Jonathan Maberry - SNAFU - An Anthology of Military Horror

I sat and watched the wheel of night turn.

When I looked at Bunny I saw a single tear on his cheek. It glistened, reflecting starlight. I reached over and gave his shoulder a single squeeze. Didn’t say anything. Nor did he.

Somewhere far off to the south we could hear the faint beating of helicopter rotors.

This is a transcript of an interview between an OSS operative and a United States Marine, regarding the Marine’s experiences on the island of [NAME REDACTED]. This file is rated for the BLACK FILE section, clearance level ULTRA SECRET. The names of the participants have been redacted. They will be referred to simply as MARINE and OSS. Unauthorized perusal, removal, duplication, or distribution of this file will be considered an act of espionage and treason, and will be punished accordingly.

MARINE : So that’s one of those recorder machines? I just talk and it can play the whole thing back later?

OSS : Yes, that’s right. You’re here to talk about what happened on [NAME REDACTED] Island.

MARINE : I never hear that name again, I’ll be okay with it. That’s the strangest damn thing I ever saw. Oh, hey, is it okay if I swear with that thing on? I don’t want to get in trouble or something.

OSS : Tell me however you need to.

MARINE : OK, then. I was assigned to the [NAME REDACTED], and we were out doing recon, to see if we could find any Jap ships to call the bombers in for, or maybe a sub. Some damn thing went wrong with the engine, I don’t know what it was, I never was a mechanic. So we had to put in somewhere and fix it, and the navigator, he looks at the chart and says we’re close to [NAME REDACTED] Island. We find a little lagoon and anchor there, so the mechanic can fix the damn boat. Me and some of the guys, we get told to grab our rifles and our canteens and go scout the island, look for fresh water and any stray Japs, right? So, I go. I’m a fightin’ man, I’m here to fight, that’s jake by me.

We all split up, mostly looking for water. This is just a small damn island near nothing, so why would we think we’d actually find a Jap? But I did. I’m going over this hill, figuring there might be water at the bottom on the other side, right? But halfway down, there’s this clearing, see, and that’s where I found the Jap. I was so startled I just sorta stood there a sec. The place felt wrong. Like, when I was a kid, my granddaddy took me to these old Indian ruins? The place was abandoned and everyone said it was haunted, and it felt like that, cold and dark and just wrong. So I’m trying to get my hands to work so I can get my rifle up, and the Jap starts yelling. I thought he’d seen me at first, and was calling his buddies, and I thought, “Oh, God, that’s it, I’m dead.”

But he didn’t even look at me. He had this strong tone, like I’ve heard the preacher use sometimes, when he was preachin’ about something he really thought was important and special.

OSS : What did he say?

MARINE : Hell, I don’t speak Jap. I got no idea. But he says this stuff, and the rocks scattered in the clearing start glowing, I swear, like the sun was coming up and hitting them square on, but the sun was on the other side of the hill by then, see? And then this smoke comes out of the rocks. I sound like I was on a bender or been raidin’ Doc’s pills, but I swear, I was stone cold sober. This smoke, it twists, like a snake or something, and it swells, and then gets thicker. All of a sudden, there’s this huge I don’t know what the hell it was standing there.

OSS : What did it look like?

MARINE : I’m gettin’ there. It was eight feet tall, easy, and was huge, muscles like the biggest circus strongman you ever saw. And I swear to you, I saw it just like I’m seein’ you now, it was blue. It’s skin was this blue like a real clear sky back in Texas. It had this huge club in one hand, looked like it was metal. And it had two horns comin’ out of its head, and this thick tuft of white hair around the back of its head, like a guy goin’ bald? And it had on, I don’t know, this little bathing suit looking thing, but it was made out of tiger skin, or looked like it.

OSS : I see. What happened?

MARINE : They kinda yelled at each other, but it wasn’t just yellin’. There was something else going on. I don’t know, it started feeling like… You ever been too close to a lightning strike? That tingly feel all over and your hair standing up? Like that, but worse. I’ll tell you… This is all secret, right?

OSS : Right, no one hears this but a very few people, and they won’t know your name.

MARINE : Yeah, OK. It was scaring the hell out of me. That feeling? It was like I was waiting for it to just cook me or turn me inside out, or something. I knew the Japs weren’t Christians, but I never knew they were sorcerers.

OSS : He was working with it?

MARINE : Well, that’s what I thought at first. I mean, it looked like he called it up, like you read about in the Bible, see? But when they were screaming at each other, that was a fight, sure as the ones I’ve been in with bullets flyin’. I don’t know how I know, but you could just tell. And the Jap, I mean, he’s a Jap, he’s the enemy, I get that. But this demon thing, it was just wrong. It wasn’t human. You could feel cold and evil coming off it. I know I sound like I’m ready for a long rest in a white coat somewhere, but I swear, it’s true. All of it.

OSS : I believe you. What happened next?

MARINE : Well, yeah, that’s the thing, ain’t it? They finish screaming, and the demon roars, like some kind of lion, but louder. I’ve seen lions, the zoo, the circus, see? I know what they sound like. This was louder, and stronger, and it made me scared. I won’t say that much. I been shot at, stood up to the enemy, seen buddies of mine blown to hell, but that thing? It was just different, and wrong. So, they finish screaming, and the Jap, he had one of those damn swords they have, see? The big ones? You seen those?

OSS : Yes, I’ve seen them. They call them katanas.

MARINE : They can call them Ish Kabibble for all I care. But he pulled the damn thing out, and there was like, fire on the blade. But it wasn’t fire. I don’t know how to say it. It was like fire that burned blue, but the damn sword was metal, and metal doesn’t burn. And fire isn’t blue. I don’t know. But that’s what I saw, blue fire on a metal sword, running up and down the blade, and kind of pulsing, like a heartbeat. That’s what I thought when I saw it, it was a heartbeat, and it was alive.

OSS : Did the man seem surprised by that?

MARINE : Naw, he didn’t look twice at it. The demon, it was surprised. It roared, but it wasn’t strong and commanding like it was before. It almost sounded afraid, if you can imagine something that big being afraid. I mean, it was huge, and it was moving that big metal club around like it was nothing, I’m not sure I could have lifted it at all. But it sounded afraid and mad.

OSS : What happened next?

MARINE : Yeah, sorry. I was thinking about that, and just… Is it cold in here? I’m gettin’ all goose bumps. Anyway. Yeah. It roars, and then it throws its head forward like a guy whose gonna puke or something. But it belches, like, and this fire comes out of it. The sword had a blue fire, so maybe that’s why I wasn’t so surprised that this was a green fire, light green. It belched out this fire, and the Jap, he moves like damn Fred Astaire or something. Not like he was dancing, exactly, just, that kinda easy way Astaire moves? Do you know what I’m trying to get at?