Contract Free Arulco: The Bitch Must Die!

Day 30: Cambria SAM Site

Sara was enjoying her early morning walk; the sun wasn’t up yet, so the oppressive heat and humidity wasn’t around either and Sara wished that the day would stay that way. Sara noticed, not for the first time, that the farther south they went from the mountain range in the north to the ocean to the south, the less vegetation there was. Arulco very much depended on the northern part of the country because that is where all of the food was grown. While the southern part of the country contained the four most influential if not largest towns, including the crown jewel of Meduna, the small Caribbean nations capitol; the southern land was very sparse and lifeless.

Sara was moving her squad to the Cambrian SAM site to relieve Kilroy’s squad, so that squad could be sent on to Estoni and then clear out the road from Chitzena to Cambria so that Hamous’s stolen ice cream truck could be utilized in the mule runs to the arms dealer in San Mona as well as re-supplying Sara and Kilroy’s squads.

Sara could hardly make out Big Al in the pre-dawn light on point when he quietly raised his right arm into a massive fist, noiselessly telling his squad mates to stop because of potential danger. Sara left her KAC-25 in its harness on her back and pulled out her mini-Uzi, loaded with glaser ammo. While there was clearly superior PDW (Personal Defense Weapons) available, she preferred the light heft of the fast firing Uzi. Slowly moving forward while scanning from side to side, Sara joined where Big Al had squatted holding his Groza Assault rifle. Big Al still carried the FR Orndnance MC51 on his back, but preferred the shorter ranged Groza because of it’s under slung grenade launcher and he had passed the Colt M204 Grenade Launcher to Gillie. Reloads were sparse for the Russian made launcher but Big Al liked how with just a flip of a switch he could go from grenade launcher to assault rifle and back, unlike the M204 system which meant he had manually switch between two different weapons.

“What is it?” Sara whispered, having noticed nothing. She hoped the stop was just a precaution; that maybe Big Al thought he saw or heard something and was looking for conformation.

“Blood Cat. Maybe two. They are moving away to the east.”

Big Al didn’t have to say anything more. Sara and her comrades had been attacked no less than 4 times by the native and very active large cats. After killing fifteen of them she would have thought that would have been enough to thin the species out, but apparently, the Blood Cats were part aggressive lion and part bunny because they bred like rabbits. After waiting fifteen minutes tensely, Big Al nodded, thinking the location was clear. The rest of the 30 minute walk to the central SAM site was uneventful.

Upon reaching the no man’s land surrounding the SAM site, the sun broke on the horizon in the east and as much as Sara hated being in Arulco, she did have to admit, it was a beautiful locale.

“Sara, it is great to see you.” Sara smiled as Kilroy, Kara, hugged her and kissed the side of her cheek; very European was she, not like a stodgy Statesman who welcomes you with a nod of the head or maybe a handshake; you can’t invade their personal space now can you?

“Kara. Everything okay here? Are you guys ready to move out?”

“Yeah, the first batch of trainees will be fully armed by late this morning, maybe this afternoon. Terror and Gillie have both been itching to move on. They would both rather attack than be attacked.”

“Good, good. You understand this is a recon in force, yes?”

“Affirmative.”

“Good.” Looking around at those nearby who could overhear, Sara nodded her head towards the door of the control building’s single exit, “let’s you and I take a walk along the perimeter to make sure they hadn’t cut any holes in the fence.”

If Kilroy understood that Sierra wanted to talk to her in private, she didn’t say anything. Once they were at the south east corner Sara told Kilroy what was on her mind.

“I have a special job for you. Are you up to it?”

“Depends on the job.” Kilroy’s answer was matter of fact, if the job was too hard for her and not many were, she would be the first to say so.

“This local yokel you are going to pick up in Estoni. He is not a good boy. Actually, he is a very bad boy.”

“So should I tell Terror to get excited about the new ‘bad boy’?”

“Uhmm, that is your call. My call on the guy is we waste him. He is a real sick fuck who was in the Queen’s dungeon but he liked it too much so she released him and he has been terrorizing the locals and moderately harassing the army ever since.”

Kilroy had heard enough to know what was being asked of her, “So if he steps out of line I put a bullet in the back of his head?”

“If he makes one move towards one of the local kids, you fry his ass before he even knows what hit him.”

Nodding her head, “So he is one of those?”

Spitting, “Yes but Gus wants us to utilize him and his skills while at the same time concentrating all of his efforts on the army and not the natives.”

“Okay, I can do that. I will see how Tara gets along with him before I tell her anything.”

