The Cure

The helicopter soared up ahead of the capsized ship, the black smoke rising from it made it even easier to spot. Inside the aircraft were four people, a pilot, a woman and two men, all three decked out in combat regalia. The two male soldiers had a bulletproof face shield pulled down in front of their eyes, an addition that their female superior had declined.

Her custom made gold plated helmet differed from everybody else’s on board, as it featured multiple badges and honors arcing across the brim. She looked through the windshield of the bulletproof helicopter and towards the clear blue sky. It was an otherwise clear day, if not for the thick, dark smoke emanating from the crash site.

She turned to her two colleagues and instructed them on the task at hand.

“Gentleman, we have been assigned to this precise location for a very specific reason. Do I have to explain this you before we land?”

Both cadets shook their head no, confirming that they knew what was expected of them.

“Ramos,” she called out, causing the soldier on the right to step forward, removing his helmet in front of her, revealing his scarred face. Looking at his newest captain without an obstructed view for the first time, he addressed her accordingly.

“Captain Devlin, Private Collins and myself are committed to seeing this mission through with complete professionalism.”

As Devlin nodded her head and turned around, she walked towards the pilot and began to brainstorm about potential landing spots. Collins removed his mask, revealing the face of a grizzled veteran, rich with stubble and his face telling war stories with each crack and fold. With matching combat uniforms, at first glance they would appear to be a long time duo, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

They had met mere days ago at the Recruiting Center for Athletic Beings, better known as RCAB. Located deep in the Seattle downtown area, the building was fairly well hidden, decoyed by a member’s only sign hanging on the front door. Technically it wasn’t a lie, just nobody bothered enough to find out that the membership was free. RCAB claimed that partners were selected at random, but it was quickly determined by both Collins and Ramos that they were matched intentionally, based on their backgrounds.

Ramos, being a four year Marine veteran was honorably discharged after suffering third-degree burns to his face from an IAD blast in northeast Baghdad. The skin graph that the government had paid for only did so much for his condition, leaving the majority of the right side of his face a scaley, beaming shade of red.

The thing that they shared in common was what they had given for their country, and the lengths they’d be willingly to go to complete a mission. Collins was dishonorably discharged from the Marines after an investigation found him guilty in conspiring to torture a key witness during Desert Storm. Finding work had been a struggle up until this point, but Devlin had promised him a hefty payday for services if everything ran smoothly.

Ramos leaned in to whisper a question to his comrade, “do you think she knows about me?”

“What do you mean? What is she supposed to know?” Collins peered back at him, confused as a deer in headlights before cracking a smile, leaning into his partners shoulder and belly laughing.

“Of course she don’t know, man. If she knew what you were up to, you’d be tossed off this chopper without a chute.”

“Yeah, well that actually breeds an interesting question,” he said, leaning against the side of the helicopter, “what would you do if it came down to me against her?”

“You really expect me to answer that right on the spot? It’s circumstantial. I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong, all I know is that I’m here for a check and I plan on getting it, my man.” Collins pounded Ramos on the chest, causing his armor to echo within itself.

“Hey! I’m not fucking around!” Ramos grabbed his counterpart by the neck area of his armor, pushing him against the gun rack on the left wall of the helicopter. Looking on from the pilot control area, Devlin romped forward to break up the situation before it escalated further. Her green eyes cut like razor blades through candle wax, commanding them to halt with nothing more than a look.

“You guys need to cut the shit. You not only need to be out there for each other, but for me and him,” she yelled, pointing at the pilot who was landing the copter in a field a few miles ahead of them. “The Group has paid me, and you two, very well to complete this objective. Doesn’t thirty three and a half million dollars each sound worth it to scuba dive for twenty minutes? Get your shit together, let’s make The Group happy and get the hell out of here.”

Devlin reached for her backpack as the pilot lowered them down to the grass below, watching as her two soldiers followed suit. Once they reached the ground, all three piled out, one after the other. Devlin being the first one out, directed traffic as to where each member should go.

“Collins, you go towards the smoke, I’m gonna go a few kilometers into the forest to look for any possible survivors. Ramos, you circle the shoreline and radio me if you notice anything at all.” She tossed a camouflage painted walkie talkie to Ramos, and then to Collins as she ventured of into the wilderness, carrying her backpack over her shoulders.

“Why do you think she has such a huge load to carry?”

Collins stared back at his partner as he placed his helmet back on his head. “The better question is why you think it’s any of our business. She’s our superior and we’re paid to follow orders. Leave it at that,” he shot back, his words being muffled by the headgear that protected his skull.

“People like you is why Hitler was as successful as he was.”

“Excuse me?” Collins removed his headgear and stared a hole through him, “We’re out here for good. We’re doing God’s work. This ship sank, and our people made it sank for a reason. The ends are justifying the means here, and you need to accept that. Stop being such a whiney bitch and do your fucking job.”

Ramos made a few steps ahead of Collins, and then turned back around to face him once more. “You know, I don’t know why you find everything so easy to believe in. Why is it so easy to believe that we’re doing good when you know god damned well that there’s just as much of a chance that we’re doing bad? We’re not supposed to be here. It isn’t our place, man. I didn’t sign up for this. I didn’t sign up to scuba dive in the fucking jungle, dude.”

