Army of Humans and Monsters-The Book

Chapter 15

“That was Sergeant TwoHeads, as we call them,” Bloodtooth said, as she was playing a game of chess with Jenkins sometime later. “They were a recruit that I picked up, about seven years back. (Bloodtooth’s close to thirty years of age, which sort of explains any details that Jenkins had been wondering about, like her niece.) I found them in an alley on the wrong side of the giant section of a city in the Midwest. At the time, they had been in a fight with a gang of ruffians, which had stolen, or destroyed, something which had great value to them, and had left the two of them to die, as they were pretty injured. Given how I knew that they would not have survived without immediate assistance, I called for a squad of giants to come transport them to the base, so they could be given medical attention. Of course, I knew that it would take the squad a while to get there so, as the first one on the scene, it was my job to give them first aid, which included splinting a broken thigh bone, not an easy task, not even for giants. Thankfully, by the time the squad got there, Shaun had woken up, which was a bit of a relief for me, because both heads had been knocked out, with him being more seriously injured than Connery. Of course, given a Cyclops’s lack of depth perception, he only saw the squad of giants; as they kneeled down to ask if he and his brother were alright. It was at that moment that I decided to take my leave, when Connery woke up, and saw me. He asked me to stop and tell him who I was, which got the other one’s attention. I just smiled and told them to ask the squad for that information, after all, I had some other business to take care of at the time, like tracking down those ruffians and taking care of them, which I did, just don’t ask how. Anyways, even before they got up on their feet, they asked the doctors taking care of them if they could see me. Well, seeing as to how I had something to give them, a gold chain necklace, with an actual diamond pendant, and not one of those barbaric things, which has a person dangling from it or some such thing, that I thought belonged to them, I told the doctors that I wouldn’t mind visiting them. Well, we got to talking; when I asked them if the ruffians had stolen anything of value from them. At this, the two seemed to cry, telling me about how those men had stolen a gold necklace, with a diamond pendant, from them, and that they had bought it for their mother for her birthday. At that moment, I had told the officer that had brought me in to see them, to show them what I had found. I tell you, you could not have imagine two happier faces when the officer brought that necklace out of his pocket and put it on the stand next to their bed. One month later, imagine my surprise when I saw them enter the barrack, and asking if they could sign up, as part of their gratitude to me for recovering their mother’s present. I tell you, you would not have found a recruit more willing to try new things than those two were. The pair graduated at the top of their class.”

At this, Bloodtooth smiled, as she moved a piece and said, “Checkmate kid, I win.”

“Oh come on, you still owe me for yesterday,” Jenkins said, as Bloodtooth used her werewolf queen to take out his vampire king.

“Oh really,” Bloodtooth said, raising an eyebrow. “I thought that the bet was that you see me in my human form, naked, if the patrons left. Well, from what I saw, they didn’t.”

“I know, but still-” As Jenkins tried to speak, Bloodtooth put a finger over his mouth and said, “But, of course, you are correct that I do owe you for something. However, before we discuss that, I need you to do something for me.”

“And what would that be?” (Jenkins)

“Get naked, and I’ll do the same. After all, I did say that I’d have some fun with you if your plan worked, and for the most part it did.” (Bloodtooth)

“Um, what sort of fun are you planning on?” (Jenkins)

“That’s for me to know, and for you to find out. Now, unless you don’t want to have any fun, start stripping, Uniter.” (Bloodtooth)

“Whoa,” Jenkins said, a few hours later. “How often did you say that you did with one of the others?”

“Not too often,” Bloodtooth said, as she let out a sigh of happiness. “I tend to do it, maybe a few times a month at the most.”

“Well, however many times you do it, that was, incredible,” Jenkins said, as he looked at Bloodtooth, who was naked, like he was, and in her human form at that.

