Tobin 1

Mitchell Tobin

Title

Deragorth, a city driven by a synthesis of magic and science, relies far too heavily on

those of us who can manipulate matter freely. This plague that has afflicted us for more than a

decade has threatened one of our last havens on this planet. Magic-users are dying out faster than

they are born. They are the most crucial aspect of our survival. They filter our water, our air;

make our farm ground fertile again. Without them, we would be driven back into the savage

wilderness and be forced into savagery like so many others before us. However, our magicians

are killing us. Not purposefully mind you, they have no control over themselves when it happens,

but they are doing it systematically and effectively due to the plague.

Our scientists are doing all they can in order to save the driving force of our society. They

can cure any known disease, create robots to farm for us, in essence make life easier, but they

cannot cure that which is killing us. They do not know how to cure it. They only know that if

there is a cure, it is out there, beyond the barrier.

The barrier, the last defense of our small bastion of civilization, is a gigantic wall,

surrounding the perimeter of the city. Built thirty feet thick and being visible from any point in

the city, it is so tall, it and the defenses placed on it, drive back the wilderness of the outside

world. Not only that, the barrier somehow manages to prevent widespread distribution of the

disease to the greater majority of magicians. Any mage who steps outside of the gate can become

infected, it is not guaranteed but the risk of infection is greater.

The outside world was originally where we as a race lived. We did not always live in

heavily populated city centers. We once co-existed with nature. We were in synthesis rather than

complete segregation as we are now. Then we shunted it aside and destroyed it through an

explosion of scientific knowledge. We were quite a peaceful people, focused more on the

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development of our science and supernatural powers. The planet then rejected us because of our

manipulation of it. Our magic manipulated the natural energies of the planet, and in our

excessive use of it caused a tsunami of energy to flow over our society and cause a growth of

nature and rapid evolution of vegetation and animal life, and the development of the disease.

That is why we are here, outside the wall. Mechanics, mechanical warhounds,

researchers, scientists, biologists, and soldiers, we are all out here to see if we can find the cure

in the ruins of our old civilizations or in the wilds.

“Doctor! Can you hear me!?” Someone shouts from outside. “Doctor! Get up quick, we

need to get out of here!”

I can hear screaming and earthquake like steps outside my tent. I throw on my hazmat

suit as quickly as I can and jump out of the tent to see a mature gritoptrex rampaging through our

camp. Its greyish-brown scaled body measures over ten feet in height and fifteen feet in length,

scales thick enough to resist most of our modern day weaponry. This one has three horns situated

on its forehead-like structure, one on its snout and one on each of its forelimbs. Nature's

equivalent to a walking tank I suppose would be the best analogy. The warhounds which are

nearly equivalent in height, but much shorter in length fire upon it, the only weapons we have to

face such creatures.

The camp shakes as one of the soldiers screams “This way! Everyone, come this way!”

directing everyone to a nearby area designated as a safe zone, or at least safe enough.

I can hear bloodcurdling roars as the gritoptrex absorbs the shells of the warhounds. The

earthshattering steps continued for a few more moments then following them, an audible quake

as it falls to the ground. As we walk back to camp one researcher breaks out in hysterics

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screaming, “We’re dead! We’re dead!” repeatedly. Her friends quickly comfort and hush her and

one of the doctors promptly gives her some relaxants and sedatives. The soldiers promptly

ascertain the situation and decide we need to pack up and leave before anything worse comes.

We quickly pack, and set out further into the wilderness.

I always felt weird being the only one in the entire party that is required to wear the

hazmat suit. The entire party typically wears the military armored suits that offer protection from

large physical objects, whereas I have to wear a thick orange environmental suit that has its own

air supply to prevent contamination from the disease. The research party is especially careful

around me at all times so as to not expose me to the open environment. It is quite difficult seeing

as the trees even seemed to attack us. The slightest puncture in the suit could be disastrous since

everything in the wilderness is attracted to the presence of a magical energy. The magic

permeates me and without the suit I am the most threatened and threatening member of the entire

party, not to mention the only one susceptible to the plague, and yet one of the most important

since I am the test subject and one of the lead researchers.

Around early evening, we set up camp and deploy the research pavilion and tents. All of

our camp equipment is made of the same material as my hazmat suit so as to allow me to work in

fairly comfortable fashion rather than being stuck in the bulky suit. Researchers and scientists

come and go in the pavilion, we are no closer to discovering the cure to the disease than we were

when we set out, yet no one is giving up, least of all me. Discussions between researchers and

scientists run rampant throughout the tents.

In the midst of my research, Major Quwalski reported in saying “Doctor, the camp is

situated and defenses have been established. Hopefully we moved far enough away that the

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gritoptrex won’t find us and I can’t say anything about whatever else is out here.” That is quite

the scary declaration since the gritoptrex is one of the few now known species since we secluded

ourselves away in the bastions. We banter, friendly, to lighten the mood, after which he leaves to

do rounds of the camp. Who knows what else is out here.

The camp got packed up sometime during the night by the laborers and we set off further

into the wilderness. Around midday one of the forward scouts runs from the jungle to the Major

and they discuss something quietly while the group rests. A few moments later Quwalski jogs

over wiping sweat from his brow “Doctor, the scouts found some large structures about a two

hour walk in front of us. However, they saw some strange objects surrounding the camp that are

definitely not part of the original structures and look like they maybe some sort of creature’s

secretions or something. You’ll probably need to check ‘em out.”

He leads the way with one of the warhounds rumbling quietly behind us and a group of

soldiers for protection. After the long arduous, supposedly two hour walk which takes

significantly longer due to my own lack of physical activity, and the heavy suit does not help

either.

“Bear with me just a bit more Doc,” says the Major as we crest the hill.

“It’s fine, this suit is just a tad heavy, yeh know?”

The Major snickers as we top the hill. At the top, I see a wide field with what appears to

be huge buildings sticking out of the ground, most likely remains of an ancient city. We scramble

down the shale and gravel side of the hill. The scouts that found the ruins are nowhere to be seen.

The soldiers spread out in a defensive perimeter and we walk towards the buildings. The objects

the scout talked about are spread around the buildings. Purplish-green and egg-shaped, they are

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quite curious looking. The egg-shaped things pulse and have strange shelled tentacle-like objects,

of the same color, surrounding them. The leading soldier approaches the things and one of the

tentacles twitches abruptly. The soldier leaps backward weapon raised and the soldiers all stop

and remain at ready.

Quwalski barks “Get away from that thing!” The Major orders one of the warhounds to

approach the tentacle. The tentacle darts forward when the warhound is in range and bounces off

of its thick armor plating.

The ground shakes as the warhound steps back. As the warhound stabilizes its hydraulics

with a loud wheezing sound, the ground shakes even more violently. The tentacles all fling

around rapidly and then hold completely still, the ground still shaking. We stumble back away

from the warhound and tentacles. Once at a safe range the warhound opened its weapon bays and

fires upon the creature. As the dust clears the front tentacles are gone and so are the eggs. The

shaking of ground still has not stopped.

“Major, I think we…” I start to say when the area where the purple egg-like things were

erupts causing the ruins of the building falls over backwards. A giant slug-like thing, of the

same color as the eggs, appears from the dust of the building. Easily thirty-feet across the

monster’s mouth is ringed with the tentacles that the warhound just attacked. The slug, towering

over the warhound, darts forward on its ridiculous number of legs, consumes the warhound

whole. The soldiers open fire upon the thing with everything they have to no avail, the bullet

ricochet, and shrapnel rockets burst into clouds of dust splattering shrapnel everywhere.

The Major grabs me and orders everyone to run. I cover my head as bullets fly

everywhere. Still tired from the original hike over the hill to here, I stumble a few times as the

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faster soldier pulls me along up the hill. At the top of the hill the Major looks back with a look of

awe and terror as dozens of the slug-like things appear from the numerous ruin structures.

Looking back at the ruins with the Major I wheeze out a simple statement, “Major, I… I

think don’t think we can go this way.”

The Major looks down at me with the same look that changes to one shock, “Doc… Doc,

your shoulder.”

I look down and see my shoulder, red with a swell of red fluid, “Well…” I look back at

the Major with a sad look “This is bad…” I giggle and faint.

***

I open my eyes and feel jumbled. Groggily I look around and see two soldiers carrying

me on a stretcher. Gunfire is rattling and echoing about me. Pain courses through my body with

every step the two soldiers take. After a few minutes of this the pain pulses exponentially and my

vision blurs and darkens into nothingness again.

***

Gasping, I bolt upright and clutch my stomach in pain. I’m lying on a stretcher with

jungle foliage surrounding me, my environmental suit removed. I see a number of soldiers with

strained, exhausted faces sitting around with rips and dents in their suits. One of the soldiers

notices me and shouts in an unclear voice. Major Quwalski comes limping into view a few

minutes later.