“Yeah? So what did you sign up for?”

The wind rustled the sprawling palm trees above them, causing them to look up and see a body dangling in a branch up above. Collins turned to Ramos, “you’re the Mexican. Climb the tree, pato.”

“Yeah, yeah, go fuck,” Ramos replied, grabbing a branch and shimmying his way up to inspect the lifeless body.

“I never said it was easy,” Collins shouted up to him.

“What?!”

“Believing that we’re doing good out here! It’s not easy!”

As Ramos attempted to shout back to his friend, a loud cracking sound was the root of the look of discomfort that overtook him. Fear was sweating from his pours as he swung himself from the weak branch to a stronger one, now directly under the man resting in the tree. Hanging in with all of his upper body strength, Ramos looked up to notice a locket dangling from the middle aged mans fingertips.

Reaching for it and grasping it was too much of  a risk, resulting in Ramos falling twenty feet to the sandy shore below, knocking him unconscious upon impact, the locket laying in the sand just above his outstretched right arm.

As Devlin ventured through the forest, she had expected that her cohorts would be thrown off her trail by the plant of the man in the tree. While she hated to come off as the bad one, what she was doing was in the greater good of everyone. She had been assigned this mission personally, but was allowed to bring on a team of her own to save face to the journalists that would eventually cover this game changing discovery.

She swore to protect the secret of her mission, and kept that solemn promise with every step she took, swaying with confidence and conviction. Pulling out a map from her left back pocket, she heard a crackling sound coming from her radio, quickly turning it off before it could distract her further. Completing her mission was the main goal, and she wouldn’t let anything interfere with it now that she was so close to making it a reality.

As she trekked through further and further, she unfolded her map once she reached a hut made of straw and mud. She placed her belongings on the dirt and softly stepped towards the entrance that was surrounded by bamboo torches with flames reaching at least ten feet in the air.

Setting her eyes ahead of her, she set her sights on a dark skinned man, covered with colorful hieroglyphic tattoos in front of a burning bon fire. He began chanting at her, grasping for the dirt that surrounded him to toss into the fire. She took a seat on a log adjacent to him that was so perfectly placed that it almost seemed as if she was expected. It was too convenient for her not to address it.

“Halamec, were you expecting me?”

Halamec rose from his throne made of sticks and straw, stepping into the fire, stomping it out as she clutched her radio.

Ramos woke up a splash of water and being shaken by his partner, immediately asking what had happened to him. After explaining that he had fallen after trying to check on the man on the tree, Ramos cut him off with urgency.

“We can’t let her get away with this, damnit. She’s gonna wipe out all of these people, this whole tribe.”

“What tribe? It’s just us, there’s nobody else her, man.”

“No! I’m telling you ---“

“Look, man. You’re out here searching for a truth that doesn’t exist. It’s all in your head, you’re fucking nuts.”

Ramos shot up to his feet and butted chests with Collins, pushing him back up against the palm tree that held the dead man. The force of the push rustled the branches, causing the body to jar loose and fall to the sand that they stood on. Collins stepped over to the man, who was now grunting and writhing in pain.

“You guys are ruining everything,” he said, struggling with each passing syllable.

Ramos ran over to him and picked up the locket that he had retrieved in the tree that he had climbed minutes before. “What does this mean to you? Is it yours?”

He hung the locket in front of his eyes, the initials ID were engraved in the center, taunting him as it swung from right to left.

Helemac kicked dust and dirt into the face of Devlin, causing her to back up and roll her way out of the hut. As she did so, she was met with gunfire by her two loyal soldiers. As she crawled towards them, she looked up to see Collins carrying a miniature treasure chest, wrapped  in purple and swamp green colored jewels. Her jaw dropped at this revelation and began to sob uncontrollably, screaming about how this wasn’t fair.

Ramos instructed Collins to softly let down the chest as Helemac stepped out of his hut. His bare foot and dirt lathered complexion stood out even more so in the day light, revealing boils all over the tops of his feet. He stepped forward with force, leaving dust clouds in his wake. He approached Devlin and grabbed her the neck, lifting her to face him eye to eye.

He looked to the clear blue sky and let out a horrific howl that could only be described as wolf like, exposing his sharpened teeth. As he thrusted his bite towards her throat, a single gunshot rang out. All four of them froze, not knowing who sent the fatal shot. None of them had their guns drawn, but Helemac dropped to his knees, bleeding from the abdomen. As he reached for some dirt to throw on his wound, Devlin crawled away and into the arms of Ramos, who hugged her tightly.

Ramos whispered into her ear, “was there ever any cure?”

She sobbed her head no and confessed that there was no scientific group, that there was no research, and that they were sent here to wipe out their only remaining God like figure. The pilot stepped out of the woods, his gun still smoking from the shot that ended Helemac’s life. Collins grabbed the backpack that belonged to Devlin, as she screamed out in defiance, watching him dump the contents on the ground in front of her.

Ramos gave his nod of approval as he reached down for the crow bar that resided inside of the navy blue colored backpack. As he cracked it open to see what was inside, the island disintegrated to dust, leaving nothing but crystal blue water to tell their fateful tale for eternity.