Chapter fifty-nine

" You mean sacrifice, sacrifice?" Steve asked for the tenth time. Chako stopped responding after the fourth time.

Damian, Chandra, Bruce, Feifong, Ada, Chako, Steve, Sheree, Patrick, Jane, Elizabeth, and Michelle, were armed with bows, spears and knives as they advanced on the compound. Their faces were painted dark as Bruce instructed.

Chako told Damian about his observation that the soldiers only came out at night. There was at least four more hours of darkness left. Damian expected to be through with this night's work long before then.

He, Steve and Ada, theorized that the soldiers were probably weak even if they did try to project an image of strength to the Natives. That's why they had Native enforcers. They didn't want to risk getting into physical fights with even the women and shatter the illusion by losing, or not being overwhelmingly dominant. They were drinking the blood of the Natives, in hopes of building up their systems. It wasn't going to work--not for them. But the children they were having with the Natives would probably benefit from the ghoulish act.

Steve could hardly be contained, and Damian could only hope that he didn't rush in and ruin the battle strategy. The soldiers may--or may not be as strong as they would have been before the breach, but they still had their skills and they still had weapons.

The plan was to take out the Enforcers first with the bow and arrows. Chako estimated that there were about twenty of them. Then they will send arrows after the white men, but they figured the soldiers will be into full combat mode and few arrows will catch them. They will have to catch them, chase them down before they retreated to their underground stronghold. The big cat was the essential part of this phase of the plan and Damian was sure she'll know what to do. He wanted the big cat to stand between the soldiers and their bunkers. She will buy them precious moments as well serve as a source of disorientation.

The first phase of the plan went perfectly. Even Ada was expert with a bow, and they got the Enforcers.

The Soldiers didn't panic when the arrows started flying. As one, they dropped into a crouch and began an orderly retreat.

Steve yelled at the top of his lungs and rushed forward. Damian and the others followed, all screaming at the top of their lungs like Bruce instructed. The soldiers turned and started running. Suddenly Sheba was in front of them snarling and snapping like a vision from hell.

The Natives scrambled, fleeing like rabbits into the brush.

Damian saw Steve run up on one soldier. The man bravely stood up and thrust his spear out before him. Steve snatched it out of his hand. He grabbed the wide-eyed man's arm and picked him up high over his head. Then he threw him, bowling over two other Soldiers who had turned, preferring to face down 11 screaming people rather than a snarling Tiger.

Chako ran up and speared both white men to death.

A tall, stocky soldier swung at Damian with a machete. Damian ducked and punched him in the face. The man crumbled like an Egyptian mummy. One punched killed him deader than a Pharaoh.

He looked around for Chandra just to see how she was doing. He wasn't worried because he knew she could use the spear and if she was in trouble he'd know it from their psychic connection.

He saw a leering Soldier lunge at her and watched with pride as she sidestepped and got behind him. She kicked him in the back of the knees and he fell down on the ground face first. She brought her spear down into his back with all her might.

There were four dying men lying on the ground in Bruce's wake and he hadn't even broken a sweat.

Chako was using his knife, getting up close and personal.

Damian saw Jane chasing one soldier down. Her eyes were wild and her hands were already bloody. She was taller than the man and she had already speared him in the gut. He fell on the ground and did a leg maneuver, causing Jane to fall down hard. He plunged at her with his knife and she rolled, scrambling to her feet in the same motion. Then she kicked him in the face as hard as she could. She picked up her spear and walked over to him but he was already dead.

Like Damian thought, the Soldiers were shells of what they were before the breach. Their four year stay underground and the changed earth had weakened them probably more than even they knew.

He watched Michelle, and like Steve, she was without a weapon, but she was merely practicing with her opponents. They had no wind and no real strength. She was easily breaking legs and arms before she broke their necks.

Nobody got by the big cat. She would swiftly chase down any man who tried to, and maul them.

Damian told Ada, Feifong and Sheree that they didn't have to fight unless they were needed. All three stood on the sidelines watching.

Elizabeth was with one particular soldier. He was not as pale as the others. In fact, even though he was white-skinned, he had the facial features of a Negro. Damian knew he probably was blacker than midnight four years ago. He seemed stronger than the other soldiers but it was easy to see it was Elizabeth herself who was dragging the fight out, not the Soldier. Finally she jumped up and scissor kicked him in the  throat. He fell to his knees, choking. She took her knife from her band and cut him a new passageway--from ear to ear.

" He hurt me," she said, as if someone was asking for an explanation.