Groggily I ask, “Quwalski… What happened here? Why aren’t we at the camp?” I notice

a large compress on my shoulder meant to prevent bleeding and to kill the pain.

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“Gone,” he wearily sighs.

I look at him questioningly and he says “When we retreated from those ruins a week

ago…”

“A week!? I’ve been out for a week!?” I shout in surprise.

“Well… Doc, I wouldn’t say out. Let’s just say they we would be better off if you

weren’t around much longer, but that’d be unfair to you.”

“What do you mean? What did I do!?”

“You’re sick Doc. For about four days now. Combined with the lack of adequate housing

and hostility of the environment, we’ve be forced to move constantly and we’ve lost quite a few

good men.”

“And the camp?” I ask hoping for some form of better news.

“It’s gone, in a few ways. The tents were torn to shreds, people were everywhere torn

apart, warhounds decorated the trees and everything was a hazy shade of pink as if the blood still

permeated the air, every breathe we took without a mask was filled with a taste of iron. We spent

the rest of the day looking for survivors but to no avail. We started back to the city the next day

so that we could get you better treatment and then a few hours later you started emitting

lightning and killed a few people.”

“So you’re saying I’m infected by the plague? If that’s the case why’d you bring me with

you instead of leaving me?”

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The surrounding jungle echoes with the myriad of noises created by the soldiers and

wildlife. The bird-like creatures of the planet screeched and fluttered above in the trees. A

creature lets loose a shriek in what could only be a terrified, life-ending, ‘I am getting eaten

alive’ shriek.

“Because it didn’t feel right to leave an unconscious person lying on the ground in a

hostile place such as this,” the major looked resigned. “It was unanimous amongst the soldiers

too, we all agreed to bring you and let you decide for yourself.”

A few moments of silence follow and I hear a loud roaring from the jungle. The nearby

jungle temporarily silences following the roar. Soldiers stop working and search around

frightened, curious, or both. “How close are we to the city now, Major?”

“About two days walks. We can make it there in one if we don’t stop for the night

though.”

A few minutes later the noise of the jungle resumed.

“Alright, well let’s get goin’,” I say, lurching to my feet. “That doesn’t sound reassuring

in the least.”

The soldiers are already packed and they just pick up and fold up the stretcher I was on

and we set out quickly. An earth quaking thump soon can be felt by everyone in the group and

after following us for about two hours a gigantic monstrous beast appears. It looks similar to a

gritoptrex but based on all known information about the creature it couldn’t be so large.

“Well, Major, I suppose this answers the question.” I say while eyeing the creature.

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The gigantic creature stalks us, as well as such a large thing can, from across the wide

plain, as we back away, weapons raised. The soldiers work in tandem to help guide each other so

as to not trip. The gigantic creature does not seem too aggressive; rather it just walks at us,

growling menacingly.

“What’dyeh mean Doc?” asks the Major staring at the monster.

A horrifying shriek echoes throughout the jungle. Soldiers are jogging quickly, nearly at

a run, ripping the foliage nearby aside as they run, creating a more navigable path for those

behind. The creature rumbles forward like a train.

“Well it looks like it’s just being territorial and following us because we’re here. If we

can get far enough out of its territory we’d probably be safe, and well… we don’t have a

warhound to protect us anymore… and there is no reason for someone who is infected with the

plague to return to the city.”

The Major and soldiers stare. A few of the soldiers start to talk at the same time which

basically sounds like a jumbled incoherent mess. I snicker at their distress.

“Fellows, there ain’t nothing that can be done, I am already guaranteed to die, there isn’t

any reason for ya’ll to die too.” I gasp as branches scrap across my shoulders and face, ripping

my clothes and scratching my skin. Blood drips from the scratches.

“But Doctor, that’s our job!” one of the soldiers’ cries eyeing the approaching monster

with dread.

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“Heh, well kiddo, it’s also my job to try to prevent this sickness!” I laugh as I walk

slowly towards the creature. I draw magic from around me forcing the monster’s attention

towards me.

“Doc, you sure about this?” the Major asks.

“Sure as hell I ain’t. But that’s not going to change my decision Quwalski.”

The monstrosity shambles slightly faster towards us. The soldiers try to frantically move

faster while walking backwards. The monster catches up to the soldiers in the rearguard and

starts to whip its head violently throwing the soldiers and goring some with its horns. The trees

hit by the monster shatter from the impacts throwing fragments of wood every. The fragments

take any and every shape: sharp and long, thick and blunt. I feel a stinging pain fly across my

forehead. Blood pours down obscuring my sight. I wipe the blood out of my eyes as best I can

and rip my sleeve and tie it around my forehead to stop the blood flow. The monster swings it

head throwing another three soldiers, narrowing our small party to even smaller as it charges

toward me.

“Major, get everyone home, alrigh’?” I ask forlornly with my tear-streaked, dirt covered,

blood dripping face. “Get everyone home.”

A soldier lets out a chilling scream that pierces over the rattling of the rifles. The monster

roars that is felt more than heard.

“Doc…” says the Major noticing my extremely determined and resigned face, the Major

shouts, ordering the remaining soldiers to run in an orderly retreat. The Major turns back with a

sad look on his face and faintly in a voice barely louder than a whisper says, “Good luck.”

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I snicker “But of course! Luck owes me one for all the crap she’s been giving me!”

The creature crashes ever nearer. The soldiers pull away frantically in nearly a full rout.

They stumble and trip over roots and other flora. I look at the giant gritoptrex monster, the innate

energies from within myself and the planet flows throughout me. The energies rampage over my

body. I feel them hardening the skin, muscles, and bones of my body. My body hardened to that

of steel. I look around for a weapon of some sort; I see a large branch, easily three feet in length.

I quickly grab it and start manipulating the energies again to morph the composition of the log

into a steel-like hardness.

The giant, like a beast of any intelligence, watches me warily because of its experience

with the magic that emanates from me, or at least so I assume since it paws the ground and snorts

viciously. When the magic is nearly done on the log, the beast roars violently with an ear-

shattering screech and charges. The beast surges toward me, filling my vision with nothing but

the giant gray monstrosity. My vision blurs to a violent hazy shade of red.

***

Limbs from humans scatter the area, blood drips down the local foliage. Scavengers pick

at the remains choosing the most succulent morsels for themselves. Only one body remains

untouched, complete. The body sits, back leaning across a tree, legs are sprawled out in front of

the body, its right arm lies across its stomach, the left arm on the ground propping the body from

falling. A leg twitches. An arm moves. The blood-glued eyes crack open revealing once blue

eyes, now blood-red in color with lightning sparking across them. The body is untouched.

Chapter 2

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The wall erupted. An abnormally large gritoptrex burst through it nearly crushing the

small man who skittered beneath its hooves. The man threw himself down the hallway dodging

out of the monster’s path as it barreled into the opposite wall, cracking it. The man stood and let

out a burst of fire from his rifle while the dazed creature got back on its feet, and then he bolted

down the hallway and outside into an abandoned settlement complex. He dashed out into the

large, open center of the settlement. The gritoptrex burst through the building’s outer wall and

continued to stampede after the man. The man, coolly, turned and raised his rifle and let out

another burst. He then ducked to the side as the gritoptrex charged past him into the central

clearing. The man bolted as fast as he could as the gritoptrex came to a stop. As the man ran into

the structures surrounding the clearing, a massive shockwave erupted knocking down the trees

and the nearest buildings. The clearing erupted in smoke and dirt. As the dust settled the

gritoptrex, split in half, and laid in the clearing not moving.

The man poked his head out from behind a building and walked out into the clearing

checking in all directions, weapon raised. As he reached the center of the clearing, a number of

visual distortions, appeared at random from the surrounding area, blurring the background as

optical camouflage was turned off, revealing eight other people. One of them, towering over the

rest, was dismounting a large tubular object that ended in a tripod from his shoulder. He set the

missile launcher down on the ground with an audible and an earth-quaking thud.

“Well, that wasn’t all thaaaat hard. I mean, apart from dipping and dodging through the

entire warehouse building with that thing chasing me…” the man who got chased by the

gritoptrex giggles.

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The giant of a man who had the missile launcher smiles “Yeah, well, Ben, at least you did

it, and not one of our dainty little women over there.”

Ben, the one who got chased, smiles over at the two women in the party. He flexed and

flirtingly shouts “So how was I ladies? Perfect, I know!”

One of the women walks over to him and rubs his shoulder as she speaks as though she is

speaking to a baby “Oh Benjy, you know how mommy luuuvs her big boy!”

Retorting, Ben cries “Oh mommy! I wos sooo scerd! I thot my peepee migh’ leak!”

The woman smirks and pats Ben on the head like a pet dog “Benjy, why do you worry

me so! You know your mommy and daddy were…”

The woman gets cut off by another man “Sasha, Bunny, enough. We’re not here to play

around. Bunny, take a breather. Rock, Yuki, set up camp. Pilfer and Rodent, set up the alarm.”

