Story-a-Week #8
On the pole (part 1)
Brenner had seen dead bodies before. These had been dead for a fairly long time. The buried limbs and shreds of clothing were mostly obscured by a layer of dirt and rock. Suddenly he realized he had never seen dead bodies at all, not in person, just in the news. He had certainly never stood on them.
“You out here for fun?” Lyle was making one of his rare insights. He was usually quiet, so the other men turned. Brenner grimaced.
“I didn’t say that,” Brenner leaned against the pole, digging it into the dry dirt.
“Then was you… what was you caught for?” Lyle rubbed a scar on his arm. He seemed completely unaware of the sudden quiet. Brenner didn’t answer.
“He’s prawlly married a zerglin if they put ‘im onna pole!” Ged let out a strangled laugh, “GADDAMIT, dang flippin gun!”
The men around Ged backed away. Ged had bumped the leg of tripod mounted Nikos laser, “it was… I ain’t… Brenner go run the rod, we can’t jus’ eff around all day.”
Brenner grabbed the pole and started off. Lyle lumbered over to the gun, he placed his large hands over the tripod legs with steady care and pushed them down into dirt. He was a strange sight: A hulking leather-skinned man hunched over the tiny dials on the Nikos. He peered through the scope for a moment and then slowly tilted his body away from gun.
“It’s zeroed up again,” Lyle slowly stepped from between the tripod legs, very careful not to touch. He looked up. By now, Brenner was barely visible on the jagged orange boulders that made up most of the area. Heat waves distorted his distancing form.
Ged nodded, “How’re we on sattelite?”
The shorter of the two men standing with Ged at the back of the jeep looked at a tiny computer monitor, “We’re bout a tenth off- but heck, considerin nobody been out here for this long we’re gold!”
Ged looked around at the craters,”a tenth… that’s good enough for government work!” He let out another oddly pained laugh, “Git Brenner in the sights.”