“Good. I knew I could depend on you.”

“So each of us gets their own crazy, heh?”

“Looks like it. Gus is coming; he will be here tomorrow morning. The fucker has been in the Meduna Bay in his yacht the entire month we have been here.”

“Yacht?”

“Yeah, that very same yacht that dropped of Scope in French Guiana.”

“Lucky him.”

“No shit. He is coming in to take over all command but he isn’t taking over my squad. He is taking over Red’s squad.”

“So he is still going to be in support mode.”

“Yeap. Fucker. I think it is because of his age. He is not sure how long he will last on the battlefield, so if he hangs back with the support crew he will be fresh for the final push in Meduna and getting his shot at the Queen Bitch.”

“I think he will have to stand in line.”

“No shit.”

“How is Ira doing?”

Sara choked back a sob laugh combo, “Worst. Much worst than I thought she was. Gus says she has been brainwashed to be a nympho.”

“Well that ought to make Robber and Big Al happy.”

“You would think but Ira prefers dogs and dead soldiers with stiffy’s.”

“And that has really thrown you for a loop.”

“Well, yeah. I mean, give me a break, necrophilia and bestiality? What. The. Fuck?”

“You know something I have realized?”

Sara looked perplexed at Kara’s sudden change of subject. “Uh, no.”

“We came to Arulco as contract mercenaries, as liberators but we are some every judgmental SOB’s. We act as God. Judge, Jury and Executioner. Why? Because we are the lesser of the evil?”

“I am evil?”

“How many have you killed?”

“Fuck, I don’t know. This is a minor war, damnit. Death is all around us!”

“And you are doing a good thing?”

“Fuck yes! If anyone in this world needs to die it is that mother fucking crazy bitch on the self-proclaimed throne!”

“And it doesn’t matter how many you have to kill to get to her?”

“What the hell is your point Kilroy? We were hired, brought in to LIBERATE this piss hole of a country!”

“And you want me to execute whomever you determine warrants it?”

“What?!? You just told me you could do the job?”

“I did and I will, but that doesn’t mean I or you should not question our motives, to you know, keep us sane, unlike Ira or this new guy.”

“Or Terror! Is she still fucking her way across Arulco?”

“Why do you have an issue with Terror having sex? Sex is proven to be one of the best stress relievers there is. Better than any drug you could take because sex makes you feel alive without dulling any of your senses.”

“You sound like you have been getting some regularly too!”

“I have, no where near as much as Tara, but when I need it, I get it. And I feel much better with myself.”

“BUT…but we are in a WARZONE! How can you even contemplate sex with death around you? How can you let some guy fuck you and then a few hours later go out and kill other guys dead?”

“Because, unlike you, I don’t want to keep my tension bottled up to the point where I am not on the top of my game. Because, non-emotionally, I recognize the benefits of the action. Because in this hell hole, I want to feel good. Drinking or other recreational drugs would be detrimental to our cause and probably my life. Maybe after we are done, I will feel good about what we are doing. Maybe.”

Sara stopped and sat down on a large rock near the middle of the site’s missile launchers. Looking up to Kara, she pleaded her case. “I can’t, I just can’t, and to do something so intimate, so sexual while I am on this job…I can’t. It is…it is just wrong.”

“And you think we are deranged for being able to do it.”

Nodding her head, “yeah, I do.”

“And so what Ira has been doing is really throwing you for a loop.”

“Wouldn’t it you?!?”

“I am not you.”

“But how can you see her actions as not being RIGHT?”

“Because what is right to you is not necessarily right to me. I grew up in Sweden where we have different family values a different outlook on life period then what you experienced growing up in California.”

“Are they really that much different?”

“You wouldn’t think so but the fact that your society was founded by Puritans and that outlook still dominates your society, especially regarding sex makes the slightest nuisance of any differences seem like a canyon.”

“Okay, I won’t argue that. But necrophilia? Bestiality?”

“I have an Aunt. She didn’t care for men when they were courting her in her youth. She much preferred the company of her dogs. One time when I was visiting with her, I sort of walked in on her and one of her dogs getting ‘busy’.”

“Oh, shit, did you scream?”

“No. No, I watched them for a bit. Curious as to why and how they would couple. Very similar to two dogs going at it and very similar to two humans going at it.”

“But love…?”

“What about love? She loves her dogs more than she has loved any man. Later that day, she told me that she saw me standing in one of her mirrors and explained to me that she didn’t like being with men in relationships and all too often the sex wasn’t worth it.”

“So why didn’t she become a lesbian or celibate?”

