Chapter 13

Hopkins was the one who'd found the third body.

He'd been pushing his squad out to expand the security cordon when he'd almost tripped over the body. Despite being mostly intact, this one seemed to be in worse shape than the first. The corpse's jaw was distended, the bone somehow having stretched before breaking away from the top of the skull. Now the rest of the squad was pulling security while Hopkins and their medic, Lance Corporal Cassidy Barrie, investigated the remains.

"What the hell would have caused an injury like that?" Hopkins asked. Despite the obvious damage done to the jaw, the skeleton's teeth were all intact. "Shouldn't whatever had done that have wrecked teeth?" The first thing Hopkins had done was check for ID tags. This body had been one Tom Hallett.

"I'm not really sure, Sergeant." Barrie said. She'd swapped out her regular gloves for a pair of white nitrile gloves pulled from her cargo pocket. She reached down and gingerly took the lower jaw in one hand, cupping the top of the skull in the other. Hallett's remains were still clothed in the slowly-rotting expedition clothing, including the soft-padded 'helmet' the man had worn before he'd died. Barrie pushed up on the lower jaw, hoping to close the teeth. Due to the injuries that Hallett had sustained and the damage done to his jaw, the lower jaw hinged upwards in a way that had the lower teeth reach to where Hallett's nose would have been. "I've never seen anything like this before." Barrie said as she lowered the jaw back to its resting place between Hallett's collar bones.

"I'll call it in." Hopkins said, then he looked at the rest of the squad. "Reed." Corporal Reed kept his rifle up as he looked over his shoulder towards his squad leader. "Help Barrie load this guy onto the litter and move him back to the staging area."

"Check." Reed said, turning and moving towards them in a combat crouch. Barrie extended the litter that she carried attached to the side of her aid bag and the two of them grabbed ahold of Hallett's body to load it. As they moved it, something moved beneath the corpse. Barrie jumped, startled by the movement. Reed had drawn his rifle on it, but stopped when he realized what it was.

It was Hallett's rifle, still attached to the man's body by its sling.

"Holy shit, look at that!" Reed said excitedly. Hopkins snapped in Reed's direction, motioning for the man to quiet down while Hopkins relayed the report of Hallett's body and location to higher. Reed let his own rifle fall to its sling as he bent down to pick up the dead man's weapon. It was an AR-15 that had been customized to its user's preference. The barrel was half an inch shorter than the M27s that the Marines carried, and it had a holographic sight bolted to its top rails. A small, circular laser/light was attached to the right side rail.

"Nice." Early said, having looked to see what Reed was so excited about.

"Fuckin' colonists get these nice tricked out weapons." Reed said, sighting down Hallett's rifle. He pushed the power button for the holographic sight, but nothing appeared. The batteries were dead.

"Yeah, great." Barrie said. "You can cream your jeans about it later. Help me with this." She said. Reed nodded, taking a moment to secure the AR to the side of his pack before helping finish load Hallett onto the litter. Like many Marines, Reed was a gun-nut. Unlike most, who enjoyed shooting and little else, Reed was obsessive. He had a near-encyclopedic knowledge of modern and historical firearms, and loved everything about them. He was the only one who could be found smiling and in a generally good mood during post-operation weapons breakdown and maintenance. He lived for that kind of shit, and was always all too happy to volunteer working in the armory during their rest and refit cycles.

With his new prize and Hallett's body secure, Reed and Barrie carried the litter between them as they started back towards the beach.

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Mercer watched as Reed and Barrie walked towards them, carrying the third body between them on a litter.

"Fuck me. Three bodies?" Fulmer said, also watching. "At this rate, there won't be anyone left to rescue."

"That's if there was anyone left in the first place." Dawes said, having resumed his current activity of finding the largest pebbles on the beach to kick. Pulling 'security' had quickly degraded to 'looking busy if any of the brass were looking in your direction'. Their Lieutenants had pushed a squad from each platoon off the beach to expand their footprint, and the rest were milling about the staging area. Gunnery Sergeant Jones had taken it upon himself to have the I&S Marines begin digging fighting holes. Mercer felt sorry for them as he watched Mahoney and the rest of the 'misfits' picking away at the ground with their entrenching tools. The only good thing about this was that the rain had softened the ground, so they were making good progress. Jones had come over to try and order Mercer's squad to do the same, but he'd quickly been chased off by Staff Sergeant Laraquente, who was acting platoon sergeant while Pops and Lieutenant Fick coordinated with the Captain.

"Holy shit!" Jones said loudly as he started towards Reed and Barrie. "Holy shit!" He said again, emphasizing his surprise and concern in an attempt to elicit some kind of response from any other Marines. No one took the bait. "What the hell happened to them?"

"Not sure, Gunnery Sergeant." Barrie said, failing to hide her irritation as the Gunnery Sergeant stood directly in the path she'd been walking. She and Reed maneuvered around the man, who stared on, dumbfounded.