“I’m glad that you liked it,” Bloodtooth said, gently kissing him. “However, you should know that I can’t do it too often with just you. After all, I shouldn’t, get too attached to you, as it were. After all, if we get sent into a combat zone, I may have to, issue an order that could get you killed, permanently, or worse, captured and tortured by the enemy. I should know about that stuff, as I’ve seen plenty of men and women get killed, captured, and tortured, and a host of other things. That scene yesterday, when you shot that dridder, and when you froze up like that, I’ve seen it before. It is one thing for a recruit to kill another by accident while in training, after all, we have medics on the base, but out there, death can be permanent, and you are faced with those who plan to take your life, or those of your squad mates, permanently, so you have to take their life to protect, not only yourself, but your squad mates. However, if you froze up in a combat situation, both you, and your squad, could be killed, especially if the others can’t run, and you medic is trying to do what he can to heal the others. You can’t stop fighting, no matter what. It doesn’t matter if you are tired, hungry, or even on Death’s Door yourself, you fight with every breath you take, and when you run out of ammunition for your firearm, you fix that bayonet, and you get to stabbing and slashing with that blade, and when that or your gun is broken or taken away, you fight tooth and nail, even if your teeth were not evolved for tearing out the throats of prey, and your claws can’t do more than scratch your rival’s hide, you do every bit of damage that you can until either you or they lay dead in the dust when it settles.”

At this, Jenkins sees a strange look in Bloodtooth’s eyes, as if she was actually seeing what it was that she had told him. “Has that ever happened to you?” he asked.

“Yah, dozens of times,” Bloodtooth said, as she sat on the edge of the bed that they had been on, and started shifting back into her werewolf form.

(The following is about Bloodtooth's first battle, and how she got her nick name.)
“The first time it happened about eleven years ago, outside of a small village in one of the Pacific Islands. It was supposed to be a simple two day recon mission, one day to the village, spend the night there, try to find out the location of this one terrorist group, and head back to base. When we got there though, everyone, from the village elder, on down to a newborn baby, had been slaughtered. The sight of a young girl, with blood pooling around her body, caused me to freeze up. It reminded me of when my younger sister had been murdered, that same look of fear and terror in her eyes. The squad leader issued a single order, police and take care of the dead, because it is against the code of conduct to just eat another person’s body, even if your belly is hungry for food. Then again, the medic we had was able to revive those who were, mostly, intact. As for those he couldn’t revive, we took care of the bodies in accordance to the customs of the natives, and burned them. That night, as the survivors that we had revived told us what happened, they came back. Our commanding officer had gone to use a tree to take care of some needs, and when he didn’t come back within ten minutes, I knew that something was wrong. Another soldier and I went to look for him, but, all we found was his head, and even that was in pieces. I could only identify him by a gold tooth on the right part of a lower jaw that we found, as well as the scent of his blood. When my comrade and I got back to the village, it was under attack. Well, I carved a path of death and destruction, so my comrade, a human, and I could rejoin the others, most of which were critically injured, including the medic, as well as many of the villagers, most of which only had tribal weapons, like clubs, blowpipes, bows and arrows, and the like, while this group had more modern weapons, like steel blades, automatic rifles, grenades, and a few had rocket launchers even. Well, I looked at my comrade and told him to call for reinforcements, as he was our radioman. While he did that, I fought, first using my rifle, then my shotgun, followed by my Desert Eagle and Colt revolver, followed by those of my comrades. When the ammunition for those weapons ran out, I took some from an enemy body, and used that, and when that was spent, I discarded it, pulled out my K-bar, and grabbed a machete from a dead villager, and I became a whirlwind of blood, death, destruction, and mayhem, using blade, teeth, and claws to kill the enemy. By the time the sun rose, the last enemy fighter was dead, and I was covered in blood, some of it mine, but, the rest of it was the blood of the enemy. The river nearby ran red with it, and I sat under a waterfall, in an attempt to wash it out. As I sat under it, I saw the village shaman, or witch doctor, or whatever, standing on the edge of the river, chanting something, looking up at the sky, looking at the blood filled river, and pointing towards me on occasion. At first, I thought that he was praying for the river to return to normal. However, as I listened to him, I heard him say my name, or at least, the translation of it in his language. Also, I saw a smile on his face, whenever he looked at me. It was then I realized that he was blessing me, as if I was some sort of hero to his people, which I was, in a sense. When reinforcements arrived, a day or two later, to take care of the wounded, just before I was about to leave, he gave me a flat blue and green stone that had a hole drilled through it, that was on a string. One of the villages, who could speak our language well enough, told me that it was to ensure that the spirits of the forest and the river would be at my side when I needed help.”

