Reincarnation: A fight for survival

Chapter 6

I'm not in Vietnam. Hell, this might not even be Earth...So where the f**k am I?

Galen slowly began taking steps in retreat from the warrior to where he had come from. Glancing over his shoulder to ensure he didn't trip, he stepped through a bush while keeping his aim fixed on his foe's forehead. Wounded or not, he didn't know what they were capable of and he wasn't letting his guard down unless there was some distance between them.

"I'm gettin' out of here," he explained once he was at least seven yards away. "If you or any other cats come after me, you'll be dead before your claws leave those pretty little hands. I fuckin' mean it."

"We are not cats, human. We are neko. And if you return again, I shall see that you pay dearly for this day," the Ra'zorlich warrior swore grabbing hold of his wounded shoulder to get pressure on his wound.

This provoked an uncertain look from the soldier as he tapped his finger against the trigger of his rifle, debating whether or not to pull it. Scanning quickly to his left and right, he spotted several shadows shifting in some of the far-off trees in the waning daylight. Looking to the dusk sky and the first hints of appearing stars, he realized how close it was getting to nighttime. If he didn't high-tail it back to where he came from and get out of actual hostile territory, the beasts were sure to get him.

Right then a branch snapped off in the direction of where the closest clearing had been. Almost immediately after that came a pack of voices growling at each other to be quiet. While not anywhere being stealthy, those growls were still effective in the sense of letting the soldier realize just how outnumbered he was. And he doubted he had enough ammo in his magazine for all of them.

"My people come, human," the Neko warned with a toothy smile full of sharp teeth. "Run or we will feast upon your bones."

Galen didn't waste another moment. He turned on his heel and sprinted full speed back to where Michael had landed. This was probably his only chance to do so as the Nekos would likely be on him in seconds, if not minutes. Twigs and branches snapped underfoot as he ran, bushes were trampled and trees were dodged. As he bounded over a shrub to get back to his sergeant's small clearing, the sight of another Neko made him bring his rifle up as he landed and dropped into a kneeling firing position.

"Private, stop!"

Galen swapped his target toward the voice, freezing as he found himself drawing a bead on Michael.

"Put that weapon down, soldier!"

His hand was off the trigger the second the order registered in his mind. What did not register, however, was the neko that had the sergeant hanging in a fireman's carry over its shoulders. He- she? She wasn't wearing armor or carrying weapons and from what the private could see, there wasn't any identifying claw symbol anywhere on her body.

"What the Hell---?"

"Galen, this is Mila. She's here to help! Now get on your feet and let's go!"

There was no time to ask questions as Mila and Michael were already moving back up the hill to where he had come from. It was probably the fastest way out of the hostile territory, which meant that was his-

PING!

Galen was caught off guard as an arrow glanced off of the side of his helmet, the stone tip shattering while barely scratching the steel. Without missing a beat, the soldier turned and brought a neko archer in blue armor into his sights. As the anthropomorphic feline was reloading his bow, he let out his breath and gave the trigger a squeeze. With a bullet tearing clean through his breastplate, the neko was thrown off its feet with both legs kicking into the air. Lowering his weapon and seeing those shadows moving in, the soldier scrambled to his feet and took off in pursuit of his sergeant and their new friend.

With his fleeing of the pursuing nekos, all sorts growls and yelling in a foreign language erupted behind him. Glancing over his shoulder he spotted fresh pack of neko warriors breaking from cover to charge him with their claws out and a thirst for blood boiling in their eyes. If even one caught up to him, or got past his rifle, he knew he was a dead man.

Setting his weapon to full-auto he spun around and took up as steady of a stance as he could. His M14 braced against his side, he pointed the muzzle in the general direction of the closest enemy and gritted his teeth for what came next. The muzzle blast of his weapon lit the area around him as a four-round burst tore through the body of a charging Ra'zorlich and nearly knocked the soldier off his feet.

When the solid thud of the beast hitting the ground registered in his ears, he switched his rifle to semi and looked up. Another cat creature was closing fast so he snapped his rifle up to his shoulder and drew it into his sights. As it started skidding to a stop, it eyes wide with terror, he pulled the trigger. And all he heard was a soft click of the trigger failing to drop his weapon's captive hammer.

In that moment, Private Martin could feel his heart stop. Lowering his battle rifle slightly revealed that his bolt was locked open to show the hollow interior of his magazine. In his excitement with the automatic fire he had expended all twenty of his available rounds.

"Galen!" Michael yelled, "Come on, let's go!"

The world raced through the private's mind in an instant. His rifle was empty, Michael was wounded, and the sun had finally set on both this land and possibly his life. Once these creatures tore through him, the sergeant and Mila would come next if he couldn't buy them the time to escape. There were two of them and only one of him so the decision wasn't that hard.

His heart started beating again, and it was pounding in his ears as he shouted, "Go! I'll hold them back!"