Rock, the man who had the missile launcher and the other woman proceed to erect some

tents. Pilfer and Rodent, both armed with large scoped rifles, walk out of the camp perimeter and

flicker into nothingness as their optical camouflage activates.

The man calling orders barks, “Sasha, you and Pinocchio there go and start dinner. Rock

and Toppler, you guys are on first watch, grab some sleep RQ. Second watch will be Rodent and

Pilfer. Rock you are in charge of telling Rodent when he gets back. Third watch will be me,

Sasha, and Yuki.”

The people spread out to do their assigned tasks, but not before Ben calls out “Oie,

Bossman! Why do you get the two pretty ladies all to yourself in the mornin’!?”

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Bossman replies “Well Bunnyboy, do you wanna help with morning detail?”

Ben, with a look of playful horror responds promptly with a “Ah hell naw bossman! Dat

ain’ work fer me!”

The orders are quickly followed by everyone in the group. The camp is set up and MREs

divided out. Pilfer and Rodent return as first watch detail begins to take their posts. They eat

their meal and quickly disappear into the tents for their allotted sleep time. The night passes

slowly and the watches switch on schedule. Morning dawns and breakfast starts getting cooked.

As the squad awakens a loud bell tolls, the noise seemingly comes from everywhere.

After tolling five times, a loud computerized female voice sounds off saying “Training sequence

complete. Analysis of data complete.” The bell tolls three more times and everyone’s vision goes

black.

An intense hiss fills everyone’s ears as the hatches on the pods they are in open. They are

greeted by the sight of each others’ pods opening and their faces. The room is gray and filled

with fifteen pods like the ones each of them is in. The only color other than the excessive gray is

the force’s garb, a grayish-blue skin tight rubber suit. A large computer terminal with numerous

screens depicts the visuals of each pod’s status. Most of the screens are black except for the ones

depicting vitals of the pods’ occupants.

After a few moments, they notice a thin aging man standing in the middle of the room in

military dress accompanied by a much younger man, similarly dressed. The young man is

standing at attention and saluting in the direction of Bossman. On noticing them, Bossman

lurches to his feet in the pod and salutes back.

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“Is this the new recruit sir?” Bossman inquires of the aging man.

The younger man noticing he is the one being talked about stands even straighter, a hard

task seeing as he is already practically standing on his tiptoes.

“Indeed it is Bill. He is your requested organics specialist” the old man sighs looking

around the room at the other members in their pod-suits. “He is knowledgeable in most known

species outside the wall. Not to say that that is a lot, but he can’t hurt.”

The young man fidgets as his field of study is subtly mocked but maintains his erect

stance.

“He appears rather easy to offend don’t he?” interjects Bunny from his pod where he is

still lying relaxed.

The young man turns and opens his mouth to retort. However, on seeing the older

soldier’s face in front of him as he turns, he remembers where he is and snaps back to attention.

“And rather strict to order too dun he?”

“Bunny that’s enough. Make him dislike you, and you’ll be giving everyone in the squad

a bad day.” Bossman turns back to face the aging soldier “And he’s the best the academy had to

offer right? I ain’t getting some cheap knockoff for this mission am I, sir?”

The aging soldiers chuckles “Bill, do I ever get you anything less than the best?”

Interjecting again, Bunny says “Yeah, yeh got him!” This gets a round of laughter from

the other team members as Bossman glares at Bunny.

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The older man chuckles. “Well, good to see you are still your old self Ben. In any case,

I’ll leave you kids to your introductions. Take your time, and remember you only have a two day

break until training begins again!”

The entire troop rises to their feet as the man says this and salutes as he starts to walk out.

Bossman replies quickly “Yes sir! Thank you, Colonel Quwalski, sir!”

Bunny and Sasha bolt forward and start pestering the new kid with questions that have no

relevancy to anything. So loud and heatedly do they talk they miss Bossman telling them to stop

and are eventually pulled apart by the giant Rock. They resisted minimally and only in jest.

Sasha pinched Rock who showed no reaction other than to laugh it off.

Bossman walked up to the new recruit and the rest filed in with Pilfer sticking to the back

and barely visible.

“So, kiddo, why don’t you introduce yourself? Name, rank, etc. I figure you know the

drill by now anyhow.” Bossman ordered.

Snapping back to attention, which he had dropped after being hounded by Sasha and

Bunny. “Sir! Lieutenant Caldwell reporting sir!”

Bossman raised an eyebrow at the mention of the rank and looked puzzled, Bunny on the

other blurted out “Bossman! Hey Bossman! He’s the same rank as you! And he’s just a kid!”

Bossman replied with a glare. He turns back to face Caldwell. “Well, we ain’t going to

call you Caldwell, to damn long. We’ll get you a nickname in no time. In any event, you heard

the Colonel; folks, you’re all dismissed except I want you all to spend some time to get to know

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each other. So, let’s all head out to eat. By my understanding its late evening if I have any sense

of time!”

***

Bunny and Sasha drag Caldwell out of the training room and into the lockers. The rest of

the squad follows after them, amiably talking to each other. Bunny and Sasha pester Caldwell

with questions so quickly that he barely has time to respond to them before they ask another. The

suits creak loudly as the crew moves about in them. Sasha clings onto Caldwell’s arm as only a

woman can do, thoroughly flustering him. The blush spreads across Caldwell’s face, making

Bunny look, causing a grin to spread across Bunny’s face as he notices.

“Neva’ been held on to like that by a woman before has you Caldypal.” He remarks,

causing another round of laughter to burst forth from Sasha, a rather guttural manly laugh at

that, quite remarkable for someone with as high-pitched a voice as Sasha in fact.

Caldwell retorts only with a glare causing Bunny to broaden his grin. Unbeknownst to

Caldwell, Rock has somehow managed to sneak up behind the trio and lifts both Bunny and

Sasha.

“Ya two sure like ta bother the new folks eh?” Rock booms.

Sasha responds with a shy cheeky sort of smile, whereas Bunny just broadens his grin

retorting, “Well, if I didn’t we wouldn’t get rides to places from you anymore now would we?”

Rock chuckles and throws both Sasha and Bunny over his back without a glance.

Cracking his knuckles and stretching his arms he pounds through the door past Caldwell to his

locker.

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The locker room is state of the art. Silver chrome reflects everything like mirrors, an

infinite loop when unobstructed from each other. By the time Caldwell gets to the far door,

everyone has somehow managed to strip and enter the showers. Not knowing what else to do,

Caldwell stands by the door in his uniform and waited. The first one out was Pilfer covered by an

enormous tower. She glances quickly at Caldwell, avoiding his eyes, rushes to her locker and

quickly opens it, hiding behind it while dressing.

Next out is Rodent who grins broadly at Caldwell “Yeh don’ need tuh worry ‘bout them

two hooligans. Dey ‘re real pains.”

To which Caldwell can only respond with a frown, which only deepens as Sasha and

Bunny walk out together, completely unclothed except for a towel adorning Sasha’s hair and

Bunny’s towel over his shoulder, playfully touching each other. Sasha moans suggestively upon

seeing Caldwell. Bunny only laughs throatily as he sees Caldwell flush.

“See wut I mean? Dey do dis all duh time.” Comments Rodent as he reaches his locker

next to Pilfer in the corner.

At the mention of themselves Bunny and Sasha abandon their holds on each other and

separate to their lockers on opposing walls while grinning. Caldwell’s face turns a dangerous

shade of red, and not the angry shade. When Caldwell looks up again he sees Rock and Toppler

walk out of the shower discussing something about explosives. As Rock passes Bunny he whips

Bunny playfully with a wet rolled towel, causing a loud smack. Bunny smacks him back. Rock

and Toppler go back to their discussion about the explosives as Caldwell suddenly notices that

Pinocchio appears in front of a locker next to him. Caldwell lurches backwards, in surprise, into

Yuki who is just walking out of the shower.

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“Well, well, what have I got here!?” Yuki giggles, catching Caldwell and playfully

rubbing his chest, while rubbing hers against his back. “My! What sturdy abs you got here

sweetcake!”

Caldwell lurches out of her arms and against the wall into Pinocchio, apologizing

profusely to Yuki, who giggles like a little girl, and then to Pinocchio who has somehow

extricated himself from getting knocked into the wall by Caldwell’s sudden action. Yuki

continues to her locker in the center of the room and opens it. Bossman, comes out last and

smiles knowingly at Caldwell, obviously having overheard what Yuki said.

“Best get used to it sooner rather than later young man. They’re all like that. Crazy! All

of them crazy! But in a good way.” Bossman smiles at the last.

“It might take some getting used to sir. There are some odd personalities here.” Caldwell

mutters.

“Ah come now boassu! We aren’t all that bad! Bossman’s just overreacting like usual.”

Yuki calls out as she clasps onto Caldwell’s arm fully dressed.

