EarthFall

Chap 20. Furious Ghosts.

Carson watched as the entrance to the cavern began to glow with a dull, blue light. He was hungry. Well.. That was an understatement. "The sun is rising soon. The guys will be up." He whispered to his partner in crime.

Brianna lay tangled in the metal emergency blankets beside him. They crinkled slightly as she moved. She ran her fingers across the freckled 'scar' on his side. "Does it hurt?" She poked at it testingly.

"Ow!" Carson said.

She jerked her hand back, then slapped him gently when she saw the evil smile on his face.

"Don't you dare do that... Chief Carson."

"Ugh... don't remind me." Carson rolled over and buried his head in her breasts.

She stroked his head softly. "It doesn't matter what Talson said in his death note. The boys will need it. They need something. Maybe not tucker as much as Cornelius... but they both need you to pretend to know what you're doing. Understand baby?"

He just groaned again. He knew what she meant. There had always been a Chief. Someone who ensured the protocols were adhered to. And in the absence of any real mission procedures, Chief always seemed to find a menial task to perform to keep your head out of the muck.

But... They had thrown every form of protocol, every law and rule out the window these past few days. They had essentially been forced to go AWOL. Did they really need someone giving them orders when there wasn't even a mission anymore? Speaking of missions..

"Why were you so crazy last night?" Carson asked casually.

"What exactly do you mean?! I think I held my shit together pretty god damn well Chief Car... oh. You mean in bed?"

"You were a fucking animal, baby."

She looked at him in genuine surprise. He watched as she blushed, her cheeks turning red as she tried to think of the words to explain.

"After that Alien monster thing injected you... you have no idea how afraid I was. And then I saw your one blue eye... and then I thought you almost killed Abel in cold blood, and I wanted... needed to be certain of it."

"Of what?" Carson asked.

"Of you really being you! I needed to fuck your brains out. I wanted to take you where you've never been before, and watch you find your way back. I wanted to see how you acted in the heat of the moment, with absolutely nothing else on your mind. I wanted to see if it was the Carson I remembered." She stopped suddenly and looked away in embarrassment.

"Anyways you passed. Congratulations Chief." Then she changed the subject.

"Who cut your Bell Penis?" That got his attention. He jerked his head around.

"My what?"

"Your plant that got cut down. The one you were telling the Ai about yesterday."

"A Bellis Perennis??"

"Yeah... that. Was that a real story, or were you bullshitting the machine? You've never told me about it before."

"Oh." Carson sighed in relief and settled back on his side. "It was Chief Talson who cut it actually."

"What? Why? What happened?"

Carson paused a moment, remembering the incident.

"He barged into my room one day several years ago and looked through my specimens. When he saw it, he forced me to tell him what it was. He asked a bunch of questions about it. Then he asked "Will it grow back?" to which I replied yes. And then I shit you not, he proceeded to clip it at the stem with his knife. The son of a gun clipped it, and then put it in his vest pocket."