04 January 2017

Chapter 9 - MHI Alaska: A Dish Served Cold




Mid-Air over the eastern Matanuska-Susitna Borough:

Dang it, he's asleep again. This guy can sleep through anything! Jamie took a deep breath and let out a little scream. Sandy jerked awake with a start. Annoyed, he turned toward her to say something, but she cut him off.

"Sandman, if I thought it would keep you awake, I'd make you ride on that float out there."

"Dammit, Jamie, what'd you go and do that for?"

"We're only about 30 minutes from Big Lake. Rick said the lake's still partly open, so I get us close to the road. He's sending Tom with the van."

"Cool! Tom always has the big guns."

"We have three Barretts, remember?"

Sandy winked at her. "If he doesn't remember to bring ammo, they're just ballast."

Jamie shook her head. "Oh, thee of little faith. Just look at the pretty glaciers and go back to sleep."


Nelchina:

"Dang it, Jim, you drive like an old lady. Did you have to take classes to drive this slow, or what?"

"Leave me alone, Rick. This station wagon you borrowed at Glenallen is only running on five cylinders, and we weigh a lot. What with the guns, ammo, and all these bodies, you want to overheat?"

Rick shook his head. "It's 12 degrees, Jim; I don't think we'll get too hot. Just keep driving, Grandma."

At that, the team erupted into laughter, and tossed a few paper cups toward the driver. "C'mon, guys, I'm trying to get us there safely!" he protested.

Dusty looked around with a sly look on his face. "We just wanna get there this week."

"Oh, man." Jim shook his head sadly. "No gratitude at all. Life ain't fair, I tell you."

The rest of the cups, and several burger wrappers, went airborne.


Big Lake:

An ice fog had settled across the area north of the lake. The windows of a hundred cars on the Parks Highway had frosted over instantly, with resultant crashes on and off the road.

At the Chamber of Commerce, three men had just staggered into the meeting room. All were badly frostbitten, despite heavy winter clothing.

Tom was on the phone. "There were nineteen guys, Rick. Nineteen ... and now there are three. These guys are locals and they've all lived here for years. They know the woods, they know the area, and they know how to dress for winter. So is this that extreme cold you told us about, like when you hunted Harvey?"

"Sure sounds like it, Tom, but it never covered an area that big before. You'd best get out to the lake and make sure Jamie still has a place to put that Beaver down. She's running floats, not skis."

"You bet. I've got the ammo she wanted, too, and it's a heavy load. It'll be good to get it out of the office van. Remind me to talk to you when this is all over, about getting a one-ton vehicle instead of this people hauler."

"You could always off-load some of that where you are. You're picking up Jamie, Sandy, and all their guns, remember?"

"But boss, that ammo's heavy!"

"Cowboy up, Tom, or did you forget the company motto? In the meantime, get whoever else is with you to debrief those hunters. We need to know what those guys saw out there. And listen, we're past the Eureka Roadhouse, so have someone set up a table at the local eatery. These guys are going to be cranky by the time we get there. And whatever we're facing, it'll be better on a full stomach."



TO BE CONTINUED

DISCLAIMER: I do not own MHI or any of its characters; those are owned and copyright Larry Correia. I only claim the ones I've created. And a BIG h/t to Mr. Correia for creating such a wonderful universe in which to play, and for his kind permission to use his world here.

A h/t also to Jenny S., who contributed a couple of crucial ideas to improve this story, as well as creating the book cover and team patch, above. Her help has been invaluable, both here and in my
first book.

4 comments:

Suz said...

Hey!! Don't stop now!!! I have been visiting your site for a couple of years, but managed to miss this until now. I'm liking what I've read so far...and the foreshadowing is fun...

So, please...don't stop now!!

Suz

Rev. Paul said...

Okay, Suz - and thank you for the feedback. There's been little enough of that, and I had mixed feelings about going on. I will start working on Chapter 10.

JayNola said...

These are very good. I also like the installments even though they're few and far between.

Rev. Paul said...

Thank you, sir. I was wondering what you thought about it.