The Deployment Notice

13.

Buck couldn't believe it, he was tempted to pinch himself for a second before he remembered where he was and what he was doing. None of this was a dream or a nightmare, this was really happening.

There was an actual fucking gorilla standing on the other end of the ring. It was ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. It was like the ancient Roman colosseum that Chris had done a project on last year, except instead of fighting lions they were fighting a gorilla.

Buck had no idea where they even managed to get a gorilla! More specifically, where they managed to get this gorilla. It was huge! Bigger than the ones he and Chris had seen at the LA zoo, bigger than  any gorilla he'd seen at any zoo, quite frankly. What the hell were they feeding it? Steroids?

"Uhhhh, so what exactly is our game plan here?" Microphone asked, "we're definitely working together on this, right?"

"Definitely." Buck replied, swallowing down his fear.

This was a new one for him, but he dealt with solving new problems everyday, it was his job both back home and as a SEAL.

See the problem, solve the problem. Bobby's voice floated through his head.

Buck took a deep breath as the animal roared and pounded on the arena wall. It hadn't noticed them yet, but Buck didn't think that'd last forever.

"Ok, here's the plan." Buck said, "you're machete is sharpened, right?"

Microphone ran a finger along the edge of the weapon and it came away bloody, thankfully it was, in fact, freshly sharpened.

"I'll distract it, keep it's focus on me." Buck started explaining, "you're going to sneak up behind it and slit its throat. Gorilla's have a jugular vein same as we do, so if you can cut it deep enough then it shouldn't last much longer."

"You're sure?" Microphone asked, setting his shoulders back as if preparing for the fight.

"Yes. Now go!" Buck called and watched as microphone made his way off to the side.

Once he'd made it a decent distance away, Buck started hollering to get the monkey's attention.

"Hey! Hey! Over here!" He yelled waving the machete around.

It took a minute for the creature to pick him out over the general chaos of the arena, but as soon as it did it's eyes narrowed and its nostrils flared. It let out an impressive roar that made Buck's heart pound in his chest and then it charged.

Buck decided to take his chances and let it get way too close for comfort before diving to his right, like a bull and matador. He rolled, careful to not cut himself or lose his weapon, and was back on his feet in less than a second.

The gorilla swiped an arm out at him and Buck raised his machete to meet it and stepped back quickly. His dive had turned the gorilla so it's back was to Microphone, so now the name of the game was keeping it facing this way and not getting hit.

He couldn't see microphone behind the giant creature, but he had to believe that the man was fulfilling his part in the plan. If he didn't then both he and Buck were dead men walking, so he'd better. He wished, in a nonsensical way that it was Eddie. Not because he actually wanted Eddie anywhere near this hellhole, but because if it was Eddie then he'd know without a shadow of a doubt that the other man had his back.

He continued backing up and swiping the machete through the air in front of him defensively. The gorilla already had a few cuts on its arms, but it wasn't slowing down, and Buck was running out of space to back up into. Only about ten more steps remained before his back would be against the arena wall. He really didn't like his odds if that happened.