Reed and Barrie reached the beach and set the litter down. With a quiet countdown from three, they lifted the body and set it on the pebbles beside the body that Davis had literally stumbled across. Mercer walked over and saw what Jones had been freaking out about. Whatever had happened to this guy, it had ruined his jaw as well. It was a worrying trend.

"Hey, check this out." Reed said to Dawes. Reed unclipped the straps holding what appeared to be a civilian AR-15 to the side of his pack and showed it to Dawes.

"Well hot damn." Dawes said as he inspected the rifle. "I knew that the colony missions had security, but I didn't know they were handing out these bad boys." The marksman shouldered the rifle, then manipulated the selector switch. "It's select-fire, too. That must have cost them a pretty penny." He handed the rifle back to Reed. "Nice find."

"Yeah, it's pretty slick." Reed said. He was digging through a utility pouch on the side of his vest for some spare batteries for the AR's optic and laser.

"Corporal Reed!" Jones barked. The Marines let out a collective sigh. The lanky Platoon Sergeant was marching towards them. "Where did you get that unauthorized weapon?" Jones asked. His voice was loud enough to carry across the beach and echo back off the mountains.

"We found it with the new body, Gunnery Sergeant." Reed said as he popped open the battery casing on the optic and pulled out the old battery. He grimaced at the white bubbles at each of the battery's terminals. Hopefully the corrosion hadn't affected the leads inside the optic itself.

"Hand it over." Jones said, one hand out expectantly towards Reed. The Corporal stared at him in confusion.

"What?" Reed asked.

"Hand it over, Corporal." Jones said, making Reed's rank sound like an insult. "It's not an issued weapon, you're not authorized to use it." The Gunnery Sergeant stood there, hand out expectantly. Reed didn't move. "Corporal Reed, you know that you're not allowed to utilize any unauthorized weapons or equipment. That's the standard." It took everything in Mercer's power not to roll his eyes. While Jones was preaching to them about unauthorized weapons and gear, the man was standing there wearing a plate carrier and helmet that he'd bought himself. Hypocrisy personified.

"Gunnery Sergeant, we found the body, and I found the rifle." Reed said, sliding the battery into position and closing the compartment on the side of the rifle's optic. "I don't see what the issue is."

"Corporal Reed." Jones said, putting emphasis on Reed's inferior rank. "I know you're not arguing with me right now."

"Gunnery Sergeant Jones!" Someone called out. The Platoon Sergeant whirled around to yell at whoever was interrupting him. He lost all steam when he realized it was First Sergeant Apone. Apone was standing with the rest of the command, waving the I&S Platoon Sergeant over. Jones turned back towards Reed.

"We'll finish this later." Jones said before starting towards the command meeting at a jog. They all just stared at him. Reed's hands curled around the AR's pistol grip. Mercer saw the look in Reed's eyes. It was a feeling he'd had towards Jones in the past.

"Head back to your squad, Reed." Mercer said. "Just keep it attached to your pack and don't do anything else to get his attention."

"Guy's a fuckin' disgrace." Reed spat. While Mercer agreed, he wasn't going to say so while they were operational. He'd share his grievances and commiserate with Reed once they were back on the Fidanza.

"Reed." Mercer said. The Corporal looked at him. "Simmer down, man. I get it. Just head back to your squad and let Sergeant Hopkins know what's up so he doesn't get blindsided if Elmer comes after you again."

"Check." Reed said with a nod. With that, the two members of Hopkins' squad started back towards the field.

"Fuckin' Elmer is something else, man." Dawes said. "It's a wonder no one's fragged him yet."

"Hey, belay that shit." Mercer said to Dawes. Again, he agreed with the junior Marine. But saying things like that out in the open, particularly while they were on a mission, was a non-starter.

"I'm just saying." Dawes said.

"I know." Mercer replied. "And I'm just saying to keep that shit locked up for now. Last thing I need is for Elmer to start gunning for you too. I don't feel like dealing with him." Dawes held Mercer's gaze, then nodded.

"Fair enough, Sergeant." Dawes said, then turned back towards the field.

"Dawes." Mercer said.

"Yeah?" Dawes looked back towards his squad leader.

"Do me a favor and pull Chaffin aside. Educate him on why he needs to sleep in his kit and not have his ruck splayed out like some kind of roadside sale when we're in a patrol base." Mercer said. Dawes smiled at this.

"Can do, Sarge." Dawes replied before starting towards Chaffin, who stood out thanks to his newer camouflage pattern.

"Chris." Mercer said. His use of Dawes' first name grabbed the marksman's attention. "I said educate, not smoke the dogshit out of. I'll handle that once we're back on the ship."

"Can I at least swear at him?" Dawes asked.

"Permission granted." Mercer replied. Dawes' smile grew wide as he started towards Chaffin.

"Hey Chaffin, you fuckin' boot!" Dawes called towards the squad's junior Marine. Mercer smirked at this as he started towards the edge of the beach where the rest of first squad had set up.