As his words came from his mouth, the rest of the pack closed in on him. He could have turned and ran but at this distance they could just pounce on his back. Even in armor they moved much faster than he could so retreat was completely out of the question. The only thing standing between him and death right now was the six and half inch knife fixed to the end of his rifle.

"Let go of me!" Michael yelled. "You f*****g b***h, let go!"

Galen glanced over his shoulder and saw the sergeant fighting Mila's grasp as she locked him down tighter over her shoulders. She had one hand holding onto his wrists and the other gripping his uninjured leg to keep him immobilized as she hauled him out of the area. The private gave him a farewell grin, and Michael's face sank into one of denial. He tried once again to get away from his rescuer, but in the end he was completely helpless to do anything but watch as the young trooper was encircled by the group of Ra'zorlichs.

His hands going numb with terror, Galen faced the nekos in front of him and readied himself to fight to the bitter end. Only the four directly to his front parted ways as another approached the circle they'd all formed.

"You are brave to stand and face us, human," growled the new arrival, his golden blonde fur easily identifiable in these final minutes of daylight.

Natural, black lines ran down from the officer's glowing, orange eyes, descending his face right to the collar of his black, plate armor. Like his men he wore no helmet to cover his slightly lighter hair atop his head that was smoothed back over his scalp down to his nape. There was no doubt in Galen's mind that this neko was an officer, judging from the silver bands that wrapped around his shoulder plates.

Flexing his clawed hand over the pommel of the sword at his side, he continued, "Few have ever stood to fight alone willingly against the might of the Ra'zorlich warriors."

A bead of sweat ran down Galen's leg, going past his knee into his quivering boots. "I... I'm not lettin' you bastards kill my friend."

With his nose flaring, the officer simpered over a unnerving grin. "I smell your fear, human."

This made the private swallow hard to force down the lump threatening to choke him out. Hoping the darkness would conceal his movement, he slowly began to fish into his ammo pouches to pull out a fresh magazine and reload his weapon. Only the action did not go unnoticed by the neko leader.

"Is your thunder-stick finished, human?"

"You wanna find out?!" Galen snapped, leaving the magazine in its pouch as he aimed his empty weapon at the leader's head.

At once, the warriors growled and were about to step in, but their leader roared and growled out orders in their own tongue. He then glared at Galen, one side of his mouth coming up into a snarl. "Tell me human, why have you invaded our land? Slain our men?"

"Listen, bud, I didn't know where the Hell I was until about a couple minutes ago," Galen answered truthfully, firming up his tone of voice to make him sound more confident than he actually was. "I just came t'get my friend and get us both outta here. I didn' want ta fight anyone, I only defended myself. If I had come here for war, then we wouldn't be talkin' right now."

The golden Ra'zorlich began to chuckle, "If you are so confident that you can slay us all, release the power of your thunder-stick, human. You did not hesitate before, so take my life now with your magic. Or we will kill you."

If there was anything beyond the capabilities of a young private of the US Army, it was the bluffing game. He could go for the .45 on his hip, but in the time he took to clear the holster, their claws would be sinking into his flesh. However, there were the four grenades hanging off his combat webbing and those were something that he could get off in a hurry.

"If I'm gonna die," he started, each one of the Nekos taking a defensive stance as he grabbed hold of one of his frags. He slung his rifle over his back and pulled the explosive off his shoulder strap. Ripping out the pin from the grenade, he held it high above his head with just two fingers holding the spoon in place. "Then I'll drag each one of yall to Hell with me."

The Ra'zorlich leader took a step back, hand grasping his sword as he braced his body for some the effect of this new weapon. When nothing happened, he looked to the sweat-streaked face of the human in front of him. If he was ready to give his own life in the taking of theirs, then whatever he held was surely the weapon to do it. The bluff he played with the thunder-stick was easy enough to see through but this time was different. A stronger scent of fear radiated off of him and from the look on his face spoke of him making peace with the goddesses.

After all he had lost today he was certainly not willing to sacrifice more lives of his fighters just for one cursed human.

"Step back!" he ordered in his own tongue. "Return to the village. We shall let this human leave our lands."

His men slowly backed away from the human with confused snarls and enraged glares. Their claws withdrew and swords returned to their sheaths and as soon as they were out of pouncing-distance, they turned back for their territory.

Taking in a shallow breath, Galen stopped flinching and looked around. He wondered what was happening to make the nekos back off, but when the leader took a step toward him, he readied again to release the spoon on his grenade. Fortunately keeping the explosive in his right hand as his left shook worse than the winter shivers.

"You win today, human," the Ra'zorlich grumbled in a low voice. "But know this, if you return to our lands again, weapons or not, I will follow you to this 'Hell' of yours and slay you a second time. Now be gone, lest I choose to join you in your journey into the Nether."