Caldwell looks at her in surprise due to her sudden appearance. Then, he looks around in

dismay noticing that Pinocchio somehow managed to get past him and out the door into the

hallway without him noticing. Glancing back into the locker room he notices that Pifler is still

hiding behind her locker, obviously clothed, which causes Caldwell to look around even most

confused.

“Ah, don’tchyu worry about her boassu! She’s super, super, super, SUPER, shy around

EEeeevvveryone.” Yuki says as she releases his arm and slips past him into the hallway

Tobin 20

attempting to strike up a conversation with Pinocchio.

Caldwell looks around in dismay for a moment then follows Yuki into the hallway.

Rodent comes out shortly after ushering out Pilfer who suddenly snaps “Stop it yeh damn rat! I

don’t need you to push me!” Pilfer then notices Caldwell staring and quickly reverts back to her

usual self.

Caldwell looks puzzled at the sudden outburst from the typically quiet Pilfer to which

Rodent responds “Heh, she alwa’s be like dis man. She be sup’r quick tah anger, even dough she

typically a quiet youn’ lass.”

Caldwell stares at Rodent with a raised eyebrow obviously confused by his dialect.

“What he really means, is that our young Pilfer here has an anger management problem!”

cries Sasha as she boisterously drapes an arm over Pilfer’s shoulder, causing Pilfer to shy away

from the boisterous Sasha.

“Either that or else…” Bunny starts as Rock barrels past him making room for Toppler

and himself.

“Oie! Rockieboy, what was dat for!?” he cries in dismay.

“Ya was gunna spread some nasty tale, so I did yeh a favor. Ah stopped yeh before yeh

began.” Rock replies before carrying on his new conversation with Toppler about chemical

reactions and how each creates different types of explosions.

Bossman finally walks out all prim and proper. The squad quiets down as he makes his

appearance.

Tobin 21

“Well, let’s head to the diner.” He says, walking past everyone down the stone hallway,

after an exhaustingly long awkward silence.

***

Chapter 3

“You know, they say that humans didn’t always live here. The skygazing folks say that

the second moon isn’t even a moon, just a really large ship covered in space rocks.”

“How did the rocks get there?”

“Well, they think that the ship brought us here and has been protecting us from the space

rocks falling on us.”

“So, we could possibly leave this planet, right, daddy?”

“Well…” he chuckles “Probably not kiddo. We lost that ability way back when the planet

retaliated against us.”

“What do you mean retaliated daddy?”

“Well… The scientists say that the planet has been undergoing rapid evolution since

before we started living in this city. They say that the planet wasn’t always trying to get rid of us,

but we mistreated it, and it couldn’t handle it. The historians say that after an ice age caused by

pollution the planet started evolving, but they say that during that ice age was when everyone

who could leave, left.”

“Does that mean there are more people in outer space, daddy?”

“Well, I’d like to think so, but I don’t feel that they would have abandoned us if they

Tobin 22

were out there still. So, let’s just pray they are out there, alright?”

“Okay!”

***

“…well! Caldwell! Yo man! Time tuh get up!” Bunny shouts jumping onto Caldwell.

“Ooof!” gasps Caldwell in pain, shoving Bunny off of him. “The hell was that for!?”

“Well, we tried getting you up the easy way man! Obviously yeh just can’t hold your

damn liquor now can you? Sleeping training day away! Sheeeesh! And here I thought I’d be nice

so you dun get reprimanded yer first day of training!”

“Urgh…” Caldwell groans as he sits up attempting to rub away a headache. “Well, thanks

then in that case.”

“Well, in any event, we got some meds in the bathroom, and you got like an hour before

we gotta report to the capsule room. So hurry on up!” Bunny says smacking Caldwell on the

shoulder before walking out, shutting the door behind him.

Caldwell rubs his head again trying to remember the dream. Vaguely remembering only

that it had something to do with his father, he groans as he stands and gets prepared for training.

Chapter 4

“Lieutenant Caldwell reporting in sir!”

Tobin 23

“Chillax kid! We ain’t sticklers on formalities here you know,” Bossman replies

sincerely.

“Yeh, just sticklers when its about me in’nit Boss?” cries Bunny from his locker.

“Well, that’s cause you don’t listen unless you get hit, Bunny.”

“Oie, Bunny, not so early in duh mornin’ alrigh’? I ain’t prepared for this already,”

groans Rock as he slips on his jump suit.

“No one’s ever ready for Bunny in the mornin’ Rock,” mutters Toppler.

Eventually all garbed in their jumpsuits, the squad makes their way into the training room

only to be confronted by Colonel Quwalski. Quwalski stands in the center of the room next to the

terminal as the squad creaks on in.

“Mornin’ folks! Whilst I am sure you know, you got a new member to your squad. So, in

honor of that we’re gunna make your training for today be, well… Let’s just say that anything

you’ve done so far could be considered a cakewalk.” The Colonel smiles slyly at them. “Well,

get on with it! To your pods!”

The members of the squad moved to their respective pods and attached numerous cables

to slots on their suits and lies down as technicians filed into the room and attached more cables

as they lay in their pods. As the pod hatches started to close, everyone who was looking saw

Quwalski’s face pale as he talked to one of the technicians. With a hiss the pod hatches closed.

The moment the pod hatch closed Caldwell passed out; slowly a new world started

buffering in his vision creating a dark jungle setting. Animals squawk, and others roar. Trees

rustled and swayed in the wind, scents assailed his nostril like nothing he’d ever smelled before.

Tobin 24

Looking around he sees Bossman, Yuki, and Bunny standing behind him fully loaded as the rest

start appearing from thin air. The three are sitting casually around.

“Ah, right! I forgot, it’s your first time in one of these ain’t it Caldwell?” inquires

Bossman.

“Ah… uh, yeah. Its kinda cool,” replies Caldwell looking around in amazement.

“Heh, you won’t think that way once we get started. It’s cool an’ all now, but this thing

simulates EVERYTHING! And I dun mean just senses-wise. I mean pain too. The only thing it

dun simulate is death, mostly cause no one knows what death is like. But you can still “die” in

here, and it hurts like hell!” Bunny says angrily. “It’s fun though, just don’t get hit and you’ll

have a good time though.”

As Bunny finishes talking the rest of the squad finishes loading in and are now also

sitting around and appear to be awaiting orders. A buzz fills the air and Colonel Quwalski’s

voice fills everyone’s head.

“Again, good mornin’ folks. I hope you are all prepared. The simulation today is going to

be a rather, uh… difficult one. I was informed that the technicians finally created various sites

that have been explored in the wilderness and that you will be participating in them. In any

event, your gear is located north of your position about two-hundred meters. Go arm up and

await further orders.”

The squad, upon hearing the location of their gear, abruptly started moving in the

designated direction. About halfway there the speaker buzzed again and Quwalski’s voice filled

the air again, causing the squad to look up at the dark jungle canopy.

Tobin 25

“Oh, and about those further orders… Survive for as long as you can. Good luck.”

The moment Quwalski’s voice dissipated a loud, earth-quaking roar filled everyone’s

ears. A giant lumbering creature shambled into view from the north.

Bossman paled at the sight and roared, “Bunny! Yer up! Get that thing outta our way,

meet up at the designated location in twenty seconds! Go!”

Bunny with an enormous grin on his face grabbed a log and charged straight at the

lumbering beast. The creature boomed so loudly that Bunny was nearly knocked off his feet as it

finished. Still with an intense grin he gets resettles and charge through the underbrush right into

its face. He kick-jumps off a nearby tree and thrusts the log right into one of the creature’s eyes.

Kicking off away from it, he lands with a roll and starts throwing sticks and rocks at the creature.

Angrily it charges at Bunny.

Once out of the path, the squad dashes past it to the location of their gear. To many of the

squads dismay, there are only three cases. Ripping one open, Bossman sees enough parts for two

standard rifles. Rock rips open another and sees a disintegration missile launcher and a dozen

missiles. The last case contains a med-kit, one nano-rifle with two dozen rounds, and Toppler’s

RX-58 Reassembler.

“The fuck is this shit!?” shouts Pilfer. “There ain’t even enough god damn guns for

everyone!”

“Naw, naw. Dey prob jus’ wan’ us tuh learn how tuh survive wid’out all our gear. Yeh

nev’r know what it like out dere missus.” says Rodent trying to calm the raging girl down.

Tobin 26

“Well, ain’t this a bummer?” moans Toppler. “I gotta do a lotta work now man! We gotta

survive for two WHOLE days with just two rifles, a rocket launcher, and a single nano-rifle? Not

to mention we don’t even have adequate ammo? God damn… Those of you without weapons

best be good with improvised slingshots or something. I don’t feel like making yeh all some

rifles.”

“Oie ass-hat, you better get us some damn rifles otherwise we’re throwing you to the

dogs first!”

“Naw, naw, Perri, Toppler was jus’ kiddin’ aroun’ he dun gun make us’uns some guns!”

“The hell is that damn rabbit!? He was supposed to be here already! God damnit!” shouts

Bossman pulling out his radio and screaming into it, “Where the hell are you Bunny? Get yer ass

over here!”

