Isolation & Fear (Damned of the 2/19th Book Seven)

GOTCHA!

314 Brigade Avenue
East Housing Area
Alfenwehr Secure Army Post
West Germany
04 February, 1988
1645 Hours

The kitchen was warm around me as I sat in the vinyl covered chair and watched the boys crouch down by the sliding glass door that separated the kitchen from the back patio. They were all dressed in civilian clothing, with heavy denim jackets. They made a hell of a set. Two high ranking officers, a staff NCO, and a lower NCO, all peering through the slats of the sliding glass door's blinders.

"The sun's setting," Colonel Henry rumbled. He'd taken this as humoring one of his troops who might be in the middle of a nervous breakdown brought on by stress and injuries.

"Shh, she might here you," Bomber said softly.

I looked at Prudence, who smiled gently at me. When we had gotten to the house she had taken one look at me, quietly reprimanded Johnny for bringing me here when I was so tired, then taken me to the spare bedroom, lent me a nightgown, and quietly told me to get some sleep. The woman had a soul of hammered iron, and laying in the bed while she said goodnight to me, I could see why Johnny loved her so much.

"Are you sure..." Sergeant Nicholas started.

"Shh, look," Major Miner said, his voice tight with sudden excitement.

I was at a good angle to see through the slats at what they were looking at, and I jerked when I saw what they were referring to.

There was a large blackberry bush behind John's house. The snow had shaken off the branches and dead leaves, but it was still a frosted and ice bramble sitting in almost two feet of snow. It should have been sitting there, immobile.

The leaves and branches were shaking slightly.

"Look at the snow," John said quietly. All boys looked down.

I kept watching. That was my job. Lookout.

Aine would sense the men.

Her little face pushed out of the brambles first. It was more vulpine than I had ever seen it. Sharp pointed chin, high sharp cheekbones, her eyes way too big for that little face and tilted oddly, her nose was still the same though. Her freckles stood out on her pale white skin like tiny pinpricks of blood. Her hair was bright arterial blood red, in long ringlets, and I saw she had a flower just above her brow line on each side.

Her hands pushed out beside her face and I restrained a shudder.

She had an extra joint in her too long fingers and her nails were curved emerald green talons.

She sniffed at the air, and her expression brightened. She licked her full lips with a narrow red tongue that reminded me of a cat's tongue. She pushed the branches aside, revealing that her arms were slightly longer than normal. Vines wrapped around her forearms, bright red flowers scattered on the vines, and her limbs were white without any hint of veins.

And had an extra joint.

She moved out onto the snow, and it was easy to see that her feet didn't sink into the snow. Her legs were covered in fine downy red hair. Oh, and had an extra joint at mid-thigh that bent backwards and vines wrapped her shins to the knee. She twisted impossibly to look to the right and left, then scampered forward, hands and feet propelling her across Johnny's back yard.

The sun was down, but it was still light enough to see her. Her white skin was almost luminious.

She nosed up to the dish, sniffing at it. She looked around again, sitting up in that weird pose that the extra joint in her legs gave her. Her legs were wide, and we could see her crotch, covered with thick red hair. The hair on her head cascaded down her back, over her pert butt, and lay on the ground over a body length behind her. It was full of open red flowers.