Inktober #6: Husky

There was always something so pleasing to Rebecca about removing the husk from corn. Something delightfully aggressive to it. Like, the corn on the inside, sure, great snack. But ripping off that outer layer and feeling the strain and the fibers and hearing that satisfying snap as it came off...good stress relief. Because life in this country could certainly be stressful.

"Sarge!" came a voice over the comm. "Sarge! Suit up! It's a bad one!"

Stress stress stress.

"On my way," said Sergeant Rebecca Mosk.

She ran over to the barn, more of a hangar at this point, and stared lovingly for a moment at her pride and joy. A Mk. VII flight-capable, heat-resistant, and as of last month space-ready M.E.C.H. exosuit. Hers was named "Shirley". Inside joke. "And don't call me Shirley! Call HER Shirley!" Laughs over the comms.

She climbed in to the suit, remembering her first time and finding it uncomfortably snug. Now it was like putting on a second skin. Sensing her, Shirley booted up and began all pre-launch checks. Everything normal.

"Right, Shirley," she said. "Let's go see what trouble we can get into today."

Shirley sealed itself around her, and they took off.

"SARGE!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on the way!...Wait, where am I going again?"
"We have multiple Squid attacks, it looks like they're trying to solidify their hold on New Florida."
"Got it, ETA 10 minutes."

This was always the fun part.

She plotted the trajectory and shot up, her boosters carrying her higher and higher into the atmosphere, buffeted by the wind, yet staying cool as a clam as Shirley's systems compensated, reduced the drag, and flooded with coolant. Soon enough...space.

Ever since the new system had been installed it felt like she hadn't gotten enough time up here, and every time she was up here it meant she was in a hurry to get elsewhere. She said a quick hello to the moon, high-fived an old satellite out of the way, and began the descent.

Even from miles away she could tell it was bad. Half of Florida had been swallowed from the rising tides, and the other half fell with the second tide that brought the Squids. A common parlance for the mostly tentacled and definitely Lovecraftian creatures that had arisen from the deep. At first they seemed mostly happy to just digest whatever hapless human came their way in the water. But eventually we figured out...don't go in the water. And well, that made them mad.

"T-minus 2 minutes."

Hundreds upon hundreds of M.E.C.H. units were firing into the writing mass that was the eastern shore. They were holding the line, and it appeared the creatures were at least annoyed enough to start retreating back into the water.

"Bombing run commencing!"

Shirley prepped missile after missile as Rebecca strafed over the shore, blowing the Squids to bits and dodging any limbs that reached out to her, even this high up. That was always the disconcerting bit.

"Another round should do it, Sarge, thanks for the assist."
"Any time!"

Rebecca wheeled around, eager to send the Squids home...and stopped dead in the air.

"HQ, do you copy?"
"Yeah, Sarge, what's wrong?"
"Um...do you have eyes on the ocean?"
"Of course we do, why?"
"Cause...I've got eyes on...something."
"Sarge, we see nothing but Squids, what do you got?"
"...I'm going to assume King Squid."

The limbs that had been blown apart had never just lain dead on the shore. Even the pieces had always retreated to the ocean. The scientists couldn't explain it. Captured a couple pieces and basically shrugged their shoulders and said, "Telepathy?"

Seeing it out there...you could understand where they'd gone. And why we were never going to win.

"Sarge, I...I've got visual from the ground. We can't see it on...on anything but visual."
"Yeah, that makes sense."
"I'm calling in everyone."
"Yeah...that sounds good."
"Ground Forces listen up! Keep focusing on those Squids! We're calling in...hell, we're calling in EVERYONE to deal with whatever that thing is out there! HOLD THE LINE!"

Hovering over the battlefield, it seemed like a good idea. Fight. Fight until it was impossible. Cause what else could you do?

So that's what she would do.

No time for talk. Rip it apart. Tear off the husk.