Space Marine

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the words: Trophy, Catalog and March

Space Marine

Rocco applied another layer of sealant to the bite-mark shaped holes in his suit. His helmet readout indicated there was still some bleeding but probably not enough to be life threatening. His opponent hadn’t been so lucky; although for a while, it could have gone either way.

It had been a close call but he’d somehow managed to avoid becoming a trophy on a Sloth Giant’s cave wall.

Alone, he slogged through the swampy muck; not for the first time thinking, This was not mentioned in the recruiting catalog.

“See the galaxy!” That had been in there. “The blue women of Nartinthium love anything in a pressure suit.” That had been in there as well.

Nowhere, had there been a hint of the boiling mud-storms of Charosh or the blade-snakes of Sargon.

And there had certainly never been any mention of Sloth Giants!

He signed up thinking he might have to occasionally march and maybe salute every now and then. The rest of his expectations had to do with blasting aliens and seducing women. There had been no mention of aliens that fought back or women that ate their mates for breakfast.

Nope, that recruiting propaganda was nothing more than a pack of lies; all of it.

There was some good news; should he survive the hike to the hospital ship. Word was that they were going to invade a water planet after the next jump. Better still, the women there were rumored to be … welcoming. The mere thought brought a smile to Rocco’s face. He knew this wasn’t more propaganda. He knew it was true because its time-tested source never lied.

If it was written on the bathroom wall, it was true. And just yesterday, there it was on the inside of the door, “Earth Girls Are Easy.”

Word Count 300