A Dash of Scarlet In Paradise

UP IN THE TREES

III

Marcus' thirst was quickly quenched. His throat smoothened itself right after one more cough, but his instincts remained as sharp as that of a tiger's. He thanked Nirvana softly, thinking how he would have survived without her tears, the tears from witnessing war where peace should have existed.

And it was time war came to Marcus again.

He thought that he was hearing things until he spotted a reconnaissance drone through a section of twigs.

A Model FX-369, one that the UDCF troops would call Killers.

The Killer had a circular red photoreceptor attached to the frontal lobe. It was using it to detect activity. But the spyglass had a flaw; it lacked a thermal tracking system, which made it almost impossible to spot a camouflaged man up in the canopy.

Fixed to the streamlined tail fin was an antenna for sending distress calls back to home base. Without it, the drone would be alone.

Always take out the antenna...that's what they all told us.

Targeted quite close to its eye was a blinding flashlight. A halo of brightness was laid upon the ground, it usually marked the area of where the drone was mainly patrolling, and it was nowhere close to Marcus.

Almost everything about the Killer would strike fear straight into anybody's heart. However, the heavily armed drone gave Marcus no sense of intimidation, for he had studied the particular model and had already known how to dismantle it.

Although Killers had a massive collection of weapons hidden underneath the hull, none could target anywhere past 180 degrees, so all you had to do was to land on top of it. But that alone was a difficult move to execute. Killers were extremely agile and could perform great turns. If you didn't make a perfect shot, it would have been the last moment you could ever experience.

Nope, not today.

Marcus leapt off the Crescenial Tree and landed directly on top of the Killer's outer shielding. It wasn't the most flawless landing but it was barely enough to keep him out of range of the many deadly guns the Killer had in store for him.

Without a doubt he knocked the antenna with his heel and snapped it into two. The Killer tried to shake him off but failed to do so.

It was the sharp spin that nearly flung Marcus off, but he secured a grip on the Killer. It began to fly aimlessly and back to the series of helicopter wreckages.

Sure enough, it started to fire all it's weapon systems, of course not hitting Marcus once. With one strong pull, Marcus detached the steel casing from the frontal area of the Killer and ripped out all the wires. Now he knew he wasn't going to end up on the ground in a nice position.

Thud. Separated from the Killer, Marcus skidded for a short while before coming to a complete stop. He touched his elbow only to feel a cut running down his arm, to feel a river of blood.

"That's definitely not good..." he peered at the Killer carefully to make sure that it was shut down for good. As he was going over to examine the Killer closely, a sizzling noise caused his legs to freeze.

You cannot be serious right now...

Marcus darted sideways as a bulb of flames engulfed the Killer. Shards of metal came flying out in all directions, some bounced off Marcus' pale cheeks.

Wait a second...

Marcus looked like a blind fool as he searched for the Crescenial Tree he was just on, and then he remembered that it was the tallest one around.

He began to retrace which way the Killer came headed from, but halfway through his calculation, he realized that the Killer could have made several turns before reaching him.

Dammit.

He simply ignored the thought and continued his way to the fallen helicopters.

At last he was back where he started, Chopper R6. Images of the day he spray painted the code name onto the side of the helicopter flashed by his eyes, for Marcus, even Chopper R6 was part of Rocket Squad.

A breeze reaped through the jungle as Marcus' fingers ran across the metal plating. The paint job was extraordinary, even after heavy battering and damage, Marcus could make the image of a falcon next to the codename.

The cracks and creases on the glass covering the cockpit area all became easily visible under the moonlight. A corpse lay on the pilot seat, his neck snapped in an impossible way, his hands still rested on a joystick.

Poor Andreas.

Marcus bowed in front of the cockpit solemnly, clutching his heart in respect. He couldn't bear watching the scrunched up Andreas, so he picked up his pace and jogged towards the backside of Chopper R6.

Up on the top section, Marcus could spot an unopened emergency equipment backpack. He used to wonder why they had to put those there, but now he understood perfectly.

On his tiptoes, he stretched to get a hold of the backpack. At the touch of the leather strap, Marcus grasped the bag down. But he received more than he first expected, attached to one side of the backpack was a pistol. A fully loaded Colt 38 Super.

Why, that's a sweet bonus. But a more powerful weapon perhaps...

Marcus scanned the surrounding land, just to fail in finding a better gun.

Never mind then. I guess I'm working with pistols then.

Identifying tools and equipment within the backpack was just as easy as unzipping it. Fortunately for Marcus, none of the preplaced items were missing or spoilt. He picked up every single thing and inspected them quickly. He paused a slight moment when he came across a flare gun.

After briefly memorizing all the items, Marcus escaped his kneeling position and strode about.

This is all I need. Hopefully I can survive the night. The hostages can wait, there's no way I can save them if I don't keep myself alive. I suppose it's time to head back into the unknown.