The radio crackles as Bunny responds panting with lack of breathe, “Boss, we got a bit of

a problem…”

“Yeah, and it’s you not being here!”

“Naw, it’s more like… Well, you’ll see in a bit.”

A few moments later Bunny comes sprinting into view from around a grass covered cliff

side. The ground shakes as the same giant creature comes barreling after him. Unfortunately, so

do more, lots more.

With a sigh of exasperation Bossman looks at Rock and asks politely, “Will yeh shoot the

damn things already? I’d rather waste one or two of those than the nano-rifles clip…”

Tobin 27

With a grin Rock replies “Aye, aye Cap’n. One disappearing act comin’ right up!” He

then turns as Toppler inserts a missile into the tube and shouts, “Oie, Bunny! Duck!”

“Ah hell naw man! You gotta be kiddin’ me!” Bunny shouts as he dives headfirst into

underbrush and hits his head on a rock.

Rock settles into a firm shoulder-wide stance and pulls the trigger on the missile

launcher. The missile starts with a stutter then with a sonic boom disappears from sight. The

rocket hits the leading creature right in the chest and barrels through it erupting from its rear end

and goes through two more before exploding in silver light. The creatures and plants touched

instantly start to disintegrate.

Only the last creature in the group survives at which Bossman and Yuki unleash a volley

peppering it in the head and eyes eventually rendering it out of commission. Caldwell runs up to

it and starts to examine it out of sheer curiosity.

Bunny gets up rubbing his head and staggers over towards the rest of the group most of

whom are just standing around casually, although Sasha jogs over to him with the med-kit and

starts to examine his head. Pulling out a gauze pad, Sasha pats his head and wipes away the

blood; she then pulls out a canister of bio-foam and sprays a small amount into the gauze and

rubs it on his head where the wound is.

“Ya good as new Benjy.”

“Thanks sweetcakes, didn’t exactly expect to see so many extras appear outta nowhere

heh.”

Tobin 28

“Alright ladies and gents, grab the remaining gear, we’re heading northwards more. Gotta

find shelter somewhere.”

Chapter 5

With Pilfer and Rodent leading the way followed by Bunny, the team navigates through

the jungle. Caldwell stares at every little plant and animal he sees thoroughly enthralled.

“Yeh know Caldypal, those things ain’t real.”

“Yeah, but it’s cool to see how far we’ve come with simulation technology,” Caldwell

says as he cuts off a branch of a nearby plant, “For instance, this plant here is identical to the

actual plant outside!”

“Eh… Well, just don’t forget what our mission is alright?”

“Not to worry,” Caldwell replies dropping the branch, “I’m just looking around outta

curiosity.”

“Bunny, Caldwell, quiet,” Bossman interrupts, “we can’t be too certain what’s out here.”

In silence the team moves forward.

***

Rain starts pouring down on everyone’s head. Everyone continues to trudge forward

restlessly. Even the obnoxiously loud Bunny is quiet. Pilfer and Rodent are nowhere to be seen,

only Bossman is keeping in contact with them, and even then he is doing so in a quiet voice.

Tobin 29

Bossman eventually signals for everyone to gather around, “Pilfer and Rodent found a

cave tuh stay in and get outta the rain. Luckily enough it’s a cave that is deep enough that we can

light a fire too. It about three miles ahead, so everyone buck up, and let’s get there. A nice hot

fire and food should be ready when we get there too!”

With slightly uplifted expressions the team moves forward, still careful, but after another

half hour of walking they finally reach the cave where Bossman said Rodent and Pilfer would be.

Arriving at the cave the light of a glow stick dropped by one of the two lies in the entrance

signaling the squad, Bossman signals for the squad to hold, and beckons Pinocchio to the front of

the group. Caldwell looks around in dismay just realizing that Pinocchio had been right behind

him the entire time and he has never noticed him until now. Bunny seeing the look gently pats

Caldwell on the back reassuring him.

The jungle rustles as the rain spatters on leaves, on people. Bossman in a quiet voice

orders Pinocchio forward to the cave to check it out. He replies with a nod, and starts moving in

the direction of the cave. He enters, and heads deeper in. After a few minutes he comes back out

slightly rushed carrying a fairly large object. At the entrance he covers the glow stick with mud

then quietly trudges back to Bossman. As he gets nearer the object he carries becomes clearer,

it’s Pilfer’s nano-rifle. Pinocchio and Bossman converse for a few moments quietly.

Turning around Bossman quickly snaps “Things are bad people. We’re getting to that

cave ASAP. Go!” So saying, he turns and sprints to the cave.

Pinocchio hands the rifle off to Caldwell before running off. Confused, Caldwell looks

around and notices everyone else has already run after Bossman. Throwing the rifle strap over

his shoulder, he takes off after everyone else. Upon arriving at the cave, Caldwell follows the

Tobin 30

tracks down deeper into the cave and eventually notices light coming around a corner. Shadows

flicker past the light as people move about in front of it. Caldwell peers around the corner and

sees the squad and enters.

Blood splatters cover the walls. The fire roars brilliantly as the light reflects off of bullet

casings on the ground. A hand lies nearby.

“The hell happened here!?” Caldwell asks loudly.

“Shuddyup rookie!” shouts Bunny angrily.

Looking around closer, Caldwell see body parts. Human parts. Even some sort of creature

parts. Caldwell bends down to examine the bits more closely.

Sasha grabs a detached hand, pulling out her med-kit. She pulls out a small portable

scanner and runs it over the hand. “Sir, this is Rodent’s.”

Bossman looks at the scanner’s report. “Alright folks, I hate to ask this but gather as

many of the parts as you can, let’s see if any of our folks are still here. Caldwell, what can you

tell us about the thing that did this?”

“Well, uh… It definitely was more than one. I’d say probably at least a half dozen of

these things attacked.”

“Well that much is obvious kid, what kinda creature is this though?”

“It’s most likely a subterranean one obviously, but more likely based on the color and

texture of the skin that’s here, I’d say it’s probably a jirotopix sir. They travel in packs of at least

three and dig tunnels. They ain’t very big at first, but the older they grow they get exponentially

Tobin 31

bigger to the point of being the size of a van. Of course, that is only the oldest, at least a few

hundred years old that is. These things lives for a pretty damn long time you see. The most

notable one discovered to date actually has a GPS system planted on it by a drone. Well, that

drone was lost in the process, but that thing travels at a rate of about a mile an hour. So it’s damn

slow, but they have razor sharp teeth. They look a lot like worms too…”

“Enough with the description, why the hell would that kinda creature get so damn close

and be able to take out our two scouts so easily?”

“Well, the most interesting factor,” Caldwell says with a weird gleam in his eye, “is that

this creature burrows into the ground and can hide itself almost instantly, it can erupt from the

ground quickly and then almost instantly go back into the ground without a trace. So all that I

can assume that happened was a few of them attacked Pilfer and Rodent while they made the fire

and pulled them back under ground and ate them. Well, ate them as well as a virtual creature can.

It’s a pretty gruesome way to go too. They have bacteria in their saliva that makes their prey go

numb while at the same time…”

“Enough Caldwell, I get the picture! Any chance they’re still here?”

“Heh, most definitely not sir! And on top of that I recommend we got outta here quickly

sir, they can feel tremors and might be back with more. They have quite the ravenous hunger you

see.”

“Okay, we’re outta here, start looking for a place to set up camp. Where would the best

place be?”

Tobin 32

“Anywhere with a hard rock ground. So, a cliff or even up in the trees would work,”

replies Caldwell.

“Alright, tonight we’ll spend in the trees, be careful, we down two members already,”

grunts Bossman. “Let’s head out and get into the jungle, same watches as last time, except

Caldwell you and Yuki will be second watch instead.”

“Righto, Bossman.”

The team reaches the cave entrance and hurries back into the jungle. They walk for about

fifteen minutes before they find a large enough tree in which to sleep. The first two branches are

kept clear for those on watch and the rest go higher up.

“Oh, by the way, sleep with your goggles on. The avian creatures may not be large

enough to kill, but they still might attack your eyes while you sleep,” Caldwell mentions giddily.

“Well, aren’t you just right on enjoying dis shit ain’t you Caldypal?” questions Bunny.

“Well, it IS my first time doing something like this, it’s rather fascinating.”

“Yeh, know. I liked you better when you were the quiet nervous type…” mutters Bunny.

The team settles down for the night and eats cold rations from their kit. Luckily, only the

typical sounds of the jungle permeate the night and nothing appears to happen.

***

The next morning Caldwell wakes slowly. He notices that most of the team is missing

except for Rock, Pinocchio, and Yuki.

Tobin 33

“The hell? Where’d everyone go?” Caldwell asks in dismay.

“Eh, good question?” replies Rock. “Ah woke up and hear some rustling, by the time Ah

found out where it were coming from da noise stopped and everyone else had already

disappeared.”

