SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest

As the vehicle swung him over the edge of the worm’s mouth, he twisted in his harness, looking down at the outer side of the beast. He could see one of the bomb-spikes implanted in its flesh. He figured he was close enough to the creature now. He slapped a hand still holding a Magnum against the switch of the transmitter on his chest, but the bombs still refused to explode.

“Monkey fucker-noodle!”

A boiling cloud of purple vapor bellowed out of the creature’s mouth, and Rook knew they had just a few seconds before the death worm spewed a stream of poison at him and the helicopter. The edge of the storm had found them, too, suddenly whipping the rope, and Rook’s dangling body.

He raised both pistols and fired both magazines dry at the single bomb-spike he could see on the side of the worm’s slick body. He quickly ejected both magazines and slotted in a single new one for the pistol in his right hand. He took a single steadying breath as the raging wall of white began to cover up the creature’s body, just feet below the silver of the bomb-spike’s surface. The purple cloud coming out of the creature’s mouth was billowing back past the creature, as its mouth still rose into the air. The thick viscous fumes further obscured the explosive spear nailed into the worm’s hide. He started to worry that the acidic nature of the fumes could incapacitate the detonators on the bombs, but then he let the thought fall Zen-like from his mind as he aimed, released his breath and squeezed the trigger.

The effect was instant.

Although the explosive compound in the spears was hardy enough to take a shot from a bullet without exploding, the small detonators on the spikes were not. The bullet impacted the detonator, and the smaller explosive it contained went off, taking the larger explosive with it. The bomb-spike’s explosion then activated the others embedded in the creature’s thick hide, all over the front half of its body. The entire upper half of the giant beast turned into a maelstrom of orange fire, black smoke, purple venom, red skin fragments and white swirling snow and ice.

The helicopter rose abruptly, tugging Rook with it, but his suit still got splattered with gore. Smoke rose from parts of his formerly white covering, melting from the viscous goo that now coated him.

“I’m gonna need a new suit fast,” Rook said over the comms. “And an aversion therapy doctor with a gallon-sized bucket of sour gummy worms.”

“Copy that,” Aleman said. “Are you clear?”

Rook looked up as he was tugged from above. The team pulled him up as King looked down for visual confirmation of Rook’s situation. Rook gave a thumbs up. “Aside from the melting, we’re golden.”

“We’re done here,” King said. “En route to the safe house.”

“Actually,” Aleman said. “The safe house is compromised.”

“Admiral Ward?”

“Uh-huh.” Aleman said in almost a groan. “Better come to me instead.”

“Will do,” King said, adding his muscle to the rope pulling effort. “But then we’re going to have a chat about what to do about this thorn in our side.”

Thanks for reading SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest.

We really hope you enjoyed it, both for the brilliant efforts by our authors and for the wonderful artwork by Monty Borror. We’re proud to present what we consider the best military horror/sci-fi we can find.

Geoff Brown and Amanda J Spedding