White Phosphorus [Spec Ops: The Line x Laughing Jack]

The New Mother

"This one's still alive," a woman's voice said.

Walker opened his eyes. He was greeted by the grime-covered face of a woman in her early twenties. She pulled him out of the wreckage of the plane with surprising strength, forcefully yanking him out. Walker had a tall, muscular figure and moving his semi-conscious body had not been easy task even for his Delta squadmates back in Dubai, but this woman performed the task with ease.

"Can you walk?" the woman asked him.

Walker nodded.

"Good. Follow me back to the village."

The woman forged ahead through the dense jungle. Walker took one look behind him at the path of destruction the plane crash had created. Nearly a kilometer of trees were now flattened by the plane as it slid to a stop during the crash.

Walker followed the woman to through the jungle, barely able to keep up. He quickly lost her, but he was able to follow her trail from the sticks on the ground that had been snapped and the ferns that were still swaying from her passing through them.

Walker finally emerged into a clearing to find her waiting for him in a clearing, standing amid what remained of a village. Many of the buildings were destroyed or riddled with bullet holes. Walker noticed about a row of about thirty mounds of dirt that had to be shallow graves.

"What happened here?" Walker asked.

"Children with guns came and massacred everyone. My daughter and I were the only survivors."

"Do you think they're coming back?" Walker probed.

"No. But if they do, I now have an AK-74 that one of them discarded. Although it would probably be better in your hands, since you're a Captain in a military," she replied with a glint in her eye.

Walker did a double take. "How do you know that?"

The woman smiled. "Your dog tags. Let's start over. Pleased to meet you, Captain Martin Walker. My name is Momo Yosube."

"Momo? Like the internet hoax?" Walker said.

"An unfortunate choice of a name by my parents. But not as bad as Alexa," Momo quipped.

A baby started crying in one of the huts. Momo rushed over to it while Walker tailed her.

"You don't appear to be from around here, Ms. Yosube," Walker observed.

"I'm with the World Health Organization. I flew here from Japan to help contain the Ebola outbreak. While I was here I met a man and...well now I am a mother."

Momo reached the infant and coddled it in her arms. The baby eventually stopped crying and a smile lit up its face as it stared up at its mother.

"Would you mind holding her?" Momo asked, "I'll go fetch that AK-74."

Momo handed Walker her baby and rushed away. Walker rocked it just as she had done. He thought back to his son at home. He had been there for Jeremy's birth, but was deployed soon after. It was now three years since he saw his son. Walker missed his first words, and his first steps. He yearned for the day that he could return home and be reunited with his family.

Suddenly, the baby in his arms grew heavier. It felt like he was holding a sack of bricks. Walker looked down to see that he was actually holding an open backpack full of concrete rubble. The infant was nowhere to be seen, somehow replaced by this heavy pack.

The backpack got even heavier and Walker was brought to his knees by the weight. He felt it pinning him down, choking the air out of him. He was on the verge of suffocation when his radio crackled on.

"Don't die on me so soon," Laughing Jack's voice said condescendingly.

Walker tried to choke out the words 'fuck you,' but all he could do was wheeze for air. Then, as suddenly as the baby had turned to a bag of rocks, the weight disappeared and Walker could breathe again.

"You're welcome," Jack sneered through the radio.

Walker took the radio off his belt and held it to his mouth. "Fuck. You."

"Your female friend was actually a yokai, a ghost from feudal Japan," Jack informed him, "It seems there's something in that jungle with the ability to bend time, as well as a keen interest in children."

Walker spat on the ground. "Sounds right up your alley, you sick piece of shit."

"Calm your tits, soldier," Jack laughed, "You have a mission to complete. Over and out."

The radio signal clicked off. Walker put the radio back on his belt and looked down.

Lying at his feet was an AK-74 submachine gun.