“Because she did like sex, but on her terms and she had tried to have a female companion but relationship wise, it was worst than with a man. So when she experimented with her dogs, she found the happiness she was seeking.”

“And you didn’t judge her? You didn’t think she was whacked out or off her rocker?”

“No, I didn’t, I was happy for her happiness. She wasn’t hurting anyone and her dogs adored her and they really adored what she let them do to her.”

“Did you…did you…?!?”

Kara could help by laugh at the questioning expression on Sara’s face. “No, I didn’t. I thought about it. Thought hard about it. But unlike my Aunt, I like the company of men, so it wasn’t a need I needed to explore.”

“And that is what they do in Sweden?”

Sara was startled by the rowdy laughter exploding out of Kara mouth. “There you go again, being judgmental.”

The flush rose in Sara’s cheeks as she answered, “well, I like to call them as I see them.”

Kara’s laughter continued, “Well then you need a readjustment. My Aunt lives in upstate New York. She had lived their since she was 10.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

“So bestiality doesn’t bother you. You don’t think it is wrong?”

“I have been with a few different lovers and my experience is that what is right and what is wrong in the bedroom is totally up to the individual. Some guys refused to go down on me while others loved it. Some guys liked to be chained and whipped while other thought that was a straight shot down the road to hell. I have met females who didn’t like sex at all. They thought the whole act of transferring bodily fluids was dirty, filthy and despicable.”

“And sleeping with a dog isn’t?”

“Sara, again, I am not going to judge someone because of what they do or don’t like.”

“What about necrophilia, please tell me that is wrong. Please tell me you think that is wrong!”

“Why? Because we are bothering the spirit or memory of a person that has already left this plane of existence? Who is getting hurt? The memory of the departed?”

“YES!”

“I thought you were Agnostic, Sara?”

“I am, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings about the after life or the memory of someone who has died!”

“Well, I guess I look at it differently. When I see a dead body, all I see is an empty husk. The person who made that body special, individual is gone.”

“But you have to honor their memory!”

“Did you know my mother was a big Jim Morrison fan, from the American music band, the Doors? When Jim Morrison died, she went to the cemetery where his body was inturned and fucked her boyfriend at the time on top of his gravesite. When I asked her why, she said that since she never had the chance to meet him in person, she wanted to honor him by fucking where his remains laid.”

“That is sick!”

“Maybe, but she wasn’t the only one. She said that night; she witnessed three other couples honoring him the same way.”

“WHY?!? Why? This world is fucking crazy!”

Nodding her head, Kara asked, “So what are you going to do about it?”

“Do about what?”

“This crazy world. Are you going to live with blinders on, ignoring those acts you don’t deem worthy? Are you going to kill yourself to end your misery? Are you going to champion some cause to make it just a little bit better of a place?”

“If you think this world, this life we live is crazy, what are you going to do?” Sara countered.

Kilroy smiled, “why, I am going to live my life. I am going to be happy with myself and not worry about everyone else and especially not worry about what they think of me. Let me ask you this riddle Sara. What is the meaning of life?”

“What?”

“What is the meaning of life. Why are we here?”

“How the fuck should I know? I am Agnostic, which means I don’t have a FUCKING CLUE why we are here.”

“But you think about it, don’t you?”

Sara lingered before answering. “Yeah, I do. I have done enough studying on the whole religion issue to feel confident that what the organized religions are offering is not the whole package, because they are controlled by men, men with ulterior motives; normally money or power.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Take a look at the Roman Catholic Church. They are guilty of the largest land grab in the history of mankind. A Pope felt they weren’t bringing in enough money and one of his Bishops or Abbott or whatever suggested that they create idea of Purgatory where one had to wait their turn for ascension after they died but hey, you could buy a first class ticket out of Purgatory if you gave the Church all of your wealth and screwed your kids over from their inheritance. Or the poor and hungry; are you saying that with all of the billions and trillions of dollars donated each year that the ‘organized’ religions couldn’t end hunger? Hell no, they have to build their latest and greatest church in their name instead. How does that help the hungry? How can a building feed the masses? No, they are like Big Business, they are on top of the food chain and that is where they want to stay.”

“You my blonde friend are a very jaded girl.”

“Maybe, at least I know that necrophilia and bestiality is wrong, morally wrong.”

“And yet you are without Faith.”

“Yeah, I am without Faith. Maybe I am weak, but I am not that weak.”

“And what is your feeling on incest?”

“Oh, please don’t go there. Not here and not now.”

“But…”

“Please no more.”

