated, she knelt beside him; his eyes remained closed as if he was trying to meditate the pain away, "will you tell my daughter?"
"what should I tell her?" Kim asked, her hand slipped in to his, she traced her fingers over his large masculine hands. She felt him trying to hold her hand.
"tell her, Shawn has been found." he started to fall asleep, " tell her .I didn t fail her..."
Kim went to sleep next to him, her hand never leaving his. She did as good of a job as she could, she said a prayer for him to at least live through the night.
That prayer was horrifyingly interrupted. After finally falling asleep, Kim awoke to the man convulsing; blood oozed from his mouth, ears and eyes. This was NOT normal infection. Kim put her arms around him, as if to hold him, allowing a bit of comfort in his final moments. She stroked her hands down the bare skin of his neck; that's when she felt it- an injection site.
Kim shot to her feet, the injection site was still leaking, and the fluid was burning her hand. She screamed and turned on all the lights. Orchid casually emerged from her sleeping quarters. "It had to be done. But I was hoping he could die quietly; to not wake you .
The injection was an amped up version of a local snake poison; so when the local authorities find the body they will assume it was an accidental death." Orchid explained as she proceeded to clean up.
"You have to understand, he was out here because a family member was missing; can you imagine what would happen if he told people that their loved ones might still be alive? Orchid said, walking towards her now terrified assistant, her hands covered in toxic blood. He might have survived his initial injuries; we couldn t risk that- This was necessary, for the sake of our mission." Orchid looked Kim in the eyes with a robotic coldness.
But Kim was still in shock. This was murder, no matter the reasoning.
Orchid patted Kim on the shoulder, leaving behind a blood stain."I'll tell you what, when the pickup helicopter comes you can leave here, to return his belongings to his family." Notice she said 'belongings' not body . Orchid would likely get rid of the body after Kim left. "I can live with that." Kim replied, somewhat fearfully.
"good. I trust you to not divulge too much information." With that, Orchid went back to bed.
Kim took his sword, and his wallet. She looked for anything that would point her in the right direction; perfect she said, locating a small wallet size picture of a military groom and his young blonde bride. Even with the small size she could tell it was the SSgt he spoke of earlier- so this woman must be his daughter, maya she read, from the back of the photo. Kim vowed to find this "Maya", but was it Maya Cree or Maya Carter? -A quick Google search would reveal the answer. "Maya Cree, jungle goddess- at the Golden Angel gentlemen's club." His daughter was a stripper.