The New Makron Book 2: Back from the Dead

This is Part II of The New Makron. If you have not read Part I, please read The New Makron Book 1: Transformation.

Part II
There was a long silence, and then one of the Marines said, "So, are we just gonna stand here and wait for the Strogg to get us, or are we gonna find a way out of this place?" The Marine in charge, the one who had finally accepted Dave's humanity, heartily agreed, and turned to leave. Dave realized that there was a much easier way out than back the way the Marines had come. He didn't know how he knew this, but he did. So, he told the Marines to wait and stand back, then he focused on activating a weapons system that he knew the Strogg must have included in his new body. His right hand retracted, and in its place a big, heavy gun appeared. One of soldiers murmered "That's one heck of a BFG!" His squadmate asked "BFG?" The man to whom this question was addressed responded, "BFG.  It's short for Big F**king Gun."

David took advantage of the break in the conversation to get in a comment of his own. He said, "So, are we getting out of this hellhole or not?" This statement was greeted with great enthusiasm by the marines, especially among some of the newer additions to the squad, who had never faced this kind of horror before. The Sergeant in charge, a man named Bidwell, agreed heartily with the words, "You've got a point, kid. Rhino Squad, move out!" They had just begun to turn when they heard a loud 'click', and someone shouted, "The doors are locked!" "S**t!," Bidwell exclaimed, "Sledge, Rhodes, see what you can do about those doors. Strauss, find us another way out of here!"

"I recommend you move as far away from those doors as you can," was Dave's only comment. Bidwell looked at him quizzically and said, "What? Why should we.....Oh." He trailed off as he noticed the barrel of Dave's massive Dark Matter Gun pointing at the locked doors. "Everybody away from the doors! Now!" Bidwell bellowed at the Marines. Dave steadied the weapon, and triggered a blast. A massive dark purple sphere emerged from the gun's gigantic barrel, and impacted on the doors. This sphere impacted and instantly obliterated the twin doors and the surrounding 5 feet of wall. Dave heard Corporal Rhodes muse over the radio, "Damn. I've really got to get one of those things."

So, Dave pushed his way through the door, bending huge sections of wall out of his way as he went. The Marines followed, fanning out behind him in a loose "V" formation. They had barely gotten through the doors, when the Strogg attacked in force. Dave finally had a chance to test out his new combat abilities. He opened fire, tearing through the Strogg like a hot knife through butter. Mutated bodies flew through the air, either full off holes from hyperblaster or chaingun slugs, ripped to pieces by the three-pronged instrument on Dave's left arm, or filed with bullets by the Marines' automatic weapons. When the last Stroggified warrior had fallen, Sergeant Bidwell turned to Dave, looked him in the eyes, and said,          "I don't care what command says, I want you in my squad."

The unlikely group of allies continued to move forwards through the facility, dispatching any Strogg that crossed their path. Finally, they reached the surface, where they were picked up by a Falcon dropship. As the ship's thrusters roared to life, the marine next to Dave, a medic, leaned over and asked, "By the way, kid, what's your name?" Dave said that he was David Yottas, and he was surprised by the man's reaction. The medic drew back in shock, and, finally, he asked, "You ever heard of the Swain School?" Dave said that he went there, and the man asked if he knew William Reit.

Dave's mind was drawn back to yesterday afternoon, when he got out of school; a lifetime ago. Once again, he saw William wave and call out, "See ya!" as he saw the red blur of Dave's shirt whip past. He saw all those days back to fifth grade, from the day he had first gone to Swain, the one friendly face among the unknowns. Dave replied, "Yes, I know someone named Willim Reit." The man sitting next to him stated, "He's my son."

Dave was stunned. He had knwon that Will's father was a doctor, but he'd never suspected that he was with the marines, much less that he would encounter him in such unexpected circumstances. Now the Falcon was flying over a residential area, whe everybody on the aircraft heard a loud bang and felt the plane begin to fall out of the sky. The pilot was screaming frantically into his helmet mic "Mayday! Mayday! This is Falcon Bravo-922!  We don't have a left wing anymore!  Mayday!  Mayda....................  The rest of the pilot's sentance was cut off abruptly as the sharp crack of a sniper rifle rang through the air, and a bullet caught the unfortunate man in the throat.  Meanwhile, the plane continued it's uncontrolled fall from the sky.  Just before impact, Bidwell managed to wrench the stubby-winged aircraft out of it's dive and make an ungraceful, but not fatal, landing in the fields of a school.  The grass, the blacktop, and the map of the United States painted on it were all somehow very familiar to David's recently traumatized mind; however, he couldn't place them.  He was still trying to remember where and when he had seen this place before, when Reit cried out, "I know this place! My son goes to school here!" Suddenly, everything clicked into place in Dave's head.  The grass, the trees, it all seemed so familiar because it was.  It was his school.

While Bidwell, Rhodes, Strauss, and the rest of the Rhino and Falcon Squads gathered their weapons and gear, loaded ammunition, charged rifles, and everything else that constituted the process of "gearing up", Dave did the same. In his case, however, he simply stepped into his massive robotic battle suit, or, as he called it, changed personalities. He wasn't David Yottnas while in this suit, he was now The Makron.

Dave squeezed through the double doors at the entrance to the school's gymnasium. The marines followed close behind, weapons out and ready. He saw a group of eighth graders walking by turn; saw the jaws of people he had once known drop; and watched them run back the way they had come. Bidwell was puzzled. He couldn't understand why people were so terrified of he and his marines, but then he remembered that Dave was with them. Eventually, people worked up enough nerve to come back, and as he looked down at the rows of familiar faces staring at hi with looks of disgust, terror, revulsion, and curiosity, he couldn't help but slip in just a single one-liner. He said, "Well, guess what? I'm back from the dead."