Looie looked around at the latest of a seemingly unending series of killings. A-Coy had gotten off easy this time, not a scratch on any of them. Well, at least Doc would be happy.
Crouse wrote:Renelli is never happy, you know that.
That had been happening more and more often these days, the Voice had been popping up in his head, and telling him what he should be doing, what he should be thinking. Why couldn't he just leave him alone, and let him do his work, here in this hell-hole.
Crouse wrote:Because it's my body, dammit, and I want it back!
Looie did his best to ignore the Voice and continue with the cleanup. A-Coy, under his and Sarge's leadership, had become very efficient at eradicating these creatures, whatever they were. No one that he had encountered in the city had any clue as to what these things really were. Were they the dead come back to "life"? Were they infected with some sort of disease? Was it something else altogether? Who knew? All that was evident at this time is that fire keeps them down for the longest.
Sarge came over to report progress, "Boss, we're all done cleaning up. Some of the boys heard some fighting on the other side of the Park. Are we goin'?"
Crouse wrote:Show some respect Sgt. White, you're talking to an officer!
That had been the first thing that Looie had done after deciding to stay. He made everyone adopt a new "identity" as he had done.
Crouse wrote:Well, not quite how you did it, eh?
He had disbanded the unit that the Voice was in command of, and had burned his patches and medals as a symbol of his dissociation from the US Marine Corps. He had instructed the men to do the same, or leave, it was their choice.
Crouse wrote:You didn't tell them that those who left A-Coy would never leave the city, did you?
The Voice was right, Looie had sneaked off in the night, tracked down those that headed back, and killed them all. Out of 21 survivors of the Battle with Gunny, A-Coy now was 14 strong, plus himself.
Looie brought himself back from his thoughts "No, Sarge, we're going back to base. Assign a recon patrol, 3 men. I want to know who's winning, Who we can trust, and who needs our help. Orders are to report back when the fighting's over, and do not engage."
"Gotcha, Boss," Sarge left to do as he was bidden.
As Looie checked his gear, getting ready to move out, he heard some of the men talking about the incident with Gunny, after he had escaped from the claymores. It had been almost 2 months since the Voice's fight with Gunny, the fight that gave him this gawd-awful ugly scar on his face. Gunny had come back to "life" and set off all of the claymores in the trap, blowing him into about a thousand chunks of meat. The weird part was that each chunk was gone the next morning. All of them. Gone.
Doc had a theory about where they went. According to him, the other Zombies had come and grabbed the pieces of Gunny in the night, while they weren't looking. Why, of course, was still up in the air, and Looie had no time for theories with no why.
Crouse wrote:You know why.
Looie ignored the Voice.