This was from a much earlier version of when we first meet Raymond Montgomery. When I say “much earlier” I mean it’s from the early 90s version. I decided it didn’t quite fit as written, and was too gruesome for a comedy. Still, it’s interesting.

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Deleted Scene – Raymond Montgomery (From Ch 14)

Raymond Montgomery crouched in his trench, laser pistol poised and ready. He heard the skittering of several enemies against the rocky surface moments before and was ready for his next encounter. Hearing a breath heavily exhausted from above his vantage point, he knew they were nearly on top of him. Raymond pivoted upward, launching his pistol and outstretched arm to the surface of the trench. He squeezed the trigger quickly and released a couple seconds worth of beam into the darkness. When Raymond heard the painful wail, he knew his beam had connected. He had to work fast. Standing up, and without stopping to bear witness, he dropped a series of beams toward the scream. He knew three of his beams connected, not by the outburst of any painful hit, but simply by the dull impact the beams made, and by the sudden termination of the telltale whistle each beam released when it escaped its weapon.

Raymond knew this was his only chance to survive. Amid the whizzing screams of enemy fire, he leapt over the trench, rolled to the opposite side, tugged a few more rounds into the crowd, and ran quickly across the field.

As he dashed, he envisioned his own death, just as he had witnessed the deaths of so many others. There were new weapons, or so he had been told by his surviving comrades. Much more sophisticated than his laser pistol. Some so powerful that they could rip a body in half with just one blow, and like so many current weapons, leave its victim alive to appreciate the feeling of staring across the field at his torso and legs.  Another weapon the troops talked about late at night was sometimes referred to as Final Ambrosia. It was supposed to instantly numb the brain or fill it full of some chemical, to give the buzz of a lifetime, just before every molecule became untangled and disintegrated. Since this weapon wasn’t created for his species’ biology, he had no idea if it would affect him the same way as the others. However, he had no intention of finding out. Not if he had any say in it.

Raymond’s weapon, like the majority, would pierce a small hole through a body like a red-hot knife through butter. Although the hole may not be very big, from a needle pin-prick to the size of a fist, depending on calibration, it could do a lot of damage. Over the years, the lasers had been refined enough to seal the wound upon contact. They even dispense a sedative to remove the pain. Though Raymond didn’t mind that his weapon cauterized as it sliced through, he wished it didn’t sugar-coat the hole with pain killers. He never thought it war-like. And he also wanted to feel his own wounds, no matter how painful. It is just the way war was meant to be.