Gray Panthers: Dixie by David Guenther Page A

lieutenant. “I don’t know if that’s good news or bad, but there’s your scout. I couldn’t see any injuries. They seemed to have healed, but you can see all the blood on his front,”
    “We’re going back for him! Keep your eyes out for Kim, too. Stay the hell away from everyone else. No shooting. We’re going to use speed and maneuverability. Let’s mount up now!” Semmes ordered.
    Scotty grabbed the lieutenant as he started toward the scout vehicle. “What are your plans to keep him from attacking us? He looks like a wobbler, he walks like a wobbler, and I have a feeling he’ll bite like a wobbler.”
    “I’ll figure out something when we get there, if need be. Now let’s move before we lose him!” Semmes urged as he tried to break free from Scotty.
    “You mean like you figured out something on the fly when we lost your man after Kim went down? Your man is gone. Don’t throw away any more of the living for the dead. You need to stand down!” Scotty released the lieutenant as the two continued to glare at each other.
    Realizing that Scotty was speaking the harsh truth, Semmes conceded. “Everyone stand down. I’m not going to lose anyone else,” he ordered. Then he walked over to the scout vehicle and fired it up. “Captain Culpepper, if I don’t come back, please assume command of my team,” he called out to Sam.
    Not waiting for a reply, he gunned the engine, causing the vehicle to fishtail, the wheels throwing dirt and grass everywhere. Minutes later, the team saw the scout vehicle exit from the forest and rocket toward the city of wobblers, a long trail of dust in its wake.
    The foul smell of the wobblers made Semmes shudder as he realized that he was once again about to enter into a nightmare. The wobblers were attracted to the noise of the vehicle as he swerved around them. The closer he got to where he last saw his scout, the more numerous the wobblers became, and he was forced to slow down. Hands started to grab at him as he slowly passed by. Thirty feet ahead he saw the uniform of his scout, and he held down the horn on the steering wheel. The scout turned and wobbled quickly toward him.
    The vehicle bounced as Semmes hit an unseen wobbler. When he swerved to keep the vehicle from flipping over, he overcorrected and went flying as the vehicle tumbled in a cloud of dirt and grass.
    Semmes lay still for a moment, thankful he felt no pain. Then he looked over and saw the boots and camouflaged combat pants. A pair of uniformed arms reached down to him. Looking up, Semmes stared into soulless white eyes just before the scout-turned-wobbler began to feed on his neck. Shock kept Semmes from feeling any pain. Acknowledging that he would soon be dead, he softly cried to himself at his failure to save his man. Within moments a floating sensation came over him and everything went black.
    “The stupid son of a bitch! I told him not to do it!” Scotty tucked his head into the crook of his arm, not wanting to say anything else. His other hand, shaking with frustration, still gripped the binoculars.
     

Dixie ship Atlanta, orbiting planet Dixie
    1 November 2128
    Lieutenant Lemons watched as the medical team cinched down the two stasis chambers. The shuttle for this mission was configured for rescue and extraction. The configuration would allow for eight patients and four medics. Four marines were augmenting the team for security.
    Lemons would be in the chase shuttle, in the event anything happened to the lead shuttle and an extraction was needed. The chase shuttle only had fold-down seats from the wall. Only six marines would be on the shuttle with him. The configuration would make it easy to fit everyone from the first shuttle, in addition to the marines, if the first shuttle were damaged.
    After reviewing the last-minute items with the two shuttle pilots, Lemons decided it was time. It felt weird having to plan a mission to their own planet’s surface.
    “Okay, let’s go downtown. Medic One