“Yuki or Pino, did you guys notice anything?”

Pinocchio looks up from his cold gaze at the knife he is sharping and shakes in a

negative.

“I saw nothing, nope!” Yuki shouts excitedly.

“Shhhhh, dayum girl. We ain’t at a party or anytin,” snaps Rock. “Sometin serious

happened las’ nigh’. An’ you bein’ all chipper ‘bout it dun help none.”

“Sorry…” she replies sullenly.

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” Caldwell intervenes, trying to calm everyone. “Well, first things

first, let’s get down from this tree. I’m sure we can all think better if we’re on the ground.”

Caldwell climbs down the tree then looks up to make sure everyone else is following,

noticing that only Pinocchio follows, he says, “If you’d like, I’ll make that an order. Don’t forget

I do rank the highest here.”

Yuki and Rock give in and follow Caldwell and Pinocchio after searching the upper

branches more. Eventually Yuki blurts, “Hey Caldwell, I thought you said the birds weren’t big

enough to eat people, just liked to peck eyes and stuff. What the hell happened?”

Tobin 34

“Uh, well… Birds aren’t big enough. So the only things I can think of happening are they

were transported anywhere by the engineers, they fell, or they just bugged out or something. I

don’t really know what happened. I have no explanation either,” Caldwell replies sadly.

After a few moments everyone reaches the shrub covered ground. Caldwell beckons them

to follow him and he starts off northwards. After walking for over an hour he comes across a

trail. Caldwell heads east with the others following him. After walking for a few more minutes

he spots the sleeve of a uniform. Motioning for the others to halt, he crouches and walks forward

and pokes the sleeve with the barrel of the nano-rifle. After a few moments he reaches out and

pulls on the sleeve. He notices that there is a slight weight to it and pulls harder. Eventually the

sleeve reveals the bloody forearm and hand of a person. Caldwell glances back at the others who,

all but Pinocchio at least, respond with something akin to a gasp.

“Uh, well then… This is a little freaky in’nit?” Caldwell asks edgily.

“Yeah… uhm, ‘bout dat boss. Whose’z dat?” Rock asks.

“Dunno, but I get the feeling we’ll get more information if we keep headin’ this way,”

mumbles Caldwell.

“There isn’t something right here Caldy!” Yuki says scared.

“There ain’t something right with this whole situation Yuki. But remember, it’s just a

virtual simulation, so everyone is fine righ’?” Caldwell says reassuringly.

“Yeah, I suppose so, but it still ain’t right!” she says.

They continue walking through the jungle, pushing aside brush and stomping through the

dirt. Rock’s missile launcher every so often makes a loud thudding noise that causes Caldwell to

Tobin 35

jump a few times until he eventually takes it as a natural cause. He signals to stop and looks back

to inventory what armaments everyone has. Yuki still has her assault rifle and Rock has the

disintegration missile launcher still, and to top it off, Pinocchio somehow managed to procure a

knife-like object made from a sharp stone blade and wood handle.

“The med-kit and a rifle are missing eh?” Caldwell thinks to himself and out loud he

asks, “Rock, you got the extra missiles still right?”

“Naw boss, dat was all Toppla. I only gots two now.”

“Well, ain’t this right ol’ grand and terrible…” Caldwell’s voice trails off. “Alrigh’, lets

move out and keep movin’. Staying still in one spot is obviously a bad idea.”

The small group moves forward at a snail-like pace. They check every corner and behind

every tree for over an hour. Eventually they stumble out of the brush into a clearing. Looking

around, the clearing is covered in blood splatters. Trees are broken and fractured from various

impacts. To one side of the clearing is a monstrous skeleton, one of its horns impaled in a tree,

looking almost as if it got stuck in it.

Caldwell walks toward the skeleton. About half-way there he stumbles over a rock.

Looking down at it, Caldwell discovers a human skeleton old enough to have been covered over

by moss. On closer inspection of the ground around the area, Caldwell sees even more skeletons.

“The hell happened here?” he asks disgusted.

“Dunno boss. Dis place neva bin in duh sims before.”

“Yuki, Pino? Either of you know?”

Tobin 36

They both shake their heads. They start walking towards the skeleton again being extra

careful of the human remains. Upon arriving at the remains, Caldwell turns around. He looks

back at the squad. He looks as if he has just seen a ghost of his biggest fear, which very could be

because when the squad turns to look behind them, they see the biggest, evilest, most gruesomely

awesome looking gritoptrex any of them have ever seen.

The creature stands over fifteen feet tall. Many of its scales are missing, and in places

where they were, giant scars remain. The face itself is covered in scars and one eye is closed over

from a giant scar running from one of its horns down to its snout. The creature rears back and

releases an ear-shattering roar causing Rock to stumble.

Caldwell shouts at Yuki to fire. He turns to Pinocchio, who’s already three steps ahead,

dashing straight at the monster with his makeshift knife out. Caldwell then dashes forward to

Rock, and helps him to his feet.

The creature, already on its third roar, barrels towards them. The ground shakes beneath

its weight. Pinocchio attempts to dive out of the way, but the monster bashes him aside, breaking

him against a tree. Yuki runs out of the way, attempting to reload, and barely avoids the full

brunt of the attack. She gets gouged in the side as she does a barrel roll from the impact. Rock

and Caldwell finally finish loading the disintegration rocket into the launcher and fire. The

missile eats away at the creature just quick enough to avoid hitting Rock and Caldwell as it

dematerializes into dust around them.

Chapter 6

Upon the last of the creature disappearing, a bell tolls three times, the noise coming

seemingly from nowhere, signaling the end of the simulation. Their vision goes black for a few

Tobin 37

moments, then the pods hiss open. A red light is flashing in the pod room, an alarm sounding.

Everyone looks around confused. They sit in their respective pods for what seems like ten

minutes. Eventually a flustered Bossman comes into the room.

“Alrigh’ folks, get up and get suited. Mission briefing, five minutes! Go!”

The four in their pods just stare at Bossman for a minute in confusion, then they dash into

the locker room and change. A private stands waiting outside for them, and escorts the squad to a

meeting room where Colonel Quwalski and the other members in the squad are waiting.

“Welcome gentlemen and lady. Obviously shit’s going down,” the Colonel says. “The

wall’s been breached, our outta defenses have been breached. You folks have been put into

action. I’m sorry that you guys are just outta training, but no one else is qualified. You have two

hours to get to the inner gate and get ready to set out. Good luck ladies and gentlemen!”

The squad files out; the four who just got released from the simulation have dark bags

under their eyes, yet still move as quickly as the rest. At a brisk pace they enter the elevator.

Bossman pushes the LL button and after a few moments the elevator opens up bringing a large

garage into view. Bossman leads the way to a trio of large trucks. Each truck carries two

warhounds in standby mode; in addition each is armed with two 50.caliber machine-guns.

“Rock, Toppler, Pinocchio, truck one. Sasha, Bunny, and me, truck two. Caldwell, Pilfer,

Rodent, Yuki, truck three. Toppler and Rock, man the guns in yours, Pinocchio you’re driving.

Bunny and Sasha, you’re on ours. Caldwell, Pilfer, you’re on yours. Meanwhile, everyone who

just got out of sim-training, rest up as much as you can until we get there. Make sure to wake

them up when we get close guys. Move out!”

Tobin 38

The squad gets into their respective trucks. They drive for over twenty minutes through

the garage until they emerge and continue out down the road towards the gate to the outer wall.

Chapter 7

The gate looms before the trio of trucks. The city near the wall is filled only with military

personnel and their equipment. Civilians all evacuated. The doors drags open revealing a long

dark tunnel. The trucks stop at the doorway.

The radio crackles to life. A short static burst followed by a long one is emitted from the

radio, after that, nothing. Bossman checks his radio and tries to contact Colonel Quwalski, he

tries multiple times to no apparent avail.

Bossman looks back at those in his truck then shrugs and says “We know our mission

folks, even though we can’t get into contact with HQ.” So saying, he changes frequency on his

radio. “Everyone, listen up. Gear and ammo should be in the rear of the vehicles, arm up and get

ready. People supposed to be on the guns, get on ‘em, we’re movin’ into hot territory soon.”

The guns on the top of the trucks come to life swirling and twirling. The triple barrels

spin, loading the ammo into place.

The serene country side flies by with no indication of hostility. Civilian vehicles are

nowhere to be seen. Wildlife acts normally except for the typical avoidance of the armored

vehicles. Trees dot the otherwise plain setting. Nothing moves other than the trucks and the

nearby domesticated animals.

After many tense moments, the outermost wall looms ahead dominating everyone’s view,

even though it is still miles away. Small explosions are visible as automated defense systems

Tobin 39

open fire or are destroyed. Gun shots and explosions are just barely heard over the sound of the

truck’s engines.

Caldwell sweats profusely, obviously nervous. He starts to scratch his hands and jitter.

