David Nash [Nash - The Deserter

I grew up on John Wayne and a father that worked behind the walls of a prison. I guess it was inevitable that I not only learned to fight, but I learned to enjoy it a little. So between that and my grandfathers and fathers Marine Corps stories it was only natural that I ended up joining the Corps. Most Marine stories start with I shit you not There I was and as a Sergeant 7 years in my story starts the same way.

I was coming out of a little bar known as the Gold Lounge just off post of Camp Lejeune NC when I the heard the sound of fighting. I followed the sound to back behind the bar and saw a huge 66 guy working over this little dude. As I approached I noticed this was no simple disagreement, the big man had a knife was actively stabbing the mousy little fellow.

I didnt think as I went with my first instinct and grabbed him by the shoulder and back of the head and rocked his head off the stuccoed wall of the nightclub. As a 63 190 pound Marine I expected it to take big man out of the fight. It didnt.

The fact that he wasnt knocked out did not surprise me as much as what I saw when he turned to face me. The skin of his forehead was torn away in a gash and greenish-blue scales lay under the open skin dangling from my opponents forehead. More frightening than that was the quick flash of reptilian slit pupils before returning to normal human eyes. It is one thing to watch late night TV and hear about conspiracy theories concerning lizard aliens hiding on earth and influencing out government, it is another thing entirely to actually see one.

My frozen state lasted long enough for the reptile man to slash me deeply across my stomach. Luckily my training took over as I closed with him and wrapped my chest and arms around his knife arm. He could not cut me anymore as my body formed a shield locking his shoulder and elbow. I attacked his thumb and worked to pry the knife loose while kneeing him repeatedly.

Once he dropped the knife I elbowed him in the side of his head and lifted his arm up and slipped under it. With my right hand, I pulled his arm straight out from his side. Once his arm was pulled straight, I placed my left forearm on his upper arm and drove my forearm straight to the ground. I wanted him down on the ground. The technique works, even when the opponent is bigger, but this lizard was incredibly strong. Instead of going straight to the gravel, we struggled and danced around in a circle as he fought to get free.

Never being one to stick to a plan that wasnt working, I slung him away and backpedaled for distance. This bought me time to draw my own knife.

At this point the lizard man pulled out a second knife from inside his jacket. My natural urge was to focus on the huge serrated blade as my opponent let out a guttural hiss and began to move the blade side to side.

My father named me William Tell after of both William Tell Sackett of the Louis Lamour westerns and the real life William Tell of apple shooting fame. He used my name to help teach that there are occasions when you have to get mean and apply violence of action. In this case, the only real option was too close the distance aggressively with the knife man and show them what happens when you mess with a Marine.

I quickly closed the gap and with quick sewing machine motions I went about stabbing him as deep and hard as I could. We ended up in a clench, our heads pressed together ear to ear. My left hand pulled his head and body close against my own as I stabbed him repeatedly in his guts as fast as I could.

While it is fair to say I was the last one standing, it is not quite fair to say I won the fight. Without emergency care I was sure to die. I had stab wounds and deep slices throughout my arms and torso. I even had a couple of really deep bites on my shoulder that looked as bad as they felt. I collapsed in exhaustion and looked over at the little guy. He too was in bad shape. Like the reptilian attacker, his skin peeled back in places to show a pale grey skin. I was too spent to react much to the fact that I just saved a little grey alien.

We made eye contact and to my surprise the little guy said, You have no idea what trouble you just caused.

What! I said as forcefully as my injured body could exclaim. I just saved your life.

The grey looked at me and said, Yes, but at great cost, that Barkun enforcer was punishing me for being caught on a protected planet. Your attack has doomed this planet for sterilization.

My mind raced know that being the cause of Earths destruction would earn me something much different from a second good conduct medal. I just dont have any friends that like me enough to help me bury an alien body.

Look, little guy I said, first off, no one has to know what happened, I know plenty of places no one will find him. Secondly, if you and I dont get to a hospital we wont last long enough to worry about anything else.

Do not call me little guy. I am a Sagren and I am one of the largest of my kind. My size and abilities are why I am the protector of Earth. There is no hiding the body, His ship knows he died violently and can track it. As to medical treatment, your hospitals would only kill us both. There is no human based knowledge of the poisons the Barkun enforces use on their blades.

Thats just great, if we cant go to a hospital, and we cant hide the body, what options do we have to protect Earth from total destruction? I mean I would hope you have some ideas, at least based on your title.

I do have a solution, but only for the protection of the planet. My ship can neutralize the poison from the blades, and even repair the damage done to us, but there is only one way for you to try to save earth. You must find his ship and claim it by right of conquest.

If you command the ship you may use it to contact the Barkun Empire and confess. If you are able to convince the Emperors representative that the Earth had no part to play in your illegal actions he has the authority to allow you to can take full responsibility. If you take the punishment then the earth may be spared. There is nothing else I can do to help an earthling on Earth

This news was just the thing to ruin a mans night. The light buzz I had worked so hard to achieve was gone. My head was lightheaded from the blood loss, and now that the adrenalin had burnt out of my system it was becoming more and more painful to move.

Now I have to plead guilty without any knowledge of the punishment. I knew I should have stayed in the barracks and drank alone.

A fter very rudimentary first aid to slow the bleeding, I threw the body in the back of my jeep, and drove the little grey alien out to a small abandoned single-wide trailer just off the highway about 30 minutes off post. Rumor was it was a former meth lab that was confiscated by the County Sheriff.

Once there, the alien got out and walked toward the back of the run down trailer. He limped about 20 feet from the jeep and turned to give me an expectant look. I knew he wanted me to follow him, however, before I did I looked around the jeep. It had blood everywhere, some was mine, but it was mixed with the blood from the grey, as well as what had leaked out of Alligator Joes corpse.