It was quite anticlimactic. They had just woken up, Logan was getting ready to leave to the field, and Marie was washing dishes from their breakfast when three heavily armored vans drove in front of the house. There was a knock on the door. Logan went to answer it.
“Good morning, sir. We apologize the intrusion on this early hour, but we have a bit of a problem, and we were wondering if you were able to help us?” A man wearing the uniform of the United Earth’s Army asked politely. Logan had been ready to flash the claws, but now this unarmed, soft-spoken skinny boy threw him off the loop. Confused him enough that he actually asked what their problem was.
“As you probably know, your son, Samuel Logan, enlisted few years ago. Now he’s gone missing. We tracked him down here.”
“And?” Claws were itching dangerously close to the surface of his skin.
“Have you seen him?” Officer asked.
“What if I have?” Logan grunted, heart hammering at his temples. Any moment now. This had got to be a distraction. Any minute now armed Guards would swarm out from those vehicles parked on the yard.
“We were hoping we could persuade him to return to his unit. Have you, or have you not seen him?” Officer asked.
He could smell Marie’s fear. Not a good time for final meltdown.
“Could we take this outside? My wife… Ah… She’s… She doesn’t much appreciate you guys,” he explained, pushing officer in front of him, away from the door, towards the vehicles waiting in the morning sun.
“Oh, how inconsiderate of me! Of course. I’m very sorry for the intrusion, ma’am!” Officer shouted over Logan’s shoulder before retreating.
“Sam did come home. I don’t know what had happened to him, but he was a mess.”
“Yes. Yes, I would imagine that. He refused the therapy that was recommended to him,” officer nodded. Therapy? Logan felt hysteric giggle bubbling inside of him. This wasn’t going according to the book. The big handbook of how to deal with hostiles.
“It was ugly. He’d snap out on anything and everything. He even tried… He tried to kill his mother and me. He really didn’t leave me much choice…” He ran his fingers through his wild hair theatrically and closed his eyes. He could smell the change in officer’s scent. Slight tinge of curiosity.
“Didn’t leave a choice?”
“I had to kill him.”
“Oh…”
“Yes. We’re still… My wife and me, we’re still… It’s hard.” He hoped the expression on his face mirrored utter confusion and sorrow instead of insane grin that threatened to break free.
“Yes… Yes. I would imagine…” Officer muttered, his gaze sweeping the ground and rickety buildings, darting to vans, and back to Logan.
“Would it be possible… I’m very sorry, but I have to ask… Can you prove that what you say is the truth?”
“I really am sorry about this, but the protocol…”
“I understand. You have to follow the protocol. I just don’t know how much, if anything’s left,” Logan said, faking a sad shook of his head as they walked to the desert.
“I… It was awful. I was so afraid that he would hurt Marie. She was scared of him. You trained him well,” he continued. Officer nodded.
“Coming from a veteran I take that as a compliment. Of course standards aren’t quite as high today as they were in your days in the force, but we try our best.”
“Here it is,” Logan huffed, stopping in front of the grave he had dug earlier. Luckily wind had blown off some sand from the top of it, and he could see a shard of bone peeking up from the ground. He yanked it loose. It came up, accompanied by a wet squelching noise and stench of decay in the near vicinity of the grave skyrocketed. You could still recognize the lump he was holding as a part of human leg. Shattered thighbone attached to a kneecap. Officer paled.
“Do you need more? It’s all there. I could dig him up for you,” Logan offered. Officer turned to leave.
“That won’t be necessary.”
After he had been swarmed by the soldiers escorting the officer and asked to show his claws and even scribble his autograph several times they finally left. Packed themselves back to their little vans and drove off, leaving him standing to a cloud of dust and exhaust, few scraps of paper clutched tightly in his hand. Sam’s service record, and a request for all veterans to re-enlist and help to defend the earth.
“Well, that was weird,” Marie said from where she stood at the doorstep, wiping her hands dry to a towel. Logan scratched his head, trying to comprehend what exactly had just happened. Weird didn’t quite cover it. Giggle that had been building slowly inside of him finally broke through. He fell on his haunches and clamped his palm over his mouth to stifle it.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Looks like this isn't over yet. At least one more story to this series coming.