Noticing Caldwell’s behavior Pilfer taps Rodent on the shoulder and nods toward the lieutenant.

“Caldwell man! Ya’ gots tuh calm down. It dun du ya no good tuh act like dat bafour dah

action. Ya kna’?” Rodent mentions reassuringly.

“Yeah, I know. It’s just, I ain’t ever done live combat before. It’s just always been

training with shock guns, and recently dat trainin’ sim.”

“Ah, dun worry. Dis jus’ like dah trainin’ sims! Duh monsta’s act just duh same.”

The wall looms ever nearer. The rest of the passage is silent, Caldwell slightly, but not

much, less jittery. The sound of explosions and gun fire grows ever louder. Screams become

audible. All forms of wildlife are now non-existent.

As the trio of trucks rounds a slight ridge the base of the wall comes into view. An

immense hole easily fifty feet in diameter is blow inward from the wall where the gate used to

be. A hastily erected barricade can be seen with hundreds of soldiers dashing about on the

ground. Warhounds and other heavy artillery create a line behind the barricade releasing a

constant barrage on the hole.

Giant green globs arc out from the tunnel completely shrouded in darkness and lands with

an explosion on top of the barricade eroding it in seconds. A horde of gritoptrex stampede out

from the opening. The front ranks getting cut down by high-powered weaponry, to little effect as

more charge out in the lull of reloading. The gritoptrex ram through the opening in the barricade

Tobin 40

and start thrashing people aside. Underground turrets erupt from the ground and release a

burning inferno upon them eradicating the anything in the area in seconds. Screams from those

gored and burning echo across the plains.

The trucks pull up and Bossman throws open the door and runs to a command post

situated on a pyramid of metal crates in the rear. Radioing in, Bossman orders everyone to assist

the defense from the truck turrets. Those manning the guns spin up and release a hail of bullets

on the tunnel which everything else continues to fire into. After several minutes of this, Bossman

sprints back to the trucks and gets in his.

The radio cracking, Bossman says “We be headin’ down the wall about two miles, there

is a small gate which we’re ta go through to the outside. We’re gunna try ta cut off the monsters

from the wall so they can push out and start repairs. We’ll be on our own out dere.” He pulls

around and starts driving in the indicated direction.

Looking back through the camera on the gun, Caldwell sees the recently destroyed

barricade quickly replaced with a new one. More trucks similar to theirs begin to pull up to the

wall and release waves of soldiers and dozens of warhounds. Larger vehicles with railguns

attached pull up behind and begin bombarding the entrance with fire as more acid sprays out of

the entrance.

The sound of fighting starts to dissipate as the trucks drive away.

A few minutes later the vehicles pull up to another gate only ten feet by ten feet, this gate

only having a few dozen soldiers surrounding it as it still remains intact. Bossman, again, gets

out of his truck and dashes to a small building by the gate, opens the door, and shouts in. He then

turns and quickly heads back, the gate opens with a shudder as he reaches his truck. The fifteen

Tobin 41

five foot steel door comes to a halt with a crash, revealing a tunnel just large enough for the

trucks to enter. The moment the last truck enters the tunnel the door slams shut, and the outer

door begins to slowly creak open.

The outside is reached. The trucks continue in a single-file line straight out from the

tunnel for a few minutes. Looking to the north, the area with the breached wall is clearly visible

on the empty plain. Monstrous creatures too large for the hole are gnawing at it, and enlarging it.

The defense platforms on the top rain fire down on them doing little damage, just minor

annoyances to creatures that immense. Occasionally the stream of fire manages to break through

them exploding on the ground in a raging torrent of flames. The trucks pass by seemingly

unnoticed. The mob of creatures extends all the way to the forest where it teems with even more.

“Uh… We ain’t going dere are we?” Caldwell asks over the radio, as the engine roars,

causing the truck to speed over the rough terrain.

“I sure as hell hope not!” Bunny replies. “That sure as hell don’t look like any place we

need ta be goin’.”

“Well I got some bad news. That’s where we’re going.” As if to emphasize his point a

monster roars in what could only be triumph. “The only things capable of taking those giant

things down are the new disintegration missiles on the warhounds. And even then it’ll take a few.

Unfortunately, command decided we had the highest chance of surviving that, and completing

the mission,” Bossman says, not reassuring anyone.

“What? That like ten percent or sometin boss?” Bunny asks with a hint of sarcasm.

Tobin 42

“Ah hell naw. It’s more like less than one percent Bunny,” Bossman says dryly. “But it’s

still better than any other unit of our size. All we’s gotta do is stop them for ten minutes. If we

can do that, the people on the inside will have plenty of time to repair the wall. Then alls we

gotta do, is get the hell outta Dodge and get back down to this gate.”

“Well, that sounds easy enough. Might I emphasize the SOUNDS part?” Bunny laughs

nervously then quiets down. The final ridge before the monsters comes into view.

The trucks after a few moments turn and start to head northward towards the mob.

Bossman throws a switch activating the six warhounds on the backs of the trucks, all of which

turn to face the monsters. Missile bays slide open revealing dozens of disintegration rockets, a

top hatch also slides open revealing six more easily ten times the size of the ones on the side. The

side missiles ignite and start launching into the air, at maximum altitude, the missiles arc back

down avoiding the large creatures and hit the smaller ones on the ground. The missiles release a

cascade of nanites that instantly eat away at anything they touch.

Chapter 8

An order comes for the gunner to open fire as the last of the nanites fall. Each spins and

releases a hailstorm of fire. Monsters are mowed down as the trucks accelerate straight into the

center of the mass.

“Oie oie! I thought these things weren’t supposed to be intelligent!” cries Sasha as the

monsters regroup in an unusually organized unit. “Was goin’ on here?”

“I… I don’t know… N-nothing’s every happened like this before!” Replies Caldwell

stunned. “They ain’t ever done anything like this!”

Tobin 43

The nearest gritoptrex charge at the vehicles, gun fire tears through them. More and more

keep coming. The gritoptrex reach the front most truck and barrel through it causing it to spin out

and flip. The warhounds release their hatches and escape before flipping and engage the

gritoptrex before they reach the next one. The other trucks turn to avoid them as they run out of

ammo. The rest of the warhounds engage as the teams disembark from the now useless vehicles

and run to the lead truck.

Yuki, sprints full out seemingly oblivious to everything. Rodent and Pilfer take up firing

positions from the safety of the trucks and shoot anything that nears. Toppler and Rock jogq

lightly towards the overturned truck. Caldwell and Pinocchio attempt to draw even with Yuki to

little avail. Yuki gets in a window and dives into the truck pulling out her med-kit as Caldwell

and Pinocchio finally catch up. Inside Caldwell sees Bossman, blood streaming from a gash on

his head, slumped against the roof of the truck. Further in, Sasha groans as she regains

consciousness. Groggily she looks around and sees Yuki checking Bossman’s pulse.

Caldwell pulls his head out and brings his rifle up and asks “Everything alrigh’ in dere

Yuki?”

Rock and Toppler catch up running through a disintegrating Gritoptrex that just got shot

by Pilfer. Bracing themselves against the side of the truck they also lay out some fire.

From the truck Sasha yells out. Ducking his head down Caldwell checks in again in time

to see Yuki pull a panel off of Bunny’s gored body. Blood streams out of a hole in his stomach

where one of the gritoptrex horns pierced through.

Clutching his wound, Bunny looks up at Caldwell and grins a bloody horrifying grin.

“Wazzat look fer… eh Caldypal?” he says coughing up blood, somehow just barely audible over

Tobin 44

the sound of explosions. “Zis inn’t all dat bad. Juz a fl…” he finishes his head slumping against

the roof.

“Oie! Bunny!? Oie!” Yuki shouts shaking him.

“Get me outta this piece of shit!” Sasha yells at Yuki.

Yuki attempts to resuscitate Bunny, ignoring Sasha. Caldwell looking back out of the

truck sees explosions erupting just in front of him as the defense turrets’ rounds explode near

their vehicles in a constant stream now that the largest of the monsters are all gone. Feeling

something grasp his leg, Caldwell looks down to see Bossman’s hand holding his ankle.

Kneeling down Caldwell leans his head towards Bossman.

“What’s going on?” Bossman mutters slowly. “Everyone accounted for?”

“Everyone’s accounted for sir,” Caldwell starts off emotionlessly, “however, Bunny, sir,

uh… He’s dead sir.”

“No he’s not!” screams Sasha as she gets out finally thanks to Yuki’s help.

An abnormally loud explosion sounds as Bossman crawls out of the truck. Looking up

Caldwell sees the defense turrets on the wall blowing up in electric storms. The sound of combat

and roaring monsters seems to come to a halt as the monsters draw back creating an opening.

Caldwell drags Bossman out of the truck and props him up against the side of truck. Yuki and

Sasha drag Bunny’s corpse out. Of the six warhounds only the one nearest the truck remains

standing miraculously on two and a half legs. The warhound’s weapons spinning, out of ammo.