They killed half of the soldiers. The other half surrendered--at least that's what Patrick called it. He and Steve were arguing like they were going to kill each other. Steve wasn't ready to quit.

Damian counted about twenty white men, with Negro facial features. Half of them were dead but along with the ten live ones, were about twenty paler white men with Caucasian facial features. Some of the Native Enforcers were also still alive.

They were huddled together in the middle of the compound with their heads bowed.

The big cat was still snarling and growling and when one of them so much as lifted a finger, she lunged.

Jane, Sheree, Elizabeth, Chandra, Chako, Bruce, and Ada stood over them with spears.

For the first time Damian noticed the woman, Chako said had been bound and beheaded. She was hanging naked upside down, her head was missing and her flesh was almost transparent. He could see almost every vein in her body.

Damian walked over and cut her down.

Steve swore loudly.

" Get the fuck out of the way Patrick."

"They're unarmed and surrendered Steve."

" Then arm them if you want to, and tell them to fight because this is not going to be over until every one of them is as dead as that young girl over there."

" I can't let you do that."

" You listen to me--"

Steve's eyes narrowed, his tone was low, like an undercurrent of hot lava.

"As far as I'm concerned there are only two kinds of people left in the world, Predators who can somehow twist their animal, degenerate minds into believing they can walk the face of this earth raping, robbing and lording it over other people with impunity-- and the rest of us. I could never do anything about it in the old world, but in this world--right here and now-- I'm goddamn king of the jungle. And I have zero tolerance for two legged Predators, or any body's who's so greedy, selfish, or ethnocentric that they can't recognize two-legged Predators. Get the fuck out of my way."

Patrick stood his ground. Steve reached out quicker than a rattler strike and grabbed him by the neck, lifted him off the ground.

" Put him down Steve." Bruce warned. He shifted his stance.

Damian shifted in his own stance.

Chako put a hand on Bruce's shoulder. " Relax, he's not going to hurt him. Damian...," Chako called out," you decide. You're our leader. What do we do with them?"

Damian looked over at the huddled, beaten British soldiers. His eyes then ran over the headless woman. The Natives were streaming back into the compound. He saw faces that were so battered he wondered how they survived their beating. He looked at the women; most of them were naked from the waist up. Nearly all of them had stripes on their backs. He looked over at the Mistresses and their children. Some were sobbing, most weren't. He took in the little mixed infants--the next generation of what Lee called Drakes. In his mind he saw a future, and in his memory a snippet of the past.

"You're chickenshit Lee, that's why in the end you always lose."

He recalled what Mike said happened to Lee and his people.

" Steve knows what to do."

"Damian...no...show some mercy!" Patrick begged.

"I am showing mercy, but to those who deserve it."

Steve glared at the pale men.

"You want weapons?"

Most of the men nodded.

" Shelly, get them their spears."

Jane, Ada and Elizabeth helped Michelle gather up the men some weapons. They threw them to the Soldiers. Most of the Soldiers grabbed the spears and stood up.

Chako and Bruce joined Jane, Elizabeth, Michelle and Steve.

"Janie, don't be a part of this. It's murder. Bruce...Chako." Patrick's eyes were feverish. "You know Colonel Robertson, would never allow this."

Bruce said: "You know Midnite, the thing that gets me about all this begging for mercy is that you know that we are going to be pushing on. And there isn't enough room on our boat for a fraction of these people. You've seen what they did to that girl over there. Bruce nodded to the headless woman. You heard what Elizabeth said was done to all the young men of this island, and how women were raped and tortured. These people were in slavery when we came here and what I want to know is how come they can't get some of that justice and mercy you're wanting for this scum? You really want us to leave 30 of these bastards alive on this Island with these women and children?"

" They can't fight, Bruce. The Natives has seen how weak they are. All we have to do is kill all the Native Enforcers and the people can handle these men."

Chako's eyes clouded over and a knowing look came over his face.

" You finish wasting your breath, yet?" Steve said to Bruce.

All the others had just learned about Patrick everything they needed to know, but Patrick and Bruce had been best friends for a long time. He thought he knew the man. He couldn't close the book  on ten years of friendship, yet. He wanted clarification. Maybe Patrick, misspoke.

" So you don't mind killing all the Native slave drivers, but it's murder to kill the white ones?" Bruce spat in Patrick's direction, then turned and started walking back towards the camp.

Steve, Chako, Michelle, Elizabeth, and Jane started moving in on the soldiers.

"Wait a minute." Damian said. " I have a better idea."