“Are you serious? Some primitive tribe’s shaman, basically, gave you a good luck charm?” (Jenkins)

“Yep, and it wasn’t just him that gave me one. Let’s get dressed and I’ll show you them.” (Bloodtooth)

Within ten minutes Jenkins was once again amazed, but this time, it wasn’t because of Bloodtooth’s naked body laying next to him and doing incredible things with his, but because of the wide variation of gifts that those she had helped had given her. There were stones of amazing colorations, teeth and claws of dangerous beasts, like big cats, bears and the like, pouches with pebbles and dried seeds, ornate weapons with intricate shapes and designs, and many, many more things than what one could describe.

“Wow,” he said, as he looked them over, seeing the description of each item, what it stood for, where she had been given it, why she’d been given it, and some other things.

“Are all of these yours?” he asked, as he picked up the flat blue and green stone that she had told him about.

“Yep,” she said, as she carefully removed the stone from his hand, and gently set it back into place. “However, I would appreciate it if you just looked, and didn’t touch them. I may not be superstitious about such things, but these are gifts, objects of great importance to those who gave then to me. That stone, for instance, is said to have been created by the gods of the water and earth of those villagers that I save on that Pacific island, making it a sacred item amongst their tribe. For someone to be given one, they must posses a great deal of strength and rightness, and to be willing to give their life to protect others, even if they know nothing about them. In fact, all of these things share a similar meaning to the people who gave them to me.”

“Do you take them everywhere?” (Jenkins)

“Yep, that way the magic of the objects will stay with me, and that the spirits that they are said to represent are not offended with me leaving them where they will do me no good. Besides, they do seem to posses some sort of magic within them. In fact, if you listen closely, I’m sure that a human like you can hear what they are trying to say.” (Bloodtooth)

At this, Jenkins lowered his ear to the objects, and tried to listen.

After a minute, he said, “I can’t hear a thing.”

“You’re trying too hard,” Bloodtooth said, as she sat down on the bed. “You must sit down, close your eyes, and relax.”

When Jenkins did that, he still couldn’t hear a thing.

“You must relax your mind,” Bloodtooth said. “The magic will not talk to you if you are busy thinking about other things.”

For a while, Jenkins still couldn’t hear a thing, until he began to think about the others. He saw their looks of praise, of hope, and then he heard it.

He heard what sounded like a multitude of voices, all saying the same thing, just in a wide variety of languages.

“I think that I heard it,” he said, as he opened his eyes. “It was amazing.”

“Sounded like a large number of people saying the same thing in a wide variety of languages, am I right?” Bloodtooth asked, as she opened her eyes as well.

“Yah, do you know what it is that is being said?” (Jenkins)

“Yah, my name,” Bloodtooth said, with a bit of a grin. “They are all saying my name in their native languages, telling me to protect others like I protected them.”

“Is that what is really being said?” (Jenkins)

“To be honest, I wouldn’t know about the rest of what is being said, but they all are saying my name first. The rest of it is an educated guess, based on what those who gave them to me told me. They would say things like, ‘Thank you for saving our village/tribe/group,’ or, ‘Thank you for saving our village elder/chieftain/shaman/whatever,’ or, and this is my personal favorite, ‘Thank you for saving our children.’ After that, they would tell me what the talismans meant to them, like if it had belonged to a great warrior that once lived in the village, if it was a sacred religious symbol, if they, or some relative of theirs, had gotten it for some great deed that they had done, or anything else that made the token important to them. In fact, sometimes the children would try to give me their favorite toys, as a thank you for saving them. However, while I did accept the others, I wouldn’t take the toys, because I told them that I wouldn’t know what to do with them, but I would give them something that appeased them.” (Bloodtooth)

“And what was that?” (Jenkins)

“A lock of my hair, and I’m not talking about my werewolf fur kid. I would shift into my human form, get out my knife, cut a few strands of the hair on my head, and braid it into a thin cord, and give that to them, saying that it would be as if my spirit was with them should they ever encounter danger again. For some reason, this always seemed to please everyone, and not just the children. Then again, the lives that those people tend to lead are full of dangers, so they need all the help, and hope, that they can get.” (Bloodtooth)

“You really do that?” (Jenkins)

“Oh yah, I do that kid. That is the real job of a soldier, to give hope where once there was none.” (Bloodtooth)