The dust settles as the monsters split, creating a walkway. From the center skitters one of

the monstrous slugs. Much smaller than the norm, the slug approaches the haggard crew, with no

Tobin 45

threatening motions. The warhound scrawls forward scraping its rear side on the ground. As the

warhound nears the creature a violent bolt of lightning arcs out from it and causes an electric

overload in the warhound, exploding it. An arm-like protrusion extends from the top of the

creature.

A smug demeaning voice suddenly comes from the creature saying “Why, hello there. I

was getting quite worried no one would come talk with us; we even had to break our way in.”

As the voice fades away a body erupts from the top of the slug, half fused into it. A

human body covered in purple-green slime flings forward.

“Aahhh, how long I wished to get out of there. Quite the disturbing situation to find

oneself in eh? Ah well, no matter,” the thing says as it opens its eyes. “It’s been faaar, too long

since I last saw a human. How do you do?”

“To hell with you!” shouts Sasha as she pulls the trigger, unloading an entire clip into the

torso.

“Tch, tch, tch. That was very rude of you missy. Very rude indeed!” the head says. “I

don’t care for rude people at all!”

So saying, the humanoid thing lifts its arm and beckons towards Sasha with a single

finger. Dust lifts from the ground and forms into an arrow-like shape and launches itself at

Sasha, piercing her through the heart, killing her instantly. She crumples to the ground, blood

pumping from the wound as the arrow floats away, dust once more.

Rock roars in rage as he watches the last of the blood drain out in a pool. Dropping the

rocket launcher, he pulls out a combat knife and charges the humanoid slug. The thing lifts its

Tobin 46

arm once more and throws it sideways. An unseen force throws Rock against the nearby truck

and he slumps down unconscious, a small dribble of blood seeps down his head.

“Enough folks! We ain’t got anything on this feller,” Bossman sighs dejectedly having

just watched two of his team die in seconds. “What’dyeh want?”

“Ah well… You see, I used to live here, and well, we just want to talk with Major

Quwalski,” the thing says with a delighted smirk on his face.

“Well, tough shit mister, the radio ain’t work,” Caldwell shouts.

“Ah, well, I can fix that!”

The radio sparks to life with a dispatch from Colonel Quwalski shouting out orders to

secure the wall. The creature raises his hand again and rips the radio from Sasha’s vest, sending

it straight into his hand.

Testing the radio, he cheerfully asks, “Hello Major, how dost thou do?”

“Who the hell is this?” the Colonel asks angrily.

“Ah, c’mon, doc! It’s only been a few years! How could you forget the fellow who saved

your ass’ voice?”

“Doc!? Is that you? I thought you were dead!”

“Ah well, sorry to disappoint, although at first I did wish I was dead. It’s quite

gruesomely painful to be sucked up by a giant slug and throw into its fertilization ooze to then

become one with one of its spawn.”

Tobin 47

“Huh?”

“Oh well… Ask one of your friends here, well, one of the ones able to respond at least.”

“Bossman? You there!?”

“Aye sir, barely, but here. Sasha and Bunny are out for the count, and Rock’s

incapacitated, not looking to good out here either. Swarmed by hundreds of these monstrosities

and apparently they’re all held in thrall by this half slug, half man shithead of a creature,”

Bossman says morosely. “It ain’t looking too good at all.”

“Well, enough of that, I must say! We are NOT monsters, thank you. We are a collection

of consciousnesses centered in one focal hub that apparently was developed around me in order

to communicate with humans,” the Doctor says moodily. “And I’ll have you know, these good

sirs have been around quite a bit longer than you all have on this planet!”

“Oh yeah? What in the hell’s that supposed to mean!? For as long as history goes we’ve

been on this rock living in these hellholes called Bastions! And the only reason we’ve been able

to survive dis long is cause of the magicians!” Caldwell says.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Haven’t you ever wondered why there are magicians amongst humans?

They aren’t human!” the Doctor shouts triumphantly. “Well, to be precise, we are human, but not

entirely! That’s why the plague only affects us, and why only we are allowed to use magic! Your

so-called HUMAN magicians are nothing more than genetically engineered humans spliced with

genetic materials from a number of creatures native to this planet. That’s why they are so

specialized amongst themselves. Granted, this splicing occurred hundreds, even thousands of

years ago, but still! Oh that, and the fact that, well… Humans aren’t even native to this fair

Tobin 48

planet. That’s one thing that only those with access to highly classified information know! I bet

even the Colonel doesn’t know it. Well, actually he might,” the Doctor continues in a

temperamental rant.

The Doctor ranting on, and on. Meanwhile, Bossman whispers to Caldwell. Caldwell

makes some gestures towards Pilfer and Rodent who still are at the truck, weapons raised. Upon

completing the gestures, Caldwell looks back at the Doctor-slug, who seems oblivious to

everything. Caldwell dashes back to where Rock dropped his launcher and slides it over to

Toppler who quickly loads a rocket into it.

Toppler lifts the rocket launcher up and aims at the doctor. Caldwell lifts one arm and

holds at five fingers. Slowly, he counts down using his fingers and once he makes a fist, Toppler,

Rodent, and Pilfer all open fire on the doctor.

The doctor still oblivious to what was going on finally finishes his rant just in time to get

hit by the first few rounds of nanite ammo.

Looking down he says, “Well shit. That hurts, that hurts a helluva lot.” Looking up again

he sees the rocket flying straight at him. “Well double shits… That does not look fun.”

The rocket pierces the doctor’s face and he disintegrates quickly into a pile of dust. The

creatures roar angrily and ready themselves.

Checking the radio and noticing it works again Bossman lifts it to his face and says,

“Well Colonel, I got some good news, the Doc be gone. I also got some bad news…”

Final Chapter

Tobin 49

“I also got some bad news…” the radio cuts off. Quwalski looks down at his radio

questioningly.

“Anyone got a visual on the outside of the wall!? We got people out there still!”

Quwalski shouts in dismay.

“Sir! Live feed from the outside, only two cameras remain,” a soldier says holding up a

tablet screen showing the outside.

Quwalski’s face drains of color as he looks at the tablet. Various creatures swarm over

the remainder of the trucks. Bossman and the rest stand unsteadily on the top unloading hundreds

of rounds into the monsters. Tens of the creatures fall, only to be replaced by more. The

seemingly infinite swarm topples the remainder of the trucks. Pilfer and Rodent can be seen

doing a hit and run like action, sprinting, turning, firing, turning, and sprinting away again. The

horde of creatures overruns them ripping them to shreds. Bossman, Caldwell, and the rest of the

squad are nowhere to be seen in the mass of creatures.

The creatures start to surge into the tunnel. Explosions rock the wall obliterating anything

in the tunnel. After a short lull more creatures enter the opening in the wall.

Nearby Quwalski hears a soldier shout “Clear!”

Another soldier closer shouts “Fire in the hole!”

The debris created by the wall bulges outward then springs inward. Like gelatin, the

debris fills the hole, spreading stone and metal, creating a perfect copy of the old wall. Looking

at the tablet, Quwalski sees hundreds of the behemoths scrambling into the hole. Suddenly the

Tobin 50

debris from the wall springs outward on the outside, devouring anything in its wayuntil the hole

is sealed.. The monsters roar in anger.

“Farewell comrades,” Colonel Quwalski says as he does a brief salute to the tablet. “You

will be remembered!”

Turning he dishes out orders to soldiers nearby who scurry to complete them. With the

wall repaired, it needs to be reinforced so as to prevent further breaches.

Epilogue

“Well, I suppose we’ll just have to try again now won’t we? And god damn that hurt a

helluva lot more than I thought it would. Although I can’t say it was all that affective eh,

buddy?” a voice says as a body erupts out of another slug.

The doctor looks around at the hundreds of slugs identical to the one he is merged with

and snickers, “Well I guess a little bit of pain was worth it. Oh well, we’ll free our brethren from

the humans eventually. They can’t maintain life in there forever!”

***

Seven rifles fire simultaneously three times. Ten lidless boxes lie in two neat rows.

Oblivious to the music playing in the background Quwalski walks up to the nearest and lays his

hand down on the edge of the first coffin. Open, and empty.

“These ten brave souls who many of us knew shan’t be forgotten. Let their sacrifice be a

testimony to the power of mankind. Let them remind us all, that such a small number held off

thousands of those beasts. Held them off so as to allow us time, allow humanity, to survive.”

Tobin 51

With tears in his eyes Quwalski continues, “Let us remember that humanity is not invincible no

matter how much magic… or science we have.”

Suddenly a clatter as thousands of soldiers stand fills the air. Quwalski raises his arm in

salute. A slashing fills the air as everyone in the hall follows suit.

“We shall prevail. A sentient monster has been discovered by these ten fellows who

sacrificed themselves for us. The key to the survival of our species on this planet rests in that

creature. The creature who once was a dear friend.”

Fin