Kara didn’t speak while Sara sat with her eyes closed, letting her companion process the discussion they just had. When Sara finally opened her eyes, Kara changed the subject.

“Oh, are your wounds healing?”

Sara gave a deep sigh while trying to rub underneath her Zylon armored vest. “They are doing okay. I had MD take a look at them briefly. He said that they were healing fine, no infections but that the patch up jobs weren’t the best and that I should expect to have some scar tissue have to be removed later on.” Sara looked at the sun over the horizon before she continued on, “who would have thought that before my twenty-fifth birthday, my body would have so many scars on them. Scars that will take a long time, if ever, to fade.”

“Don’t guys dig scars?” That gave Sara a chuckle.

“Actually, I think the quote went more like, ‘chicks did scars’.”

“Okay, so chicks dig scars.”

“Right but I am not into chicks.”

Kara watched Sara fidget more with trying to rub underneath her armor, “here take that off.”

“What?”

“Your body armor, take it off. You are under way too much stress.”

“Okay, I understand that, how will taking off my body armor help anything?”

“That way I can massage your neck and shoulders and any other place that will help you relax.”

“But the army. They attacked last night and the Miguel’s runners haven’t seen any other patrols in the area. I think the farther south we get, the less reliable Miguel’s runners are. Too much desert waste land for them to cross or maybe they are all from the north, I don’t know but I have noticed that more than a couple of patrols have slipped past his runners.”

“And no one is perfect. Now off with the armor. If the army shows up, you will have plenty of time to get it back on before they are in range.” When Sara didn’t comply, Kara started removing the armor, Sara thought it was a bad idea but didn’t stop her outside of moaning a few, ‘owws’ and ‘ughs’ when Kara jerked her in a way her healing body resented. Soon the armor was off and Sara was sighing more so because the removed weight of armor that she had been wearing almost none stop for most of the last month than the rubbing Kara was doing to her neck, but that opinion didn’t last as Kara expertly moved down to her shoulders and Sara felt the wire taught tension slowly being squeezed out of her.

Sara let herself drift into a daze with her head floating to the sensations coursing through her body. She was so tense and this was reinvigorating her. Sara winced everytime Kara hit a recently healed or healing scar, but Kara’s touch was deft and the pain was not bad or lasting. While she was not tired, Sara felt her conscious wafting away until a shock to her system caused her to stiffen.

“HEY! What are you doing?”

“Making sure you are alive.”

“Well, I am and you can take your hands off the boobs.”

“Aww, you don’t want to give the guys over there a free show, help improve the morale?”

Sara turned her body away from the four or five guys who were standing outside of the control building watching her being massaged and faced Kara. “You aren’t serious?”

“Of course not, Terror has the whole Morale, Welfare and Recreation thing completely in hand, well, also in mouth and pussy too.”

“KARA!”

Laughing, “Laugh, girl. You need to let yourself laugh sometimes.”

“I do laugh. Why did you grab my boobs?”

“I didn’t grab them, I was massaging them. Did I hurt you?”

“No…”

“Then why did they get hard? They perked up as soon as I glided my thumbs over their nips.”

“Because…just because. So don’t do it, okay.”

“Sure, I proved my point.”

“What point? This whole thing was a scam to get me in a compromising position?”

“No, I gave you a massage because you needed it. Since I wasn’t doing a full body massage, I decided to test your nipples response to stimulation.”

“Which proves what?”

“That your body is willing and your mind is overriding.”

“I told you I am not into girls.”

“And I am not saying you are, I am just pointing out that you body doesn’t care where it is for it to like attention. Be it a massage to soothe aching muscles or a gentle caress of a nipple. Your body doesn’t care and will respond to the right stimulation.”

“But so much of sex is mental.”

“Indeed it is which is why you won’t let yourself doing anything about it because mentally you are blocking it off.”

“Fine, I am blocking it off. I am okay with that.”

“Just as I am okay with not blocking it.”

“Oh.”

“So am I still wicked?”

“No, you just aren’t me.” Sara bent over to pick up her discarded torso armor had it properly secured in place by the time she walked to the control building. Looking behind her she said to the following, Kilroy. “So, you understand. This is a recon mission. Go to Estoni, see what is available there that we can use, maybe gas for the ice cream truck and find that local guy to see if he wants to fight the Queen with us. Then go clear out the road from Cambria to Chitzena so we can start using the ice cream truck which hopefully will still be where ever Gillie hid the damn thing.”

Nodding with a two finger salute from her temple, “Roger that, we will leave in ten.”